Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [229]
“Then come with me,” said the adviser, reaching out a hand to Wataru. “And you, kitkin girl, you might be interested to know that the karulakin messenger from the United Southern Nations is resting in the hut by the town gate. I believe he will leave soon, but if you wish to entrust with him a letter for your home or family, you should ask now.”
The Elder was sitting where he had been that morning. He seemed more relaxed now, leaning up against the wall, with one leg bent.
“You may sit here,” the adviser said, indicating a round woven mat in front of the Elder. When Wataru sat, they were only a few feet apart.
“Our Elder is quite old, and as such he can hardly hear,” the adviser said, taking up a position at the Elder’s side. “Still, he hears with his heart, and he heard the voice of your heart from the very beginning. He knows your pain and that is why he has called you here.”
“The voice of my heart?” even before Wataru finished asking his question, the Elder slid forward with surprising speed and placed his clawed hands on Wataru’s head. Wataru jerked backward reflexively.
“Do not move!” the adviser said harshly. “Be still a moment.”
Wataru crouched and was still. It only lasted ten seconds or so. The Elder released him and slowly sat back down. Then he whispered in the adviser’s ear.
The adviser nodded slowly and looked back at Wataru. “You have been bewitched by a demon.”
“A demon?”
“Yes. But not a demon as you might imagine one to be. This demon is not of venom and darkness, but of sweetness and light. It lingers near you—it is near you even now. This is what the Elder says.”
That voice that talked to him on the beach the night before—the voice that had been with him since that night in his room, in the real world. Was that whom he meant?
The Elder nodded and said something else to the adviser.
“It seems you have been aware of this.”
Wataru put his head in his hands. “But I…”
“Do not be frightened,” the adviser said. “The demon feeds on your fear. Look up, look into the Elder’s eyes.”
After being prompted a few more times, Wataru finally looked up.
The Elder, sitting there in a heap, seemed unfit even to stand on his own two feet, let alone support the hopes of an entire village. Yet his eyes—blue like the sea—burned with a light brighter than that of a man in his prime. The Elder spoke and the adviser relayed his words. “Traveler, we ancients know that Halnera is more than a trial for our people. It is a test for the two Travelers, as well.”
“You know that? You know that I might be the sacrifice?”
“I know it all. Since ancient times, whenever it has come time to renew the Great Barrier of Light, the Goddess has made things this way.”
Wataru leaned forward. “Then, how can you let it happen? It’s cruel to sacrifice people like that!”
The Elder seemed unfazed. “Vision has its own ways. You were summoned here by the Goddess, a visitor to our world…It is not your place to meddle.”
“But why don’t you do anything about it?”
“The doubt you hold in your heart—you will not be able to ease it on your own.”
Wataru’s doubt. Wataru’s dead end.
“All that you consider now—your fears of being chosen as a sacrifice, of leaving your friend behind, of abandoning your quest. All these fears you have created, and given shape, but none of these fears will disappear on their own.”
He really did know everything. Wataru sat back down weakly. He hadn’t said a word, and yet the old waterkin had seen it all.
“Traveler, you are summoned here by the Goddess, yet even still your faith in her wavers. You are losing the objective of your journey. The demon seeks to lead you from your path and into the darkness.”
The Elder continued talking and the adviser dutifully relayed his words. “These things that trouble you, they are like a mirage in the desert. You fear