what elephants know

Archive for the ‘Book 2’ Category

Chapter 6

David arrived in the restroom on the fifth floor of Peachtree Memorial Hospital with barely a breath drawn between the thought and the act of leaping to Atlanta. He literally hit the floor running, pushing his senses outward to locate Emma within the building.

It didn’t take long to find her. Emma was so upset she her thoughts slammed into his mind in waves. David ran to the elevator bank and took the first available car to the tenth floor. All during the ride, Emma’s fear pelted him like hailstones. He resisted the urge to leap to her side, instead concentrating on sorting out her feverish thoughts, looking for the source of her distress. Just as he found his dad in her mind, Daniel walked squarely into his.

“Son, something is really wrong . . .”

And he was gone.

David took the chance. He leaped from the elevator to Daniel’s room, arriving just in time to catch him as Daniel swayed on his feet and passed out again. Emma burst into the room with a doctor and nurse in tow.

“David!”

“Mom, what’s wrong with dad?” David was struggling to get Daniel’s now dead weight to the bed. The doctor ran to help him, supporting Daniel to the bed, but David would not release his father’s arm.

“His nose is bleeding. Mom, is Dad having a stroke or something? What’s wrong with him?” David’s voice was rising and the room’s windows were starting to vibrate.

Emma knew she had to calm herself so she could calm David before something happened in that room she wouldn’t be able to explain.

“Sweetheart, it’s going to be fine. Calm down, OK? Daniel is going to be all right.” The words formed, came out of her mouth, sounded right – she was amazed at herself.

David released Daniel to the nurse. The medical team immediately settled Daniel into bed and pushed Emma and David from the room.

Once in the hall, Emma’s mask cracked. She threw her arms around David and cried. It took all of David’s willpower not to summon his grandmother from her rest.

“Mom, what happened?”

Emma spoke between sniffles and tears.

“Daniel . . . he was sneezing. I mean really sneezing. He had been getting worse and worse since he got back. This morning, his nose started to bleed. He can be such a big baby about some things, you know. He yelled for me when it started to bleed. I brought him straight to the hospital.”

Smiling, David took his mother’s hand and led her over to a chair in the hallway. He had just watched his father take a beating without so much as a grunt, dismantle a guy without breaking a sweat, and take out half of Devilin’s mercenaries before he got caught. A bloody nose was nothing.

“Mom, so he had a bloody nose. What happened next?”

“Well, it wasn’t just a bloody nose, it was a bleeding nose. Blood poured from his nose while he sneezed . . . sneezed so hard, David; so hard that he had me covered in blood. I got him here and the doctor started trying to see if he had contracted some exotic African disease. I’m scared Daniel might bleed to death before they can figure out what’s causing the bleeding.”

“Mom, I heard you in Washington and I heard Dad right after I got here. He said something was wrong, but then nothing. Can you hear him now? Is he in a coma?” David looked into Emma’s eyes as if looking for Daniel there.

“I haven’t tried, David. I was so scared I could only think of getting a doctor. Do you think I could reach him? Is that really a good idea?”

“Mom, you’ll be able to feel more from Dad than those doctors will ever know with their instruments. The two of you are connected.  You’ll be able to hear him even better than I can.  Just relax and reach out to him. He’ll open himself to you. Then, let your instincts take over. Believe me, you’ll know what’s wrong.

Emma nodded, though she wasn’t positive she knew what David meant. She was still reluctant to accept the psychic power she had; resistant to the idea of hearing someone’s thoughts; and fighting the possibility that this might be the way of her life from now on. The internal conflict was in full effect when she felt a soft touch on the back of her mind.

“Emma?

“Chanrille?”

“Yes. What is wrong? Your fear is very strong. Is David in danger?”

“No, David’s fine. Can’t you tell?”

“No, Emma. Your son no longer wishes to open his mind to me and I am respecting his privacy. If David is well, what is wrong?”

“Chan, it’s Daniel. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. We’re at the hospital because he can’t stop sneezing and his nose won’t stop bleeding.”

“Have you been with him?”

“What do you mean, with him?”

“Have you joined with him to find the source of this problem? If you haven’t, you must go to him. You can find the problem much faster than a physician. David . . . David could always tell what was wrong with one of us here.”

“Chan, I don’t know how to do that. I’m scared.”

“Do not be afraid. You love Daniel. Let your love take you where you want to be. He needs you and you want to be with him. Just let yourself go.”

Emma held Chanrille’s words in her heart and her mind as she mentally imagined herself with Daniel. Somehow, with the gentle elephant’s encouragement, it was a simple and easy thing to do. Emma took hold of David’s hand and concentrated on the place in her heart that Daniel filled, and . . .

. . . she was on the hospital bed beside Daniel. Lying there, she could see the small flecks of blood trapped in the stubble on his face. Daniel turned his head and looked into her eyes and Emma let go of her fear. She rolled over toward Daniel’s body and settled herself inside the man she loved.

What an amazing feeling!

Emma could feel Daniel – his heart beating in her chest, his blood surging through her veins, his lungs filling her with oxygen, his mind opening to allow her in. Looking down at their arms, she could see his bones, his muscles, and the blood moving through his arteries.

It’s like the incredible invisible human body!

Emma looked around and down, so amazed at the physical that the emotional aspect of their joining caught her by surprise. Suddenly, Emma could feel Daniel’s love for her, and for a second, it overwhelmed her. It started as a warmness that washed over her body and mind, filling her completely. Never in a million years could words tell her what she was feeling now.

I never knew he loved me so!

Emma had to hold on as her own emotions threatened to take her away. Her hands grabbed at the sheets, and she focused on their physical bonding to regain control. She pushed the feelings aside to let her body, every sinew and nerve, become one with Daniel’s. She crushed the sheet between her fingers and knew it was Daniel’s hands she was controlling.

Now we are one.

She took a deep breath, and immediately felt the irritant that was causing Daniel to sneeze. She looked for it, watching the air that moved into his lungs.

There it is! That yellow dust is what’s making him sneeze.

That knowledge did little to help her since she had no idea what to do about it. She watched as the dust moved through his lungs, into his blood, and up to his brain –

Emma was yanked away from the bed like a rag doll, upward toward the ceiling . . . pulled away from the room . . . into the darkness.

*****

Emma was stood on a ridge overlooking a dark valley.  Lights twinkled in the distance. She hugged herself against a fierce, frigid breeze.

It’s so cold; and night – I’m not in Atlanta anymore. How did I get here?

Turning away from the cliff, she saw a short man bundled in what looked like animal furs throwing wood onto a fire. Just to the other side of that fire sat Daniel.

“Daniel, where are we and how did we get here?”

The man rose from the fire and came to stand beside her.

“What’s the matter with you? You know as well as I do why we’re here. And who are you calling Daniel?”

The man seemed irritated. Or was Daniel irritated?

What is this? This man, he has Daniel’s face, but he’s not Daniel. And his face . . . he’s wearing Daniel like a mask. I can see both of them – Daniel’s transparent or something. How is this happening?

Someone was speaking, but it wasn’t her voice; but the voice was coming from her mouth. “I didn’t call you anything. I didn’t say anything at all. I was just thinking about what Rinzen said.”

“Do you think he’s right?”

“Rizen is always right. That’s what’s so scary. If he is true, the end of the world could be here.”

“Well, I think he scared all of us, but he said we can prepare for it. I’m not sure what that means, but if he says we can fight, we fight. I don’t know what we’re going to be fighting. That scroll  . . . he said it was the secret weapon. With that, we can defeat whatever’s coming.”

“Did you see it? That scroll must be hundreds of years old. How did something like that get from Africa to our village?”

“That’s the strange part. Rinzen says it was his task to bring it here and keep it safe until the ‘promised one’ was born. Can you believe that? He talks like he’s as old as the scroll.”

“Maybe he is.”

“No, Rinzen was born in my village. I’m older than he is, but it’s strange that he knows so many of the old legends and secrets. He tells them as if he was there, and these aren’t things he knows from school either. We never did the things he can do, either. Honestly, sometimes I’m afraid of him, too.”

“This ‘promised one’ he’s always talking about. Who and where is he?”

Emma’s man had walked to the edge of the cliff and resumed his surveillance of the valley below. “I don’t know and neither does Rinzen. See, he doesn’t know everything. The man, if it is a man, could be right down there and we’d never know it.” The man pointed down toward the small dots of light.

“Garkan!” Someone called out from the large ruined building behind them. Emma tried to turn around, but the man did not want to turn. The man her host was speaking with yelled back.

“Yes, Rinzen. I’m over here.” Daniel’s man waved what seemed like a lit cigarette lighter or something else that had ignited a flame. Emma caught a clear glimpse of Daniel’s face and he looked extremely agitated. She didn’t understand.

But she would.

The man from the ruin approached them with a small torch. He stopped a few feet away from Daniel and, as the man who “carried” Emma turned about, he took a few steps backward. He stared intently in her direction before turning to the other man and speaking. “Well, I see you came back and this time brought a friend. Am I supposed to allow you to stay because you brought along a beautiful companion?”

Emma sucked in her breath. The man could see her!

Rinzen, as the man was called, walked closer to Emma and held the torch near her face. Her man stepped back and spoke angrily. “Rinzen, what are you doing, trying to burn me with that thing? And who are you speaking to? Have you gone crazy from all the stress?”

Garkan, Daniel’s man spoke. “Is it the same one from earlier tonight?”

“Yes, it is the same mind walker from earlier tonight. He must like you, Garkin.” Rinzen was grinning at Daniel. “What do you want, mind walker? Why are you here and who is this you bring with you?” Rinzen turned and gave Emma a devilish grin. “You know, she does not like it here.”

Emma’s host had put his hand to his belt were a large knife was sheathed. He didn’t know what Rinzen was talking about, but Emma could feel his agitation level increasing. If this guy didn’t get answers soon, someone was going to get hurt. She tried to exert her calm over him, but realized it was useless because she was anything but calm.

Garkan spoke, but she could hear Daniel’s voice. Garkan, on the other hand, could only hear his voice saying words he was not making. “Rinzen, I am Daniel. She is my wife, Emma, and we come from the promised one.”

“You lie!”

“No, I am telling you the truth. We know where the promised one is, but we don’t know why you know of him or seek him. Who are you?”

“If you truly come from the promised one, you will know who I am.” Rinzen rolled up his sleeve and held the torch near his arm so Daniel could see. “Take this image back to him. He will know who I am. Now, you must go.”

“Wait, one last thing. Where are we?”

“You, Daniel, are in Tibet. Goodbye.”

Emma felt a sharp pull on her body as she fell back to Daniel’s bed as if she had been up on the ceiling. Daniel’s body beside her was struggling for air. She knew she had to do something. She needed to tell David!

With that thought, she found herself, half on and half off her chair, supported by the strong arms of her son. She looked up into his face, trying to clear the bewilderment from her mind. David helped her regain her seat as she fought to clear her thoughts.

“Mom, what happened?”

“David, I can’t tell you now. I have a dream to keep. For right now, we need Grandfather. I know what’s wrong with Daniel. If we don’t help him now, Daniel is going to die!”