The Healer's Garden Read online

  "Xylice, what am I looking at?” He saw numbers flashing on the screen and Jahara's face, but none of it made sense to him.

  "Patience, Bren, I need to make sure I used the correct parameters.” Settling her bulk in the chair, Xylice's fingers tapped the keys in rapid succession. “Huh.” She leaned back.

  "Xylice, what?” He screamed at his sister.

  "Her last known location was around 1830, but that was five hours ago. The cameras should have picked up something more.” Focused on the program, Xylice leaned forward and punched more data into the computer.

  Whatever information they had was enough for him. Covering her hands, Brenimyn looked down at his sister. “Where, Xylice? I don't care if it's accurate, I can't stand around doing nothing."

  "The well-check, but...” Hearing his heavy footfalls race from the office, Xylice turned in time to see the fleeting image of Brenimyn's back before the door hissed closed behind him. “May the creator of this earth protect you, dear brother.” Xylice dropped her head in her hands, shedding tears for the brother she might never see again.

  * * * *

  "This is the place you sought.” Bresilee waved the gun around the little room.

  Mykilai stood with her back to the red door, a blank expression on her face. Jahara leaned casually against the shelves running along the wall opposite Mykilai. Her heart pounded so hard she was sure Bresilee could hear it from where she stood in the center of the room.

  "This room was built off the well-check as a triage for infected breeders. Here they were to be healed or sent to isolation. That's why the security elevator goes directly to the tunnel. Diseased breeders could be transported to the isolation complex without coming in contact with the general population. But it was never used.” Bresilee ran a finger lovingly over the bindings on the stretcher at her side. “Not that way."

  Jahara's gaze skittered about the room looking for an escape route. Without windows, the only access to the room was the red door near Mykilai or the elevator, left of Bresilee. Either one required her to disable one or both of the women.

  "...no one had used for years, so I took it over when I got here. I've been using it for my own secret purposes.” Looking up at Jahara, Bresilee's wistful smile lifted the corners of her lips. “I filled the cabinets with the instruments of the ancients. Perfect for experimenting on unsuspecting breeders.” She waved the gun nonchalantly over Jahara's head.

  The wooden cabinets, at her back, above and below the shelf were faced with glass. The contents were foreign to Jahara, but they didn't look like instruments of healing.

  "It's really how I learned to become a healer. I'd send perfectly good specimens through that door and they'd become trapped until I could get to them. Stupid men were all so docile, so trusting. They'd lie on the bed, convinced I'd save them from some horrible disease.” She rubbed the stretcher like a lover. “They even let me bind them when I told them it was for their protection from the strong healing powers I would use. Instead I cut them open while they were still alive. I studied how their bodies worked. I'm sure it was quite an unpleasant experience for them. They were all such fools."

  With Bresilee lost in the memories of her past and Mykilai slumped in a posture of defeat against the wall, it was easy for Jahara to peruse the instruments in the cupboards, sidestepping toward Bresilee.

  "When I was promoted to run the hospital, I had someone create the alarm system.” Bresilee kept talking, caught up in her need to relive her rise to power.

  "The noise disables the occupant and alerts me directly that someone has entered the chamber.” She looked up at the large speaker hanging from the ceiling. Jahara took another step toward the woman.

  "It's how I knew you were in here, Jahara. But from here, I can also disable it.” Bresilee turned to a panel behind her, running her fingers over several buttons.

  Without thought, Jahara lunged toward Bresilee. Mykilai did the same. Bresilee saw them move and stepped out of the way. Mykilai collided with Jahara. They crashed to the floor in a heap.

  "Jahara, you are a fool if you think you can get away from both of us.” Bresilee's voice trembled. The gun pointed at Jahara's face shook in her hands. “Stand up and move away from me."

  Mykilai hauled Jahara to her feet, shoving her to the opposite side of the stretcher. The anger made slits of Mykilai's eyes that sent a shiver of panic through Jahara. Two against one, how would she ever escape with her life?

  "My apologies, it won't happen again.” Jahara tried to sound contrite as she backed away, her hands in the air.

  "You lie. You're not sorry. Not for having gifts, not for your privileged life, not for your beauty and especially not for choosing a man.” Spittle flew from Bresilee's mouth with the words. “I should shoot you through the heart just for that transgression alone. Even Mykilai can't heal a broken heart.” Another crazed cackle escaped her lips.

  "But you would not suffer in that death and oh, how I want you to suffer, Jahara. To know your life is being taken from you in small, painful increments.” In the bright lights of the room Bresilee's eyes glowed with the evil inside her. The director took a step back, her fingers working the buttons. “I had one more thing added to the room."

  The tiles beside Jahara tilted down into the floor. She heard the whoosh of an explosion. Waves of heat rolled up from below. Having no idea what was causing the roaring noise, Jahara took a cautious step away.

  "It's wonderful isn't it?” Bresilee cocked her head. “I take it, Jahara that you've never seen an incinerator. I learned about it at the mines where they burned the debris. I knew it would come in useful one day, so I asked them how it was built. Stupid men, little did they know I'd use it against them.” She paused. “No one knows it's here. I've been using it more frequently these last few months as I dispose of my failed experiments."

  Jahara swallowed the bile rising in her throat, knowing she meant the bodies of the cloned infants.

  "Jacinta's child slid into the next world that way."

  Mykilai's head shot up at the same moment the red door flung open. Distracted, Bresilee aimed her weapon in that direction. Jahara seized the opportunity for escape and flung herself at the stretcher. With the cry of a warrior screaming from her lungs, she rammed Bresilee. Jahara saw the flash from the gun seconds before she pinned Bresilee against the wall. The weapon clattered to the floor. Heat filled the tiny room, but she ignored the discomfort. Throwing the stretcher aside, Jahara grabbed Bresilee.

  Focusing all her energy, Jahara swung a fist at Bresilee's face. Her hands were meant to heal. Tonight, they were capable of murder.

  Bresilee fell back on the floor. Her hands shot up, the long nails raking down Jahara's cheeks. The searing pain fueled her fight. Jahara raised her fist once again and slammed it into Bresilee's nose. The bone crushing blow splattered blood over both of them. Bresilee's arms and legs flung wildly into the space between them, pummeling Jahara.

  "That's enough."

  The commanding voice stopped them.

  "Stand up, both of you.” Mykilai held the gun pointed down at them.

  Jahara looked over her shoulder, a gasp filling the quiet. Brenimyn had come through the door and now lay in a heap at Mykilai's feet, his shallow breath gurgling unnaturally out of the hole in his chest.

  "Brenimyn.” Jahara crawled toward the man whose life's blood was spreading into a puddle beneath his body.

  "Stay where you are. He's not worth saving.” Mykilai's voice was deadly calm.

  "Mykilai, you've done well.” Rising on shaky legs, Bresilee brushed at her clothing and casually straightened her hair. “I am better with a pistol than I thought.” Stretching out her hand, she took a step toward Mykilai. “Give me the gun."

  "No.” Mykilai's stony features barely moved as she spat out the word.

  "Then you do it. Shoot Jahara and we'll dump both bodies. Even as we speak, the breeder dies.” She waved callously toward Brenimyn. “We can say they slipped. That Jahara and Brenimyn
had found this room and accidentally fell. It will be so easy."

  "That's how it is for you? Life. Death. You control both at your whim.” She stepped over Brenimyn's motionless body. “Jacinta and I loved that baby, even though we knew it wasn't hers.” Tears welled in Mykilai's eyes. “And yet you treated the infant like a piece of garbage to be thrown out? How dare you? And after all I've done for you? You were willing to let the woman I love die in order to prove to the world you had the power of the creator? You speak of a new race of females, but they are molded in your likeness. I don't think that's a world I can live in.” The gun exploded, but the bullet crashed into the cabinet behind Bresilee, spraying shards of glass.

  With amazing agility, Bresilee dove for the gun, struggling with Mykilai only a moment before a third shot rang out. Jahara watched in horror as the stunned expression on Mykilai's face disintegrated. She slid away from Bresilee. Only a small gasp of surprise escaped her lips before she fell. Two more were dead at Bresilee's hands, both willingly sacrificing themselves to stop a mad woman.

  "Mykilai! No!” Bresilee moaned out her name. “Look what you made me do.” She turned the gun toward Jahara.

  With nothing more to lose, Jahara bent low, crashing into Bresilee's legs. The momentum carried her to the floor, precariously close to the yawning opening. The impact sent the gun into the black heat of the incinerator.

  Bresilee rolled them until she lay sprawled over Jahara's chest. With incredible strength, Bresilee pushed Jahara's head over the edge of the fissure. Her nose filled with smell of her own hair melting. The heat prickled her skin, searing the flesh.

  "You will die today, Jahara, and join your lover in the next world.” Bresilee spoke through clenched teeth, the effort of the struggle making her pant.

  "That's not how it is meant to be.” With one last Herculean effort, Jahara bucked her hips and swung her legs high in the air, flipping Bresilee over her head. Suspended in mid-air, Bresilee's hands grabbed at empty space. She didn't even cry out for help as she slid down into her own Hades. Jahara reached for her, but she was gone. She hadn't intended to kill the woman, but perhaps justice had finally been served.

  The gaping hole in the floor closed, probably triggered by Bresilee's weight on the ramp. Ignoring the burns to her face and hands, Jahara ran to the lifeless forms on the floor. Each of them had tried to save her.

  With instincts honed from years of practice, she assessed their wounds. They were close to death and she didn't know how she would save them both. Mykilai bled profusely from her belly, Brenimyn from his chest. From the amount of blood spreading across the floor, the bullet had very likely pierced his heart. Jahara wasn't sure he could be saved.

  "She dead?” Mykilai's eyes fluttered open momentarily.

  "Yes"

  "Good ... I'm sorry ... tried to save you ... she was too powerful...” Mykilai gasped for breath. “You're gifted ... she knew ... frightened her ... not me ... don't save me ... save Bren ... don't deserve life...” She mumbled out the words on a shallow breath as Jahara reached in to remove the bullet.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Three months later

  Jahara sat sideways on the horse, the flowing skirt of the white dress making it impossible for her to ride any other way. She looked down over the crowd gathered in the field. The waterfall cascaded with incredible power to the rocks below. Its mist sprinkled shimmers of light over the lake. Looking up, she shielded her eyes against the sun.

  Her Dame had ordered the reorganization of the Governmental Body and the procreation law of the ancients rescinded. The Garden would cease to exist. It had already been renamed “Serenity” and been reorganized into a village. But it would take at least a year before nothing remained except the legacy of the breeding facility.

  She smiled at Merenith mounted on the horse next to hers. She missed Brenimyn.

  "You ready? It looks like your Dame has everyone assembled.” Merenith lifted her chin toward the outcropping of rock where Kylie stood regally next to the leader of the Eastern Territory. As the new head of the Governmental Body of the village, Kylie would perform the commitment ceremony in conjunction with her Dame. The rest of the officials of both governments were gathered on the grass, their robes of distinction turning the field into a mosaic of color.

  "Are you sure this is what you want?"

  Adjusting the halo of flowers adorning her head, Jahara brushed the short strands of hair out of her face. Though it had grown out since the accident, she thought probably she'd keep the sassy style framing her face. Her hand fluttered over her exposed breasts, settling on her belly. The life stirred under her touch.

  "I'm sure, Mer. There's nothing more I could wish for.” Emotion clogged Jahara's throat, filling her eyes with tears. She laughed. “I told myself I wouldn't cry today."

  "It's a new beginning for all of us.” Reaching over, Merenith squeezed her thigh reassuringly. “You look beautiful by the way."

  "Thank you."

  The trumpets sounded. Mykilai's sweet voice carried melodic strains over the amplifier, signaling the beginning of the ceremony. Jahara had chosen this song, finding the lilting words of love in one of Bresilee's book of ancients.

  Everything that would happen today would be a unique blend of the old and the new. It had been a stressful task figuring out what which traditions to keep and which ones to begin.

  Jahara's horse rocked down the slope and the throng of thousands parted as she and Merenith wound their way toward the swathe of grass cut to make a center aisle. The ancients had performed this ceremony in sacred buildings called churches. For Jahara there was no ground more hallowed than the spot where'd she'd first come to believe in love and the vision Brenimyn promised those who followed him.

  "...and I will love you forever in the Garden of Eden, our lives joined as one until the end of time..."

  It was Jahara's favorite part of the ballad. Mykilai's rendition added a poignancy that swelled Jahara's heart. She thought of all that had come to pass and all that was yet to be.

  In the last month, Bresilee's mansion had been leveled and her cloned embryos destroyed. The well-check had been expanded to encompass the little room and now did physicals for both men and women. The red door was the last item swallowed by the incinerator before the furnace was destroyed and the chute filled with sand. The accumulated ashes of Bresilee's countless victims were blessed and scattered throughout the flowerbeds of Serenity.

  Merenith had moved here to work with Nazaret at the farm.

  After Brenimyn's call on that tragic night, it was she who had alerted her Dame. The imperial guard arrived at the Garden only hours after Bresilee's death. Imposing martial law, they sorted through the mess until the new government could be established.

  Breeders, both male and female, were given the freedom to remain or return to their homes. Many committed couples had chosen to stay. This would be the first sanctioned village allowing men and women to reside in the same dwelling. There was still so much to do to sort out work assignments, but for now, everyone lived communally, each service provided for the good of all.

  Dr. Linsig, along with several high government officials, unable to accept the new laws, had chosen to leave the Garden for territories unknown.

  Accepting the position as Chief Healer, Jahara had resigned her post at the hospital in the capital city of Lexington. Over the past few months she had worked with many breeders to heal both emotional and physical scars left by Bresilee's reign of terror. The clinic now provided medical attention for everyone and several male healers were being trained as apprentices.

  Having proven her healing skills, Mykilai was promoted to Head Resident in charge of the healing facility and would be Jahara's second in command. As it turned out, the night in the well-check, she had been trying to save Jahara, not harm her. Mykilai had intended on sacrificing herself to Bresilee's gun in order for Jahara to escape. Jahara was grateful she had been able to sa
ve the woman's life.

  The future held so much promise for all of them.

  Looking up, she finally caught sight of him. Riding tall and proud next to Lukiam, Brenimyn approached the ceremony on horseback from the opposite side of the field. He was dressed in the finest clothing of white satin. The deep neckline of the tunic revealed the bronzed muscles of his chest and the small scar over his heart. No amount of repair by either her or Mykilai on the night of the shooting could completely remove the offensive mark. It reminded Jahara every day of the sacrifice he'd been willing to make for her.

  It felt like months had passed since Jahara had seen him. Even with her Dame and birth-sisters living with her, Jahara thought she would perish with the emptiness his absence left in their new residence near the hospital. With five bedrooms, he promised to fill them all with children and love.

  In the tradition of the ancients, he'd moved out of their home only a week ago. Sequestered somewhere in the village of Serenity with the other men, he'd refused any communication from her. Though he knew she already carried his child, Brenimyn wanted their first night as “husband” and “wife to have a virginal quality.

  The man had no idea how much she desired him if he thought she needed the isolation to make her feel that way. Every joining with Brenimyn was like opening a rare gift of true love.

  Dismounting, they handed the reins to Nazaret. Lukiam and Merenith walked ahead of them to the altar at the base of the rocks. They had agreed to stand before the crowd and bear witness to the eternal love Jahara and Brenimyn shared. This ceremony would legally commit them only to each other until the creator of the earth brought them into the next realm.

  Bending down, Brenimyn kissed her nose. “I've missed you, woman."

  "And I you."

  Everywhere faces reflected the love exploding in her heart.

  Threading their fingers together, Brenimyn and Jahara walked past the friends and family gathered in eager anticipation of the monumental reform about to take place.