Finally, I accepted the facts as I saw them; that this man somehow healed Brak, that he was worshipped by the men and women here, and that he had some kind of interest in me. His speech about the steep price was a matter of concern. Now that the orders of my mission were clear, I was not about to waste time or risk myself unnecessarily. I finished my meal with a drink from the cup, feeling its warmth course through my body. It was time to get some answers.
I rose and indicated to my guardian that I was ready. He led me through a short corridor dotted with doors leading into small side rooms, very much the same as the room I’d slept in. Most of them were empty; a few had groups of people sitting on floor mats, listening to preachers or meditating. We passed a chamber where a large group of people were busy having slow, ritualistic sex. There was a supervisor, or a teacher of some sort, standing above them as couples of both sexes copulated in a deliberately slow rhythm. My vessel was created with all the anatomical features of a human female and was able to have sex, of course, and I admit that walking among the writhing bodies did wake up some long-hibernated desires. Instead, I was steered towards a larger corridor leading outside, where I was taken again to the steam room and went through another process of cleansing. A pair of rope sandals and a long grey dress awaited me as I emerged. This time the clothing was made of linen, still a little rough on the skin, but a great improvement.
I was taken back to the main building and led up to the second floor. Surprisingly, there was no large hall, no high dais, or an adoring crowd. The only person in the medium-sized room was the man with the bone earrings. He bowed a little as a form of acknowledgement and gestured towards a rug. As in all the chambers I had seen in the building, this one had almost no furniture, with only a few comfortable cushions on the floor. I sat down on one of them, but before I got too comfortable the Healer came in and I rose to my feet. Instinctively, I decided not to bow this time.
The Healer was naked except for what looked like a bandage surrounding his pelvis, in the same place where Brak was wounded. He held a walking stick made of gnarled wood and limped slowly into the room, assisted by one of his four guards. What a show, I thought as I scrutinized his markings.
The Healer motioned for me to sit down, and he positioned himself slowly and with a theatrical grimace on a cushion next to me.
“How are you?” There was no better way to begin the conversation.
The Healer handed his walking stick to his aide and turned to me.
“Da Patshin is back in the light. My burden is a shadow of his. I heal by morrow.” The Healer’s eyes were large and brown, full of kindness, warmth, intelligence, and openness, tempting me to trust him. I was immediately on my guard.
“You mean you took Brak’s wound upon yourself?”
“I see your eyes not believing.” The Healer shook his head and gestured at his bandaged side. “I can show you his wound but you’d say I harmed myself.”
“I just don’t believe in miracles,” I said in an even tone. “What I saw definitely falls under that term, so I am looking for a logical explanation.”
He smiled knowingly. “What is a miracle for one, is natural for another. The man called Trevil swears you move and fight like the marked”—he indicated the markings on his own body—“but we see no markings on you, and the man called Brak says so, too. Maybe you can do miracles, too?”
This time I found myself nodding in acknowledgement. The man had a point. There were many things I did not know.
“You are from far away, a different land and time. You do know of the marked, for you it is a miracle, but you were born not from a woman’s womb, how that is not a miracle? The world is a miraculous place.”
How did he know that? Despite my training I tensed on my seat.
The Healer held his marked hands up in a sign of peace. “Worry not, Miss Peach, I am here for da helping. Say what you need and if this is in my power, I will make it happen.”
Things which were too good to be true were usually a lie, but if this man was willing to help me …
“I need to get to the City of Towers,” I said, unwilling to expose the rest of my mission.
“Then da man called Trevil will pay da price of taking you there.”
“And my own price? You said yesterday that the price is always steep.”
“There is always a price,” the Healer agreed, “but by helping you I pay a debt.” The Healer put both of his hands on his heart. “My own debt.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hear my story, then.” The man straightened on his pillow. “My first mark appeared when I was already seventeen, and it was not in an obvious place …” The Healer smiled for the first time, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. “It was actually discovered by someone else, the girl I was going to marry. I was twice a fool, to think our love would endure and to believe she would not betray me. I was seized the very next day and taken to the elder and he who put the knife to me.” The Healer pointed at his crotch. “He cut the essence of my manhood. I was put in a cage and left outside da village, to heal or die. I wanted to die, but my body be strong even when my spirit be broken and the mark tainted my skin. On the fifth night, a man came and saved me, a special man. I be marked on my body, but he be marked on his soul. This man helped me heal, and his price was that I would help whenever you showed up at my door. He described you to me, said you will be moving like the marked and that you would bring death wherever you go.”
“That is … impossible.”
“Only for those who do not accept truth.” The Healer indicated himself. “I can cure people and take their wounds on me. You can move like the wind without having a mark on your body, and the man who saved me foresaw that you would come here and ask me to help you. He told me that this would be the best of the foreseeable futures.”
“Who was this prophet?” I asked.
The healer leaned over and whispered, “His name … was Nakamura.”
Twinkle Eyes
I t materialised out of the darkness, slowly and from afar, and I knew what it was even before it filled my entire field of vision. I have heard Vincha tell me about it in detail, even though she herself never saw it and only relayed Rafik’s story secondhand. Nevertheless, here I was, standing, mesmerised, in front of a puzzle wall, or perhaps the Great Puzzle Wall Rafik had mentioned. Hundreds, no, thousands of strange symbols raced before my eyes in all directions. How someone, even a Puzzler, could find a pattern within this chaos was beyond me.
I reached out, my arm extending farther than my eyes could see, and stopped a symbol with my finger. It felt cool but vibrant. I extended my other arm and after several attempts and failures managed to stop a similar symbol, not the exact same, but close enough in resemblance.
Now what?
Symbols kept floating all around my hands, but I knew that if I let go of the ones I was holding I would lose them all.
Suddenly another symbol changed course, slowly moving to the one I was holding and attaching itself to it with a mental click. Soon after another symbol moved on its own accord towards the three I was holding, as if someone else was helping me from beyond the wall. When the pattern was complete