The Gardener of Nahi

Prologue

Prologue

The Book of the Intercessors, Dream 3

The gardener of the isle was out hunting that day, and as he flushed his prey out of the deep grasses and onto the sandy edge of the lake he stopped suddenly in the midday sun. For it was here that he saw a beast threatening his woman on the shoreline, who had been washing herself in the waves.

"Let her go," the gardener demanded, aiming an arrow at the beast’s head. But even as he did this he knew he was powerless, for the beast held a knife to his woman’s arm.

"Tell me," the beast asked him, "which is more valuable to you: your past or your future?"The gardener paused in the glaring sunlight until he came up with an answer.

"My future," he said. "My future is most important to me."

The beast smiled as he put away his knife into the folds of his clothes. "You have answered incorrectly," he said.

At that moment, a panic-stricken feeling came over the gardener, as if a blanket was being thrown over his thoughts. The man pictured the way he had used to catch rabbits in the glade when he was much younger, using a white sheet his woman had knitted. And then even this image was taken from him. The harshness of the daylight seemed to dim before his very eyes, and he looked around leisurely, suddenly at peace.

The gardener turned to the pair in front of him and asked them, "Who are you?" Unwittingly he relaxed his weapon, letting it fall lazily at his side.

Still grabbing the woman by her arm, the beast approached the man and took the arrow, showing it to both of them. "Never mind that. Consider this instead," he replied. "This arrow, from sharpened head to tail feather – it is a life." He held it by its center, parallel with the horizon. "One end is your present. The other stretches out into your past. Do you see it, then? Do you see what is required of each of you? It takes knowing your past to aim into the future." As he said these words, he extended the arrow out, pointing to a small island somewhat far from the shore.

"If I took your future from you, all that would be required of you is to create a new one for yourself. Stealing your future would be like me stealing a handful of sand from you while we stand here on this beach. All you would need to do is look down and grab a new handful. Do you see? If you know your past, it is your foundation."

The beast then let go of the woman, took the arrow in both hands and snapped the stone tip off, discarding the broken shaft at his feet. 

"This is your life now, gardener," he said to the man, holding up the arrowhead. "This singular stone. You have no past, and therefore you have no future."

The beast turned and threw the arrowhead far out into the water. As it rent the surface it made no sound.

At that moment the woman broke away from the beast, running somewhat down the length of the beach before turning towards the water in panic, gathering her garments around her waist haphazardly. She was screaming while starting to swim towards an island somewhat far away. There was a single tree growing there.

"Who is she?" asked the gardener. "She’s beautiful."

"She was the woman you loved," said the beast, looking at her shape in the distance.

Knowing then that he had been duped, the gardener clenched his fists in rage and ran after the woman, who had now become a dark ellipse on the horizon. He hurled his body into the waves, trying to catch up with her. But soon the water reached over his head, and he realized all too late that he could not swim. 

Or perhaps he used to know, but had forgotten.