XXVI

(NaNoWriMo - Day 14)

“Merkel, Gelinda! Bring the prisoners.” The eagle called out to an unseen group.

At this, their old meerkat guide appeared, leading Akadis and Loopel with bound hands. They had clearly been waiting just out of sight for Inri’s order. Flitting above his head was Gelinda the butterfly, and hovering over the prisoners, the swarm of bees.

“Thank you brothers,” said the Eagle, addressing the bees. “They will not cause any trouble now.”

The bees moved away from the prisoners and settled on the branches of the thorn tree, joined by Gelinda.

“Unbind them and bring them to me,” was his next command. Hedegar ran to help Merkel undo the ropes and they each led a prisoner before the eagle.

Both prisoners bowed their heads in shame before their Lord.

“Do you understand that you have done great wrong?” Inri asked them. They nodded.

“You have lied to and betrayed this loyal group of creatures. You have captured, bound and threatened them without cause. You have attempted to steal that which is not yours by right, but belongs to all this valley. Instead you have hoped to acquire it for your own selfish gain. You have allowed greed and selfishness to override faithfulness to your brethren. For this, you deserve banishment from this valley.

“Do you acknowledge these crimes and understand why they are wrong?”

“We do, Lord,” said the two in unison. They did not even try to defend themselves.

“Good,” said the eagle.

David expected then that the sentence would be handed down to them and they be sent away. But instead, what Inri said next surprised him utterly.

“Having acknowledged your wrongs, are you willing to do everything possible to make amends? Will you help these creatures you have wronged in any way that I order you to?”

“We will,” they replied. Their response seemed genuine. It was derived from a genuine sense of wrong-doing and desire to make right, not simply the selfish desire to avoid punishment.

“Good. Then explain to them why it is you wished to steal the seed?”

David was confused. It hardly seemed the time and place for a conversation on motives with so much else at stake. But he could not interfere with the orders of Inri. So he remained silent.

“Well,” began Loopel, a little nervously. “You see, we were approached by someone who asked that we get the breaknut seed for them.”

“Who was this someone?” prompted Inri.

“Sir, he was a jackal from the neighbouring valley. One of the Vencoshi.” There was a slight gasp among the crowd at mention of the old rival valley. Since the loss of the breaknuts, most communication and commerce between the two valleys had ceased.

“He was the leader of the Vencoshi, in fact,” clarified Akadis, not wishing to be reprimanded for leaving any details out. “He approached us many years ago, saying he had information that there was still a breaknut seed in existence and that all signs were it would be rediscovered in our generation. He asked us to watch out; and should we encounter any evidence that the seed did exist and was likely to be found, we were to report to him.”

“And why, pray tell, did you consent to his conspiracy and not report him to the council?” asked Inri.

“He…he promised us reward. Yearly, we received our reward from the Vencoshi in food and other goods.”

“When Susan arrived,” continued Loopel and it was clear that the search for the seed would begin, as prearranged, we sent word to … We received orders then to follow the trail in any way possible and were promised even greater reward for our assistance: wealth beyond our imaginations and a position of power in the revived kingdom of Vencoshi.”

“Sir, if I may interrupt?” asked Scaltard all of a sudden, “But this story of theirs doesn’t make sense. The Vencoshi have never been rich and they are no better off than us. More importantly, their tale cannot be true because the Vencoshi have no need of the seed. We know from history that the breaknut tree is endemic to our valley and cannot grow in Vencoshi. That is why they raided and burnt our trees. That is part of the reason the breaknuts died out in the first place. Either these scoundrels are lying or our history is wrong. And I know which of the two I am more likely to believe.”

“You ask good questions, young tortoise,” commended Inri. “Nevertheless, both stories are in fact true. These scoundrels, as you call them, do not lie when they say who hired them and what they were promised. But the story your ancestors passed down is also correct – the breaknut could not grow anywhere outside of Crestfaulen valley. Loopel, explain why it is that the Vencoshi wanted the seed.”

“Well,” began the hare. “It would seem that among the inhabitants of Vencoshi is a shrewd and wise weasel. He has devised, so it would seem, by magic, a potion that will make almost anything grow anywhere. They are almost certain that with this potion, they could get the breaknut to grow in their valley.”

A slight gasp and shifting of eyes accompanied the mention of magic and even Loopel looked distressed and guilty of confessing to associating with such practises.

“Of course, we had nothing to do with him,” added Akadis, hoping to deflect some of the blame. “We negotiated with … in exchange for our reward. We never saw or had any dealings with this magician.”

“Continue,” commanded Inri, warning in his voice for the attempted deflection, “What else of this potion?”

“Well that is about all,” the hare answered. “We were to hand over the seed, and they would use the potion to make the plant grow. They hoped to populate their valley with breaknuts, which would bring them much wealth – enough for them to share a small portion with us.” The last was said with slightly lowered voice. Inri looked at them. There was something else they had not said.

“I suppose we should mention,” tried Akadis, “that the potion was not only expected to make the breaknut grow in their land, but it would accelerate the growth of the plant tenfold.”

“That is indeed significant,” answered Inri. “Just how long, with this potion, would it take for a breaknut to grow?”

“I can’t say for sure,” replied Akadis, “We didn’t have direct dealings with the magician, of course. But I did hear rumour that within one day the seed would have become a young sapling. In two more days it would be a tree at full height. Within a week it would bear its first fruit, and that would be ripe in another week.”

“Is that so?” asked the eagle.

“I have heard the same,” confirmed the hare.

It took some time before the onlookers perceived the significance of this revelation. David was the first to realise where this was going.

“That’s it? Isn’t it? That’s the third option.?We don’t have to decide between Susan and the land. With the potion we can plant the tree, and, with accelerated growth we can save Susan!”

But will she have enough time? Two weeks, can she hold on till then?” His brain was racing with excitement.

“I don’t think we’d have to wait that long, David,” said Hedegar more calmly, though the relief in his eyes was undisguised. “The leaves alone would suffice, at least to get her started. It would certainly keep her alive until the fruits were ripe.”

“This is all very well,” interrupted Vixel, “but, surely it would be wrong, no matter the motive, to use a magical potion?” She glanced in the direction of Inri, expecting his immediate approval.

“Your caution is well founded,” replied the Eagle solemnly, “But there are many different types of ‘magic’. Not all are evil.”

“Yes, remember,” added Hedegar, “Susan herself, and David here, both used magic to come to our world. Inri has not condemned them for that. In fact, I would guess that he guided their coming here.”

“Hedegar speaks rightly,” Inri answered. “It was my ‘magic’ that brought them here. If magic be the right word. And Bragold the Old,” (here he nodded towards Hedegar), “also used magic of a sort in the preparation of the clues that hid the seed. How else do you think he could write in the script of the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve? How else did he know that children of Adam would one day come to read you his clues? How did he know there would be opposition to the search? But that is all another story about which I can tell you some other time. Magic is indeed dangerous and should only be used under certain conditions with certain motives under my guidance.

“None of this is relevant to our present problem, however, since it is not magic that your neighbours plan to use to grow the breaknut tree and it is no magician who has created the formula for its growth.”

“If it is not magic, Inri, then what is it?” asked Ratel. All were surprised by this revelation.

“David? Do you still have your torch?” asked the Eagle.

“Of course, Sir,” the young man replied, rushing off to get it at once.

“You see, magic allows things to work outside of my natural order. But what the Vencoshi have developed is a means of using that which I have already given them to greater benefit. There is a fine line between the two, and both systems have their dangers.

“Aah, the torch. Remember when Susan first showed you her torch, and you thought it was magic, but she explained that it was simply a more complex way of creating a flame of light from a source of fuel? Well this so-called magician has found a way of feeding the soil with nutrients so as to speed up the growth of the breaknut tree. He had created, what would in David’s world be called a ‘chemical formula’. There is nothing magic about it as it is made from minerals and vegetation that is found naturally in the valley.

“His motive in creating the formula, however, was evil. Not the formula itself, but he wished to keep it secret to the Vancoshi for their (and especially his) own selfish gain. Rather than offering to share the formula with the inhabitants of Crestfaullen, or to wait for you to regrow the trees before asking for a specimen, they hoped to deprive you of it so that they alone could benefit.”

“Surely that is still their intention?” pointed out Scaltard. “How are we to acquire this formula? I suspect you wouldn’t encourage us to steal it?”

“Certainly not, my good tortoise. You know that. The solution is simple. It is you who have the seed. Their spies have failed. They have no hope now of ever attaining a seed unless you deign to give them one, or they steal. Either way they shall have to wait the long time it will take for the seed to grow and bear fruit. Ask them for some of the formula in exchange for an offer, in goodwill, of a seed of the new tree.”

“What if they refuse?” asked the tortoise, still somewhat sceptical.

“You have first to ask them,” replied the Eagle.