“But why would you even practise something like that?” Xuhn asked.
“Well… I wouldn’t have succeeded in saving you three tonight, otherwise,” Benzel replied with a feeble attempt at smiling.
“Th-thanks for saving us,” Breda said to Benzel, taking in deep breaths, even as she shivered. “Are you Xuhn’s friend?”
Benzel glanced at Xuhn before replying.
“Yes, he’s like a son to me.”
Just then the thought of Mortugal came tearing into Xuhn’s head.
“Mortugal!” he said, looking at the opposite bank. But he could only see the outlines of the white dome.
The rush of the river prevented any noise created by the people on the opposite bank from reaching this side of the river. What intrigued Xuhn however was that he couldn’t see any human shapes moving in the opposite bank.
“I think that beast, er, friend of yours is gone,” Benzel said in a sad tone.
Xuhn refused to believe that although he knew it was the truth. There was no reason for the town people to keep Mortugal alive after the goddess had told them to kill and skin the dragon.
“No,” Xuhn said and he turned to the slave, “look I can’t swim, Benzel, not in these waters. Will you take me to the opposite bank?”
“We want to see Mortugal too,” Breda said.
“They will kill you the moment you reach the opposite bank,” Benzel said.
“Mortugal is our friend,” Xuhn said. He really didn’t worry about getting killed. It was Mortugal that mattered.
Benzel sighed.
“Come along then,” he said and walked away from the river bank.
“Where are you going?” Xuhn asked. Why was Benzel going the other way? They needed to cross the river to get to the opposite bank.
“Just follow me,” Benzel said, and he marched on. Xuhn thought Benzel was being crazy, but his voice sounded like he knew what he was doing. So Xuhn, glancing confusedly at the three women, followed the slave. Finally they reached a great boulder.
“Help me,” Benzel said and began pushing the boulder. Without a clue as to what Benzel was up to, Xuhn joined in.
They rolled the stone to one side, revealing a hole in the ground. Xuhn peered hard at the darkness to see outlines of steps leading downwards.
“What’s in there, Xuhn?” Ritika asked.
“Steps!” Xuhn gasped, and he saw the three women become as astonished as himself.
“Where do these lead?” Xuhn asked Benzel.
“I have a little thing to tell you, son,” the slave said in a tone of confession.
Xuhn raised a brow, wondering what would come next.
“The screams you heard coming from the dome,” Benzel said, “they didn’t belong to any goddess. They belonged to Mistress.”
Xuhn gaped. He had never thought the goddess could be the mistress. It made little sense, though it had been clear from the goddess’s lack of knowledge about Mortugal that she was more or less an imposter.
“I don’t understand,” Xuhn said. “Why should she pretend to be a goddess? And the screams, no human can ever scream like that!”
“It’s the dome that produces them,” Benzel said. “If you go to a certain spot inside the dome and speak something, anybody near the door would hear your words in high pitched screams. Whoever built the dome created that mechanism. And the glass panes and the holes at the front of the dome allow those inside it to see and hear the people outside. It was I who discovered everything.”
“You?” Xuhn said.
He now saw what had happened. Benzel had discovered the hole, that served as the entrance to the dome, and told his mistress about it. The vile lady then decided to capitalise on it.
Xuhn realised why the mistress had ordered Mortugal to be killed and skinned— selling the skin would fetch her a fortune. The only point that confused Xuhn was that the entrance hole and the dome were on opposite banks of the river. The hole would have to pass under the river for that to be possible.
“Yes,” Benzel said. “I discovered this hole a certain morning when I had come to this bank to hunt. I went inside this hole full of fears, and was surprised to find myself inside the dome after sometime. It was spooky for there was an old grave right at the centre of the dome. But there were also these great mirrors on which the outside of the dome was displayed quite well. Apparently the panes outside reflected the light coming in to other mirrors, and somehow magnified life-sized images were formed on the main mirrors inside the dome.
“I am also quite sure that I was the one who gave birth to the myth of the goddess, speaking words of astonishment to myself while being in the dome. And when I told about the dome to Mistress, she took it as an opportunity for business and came with the idea of the goddess.
"Since the door of the dome could be opened from the inside, she would take the offerings— be it money, precious stones or whatever— when no one was watching. And that’s how she has been surviving and leading a luxurious life for the past few years. But she hasn’t bought any other slave lest they speak about her secret to others. She only trusted me and the other old slaves.
"When the other slaves died I was the only one left she trusted. And that is the reason why I don’t want to leave the town, Xuhn. If I leave it would become very problematic for her to carry on her goddess myth. I have been with her since she was a child. I can’t leave her now when she is finally getting old.”
Xuhn smiled.
“The mistress you are so loyal to is the reason why my friend is dead and probably being skinned at the moment,” he said, with only the faintest hint of sarcasm. Benzel looked down guiltily.
“Anyway, let’s go to the dome,” Xuhn said. Benzel went down first. Despite the lack of lighting, Benzel seemed to know his way down well, and Xuhn and the other three followed in his confidence.
The steps led to a vertical tunnel.
“We are currently below the river,” Benzel said.
“Your mistress will be in the main dome, right?” Xuhn asked.
“Yes,” Benzel replied and he gasped. “There is a great beast in here!”
“Nah, it’s me,” Breda’s voice said. Xuhn turned to see the faint outline of a wolf.
“But- but,” Benzel struggled, apparently not understanding. “How can that be possible?”
“She’s a werewolf,” Xuhn explained. Benzel gasped again.
“Nobody can see us here, right?” Ritika asked with some hesitation.
“Well, we sure can’t see anybody,” Xuhn replied.
“Well, me and mother can do something to deal with the darkness,” Ritika said. Suddenly a greenish glow appeared— one that illuminated the entire tunnel up to the end, where steps lead up to the dome. The glow was created by Ritika and Ruponi.
“Wow!” Xuhn said. “How are you doing that?”
“So vampires do glow, eh?” the wolf that was Breda said.
“Yes we can,” Ruponi said, pride in her voice, “but only on occasions, when we are in need of it.”
“So we have got two vampires and a werewolf together,” Benzel said, “I thought war was going on between your countries!”
“We seek to end the war,” Xuhn said. “We stopped here for a night’s rest and our main destination is Dragonland. But when I saw you I just couldn’t leave without freeing you… or at least attempting to.”
Benzel made a small sorry sound. Xuhn hoped Benzel would at least decide to become a free man; otherwise Mortugal would have died for nothing.
“Now hurry,” Xuhn said, “to the dome! I want to see that old mistress of mine again.”
They moved fast to end of the tunnel and climbed up the steps, but when they emerged in the dome, a surprise was awaiting them.
Chapter 21
The mistress lay unconscious at the centre of the dome, just beside a square grave. A queer aroma hung in the air that made Xuhn feel dizzy, and he covered his nose.
“What’s that smell?” Breda said. But Xuhn was no
longer caring about the smell. His eyes were fixed on the large mirrors that showed everything going on outside the door of the dome. It was Mortugal. He was struggling in his chains very much alive, trying to break free. All around him scores of people lay unconscious, as though dead, very much like the mistress.
“He’s alive!” Ritika said.
“Benzel,” Xuhn said, “open the door!”
And Benzel hurriedly unbolted the dome door, and everybody rushed out to greet the dragon.
“Mortugal!” Xuhn said. His eyes swelled with tears. He had not a clue regarding the unconscious people. But by some miracle Mortugal was unharmed and alive, and that was all that mattered to Xuhn.
“Astonished, are you?” Mortugal said, with a smile.
“Of course we are!” Xuhn said, “What happened here?” He waved his hand at the unconscious townsfolk.
“Never mind that,” Mortugal said dismissively. “Get these blasted chains off me.”
They helped to remove the thick chains binding Mortugal’s legs, neck and tail. Once done, he flapped his wings, happy to be free at last.
“So what did you do to them?” Xuhn now asked. “You did it right?” But he couldn’t see any way how Mortugal had been involved in making the people unconscious. Had he received help? But there was nobody in sight that could have helped.
“Do I need to tell you?” Mortugal said instead. Xuhn looked up at the dragon quizzically, wondering why Mortugal was hesitating to tell how he had put the crowd out. And then Xuhn noticed the new expression on Mortugal’s face. Shyness.
Mortugal grimaced and looked away.
“Fine, I farted,” he said as fast as he could.
“You what?” Ritika vomited the two words like she had failed to understand the dragon.
But Xuhn had heard the dragon clearly, and he thought about the peculiar scent that hung in the air faintly.
Mortugal turned at the she-wolf.
“You want me to repeat it?” he asked sarcastically.
Ritika didn’t say anything.
“Never mind,” Mortugal said, “… I discovered that unique strength shortly after Malthur cursed me and turned me into this joke that I am today. Many Bnomes went down after I first did so. I could have tried it earlier today when those people first came to tie me up, but I don’t know if these unconscious people will die or live— boy, even I couldn’t breathe when I first released that, uh, never mind. I was afraid you people too would go down like these folks,” Mortugal gestured at the unconscious crowd.
Xuhn squatted down. He had known from long before that dragons possessed great strengths. But he reckoned only Mortugal was a dragon who had the capability of putting an entire crowd of people to sleep just by farting. Mortugal was unique, no doubt about that.
“Now tell me about yourselves,” Mortugal said, “I saw them throw you three into the river. What happened after that? And how did you get inside the dome? Is there a goddess inside?”
“He saved us,” Xuhn said, pointing at Benzel. Xuhn recounted all that had happened after the men had thrown them into the river, and also all that Benzel had said about the dome and the man-made river.
“I knew from before no goddess was inside the dome,” Mortugal said, “there are no dragons in the south. Were she a true goddess, she would have easily known that I am under a curse.”
“Wait a minute,” Xuhn said and turned at the slave. “Benzel, you said you needed to swim across the river to get to the hole. The mistress too swam across the river?”
If the mistress did so on a daily basis, then other people would have seen her. They would have become suspicious that the goddess screamed and gave orders only after the mistress swam across the river and disappeared into a hole on the opposite bank.
Benzel shook his head.
“There is another entrance too, which is on this side of the river. Mistress discovered it and she uses it.”
“I saw this dome when it was first being built,” Mortugal said. “Me and some friends—Norhul was there too I remember—flew south shortly after we first learnt to fly, and we flew over this dome.”
“That must have been hundreds of years ago,” Benzel said with awe in his parched voice.
“Yes,” Mortugal said, “I am older than this dome.”
“So what do we do now?” Ritika said, “Should we continue our journey to Dragonland?”
“We have got nothing else to do,” Mortugal said.
“We have,” Xuhn said. “Tell Benzel to become a free man!”
Mortugal let out a laugh.
“You look old and wise,” he told the slave, “why don’t you just run away, when everyone in this town in unconscious?”
“But- but,” Benzel hesitated, trying to come with some reason for his reluctance.
“Come with us,” Xuhn said.
“Um, I don’t know if that will be possible,” said Mortugal, “you four alone break my back.”
“Then at least tell him to run away to some nearby city or village,” Xuhn said, his gaze fixed on Benzel, “he just refuses to leave the vile woman’s side.”
“Believe me, my friend,” Mortugal said to Benzel, “I know you have done nothing else in your life other than follow that fake goddess’s orders. But there are plenty of things you can do. Look at Xuhn! We are on a quest to end the war between vampires and werewolves! Plus, your mistress was one of those who received the strongest blast of my, er, you know. There is a possibility she might never become conscious.”
Benzel looked into the dome through the open door. Xuhn could see some of the fear in his eyes for his mistress. And then Benzel clenched his jaw muscles and resolutely turned away from the dome.
“I’ll leave this town,” he said, and Xuhn relished the determination in his voice. Finally they had succeeded in convincing the old slave.
“Now that's more like it!” Mortugal said.
They went to the mistress’s house and then took woollen clothes for everyone since Mortugal said that it was very cold in Dragonland and it was best that they went there stuffed in woollens. Then Benzel locked the door and went his way to another town which he said was located not far away, while Xuhn and the three ladies climbed atop Mortugal and flew away north towards Dragonland. Xuhn looked at the tiny dot that was Benzel take a road that led out of the town, and he felt happy for the slave.
Mortugal flew fast. The moon was in the sky, illuminating the dragon and his riders in its soothing light. Ritika sat before Xuhn and he felt great to be near her. Only about an hour or two ago he had been struggling in the water, without a hope that he would ever see her again. But he controlled any urge to touch her. It wasn’t because her mother was just a few feet away, but because Xuhn couldn’t still accept falling in love with a vampire. It wasn’t the best thought, but if only Ritika had been a human… However the fact remained that she wasn’t.
After sometime, Xuhn fell asleep. Fell asleep thousands of feet high up in the sky. It was only when Mortugal took a sudden turn that Xuhn awoke, feeling saliva drool down his mouth.
The sun had already risen, and Xuhn failed to grasp the fact that he had slept the entire night on the dragon’s back. But then Ritika, Ruponi and Breda were asleep too.
The reason Mortugal had taken a sudden turn was a big, snow capped mountain, which lay just along their path. Xuhn was glad to have the woollens on. Seeing the snow on the mountain, he speculated Dragonland would be much colder.
Or were they already in Dragonland?
“Hey, Mortugal,” Xuhn said.
“So you are awake, huh?” Mortugal said rather briskly. “Was getting bored since everybody was asleep. Feels almost like I am flying alone.”
“Well, you are the one with wings, you must fly,” Xuhn said. He would have been glad to have Mortugal’s wings were it possible.
“Yes, whatever,” Mortugal said.
“Are we in Dragonland?” Xuhn asked.
“Doesn’t look like,” Mortugal said, “Northang was a big co
untry from before, and I have also been flying slowly. There was never any greenery in Dragonland as far as I remember.”
“Why do dragons prefer the cold?” Xuhn asked. They were so powerful that they could easily invade any warmer country and stay there. What was the point in staying in a place where even liquid water was hard to come by?
“I guess my race is too darned proud,” Mortugal said.
“Proud?” Xuhn asked, sarcastic.
“It’s gives one a sense of pride to stay in unwelcoming places,” said Mortugal, “only superior beings do that. Plus, we have got fire—”
Mortugal cut his sentence short for some reason. Xuhn realised why.
“You miss your fire, huh?’ Xuhn asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Mortugal said. “Breathing fire makes you enjoy being a dragon.”
“But you can fly still,” Xuhn said, in an attempt to encourage Mortugal whose voice sounded less lively after mentioning the fire.
“Even birds can fly,” Mortugal said, “I am not saying it feels good to fly, but still…”
“Well, you can fart,” Xuhn joked.
“Yes,” Mortugal said, somewhat cheerfully, “I guess that is a plus point. All those who laughed at me earlier, I’ll fart them to unconsciousness. But I wonder what that makes me— a Farton instead of a Dragon?”
Chapter 22
Mortugal kept flying thus for the rest of the day. He flew slow, saying he needn’t spend much energy that way. There were the occasional talks between Xuhn and Mortugal. But the ladies kept quiet most of the time, and Ritika and Ruponi for some reason looked very serious.
Xuhn talked with Breda from time to time. She hadn’t changed into her wolf form after getting the woollens. Xuhn tried to talk with Ritika too but she didn’t seem interested in conversation, making Xuhn brood if he had spoken something that had made her upset. He decided it was best to let her recover from her non-talking state herself. Maybe she was just tired of sitting for countless hours.
Xuhn thought of Benzel, and hoped he would find a new life in some other town. Benzel might be old, but he was still strong. He had easily swum the rapid waters of the man-made river, and Xuhn was sure Benzel would find work somewhere by which he could earn his bread.
The Banishment of the King Page 14