The Kings of the Seven Bells

by Marti Talbott

Just then, he discovered something he had not noticed before. A few feet inside one of the archways was a door. Effrin hesitated, slowly got up, picked up his belongings, and strolled toward the door. Curious, he stepped through the archway, and just as he did, an iron gate like the one that trapped them on the bridge, dropped out of the ceiling behind him.

  More terrified than he had ever been, he grabbed the handle on the door, pulled down and when it miraculously opened, he hurried through the door.

  RAXTON WAS TROUBLED that Effrin had run off, but after calling him a time or two with no answer, he decided to carry on and find Effrin later. The mist continued to roll in, and there was something else too – soft, beautiful music. It was the song Sarinna had been singing the first day he happened upon her at the lake. It made him miss her that much more as it brought back the overwhelming memory of her smile, her warmth, and her touch.

  Yet, the sooner he found the last few bells, the sooner he could go back to her. Just then, the mist began to clear, and when it did, there was a jewel covered box sitting on the grass in front of him. He picked up the box, opened the lid, and as he hoped, there was a bell inside. He heaved a sigh of relief, put the bell in his sack, and then looked up. Before him was a man. The man was fully grown from his hips up, but he had no legs.

  “Do not be alarmed.” The man said as he used his arms to lift his body and move closer. “Oberra said ‘twas time for you and I to meet. I am Clinkton and I am a Pendernic.”

  “Where are your legs?”

  “I was born without them.”

  “How...how do you manage with no legs?” Raxton asked.

  “I manage very well, with a little help occasionally. Where I live, we all help each other.”

  “If only I could say the same about my people. We are...”

  “The Pendernics know all about you, your people, and the Mobbox.”

  Raxton couldn’t help but ask, “Can you tell me if Nerratel has completed the quest?”

  Clinkton chuckled. “Oberra is right. You do not yet understand. You see, the quest is not about the bells or about which of you becomes king, it is about your acceptance of the truth.”

  “I try, but Oberra has more questions than answers.”

  “His questions are intended to open your eyes.” Clinkton pointed at two arm chairs. “Will you help me sit?”

  Raxton wrinkled his brow. “Of course, but when I lift you, will it hurt?”

  “No, I am helped to sit many times. The other Pendernics help me.”

  “I see.” Raxton bent down, put his hands under Clinkton’s armpits, waited while Clinkton wrapped his arms around Raxton’s neck, and then gently lifted and set the man with no legs in one of the chairs.

  “Thank you,” said Clinkton. “You are about to ask about the Pendernics?”

  “Yes. Who are they and where do they...you live?”

  “The Pendernics are neither Carbollo nor Mobbox, but we are the same as you in most ways. We have failings, you see.”

  Raxton finally sat in the other armchair. “Failings? Oberra spoke of failings too, but he is right. I do not understand. What precisely are failings?”

  “We are not big and strong with complete bodies. Some cannot see, some cannot hear, and some are like me with a body that is not whole. Others have flaws that are inside and not out.”

  “Such as?”

  “A mind that is damaged. Things such as that.”

  “Pendernics,” Raxton whispered. “You are saying the Carbollo have no failings? Oberra says the Carbollo shy away from the Mobbox. He implies it is unjust, but it was not we who began it.”

  “Yet, it is you who does not undo the wrong done to the Mobbox.”

  Raxton was beginning to get a little annoyed. “I can do nothing alone...unless I become king.”

  “Do you imagine a king has the power to change generations of hate and bitterness?”

  Raxton looked away, “Even as king, I doubt I could convince my father to have a civil conversation with a Mobbox.”

  “I think your eyes are beginning to open. Therefore, I tell you the secret Oberra told Nerratel. There was a time, many years ago when the Mobbox and the Carbollo had no marks and were together as one.”

  “What?” Raxton’s disbelief was evident in his expression. “We were all one people?” He considered that for a moment. “Sarinna said it is our marks that separates us, but we know not how to remove them.”

  “There is a way,” said Clinkton. “Perhaps if you continue the quest, you will discover it. I must go now. If you would be so kind as to help me down?” As soon as Raxton set Clinkton on the grass, the half a man used his arms to lift his weight and disappeared into the mist.

  “Wait! Have you no need of the jewels on the box?” Raxton said after him.

  The voice in the mist answered, “We are given all we need. We lack but one thing, and for that we must wait.”

  “What...what one thing?” Raxton tried, but Clinkton did not answer.

  Raxton sat back down. He had another bell, and Sarinna’s song was renewed in his heart, but never had he been so sad. How much happier the two civics would be if they did not hate, and instead loved and accepted each other. Raxton sighed, closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head.

  He opened his eyes, saw an archway through the mist, got up, and continued his quest.

  GINCAR WAS RELUCTANT, but she followed Midrid to a small cottage anyway. With her back to Gincar, a little girl with blond hair sat at a desk writing something with a quill pen on parchment.

  “You wished to meet me?” Gincar tried, but the little girl did not turn around or answer. “What is wrong with her?”

  Midrid answered, “Her failing is a lack of hearing.” Midrid walked to the child and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. “There is someone here to see you,” Midrid mouthed.

  The little girl smiled, got up, turned around and then curtsied to Gincar.

  Gincar’s mouth fell open. “She looks just as I did at that age.”

  “She is your twin.”

  “My twin? No, that cannot be right. I have no twin.”

  “Not that they told you about.” Midrid answered.

  “Why does she not grow up then?”

  “She was hidden in your home until her second year and it became time for her to come to us. None of us age once we are sent to Lower Extane.”

  Suddenly sickened, Gincar found a chair and sat down. She couldn’t take her eyes off the child, and when the little girl climbed into her lap, Gincar let her. The next moment, Gincar’s lost twin wrapped her arms around Gincar’s neck and held on tight. When Gincar closed her eyes, a tear rolled down her cheek. “I remember now.”

  After she wiped her tears away, Gincar said to Midrid, “If only I could begin again.”

  “Perhaps you can. We are keepers of our own destiny. Remain bitter and unyielding and you shall never marry, and not know the joy of having children. Change your ways, and perhaps...”

  “Perhaps I can change,” said Gincar. The little girl wanted down, so Gincar let her slide off her lap, but she still watched her every move as the child went back to drawing her picture. When she finally looked, there were dozens of pictures on the walls, all of them of Gincar, at different ages. Once more, Gincar’s eyes filled with tears. She could take no more, so she got up and went back outside.

  JUST AS GINCAR SAT down, Noname shouted, “RAXTON OFFERED TO GIVE CLINKTON THE JEWELED BOX!”

  “A kindness, indeed!” someone else yelled.

  “How many bells?” another asked.

  Noname answered, “RAXTON HAS FOUR AND NERRATEL HAS FOUR. THEY ARE EVEN!”

  Sarinna giggled when the people started switching places, going to the line in front of one of the money pots instead of the other. Soon, they went back to sitting or talking in small groups. It was as though Sarinna was simply an onlooker into their content and peaceful lives.

  Twice, she looked around Lentee, noticed Gincar’s tears, but thought bett
er of asking or saying anything. A while later, the little girl came outside, went to Gincar, and once more climbed into her lap. It calmed Gincar and made Sarinna smile.

  IT WAS NEARLY TIME for the noon meal when the men finished searching each other’s cities and met once more in front of the castle. Palim Mobbox remarked on having found nothing in Carbollo City, although he found their octagon creations fascinating and even becoming. Traker Carbollo was equally convinced that the Mobbox had not hidden either of the women in their city. However, he did mention how he admired the exquisite decorations all over Mobbox City. His remark made more than one Mobbox proud.

  The men on horseback, searched the forests, the lakes, and both sides of the mountain, finding that the land of the Mobbox was not so different than the land of the Carbollo. It was just as beautiful and just as pastel. They dismounted, set their horses free to graze, and then returned emptyhanded to the courtyard where the rest of the inhabitants of Extane were waiting.

  “No sign of them?” Boon Mobbox asked, standing up and walking closer to the balcony railing. His question was met with the shake of several heads.

  “They have gone to the Lowlands,” Whildon said. “There is no other explanation.”

  “Then we must go to the Lowlands and get them back,” Elder Kircom Mobbox demanded. “I’ll not have either a Mobbox or a Carbollo woman living in such despicable conditions as that.” To his demand, all the people cheered.

  “How?” Boon Carbollo asked. “How do we get down the cliffs and better yet, how do we get back up?”

  A Carbollo answered, “There must be a way. If Enor and Telder found it, so can we.”

  “It could take days to search all the cliffs,” said Elder Kircom Mobbox. “We need Nerratel to lead us.”

  “And Raxton to tell us what to do as well,” Whildon added.

  “Yes, but dare we interrupt the quest?” Boon Carbollo asked. “If we do, Extane may not have either of them as king.”

  “We cannot just leave Gincar and Sarinna in the Lowlands,” Whildon argued. “Can you not try to call out for Raxton and Nerratel? The castle cannot be so large as for them to be out of hearing.”

  Boon Mobbox turned his back on the people, and quietly conversed with Boon Carbollo. When he turned back, he said, “We agree that the quest must not be interrupted, at least not until we have done what we can.”

  No one seemed happy with that edict.

  One of the men suggested, “We could build a ladder to climb down, get the women and then pull the ladder back up once we are up.”

  “A fine idea,” Whildon said. “A rope ladder, perhaps?”

  “But can Gincar and Sarinna climb it without falling off?” They discussed it among themselves, but no one seemed to know the answer to that. While the men were strong enough, some doubted the women were.

  Elder Kircom proposed, “We must spread out and search for a way down. The Mobbox shall go to the edges of their land and seek a way down, while the Carbollo shall do the same. If a way is found, blow your horns.”

  That seemed to appease everyone. However, something on Extane had changed.

  When a Mobbox was trying to dash off, he dropped his flask and a Carbollo picked it up for him. Surprised, the Mobbox accepted the flask, touched the Carbollo on the arm to show his appreciation, and then hurried away. A different Mobbox shook hands with a Carbollo whom he had never trusted before, while a Carbollo assured the mother of Sarinna Mobbox that they would find her and bring her daughter home.

  That the men might fall off the cliffs was something all women feared. Once the men were gone, those who had talked to each other in private and those who wished to, became bold enough to converse out in the open.

  More amazing still, Gincar’s mother went to the Gazebo to sit and wait with Sarinna’s mother.

  THIS TIME WHEN NONAME came out of his cottage, he went to speak directly to Sarinna and Gincar. Even so, all the people quieted so they could hear too. “The people on Extane have discovered you missing.”

  “Oh, my poor mother,” Sarinna moaned. “How worried she must be.”

  “Mine too,” Gincar muttered. “I did not think how it would hurt her.”

  “Yet,” Noname continued. “the people work together to find you.”

  “Together?” Sarinna asked. “You mean the Mobbox and the Carbollo work together. Is that possible?”

  “It is,” Noname grinned. “They went to the cliffs together, the Mobbox searched your city, and the Carbollo searched the city of the Mobbox. Just now, they are looking for a way down the cliffs.”

  “Will they find it?” Gincar asked.

  “Not the way down, for there is no way up or down,” he answered. “Yet, the people of Extane are beginning to see the truth.”

  “But what will they do if there is no way down?” Gincar wanted to know.

  “We must wait for a time more, but we are hopeful the time will pass quickly. Nerratel and Raxton must finish the quest, then we shall know.” With that, he went back to his cottage.

  SUDDENLY IN THE THRONE room, Lasun spun around and opened the side door back up – only to find the castle’s hallway, the one with stairs leading to the second floor on the end. The door he and Nerratel first went through at the other end of the hallway no longer existed. Defeated, he walked into the throne room and found Oberra sitting on the throne. It took a moment for Lasun to get over his fright and to get his bearings before he walked to the center of the room and turned to Oberra. “Nerratel?”

  “Raxton and Nerratel must continue the quests on their own,” Oberra explained.

  “I see, sort of. What am I to do?”

  “Perhaps you might forget all that you have seen, the way others before you have forgotten.”

  “I am not accustomed to pretending.”

  Oberra sighed. “Are you not?”

  Lasun finally exhaled and lowered his gaze. “Perhaps, but only when it is necessary.”

  “I believe you are far more practiced at pretending than you admit. If I am right, then pretending you cannot remember will suit you well.”

  Like a little boy caught in a lie, Lasun turned a foot inward. “I shall simply tell them I got separated from Nerratel and came back. Yes, that is what I shall tell them.”

  “And that you do not remember?” Oberra asked.

  “My memories are fading as we speak.”

  “Good. Wait here. Effrin shall arrive shortly.” Oberra was about to leave through the throne room’s side door when he thought of something else. “Perhaps you might consider all the pretending you have done in the past while you wait.” With that, Oberra walked out, leaving a perplexed Lasun behind.

  WITH THE IRON GATE trapping him in, Effrin had just pulled the door handle down when he found himself back in the throne room. He hardly knew where he was for a moment, but he recognized the voice, and closed the side door behind him.

  “You got separated too,” Lasun asked.

  Effrin could do little more than nod, as he began to shed himself of his bag of provisions. He set them beside Lasun’s, and chose to sit on a throne room bench close by. “I know not what happened. One moment I am there, and the next, I am here.”

  “I know the feeling well. I have tried, but there is no going back to the quest. The way we went is no more.”

  “What are we to do now?” Effrin asked.

  “Oberra said we are to forget all we have seen, and never speak of it again. I see no other choice but to go home.”

  “Home,” Effrin repeated. “I was not certain I would ever see it again.”

  “Nor was I. The people will have many questions. I suppose pretending we cannot remember is better than trying to explain, and I suppose it is better that the next contenders do not know in advance.” Lasun paused for a moment. “Yet, what marvelous stories we have to tell. Over the years, the stories would grow in size with little attention to the truth, and would likely not be believed anyway.”

  Effrin nodded. “I am suddenly hungry.�
�� With Lasun right behind him, Effrin picked up his bag of provisions, walked down the hallway and turned to go out the Carbollo’s side of the castle.

  Lasun asked. “Should we not go out together?”

  Effrin stopped and turned around. “I would like that too, but how? Is there another door?”

  “There is. It is at the end of this hallway and most likely leads to the balcony, but opening doors around here is not my favorite thing to do.”

  “Mine either, but we have yet to fall off a cliff.”

  “True,” Lasun said. He hesitantly went to the door at the end of the center hallway, pulled the handle down, and peeked out. “’Tis the balcony and the Boons are there.,” he whispered. “We are truly home.”

  “Good,” said Effrin as he followed Lasun. The moment they stepped out, the differences in their world took both of them aback. They had become accustomed to the brighter colors on Upper Extane and were amazed at how colorless their home really was. More than that, in the courtyard the men appeared to be gone, the Mobbox women were talking to those from the Carbollo side, and none of them seemed to notice Effrin or Lasun.

  Standing behind Boon Mobbox, Effrin finally asked, “What has happened?”

  Not expecting anyone to come up behind him, Boon Mobbox nearly jumped out of his skin, while Boon Carbollo actually stood up and turned around. “Where have you come from?”

  “The castle, naturally,” Effrin answered. “Where are all the men?”

  “They have gone to search for a way down the cliffs,” Boon Mobbox answered. “Telder and Enor took Sarinna and Gincar to the Lowlands.”

  Lasun and Effrin exchanged knowing looks, but neither said a word.

  “Where is Nerratel?” Boon Mobbox asked.

  “We got separated,” Effrin answered. “Raxton and Nerratel are still on the quest.”

  “Oh,” a saddened Boon Carbollo said as he returned to his seat. “I was hoping a king might tell us what to do. We have thought to build a road, but that could take months. A very long rope ladder was suggested, but we...the men fear the women could not climb up without falling.”