Secret Of the Sighing Mountains (The Quest Trilogy) by Iram Dana Page B

Ashitaka menacingly but was stopped by Sierra’s restraining hand on his shoulder. He turned to glower at Sierra, who silently shook his head, mouthing the word ‘No’; directing a meaningful glance at Diego’s fractured hand. Diego remembered his just completed stint at the ‘torture chambers’ and stopped, cursing Ashitaka under his breath.
    For his part, Ashitaka had only just finished laughing at his joke and was merrily wiping away the tears from his eyes with one hand, holding his glasses in the other.
    Absolutely ignorant of the tension in the air, he turned to face Diego again.
    “You know what my mother always said when I was stupid enough to injure myself?” he asked, oblivious to Diego’s tightly clenched fist and the snarl on his face.
    “Um Ashitaka…” warned Sierra, “I would shut up now if I were you...”
    Ashitaka ploughed ahead;
    “She’d say ‘whatever happens, happens for the best’, and so that’s what I would tell you now, my friend, whatever…”
    With a low growl Diego’s left fist came crashing into Ashitaka’s jaw, toppling him from his chair and sending him sprawling to the floor. Ashitaka staggered back to his feet, coughing out a clot of blood along with a tooth. He stared in horror at the piece of bone in his palm.
    “Oh!” he gasped, and then turned and ran out the door, all the way to the in-house hospital, cupping his cheek and squealing.
     
    Sierra shook his head and sighed;
    “You’ve just booked yourself another session at the torture chambers, brother.”
    Diego climbed into bed, jerking up the bedcovers.
    “He had it coming, and you know that.”
    “I guess…” said Sierra thoughtfully, then gave an ironic laugh, “At this rate, he’s going to have no teeth left by the time training here is over!”
    “Don’t worry about it,” said Diego, managing a smile despite his irritation, “he’ll understand it happened for the best.”
    Sierra laughed.
    “It’ll be an improvement on that face for sure!”
    “Nothing can improve that face, in my opinion.” Diego said, humorlessly. “Now turn your light off so I can get some sleep.”
    Sierra reached for the switch to the night-lamp near his bed and plunged the room into darkness with a click. Then he pulled his quilt over himself and closed his eyes, letting sleep wash away the exhaustion of the day.
     
    *****

 
    CHAPTER 9
     
    Once he had recovered from his bout of indigestion, Sierra had to face a session at the Discipline Room himself, as the cause of his ailment – sneakily pilfering food into his belt and overeating- became known to Master Shengdu. Sierra gave up pilfering goodies from the lunch and dinner tables after that, eating responsibly and moderately. This was, of course, more out of a fear of having to re-visit the Discipline Room than the desire to eat healthy, but it served the purpose nonetheless.
    Diego had not fared much better. He had also received another session at the Discipline room because of Ashitaka’s tattling. From then on, though, he was more careful about testing out the prowess of the ring. The ring itself had started to sparkle brilliantly as the days wore on.
    In order to test the ring, Diego would now frequently visit the kitchen, when all cooking and cleaning was over and it was deserted, in order to bend spoons, vessels and anything else bendable but not breakable, that he could lay his hands on.
    His favourite object to distort, however, remained Ashitaka’s glasses, which Ashitaka always found bent out of shape if he ever left them unattended even for a moment. As a result, he began to wear his glasses hanging by a cord around his neck. He suspected Diego, of course, but his face was dearer to him than the desire to challenge Diego with his claims.
    Sierra tried to stop Diego once or twice, but threw his hands up in surrender each time, as Diego would just smile and say, “don’t worry, he can fix it!” and continue to warp Ashitaka’s glasses.
     
     
    As