Journey to the West By Bert McKenzie Copyright 2010
Chapter XIX
The horses were waiting just outside the white tower. Everything had been prepared and the two travelers were ready to depart. The only hold up was that one of the travelers was unwilling to go. "I can draw a detailed map for you. Surely you need no guide," Dannemel said.
"What, and allow you to miss all the adventure?" Rood asked with a crooked grin.
"But the overseers will know of my presence. They shall find us both because of me. You know them not. They are evil and cruel."
"And they know me not," Rood countered. "There is nothing to fear if we are on guard. These overseers cannot be worse than those I have battled from the dark world. I shall vanquish them with my eyes closed."
"As you vanquished the bouncer in the strip joint, or the police at the drag club in New York?" Scott said as he walked up to his friend, having heard Rood's last comment.
"I was only holding back for your sake," the big guard said as he smiled to his human friend. "We are ready to depart. Comes not Robin to see us off?"
"No," Scott said regretfully. "He wanted to, but we thought this plan was better. He's summoning Lastel to meet with him right now. On the surface he plans to thank the old fart for his service to the kingdom and wish him well on his journey. No hard feeling and all that. But actually, Robin's delaying him and distracting his people so you two can slip out unobserved and be well on the way toward the west before Lastel's party even leaves the castle."
"A good plan," Rood agreed. "We shall be in Lirsta or Marchinod before Lastel is ever close to the western kingdoms. We may hear valuable things before the west learns that Lastel has fallen from power."
Scott reached out and gripped Rood firmly by the arm. The captain returned the hand clasp. "Good fortune," Scott said to his old friend. He then turned to Dannemel who stood nervously by. "Good fortune to you too, kid."
The boy reached out and quickly hugged Scott. "I am sorry for all the trouble I have caused, and because I tried to...to come between you and Robin..." he stammered. "Take care of Maggie. See that she is well."
"I will," Scott promised. "You two just find Sharon and Akuta and get back as soon as possible." The two fairies mounted their horses and were about to ride off when Scott thought of something else. He stepped close to the boy's horse and smiled up at him. "And please try to keep that fool out of trouble," he said nodding toward Rood. The guard grinned back at him, and then with a slap of the reins, urged his horse into a gallop. Dannemel had to hurry to try to catch him. The two dashed down the courtyard toward the main gate while several pedestrians had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled. "So much for quietly slipping out unobserved," Scott muttered as he saw two women picking themselves up from where they had landed at the side of the road.
There was no sign of the dwarf encampment at the foot of the stairway leading up to the gateway into Turin Kareem. Akuta had no idea how long he and his unsavory companion had been wandering around in the darkness. He had no idea how long it had been since he and Pardoo had first entered the hole that led into the underground passage through the mountains. He was sure that he had only spent the better part of one day in the other world, but then Akuta knew how time was often different in different places. He might have been gone a day, a week, or many seasons. He had no way to tell. In any case Sharon and the dwarves were not still camped at the foot of the stairs. Akuta wanted to head directly back to Esbereth to use his precious charm on the body of his departed lover, but he felt guilty. He was responsible for bringing Sharon to this strange country. It was his responsibility to see where she was now, and he needed to obtain weapons and food in order to continue their journey. The two started down the rocky trail back to the little box canyon where Korbod's village could be found.
After a day and a half of trekking through the rocky terrain of the foothills, the area began to look familiar. Akuta was sure Korbod's village was just ahead. He stopped and looked back at his undead companion. The skeleton was definitely no longer a skeleton. In the light of day it took on the definite appearance of an animated dead body. It seemed to be rotting away in reverse. There were blue-black pieces of skin clinging to the pitted and pock marked arms and legs. The veins and muscles could be plainly seen through gaping holes in the flesh. The skull was now covered with rotting flesh as well, the blackened skin shriveled tightly against the bones, and the lips peeled back to reveal the teeth and jaw bone. The creature still reeked of death itself, and Akuta had to hold his breath when it approached too near him.
"I must go to the village just ahead," the fairy said. "You stay here and wait. I shall return soon." He hoped the creature understood his orders. The superstitious dwarves would probably not react well when seeing a living corpse stumble into their village. "Wait here until I return," Akuta repeated.
The creature opened its mouth. "Norah," it said in reply. Akuta looked into the glint reflected off the partly decomposed eyeballs, but had no way of knowing if his message was understood. He began to slowly walk toward the village, glancing back occasionally. The corpse stood as if rooted to the spot, making no move to follow him. Finally, relaxing a little, he turned and quickly headed down the path toward the box canyon.
Dwarf sentinels had alerted the village prior to his arrival, so Akuta was greeted by Korbod at the entrance to the canyon. The little old man seemed in awe of him, as if Akuta had risen from the dead, which wasn't far from the truth. "Great lord," the dwarf began, "we greet ye and bid ye be welcome. Come refresh in our village. I will have food, drinks, new clothing and bath water brought to ye dwelling." He bowed and led Akuta back to the same cave where he and Sharon had rested before. The thought of a bath and food seemed like heaven and Akuta quickly followed.
As they reached the cave his heart raced with new excitement. He could hardly wait to tell Sharon of his success. Akuta quickly stepped inside and then went to the back inner chamber but the cave was vacant. He returned to the outer chamber where Korbod stood. "Where is my property?" Akuta asked as he started to feel a sense of foreboding.
"We speak of this at evening fire after ye rest and clean," the little man said unemotionally. He then turned and left before Akuta could ask anything further. The fairy stepped to the entrance, but it was suddenly blocked by a number of women carrying trays of food, bundles of clean clothing and buckets of bath water. The thought of food and a bath was strongly appealing, so Akuta gave in to his physical weakness and returned to the inner chamber.
Once the serving women were gone he stripped off his dirty, tattered tunic and was soon naked. Remembering the story of Gilgamesh and the water sprite, Akuta held on to the tiny packet containing the ocean rose. He was determined not to let it get out of his reach for fear of some unforeseen happening. Slowly he slipped into the cool water and sank down in the tub that stood in the center of the room. He took a deep breath and sank beneath the surface of the water, letting his cares and troubles float away with the dirt and grime of his journey. In a short time Akuta felt renewed and alive again. He carefully climbed out of the water, dried off on the soft, cotton towels the dwarves provided, and then slipped on the clean breeches and tunic. Once redressed, he again tucked the packet containing his hard won price into his tunic against his bare chest, and then sat beside the fire that had been prepared in the little hearth and began to ravenously work on the trays of food.
Relaxed, cleaned and his hunger and thirst sated, Akuta intended to slip out of the cave in search for Korbod. Just outside the cave opening he ran into a short little man with a sword who appeared to be standing guard. "Where is Korbod?" Akuta asked, but the little man either did not understand his language or pretended not to. He only looked blankly back at the fairy who towered over him. "Korbod," Akuta repeated and looked around, trying to make his wishes apparent. The little man grunted something in reply and pointed back into the cave. "I go to seek Korbod," Akuta said and turned to leave. The little guard moved like lightning to position himself directly in front of the fairy, his barbed sword pointing at Akuta's chest and gleaming wickedly in the light of the rising moon. Not wishing to provoke a fight until he knew more of what was going on, Akuta shrugged and returned to his cave.
Shortly thereafter, Korbod came to see him. The little dwarf entered the inner chamber in the company of the guard from the main entryway. The two sat down by the fire and Korbod invited Akuta to join them. "Where is my property?" the fairy began without preamble.
"We would first thank ye for killing the westerner," Korbod began as he ignored the question. "How came ye to kill him and have ye brought us proof of his death?"
"He is dead," Akuta responded. "How is of no consequence. If proof you wanted then you should have killed him." He was slowly growing angry at the continual evasion.
"It is of no matter," the dwarf said. "As to ye property, I hurt in the telling. She desired another."
"What say you?" Akuta asked in surprise.
"The female continually looked into my eyes and expressed her desire so." Akuta groaned at the thought of the trouble Sharon must have brought upon herself. The little dwarf took the wound to be anguish and quickly went on with his tale. "I desired her not and verbally refused her."
"Where is she now?" Akuta asked.
"The late winter trading was upon us. She insisted on joining. She wished to leave the sight of my rejection of her. I saw no harm in taking her to the trading. But there she was stolen by another."
"Stolen?!" Akuta said as he stood.
"By a Brother of Senchal," the little man added.
Now Akuta knew there were lies being told. "That is not the way of Senchal," he said as he angrily faced Korbod.
The guard beside the old dwarf tensed, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "It was a mutual act," Korbod added quickly. "She left with the brother as freely as he wanted her."
"I shall find this brother and question him," Akuta vowed.
Now Korbod became truly worried. He had told a partial truth so the tall one might not detect the lie. But if Akuta tracked down the brother he might find out about the slave auction. "Worry not. My tribe be fierce. We fought the brother. Unfortunately he stabbed ye property through the heart before we killed him. They both be buried this day."
"The brother of Senchal stabbed her?" Akuta asked calmly. "With what weapon?"
"He used a most wicket short sword that was hidden beneath his robes," the dwarf said as he nodded, his long beard sweeping the floor before him.
"But the Order of Senchal requires a vow to leave all weapons with a cutting edge of metal. They carry no swords. And know you their order is protected by the high court. Your murder of him would be punishable by any of the guards of the high court."
"We killed him for ye," the dwarf said angrily. "And there be no high court guards near here to know of our favor to ye."
"I am a guard of the high court," Akuta said proudly, anger flashing in his eyes. Just then the little man with the sword lunged at him. The quick reflexes of his years of training went instantly into effect. Akuta sidestepped the dwarf, grabbing him as he rushed by and flipping him in the air. He landed heavily in the tub of water which had been prepared for Akuta's bath, sending a big splash of water out into the cave. At the same time Korbod called loudly for reinforcements that were waiting just outside of the cave. Momentarily distracted by his fight with Korbod's bodyguard, Akuta allowed the old dwarf to make good his escape. The fairy reached into the washtub to disarm the little man, and then carrying the barbed sword, he headed after the fleeting older man.
The reinforcements the old man had called for were shouting in alarm and running in all direction as if terrified. Again and again Akuta caught the word 'pordrah.' Whatever the problem was, these people were mortally frightened of this 'pordrah.' Akuta looked about, and then spotted Korbod as well as the source of all the commotion. The old man had tried to flee the camp, but his exit was barred. A tall, shadowy figure stood directly in his path. It was the living corpse that had been following Akuta. Korbod took a slow step backward and as he did the dead man took a much larger step toward him. "Aieee," the dwarf screamed and reached in his wool vest to produce a dagger. It looked remarkably like the one Akuta had given to Sharon. With a flick of the wrist, the dwarf tossed the knife and it landed with a dull thunk in the chest of the corpse. Akuta held his breath, wondering if it could kill his unusual companion, but the corpse only reached up a scaly hand and pulled the dagger out, and then continued to advance on Korbod. The dwarf's eyes rolled in his head and he fell backward in a dead faint.
Akuta stepped quickly to his companion's side. "Again I thank you," he said. "I was about to be held prisoner here if it were not for your intervention."
"Norahf," the creature said, then held the knife out to Akuta, hilt first.
On a glance the fairy could tell this was indeed his weapon. He wondered how Sharon had parted with it and if she was dead as the little man had told him. If so he could be of no help and if not he might never find her. The only solution was to return to Esbereth to report all this to Robin. Once Alex was restored perhaps the two of them could go in search of the truth. "Let us continue our journey," he said. The two turned their backs on the dwarf village and took up their long journey back toward the east.
"Can we stop soon?" Sharon called to the mysterious hooded man who led her horse along the wide dirt road. "I think the child is hungry. I'm not a wet nurse. We've got to find food."
The man in the lead continued on for a time until they reached a thin grove of trees. He then reined his horse to a stop and dismounted. Once he had secured the mounts to a nearby tree he turned to help Sharon. She handed him the basket which he carefully place on the ground some little distance away from the horses. He then returned to help her dismount. As the brother approached closely, Sharon lashed out with a booted foot aimed at his face. To her surprise the man moved with lightning swiftness, deflecting her blow with the long staff he always seemed to carry. Before she could recover he had grabbed her food and applied just enough upward pressure to topple her over the horse and onto the ground in a graceless heap. Once she landed he roared with unrestrained laughter. That was more than she could bear. The girl came up swinging, but he just continued to chuckle as he deftly dodged her poorly timed blows. Often as not her knuckles impacted with the hard wood of his staff.
"Had enough?" he asked as she started to stagger from the exertion.
"Yes," she gasped and leaned against a young sapling. The brother came close to her. Just then the baby in the basket let out a thin cry. Sharon watched closely as the hooded man turned his head toward the waif, then she swung her fist with all her might. The punch connected firmly with the man's jaw and he toppled over, momentarily stunned. She quickly grabbed the staff as he lost his grip and she stood poised over his prone body, the hard wooden weapon ready to crack his skull.
"Think of the child," he said as he lay before her. "If you kill me what will become of him?"
A shocking realization suddenly struck Sharon as she stood there and she almost dropped the staff. She slowly took a deep breath to calm herself, and then asked the questions that were racing through her head. "Where did you get this baby? Whose is it? And more important, how do you know how to speak English?" She realized he had spoken it when he said, "Had enough."
"Let me up and I'll tell you," he said in her native tongue. "But first I think we'd better build a fire and heat some milk for little Roon." Sharon reluctantly stepped back and allowed the stranger to rise. He quickly gathered firewood and soon had a bright campfire burning as the stars began to appear in the growing dusk. Sharon found a gourd of milk and a flask that had been converted to a makeshift baby bottle. In thirty minutes the child was fed and changed and the two adults were enjoying a meal from the provisions the brother was carrying.
"You don't know very much about the Order of Senchal, do you?" he asked in English.
"Nothing," Sharon replied.
"We believe in peace and life, and travel the land doing good deeds. That's partly why I'm taking this child to the high court. I'm hoping to find him a home with your good friend King Robin."
"So how do you know my language?" she persisted.
"That's easy to explain," the man said. "As a brother of Senchal we don the robe and veil. You see, that way each brother loses his individuality because we can't be distinguished one from another. Therefore no one is more important than anyone else, and we are all equal. The brothers are all well respected and have a kind of diplomatic immunity in the land. It was decided that as a brother of Senchal I could pass unquestioned and unharmed and take the child with me. He and I would both be safe."
Sharon was totally confused. "It was decided? Who decided this?"
"The baby's father of course," the man said. "This was part of his plan. He knew he was dying so he came up with this way to get us both to the high court in safety. After all, humans aren't very popular in the outer lands, as you have found yourself."
"Humans," Sharon gasped. "You mean you're a human?"
"Yes, Dr. Gates. I'm as human as you." The man reached up to unfasten his veil and then dropped his hood back. "But now that I've answered all of your questions how about answering some of mine. For example, what are you doing here in this world?"
"Well," she gulped. "Among other things, I was originally planning on looking for you, Dr. Strahan."