The Dark Amulet Collection

Chapter 13

“White quartz is very powerful, you know,” said Sasha a few days later as, once more, they wandered through the bushland on the other side of the paddocks. The weather was turning cold and they were both rugged up in warm coats and boots.

“So?” Light dawned. “Is that what you used to make my eyes on your drawing?”

Sasha nodded. “Yep. White quartz. Stores and channels energy. Even makes thoughts clearer, stronger somehow.”

Jayhan frowned. “How do you know all this stuff?”

Sasha shrugged.

When it was clear that Sasha wasn’t going to answer, he asked instead, “So what about the black stone you used for your eyes? Does it have any special powers?”

Sasha bent down and picked a small piece of it up from the ground and began to toss it in his fingers. “Yep. It protects you. Keeps you safe from mean people.”

Jayhan eyed him for a moment before saying, “Didn’t do much to protect you from that bastard, Bryson.”

Sasha stopped tossing the stone and looked at him. “You’d be surprised. My time with him wasn’t good but it could have been a lot worse.” He gave a little smile. “And look!” he said sweeping his arm around him. “I’m here now, aren’t I? Not with him.”

“Huh,” snorted Jayhan. “That’s because you were brave and you’re good with horses, not because of some little black rock. Besides, you didn’t have a little black rock then. You just had your dark eyes.”

In answer, Sasha pulled a silver chain out from inside his shirt. Hanging from it was a polished black stone, held by a small ornate claw of silver. When Jayhan looked closer, he could see a series of lines cut into its surface; a triangle bisected by a long line that continued past its base. As he frowned, Sasha said proudly, “It is my family’s symbol; a fire tree.”

Jayhan looked puzzled for a moment before his brow cleared and he gave a short laugh. “You have a funny way of speaking sometimes. You mean a fir tree, don’t you?” He nodded. “I can see now. It does looks like a fir tree.”

firSasha huffed impatiently. “No. I don’t mean a fir tree. I mean what I said… and my accent isn’t funny… It’s a fire tree. You know, like flames. In summer, it is covered in red and orange blossoms…looks like fire. Get it?”

fire“All right. Sorry, sorry. We don’t have fire trees around here. At least I don’t think we do.” He thought for a minute. “So where are your family and you from? Somewhere they have fire trees, I’m guessing.”

Sasha chortled. “Well done. Quick as a flash.”

Jayhan grinned. “Thanks.” After a moment, he prompted, “So go on. Where are you from?”

Sasha glanced at him then away. “From across the Najabi desert. From the Eastern Plains that run to the foothills of the Darkstone Mountains.”

Jayhan’s eyes grew round. “Wow! That is far, far away. How’d you end up here?”

“I don’t know.” Sasha gave an unhappy little grimace. “I was too young to remember… and no one can tell me.”

“Did you ask them?”

“What do you think? Of course I asked them. I asked everyone at Stonehaven orphanage but all they knew was that I was left on the front steps sometime during the night. Old Tom told me that the delivery man found me the next morning lying wrapped in blankets in a very large basket made from woven grasses.”

“So how do you know where you come from?”

Sasha looked at him a long moment, waiting to see whether he would figure out something so obvious. “My colouring and the basket,” he said finally, “And my amulet.”

Suddenly Jayhan stood up and started walking back towards the edge of the bushland. As Sasha caught up with him, Jayhan said, “So you’ve never seen those fire trees, have you? Someone just told you about them.”

“So what?”

“And being dark coloured doesn’t mean you have to have come from these Eastern Plains of yours. People with dark skin also come from the Western Islands, Kimora, Pangetti, Booralee. Just like paler skinned people like me come from here, Eskuzor, and Asthania.”

“The Eastern Plains and the Darkstone Mountains are in Kimora, you i***t. Anyway, what about the basket?”

inJayhan stopped and put his hands on his hips. “What about the basket? Even if it comes from the Eastern Plains… personally I wouldn’t have a clue where baskets come from…who’s to say someone didn’t buy it from the local market to put you in it. Goods travel between lands, you know. So do people for that matter. You could be from anywhere.”

Sasha’s face puckered as he stamped his foot and yelled, “I didn’t know you could be so mean.” Tears streamed down his cheeks. “I hate you.”

Jayhan was struck dumb. Before he could recover, his little friend took off back the way they had come, dashing his way between sharp-leaved tea trees and clambering over a granite outcrop. Before Jayhan knew what was happening, Sasha was lost from view.

“Hey, Sasha,” he yelled. “Come back.” He set off in pursuit, muttering to himself, “What did I do? What on earth happened? What’s got into him?”

By the time Jayhan reached the other side of the rocky outcrop, Sasha was nowhere in sight. He stopped and listened. A cold breeze crept down into his coat and made him shiver. After a few moments, he thought he heard leaves scrunching to his right. He turned and started in that direction but a wattle bird flew out from a bush almost under his feet and he realised that it was the bird and not Sasha that he had heard.

He grimaced in disappointment and stopped to listen again. The bushland around him seemed deathly quiet but slowly he tuned in to the drone of insects and, as he waited quietly, bird calls started up.

But no sound that he could interpret as being Sasha.

Suddenly he was startled by a pair of rainbow lorikeets, their orange, purple and green plumage flashing in the sunlight as they swept low over his head and disappeared at breakneck speed between the trees, shrieking as they flew.

Maybe Sasha disturbed them, thought Jayhan, heading further still to his right in the direction they had flown from. After a few minutes, he found himself at the edge of the bush but there was no sign of Sasha. He scanned the fields and ran his eyes along the tree line but nothing. Pushing down a confused sense of panic and frustration, Jayhan decided to head for home, hoping that Sasha had returned ahead of him, and if not, to get help looking for him.

Maybe Sasha disturbed themBy the time he reached Beth’s door, it was full dark. He peered in the window and his heart sank as he saw no sign of Sasha. Still, perhaps he had gone inside the house for dinner already. Jayhan knocked and pushed the door open.

“I’ve lost Sasha,” he said in a rush. “Has he come back here?”

Beth’s eyes widened in alarm. “No. Not as far as I know. Why isn’t he with you?”

Jayhan grimaced. “Tell you the truth, I don’t know. He just got upset and ran off. I’ve been looking for him but I couldn’t find him. If he hasn’t come back here, I think he’s still somewhere in the bush.”

Beth grabbed her coat and strode out to join him in the darkness. The wind had picked up and snowflakes were swirling past them. She quickly checked the stables, calling Sasha’s name as she ran.

“No. Not here. Where did you last see him?” When Jayhan described the location, she frowned. “The weather is closing in. The ground will freeze tonight. It will be a long, cold, lonely night for him if we don’t find him.” Seeing that Jayhan was already on the verge of panic, she didn’t voice her fear that Sasha might not make it ’til morning. She took a deep breath as she collected her thoughts. “Right. We’ll need a couple of horses saddled. You start on that while I round up some helpers. I’ll let Maud know what is happening.”

Twenty minutes later, two farmhands, Jake and Thompson, Leon the surly coachman and Beth were assembled outside the kitchen door, carrying lanterns. She handed Jayhan a meat pie. “Here. You and I will ride on ahead. Eat this on the way. I know you’re probably tired but we need you to show us exactly where you were.” She turned to a burly bearded man. “Jake, you two spread out and search the fields on your way to the trees. Jayhan and I will begin looking within the tree line but won’t go out of sight until you join us.”

Just as they had mounted up, Sheldrake stuck his head out the kitchen door. “Just a minute. Do you have any clothing of Sasha’s? Something that carries his scent?”

“Up in the hay loft,” replied Beth, nodding at Jayhan to fetch it.

As he returned with Sasha’s spare shirt, a huge thickset bloodhound emerged from the kitchen and sniffed at it.

Beth gave a lop-sided grin. “Hello Maud. Good of you to join us. You can lope along next to Jayhan and me, if you like. The boys will meet us at the forest edge.”