A shovel in hand and a sack slung over his shoulder, Enor led his brother out the back gate of Mobbox City, across the meadow and into the forest. The younger of the two, Telder always went along with whatever Enor deemed necessary. Enor made the rules and the decisions, which suited Telder just fine, for he did not think of himself as the plotting and the planning kind. So far Enor had not gotten them into trouble.
As soon as they found a place they thought well-hidden among the thick trees and foliage, each scoured the forest in all directions to make certain no one could see them. Convinced, they got right to work. Using the shovel, Enor dug a hole in the ground, while Telder opened the sack and withdrew the string, the child’s wooden bowl, and the cleaning brush. As soon as the hole was deep enough, he quickly put the stolen items in, and then stood back while Enor covered them with dirt. With his foot, Enor tamped the loose dirt down, and then stood back to examine his work.
“We need a Mobbox king,” Enor complained. “The Carbollo king should have let them search, but no, he sided with Boon Mobbox for once. The king is too old and weak to see clearly.”
“Yes, but if he had let them search and the Carbollo found the missing items, they would have blamed our children.”
“Which is why we hid them among the children’s things. When it comes to protecting the children, our people would gladly rise up and fight.”
“Well, it did not work, did it,” scoffed Telder.
“Think my plan was foolhardy? I crave the day when you come up with a plan.” He picked up a pebble and angrily hurled it away. In a huff, he grabbed the shovel and the sack, and headed back out of the forest. With Telder following, he walked up the side of a hill, found a smooth rock and plopped down on it.
“You are unhappy still?” Telder asked, hurrying to catch up and then sitting on a nearby rock.
“You are not?”
“I am relieved. I would not like seeing the children punished for something they did not do.”
“King Grafton is too feeble to harshly punish children, even Mobbox children.”
“But what about us? If he discovers what we did, he could banish us to the Lowlands.”
Enor rolled his eyes. “We do not even know how to get down to the Lowlands. Besides, ‘tis useless to wonder. We did not get caught.”
“This time,” Telder mumbled.
Enor remained quiet for several minutes before he said, “The people of Extane must choose their own king. A challenge and then a quest? How utterly senseless!”
“Did you not say when the king dies, you shall enter the challenge? You have as much chance of winning as any Mobbox.”
“Against Nerratel?”
“Why not? I hear Nerratel struggles to solve the riddles, while you easily answer them.”
“That is true enough.” Enor picked up another pebble and hurled it away. He thought he heard an odd tinkling sound, but when he tried to see what might have caused it, everything on the ground looked perfectly normal. “What I need is a wife.”
“As do I. We are just as handsome as any other Mobbox, but Sarinna requires charm and wit. I am not even certain what charm is.”
“It is letting her have her way,” Enor muttered.
“Oh. Why do you bother with her? Sarinna shows no affection for you. There are other young Mobbox women, you know.”
“And you are an expert on the subject of women? Why have you not found a wife?”
“I am told I have too little wit,” Enor admitted. “I see not the need to keep a wife constantly entertained, do you?”
“At first, maybe,” Telder guessed. Sitting on a rock that was not getting any softer, he inched forward a little and stretched out his legs. “If you win the challenge and then find the bells, how shall you know in which order to ring them.”
His irritation renewed, Enor grumbled, “And that’s another thing. Who could possibly know that?”
“I have always thought the answer is in the gazebo. I have studied the etchings many times and even I cannot find the secret.”
“The gazebo itself is a riddle – it must be.”
“It must be,” Telder softly repeated. “A riddle without words.”
Enor loudly sighed. “If we cannot make the Carbollo fight, we have no choice other than to...”
Telder studied the look on his brother’s face. He had seen that look before and knew his brother was hatching yet another plan. Yet he was not a patient man and wanted to know. “What?”
“We are the only hope of the Mobbox. We must bring about the days of the seven bells.”
“How? The king still lives.” Suddenly, Telder caught his breath. “Kill the king?”
Enor sneered, “Surprised are you? Have we not thought to do it before?”
“Yes, but you were not serious.”
“I am now.”
Telder stayed where he was when Enor got up and started back down the path. He watched his brother cross the meadow, and was still watching when Enor opened the city’s back gate, entered, and closed it behind him. As usual, Enor left the shovel and the sack behind for his brother to take home, and what was Telder to say if someone asked what he was up to? Telder had not one single thought in the way of explanation. Besides, he had a bigger problem to consider. No doubt Enor would spend the rest of the day trying to convince him to go along with his ridiculous plan, and this time – this time he would definitely say no!
RAXTON SHOULD NOT HAVE gone back the next day, but he could not get Sarinna off his mind. As carefully as he could, he slipped from tree to tree, and then boulder to boulder on the land of the Mobbox, until at last, he could see the whole of the lake. The moment he laid eyes on her, his heart skipped a beat. Just as he had the first time, he remained hidden and watched.
Although she was not singing, she again stepped barefoot from rock to rock, coming ever closer to his location. Abruptly, Sarinna stopped, looked his direction and asked. “Are you the Carbollo who saved my brother?”
How she knew he was there was a mystery to him, and while he thought not to confirm her suspicions, he could see no point in pretending. “Be still, woman, I am trying to hide.”
He made her giggle. “Very well, I shall ignore you.”
Raxton chuckled. “I did not say that, now did I?” Timidly, he stepped out of his hiding place, although he remained close enough to dart back behind the rock should a Mobbox approach. “You do not sing this day?”
“You do not answer my question.”
“I hardly saved Nerratel, I merely helped him climb out of a pit.”
She glanced around, and then looked at him again. “A pit he may still be in. Now he is in your debt, as am I.”
“In that case, I shall consider your smile full payment.”
She smiled, although it was a weak, halfhearted smile. “You are too easy to please, Raxton Carbollo. What atonement shall you require of Nerratel?”
Pretending the pain of thinking of an answer was unbearable, he winced, put a hand to the side of his cheek, and then laid it atop his head. “I’ve got it! He can let me win the next challenge.”
“My brother, should the king pass while he remains young enough to participate in the next quest, shall not let you or any other Carbollo win.”
“Good. We would accept nothing less.”
She motioned for him to walk along the shore while she continued stepping from stone to stone. “Tell me, of what do you dream?”
“The same as all men, I suspect – a happy life with a wife and children.”
“You do not dream of being king?”
“Not at all, though I dream of seeing what the quest is all about.”
“And this wife? Have you chosen her?”
He paused to consider just how he should answer that. “I have not. Not yet.”
“If allowed, would you choose a Mobbox woman?”
“It is not allowed.”
“I know. ‘Tis the marks that keep us separated. If I could, I would remove my mark and i
f I were more powerful still, I would remove the marks from us all. From what I have seen, ‘tis the only thing that truly divides us.” She again abruptly stopped and turned to face him. “We are the same, your people and mine. We have no need to be two difference Civics. What does it prove?”
“Very little, I suppose.”
Sarinna hesitated for a moment. “Know you that you are on the land of the Mobbox? Why did you come back?”
It was way too soon to confess he was attracted to her, so he told a half-truth, “Because...because your song entices me.”
“Oh that. I feared you might say ‘twas my beauty. If you had, I would know ‘tis a lie, for everyone knows the Carbollo prefer the beauty of their own women.”
“And the Mobbox women finds the Mobbox men more handsome.”
She softly giggled. “I have heard that too.” Once more she resumed her jaunt around the rim of the lake until she had gone too far and turned back. “My mother says all men are unsightly, even the Mobbox.”
Raxton laughed. “Your mother is a delight, Sarinna Mobbox.”
“I think so too. She is very wise, for she hears what the rest of us cannot.”
“What does she hear?”
“Footsteps in the night, a baby’s cry in the home of another, and...”
“Did she hear if it was the Mobbox who took that which the Carbollo are missing?”
She grinned. “If she had, I would not speak of it. The Carbollo are convinced ‘twas us and I see no advantage in confirming or denying it.”
“But if she heard the footsteps of a Lowlander?”
Sarinna shurgged. “Do the footsteps of a Lowlander have a different sound?”
He had to think about that. “I confess I do not know, having never seen a Lowlander.” He turned his attention instead to a doe and her twin fawns drinking on the other side of the lake. “There is much I do not know.”
“I have questions too, but Nerratel says ‘tis best not to ask, for no one has the answers.”
“What sort of questions?”
When she saw him, Sarinna abruptly stopped. “My brother comes for me.”
It was too late to hide, so Raxton stayed where he was while she hurried to where she left them, put on her shoes, and without looking back at Raxton, ran toward the towering city of the Mobbox.
After pulling Nerratel out of the pit, Raxton hoped his greeting would be friendly, and it was, although it held a warning.
Nerratel put a foot on a smaller rock in front of where Raxton stood, and leaned forward. “You are not the first Carbollo to find a Mobbox woman pleasing, and ‘tis doubtful you shall be the last. Yet, know you not that it is forbidden by both civics? As others have in the past, turn your heart and your mind against her, for her sake as well as your own.”
Raxton knew Nerratel was right and nodded, although he had never turned his heart or his mind against anyone or anything before. His nod seemed good enough for Nerratel, who quickly turned and ran to catch up with his sister.
Raxton watched until the brother and sister were out of sight, and then reluctantly went back the way he came.
SARINNA WAS NEARLY halfway back to the city before Nerratel caught up with her. She stopped, turned around and put her hands on her hips. “You mean to caution me, I suppose. Have you never noticed that I am grown up? My hair is just as black as yours.”
“Headstrong does not make you grown up. It makes you outlandish. Suppose I am not the only one who finds you with him. There would be an outcry from the whole civic!”
“Do you worry for me or for yourself?”
He looked her square in the eye. “Perhaps I should tell Boon Mobbox what you have done.”
“What have I done? I merely talked to him, and unless you are still in that pit, so did you.”
“’Tis different and you know it. Should you see him again, you are to come home directly, or...or I shall be forced to fight Raxton.”
“You would fight him?”
He ignored her question and simply walked away.
“You would not,” she whispered as she began to follow him. “It would start a war.”
CHAPTER 5
IT WAS NEARLY NOON by the time the two Boons asked to see the king. For a time, they stood in the throne room waiting and not saying anything at all to each other. The king finally entered through a side door, walked up the steps to his throne, and sat down. As always, he removed his gold, emerald and diamond laced crown, and set it on a table next to his throne. “Well, get on with it?”
“I humbly submit,” said Boon Mobbox, “that my people have searched the whole of the city and have not found the items the Carbollo seem to have lost.”
“Not lost – stolen,” Boon Carbollo countered. “And the land. Have you searched the land?”
“All of it?” The Mobbox first raised an eyebrow, and then frowned. “I wonder, Boon Carbollo, if you have searched all of your land? Could be you have a trickster amongst you that you are not telling the king about?”
“More likely, the Mobbox are the ones with the trickster, as you call it.”
The king heavily exhaled. “Enough! Have you no other complaints? If not, I should like to take a well-earned nap.”
Boon Carbollo cleared his throat. “There is the matter of a certain marriage. I have decided to take a wife and we wish to be married on the morrow.”
The king smiled, but Boon Mobbox snickered. “At your age? Who would possibly have you?”
Boon Carbollo angrily glared. “Do not cast your shortcomings on me, Boon Mobbox. If you must know, I have had several offers since my first wife passed.”
Boon Mobbox displayed his distain by slowly rolling his eyes. “Shortcomings? I will have you know...”
“Who might the fortunate woman be?” the king interrupted. “Do I know her Boon Carbollo?”
“You know her well, for she cooks your meals. She is Elbar and I find her most pleasing.”
“Then I am delighted.”
The Mobbox laughed out loud. “You best marry her with all due haste, for Elbar is as old as you, and may not live another week.”
“Tell me,” Boon Carbollo sneered, “does your wife yet speak to you, or does she merely sigh to make you think she cares what you have to say?”
The king was no more impressed with their bickering than he had been the day before. “My nap!” he reminded them.
At the king’s raised voice, both of the Boons nodded, turned around and left the throne room. The king smiled when he heard them still insulting each other all the way down the hallway. He heard them go their separate ways with each going out of the door situated on their side of the castle. One after another, both doors slammed.
“Yes, yes, a wife is precisely what Boon Carbollo needs to settle him down a bit.”
HAD HE BEEN MORE MINDFUL of her brother’s words, Raxton would not have gone back a third time to see if Sarinna was at the lake. He simply could not help himself. No waking moment allowed him to forget her song, her eyes, and more importantly her welcoming smile. The differences between the two sides seemed completely unimportant when it came to this strange new feeling of adoration. On this day, there were swans floating on the lake, dipping their heads in the water, and then pulling them out again. Even their beauty did not measure up the moment he laid eyes on Sarinna.
In an effort not to cause problems for her, he fully intended to stay out of sight. To his amazement, Sarinna somehow knew he was there, looked his direction and smiled. “I feared you would not come back.”
Caught, Raxton stepped out from behind the rock. “I should not have. Your brother said...”
“I know, but we had done nothing wrong – not truly. I know of no Mobbox law that forbids me to talk to a Carbollo.”
“Perhaps if I were another woman it would not be forbidden, but I am not.”
She giggled. “I have noticed.” This time, instead of stepping on the stones, she found a large rock to sit on, and then stared at him until he finished se
arching their surroundings for intruders, and decided to join her. Even then, he did not come close. “It is said, never has a Carbollo married a Mobbox. If you were king would you allow it?”
Raxton laughed. “What an uproar that would be. A Mobbox king certainly would not, especially if it were your brother.”
“Nerratel cares for my happiness, but I begin to see my happiness is with you.”
Raxton had heard that the Mobbox women were far more impetuous than those in his civic, but he was not yet accustomed to it. He clasped his hands behind his back, took a deep breath and tried to think more clearly. “Tis not just your brother. There shall be others who will look down on such a marriage. They shall say our children will have two marks, or perhaps no mark at all. They shall be shunned by both sides.”
“Not if you are king.” She turned to watch the swans swim across the lake before she looked back at him again. “You do not wish to sit beside me?”
Rejecting her advancements was the last thing he wanted to do, so he gave in and went to sit beside her. Even so, he was worried about her brother and folded his arms to keep from touching her. “I confess; your boldness is unfamiliar.”
“Carbollo women are not bold?”
“Some are, but most are timid about expressing their desires.”
“They waste their days. I have watched you many times. You are kind to animals, you do not kill save for food, and you are playful with your little brothers. You make them laugh, and me as well. Your brothers delight in spending time with you.”
“I delight in being with them.”
Sarinna gently touched the back of his hand with her forefinger. “A touch, a smile, and this moment becomes ours, and ours alone. It belongs not to the Carbollo or the Mobbox, just to us. I shall remember it always.”
“As will I,” he whispered. He hated it, but she soon withdrew her hand and laid it in her lap. “Raxton, our people talk behind closed doors.”
The Kings of the Seven Bells Page 4
