Part IV
When Gusto arrived at the Glen Grammi and Sunni took Jasmin off to her room leaving Gusto to explain what had happened. After explaining none of the gummi's could think of an explanation for why this might of happened.
Soon after Cubbi and Cavin came into the Glen and heard the news but decided it was probably better to tell them about the picture later.
As night drew on and Jasmin's condition didn't improve and the gummi's began to get worried, but could think of nothing that would help her. Eventually, it was time for Cavin to leave and Cubbi said he'd walk him home. The two left the Glen and walked most of the way to Dunwyn in silence until the faint sound of someone shouting could be heard.
"Listen," said Cavin to Cubbi.
In the distance they could hear the sound of someone shouting, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying so they moved towards it. As they got nearer they were able to distinguish someone yelling "Jasmin, hey Jaz" as loud as they could.
The two looked at each other then walked through a couple of bushes and past a few trees, then Cubbi leading went up behind the cloaked gummi.
"Jasmin, are you…" said the stranger before they stopped when they heard someone say 'hello'.
The stranger spun round obviously scared for a moment until they saw Cubbi staring up at them.
"Hello" repeated Cubbi.
The gummi pulled down the hood to reveal their face. Their fur was sandy brown and under the emerald green cloak Cubbi could see she was wearing a long, white dress.
"Hello" said the stranger.
"You must be Taffi," said Cubbi.
The female gummi just looked at him surprised and confused but answered "That's right but how did you know?"
"My human friend Cavin and me found a picture with you on it" said Cubbi.
A glint of sadness seemed to flicker in the girl's eyes, but disappeared so fast Cubbi was sure he must have imagined it.
"Do you have the picture?" said Taffi.
"No, my friend Cavin does" said Cubbi turning round and signalling for Cavin to come out.
The female gummi drew back a couple of paces when Cavin approached them, but Cubbi reassured her Cavin wouldn't hurt her.
Cavin still had the picture in his hands and once he was within arms reach of Taffi he handed it to her, which she took and looked at. For a few minutes Taffi just stared at the picture. Jasmin had never been with out this picture so for it to fall into the hands/paws of another meant that something must of happened to her.
"Do you want to see her?" asked Cubbi.
Taffi looked up and broke her chain of thought when heard that question.
"Pardon" she answered.
Cubbi repeated his question and Taffi eagerly accepted, then asked at lot of questions as she and Cubbi walked to the Glen. (Cavin went back to the castle)
As they entered the Glen and began walking into the Great Hall Cubbi began to explain Jasmin's condition and how strange it was and how it had been caused. He'd just finished explaining when they walked into Jasmin's room since Taffi had demanded to be shown there when she heard of Jasmin's condition. So far they had made it all the way to Jasmin's room before they met any of the other gummi's, but just as they were about to open Jasmin's door Grammi came out, she looked very oddly at Taffi who swept past her straight to Jasmin in the bed.
"Cubbi, dear who is this?" said Grammi as Taffi started pulling various things out of her bag.
"She's a friend of Jasmin's," said Cubbi.
The two gummi's just stood in the doorway watching Taffi ground up berries and herbs in a small wooden bowl. Once she had ground them all up into a thick paste she turned to Grammi and said, "Do you have any hot water?"
"Yes, in the kitchen" said Grammi pointing down the corridor.
"Thanks" said Taffi getting up off the bed and walking out of the room towards the kitchen.
Cubbi went off to bed and bumped into Sunni on the way and explained about the new gummi, while Grammi went with Taffi to the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen Taffi went and put a kettle on and began heating the water.
"What are you doing?" said Grammi while they were waiting for the water to heat up.
"I'm making an antidote for Jasmin's illness" replied Taffi.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Grammi.
"Well, according to Cubbi Jasmin has amnesia so she won't have told you this because she'll have forgotten." Said Taffi.
"Forgotten what?" said Grammi.
"Jasmin stole something, but I can't tell you what because I don't know. Any way after stealing this item from a castle just as she was about to escape the Lord walked in" said Taffi.
"Yes, but what does this have to do with Jasmin's illness?" asked Grammi.
"Well, Jasmin did escape and for a few years he kept chasing her and almost caught sometimes. However eventually he cast a curse over Jasmin so she wouldn't be able to run and begin to get sick if he was in a miles reach of her, so it would be easy for him to catch her " said Taffi.
The kettle whistled and Taffi picked it up and poured a small amount into a cup then tipped in the paste and mixed it up creating a sweet smelling drink. Then she walked back to Jasmin's room and made her drink as much as she could of it before turning and said to Grammi "By morning she should be okay"
"I'll show you where you can stay, dear," said Grammi leading Taffi out of the room and down the corridor.
Taffi excepted gratefully and followed Grammi down the corridor. After being shown her room Grammi left and Taffi changed into a night-gown and climbed into bed falling asleep instantly.
Next morning when Taffi woke up she could hear voices down the corridor and guessed that the other gummi's must be up. She rubbed her eyed and climbed out of bed and got dressed then headed straight for Jasmin's room. Upon entering her room she found that Cubbi was there with two other gummi's whom she couldn't see.
"Hi" Cubbi greeted when she walked making the other two gummi's turn round.
The first gummi was slightly bigger than Cubbi and looked a little older and had yellow fur who Cubbi said was Sunni. The other was slightly bigger than herself and had blue fur and just as Cubbi was about to introduce him Taffi screamed "AUGUSTUS".
This gained the attention of all three gummi's. Taffi just stood in the doorway opened mouthed in shock and surprise while Gusto just stood looking very confused and the two cubs just watched the scene with interest.
"Is it really you?" whispered Taffi.
Gusto stood there a moment longer seeming to be thinking then he said, "Who are you?"
"Can you not remember?" whispered Taffi again.
A silence passed, the two cubs and Taffi were watching Gusto who seemed once again to be thinking really hard about something then his eyes snapped open and he said "You were that brown cub running through the field in one of my portraits"
Taffi nodded unable to speak through her tears and Gusto walked over to her and hugged her and then looked over at Jasmin and said, "Then that pink cub must have been Jasmin"
Taffi nodded again wiping away her tears and pulled out something form her pocket and said "Do you remember this?"
It was the picture of herself and Gusto and as he looked at it several things that had once been blurry in his life seemed to become very clear and he replied "Yes, it was the first picture Jasmin ever painted"
Taffi nodded her head again and said "She's never been without it since the day we lost you"
A small groan prevented them carrying on their conversation and they realised Jasmin was waking up. The cubs had been told to leave the room and straight away dashed off to tell the others what they'd seen and heard.
Jasmin woke up and saw a small, wax candle flickering illuminating the darkness of her bedroom. She heard voices and sat up in bed and saw Gusto sat on one side of her bed and another gummi bear on the other. Before she could say anything the bear said, "Hi, Jasmin I heard about your accident how are you feeling?"
"Okay" she replied.
"You may not remember me, but I'm a friend of yours and my name's Taffi" Taffi stated.
Jasmin muttered something only Taffi heard, which was 'the sandy brown cub'.
"Yeah, that's right," said Taffi.
Jasmin looked up to Taffi then and smiled and said " I've remembered quite a few things about you then"
"Good things I hope" replied Taffi smiling back.
At this point Gusto intervened and said "Jasmin, do remember that blue cub you painted yesterday"
Jasmin looked down momentarily then it shot back up again looking shocked and surprised and said, "That was you"
Gusto nodded and Jasmin smiled at him then she looked serious and said "But, if you knew why didn't you tell?"
"Give him chance Jaz, he only just remembered himself" said Taffi.
Just as Taffi had finished speaking the door swung open and Gruffi marched in straight up to Gusto closely followed by Zummi who was looking very worried.
"Gusto, what have you been telling the cubs?" demanded Gruffi.
"They were just here when I met Taffi," said Gusto.
"Then why are they saying you three are all old friends if you just met," said Gruffi obviously looking for an explanation.
"Because, we are old friends," said Taffi.
Noticing Taffi for the first time Gruffi spun round and said, "Who are you?"
"I'm Taffi and you are?" she said.
"Gruffi" he said rather grumpily.
"Nice to meet you too" said Taffi turning away and back to Jasmin.
"Taffi, recently I've been seeing a lot of visions with a man chasing me, who is he?" said Jasmin.
"I was wondering how soon it would be until you remembered him," said Taffi.
A long silence followed then Taffi said "You better get comfortable because will take some time to explain"
When everyone was ready Taffi began again " It all began fifteen years ago when a man called Ramsin became Lord over the area we lived in. He torched all our houses slew many of our people until only us three and a few others were left " said Taffi recalling the memory.
"We were only cubs at the time" started Taffi looking at Jasmin. "You'd gone back for the others and to look for your mother. When you arrived you personally saw Ramsin kill your mother brutally and from behind him you saw us who while you were away had been caught and caged for his own purposes. When he saw you he dropped your mother's body and walked over to you. But you didn't give in easily he was chasing you for some time and whenever you got the chance you were throwing stones at him. When he finally did catch you he held high above him so his men could see and announced 'We've got the brat we came for', then threw you over to his guards who knocked you out " said Taffi wiping the tears from her face.
Gusto had been sat occasionally nodding to what Taffi had said when Jasmin looked at him thinking and reliving the experience. While Jasmin just lay in bed listening to what Taffi said and even though she tried she just couldn't remember, although at the mention of her mother her eyes went teary and her eyes were down cast so no one could see.
After finally wiping away the tears Taffi continued " When you came round you were in a cell all on your own although through the holes you could see Gusto and me. After about a week you escaped and freed all of us, but to get back at Ramsin for killing your mother you snuck up into his chamber and stole something only you knew was very valuable to him. Unfortunately, he walked in on you, as you were about to jump out of the window to escape. He instantly knew what you had taken and for many years after he was tracking you down to get it." said Taffi pausing for breath.
"No one knows what you took from him that night so it is up to you to remember, but I do know that the last time he encountered you he cursed you saying he was fed up of chasing you everywhere and that curse would take effect making you ill everytime you were within a mile of him. The curse didn't work the first time and that's why you were okay when you arrived here, however he must have been close to you and you must have been running when you were out with Gusto for it to have taken affect and made you ill." said Taffi looking worried at Jasmin.
Jasmin looking confused then looked up and said, "How old was I when this started?"
"Err…about seven" replied Taffi.
"And how many years has been since this started" asked Jasmin looking worried.
"About fifteen years, which makes you an Gusto around twenty two and me twenty nine" answered Taffi.
Jasmin looked down at her hands folded in her lap she had to remember fifteen years of activity at least to remember who she was and at the moment that looked impossible. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone say,
"Du uuo member anything about this, I mean do you remember anything about this?" said Zummi looking at Jasmin.
"No" she replied quietly.
"But, surely you must remember something" said Gruffi.
Jasmin shook her head and looked at Taffi.
"Just try to remember" said Gruffi. "Anything at all you've got to know something"
"Why, must she?" shouted Taffi standing up to face Gruffi. " What do you think she has been trying to do ever since she came here?"
The two gummi's began shouting at each other while Jasmin looked to Gusto unsure what to do when Grammi came in.
"What do you think you are doing Gruffi Gummi?" she shouted.
The room went silent and Gruffi shot an angry glare at Grammi and Taffi before leaving the room soon followed by Zummi.
"He won't bother you again, dear" Grammi said to Taffi.
"Thank you" she replied as Grammi shut the door.
The three were left alone again but none of them spoke because they were listening to an argument that had broken out just outside the room. It gradually grew fainter as the two moved away and finally ended when something smashed.
The three continued to be silent until Taffi looked at Gusto realising instantly what he wanted to ask before he said it.
"You want to know how you lost us?" she said and he nodded.
"Well, that was about a year after Jasmin freed us from Ramsin's castle. We were sailing towards here at the time when Ramsin got his sorcerer to cast a spell over the weather causing a violent storm. During this time you were washed over board, for many months after we travelled around the area and its islands looking for you, but we never found you and eventually we had to leave because Ramsin was after us again" finished Taffi.
Silence filled the room again and the three just stared at one another content in each other's presence as they thought over what had been said. Eventually, Taffi stood up and said, "Come on Gusto we better let Jasmin get dressed its almost time for lunch"
When Taffi and Gusto had left the room Jasmin slipped out of bed and got dressed all the time trying to remember something about what Taffi had said but her mind was blank.
No one really spoke much at dinner, which was useful and only Gusto and Taffi seemed to notice how unhappy Jasmin seemed to be. After the meal was over Jasmin headed straight outside not noticing Gusto following her. She walked round for a bit not really taking much notice of where she was going, but after walking for about twenty minutes she stopped when she heard water and thought aloud " I must be near Gusto's".
"Your right " came a voice from behind her, which made her jump.
"Gusto, how long have you been following me?" said Jasmin.
"Ever since you left the Glen" he replied coming out from behind a bush just behind Jasmin.
"Why?" said Jasmin smiling evidently happy that he had.
"Because, I need to talk to you"
Jasmin stood in the clearing waiting for Gusto to start talking, but instead he walked up to her and took hold of her paw and when she opened her mouth to speak he put a finger over her lips and whispered in her ear "Follow me"
After a minute or two Gusto and Jasmin arrived in a clearing at the side of a cliff and after a certain amount of coaxing Gusto had finally gotten Jasmin quite close to the edge.
He embraced her from behind and she placed her paws on his feeling safe in his embrace. Gusto then said " This is where I come to watch the sunset, but its beautiful no matter what time you look at it" then in a whisper added " like you".
Jasmin turned round and smiled at him then wrapped her arms round the back of his neck and hugged him.
The wind blew and Jasmin's hair whipped around in Gusto's face to which he distinctly smelt a strong aroma of raspberries.
"Raspberries" he muttered.
"I fell in some raspberry canes when I was a cub and have smelt of them ever since" Jasmin muttered back.
"When did you remember that?" asked Gusto.
"Just before I reached the waterfall," said Jasmin.
The two stayed like that for a while before parting then they held hands and then slowly walked back to the Glen. The two had been out most of the afternoon and when they walked into the Glen it was time to eat. Jasmin spent most of the time talking to Sunni and Cubbi and after the meal she once again headed out of the Glen. Once she had left Gusto turned to Taffi and said "Why is she so quiet?"
"She's lonely" Taffi answered.
"Yeah, but how with all these…" he started before Taffi interrupted.
"It's not like that" Taffi started.
Gusto looked at her confused and she continued, "Jasmin has lost her memory and only remembers a few things. Sure she's got friends around her, but it scares her that she can't remember anything it makes her feel lonely"
The sun sunk low and emitted a warm glow and the sky was an a ray of yellows, oranges and pinks.
Jasmin was back where her and Gusto had been before they went back to the Glen. She sat on the edge of the cliff with her feet hanging over thinking about everything she could remember and what Taffi had told her. She sighed and gazed out over the horizon and said, "I wish I could remember my life"
A malicingly, cold laugh filled the air and Jasmin shivered involuntary. She stood up and turned round but the clearing was empty. She began to shake with fear and looked around desperately as another laugh pierced the silence. Jasmin stood frozen to the spot and shaking and yelped in surprise and pain when someone grabbed her round the neck and hoisted her off the ground. Jasmin turned her head to look at her capture and chill went straight down her spine when she met their icy, cold gaze.
"Ramsin" she choked.
"That's right" he sneered at her.
Ramsin stepped out of the bush into the clearing keeping a firm grasp on Jasmin's neck. He was cladded in chain mail with a silver breastplate and a blue tunic underneath, silver gauntlets, leather belt and sword and brown leather boots
For the first time Jasmin noticed a woman stood behind Ramsin her hair was black as ebony just like Ramsin's except it was long and in ringlets where as Ramsin's was short and straight. Her skin was snow white and flawless and she wore a long blood red dress with spaghetti straps that reached down to her feet, but she wasn't wearing shoes they were left bare. Upon her head lay a golden circlet with one small amethyst fixed in the centre, but the only thing that Jasmin was staring at was her eyes. They were icy blue and made Jasmin tremble in fear, but she couldn't look away Ramsin's sorceress already held in her power and forbid her to look away. Her voice was equally cold when she sneered at Jasmin then said "Your wish is granted"
Her voice was empty and froze her very soul. Jasmin only heard those few words when she felt her brain freeze making her scream in agony and her body jerk in Ramsin's grasp. As she swung around her necklace broke and it fell to the ground when Ramsin shook her then her body went limp as she slipt into unconsciousness.
TBC…
Please R&R!