The Gardener of Nahi

Chapter 44

Nahi

A field of brilliant purple came at me more quickly than I could comprehend.  I remember seeing it as I fell, not knowing exactly what I was approaching.  Perhaps for a split second I assumed it was a carpet, since it felt like I was falling to a floor.  But in actuality it was one of the walls of the massive foyer, a full story below Jiwea’s bedroom, and the purple which seemed to swallow me up were the soft curtains liberally covering it.

     I tumbled head over heels before realizing which way was down and grabbed onto the thick fabric with all my might, flipping head-first again.  As my chair hit the ground many feet below, I heard it break into pieces against the unforgiving stone floor.

     Looking up a second later I saw the massive wooden desk coming at me, sliding through the bright gaping mouth amidst plaster dust and shards of parquet flooring.  Pushing out with my legs, I avoided it by swinging away on the curtain panel as the piece connected with the wall, causing the entire room to shake.

     Eventually I slipped down to the floor, gazing up at the opening a second time as I caught my breath.  So many speckles of plaster dust floated in midair that it looked as if it were snowing in the grand foyer.  At first I could see nothing through the gap except the green wall beyond, but then a few drops of blood started falling to the ground like the rain through the roof of an abandoned building.  A shuffle from above made me take a step back, upon which a body fell through the gap.  As it hit the tiles in front of me it broke apart and I instinctively turned away.

Despite my recoiling I could feel the splatter cover me and eventually gazed down at myself - at the now filthy illusion of Myria which I still inhabited.  Wiping the blood from my face using an unsoiled section of my white blouse, I peered over the disintegrated remains.  I was hoping that it was Finn, but instead realized that it was Akuli (or rather the lower half of him).  I cursed under my breath, even though part of me had already assumed the guardsman’s death would eventually happen - just not in this morbid way.

A clock in the foyer started chiming, and then I realized I could still hear Finn’s screams above me.  Even though they were slowly receding I was surprised that I could discern the emotion they were made of.  It was not pain as I would have expected, but rage.

     I sprinted back up the stairs.

     Before long I approached Jiwea’s open bedroom door again and I peered in cautiously.  Lin, dressed only in a thin green robe, was sitting on the floor cradling Akuli’s upper half in her lap.  Both of them were silent and still, each of them lost within their own muted existence.  His body had been severed cleanly by Finn’s serrater at the waist, and by the glazed look in his eyes he was still alive, but wouldn’t be for long.  There was an enormous amount of blood about him but I knew that it was not his, for the serrater instantly cauterized his wound.  That’s when I realized that the puddle streaked across the parquet floor, around the bed, and towards the far wall of diamond-paned windows.  The entire right side of the pastel wall had been ripped clean by Finn’s earlier swipe, and I could see Finn hunched over at the point where the floor ended, peering out at the open sky and lake beyond.  He was trying to leave, I realized then.

     Walking precariously across the unstable floor which creaked and snapped in protest, I approached him.