Chapter 16: Indra's Whisper Echoed
Silver Secrets, Sapphire Steel
Jasmin stood in the corner, weaponless, barely holding on to consciousness. She was trying to protect me, give me a chance to run, escape, live. Most of the larabrins were watching as the largest of them pounced at Jasmin time and again. How she was still going after so long was beyond me. The woman was a warrior through and through.
No one from town was coming to help us. The rest of the town was overrun with the beasts. Every guard had their work cut out for them, and that meant it was just me and Jasmin.
Meanwhile, I froze. My feet were glued to the floor, and I was watching Jasmin struggle to save me. It would've been easy for her if I just ran, but I couldn't. How could I leave her behind.
Beside that, I knew how this was supposed to end. She wasn't allowed to go yet. I had to stay with her. I had to be there when the warrior arrived. If I left now, she couldn't possibly save Jasmin.
We had been in Blue Stone for just under two moons, training and building rapport with the townsfolk. There may not be enough guards, but there were certainly enough weapons. If we could give each person even the slightest fighting chance, then maybe we could make it through the herd change without losing anyone.
Vanara was eventually released from the jail and allowed to live in Thornleaf Manor with us once Aster determined that their outburst had been a fluke. Vanara was as entirely enigmatic as ever, and none of us could make heads or tails of it. A few suns after they were released, they vanished. We assumed they would return when they were ready.
When she wasn't eating, sleeping, training or making me blush, Jasmin spent her time digging through the tomes Aidan had brought her. She had written almost a full book herself from all the notes she was taking. Any time I asked her what she'd found, all I got was a grunted "maybe something, maybe nothing" and a dismissive wave.
It might have worried me if she didn't come to me immediately after she finished and apologise. She was only vaguely aware of my presence, but she was entirely aware of her behaviour. And that meant she was deeply apologetic when she finished, a fact that was not lost on me as her methods of apology became increasingly intimate. I almost began bothering her specifically to see what she would do to me next.
Aster's frustrations with my form began to level out. Apparently I was finally 'handling that thing like a Thornleaf', and we started sparring with the training blade. She was worried that I wouldn't survive on instinct alone, even with the silverthorn blade in my hand.
Both Aster and Jasmin questioned me incessantly about the blade. All I could tell them was that I had seen it in a dream, and my cold-flame did the rest.
That was still weird to say. My cold-flame. It was beginning to feel less foreign, but there were moments I still forgot I could use it. Around the third sevensun, Aster noticed my hesitation and began teaching me to use it in combat. Sudden unexpected flashes were excellent distractions, she told me.
The final night of our second moon in Blue Stone arrived without fanfare. It was the first night Aster didn't keep me busy well past supper time. And everyone was starting to relax about the threat of a potential larabrin incident.
Jasmin, at last, had finished her research and found information about five 'sacred gardens', each dedicated to a particular bloom and its patron. The deeper she explored the clearer it became that Vanara – when they were lucid – knew more than any of us.
Among all her studies, Jasmin found an old poem that stood out.
Deimward blooms Gideon's Grace, unwavering in the paths of fools.
Nettle-sharp it waits, blossoming within the Thicket.Phobward towers, a fortress and cradle to Togha's Longsuffering.
Unconquered by wind, it thrives atop the Aerie.Eveward drips the life of Nara's Riddle, peace befalls the faithful.
Ever-changing, ever-growing, a snare before the Crucible.Mornward forests shade Indra's Whisper, winter's lady love.
Eternal rest awaits the witless, deep inside the Hallow.Marward lakes black as night, ringed by Nihil's Embrace.
A peaceful dream she begs for all, and waits beyond the Shroud.Where e'er it grows, Fiend's Blight a plague.
Loss limitless beyond her lust, even the bud does bring.
"It's not a very good poem, is it," Aster commented when Jasmin read it aloud for us.
"Well," the bark of Jasmin's word was almost enough to startle even me, "next time I will let you translate the Old Fleurian and whatever else was there. Mayhap your measure will meet the challenge a mote more than mine."
Aster didn't hold back her laughter. "The poetic form isn't my problem, Salora," I still cringed at the name, recalling what I now knew of the goddesses, "so much as it is the content. For one," she took out a map that was in her pack for some reason, "if you look at this map, you'll note there are four directions. Your poem had five. If that weren't bad enough, everything about it was cryptic and useless."
Jasmin's hand settled on her forehead as she looked at me, mouthing 'please, help'. I simply shrugged. How could I defend her when I agreed with my cousin. Eventually Jasmin gave in and tried, slouching more than was normal for her.
"There are things we know, Aster, that we are not telling you," Jasmin admitted, aiming for good will. "When it becomes necessary that you know, I shall lay it all clear."
Aster's hands went up in defence. "Don't think I haven't noticed you put on your noblewoman's voice just now. I'm perfectly aware the two of you are hiding things, but it's not important enough just yet to worry over that."
"I do not have a —" Jasmin gasped, her eyes widening in horror. "Okay. Fine. I have a noblewoman's voice. I spent years practising to sound common, but it comes out sometimes."
"You do," the guard captain laughed again as her eyes flicked to the scars just barely visible across Jasmin's collar. "And it's alright. No one else will know you're a first district noble, even if they hear that voice break through. It'll be our secret that Mrs. Primrose is actually someone far more important than simply the wife of our beloved local Lady."
Both Jasmin and I were speechless at the accusation. It was true, certainly, but we thought we'd been careful. How Aster had sorted it was a terrifying mystery we needed to solve. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance.
The city's alarm bell rang out in a raucous cadence. Under normal circumstances, it would've been the warning for a terrible storm, but the season wasn't right for sea storms to batter Blue Stone. As part of our preparation efforts, we'd readied the town for an off-season storm bell. It could only mean two things, and neither was good.
Aster was out of the manor before Jasmin or I could react. We both had our duties in the event of an attack. I didn't like that mine was to stay in the manor any more than that hers was to defend me in the manor. Still, there was sense in it. If it were oncoming queen's guard, we'd be caught up in an instant.
But the more pressing threat was being in the streets if the larabrins made it over the walls or through the gates. At least in the manor we would be safe, since we could funnel them into a single room and allow Jasmin to do what she did best: keep me safe.
We hadn't expected them to leap through windows in the foyer, let alone in several other rooms almost simultaneously. There was no time to get to our stronghold room – unfortunately the servant's quarters – before the first of them was advancing on us from the far end of the dining hall.
"Stay behind me, dearest," Jasmin said at once, drawing her rapier and getting to the ready. Her strong left arm yanked me from my seat and pushed me into a corner.
I couldn't help thinking it was lucky she was prepared for one, but she had trained for packs. The first larabrin got within leaping range and found itself impaled, falling limp as Jasmin thrust the blade through its chin into its skull.
Two more burst in through the kitchen door, almost tripping over each other as they noticed us and pounced. Jasmin pushed one aside as she dispatched the other then turned the point of her blade on the one she'd deferred.
"This won't do, dearest," Jasmin growled, "I planned to be in a smaller space. They have too much time to —" Another was through the window and on top of us as she spoke. One of her hands was on its throat as she used the other to strike with the basket of her weapon. "Too much time and space to build speed. We have to get to a better spot."
When she was certain the beast on the floor wasn't getting up, she took my arm and dragged me full body into the kitchen where we found the door to the servant's quarters jammed. A sound from the dining hall told us we had to keep moving forward. In the hallway, another larabrin blocked our path. Jasmin managed, somehow, to knock it back, where it fell dead against the other door to the servant's quarters.
Having no other choice, she dragged me into the foyer, which became our doom. Jasmin pushed me away from herself, and none of the beasts followed me with their gaze.
They seemed drawn to her like they were possessed of some preternatural signal to attack only Jasmin.
"Run, Roisin!" she called as the first larabrin charged at her. "I can hold them until you're safe. Just go!"
I couldn't move, at least not toward safety. My feet shuffled along the floor into a corner. There was no way I was leaving Jasmin behind.
More of the beasts gathered, all of them watching as she fought off one after the next. She seemed to be getting the upper hand until a loud crash echoed through the air around us. The largest larabrin I'd ever seen or heard of had burst in through the manor's front door.
Somehow sensing they were in the presence of a leader, all of the beasts backed off as it rushed in to take over the fight.
As the titan larabrin advanced, Jasmin moved to defend herself, but the force of the thing was enough to knock her rapier clattering to the floor. The sound was deafening. Jasmin was defenceless. We had no hope, no protection, and nowhere to run.
I watched on in horror as Jasmin tried to fight the beast, to catch it off guard like she had the smaller ones. With each advance, she was slowing, and my heart was sinking. This wasn't the shadow that was meant to take her from me. It wasn't supposed to happen in Blue Stone.
My tears streamed out as I cried out desperately to anyone who could or would help. If the blue-haired warrior were there, she could've crossed the space in a heartbeat and saved Jasmin. Saved me.
Horror took hold of me when Jasmin failed to defend against a devastating swipe from the beast, and she was thrown clear across the room. Everything froze for a moment. Jasmin didn't get up. She didn't move at all.
The silverthorn seemed to pulse at my side, drawing my gaze over to the portrait of her. First in a long line of strong women. Heroines of their people. I knew then. She wasn't coming. Afina Thornleaf was dead.
I saw the monstrous larabrin begin a charge, and my hands felt the familiar hilts as Afina's sabre and my mother's dagger found their ready positions. The lightness I felt with the silverthorn blade returned, and my muscles remembered their roles. Instinct pulled me forward as I sprang into action.
Ten steps to cross the space. Even a heartbeat too late would cost me everything.
Step one, take in the room. At least six larabrins of varying sizes. All of them too big.
Step four, catalogue your assets and liabilities. No obstacles, only enemies. That boded well, but my stomach still sank.
Step six, plan a defence and counterattack. That was the hard part. I just hoped I could manage something. Anything.
Step nine, the beast was in the air, and I had to act.
Step ten, at Jasmin's side, foundation set, blades up as the beast's immense paw came down on my left. Instead of finding flesh, its foot found silver and steel, both braced for the impact.
The blades tore through its flesh straight to the bone, and the larabrin pulled back and tried to stand on its flayed appendage. It gave a visceral growling roar and moved to swipe at me a second time.
I felt its fur graze my ear as I moved to dodge and sliced the leg from below, leaving the foot to hang limply, and the larabrin unable to stand. It fought against the pain and tried to push itself up as I advanced on it. When I was close enough, the beast managed to push up and lunge at me for a bite, but the silverthorn blade caught its eye and pierced straight and clean.
Seeing the greatest of them fall, the pack cowered and fled any direction they could.
My knees hit the floor as I tossed both my weapons to the side and moved to Jasmin. She was bleeding, but not much. An arm and a leg were in horribly improbable positions, and she was barely breathing.
One. Out. Two. Two. Out. Each shallow breath a warning. We didn't have time.
I put my mouth beside her ear. "Jasmin, my darling, my love. I don't know what I can do for you, but I am going to try something. I just hope it doesn't hurt too badly."
Remembering the sun in Thornwood Hallow, I moved Jasmin onto her back and did what I could to make her comfortable. My hand settled onto her chest, and I flexed the muscle that created cold-flame. My heart raced as the sickly silver glow started then grew. I pushed the muscle harder. I couldn't mess this up.
At first there was no change. Jasmin was peaceful, and I was desperate. "Please. Anyone." I begged to the empty room.
I pushed the muscle ever harder. Something had to change. Anything. I had no clue what I needed to do, but I had to try.
She didn't seem even a little fazed by what I was doing. I had to be doing it wrong then. My tears burned as they slid down my cheeks. "Salora, please. Don't let her go."
A change happened. It was subtle, but something burned inside me. I had to fight it. For Jasmin. So I kept up the effort. That's when I noticed. Her wounds began drawing themselves closed. Her breathing began to level and deepen.
She wasn't in pain like I feared. She was smiling.
The grey in Jasmin's hair seemed to expand further from the spot where it was showing until every inch of it was shining the same colour as the flame I was pushing into her body.
If I hadn't been terrified that I would lose her, I might have noticed that the change made her look even more like someone else. They could have been sisters, Jasmin and Salora.
A nauseating crack came from the limbs that had been worrisome, and it drew my attention enough to stop me from continuing. While I'd expected and would have been unsurprised to see them still broken, shattered, what I saw left me boggled. They were fine. It was like they'd never been hurt. All of her was fine.
"Roisin," her voice was soft but full.
"Jasmin," I croaked as the tears continued.
Her lips curled fondly. "You saved me." The words were a blessing uttered from the lips of a goddess. And, having said them, she fell asleep.