One of the men reached in his pocket, withdrew a handful of gold coins, and angrily threw them at Enor. “We prefer our women.”
Enor looked at Lentee and then at two other women, all of which were not as tall, not as strong, and not nearly as beautiful as Gincar and Sarinna. “But why?” he asked.
“Enough of your bickering,” Lentee said. She nodded to the Lowlander men. “Take them to the outer lands, and set them free.”
“The outer lands?” Telder fearfully asked. He received no answer. With the tip of a sword in his back, he found himself being ushered toward the far side of the village. “What is in the outer lands? How shall we survive? Are we not given water first? What...” He was still trying to argue, when the men behind him forced him to walk more quickly.
As soon as the Mobbox brothers were out of sight, Sarinna hung her head. “Will they die?”
Lentee was pleased with the question. “You wish them to live?”
“I wish no harm to come to anyone, even them,” Sarinna answered.
“Then you are wise as well as kind. I can see your brother’s kindness in your eyes. We think, well most of us, think Nerratel should become the next King of Extane. Do you agree?”
“No,” Sarinna answered.
Gincar huffed, “Because she wishes to be queen, and she can only have her way if Raxton is king and he marries her.”
ABRUPTLY, THE SAME man as before stepped out of his cottage and yelled, “RAXTON HAS SEEN OBERRA!” He waited until the crowd turned to listen to him. “Raxton is not yet ready to hear the truth. He fears losing the quest and in turn, losing Sarinna.”
“I do not blame Raxton for that!” a man in the crowd shouted. “True love is not easily found.” His comment was met with a flurry of murmurs, which began a new round of wagering.
“Oberra?” Gincar asked. “Is he not the man lost in the castle?”
Lentee ignored Gincar, and spoke only to Sarinna. “You are tired and dirty. I can offer a bath and clean clothing.”
“Good,” breathed Gincar. “I hate being dirty.”
Lentee turned her glare on Gincar. “We do not hold with lying here.” She pointed in the direction Telder and Enor had been taken. “You may bathe in the lake if you wish.”
Gincar was appalled. “I did not lie.” She was ignored and left standing near the water well as Lentee took Sarinna to the largest cottage in the village. When Gincar turned her attention to them, several people were staring at her. “I do not lie!” she demanded. They turned their backs on her and went back to their enjoyment.
CHAPTER 15
IN THE GARDEN ONCE more, Raxton again counted the archways. There were still six. “That must be it.”
“Must be what?” Effrin asked.
“Each time we find a bell, the number of archways decrease. Therefore, the last archway must be the way out.”
Effrin counted on his fingers. “Six archways left, and two bells found, leaving one extra archway. You are right! You have solved the riddle!”
Raxton slowly surveyed the garden. Even if the old man was playing tricks, he might have been telling the truth about not finding any more bells in the flowers. He decided not to waste time looking, Instead, he went to the nearest archway on his left and walked through it. This path had no flowers, no trees, no color at all. It was cobblestones on the bottom with white walls and a blue ceiling. Nor did he bother to try to decipher where the light was coming from. Instead, he quickened his pace. Like the others, this path also split into three. Raxton ignored the middle path, chose the one on his left, and kept going.
“Slow down!” Effrin complained. “How are we to look for a bell when...”
“Have you seen any place, any place at all where a bell might be hidden?”
“Well, no, because you walk too fast.”
Raxton ignored him and kept his same pace. Soon, he came to a place where the path began to gradually rise. The rise continued until it leveled off, at which point he stopped to examine his surroundings more thoroughly. The top was level for just a few feet and then it appeared to go down again. It seemed to be a bridge with nothing under it and therefore it had no rhyme or reason for being there. It was then Raxton spotted it. In the middle of the bridge sat a bell. Delighted, Raxton glanced back to make certain Effrin was right behind him, walked to the bell, leaned down, and picked it up.
The moment Raxton touched the bell an iron gate dropped from the ceiling right behind Effrin. At the same time, another gate dropped in front of Raxton. Effrin spun around to look behind him, spun back around to see the one ahead of Raxton, and then looked behind him again. Effrin put his hand over his heart and gasped, “We’re trapped!”
“Calm yourself. ’Tis another riddle, all riddles have an answer,” Raxton assured him. He went to the gate in front of him, and looked for a symbol he could touch, or a handle he could turn. There was nothing. In an effort to use both hands and all his strength to push the gate open, he set the bell down.
The second he did that, the gate in front of him remained closed, but the back gate lifted once more into the ceiling.
Effrin heaved a huge sigh of relief. “We are saved!”
Slowly, Raxton picked the bell up – the gate behind Effrin dropped back down.
GINCAR CARBOLLO STOOD in the middle of the strange Lowlander Village, watched Sarinna and Lentee go inside a grand two-story cottage, and then close the door. The people had stopped paying attention to her, and she felt a kind of loneliness she had never felt before. As well, her courage seemed to have left her, for she did not believe there was a lake, and feared she would end up in the dreadful outer lands. On the other hand, it appeared that if she wished to be clean, she had no other choice.
Slowly, and nervously, she began to walk past the water well, past the people casting their coins in favor of Raxton or Nerratel, and then past several cottages. To her surprise and relief, what lay beyond the village was a beautiful lake, surrounded by lush trees and pleasant bushes that swayed in the gentle breeze. What lay beyond that was still a mystery, but at least the brothers and their guards were not at the lake. Gincar was indeed all alone, or at least it appeared she was, but in such a strange place, she could not be certain. Should she, or should she not, take off her clothing and bathe in the lake? She studied the clear water, looked back toward the village, listened to the people cheering and applauding, and then considered the water again.
A voice behind her frightened her so, that Gincar almost jumped in the water with all her clothes on. She swiftly turned around, and what she found confused her even more. The tall woman had red hair and was fully grown, with a build that was every bit as strong as Gincar’s.
“I am Midrid. You need not worry, for our men are forbidden to come to the lake when we bathe, and they always obey.”
“Men who always obey?” Gincar scoffed. “I would not believe that on Extane.”
“Ah, but you are still on Extane. This is Lower Extane.”
“Lower Extane,” she muttered as she began to undress. “Next, you shall tell me there is an Upper Extane.”
“There is.”
Gincar shook her head in disbelief, slipped her shoes off, and waded into the water. When the water came up to her neck, she leaned back and let the cool liquid soak into her hair. It was then she realized she needed to undo her braid, stood on the bottom of the lake, and proceeded to do just that. Soon, her braid was undone and her wet hair hung loosely down her back.
“Your hair is quite becoming. Mine does not grow.”
Gincar asked, “Why?”
“I know not why. I know not the answer to many questions, but answers are never that important to us anyway.”
“You talk in riddles.”
Midrid laughed. “All of Extane is a riddle. So far, no one has been able to solve it, but we are hopeful.”
Annoyed with such nonsense, Gincar turned her back, submerged, came back up, and then inspected her hair to make sure it was clean. It was then that s
he realized she had no clean clothes to put on. When she faced the stranger once more, Gincar’s dirty clothing were gone and Midrid had a new gown draped over her arm.
“Are you a ghost?”
Midrid again laughed. “Hardly. I was to be a Carbollo, but I have a failing.”
“Because your hair does not grow?”
“No, you cannot see my true failing, for it is inside and not outside.”
“Inside, outside, what difference does it make?” Annoyed with the conversation, Gincar submerged again and then came back up.
“To us, inside or outside makes no difference at all,” Midrid answered. “To the Carbollo and the Mobbox, it is...” She paused to listen for a moment. “Your people have not yet discovered you missing.”
“They will soon enough, and then they shall come for us.”
Midrid frowned. “I hope not.”
“I should think you would be delighted. It is clear I am not welcome here.”
“You are welcome; your lies are not.”
Gincar rolled her eyes and started toward the shore, “That again.”
“We know the truth. It is you who wishes to be queen, and to accomplish it you are willing to hurt Raxton and Sarinna – perhaps your people as well.”
“My people love me!”
“They love who they think you are, but would they still love you once they learn what is truly in your heart?”
Gincar walked out of the water and began to wring the wetness out of her hair. “Who would tell them? Raxton will surely not for Sarinna’s sake. No, he will be my husband, I shall be his queen, and...”
“And if he does not win the quest? What then?”
“Then...then, he can marry whomever he wishes. I will not care.”
“In that case, I hope Raxton does not win.” Midrid laid the clean clothing on a rock and walked away, leaving Gincar to stare after her. Unconvinced the men would truly stay away, she quickly dressed.
AFTER PICKING THE BELL up and setting it down several times with the same results, Raxton’s frustration was steadily increasing. He repeatedly examined the gate in front of him looking for some hidden device with which to open it, but success still eluded him. He walked back to the middle of the bridge. and set the bell down. The back gate retracted, but not the front gate.
“We can only go back,” Effrin deduced. “Bring the bell closer so we might go under the gate before it drops.”
Unfortunately, that did not work either. When Raxton set the bell down near the back, the gate did not open at all. “How very maddening,” Raxton muttered as he walked back to the middle of the bridge. “Effrin, when I set the bell down and the gate opens, go back and find the old man. Perhaps he will tell us how to solve this riddle.”
“Go back alone?” an astonished Effrin asked. “What if I get lost? No, I stay with you!”
“Did you not say you have a fear of being trapped?”
“I did, but I just discovered, I have a greater fear of being lost in here for the rest of my life. With you I am safer, for you must go back to become king. Besides, what if Oberra will not tell us, and I cannot find you again?”
“Perhaps you are right.”
Something caught Effrin’s eye. Slowly he walked past Raxton to the gate that had dropped in the front. Where the gate was once solid, it was now possible to see what was on the other side – and what was on the other side was even more confusing than anything they had encountered so far. Effrin paid no attention when Raxton came to join him. “The bear lets the rabbit ride on its back? It does not eat the rabbit?”
“Perhaps it is not hungry.”
“Oh.” At first all Effrin could see was that which was closest to him, but then, the view expanded.
Even Raxton was amazed. The world on the other side was filled with bright greens, reds, yellows and blues, with tall trees, and all sorts of animals. In the not too far off distance, he spotted Nerratel and Lasun riding short horses with women behind them.
Raxton saw them too and raised his voice, “Nerratel!” When his opponent failed to hear him, he cupped his hands and shouted even louder. “NERRATEL, OVER HERE!”
Effrin tried shouting at Lasun, but neither of the Mobbox responded. “They cannot hear us, which means, they cannot help us.” Effrin headed once more to the back gate and then turned around to face Raxton. “I see no way out but for you to leave the bell.”
“Leave the bell?” Raxton gasped. “If I do, I shall surely lose the quest.”
“Yes, but you will save the two of us, and me in particular.”
Effrin was right. Raxton took the bell back to the center of the bridge, set it down, and then followed Effrin out the back gate and down the path. His heart aching, Raxton Carbollo let Effrin get several yards ahead of him, stopped, leaned his shoulder against a wall, and hung his head.
“Sarinna,” Raxton whispered. “I have lost you.”
CHAPTER 16
OBERRA WAS WAITING for them when Raxton and Effrin found their way back to the garden. This time, there were two benches in the center, each facing the other. A totally defeated Raxton walked to the bench opposite Oberra and sat down. “I have lost the quest.”
“I see,” said Oberra. “Perhaps now you have time to listen to the truth?”
Effrin quickly took a seat next to Raxton. “We have just seen the most marvelous thing, though we could not go there. We could see it but through the gate. The other side was filled with animals, and they did not kill each other for food. I would very much like to go there someday.”
“Perhaps you shall,” said Oberra.
“Nerratel and Lasun were there, but when we yelled, they did not hear us.”
“Nerratel and Lasun,” Oberra explained, “chose a different quest.”
“There is more than one?” Effrin asked.
“There are four. Unfortunately, Raxton found the one most difficult.”
Effrin looked at his friend and scoffed, “I can believe that.”
“Very well,” Raxton moaned, “If you have a truth to tell, I am ready to hear it.”
“Are you? I think not, not until you have seen more.”
“What else is there to see?” Raxton asked.
“It is called an ocean and it surrounds an island.”
Oberra had Raxton’s attention. “Is that the body of water in the picture with one of the kings?”
“Yes and if you let it, the ocean shall help you accept your loss.”
“You mean Sarinna?” Raxton asked. Once more, he cast the pain in his eyes downward.
“Sarinna,” an astounded Effrin asked. “But Sarinna is a Mobbox.”
Oberra said, “Sarinna is a woman in love. She does not see Raxton’s mark. She only sees what is in his heart. She fears losing him as much as he fears losing her.”
“How I dread telling her,” Raxton admitted.
“You saved Effrin,” said Oberra, “Sarinna will understand.”
“How will she ever know?” Effrin asked. “Will we not forget the quest, just as all the kings have?”
Oberra chuckled. “They did not forget, they only pretended to forget.”
“I intend to pretend to forget too,” Effrin said. “I am here and even I do not believe this.”
“Sarinna may understand,” said Raxton, “but I do not. I was given no choice but to leave the bell behind. What honor is there in choosing wisely, when there is no choice at all?”
“Honor is important to you, is it?” Oberra asked.
“Of course it is,” Raxton answered. “A Carbollo must never dishonor his Civic.”
“So it was honor that made you help Nerratel out of the pit?”
Raxton considered that. “Not honor, I suppose. He needed help and I helped him.”
“He is a Mobbox. You could have left him there for his people to find, but you did not. Therefore, it was an act of kindness and not honor?” Oberra asked.
Raxton hesitantly answered, “Perhaps.”
“Not perhaps.
It was indeed kindness,” Oberra corrected. “’Tis why you were chosen for the quest.”
“Chosen?” Effrin asked. “He won the stone toss.”
Oberra chuckled. “Because the stone he tossed was lighter than the one you tried to throw.”
Effrin raised an eyebrow. “I saw no one change one stone for another.”
“No, no you could not detect it. His stone was lighter nonetheless.”
“I suspect Nerratel’s stone weighed less as well,” Raxton muttered.
“Yes,” Oberra answered. “Nerratel has a habit of being kind. Therefore, he was chosen long ago.”
Raxton nodded. “Nerratel shall make a good and kind king.”
“If he wins,” Oberra said. “You suppose there are only seven bells to be found?”
Raxton’s demeanor immediately brightened. “Are there more?”
“I cannot say yes and I cannot say no, but unless you finish the quest, you shall always wonder.” Oberra pointed to an archway. That one will take you to the ocean.”
There was a new bounce in Raxton’s step as he got up and headed for the archway.
“One more thing,” Oberra said. “You shan’t need your weapons or your provisions where you are going. Leave them. They shall be here when you return.”
Both Raxton and Effrin shed all their heavy weapons and their bags of belongings, although Raxton kept the sack in which he carried the first two bells.
Oberra smiled, watched them go, and then got up. “Time to give my report.”
CHAPTER 17
THE INSIDE OF THE COTTAGE she was taken to surprised Sarinna Mobbox. Instead of the belonging on the inside being as grand as the outside of the blue crystal cottage, it held very little furniture – just a bed, a table, two chairs, and a tub big enough for her to bathe in. The tub was already full of water, and expecting it to be cold, she touched it with her forefinger. The water temperature was perfect.
SARINNA FELT MUCH BETTER after she bathed and then dressed in the clean clothing Lentee offered her. She marveled at how perfectly they fit, since she was quite some larger than all of the women she had seen in the Lowlands so far. The sand was gone from her shoes, too, a kindness she was very grateful for.
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