by Inmon, Shawn
The moose charged, leaving its calf behind momentarily. As it ran, massive hoofs thundering across the butte, two things happened at the same moment. Senta-eh dropped from the cliffside, landing feet first, then rolling forward and came up running. At the same moment, Werda-ak peeked over his shoulder and jumped backwards off the edge of the hill.
The moose came to a halt with her hooves threatening to collapse the edge of the hillside. It grunted its frustration.
Senta-eh meanwhile sprinted past the startled moose calf, giving it as wide a berth as possible and ran through the surrounding trees.
Alex was torn between trying to distract the moose from Werda-ak, and wanted to meet up with Senta-eh.
His decision was made when a voice floated up over the edge of the hill. “Don’t worry! She can’t get at me down here. If she tries, she’s going to go all the way to the bottom. I can inch my way around and then climb up and out. You guys just go back to camp.”
Pretty smart kid sometimes.
Alex backed quietly away. Knowing that the moose cow was already perturbed and looking for something to charge, he didn’t want to become the new target. Each of her legs was longer than Alex was tall, so he had no illusions about his ability to outrun her.
He had gotten less than halfway back to camp when Senta-eh intercepted him.
“I had not found anything to hunt, so I was hoping to find some berries in the clearing. Just when I found a bush to pick, I looked around and there she was. She was so big, there was nowhere for me to go.”
“I didn’t think that you had tried to hunt her.” The idea of Senta-eh firing the equivalent of a toothpick at the enormous beast actually made Alex smile. Senta-eh, who was sweaty and looked exhausted, caught his expression, and smiled back.
“So, where are these berries?” Alex asked innocently.
“I dropped them when I scrambled up the cliff. Would you like to go back and get them?”
“I think we can survive another night without berries,” Alex said and ducked out of the way as she punched at his shoulder.
Back at camp, Versa-eh—who had proven to be more than capable in every way—had cleaned the fish and already had it spitted over the fire. Before the fish was done, Werda-ak popped up over the side of the butte and strolled toward them, obviously pleased with himself.
“Thank you,” was all that Senta-eh said.
Their camp had the steep embankment on one side, but was otherwise open, so Alex called for a watch through the night. Senta-eh claimed first watch. In the deepening gloom, Alex listened to Werda-ak give a blow-by-blow accounting of what happened with the clearing and the moose. As he drifted off, Werda-ak was still telling the story.
How can something that happened so quickly take so long to tell?
Then Alex was asleep, dreaming of what Grinta-ah would bring.
Chapter Thirty
Grinta-ah
The city of Grinta-ah—and there was no other word for it, it was a city—ran along perhaps a mile and a half of the bank of the Okrent-ah. It had a solid fence that stood at least twenty feet tall running along the entire perimeter. That gave it the protection of the water on one side and the fence on the other.
Even with that protection, there were guards stationed every hundred yards, scanning the approaches and the encroaching forest.
When Alex and his caravan approached the main gate into the city, they were stopped by a guard. He did not appear unfriendly or contentious, but he also did not look like someone to be messed with. He was tall, muscular and wore leather armor.
Decent protection from a lot of weapons, but I wouldn’t want to march in it or have to wear it all day under this sun.
“Gunta,” Alex said, raising his right in greeting.
“Gunta,” the guard said, but it was in a bored, dismissive way. “You are allowed to keep your weapons, but be aware that if you start trouble while you are in Grinta-ah, you are subject to our justice, which will include being put in chains and sold to a slave ship for a first offense. Unless the guards don’t like you, then they will just kill you. Enjoy your visit.”
They have a bureaucracy. Something I never thought I would see in this world.
“Oh,” the guard said, “and clean up after your dog.”
Alex was tempted to ask if not doing so counted as starting trouble, and whether or not he might get thrown on a slave ship for not cleaning up one of Monda-ak’s prodigious poops. But, he thought that simply asking that question might result in the same end.
I’m not even inside the city gates yet, and I’m already sick of this place.
They passed through the gates, passed more bored-looking guards and into Grinta-ah. The town was built on one long street that stretched from end to end. Structures built against the fence seemed to be either residential or business. Those built on the water side all seemed related to the sea in one way or another.
“Do you know where to go?” Alex asked Versa-ah. “Do you know where this man is?”
She nodded, but seemed uncertain. For the first time she truly seemed like a young girl, not the self-confident, woman of the world image she always tried to project. “If I wanted to, could I stay with you?”
Alex considered before answering. Senta-eh and Werda-ak did not answer, but looked to be in favor of this. They both liked Versa-eh and would welcome her.
“Where we are going is dangerous. I do not think you would want to come with us. The journey itself is perilous, but once we get there, things will be worse.”
“I’ll consider that, then,” she said, as if Alex had begged her to come along.
“We need to arrange to take a ship south. Do you know where we could do that?”
She pointed to the three-masted ship Alex had seen from the butte. “If I was going, I would want to be on that one.” She waved goodbye, turned, and ran up the street. She knocked on the door of a large two-story house and was almost immediately ushered inside.
“Here we are, just the four of us again,” Alex said. Monda-ak woofed his agreement, and two passers-by stared at him like they’d never seen a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound dog before.
Alex turned his horse in the opposite direction Versa-eh had gone.
Most people in Grinta-ah were on foot, but the street was wide and some were on horseback. Many people rode in wagons that were pulled by what looked like massive oxen.
There was more technology—what the Winten-ah would have called stama—on display than either Senta-eh or Werda-ak would have seen in their lifetime, but they both seemed unphased by it.
When in Grinta-ah, do as the Grinta-ahs do, I guess.
When they pulled up alongside where the huge three-masted ship was docked, Alex hopped down and handed the reins to Senta-eh. “Hold on to him. I’m going to see who I can talk to.”
Alex walked along the pier, looking for someone he could ask if it was possible to book passage, but everyone seemed to be in a hurry.
Maybe I need to go on board to find someone.
Most of the ships docked against the pier right off the bank. But the big ship had a dock of its own that extended well out into the river. Likely because the bottom of the ship was too deep to come so close to shore. A gangplank extended from the ship down to the dock. The ship itself wouldn’t have been much—if it wasn’t in Kragdon-ah. Here, it was a miracle. Up close, Alex saw that it wasn’t as huge as he had thought it from a distance. What made it look big was the immensely tall masts—and the sails weren’t even up. Those masts were the tallest man-made things he had seen since he stepped through the door.
Alex stepped one foot onto the gangplank when a strong arm grabbed him by the neck and pulled him roughly off. Alex didn’t even have time to think, he simply reacted. He slipped out of the hold, grasped the offending wrist, and twisted it behind the man’s back.
“Hey!” the man shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure your rough handling didn’t go any further. What are you doing?”
The man was smart enough not to struggle, and Alex relaxed his hold. “I would like to be a passenger. I want to get to Lusta-ah.”
“Where?” the man asked.
“Lusta-ah.” Alex’s heart sank a little. If the name was fictitious, he might have been chasing a ghost the last six months.
“Oh, Lasta-ah. I didn’t recognize the mispronunciation. Yes, the boat will go all the way down there before we turn around. But that is a long trip. What do you have to trade?”
Alex’s pulse quickened. Hearing confirmation of the place that had been haunting him for months was miraculous, even if they had it slightly wrong.
“We are strong. We can work on board.”
“The man waved his hand. “Everyone is strong, and everyone is willing to work. That is worth almost nothing to me. Do you have anything of value?”
Alex thought. They didn’t have much, of course. There was no such thing as currency in Kragdon-ah. At least not that Alex was aware of. They had the warm clothes the tailors of Matori-ah had made them, but Alex was sure that was not enough. The only other thing they had was the saddlebags and the horses.
“There are three of us, and we have three beautiful, fine horses.” Alex hesitated, but saw no option but to make the offer. “We can trade a horse for passage for each of us.”
“What kind of horses?”
“Beautiful. The best.”
The man looked cynical. “Show me.”
Alex led him up off the pier to where he had left Senta-eh and Werda-ak. He pointed proudly to the horses. They looked worse for the wear the forty-five days on the trail had put on them—a little mud-spattered and thinner—but they were still excellent horses.
“Hmmm,” the man said, apparently unimpressed. He pointed to a cart pulled by a squat, ugly horse that looked like the ones they had been given in Tonton-ah. “Those are the kind of horses we need here. Horses that work hard and pull their own weight. Not horses that are beautiful but cannot work.”
“Wait,” Alex said. “Do you mean that a horse like that,” he pointed at the stocky, ugly horse, “is worth more than a horse like ours?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t they be? You can ride these horses, but they are too fragile to be good for anything else. Those horses will pull a wagon or a plow for months on end and never complain.”
Alex hung his head. This is what happens when a novice trader goes head-to-head with someone who knows what they’re doing. He traded me three less-valuable horses straight across for three better horses and got me to take his daughter across the country. I can’t be mad, though. He saw a sucker coming and did what a trader does.
“So, what do you say? These three horses for passage to Lasta-ah?”
“No, that’s not enough.”
That’s it then. But, there has to be other ships going downriver. We can try to catch on with one of them. They might not be as impressive as this ship, but all that matters is that we get there.
Alex turned away and said, “We’ll keep looking. We’ll find something,” to Senta-eh. He mounted his horse and prepared to move on when the man reached out and grabbed his reins.
“Wait. How about this? I will trade you passage to Lasta-ah for the three of you for your horses and saddlebags, but you will also have to work.”
“What kind of work?” Alex asked suspiciously. He knew he might not be asking the right questions and the man might be taking advantage of him like the trader did, but he felt like he had no choice.
“Nothing hard. Just work. Working in the kitchen, that sort of thing.”
Alex looked at Senta-eh and Werda-ak. They both looked at the ship with a sense of superstitious awe. They had never seen anything bigger than the sailboat that took them off Matori-ah “Do you want to ride on this? Or shall we look for another?”
Senta-eh looked the man over from top to bottom. “I’m not sure he is being honest with us. I don’t like his look.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Alex said. “Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll keep looking.”
Again, the man grabbed the reins. Suddenly, Alex was reminded of when he had witnessed the haggling with the dog trader that resulted in him getting Monda-ak. Trading and negotiating was something these people did from an early age.
“Fine, all right, fine,” the man said. “You are taking advantage of me, but I will make the trade. Your three horses and saddlebags for passage to Lanta-eh.”
“And you’ll feed us?”
The man looked to the heavens, as though he was so put-upon he almost couldn’t stand it. “Yes, I will feed you.” He reached out and laid a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Do we have a deal?”
“And our dog.”
The man looked broken. He stared at Monda-ak, who stared back, one ear down and one ear up. “I thought that was another horse.”
“You didn’t answer. Passage for the three of us and my dog?”
“I must be crazy. The other passengers will object. But yes, all three of you and your dog.”
Alex slid down from his horse and the man put a hand on his shoulder. “We have a deal. I must be crazy.”
Alex did the same, though he had to reach up to lay his hand on his shoulder. “We have a deal.”
The man put his fingers to his lips and whistled so shrilly, it made Monda-ak whine.
A moment later a man appeared. “These three will be our passengers. They have traded their horses for passage. Take them to the stable.”
The man looked impressed that his boss had made such a good deal. The boss rewarded him by slapping him in the back of the head. “Move!”
The man moved. He grabbed the reins and started to lead them away.
Alex said, “Wait! You just traded for the saddlebags, not what was in them. Werda-ak, Senta-eh, take anything you want to carry with you.”
The man tapped his foot in the dusty road. “Hurry up!”
The three of them grabbed whatever spare clothes they had, their weapons, and a few bits of food they had left.
They took a few steps toward the ship. The man who had negotiated with them held out his hand. “Where are you going?”
“Aboard the ship,” Alex said, as though that was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh, no. We don’t leave until the morning. I can’t have you on board until first light tomorrow.” Alex sputtered, an incomprehensible run of consonants that did not form words. The man smiled. “If you wanted to board now, you should have made it part of our deal.”
Weapons and fists rarely defeated Alex Hawk, but words and negotiations often did.
Alex turned to Senta-eh and Werda-ak. “Let’s leave the city. I don’t like it here.”
“Agreed,” Senta-eh said.
Werda-ak stayed quiet, but Alex thought he might be interested in looking around. His eyes were big and he seemed to be trying to take everything in at once. “Come on, boy. Let’s go out in the open air, where the smell of horse shit and mud isn’t in every breath we take.”
How are we going to keep you in the caves, young man, once you’ve seen the city?
Chapter Thirty-One
Okrent-ah
They didn’t have to hike too far out of town to find a place to camp. There were small gatherings of buildings scattered around the area immediately outside the walls.
Another hundred years and this wall will have been torn down and moved out, and these little fits and starts will be part of the city. And civilization starts again. We always said it was the cockroach that would survive any disaster, and they did, but the idea of building up, making something more seems as hard to kill. I wonder if the door had sent me another millennia into the future if it would have looked more like the twentieth century than the stone age.
They walked past the scattered houses. People they met ignored them. They all had business of their own to attend to, and couldn’t co
ncern themselves with three stragglers and their dog.
A few miles after they passed the last of the buildings, they found an ideal camping spot. A small offshoot of the Okrent-ah babbled lazily through a stand of trees. Alex guessed that unless it was a prime predator like godat-ta, most animals gave the city a wide berth. He was confident that he could deal with human predators, and besides that, there were much more attractive targets not far away.
It was only mid-afternoon and Alex found himself with something he hadn’t had since they had left Hakun-ah—time to do whatever he wanted. They set up a simple camp, laying out their blankets and digging a fire pit. Senta-eh went hunting, Werda-ak went fishing, and Alex rested his back against a tree and contemplated the world. Or, he did for five minutes or so, until he fell asleep.
He woke to the sound of Werda-ak returning, carrying a rainbow trout as big as any salmon Alex had ever seen in the twentieth century. “It’s good to get sleep when you can,” the boy observed. “Especially as you get older.”
Alex thought about picking up a pine cone and throwing it at him, but he was too mellow to do even that.
Senta-eh had also returned and dropped a load of firewood. “One more load, then we’ll be good for the night,” she said, heading back out. “But don’t worry, I’ve got it. You get your rest.”
Sarcasm is another one of those human traits that has survived the centuries.
After dinner, Alex said, “You guys rest. I’ll take first watch.”
As soon as it was dark, Werda-ak and Senta-eh stretched out. Alex sat comfortably with Monda-ak, watching the stars, and trying to form some sort of strategy for rescuing Lanta-eh. That was impossible, of course, because he had no idea what they would be up against. It didn’t stop him from trying, though.
When he awoke Senta-eh, they sat quietly for a few minutes, then she said, “You are thinking of something, but not saying it.”
