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Jasper froze halfway through the door. What had he done? How could he have done something without being there? He searched the room for Greta and saw her studiously copying onto a parchment and she didn’t even look up at the shouting.
‘Pardon?’ Jasper said as Master Veran stared at him so hard that the old man’s eyes seemed to bulge past the natural point of staying in place.
‘Pardon, Master!’ the old man shouted.
Jasper frowned. Perhaps he should just leave? A quick glance from Greta told him she was furious.
‘Pardon, Master?’ Jasper said meekly. ‘I wasn’t even here.’
‘You went down to fetch water,’ the old man said. His voice had dropped to a quiet tone that Jasper knew well. It was worse than shouting for it meant the old man knew something that he didn’t and he was about to find out what.
‘I did,’ Jasper replied. He held out the empty bucket. ‘But I didn’t bring any back.’
‘And why was that?’ Master Veran prompted with a slight tilt of his head and raised eyebrows. Yes, it was definitely trouble.
‘A boy down there fixed the water feed?’ Jasper offered. It may not be strictly true but he didn’t know how any of this worked and it was as likely an explanation as any.
‘A boy? What boy? How did he fix it?’ the master demanded, looking flustered that his imminent accusation appeared to be threatened with new facts.
‘I’ve never seen him before,’ Jasper said honestly, but twisting the facts to suit himself. ‘There was some sort of blockage down there.’
Master Veran took a deep, deep breath then glared at Jasper again for several seconds.
‘But before you went down there — what did you do?’
Jasper stared. ‘Umm... I looked at the sink and put the apron down...’
‘And...’
‘I tried the wooden lever but it didn’t work.’
‘Did you turn it off?’
Jasper could see where this was going. Visions of water shooting up to the roof of the cavern came rushing back to him. He shook his head.
‘And this was the result.’
The old man stepped to one side and Jasper could see that half the room was wet. Scrolls were laid out to dry and the floor was covered with puddles. There were even watermarks splattered all across the whitewashed walls. No wonder Greta was trying to distance herself from him.
Several of the scribes were still shaking water off scrolls and they glared at him silently.
‘I don’t think you’re suitable for training as a scribe,’ Master Veran snapped out bluntly. A small tick at the side of his left eye was marking time with his words and Jasper had to stop himself staring at it. He was about to shrug and leave when Greta caught his eye again. He sometimes wished he couldn’t read body language so well.
‘I’m really sorry, Master Veran. I’m very disappointed in myself and I wish I had been able to clean all the tools for you before you dismissed me. It would have been the least I could do.’
Jasper did his best to portray the character of a poor farm boy who had lost a chance at bettering himself but he was failing quickly. He dropped his gaze to the floor and started to back out of the room as he assumed that laughing at this point would give him away.
Master Veran had already turned away to bark orders at the closest scribe. ‘Journeyman Aster, now that the water is working you can go and clean the brushes and pens. Just remember that only a small lift of the lever is required until the tap is fixed or the water will shoot out into the room again!’
Jasper escaped to the corridor and ran before his mirth exploded from him. When he slowed down he wondered what he should do. Aimlessly wandering the corridors didn’t appeal so he decided there was only one place left to go.
It took three statues, and a lot of loitering in the corridors while people hurried past, before he found one that opened the secret passage. He slipped inside and fumbled around desperately looking for the switch to close it again and finally found it as he heard footsteps approaching. He stood there in the dark for a full minute while he waited for his heart to stop hammering so loudly. The footsteps had continued past without faltering and Jasper was sure that they hadn’t noticed the moving statue.
After another minute he felt carefully around and discovered there was no lantern, nor any of the tinder sticks. He chastised himself for not taking the opportunity to steal a few from the room he slept in. Arthur would have beaten him for such a lapse in attention that years of soft living had brought about.
His eyes were beginning to adjust a little and there was a glimmer of light ahead in the tunnel. Slowly, testing every footstep, he worked his way along the tunnel, passing grate after grate and finally finding the steps going up to the wooden trap door.
He felt a surge of relief when he pushed open the door and daylight nearly blinded him. It took another few seconds before his eyesight adjusted for the second time and it was only then that he noticed that the room was empty.
Jasper sank into a chair. He was tired, hungry and more than a little confused as to what to do next. He had no idea where to find anyone that he knew — except Greta — and he couldn’t go back there.
A few minutes later he heard footsteps and the unmistakable scraping of the trap door starting to open. He tensed slightly and then relaxed as Dekon came up into the room.
‘What are you doing here?’ the warf asked. ‘I thought you were starting your apprenticeship as a scribe.’
‘That didn’t really go to plan,’ Jasper said with a wry smile and sat down. He couldn’t help licking his lips as he saw Dekon had a large plate piled high with sandwiches. ‘I had some problems with Master Veran.’
Dekon looked concerned as he put the plate down then took the top sandwich.
‘Vance isn’t going to like that,’ he said and shook his head. ‘I’d stay out of his way when he hears about it.’
Jasper wanted to argue the point that it wasn’t his fault at all but considering the rate at which the warf was eating the sandwiches he had a more pressing issue.
‘Any chance of getting one of those?’
Dekon looked a little reluctant to share but pushed the plate into the middle of the table and sat down.
‘Aren’t you supposed to be watching the token images?’ Jasper asked between mouthfuls of the most delicious sandwich he had ever had. He didn’t know what was in it and he had no intention of asking in case it was something weird that might put him off.
‘I am,’ Dekon said and pulled the folded-up parchment from his pocket. He unfolded it on the table top and as Jasper had suspected, it could be shoved in a pocket without damaging it. The images were just as clear and amazing as before. ‘I only watch the images in case the person is just passing by so that I can see what they look like. I have this which tells me when a token has come close to someone who can help us. ‘
Dekon pulled at a leather cord around his neck and withdrew a small green stone shaped like an eye. Jasper looked at the stone and wondered how a necklace would tell the warf anything but things here seemed to be far more complicated than a simple explanation. Perhaps it talked.
‘What am I supposed to be helping with now that I’m in Elvale?’ Jasper asked.
‘That’s for Vance to tell you and the council to decide if you’re the one,’ Dekon said with a shrug and he looked away as if he wanted to end that line of conversation.
Jasper took another sandwich and noted that there was only one left. The warf certainly could eat fast.
‘Our shift is over later this evening. We spend a week here every month pretending to be training as scribes,’ Dekon said as he leaned back in his chair and stretched as he put his feet on the chair next to him. ‘It’s been a long week and an exciting one with your arrival. The next few days will be very busy.’
Dekon put his hands behind his head then closed his eyes and within a few seconds the warf was snoring gently.
Jasper scooped up the crumbs and a lone crust on the plate then pulled the parchment closer. He touched the top image that showed a white ceiling and stared at it for a while then changed to the first one. There were still people walking past but more casually as if out shopping instead of hurrying to or from work. He could hear the arguing voices in the background but they were so muted that they appeared to be quite far away.
A young boy stopped and looked in what Jasper had decided was a shop window. The boy’s gaze was not on the token but Jasper could see the desire in the boy’s eyes. Whatever he was looking at was something he really wanted. The way the boy had looked directly at one spot and nowhere else told Jasper that the boy had been there before. He knew what else was on offer and had no interest in anything but the one item.
Just as the boy sighed and looked about to leave, Jasper decided to test his theory. He looked up and saw the warf was still fast asleep. He wanted to shout into the image but figured that would wake the warf. Instead he began to whistle softly. A glance at the warf showed it had not disturbed him and Jasper whistled louder. It was the call of a bird, and one he had used frequently over the years as a warning to Arthur if someone was about to catch them stealing.
The boy took no notice and wandered off with his hand shoved in his pockets and his shoulders slouched. Jasper whistled a few more times but the people walking past did not stop.
He was about to move onto the next row, in Warfdon, but on a whim he decided to change back to the other terran one. The ceiling popped into view and Jasper whistled five times then stopped. Then he waited a minute and whistled five more times. He was about to close the image when it began to glow slightly around the edges.
Jasper gulped. What had he done? He closed the image, and hoped that would stop it glowing, then pushed the parchment back to where the warf had left it. Even from across the table Jasper could see that it was still glowing around the smaller image.
Dekon’s eyes snapped open and he glared straight ahead as if woken from a disturbing dream. He flicked his gaze around the room then appeared to remember where he was and touched the pendant that was still sitting on the outside of his top. Jasper could see that the eye was vibrating. The warf’s attention flicked to the parchment and Jasper’s gaze followed his as he tried to look innocent.
‘What’s wrong?’ Jasper asked.
‘Wrong? Nothing,’ Dekon answered without looking up. ‘Come look. Someone has activated one of the last two terran tokens.’
Jasper walked around the table and looked over the warf’s shoulder. The image popped up to full view without Dekon touching it and began to glow brighter around the edges.
‘It’s just the ceiling still,’ Jasper commented, hoping the glow would fade. He spoke very softly. If there was someone who heard his whistling then they would hear them talking too!
‘Wait. They’re close.’
Jasper was pleased that Dekon had spoken just as softly.
A face popped into view on the parchment and Jasper almost leapt out of his new-old boots. It was an old man. A very, very old man and it was obvious that he was staring straight at the token. His watery blue eyes were looking at it as if discovering a lost treasure. He smiled broadly and his mostly toothless grin lit up his entire face.
‘There you are!’ the old man muttered to himself.
‘Quick. We need to get to the storeroom!’ Dekon said and rolled up the scroll as he leapt from the chair.
‘Why?’ Jasper asked. He didn’t try to be quiet as the warf had yelled already and if the human ... terran had heard, then there was no point whispering.
‘In case he touches it. We can’t have him come through in here. There’s not enough room and everyone for miles around would hear it.’ Dekon was already half-way out the trap door and attempting to light a lantern as he ran down the steps. ‘We all wear these talismans and the traveller could arrive via any one of them. If we’re all together we can be sure where they will come through.’
They followed the tunnel and turned down the steps that led to the storeroom level.
‘It certainly is a busy week,’ Dekon was muttering to himself as he hurried down the steps so fast that Jasper wondered how he didn’t trip.
Other footsteps could be heard behind them but Dekon did not appear worried as they emerged out into a dimly lit corridor. Dekon held the statue open as both Greta and Vance came tumbling out.
‘Where from?’ Vance asked. His clothes were crumpled and he looked as if he had just woken up.
‘Terra again,’ Dekon replied.
‘And there’s not a cloud in the sky,’ Greta muttered angrily. ‘How am I supposed to create a storm that fast?’
‘Get working on it then,’ Vance suggested with a frown. He took the parchment from Dekon and unrolled it as the four of them walked quickly to a room that Jasper recognised. It was the storeroom from last night.
The three lanterns lit the storeroom much better than the previous night and Vance spread the parchment out on the small table.
‘It’s an old man,’ he said, not looking very impressed.
‘What good would he be?’ Greta added.
Jasper tried not to cringe when the old man’s face pulled back a little in surprise. ‘Who are you calling old?’
The room fell silent as the elf, terran and warf looked at each other.
‘He can hear us,’ Vance whispered.
‘Just like Jasper,’ Greta added quietly as her hands kept up a complicated dancing pattern in the air.
All three turned to stare at him and he gulped.
‘Get that storm ready,’ Vance told Greta without taking his eyes off Jasper.
Thunder could be heard in the distance and Greta looked annoyed as she hissed back softly. ‘I can’t make it arrive too fast or people will suspect magic.’
Jasper looked at Greta with a curious expression. She was human... terran, just like him, yet she could do magic. Had she been able to before she came here? Her expression and concentration put him off asking but it did open the possibility that he might also have some magical skill. The idea excited him more than a little and he tried to hide the grin that it brought.
A loud tap-tapping sound brought all of their attention back to the parchment. The old man had backed up a little and Jasper could see him tapping on something a little way above the token. Glass. The token was in a display case.
‘I heard you talk before. Do it again! Nobody will believe me if you don’t,’ the old man demanded querulously. ‘They already think I’m mad.’
‘He can’t touch it,’ Jasper whispered to Vance. ‘It’s in a glass display cabinet.’
Vance looked and nodded in agreement. ‘Keep the storm ready just in case, Greta.’
‘Mr Jones! What are you doing out of bed?’
A woman’s voice came through the parchment image and the old man looked annoyed as he turned his head towards someone else who was out of sight of the token.
‘It’s my house. I can go where I want!’ the old man shouted angrily and his fist banged the glass surrounding the token. ‘I want this!’
Now Mr Jones’ finger was jabbing towards the token.
A tall woman, dressed in a nurse’s uniform, came into view. She looked stern but worried. ‘Let’s just get you back into bed, shall we? I don’t know how you made it down those stairs!’
‘I heard whistling,’ the old man insisted.
‘Perhaps there was a bird in here,’ the woman said, looking around cautiously and ready to duck if one flew at her.
‘It wasn’t a bird. I used to whistle like that to my son.’
Jasper frowned. This definitely wasn’t Arthur. Besides he would only be in his late fifties by now and this old man looked to be at least ninety. How many fathers whistled that birdsong to their children?
‘I’ll show you.’ The old man puckered up his wizened old lips but nothing came out. He tried again and this time a weak and breathy tune emerged. It was the same one Jasper had whistled.
‘That’s more than enough,’ the nurse said as the old man seemed overcome by the effort of whistling.
‘I want that token,’ the old man insisted. ‘I thought I had lost it a long time ago.’
Jasper wasn’t the only one to notice that the old man had called it a token. Confused looks were exchanged and Greta was glaring at Jasper as if this entire thing was his fault.
‘You know this collection has been sold. It will be removed in the next couple of months when the new owner has their facility finished.’
‘But... But...’ the old man looked confused. ‘I know it’s important but I can’t remember why.’
‘Now, now, there’s no need to upset yourself, Mr Jones. Let’s go and have a nice cup of tea.’ The nurse had taken hold of his shoulders and was steering him out of view. A few seconds later the image stopped glowing and shrank back to just one of many images on the parchment.
The storm outside was beginning to subside as Jasper watched Dekon pick up the parchment and roll it up.
‘This is going to be a very long report to write this week,’ Vance said as he walked across the storeroom with his hands held behind his back. He paced back again then a third time. Nobody spoke as they waited for him to finish his pacing. After several minutes of complete silence he stopped right next to Jasper.
‘Greta said you would be trouble.’
Jasper had no idea how to respond to that. He had been trouble everywhere he went in his life so far, so why would it be any different here. Defending himself would just make him look even more guilty so he just stood staring back at Vance.
‘Did you whistle?’
‘I did,’ Jasper replied. ‘I didn’t know whistling wasn’t allowed.’
It was a comment that Arthur would have considered argumentative but Vance didn’t take it that way. He seemed to be thinking it over.
‘I hardly think we can blame this on Jasper,’ Dekon commented. ‘How is it his fault that someone heard him whistling?’
‘Do you know the old man?’ Greta asked bluntly. Clearly she wasn’t even considering giving him the benefit of the doubt.
‘Him? Not at all,’ Jasper said honestly.
‘So why did he whistle like a Pican?’ she asked. ‘And if you did it first it means you’ve heard one before, yet they live here in Elvale.’
‘What’s a Pican?’ Jasper asked. He was getting confused again. ‘We used the whistle to... communicate in the dark when I was growing up.’
‘Where were you raised?’ Dekon asked.
‘Everywhere — with the gypsies,’ Jasper said proudly and glared at Greta to dare her to say something bad about it.
‘You were a gypsy?’ Greta looked surprised. ‘I guess that explains a lot.’
‘All right you’ve been gone long enough. Master Veran will be wondering where you are by now, Greta. I doubt the old man will be coming back any time soon. We can discuss all of this later and you can fill us in on what a gypsy is and why it explains things.’ Vance looked fed up with the whole thing. ‘The next shift will be here later this evening and I have a lot to think about before they get here. Meet me in the library just before dinner so we can discuss the prophecy. Jasper deserves to know what is about to happen and he needs to see it for himself.’
The others nodded in agreement but neither of them looked at Jasper. Whatever it was they didn’t want to be the one to tell him!