by Garry Ocean
“I need to see the pier commandant, urgently.”
Nick tried not to show any annoyance. Every minute counted. Nick thought that at that moment, of an old saying he had once heard that was more appropriate than ever, “Delay is equal to death.”
“The commandant himself? Should I fetch him to you right away?”
The guard turned around to his companions and they all burst into loud laughter.
“You do not understand, I was just on the other side,” to be more convincing, Nick showed to the other bank with his hand. “I have an urgent message for Commandant Archie. Take me to him, I will explain everything.”
“Did you hear, guys?” the guard nearly dropped his halberd to the ground, laughing. “He was on the other side!”
The guards relaxed. The two set their halberds on the ground. The stranger was clearly amusing for them.
Without thinking about consequences, Nick jumped forward. The four bodies almost simultaneously fell on the ground. “Good job, Nick, congratulations,” he told himself, “Now you’ve started to immobilize people for no apparent reason.” He dragged the bodies into thick bushes that were being used to dry, or judging by the smell, to simply ventilate, the uniforms that hadn’t been washed for a long time. Nick thought for a second if he should check for the pulse of the guards he knocked out and piled up, but then he just gave up and rushed toward the docked ferry.
Four more guards marched toward him. “If they call me, I will simply knock them out right away,” Nick thought indifferently. The guards looked him up and down suspiciously, but did not stop him. “I guess they are going to take the shift of the other morons. I have no time at all. I need to find Archie right away.”
He was lucky. Even from a distance he noticed the familiar figure of the commandant, standing surrounded by a group of armed guards.
“I hope he remembers me,” Nick thought and sped up. He hardly contained himself from running. Then he noticed that a small squad started out toward him. Then he shouted, “Archie! Commandant Archie!”
Archie turned his head, looked around and caught the sight of Nick walking toward him. But he continued to stand there.
“Archie! I have a message for you from Whisperer!”
“Damn!” Nick thought to himself in Interling, “They knew Whisperer here under a different name.”
“From Rich!” he corrected himself.
The man stared at him in surprise. The guards caught up with him and surrounded Nick forming a tight circle.
“He needs your help!” Nick shouted making the last attempt to reach Archie’s conscience.
Commandant gestured with his hand and the guards parted, giving him way.
“You?” Nick noticed that Archie was genuinely surprised to see him. “Where did you come from?”
“No time to explain,” Nick tried to speak quickly, afraid he’d be stopped. “The volunteers in the Tower revolted and wounded Rekk. They captured the ferry and fled the Tower. If we do not send people there, everyone in the Tower will be dead tonight!”
The crowed of guards buzzed disapprovingly.
“What nonsense you are speaking!” Nick recognized a familiar voice right away. It was Root. He met him twice before: First time on the ferry, and second – in the central square near the weapons room.
“Not true. It’s you and your people who attacked us at night! You killed our commander treacherously. I’m sure you’ve murdered Gorr as well, you forest scum!” and then he turned to his guards and added, “We hardly made it out of there alive, right?”
The crowd now buzzed in approval. And then someone yelled, “Hang the forester!”
Someone else echoed, “Or burn him just like a forest beast!”
Nick made a last attempt, addressing Archie directly, “It’s not difficult to verify what I’m saying. Send the ferry back there. Today, I personally tended to Rekk’s wounds. He will confirm what I say.”
“This is beyond my authority,” Archie answered quietly and ordered in his commanding voice, “Arrest the forester! The tribunal will handle this.”
Nick did not wait to be arrested, pushed away the nearest guards and jumped onto the loading bridge. He already realized that he’d lost. He failed to convince them. No one was going to listen to him. What did he expect?
“Look at him jumping! Just like any forest beast!” he heard the crowd shouting. “Give way! I will pierce this tree crawler with my halberd! Let’s see if he’ll jump with an arrow in his belly!”
Suddenly Nick heard the sound of hooves in a distance. From the height of the loading bridge, Nick could clearly see a large cavalry detachment. He immediately noticed the shiny bronze helmets with black horsehair crests, as well as the crimson red tunics fluttering in the wind. The cavalcade stormed onto the cobblestone pier, rearranged into a wedge, and moved directly at the crowd under the bridge. Nick heard shouts, and the people scattered in different directions in fear. Several of those who froze in bewilderment found themselves on the ground.
“Give way to the daughter of the Supreme Guardian!” a strong low voice boomed. The face of the man who spoke was half-covered with the bronze helmet.
He didn’t have to say that. People were already trying to get away as far as possible from the hooves of the prancing belligerent horses, still excited from a long race. They were biting on the foamed bits and looked at everyone with their mad blood-shot eyes.
“Where is the pier commandant?” the warrior roared in a voice suggesting no tolerance for any objections. “Summon him here immediately!”
The crowd roared, parted, and Archie came out of it toward the horseman.
“I am the pier commander, the High-Born One,” he bowed.
Instead of an answer, the warrior patted his horse, giving way for the center of the wedge. There were three horsemen there, in similar armor. Archie bowed and bent one knee and, not knowing who of them was the daughter of the Supreme Guardian, addressed all three of them, “Greetings, the Greatest-Born One! What can I, your humble servant, do for you?”
“What is going on here?” the sonorous voice belonged to the rider in the middle.
“You shouldn’t be concerned, the Greatest-Born One! We have captured a forester. Tomorrow he will be judged by a tribunal.”
“Really?” the young woman said with a smirk. “I always thought that the arrested ones are usually put into chains or at least disarmed.”
Cleo looked at the forester more attentively, and her heart skipped a beat. This could not be! Disheveled hair, face and body in mud, a sword tied to the waste with a simple rope. She could not believe how lucky she was. Cleo pulled the harness and rode closer to the bridge. Two riders on each side followed her like shadows. Suddenly the girl took her helmet off and her dark wavy hair fell onto her shoulders.
“Nick of the Westgayer clan?” she asked but it sounded like a statement.
“Oh, such an unexpected encounter!” Nick smiled; genuinely glad to see her and not knowing how to properly greet such a noble woman. He simply put his open palm to his chest, like the near-Forest residents did in greeting.
“What right did you have to besiege, like chained dogs, the High-Born Nick of the Westgayer clan?” Cleo pretended to have ignored such an improper treatment of her and then drove the verbal stake into the commandant, who seemed lost as he was, “… the winner of the Ritual and the Big Hunt?”
For a shot time, everything went completely quiet. The people were digesting what they heard. Then, as if on command, shouts were heard from all sides, “Long live the Greatest-Born One! Honor and praise to the Winner!”
The crowd went wild for some time, shouting out various compliments. People were worshiping the daughter of the Supreme Guardian, and they were ready to carry the Winner of the Ritual in their arms.
Nick was helped down from the bridge, and there were so many helpers that they nearly stampeded each other. It took four horsemen to push the crowd away from Nick and thirty Cleo bodyguards had to lead him to t
he commandant’s personal chamber at the pier headquarters. “People are strange indeed,” Nick thought to himself. “Just five minutes ago they were ready to hang me, and now they are willing to carry me all the way in their arms.”
*****
They set themselves comfortably in the large hall with a fireplace: Nick, Archie, Cleo and a grim warrior named Gunn-Terr. The girl couldn’t wait to learn all the details of what happened in the Tower from the very beginning of the Big Exodus. Nick assured her that he’d tell her everything she wanted to know later, but now they needed to hurry. He briefly described the desperate situation at the Tower. He emphasized that the lives of at least three thousand people, half of whom were women and children, completely depended on their speedy decision.
The commandant, with the Greatest-Born One’s permission, of course, took the floor. Pale as a white wall, with his hands trembling he found courage to state that he would allow the use of the ferry he was responsible for to transport the foresters across the river only with a written permission of one of the Guardians. Cleo suggested, as an alternative, that she would sign the order herself and seal it with her personal seal. The commandant was still insisting it had to be by a Guardian, and no one knows where that standoff would have ended had Gunn-Terr not interfered. He asked Cleo for permission to go to the Great City and bring the Guardian’s order the commandant was insisting on having, but only if the latter was tied to the tail of his horse. Then he added that in that way, all formalities would be properly executed to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. Archie resisted for some time after that, until two Alvars started to drag him toward their grazing horses. Nick said no word during that entire conversation, trying to understand the intricacies of local diplomacy.
Archie should be given proper credit, though: When it came to logistics, he showed unlimited creativity and energy, proving that he was occupying his position not in vain. He was issuing orders to his people with the speed of a lightening strike. Nick started to understand then that without Cleo’s timely assistance he would have never been able to complete the task.
The ferry capacity allowed transporting not more than a thousand people at a time. On the other side of the river, more than three thousand people were waiting to be rescued. During the entire day, the ferry was able to make only two return trips. Archie ordered to make the ferry as light as possible, and the works started immediately. Both the guards and the loaders were throwing into the water everything that was not pinned or bolted to the deck. Barrels, benches, old ropes and other trash that had been accumulating on the ferry for years – everything went overboard. Some people were chopping down the partitions between the cargo and passenger departments. The huge ferrules that moved the ferry were being generously covered with grease. Additional heavy-haulers were harnessed to the thick logs.
In addition to everything, Archie ordered to build a camp for the refugees and to staff and equip a field hospital. Fires were set up to prepare hot meals. No one knew exactly for how long the residents of the Near Forest would have to stay there, so everything was done to last. The volunteers who had deserted the Tower were detained until further investigation.
When all preparations were completed, Archie instructed Nick again on the sequence of actions. To Nick, he was a painful reminder of his boring commander Ovsyannikov. For the tenth time, at least, Archie was explaining to him that in case of extreme overloading of the ferry it was very important to start both ferrules at the same time, otherwise there’s a great chance one of the rotating ropes would break. And that would result into an imminent catastrophe. He was quite concerned about the strong current caused by the recent Heavenly Harbinger.
“The ferry must move with both ropes in full tension, do you get it, Nick?” for the hundredth time Archie was asking him. In the end they agreed that Nick would signal the readiness of the ferry to move with three brief fire flashes on the lighthouse. This would allow for the coordinated pull of the ferrules from both banks.
Nick caught himself wondering what was the true reason for the commandant’s concern: the fear of sinking the ferry or the responsibility for the lives of three thousand people? This thought made him coil inside. He shouldn’t be thinking like that about the man who diligently continued to work on the necessary preparations, given severe time constraints. On Earth, such thoughts would have never come to his mind. But here? Nick assured Archie again that he’d follow his instructions carefully and quickly ran up the ladder to board the ferry.
Chapter 7
The lightened ferry was moving a lot faster, which was useful as the time was running out. From time to time, Nick looked up into the sky. The Orphius was already past its zenith. Whisperer and other elder hunters were sure that the last and the most crushing wave of the forest creatures would arrive in the evening. Nick could never understand how they managed to foretell the beasts’ arrival so accurately. Early in the morning, he carefully looked over the entire horizon to check what was going on. He tried to concentrate his vision as much as he could, to focus and zoom in the picture, but he failed to see anything. However, the old man was never wrong in his predictions, especially when it came to forest beasts.
“Telepathy? – No, that’s just nonsense,” Nick thought. “Modern science has refuted this possibility. But some invisible connection still exists. All right, let’s not play fortune telling. In any case, it is better to take people to the other bank as soon as possible. I hope Whisperer did not waste time and prepared the first group for boarding.”
The old man did not let him down. A large group of women and children was eagerly waiting for the ferry to dock. Nick ran across the deck and threw the ropes to the bank. Several hunters skillfully put them through the anchoring rings and started to pull the ferry to the dock. Other hunters were already putting in place the boarding bridges and ladders, without waiting for the ferry to dock completely. Whisperer was the first one to come up and exchange quick greetings with Nick. Not waiting for the old man to ask him a barrage of questions, Nick described the situation briefly. Whisperer understood everything right away and rushed back to the other elders standing on the riverbank.
Sith ran up to Nick immediately, glowing with joy, “Wow, Nick, you are something! Did you really just swim across the Rapid Waters, all by yourself?”
“I did indeed, Sith,” Nick ruffled the boy’s already disheveled hair. “It wasn’t that hard.”
“Yeah, right, tell me about it, not hard! And where did you learn how to swim like that?” Sith looked like he was about to start one of his usual tirades. “You probably have no rapid waters in your steppes? Hah, Nick? Where would they come from there? And you swim better than a lake adherer.5 Well, the adherers don’t really swim, that is, but rather sit under some log, waiting and waiting patiently for their prey. That’s why it’s always better to bathe in pairs: While one is washing himself, the other one will scare off the adherers with a stick. Because if an adherer gets onto you, you won’t be able to get it off until it sucks as much blood out of you as it wants. Well, you can actually tear it off, with an effort, but it’s better not to do so because it will take at least a week after to heal…”
“Sith, please wait!” Nick begged. “There’s so much to do, and here you are blabbering about your adherers.”
“They are not mine,” the boy frowned. “I’d like to see you in a lake all by yourself, covered in adherers. Then I will see whose they are.”
*****
Nick was advancing to the lighthouse cautiously, carefully watching where to step. What had been a wide cobblestone road not so long ago was now looking like an abandoned forest trail. On all sides, it was invaded by plants that were either low brush or thick and tall grass. When Nick passed them, his peripheral vision caught their slight movement. There were flowers leaning toward him, slightly opening their buds, like red passionate lips mixed in with plants. Objectively, the flowers were very beautiful, but Nick had no desire to smell them and even less inclination to touch th
em.
He was walking this trail for the second time in that same day. The Orphius was moving into the dusk, giving its place in the sky to the green Dominia disk glowing more and more with every moment. The first trip of the ferry had been uneventful. Nick followed closely the instructions he had received from Archie and made sure that the vessel was not overloaded. As soon as the black tar strip that played the role of the water line sank in the water, they stopped loading people. The first trip managed to take all the women, children, and heavily wounded men. Now for the second trip they were loading old men, hunters, and those guards who stayed loyal to their responsibility to protect the hunters.
It took a lot of effort to convince Sith to board the ferry with Whisperer. Till the last moment, the boy was set on going to the lighthouse with Nick. No arguments and counter-arguments, even that he didn’t know how to swim, could persuade him. In the end, Whisperer had to raise his voice at Sith, something the old mad rarely if ever did, and the boy obeyed.
The plan was for Nick to wait for the last person to board the ferry and give a signal from the lighthouse to the other bank to start the ferry. Then he was supposed to catch up with the ferry by swimming. The couplings that were designed to start the overloaded vessel were supposed to start rotating at the same time to prevent breaking the pulling ropes.
Right on the steps to the massive entry door of the lighthouse there was a dead man. Nick had stumbled upon him earlier in the morning, when he went to give a signal that the ferry was loaded and ready to depart. The man looked like the lighthouse watchman. Nick couldn’t figure out what killed him. He had no open or penetrating wounds, and the body did not bleed. For first time, Nick took the body and put it to the side because it was blocking the way and he did not have the heart to just step over it.
Now as Nick was going to pass the dead body, something caught his eye. Almost everything looked just like it did in the morning but when he propped the guard against the stone wall, he knew something was off. Nick looked closer. Something was bulging under the guard’s linen shirt on his chest. Nick hesitated for a second, trying to come up with a reason not to do what he was about to do. And then he leaned forward and opened up the shirt.
