The Darkness Before the Dawn - By Ryan Hughes Page 0,73

soft as feathers—almost glowed with an intense green color that Jedra had never seen before. The leaves on the trees were equally green, and their bark was eye-jarringly white with black streaks in it. And overhead, the sky had creases in it, as if it were made of angled panes of smooth glass.

We’re inside the crystal, Jedra said wonderingly. It’s not just a power source, it’s a place.

A beautiful one, too, said Kayan. Bright, though. She turned half around, looking at the trees surrounding them. Let’s go stand in the shade.

Good idea. They walked side by side, their feet swishing through the grass with each step. Jedra had never seen so much greenery in all his life. He had heard that the king’s gardens were something like this, but here there was no wall to keep the rabble out. There was no rabble, either. Only green growing things as far as he could see.

What’s a place like this doing inside a crystal? he asked when they reached the cool shade beneath the trees.

I don’t know. It’s your crystal. Kayan laughed, a bright, clear sound in the clean, fresh air.

“I didn’t make it,” Jedra said aloud. “I just found it in the ancient city.”

“I wonder if we’ll see ourselves looking in when the sun goes down?” Kayan said, peering out at the angular sky again.

“That would be strange.”

She laughed again. “This is already strange.” Jedra looked deeper into the forest. It wasn’t dense; the trees stood just close enough to provide not-quite-continuous shade for someone walking beneath them. A few hundred yards beyond, he saw a glimmer of motion between the trunks, something even whiter than their bark.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing.

It wavered, like a piece of cloth flapping in the wind. Kayan said, “I don’t know. Want to go see?”

“Of course.”

They walked through the trees, stopping again and again to marvel at new wonders: birds chirping merrily in the branches, fat, furry animals waddling through the grass, even dewdrops caught at the base of wide leaves where they curled around their stems. Something seemed odd about them all. It took Jedra a moment to come up with what it was, but he finally figured it out.

“They have no defenses,” he said. “None of the plants have thorns, and as slow as they move you could just reach out and grab one of those furry things for dinner.”

“That’s true.” Kayan shrugged. “We may have to try it in a little while. I didn’t eat after I got back from my little outing in the sandstorm.”

Jedra laughed. “If I’d known what we would find in here, I would have packed a lunch.”

They walked on, but the next tree they came to was different. Its leaves were smaller than the others, almost an afterthought, and round, light-tan balls hung from the branches. The aroma of baking bread permeated the air.

“Look at this!” Kayan said incredulously, reaching up and pulling loose one of the balls.

“What is it?”

“It’s a roll.” Kayan handed it to Jedra. It was an oval oblong, lightly browned on top, with a faint indentation in the center where the stem had been. It was warm, as if it had just come out of an oven. And the aroma… Jedra’s mouth watered, and his stomach growled.

“This is impossible,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” said Kayan. “But then so is this whole place.” She reached up and plucked another roll from the tree. When she tore it open and exposed the fluffy white interior, the baked-bread smell grew even stronger. She narrowed her brows for a moment, concentrating on it, then she took a cautious nibble, smiled, and took a bigger bite. “Mmm. Great.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Jedra asked.

“I couldn’t detect any poisons,” she said.

That wasn’t one of his skills, but Jedra tried anyway. If they were still linked somehow, then he would be able to. Come to think of it, this would be a good test. He concentrated, trying to see any poisons as black stains in the bread, but the roll remained its natural brown and white. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, though. As Kitarak had said when he showed them this skill, “Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.”

So Jedra looked again for something he knew was there, like yeast, and this time the roll turned gray.

“Hey, it works!” he said. “I can scan for poison.”

“Really? Then maybe I can…” Her roll rose up off her hand and floated before her. “Yes! I can levitate things!” She snatched the roll