Lost on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  "No," Kariy said. "Smolyth and Galmin fight when they are in the same room. It's better if they stay apart. Besides, he met you and Ron when you visited, and that's enough for him."

  Heather preened for a moment and then picked up her mug, draining it in a series of large gulps. I winced when she pounded it down on the table and reached for one of the pitchers. Galmin's two serving boys had replaced empty pitchers three times now. She noticed my reaction and smiled. "What, you aren't drinking?"

  I shook my head. "I've done my ten rounds with Jose Cuervo. I figure someone needs to stay sober tonight."

  Lydia just glared at me for a moment. "Ron! I know you hate the taste of tequila. There is no way you did that."

  "Let's just say that I'm enjoying watching the rest of you then," I said.

  Steve was watching the table. Natalie appeared sober. In front of her was one of the canteens we had filled earlier in the day. Natalie did try to reach for a pitcher, only to have Esme bat her hand away. I checked the others. They all seemed intent on mugs. I turned to Steve. "Well, can you think of a conversation that will impress the natives?"

  Steve snorted. "Nope. I'm out of ideas today."

  I nodded. In unspoken agreement, we turned to face the rest of the room. We noticed a few of the men gazing at the table, but most were quietly drinking. An eerie silence hung over the room, broken only by the sound of mugs being set down. I though the silence might be oppressive when the man who had accosted me at the edge of the village walked up. I was struggling to remember his name when he came to a stop.

  "Your womenfolk look a lot better now," he stated flatly. "And I hear you are paying well for your night here. I'm sorry I was so rough at the edge of the village."

  I waved his apology off. "You were doing your job and protecting your home. Frankly, we are all indebted to your village for taking us in tonight. We needed a chance to rest and plan."

  "So you are leaving tomorrow?" he asked me.

  "Yes," I said. "We have reason to believe that magic brought us to this land, and we are going to see a wizard who can send us home. Our homeland is very different from here, and here we will struggle to fit in."

  "Struggle?" Elizabeth said. "We fit in less well here than Elphaba did in Oz."

  "Who? What?" Heather said. She turned to me. "What is she babbling about?"

  Surprisingly, it was Lisa Little who perked up. "Oh, I love that musical! The duets between Elphaba and Galinda are amazing. Even the first one, which explains how they felt when they met."

  Elizabeth smiled. "You've seen it?"

  Lisa looked down and blushed. "Six times while it was on Broadway. I love the theatre and especially musical theatre."

  The villager, whose name I was still struggling to remember, looked puzzled. "What are they talking about?"

  "A form of entertainment from our homeland. We have people who train as singers and dancers and they will perform a story on a stage. They are talking about a performance that was quite popular a few years ago."

  "Why?" the man asked me. "And can you perform one?"

  Lydia started laughing. "Ron sing? That won't happen."

  I watched Steve put a hand on her shoulder to quiet her and turned back to the man. "Performing one of these shows was an incredible amount of work. And none of the people here are trained for it. Even if we had the musical instruments. Besides, I don't think we remember the words to any of the songs."

  Lisa Little giggled. "Oh, I'm sure I could sing any of the duets from Wicked! I've listened to the soundtrack enough. But they are duets, they don't work solo."

  Elizabeth had been sitting silently. Suddenly she leaned forward and sang quietly. "I'm limited. Just look at me, I'm limited...."

  Lisa's jaw dropped as Elizabeth slowly sang out several phrases. Her voice was clear, but seemed to fade out whenever she tried to hold a note. Finally her little ditty ended with her fading out while singing out "You...."

  Lisa paused for a moment and then responded. Her voice rang out loud and clear in the room. I had never heard the words before, but it was clear that the scene was one of a tearful parting.

  The rest of the room fell silent. Without any instrument accompanying them, Elizabeth and Lisa proceeded to sing for several minutes, building from the quiet beginning to a surprisingly strong ending meshing their two voices. Finally, the song ended with one long note. Elizabeth failed to hold the note to the end, but smiled as Lisa looked down and blushed.

  "Where did you learn that? I didn't even know you could sing!" Elizabeth asked the still blushing woman.

  "I wanted to be on Broadway. When I was ten I just knew that was what I wanted, so I forced my parents to get me singing and dancing lessons," Lisa said.

  "Well that was damn good," Lydia said. "But what was that?"

  Lisa ducked her head more. "It's the final duet between the two main characters. It's sung after Elphaba realizes that she won't be able to win her battle with the wizard. She and Galinda have a tearful goodbye."

  The man who had approached the table was still standing silently. He looked over at Lisa. "Can you sing more?"

  Lisa looked at me, and I shrugged. "It's up to you. I don't think anyone is going to get upset if you do."

  "God, what to sing though? I know a few songs by memory, but not that many," Lisa admitted. "And many of them would make little sense to the people here. I mean right now, trying to belt out 'Singing in the Rain' would probably only confuse them."

  Lisa was sitting. Her face showed rather intense concentration. The rest of the room appeared to be stirring. Finally Velonia wandered over. She was leading the boy who had been sitting in her lap earlier. "Where did you learn such a wonderful song?"

  I looked up at the woman. "It's one of the things that I believe we will miss the most in the future. Where we come from, there are people who devote their lives to writing and performing music. Lisa and Elizabeth happen to remember that song well enough to sing."

  "Don't you all know it?" she asked. The woman had a puzzled look on her face. Her son was hiding behind her skirts and looking a bit scared.

  "No," I replied. "There are many different forms of music from our land. Each person ends up with their own preferences, and is most likely to remember songs they hear often. From what Lisa and Elizabeth said before they started singing, both knew that one song very well."

  Elizabeth looked right at me. "I've only seen that musical one fewer time than Lisa. It's my favorite as well."

  Lydia's jaw dropped, causing Elizabeth to giggle. "What? You think I live and work where I do because of the money? I'll admit the money was wonderful, but I loved the city for the culture, and Broadway was always a huge part of that culture."

  "Surely you can sing something," the woman said. "Just one more song?"

  I looked at the others. Lisa however took a deep breath and looked up. Before I could ask the others, she took a deep breath and with the same clear voice sang "Amazing Grace."

  It might not have been good enough for Lisa to sing at Carnegie Hall, but for the tavern where we were, it was more than enough. When she allowed the last note to die out, the men in the tavern pounded their mugs on the table and demanded that she sing more.

  Buoyed by her success, Lisa proceeded to mix a number of patriotic or religious ballads with a few show tunes. I noticed that she kept the songs simple and avoided anything that related to love or sex. It was a surprisingly touching performance from the woman who had been by far the quietest member of the group.

  The others had not been completely silent. Often they joined in during choruses. Elizabeth even convinced Lisa to sing two more duets from Wicked, mostly by starting them up as Lisa finished one song. Elizabeth was clearly not trained as a singer, but the two were having fun.

  The women started leaving about the time Lisa and Elizabeth started their second duet. Many walked over to the men first, usually approaching one man and whispering in his ear before heading to the exit. By the time they were singing the
ir third duet, there were only about ten men in the room outside our group.

  Of course while Lisa was singing, the others not only joined in, but had continued their drinking. Lydia was now slumped over, her head on the table, a small pool of drool under her mouth. The others however had become a bit more active. I was leaning over to check on Lydia when the final duet finished. Before Lisa could start another song, Al broke in.

  "It's astounding... Time is fleeting... Madness takes its toll," he began.

  My head whipped up. Esme was sitting by Natalie looking very confused, but the other coeds had all gotten up and were standing next to Al. Martha quickly added her voice to his and called out "Not for very much longer," just before Al started singing the Time Warp.

  In panic, I glanced over at the remaining villagers. They were completely baffled as Al danced away from the group. The coeds quickly followed, forming a block behind him. They had finished the first verse and the first shout to do the Time Warp when I could see Al wave to me. Cringing at the thought of how this was going to look, I called out, "It's just a jump to the left."

  Lydia was waking up as the group finished the first chorus and Martha took over the first woman's solo. Steve just stared at me. "What are they doing?" he hissed.

  "The Time Warp," I replied watching the villagers. All of the men were now staring at the girls as they bounced around and listened to Lisa Little sing out the second solo.

  "Why?" Steve asked.

  "They're drunk, they're tired, and obviously they all go to far too many midnight showings considering they all know the steps," I said. The song was approaching the second chorus, and I put a hand up for a moment. I did not jump up on the table, but on cue gave the directions, allowing the coeds their additional fun. They ended the song with a flurry and then all dashed back to the table.

  The other men in the tavern stared over at the coeds, who were now giggling loudly. To prevent any problems, I held a hand up and stared at Lisa. She remained quiet and the giggling subsided. Once it had, I lowered my hand.

  "I think that you all just announced that last call has occurred. Gather up the mugs and utensils and head up for sleep," I said quietly.

  Martha and Dusty both gave soft snorts of annoyance, but there were no verbal protests. The group quickly finished drinks in mugs and started heading upstairs. As they did, I grabbed Heather and held the spear up. "I have to help carry Natalie, take this upstairs and hold it until Steve and I arrive."

  Heather took the spear with a drunken giggle. I dared a nervous glance at the villagers, but it appeared they were leaving as well. Only three were still sitting at the table looking at us, and two more were rushing to the door. Steve spotted them as well and muttered, "Probably going to tell their wives that we are completely insane. The show tunes weren't bad, but Time Warp? Who would have thought of that?" He had stood up and was holding the group's axe out for Lydia to take.

  Lydia giggled as she accepted the axe. "Some very drunk college students who obviously have time to go to midnight showings."

  "They still have those?" I asked as Steve and I walked over to Natalie. She smiled and gave me a hug.

  "I'm sorry," she said.

  "Nothing to be sorry about," Steve said. "Ron, here's how we do this. You will pick her up from under her arms. I'll have to slide in between her legs and try to lift from her..." He paused blushing.

  "Oh hell, I'm not a prude after what happened," Natalie snapped. "Ron is going to hug me from behind and probably end up cupping my tits. You'll have your hands on my ass and be trying to support my thighs. I'm not going to scream rape. I trust you two to just carry me."

  "It's still not right," Steve said. "It's a very personal way to carry someone."

  "Are you for real? I nearly died earlier today and you're worried that I'll get upset if you feel my ass? I'm too sore and tired to care. And again, I trust you."

  I straddled the bench and moved up to wrap my arms around Natalie. As she predicted, I ended up with my hands pressing against her breasts as I lifted her up. She made no comment as Steve then picked up her legs.

  We moved away from the table, Steve backing up until we were near the stairs. Then he paused and backed away from the stairs, pivoting in place so I was leading the climb up the stairs. "It's easier for me to lift her higher," he stated.

  A couple of the villagers were still in the tavern and they came over for a closer look as we began climbing up the steps. One muttered a comment about Natalie's legs. She was still only wearing her beach shorts and the bandaged thigh was clearly visible. I thought there might be a problem, but one of the other villagers pointed out that the state of undress was clearly part of how we were treating the injury. We were able to climb the stairs without any other incident.

  At the top of the stairs, Hencktor was waiting, holding the two weapons. "The ladies went to their room," he said. "One suggested that I wait here to guard."

  "Good idea," I replied with a grunt. Natalie was not very heavy, but the climb up the stairs had strained my arms. "Let us carry Natalie to bed and I'll join you."

  Hencktor stepped back and allowed Steve and I to move past him. We found the door to the women's room partially open. I pushed it open with my foot and backed in. We took cautious and short steps in the darkness, but I still stumbled when the back of my foot ran into a prone body.

  "Stop," I hissed. "Someone is on the floor behind me."

  Steve leaned over to look. The room was very dark. There was a little moonlight drifting through breaks in the roofing, but no lamps or torches. "I'm not sure who," he admitted. "The hair is dark and long, so it's probably Jennifer or Dusty. They are definitely passed out though."

  I sighed. "Natalie, can we place you down here?"

  She giggled. "You can take three steps to the left, and Steve three to the right. That's where Esme had me earlier, and I'm sure there is still at least one bedroll setup."

  We cautiously followed her suggestion and then knelt down. Natalie leaned back in my arms for a moment and reached out with her left hand. I released her with my left hand to help and my questing fingers discovered a soft fur lying on the ground. In the dark I guided Natalie's fingers to that.

  "There," she said. "Just set me on that."

  Steve and I complied. Natalie quickly lay her shoulders down. It was too dark to see if she closed her eyes, but her intent was clear. With short steps to muffle any sounds, Steve and I crept out of the room, closing the door behind us.

  "I'll take first watch," I told Steve. "I took the nap earlier. I'll wake you in a few hours."

  "Got it. What about Eddie and William?"

  I looked over the edge of the balcony. To my surprise both men were lying on benches down in the common room. The room was now almost completely dark as only two torches near the entrance to the kitchen were lit. "Leave them down there," I said. "I'm not going to carry them, and there is no emergency requiring waking them."

  Steve laughed. "They are going to be sore in the morning. But for now, I'll sleep."

  My friend opened the door to the other room and slipped inside. The door closed softly. Seeing no other movement, I wandered over to the top of the stairs and sat down. Hencktor quickly joined me, handing me the spear as he sat beside me.

  "That dance... What was it?" Hencktor asked me.

  "It's very hard to explain," I mused. "It comes from some of our entertainment. The show it's from is actually not very good, but it became popular for the audience of this show to shout at the performance or to join in. That one dance is probably the best known from the show and very popular in some places."

  "But why here?"

  "You'd have to ask Albert, since he started it. Most likely it was a combination of them being a bit drunk and more than a bit scared. That dance is definitely going to be the talk of the village for days, but it was likely comforting to the others to dance it. It's something they are familiar with."

  Hencktor looked down and said nothing. I risked taking my eye
s away from the ground floor of the tavern to look at him, and he had an embarrassed look on his face. I chuckled at this, which only caused him to blush deeply.

  It turned out that an embarrassed Hencktor was a silent Hencktor, and the next three hours passed with the two of us sitting quietly at the top of the stairs. No one moved in the tavern, and a couple of times I had to snap my head up as boredom and fatigue lowered my chin and closed my eyes. I began to worry about my ability to remain awake when the door to the women's sleeping room opened, and someone crawled out.

  My head spun around at the sound. In the darkness I could only see a figure carefully close the door, then get up and stumble over to the top of the stairs. Once she was there, I was just able to make out Dusty's face and long brown hair in the dim light. "Dusty?"

  She nodded. "Sorry, the beer was going through me and I just had to get up."

  "No hangover?" I asked.

  "I guess I got lucky," she said. "Nothing so far, but I don't feel like sleeping, and definitely not in there. Elizabeth snores."

  That comment forced me to swallow a snort. This turned into a cough. I was trying to catch my breath when Hencktor stirred. "Wha?"

  "I'm here to relieve you," Dusty whispered. "I can take the axe, and you can get some sleep."

  Hencktor sleepily held out the axe. Once Dusty took it, he staggered to his feet and stumbled the few steps to the room where Steve and Al were sleeping. In the darkness he fumbled with the door for a moment, but then pushed it open and disappeared into the room. I could hear his body tumble to the floor as I turned back to look at Dusty.

  "You going to stay awake?" I asked.

  Dusty shrugged. "I'm studying to be a chemical engineer and have a couple of nasty classes this semester. I'm used to staying out late studying for tests. I'll be fine in the morning. Besides, as I said before, Elizabeth snores."

  "It's your choice. But right now it's rather quiet. I think we are the only people awake in the entire village."