The Wealding Word (30 page)

Lady Zel put her arm around the girl’s shoulder. “We will see for ourselves.”

They came beneath the umbrella of black, creaking branches, their eyes upon the trunk. All the smaller twigs and boughs were completely gone, leaving only stumpy arms overhead. Lady Zel walked toward the tree, stepping around his fire-scorched roots. As she approached, she began to hum. Rising and falling, her melody slowly merged into the words of an ancient hymn.

Sun loving
Earth loving
Root of all Being
,

Ever nourishing
Shaper of life,
Enliven me
.

Ever changing
Breath of life,
Nourish me
.

Ever beginning
Limb of life.
Transform me
.

Sun loving
Earth loving
Root of all Being
,

Light loving
Life loving
Source of all sound
,

I am thee. Thou art me
.

The sorceress quieted, speaking softly to the scarred bark. “I’m sorry I let you down, my old friend. I’m still making mistakes, still trying to understand.”

Nell, standing just under the farthest bough, didn’t know what to do. Lady Zel was paying her last respects to the tree, and the girl wanted desperately to let her grieve without intruding. There arose in Nell an urge to run to the hermit’s house and be near the young sapling, with its song of easy sunlight and springtime. She began creeping back in the direction they had come, hoping to distance herself from the sadness and loss.

“Stay,” came Lady Zel’s firm voice. “We are not finished.” The sorceress extended her hand, index finger pulling the air, indicating that Nell should approach. She then resumed her address to the dead tree. “I wish you weren’t so stubborn all these years. But I have
completed the task you set me. There is finally peace in our kingdom, forged by the marriage of my great-grandson Reginald, and Pharisij Sanuswari, princess of the veiled realm of the Ramahindra. Soon, when Ryan comes of age, the truce will be sealed.”

Nell crawled over the jagged rocks and roots to stand with the sorceress. The great tree made no response, so Lady Zel continued on with the ritual. “This is my new apprentice: Nell Shoemaker. You gave to her one of your seeds a year ago, and you recognized the weald in her as I did. But since that time, she has become afflicted by a foul thing, and will perish without our help.”

The sorceress looked at Nell, “I cannot rid you of a Malady, Nell. You already know that. It is something you must do for yourself. But if you accept
this
as your task, I can help.”

Nell wasn’t sure what the sorceress was driving at. “But I tried. How am I supposed to destroy the Malady if I don’t know the Word Isolet?”

Lady Zel looked older than ever at that moment. Her face was lined with a mixture of hope and sorrow as she spoke. “I can give you the time you need to uncover another means. Do you remember Peter’s book, the one that described the creature? It mentioned a way of fighting the Malady’s curse, a way which had been lost – or perhaps hidden.” Nell shook her head, still uncomprehending. “Nell, Maladies have afflicted mankind for thousands of years. If you discover another means to destroy them, you will have done a great service to all people. But you cannot do so with the Word Isolet. Such is not our way. To find the Stair of Stars: this shall be your task.”

An inarticulate recognition burst into Nell’s mind. It was as though a light shone upon her in the midst of night, and her eyes were momentarily blinded. She didn’t
know
what it was that Lady Zel was offering, but somehow she felt the scale of it.

Lady Zel looked once more to the tree: “Long ago I broke your trust, and shared your gift unwisely. But today I have come to ask
your blessing… to bequeath unto my apprentice the Word Eternis, as you once bequeathed it to me. You have heard the task that shall accompany it. Whether you agree or no, tell me now.”

Nell’s mouth hung open in shock. “But… but, I don’t want…
that
! I’m just a girl!” A legion of faceless warlocks reared before her eyes, all of them vying to seize the Word for themselves. “Someone like Rhiannon will come and make me give it to them!”

Lady Zel understood Nell’s fear. “No child, the Word Eternis is invisible to other sorcerers. Its vibration is inaudible even to a dragon’s magic. The only way anyone can ever know what you possess is if you yourself reveal it, as I once did. Learn from my mistakes.” She glanced at the oak, still hoping for some sign of life. “I am the last sorceress to carry the Word Eternis. If I should die, it too would disappear from the earth. So I wish to give it to you now, while I am still able.”

A breeze careened through bare branches, playing on the surface of the pond and pulling wisps of Lady Zel’s long hair. Though the tree stood lifeless and mute, at that moment the sun shone forth from behind the clouds to drench the afternoon in gold. The sorceress seemed to take this as a confirmation of sorts.

“Nell,” she said quietly. “Will you agree to this task – to find the Stair of Stars, for the good of all?”

Nell stood staring into the sorceress’ colorless eyes, incapable of speech. She didn’t ask for this, she didn’t want it. Truly, she didn’t want it. She yearned for a normal life, like everyone else. But then something called to her, a hungry shriek grating on the edges of her memory. Nell saw again the Malady’s pink eyes gleaming in the dark, its stumpy tusks framing an odious leer. The demon had come to drown her life in sorrow – entangling the lives of everyone around her with its curses. And there were hundreds of its kind preying upon helpless people everywhere. How many thousands upon thousands suffered innocently, caught unawares in a Malady’s
cruel web? Nell thought of her mother and father, of Peter, and Lexi, and even Evelyn. They had all suffered because of her, and would continue to unless Nell did something.

Lady Zel offered a way to help. “Yes,” Nell said. “I will try.”

The sorceress moved with grave attentiveness. Dropping to her knee, she took Nell’s face in her hands and stared into her eyes. Then she kissed Nell’s forehead with a light brush of her lips. When her face came away, it was strangely serene.

Nell felt no different. She looked up at her teacher, silhouetted by the setting sun, and wondered at the significance of the kiss. “Is that…
ohh
,” she breathed.

As if heaving a momentous sigh of relief, the heavens sent forth a current upon the land. Every branch, flag, and shutter in the kingdom stirred in response. Soot clouded the air within the ring of stones, whipping skirts and hair in the rush. This was no ordinary wind, but rather a messenger of the sibilant realm. From the gulf between worlds a crystalline tone issued, rippling through the material silence. It was a single chime, but it quickened Nell with an energy holier than light itself. Riding the breeze, the sound of it flowed fast and then faded, but Nell sensed what had touched her.

“There,” Lady Zel said. “It is yours. Yours and mine.” She smiled again at her apprentice. Her face was creased with a hundred lines, as though the same life-giving wind had somehow made off with her vitality. “We are bound, closer than any mother and daughter now. Keep the Word safe and secret within you, and remember your task.”

Nell felt shaky and charged, like she had been running for miles, yet strangely placid as well. Some vital inner tempo within her chest seemed to wobble for a moment before taking up a new cadence. She was
larger
, somehow – a pebble of mountainous proportions. She raised her hands before her eyes, expecting them to be throbbing
at twice their normal size, but they were only her ordinary hands, small and grimed with ash.

Observing Nell sense her body from the other side of Eternity, Lady Zel said, “It is the Word settling in. You may feel its effects for several months. There is nothing for you to do for now, except to welcome it into your bones. We will speak more about it when the time is right.”

Only half listening to the sorceress, Nell touched her face – her cheeks and lips like living marble. For a moment, she had the impression that her body was really the first rung of a most curious ladder, one created expressly for something unknown and outside of her to descend into this world. The hermit’s words about having to make room on the inside for magic – about leaving herself behind – drifted back to Nell’s mind. But at that moment,
who she was
seemed an insignificant detail in comparison with the Source of all Words.

The sorceress noted the sun’s westward slide. “We should be going. Miss Elder will expect us promptly for dinner. There is nothing else for us here.”

Feeling altogether unhurried, Nell spoke like one who had just awoken. “Lady Zel, can I catch up with you? I want to say goodbye to him too.”

Rapunzel nodded. “Of course, but don’t tarry long.” She gave the lifeless tree one last look. Then, gathering her shawl around her, the sorceress strode from beneath the burned boughs, heading in the direction of the setting sun.

E
PILOGUE

Nell sat down among the roots, still wobbly from her contact with the Word Eternis. She watched Lady Zel, a distant streak of purple and white, disappear behind a dolmen.

“I meant to come back,” Nell told the oak. “I wanted to. Things just got so complicated.” She found that talking to a dead tree didn’t make her feel any better. “You can’t hear me anyway. I’m sorry I missed my chance to know you.” Lady Zel was right, there was nothing left here. But as Nell was getting up, she noticed something glinting beneath a clump of charcoal by her foot. She reached out a hesitant hand to move the debris, and her fingers brushed warm gold. “Another acorn!” she shouted. The sight of it filled her with hope, and the Wealding Word responded to her joy.

All around, shoots of every variety launched upward, answering the harvestmaiden’s nourishing call. In the span of a few breaths, quivering wildflowers crowded among leafy sprigs and sprouts all jangling up through the soil. The Word brought their voices to Nell’s ears: the first tremulous notes of a million tiny preludes. It was then she felt a soft sigh move the air behind her. A bit of scorched bark in the bole of the tree relaxed, and six sap-crusted eyes creaked open, one-by-one.

The ancient face peered down upon the skeletal trees – his burned and blackened companions. “Ah, they’re gone now,” the Aureate sighed. There was neither accusation nor anguish in his words, merely an acceptance of what was. “I must have fallen asleep again.”

“You’re alive,” Nell gasped. “But why didn’t you answer Lady Zel when she was here? She misses you – she’s been waiting to talk with you for a hundred years!”

“A hundred years? Has it been that long?” He smacked his lips, tasting the breeze. “The air is certainly different than it used to be.”

“It’s been that long since she’s seen you, yes. And now she thinks you’re dead.” Nell wasn’t sure if she should be overjoyed at the tree’s hardiness, or angry at him for ignoring Lady Zel for so long.

“Hmm. People always assume the worst,” the tree rustled. “The truth is, I get so tired lately.”

“So you’ve been asleep since the fire?”

“The fire,” the oak mused. He blinked open a few more knots to view the whole hill at once. “Yes, I was dreaming… dreaming that all the trees were trying to wake up, like me. But then the moon poured smoke upon us, and I was alone again. I don’t recall the fire exactly. Must have gone into my roots when the flames came – it’s what I always do.”

“You slept through it?”
Nell asked. “But I heard your voice that day. You called to me. You told me to flee.”

The Aureate made no response. Instead, several of his knot-like eyes turned to the acorn in Nell’s palm. “I forgot there were two of those.”

The girl hesitated, “Do… do you want it back?”

Eyes scattered around the bole widened in surprise. “Back? No no! When an acorn falls, it can’t be put back on the branch. Ready or not, it’s time for that one to find its place. Take it with you if you wish. Care for it.”

The acorn was much smaller than the one Nell had been given last year – no doubt prematurely burned from its branch in the fire. As she slipped it into her pocket, the sun lighted upon the western peaks. She had lingered much longer than she meant. “I should go,
I need to catch up with Lady Zel,” Nell said. The Aureate merely winked a few of its eyes, like some living pillar of awareness.

Nell took a few steps, but her guilt over not visiting the tree as she promised weighed upon her still. Even if he
had
slept the entire year since she last saw him, she couldn’t leave without offering some apology. “I’m sorry it’s been this long. I’ll come back and take care of you, I promise. I’ll visit you all the time so you stay awake.”

The oak gave a resonant chuckle, “A tree needs a great deal of help to awaken. I do hope you will come back.” Lids of bark were beginning to droop. “If I am correct, you now possess a second Word, and you will want help in understanding it.”

“What? But… but Lady Zel told me no one would ever know about it,” Nell exclaimed.

“Most won’t, because they don’t know what to listen for. But I have held the Word Eternis for a very long time: ten times, maybe twenty times a thousand-thousand turnings. I know its trappings quite well.” His speech began to slow as sleep descended on him. “Your task… is it fitting for you?”

Nell nodded. “Yes, I think so.” She briefly explained the Malady, and Lady Zel’s decree to find the Stair of Stars.