ground, wincing. He took a seat by the little stream they had found. The sun faded to his right. Out of tears, pain growing, Ackerley sat motionless until it was time to continue.
White hot guilt burned at his insides. His mind raced through what had happened again and again. If only he had been able to stop her. He was certain they could make it. And if not, he would have rather they all died together.
Kenton sat beside him. “I’m so sorry.” He breathed. “She was trying to protect you; you know that right?”
“I don’t need protection.” Ackerley said dully.
“You’re all I have now.” Kenton said slowly. “I will do anything to make sure you’re safe.”
“Now I don’t have anything left.”
Kenton got up and brought Sidestep over. “Let’s get going. We can get there by tomorrow.”
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Sidestep made good progress and sometime in the night, guided by stars and the moon, they were deep into the Vastlands. The dust churned in a light breeze. Ackerley kept his eyes closed.
They traveled the whole night and the whole next day, stopping only to rest. Ackerley ran out of medicinal bulbs and spent the remainder of the trip in agonizing pain. Worse still, he started to feel pain all over. The gash in his side looked horrible. Kenton changed the bandages twice a day, and then they ran out of those as well. Ackerley was certain that it was infected, and that’s why he was feeling worse. His head ached terribly, his body shook and felt chill. Near daybreak on the third day he started vomiting uncontrollably. The ride didn’t make anything better, but they couldn’t stop. There were no known doctors anywhere. Kenton could only hope that Vloraisha had some near the border. On top of all of that there wasn’t any place to get more food or water. They didn’t come across any more streams. Ackerley wasn’t sure if he was going to die of infection, starvation, or dehydration. If they didn’t get somewhere soon he’d have a good chance at any of them.
And then—the ground changed again. Grass took the place of the endless dust. Fields with fences sprang out of nowhere.
“I think I know where this is.” Kenton said. “I think we’re close now.”
One long tall fence blocked their path forward. A dense forest lay beyond. They traveled parallel to the fence for a long while, looking for an entrance. A gate came into view. It was guarded by two men wearing orange. They didn’t look like Welgos; the wood of the fence didn’t look like the dark wood of Welgland. Kenton steered the horse up to one of the men.
“Is this the entrance to Vloraisha?” Kenton asked, smiling vibrantly.
The man stared at him, looking over the specks of blood still on his clothing. His eyes stopped and took in the large black coat.
“Where you from?” His voice was gruff.
“Oh!” Kenton quickly pulled off the coat. “I stole this. I’m a Chell, commander of the king’s army.”
The man looked past Kenton to Ackerley, who quietly retched, trying desperately not to vomit.
“Wha’s wrong with him?”
The second man came over and goggled at them as if this were some form of entertainment.
“He’s very sick. I need to get him to a doctor quick. Is this the gate to Vloraisha?”
The first man nodded. “If you’s a commander, where’s your army jacket? Don’t they all get jackets?”
“I had to take it off in order to escape the Welgos. Now can you please let us in?”
The Vloraishan looked them both over some more, an expression of boredom on his face. “We’ve had too many of your kind in here. We’s been turnin’m back for while now. I think they’s been up a town or two out thatta way.” He pointed straight back to the Vastlands. “Ain’t no more gettin’ past. That’s the orders anyhow.”
“We need to get in. Why would you not let anymore in?” Kenton asked, growing flustered.
“Too many. We didn’t need this fence before. We had to put it up to keep’m out. They used to flood on through here.” The first man said.
The second Vloraishan chuckled stupidly some ways away.
“He’s very sick.” Kenton protested. “And I have news—important news for your leader about the state of Chell.”
The Vloraishan looked mildly impressed. “Oh yeah, like what?”
Kenton gripped the reigns tightly. “I can only tell your leader. It’s urgent.”
The man sighed. “Why didn’t you just say you was a messenger.” He said, looking as though he was tired of dealing with them. “We let messengers in all the time.”
He stood out of the way and let them pass.
Thank you so much.” Kenton said.
“Alright, just heads on down this here road until you come to the sign pointing the capital out. It’s a ways. And don’t be going down any other paths. Only one takes you there.”
Kenton’s smile returned. “Yes, sir.”
Sidestep took off down the road through the forest. The trees were thinner and taller than any Ackerley had ever seen. If he hadn’t felt so bad he might have really enjoyed it. He definitely did not enjoy the dozen stops they had to make for him to vomit into the bushes. By the eighth stop he couldn’t even get anything to come up, and he was forced to stand, gagging and retching, until it passed.
A fork appeared. The sign pointing left said capital. Kenton didn’t even look at the other. He pulled Sidestep to the left and continued on.
It was much warmer in Vloraisha then it had been in Chell. That didn’t help Ackerley, who was now sweating uncontrollably. But that wasn’t the only thing worrying him.
“They didn’t seem very nice.” He croaked.
“No.” Kenton said nervously. “Let’s hope the people at the capital are better.”
“What about what he said about the Chells?”
“Like I said—we just have to hope.”
The trees thinned the farther they went. The road curved sharply to the left. Kenton thought he could smell the ocean, though he had never been close enough to know what it smelled like. He was proved correct a few minutes later. Off to their left they could see where the trees stopped and the sand began. Without a second’s hesitation Kenton pulled Sidestep off the road and over to the sand. The ocean went on forever. Small waves lapped quietly onto the shore.
“That sure is something, huh?”
Ackerley moaned his agreement.
“Alright, we’ll come back when you’re feeling better.”
Back on the road it took only a short time for the capital of Vloraisha to appear.
The roads and buildings were all made with a graying stone. The corners of each building were covered in colored wood planks. A different color for each one. All the people milling about had on bright outfits of orange, yellow, or red. The two Chells stuck out easily. Some people looked up at them skeptically, some downright annoyed.
Kenton tried to ignore them as they made their way to the largest building of all. It stood right in the center of this rather small city, a tower on top reached high into the sky. It’s wood corners were painted in a multitude of colors.
They came to the perimeter fence of this great building and met with another guard.
“Business?” The guard asked pompously.
“We have news for your leader.” Kenton explained. “We need to see them right away, it’s about Chell. And we also need to see a doctor immediately. My companion is very ill.”
The guard looked at Ackerley, pausing at the red stains on his white tunic.
“What did that?”
“We fought off about a hundred Welgos to get here alive. He took a mighty slash.”
The guard didn’t look all that impressed. “Is that so? And you thought this place—” He pointed back to the large building behind him. “—this place of governance was the place to go with that problem?”
Kenton sat in stunned silence for a moment. “I just
thought there might be a doctor nearby. He needs one desperately.”
The guard chewed on something that made his teeth an unsavory green. His mouth opening wide and noisily with every chomp. “Alrigh’ well what was that news from Chell?”
“I—I’d rather tell the leader.”
“That’s not gonna happen, so you might as well tell me.” He said unpleasantly.
“Please, sir.” Kenton begged. Please tell me where I can at least find a doctor.”
The guard continued to stare distastefully at Ackerley. “Don’t know a doctor who can do anything at this point. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do.” He walked around the fence and turned back to face them. “Go around this building and continue till ya get to the beach. Turn left. Go up that way till ya get to a little village. It was made by Chells who got in before we closed the border. I don’t know if they have anyone to help ya, but it might be nice for the little one to spend his final minutes amongst his own kind.”
In any other circumstance Kenton would have kept fighting for entrance. But now, with Ackerley in such a state, he chose to find this town and hope there was a doctor who could help.
The beach wasn't too hard to find. It was right past the capitol building. Kenton turned left as instructed. Sidestep trotted across the sand. A few families lay out on the golden beach. Kenton watched the water, unable to fathom just how much of it there was.
Twenty minutes later little wooden buildings came into view. They were a mishmash of shapes and sizes, and all seemed to encircle a central longhouse. Kenton slowed Sidestep, undid the rope, and
The Chellion Days Page 49