by Inmon, Shawn
Preta-eh pierced Verda-eh with a look. The young girl withered and looked away.
Although Verda-eh tried to avoid the big woman’s eyes, when Preta-eh said, “Verda-eh...” she walked toward her as though magically summoned.
“How would you know where these men are from?”
Reggie, who had dropped his towel when he did his sweep kick, replaced it, and looked interested in the answer as well.
“My sister.”
“Kinda-eh? Or Stima-eh?”
“Kinda-eh. She had been with one of them.”
“Which one?”
The young woman looked around, but then said, “I don’t see him.”
“Perhaps the one I threw off our tree. He didn’t listen to me. Are you saying that one of these warriors, who may not have been willing to give up their ultimate destination under penalty of death, just told your sister where they were from?”
Verda-eh put two fingers to her forehead, but did not speak.
“And then your sister told you. Of course she did,” Preta-eh concluded.
“Pillow talk,” Alex said to Reggie in English. “The undoing of more secrets than any other source.”
“I’m skeptical,” Preta-eh said. “But tell me, where did they say they were from?”
“Lusta-ah, I think is what she said. I had never heard of it, but he described it to my sister. They have trees that are as tall as ours, but have moss that grows all the way to the ground. He told her they were in no hurry to go home, because it was always too hot there, and the air is heavy well into winter. And when it does finally become cool, their home often floods, so they have to build their shelters on stilts.”
Alex turned to Werda-ak. “Quick. Run back to our room and fetch my pack.”
Werda-ak started to run, then stopped, and said, “I don’t know where it is.”
“Verda-eh, show the boy where their room is. And Untrin-ak, as much as I enjoy seeing you with no clothes on, why don’t you get dressed.”
As the two of them hurried away, a small army of men came jostling onto the scene.
“Always late, always late,” Preta-eh scolded her soldiers. “Take all of these and throw them over. Let the ronit-ta feast on their bones. Take that one,” she said, gesturing to the man currently being squashed by Monda-ak. “Put him in the dark room. Bolt him inside. We may still want to get information from him. Or, I might just let this adorable dog eat him.”
Monda-ak woofed appreciatively at the idea. It was obvious that he liked Preta-eh, who always seemed to be trying to feed him.
While the remaining dead and dying were tossed unceremoniously over the side, Alex sat down on a bench. His left arm still dangled from his shoulder.
Senta-eh examined the arm, gently probing, holding the shoulder, looking for signs of an obvious break. She did not find any. She smiled at him. “I think you will be fine soon enough. Thank you for waking me. If you had not stayed on watch, this might have turned out differently, and Winten-ah might never have known what happened to us.”
“Old habits die hard,” Alex said.
“And so do you, it seems.”
Preta-eh saw that Alex was injured and loudly called for Fenda-ak. Again, he had snuck behind her and was waiting to be summoned.
“Summon Kilta-eh. Tell her we have an injured guest.” She turned back to Alex. “I have summoned Kilta-eh, who will take care of whatever injuries you have.”
Werda-ak came flying onto the deck, holding Alex’s pack in front of him.
“Give it to Senta-eh.” He turned to her. “Unroll the map and put it on the bench beside us here.”
A moment later, she had removed the map and spread it out in front of them.
Because there was no words, it wasn’t as easy as pointing to a spot and saying ‘Ah-hah! Lusta-ah!’ Instead, he stared at the map with Verda-eh’s description in mind. Hot. Humid. Flooding.
Flooding could be anywhere by now, but hot and humid sounds like somewhere in the deep south.
He ran his fingers along the area that would have represented Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas in his own time.
It would have to be somewhere through there.
Two thoughts occurred to him at almost the same instant.
He noticed that there was a large area that was uncharted around where he would have expected to find Louisiana. That was unusual because the areas around it were well-mapped.
If I was making a map in this world, I might leave my own area off, in order to make it harder for anyone to find me. I likely already know everything about the area around my own home, so I’m less-likely to need a map.
The second thought was more discouraging.
Alex looked at the distance between where they had started and where they were, then compared it to how far it was between their present location and the blank spot on the map.
If my instinct is right, if that is where they are going, we are only at the beginning of our quest.
Alex said, “Thank you,” to Senta-eh, and she rolled the map up and put it away. “We have a long way to go to find these people. We’ll leave at first light.”
“Can you delay your departure for just a few hours? I feel terrible that you were injured and almost killed while you were our guests. I want to give you a gift that will make your journey easier, but it will take me until after sunset to prepare it.”
“That’s not necessary, but thank you. We can use anything that will make this journey easier for us.” Alex glanced at Senta-eh and Werda-ak. “I’m sure we can use more than just a couple of hours of sleep, anyway.”
Kilta-eh appeared, and her appearance surprised Alex. Where Niten-eh, the healer in Winten-ah, had been old and wizened, Kilta-eh was young and attractive. She had that attitude that healers had the world over, though. When she saw Alex’s arm, she clucked and reprimanded him.
“You bang into each other like you are invulnerable. Then those of you who are still breathing come to me to fix you up.”
“I’m all right,” Alex protested, and started to stand.
Kilta-eh dug her fingers in just above his bicep, right where the hammer had hit him.
Alex cried out in pain.
“Good,” Kilta-eh said. “Now sit down so I can take care of you. Here, chew on this,” she said, handing him a dark root. “It will stop the pain.”
“It wasn’t hurting until you poked me there.”
Kilta-eh looked at Senta-eh. “Men are such children. Can you imagine if they had to endure childbirth? It’s all they would ever speak about.” Gently now, she probed around the wound, moved his arm in small circles, then said, “You will be fine. I am going to wrap it tightly. If you can manage not to move or jar it for a few days, you will be recovered.”
Alex decided to stay silent, but Senta-eh said, “We are leaving tomorrow. We will be walking a great distance.”
Kilta-eh shut her eyes, the very picture of a put-upon person doing their best to exhibit patience. “Very well. I will show you how I wrap his arm. You must do it tightly, to keep it from jarring around. But, at night, you will want to take the wrap off and move his arm like this.” She demonstrated straightening and turning the arm. “If you don’t, the muscles will begin to shrink and he will cry like a little boy when he tries to straighten it out.”
Alex opened his mouth to object, but saw the look on both of the women’s faces and shut up.
Satisfied, Kilta-eh wrapped the arm, then unwrapped it and watched closely as Senta-eh redid it.
Kilta-eh blessed her with a smile. “Very good. Your hands are good. I could train you to be a healer.”
“She’s on the other side of things. She’s a warrior,” Alex interjected.
Kilta-eh sighed, smiled sadly, then reached into her bag and pulled out more lengths of cloth bandages. “Carry this with you and replace the bandages every few days. When he can lift his arm over his head and hold it there without crying, he is healed.” She glanced at Alex, shook her head, and disap
peared from whence she came.
“Without crying,” Senta-eh said, laughing and obviously enjoying herself. “I like her.”
“Someone has to. Now let’s go to bed. I can finally sleep now.”
The four weary travelers managed to find their way back to where their night of unwanted excitement had started.
For once, Alex managed to sleep past sunrise.
When he did finally manage to pry his eyelids open, he rolled toward the window and immediately regretted it, as pain shot through his wounded left arm.
And good morning to me.
Alex looked around the room, but it was empty, aside from Monda-ak, who never left his side voluntarily.
Can’t remember the last time I was the last one awake. I guess middle of the night assassination attempts make me sleep soundly.
The rest of the room was devoid of belongings, so he guessed that Senta-eh and Werda-ak must have packed up and gone in search of breakfast.
As he left the room, he saw Reggie walking toward him, beaming.
“You will not believe what they are doing for you.”
“Hit me. I’m ready for some good news.”
“Oh no. I’m not going to ruin this. But they are all waiting for you down at the stables.”
“Stables? Wait. These guys live in the trees, but they manage to have stables?”
“Pretty amazing, huh? They’re on the lowest level of the village. A nice easy ramp to walk up to the stalls, then back down in the morning. The animals graze all day, watched over by shepherds of a sort, then back up into the safety of the trees every night.”
Alex shook his head. “I’ve seen some amazing things in Kragdon-ah, but this village may top them all.”
“Oh, but you haven’t been across the mountains, yet. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
“Such as?” Alex was always looking for information he could put into his brain to help him prepare for whatever unknown circumstance was coming at him.
“I told you, I’m not ruining any surprises. You’ll see for yourself.”
“You mean we’ll see for ourselves, right? You’re still coming with us, aren’t you?”
“I was planning on it. You know that, right? But, did you notice that Verda-eh is a little, umm, voluptuous?”
Alex grinned. “I may have noticed. It is hard not to.”
Reggie nodded. “Well, she wasn’t quite so much so when I passed through here a couple of months ago.”
Alex looked sharply at Reggie. “Wait. Are you saying...?”
“Yeah. A new little Reggie or Regina is going to drop into the world come next spring.”
Alex contemplated that. It had been nice to have someone with him who shared at least a partial frame of reference. Someone who understood why he thought and believed certain things.
But, this ain’t about you, soldier.
“Congratulations, man. That’s beautiful.”
I have been all over this new world. There are so many things to see and do, but this little spot right here? Up in the trees with a nice breeze coming off the river, and people who love me? I could do worse than settling down right here.”
Alex embraced him in a one-armed hug. “That’s great. Good for you. I’m disappointed because I was going to make you sing to us as we walked, but I think I’ll live.”
“That’s the unpleasant surprise for the day, now for the good one.” As they talked, they had walked, and a familiar aroma reached Alex’s nose. It took him back to his childhood in central Oregon.
He pulled in a lungful of air, smiled, and said “Horseshit.”
“Yessir. The unmistakable smell of horseshit, sweat and hay. Eau de stables.”
“I know it’s still just shit, but this smell takes me back to my Gran and Gramp’s farm.” A wistful smile played on his face, momentarily lost in his memories of swinging from a rope and dropping into piles of hay in a barn where dusty sunlight poured in between holes in the boards.
“Here’s Preta-eh. I’ll turn you over to her now.”
Ahead, there was a small welcoming committee—Preta-eh, Werda-ak, Senta-eh, and a small ring of onlookers. They all looked at him expectantly, with the exception of Senta-eh, who looked slightly nauseous.
Alex stopped. “What?”
They moved aside to let Alex see what was behind them—three of the oddest horses Alex had ever seen.
Preta-eh beamed. “Are they not beautiful?”
THEY WERE NOT BEAUTIFUL, except perhaps to their mothers and Preta-eh. They looked like Shetland Ponies that had been blown up to three times the normal size. Like a Shetland, they were thick and powerful of body, but with short, stubby legs. Short legs aside, they were so big that their head was well above Alex’s. Their coat was thick and shaggy, and they had an intelligent, if somewhat belligerent, expression on their faces.
Alex recovered quickly. “Yes, magnificent animals. Thank you for showing us your stables.”
Preta-eh laughed, that trilling, girlish laugh that so belied her size. “They are for you!”
“What?”
Preta-eh turned serious for a moment. “I felt so bad about what happened last night, I wanted to make your journey easier. Also, our fish harvests have been so good since Lanta-eh blessed us that I feel we owe you this and more.”
Alex turned the idea over in his mind. Instantly, he pictured them riding in at least semi-comfort, instead of having to walk sixteen or eighteen hours a day.
“Thank you!” Alex said, not knowing if he should lay a hand on Preta-eh’s shoulder, hug her, or simply salute.
She made the decision for him, enveloping him in a friendly hug and hurting his injured arm in the process. Alex tried to keep the pain off his face. When she released him, he walked to the horse closest to him. Up close, it felt even larger. It looked like the horse was ready for a long trip. There was a heavy woven blanket over its back, a braided rope bridle looped through its mouth, and beautiful leather saddlebags resting across its ample hindquarters.
“Preta-eh. This is too much. This...” he paused, lost for words.
He had unconsciously walked to the front side of the horse and turned his back. The horse lowered her head a bit and swung it with considerable strength into his back. Alex went flying, barely able to catch his balance.
Preta-eh roared with laughter. Admittedly, Werda-ak did as well, but at least he tried to hide it behind his hand.
“I should warn you. Our little ponies have a small attitude problem. They have a mind of their own.”
Alex straightened up, did his best to regain his dignity, and glanced at Senta-eh. He was surprised she didn’t join in the laughter as well.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked in Winten-ah. “You aren’t afraid of horses are you?”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” she hurled back. “But I don’t think I can ride that. I’ve never been able to ride the alecs-ta we have at home.”
“Well, that’s no problem, then. It can carry your saddlebags they’ve given us, and you can walk alongside.”
She raised her chin defiantly. “You think I’ll give up and ride after a day trying to keep up, don’t you?”
“Me? No, no,” he said innocently. I know you too well.” He turned back to Preta-eh. “So, we are leaving you Untrin-ak, but taking three of your horses.” He glanced at Reggie fondly. “I think we’re getting the better end of that deal. Do they have names?”
Preta-eh looked at him silently for a long moment, turning her head slightly, like a dog listening to a far-off whistle. “Name? No. They are animals.”
Alex nearly said, ‘Monda-ak is an animal and he has a name,’ but he knew when he had wandered into uncharted territory. Not to mention that Preta-eh might very well believe that Monda-ak didn’t count as an animal, but a gigantic, hairy human who walked on four legs.
Reggie, who had been holding hands with Verda-eh, released her and hugged Alex. “Come back and see us. We’ll have a little one to show you.”
Al
ex promised he would if he could, then jumped onto the back of the horse that had sent him tumbling.
That will be a lot easier when one of my arms isn’t tied to my side.
Werda-ak jumped effortlessly on the back of his horse. Senta-eh looked suspiciously at hers, but still turned to Preta-eh and said, “Thank you. You are so kind.” She waved at Kilta-eh and led them down the ramp.
At the bottom of the ramp, they moved away at a steady pace, Senta-eh walking alongside her horse, Alex and Werda-ak riding comfortably.
Monda-ak did not seem completely sure of their new traveling companions, and so gave them a wide berth.
The sun had risen above the hills to the east. They headed straight for it.
Chapter Fifteen
Otkan
Alex led the small caravan, though Monda-ak was often out in front of him. Leaving Tonton-ah, the land was level, the trees were sparse, and the trail was easy to follow. Now that he thought he knew the name of the place they were trying to find, he felt under less pressure to follow the actual trail of the kidnappers. Which was a good thing, because they were now far enough behind that any trail was as good as non-existent. Even Monda-ak could not find a trace of them.
Of course, knowing the name of a place and knowing where it is are completely different things. And that is if the loose tongue in Tonton-ah told the truth. Are they clever enough to leave someone behind to lie, as well as someone to kill us? Someone to send us off on a wild goose chase?
Alex preferred to be in the lead because, as wonderful as it was to have the horses to ride, it also brought him a new level of responsibility. If they met a wandering pack of ronit-ta, or a rogue godat-ta—the giant grizzly he had encountered on his journey to Denta-ah—he would have three additional lives to be concerned for. The sturdy horses looked like they might be able to walk forever, but they would never be speed demons, not with their short legs.
And so, Alex rode in front, his head on a swivel, constantly assessing and looking for danger.
Werda-ak rode directly behind him. As in so many things, he took to horseback riding instantly.
