The Garden of Whispers: A Story
By: Madelyne Posted on: October 31, 2007
Shoulders slumped, Darius sat back in the chair behind his desk. The parchment
he'd just crumpled had been tossed into a larger pile of similiar pieces in a
dusty corner of the room. It seemed so easy a bargain. Design and build a
monument to the Gods, and in return Sarapis would cause his sweet Niliana to
fall in love with him. It was the chance of a lifetime and Darius grasped it.
In the early days of their romance, Darius and Niliana spent all their time
together. They would picnic on the beach and feed each other bites of
caramel-covered apples from Allea's candy shop. Or, if Darius received a
healthy amount of commissions, they might visit the Seabreeze Tavern to share
an ale. Niliana's beauty caught the eye of every man in the place, and
sometimes a few women, but she only had eyes for her devoted artist husband
.
At first, Darius felt sheepish, even humbled, at Niliana's praise over the garden he created. Everyone worshipped at least one of the Gods, so it did not seem out of place that she would visit it daily. Over time, her visits grew longer. Once Darius was guaranteed a warm dinner upon coming home after a long day sculpting, but he now arrived to a cold, dark house as Niliana hardly ever returned before the moon had risen to illuminate the otherwise dark streets. When Darius tried to talk to his wife, she was distracted and her words made little sense. The woman thought the Gods spent all day speaking directly to her. One night she would come home, conspiratorily letting him in on a secret confided to her by one of the Gods. The next, she might barge in angrily, insisting she would never visit the garden again, as she could not bear to listen to one more of their whispers.
Concerned, Darius set aside an afternoon and visited the garden that he
skillfully designed and created with his own two hands. He watched in despair
as Niliana reacted to the "whispers". His spouse tilted her head to one side
and nodded, murmuring something about the Triumverate. Suddenly she jerked
around, stared in another direction and wept bitterly. Then she turned to look
in competely different direction, looked shocked, and laughed hysterically.
Darius could make no sense of it. He heard no whispers or voices of any kind.
Only a soft breeze travelled up the cliffs and through the statues. Hearing
anything else was a sign of madness. Creeping away, Darius made up his mind to
confront Niliana as soon as she returned home.
It was nearing midnight when Darius gave up waiting and made the decision to go
out and look for her. Wringing his hands, he stepped outside his front door and
looked at the moon, high over the Eastern Ocean. Niliana had never stayed out
this long, and he feared for her safety. He rushed through the dark streets,
past the fountain in the courtyard and up the steps. Darius called out to her,
his voice desperate.
"Niliana! Darling, where are you?" He pleaded. He searched the Gardens of
Whispers and Moonlight. He combed through the Garden of the Sacred Sea. All the
while, he silently prayed, begging for the return of his beloved Niliana.
Reluctantly, after searching for hours but finding no trace of her, Darius
turned and headed back to his home. Unwilling to go to bed without his wife, he
sat at his desk pondering where she might be until the first rays of sunlight
brought the dusky glow of morning to the room.
Sharp raps sounded on the wooden door of the artist's humble cottage. Curious
about why Niliana would knock at the door of her own home, Darius flung open
the door expecting to see his bride. Instead, he was met by a village elder,
Erdan the pearl diver and his wife Carmina, and Lexil, the fisherwoman. His
bloodshot gaze frantically skipped from one to the next, the grief on their
faces not immediately registering to his overtired mind.
"Darius, I'm so sorry," Carmina began. Her voice broke and a huge tear rolled
down her cheek. Lexil put her arm about the woman's shoulders. The voluptuous
blonde whipered to the younger woman, "Shh, best let the elder tel him."
"Tell me what?" Darius demanded to know at once, and began firing questions at
the group before him, "What is it? Why are you all here? What is it you have to
tell me?"
The elder took a deep breath and then exhaled loudly through his mouth,
smoothing the front of his robes with his palms. For months now people in town
had talked about Darius' crazy wife. Would the artist be relieved not to have
to deal with the gossip any longer?
"Darius, it's Niliana-" elder started but was interrupted by the distressed man
before him.
"Have you found my wife? Where is she? Where is Niliana?! You tell me where she
is!" Darius anxiously shouted. His eyes, red and swollen from a night of
insomnia, continued to dart between the elder and the Thalassans standing
slightly off to one side.
"Darius, it's not good news, friend," the elder struggled to be gentle. As he
looked at the sculptor's teary eyes and disheveled clothing, he did not regret
his decision to bring the others. Erdan braced himself for Darius' reaction to
the news while Lexil continued to comfort Carmina.
Darius lunged forward towards the robust figure of the elder, "Stop
pussyfooting around old man and TELL ME WHERE MY WIFE IS!"
Carmina shrieked in fright, causing Lexil to blurt, "Just tell him, please!
Tell him what his crazy wife's gone and done to herself!"
A calm took hold of Darius. "D-d-done to herself?" He stuttered, taking a step
back.
"This morning when Erdan went out to look for pearls, he found your wife,
Darius. He fetched me at once and I saw it for myself. It looks like she's done
herself in. Jumped over the cliff, she has." The elder spoke calmly, one large
hand firmly on Darius' shoulder. The two women quietly mourned in the
background, tears falling freely as they watched Darius sink to his knees. His
head fell forward into his hands as he brought his arms up to act as a shield
against the bad news.
"No, not my beautiful wife." Darius drew his hands away and looked skyward.
"WHY?" The distraught artist screamed, "WHY DID YOU TAKE HER? I BUILT YOU A
MONUMENT! AN ENTIRE GARDEN! WHY?!"
He turned towards the elder. "Take me to her. I must see for myself. Let me see
my wife." The elder sighed and nodded, then led the group to the beach where a
small group had gathered. Niliana's crumpled form lay covered by a thin
blanket.
"Oh no, no, no," Darius moaned as he caught sight of the alien shape before
him. He knelt before his lifeless wife, her essence broken and rubbed out by
the fall. Slowly he looked up the side of the cliff where his gaze rested on
the garden monument he so painstakingly crafted with his own two hands. He
looked down the cliff to the form of his wife and asked dejectly, "Is there no
way to resurrect her?"
The elder replied, "I'm sorry, Darius. You know how it is when one takes their
own life. The Pentad does not allow them to return. We had a priest try to
resurrect her just the same, but her spirit wouldn't return to her body, no
matter how fervent his prayers."
Placing a hand on her body, Darius nodded slowly. When he spoke, his voice was
quiet and without hope. "She'll come home with me until a casket is built."
Murmuring soothing words to her lifeless body, Darius bent and scooped Niliana
into his arms. Once home he arranged her as best he could on their bed. Until a
coffin was constructed, he never left her side. He alternately pleaded with her,
scolded at her, and apologised to her.
After the the burial services, Darius returned home where he sat at his desk
and reviewed the original sketches of the Garden. It was perfect in every way,
serving to pay tribute to every God. Every God, that is, except Caspian. With a
gasp, Darius realised his error. He shoved all other drawings aside and at once
began sketching plans for an altar to the Ocean Lord. In his haste he found
himself making silly errors until soon, he had nothing but an accumulation of
unacceptable drafts for a new shrine.
Shoulders slumped, Darius sat back in the chair behind his desk. The parchment
he'd just crumpled had been tossed into a larger pile, disturbing cobwebs in
the dusty corner of the room. For days he'd gone without food or sleep in
attempts to plan the perfect altar to pay tribute to Caspian, the altar that
would return him to his beloved Niliana. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"Yes, yes. This will .. oh no, that won't, but this ... ahh, yes. Must speak
with Allira, for crystals. No no, not crystals. Perals. Where to get ...
Erdan!" Darius mumbled to himself as he sketched. Finally, he was satisfied
with the results on the parchment before him. He rolled up both the sketch and
his notes, and stuck them in the scroll case he used to protect his papers. For
the first time in weeks, a smile graced his lips. Darius stepped outside in to
the bright sun and smiled as he shut the door behind him. "It won't be long
now, Niliana," he said softly. "No, you won't have to wait long at all. I'm
going to join you just as soon as I can."
At the site of the altar to the Sea God, the village elder stood with Erdan,
the pearl diver. The two commened upon the intricate details of the
pearl-encrusted structure, from the coral carving of Caspian himself to the
wave of green sea glass.
"It is no real surprise that he would wish to join her again," Erdan remarked.
Looking down at the mangled remains of Darius on the mess of jagged rocks
below, the village elder sighed in agreement. The elder turned and began making
his way back through the garden to prepare services for the tortured young man.
He looked back and saw Erdan looking out at nothing in particular, head tilted
to one side.
"Erdan, what is it?" The elder asked.
Erdan shook his head and rubbed his ear. "I.. thought I heard something." He
turned to follow the elder down the marble steps to Anemone way. The pearl
diver looked back over his shoulder and shuddered, wondering if he had heard
one of the voices Niliana spoke of freely, or if it had just been a trick of
the wind.
The End