Journey to the West By Bert McKenzie Copyright 2010
Chapter XIV
"Can you make sure he doesn't slip out by using that invisibility trick?" Scott asked.
"He would only seem invisible if one knew not where or how to look," Rood replied. "The lady Caseldra and I shall keep him from fleeing again." He motioned for her to watch the stairs. "There is but only one way he may leave and that is by this staircase."
"There's a fire escape in the back," Jennifer added.
"If you mean the metal steps and ladders," Rood remarked, "they are of iron. He shall not attempt to use them."
"Okay. You guys keep watch. Jennifer and I will try to talk to him. We use force as a last resort." With that the two humans climbed the stairway to the third floor apartment. "The mailbox said 'Danny Smith, Apt. 34.' This is it." He reached out and rapped loudly on the door.
A radio playing inside the apartment was suddenly silenced. Then a woman's voice called out. "Who's there?"
"Danny, it's Scott," the man replied.
They heard a dead bold click and then the door opened a few inches, still held shut by a chain lock. A young girl, probably 15 or 16 years old looked out at them. "Are you a friend of Danny's?" she asked.
"Yes, I am. I'm Scott Quartermain and this is Jennifer Sloan. We're old friends of his."
"Old friends? You're from Nicaragua!" she shouted and slammed the door shut.
"No, wait," Scott said to the closed door. "We've got to speak to Danny. It's important."
"Go away before I call the police," the girl shouted from inside.
"Let me try," Jennifer suggested. She stepped to the door and spoke with a gentle voice. "Honey, please, we only want to help."
"You're from the Nicaragua death squad. My girlfriend told me about you. She reads Time Magazine. You want to kill Danny. Go away."
"No, we're not from Nicaragua. We only want to talk to him. We're old friends. Can't we just talk?"
"Rood," Scott called, leaning over the banister and looking down the stair well. "Do you think you can get this door open?" Before the words were out of his mouth the big fairy was standing at the door, his hands gently feeling the wood.
"Easy as pie," he answered with a crooked grin, then closed his eyes. He hummed a little melody, mad an unusual gesture with his hands and turned the knob. The door swung open, the chain dangling loose and unfastened. They young girl screamed and ran for the window, trying to reach the fire escape, but Caseldra was suddenly blocking her way. She reached out, touching the young girl on the side of the face. The terrified girl sank to the floor in slow motion.
In a matter of moments Rood and Caseldra had searched the tiny apartment. "He is not here," the tall man announced.
"Great," Scott said in disgust. "We lost him again."
"Maybe his pregnant girlfriend knows where he is," Jennifer suggested, indicating the unconscious woman on the couch.
"Pregnant?"
Jennifer gave her human friend an exasperated look. "So you just thought she was fat and liked wearing 'Baby on Board' sweat shirts."
"I didn't notice," he admitted, looking at the young girl for the first time. "She's just a kid. You don't think..."
"I don't jump to conclusions. You're the one who doesn't think," Jennifer retorted. "Caseldra, what did you do to her?"
"I commanded her to sleep," the fairy girl said. "It is a trick my father taught me."
"Well, let's wake her up," Scott suggested. "Rood, use the deep communication on her."
"No," Jennifer said protectively. "You guys just back off and let me try.
In thirty minutes they were all sitting calmly in a big booth in a diner on the corner. Maggie Jones was telling her story. She had met Danny in a freight yard and took him under her wing. They had come to New York together and she found him the job. He was a natural with his delicate features and graceful movements. She admitted to working as a hooker, but she was sure the child was Danny's. As to her fears, she could tell from his lack of English that he was an illegal alien. She thought his language was Spanish, and when he told her that people from his land were trying to kill him, she figured out he was fleeing from the Nicaraguan death squad. Her friend had told her all about it.
"No one is going to hurt Danny," Scott told her. "I promise. But we've got to take him home. He's the only one who can stop a war."
The girl's confidence was wavering. "You must believe him," Rood said, adding his voice to the argument. "He would not lie to you. He is the consort of the king."
"Consort of the king?" Maggie said.
"Like a queen," Jennifer added. Scott threw her a dirty look.
"Okay," the young girl said. "I'll tell you where Danny is on one condition. You take me with him."
"Out of the question," Scott told her.
"My lord," Rood interrupted, and then spoke in a wind whisper. "Let me remind you how urgent it may be a return with Dannemel. Also, if this girl be carrying his child, what might think your human midwives when a Tuathan child is born of a human?"
"Okay, lady, you got a deal," the consort said aloud.
Akuta checked out Pardoo's body and found that the western elf was still alive. He had apparently knocked himself unconscious in the fall. The high born fairy experienced a deep sense of disappointment. He had promised the dwarf that he would kill this man, and had hoped that his job was done for him by the cave in. He slowly drew the jewel hilted sword from his side and prepared to strike. One swift blow and the unconscious elf would never awaken. It was almost too easy. But as he prepared to strike, something stopped him. He wasn't a cold blooded killer. His very mission was to restore life, not take it. Akuta calmly put away his blade. Perhaps the time would come later.
Pardoo slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "Where am I?" he asked in confusion.
"You are in the entrance to Turin Kareem," a voice answered hollowly from the shadows. It made his skin crawl. He jumped up, preparing for flight, although there was nowhere to run. Akuta stepped into the light falling through the opening in the overhead rocks. "Now that you are awake," Akuta said, his voice made hollow and unearthly by the cavern's echoes, "we may proceed."
"Proceed?" Pardoo asked, his own voice coming back to his ears in an equally frightening style. "I am going to leave." He looked up at the opening above him.
"The dwarves await outside. They shall kill you on sight. Would not you rather risk the dark?"
Pardoo pondered this statement and then shrugged his shoulders. "Death is death. Lead us on."
The two left the stone chamber where they had entered and began to follow a dark tunnel that headed in the general direction of the mountainous shaft on the outside. For a time they were able to see by the dim light that filtered down from the surface, but as they walked farther and farther and the tunnel began to twist and turn, the blackness soon closed in, blinding even their sensitive elfin eyes. From then on, the two had to travel by feel. The walls of the cave grew damp and slimy to the touch, and yet they went on.
Akuta was in the lead, and soon noticed he could begin to see light. He began to pick up the pace, knowing he was close to the end of this dark tunnel. Suddenly, the confining walls dropped away and the two men stepped out into the large cavern. Far beneath them, on the cavern floor was a river of molten rock which glowed a bright orange. This accounted for the oppressive heat as well as the illumination. Their path had turned to a stone bridge which spanned the cavern and led to a dark cave mouth on the opposite wall. The floor of the bridge was inlaid with precious gemstones that scintillated in the dimly reflected orange light.
"Our pathway takes us across riches," Pardoo said quietly. "With these we may purchase a kingdom."
"Why would you so wish?" Akuta asked. He was beginning to understand the mindset of the westerner. Pardoo tended to have a strong streak of greed and materialism, something that was very unusual in Tuatha. Akuta realized with such differences in culture, why there had always been friction between his kingdom and the western lands.
"Is not this why you undertook such a journey?" the western elf asked as he slowly walked out onto the sparkling gemstone bridge.
"These crystals must have been placed here hundreds of seasons ago when the dwarves still mined these caves," Akuta marveled. "It would be wrong to desecrate such a work."
By this time Pardoo was standing in the center of the span. "Desecrate?" he said with a sarcastic laugh. "These color crystals hold my future, and yours if you are smart enough to seize the opportunity." He dropped to his knees and began to pull on the intricately laid flooring, attempting to pry loose some of the stones on the edge.
"This is not why I have come to this place," Akuta said angrily.
"You have your reasons and I have mine," Pardoo said without looking up. He had managed to loosen several of the faceted stones, pulling free a fistful of sapphires and emeralds. As he did so the bridge began to vibrate ever so slightly.
"You know not what consequence this action may cause," Akuta warned, but the western elf continued to ignore him and scrambled for more of the precious stones, yanking them loose from where they had been carefully wedged, protecting the natural span of rock. The floor beneath his feet continued to vibrate, beginning to emit a dull rumble. "Fool," Akuta shouted and grabbed the elf. "These crystals protect the bridge beneath. Without them it shall collapse."
"Leave me alone," Pardoo shouted and shoved his companion, knocking Akuta over, the tall fairy almost falling from the structure. As he gripped the rocky side he could see huge chunks of stone falling down to the river of lava below. Akuta scrambled back from the edge and reached for his sword, knowing he must stop the mad elf. Just then the bridge gave a mighty lurch and the center crumbled away, falling to the abyss below. Akuta looked up at the empty span where a moment before the westerner had been removing the gemstones.
The vibrations seemed to have stopped. Akuta slowly crawled out onto the remaining span to look down and was amazed to see Pardoo hanging by one hand from the jagged piece of rock. He was dangling precariously over the molten river a hundred feet below him. Akuta reached out. "Give me your hand," he called. Pardoo looked up at him. Akuta could see he still clutched a fist full of gems in his free hand. "Drop the color crystals and give me your hand. I shall pull you up," Akuta said as he reached out.
"No. You want to steal my crystals," the crazed elf called back. "They are mine. I risked my life to get them."
"You may lose your life unless you give me your hand." The rocky span suddenly vibrated again shaking the jeweled sword loose from its place at Akuta's side. It slipped along the rocks and then plunged down to destruction. This time Pardoo almost lost his grip. In the process he dropped the stones and grabbed onto the jagged rock with both hands. "Now reach for me," Akuta said as he leaned out.
"You caused this," Pardoo hissed. "You caused me to lose those crystals."
"Give me your hand," the fairy repeated. Pardoo reached up, but at the same time the bridge shook again. His fingers slipped, and in an instant he was dropping down and away. Akuta stared in horror as the elf grew smaller and smaller, then suddenly, he struck the lava and disappeared in a fiery flash.
Again the span shook and more stones fell after the westerner, plunging into the molten river. Akuta quickly crawled backward to the mouth of the tunnel. As he reached it, the remains of the bridge disintegrated and dropped down into the orange light. The fairy knelt for a moment and sang the song of death, wishing Pardoo's spirit speed on its journey. He then rose and looked across the impassible gulf, not believing that his journey would end after coming this far. He knelt again and tried to meditate.
A few hours later Akuta opened his eyes and began to examine his surroundings. In his meditation he felt a buoyant hope begin to arise. It was a feeling or premonition of a solution to his dilemma. He took time to eat some of the food Korbod had provided, and then refreshed he began to search. Not knowing what it was he was searching for, he looked at the rocky remains of the bridge. There on the right hand side was a narrow ledge which descended from his tunnel opening and provided a steep path down toward the flaming river below. Since it was the only possible direction he could go, Akuta carefully stepped out onto the ledge and began the slow descent. As he drew closer to the lava the heat increased dramatically, as did the strong smell of sulfur. It was like the stench of a dragon's lair. Akuta gasped for breath but kept descending. He was only a dozen yards from the fire when he found a large cave opening in the rock wall. Needing to get out of the heat, Akuta slipped inside.
He found himself in another dark tunnel. Either he could climb back up the narrow ledge and return to the surface world, or he could continue along this tunnel. The obvious pathway had been across the bejeweled bridge, but Pardoo's greed had destroyed that avenue. Akuta could only hope that perhaps this tunnel would also lead to his destination. He trudged on into the blackness, the dim orange light finally fading away to nothingness behind him.
Akuta stumbled on for hours. Soon time perception in the complete blackness grew strange. He was not sure if he had been walking this tunnel for days or weeks. He sat down several times to rest and refresh himself from his water flask and food supplies. As the darkness closed in oppressively around him, he thought of Sharon. He hoped she would be alright. He had not kept his bargain in killing Pardoo, yet Pardoo was dead anyway, so the dwarves had nothing for which to complain. Akuta then thought of his friends back in Esbereth. He wished he could have told Rood about his quest, but then the captain could be awfully stubborn. No, it was for the best that he did this on his own. The fairy heaved a sigh and began his journey anew.
The walls of the tunnel once again grew cold and damp and oozed with slime. On occasions he could hear small things scurrying in the darkness around him. Once he was even attacked. He had apparently walked through a nest or den of some kind of blind cave slugs. He could feel them drop from overhead as well as crawling up his legs beneath the covering breeches. Akuta ran through the dark, flicking the soft, squishy creatures from his skin. He then stopped and peeled off his trousers to be able to clean the slugs from his bare legs.
As his food and water began to dwindle, so did his hopes. Akuta thought sure he would die in the darkness. Just as despair was about to overtake him, he thought he detected a very faint glow of light. The fairy stood and began to run down the tunnel. The light grew brighter until without warning Akuta came to a dead end. The light was coming in from overhead. Akuta noticed that the rough, stone walls afforded few hand or footholds, but he had to try. He began to slowly scale the wall, searching for every finger and toe hold before reaching up and moving on. After an exhaustive and perilous climb Akuta finally pulled himself from a hole in the floor of yet another cave, only this cave was fairly shallow with bright sunlight shining in the nearby opening. Akuta sat a moment, resting and regaining his strength, as well as allowing his sensitive eyes to slowly adjust to the bright light he now faced.
The fairy stood and walked out into the fresh air and sunshine. He looked around to find himself on the side of a mountain, looking down on a glittering forest. Akuta slowly started down the hill, and stepped among the sparkling plant life. It was unnaturally sharp and colorful, not like the vegetation he was used to, but more like plants growing in an unusual and surrealistic painting. Akuta bent down to examine a flowering bush and realized the vegetation was made of rock and gems. The flowers had wafer thin petals of sliced quartz and lapis lazuli over leaves of jade and olivine. Tiny thorns of agate projected out of the jade stems. As he walked he came to a small grape arbor, the trellises covered with silver and gold leaves that looked as if they had been carefully hammered and worked by the finest craftsmen. Large clusters of grapes hung down from the metal vines. These were round stones of blood red carnelian and deep purple amethyst. Akuta marveled at all he saw, but continued to walk on toward a broad sea shore he had glimpsed from the cave opening above.
"My lord Akuta," a feminine voice suddenly hailed him. "Why come you to this shore? It is not yet your time."
Akuta turned in surprise to see a young woman standing beside him, covered in a heavy robe and hood that hid her features. "My lady, know I you?"
"You should, my lord," she replied. "I am the cousin of your king." As he watched, she slowly pulled back the hood revealing familiar features, the pale blond hair, the classical face and sparkling green eyes of the deep wood. It was Ellenia.
Two days had passed, two very long and boring days. The dwarves for the most part rested and slept, or played an unusual game with odd shaped stones in the dust to pass the time. A few of their number would leave for a time and soon return with fresh meat which they roasted over an open campfire. Sharon spent the time silently, thinking about her friends back home or her friends at Esbereth. She tried her best not to think of Akuta wandering around in the dark caverns under the mountains with only the treacherous Pardoo for company.
After the first day had gone by Sharon grew bored and restive. She was in need of company. Despite Akuta's admonishing, she occasionally made eye contact with Korbod and he seemed pleasant enough, always smiling at her. After the second day, Sharon ventured to speak to him. He was, after all, the only dwarf who appeared to know the Tuathan language she had learned. "How are you?" she asked.
Korbod seemed shocked and surprised when she spoke to him. "I be well. I be strong and virile," he replied. "And how be ye?"
"Fine," she smiled. "I'm fine."
"Have ye born many children?" he asked.
The question stunned Sharon, but she reminded herself that he came from a different culture. Perhaps this was a natural question. "I haven't had any children," she answered.
"Be ye barren or be ye virgin?" he asked in surprise.
"Neither," she said quickly. "I'm just careful."
Korbod nodded as if he understood her, then he moved off to talk with the other men. They all seemed fairly excited and kept glancing at her. "Oh, wonderful," she thought to herself. "Now they're all probably saying what a slut I am."
The following morning Sharon awoke to bustling sounds. The dwarves were obviously preparing to leave. She ran to find Korbod directing the packing of the camp. "What's going on?" she asked.
Again the little dwarf seemed surprised by her questions. "We plan to return to the village," he answered her.
"But Akuta is still in there. He hasn't come back yet. I thought you promised to wait for him."
"We waited," Korbod replied. "He has not returned. If we wait more, we wait in the village."
"I'd like to stay," she said firmly.
"Ye go with me. Ye belong to me now," he said equally firmly.
A cold chill ran down Sharon's spine. "What do you mean?' she demanded.
"Ye be my property now. Ye will return with me and bear me many children...tall childen," the little man said with a broad grin.