A Whisper of Wings Read online

Chapter Twenty Four

  Harïsh and Lord Looshii stared about themselves in awe. The forest loomed about them as eerie as a tomb, enclosing them within a cavern that stretched out to the very edges of the world. The air smelled fresh and thick with leaf mould and decay. Here and there a leaf spiralled hundreds of spans towards the forest floor. Water dripped and flowers blossomed. Everything was green, shot through with shafts of golden sun.

  If you listened, you could almost hear the plant life grow…

  Harïsh felt the fur crawling all along her spine as a sense of worship pressed in upon her soul. This was a place of majesty, a place to treat with absolute reverence. Harïsh looked around herself and bruised the silence with a sigh.

  “Dear Rain. I never thought it could be so beautiful…”

  Lord Looshii had lost himself in the caress of the forest breeze. Every breath drew in a new world of pure sensation; it was like sampling fine wine that rolled and sparkled on the tongue.

  “Paradise! Pure paradise.”

  The travellers drifted down across a creek and nestled thankfully in the ferns. Lord Looshii let anxious eyes roam about the shadows down beneath the trees.

  “Uh - perhaps we’d best get a wriggle-on. Can’t dawdle all day, eh? Your husband must be worried sick!”

  Harïsh barely seemed to hear. She was sniffing at the forest mulch, her antennae quivering as she searched across the mould.

  “Oh - sniff - Keketál always frets. I love the silly boy to bits! He really ought to take life more calmly, though. He’ll give himself an ulcer the way he carries on.” The girl scuttled across the ground and finally found a tiny pair of shining leaves. Earth flew as she exposed a twisted clump of root.

  “Look my lord! Fire root! It’s fire root!” The girl held the disgusting tuber up in triumph. “Sweet Rain, look! It’s everywhere! The stuff’s growing here like weeds.”

  Lord Looshii examined the root and assumed a pained expression.

  “Is this a good thing? I mean it doesn’t look very tasty.”

  “What? No no my Lord, it’s a herb. An incredibly rare medicine!” Harïsh ripped at the leaf mulch and dragged another root-clump from the ground. “You could trade five sheep and still not earn half a spoonful!”

  “Aaaah I see, It’s valuable!”

  “What? Oh yes. But it cleans wounds. You make a tea out of it to cure fevers.” The girl blushed. “It also… Uh, well, if you rub it on a man’s… Anyway! It has other uses too.” She began to empty out her chest pack and stuff it full of roots. “No one’s ever touched the crop! Ha! The savages don’t even know how to use their medicines!”

  “Do you think we should?” The nobleman looked nervously about the trees. “I mean, it isn’t ours. Someone might object.”

  “Object? It’s just growing here in the ground! There’s no fence, no marks. It’s just the bounty of the… My Lord?”

  Lord Looshii stared up across Harïsh’s shoulder, carefully raising up his open palms. Harïsh slowly turned to see a figure silhouetted in the light.

  A girl stood above them, a near naked child with quicksilver eyes and the slim curves of an eel. Long white hair streamed in an unseen breeze as the little savage watched the interlopers.

  The savage sang something in their musical purring tongue, and Harïsh answered her, watching carefully for her chance to strike. Lord Looshii nervously flicked his eyes from girl to girl.

  “What was that? What did she ask? I can’t follow a word these creatures say!”

  “She-she says I am stealing. She wants to know why anyone would take a whole crop of fire-root.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “I said I need it all. There was no way of knowing that the root was hers.”

  The little savage followed their conversation with sharp intelligence. She eyed Harïsh’s sack and spoke out once again. Harïsh never once shifted her gaze.

  “She wonders why I need a whole sack of root. Am I a thief who trades in medicine? I told her no. I am a healer. I need the roots for my work. I must go home now. There are many many sick people who are waiting for me to treat them.”

  “Did she believe you?”

  “She’s a savage. Even so, they must respect healers.”

  Harïsh carefully held up her hand to show the blue tattoos across her palm. The savage’s ears lifted as she sang another string of questions.

  Harïsh’s eyes narrowed.

  “She says I may have the roots, but she would like a favour in return. There is a patient for me, someone I must see. She says my tattoo means I can’t refuse.”

  Lord Looshii had his back firmly planted against a tree.

  “Are you going to do as she says?”

  “You must be joking!”

  “But she’s right! You have to!” The Lord switched his tail in shock. “If you refuse her all your power would fade!”

  “She’s a savage! I never made any oath to heal any filthy primitives!”

  “My Lady, you can’t refuse!”

  Harïsh nodded wearily and reached out for her bag, then swiftly threw it straight at the child’s face. Harïsh drew her dagger and bared her fangs in hate.

  “Surrender, you little bitch! Surrender or I’ll rip your bloody tripes out!”

  The tiny savage gave a laugh, and Harïsh blinked as the knife whisked out of her hand. An unseen force then hoisted her through the sky and pinned her up against a tree. The savage held Harïsh helpless, grinning up at her from beneath her cloak of silver hair.

  His Lordship decided to take off and go for help. The sorceress never even glanced in his direction. Looshii gave a squawk, and seconds later dangled upside down beside Harïsh.

  “I think we might do just as she requests…”

  The tiny savage grinned, and Harïsh suddenly dropped back to the ground. She stared sullenly as the little girl placed a flower into her hands.

  “She-she says we are creatures of violence. She sorrows for us and offers us forgiveness.” Harïsh’s pride was stung, and the girl almost wept in anger. “She said not to worry, she is not allowed to hurt us. Her teacher would never allow it.”

  The savage graciously indicated that the plainsmen should follow her. Harïsh sourly reached for her belongings.

  “I don’t think we could get away. She flicked you from the sky just like a gnat! She never even turned her head!”

  “Then we’re trapped! She’ll take us to the demon queen!”

  “I could kill her with the sling. We can wait till her back is turned and I could shoot.”

  Harïsh looked into the little girl’s eyes, startled by an intelligence that seemed to pierce through her very soul. The lass simply smiled and waited for Harïsh to reach her decision, and the healer rubbed at the tattoo across her palm.

  “She’s not dressed like the others. She hasn’t met a plainsman before. I think this might be a different tribe. See the shells she’s made into a skirt? She might be from far away.”

  Harïsh strapped her pack across her chest and tugged her headband tight.

  “Come on, let’s follow it. We’ll see this patient of hers. Maybe we’ll learn something new.”

  “Will she hurt us?”

  “No. No I don’t think so.” Harïsh stared at the silver girl, feeling something strange come prickling across her spine. “There’s something strange about her. Maybe she’s some sort of priest. I don’t think she’d try to hurt us.”

  Entering the treehouse felt like stepping through into a holy shrine. A silent group of foreigners formed a ring around a single bed, and not a single creature stirred at the entry of the strangers.

  Harïsh slowly approached the sickbed at the centre of the floor. She looked down into the face of love, and felt her spirit soar.

  Harïsh felt herself fall down to her knees. It was like being drunk! It was like the dizzy joy of making love to Keketál - the delicious peace of sleeping in his arms.

  It was a girl; nothing but a girl. A round, plain creature with
a power you could almost touch.

  Harïsh quickly bent to work. The woman’s fever burned like a furnace, and Harïsh’s spirits sank as she heard the fluid deep inside the woman’s lungs.

  It was hopeless. Harïsh numbly let her hands fall to her sides, unable to meet the little savage eye to eye.

  “I can do nothing. There is fluid in her chest. Bubble bubble when breathings, understand? Bubbles! This one is to die now. She-she will die.”

  The patient had all but gone. She was drowning inside herself. For some reason ïsha healing was unable to cure the disease. Harïsh had never seen anything like it before.

  The little savage came back again. She plucked at Harïsh’s hands and tried to lay them on the patient’s chest.

  “You! You heal, yes? You wake Beloved One. Make her think clear for just one second, two? Please! Please try! She wake, she burn it all away. Don’t let my Teacher die!”

  Harïsh felt sick; she didn’t know the words to make the little creature understand.

  “Look, I’m a surgeon. I cut, yes? Set bones, bring babies.” Feeling the little girl’s despair, Harïsh wiped a tear back from her eye. “I’m sorry. I-I can’t help you. We can only… only make the passing easier.”

  Tingtraka heard. She pulled herself back from her trance and slowly cleared her eyes. She knew what must be done, and somehow the decision could be faced with utter calm.

  “Kïtashii, Shadarii’s dying. This girl can’t heal her. The disease is too far gone.” Tingtraka deliberately broke the circle of healers. “Lift her up. We’re taking her outside. Leave the robes. Just get her out into the open air.”

  “Stop! Tingtraka, what are you doing?”

  “Taking her outside onto the jiteng field where the Rain can fall on her. It’s the only way.”

  They took Shadarii on a blanket, carefully braking the long fall to the ground. The plainsfolk followed in their tracks, crying as openly as anybody else. Tingtraka led the party over to the jiteng field and had Shadarii laid across the grass.

  “Quickly! Sister Mouse, Brother Fish, enchant a sacred circle. Kïtashii, lose your clothes. We need you to dance as you have never danced before! You have to call the Rain, Kïtashii. You have to call the Rain!”

  People ran to do as they were bid. Sister Mouse and Brother Fish quickly danced out the perimeter of a circle while Kïtashii tore away her beads. She ripped Shadarii’s dao from their sheaths and laid them at her feet.

  “Tingtraka, you don’t know the way back!”

  “It doesn’t matter. Don’t you see? It’s everything she’s ever tried to teach us. Love means sacrifice.”

  Kïtashii lifted up the dao and stared into Tingtraka’s eyes.

  “I love you, Tingtraka.”

  “I love you, Kïtashii.”

  The two women clasped each other tight, then Tingtraka broke away and sat at Shadarii’s side. The pilgrim closed her eyes, bowing down to lose herself in gentle meditation.

  Silence fell. The sea people looked expectantly over to Kïtashii as the dancer stood with knives folded across her chest. Beside her, Tingtraka gave a sigh and let her chin fall to her chest. Harïsh hesitantly reached out to find Tingtraka’s pulse. She looked up at Lord Looshii’s eyes in horror.

  “She-she’s dead!”

  Kïtashii drew a breath and ripped the knives across her chest. The tiny savage danced and sobbed, flinging out her arms towards the clouds. The girl ripped again, slicing herself so that pain split through the ïsha. The little girl threw back her head in exultation, tears spilling down to mingle with her blood.

  Harïsh sank to the ground and shook with grief.

  “Dear Rain - she’ll kill herself! She’s only a little girl. She’s losing too much blood!”

  “Then stop her!”

  “I can’t! I don’t understand! Why are they doing this? Why?”

  Kïtashii staggered from the blood loss, and yet still the dance went on. From overhead there came a sudden growl of thunder while Sea-People laboured to work the heart and lungs of Tingtraka’s lolling corpse. Still the Teacher slept and quivered in her dreams.

  Harïsh hung her head and wept. It was a blasphemy! The little Teacher had held such love. Why do this to her? Why couldn’t they let the woman die in peace?

  High above them Mother Rain gave a shout of rage. The sky shivered to the crack of lightning bolts. Mother Rain still had the weapons given her by Fire. She hurtled them into battle with her ancient enemy.

  Shadarii found herself alone in the darkness. She flailed helplessly and wondered where the world had gone, and her thoughts slowly seemed to struggle from a dream.

  “So my child, we meet at last. How sad that all thy adventures should end so soon.”

  A female voice; so sweet, so venomous. The darkness chuckled as it gathered for the kill.

  “Little fool. Did’st thou imagine I would do nothing? I am she that is inside everything, the heart and soul of decay!”

  Shadarii slowly rose to face her enemy.

  ~I cast you out! Get back! You have no power here! I have freed myself from you!~

  “Fool! I am the spirit of corruption. Poison lies within everything. Your own weaknesses have sent you straight into my grasp.”

  The darkness rose up to claim Shadarii’s soul. She gave a sob and knew that she had failed.

  Something bright burst in through the prison walls, swatting in a frenzy at Poison’s claws and somehow flitting from their grasp. A Ka looped and wheeled around Shadarii’s soul, bringing in the smell of leaves and rain. Tingtraka shone to give Shadarii a tiny point of light, and through that crack, the lightning fell into Shadarii’s hands.

  Lightning struck, and suddenly Shadarii bucked to a wild inrush of power. A memory of cleanliness - a love that thundered through her with its power. The darkness shattered as Shadarii suddenly flew free. A scream of hatred faded far behind, and Shadarii took Tingtraka soaring back towards the world, spilling back into her body like a shower of healing rain.

  Shadarii rose up from the ground and spread her arms to the sky. The whole forest seemed ablaze with power as the ïsha poured in through her soul. The bond of Rain and Wind still blessed their children. Shadarii threw up her hands in worship and stared into the eyes of love. The little dancer bowed and wept, power still crackling like sparks across her skin.

  On the ground beside her, Tingtraka opened up her eyes. Kïtashii had collapsed into a puddled filled with her own blood. Shadarii stooped and swept her disciple up into her arms, and wounds disappeared to leave Kïtashii perfect and unblemished. The little dancer stirred and nestled softly in Shadarii’s grasp.

  Harïsh fell down to her knees, too terrified to meet the Shining Lady’s eyes. She dared not give in to the woman’s spell of peace. She needed hate, she needed fury! There were demons to be killed!

  Tingtraka walked slowly forward, the wind still moving through her hair. She glanced into the Silent Lady’s eyes and then turned towards Harïsh.

  “Little healer, the Beloved one thanks you for all that you have done. She says there is much hate and bitterness inside your heart. You must not let your desire for vengeance destroy the good within you.”

  Shadarii came forwards to caress Harïsh’s face. Tingtraka gave a smile.

  “There is still much for thee to live for. The Teacher says the child within your womb will grow strong! It will be a boy. A boy with grey fur and golden eyes.”

  Harïsh let one hand drift down to touch herself in wonder. She looked up and met the Teacher’s eyes of shining green.

  A baby!

  The Silent Lady reached down to take her by the hands.

  “Love to you, golden healer. Return to your family with the blessings of the Rain. We shall all meet again when Silent Lady offers battle to the dark.”

  The Teacher turned and softly wandered off into the leaves. In her footsteps, the forest bloomed with light.

  *You will fight! Finally you will fight! The ordeal was worth everything if the f
inal battle can be won!*

  Starshine shivered in delight, hurtling images of mighty battles through Shadarii’s mind.

  *Together we shall conquer! A perfect world is possible. A perfect peace and perfect order. It needs only thy hand above these little people. The forces of darkness destroyed after three thousand years of battle!*

  Shadarii cradled Kïtashii and combed back her silver hair as the child slept a healing sleep inside her teacher’s arms. Shadarii gazed down at Kïtashii’s face and felt her power grow.

  ~The spirit ‘Serpent’ is allied to my sister. You have known it all along. This has all been for one thing, hasn’t it? You live only to destroy your enemy. You hope to use me as your weapon.~

  *Foolish girl! Use thee? Never! It is a partnership.* Starshine flashed with lights of pride and hate. *Evil must be fought. Thou art the tool that providence has hurtled into my hands. I have devoted my entire existence to wiping Serpent’s evil from the earth. Thou hast been given to me to fulfil my holy mission!*

  Shadarii bit back tears and held Kïtashii to her heart.

  ~Lady Poison spoke the truth. Corruption lies in all of us. You were my temptation. I took the easy path you offered and turned my back upon the way of light.~

  The girl gazed off into the forest depths, then closed her eyes in pain.

  ~My poor poor Zhukora. So brilliant, so mad. I have seen you in my dreams and know our dance must soon come to an end. Did this ‘Serpent’ corrupt your mind, just as Starshine has tried to poison me?~

  *I poison nothing! Serpent must be slain! No price is too high if evil is destroyed.*

  Shadarii stood and turned, feeling the world’s currents flowing through her soul.