Journey To Light: Part I of the High Duties of Pacia Read online

CHAPTER 29

  Graice and Holder § 6

  Although progress was slow, the seventh and eighth days of their journey were uneventful. So was the ninth until evening. They were in the heart of the Veridis Hills and camped for the night in a pleasant little valley sheltered by the surrounding hills. As usual, Holder did most of the work of unloading and pitching the tents. Then while Ignacio prepared food, Holder attended to the waybeasts. He tied their tethers to stakes pounded into the ground near the tents.

  “Is it necessary to keep them so close?” Sybille asked as they ate dinner. “They aren’t the most enjoyable companions.”

  “I’m sorry, but it is,” Holder told her. “We may encounter wild animals and I need to protect our waybeasts from being eaten.”

  “Eaten by the wolven and bears you mentioned?” Graice asked.

  “And cats too,” Ignacio said excitedly before Holder could reply. “He told me about it the first day we were riding on the wagon. But don’t worry; he’s killed all of those types of creatures before.”

  “When I was night-guard on caravans, predators sometimes came after horses or waybeasts,” Holder explained further. “Usually I managed to frighten them away instead of killing any.”

  “When you needed to, how exactly did you kill them?” Sybille asked suspiciously.

  “I have weapons.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Under the front bench of the wagon,” Holder said. “When I first came to Matik, I left them at the caravanserai and then moved them to the wagon later.” Ignacio listened closely and knew that Holder told the truth, just not all of it. He had omitted the time in the middle when his bundle from the caravanserai had been in the guest room at the Way-House. Ignacio also realized that Sybille and Graice would recognize that omission, and they did.

  Sybille’s face darkened in anger but Graice put her hand on the Madrére’s forearm to get her attention. When Sybille looked at the Sistére, Graice signaled ‘don’t say it’. The younger woman’s Aura conveyed such strength and gentle calmness that no man other than Holder could possibly have remained angry about anything.

  ‘That won’t work on me’, Sybille signaled back.

  ‘Then be rational. He didn’t know the rules and we need him now.’

  Sybille immediately recognized the wisdom of Graice’s advice. There was no point in chastising Holder for violating a rule he did not know existed. She smiled instead and said, “Thank you for being prepared, Holder. Do whatever is necessary to protect us, please.”

  “I’ll go get my things from the wagon. Tonight, Ignacio will stay awake for the first two hours and then I’ll stand guard for the rest.”

  “I want to help too,” Graice said.

  “We’ll see,” Holder replied as he turned to walk to the wagon. Ignacio scurried along as well and Sybille read his Aura as he left.

  “Ignacio wants to stay away from me, which means he knew something about these weapons,” Sybille said to Graice when the men were out of earshot.

  “I’m sure he only found out after the fact. Ignacio might not be as important to the world as we think Holder is but he’s still a good man worthy of our love.”

  “You’re right, of course. Still he should have told me when he learned about it,” said Sybille. “Oh well. I must be getting soft in my old age. I don’t see any point in punishing Ignacio either.” The Madrére smiled. She was in a good mood, completely calm with no anger at . . .

  Suddenly Sybille’s head snapped around to look at Graice. She stared at the Sistére’s beatific face for a long moment as she thought about the implications of what had just happened.

  “I never would have believed that any effect could possibly work on me, not even yours, Graice.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Graice, and Sybille didn’t.

  An hour after the others went to sleep, Ignacio felt lonely and nervous. Holder had told him to keep the fire burning and Ignacio had thrown more logs on it than Holder meant for him to do. The older man kept looking sideways to the ground where his friend lay asleep. If Ignacio leaned to one side he could touch the tall man, but he still needed constant reassurance that Holder had not somehow disappeared.

  Suddenly Ignacio heard a noise in the distance, an eerie howling sound that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. The waybeasts stirred nearby. A second howl arose and this one was much closer to the campsite. Simultaneously, Ignacio reached to shake Holder and the waybeasts exploded into a panicked clatter of braying and honking. Holder sprang to his feet.

  “What set them off?” he asked.

  “Howling noises.”

  “Can you imitate the sound?” Holder asked and Ignacio did so. “Well friend, now you know what wolven sound like.” Whatever Ignacio tried to say in reply was drowned out by the din of the waybeasts. Holder leaned closer and shouted. “Please fetch the bag of numbing herb from the wagon. It’ll be better to keep the waybeasts quiet.”

  Ignacio moved at a speed unusual for a man his age and as he ran Sybille and Graice, both wrapped in blankets, stepped out of their tent. The Madrére tried to get his attention but he grabbed the numbing herb and ran it to Holder before returning to her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “The waybeasts are frightened by wolven.”

  “Real wolven?” Graice asked.

  “Yes, I heard them. Holder is going to silence our animals so perhaps you’ll hear them too.” One by one, the waybeasts quieted and the three people heard howls coming from four or five different directions. A particularly loud howl caused Sybille and Ignacio to flinch. He said, “That’s closer than before.”

  Holder was standing beside the now-silent waybeasts staring out towards the sound. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted in his loudest voice, “These beasts are mine and you shall not eat them! Come closer and I will kill you! Do you want to leave your pups starving back in their den? Run away now and live!”

  All of the howling stopped and Holder walked back to the others. Just as he reached them, the nearest wolve sounded off again.

  “It’s farther away now,” Ignacio said.

  “And the tone seems different too; higher pitched this time,” said Graice.

  “You don’t think they understand what you said, do you Holder?” the Madrére asked.

  “Not the words, no,” he replied. “But they do understand the tone of voice. That’s how the pack members communicate with each other. They spread out when hunting and when one finds something, it calls out in a certain tone to tell all of them to come. The rest of the pack reply so each knows where the others are and they’re clever about their approach. If I hadn’t interrupted, they would have surrounded the camp before attacking.”

  The wolve cried out again and Ignacio said, “It’s even farther away this time.”

  “The change in tone that Graice noticed is significant too,” Holder replied. “First the wolven told his partners there were tasty waybeasts here and now he’s saying there’s a big bad man to be afraid of.”

  “Fascinating,” Graice said.

  “Well, I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when it’s my turn to stand guard,” Holder said.

  “Wait,” Ignacio pleaded. “How can we keep them away?”

  “Keep the fire burning and make noise,” Holder instructed. When Ignacio reached for more wood to pile on the fire, Holder added, “The fire is plenty bright right now, friend. Save the wood for later in the night, please. As for the noise, I suggest you sing songs rather than shouting. I don’t think your voices will keep me awake that way.” With that, he lay down and left the others to stare at him.

  The next day was strenuous, especially for Holder and the waybeasts. The trail wound its way up and down hills and passage was not easy. The landscape was wooded and tree roots added even more bumps in the path besides the ruts and rocks. They kept struggling on despite the obstacles, however, and found another camping site before sundown, this one beside a stream larger than a
ny they’d crossed so far. Holder climbed down from the wagon and walked to its bank to look across. Graice followed and Sybille decided to join her. The two women halted a step behind the man.

  “How deep is the water in the middle?” Graice asked and Holder turned to face them.

  “The only way to know for sure is to walk out into it. I’ll do that if you don’t mind.”

  “Why would we mind? Go ahead,” Graice told him and an awkward look came over his face.

  “I only have two pairs of pants and the other is very dirty.”

  “I know,” replied Graice. “It’s not surprising they got soiled considering everything you’ve done in the last few days.” Holder opened his mouth to speak but closed it again before saying anything.

  “Pay attention, Graice,” Sybille snapped at her. “He wants to take his pants off so they won’t get wet when he wades in.”

  Graice covered her mouth and laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t realize that.”

  ‘Because you’ve become a frivolous youngling’ Sybille signaled without speaking. To Holder she said, “Will it be sufficient for us to turn our backs or would you prefer for us to leave the area?”

  “I trust you to look the other way.”

  They did and after a moment they heard the splash from Holder’s feet entering the water. As he walked away, Sybille whispered something.

  “Do not turn your head to peek at his bare legs, Graice.”

  “I would never do such a thing,” Graice insisted, “Even though he’s handsome enough to look at.”

  “Graice, listen to yourself. You’re like a young schoolgirl getting a crush on the first man you see. You weren’t this way before you met him.”

  “So you think my attention to him is of the improper kind, do you? I told you at the beginning that he was an intriguing and remarkable individual who should be studied, and you agreed. My interest is in helping him, and I’ll remind you that you now believe he’s someone important. Besides, even if I do develop an affectionate interest in him at some point in the future, so what? Lots of Sistéres become affiliated with men during their lives. How else would we have children? Many green-sashes and some blues get married and even you have two children, Madrére.”

  “I’m aware of that and all of those relationships, including my own, have been conducted properly with full attention to all relevant canons. Those rules are very strict, as you know. Graice, have you forgotten that this man is married?”

  “No, I haven’t,” Graice said sadly. Sybille read that the sorrow in her voice was not regret that Holder loved another but something else. “Madrére, I have a bad feeling about his wife.”

  “What? Did you see something in his memory that you haven’t told me?”

  “No, not that. It’s just a feeling.”

  “You’re remembering the fate of the family of the man we believe he is, as much of it as is known anyway, but if he survived against all the odds perhaps she did too.”

  “This feeling I have seems more like your descriptions of the premonitions you get. It’s something painful and personal, and I don’t know what made me think of it.” Before Graice could say anything else, however, they heard the sound of Holder stepping out of the water. They waited until he told them his pants were back on before turning around.

  “Well, how deep is it?” Graice asked.

  “This high on me,” he said as he held his hand to indicate a spot just below his hip. “We may get some water in the bed of the wagon when we cross tomorrow. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get to work with the tents.”

  Graice watched Holder as he walked away and Sybille started to say something. Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, however, and the Madrére turned to see a little girl watching from the shadows of some nearby trees. The child was six and had long black hair. She turned her back to Sybille and then disappeared into the air. The woman shook her head as if trying to shake cobwebs from her mind.

  “What’s the matter, Madrére?” Graice asked.

  “Did you just show me something?”

  “What do you mean?” Graice replied and Sybille concentrated carefully on reading the Sistére’s Aura. No, the Madrére thought to herself, Graice was not the source of that little image and I’m definitely not having a vision. She could tell that from her own sensation and people don’t foresee visions about the past anyway.

  “It’s nothing,” she said. Sybille realized the figure she had seen came from within her own memory. Graice had been six the first time Sybille saw her, and it required no genius to interpret the symbolism of little Graice turning her back.

  The shadows deepened around them as they finished dinner but enough light remained in the sky so that Holder could see the tops of the surrounding hills as he watched all around. While he was looking at the ridge on the southern side of their campsite, he stood up and said, “We have company.”

  “Where?” Sybille asked.

  “You can see him silhouetted against the sky on the hillcrest,” Holder replied as he pointed.

  “I see him,” said Graice. It took him a minute of focusing but Ignacio finally located the person also.

  “My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be,” admitted Sybille.

  “He’s being cautious. He wants to make sure we see him before he comes closer,” Holder explained. “That’s the polite thing to do.”

  “What should we do?” Sybille asked.

  “Be courteous.” The guy on the hill turned his face to one side so that the length of his snout and shape of his ears could be seen, as least to Holder and Graice’s eyes. “He’s letting us see he’s a lupun before he starts down the hill. Look, he has a friend flying in a circle above him.”

  “Is that a sanguinan?” Graice asked.

  “They prefer the name kiropteran; and be sure to pronounce lupun correctly, Ignacio.”

  “I will,” the man promised.

  “Is it odd that the two of them are together?” Graice asked.

  “Not if they were in Hinterland. The real question is why they are here.” Using his loudest voice again, Holder then shouted, “Come down and join us, friends.”

  “Won’t the lupun frighten the waybeasts like the wolven did last night?” Ignacio asked nervously.

  “No. Lupuns are persons and not animals,” Holder replied.

  “Persons who would like to eat waybeasts.”

  “Perhaps you should let the ladies and I do the talking, Ignacio.” The lupun was sprinting downhill but the kiropteran flew faster and beat him to the campsite. When the little guy landed, Holder said, “Be welcome, friend, my name is . . . .”

  “Sorry, so sorry! No time to talk! You must flee!”

  “Why do you say that?” said Sybille as she stepped forward.

  “Someting terrible is coming! Get out of te way fast!” squeaked the kiropteran. Then the lupun arrived and called out in his deep rumbling voice.

  “Gotta run! Hurry, hurry! Da monster is comin’ right behind us!”

  “A monster? What are you talking about?” demanded Sybille.

  “A big ting witt metal skin shaped like a giant spider!” the kiropteran said. “Except it has six legs instead of eight.”

  “Da runhh thing hurt Belo, too,” said the lupun. “Look, look. Got blisters and burnt his eyebrows off.”

  “Spit fire at me, it did, when I flew over te eeessin ting!”

  “Please slow down,” Sybille said. “It’s difficult to understand when you talk so fast.” More than just the speed of their words was involved. The rapid switching from the high pitched voice to the low one was hard on the ears.

  “Ma’am, would you mind if I spoke to our new friends?” Holder interjected. “I’ve been to Hinterland before.”

  “Go right ahead.”

  “Gentlepersons, my name is Holder and I presume you are Belo?” he said as he looked at the kiropteran.

  “Yess, and he iss Rafe.”

  “It�
�s nice to meet you,” Holder assured them.

  “Yeah, yeah, sure. Amazin’ nice to meet ya but we ain’t got time to get all talkity now. We gotta run!” insisted Rafe.

  Holder had never seen a lupun so big before or a scorched kiropteran either. He quickly evaluated the situation. These two kinds of person were not prone to panic and yet both individuals obviously had been rattled by something. Even the big lupun, who seemed unlikely to be afraid of anything, was nervous.

  “We should take them seriously,” he said to Sybille and then turned to the two friends. “Would you mind explaining things a little more clearly to us?”

  “We came to warn you about da nasty thing that’s followin’ us,” said Rafe. “We’re too nice to just sneak around ya and let dat monster thingie run all over man-guys and man-ladies.”

  “Perhaps I can explain a little more,” offered Belo. “We’ve been moving nortt for several days and tis ting has been following us since before we crossed te big man-highway. No matter how fast Rafe runs or how much I fly, we can’t get away.”

  “And now it’s comin’ right behind us,” Rafe added.

  “Tat’s right. I tink it must not sleep at all. I flew over it to get a look and it shot someting trough te air at me and ten belched out flame. It’s truly an awful ting,” Belo said. “But like Rafe said, tere’s no time to talk about it. Either believe us or don’t but decide now.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Rafe. “We’ve been amazin’ nice to warn ya but we ain’t gonna stand here and let da frurruffin’ monster catch us too.”

  “I believe you,” Holder replied before they could move to leave. “How long do we have?”

  “Don’t know ’zactly but it ain’t gonna be long,” Rafe answered.

  “It’ll take time to load the wagon and re-harness the waybeasts,” said Holder.

  “I don’t tink you’ll make it but I’ll fly back and spy on te ting.” With a whooshing downbeat of his wings, Belo was airborne.

  “Brave little guy. Already got burnded once,” Rafe said about his friend. “Don’t never say anythin’ bad about him.”

  “I won’t,” Holder assured him. “Ladies and Ignacio, get in the wagon but be ready to run into the woods for cover if necessary. We can’t take time to load the wagon, but if we get away from here perhaps this thing will pass by without damaging our stuff.”

  “Holder, are sure about this?” Sybille demanded.

  “Trust me and get moving!” snapped Holder. To Rafe he said, “Will you help me with the waybeasts?”

  Rafe scratched himself behind the ear and looked back up the hill before deciding. “Oh, what da harr. I guess I’m just double-amazin’ nice,” he said as he followed Holder. They got the beasts harnessed but only a second before they heard Belo’s warning eek-eek overhead.

  “It’s on te otter side of te hill!” he shouted without landing. “Run now!” As if to prove his point, a burst of flame and smoke flashed over the hillcrest from the other side. Holder considered the speed of a wagon drawn by waybeasts and concluded there was no way to outrun whatever was coming.

  “Everyone get out of the wagon and hide in the trees!” he shouted. The waybeasts were thrashing in anxiety and Holder barely managed to hold them still until Graice, Sybille, and Ignacio got out.

  “What are you going to do, Holder?” Graice cried.

  “I’ll hold it off as long as I can,” he said as he reached for his weapons. Graice tried to say something else but Sybille took her arm and pulled hard while Ignacio pushed the Sistére from behind. Together they forced Graice towards the trees.

  And then it was in sight, perched menacingly on the hillcrest above them. The waybeasts went wild and rushed away as fast as they could, dragging the empty wagon with them. A second later, a belch of flame spewed forward from the monster and made the details easy to see. It was very large indeed and had some sort of metal covering just as Belo had told them, but its appendages seemed to be four legs and two arms rather than just six legs. To Graice, who had grown up on the seashore, it resembled a crab more than a spider, especially the pincers on the front limbs. When it started downhill, Holder stuck his stabbing spear point-down under his belt, nocked an arrow in his bow, and hurried forward. Rafe stood and watched in amazement until Belo landed beside him.

  “Why aren’t you running, Rafe? Let’s go!”

  “Damn it all to hell!” Rafe was so excited he forgot to use his usual lupun euphemisms instead of the real words. “Why’d he hafta be one of da good hu-mens instead of a bad ’un, Belo? Now I gotta help him.” As Rafe ran after Holder, Belo took flight.

  “Well, so do I now,” he said to himself.

  Halfway down, the monster sprayed flame again and Holder got a better look at it. The fire came from a short pipe extending from the front. As soon as it came in range, Holder fired an arrow only to see it bounce off the metal side. Then Holder remembered a charging bear he had once slain by shooting through its open mouth as it roared toward him. He drew his bow for a second shot and adjusted his aim. His second arrow missed the tube’s opening but the third one flew right into the mouth. An odd gurgling sound was followed by more flame, only this time the fire poured straight down to the ground instead of spraying up into the air – just as if someone had set fire to a bucket of oil and then tipped it over. More and more burning liquid gushed out until the thing had to back up to get its head and front limbs out of the fire. When the leaking stopped, the metal creature stepped sideways and walked around the blaze.

  Not certain what to do next, Holder drew his stabbing spear and started backing up. He moved away from the trees where the others were hidden and stepped toward the small river. As Holder hoped, the monster came after him. Then he heard a bang and gravel kicked up when a projectile moving too fast to see hit the ground beside him. Something with wings flew through the air in front of the thing and then turned and streaked past it again. Holder heard Belo’s voice squealing, “Look at me, look at me!” A clanging noise made Holder realize that the kiropteran had dropped a stone but it did no damage. Belo circled over the stream on Holder’s left side and the crab-thing chased after the little guy until it reached the edge of the water.

  While their opponent was looking up at Belo, Rafe burst out of the shadows behind it with a rock in each hand. He ran close and threw both stones at a hind leg. Loud clangs rang out as rock hit metal but the only result was to attract the monster’s attention toward Rafe instead of his friend. Rafe retreated mumbling, “Need a bigger rock,” as the crab-spider-monster thing turned around and made another sharp banging noise. Holder was relieved to see the lupun duck behind a boulder. The thing stopped and seemed to be staring into the shadows to find Rafe. As it stood there waving its arms, Holder got a good look in the light of the burning hillside. The legs were made up of three jointed sections each and the lowest of the joints were at shoulder level to Holder. Deciding that the tip of his spear would fit into the seam of the joint, Holder ran forward while the metal thing was still facing toward Rafe’s hiding spot. It heard him coming and started to turn but not in time. Holder ran right up to it and thrust his spear into the gap between the metal sections of the front walking leg on its right side.

  A blinding flash, a loud noise, and an unnatural burning smell were accompanied instantly by a stinging pain running throughout the length of Holder’s right arm. He staggered backward as his arm went numb and would not move. His stabbing spear remained jabbed into the thing’s leg while sparks poured out around it. In the woods where she lay watching, Graice tried to stand up only to have Sybille and Ignacio force her back down.

  “He’s hurt! I have to go help!” Graice insisted.

  “Holder told us all to hide here, including you,” Sybille replied.

  “Please Sistére, listen to what he said to us,” Ignacio pleaded. “He knows a lot more about these things than we do.”

  Graice allowed them to hold her down but her tensed muscles did not relax. When she looked back up, she saw th
at the metal creature was stumbling about while Holder was now standing uneasily by the bank of the stream. It tried to step towards him but its damaged leg twitched and jerked spasmodically. Instead of moving forward, it spun in a quarter turn to the right and then hopped on three legs to turn back to face the man. As Holder backed up, it staggered along the edge of the water after him. Seeing something move behind the thing, Holder picked up a rock and threw it left-handed. Simultaneously, Belo dropped a second rock from the sky. The stones did no damage but the crab-like thing failed to notice Rafe running at it from behind holding a large and very heavy chunk of a boulder over his head. While still moving at full speed, the lupun slammed the big stone against the knee joint of the thing’s left rear leg and this time the stone did a considerable amount of damage. The metal dented badly and the joint bent at an ungainly angle.

  The monstrous thing tried to lunge at Holder but its still-smoking damaged foreleg caused it to lurch to the right again and stumble into the stream. When it tried to back up, the bashed-in rear leg could get no traction and the thing slipped farther into the water. Then both damaged legs collapsed and the thing fell. Before it was completely down, Graice was running to Holder. When the crab-creature’s body hit the water, steam began to hiss and rise around it. Sparks flashed from several places and the thing moved no more.

  The numbness in Holder’s arm gave way to pain. He tried to understand what had happened but his head was spinning and his vision was fading. Then he realized Graice was pressed against his side and just before his mind went blank he tried to warn her.

  “Get behind . . . the wall,” he mumbled. His voice was soft but the tone seemed urgent.

  “What wall?” she asked.

  “Get . . . um . . . don’t . . .,” he murmured, but he couldn’t form a coherent thought until he heard Graice’s voice.

  “What color is the wall, Holder? Can you see it? What color?”

  “White,” he whispered. “Just like her dress.” Then his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground.