Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [185]
Words bubbled up in Wataru’s throat. Come on, say it. Say it! Wataru swallowed and looked back up at the statue of Cistina. “Her face looks a bit like Ms. Elza.”
Pam dissolved into laughter. “Well, that’s sacrilegious of you to say, but I can’t say I’m not pleased.”
“Elza is a rare beauty,” Father Diamon added. “I would not be surprised if she turned out to be Cistina reborn.”
“I don’t know about that,” Wataru continued. “Elza is very kind—not only to me, but to Kee Keema and Meena too. Not like Cistina here at all.”
Wataru let the words stream out. A moment too late, he shut his mouth. The chief and priest were giving him looks that made him feel as if the temperature had dropped by about twenty degrees. But the two were still smiling.
“I should be leaving,” Wataru said with a crisp bow.
As he walked out through the front doors of the cathedral, the bell in the great tower began to toll. Each deep ring reverberated in his stomach, like someone high above was casting the sounds down at him, trying to crush him with their weight. Wataru put his hands over his ears, and left without once looking back.
Chapter 18
Mitsuru’s Whereabouts
“We should move out,” suggested Wataru to his friends. He had told them about the Cistina statue he had seen at the cathedral. Beyond that, he had decided to keep his mouth shut.
“But what about finding Mitsuru?” Meena asked, concerned. “We’re okay staying here a little longer if it means finding him, aren’t we?”
“Sure. No problem,” said Kee Keema. “I’ve only just started talking to the people on Bricklayer Street. You won’t believe the stories I’ve heard. They really have a bad deal down there. Wouldn’t feel right just leaving them.”
“Of course I don’t mean for us to abandon them. But don’t you think it’s a bit more than the three of us can handle? We should talk to Kutz at least. And if High Chief Suluka in Bog won’t help, we should talk to Gil in Nacht. We’ll get a lot farther a lot faster that way for sure.”
Kee Keema gave Wataru a doubtful look. “It’s not like you to back down so easily.”
“It’s just…I have a bad feeling about all of this,” Wataru said. “We should leave this place as soon as we can. We’ll just have to tell Mr. Fanlon and Elza that we plan to come back as soon as we can and hope they understand.”
After dinner, the three were quietly talking in a room at the town branch. When they heard the chief’s booming voice outside their door, Meena jumped in surprise—much higher than the other night.
“Sorry to bother you while you’re resting…”
The chief strode into the room, casting sharp looks at Kee Keema and Meena where they sat on soft cushions on the floor. “Wataru, someone who sounds like that friend of yours is apparently staying just outside Lyris.”
Wataru stood. “Really? Where?”
The chief had brought a map with him. He spread it on the floor, and pointed. “North of town, there is a forest of sula trees we call the Spiritwood.”
“Sula trees?”
“Aye, a fragrant wood loved above all others by Cistina. Her scepter is carved of sula. In fact, all of the devotional objects in the cathedral are made of sula and silver alone.”
The Spiritwood was also the location of the Triankha Hospital, oldest in the Lyris area.
“An outstanding place, that is. There is something in the fragrance of the sula trees that quickens mending.”
“And that’s where Mitsuru is?” Wataru asked, suddenly concerned. What if he’s injured?
“I haven’t heard a name, but they say he’s a sorcerer about your age, wearing a black robe. Couldn’t think of who else it might be. Don’t worry, he’s not wounded or ill. He apparently came upon the hospital while lost on the road. He’s staying there, resting awhile. He’s been asking people for news about the road—unusual for a traveling sorcerer.”
Chief Pam smiled. “It’s good fortune for you we heard something so quickly. You should leave first thing in the morning. If it turns