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Light and noise receded. The fiery knife wounds became mere stings. Jedra knew he was dying.
This is one way to escape, he thought as he felt the final knife slide into his heart. But where do I go from here?
Chapter Nine
The answer to that became apparent a moment later when he opened his eyes to find a blurry Kayan bending over him, one hand held against his forehead and another on his chest. His body still burned with pain, but that was already fading.
He tried to speak, but his tongue was still swollen where he'd bitten it.
Kayan? he mindsent.
Who did you expect? she answered.
I-I didn't expect anyone. I thought I was dead.
So did I. I heard you convulsing, and I came in here to find you bleeding to death. What did you do to yourself?
He tried to sit up, but Kayan pushed him back. Not yet. You're still bleeding. What did you do?
I, um, I went into the other crystal.
You idiot. Jedra felt her anger course down through her arms into him, burning worse than the knife wounds.
"Aaahh!" he cried aloud. Stop it!
Sorry. She took a deep breath, and he felt the soothing flow of her healing power wash through him again. That doesn't explain these wounds, she said.
Jedra's vision cleared, and he saw the scowl on Kayan's face. I was stabbed! he told her. A gang of children attacked me, and I couldn't get away.
Children? she asked contemptuously.
Young boys, he said. The oldest was two or three years younger than me. They were tough enough, though. They surrounded me, and they beat me up, and then they cut me.
What did you do to them? she asked.
Nothing! I was trying to find a way out of there, but nothing I tried would work. I was thinking of what else I could do when they jumped me.
Uh-huh. Kayan obviously didn't believe him. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, and Jedra could see the tendons in her neck. By the dim light coming through the window and the skylight, it looked like late evening-only two days, then, since their ordeal in Yoncalla's world. She still hadn't recovered from her near-starvation there, and here she was trying to heal him.
Stop, he said, trying again to sit up and succeeding this time. You've done enough. I can heal myself from here.
You think so? Kayan tugged open his tunic-bloody, but still in one piece-and pointed to the dozens of red scars crisscrossing his chest. Some of these are deep. I'll say when you 're safe on your own. Now lie back down.
Jedra did as he was told. Kayan rubbed her hands up and down his body, spreading health wherever she touched. While she did, he told her about the crystal world with its tall buildings and its streets full of careening chariots and its millions of people flowing like rivers. Kayan listened to him, but when he wound down she said, I don't know who's crazier, the immortal who lives there or you for going in alone in the first place. I wouldn't believe a word of it if it weren't for these knife wounds.
Jedra shook his head. How could those have happened here? My body was here the whole time, wa
sn't it?
The power of the mind is greater than you know. Kayan lifted up a flap of his tunic. This didn't even get damaged, except for bloodstains, but your mind was evidently convinced you were being stabbed in that other world, so it recreated the wounds you felt while you were there.
I'd just as soon it hadn't, he replied. But thank you for repairing the damage. Can I sit up now?
Go ahead.
Jedra did, holding on to her arm for support, but rather than let go when he made it upright he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
"Just don't do it again," she murmured.
