Chapter 6: Revelation

She pushed him away with her good arm and said, "Lief, she's my half-sister. I can deal with it."

"Oh, so you still think you're in charge of things? Well, look into the crystal ball, and realize you're not any more," she snapped.

Jasmine lowered her head, then raised it after a few seconds of silence, with a look of determination on her face.

" 'What have you been doing, Aradia? Dirtied yourself again?' "Jasmine quoted.

"What are you talking about?" Aradia demanded.

" 'Aradia, are you feeling better now?' "

"What are you trying to do to me?" her voice rose harshly.

" 'Aradia, listen to me. Veata's gone. She's dead! What else do you want from her?' "

"Stop killing me, Jasmine! I plead of you!" The Spirit wavered as she implored helplessly.

" 'Poor Ara. She must be feeling so low, after poor Veata died.' "

"Jasmine! Please, stop!" Aradia begged. Her whole being was surrounded by darkness, and one could only see the gold-white colour of her hair if they looked closely.

" 'Aradia! What are you doing in here?' "

Lief watched in a reverie of part horror and part awe as Aradia faded away, like a pile of ash, provoked by the breeze.

From Jasmine's eyes, there came two tears, which magically became black pearls, dropping themselves into her hands. 'Remember me, Jasmine…' they whispered, both of them filled with memories of Aradia, her half-sister.

"Was she really… your half-sister?" Lief asked softly.

Jasmine nodded. She was too numb for words or tears.

"How?" Lief asked.

"I'll tell you later." She croaked. Lief, finding he was thirsty, took out two skins of water and passed one on to Jasmine.

Changing the subject, he said, "Good idea, using the memories of her – and your – family."

They fell silent, and drank deeply, savouring the taste of the cool, clear spring water.

"Do you need a little treatment on that?" asked Lief, pointing to the arm. It was at a twisted angle, and if he looked closely, he could see a pale patch under her brown skin, showing how much the bone had been twisted.

Grimacing, Jasmine nodded. "I don't know how you will, though."

"All right." Lief wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, then took out a powder from his pack. "This might hurt a bit, so be ready for it. Even after this, you'll have to wear a bandage, because it starts bleeding heavily. I don't know why though," he said, and opening the paper it was wrapped in, he poured the whole thing onto the place where he thought was the broken place.

There was a silent moment, then the powder began magically burrowing under her skin, to target themselves at the internal wound.

Jasmine bit her lip until it bled so she would not scream, and somehow, her good hand found its way to Lief's hand, holding onto it tightly.

Jasmine, dizzy with pain, dimly felt Lief's arms enclose her in a hug to try to relieve some of the pain.

Suddenly worried the powder might not be able to heal Jasmine's arm, he held her even more tightly, praying to the gods that it would.

Suddenly, Jasmine's grip on him relaxed, and she fell back, breathing heavily.

"I am never breaking anything again," she declared, and fell unconscious.

Lief silently started to tear long strips from his clothes where he could spare them to bandage Jasmine's arm.

"I'll go to get the atracaccia," Lief said after Jasmine had woken up, and walked towards the 'grove' of trees. Then, to his surprise, the flowers withered all around him. 'It's probably the power of the Belt and that the Spirit has gone', he thought, and gave an involuntary little shudder at Jasmine's link with her.

Then he realized that the flowers were forming…

Words. In some weird language.

Gnik tnerruc eht fo sdnah eht yb dleh dna dnuof era latsyrc eht fo sretrauq ruof eht fi ro, droL wodahS eht ot decifircas si neeuq tnerruc eht gnidulcni ylimaf layor eht fo rebmem a fi ylno repsorp llahs arotleD.

Lief stared at the words.

"Uhh… Jasmine," he said uncertainly, "I think we have a little problem here…" he trailed off as Jasmine got up shakily to walk over to him, and stared at the symbols.

"Okay… we have more then a little problem. This seems like a prophecy from Aradia, or something similar, so we should try to work it out." Jasmine said after a pause.

"But how?" Lief asked himself, then paused, to find something between the flowers of the first letter. He held it up to the midday sun. "Look, Jasmine," he called.

Jasmine looked, and gasped. "It's a scroll Aradia and I used in the Forests of Silence!" she exclaimed. "I recognize it by the symbol on the paper!"

Lief tried to open it, but the magic binding it was too strong for him to undo, even with the belt.

"Sorry," Jasmine apologized. "A family friend put a magic on it for it to change colour every few seconds, but it somehow went wrong, so only I can open it, now that Aradia's gone." A shadow of grieving passed over her face, and she started to act falsely cheerful. "Come on, let's see what it says!"

She took the scroll from Lief and opened it with a strange incantation in a foreign, lilting language.

The scroll opened, and showed an alphabet of some sort. "I've got it!" Jasmine exclaimed excitedly. "It is the code I used up until just before I found you."

Lief shook his head. "I might be able to translate this. It looks just like a message… I got it!" he said, finding his voice. "Look, it says… 'Deltora shall prosper… only if a member… of the royal… family… – including the… current queen – … is sacrificed …to the Shadow… Lord, or if the four… quarters of the… crystal are found… and held by… the hands… of the current… king.'' He looked up. "Scary."

"Could you write it down, Lief? So that we can remember every bit," Jasmine asked, finding a logical head.

"What have I got to write with?" Lief asked back, rummaging around in his backpack.

Jasmine immediately called to the birds in the same lilting language.

Some birds passing by got the message and flew away, some to return with flat strips of tree bark, some with charcoal, and some with tree gum, to attach the bark together.

"Mercrea," Jasmine called to the birds again. They each squawked a reply in turn, and flew away together.

Lief got to work, sticking the flat pieces of bark together. Jasmine silently took a piece of charcoal, brought from areas unknown, and began to write from raw memory, sometimes pausing to think.

They worked together, in the red glow of the sunset, and when dark fell, the flowers wilted and died away, leaving only a mattress of springy grass behind.

"Have you finished?" Lief asked, peering over Jasmine's shoulder.

Jasmine placed a full stop in its place, and dusted off her hands. "Just," she proclaimed, rolling the lengthened piece of bark up inside the paper scroll, so that none but she could find it again.

"Do you have any more bark?" Jasmine asked, sitting herself down.

Lief checked. "Three big pieces, thankfully. Do you need it for a torch to find firewood? I'll go." He stood up.

"Could you leave one torch with me?" Jasmine asked. "I think I'll need the warmth."

He gave her the biggest piece, and Jasmine fished the fire beads from her backpack. "Not many left," she commented, rattling the jar. "Thankfully, just enough to get us through for three nights, including this one."

"Good. I'll get the atracaccia too, on the way." Lief dropped a fire bead onto the dry bark, and it immediately incinerated the tip of the bark, giving a good light to see by.

Jasmine lit her piece of bark, and started unpacking the necessities for a night out in the wild.

Shortened chap, sorry.