The Trials of Ildarwood: Spectres of the Fall, page 57
“Because of course you do,” Zavanna said with a huff.
“Excuse me,” Briyal called out suddenly, catching sight of Healer Meridana, whose face was stained by tears. Briyal did not even need to ask what had happened after that, for it was clear from the Healer’s heartbroken expression that Signora Fiori was finally gone.
“I WANT TO KNOW WHO DID IT!” a shrill woman shrieked from within.
“Oh, for the Heavens’ sake, Miss Hannover! Keep it down!” Delaniya Brent could be heard replying. “Can’t you see that there are dozens of sick patients in there trying to get some rest?”
“I don’t care! Somebody killed her!” the caretaker wailed, making Briyal’s stomach churn as her heart nearly stopped.
Rushing inside with the other girls close behind, Briyal was horrified to discover the Principal Preceptor standing face-to-face with the signora’s caretaker, and clenched in the caretaker’s hands was the very same flower Briyal had brought with her only hours before.
“Is that . . . an Ondalan orchid?” Delaniya asked as a sharp and agonizing pain tore through Briyal’s stomach like a blade.
“Of course you’d recognize them! These flowers are evil, just like you!” Miss Hannover cried before tossing them on the floor and stomping upon them repeatedly.
“Okay, so two quick questions,” whispered Cora. “First one, exactly how long have you been planning to kill Signora Fiori? And second, can you please let me know before you decide to kill anyone else? Because honestly, I have a number of suggestions.”
“Uh-oh,” Zavanna and Jordana both gasped at once.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Briyal cried, pulling Cora and the other girls back outside before Delaniya Brent could notice them. “I wasn’t tryin’ to kill her. I was just tryin’ to save her!”
“Yeah, so . . . I’m no advocate, but I’m pretty sure that still counts as a confession,” Cora replied.
“I . . . but . . . Lara was the one who told me those flowers are supposed to help people get better,” said Briyal.
“Oh no you don’t,” Telara replied firmly. “I’m not goin’ to jail for you!”
“Oh, yes, you are,” Cora chimed in. “I’m a witness. I heard everything. This was definitely all your idea, so obviously, you two were in on it together.”
“Oh, for the Heavens’ sake, I didn’t kill her!” Briyal shouted before realizing that everyone around them had begun to stare. Then she dragged the girls over to the shaded dining area beside the tower and lowered her voice once more. “I had an idea in the middle of the night, that maybe what she needed wasn’t for more good energy to flow in but for some bad energy to get pulled out.”
“Oh, so that’s what made you decide to bring her that death blossom?” Cora asked. “You just wanted to put the old lady out of her misery? You know, I’m pretty sure that’s what they call a motive. They’re probably gonna kick you right outta the country for this. I mean, it really doesn’t look good.”
“Aw, I’m kinda gonna miss you,” Zavanna added.
“Yeah, me too,” said Cora. “But before you go, can I have your necklace?”
“Argh, will you all please just shut up!” Briyal shouted, her heart racing faster and faster by the second. “This isn’t funny! What am I gonna do?”
At that moment, the caretaker emerged through the front doors of Westwatch Tower as Delaniya Brent and three Ildarguards followed closely behind. “I assure you, Miss Hannover, the Ildarguards will look into this immediately.”
“Oh, please! Don’t give me that horse drivel, Delaniya. We both know the Ildarguards out here couldn’t find water if somebody tossed ’em into a river and dumped a barrel over their heads!”
“Well, she’s got a point there,” said Cora.
“Very well, then perhaps you’d prefer it if I called the Asterguards to have them take over the investigation. I’m sure they could get to the bottom of this whole series of events in no time.”
“Oh, why even bother at this point?” the caretaker replied. “I just hope you’re proud of yourself. This is entirely your fault!”
Gasping with horror, Briyal and Telara both drew the immediate attention of the Principal Preceptor, who was none too pleased to discover them watching.
Lessons were canceled that day and for two more thereafter as the entire town began to prepare for the signora’s funeral. Not since Briyal had been a little girl had she needed to attend such an event, which was why she did not know quite what to expect when she arrived with her friends at the edge of the signora’s gardens, not too far from High Falls.
In the center of a great meadow stood a gently wooded hill where hundreds had already gathered to mourn the signora’s passing. As the girls moved closer, Briyal could see countless wildflowers growing in the shade beneath the greenwood trees, and in their center, a narrow hole had been dug for the signora.
“What’s with all the stones?” Briyal whispered to Cora as she began to notice Ildarstone markers on the ground beneath each tree while they walked together up the hill.
“They’re grave markers,” Zavanna explained. “We had to go to a place just like this when my nonni died. The trees at the top of the hill are where the oldest members of a family are always buried, and when their children get old and die, they end up gettin’ buried all around ’em. My mom said there are entire forests in Illuriya that can never be touched, ’cause they’re memorials to all the people who died.”
Finally stopping beside two stones imprinted with the names and faces of people she would never meet, Briyal caught sight of her mother and father nearby, then waved them over to join her. Behind them, Delaniya Brent stood stone-faced and rigid beside her husband. Wearing a black Ondalan head tie with a subtle floral design, the Principal Preceptor surveyed the crowd time and again before finally staring at Briyal and sending shivers down the young girl’s spine.
“Nobody blames you for what happened,” Leiliana whispered in Briyal’s ear, though Briyal was not entirely convinced. “You heard what Principal Brent said, just like I did–there was just no way that flower could have killed her. It must have just been her time to go.” But the words still provided little comfort as Briyal watched Delaniya Brent from a distance.
At that moment, a man in a silver robe up ahead began the ceremony by welcoming all the guests from near and far. Taking a moment to reflect on the signora’s life, the Heavensent spoke of her arrival in Selyria with her family nearly a century earlier, as well as the hardships she had faced growing up in a land she had barely known. He spoke of her bravery during the Astyrian War, as well as of her dedication to teaching others her craft.
“Everyone around her knew that she had a kind and gentle soul, but what most people didn’t know was that she donated nearly all the Starlings she earned throughout her life to orphanages all over Selyria,” the Heavensent said, bringing Telara and Briyal both suddenly to tears.
Then, for over an hour, Briyal watched and listened as dozens of people, young and old, all took turns paying their respects to the late, great woman who had touched their lives in so many different ways. And though Briyal still felt immense guilt over whatever role she thought she might have played in the signora’s ultimate demise, she at least found some inspiration in seeing how much of an impact one kind-hearted person could make on the world around her. If nothing else, it gave Briyal something to strive for from that day on, no matter what challenges lay ahead.
“In life, we sustain ourselves with the energy we take in from the world around us,” the Heavensent said at the end of the ceremony, “and in death, we commit our bodies to the soil so that life can begin anew through us. And though our bodies will decay and leave no remnants of what we once were, our legacies will endure to remind all who come after of who we once were. Let us now complete the cycle for our beloved friend Signora Serafina Fiori as we commit her body to the ground. In so doing, let us start a new life in her memory.”
Stepping back again, the Heavensent joined the crowd as they watched four other men lift a slender wooden casket until it stood upright for just a few moments. Then they lowered it slowly into the ground. On its surface was an intricate carving–a portrait of the signora from later in her life, when she looked purely and completely happy. The image left a warmth in Briyal’s heart and tears on her cheeks as her mother held on to her shoulders for support. It was precisely the way that they both wanted to remember her.
XX
The Source of Untold Sorrows
Um, guys? Is this normal?” Aiden asked one chilly morning as he poked at a peculiar black sap oozing slowly out of Fort Fermwood’s namesake tree.
Stopping to inspect it on his way down the stairs, Dustane grimaced and said, “Ew! I’ve never seen it do that before. You think it might be sick?”
“Oh, who cares?” answered Tannus. “That old thing has been half-dead since we got here. For all we know, it’s been ready to die for ages.”
Yet even as Tannus and Dustane continued their descent into the lower levels of the fortress, Jarryn and Aiden could not stop staring at the unsettling sign.
“Definitely not normal,” Jarryn insisted, his eyes somehow even more troubled than usual.
As they walked single file through the frost-painted forest, Aiden watched windswept greenwood leaves tumble all the way down to the forest floor, while all around him the golden leaves of the forest’s countless Ildarwood trees had returned abruptly to their silvery winter hues. Even the animals of the forest seemed to have been in hiding since the death of Signora Fiori, Aiden noticed, although he could not easily imagine how one could have possibly caused the other. All he knew for certain was that the subtle signs of death continued to linger in the Ildarwood everywhere he looked.
“Hey, Jarryn,” Aiden whispered at one point in their somber march toward Westwatch. “When you were still helpin’ your mom and dad grow all those different Ildarroot flowers and trees back home, did any of ’em ever get sick?”
“Yeah, sometimes. I mean, I never really figured out how my momma and daddy could tell, but every now and then, they’d just look at a tree and say somethin’ like ‘Great. Looks like we’ve got another one. Better torch it before it spreads.’ Then one of ’em would go get some Candlewood and use it to burn the tree down, roots and all. They wouldn’t even risk cuttin’ it down or nothin’.”
“Did they ever say anything to you about Blights?”
“Not really. I don’t think they ever really wanted to talk about ’em, ’cause they always said even thinkin’ about bad things can sometimes make ’em happen.”
“You think it’s true?” Aiden asked nervously. “I mean, I think about bad things happening to Cynders all the time, and nothing bad ever does.”
“Beats me,” Jarryn answered with a shrug, “but they also said it’s really bad luck to wish anyone else ill, so maybe that’s your problem.”
“Well, if it really is bad luck, then I’ve got a whole lot comin’ to me, ’cause I’ve been wishin’ for some really bad things to happen to all those Cynders . . . like, a lot.”
“Yeah,” Jarryn reluctantly confessed. “Me too.”
An instant later, a heart-stopping CRACK! shot through the Ildarwood like lightning and sent all four boys ducking for cover. Seconds later, the sound of a ground-shaking crash up ahead drew their attention to a fallen Ildarwood tree that leaned precariously across their path.
“Wow! Good thing we stopped to look at the Fermwood tree for a minute,” said Jarryn. “This would’ve fallen right on top of us.”
The timing was not at all lost on Aiden, either.
The four boys approached the felled tree with caution, just in case it had fallen by design instead of chance. Then they carefully inspected the point at which it had snapped in two, staring at the rupture with amazement. Only Jarryn had ever before seen the crystal-like shards that resulted from a broken Ildarwood trunk.
“How the frick did that happen?” Dustane asked nervously. “It’s not even windy.”
“Lots of things could’ve happened,” Jarryn replied, poking at the crystalline splinters at the base of the trunk with his finger. “Spectral cold can make Ildarwood trees really brittle, so even a little bit of wind or a tremor could make a full-grown tree snap in two. And you guys see those little ickers in there? Those are called weevilworms. My daddy said even a few of ’em can manage to steal every last drop of Silver stored up inside an Ildarwood tree, but this is a whole lot more of ’em than I’ve ever seen all at the same time. This tree must’ve been really sick.”
Peering inside the shattered trunk while standing on the very tips of his toes, Aiden was disgusted to discover shimmering worm-like creatures appearing and disappearing within the remnants of the wood.
“You think that’s what’s happening to the tree back at the fort?” he asked Jarryn.
“I really hope not,” Jarryn answered sullenly. “But I think I know who we can ask.”
It did not take them long to reach Etta’s after that, and once they arrived, Aiden was the first to step up onto her front porch. Not since Etta was suspended from her duties had Aiden been close enough to read the thick piece of parchment that had been affixed to her front door:
OFFICIAL NOTICE
By order of the Council of the Ildarcourt,lessons at this location have been temporarily relocated to Miss Empleton’s farm.See map below for directions.
Do not inquire within.
“Maybe we should just go,” Aiden suggested, seeing the warning and fearing yet another interrogation by the terrifying Delaniya Brent.
“Oh, for the Heavens’ sake,” Tannus grumbled before pounding his fist against the door. “Hey, Etta, it’s us. Can we talk to you for a quick sec? We need your help.”
“Please go away,” Etta called through the door, her voice heavy with sorrow. “I don’t wanna risk you boys gettin’ into any more trouble on my account.”
“But we really need to talk to you!” Aiden yelled back. “We think the Ildarwood is startin’ to get sick, and we’re really worried it’s gonna turn into a Blight if we don’t do something soon.”
“Well, if that’s the case, there’s not really anything you boys can do,” said Etta. “Just trust the other Preceptors, and they’ll do whatever they need to when the time comes. Now, take care.”
“Etta, wait! Please!” Aiden implored. “Can’t you at least tell us what’s causin’ it?”
A long silence followed before Aiden finally heard, “Same thing as before, just like always. Better you boys keep your heads down and stay outta trouble till it passes.”
“But we really wanna help!” Aiden pressed. “We just don’t know how.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes helpin’ just ends up makin’ matters a whole lot worse,” Etta answered. “Now, please, just go!”
Throwing up his hands in defeat, Aiden shook his head and began walking back toward Tannus and Dustane.
Jarryn, however, refused to surrender so easily. “Hey, Etta?” he said. “I just wanted to say I’m really sorry for gettin’ you in trouble. I hope you’re not mad at me for takin’ the Silverwood, and I hope me holdin’ on to it isn’t the reason why all those stupid Cynders did what they did to you. But just in case it makes you feel any better, I’ve been practicin’ with it every day, and even though I’m still havin’ a hard time figurin’ out what I’m supposed to do with it, I’m just gonna keep on practicin’ till I do, so I can finally make you proud.”
Then silence followed until Etta at last replied, “I’m already proud of you, Jarryn. I’ve always been proud of you. That’s why I trust you more than anyone to do what needs to be done from now on.”
“What do you mean?” Jarryn replied as the other boys listened on intently.
“There must always be balance in the Ildarwood, but that balance has been lost over and over again,” Etta explained. “Maybe if you boys can figure out a way to see what others saw before, it’ll help you all get ready for what we’re bound to see again.”
Turning to face the other boys once more, Jarryn wore the same perplexed expression as Aiden had donned himself. “Well, what do you guys think she meant by that?” Jarryn asked, glancing at each of the other three boys in turn.
“I think she means we need to watch what happened during one of the last Blights,” Tannus replied, exchanging an uneasy look with Dustane.
“But I haven’t been able to find a single decent book on the Blight anywhere in the library,” said Aiden. “And I am definitely not gonna try sneakin’ into Principal Brent’s office again.”
“Don’t worry,” Dustane insisted with a sigh. “We already know exactly where to look. You’re just not gonna like it.”
Plenty of daylight still remained once the boys all finished their lessons that afternoon, and though Aiden never particularly enjoyed going anywhere that might get him into trouble, he was at the very least grateful he would not have to return to the haunted ruins of Miner’s Reach while twilight stood mere minutes away on the horizon.
Once the Wardingwood signs that barred entry to the old village square had been tossed aside by Tannus and Dustane yet again, Aiden and Jarryn proceeded with them back toward the crumbling remnants of the schoolhouse on the cliff. Walking with utmost caution, Aiden watched every step he took as he moved past each gaping trench. Though hardly bottomless, they were each more than deep enough to set off his fear of heights, forcing him to cling to Jarryn for support.
“Why do you keep bringin’ that creepy old thing with you wherever you go?” Aiden asked upon hearing the unsettling click-click-whir of the spherical device in Jarryn’s satchel once again.
“’Cause I’m pretty sure it tells me if somewhere we go is haunted,” Jarryn nervously replied, watching his steps with even more fear than the others on account of his immense stature.
