Chapter 19
Instantly, the boy from the Guild of Gifted Mystics stood before me, his feet a few inches off the ground. His face showed no expression whatever.
“I will now remove the voice that must be removed,” said the boy, his voice much too mellow for what he was proposing to do to me.
I stood before him as limp as a dish rag. When he was through with me, I wouldn’t ever be worth much of anything for anybody. The Gifted Mystic raised his arms and something that looked like a line and fish hook appeared in one hand. I was drained of all feeling when the hook entered into me. The tabby cat scurried up to my arm, and I took a hold of it to keep it in place. When the boy yanked on the line, I heard a high-pitched squeal, and then saw a pinkish cloud float away from me. With the operation completed, the crowd broke out into another rousing cheer.
“Come with ne,” said the Gifted Mystic.
The boy took me by the hand to lead me away. I had no choice but to go with him. I was amazed with how calm I felt, considering that I had just been destroyed and there was worse to come. My only consolation was the cat I held in my arms. As soon as we reached the trees surrounding the Scarlets’ back yard, the crowd noise faded. The underbrush gave way before the Gifted Mystic, making it easier for me to walk with him.
“Nathaniel,” said the boy, “I gift you with my name of Daryl.”
I opened my mouth to thank Daryl for gifting me with his name, but remembered my voice had just been taken from me. I nodded in response to his gifting. A short walk took us to the far edge of the woods where it dissolved in mist. Daryl gently pulled me forward with him into the mist. I started to fall. Daryl tightened his grip on me and held me up. For a second, I thought I’d lost the cat, but then I felt it pull down on my cape. Sharp pricks on my forearm told me when the cat was back in holding position.
“Nathaniel,” said Daryl. “The light on your cape clasp continues to shine.”
I wanted to say “big deal” with all the sarcasm in the world, but knew I couldn’t. During my trial, I’d forgotten all about my cape clasp. Looking down, I could see for myself that the pale light was still visible. It seemed a cruel joke.
“Nathaniel,” said Daryl, “I must ask you to sing for the coach that will rescue you.”
“But I can’t . . .” I started to say.
Then I stopped myself. My voice had just been taken from me, and yet I had just spoken. I looked at Daryl. There seemed to be the faintest hint of a smile on his solemn face.
“I told the court of Gifted Judges that I would remove the voice that must be removed,” said Daryl. “That voice was not your voice. Your voice is very precious and is much needed for the sake of your healing quest and much else besides. Out of great gratitude for your healing affection, the cat in your arms has given up its voice to save yours.”
That put quite a lump into my throat. I raised the cat to my face and looked into its green eyes.
“You must be the nicest cat in the world,” I told the tabby, amazed at the sound of my voice.
“Please sing for the coach to come for you,” said Daryl. “It needs the sound of your voice to find you.”
“What should I sing?” I asked.
“Sing that which is in your heart.”
The first song that came to mind was “Bridge over Troubled Water,” so I sang that.
When you’re down and out,
Feeling small,
When evening falls so hard,
I’ll comfort you,
I’ll take your part.
By the time I got to the refrain “Like a bridge over troubled water, I’ll lay me down,” tears were pouring down my face, but I didn’t care. As I sang, I stared into the mist, but saw nothing but the mist. Then I heard a rustling sound behind me and felt a touch on my right arm. It was Jorland. I winced when I saw a red welt covering one cheek.
“Can I come with you?” he asked.
“Of course you can,” I said, “if the coach comes.”
“It will come,” Daryl promised me. “Keep singing. The coach’s journey is hard, but your song will bring it to you.”
Having stepped over the edge of the forest into the mist, Jorland weighed me down, but Daryl strengthened his grip on me without squeezing my arm too hard, and that gave me the strength to support Jorland.
“Thanks for speaking up for me,” I said.
“It’s the only thing I could have done,” said Jorland. “I would have perished when I was strafed by the fire jets if not for you.”
Then I sang the song again, some two or three times. Jorland joined in at times once he’d gotten the hang of it. It felt strange, standing on nothing and singing to nothing that I could see, but I kept on going. If I was on my own, I would have given up, but Daryl’s confidence showed no sign of dropping, and it was clear enough that Jorland had thrown away his future with his own clan to come with me, so he wasn’t about to give up waiting for the coach, either. One thing my singing had accomplished was to clear up welt on his face considerably. At least my singing was still good for something.
Finally, when I was starting to feel all sung out, a large, dark shadow loomed in the mist in front of us. Two large winged animals raised their front legs, making me think we were about to be trampled. Even then, Daryl held me in place. I wasn’t trampled or kicked down, not even when I saw the heads of two large horses with shining eyes and sharp teeth. On their backs were wings, each as big as a house. The horses trotted passed me and I made out the shape of a stage coach coming to a stop. A fuzzy light appeared when the door opened and I saw the outline of a human shape.
“We found him!” yelled a high-pitched voice I knew very well. Loud cheers rang out from inside the coach. “Quick! Get in!”
Daryl steered me into the coach and into the smothering arms of Mirry. Before I had a chance to breathe, Maranissa swamped me with a big hug, before handing me over to the more merciful greetings of Pollo and Charles.
“Jorland! You were great!” Mirry cried with an arm around his former enemy. “I’m glad you joined us.”
I felt like I was swimming in an ocean of pillows as I got moved around a room many times bigger than the coach. Master Terman and Masteress Belinda were there along with Ferndal and Rosalind and Master McDermott and Preston and Lucy, and Masteress Goldenaro, plus other members of the Guild of Gifted Healers I hadn’t met before.
“Oh Nathaniel!” Maranissa cried as she threw her arms around me again. “That was so awful, what they did to you! Have a drink!”
She thrust a mug into my hands and pushed me into a super-comfy chair. I was beginning to see that I was in a spacious white-carpeted living room that included a large dining table. Several hallways radiated off from this room, making me wonder how many people were in this stage coach. The liquid was white and milky and deeply refreshing.
“I will do further research in the Archives of Gifted Lore,” said Charles, “but I am pretty sure that yours was the most unjust judgment in all Gifted recorded history.”
“Everybody there has condemned their loved ones, and perhaps themselves to die of the pestilence through their own lunacy,” said Master Terman.
“It is so sad, what happened to your voice,” said Rosalind, on the verge of tears. “I will teach you an instrument that will give you a new voice.”
“But can any instrument played by Nathaniel duplicate the effect of his Gifted Singing?” asked Pollo.
“Look!” Mirry suddenly cried, pointing to my cape clasp. “The light stays on! The quest continues! Can you do it without speaking or singing, Nathaniel? I guess you can, somehow.”
“Actually, I’ll have to sing the healing chant as defined in my quest,” I replied.
A stunned silence filled the room and everybody looked at me strangely except for Daryl and Jorland. My tabby cat poked its head out from under my cape and sniffed at the mug. It opened its mouth to meow, but no sound came out. Even though it was just a cat, I felt a prick in my heart for what it had lost. I dipped a finger in my drink and held it up for my cat to lick it off.
“This cat saved my voice,” I explained. “Daryl said it gave up its voice because I healed it when one of the apprentices in my guild injured it.” I gave the cat a hug and another fingertip’s worth of drink. “I’ll keep you as a royal guest as long as we’re both alive,” I promised the cat.
“You must name him,” said Daryl.
“Uh—how about Simon?” I suggested, since I’d just been singing one of Paul Simon’s songs.
“Good show!” Charles exclaimed. “Simon has saved a lot more than your voice.”
“How did you know about my trial?” I asked.
“We saw it all on an etheric image,” said Mirry. “We kept trying to get in and rescue you, but we couldn’t break the shields without your Singing Gift.”
“But when the Gifted Mystic took you into the woods, we couldn’t see you anymore,” said Maranissa.
“When we heard vibrations rattling the coach, we hoped it meant that the horses had found you,” said Pollo, “but we assumed you could not have sung anything to bring us to you.”
“But that’s what Nathaniel did,” said Jorland.
“Nathaniel,” said Daryl, “I must take my leave of you now.”
“But—I just met you!” I blurted out.
“That may be,” Daryl replied, “but I am the only member of my guild who is not pestilenced, and so only I am available to contemplate the inner workings of all beings. Now that I have you set to rights, I must do the same for much else.”
“Thanks, Daryl,” I said, but he had faded from view before I’d finished saying even that.
“Now I know why the pestilenced cared-fors on board with us suddenly looked slightly better,” said Masteress Goldenaro.
“What’s all this about pestilenced cared-fors?” I asked.
“As soon as we heard that you’d been framed by four of our own number and captured by the Scarlets,” Lucy explained, “we rounded up all the pestilent cared-fors who wanted to come with us, so that they could all be close to you as soon as we picked you up.”
“They accused me of kidnaping them all at my trial,” I said.
“Well, it was your fault we picked them up, in a way,” said Pollo with a sly smile.
“We only wanted to give them the best care the Guild of Gifted Healers can give them,” said Master McDermott.
“Then is my father here?” I blurted out.
“Of course, he’s here,” said Lucy.
I got out of the chair so fast, I dropped Simon and had to pick him up before he had time to feel rejected.
“I’ve got to see him now,” I said. “I’ll finish my drink later.”
“You’d better finish your drink first,” said Maranissa, who seemed determined to nag me for the rest of my life.
I downed the rest of the glass in one big gulp and gave it back to Maranissa. Preston led me over to one of the halls. When we got there, I saw that the hallways were going in circles around the central room.
“We have all of our cared-fors on doubly compacted time,” Preston explained. “Step carefully.”
I had to aim my step to where I expected the corridor to be when my foot landed in it. With Preston’s help, I managed it, and he took me to a room with about half a dozen wheezing patients. I spotted my father right away and threw my arms around him.
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” I cried over and over again.
He looked like he was down to his last breath, and I still hadn’t gotten anything done on my quest because of the way everybody had ganged up on me.
“Nath-an-iel,” my father gasped.
He touched one of Simon’s paw and smiled weakly.
“This is Simon,” I said. “He gave up his voice to save mine. We have to keep him forever.”
“Of—course.”
“Your song reached the coach just in time to save his life,” said Preston gently.
“Then—I should sing some more right now, shouldn’t I?” I said.
Preston nodded.
I was so full of “Bridge over Troubled Waters,” that I started in with it again:
When you’re down and out,
Feeling small,
When evening falls so hard,
I’ll comfort you,
I’ll take your part.
I sang my heart out like I’d never sung before. Mirry, not far behind me, accompanied me on his harp. After a while, I started moving in to other songs and hymns that I knew and sang them the way I felt like singing them. No matter what I sang, Mirry managed to play something that went with it. When I saw my dad start to breathe easier, I moved from his room to the other pestilenced cared-fors. Everywhere, I seemed to make people feel a least a little better. I recognized the old woman, the old man, and the dark boy from the Guild of Gifted Mystics. They were sitting up, cross-legged like they were before, even though they looked pretty sick, too. But sick as they were, they all bowed solemnly to me. After going up and down a couple of hallways, I ended up in the loft of the choristers’ cottage. At least that’s what it looked like. All of the boys, or at least most of them, were still laid out there. Dominic was stretched out in front of Rusental’s bed, looking more inconsolable than ever. I faltered when I saw how sick the boys were, but then I remembered that I’d better sing real hard if I wanted to keep them going long enough for me to finish my quest. Mirry played the introduction to one of the hymns I’d learned in choir, and I sang that. Several faces lit up almost instantly. That made it easier for me to keep going, and I did. Like they did before, Peter started playing his harp and Rusentel his drums. Dominic stood up and licked Rusental’s hand. Then he came over to me and licked mine as awell. After a while, the boys joined in the singing, though their voices were still very weak and they could only sing a very few notes at a time between breaths. When I finished, I remembered Lorisal holding his hands over his ears, and I looked to see if he was doing it again. He wasn’t there. I did see Carl, looking very uncomfortable, but at least he wasn’t stopping his ears.
“Where’s Lorisal?” I asked.
The look on several boys’ faces answered my question.
“He died yesterday, or so,” said Tomko. “And Davy, too.”
Then Tomko started to cry. I still had the lights Davy had made me. There was no way I was going to forget him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like a total failure. “I’ve tried.”
“We know you’ve tried,” said Meredith, as he took out a piece of paper and started writing on it. “I think all of us would be dead by now if it weren’t for you.”
“Your cape light is still on,” said Lewis. “That means you’re going to finish your quest.”
“I hope so,” I said.
I hated to leave my stricken friends, but when Preston nodded to me, I felt I’d better obey him, since I still had to get on with the business of my quest. When we got back to the central room, the dining table was filled with large platters of food, and Rosalind was finishing up a singing spell that set the table with elegant silverware.
“You’re just lucky that you’ve got the best apprentice in the Guild for Gifted Culinary Artists that Masteress Carassima ever had around here,” said Maranissa modestly as she placed a steaming casserole in the middle of the table.
“It’s dinner time,” said Mirry, pointing to a chair next to him. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
For quite some time, I’d had other things to think about besides eating, but the smell of such an elaborate meal created by Maranissa had my mouth watering. Before I knew it, I had a plate full of food and I was digging in with everybody else. Simon sat on my lap, and I feed him regularly from my plate. After what he’d done for me, I was determined to make him the most spoiled cat in all the worlds there are.
“Nathaniel,” said Master Terman, “I did manage to get the rest of the missing half of the inscription of the healing chant.”
“Oh good!” I said. “Can we work on it after dinner?”
“Maybe first thing after you sleep will be better,” said Rosalind.
“The question before us now is which of two missions should be done first,” said Masteress Goldenaro. “Should we should search out the windmere willow tree, or try to bring back Masteress Oldham from the etheric depths?”
“And what have you decided?” I asked.
“We are asking you,” said Preston.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because you are the point person of the healing quest,” said Lucy. “The point person makes the decisions that have to be made.”
After being surrounded by crowds of enemies who thought I was to blame for everything that had gone wrong, it was quite a strange feeling to be suddenly surrounded by people who thought I was some sort of messiah.
“But . . . What do you think we should do?” I asked, quite bewildered by the choice I was being presented with.
“Come on, Nathaniel,” said Maranissa, “I’m sure you know what we should do.”
But I didn’t know, and I was hardly in a state of mind to think of much of anything. But then again, I knew well enough that there was only one answer to a question like that. I looked at Masteress Goldenaro and knew I was thinking what she was thinking. When I looked as Master McDermott and Preston and Lucy, I felt the same way.
“We should rescue Masteress Oldham first,” I answered.