by John Hosh
Jono pulled up on the broom a few spear-lengths above the sea. He flew in a circle. He hovered. Looking toward Selenë, he shrugged. He flew upward toward the northwest.
Jono sniffed. He sniffed again. He put his nose close to his cloak, first on his left side, then on his right. Wrinkling his nose, he snorted, “Egods!” He pushed the broom down.
From west to east, Jono flew low across an island. The island was small enough for Jono to cross it on foot in one day. East of the island Jono banked to his right and circled down. He took himself toward the glimmer of a very small pool. He landed from the south.
South of the pool, for a hop, a skip and a jump, the ground sloped gently toward the south. Close to the pool, wide, flat stones covered the ground.
When his toes touched the stones, Jono demanded, “Wo! Stop!” The broom did not halt. It glided toward the pool. Jono took some quick steps to keep his balance. “Katabasticize,” he ordered. The broom dropped to the flat stones. Jono tumbled over the pool’s knee-high rim.
Spitting, coughing and splashing, Jono flipped himself. When he was front-side up, he pushed his upper body out of the water. He said, “I need to work on my landings.” He yanked his wand out of his cloak. He growled, “Illumine.” The wand’s glow revealed that the water barely covered Jono’s legs.
Jono crawled southward over the mud-and-stone rim. Standing, he removed his water-skin and set it on the rim. He removed his cloak and inspected it in the light of the wand. The cloak did not have any splotches on it. Jono sniffed the cloak. “Good enough,” he said. He tossed the cloak over his left arm and looked round.
Far from Jono, a dog barked twice. Jono stood still. The night was quiet except for the sound of dripping.
The pool’s south side had some holes in its rim, from which water was dripping. The water ran into grooves in the wide, flat stones that surrounded the pool. The grooves directed the water southward into four basins carved out of the stone. Each basin was one pace long from north to south, half a pace wide and one palm deep. Four paces from the pool, the basins formed an arc round the pool’s south side. From the basins more grooves took the water down the slope.
Jono put the illuminated wand into his right boot. He picked up the water-skin and his broom. East of the pool — where the flat stones did not have any grooves, Jono set down the water-skin and the broom. One pace west of those belongings, he spread his cloak on its back. With his head toward the north, he lay between the cloak and the broom. “Extinguish,” he ordered. The wand went dark.
A moment later a splashing came from the pool. Jono pulled the wand from his boot. “Illumine,” he ordered. The wand glowed. Jono rolled westward onto his stomach.
From north of Jono, on Jono’s left, a man growled, “Give me that.” Twice Jono’s age and size, long-haired, bearded and wearing sheepskin, the man snatched the wand.
Another man, who looked much like the first man, stepped into the light from Jono’s right. Beside Jono, the man dropped to his knees. The man tossed the broom southward. He pulled Jono’s arms to Jono’s sides. The man rolled Jono westward. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, the man had Jono’s cloak rolled tight round him.
Jono shouted, “Let me go! Let me go!”
The man with the wand grunted, “Shut up!”
The men hoisted Jono onto the shoulder of the man who had rolled Jono. That man hurried down the slope. The wand-holder picked up Jono’s broom and water-skin, and ran after the first man.
The men crunched across a stony beach. They waded into the sea toward a narrow, wood boat that was a little longer than two men if they were lying end to end. The man who had the broom, the water-skin and the wand tossed them into the vessel, and climbed into it. He helped the other man to stow Jono by laying him on his back in the boat’s middle.
The man who had carried Jono pulled the mooring-stick from a small pile of stones on the beach. The man stowed the mooring-stick and its rope aboard the boat, and climbed into it. With paddles, the men moved the boat away from the beach.
When the men took up their paddles, Jono squirmed. The man who was near Jono’s feet grunted, “Be still; or it’s into the sea with you.”
Chapter 13 : Adrift
The boat had light only from Jono’s wand, from Nyx’s jewels and from Selenë. While the paddlers were paddling, Jono was fidgeting and pulling on his cloak. His cloak fell open at the moment that a big, black, eel-like finger curved over the boat’s side. Another black finger, then another, joined the first along the boat’s edge. Serpent-like, the fingers flowed swiftly down the boat’s inside. The boat stopped abruptly.
The man in the bow lurched forward. He shouted, “Hey!” He used the paddle to brace himself. The black fingers slipped away from the boat. An instant later a long, black finger coiled round the man in the bow. The finger showed itself to be part of a black, snake-like arm that was as thick as a python. The arm hoisted the man, with his paddle, out of the boat. The man yelled, “Help me!” He flailed with the paddle. With hardly a splash, the arm quickly dragged the man beneath the sea’s surface.
The man in the stern shrieked. He and his paddle were in the clutch of another long, black, python-like arm. The arm lifted the man two spits high. One moment later the arm yanked the man into the deep.
A very brief while later the sky gave out a harpy’s eagle-like cry. A second cry immediately followed the first. From the sky the ghost of a man shouted mournfully, “No!”
Near Jono’s right foot a black arm slithered over the side of the boat. The arm floated above Jono’s right foot, above his right leg and toward his head. With both hands, Jono blocked the black arm’s way. When the tip touched Jono, it jumped away from him. Carefully the tip reached for Jono’s face again. Jono blocked the tip as before. The tip recoiled again. The black arm moved away from Jono to his right and flowed along the boat’s side until the tip touched Jono’s broom. In an instant the arm wrapped itself round the broom and pulled it into the sea. Another black arm snaked into the boat and flowed past Jono on his left side. Touching the wand the arm seized it and pulled it into the sea.
A few moments later, when the serpent-like arms did not return, Jono peeked over the boat’s side to his right. He peeked over the side to his left. He shrugged. He yawned. He pulled his cloak over him and lay back. He closed his eyes.
****
By the light of Nyx’s jewels and by Selenë’s luster, Mentor, Iphitus, Helice and Aegis were circling down over Sternon Island. They had a northerly heading when they landed on a patch of grass on Sternon’s southeast side.
The patch of grass was half a score of strides plus one good spit from west to east and a little longer from north to south. Along the west side of the patch, a brook was running from north to south. To the north, east and south of the patch were the trees of an orchard.
Along the west side of the brook was a strip of shrubs and bushes. Beyond the shrubs and bushes, the land rose sharply into low, stony, grass-covered hills.
To the broom in his right hand, Mentor said, “Microsize.” The broom shrank to half a wand’s length. Mentor put the broom into his cloak. He took out his wand. “Illumine,” he commanded. The wand glowed. Mentor put the wand’s end against his cloak at his knee. “Neogenize,” he commanded. Some white splotches on his cloak vanished.
The other wizards microsized their brooms and stowed them. Mentor said, “I’ll take the filth off your cloaks.” Using the wand, Mentor touched the cloaks of Iphitus, Helice and Aegis. At each touch, he commanded, “Neogenize.” At each command, a cloak became clean and shiny. When he had touched all the cloaks, Mentor said, “That’s better. Aegis, you and I will collect Chloë.” To Helice and Iphitus, Mentor said, “Aegis and I will return soon. Keep your wands dark.”
Holding his glowing wand low in front of him, Mentor picked his way south along the brook. Aegis followed Mentor. They crossed the brook by using stepping stones. Soon, they came to a stony beach. “Extinguish,” Mentor commanded. A
fter stowing the wand in his cloak, he turned westward. After a few steps Mentor and Aegis had alongside them on their right a mud-and-stone wall that was almost twice as tall as a man.
Looking seaward, Mentor halted. One stone’s throw from the wall, a sail was unfurling. Mentor became invisible. Aegis became invisible. Mentor observed, “It’s a strange time for the traders to be sailing.”
The sail was floating westward when a boat grated on stones not far southwest of Mentor and Aegis. Three people leapt from the boat. A man’s gruff voice said, “Aristarchus, make sure the rope won’t come loose. Let’s pull in the bigger log first.”
At the boat’s stern Marcos, Leonidas and Aristarchus grunted, groaned and splashed. Using ropes that went round a boulder, they pulled a log out of the sea. When they had pulled the log onto the beach, they splashed out of the water and let themselves drop. Panting, Marcos remarked, “The second log will be easier.”
A short while later at the house of Marcos an oil-lamp flickered atop the oven. Leonidas, wrapped in sheepskin, hurried across the patio from its west entrance. He ran up to the oven. He grabbed the lamp and used it to light his way into the doorless house. The house went dark for a few moments.
When light reappeared in the house, a roll of sheepskin bedding rolled out the front doorway. After a few moments another roll of bedding followed the first. A few moments later Leonidas walked out of the house. He was carrying the lamp and dragging a third roll of bedding by a leather cord. He put the lamp on the oven. He put a clay snuffer over the lamp. He picked up all the bedding. He left the patio by using the west entrance.
A moment later Mentor, who was visible, walked out of the house. Standing by the oven, Aegis became visible. Mentor said softly, “Chloë is not here. Her brother Aspidos is alone. I’m going to see if Chloë is on the beach. If I don’t find her, I’m going after the sailboat. Go back to Iphitus and Helice please. I will be back shortly.”
****
Wrapped in their cloaks, Helice and Iphitus were sitting side-by-side east of the brook and close to the orchard. Facing the brook, the wizards were gazing at Nyx’s twinkling cloak.
Helice said, “Mentor’s nice; isn’t he?”
“I like him,” Iphitus replied.
Helice asked, “Do you have a dog?”
“No. I had a dog . . . Hero. My mother gave him away after my father died. She said Hero frightened people who came to visit. I never saw him frighten anyone. He was a good dog.”
“My dog died. Her name was Fida. I liked to sit with Fida and watch Nyx’s jewels twinkle. Fida had puppies once. My parents said witches stole them. My parents said witches like nothing better than puppy-pie. Have you ever eaten puppy-pie?”
“No. I can’t imagine hurting a dog.”
“Me neither.”
“Listen.”
“What?”
“Gurgling.”
A sparkling pillar of water as tall as a man gushed upward from the brook. The lower half of the pillar turned into a set of watery, human legs. The pillar stepped onshore. It walked toward Helice and Iphitus for three paces; then it halted.
In a blink, the pillar became a handsome young man of pale skin. Wearing a white skirt that did not reach his knees, he glowed with a white light. In a soothing voice, the man said, “Hello, my pretties. Who are you?”
Helice jumped up. She stammered, “I’m Helice.”
Iphitus put himself on his feet. “I’m Iphitus.”
“Hello, Helice. Hello, Iphitus. Are you alone?”
“Our friends are nearby,” replied Helice. “They are coming from the beach.”
“You are very attractive,” said the man. “You are not of the gods; are you?”
Smiling, Helice replied, “No.”
“I am thinking of having a feast,” said the man. “Would you like to join me? It will be a grand feast. I especially like fish. Do you like fish?”
Helice said eagerly, “Yes.” Iphitus nodded.
“Follow me, then, Helice, Iphitus,” said the man. He turned and walked into the water. Neither Helice nor Iphitus took a step. The man turned toward them. He said sternly, “Come along.”
Helice and Iphitus looked at each other but they did not move. “We have to wait for our friends,” Helice reported.
The man snapped, “I want you to come now.”
Helice and Iphitus pulled their brooms from their cloaks. The man in the brook became a pillar of water. The pillar became an arc onto the land. Where the pillar touched the land, it grew into a big, black beast — like a great wolf. Growling, with glowing eyes and glistening fangs, the creature made a stride toward Helice and Iphitus. The creature eyed them for a moment; then it turned northward and loped into the trees.
“Macrosize,” Iphitus commanded. Instantly his broom returned to its usual size. “Let’s fly,” Iphitus urged. He put his broom under him.
“Macrosize,” Helice commanded. Instantly her broom returned to its usual size. She straddled the broom.
“Wait,” Iphitus declared. The beast’s growling moved eastward and away from Helice and Iphitus. The wizards lifted their brooms. They turned toward the east.
A darkness rose out of the east. The darkness grew taller than the trees. It was half a score of steps wide. From above the treetops, one walnut-sized, glowing, yellow eye glared at Helice and at Iphitus. A second eye appeared beside the first. A third and a fourth eye appeared beside the others.
Helice gasped, “What’s that?”
Iphitus uttered, “Something bad! Let’s fly.”
Out of the creature came great black wings. The wings rose above the treetops. The wings swept forward and back. The wash of those great wings took the dry leaves off the trees. The wash forced Helice and Iphitus backward. They turned toward the brook and straddled their brooms.
Helice shouted, “Let’s go!”
Iphitus shouted, “Anabasticize!”
Helice shouted, “Anabasticize!”
The two wizards surged upward. Helice was alongside Iphitus on his right side. She was one-half a broom-length behind him. Helice shouted, “I’ll follow you!”
Iphitus looked behind Helice. He gasped. He screamed, “IT’S COMING!”
Chapter 14 : Spuds
The boat that carried Jono bumped some rocks. Sitting up Jono peered into the darkness. He rolled his cloak into a bundle and tossed it into the bow. He tossed his water-skin onto his cloak. He took off his boots and put them beside the cloak. From the bow, Jono crawled over the side.
The water was barely over Jono’s knees. He reached into the boat and found the mooring-stick. While clamping the mooring-stick under his left arm, he pulled all the mooring-rope out of the boat. He took the mooring-stick and its rope several paces inland to a rock that was a little bigger than a badger. After winding the rope around the rock, Jono stuck the mooring-stick behind another rock.
Jono returned to the boat. His left hand grabbed his boots. His right hand seized his water-skin and his cloak. He tramped out of the water and up a steep slope that was all rock.
Four paces above sea-level, the rock slope reached a grassy slope that was not as steep. Where the two slopes met, Jono sat. After brushing the grit from his toes, he put on his boots. He stood and put on his cloak and his water-skin. He went up the grassy, sandy, treeless slope.
Jono was hardly more than half a score of paces above sea-level when a fist-sized glow — like the glow of candlelight — came out of the slope several strides above him on his right. When he stepped toward the glow, it vanished.
Where the glow had been, a brightly-lit opening appeared. A chubby, human-like creature, shorter than Jono, wearing a tunic, was standing in front of the opening. The creature stepped through the opening, which was not much bigger than the creature. A moment later a door slid across the opening from Jono’s left to his right. The slope was again dark.
In front of the opening was a ledge as wide as Jono was tall. Three paces in front of the ledge w
as a boulder that was taller than Jono and four times wider. With his right cheek next to the boulder, Jono lay beside it so that he had a clear view of the ledge. He pulled his cloak tight around his face.
Out of the night came two soft taps that were swiftly followed by two more. A bright gap as big as a man’s fist appeared in the slope. An instant later the bright gap vanished. The round, illuminated opening appeared once more. A short, chubby, human-like creature, wearing a tunic, was facing the opening. The creature held in front of it, with both hands, a big bowl. The creature stepped through the opening. The opening closed.
A few moments later another chubby creature was knocking on the opening’s door. After a moment the fist-sized gap appeared. An instant later the gap vanished and the door slid aside. The second creature, carrying a bowl, went into the slope.
As soon as the door slid shut, Jono stood. He hurried across the ledge. He used the knuckles of his left hand to make two taps and then two more. The gap of light appeared in front of Jono.
A man’s voice rasped, “Password?”
“I don’t know what that means,” Jono admitted. “Is there a cornelian cherry tree nearby?”
“If you wish to pass through here, you have to tell me the password,” the gruff voice responded.
“I don’t need to come in,” Jono said. “I want to know about the cornelian cherry tree.”
“I open and close the door,” retorted the gravelly voice. “I don’t give out information. Information is not my department.”
“Is there someone inside who might know about a cornelian cherry tree?”
“Yes.”
After a moment Jono asked, “May I speak to him?”
“You will have to come in.”
“May I come in?”
“You may come in if you tell me the password.”
“How do I get a password?”
“I tell you the password when you go out.”
