Both mages, wearing their blue togas and pointed hats, continued walking along the corridors of Omen on their way to the carriage which would take Sendar to Merromer, from where a ship would carry him to Maggrath.
Chapter XI — The Lands of El Malush
Taking her leave of Háztatlon and the Imperial palace had been much easier for Luchy than she had expected. Before she left, though, the king had taken her aside and given her a copper coin.
He said, “Give this coin to their leader and tell him that he’ll have to use it when their legion crosses the portal if it does.” Luchy had put the coin away in a pocket of her traveling pants.
With Ajedrea’s absence, she had no-one to talk to and exchange stories with. In any case, she did not want to talk to anybody. Imagining Ajedrea telling her about her jewels and all the things Lombardo had given her during their honeymoon, she felt a sense of rejection and was grateful she did not have to listen. Perhaps in other circumstances, she would have been delighted to listen to her friend. Was she jealous of her? Was it because Ajedrea had married a normal man, whereas she was betrothed to a god who had gotten lost in some distant corner of the universe and would probably never reappear?
Sorrowfully, she took another look at the jewel in her engagement ring. It was still flickering like a castaway star.
King Mérdmerén had offered her transport in a luxurious carriage for her journey to the border. However, the last thing she wanted was luxury, which would only delay her mission. They left on horseback in the penetrating northern cold. Her guide as far as the borders, Simon the Foreigner, knew how to manage in the dense forest despite the white blanket of snow that covered their path.
“The snow’ll stop soon, miss,” he was saying. “You can feel it in the air when the cold front breaks up with the coming of spring.” The foreigner wore tanned-leather armor which was much less efficient at stopping arrows and swords but allowed him flexibility. Turi had assured her that Simon was one of the Baron’s foreigners, an impressive man of great talent. It was true; after three days of heading northeast toward the border, Luchy had never lacked meat, water, or the comfort of a campfire and she had never felt lost.
Luchy knew that Mojak was following on his horse, though both animal and Wild Man made no noise. She had decided that Mojak was a guardian with excellent qualities, although she still was not sure which these were, apart from his impressive size and incomparable stealth. He looked comical riding his horse; it was as though he were riding a pony.
“We’re just a day away, miss,” Simon assured her. The guide tied the reins to a tree and let the horse graze at will. He made a fire by cleverly rubbing sticks together to create sparks. In no time at all, his tinder had caught, after which he began to add pieces of dry wood which he carried in his saddlebag.
“The king says the times are prosperous,” Simon had said during the night. “The people are happy and there’s progress. Not all of us are bothered by the arrival of people from other worlds. Is it strange? Of course, it is! It’s pretty weird to see those giant insects. But you know, the people of this place called Gardak are very like us and the women are very pretty, you see.” The smile on Simon’s face made Luchy suspect he had shared his bed with those women.
The guide was of medium height and brown-skinned with hair black as night. He was handsome in his own way, but his best feature was his soothing voice. Luchy allowed her eyes to close and drifted into unconsciousness.
She dreamed about Manchego, a beautiful image of when they were children and used to run across the fields, absolute happiness ruling their existence. Rufus ran after them. They rolled on the grass, laughing wildly, then turned to see Lulita at the center of the estate with a smile all over her face. The color, taste, and scent of the memory remained until the first sun rays broke up the dense darkness of night and let through the light of day.
It was weeks since she had watched the dawn. When she opened her eyes, the girl caught the solar orb emerging between the silhouetted fingers of a leafless tree, its dry branches holding the delicate orange of dawn as though in a bowl. The girl smiled and a hesitant tear rolled down her cheek. The tear froze quickly.
***
“The snow’s stopping, miss,” Simon said. He was testing the air with his fingers as if he could predict the movement of the seasons.
“A winter suddenly breaking out in mid-spring is something that’s never been seen before, miss, but the Gods and their wishes are unpredictable. They say winters come when the Gods want to calm men down so that they stop squandering everything. Maybe after so much war and death, the cold allows the earth, soaked with blood and bone, to relax a bit.”
Luchy wondered at this comment. Doesn’t he believe that the Gods are dead? But she knew the answer. The vast majority of the Empire did not believe the Gods had died. How would the Empire prosper except with the divine presence of the Gods, even if it were a lie? All of a sudden, religion took on a ghostly air as if it were a silken veil for deceit and nothing more.
The sun, although at its zenith, did not seem to be giving any warmth and did not seem to be melting the ice and snow. Simon filled his lungs to sniff the taste of the wind.
“Soon, miss, soon you’ll see how the white disappears and the trees’ll come into blossom again. You’ll see. That’s the will of the Gods. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it always will be.”
The landscape at this distance from Háztatlon was impressive. The Devonic Range of Simrar could be followed with one’s gaze as if following the trail of a great snake, its elongated and irregular body disappearing into the moors.
The mountains of the range were thickly-clad with foliage, mostly covered in snow. In front of them, in contrast, a great wall of stone rose to the sky. In it, there seemed to be a tiny slit as if a perfectly vertical crack had been opened after two titans had tugged the edges apart.
The crack could not have been wider than the body of a solidly-built human, maybe that of Gáramond. It was visible because it was in full shadow.
“Welcome to the Devnóngaron border, Miss. We’ve reached our destination.”
After walking along a craggy path with many trees and spectacular scenery, they came to a clearing that looked like a park with some special purpose. What that purpose was would have been impossible to say.
Above them, the croaking of a flock of wyvern became audible, the creatures flying in a spiral searching for food while exchanging bites and unintelligible calls among themselves.
It was beautiful to see how their red wings let the light through like membranes and their long, sinuous bodies undulating in the sky. Luchy allowed herself to admire that beauty even though she had seen the impressive beasts before, albeit elsewhere and in a different situation. It had been during a prolonged war that she had seen them. Now she was watching them free, in their natural habitat. Wild. She was setting foot on the Wild Land of the mysterious Mother and she knew only one of her many children. She noticed that the snow was already melting. Several places even showed no sign of having had any in the first place.
Luchy was sure that only a few people had reached as far as she had herself. She knew that few would envy the fact and that some, the most adventurous, would wish to be in her place.
Devnóngaron, the Land of Mother. The girl took a deep breath, sensing that the scent of the dense forest was very different from that of the Empire. Here the air was pure, fresh, deep, and elegant.
She noticed that Simon and his horse had not moved from what seemed to be an invisible barrier. The flat field appeared to be dominated by the immense cliff of the mountain that rose like an imperious and powerful guardian, eager to intimidate. There was something amid the denseness of the forest on the highest slope of the mountain. It felt as though the membranous eyes of some intelligent being were watching them. The horses became restless. Simon was nervous too, his eyes moving from side to side.
He smiled nervously. “It’s said that the Spirits of the
Woods guard Mother’s forests, miss. They can pierce your flesh and tear out what’s inside you—inside your soul—to know whether you’re worthy of Mother’s grace. Especially through that crack over there.” He pointed with his finger. “Beyond those mountains lies the Great Mesh where the Lands of El Malush are tucked away and where the Wild Men go through their precious training. It’s within its greenery that you’ll find what the Wild Men call the Devil’s Mouth.”
Simon fell silent as a freezing wind seemed to snake around his body. The foreigner said nothing more, his eyes staring. It was as if the wind itself were interrogating him.
After a strange interlude of silence, Mojak dismounted from his horse. He handed the reins to Simon and offered one hand to Luchy. The girl took his hand nonchalantly and dismounted. She handed the reins to Simon and then, without a word, walked toward the gigantic crack.
Mojak turned. Luchy, without fully understanding, guessed that the Wild Man was asking her to follow him. Silently the girl raised a hand to Simon in farewell.
The foreigner did not remain in that place much longer as he knew he was not welcome. He turned his horse and headed back to the Empire.
***
Luchy said nothing, but she was dying to speak because she was nervous. Before dismounting she had preferred silence; now that she was walking toward that impressive vertical wall of stone and the crack in the cliff, the silence was making her uneasy.
Isn’t he thrilled to be back in his homeland? the girl thought. If it were me, I’d be jumping with joy. But it’s not me, it’s this giant called Mojak… A Wild Man who doesn’t seem to feel anything. Should I ask him? Would he answer?
Luchy considered asking a question. It would have to be a simple one so as not to alarm or annoy the giant. Perhaps he would reply in a non-verbal manner with gestures. If he had no tongue, could he make sounds with his mouth?
She considered the matter. When she thought of asking any old question just for the sake of making conversation, she held her tongue, noticing that around her, strange music was beginning to ring.
She was so set on knowing what Mojak felt that she had forgotten her own feelings. She had even stopped listening to what was going on around her.
They were less than a stone’s throw from the cliff, the precipice climbing so high up that it obstructed most of the sky. The blue of the sky was a tiny fragment at first, then it was consumed by the shadow cast by the towering cliff. The crack, like the pupil of a cat’s eye, began to open out towards them as they approached. What had previously seemed a narrow entrance now looked more like the mouth of some gigantic animal seeking to invite them into its innards.
The music, Luchy noticed, was not a symphony of instruments like the ones she had seen in the elegant halls of Háztatlon at Ajedrea’s wedding party. Instead, it was a delightful coming and going of natural sounds: a frond of leaves swept by the wind, a flock of birds chatting among themselves, the furious yowling of some beast, the falling of water on a stone, a serpent of wind threading through the trees, the tops of the forest trees being swayed by the zephyr, a rock falling, a sigh.
She seemed to possess new senses now as if all of a sudden, her soul had opened to expose its tentacles and absorb the details of the environment.
Hours went by, as shown by the slipping of the sun over the tops of the forest trees, marking its flight by the passage of the shadows with their changing angles. The snow had vanished here, although it was still cold.
Thick tree trunks made up the dense forest that Simon had called The Great Mesh. They were archaic trees of millennial life as was obvious from the thick moss, like a beard, on their bark. The forest had the air of a wise man. Long moustaches of grayish moss hung from its branches.
Animals such as boar and deer raised their heads at the sight of the Wild Man walking quietly, followed by a girl who looked frightened. The animals—harmless and feeling at ease in the presence of the foreigners—went on grazing in the undergrowth at leisure.
A deer with horns like the branch of a tree raised its great head into the air, sniffing. With a bound, it disappeared into its surroundings.
A mountain lion watched the humans without interest since between its claws was a great bird Luchy had never seen the like of before. The lion was beautiful with deep eyes and soft fur, kept to perfection by the meticulous process of daily licking.
Insects as big as her thumb or the palm of her hand flew everywhere, many-colored and vying with one another in full flight, some hunting while juicy spiders waited for one of them to make a mistake and fall into their deadly webs.
The abundance of the flora and fauna was something that left Luchy awestruck. She had never been among such pure beauty. Night arrived like a colorful cloak as a series of little nocturnal creatures came out into the air, searching for their share of food. Iridescent insects of blue and red flew clumsily, bumping against the tree trunks or the girl’s head. Giant mice and enormous owls played a game of hunter and prey.
Mojak did not make a fire. He prepared a bed of fresh leaves for Luchy and sat down on a thick root without a word. He was chewing some yellowish fiber and his small eyes were gazing at nothing or at least, he seemed to be lost in the infinite. Luchy, tired as she was, lay down on the bundle of leaves and dreams took her away for a gentle stroll.
***
They went on toward the west, or what seemed to be the west as they were chasing the sunset in what felt like a straight line. At times, they had to turn aside because of the terrain; cliffs and deadly precipices from whose jaws the breath of the land emerged in thick steam. The cold became less perceptible the further they went. Luchy was beginning to feel too warm with so many clothes.
After many insect bites and stings and what felt like a slight fever, Mojak brought out a small wooden mortar. In this, he crushed some herbs with a wooden pestle to make an evil-smelling cream. Luchy received the offering when it was ready and Mojak went on walking without showing any interest, leaving her to decide whether to put the ointment on or not. She did and it worked. For the rest of their journey, no insect came near her again.
***
She had lost all notion of time. Days and weeks became a single confused mass. There was only day and night. In her mind, the days began to have a whole range of personalities depending on the position of the sun in the sky. As the brightness of the light varied, so a different kind of animal would become visible to her and in the process, creating a predictable pattern in her mind. In this way, she began to get to know the forest.
Nighttime, in the same way, possessed a distinct personality. The cold was most pronounced just before dawn when the most unusual animals would emerge from their hiding places.
The following morning, at dawn, Luchy blinked to see that she was not alone. Three individuals were sitting beside Mojak whispering guttural, unintelligible words she could hardly understand. One of them, a good-looking lad who was golden-skinned like his companions, came over to her and offered her a bunch of clothes that appeared to be made of leather.
“Mother… You.” He touched his own clothing with his hands. Luchy understood that they were an offering—or perhaps a requirement that would allow them to continue. Perhaps Mother preferred Wild Men’s clothes. Or perhaps it was a simple favor, asking her to leave behind her Empire clothes which were very dirty, stank of sweat, and by now were more uncomfortable than anything else.
Luchy blushed. Mojak, sensing her unease, got to his feet and walked over to her. He stopped and turned his back to her, his giant torso and belly covering her from the sight of the other three. There were two females and one male, probably Betas, who had come to offer her this gift.
Luchy took off the cloak that Lulita had made for her and noticed how dirty it was. She put it to one side and then took off her cotton blouse, revealing her small, rounded breasts to the breeze. Her nipples stood out as she felt the icy wind on them. She put on the wyvern hide garment, then took off her boots and cotton pants to stand naked
from the waist down before putting on the wyvern hide pants as well. It was a delight to expose her buttocks to the icy air for a moment after having them confined inside the cotton pants.
Before she left her old clothes behind, she took out the copper coin she had been carrying and put it away in a small pocket in her new clothes.
When she was dressed, she uttered the first word during her expedition in the Great Mesh, “Ready.”
Mojak turned to look at the girl. The Beta group also looked closely at her.
“Thank you,” she said, bending her head to show respect. Mojak signaled with his eyes; the females and the male exchanged a few brief words with Mojak and then vanished into the dense foliage of the forest.
Luchy tied her boots on. She noticed that the garments, simple though they might be, protected her from the cold. They went on their way toward the sunset, following a westerly course.
***
That night, it seemed there were ghosts. Luchy had learned to make her own bed of leaves and was trying to sleep, but the grazing of small creatures and the constant fluttering of the colorful insects would not let her. She knew she ought to sleep. The day had required a lot of effort from her and no doubt a restful sleep was in order, but…
She got to her feet. A powerful summons seemed to be calling her. She followed the impulse, moving in the dark with difficulty but fearlessly, dodging large roots and insects that took wing during the night in search of mates. They were red, blue, and yellow; beautiful colors she would never forget.
She came to a small stream in a ravine that glowed a pristine turquoise light. This light shone against the trees around her. A small animal that was drinking from the water ran back into the forest. She went closer and noticed fish swimming under the surface.
She knelt and as she cupped her hands to drink, she became aware of her reflection.
Necromancer’s Sorrow: (Series Finale) Page 8
