The ahlasan regarded them, its piercing blue eyes sweeping over their ragged, torn clothing and dirt-covered faces. It gave them a mere glance, and yet Jerra felt as though each thought in his mind had been tasted, chewed and spit out as worthless.
Its body illuminated them, and cast a light as bright as the forest was dark. Its nose stood out sharply, narrow and long, arching down to protrude and inch from the face above its grim mouth. Huge, glowing wings erupted from its back, threatening to engulf them.
"Who enters the Maslin Forest?" It whispered. The voice, soft and menacing, held an unspoken warning: answer well, or die.
"We seek the knowledge of thee, Ahlasan," Mandi whispered back, in formal greeting. "We offer ourselves, pure. You will find no mark upon our souls."
The ahlasan peered at her closely. Jerra flinched as the gaze once more passed over him. The pale eyes narrowed, and somehow the lucid face darkened. "He does not know," the ahlasan hissed. Its wings lengthened into a coil, swiftly wrapping around Jerra's torso, pinning his arms to his sides. Jerra opened his mouth in alarm, but the coil wound itself around his throat. "Do not speak, despised one."
Mandi swallowed visibly. "He knows, Ahlasan, but knows differently. His way is yet unseen."
The ahlasan did not move, and its expression did not change, but somehow Jerra could sense the creature's acceptance of the explanation.
"Yes," it said. "He knows. But his evil is great. He will die."
"No!" Mandi screamed, forgetting all they had talked about earlier. "Wait! He is-the Balance-I-"
Jerra felt the ahlasan's grip on him tighten. "I will see how his balance fares, One Who Knows. And if it does not fare well, child, you both die."
* * *
Jerra glanced at her skeptically. "Pockets? And why, then, have I never seen any?"
"Do not question, boy," she said angrily. "They is pockets, is what they is, or at least that is what we is calling them." She seemed to be arguing with herself. Finally, she sighed, and her harsh, guttural voice softened. "I suppose, then, I can tell you." She muttered to herself for a moment, he overheard 'arrogance' and 'pathetic.'
"They dwindle, and soon they will be none. Do not ask for more than that."
The lamp flickered. The pool of light that surrounded them dimmed, and shadows danced rapidly across their faces, faster, faster . . . The lamp's feeble illumination dimmed, shrinking . . . and died. The darkness enveloped them.
"And this is what will happen, boy, if you do not stop it," Lura hissed. "It will cover the world."
* * *
Jerra's breath caught. Blackness encompassed them; the outside world was in night, but it stood out brilliantly against the unreal darkness.
"Jerra," she whispered, "do not turn, or even move your eyes from the path.
He swallowed, nodding.
Mandi crept silently along the trail. It shimmered for brief moments; that was all he could tell. She had told him about the diamonds, about the crystals that lit the path for the Ones Who Knew. But he could not see them. All he could see, in the deathly, still air, was blackness. And even that was better than what was coming. What they were searching for.
