Interstellar Ruse

by Gregoire, Cil;

  “Help me up. Where’s my staff?” Theon grimaced between breaths.

  “Up…? Staff…?” Edty asked in a panic frenzy, nearly tripping over the staff. “Here it is.”

  But all efforts to move Theon proved too painful for him to bear. Theon felt certain he had cracked some ribs, if not broken them all together. It was probably best to move as little as possible. In the end, Edty made him as comfortable as he could where he lay. He placed padding under his head and stuffed grasses under him to get his body off the unforgivingly hard stones. At least he was out of the cavern in case of an aftershock.

  It could take a long time for Theon to heal. Meanwhile he would be exposed to the elements, so after infusing Theon with as much strong pain-easing tea he could get down him. Edty set about constructing a temporary shelter of sticks and grasses around Theon. Then he pressed their star stone in Theon’s hand to help him draw whatever healing energy he could. It was their last star stone. Caleeza had confessed to losing the one she and Ollen had taken with them.

  Edty devoted all his time and effort to Theon’s care. When Theon slept, Edty gathered the herbs he needed to make Theon’s tea, prepared nourishing foods for him to eat, and heated stones by the fire to place beside him to keep him warm.

  “Edty,” Theon called from his tented shelter after waking from a long sleep.

  “I’m here,” Edty answer deferentially, appearing in the opening to the tent.

  “Would you be so kind as to look in my chamber by my sleeping area for my journal?” Theon asked politely.

  “Yes, sir.” Edty knew the book Theon was asking for. He also knew it was actually Kiril’s journal, but preferred not to mention that. The first in longevity thought about Kiril nearly as much as he thought about his daughter on Earth.

  “Are you hungry?” Edty asked delivering the book.

  “I’ll eat after a while,” Theon said holding the journal unopened in his hands, waiting for Edty to leave. Sensing he had been dismissed, Edty left to heat up some food.

  Theon had done a lot of thinking confined as he was. He wasn’t likely to get much better. There was no healer. How long did he want to live like this? He leafed through Kiril’s journal reading excerpts about tree planting, declarations of Lynnara’s independence, spelunking, lost expedition members found, and the discovery of new life forms. The writing, far from merely factual, exceeded Theon’s expectations with warm insightfulness and brilliant details, all written with the bright-eyed expectations of youth. It saddened him he would never see the boy again. I hope you’re staying out of trouble. The boy had an impetuous nature that could easily get him into trouble.

  Reading about the expedition he and Kiril had shared, Theon thought about another expedition; one he had shared with his daughter Ilene …how he longed to see her again. Tears blurred the words on the page.

  “Time to eat,” Edty announced, entering the tent with a hot gourd of soup. Theon covered up his tears with activity, gingerly sitting up as Edty put woven mats in place in preparation to eat.

  “Edty, do you think Rojaire will ever return?” Edty froze. It was a question he might ask, but it was frightening coming from the mighty Theon. Edty understood it was his turn to be strong.

  “Nothing will prevent Rojaire from returning and Traevus and Kiril will be with him; that I truly believe,” Edty said. Such a decisive statement from Edty struck Theon as odd. It went against his usual indecisive nature.

  “In that case, I hope Ollen brings back Kiril’s map,” Theon said softly. “I promised it would be here when he got back.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Earth

  Melinda had no doubt Droclum’s evil essence had burned the destination on the map with a lightning bolt, showing her where to go. Baton Rouge was the closest town name she could read along the singed edges of the hole burned into her map. It was a long way to go. Droclum will never cease to taunt me until I face him, but then what? Resolving to end this ordeal as quickly as possible, Melinda took a bus from the park to the Denver airport. At the airport she bought a plane ticket to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

  It was a bold move for her to make. Melinda had only flown in a small seaplane before, in Southeast Alaska, once, when she and Greg flew from Ketchikan to Papa’s boat, The Taku, broken down and moored in a secluded bay where Papa waited for the part they were bringing in. It had been an exciting experience seeing her world from up in the air.

  This plane ride was very different. During the flight, she contemplated with dread what might lie ahead. What am I rushing toward with wings?

  Stepping out of the airport in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the heat and humidity hit Melinda like an ice cube entering a hot sauna. The intake of heat took her breath away, the air seemingly too hot to breathe into her lungs, making her gasp for air. A dozen steps from the door sweat covered her skin. The midday sun blazed hotly directly overhead, offering little in the way of shade anywhere. By the time she reached the highway, her clothes were wet with sweat.

  From the highway she looked for landmarks …mountains, hills, anything that could be used for a point of reference. There was nothing; the land was decidedly flat shimmering in heat that made everything seem to vibrate. The key in her pocket tugged strongly. She headed south the key relentlessly urging her on, the strength of its pull confirming she was closer to her destination.

  It took most of the day to hike through the city. She trudged on, despite the stifling heat, taking every opportunity to rest in shade whenever shade presented itself. How did these people survive in such heat, she wondered?

  Eventually suburbs thinned into farmland and farmland into wetlands. Looking at the landscape, Melinda feared it was going to be difficult to find a suitable place to camp free of snakes or worse. Finally the sun lowered to the horizon bringing some relief from the heat, but the cooler air enlivened the mosquitoes drawn to her blood for nourishment. As darkness fell, Melinda found herself entering another little town. When she came upon a small rundown motel at the edge of town, she rented a room for the night.

  Wasting no time getting started in the morning, she headed out early into moist warm air that promised another hot day. It was obvious when she stepped out it had rained during the night. Whether it was because she had been too tired to dream, or because the evil force driving her was satisfied with her progress, she had slept soundly through the night undisturbed by rain or Droclum.

  The streets and pavement quickly steam dried in the sun, adding to the humidity. By mid-morning she reached a bridge crossing the Mississippi River. Should I cross the river or continue on this side? At a safe distance from the traffic and road, Melinda held the key enclosed in her hand, stretched out her arm, and turned slowly. Gauging by the tug on her arm, she needed to continue south crossing the river. Cautiously she headed for the bridge.

  The river was wide and traffic on the bridge loud and steady. Melinda felt anxious walking the narrow edge with the deep muddy current of the Mississippi flowing below on one side and trucks and cars whizzing by inches away from her on the other. With steady focus forward, she finally made it across, glad to put some distance between her and the traffic.

  As Melinda continued south, sugarcane fields and swampland became regular features of the landscape, and communities became smaller and smaller. To avoid attention, especially on the outskirts of small towns where everyone probably knew everyone else, she decided it would be best to move away from the road. While no car was passing to see her, she jumped the deep ditch along the side of the road and ventured into the nearest field. The sugarcane grew tall and could easily conceal a person; but the air was stifling hot and the leaves cut her skin. Suddenly she jumped back in a silent screech. A terrifying sight, a snake, a real live snake lay stretched out before her. Long before Melinda regained her composure, the snake quickly, and just as silently, slithered away, but her heart pounded in her ears long after. So much for hiking through the fields.

  She exited the sugarcane field, glad to be out
in the sun again, onto a headland that bordered yet another cane field. Beyond the cane fields, trees grew. To Melinda’s relief, a breeze picked up, bringing in clouds and cooling things off some. She picked her way carefully through the headland grasses looking for snakes, and headed in the direction of the distant trees. By the time she reached the edge of the woods, a cloud momentarily veiled the sun and a low distant rumble of thunder played overhead. Rain would cool the air, but what could she do for shelter?

  She spotted a muddy track cutting through the woods a short distance away and made her way to it. Melinda stepped into the edge of the woods and soon stopped short. The tangle of fan-like foliage, woody spires, vines, and moss-draped trees took her back to her dream when Droclum called her. The realization gripped her heart with horror. This is where Droclum’s essence is taking me. She didn’t want to go on. Fear chilled her spine. Turning around, Melinda made a dash for the openness of the headland. The opposing tugging jerk of the key in her pocket and the pull on the blood in her veins made her nauseous. A few more steps and nausea nearly brought her to her knees. Fighting the sickness, Melinda continued running against the tug of the key toward the road. She didn’t make it far before nausea doubled her over, empting the meager contents of her stomach.

  When Melinda recovered somewhat, she stood and changed direction, walking back toward the mud track through the woods. To her relief, the illness eased, but she would have to face whatever horror waited for her. She could not turn back if she wanted to.

  The rough cut through the trees looked recent and reminded her of a logging road. Trees and brush had been cut down and old boards had been brought in and deposited on the muddy track to help support whatever vehicles were passing here …and it led to whatever the key was luring her toward.

  Melinda cautiously followed the rough cut through the dark woods, now dreading what she would find. The sky darkened as the thunderstorm moved closer. A brighter flash of lightning forked through the lowering clouds followed by a louder, longer rumble of thunder and even a few large drops of rain fell. Still the storm held off, biding its time and increasing its theatrics with even brighter flashes of light and louder booms of thunder.

  It was Melinda’s first experience with a tropical thunderstorm, not counting the one in her nightmare marking her map, and with each flash and crash she crouched low to the ground, closed her eyes, and covered her ears. The sky grew darker. She didn’t want to go on. Soon nightfall would add to the darkness, and she certainly didn’t want to get caught in these forbidding woods after dark, but there was no turning around.

  Then she came up with a compromise. She couldn’t turn around and go back, but she didn’t necessarily have to continue forward either. Why not make camp here? There was no one around to stop her. To her surprise, by the time she had constructed her tarp shelter, the storm had moved on with all its fury unspent and the clouds had scattered to let in the last rays of the sun before it dropped below the horizon for the night. There was no way she was going to sleep. Using wood that had been used to strengthen the road, Melinda built a fire.

  Along the railroad tracks in Alaska’s Susitna Valley, Leaf and Keiluk arrived at the tree where Raven perched, at which point Raven flew off again to reconnoiter up ahead. He soon sent Leaf images of a work crew on the tracks coming his way. The workers would stop and question a boy and his dog by the tracks. Deciding it would be best not to be seen, Leaf led Keiluk away from the railroad tracks through tall late summer foliage down to the bank of the Susitna River. Keiluk sniffed circles around Leaf, chasing scents of shrews, voles, and fox, bear scat and moose droppings, and numerous other intoxicating smells that had crossed their path. The silty river flowed by, whispering words of caution as boy and dog walked along its sandy bank.

  Seeing Leaf and Keiluk leave the railroad tracks, Raven joined them down by the river, landing in a nearby tree to watch their progress. When they came to a rivulet of clear, fresh water flowing out of the hillside making its way to the river, they paused for a drink. Feeling hungry, Leaf pulled the little carrots he had harvested from the garden out his pocket. Dusty and somewhat wilted, they no longer looked as appetizing as they did before. Hoping to revive them, he swished them in the cool water rinsing off the dirt and giving them new life. Then finding a shady spot by a weathered log dropped by the spring flood, he sat down to eat, sharing his meager bounty with Keiluk and Raven.

  “Sorry I don’t have more to offer,” he apologized to his friends, placing a carrot a comfortable distance away for Raven after feeding a carrot to Keiluk. “I guess we should keep moving,” he said when all the carrots were gone.

  “What do you mean you can’t find him?” Maggie cried, panic constricting her throat. “You think he’s…,” the thought was too unbearable to utter.

  “No,” Rahlys hastily assured her.

  “You can find anyone you want. So where is he?”

  “I don’t know. I believe he has put a shield in place preventing me from detecting his whereabouts. In other words, he doesn’t want to be found.”

  “But why?” Vince asked. “Why would he hide?”

  “I don’t know,” Rahlys said, repeating the words again. “Did he have anything special on his mind this morning before he disappeared?” Rahlys knew that Leaf was an independent thinker despite his tender young age and if he had decided to take some action, nothing would stand in his way.

  “He asked about Melinda,” Vince informed her. “He wanted to know where she lives, so Maggie showed him where Ketchikan is on an Alaska map.”

  “Oh, no,” Maggie moaned. “He couldn’t be headed for Ketchikan …could he?” Maggie asked incredulously.

  “Well, maybe.”

  “You really think Leaf went looking for Melinda? But that’s impossible.” No sooner than he said it, Vince realized that nothing was quite impossible when it came to Leaf. “But why? Melinda has been gone for months. Why would he go looking for her now?”

  “Maybe he thinks she is in some kind of trouble,” Rahlys offered. Maybe I need to check on Melinda and make sure she is not in trouble, she added to herself, but she decided to do so away from Maggie and Vince. She didn’t want to add to their stress.

  “But how would he know if she were in trouble?” Maggie asked, not thoroughly convinced.

  Rahlys gave Maggie a sympathetic glance. “Melinda and Leaf have always been closely connected. Physical distance matters very little. You underestimate Leaf’s abilities. Regardless, he can’t be far,” she added, hoping to console her. “He has to be able to visualize a destination to go there. The furthest Leaf could have maybe gone would be to your place in town,” Rahlys reasoned.

  “This is what I have always feared would happen, that he would one day vanish and we wouldn’t be able to find him.”

  “At least Keiluk is with him,” Vince said taking his wife into his arms to comfort her, but the stricken look on his face revealed his own painful anxiety.

  Crystal and Rock’s cheerful giggles at play jarred incongruently with the sharp worry consuming the adults. “We’ll find him,” Rahlys said taking charge. “I’ll go to town and check with Jack and start looking for Leaf from that end. But he’s probably following the railroad tracks,” Rahlys offered. “So Vince, you can take the four-wheeler and start on this end. Also alert Grumpy George in case he shows up there. Maybe he will help with the search. Maggie, you and the twins continue looking for him here. He may return on his own.” Rahlys knew she couldn’t tell Maggie to just sit and wait.

  After Rahlys left, Vince held his wife a little longer, then started up the four-wheeler. Maggie stared down the trail long after he vanished into the summer brush. For the longest she continued to stand there unmoving, drenched in stunned anxiety. Eventually she pulled herself together, reminding herself she still had two small children to take care of and led the twins indoors to make them some dinner. Even though she had no appetite, the children still had to eat.

  Immediately Crystal and Rock carted
themselves off to the boys’ room which served as their main playroom. Maggie headed to the kitchen where she mechanically sliced up an apple and constructed cheese sandwiches, frequently pausing at her task to wipe away tears from her moist cheeks with a dishtowel.

  In the playroom, Crystal put down the toy robot and turned to Rock. “We need to go and look for Leaf,” she said with all seriousness.

  “Okay,” Rock agreed, easily led by his sister.

  Distracted by worry, Maggie did not notice when Rock and Crystal slipped out the door. When their plates were finally ready, she took them into the family room and called the twins to the table to eat. When they didn’t answer her call, she strolled to the playroom to gather them, but the twins were not there. She looked in Crystal’s room.

  “Crystal! Rock!” she called walking through the cabin, a new panic shattering her confused mind. When her search turned up empty, Maggie rushed out the door screaming wildly. “Crystal! Rock!” she shouted out at the top of her lungs. Still no answer.

  Maggie dashed about madly crying and screaming. Then finally catching the tiniest hint of movement, she dashed down the trail. “Rock! Crystal!”

  “We’re right here, Mommy,” Rock called back as his mother caught sight of them. Sobs of relief gushed over. Rushing to them, Maggie grabbed them both into her arms and held them tightly.

  “We were just looking for Leaf,” Crystal explained. Maggie broke down in uncontrolled weeping as she continued to hold on to them, unwilling to ever let them go. Rock and Crystal, sensing her need for release, let their mother cry it out.

  Rahlys teleported to the backyard of Vince and Maggie’s town abode, a secluded corner hidden from view by alders and fireweed. When she knocked on the door, there was no answer. Jack wasn’t home, and if Leaf was there, he wasn’t answering. Grasping the Oracle of Light in her hand, she tried again to detect Leaf’s essence, but still without success. Could Melinda really play in Leaf’s disappearance? It’s time to find out.