"Come on, boss," Bud whined. "We can't just stay in here doing housework for the rest of our lives."
"Besides," Lisa interrupted, a little more politely. "How are you going to recover your memory if all you do is stay at home and weed the plants?"
It had been nearly a month since the attack of the killer pumpkins. For the first week, the twin terrors had been absolute angels, hanging on her every word and doing anything she asked. Then, the realization had sunk in that their 'master' knew less about the world than they did. So, though they still acknowledged her superiority, it was accompanied by a lot more whining.
Ren sighed. "You're probably right. I'm not learning anything around here." She scowled at her plate. "Except maybe how not to cook." Standing up, she opened the shutter and scraped the remains of the meal out the window. "Viri! Breakfast!" she called.
"Mine!" There was a rush of air and the window was briefly obscured by green scales as the little dragon swooped down on what had probably been eggs before Ren got to them. Despite his odd diet of leftovers, he'd more than doubled in size, and Ren had finally kicked him out of her bed and into the barn. He didn't like that, however, and took up roosting in the top of the tree, where he could jump down on unsuspecting visitors. The snake-like creature had no wings, but he flew just fine; Ren tried not to think about that too much, it gave her a headache. Actually, anything involving Viridian gave her a headache.
Ren leaned on the windowsill, watching him eat. 'Mine' indeed. The first word out of the dragon's mouth had been 'Mine', spoken only three days after his hatching, as he ambushed Ren on her way back from a visit to Domina. "Viridian, no!" she had yelled, as the dragon's rapidly increasing weight knocked her to the ground. He had floated up into the air, surprised.
Not as surprised as Ren, however, who hadn't even thought about a name for him yet. It had simply sprung from her lips, and stuck. Viridian he was, and how could he be anything else? Ren tried to convince herself it was because of the color…but a nagging part of her brain told her there was more to it than that.
Since then, every time she looked at the dragon, it made her head hurt.
"Soooooo?" a voice whined from behind her. "Where are going then?"
Bud and Lisa also made her head hurt. Ren pushed away from the window and turned back to the table. "I don't know. Or care. You tell me."
The two looked at each other. "Let's go to the Gato Grottoes," said Lisa, unofficial spokestwin.
"That didn't take long to come up with…" Ren muttered. "You guys have been planning this haven't you."
"No of course not…" said Bud unconvincingly. "They only have the most amazing temple there…"
"…with this flame that never goes out…"
"…and priestesses that move so fast you can't even blink…"
"…and a waterfall where they say you can sometimes still see faeries…"
"…and it's not that far, maybe a day's walk or so…"
"…and we packed enough food for the trip and set it aside just in case you might want to see them some time…"
"I get it! I get it! We'll go to Gato." Ren sighed again.
Bud and Lisa high-fived each other. "Yes!"
They left the house not long after, since the forward-thinking Bud and Lisa had already made preparations, and Ren wasn't really one to dawdle once she'd made up her mind. Or had it made up for her, as the case may be. Whistling to Viridian, she started down the path with the green dragon hovering behind her.
"You're not bringing that thing, are you?" Bud complained.
"He can't stay here by himself," Ren said with a shrug. "Besides, it'll be good for him to get out and see new things. Get him socialized, so he won't keep attacking everyone who comes up the path."
"Yes, instead he can attack everyone we meet in Gato. I don't think that will make a very good impression."
Ren glanced up at the dragon, who contrived to look innocent. "You won't attack anyone in Gato, will you Viri?"
"No…" the dragon agreed, accompanied by the burbling sound that was his form of a giggle.
"See?" Ren continued down the path.
"Oh come on, boss…you don't believe it just like that do you?"
"Him," Ren corrected.
"How can you tell?" Lisa asked. "It just looks like a snake with legs to me," she ducked as the dragon took a swipe at her ponytail. "And the voice is kind of… ambiguous."
"Male!" The dragon hissed, glaring at her and lashing his tail past her nose. Lisa giggled and backed away.
After that, the conversation turned to the various indicators of gender in animals, from which it progressed to a discussion on the differences between males and females in sentient populations, and by the time they made camp it had degenerated into a shouting match between Bud and Lisa over whether boys or girls made better spellcasters. Ren told them to shut up and go to sleep just before the first fireball could be cast, and by morning it was all forgotten.
The next day they reached the city of Gato, a collection of wind-teasing spires and low mushroom-shaped houses clustered about a mountain peak, at the top of which rested a flimsy looking temple. The path had been getting progressively steeper all morning, while the wind tried to blow them off at random intervals, much to Viridian's delight. He gave a happy cry and took off to dance in the eddies above the town. Watching him made Ren dizzy, especially when he started to circle the temple tower, which looked ready to fall over any minute. "How does it stay up?" she asked, leaning against the wall of a small house.
"Magic!" said Bud. "Can we go see?"
Ren sighed. "Aren't you tired at all?"
"Nope!" Lisa bounced around excitedly. "Let's go!" She began running up the street, with Bud right behind her. Ren shook her head and started to follow them, only to find the path blocked by a three foot tall rubber plant.
At least, that's what it looked like, but it was vaguely humanoid as well. It had leaf covered arms, and leaf like feet, and leaves covering its head. As she peered closer she could see that it even had eyes, sort of, in a pale face. They seemed stuck on, like glass ones on a doll. As she watched, the lower part of the face cracked open into a wide smile. The whole effect was very disturbing.
Ren realized she was staring and decided to simply walk past the thing, it wasn't very polite to keep looking like that. Perhaps walking doll-plants were common in these parts. As she neared it, though, it turned towards her.
"Hi!" it said in a squeaky, childish voice. Ren stopped.
"Er…hello," she said. The plant didn't respond; it just stood there, staring up at her with those wide unblinking eyes and grinning. "Anyway," Ren muttered, and started to continue on.
"I'm a sproutling!" the sproutling said. Ren sighed and turned back to it. "That's very nice. Are you selling something?" she asked, unable to think of any other reason it would be standing in the road talking to random passersby.
The sproutling tilted its head back and forth a few times. "No. Unless you want to buy a popo bug. I think I have one around here somewhere…" It started to rummage among its leaves.
"Eww! That's gross! Stop it!" Ren waved her hands frantically. "I don't want anything that comes out of there!"
"You don't?" The sproutling let the leaves fall, looking disappointed. "I thought everyone did. My brother's always getting chased for his."
"Your brother?" Ren looked around. "Are there more of you around here?"
"Around here?" The sproutling looked in all the same directions. "'Around here' doesn't matter. We're all connected." It sidled closer, gazing at Ren. Then it reached up as far as it could and poked her lightly in the stomach.
A vision like a wave overtook Ren. Suddenly it was like she was seeing from thousands of eyes. Sproutling eyes, with strange colors and shapes where normal things were supposed to be, past and present and future all at once, in a nauseating blend of movement and circumstance that swirled the whole world together into a mad artist's palette. She choked and dropped to her knees.
"All connected." The sproutling said again, grinning happily.
"Hey!" Lisa suddenly came running up. "What're you doing!" She shooed the sproutling away with her broom. It scampered off, chasing a butterfly, apparently having forgotten what it was saying a moment before. "Argh, those things are everywhere! What happened? Did you trip on it?"
Ren got slowly to her feet. "No, no, I just got dizzy suddenly. I wonder if it's the height…" A nervous whining sound came from overhead; Ren looked up to see a vague greenish mass filling the sky. A dragon larger than the mushroom houses was descending, talons bared and blue flame spurting from its jaws. Ren shrieked and covered her head, but nothing happened. A soft weight pressed against her. She looked down.
"Ren?" Viridian pushed his head against her leg again. "Okay?"
Ren blinked rapidly. "Viri?" She looked up at the sky then back down at the little dragon. "Where did the big one go?"
"The big one of what?" Lisa asked, confused.
"The…dragon…" Ren rubbed at her eyes. It must have just been leftover strangeness from the sproutling vision. She reached down and gave Viridian a pat on the head. "It's okay, it was nothing." The little dragon looked comforted and floated up into the air again, hovering just over her head.
Lisa continued to look concerned for a moment, but shrugged it off. "Anyway, Bud's gone up to the temple, but I saw you fall over and came back to help. He's probably there by now."
Ren nodded, and the small movement seemed to clear her head the rest of the way. "All right."
At the gates of the temple they quickly found Bud, standing in front of a familiar looking sandy-caped man.
"So," he was saying. "Are you a priest? Or maybe a temple guard?"
The man looked like he'd like nothing better than to get away, but Bud was remarkably good at blocking exits for one so short.
"Oh!" Suddenly the image clicked, and Ren ran forward. "Bud, leave off!"
The man looked up. "Ren, wasn't it?" He eyed the dragon over her head suspiciously; Viridian was making little growling noises in his throat. "Is that yours?"
"Viri, quiet," Ren said without looking. The dragon whined and flew upward again, aiming for the temple tower. "Hello again, El…" she stopped, fishing in her memory. "…can I call you El?"
He blinked, once. "No. What's wrong with my name?"
Ren thought harder, but still drew a blank. "Names with more than two syllables confuse me," she hazarded.
"You've forgotten it, haven't you."
"No, no, I just like to keep things simple…"
" 'Elazul' is simple. You managed it just fine before."
"Right…right…Elazul. I knew that."
Elazul looked skeptically at her.
Ren looked around for a subject change and her eyes fell on the twins. "So anyway…these are my new apprentices, Lisa and…"
"I'm Bud, the magnificent! Up and coming master magician," said Bud, from all of his four foot height. He stopped to consider Elazul for a moment. "Got it! You must be that Jumi the boss was talking about!"
Elazul shot a glare at Ren, who blinked. "Did I mention it?" she said, staring off into the distance. "Hmm, I don't remember…"
"You're just making things up now," he muttered. "I really wish you wouldn't spread it around, there could be..."
"So," Ren interrupted. "Speaking of Ju…er, juniors…where's Pearl?"
This time it was Elazul's turn to look embarrassed. "How come you remember her name?" he said, obviously avoiding answering.
"It only has one syllable." Ren grinned. "Really, where is she?"
"In there." Elazul pointed at the temple. "I think."
"You think?"
"Yes."
"Going to explain?"
"I wasn't planning on it."
"I think we've had this conversation already," Ren said slyly.
"I can't believe you're quoting me and you couldn't even remember my name." Elazul sighed. "Fine." He looked around, but Bud and Lisa had run up to the temple doors to interrogate the priestess standing guard there. "Pearl and I were staying at the inn here, and when I woke up this morning, she was gone. Just like that. I tried to track her with my…" He paused. "Did you ask anyone about Jumi after all?"
"Yeah, Rachel told me a bit, and Bud and Lisa know everything…or think they do. They were saying something about knights and guardians and whatnot, but I was busy trying to get Viri out of the chimney so I don't remember exactly…"
Elazul shook his head. "Nevermind. Anyway, I got a sense of her to the north, but then the wind started acting up and I can't feel her anymore. But, the only things north of here are the temple, and further up, the waterfall, so…"
"Well let's go inside then! What are you standing out here for?" Ren started to run up the path.
"I already tried…" Elazul sighed again and followed her.
"Usually the flame would be on display, but lately the wind's been acting up so much, we've had to keep the room boarded up to keep it from blowing out," the priestess at the doors was telling the twins as Ren and Elazul walked up. Lisa turned to them, looking distraught.
"She says we can't come in," she whined. "Not only do they have to keep the holy flame locked up to keep it from blowing out in the wind, they've heard rumors that someone's trying to steal it…so no one's allowed in the temple at all."
"I told you," said Elazul.
"How do you steal a fire?" asked Ren, ignoring him. "I mean, do you just stick a torch in it and carry it out?"
The twins fidgeted. "How boring. After we came all this way too!" Bud sighed.
"Well…I'm sure they'll work it out soon, won't they?" Lisa looked hopefully at the doorkeeper, who smiled sadly.
"Maybe. I'm sorry about this."
"Argh, fine!" Bud turned and ran back down the path. "Come on Lisa, let's see if they have any rare reagents in the shops here!"
The priestess watched them scamper off. Then she turned to Elazul. "I already told you, sir. You can't come in, and I'm certain your friend couldn't be in here either. The temple's been closed to visitors for two days, and there are always guards posted."
"I know, I heard you." Elazul started to walk away again.
"Wait a minute!" Ren called after him. "You said the waterfall was north of here too? Could she have gone there?"
Elazul looked up at the mountain, laced with paths and riddled with holes. "Normally I would say no, but…" The rest of his sentence was lost as the great temple doors began to creak open. Everyone in front of them backed up quickly.
Three people emerged from the temple; a man with fire-red hair and two veiled priestesses. "Rubens!" The doorkeeper exclaimed. "What's going on?"
The red-haired man turned to her. "Judging from its direction most of the time, we think the wind disturbance is coming from the waterfall, so we're going to check…" He paused, his eyes falling on the group of visitors. "I'm afraid the temple will remain closed for some time more, I apologize for any inconvenience." He started towards the gates with the priestesses trailing him.
"Rubens!" Elazul suddenly stepped forward. The other man turned. "That's your name, right?"
"Yes…"
"Take me with you. I think a…friend of mine might have gotten lost on those paths. I need to find her quickly."
Rubens looked perplexed. "A friend? We will keep an eye out for her, certainly, but there are many paths up the mountain, it would be best if you took a different route…" He stopped again, staring harder at Elazul. "Ah. So that's the way it is. Perhaps you'd better come with us after all."
Ren looked from Elazul to Rubens and back to Elazul, with the strange feeling she was missing something. Then she shrugged. "Whatever. We'd better get going then!"
"Why are you coming?" Elazul glared at her.
"I like Pearl! Why shouldn't I want to help?"
"You only met her the once!"
"Unlike some people, Pearl made a good impression the first time around." Ren turned away from him before he could respond to that, and smiled at Rubens instead. "You don't mind, do you? I have nothing else to do down here."
"This isn't a guided tour…" he said. "There could be anything up there." He noticed the swords hanging from her belt, then looked up questioningly.
"She's decent," Elazul said, grudgingly.
"Aw, thanks, El! I didn't think you noticed!"
"It's Elazul!" The Jumi sighed. "You didn't forget already did you?"
The trek up proved less eventful than Ren had thought it would be. There were very few wild animals, and most of them ran away without stopping to pick a fight.
"It's the wind," Rubens said, after the hundredth gust tried to knock them back down the mountain. "There's been an increase in monster attacks lately, but most of them are flying types and have too much trouble maneuvering in this."
"We're having trouble maneuvering in this too!" One of the priestesses exclaimed. "Maybe we should look for another way."
"No," the other priestess said forcefully. "We're almost there!" She reached out to help the first, but tripped and stumbled into her instead, sending both sprawling on the path.
"Ow!" The first priestess gasped. "My leg!" The rest of the group hurried back to help. "I think I've sprained something."
Rubens helped the fallen woman up, while Ren and Elazul blocked the wind as best they could. "No good," he said finally. "She can't make it up like this."
"Or back down, either," Elazul pointed out. "Not with the wind this way. I think it's getting worse."
Rubens nodded, then helped the limping priestess over to a large rock. "You can shelter from the wind here. We'll continue and get rid of whatever's causing it. Then we can help you back down."
The woman nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it! We've got extra help anyway," he gestured at Ren and Elazul, then stood and walked back up to them, with the second priestess behind him. "Let's keep going, the top of the falls is just around that bend."
As the small group finally rounded that bend, the path widened, forming a ledge jutting out from the side of the mountain. Above them, a short but wide waterfall poured from a higher ledge into a small pond at their feet, surrounded by hardy bushes, moss and even some small trees. From there it tumbled haphazardly over the stones to the cliff's edge, and fell thousands of feet towards a mist-shrouded valley below.
Or would have fallen, if the wind wasn't whipping the whole stream into fine spray, flinging it back up into the faces of the climbers.
"Why, look at that view! I think is what a good tourist is supposed to say at a time like this," Ren yelled over the roar of the wind and the falls.
"What view?" shouted Elazul, shielding his face with one hand. "I can't see a thing!"
Help me!
Ren spun around, looking in the direction the voice had come from. There, above the rock pool, a shape was forming, misty and unclear.
Help me! She's done something to the water, to the air! I can't control the…
"Who is?" Ren ran forward, but the spirit that had been forming flickered madly.
I can't…can't stop, there's nothing to do but…let go…catch me!
The spirit shattered, all at once, fine droplets spraying outward, mostly towards Ren. She threw a hand up in front of her face, but all she felt was a light breeze and a voice in her ear.
Thank you for coming. I almost lost myself… The voice faded.
"Argh! Not again!" Ren complained. Her own voice echoed unnaturally loud, and she looked around, surprised. The wind had stopped. The falls dropped undisturbed down into the valley, the stream bubbling happily but quietly along. Elazul, Rubens and the priestess were all staring at her.
"What did you do?" Rubens asked, stepping over to the top of the falls and peering down. "It's completely stilled, just like that!"
"Ah, I…don't know."
"You don't know?" Elazul threw up his hands in mock disbelief. "I'm shocked."
"It worked didn't it?" Ren snapped at him, and turned to Rubens instead. "He's just mad that I forgot his name. Anyway, there was a ghost…no, a spirit I guess. It said something about…someone doing something to the waterfall."
"That's specific," muttered Elazul, but Rubens frowned and walked over to the pond. He spread his hands in front of him, towards the smaller falls, and seemed to be concentrating. The others gathered around, watching him closely. Ren thought there was something familiar in the look on the red-haired man's face…
"You're a Jumi!" Elazul exclaimed suddenly.
Rubens looked back at him with a puzzled expression. "Yes, I thought you could tell right away."
"I…I think I detected you earlier, but then the wind was interfering with my core."
"A mere wind spirit? Interfering?" Rubens looked surprised. Then his face softened, though now he looked even more puzzled. "You're young, aren't you? Who…" he started, then hesitated, glancing at Ren as if reluctant to continue while she was listening.
Ren glanced at Elazul in turn, who was glaring at Rubens. "Yes, well…at least I'm out doing things, young or not, instead of holed up in that temple hiding from the world! How long have you been in there? If you're a Jumi, why aren't you out helping? Our people are…" he hesitated too, looking at Ren and the priestess.
"By all means, keep shouting," Ren said, making encouraging motions with her hands. "I'm fascinated."
"Our people?" The priestess asked softly from behind Rubens. "So…he's a Jumi too?"
Elazul glanced at her warily. "You have a problem with it?"
"No!" A strange light lit up the priestess' eyes above her veil. "I think that's wonderful."
Ren peered at her, she didn't like those eyes. "Elazul! Something's…."
"Oh well." The priestess leapt towards Rubens, arms wrapped around his shoulders, almost as if caressing him, but one hand held a sharp looking knife. "Don't either of you move." Ren froze and saw Elazul do the same.
"What are you doing?" he cried.
"Don't look so anxious, you're next." She tilted her head down next to Rubens' ear. "Goodbye, ruby knight," she purred. Her hands flashed close to his throat and came back holding a red jewel.
"No!" Elazul leapt forward, drawing his sword. The priestess shoved Rubens' collapsing body at him and leapt back as he stumbled to catch it. Ren ran up, drawing her own weapons just as he was easing the dying Jumi to the ground.
"How could you?" she yelled. "What did he do to you?"
"Nothing," the woman said in a light voice. "I've simply been planning this for ages. Ever since I found out he was holed up in the temple here. I had to get him out of the temple, that place is so strongly warded there's no point in trying anything there. So I came up here and poisoned the wind spirit…an easy enough task the way spirits are these days…and he came right out like a moth to the flame. Beautiful, if I don't say so myself."
"You…" Elazul stood up and advanced towards her.
"And then," the woman continued, ignoring him. "I was a little frustrated that he decided to bring all this unnecessary help along, but when I found out he was actually providing me with a second core…!" She spun suddenly toward Elazul, who almost didn't get his sword up in time.
"She's fast!" he shouted at Ren, who circled around the woman's back while Elazul grappled with her. Flanked, the fake priestess hissed and leapt away before Ren could close, only to find herself on the edge of the cliff. She shot a disgusted glare at them both.
Ren started to charge forward again, but the woman only laughed and fell backwards off the cliff. As her opponents watched in amazement, her priestess robes fell away and a parachute opened gracefully around her. Catching an updraft from the valley below, she was quickly whipped around the side of the mountain and out of sight.
"Damn," Elazul swore, then his eyes widened and he ran quickly back to where Rubens lay.
"Can't we do something?" Ren whispered, kneeling by the dying man's side. Elazul shook his head.
"There's nothing."
"Elazul…" Rubens' voice was faint, but still audible. "Lapis knight, are you not?"
"Yes."
"I…I've failed in my duty as a knight, I abandoned my people, even my own guardian, and came here. I took shelter in the temple, deluded myself into thinking that I was protecting it, that I'd found another cause to fight for… I thought there was no hope for us... but you… you may well be the youngest Jumi left, and you're fighting…"
"Of course," Elazul said simply. "What else is there to do?"
"Roll over and die… that's what they want..." Rubens smiled weakly. "You must stop her… she's…"
"She's what? Rubens?"
The ruby knight shook his head, slowly, and his body began to fade, breaking into particles of blue light and dissipating into the air. Elazul stood staring at the empty space for a moment, then turned and slammed one fist into a scraggly tree with a frustrated yell, leaning against it.
Ren couldn't look at him. She sat staring at the ground. "Rachel was right," she whispered. "People really do…she just…tore it out like it was nothing, and he…he's gone just like that…she was so fast, I didn't even have a chance…" She shoved herself to her feet, standing unsteadily, unsure of where to go. "I think I'm going to be sick," she said, and stumbled over to the water's edge.
After a while, her stomach calmed and she looked up, only to find Elazul staring at her. She reached up and wiped at her face, where the ever present mist from the falls was collecting again. "I'm sorry," she said finally. "I couldn't do anything."
"You…?" Elazul shook his head. "It was none of your business to begin with! I should have done something. I should have noticed something! Why are you so broken up about it?"
"What?" Ren leapt to her feet. "Rubens was a good person, I could tell! I know we only just met him today, but that's no reason not to care. That… that… murderer didn't care. She just waltzed in and killed him, and would have done the same to you, and you're standing there telling me I shouldn't care? What is wrong with you?"
Elazul took a step backwards, looking confused. "That's… it's just that… it's not a good idea for other people to get involved," he finished lamely. "Usually, they don't want to get involved. Nobody wants to fight for a lost cause."
"Maybe you just never bothered to ask," Ren snapped, and regretted it immediately. She looked away, out over the valley.
"Why ask, when everyone seems to be an enemy?" Elazul said in a low tone. "You never know who you might be asking."
Ren watched the mists swirl in the valley. For a moment, she thought she saw a strange looking building down there, but it disappeared before she could be sure. "Has it always been like this?" she said finally. "For your people, I mean."
Elazul shrugged. "More or less. No, that's not true. Recently... there have never been many of us, but since I started looking for others, it seems like they've all just dropped off the face of Fa'Diel. I've heard nothing but horror stories. I think it's more than just collectors and people with strange interests this time. I think someone is actively hunting us. Very quickly."
"That person?" Ren waved a hand at the cliff edge.
"Maybe." Elazul shrugged again. "Maybe more than one. I don't know."
They were silent for a moment, then Ren spoke again, hesitantly. "El…" she started. "That is, Elazul! Sorry, sorry…if there's a Jumi hunter in this area, shouldn't we be looking for…"
Elazul nodded, but he didn't explode like she'd half been expecting him to. "I've been trying to sense her but…" He laid a hand over his core. "I can't feel anything. I think this area is too…muddled with Rubens' death."
"Then let's go back to town! We'd better pick up that other priestess too, and tell her…what happened."
Elazul grimaced. "I'm not looking forward to explaining this."
