by Duane Alston
“You better not tell or you'll get no dried meat tonight,” Jalaby replied.
“Promises, promises, my price to not tell, is to sleep in that bed. I can be bought you know.” Sarah was moving fast to keep up, as Jalaby retraced their previous steps.
“I should let you and when the owner of the bed appears, then what would you do?” Jalaby was at the bottom door when Sarah replied, as they stepped through and back into the warehouse.
“It might be warmer to sleep with two in bed anyway,” she said lightly and pushed in front of Jalaby to where the others stood.
“You don't have to fear brother, Jalaby was a perfect gentleman,” said Sarah as Jalaby came up beside her.
“That is not what it sounded like to me." Tom replied
Sounded like a discussion of future sleeping arrangements,” laughed Connel.
Jalaby realized that they had heard Sarah's last remark and he quickly tried to move to another subject.
“That's not what we were talking about. We have more important things to discuss. We found a place to sleep on this floor and we also found what is possibly the owner's quarters with kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. We thought we should make a complete circuit around the inside of the mill to see if we can find someone and let them know we are here. So, Tom we could use your loud singing, if you don't mind, and let's proceed to explore this place, starting at the bottom floor.”
“Well, I'm not finished discussing your intentions towards my sister, but I see your point, let's go. Lead the procession, the animals are OK here.” Tom looked angry but Jalaby knew he meant to only tease him about Sarah.
They all grabbed a lantern and began to yell 'hello, is there anyone here' at the top of their voices. Jalaby soon made them stop, every once in a while, when he concluded that they couldn't have heard a reply if there was one, with all the noise they were making. They had taken the stairway to the basement level and explored it a bit. This is where they found access to a shaft chamber that had a spiral staircase leading down to the water wheel, which they guessed was more than a hundred feet down at the river. A large un-moving shaft was in the middle of the shaft chamber. They only ventured a few steps down the stairway before reason told them that they would have seen a light if anyone was down at the bottom. No one relished what would be a long climb back up either, so they chose to move to the next floor. Sarah and Jalaby had already explored the storage and bag room, so they open another door at the far end and found the flour bagging room. It was dusted with a fresh coat of flour and it looked like someone had recently been at work, from the tracks in the flour on the floor. Jalaby studied these while the others yelled out their monotonous call. A large shaft came through the floor and continued through the ceiling. There was a series of chutes and bagging apparatus to one side of the large shaft.
“These are strange foot prints. Look how short but wide the boot print is. It's almost round,” said Jalaby. The only sound was the wind moaning in the background, while Jalaby and the others studied the flour covered floor momentarily before anyone spoke.
“Well, he can't be very tall or he'd fall over with support from feet that make tracks like these,” laughed Tom. “Come on, let's find this creature.” Tom then led the way to the next level, where they explored the living quarters that Sarah and Jalaby had previously visited and then moved to the balcony area above the bag room. There, they went in each of the rooms but found only carpentry tools and supplies.
The next level was interesting in that there were no smaller rooms, just one great large room that covered the entire floor of the mill. Periodically there were support columns to hold the structure up. This was obviously the grinding room since there were several stone grinding wheels connected to a large conveyor belt leading to a shaft in a complex arrangement. There were also some loading conveyors that came from the bottom level. Jalaby surmised that the grain would be dumped somewhere outside onto the conveyor system and it would take it up to this level to the grinding wheels. The resulting flour would then head down the chutes to the bagging room.
“Well there is obviously no one in this room, let's head up.” Jalaby led the way up to next and final level. This level was more of an observation platform, looking out on the land surrounding the mill. The room had windows all the way around and was about a fourth the size of the mill floor area. At the moment, they could see nothing but the lightning bursts that periodically made the sky light up. It was cold and the wind virtually howled, but there was no one about.
“Out of luck. Whoever is here doesn't want to be seen, so we'll have to wait them out. I'm really bushed, let's set up quarters in the bag room, that way we can be near the animals and supplies.” Jalaby said and saw Sarah look at him expectantly. “No bed for Sarah, you have to sleep with us again. We don't know who or what lives here. It could be dangerous, so we stick together.”
“Great! At least I'm going to have my choice of sleeping location in the bag room,” moaned Sarah and no one argued, as they all headed back down the stairs.
As before, they ate little and quickly put together their beds for the night, but differently than before, this time Sarah took the first watch and Jalaby the last watch.
Chapter 12
Connel woke Jalaby in the dark bag room sometime around four o'clock. Jalaby took the lantern from Connel, went to the entrance door and into the loading area where the horses and kacks were tied. He hung the lantern on a wall hook and went back to take up his post at the entrance to the bag room. With the door open, Jalaby stood in the shadows of the hallway and kept guard. At times he listened intently but there was only the moan and creak of the old mill as the diminished, but forceful wind continued to blow. There were several times during the night that Jalaby sensed and seemed to feel a presence near, but when he investigated, never straying too far from his watch area, there was nothing. It didn't seem very long before the sun was shining through the high windows above where the horses and kacks were now restlessly coming awake. Jalaby went about their feeding and watering while letting the others sleep. They had a busy day yesterday and needed to rest. It was his watch until eight o'clock and Jalaby like the solitude of the early morning. Back at his post in front of the bag room, Jalaby looked in. Sarah and Connel looked fast asleep but he could see that Tom was starting to move about. It wasn't long before they all sat up, yawning and stretching, probably due to Tom's noise making.
“I'm first in the bathroom,” said Sarah, as she jumped up and headed towards Jalaby.
“We'll do another search today and as a precaution we'll always stay in pairs, since we don't know who we are dealing with.”
“Well, I can take care of myself, but your welcome to tag along,” Sarah said as she brushed past Jalaby and headed to the stairway.
Jalaby shrugged his shoulders at Tom and Connel and turned to follow Sarah up the stairway. Their necessities taken care of, Sarah and Jalaby poked about in the kitchen.
“You know with this kitchen, we could have several good meals while we are here. Let's cook something up before we start exploring this mill,” Sarah suggested.
“Sounds good and I'll leave some money on the counter to pay for it in case our hidden host does not look kindly on our helping ourselves. Go ahead and start and I'll get a few things from our packs,” Jalaby's eyes were bright as they happily held the promise of a decent breakfast.
“Hey! I thought we were to stay together?” Sarah said as she pulled a pan from the cupboard.
“I'll send Tom right up, you'll be OK,” Jalaby shouted over his shoulder as he headed down. He could hear Sarah muttering lightly that she knew she would be OK and that he was breaking his new rule.
They all wound up working in the kitchen and cooked a huge breakfast, devoured it, and after cleaning up the kitchen, broke into two groups to begin the search of the mill. Jalaby and Sarah were in one group and Tom and Connel in the other.
After giving in to Tom's grumbling, Sarah and Jalaby took on the exploration of th
e lower floors, which meant that they would need to take the hundred foot spiral stairway that led down to the water wheel and the Crieton River. With two lanterns in hand, the pair began the descent down. Every so often on their way down, there would be a small room off the stairway. Usually this had grease and other material evidently used to grease and maintain the shaft bearings that appeared every so often. About half way down they discovered a large room which included a bench and some extra lanterns on a shelf.
“We might need this bench on the way back up!” Jalaby said over his shoulder to Sarah.
“Hope you're not tired already,” laughed Sarah as their steps echoed in the chamber that housed the mill shaft.
“Not yet but going down is easy. Quiet! What was that!” They both stopped and listened but only silence greeted them.
“I guess I must be hearing things or maybe it was Tom and Connel making noise up above. Never mind, let's go.” Jalaby again moved down the stairway.
After a bit they arrived at the bottom and into a large room where, through the use of large gears, the vertical shaft they had been following turned into a horizontal shaft that connected to the waterwheel. This shaft was positioned about midway between the floor and ceiling. Towards the river was another door.
“Let's try outside,” said Jalaby after moving his lantern around the room to discover nothing of interest.
Sarah moved ahead and opened a door, which they discovered led to the outside. They gasp at the site of the huge wheel that dipped into the Creighton River that flowed many feet below them. The support structure was striking in its size and they stood on a long wide platform that ran quite a distance along the river.
“Wow! I've never seen anything like it, have you?” Jalaby stared up in amazement with his eyes squinting from the bright outdoor light.
“Magnificent! But we haven't found a soul. Maybe this creature you mentioned is invisible. It certainly doesn't want to be sociable.”
“You saw that kitchen, it's human enough to eat the same food as we do. I get the feeling that it is checking us out, watching us, and I'm not sure I like it. If we can't make contact, we may have to press on in a few days and see where the road continues to take us.” Jalaby smiled and breathed in a lung full of fresh river air.
“I suppose. I'm beginning to miss home and it's only been a couple of days. I miss my own bed that's for sure.” Sarah stretched along the rail, her red hair reflecting the morning light.
“You know I didn't want you to come on this journey, mostly because I didn't know what to expect. I am sorry that you are not in your bed at home right now, but at the same time for what it's worth, I am glad you're here.” Jalaby finished and looked at Sarah who was looking at her shoes or the river below.
“Thanks.” Sarah looked up momentarily locking eyes with Jalaby. Jalaby felt a connection he had not felt before and a deeper feeling he was not sure he quite understood yet.
“Well it’s a long way up, let's get going. Hey, just a minute! This wheel was connected to the shaft when we arrived yesterday and it isn't now. There must be a control lever or something that starts and stops it. Let's find it. At least we would know where he was when he stopped the wheel.” Jalaby replied after their mutual silence.
“I'm not sure what good that will do, but lets take a look.”
Jalaby and Sarah then abandoned the beautiful day and entered the bottom gear room once again. After some inspection, it was Sarah who figured it out.
“From what I can tell, it is these two rods that start and stop the wheel by sliding a gear mechanism that is tied to the shaft. The rods seem to extend up the shaft running parallel to the large shaft that runs the grinding wheels.” Sarah beamed as she finished.
“That makes sense. They would not want to climb these stairs every time they needed to start or stop the grinding wheels. Looks like there is nothing more to see here. Let's head back up.” With that, Jalaby led the way back up the stairway. Halfway up they rested on the bench to catch their breath and he noticed the rods running next to the large shaft.
“There they are, the two control rods for the waterwheel. I notice them now.” Jalaby sat down on one end of the bench. To his surprise Sarah sat and swung her legs to the opposite end and laid her head on his leg for a pillow. He stiffened initially but then relaxed. He wasn't used to Sarah's informal style.
“You make a nice pillow Jalaby. Wake me up when you are ready to go,” said Sarah with what Jalaby thought was a teasing voice.
“Ah, er, sure,” was all Jalaby could manage as he relaxed and looked at Sarah's face. Since her eyes were closed he was able to study her face in some detail, which was something he had never done since they had known each other. Her dark red hair spread out behind her head in contrast to her light skin. She had a small nose and mouth and to Jalaby her features made her look about twelve years old. But he knew better. She was obviously a young women.
“I feel like someone's eyes are boring a hole in my head,” Sarah said lightly which made Jalaby jump, “and my pillow is beginning bounce around a bit too much.”
“Well, ah, it's time to move on. If you are ready?” Jalaby said nervously.
“OK, OK. Let's get going. By the time we are back it will be lunch time.” Sarah got to her feet.
“Food again, I believe that is all you think about. Let's go.” Jalaby laughed as he led the way. Before long they were at the top of the spiral staircase on the first floor of the main mill building. They all spent the rest of the day searching but found no one and nothing of particular interest. It was just an old working mill. There was nothing out of the ordinary and Jalaby sensed the others disappointment. When they all sat down in the bag room at the end of the day they were tired and Tom as usual was grumpy from having exerted energy on the search. It was beginning to get dark again outside, but between the large lantern that stood in the middle of the room and the outside light that filtered in, there was light enough to see everyone's face. Long shadows played on the walls when anyone moved.
“Tell us again about what your parents said about an old creature in a mill? I think whoever runs this place has taken a vacation. I am beginning to wonder why we came!” Tom's voice was harsh and loud and the others seemed taken aback by his manner.
“You noticed it yourself, that what we've found so far indicates someone was here and only a short while ago. They evidently don't want to be sociable, but I say we stay one more day. You know we need the rest and it is obvious from your tone that you certainly do,” Jalaby answered calmly looking not at Tom but wistfully into the flame of the large lantern.
“Jalaby,” but Tom's reply was interrupted by a voice that sounded from the balcony railing of the upper level that looked down on them.
“Jalaby Langmaster, that is who you mean.” They all jerked their heads in unison towards the voice that was soft and yet had a timbre that denoted a strong speaking voice. They were finally going to meet the creature of the mill.
Chapter 13
At the railing stood someone Jalaby recognized as human and yet different. He was shorter than anyone in their group but had a large head with large saucer eyes, that now peered at them as he leaned on the railing looking down. The other features of his flat oval face were small and petite in comparison to those eyes that never wavered from their gaze. His arms in proportion to his body were very long and in one quick movement he vaulted over the balcony and landed like a cat on the floor of the bag room. Involuntarily Jalaby put a hand on the hilt of his sword, which made the creature, who was now standing erect some twenty paces away, tilt his head to one side, much like a dog who is trying to understand your command.
“You have nothing to fear from me Prince Langmaster, being the loyal follower that I am,” Jalaby noted the sarcastic tone and decided not to trust anything this creature said.
“Who are you?” Jalaby ventured and was surprised by his own calm and assured voice when he was feeling neither.
“Talisbon, ah, Miller. Ha
Ha, yes I can see it in your faces but all of us Millers have been millers. Ha Ha, yes, that is a good one,” Talisbon face was alight, as if he had pleased himself in some enormous way.
“Miller huh, well OK. I am Jalaby Stebon and these are my friends Sarah Whycourt, Tom Whycourt, and Connel Impastorian,” as Jalaby swept his hand to point while introducing them, the large eyes of Talisbon followed. Jalaby did not like the way they lingered longer on Sarah.
“You said Langmaster? Why did you call Jalaby, Prince Langmaster?” Tom's question was quickly spoke, as if he expected Jalaby to stop him. He, Sarah, and Connel stood expectantly, only Jalaby seemed uncomfortable and looked briefly down at his feet before returning his eyes to stare into those of Talisbon, whose constant grin was now irritating Jalaby.
“Why it appears the Prince has not been forthcoming. How traditional! Well let me see, Jalaby Langmaster, that is your Jalaby, is the son of Crieton Langmaster, our sad to say, current or possibly the last ruler of Langton, which on this side of the river is all that is before you. I know little of what happened to his family, everything seemed to fall apart after the Great War. There is presently very little governing structure right here on this side of the river, now further in, maybe. Small bands of Fog Warriors roam around but typically cause little trouble. Recently there has been a resurgence and I understand there is now a large Fog Warrior army. Maybe your father is at it again.” Talisbon spoke like a long practice teacher with soft words and a smooth crisp rhythm.
“Fog Warriors!” Sarah's voice carried a distressed tone that Jalaby had never heard before. Talisbon's gaze seemed to take her all in and Jalaby was about to say something, he wasn't sure what, when Talisbon spoke.
“Frightens you, does it, well you are quite lovely. Oh, where was I? Yes, well there really isn't much to say. It's a pretty rough country, I see you all have swords. You will need them. Yes, you will need them.” Grinning, Talisbon's gaze moved from one to the other.
