Special Passage (The Coursodon Dimension Book 4)

by M. L. Ryan

  “No, no,” Sebastian countered, “Before, only you could detect it. This is different. Now, we all can feel the vibrations. My supposition is somehow the massive electrical discharge that brought us here altered something in the stone.”

  I looked at him with skepticism. While previously, no one but I perceived the egg as anything other than a pretty, blue, polished stone, I wasn’t buying his theory. “It couldn’t have been the lightning,” I argued. “The whole time I’ve been in Dekankara, while it was in my possession, the egg was completely inert.”

  Sebastian’s face tightened in concentration. After a few moments, his features relaxed and he shoved the egg onto my snout.

  The action startled me; nevertheless, the egg was still. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “But I do,” he said triumphantly, lifting the rock from my nose. “Alexander?”

  Alex leaned over and took the egg from Sebastian. “Definitely vibrating.”

  To prove his point, Sebastian questioned Bex, Gera, and Ulut to see if they sensed anything when they held the stone. They all felt the same, rhythmic oscillations.

  That’s weird. I asked Ulut to find out if Bex noticed any pulsing before we got back to Gera’s.

  “She said she didn’t, but it was in the middle of all that cloth,” Ulut reported. “She doubts she’d have felt it through all the layers even if it was jumping. However, Bex recalls V held the stone a few times before she wrapped it up, even once without the basket. She’s certain if it had been buzzing like it is now, V would have mentioned it.”

  Sebastian tapped his chin. “Fascinating. Perhaps there is a connection between the vibrations and its proximity to the peak. The further away from Baboquivari, the less the egg resonates. My dear, were you the only one to possess the egg before we left here the first time?”

  “Yes, but…”

  Before I could finish, he stuffed the egg into his pocket, sprinted to the barn, and emerged soon thereafter with a saddled horse. Alex and I exchanged confused glances, but we were used to Sebastian’s mercurial whims. “I’ll be back shortly,” he called out, squeezing his knees into the animal’s sides to induce it to cantor off.

  When the Jyryxahal finished the grave, they helped me out of the wagon to my new digs in what had been the group’s bedroom in the barn.

  “Where’s everyone else going to sleep?” I challenged. “I’ll take up all the room myself.”

  Ulut placed a reassuring hand against my side. “Don’t worry, Hailey. Gera agreed to stable the goats in one stall while we are here. The rest of us can bunk in the empty ones.”

  “That’s ridiculous. The billies fight when they’re together. I can stay outside.”

  “If the males can’t get along, one of them can stay outside,” Alex countered.

  “He’ll be eaten!” I sputtered. Wild, nocturnal predators would love an unattended goat.

  “That is a risk Gera said he is more than willing to take if it means you will be more comfortable. You will feel better out of the elements.”

  I acquiesced and nestled into the soft straw. Alex was right. Even though the barn wasn’t heated, it would provide shelter from the cold, damp wind.

  Almost immediately, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. At some point, Sebastian startled me awake.

  “I was correct,” he announced with unrestrained jubilation. “It only vibrates within a certain radius of the peak. Gera’s property is actually at the very edge of the zone. Closer to Babo, the thing pulsed like a cheap sex toy.” Sebastian threw back his head and laughed at his joke. I didn’t find it particularly amusing. Although, seeing him in such fine spirits indicated he thought he might be on to something. Me, I still had my doubts.

  “Not to burst your bubble, but how is that going to help us find the damn portal?”

  “My dear,” he began, patting me on my wing, “we have a map and a beacon. It is only a matter of time before we put it all together. Of that I am certain.” He leaned closer and stated firmly, “Hang in there. We will get you home safely.”

  His words held nothing but certainty, and that unwavering confidence boosted my sagging spirits. I just hoped he figured it out soon; I wasn’t sure how much time I had left.

  We buried our friend the next morning. The air was brisk, but the sun shone brightly. If the weather had been as gloomy as my mood, I might not have made it through the ceremony. Once V’s body was lowered into the ground, the graveside service consisted of each of us reciting anecdotes, and the ones from the Jyryxahal, who had known her the longest, were particularly poignant.

  Z explained how V loved congealed oxyntberry pie, a Courso dessert I, and apparently he, found extremely unappetizing. Undaunted by his dislike of the otherwise popular sweet, V tried various recipes to entice Z over to the pie-side. Eventually, overwhelmed by her steadfast commitment to showing him the virtues of the stuff, he pretended he enjoyed the gelatinous glop, only because he couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing her. He was never as happy as the day they passed into the human dimension, where oxyntberries did not exist.

  W recounted his first glimpse of V, at the inaugural meeting of my followers. She was smiling, and her joyous nature quashed any misgivings he had about joining the group. Bex spoke of their close friendship, and T described her exceptional kindness to everyone she encountered at Elephant Butte, despite imprisonment and hardship.

  I was the last to offer recollections, and I spoke not of her bravery when she fought Jifga—that memory was still too raw. Instead, I shared how the mere thought of her ever-present, affable smile lifted my spirits, even in the face of unrelenting despair.

  “It’s a rare thing, to be able to make people feel better just because you exist. I never believed I was worship-worthy, never wanted anyone to follow me. Particularly not in my current state,” I added, eliciting a number of soft snickers in the crowd. “But if a woman of such genial spirit and grace saw me that way, I must be doing something right. Rest in peace, Vyxijinithx.” V deserved to be eulogized with her given name, and I’d made Bex repeat it until I’d committed it to memory.

  Tears streamed down the cheeks of Z and W as they and the other Jyryxahal began to heave shovelfuls of dirt into the grave. Even the usually stoic Sebastian was misty-eyed. For the first time as a non-human, I was grateful I couldn’t weep. If I started, I feared I’d never be able to stop.

  The mournful task completed, we returned to finding our way out of Dekankara. Alex and Sebastian spent almost all their time on the mountain, often camping there at night to make better use of the daylight hours to search. Despite discovering a couple of places where the egg vibrated so violently that it almost leapt out of their hands, they still hadn’t found the way back.

  While they combed over the peak, everyone else tried to stay as busy as possible, a goal that turned out to be a bit of challenge. The onset of winter marked a sharp decline in the number of daily chores compared to the hectic schedules we experienced when we last bunked at Gera’s. Even if I was strong enough to help, in reality there wasn’t much a two-hundred-pound, fingerless, bat-bird-lizard beast could do.

  Surprisingly, Hyattia hadn’t left to return to Agnes and the Butte. His friend took one team and a wagon back the day after we arrived, but Hyattia insisted he should stay until V’s internment. The funeral came and went, yet he remained, continuing to care for me, as well as assisting with work at the farm.

  At that point, I’d almost completely lost my appetite—Ulut and Hyattia practically force-fed me each day—and I slept more than I was awake. Aside from keeping me company, my friends devised any number of distractions for my amusement and general well-being. They continued the book club that had helped restore my sanity at Elephant Butte, and Gera liked to sing to me. However, my favorite diversion was a sort of small-sided, pick-up soccer, played on one of the fallow fields. Using a dried melon as the ball, the three-on-three matches—with Hyattia serving as referee—were strangely competitive. At first, W, Z, and T played on
one team with Bex, Ulut, and Prytx on the other, but the usually mild-mannered Jyryxahal were so prone to fouling that no team could have more than two. It wasn’t the English Premier League, but it was great fun to watch.

  After a week of scouring over Dekan-Babo, the location of the portal still eluded us, and even with Sebastian’s continuing treatments, I feared my declining health verged on the point of no return. No one symptom led me to that conclusion, only some inner knowledge that my days were surely numbered. I hid my concerns from everyone. Alex and Sebastian were already working as rapidly and diligently as they could—loading additional pressure on them wasn’t going to spur them on to finish faster. I wondered if they’d bury me next to V.

  I was dozing off when Alex came to check on me. He and Sebastian returned from the peak early, deciding to sleep in the relative comfort of Gera’s barn rather than brave another night on the mountain. With his mentor foraging in the kitchen for a snack, Alex sat next to me in the straw.

  “Maybe a good night’s rest will make things clearer in the morning,” he said, uncustomarily downcast.

  “You’ll figure it out.” I tried to sound comforting, but I had to stifle a wheezy cough and probably sounded less assured than I intended. To cover both my pulmonary distress and any perceived lack of confidence, I quickly said, “Do you want to talk through it? Maybe I can see something you’re not.”

  In truth, I doubted I had any better insights than he or Sebastian. Rather, the invitation to hear him out stemmed from my physical limitations. If he was talking, I didn’t have to push out my thoughts and could save my focus for breathing normally.

  Alex presented the facts as he knew them, clearly and concisely. Somewhere on that mountain a portal existed, one that didn’t require a lightning strike to open it. We had map to find it and a sort of homing device to lead us there. Despite all that, they felt they were running in circles. Just when they were sure they were close, the egg’s oscillations would diminish. Or, when they thought they’d figured out how the topography of the peak matched I’itoi’s maze, they’d end up halfway there, but at the edge of a cliff. No one believed the portal was located in mid-air.

  “We are missing something,” he complained, shaking his head. He pulled my little basket out of his pocket and examined the design in the lid. “It can’t be coincidence that Billman’s basket has the exact pattern as the symbol in Gera’s book.”

  It did seem unlikely, but what if it was just a fluke? As I scrutinized the symbol, I noticed it looked a little like a Pac-man, munching on a stick figure. “Maybe it’s a sign the mountain will eat us up,” I said glumly.

  Alex stared at me with furrowed brows, and I explained how I arrived at what must have seemed like a complete non sequitur.

  “I certainly hope that is not the case. I suspect we aren’t particularly tasty.” He gave me a crooked smile, and, if only to continue with what little levity the moment could bear, remarked, “Maybe we can get Bex to season us. Wouldn’t want I’itoi to find us unpalatable.”

  His comment called to mind Bex and V cooking in Gera’s kitchen and with it the happy memory of the three of us comparing our bracelets over a pot of stew.

  “Doprix fucking nyx!”

  Alex jumped at my sudden and profane outburst. “What’s wrong?”

  It took a second to stop coughing, but I pushed out, “The bracelets—they have a pattern similar to I’itoi’s maze.”

  “The ones Gera gave you, Bex, and V?” he wondered, clearly confused at my sudden interest in woven jewelry.

  “Yes! They have a similar design, but not exactly the same.”

  An idea was forming, and I needed some visual aids. My bracelet shredded when I transformed, and I couldn’t recall seeing Bex or V wearing theirs after our capture. “Find Bex,” I panted, trying to catch my breath. “Find her and ask if she still has her bracelet.”

  I knew he didn’t want to go anywhere, but I insisted.

  “I’m fine,” I coughed, “just swallowed the wrong way. Go!”

  He hesitated, but then he ran off toward the house.

  32

  Bex had her bracelet as well as V’s. They removed them before TBD and his cohorts frisked us, hiding the bands in their boots, where they remained safely stowed throughout our incarceration. She handed them to Alex, who held them for my examination. Both stared at me expectantly, ready for a revelation about why the weavings were so important.

  I squinted at the patterns, but my eyes, made for spying a deer from a hundred feet up, could not discern enough detail from the small symbols in the poor lighting of the barn. Alex found more candles, and as he lit them, I described my theory, that the designs on the bracelets contained the missing map information. Alex pressed his lips into a taut line, obviously not sold on the hypothesis. Nevertheless, he pulled out the basket and placed it in the center of one of the bracelets as I instructed.

  At first, no pattern emerged to support my theory. Undaunted, I directed Alex to rotate the bracelet incrementally, until the band surrounded the basket, much like the rings around Saturn.

  “There,” I shouted telepathically. “See how the pattern on the bracelet lines up with the one on the basket?”

  In fact, the inner circles superimposed upon one another, forming what appeared to be almost a three-dimensional image where two flat ones had been before.

  Alex stared at the optical illusion, repeating, “Unbelievable,” while pivoting the basket to bring the resulting image in and out of focus. “Please find Sebastian,” he said in Courso, looking to Bex to fulfill the request, but she had already taken off, calling the Xyzok’s name as she ran toward the house. “And bring more light,” he shouted after her. I was pleased I was able to understand his simple requests. If I managed not to die, maybe I’d master the language after all.

  Bex, carrying an oil lamp, returned shortly with Sebastian. When Alex recreated the alignment with the additional illumination, the effect was even more noticeable.

  Sebastian beamed. “If I can manage a holograph, I think we will be able to see exactly where we must go.”

  It took a couple of tries, but soon, a small, 3D version of Dekan-Babo swirled an inch above his hand. Memorizing the basket-bracelet alignment, he projected that image upon the first, and every part of the symbols that seemed meaningless when flat, corresponded to the topography near the top of the peak.

  “Hot damn,” I muttered, mesmerized by both the beauty of the translucent image rotating slowly above Sebastian’s palm and the implications of the discovery. “Maybe I’itoi came from Dekankara to create the Tohono O’Odham people after all.”

  Sebastian face flushed with expectation. “Quite right, my dear. I believe we have, to use an old human colloquialism, hit pay dirt.”

  Preparations for departure commenced immediately. We knew where we had to be—now the issue was how to get me there. On our original hike, I needed climbing gear to ascend the peak. Jifga had pilfered all the equipment, and even if he hadn’t, it wouldn’t be much help in my current form or condition. Between Alex and Sebastian, the four Jyryxahal, Prytx, and Ulut, there were enough able-bodied helpers to haul me up the mountain using some sort of carrying contraption. Unfortunately, that would get me only as far as a ring of dense vegetation below the summit called the Lion’s Ledge. To reach our ultimate destination, a large outcropping above the ledge, I’d have to fly.

  I wasn’t certain I could walk, much less take to the air, but I figured once airborne, it would be a relatively short flight. Sebastian employed all his healing skills to get me as healthy as possible before my liftoff and for two days before we embarked on our excursion, everyone, including Ulut, laid hands on me in an attempt to transfer as much medical mojo as possible. I did feel stronger after the treatments, but I could tell the process was as draining to them as it was restorative to me.

  Because Dekankarans didn’t climb mountains for recreation, we didn’t have to worry about random hikers gawking at the giant, molting beas
t, and we could travel in daylight. Gera gave us some canvas to construct a sling-litter, and W and T found tree trunks just the right diameter for the carrying poles. A little stripped bark and a few sturdy lashes of leather, and my carriage was complete.

  Once again, as we had at our first departure, we thanked Gera for his help. This time, however, in compensation for his hospitality, we left the three horses that remained after Hyattia’s friend returned to Elephant Butte. Gera described his plans to plant a flowering desert willow on V’s grave come spring, and he promised to be its faithful guardian as long as he lived. Wishing us safe travels, he reminded us that if our quest proved unsuccessful, we’d always have a home with him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him if our quest failed, he’d have to get a whole grove of trees to cover the massive pit they’d have to bury me in.

  He also presented me with a small bouquet of purple flowers, which he tied around my neck like a necklace. He told Ulut he pilfered the blooms, often used to relieve respiratory discomfort, from the neighbor who turned us in to Jifga’s gang. He figured it was the very least the scumbag could do. The blossoms resembled flowers growing in one of the patios at the big house back home, and as I gingerly inhaled their delicate perfume, I did feel a bit less short of breath. I also realized their fragrance was the same as Prytx’s. I’d wondered why his scent had changed so drastically from what he exuded when we first encountered him. Now, it made more sense: rock cress was in the same taxonomical family as cabbage and cauliflower. His aroma, or at least my perception of it, must have improved along with his continuing good health.

  Hyattia drove the buckboard, with me riding in the bed, to the base of the mountain. With great effort, I clumsily dragged myself out and watched Ulut stuff our supply of water and food into the three packs retrieved from Jifgaville. To my left, Bex and Z unrolled the sling, placed it on the ground next to me, and waited patiently while I settled into the center.