Silver: Part Three by ashberrie |  |
Hours later we were still walking. I kept catching sparkles
at the edges of my vision. When I mentioned this to my Kougra, she told me that
the faeries were following us. This did nothing to settle my apprehension. I
kept expecting to see Balthazar rise up out of the shrubbery again. Korrinea
seemed preoccupied. She had wanted to lead this morning -- she told me that
animals have a better sense of direction than humans. I rolled my eyes, but
since I'm personally a bit 'locationally impaired', I couldn't argue. Still,
I had my doubts about her orientation more than once.
"I may be wrong here, Korri, but I think the
jungle is getting thicker, not thinner."
"Trust me," she replied absently.
The forest soon grew even denser, but somehow
there were never any trees or undergrowth directly in our path. Now that I thought
about it, the trees looked different, too. Something about the pattern of the
bark, the lightness of the leaves, the swaying of the branches that gave me
a surreal feeling. Swaying of the branches -- wait a second, there wasn't a
breath of wind. And yet the leaves whispered and rustled as we passed.
Evening was coming on, and Korrinea was really
sparkly now. She was walking with a strange grace, too -- a regal step that
I had never seen before. I felt suddenly as if I didn't really belong in this
picture, like a spectator who was only allowed to watch at all because she loved
the heroine. Trees rose tall and slender on either side of the path, making
a long aisle. They reminded me of people standing to watch the bride walk to
the altar. Suddenly I was afraid, and wanted to yell, "What the heck is going
on?" and make everything go back to normal. I felt our lives changing, and I
hate change, but I was helpless in front of this deafening silence over the
whole wood.
At the end of the path was what I can only describe
as a doorway. Two smooth skinned grey trees rose to intertwine their branches
in an arch overhead, and two vines with silver thorns and white rosebuds curled
about them. Three roses burst into bloom as Korri walked under the arch.
The ground trembled, and the world changed. For
a moment, in a flash of consciousness, I heard the trees singing, felt the moss
growing like stars, tasted what air was made of, saw the souls of everything
around me, and in a moment it was all gone, leaving me only with the soft scent
of newly opened roses. I caught my breath sharply with the vertigo.
Korri turned and I saw her face for the first
time almost all day.
It looked unimaginably wistful as she turned
to meet my eyes. She gave me a sad smile and went on, saying nothing. I think
a spell of silence was over the whole place- I had a sense that to speak would
be sacrilege.
In the midst of the clearing rose a great tree,
all gleaming grey. Its beauty took my breath away. It was as ancient as time,
as young as a star that will be born tomorrow. It was as purely good as perfect
union, as evil as separation. Think of every opposite idea imaginable, and it
was all of these. It brought to mind the great tree of Eden at my own world's
birth, and the white tree of Valinor in Middle Earth, and Susan Cooper's tree
at the end of all wars between Light and Darkness.
Its branches had seemed as barren as winter,
but as Korrinea entered the clearing it trembled, as if waking from a long dream.
Its branches rose, it seemed, in astonishment. She walked toward the tree as
if mesmerized. I paused uncertainly at the edge of the glade, and I felt it
call me too.
I went and knelt next to Korri. She lifted a
silver paw and placed it on the shining bark. I covered it with my hand. We
closed our eyes and suddenly I was swirling through her memory. Pictures blurred
by- her first quest, talking late at night, Christmas, her adoption.
A grey curtain seemed to lift, and I was watching
a silver Kougra, much like Korrinea, but older and gentler, licking a tiny cub.
She went to find food. The tree dipped a branch to tickle the baby fondly. A
Reptilior entered and slithered up to the cub. Just as it struck the mother
came, summoned by the tree's frantic calls. The fangs hit the great Kougra instead
of its small target. She collapsed. Grief flooded the jungle. Faeries came,
and a staff member cuddled the cub and whispered, "When the time comes, you
will remember... remember... remember..."
Tears ran down our faces as the echoes faded
away. I sunk down against the tree and gathered my pet into my lap and rocked
her like a kitten. We fell asleep, holding each other on the soft moss, exhausted
with living.
To be continued...
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