Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (39 page)

“That’s a clever idea.”

Earth smiled. She held up the stones one by one for Rain’s inspection.

“This green one with the waves on it represents water. The red one with the three scratch marks represents fire. The white one with the circle on it represents the sky. When I met you, I thought I had found my fourth element … rain, you know …” she trailed off, looking down at her feet.

“Earth? … Look at me, Earth.” said Rain.

She wouldn’t. Rain bent his head to peer at her face, but she kept looking away.

He took her face in both of his hands and gently turned it up to face his. He waited until she met his gaze.

“Earth …” he said softly, “I’m in this to stay … I won’t go away … I’ll never stray…”

Earth recognized the words she had sung to him and held up a finger to his lips to silence him. She began to sing softly;

“Then that’s the day I’ll finally say …”

Rain held his breath.

“ … I loved you from the first day.” finished Earth.

A pink stone dropped out of the sky and onto Earth’s lap. She picked it up and stared at it in amazement. Then she held it up for Rain. It had a small heart drawn on it.

“Your fourth stone …” whispered Rain.

“Love …” said Earth, staring at him wide eyed.

A slow smile spread across his face then … a deeply personal smile. And suddenly, the air around them was filled with magic. The trees disappeared, and the forest ceased to exist. It was just the two of them, sitting on top of the world with the stars slowly spinning around them.

Earth closed her eyes. She was loving every minute of this. Just them, the silence, the wind, and then … soft, gentle rain.

The two of them stood up and walked back to camp hand in hand, all the while getting drenched in the rain. Rain didn’t bother to stop the showers, either. Earth had expressed her feelings and now, he was expressing his.

*****

CHAPTER 33

“Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries … they’re all here, and then some.” announced Rain.

“Oh, Rain! This is wonderful! My sisters and I used to go berry picking together every year back home. It was one of my favorite things to do!”

“Where should we start?”

“With the blueberries, so I can smear some of that pulp on you!”

“Anything to make you happy,” said Rain, following her to the blueberry bush. “Just make sure you do it by rubbing the blueberries well on my body.”

Earth shot him a wary glance.

“What?” said Rain, lifting his hands defensively, “I only want to make sure that none of the pulp is wasted.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” said Earth dryly.

Earth and Rain jointly went about the task of collecting berries, eating some, and smashing others on one another’s faces while pretending to feed the other. Two hours later, they had wandered well away from the berries and were now in absolutely uncharted territory.

“You win! I surrender! No more strawberry smashing, please!” gasped Earth, leaning against the bark of an old, grey tree.

“I always win.” panted Rain, leaning a palm against the very same tree.

The tree snapped and gave way. Rain caught Earth, narrowly saving her from falling to the ground.

“Where are we?” he wondered aloud, looking about himself. “All of the trees here are dead and decaying. There are no leaves on any of them. And everything looks so …”

“Grey.” provided Earth.

Rain watched his Geeya flit about nervously.

‘Where are we?’

‘This is not a good place to be. You have wandered into the Dead Forest. Home of the Demetrii.’

‘The Demetrii? What are they?’

‘They are similar to the Geeya in many ways. They, too, appear translucent and smoke-like, only white. Under ordinary circumstances, they bear no shape. When they do take a shape, it always male.’

‘Why is that?’

‘They are traps for women. The Demetrii are able to take on the guise of men of such beauty as has never been witnessed by humans. They do this only to make a woman fall madly in love with them- never talking, never reciprocating any feelings … so that the woman pines away and eventually, dies of the agony. Take Earth, and get out of here as quickly as possible. Tell her to keep her head lowered and not to look or respond when she hears her name being called.’

Rain explained everything to Earth, keeping the narration short and tight and doing a good job of keeping the rising panic in his chest from showing in his voice.

“And whatever you do, don’t look up, okay?” he finished.

Earth nodded as Rain took her hand firmly in his.

“Don’t be scared. I’m here with you. It’ll be fine.” said Rain, leading the two of them out of there quickly under the guidance of his Geeya. Rain could see wisps of smoke flitting between trees and he quickened his pace further.

“Rain, watch out!” cried Earth.

He saw the low lying branch just in time and ducked, but Earth tripped on a root and fell. Before she could hit the ground, two silvery arms shot out and caught her. Earth gasped.

It was a Demetrii.

She shouldn’t look, she knew, but the pull was irresistible. She heard her name being called out softly and turned her face upwards to look. The most perfect human face she had ever seen looked down at her, with just the slightest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his silvery lips.

If Earth could have ever specified what her dream man would look like, then it would be the face she was looking at now. Exactly the eyes she would have wanted.

Exactly the hair style and length … the shape of the face, the lips, the jaws … everything.

Earth could have stared forever at this epitome of perfection standing – no, floating – before her.

But she wanted to hear his voice again. Wanted to know his name. Earth opened her mouth to speak, and just as she did, the Demetrii disappeared.

“…Earth? Can you hear me? Please say something!”

Earth realized that Rain had been speaking to her all this while. He had also helped her back to her feet but she had no idea when that had happened. The image of the face she had seen was imprinted to strongly in her mind that nothing else seemed to matter or exist beside it.

“Rain?” said Earth, in a distant voice.

Had he been talking to her all this while? Why? It wasn’t his voice she wanted to hear. It was the Demetrii’s. Where was he? Why had he gone?

Earth looked about for the Demetrii desperately. Below her, she felt the weight go off her legs as Rain swept her off her feet and began to run with her in his arms.

“No! Take me back!” cried Earth, trying to break free of his grasp and her eyes still searching wildly for one last glimpse of the Demetrii as the forest flew by.

She didn’t know when she had reached the camp, or how. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be there. She wanted to go back to the Dead Forest. Wanted to stare at that beautiful face again. Every day. Every night.

In the days that followed, Earth moved about the camp like a zombie. There was always this constant pain in her chest that wouldn’t go away. It lessened only when she promised herself she would sneak out when everyone was asleep and go look for the Demetrii.

And she did. Several times, in fact, during the ensuing days.

Rain, beside himself with worry on finding her missing from his side, would run all the way to the Dead Forest in the middle of the night to look for her. He would find her there, always. She would be sitting cross legged and staring at what only appeared to be a wisp of smoke to Rain.

Try as he might, she wouldn’t let him bring her back. Crying and thrashing about if he tried to do so.

So Rain would wait until she fell asleep out of exhaustion, and then carry her back.

At the camp, Earth could hear the other’s whisper behind her back:

“She’s just not herself anymore …”

“How long do you think this will last?”

“Subodh, do something!”

And many other things in a similar vein. But she didn’t care. What did they know? They hadn’t seen him. Hadn’t experienced the joy of looking at something so perfect in every way. She felt bad about Rain sometimes. But she told herself he would understand. He had always been very understanding that way.

*****

Rain was sitting in the Dead Forest in the middle of the night, waiting for Earth to tire out.

“Her infatuation only seems to be getting worse with each passing day. Look at how much weight she’s lost.” said Rain to his Geeya.

“She does make for a sorry sight.” agreed his Geeya.

“If this was another human she had fallen in love with, I would gladly let her go to him. I just cannot bear to see her pain.”

“The bad news is, it will keep going downhill from here.”

“This is just slow suicide. She’ll eventually kill herself, starving like this. Geeya, you’ve got to help me save her.”

His Geeya put her head down and thought for a while.

“There just may be a way. We’ll have to go meet the mother of the Demetrii. If there is anybody who can help Earth, it’s her. Otherwise, there is no hope.”

“The Demetrii have a mother?”

“Yes. Her name is Urkuz. She is the one who tells her children what form to take. She used to be a healer of the Dead Forest not many years ago. This forest was then filled with life, birds, blooms … she fell in love with another healer; Schaeffer. Five years back, Schaeffer disappeared suddenly, leaving her heartbroken and distraught. Since then, she has stopped healing the trees of the forest. She only sits and mourns for him all day.”

“As soon as we get back, take me to her.”

Rain waited until Earth had fallen asleep, and then carried her back to the clearing. He explained to the others where he was going and what he intended to do. Then he instructed Heart to keep an eye on Earth while he was away, and if he was gone too long, then to ask the others to chip in. He bid goodbye to the others and then set out in search of Urkuz.

*****

The mother of the Demetrii turned out to be a woman like no other. Sitting on a pile of dead leaves, her features kept changing as Rain spoke to her, going from young to old, alternating between very beautiful and extremely grotesque. One thing was common in all the features, though, and that was sadness.

Sadness like Rain had never seen before.

“Is that why you ordered your children to do what they do? Because you wanted everyone else to go through the same pain that you are going through?” surmised Rain.

“That about sums it.” Urkuz agreed sadly.

“If I bring back Schaeffer for you, will you then cure Earth?”

A faint spark came alive in Urkuz’ silvery eyes, and died just as quickly.

“It is no use. If I knew where he was, would I then put myself through this agony? I do not know where he has disappeared. I do not even know if he still lives or has died.”

“Give me a chance. What have you got to lose?” said Rain, pleading his case.

Urkuz disappeared under the pile of leaves and her body began to heave with racking sobs. Not knowing how to console her, Rain stood watching helplessly. A long time later, she emerged from within the leafy pile and handed Rain what looked like a walnut.

“If you find my Schaeffer, then crack this. It will bring the two of you straight back to me. Other than this, I can offer you no help. Search for him at your own peril.”

Rain curled his long fingers around the little nut-like object.

“Count the days, Urkuz, because your days of sorrow are numbered.”

*****

“He’s alive, isn’t he? Please tell me he is alive.” begged Rain.

“Yes.” said his Geeya.

Rain slammed a fist into a dead tree, sending it crashing down. “I knew it! I knew he would be alive!”

“But he is badly injured, and has very little time to live.”

Rain began to pace around in circles. “How far is he from here?”

“He is lying at the bottom of Mt. Marni. It will take you two months to walk there. Forty five days if you run with minimal stopovers.”

“And how long does Schaeffer have to live?”

“About four days. If you can reach him within that time frame, you can save him. Most of his injuries are internal. Subodh’s thirty-six herb mix should do the trick.”

“Let me check … yes. I do have that smelly potion with me.” said Rain, putting a hand into his belt and rummaging around. “Now, tell me some way to get to him before he dies.”

“Follow me.”

*****

His Geeya led him to the bottom of a small hill.

“A witch lives in that cottage on top of this hill. Her name is Binni and she is a wicked old hag. She assigns tasks to people. If you are able to complete one of her tasks successfully, she will grant you a wish. You can use this wish to reach Schaeffer.”

“If I fail in her task …?”

“She’s very experimental by nature. She likes to … experiment with people. Suffice to say it will be an unpleasant experience … if you manage to live through it, that is.”

Rain’s face went pale at that bit of information, but his jaw was set in a grim line of determination.

“This is all I have, isn’t it? No other way to get to Schaeffer before he dies?”

“With your limitations, none.”

“Then there is nothing to think over. I have to do this for Earth. I have to save Schaeffer.

With his decision made, Rain ran up the hill and knocked on the doors of the old witch’s hut.

“Are you Binni?” said Rain, when the old witch opened the door.

“What do you want?” she barked.

“I need a wish.”

She mellowed down instantly. “And I have just the job for you.” she said, smiling sweetly.

She tottered over to a small well. “I want you to empty this well …”

She pointed to an empty spot not far from the well. “And fill this pond with the water from the well.”