“Pray tell, Mr. Bumble, pray tell.”
“Well,” and Mr. Beauford Bumble took a vigorous swig of wine. “As I was telling you the other day, a woman came to my library looking for a cookbook. Which is no particular oddity within itself, but I happened to know who this woman was and I know that she lives alone about two miles outside of the village. She lost her husband some years ago and now spends her time mostly with cats. But anyway, I asked her what sort of cookbook she was looking for, as you know there are many styles and techniques, and she answered that she wanted a cookbook that would be good for entertaining guests. At first, I really didn’t think much of it and began running through my catalogue to see what might work for her, but after a moment it struck me as odd for this particular woman to be hosting guests regularly. So I asked her what type of guests.”
“The Messenger,” whispered Lynn excitedly.
“I’m getting there, I’m getting there,” said Beauford. “Anyway, the woman began telling me about two guests she had recently fed. Both of these guests claimed to be religious workers. One, the old woman said, was a young, pretty woman, but the other, the other she described as a man with a scarred face.” Lynn took a gulp of wine, her knuckles white around the stem of the glass. “So, I asked the woman if this man wore a hood and a beard. She answered yes to both.”
“What about the hands?” asked Lynn. “Did she talk about the blue light that comes from his hands?”
“No,” said Beauford, “but I’ve heard that is just a rumor anyway. But she did say that the man talked very little and seemed grumpy. The way she described him fit the Messenger’s description perfectly.”
“Well, what did he do to her?”
“Nothing. That’s what is so strange. He, and the woman he was with, thanked the old woman and left the next morning.”
“That’s it?” asked Lynn indignantly.
“Well… Yes.”
“I agreed to meet you for dinner for that?” asked Lynn. “That probably wasn’t even the Messenger. Where was the violence, the darkness? That story was completely boring. I’m sorry, Beauford, I’m going home.”
Lynn stood up from the table and began to leave. Rachael leaned back in her chair and downed her glass of wine. Well, that was disappointing, she thought.
Mr. Beauford Bumble stumbled up from the table, leaving a pile of gold coins as he tried to stop Lynn from leaving.
“It could have been the Messenger,” he yelled after her. “The woman said his name was Murray. That starts with an M. Can’t I see you again? Lynn? Wait.”
Rachael was chewing a strawberry and bit her cheek as Mr. Bumble yelled after his escaping beauty.
Can that be a coincidence? she thought to herself. Beauford was now leaving the restaurant and Rachael couldn’t let him disappear without knowing. Lynn had fled the scene quickly, leaving Beauford wandering the streets trying to find her. Rachael paid her gold quickly and followed behind Mr. Bumble. He wandered down a small, deserted street looking for Lynn and Rachael seized her opportunity.
Before Beauford knew what had happened, Rachael had a knife to his back. “Don’t move,” she whispered.
“Lynn?” asked Mr. Bumble.
“No, you fool. Move off the street and into the shadows or I’ll gut you.”
The confused and maudlin Mr. Bumble did as he was told and when they had escaped the light of the moon, Rachael spun Beauford around and pointed her blade at his throat.
“Where can I find the woman you were speaking of?”
“Lynn?”
“No! The woman who wanted the cookbook.”
“Ms. McArthur? I-I’m not telling you where to find her. You’re insane. I should alert the authorities about you.”
Rachael lunged forward and held her blade tight to Beauford’s throat.
“Tell me or die.”
Beauford trembled. “W-West of Garrison. Two miles. Small cottage. P-Please don’t harm her. I-I couldn’t live with myself.”
“I just need to talk to her. But I can’t have you tipping the authorities off about me.” Rachael crouched and swept her leg under Mr. Bumble’s, sending him backwards to the ground. She then hit him in the head with the butt of her knife, knocking him unconscious.
“Goodnight, Mr. Bumble. For your sake, I hope you dream of more interesting ways in which to woo women.”
Chapter 6: The Rusty Nail
“Well, get on with your introductions.”
Captain Nesbitt sat before the dock that led out to The Rusty Nail, waiting for his passengers to board. As the four travelers gazed upon the ship, no one needed to ask why the boat was named The Rusty Nail.
“Will that thing make it to Felaqua?” Tomas whispered to Riverpaw.
The ship was large enough to fit all six passengers while still having room for whatever cargo the Captain planned on picking up in Felaqua, but the appearance of the ship made it look like it might fall apart at any second. Rust covered every inch of metal that held the ship together, giving it an overall reddish look, and the wooden parts weren’t in any greater condition. Small sea plants grew along the hull and the deck looked as though they could kick holes in it.
The barman turned to the travelers and announced himself. “You can call me Mr. Tripp. The Captain and I have an allegiance that reaches far enough back that I’ll warn you not to test it. He’s got his reasons for agreeing to help you lot, and I ain’t getting in the way of that. But don’t cross me neither.”
“Happy guy,” whispered Riverpaw back to Tomas. Tomas rolled his eyes.
“My name is Ben Floyd and this is my brother, Tomas, you’ve also met Evercloud already and our other friend is called Riverpaw.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Captain Nesbitt bowed his head. “But we should move quickly and dispense with the pleasantries. I’d like to be far out before the sun comes up. What with having a bear aboard.”
Riverpaw nodded in agreement.
A thick fog sat atop the sea as The Rusty Nail departed from port. Neither Riverpaw nor Evercloud had ever been on the water before and Evercloud took a moment to steady himself.
“How are you standing so easily?” Evercloud asked Mr. Tripp.
“You’ll get used to it,” the man smiled.
It wasn’t long before the fog and the dark had obscured the shoreline. Evercloud and Riverpaw found it more pleasant to sit upon the deck. Captain Nesbitt joined them.
“Tell us a story, brother bear,” said Nesbitt. “How is it your kingdom came to know this man Evercloud?”
So, Riverpaw began the story. He told of his father and Eveneye and of the night that Evercloud was found. Then he told of how Eveneye became king. He continued by telling stories of Evercloud and his childhood. The memories of his father caused him pause often enough that Evercloud noticed, but Riverpaw made it through nonetheless. Finally, Riverpaw finished by telling Nesbitt of how it was decided to begin their quest to find the Ancients.
“The Kingdom raised Evercloud,” said Riverpaw. “Just as the Kingdom has raised me. We are more alike than we are different.”
Captain Nesbitt nodded. “You lost your father in the White Mountains?”
“Yes,” answered Riverpaw. “He fell to the guardians before we freed Tenturo from his prison.”
“Guardians?” asked Nesbitt. “Describe them to me.”
“Giant beasts,” said Riverpaw. “They looked somewhat like horses, but they could fly and–”
“They breathed fire from their black mouths,” finished Nesbitt.
At this point, everyone with the exception of Mr. Tripp, who was steering the boat, was listening to the conversation. Evercloud and Riverpaw looked at each other confused.
“How did you know?” asked Evercloud.
“You lot don’t know what those beasts were, do you?”
“We assumed they were the Tyrant’s creatures,” said Riverpaw.
“The Tyrant didn’t create those abominations. Those things were the creation of Densa.”
“What do you mean by saying Densa is good?” asked Nesbitt. “If I am good and I kill your brother in cold blood, is it a good act because I am good? No being can be good or evil. It is actions that are good and evil.”
“So, why did Densa create such things?” asked Evercloud.
“History always does this,” said Captain Nesbitt, shaking his head. “It paints in black and it paints in white and forgets every bit of gray between. I’ll assume you lot were given the ‘white’ story. Tell me, what do you know of Densa?”
“Well,” began Ben. “We know that Densa is partially responsible for creating the Tyrant as well as man and many other creatures throughout the world. We had always thought that Densa was a protector of the earth, in direct opposition to the Tyrant.”
“Nothing you have said is false,” followed Nesbitt. “And with the exception of knowing about the blunder of creating the Tyrant, you have been fed what we’ll call the ‘white’ story. I must say though, I am surprised that you brothers have not heard any of what we’ll call the ‘black’ story of Densa.”
“We had always assumed that what we had heard were lies,” said Tomas. “Our family paid little attention to them.”
“Tell me what you heard.”
“Well,” continued Tomas. “We are familiar with The Book of the Holy, which we had always believed to be lies.”
“Half-truths and exaggerations,” added Nesbitt.
“Yeah,” said Tomas. “So, that book characterizes Densa as a meddler, a dangerous risk-taker, a rebel of sorts.”
Ben jumped in. “We had thought the Great Tyrant described Densa this way to keep man subservient. You know, telling man that experimentation and rebellion were evil would make conformity attractive.”
Tomas nodded and went on. “The book also says that Densa’s jealousy almost tore the earth apart.”
“That bit is completely true,” said Captain Nesbitt. “Densa’s jealousy did come very close to tearing this world apart.”
“What happened?” asked Riverpaw.
Captain Nesbitt sighed. “All right, listen well. I won’t tell this more than once.” The travelers looked at each other fearfully. They knew what they were about to hear would change things. It was becoming obvious that there were many things that they didn’t know. They turned back to Nesbitt and he began. “A very long time ago, well after man had been created, some of the Ancients grew bored with their existence. Well, only two, really, Densa and Chera. They decided that they would take human form and live among men. They had decided that this was the solution to their boredom. Chera did not want it to be known who she truly was and so she hid herself as a commoner. Though anyone who laid eyes upon her would have to have seen that she was special. Even in human form she was radiant. Just the sight of her could make you lose the world.
“Densa, however, chose differently. He proclaimed himself a king and built a kingdom. He would never have been considered a tyrant. He was a good king for the most part and he loved his kingdom. Though he was never humble; he loved his power. Alas, as powerful as he was, he never prepared himself for the carnal desires that are inherent to the body of a man. He satisfied every one of those desires, every desire except for one.
“To be specific, women were his weakness, and wouldn’t you know, the woman he wanted most of any, wasn’t human at all. I told you Chera was beautiful, and that word can’t even begin to describe the truth. Densa wanted her, but she had found another. Chera had fallen in love with a mortal man and was happy. Densa tried to separate them but Chera put an end to it. She was Densa’s equal and she would not allow him to ruin her happiness. She rejected him, plain and simple, and that’s when Densa went dark, and when I say dark, I mean dark.
“Densa left his kingdom and instead, hid himself away on the far side of the moon. In his jealousy and anger, he began to create terrible beasts. Horrible experiments. He set these tortured creatures upon the earth to tear it apart. The creatures were referred to as the Farsiders, and I’d wager my life that these ‘guardians’ you speak of, were the same creatures.
“Tenturo, Bahknar, and Chera did all they could to protect the earth and its inhabitants from the Farsiders, but there were too many. The ancient beings pleaded with Densa to call off his monsters before the earth had no more life on it at all. Finally, after years, Densa agreed. He called his atrocities back to their home on the far side of the moon. However, they still find their way back to Earth now and again, and I’d bet the Tyrant has found how to use them.”
“What happened to Densa?” asked Evercloud.
“He eventually let his darkness leave him, though he was never quite the same. He fought with us against the Tyrant and regained our favor before the Ancients were, in the end, lost.”
“Did he ever win Chera’s heart?” asked Tomas.
“No. She offered it when the Farsiders roamed the earth. She would give her heart to him completely, and in exchange, Densa would rid the earth of the beasts. He didn’t want her anymore though. The rejection had hit him too deeply. Funny thing, Densa became more human than I think he ever wanted to be. Even after he returned the Farsiders to the moon, he wasn’t through with his vengeance. He warned the humans to never cross him again, and he placed a curse upon the man that Chera had loved.”
“What did he do?” asked Tomas.
“The man was damned to walk the earth for eternity in the form of an old, gray dog.”
Reality hit the travelers hard as they realized just who was telling them this story.
“I’m sorry,” said Ben.
“Don’t be,” said Nesbitt. “I’m not.” Lightning flashed across the sky. The fog had left and The Rusty Nail was now miles from its dock in Cerano. “Lightning is not good,” said the Captain. “Let me check our course with Mr. Tripp.” The old dog stood up and walked to the front of the ship.
“Should we tell him?” Tomas asked looking at the others.
“I think we should,” said Riverpaw. “He deserves to know.”
“I’ll do it,” said Ben. “Mr. Tripp should know too. They are both putting themselves at great risk to help us. They should know exactly what is going on.”
“Good to see you learned to trust people,” said Evercloud. Ben nodded.
The group stood up from the deck and moved to the front of the ship where Captain Nesbitt spoke to Mr. Tripp as he was steering the ship. The Captain saw them approach.
“Looks like we’ll be heading into a storm, boys. We’ll be dropping anchor soon and heading below deck. Should be room enough for everyone. Hopefully the storm will have passed by morning.”
Ben looked at the others and without speech they agreed to wait until they were below deck to tell their secrets. The four travelers followed Nesbitt as he showed them below and they sat on cots as they waited for Mr. Tripp to follow them. The sea was growing rougher by the minute and the ship began to rock from side to side.
“You lot don’t get sea sick, do ya?” asked Nesbitt.
“No,” replied the brothers in unison. Riverpaw and Evercloud shrugged.
“Right,” laughed Nesbitt. “You two wouldn’t know.”
Mr. Tripp finally made it down to the group and beads of water could be seen on the surface of his wool coat.
“It’s startin’,” he said. “You’d better hunker down.” Mr. Tripp took a seat on a cot next to the Captain. “Anyone got a good ghost story then?”
“Well,” said Ben, “the Captain was nice enough to provide us with a bit of history earlier.”
“I know, he told me,” interjected Mr. Tripp.
“We were hoping to repay the favor with some history of our own. You see, the Floyd family has had two missions over the generations. The first was to restore the Ancients to power, mostly with the hope that they could bring an end to the Great Tyrant. Until recently, we had been utterly unsuccessful. However, we were very good at the second mission…
until recently. You see, Captain, we told you that we seek answers to our sister’s malady in Felaqua, but what we failed to add is who our sister is. The malady that affects our sister is that she has been placed under a curse that prevents her from remembering who she is. My family is charged with protecting her until the cure can be found.”
“You’re speaking a lot right now, Ben Floyd,” said Nesbitt. “But to this point, you haven’t said anything.”
“I apologize, Captain. This is a difficult and somewhat confusing subject, but I’ll try to get to the point. Our sister is not our sister at all, but she believes that she is because she cannot remember who she is. The truth is that our sister is the Ancient known as Chera.”
The boat was now rocking quite hard and waves could be heard breaking on the deck. Despite the unbalanced boat, Captain Nesbitt stood on all four legs and stared directly at Ben Floyd.
“Where is she?”
“We lost her in the White Mountains,” said Tomas.
“What do you mean you lost her?”
There was a fire in Captain Nesbitt’s eyes that the travelers had not yet seen. They wondered if they had made a mistake.
“After we freed Tenturo,” began Ben, “she was taken from us by the Tyrant.”
“He’ll kill her,” said Mr. Tripp.
“He can’t,” snapped Nesbitt. “If the Tyrant could kill the Ancients he would have done so already. He’ll hide her away again so that we can’t find her.”
“We’ll find her,” said Evercloud.
“Do you know how long I’ve lived, wondering where he had taken her? Do you? You can’t just find her.”
“I’ll find her.” Evercloud stood and raised his voice. “Once we’ve found how to regain her memory, I’ll find her. Nothing will stop me.”
“Oh, I see,” laughed Nesbitt. “She still carries sway over men, huh, boy? You must think you’ve found something pretty special? Well, guess what, we’ve all been trapped in that gaze. I’ll advise you to wake up.”
Everflame: The Complete Series Page 31
