The Poison Season(26)
Jaren shuddered. “And the Endlans? What do they get in return?”
“Ask any Endlan, and they’ll tell you the Wandering Forest is there to protect them. As long as they sing, as long as they lure in prey and make their offerings, the Forest is happy enough.”
“Happy?” Jaren asked, trying to sound genuinely interested and not condescending. “I don’t understand.”
Lupin tapped him playfully on the nose. “You don’t have to. The Forest doesn’t rely on the likes of you. It lives in a kind of symbiosis with the Endlans, and as long as no one disturbs the order of things, it works out well enough.” A shadow passed over her face. “Except for the incantu, of course.”
“But who do the Endlans need protection from?”
“From us, the mainlanders. Or outsiders, as they think of us. It was outsiders who drove the Endlans there and killed all but the last remaining Wandering Forest.”
Jaren was trying desperately to follow Lupin’s logic, but it still didn’t make sense to him. “Why do the ‘outsiders’ hate the Endlans? Because of what happened to Maggie’s father?”
“Him, and others like him. Whether they go by accident or by choice, outsiders are killed by the Forest, if the poison of the lake doesn’t get to them first. But they were hated long before they went to the island, simply for being different. I imagine a few people were lured to their deaths by Endlans, and it was convenient to make them the scapegoats every time a child went missing or a husband didn’t return to his family. They are safer on Endla, just so long as the Forest doesn’t turn on them.”
Jaren considered her words for a moment. “What about this forest?” He waved vaguely at the trees around them.
“Hmm? Oh, it’s just a forest. But the animals here seem to be aware of what happens on Endla. I think they’re always watching and waiting, to see what the Wandering Forest will do.”
Jaren had never even considered that a forest could be watching him. He looked up into the branches that swayed slightly in the breeze, imagining that the trees were listening. He had always found this forest to be oddly quiet, and now he realized why: there was no birdsong or rustling in the underbrush. The only sound was the wind. “What about the poison in the lake? Is that part of the Forest’s magic?”
“Perhaps. I don’t know all of Endla’s secrets. They’re kept especially well from incantu, lest we leave and tell them to the outsiders. They say they send us away to protect us, but the truth is, we’re dangerous to Endlans.”
“How?”
“Because we don’t need the Forest like they do. And if we knew Endla’s vulnerabilities, we could share them with outsiders. Perhaps they think we have a vendetta against them.”
“Sounds like you’d have good reason to.”
“Some, maybe. I’ve made my peace.”
“Have any Endlans left by choice?” he asked, thinking of her parents.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I heard of a woman who tried to cross the ice one winter, when I was just a baby. But the ice was too thin, or the island didn’t want her to go, and she fell through a crack and disappeared.”
“So the Endlans are prisoners, in a way.”
“I suppose so. I know I’m glad to be clear of the place, even if I do miss my parents. I thought of trying to go back in the winter, but I don’t trust the island or the other Endlans. They have people who guard the shoreline, just in case. Watchers, they’re called. After they complete a year of duty, they attend a secret ceremony and become true citizens of Endla. And whatever happens to them there must be powerful, because after that, they don’t question the way of things again.”
Jaren had a final question, but it felt almost too personal.
Lupin arched an eyebrow. “You’re wondering why they don’t kill us outright.”
Jaren flushed. He didn’t like the way this girl seemed to read his thoughts. “It doesn’t sound out of the realm of possibility, given what I’ve heard about Endlans.”
“I’m sure some would like to, but our parents wouldn’t allow it. And I’ve heard not all children are so lucky. Stray too far from the safety of home, and an elder might give you to the Forest. If it’s hungry enough, the Forest might take you itself.” She glanced at him and burst out laughing.
“What?”
“Your face. You look terrified.”
He blushed, and she ruffled his hair affectionately, turning them around. And though Jaren was mostly grateful to be heading away from the lake and back to the relative safety of his sister and the marketplace, there was a part of him that felt as though they were heading in the wrong direction.
Chapter Fifteen
Tate stood on the lakeshore with the two other incantu children, all looking vulnerable and terrified. Everything about what they were doing felt wrong to Leelo, and while she wouldn’t put up a fight, she also didn’t try to hide the tears streaming down her cheeks. Fiona was beside her, sobbing openly, and even Sage looked a little wilted. Ketty’s eyes were dry, however, as she helped the other council members drag the boat to the water.
Leelo didn’t know what made this boat safe to cross the lake on; surely if it were something natural, the outsiders would have discovered it by now, too. But the boat was as much a secret as the lilies, at least until the year of Watching was over. Otherwise, people like Leelo might be tempted to use it to see their lost family members. She tried not to think about all the parents who knew how the magic worked and yet hadn’t gone in search of their children. There had to be a good reason for it, but every reason she came up with just made her more afraid for Tate.