Wade stood up and said firmly, “I tell you I’m not from the Unseen One.” His voice caught in his throat. This didn’t make sense. None of it did. “Excuse me,” he said, then he raced outside to throw up.
When he had wretched as much as he could, Arin appeared with a cup of water for him. He rinsed his mouth, spat, then drank the water in earnest. “Thank you,” he said when he could speak.
“You honestly don’t know what’s happening to you,” Arin said sympathetically.
“No. I want to go home. I want my mother.” He began to cry.
Arin pulled him close in an embrace that, if Wade had closed his eyes, might have been his father’s. “If the Unseen One has brought you here, then perhaps He will take you home, too.”
Wade thought that was a lot to ask a kid to believe, especially one who didn’t believe in the Unseen One. For all he knew, these people were completely insane. Maybe he’d gone insane, too.
Somewhere in the distance, a low pounding filled the air, like someone banging rhythmically on a bass drum. “What’s that?” Wade asked.
“Bombs and antiaerocraft cannons,” Arin replied. “They’re trying to destroy the aeroplanes from Belgarum that are bombing the city.”
Wade was dumbfounded. “You’re being attacked by airplanes?”
“We are at war on all sides,” Arin replied. “There are no neighbors to our country anymore, only enemies.”
“What kind of planes are they? Spitfires? Mustangs? Messerschmitts?”
“We speak the same language, but sometimes I don’t understand a word you say,” Arin said with a chuckle.
“I wonder what kind of planes they are,” Wade said, trying to be more clear.
“I couldn’t tell you. Weapons of destruction never interested me. I couldn’t help but feel that they were yet another indicator that the end is coming.”
“Are we safe here?”
Arin patted the boy on the back. “The Unseen One keeps His promises. We’re safe.”
Wade was taken inside and given clothes that Muiraq had made for Riv when he was Wade’s age. The outfit consisted of long cotton trousers, a shirt of the same style as a T-shirt, and a thin robe with a belt covering both. The trousers had deep pockets on the sides, so as he put them on he carefully folded the papers of the atomic bomb plans and slid them into the left pocket. He then strapped on a pair of leather sandals. Wade was impressed with how comfortable the outfit was, and he said so when he thanked Muiraq.
She blushed a deep crimson. “It’s my honor to provide them for you,” she said. “Now, we’ll be eating dinner shortly, so make yourself at home.
“May I look around?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Wade’s first inclination was to look at the many books on the shelves lining the rooms on the second floor. He was surprised to find that they were printed and bound with a greater quality than any books he’d owned. The reference books—encyclopedias, manuals, and educational texts—had full-color pages and photographs. This was something he’d rarely seen, and only in the most expensive books. The other books covered every topic imaginable: law, medicine, science, the arts, and, mostly, essays and instructions about the Unseen One. Wade skimmed through them all but felt as if they were written in another language. This world—whatever and wherever it was—had a different history from his own. He’d hoped to find an overlap somewhere, something to show that maybe he wasn’t in a different world after all. But he couldn’t find one, except maybe the being he knew as God and the one they called the Unseen One.
Turning his attention from the books, Wade was curious about the technology of the house. It seemed a lot like his own, until he realized that none of the rooms had power sockets. This wouldn’t have been unusual if they didn’t have electricity, but they did. Or they seemed to. The lights in the guest room had switches on them. As expected, they made the lights go on and off. But something was wrong.
“Don’t you have lights where you come from?” Riv asked when he caught Wade toying with a light in the front room.
“Yes. Just like these,” Wade said. “But your lamps aren’t plugged into the wall.” Wade gestured to the one he had been examining. “See? No wires.”
“Should they have wires?”
“How else would the power get to the lightbulbs?” asked Wade.
“From the sun.”
Wade was confused. “I don’t follow you.”
“The power comes from the sun,” Riv said more slowly. He held up the lamp. On the side was a small, square, silver-colored panel. “This panel receives its power from that panel there.” He pointed to a similar panel discreetly placed on the wall, next to the window.
“Where does that panel get its power?”
“From the larger panel above the house. It captures the rays of the sun and transmits those rays as power throughout the house—all over the compound, in fact.”
“Then you don’t have electricity?” Wade asked, amazed.
Riv laughed. “We haven’t needed electricity for years. It’s considered primitive now, like outdoor toilets.”
“Power from the sun . . .” Wade mused.
“Unfortunately, because the sun has provided so much, people now worship it instead of the Unseen One,” Riv said sadly. “They consider the sun and nature to be the source of life and creation. They no longer believe that the Unseen One provided the natural order to bless us.”
Wade pondered it all through dinner. On one hand, this world gave him the impression of being simpler than his own. On the other hand, it seemed to be more technologically advanced. He couldn’t think of how that was possible. “May I see the city tomorrow?” he suddenly asked. “I’m dying to have a look around.”
“I’m afraid not,” Arin said after swallowing a mouthful of potatoes.
“Why not?”
“Frankly, I’m afraid of what they’ll do to you.”
“Or what you’ll do to them,” Pool added with a chuckle. “You might cause a riot.”
“Then I’m trapped here?”
“You’re safe here,” Arin said. “You’re protected here from those who would do you harm or lead you to do harm to others.”
Wade fell into a disappointed silence. What was the point of coming to another world and being stuck inside someone’s compound?
A messenger from the city elders arrived after dinner. He was heavily bearded and as round as a bowling ball.
“The elders have heard about your guest,” the bowling ball said.
“So?” Arin said.
“They want to meet him.”
“Then they are welcome to come here.”
“You know that’s not possible,” the bowling ball replied. “Not since . . . well . . .”
Arin smiled. “Not since I threw them out the last time they came.”
“They’d rather the people did not see them come to you,” the bowling ball said. “It would make them appear as if they were negotiating with you or giving you respect.”
“Which they dare not do,” Arin stated sarcastically.
“You understand, I’m sure.”
“I understand completely. But they cannot see our guest unless they come here. The choice is theirs to make.”
“Must you be so difficult about everything?” the bowling ball asked.
“Indeed I must,” Arin replied. “Now, here are some cakes my wife made. They’ll comfort your journey back.”
The bowling ball’s face lit up. “Thank you, Arin,” he said sincerely. “And thank Muiraq for us.”
“You’re welcome, Flabian.”
“Who are the elders?” Wade asked after Arin had returned from seeing the bowling ball to the gate. “And from what city?”
“The elders of Sarum,” Arin answered as they stood outside the front door of the cottage. “It’s our capital city, the city that surrounds us even now. Or maybe I should say that it’s the central city of the confederacy.”
“What do you mean by ‘
confederacy’?”
“The simplest way to explain it is to say that the country we’re in—Marus, it’s called—is a collection of little countries. It’s a confederacy of factions or tribes. The elders represent those tribes and make the laws accordingly.”
“You don’t have a president or a king?”
“No. There was a time when the Unseen One was considered our king, but those days are long gone. Now there are elders. However, there is a man who wants to change all that. He wants to be our king, though he hasn’t been honest enough to say so directly.”
“This is a very strange world,” Wade said softly.
Arin looked at the boy, then said wistfully, “One day, when the Unseen One’s judgment has come and gone and a new generation has risen up, then Marus will be united under a true ruler. But that will be a long time in the future.”
“Look at that!” Wade suddenly cried out.
Arin spun around. Wade was staring up at the clear night sky.
“Do you see that?” Wade asked.
“What?” Arin said, looking but not seeing what could have caught Wade’s attention.
“There are two moons up there! Do you see?” Wade was pointing wildly in excitement. One was large and white, the other nearly half the size and slightly more orange.
Arin laughed, then said, “We’ve always had two moons. How many moons do you have in your world?”
“Just one.”
“How sad,” Arin said, then headed back into the cottage.
“May I walk around?” Wade asked.
“Be my guest,” Arin said. “But don’t leave the compound. Remember what I said.”
Wade didn’t answer but continued to stare at the two moons. He walked slowly away from the cottage, hoping to see if the sky held any other surprises. He followed the path that took him back toward the shelter. The stars blurred together until he lost interest in them.
The main entrance to the shelter lay just ahead, he remembered. It occurred to him that if he returned to Bethel’s stall, it might magically turn into the coal cellar once more and he’d be home again. But the door will be locked, he thought. Arin wouldn’t leave it open at night.
He tried anyway. Sure enough, the door was locked.
Strolling around to the left of the top of the shelter, he noticed how much it looked like the roof of a large and long house sticking up from the ground. It reminded him of a military bunker—made of thick cement and with a gently sloping roof.
He wondered if he could see over the compound wall if he stood at the pinnacle of the shelter. Glancing around, he hoped to find something to climb on, something high enough to get him onto the roof. His eye caught sight of a ladder leaning horizontally against the shelter wall. He ran over to it and was pleased to see that it might be long enough for him to see over the compound wall, which was about 15 feet high.
I could climb the ladder to the top of the wall and look out at the city, he thought. Then another idea came to him: Maybe I could find a way to climb down the other side, check out the neighborhood, then come back again. No one has to know.
He looked around. Arin and his family were nowhere to be seen. Moving as fast as he could, he dragged the ladder over to the nearest section of wall and hoisted it up. It reached nearly to the top.
Wade’s heart raced. Now he’d be able to see more of this new world he’d discovered! He climbed the ladder carefully, but even standing on the uppermost rung, he was still a few feet short of the top of the wall. The only way he’d be able to see over would be to jump up, grab on to the top, and pull himself up the rest of the way.
But then how would he get down again? He eyed the wall, the ladder, and then the wall again. He decided that when he was ready, he could hang from the ledge of the wall and drop back onto the ladder. Easy, he thought.
Taking a deep breath, Wade crouched on the top rung, then sprang up as hard as he could. His fingers crooked over the top of the wall. He kicked his legs wildly as he tried to climb up. One of his feet caught the ladder, not just once but two or three times, and knocked it aside. To Wade’s horror, the ladder slid along the wall and fell to the ground.
“Oh, no!” he gasped. He waited for a second, then mustered all his strength to pull himself to the top. It was a painfully slow process since his arms weren’t that strong. The rough cement of the wall dug into his fingers. He felt beads of sweat form on his forehead and upper lip. He pulled and pulled until, eventually, he worked one elbow over the ledge, then another, and then he swung his right leg up, followed by his left. Finally, he was lying completely atop the wall. He stayed there, panting, for a few minutes.
When he felt slightly recovered, he rolled onto his side. The wall was a couple of feet thick and gave him enough room to sit up. He was facing an alleyway with several tall brick buildings directly across from him. They looked like warehouses, with large leaded windows that were now dark and barren of any people or activity. No view of the city from here, he thought with disappointment. He looked in both directions and decided to make his way to the right. Maybe he could see more if he followed the wall to that end of the alley. Looking like a squirrel, he scurried along as fast as he could on hands and knees. When he reached the end of that wall—and the corner of the compound—he stopped. To his disappointment, he’d come to another alley. Will I have to scurry all the way around to the front gate in order to see the city? he wondered.
He decided he wouldn’t try. The chances were good that Arin or one of his sons would spot him. Looking back into the compound, he searched for a tree branch he might jump onto. He couldn’t see any that were close enough, however, and then he realized Arin was too smart to allow a tree to grow close enough to the wall for an intruder to break in that way.
Wade turned to look in the other direction and only then saw that he was face-to-face with some kind of pole that stuck up from the corner of the wall. At the top of the pole was a rectangular piece of metal tilted down toward the street. It was a sign of some sort. Wade twisted around to get a look at what it said.
The sign read: “Warning. This is a high-powered security wall.” Then it had symbols that looked like lightning bolts, followed by the word Danger.
Wade felt his heart jump into his throat. This was a hazardous wall, probably like an electric fence! Yet another way that Arin kept intruders out.
Why isn’t it turned on? Wade wondered. Does Arin have it on some sort of timer? Is it about to come on at any moment and shock the living daylights out of me?
He tried to decide what to do. He could hang from the side of the wall and let himself fall back into the compound, risking a twisted ankle or, worse, a broken bone. That didn’t appeal to him. Maybe he should call to Arin for help, admit he was wrong, and hope they’d let him back in. That didn’t appeal to him either. There had to be another way.
Just then, he heard a couple of voices from below. He froze where he was. The voices came from the street, not the compound. Two men walked up the alley, one carrying a flashlight that he occasionally shone along the wall. Wade moved carefully and gently around the sign pole. Suddenly the man with the flashlight flicked the beam up toward Wade. It was a casual gesture; he didn’t know Wade was there. But it startled Wade, who jerked back and banged the large sign.
The men stopped and looked up, searching the area with the light. “Who’s there?” one of them barked.
“It’s someone,” the other man said to his partner.
“I guess the power isn’t turned on,” the first man said.
The second man called out, “Identify yourself! We see you up there.”
Wade leaned over the ledge. “It’s me,” he said. “I mean, it’s Wade. Who are you?”
“We’re . . .” the first man hesitated. “Guards, I guess you could say.”
“How did you get up there?” the second man asked.
“A ladder.”
“A ladder!” the first man growled. “What ladder? We’ve been around this compound at
least twice tonight, and we haven’t seen a ladder.”
“There’s a ladder on the inside, but it fell down.”
“So you’re saying you’re stuck up there?” the first man asked.
“Yes.”
The two men laughed.
“It’s not funny,” Wade said indignantly.
“Don’t get snippy with us, boy,” the second man said. “What possessed you to get on top of that wall? Don’t you know that old Arin could be turning on the power any minute now?”
“I wanted to see the city,” Wade explained.
“That’s not a very smart way to see it,” the first man observed.
“Do you belong in there or out here?” the second man asked.
“In here.”
The flashlight beam hit him again, and the two men consulted between themselves in low tones. Wade thought he heard one of them mention his blond hair.
“We could help you,” the second man said. “Just crawl down and dangle your legs over. Then let go and we’ll catch you.”
“Then what?” Wade asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What’ll happen to me if I let you help me?”
“We’ll take you around to the front gate and let you in.”
“How? By telling Arin?”
“No, we’ll let you in with our key.” The first man held up some keys and jingled them.
“Why do you have a key?” Wade asked.
“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” the second man complained. “We have a key because we’re guards for Arin.”
“Really?”
“Yes!” the first man said. “Why would we lie to you?”
“Why wouldn’t you lie to me?” asked Wade.
“Stay up there and cook, then.”
The two men made as if they might walk off.
“Wait!” Wade called out. “I’ll trust you.”
“All right, just climb over and hang down,” the first man instructed.
The Marus Manuscripts Page 19