by Donald Brown
“No!” Storm yelled.
“Leave him be.” Jasper said. It was the most serious he had ever been.
“Oh, it’s not so funny now is it, Outsider?” Vladimir leered. “This is your last warning, Boy-150! Come back to us, or this is the end for your brother.”
“HADRIAN!” Storm yelled, still being pulled back by Jasper.
But the Blood Captain reached down and with one swift slice cut Hadrian’s throat, sending a spray of red blood into the air.
Storm watched, horrified, as Hadrian’s body collapsed to the ground, throbbing.
The Servant Vladimir gazed at Storm. “See what your selfishness has brought you, Boy-150. We will find you, we will forever hunt you.
With no more purpose of charging forward, Jasper easily forced Storm backwards and onto his horse, still keeping the Sanctuarians at bay with his gun.
Storm took one last look back.
His tears stung him and began to block his vision. The Peacekeepers were once again advancing on them and the Spiritual Leader was now standing over Hadrian’s corpse, praying.
Damn them! Storm cursed, his eyes welling with tears.
“Let’s go!” Jasper shouted and the horses shot forward, Daniel and Jane in front on Daniel’s horse, and Jasper and Storm hot on their heels on Jenny.
The Peacekeepers stopped and watched ominously as the two horses sped over a ridge and out of sight.
41
The rest of the journey was a blur.
They didn’t talk at all about Hadrian’s death. The rest of that day, Storm felt as if he couldn’t stop crying. Tears just kept on rolling down his cheeks, and his heartache was so intense that he struggled to breathe. Daniel and Jane tried to comfort him but to no avail. In fact, that made him cry even more. Jasper now and then turned to face him, concerned. Storm just couldn’t imagine completing the journey without his brother. He had always been a solitary figure of protection.
Since the ambush, they now operated extremely carefully. They moved as fast as they could, conversing little and maintaining their focus on any further potential surprise attacks. Jasper assured them that they would be safe in Pandemonium.
It was then with great relief, when Storm looked up at a stage – from where he was sitting behind Jasper on the horse – that he saw something strange. So strange that he thought his eyes were betraying him. This new phenomenon even managed to swipe the waves of grief from his mind for a moment.
A massive area of water lay before them, stretching as far as the eyes could see. When they rode closer, Storm noticed that Daniel had also become fixated on this sight, his mouth agape. The endless stretch of water materializing before them had a bright, turquoise color and the sun was brilliantly reflecting from it, making it glimmer like the stars at night. He now knew why they called it the Blue City.
“Is that the sea, Jasper?” Daniel asked, barely able to contain his excitement.
“It is indeed,” Jasper replied, smiling. “And that is Pandemonium,” he added.
Storm noticed a collection of large, colorful buildings where the land and water mass joined in the valley below them. For the first time in his life, Storm heard the calls of sea gulls (although he didn’t yet know that was what they were called then) accompanied by the crushing sounds of waves rolling into the shore. “What is the sea?” he asked.
“It is an endless stretch of water,” Jane clarified in an eager tone.
He could smell the salty air and his skin was becoming sticky with humidity. He didn’t know whether it was his imagination, but it felt like he could all of a sudden also breathe more easily.
Daniel looked at him in puzzlement. “Where the hell have you been born that you don’t even know about the sea? It is the one thing I have been most looking forward to! Apparently it’s great to swim in… but you shouldn’t drink the water,” he added.
Storm gave half a smile, genuinely not knowing whether Daniel was being serious or not.
The buildings and the sea shore grew larger as they neared their destination and Storm had to admit, it was a stunning sight. The ocean was now becoming darker, reflecting the deep blue sky, and appeared incredibly enticing. As his eyes panned over their surroundings, he was surprised to hear a bang and then witness something red fly into the sky, resembling a tiny ball. The ball hovered in the air for a short while before it exploded, spewing red sparks in all directions.
Daniel whooped in joy. “That was awesome!”
A blue ball followed and then an orange and a pink one, all of them exploding spectacularly.
“Those are fireworks,” Jasper explained to Storm, grinning. “You will see them a lot here in Pandemonium, it’s very–”
But he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. He brought Jenny to an abrupt stop and motioned for Daniel to turn his horse into a nearby cave. Both horses were quickly steered into the cave and they observed the outside world from the safety of the darkness.
Over the sound of the fireworks, Storm must have missed what could only have been gunshots. There were now also terrifying yelling and jeering coming from an easterly direction, sounds that made Storm’s flesh crawl under his skin.
“Sanctuarians?” Daniel asked.
“No, it’s two tribes having a stand-off,” Jasper’s voice drifted towards them in a whisper, as they heard another gunshot. “Luckily it looks like they haven’t seen us.”
After what felt like an eternity, the sound of gunfire eventually faded and they could now hear people chatting cheerfully. “Let’s go,” Jasper muttered. “I think it’s safe now.”
“Should we warn them about the Sanctuarians?” Daniel asked.
Jasper shook his head. “They definitely should know by now what is coming.”
They started heading towards the city once more, but at a slower pace this time, gazing about warily. Storm noticed that the surface of the sea was beginning to fade behind the big buildings, as they descended into Pandemonium. Around them, plant life also began to appear, as the sand gradually gave way to dark, fertile soil. Slowly, but surely, the sound of city life drifted towards them.
After marveling over the impressive palm trees, berry bushes and ferns, Storm gazed upwards again and his attention was diverted back to the city proper, which made his jaw drop in awe.
“Wow, that is a lot of people!” Daniel cried out.
He was right. The city was streaming with thousands of bobbing heads, some on foot, some on horses and some in carriages. There were people everywhere, bustling around, visiting markets, eating and drinking, and admiring the view of the ocean.
It felt weird to Storm to see a city without any protection whatsoever, like walls or a mountain. This city was open for the world to enter. Even from the shore, fishing boats and other larger vessels had access to the place.
As they approached the first group of buildings, he saw children playing in the streets. They were completely filthy, but what struck Storm the most was that they appeared to be having the time of their lives. They were running around, pelting each other with mud, all of them with expressions of pure joy on their faces.
Storm’s ears were now also bombarded with countless different sounds. Animals, humans and fireworks amongst them.
They turned into a magnificent wide road and both Storm and Daniel were once again dumbstruck by how many citizens they saw before them, individuals of all shapes and sizes. Some were black, others were white, while there were also a multitude with mixed skin colors. Some of them were even walking around without any shirts on. The hustle and bustle didn’t seem to bother Jane; it seemed that she was used to the city life.
One of the traders was shouting: “Come and get the best lemons in Pandemonium. The best lemons over here!” Storm’s eyes grew wide. The lemons the guy was selling were nearly as big as the watermelons he’d seen in the secret chamber of Sanctuary’s temple.
A group of boys were chasing each other across the marketplace, hiding behind unsuspecting people.
/> Then Storm’s amazement was interrupted by a man stumbling out of a house, visibly quite intoxicated, swaggering and hurling insults at passers-by. An angry woman followed the drunk, throwing clothes at him. “Here take your things and never come back!” she shrieked.
Another man popped his head out of the door and cried in alarm: “Honey, that is my clothes!” He ran out to collect them, while struggling with the drunk, who was trying to grab some of the items of clothing. The playful boys also started getting in on the action, clutching at shirts, trousers and underwear. This left the owner of the clothes chasing after one of the boys – who had put an underwear garment over his head and was running like the wind – while the rest of the boys followed and swatted the man with his own socks. Jane, Jasper and Daniel laughed at the spectacle and Storm smiled for the first time since Hadrian’s death.
The streets revealed more and more crowds as they went deeper into the city.
Storm was startled as he suddenly heard another gunshot, followed by many people scattering about. He lowered himself behind Jasper on the horse, his heart pounding. Daniel still remained upright, but seemed shaken, putting up a front. Jane was clutching at his shoulders, hiding her face in the back of his shirt.
As the crowd dispersed to reveal where the gunshot had taken place, they witnessed a man who had collapsed to the ground and another man who was pointing a smoking gun at the victim. After their initial shock, some of the people in the crowd slowly gathered around in a circle to see what had happened. The man who was holding the gun holstered it and then hunched down to unceremoniously rummage through the dead one’s belongings and take whatever he wanted.
“That’s a common sight here in Pandemonium,” Jasper told them, shrugging.
Storm was stunned, but not because a person had been killed in public. That was a common practise in Sanctuary as well. No, after all the shots he’d seen fired over the past couple of days, he was terrified of the fact that a gun could so easily end one’s life.
As they moved on, Storm also saw some strange animals. He noticed a creature that had humps on its back, which its owner referred to as a camel as he tried to sell it. And then there were rainbow-like birds called parrots and scaled animals called armadillos. Odd indeed.
Finally, they stopped in front of a house made of sandstone. They disembarked and Jasper walked to the house, while Jane and Daniel drank some water from Daniel’s canteen. Storm paused to inspect the material the house was made of. A brief touch told him that the quality was far superior to anything that they had access to in Sanctuary.
“Come, Storm,” Jasper said. “I want to show you something.”
There was a hint of a smile on his face.
“You two can wait here for a moment,” he added, speaking to Jane and Daniel, who both nodded in turn.
Jasper guided Storm around the house and Storm picked up a woman singing, as a butterfly led the way. Soon Storm could discern the song as the words trailed to him.
Hush to sleep my little one,
Today we just had so much fun,
Storm did a double take. That voice sounded familiar. The pathway was leading into a garden, from where multiple butterflies were drifting about.
Happiness will keep us true,
Mama bear will always love you,
Jasper stopped at the edge of the garden, turned around and beckoned for Storm to approach. Storm felt himself walk forward as if in a dream.
Hush to sleep my little child,
May you never grow too wild,
When he went round the corner, the full, green garden was visible, with multiple plants and flowers of all sorts of hues sprouting here and there. In the centre was a woman, with her back to them, watering a few plants below a table filled with honey pots.
Happiness is a pot of gold,
Make sure you find it when you’re old.
As if sensing a new presence, she turned around at the end of the song and noticed Jasper. The face Storm knew very well lit up and although more lined, those same eyes Storm had, still exuded playfulness.
“Jasper!” she exclaimed, rushing towards him, but she stopped as he held up his hand and motioned towards Storm, whom she had not seen at first.
When she saw Storm, her smile vanished.
She started walking over to him in some kind of a trance, with Jasper now beaming next to her. When she stopped in front of the young Sanctuarian, they gazed for a moment into each other’s blue eyes. She extended her hand to his face and lightly caressed his cheek, almost as if she was checking whether he was real. “Storm?” she asked, her voice quivering.
Storm nodded uncertainly, battling a wave of emotions.
“It is you!” she exclaimed and hugged him, crying tears of joy. As she pulled him close, she whispered into his ear, “Oh, my baby, I have missed you so much.”
“Mama bear,” Storm found himself finally saying hoarsely, before succumbing to tears himself and returning the hug.
She laughed through her tears. “My little cub.”
The two were soon locked in embrace, sharing tears of joy and Jasper – now satisfied that his job was done – left the two, lighting up his ivory pipe in relief.
