“And conceals the fact that some of your sight has been restored.”
“That too.” Lee paused. “Who sits at the gong—the Shaman or the man?”
Danyal set the mallet beside the gong. “Is there a difference?”
“Not always. Probably not often. But sometimes there is.”
“I don’t know. Shaman or man, today my heart is equally troubled.”
“My uncles haven’t been around lately. I’ve been focused on Zhahar and her sisters, so that didn’t occur to me until I was walking over here.”
Danyal hesitated. “I thought it best that they were no longer able to see the Asylum.”
“And in the city of Vision, you can find only what you can see,” Lee said softly. “Is that how it works here? Even if the eyes are in alignment with the heart, if the Shamans decide something shouldn’t be found it won’t be?”
“We aren’t petty tyrants who play with people’s lives,” Danyal snapped as he rose. “We have a saying: let your heart travel lightly.”
“Because what you bring with you becomes part of the landscape,” Lee finished. “I know the Heart’s Blessing.”
He walked over to the peg where his robe hung. He reached for the robe, then let his hand drop. “You’re not a Shaman, but you sound as if you had studied at The Temples.”
“Different school, but some of the teachings seem to be common among those who help the world maintain its balance.”
“And the stones? What are they supposed to do?”
“Two things. One, a holy man I know uses stones as receptacles of sorrow. You carry the stone with you for a day, telling it all your sorrows, then it’s cleansed with water to wash the sorrow away. Basically the same thing you do with the gongs, but since Vito is focused on working with the land, I thought that might be a good tool for him.”
It would be, Danyal thought. He could think of a couple of other inmates who might benefit from that kind of cleansing. “What’s the second thing?”
“I wanted to confirm that you had the kind of connection to the world that could make the stones,” Lee replied.
Danyal stared at Lee. “You were testing me? Me? A Shaman?”
Lee shrugged. “Where I come from, there are seven levels of Landscapers. Most of them, even the ones at the seventh level, don’t have the kind of connection that can reshape the world in specific ways, or make something new. My sister can. So can the Magician. I don’t know how you compare with other Shamans, but I wondered if you might also be a Guide.”
Danyal snatched his robe off the peg and shoved his arms into it. “And what happens when Vito finds no stones?”
“Were you sincere when you asked Ephemera to make them?”
The question unnerved him enough to snap, “Let’s go.” He took a firm grip on Lee’s arm and led him out of the temple.
“Where?”
He didn’t know. Before he could decide, Vito ran up to them.
“Shaman, look! I found these while I was weeding!”
An agate, a quartz, and a jade.
His grip on Lee’s arm tightened to help him maintain his own balance.
“Let’s see those.” After tucking his cane under his arm, Lee held out a hand. He rubbed his thumb over the stones Vito dropped in his hand and nodded. “Yes, these are good. Take one back. Put it in your pocket. Whenever you feel doubtful or sad, hold the stone for a few moments and let the stone absorb those feelings.”
“All right,” Vito said. “I will.”
“Well done,” Danyal said, smiling.
“Thank you, Shaman. Thank you.” Vito bobbed his head. “I’d best get back to my work.”
Lee slipped the other two stones into his pocket. “Guess that answers the question about you being a Guide.” He turned his head to look at Danyal. “Which means you need to be more careful than the other Shamans from now on, because you’re the enemy the Dark Guide has to destroy if he’s going to take control of the city.”
“Because I spoke the names of some common stones and Vito happened to find them while weeding?” Danyal snorted. “What does that prove?”
“Besides the fact that you’re getting stubborn about accepting the possibility because you’re afraid it’s true?” Lee replied. “All right. If the stones could have been in the garden already, how about trying for something more exotic? Like a precious gemstone you wouldn’t find in the garden.”
???
The ground felt…strange, and he had the odd sensation that a large, friendly cat was rubbing against his legs—and that made Danyal reckless. “What should I ask for? A ruby the size of my thumbnail?”
Phhhhhtttt
Dirt shot up like a tiny geyser next to his foot. Moments later, in the small crater formed by the shifted dirt…
“Is it pretty?” Lee asked.
Danyal picked up the stone. Rough, to be sure, but still recognizable as a ruby. His hand shook. “I began my formal training as a Shaman twenty-five years ago, when I was sixteen. This has never happened before.”
“A dormant ability that woke up because you need it now,” Lee said. “Or it’s something you’ve always had and used, but it’s more apparent now.”
Always different from the other youngsters who were training at The Temples. Always different from the other Shamans. And always restless because of the difference that both intrigued and worried his teachers.
Danyal slipped the ruby into his trouser pocket. “I’ll have to be more careful with my words.”
Lee nodded. “You’ve become one of Ephemera’s Guides. You’ll have to learn how to tell it when it’s not supposed to listen.”
!!!
Another geyser of dirt, this one lasting a bit longer. When the world finished expressing its opinion, Danyal picked up the gold pocket watch and handed it to Lee. “I think this is yours.”
Lee rubbed a thumb over the watch and sighed. But he slipped it into his pocket.
“Pocket watches have been showing up in the gardens since you arrived,” Danyal said. “What do they mean?”
Lee shook his head, then said, “You never told me what happens to the sorrow. Your gongs draw it out of people’s hearts, but you never said where it goes.”
As Lee spoke the words, the first fat drops of rain began to fall.
Finally something in this day made Danyal smile. “Sorrow is drawn up into the sky and is transformed into the world’s tears, which cleanse as well as nourish.”
It was late afternoon the next day when Vito pressed the last piece of jade into Lee’s hand.
“That’s all of them the Shaman said I would find,” Vito said anxiously.
“That’s fine.” They were standing at the edge of the open space where inmates were allowed to wander on their own. “Vito, be sure you want to do this. I can’t promise that you’ll find what you seek. I can’t tell you that the place you’re going to will have people who speak a language you understand. I can’t tell you there won’t be demons there unlike anything you’ve seen before. I can’t tell you what you’ll find. I can tell you only that what you find, for good or ill, will be a place that resonates with your heart.”
“I know. That’s why you wanted me to do the heart cleansing with the stone. And I did do it, Lee, and I threw the stone in the creek just as you said to do.”
“All right. You’ll need to bring some water with you and a little food, in case you don’t meet up with anyone right away.”
“And my other change of clothes. I’ve already got it, Lee. Can’t you see— Oh. Guess you can’t.”
Nothing more I can do for him except what I’d promised.
Lee closed his hand over the jade, letting his power flow into the stone. A one-shot resonating bridge. One chance for a man who didn’t know about such things to find a piece of the world he’d seen for a few hours.
When the resonating bridge was ready, he wrapped the stone in one of the squares of cloth he’d wheedled out of Kobrah—with Zhahar’s help.
??
?Slip away,” Lee said. “Get out of sight. When you’re alone, unwrap this stone and hold it in your hand. The magic in it might tingle or feel warm.”
“Then what do I do?”
He handed the wrapped stone to Vito. “Walk forward. The magic will take you, and between one step and the next, you’ll find yourself in another place.” He hesitated, wondering if there was anything more he could say. “Let your heart travel lightly. May it guide you home.”
“Travel lightly,” Vito replied.
The wind shifted, and Lee caught a whiff of stinkweed. “Get moving.”
Vito darted away.
He turned and began tap-tapping his way back to the inmates’ residence. He hadn’t gone far when Teeko called to him.
“Was that Vito?” Teeko asked.
“Where? I didn’t see anyone.”
Teeko didn’t reply for a moment, and Lee wondered if the man was still pondering his answer.
“There’s been some talk about these stones Vito was finding for you,” Teeko finally said. “There’s a rumor that there’s some kind of dark magic in them that makes people disappear.”
“Dark magic that makes people disappear?” Lee pulled one of the stones out of his pocket and tossed it to Teeko. “See for yourself.”
Teeko let out a fearful cry and jumped back.
Ah, Teeko. Danyal may have shut the wizards out of the Asylum, but they still had eyes and ears inside. Nothing he could prove to anyone else, of course. But that whiff of stinkweed was proof enough for him.
That and Teeko’s belief that the stones held dark magic, letting fear turn something that could help some of the people here into something terrible.
Danyal was already feeling unsettled, so Lee decided to wait for a better time to broach the possibility that Teeko was spying on them all for the wizards and, in turn, the Dark Guide. And, in truth, what he’d just done wasn’t going to help things settle down anytime soon.
“It’s just a stone,” Lee said. “In another part of the world, people use them like the Shaman uses the gongs—as a way to release unhappy thoughts and feelings. The only magic it has is the belief that the stone can hold a person’s sorrows, and the magic is only as strong as the belief. I’m sorry I scared you just now. I hadn’t realized you actually believed the rumors.”
“I don’t,” Teeko said hurriedly. “Just caught me by surprise is all.” He paused. “You heading back to the residence?”
“Yes.” Lee shaded his voice with uncertainty. “This is the right path, isn’t it?”
“Sure it is. Sure. You’re fine.”
“Thanks, Teeko.”
He tapped his way past the groundskeeper and walked steadily to the residence. He stopped at the men’s personal area to use the toilet and splash some cool water on his face. Then he settled on the porch in the chair that was under his window.
“Lee?” Zhahar’s voice at the window.
“Are you all right?”
“We’re fine. Kobrah is going to help us move our things to the room Shaman Danyal gave us, so you’ll have your room to yourself again.”
He sighed dramatically. “Just when you were feeling well enough to snuggle.” The startled silence made him smile. “Are you going to dream about me tonight, Zhahar?”
“Don’t you want Sholeh and Zeela to dream about you too?”
That pulled a laugh out of him. “No. At least not those kinds of dreams.”
“Oh.” Another silence. “Oh.”
He heard a rap on the door, followed by Kobrah’s voice.
It wouldn’t have been a good night for a snuggle—still too damn hot, despite yesterday’s rain—but it would give her something else to think about.
When Vito didn’t show up for the evening meal, the Handlers and Helpers spread out and searched the grounds. The Asylum covered acres of land, including its own small farm, but the area available to the inmates was fenced in and not that large.
They searched carefully, thoroughly, until full dark, and the only thing they found was a scrap of cloth on one of the paths leading to the more secluded areas where inmates weren’t supposed to go without a Handler being present.
Lee remained on the porch until last call, then made his way to his room—where he found Danyal waiting for him.
Danyal followed him into the room and closed the door. “Where is Vito?”
Lee removed his dark glasses and set them on top of the dresser. Then he turned and looked at the Shaman. There was no light in the room except from the lamps on the porch, so he figured they could see each other equally well. And he figured it was equally important not to hide his eyes right now.
“Where is Vito?” Danyal asked again.
“He went home,” Lee replied softly.
During the next few days, inmates were allowed free movement only on the porch and in their rooms. No one was permitted to visit the temple or walk around the grounds without a Handler or Helper as escort. At night, all inmates were locked in their rooms as a precaution.
Despite that diligence, three more inmates—people whose troubled hearts had brought them to the Asylum—disappeared from their locked rooms. Since none of them had friends or family listed in their records, Danyal made a notation in their files and said nothing.
Lee sat on the porch chair day after day with one of the Handlers always nearby, and also said nothing.
Danyal,
My heart is heavy with sorrow as I send you this news. The darkness has spread to the center of Vision. Two Shamans were killed—murdered—in the bazaar yesterday. Within hours of the deaths, storms savaged the heart of our city, flooding the streets. Lightning struck some houses and set them on fire. They burned out of control, despite the rain. Crops in the central community are ruined, and all the wells are fouled. By morning the storm was over, but the turmoil in people’s hearts has not diminished as they struggle to take care of their families. The people need us, and some of us will go out to give what help we can. But the council has decided to remove The Temples from sight until we find a way to face this enemy who is changing the city and its people.
The bazaar is closing for a week as a mourning period for the dead—both the Shamans and the people who died in the storm. There is speculation that the bazaar will not open again. As one of Vision’s gems, it brings ships from other lands to our ports. It is rumored that those ships, and their contact with distant places, are the reason this plague walks among us. Our city is vast, but it is also finite. If people begin to fear outsiders so much that we lose our connection with others now, I’m afraid we might not be seen again.
Travel lightly, Danyal, but please travel with speed to find an answer.
Farzeen
Chapter 18
Danyal folded the letter, set it in the desk drawer with his other private papers, and locked the drawer. Then he closed his eyes and let the pain flow through him.
Shamans murdered. The bazaar closed. Crops ruined.
Had he done too little to find the answers the Shamans needed to deal with this enemy that was creeping through the city? Lee hadn’t been as much help as he’d hoped. Oh, the man answered any question he asked, but had he been asking the right questions? Or was Lee acting like a Shaman and waiting for Danyal’s heart to come into alignment so that he could see?
“I see well enough,” he muttered as he left his office.
He spotted Lee coming out of the Handlers’ dining hall with Sholeh, who seemed happy and animated—and then cringed at whatever she saw in his face. Even Nik and Denys took a step back as he approached.
“What…?” Lee began.
Danyal grabbed his arm. “Walk with me.”
“I promised to tell Sholeh about demon cycles before Zhahar started work.”
“Walk with me.”
After a couple of stumbling steps, Lee found his stride. Danyal took them outside and kept moving swiftly until they were halfway to the temple. Then he slowed and released Lee’s arm.
“If you wer
e trying to prove that Shamans aren’t always patient and kind, I’d say you made your point,” Lee grumbled. “And since I’m pretty sure you scared Sholeh, you should count yourself lucky that Zeela is still recovering from that knife wound.”
“Your banter isn’t appreciated today,” Danyal snapped.
Lee stopped walking. “What’s different about today?”
Danyal turned to face him. “Two Shamans were murdered at the bazaar that borders The Temples.”
“I’m sorry,” Lee said. “Were they friends of yours?”
Grief burned in his chest. “They were two of the people who provide voice and balance to this part of the world. Does it matter if I knew them?”
“No, it doesn’t. After I completed my training, I didn’t have much contact with other Bridges, but when the Eater of the World attacked the school and killed so many, I felt the loss.”
“These carriers of darkness came from your part of the world,” Danyal said, striving to make a statement but hearing the accusation.
“The wizards or the Dark Guide found a way to this city before I got here,” Lee replied hotly. “You will not lay that blame on me.”
“You know how to defeat them.”
“Daylight, man! We didn’t even know what they really were until a year ago. Do I know how to defeat them? Yes. Raise an army, hunt them down, and kill them before they kill all of you—if you can.”
Danyal’s voice rose to a shout. “We can’t find them!”
Lee drew in a breath as if he was going to return the shout. Then he breathed out and looked away. “You really have no one who can walk in the dark places?”
“In the shadow places, yes, but the nature of Vision applies to the Shamans as well as other folk. These dark places the wizards have made are like nothing we’ve seen, so we can’t find them. And there is only so much of the city we can keep from their sight.”
Lee sighed. “I’m not a Landscaper, Danyal. I can’t assess the power you have well enough to know if you could remake parts of this city and take them beyond the reach of the rest of the world.”