Arul slept in a dreamless place without time, healing in a dark, restful nothingness. When he eventually opened his eyes, the stars were twinkling above him, bright in the cold mountain air. He stared at them for a long time, thinking about the woman’s face in his dream. Fragments of pain surfaced in his mind like flashes of lightning in the deep mountains. Then he felt strangely calm. A leaf floating on a mirrored surface of a lake.
He winced when the pain of his wounded foot disturbed his thoughts, shifting his body .
Smells like there’s water nearby. Why am I outside?
Arul didn’t have to wait long to have his questions answered as footsteps sounded in the dark. A warm, leathery hand touched his forehead. ‘It seems that our brave lion-hunter wakes!’
I know that voice!
Turning sideways, he saw a glowing jewel dangling from a necklace, a white light ebbing deep within. With a faint swish, someone’s hand swiftly hid it within a cloak. ‘How are you feeling, Arul?’
‘Guru Pari!’ Arul shouted. He tried to sit up, but was hit by a wave of dizziness. His Guru helped him lie back, laughing in his high-pitched voice. There were so many questions Arul wanted to ask Guru Pari, but he didn’t know where to begin.
‘Wait here, lad. Certain people want to see you.’ Guru Pari turned, his feet crunching over what sounded like gravel. Arul studied the constellations overhead and figured that it was nearly midnight. It was a skill taught to him by his Appa, vital for navigation and marking the passage of time in the wild. He turned and gazed at the waxing moon glowing above the peaks of the Meru Ranges, bathing them in a ghostly light.
The mountains seem much closer up here.
Arul rolled on his side and listened to the faint rippling of water, or perhaps the lapping of small waves. The wind whistled through what sounded like a rocky canyon, and lit by moonlight, forbidding cliffs rose sheer and grey.
Something wet licked his cheek, Arul jerking back before he realised whom it was. As a huge smile broke across his face, he turned to see the gold eyes of Jaya mere inches from him. His wolf licked him again, this time on the nose. Arul reached over and held Jaya’s furry head. Jaya was patient and let himself be held.
‘How did you find me so far from the forest?’ Arul whispered.
Jaya looked back with a tilted head. Again, Arul sensed the wolf’s thoughts brush his mind, his eyes narrowing on Jaya. Really? If you hadn’t noticed, I’m a wolf.
Moments later, Arul heard running feet crunching on the gravel. Small hands grabbed him tightly, Navira’s beaming face hovering above, though she was barely visible in the moonlight. Keeran’s equally happy face appeared next to hers and they stood silently for some time, unable to voice their emotions, simply glad to be alive.
Keeran spoke first, his hands on his hips. ‘Guru Pari told us what you did back there.’ He paused for a long moment, choking up. ‘You tried to sacrifice yourself for us.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Idiot!’
Navira looked at Keeran with a shocked expression. Then she started to laugh. ‘Yeah, you are an idiot, Arul,’ she said, grasping his shoulder as Jaya pushed his head into the circle of friends. Arul wondered if Jaya also thought he was an idiot.
‘Don’t do anything that stupid again, okay?’ Navira said. ‘We face things together from now on. Promise!’
‘Uh…I promise. Happy now?’ Arul said, feeling their bond deepening.
But I’ll never stand by and watch you die. Never.
That settled, Keeran began telling Arul about the strange valley they were in. ‘This is where the road led to, although it seems to continue past this valley. And there’s this person you have to…’
‘Wait, wait!’ Arul interrupted. ‘Someone please tell me how I got here? I mean, the last thing I remember is passing out. I didn’t fly here, did I?’
Keeran flapped his arms like wings and danced about like a bird, a silly grin plastered across his face. ‘Shhh! Guru Pari’s coming back!’ Navira whispered.
‘No lad, you’re quite right. You didn’t fly.’ Guru Pari said as he walked up. ‘After the remaining lions fled, I carried you here.’
Arul’s eyes widened, realizing a few things all at once. ‘You mean it was you that helped fight off the lions? It was you who followed us all the way from the village and helped kill the tiger?’
Pari’s eyes glinted mischievously. He simply nodded, waiting to see if Arul could work it out.
Keeran’s mouth hung open blankly. ‘Wha…?’
‘So you shot the tiger in the forest?’ Navira asked.
His smile faded for a moment. ‘I regretted the death of that magnificent animal.’
‘So did I.’ Arul nodded thoughtfully. ‘You were looking out for us, weren’t you? Protecting us. Somehow you knew what we were planning back in Sailem.’
‘Err…I wouldn’t say we planned everything.’ Keeran said with a shiver. ‘Especially the part where a giant tiger wanted to eat us. And then there were those bandits.’
Guru Pari laughed, his long beard shivering with the effort. ‘No Keeran, I would agree with you there. I’m also here for other reasons, but we’ll discuss that tomorrow.’
‘But just how did you know we were plotting to sneak off that night?’ Asked Arul. ‘I mean, we were pretty careful.’ He looked at the other two. ‘Weren’t we?’
Navira held Keeran with narrowed eyes. ‘You blabbed, didn’t you?’
Keeran raised his hands. ‘Never!’
‘No need to place blame, Navira,’ Guru Pari said. ‘I could tell what you were planning.’
‘How?’ Navira and Keeran asked in unison, causing Arul to chuckle.
Guru Pari smiled back mysteriously, but didn’t elaborate. ‘Now that we’re all together at Blue Lake, we can work out what to do next. He looked at Navira and Keeran. ‘You both need to rest, so off you go!’
Arul watched the pair crunch over the gravel, disappearing behind a ring of large boulders where a thin column of smoke rose from a campfire. He turned to Pari. ‘Blue Lake?’
‘At night it’s not exactly blue, but you’ll understand in the morning.’
Arul turned to where his Guru was pointing and saw the dark shoreline of a lake. ‘Is this where the road leads to?’
‘It is indeed, but the road goes on through the mountains for hundreds of miles to north Kumari Kandam. Once it was a busy highway supplying many mountain cities. And other places long forgotten.’ His Guru gazed into the distance wistfully and scratched Jaya’s ears.
Arul stared out into the landscape. ‘Other places?’
‘Hmm?’ Pari looked at Arul with a wistful smile. ‘Later lad, later. Now you need to rest. You’ve had a bit of a rough day, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Guru Pari. One more thing,’ Arul said. ‘I had a dream while you carried me. A light went into me and I saw a woman’s face.’ Arul’s eyes searched Pari’s lined face. ‘Did you make that light?’
Guru Pari’s face looked sad, but it was hard to tell in the dark. He fixed his intense gaze on Arul as if he wanted to say more, but instead remained silent. It was as though he knew it wasn’t the time.
Soon Arul was alone with Jaya again, but sleep came slowly. He realised that there was so much more to know about the world, a feeling of ignorance overcoming him. It was depressing to know so little.
What did Guru tell us once? When you realise you know nothing, you are wise? What a strange thing to say.
In his mind, he pictured the woman’s face he had seen in his dreams. Raven black hair. Dark brown eyes full of compassion. More beautiful than any woman he’d ever seen.
Is she real?
Her face brought him a sense of deep peace that settled over him like a quiet dusk. Arul, son of Ori, slept deeply on the shores of Blue Lake under an infinity of stars.