Tiger's Quest (36 page)

I agreed with them. They also added that, while journeying in Silvanae, if you hung fairy-made apparel on the limb of a tree at night, the fairies would clean and repair the clothes while you were sleeping. We thanked them for their gifts and enjoyed our repast. As we lounged at breakfast, Faunus appeared carrying a small infant and said, “Before you go, we would like to ask a favor. The family with the new baby wondered if you would name their child?”

I sputtered, “Are you sure? What if I name it something they don’t like?”

“They would be honored by any name you give him.”

Before I could mouth another word of protest, he laid the tiny infant in my arms. A small pair of green eyes looked up at me from the soft blanket. He was beautiful. I bounced him softly in my arms and cooed at him instinctively. I reached in a finger to lightly tap his nose and touch his downy, soft, silver hair. The little baby, much more active than a newborn human baby would be, reached a hand out to grab a lock of my hair and tugged.

Kishan gently removed my hair from the baby’s grasp. Then he brushed the rest of my hair over my shoulder. He touched the baby’s hand, which grabbed onto his finger.

Kishan laughed. “He’s got a strong grip.”

“He does.” I looked up at Kishan. “I’d like to name him after your grandfather, Tarak, if you don’t mind.”

Kishan’s golden eyes sparkled. “I think he’d like to have a namesake.”

When I told Faunus that I wanted to name the baby Tarak, the Silvanae cheered. Tarak yawned sleepily, unimpressed with his new moniker, and started sucking his thumb.

Kishan put his arm around my shoulders and whispered, “You’ll be a good mother, Kelsey.”

“Right now, I’m more of an auntie. Here. Your turn.”

Kishan settled the small creature in the crook of his arm and spoke quietly to it in his native language. I went off to change my clothes and braid my hair. When I came back, he was rocking the sleeping baby in his arms and staring thoughtfully at its little face.

“Ready to go?”

He looked up at me with a tender expression. “Sure. Just let me change too.”

He handed off the baby to his family. Before he left, he brushed a finger across my cheek and smiled at me. His touch was hesitant and sweet. When he came back, we said our good-byes and picked up our pack, which now held my gossamer dress, several honey cakes, and a flagon of flower nectar, and started walking east.

Kishan seemed to know where he was going, so he led the way. I often caught him watching me, staring at me with a strange sort of smile on his face. After an hour or so of walking, I asked, “What’s wrong with you today? You’re acting differently.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. Care to share?”

He hesitated for a long moment, and then sighed. “One of my dreams was about you. You were propped up in bed, tired, but happy and beautiful. You held a dark-haired newborn baby boy in your arms. You called him Anik. He was your son.”

“Oh.”
That explains why he was acting differently toward me.
“Was there . . . anyone else there with me?”

“There was, but I couldn’t see who.”

“I see.”

“He looked like
us
, Kelsey. I mean . . . he’s either Ren’s or . . . he’s
mine
.”

What? Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
I conjured in my mind a sweet baby boy with Ren’s vivid blue eyes; in a flash, the eyes changed color and became as golden as an Arizona desert. I bit my lip nervously.
This isn’t good. Is it possible that Ren won’t survive? That somehow I’ll end up with Kishan?
I knew that Kishan had feelings for me, but I couldn’t fathom any future in which I’d choose him over Ren. Maybe I wouldn’t have the option.
I have to know!

“And did you uh . . . see the baby’s eyes?”

He paused and looked intently at my face before saying, “No. His eyes were closed. He was sleeping.”

“Oh.” I started walking ahead again.

He stopped me and touched my arm. “You once asked me if I wanted a home and a family. I didn’t think that I’d ever want one without Yesubai, but seeing you like that in my dream, with that little baby . . . yeah. I want it. I want him. I want . . .
you
. I saw him, and I felt . . . possessive and proud. I want the life that I saw in my dream more than just a little, Kells. I thought you should know that.”

I mutely nodded and fidgeted while he watched me.

He asked, “Is there anything you dreamed about that you’d like to share with me?”

I shook my head and played with the hem of my fairy shirt. “No, not really.”

He grunted and walked ahead.

A baby
? I’d always wanted to be a mom and have a family, but I’d never imagined that I’d have two men—brothers, nonetheless—vying for my attention.
If Ren, for some reason, doesn’t survive . . . no. I’ll stop that line of thinking right now. He will survive! I’ll do everything I can to find Lokesh. If that puts me in danger, then so be it.

We walked all afternoon, stopping for breaks along the way. I was bothered by Kishan’s confession. I didn’t want to deal with this, didn’t want to hurt him. There were so many unresolved questions. Words formed in my mind, but I couldn’t seem to find the courage to broach the subject. This was bad!

My heart screamed that it wanted Ren, but my mind reminded me that we didn’t always get what we wanted. I wanted my parents back too, and that was impossible. My thoughts roiled like boiling water, but the ideas and thoughts burst into steamy nothingness when they reached the surface.

We didn’t talk much except to say, “Look out for that log,” or, “Watch out for the puddle.” Being with Kishan felt different now, awkward. He seemed to expect something from me, something more than I could give him.

He led us to a range of hills and made for a small cave at the base of one. When we arrived, I peered into its murky depth. “Great. Another cave. I don’t like caves. My experiences with them have not been good thus far.”

He replied, “It’ll be okay. Trust me, Kells.”

“Whatever you say. Please lead on.”

I heard a buzzing noise that grew louder the deeper we went. It was dark. I pulled out my flashlight and swung it around. Thin pillars of light broke through the soil above in several places, spotlighting the rocks and ground. Something brushed my face. Bees! The cave was full of bees. The walls were dripping with honeycomb. It was like we’d stepped into a giant beehive. In the middle of the cave, on a pedestal, sat a stone object with a hole on top that looked not unlike a beehive.

“The omphalos stone!”

A bee crawled down the neck of my shirt and stung me.

“Ow!” I smacked the insect with my hand.

“Shh, Kells. Keep quiet. They’ll bother us less if we move slowly and quietly and get done with what we came to do.”

“I’ll try.”

Bees swarmed angrily around us. It took all my resolve not to bat them violently away from my body. Several had landed on my clothing, but it seemed the stingers couldn’t penetrate the fairy cloth. I felt a sting on my wrist and pulled my hands into my long sleeves, holding the opening closed. I approached the stone and looked inside. “What do I do?” I asked.

“Try using your power.”

Kishan had been stung several times on the face; in fact, his eyebrow was swelling. I shook my hands out of my sleeves and winced as a bee took the opportunity to crawl up my arm. I put both hands on the sides of the stone and willed the heat to move up from my belly. Fiery warmth shot down my arms and into the stone.

The stone turned yellow, then orange, and then bright red. I heard a hissing sound from within and smelled gas fumes. As smoky gas began to fill the cave and the bees became sluggish, they plopped to the cave floor like fat gumdrops and slept.

“I think you might have to inhale the fumes, Kells, like those oracles Mr. Kadam talked about.”

“Okay, here goes.”

Leaning over, I took a big whiff. I saw shooting stars and colors. Kishan became distorted, his body twisted and elongated. Then, I was sucked into a powerful vision. When I woke, we were in the jungle again, and Kishan was dabbing my stings with a gooey substance the color of inch-worms. To say it wafted a strong odor would be an understatement. The fetor permeated my hair, my clothes, and everything around us.

“Ugh! That stuff is nasty! What is it?”

He held out a jar. “The Silvanae gave it to us when I told them we would be seeing lots of bees. They’ve never heard of bees that sting but they use this salve on the trees to repair damage when a limb is blown off by the wind. They believed it would help.”

“When did you tell them we’d be going to a bee cave?”

“When you were changing. They said this bee cave was outside their realm.”

“It smells awful.”

“But how does it feel?”

“It feels . . . good. Soothing and cool.”

“Then I imagine you can tolerate the smell.”

“I guess.”

“Were you successful then? Did you see the tree?”

“Yeah. I saw the tree and the four houses and something else too.”

“What else?”

“Like you said before, there’s a snake in the garden. To be specific, it’s a very large snake wrapped around the base of the tree preventing anyone from accessing it.”

“Is it a demon?”

I considered, “No. It’s just an exceptionally large snake with a job to do. I know how to get there. Follow me, and we’ll figure out what to do on the way.”

“Right. Before we get underway though, would you mind?”

He held out the salve and I began smoothing the substance on his neck. He removed his shirt so I could reach the raised red stings on his upper chest and back. I quickly moved behind him to hide my red face. Though I tried not to linger, I couldn’t help but notice his bronze skin was smooth and warm.

When I circled around him, he swept his hair back away from his face so I could dab the green slime over his cheeks and forehead. There was a large sting near his upper lip. I touched it lightly. “Does it hurt?”

My gaze moved from his lips up to his eyes. He was looking at me in a way that made me blush.

“Yes,” he responded quietly.

It was obvious to me that he was not talking about the sting, so I said nothing. I could feel the warmth of his gaze on my face as I quickly finished his lip and chin. I stepped away as soon as possible and put the top back on the jar, keeping my back to him as he put on his shirt.

“Let’s get a move on then, shall we?” I began walking, and he caught up, matching my pace.

We hiked another hour or two and made camp as the sun went down. That night, Kishan wanted another story so I told him one of the stories of Gilgamesh.

“Gilgamesh was a very clever man. So clever, in fact, that he found a way to sneak into the realm of the gods. He wore a disguise and pretended he was on an errand of great importance. Through cunning questioning, he discovered the hiding place of the plant of eternity.”

“What is the plant of eternity?”

“I’m not sure. It could’ve been tea leaves, or something they put in their salad or food. Or, perhaps it was an herb or maybe even a drug like opium, but the point is that he stole it. For four days and nights he ran without stopping to rest so that he could escape the wrath of the gods. When the gods found out the plant had been stolen, they were angry and announced that there would be a reward for anyone who could stop Gilgamesh. On the fifth evening, Gilgamesh was so tired he had to lie down to rest, even if it was to be for only a few moments.

“While he was sleeping, a common snake on its evening hunt passed by. It came upon the fragrant plant, which Gilgamesh had placed in a small rabbit-skin bag. Thinking it was getting an easy rabbit dinner, the snake swallowed the entire bag. The next morning, all Gilgamesh found was a snake skin. This was the first time a snake had ever shed its skin. From then on, people would say that snakes have an eternal nature. When a snake sheds its skin, it dies and is born anew.”

I paused. Kishan was quiet. “Did you stay awake this time?” I asked.

“Yes. I liked your story. Sleep well,
bilauta
.”

“You too.”

But I couldn’t sleep for a long time. Thoughts of a golden-eyed baby kept me awake.

It took us two days to find what I was looking for. I knew the tree was in a large valley and that if we climbed between the twin peaks we would see it. We made it to the peaks the first day and spent almost all of the second day climbing. At a lookout spot, we finally gazed below.

We were high enough that clouds obscured the view. Wind broke up the clouds, and the valley appeared to be a dark forest. The trees were so tall that they rose as high as the mountain. In my omphalos stone vision, I saw only one tree with an enormous trunk.

Despite that things looked different in my vision, we descended into the valley. As we continued on, I was shocked to realize that what I was looking at was not a forest of trees at all—but the branches of one gigantic tree, a tree whose limbs stretched taller than the mountains. When I pointed this out to Kishan, he reminded me of Mr. Kadam’s research. I fished the papers out of the backpack and read as we hiked on.

“He said it’s a giant world tree with roots descending to the underworld and leaves touching heaven. It’s supposed to be a thousand feet wide and thousands of feet tall. I’m guessing this is it.”

Kishan replied dryly, “It appears so.”

When we finally stepped onto the grassy valley floor, we trailed a giant branch back to the trunk. Because the sun could not penetrate the massive limbs overhead, it felt dark, cold, and still under the leafy roof.

The wind blew through the large leaves, which slapped against the branches like stiff clothes on a line. Eerie, strange noises assaulted our ears. Creaking and moaning, the wind found ways to blow over and through the mighty limbs making it seem as if we were walking through a haunted forest.

Kishan moved closer to me to take my hand. I accepted his gesture gratefully and tried to ignore the feeling of being watched. Kishan felt it too, and said it was as if strange creatures were studying us from above. I tried to laugh.