Rys’s smile faded. “She’s not here anymore.”
“Did she die?”
“She’s not here. We do not talk about it.”
What was it with these elves and not talking about things? “Why not?”
Ryshara narrowed her eyes and briefly clenched her jaw. “We do not talk about it. And you must promise to honor that. Do not bring this up again.”
Marzi started to ask why not but figured it would get her nowhere. She shrugged as if she didn’t care but this revelation cast a new light on her dilemma. The empress has a daughter. But Rys said had a daughter. No, she said, ‘they have…’ and then corrected it. The empress and Rintaur have a daughter. And that daughter is not here. Marzi saw a flicker of hope and light.
Chapter 45: Marzi
Marzi bobbed her head back and forth as she moved her hand deftly. Finally, something she was good at. She’d picked dark berries at home, so harvesting talonberries was a snap, especially since they were larger and the bushes stood taller. The fruit, with its bright gold drupelets, stood out against the deep gray-green leaves on wooden stalks. But the best part was that with her relatively short stature, she could stand erect and pick them—no aching back.
She and Rys picked in silence. Neither had said much since the awkward end to the conversation about the empress’s daughter. Ryshara had moved to the other side of the clearing and gathered with her back to Marzi.
Try as she might, the Azyrean couldn’t understand why talking about the absent girl was such a big deal. In fact, as she thought about it, it seemed the elves were overly reserved—they didn’t like talking about anything except boring stuff.
Maybe a different subject would help. As she finished one bush and moved to the next, she broke the silence. “Where is your school? Don’t you go to classes?”
Ryshara stood and turned, arching her back and wiping her hands on her tunic. “Classes? You are in class right now.” She gestured around the clearing. “This is where we learn, here and at home.”
Marzi glanced at Rys for a moment before starting on her new bush. “You don’t ever get to be together with all the other kids?” The elven way seemed really boring, considering how much fun they had in Pangrove.
“Everyone learns differently. Why throw them all together in one place at one time? We do better when we learn in our own way. Besides, sometimes we do get together, but mostly it is for ceremonies, celebrations, or scouting missions and such.” Ryshara went back to her work.
The conversation ended. Bird song and insect buzzing once again dominated the clearing. Marzi’s thoughts turned to finding a way to get home. She knew, though, that this was not something she could discuss with Ryshara. The empress had, after all, declared her a prisoner. And since no one dared argue with the empress, the only thing left was to escape.
She turned to Rys. “Looks like we’ve just about picked these clean. I saw some shrooms on the path just beyond those trees. I’ll go over and gather some.”
Ryshara stood and whipped her head around. “You are not to be away from my sight. You know that.”
Marzi put on her best, most sincere smile. She shrugged and tossed her head. “I’ll be right there.” She pointed toward the path.
“Stay where I can see you.” With that, Ryshara stooped and resumed picking.
Marzi folded up her berry-gathering pouch and laid it against a tree trunk. “Okay.” Following the path, she took three steps into the woods and turned toward the clearing. Ryshara remained in her field of view.
Small, pale brown button shrooms lined the base of tree trunks. Marzi bent down and picked several, placing them in a spare pouch. “There’s a bunch of them here. We can chop these up to go with the ferns and eggs.” She took another couple of steps deeper into the forest and again turned. Rys was still there but Marzi could see that, with a couple more paces, the line of sight would be broken.
How long before she checks on me? How far could I get? And then it occurred to her that she had no idea in which direction she should head. And while the deep forest seemed peaceful at the moment, Marzi had no doubt that things would be different at night. She recalled the yellow eyes staring at her from the forest as she stood on the cliff by the sea that first night. She bent down and picked a few more shrooms and moved to the next tree. Escape would have to wait for another day, after she’d made plans and gotten more information.
◆◆◆
That night, as Marzi rested on her pad, listening to Ryshara’s steady breathing, she wondered if her running off in the woods would get Rys into trouble. The arrangement seemed simple enough. Marzi was a prisoner, and Rys was the guard. And despite the anger and pain, the young Azyrean had to admit that she had been treated well. It could have been worse.
She got up from her bedding and eased over to the window. Gazing out, she found herself still amazed at the number of stars in the black sky. Back in Pangrove, with at least three moons up at any one time and the long hours of daylight, only the very brightest of stars could be seen.
She peered into the night sky, wondering if one of those twinkling lights was her home. And what were her mother and father doing? Had Tovi made it back home or was he still gone? Was he alive? This was all her fault. She should have watched him, helped him. That’s what family and friends were supposed to do.
Her thoughts returned to escape. Perhaps Rys would be blamed, but at least she was home. She had her friends and her father.
Marzi would need food and water to carry with her. She knew how to get into the food cache. Would that be stealing—taking food for her journey? The thought sent waves of nausea through her stomach. Still, she’d helped to gather much of it so, really, she had a right to at least some of it. And she wouldn’t take it all.
But more important, she needed to know the direction in which to travel. Her only hope of getting home was to find the portal that deposited her. The only thing she knew for sure was that it lay in the direction of the great sea. And yet no one here spoke of the sea.
Chapter 46: Tovi
Tovi awoke to find that darkness had faded into soft gray inside the hut. Klunk snored on the pad beside him. Across the room, separated by a hanging sheet of leather, Mamaw slumbered.
He quietly raised himself up on one elbow and then pulled his legs in beneath him. Trying not to disturb the family, he stood and tiptoed across the room and through the door. The sky to the east grew lighter with soft streaks of pink set against deep blue.
Tovi sat on the stoop and pulled the shard from his front pocket. Klunk had told him that they would get another for the extra nuts and vegetables they’d gathered on their last outing. But, as yet, Mamaw hadn’t shown any indication of giving them one.
In the dim light before sunrise, the crystal hid its secrets well. As he studied it, the only thing he could see was a shiny surface and a hint of blue beneath it, nothing more. The voice had told him that it had power, that it was the key. That was what he said, wasn’t it? He stuffed the shard back into his pocket.
He recalled the small desert rat’s reaction to the crystal. It had stood mesmerized so long as the shard was near, but, once it was put away, the rat scurried off again. Maybe if he’d put some food out while holding the crystal, the small animal would have stayed to eat. Or maybe it would have just run away in fear.
A movement beside him brought Tovi out of his thoughts. The small squirrel, apparently alerted to movement on the stoop, had come out of the hut. It sat up on its hind legs beside him.
Tovi glanced down at the small animal, held out his open hands to show they were empty, and smiled. “Sorry, got nothing for you this morning.”
The squirrel turned its head toward the Azyrean and glanced up for a moment, before returning its gaze out into the center of the kraal. The little critter made a clicking noise with its mouth. That stunned Tovi at first, making him wonder if the squirrel was just greeting him or letting his unhappiness with the lack of food be known. He chuckled and shook his head.
“What should I call you?” Tovi gazed down, momentarily distracted from the shard. He realized that he didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl. He knew, generally speaking, how to tell the difference, but wasn’t sure he wanted to know that badly. After all, it didn’t really matter. “How about Klik? That works okay for a boy or a girl.”
The rodent glanced up at him again before returning to his survey of the yard. Tovi thought he saw a hint of approval in its eyes.
“Klik it is then.” His thoughts returned to the crystal along with an idea. He reached into this pocket and pulled out the blue shard. Setting it down beside Klik, he watched as the squirrel’s eyes changed from alert to a foggy look. When he shoved the shard back into his pocket, the alertness returned to Klik’s eyes, and it cowered away from him.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He reached his hand out, and the rodent eased closer to allow itself to be patted on the head. So, the crystal did have power, just as the voice said. But how to make it work for a larger beast? The two of them sat staring out at the brightening sky, waiting for the sun.
“You are up.” Klunk’s voice, along with the rustling of the leather door covering, broke the silence. “And your fearsome pet has arisen with you, huh.” He chortled and slapped his thigh.
“Its name is Klik, but I’m not sure if it’s a girl or a boy.”
The ogre plopped down on the other side of the squirrel, who remained sitting on its haunches, paying no mind to the new arrival. Klunk glanced over, looking at Klik from the front. “It’s a boy.”
“How do you know?”
“That thing,” Klunk pointed at the squirrel’s midsection, “right there. It’s a boy.”
Tovi didn’t want to know any more. “Okay. Well, he’s still Klik.”
Klunk chuckled and gave Tovi a handful of nuts and a few strips of meat. “Eat. We need to leave soon. It is a long journey to the greens and we must be back before dark. Papaw will be home.”
“What are greens?”
“Large green leaves. Mamaw cooks them. They are Papaw’s favorite. We get them by a stream beyond the most distant of the pools.”
“You only get them when your father comes home?”
“They are large, and I can carry only so many. When Mamaw cooks them, they get smaller and are enough for one meal. So it does not make any sense to try and get them most of the time. Only when Papaw comes home.”
Tovi understood. His father had favorite things, too. But he was home every night. And they ate cooked green leaves, but it wasn’t like they were special or anything. His mother said they were good for him, so he had to eat them.
He set a few nuts down beside Klik, who took one and nibbled on it. He considered asking Klunk about the crystal and its effect on animals, but he remembered what the voice had told him—that ogres didn’t know about the power. Maybe he could show Klunk while they were out gathering greens.
Chapter 47: Tovi
“No. Look, just watch this.” Tovi took the shard from his pocket and swiveled around to stand directly in front of Klunk.
“It is wrong to use the crystals like that. And even if we did, it is not right to get a pet with magic or food. It is about fighting with honor.” The ogre turned away.
Tovi thought about Klik, who had hopped off his shoulder and sat watching the two argue from a meter away. Was the squirrel any less of a pet because he had convinced it with nuts? Would it really have been better to fight it? But the tone in Klunk’s voice made it clear that the argument was going nowhere. The Azyrean shrugged. “Okay.”
“We must move faster. The stream is still an hour walk.” Klunk resumed the march across the desert.
Tovi moved closer to Klik and bent down, allowing the rodent to hop up onto his perch. “I guess it’s time to go.”
Klik chattered briefly before falling silent.
◆◆◆
Klunk gestured with his hand toward a patch of leafy plants. “There. Hold near the ground and break off.”
“What about snakes?” Tovi recalled his last bout with a serpent.
“None here. Go, we must hurry.” He dropped his leather pack on the ground and opened the flap. “Put the leaves in your pack but do not cram them so tight that you bruise them.”
For the next hour they harvested leaves without speaking. Tovi played the argument about the crystal over and over in his mind. He understood what Klunk meant, but he also recalled the words of the voice. The crystals had power and they were the key to Klunk’s pet. That much had been clear. But how could he make the case without telling his friend about the conversations in his dreams?
When Klunk spoke again, it drew Tovi out of his thoughts. “We have enough. We need to start for the kraal. Papaw will be home just before dark. We should arrive before he does.” He closed the pack up and fastened the leather straps. The two began their trek into mid-afternoon sun.
◆◆◆
Klunk’s father narrowed his eyes and scratched the side of his bald head as his gaze shifted between his son, Tovi, and Mamaw. “If the chief says he must stay, then he must stay.” He shook his head, taking a seat at the dinner table.
Mamaw brought over a bowl of cooked greens, freshly cooked hare meat, and a plate of roasted carods, setting the fare before the gathered family. Everyone waited until Papaw had filled his plate before digging in. Tovi watched Klunk for cues.
The eating began in earnest. The sound of crunching vegetables and smacking lips substituted for conversation until most of the way through the meal. As his father finished the last of the greens, he pushed his plate away and turned his chair to face Klunk. “You did not again get your pet?”
Klunk lowered his gaze. “No, Papaw. I was busy gathering nuts, carods, and greens.”
The older man nodded, his mouth drawn into a tight line. “You have help gathering now.” He glanced at Tovi and then back at his son. “Should take you less time. You get your pet this next week.” With that, he rose and left the hut.
Silence descended. Mamaw stood, gathered up the leftover food, and began packing it up—the meat in leather pouches and the vegetables wrapped in large green leaves. She said nothing. But her gaze seemed to shift between Tovi and Klunk and carried no warmth. Then Mamaw placed a round sugary cake in the middle of the table. “You boys go outside now, can have cake later.”
The two friends sat on the front stoop, leaning back against the hut wall. Tovi wanted to raise the subject of pets and crystals again but hesitated. The feeling of not being welcome in the home had grown over the past few days, but the father’s arrival and reaction had made it worse. Maybe this wasn’t the time to push the issue.
On the other hand, Klunk seemed under a lot of pressure to get his pet quickly. Tovi wondered if helping with the pet would make Mamaw and Papaw like him better. Klik scampered out from underneath the stoop and leapt onto Tovi’s shoulder.
“Papaw goes back to the mine in two days. I will go for my pet then.”
“Do you want me to go and help you?” Tovi remembered Klunk’s comments about size and ability. Maybe he would be better off getting one of the other ogres to help him.
“Maybe. I will think on it.” Klunk stared toward the western horizon, visible only by the single slash of deep magenta left over from the sunset.
Chapter 48: Jarek
Jarek and Burns had taken to sitting outside in the clearing, enjoying the sun as it broke through the trees between them and the swamp. They talked a lot—mostly hypothetical, abstract discussions. Without any crystals with which to work, everything was mostly assumption.
Burns remained nonplussed by the stalled effort. “We’ll get the crystals when we get them. Can’t make them or dream them up. Until then, our job is just to imagine.”
Jarek alternately paced and sat down, wringing his hands. “Yes, yes. I know all of that. And I know this may not mean much to you but, the sooner we find what we are looking for, the sooner I can try to find a way home.” He longed for
life in Pangrove, although he also dreaded his welcome home—dismissal from his position and cleaning public toilets.
A voice emerging from the cavern interrupted. “Hey Burnsie, Commander wants you to cook up another batch of the handheld stuff. Cap’n Virgil’s gonna need it tomorrow.” A slender waif of a girl crept to the entrance but no farther.
“Okay. Be there in a minute.” Burns stood and stretched. She spoke, turning to face Jarek, “I won’t be long.” And with that, she disappeared into the cavern leaving the Azyrean alone in the early afternoon heat.
He parked in his usual spot, back to the outer wall of the cave staring out at the trees, water, and brush. Insects swarmed in bunches, seemingly attracted to the shade and avoiding the splotches of sunlight. As clouds glided through the sky to temporarily block the sun, the bugs seemed to come out in celebration, covering the area only to retreat immediately upon the return of the streams of harsh sunlight.
A flicker of light, red light, forcing its way through the brush caught Jarek’s eye. He squinted as he watched it for a moment. It flashed then disappeared. Reappearing, it faltered and then disappeared again, only to come back stronger.
He stood and crooked his head to both sides, trying to get a better view. Red light—he’d never seen anything like this in the swamp. It wasn’t overpowering or glaring. Just a hint, a flicker. He crept across the clearing, his watchful stare staying with the vision. He stopped just short of the brush line. The light disappeared.
He pushed the branches of the brush to one side—nothing. He stepped past the bushes and paused, looking all around. And there it was, over to his left, still just a small flicker, weaker than before. He continued in that direction, sidestepping plants and remaining clear of the water. It was gone again.
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