by Shane Mason
‘I would have worked it out!’
Daquan’s fat face glared at him, and he furrowed his stubbly eyebrows in anger, nodding his jowly head in approval of Quesob’s pain control. Daquan placed his closed fist under the compass and the arrow swung from side to side, and then stopped.
‘It’s pointing to the Throughnight place,’ Quesob said with amazement.
‘Really. Perhaps the bracelets are there, or could it be that thousands of miles past it in the same direction is the place where you found my one-time traitorous friends?’
‘Yes, that is also it. I will leave at once,’ Quesob said dreading the thought of having to clamber back through B’barakai’s Incognia.
‘Good. Once you are out of the district, use something faster than horseback. If someone is using the bracelets I want them dead yesterday. I must have them.’
‘Yes. I understand. I will leave this very night.’
Scratching his face and eyebrows, Daquan watched Quesob leave.
***
Hours later, Daquan sat on his balcony, facing out over the valley. The lights of New Wakefield flickered in the darkness below, although he stared in the direction of the southern barren hills. Beyond them lay the fabled wilderness; an inhospitable terrain leading to an ocean near the bottom of the world. Few who ventured there ever came back. Exhaustion and starvation killed most people, or they got lost, wandering for years, and of course there were the Ori to contend with.
He swirled a beverage congratulating himself that after all these years he was close to finding the bracelets. Maybe within a few weeks he would have them and then he could start the next step in his master plan.
An arrow whooshed through the air, embedding itself just by his head. A red string dangled from it. Despite the late hour, he went downstairs, and crossed the courtyard to the stables, mounted one of the many horses and rode off into the night.
Sometime later he arrived at the base of the southern hills and headed for a small copse of willow trees overhanging a small creek.
Daquan growled.
‘This better be important.’
Captain HeGood Nexic stepped forward, shocked at Daquan’s appearance.
‘Your hair...and...beard...???’
Daquan snarled.
‘You call me out in the middle of the night to comment on my grooming!!!! Get on with it! Better be bloody important.’
‘Of course it is. Why else would I risk my neck?’
Daquan forced a laugh.
‘Because you think you will get something greater than you have now.’
‘Quite. Today while at the borstal we were treated to a visit from someone who was never to come back.’
‘Who?’
‘The cowboy, and with him were three friends, an Indian, a ballerina I think and an intellectual. They burst out of the orchard and charged down the guards before retreating.’
Daquan’s eyes widened and he let out a roaring noise.
‘Impossible!’
‘I saw the whole thing with my eyes. The very same cowboy. Why? Do you think I would lie?’
Daquan turned away and spoke in a soft voice.
‘But they are all dead.’
‘Who? All? The cowboy? How do you think that?’
Daquan whipped his gaze back toward him and saw him go from puzzled to suspicious. Captain HeGood shuffled his body to face off with Daquan.
‘You knew where they went all those years ago?’
Daquan held his tongue.
‘The memory of them, I meant, heh.’ Daquan laughed to hide his slip of the tongue. ‘I thought the memory was dead?’
‘The memory of the Marauders gone? I do not think it will ever go. It is almost a legend now. Yes, people are forbidden from speaking about it, but I hear whispers, I get reports. Those events have taken on a proportion way beyond what happened.’
Captain HeGood eyed him, wondering if all these years as a recluse had put him out of touch with life in New Wakefield.
‘I know what the council are hiding,’ Daquan said, slyly changing the subject.
‘What?’
‘You heard.’
‘And it made little sense.’
‘Let me put it this way. I know the secret they guard hidden in Golgotha.’
‘Hidden in the southern wasteland?’ Captain HeGood shook his head. ‘Are you mad? Many state that they know the secret. Children tease each other with such.’
‘Don’t underestimate the depth of my knowledge.’
‘Don’t underestimate my usefulness. I came here to share with you the news you asked for, to return a favour. Consider the favour returned.’
Daquan relaxed.
‘Okay. Okay. We spar with words, which is pointless. I thank you for the news.’
Captain HeGood mounted his horse.
‘You never did tell me why you wanted to know if the cowboy and the others ever turned up again.’
‘I removed them once before on your behalf, and let you take the credit. Your promotion was your reward. All I asked in return was the simple news you now bring me. Call it pride if you will. I like to see a job when done, stays done.’
Captain HeGood got the message loud and clear, keep his nose out - he was not going to be told.
‘Very well then. As Chief of the Inquisat I am charged with maintaining law and order. If you think this may escalate to the level of last time, I expect to be kept informed. You can count on me for discretion; I believe I can count on you?’
‘Count on you?’ Daquan paused, held the captain in an ice cool gaze. ‘You betrayed me last time.’
Captain HeGood’s horse snorted at this, and jostled back and forward.
‘Oh for pity’s sake, I did nothing of the sort. We have been over this many times. I have said all I would say on that subject.’
Daquan nodded and shooed him away with a gesture of his hand.
‘One other thing,’ Captain HeGood said, ‘probably not connected in anyway. But two days ago FumpHee and I came across some odd children in Hirad’s forest.’
‘Odd? In what way?’
‘I’m not sure. One of the boys seemed loopy, the other unafraid.’
‘You didn’t apprehend them?’
‘Couldn’t. Was tracking another boy.’
Daquan chewed the news of the boys over in his mind and then said, ‘Send a tracker out and see if you can find them.’
‘Really. Send a tracker out. Glad I have you here to tell me what to do. And what will I get in return?’
‘If the Marauders are back, then you will need lots of favours from me.’
He smacked Captain HeGood’s horse hard on the rump, making it totter about.
‘Go do your job, law order man.’
Captain HeGood glared at him, and kicked his horse into a trot and left.
As Daquan rode back his mind steamed with maddening thoughts of past resentments and betrayals. Someone who knew his murky past had the bracelets and was now in New Wakefield. It seemed the only possible explanation. How else could the Marauders return? But why? Why bring the bracelets back here? Did whomever it was know that he had no more than three months earlier ordered the killing of the last known bracelet wearers? Impossible. But then if they had the bracelets, anything was possible. But then they would have to be a child or child-like. His heart sank. Maybe he was too late. Maybe they had taught an adult to attain an innocent-mind like Doctor Thurgood had with him, and that an adult now wielded the bracelets. But why come back here?
He thought about what Quesob had told him, of the possibility of children, and, of course, Captain HeGood’s news of strange children in the forbidden forest. He could see the connection. Children trained to exact revenge on him for the murder. But they could not have been trained within a few months. No. Whoever, or whatever had the bracelets, must have had them a long time.
Curses that Quesob had left this night. He would have to send a rider after him. Quesob was essential to this plan. He would sto
p at nothing to get the bracelets, even if it meant betraying his friends.
Yes, thought Daquan, yes the cowboy is the major clue. An evil glow of smug satisfaction enveloped him. He chuckled to himself how easy it had been last time to get rid of the cowboy. He had simply taken the cowboy suit off.
***
Yanked from his sleep by the image of a something crashing into him, Ari rolled over ready to fight. Pensive, he looked across his sleeping cousins huddled in the makeshift bivouac. Morning light filtered in and he peered outside and could see no sign of anyone. Muddled, he relaxed, trying to recall how he got back. The image of Lexington draped across the figure filled his mind. He prodded her. She stirred, opened her eyes, and looking refreshed from her sleep, smiled at him.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
‘Mmm.’
‘How did you get back?’
‘Back? What?’ She pushed herself up from snuggling between Quixote and Melaleuca. ‘It’s a bit fuzzy. But that thing, whatever it was bought us back here.’ Lexington looked up and around, searching her memory. ‘You took quite a hard knock.’
‘It’s the last thing I recall,’ Ari said puzzled. ‘Not clear after that.’
‘I could see, though not clearly. It held on to you and me.’
‘Were you conscious? You looked asleep or something.’
‘Yes,’ she said without thinking, then realised what she had said. ‘I mean no, um, I must have come to or something.’
Melaleuca sat up, and asked in a sleepy voice, ‘Who was unconscious?’
Ari explained what he remembered and prompted Lexington to tell what she had seen.
Melaleuca shook her head. ‘I only remember falling asleep. Quixote?’
Quixote shook his head. ‘Probably got brought here by the eagle, or some silverquick, or a stream of magic powder.’
Lexington looked at him unamused. ‘The sooner we get back the sooner I will pick costumes to solve this as well as the other mysteries.’
A gust of wind swirled outside sending a hint of chill into the bivouac.
‘Why wait?’ said an unknown voice from outside. It sounded like a human’s voice crossed with some sort of animal.
Silenced, they remained still, a learned caution from all the events so far falling over them, except Quixote. With a flurry, he hurtled outside slipping on his bracelet and hurling the detective-costume on. The hillside looked the same as the day before, though some extra bushes appeared to have sprung up over night.
‘There’s nothing here.’
Bracelets on, the others followed behind him. Quixote sniffed the air. A stinky odour teased his nostrils.
‘Phew. What is that smell?’ Ari asked as the others started to smell it.
The voice spoke again. ‘ME!’
Ari jumped up and faced off in the direction of the voice. ‘Look here, whoever or whatever you are, reveal yourself.’
‘Blind, blind, cannot see before your face,’ the voice said again.
To the cousin’s surprise a small portion of the side of the hill, covered in bushes, tussock, rocks and plants, started to rise up before them, until, six feet high, stood a humanoid shape.
Lexington’s jaw drooped.
‘What are you?’
Not liking it Ari looked to Melaleuca for an order. With her sharp eyes she studied it trying to get a feeling off it. Her gut told her it might be trusted. She opened her mouth to tell Ari, but last night’s argument with Lexington shot into her mind. She turned to Lexington, saying, ‘I feel it is harmless. What do you think?’
Lexington hesitated.
‘To confirm my feeling,’ Melaleuca added.
‘Little children play dressing up,’ it said.
Lexington quickly swapped outfits with Quixote, once again becoming the detective.
‘What are you?’ Lexington asked again, searching it for clues. ‘You don’t make sense.’
‘I am Iam, the Listener of the land,’ it said, sounding happy and male.
‘Yes but what are you? Animal, vegetable, mineral?’
‘All of that. You are lost.’
‘We know exactly where we are,’ Ari said.
‘But not what you are.’ Iam giggled.
‘We know what we are,’ Quixote said. ‘Do you know what you are? You really smell bad.’
‘I am all,’ it said.
‘What do you listen for?’ Lexington asked.
‘You tell me.’ It pointed at Lexington’s detective cloak. ‘What is the basis of all observation?’
Even before she started to think about it, she felt her mind run through several logical possibilities, and the answer came to her.
‘Change.’
‘Delightful!’ Iam squealed. ‘The wind blew differently, the animals moved differently, even the blades of grass sensed you were being revealed.’
‘Can you really read the animals and plants?’ Quixote asked, approaching Iam.
‘Yes, like the Indian.’ It pointed at Ari. ‘Must sit and listen, spend many months, sitting, listening, and watching.’
The smell settled and the same sensation that Ari had dubbed the “Ethmare,” emanated from Iam, and though it acted childish, an ancient air hovered around it.
Quixote reached out. ‘Can I touch you?’
Iam squealed in delight. ‘Ah, little dreamers-heart. Most certainly.’
Quixote placed his hands on it.
‘I bet you wear a bracelet too and this is another cool costume.’
Ari placed his hands on Quixote’s arms.
‘Be careful Quixote.’
‘Warrior-heart speaks good words. No harm shall I do you though.’
‘Harm?’ Ari said. ‘Was that you that knocked us over?’
‘Heh heh. Yes. Oops. Sorry. Knew you would be fine.’
Melaleuca stepped forward but the smell of it pushed her back. ‘Quixote what do you see?’
Quixote dug his fingers into the back of Iam.
‘Oh,’ Iam said, ‘curious little boy. What find you?’
‘Dirt and plants?’
Iam laughed hyena like.
Not to be outdone, Lexington walked up to Iam and sunk her fingers in.
‘Ew. Dirt. You’re some form of sentient plant life,’ she said surprised, and turned to Melaleuca. ‘I need the outfit of a scientist.’
‘I think I will trust you for the time being, whatever you are. You seem harmless. Crazy but harmless,’ Melaleuca said.
‘Crooked stick straightener. By you all things shall be made right,’ Iam said.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Lexington asked.
‘She-who-would-know asks that which she can work out.’
‘Is there actually something you want to tell us that will help us?’ Ari said.
Iam laughed some more and ran around, leaping and whooping like a child gone mad on sugar.
‘Could tell you. Better to show you how to know.’ Iam’s face blared wide open, showing that at least it had a mouth with teeth and a tongue, and its eyes looked human.
‘I will say this.
“Life linked forged from beginning of time
Hand, paw, plant and dirt.
Though one has forgot the others remember.
Servants we all of the higher realm,
The invisible visible through forgotten lines of old.
Will the earth move or stay the same.” ’
Melaleuca offered Iam a blank stare. ‘That’s it? Our big clue?’
‘Karena would have worked it out,’ Iam said
‘Who’s Karena?’ Lexington asked. ‘Uncle said it before.’
‘Work that out, and many pieces fall into place.’
Melaleuca grew irate. ‘What a pesky thing you are. A simple straight answer would mightily help us about now.’
‘This is just the beginning,’ Iam said in a taunt, and though no clouds crossed the sky, all around them the light dimmed. ‘At the end no one will give you answers. You all will stand alone,
very alone indeed.’
A chilled silence intensified its words.
‘End? What end? End of what?’ Lexington asked. ‘What are you? What do you mean? So far all I have is doubts that anything makes sense.’
‘No no no no no. No doubt. Trust…..’
‘Ohh, trust what exactly?’
‘Feelings! Yours, his, hers, his.’
‘Feelings! Blow feelings. I want information. I want facts. I want to work out what is going on? Where are our parents? How can a giant eagle still exist? The dinosaurs died out millions of years ago? The British colonised this land 200 years ago, but this is much older. Why? What is silverquick? Where did all the costumes come from? What happened to Antavahni?’
Iam jabbed his leafy arm at Melaleuca. ‘She is right, the crooked-stick-straightener girl. Follow her instructions.’
The detective costume took Lexington over. She whipped out notebook after notebook and started jotting notes down and screaming out the word, ‘WHY?’ at Iam.
Ari grabbed the bracelet off her and she tottered about for a few seconds before regaining herself. An unimpressed Melaleuca presented herself in front of Lexington.
‘I am not the smart one. But I now know this much for sure. The costumes work best when having fun. We shall return, learn to use the costumes and do so by playing and imagining.’
Lexington composed herself, and softened her eyes to meet Melaleuca’s sharp eyes. ‘If you stay that serious then your bracelet won’t work.’
A delighted Iam banged its arms together making a leafy clapping noise. ‘Excellent, it’s settled then,’ and started prancing around like a gleeful child.
‘And you!’ Melaleuca said, turning on Iam. ‘Have you any more to add, or like the rest of the people in this land, have only silence and cryptic messages to give us.’
‘You know what you have to do.’ Iam laughed.
Melaleuca stared with intent into Iam trying to fathom out what was inside its thoughts. But nothing came forth except a faint feeling.
‘Not on this one,’ Iam said to her. ‘I am beyond human ken.’
‘And time,’ she said puzzled, almost glimpsing where she went in her private dream world.
