“I know,” she said softly. “I would have done the same for you.”
Lamb wrapped his arms around Anna and sobbed quietly on her shoulder until he was abruptly pulled away by Ganon and effortlessly tossed to the other side of the road.
“Stay there or I will bind you as well,” Anna heard the guard say. Then her head was pulled back by the hair.
“If you conspire to impede or prevent our mission,” Govil said, his mandibles gently pinching at her temples, “you will be fully bound and have to walk to Kreipsche.” He released her head and hair. “Now be quiet or you will attract the creatures of the night.”
◆
Anna was awakened by a strong arm grabbing her waist from behind and a hand covering her mouth. She had sunk to a seated position, her arms thrust above her head by the chains. As she was lifted to her feet, another humanoid form started working at the chain that passed through the stone ring. It was a man, and he quietly inspected the length of the chains from Anna’s wrists to her ankles. She heard furtive movement behind her as well.
Suddenly, the grip on Anna tightened momentarily and then a man’s head bounced off the stones Anna had been sitting on and out of sight, followed by the headless body, which sprayed the man at Anna’s feet with blood. Before Anna could react, the second man was spitted through the chest by the spear end of Ganon’s mancatcher. Anna heard a brief commotion behind her as well before all turned silent again, save for the sound of gurgling.
“Friends of yours?” Ganon asked, staring into the impaled man’s horrified face.
Anna shook her head. The man was dressed in garments similar to Anna’s. Blood trickled from his mouth and he tried to speak, all the while his eyes darted back and forth between Anna and Ganon. Anna stared back, unable to speak herself.
“How about this one?” he said when he returned with the severed head a moment later.
“I do not know who these people are,” Anna replied.
“Good,” Ganon said. Then he punctured the skull with his mandibles and pierced it with his beak. There was the slurping sound, and then Ganon tilted his head back and swallowed. “Delicious,” he said after dropping the empty skull. The man on the ground started burbling anew. Ganon raised the man to a sitting position, and then fed on the contents of his skull as the man stared with horror at Anna.
◆
“Good lord!” O’Malley cried as he watched one of the insect man empty a man’s skull.
“They ingest their food like insects. They liquefy the contents and then drink it,” Bierce advised. “However, they do seem to be intent on protecting Dr. Rykov from harm.”
“A lot of good that will do if assailants can easily sneak up and overpower her.”
◆
“I was completely at their mercy like this,” she fumed as Ganon released the dead man. “I could have been killed, and then you would have failed your Queen!”
“Even so,” Govil said from behind her, “better that way than the alternative.”
He turned her head to its limit so Anna could see a line of people chained together. Some were gagged while others whimpered quietly. They were all dressed in simple furs and tanned leather, and all were barefoot. They were linked together by metal collars around their necks, while their wrists and ankles were shackled like her own.
“They would have added you to the line and moved on,” he said with a grimace, “probably back to Brynner.” He chuckled as he released her head. “They would have been in for a surprise when the Queen saw you!”
“Nevertheless,” Lamb said awkwardly, stumbling toward Anna, “she could not defend herself or even flee from them. If their intent had been murder, she would be dead now!” He stood before Anna and put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“I am fine,” Anna said tersely, eyeing Govil. “They did not have a chance to do anything.”
“Precisely,” Govil said. “We are only here to see that both of you complete your tasks for the Queen. We will protect you.”
“And what about when we get to Kreipsche? What is to stop me from turning on you then? Or do you intend to have me kill Gho-Bazh while still in chains.” She glared at Govil.
“We need to complete this mission for our own reasons,” Lamb said.
“And we would have pursued it even without the Queen’s interference.”
Suddenly, Govil and Ganon stood motionless. Anna glanced from one to the other, but they did not move until Lamb waved his hand in front of Ganon’s face. In a flash, the guard grabbed the doctor’s hand and wrenched his arm behind his back, but was otherwise motionless. Then they both seemed to reanimate. Ganon released Lamb’s arm, while Govil produced the three small keys from his armguard and removed the chains from Anna’s cuffs.
“We will allow you to remain at liberty,” Ganon said, “but do not abuse our generosity.”
“You will sleep over there,” Govil said, pointing across the path to where Lamb had been. Lamb followed Anna to the indicated place. She stretched her sore arms and attempted to rub her wrists under the irons. Govil and Ganon resumed their positions to scan the path in each direction.
“What about them?” Lamb asked, indicating the coffle of prisoners as Govil walked past. The guard stopped to examine each in turn, pulling their heads back by the hair to look in their mouths. Looking over their bodies. Touching them until each protested feebly. Eventually, he dragged the lead chain and tethered it to the ring that Anna had been occupying. Then he pushed the woman at the front of the line in the chest. She fell backward into the woman behind her and the line toppled like dominoes until all were seated. Then he continued to his post.
Lamb rose to see to the women, but Govil and Ganon both turned with their weapons at the ready.
“Do not approach them,” Ganon said.
“Do not talk to them,” Govil warned. “Do not interact with them in any way.” Then they both turned and resumed their watch.
◆
O’Malley sighed as Anna was released from confinement. Lamb followed her back to where he had been sleeping, but stopped and turned toward a line of people chained together by the neck. The guards both turned and appeared to threaten him. Lamb went over to Anna, laid down behind her on the ground, and wrapped an arm around her. Anna’s eyes were already closed, but she snuggled up against him before the doctor closed his eyes.
Chapter 11
Dhath Gl’clot 11
Anna awoke on the ground with Lamb’s arm wrapped around her. The warmth of his body had greatly eased the chills of her confinement, but now it was getting hot and humid again. She lifted his arm from around her waist and rose to a sitting position. Lamb stirred with the motion.
“Good morning,” he said drowsily. He stood and stretched.
Anna rubbed at her wrists beneath the cuffs. They were starting to chafe, and purple rings were peaked out from beneath the thick two-inch bands. Then she leaned forward. The cuffs clinked with her leg iron as she touched her toes. At the sound, she noticed Govil watching her from where he stood next to his mount. She scowled at him, and his beak snapped open and closed a few times in response, but he did not say anything. Her ankles were also bruised.
“Let me take a look at those,” Lamb said, taking Anna’s wrists in his hands. “We need to get these cuffs off.” He examined the metal bands and noticed that there were no seams. They each appeared to be one piece of metal precisely fitted to her. “They’re going to have to be cut off.”
“I do not think our friends will approve of that,” Anna said. Lamb looked around and found the thin cloth wrapping of the rations they had consumed. He tore it into wide strips and gently slid one under each of the cuffs. Anna winced, but didn’t cry out.
“That should ease the chafing at least.”
“Thank you, Harry.” She kissed his cheek.
“Let’s get going,” Ganon shouted. The sky beyond the lip of the rise was turning from purple to red. Ganon and Govil were readying their mounts. The o
ther shufflers were still tethered to the rings. There was no sign of the chained people.
“What happened to the prisoners?” Lamb asked.
“They have been dealt with,” Govil replied dismissively. “None of your concern. Now ready your beasts. We depart when the sun hits the rise.”
“We need to eat and prepare ourselves,” Lamb replied.
“Then you shouldn’t have slept so long,” Ganon said. “You can eat on the road.”
“Where are you going?” Govil shouted.
“I need to relieve myself,” Anna replied from the gap in the wall that led to the Narrows.
“You will not leave our sight,” the guard commanded. “Whatever you need, you can attend to it in our presence.”
“It is nothing we haven’t seen before,” Ganon added. Anna glared at them and pulled down her trousers where she stood. Lamb turned away and readied the four shufflers. When he turned back, Anna was at his side. She took the reins of her mount and climbed onto the shuffler’s back.
Lamb handed Anna a ration bundle from his saddle bag, took one for himself, and then mounted his own shuffler. Then the column moved forward in silence.
◆
The path wound around the side of the rise following the shoreline of Aeyrne, the western of the twin lakes, for several days. The terrain grew increasingly more bleak and featureless. They passed no other traffic.
Each night, as the sun set over the lake, they stopped at one of several sets of rings mounted in the wall roughly half a day’s mounted travel apart. These were apparently designated camping places.
Initially, Lamb had attempted to make conversation, but the guards demanded that he be silent lest they be attacked by enemies or bandits lying in wait. Lamb found it strange that they were wary of attacks and yet camped at known campsites each night, but he knew better than to question the insect-men.
They had fallen into a routine where Govil would threaten to bind Anna if she or Lamb attempted to escape, and then he and Ganon went about tending to their mounts and taking up positions watching the path in each direction. Apparently, the insect-men did not sleep.
The low wall on the lake side rose and fell with the landscape, growing taller than Anna in places where the terrain dropped nearing the level of the lake shore. The rise on the other side of the path seemed to be of a constant height, and Anna realized that the plateau above had once been on the lake shore.
There were no other gaps in the lake-side wall, which appeared to be regularly maintained - unlike the road itself - which was merely packed dirt augmented by intermittent ruts and fissures, particularly in the low-lying sections of the path. Anna noticed that Govil carefully examined the wider fissures before taking his shuffler across.
“What are you looking for?” she asked. Govil glared at her.
“Barrens leeches,” he said without emotion. “They burrow under the earth and strike when the rains come and the ground is moist. Sometimes there is water just below the surface that they gather in. They will attack our mounts if we are not careful.”
No leeches rose from the crevasses. They continued on in silence, stopping periodically where the path rose to survey to road ahead. The way was more or less straight, following the shore of the lake, until it rose one last time as Aeyrne curved away to the south.
◆
O’Malley woke abruptly. He was seated in a chair at the table. The Kovacs cylinder had been removed, and the Bierce device now sat to one side. He glanced about the room and noticed sunlight coming from the windows in the other room. A lantern was lit on the table before him, and Billy walked in carrying a tray bearing a plate of fried eggs, sausage links, biscuits, and a pot of coffee. O’Malley eyed the tray and its bearer suspiciously.
“Good morning,” Bierce said. “Billy has brought you your favorite breakfast.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Your body has been dormant for some time, but your mind was quite active during that time. I hope Billy has prepared the meal to your liking. The Junazhi gave him specific instructions.”
“They can read my mind?” O’Malley said in panic.
“The Junazhi can detect your surface thoughts when your body is dormant. That is another reason why they confine themselves to remote areas. The mental noise is overwhelming to them.”
O’Malley was not reassured, but he managed to relax a little. He glanced at the meal. It looked and smelled delicious, but he was wary of the silent caretaker.
“Billy will not harm you,” Bierce said. “He is the agent of the Junazhi. He takes care of the facilities and ensures that knowledge of the Junazhi is contained. While you are here, he will provide for your needs.”
“Can you read my mind?” O’Malley said as he picked up the fork and knife. “You seem to know what I am thinking.”
“Though I am now housed in this device, I had seventy-two years in my human shell. I can surmise your wants and needs. I’m sure that you are concerned for the well-being of your friends.” O’Malley glanced to where Anna and Lamb had been sitting, and noticed that their bodies had been laid down on a pile of rugs. “Billy made them more comfortable, and has been moving their limbs regularly to keep them from stiffening up.”
“He seems to have had a lot of practice maintaining unconscious people,” O’Malley mused. The food was indeed exactly how he liked it, down to the seasoning of the sausages and the buttermilk in the biscuits. “Does he do this often?”
“They are not unconscious. Their minds are elsewhere. Those physical shells merely function mechanically. They are otherwise inert.” O’Malley spit out his meal in surprise.
“What do you mean their minds are elsewhere?”
“The Junazhi extracted their minds and facilitated transport to the other realm. They now exist there, not here.”
“So, what they are experiencing there isn’t a dream. It’s real!”
“Precisely. They are there, and whatever they experience in that place is actually happening to them.”
“So if they are harmed, the injuries will persist on their return?”
“I have not experienced this kind of out-of-body travel before. When the brains are preserved in the cylinders, any physical needs are maintained by the device, and the physical residue is discarded. Their bodies, however, lay dormant and subject to Billy’s ministrations.”
O’Malley’s appetite was waning, and he ate little of the excellent meal. He watched Billy bend Lamb’s arms and legs a few times, turn his head, and sit him up and lay him down again. O’Malley ate absently, watching the exercises, which were conducted gently and with care.
When Billy moved on to Anna, the father rose and went to her side. As Billy lifted her left arm, Anna’s sleeve slipped up her arm revealing a bruised ring around her wrist. O’Malley examined her other arm and saw a similar bruise. Her arms were cold in spite of the long sleeves of her blouse and jacket. He pulled up her trouser legs and noted similar bruises around both ankles, though her legs were warmer than her arms. Anna’s actual body was exhibiting the physical trauma that her mind had experienced. Her stomach gurgled as if in agreement.
O’Malley gave Lamb a similar examination. The doctor’s body was also cooler, though not a cold as Anna’s, but in the monitor, Lamb was fully clothed, while Anna had on only a vest and trousers.
“Get them some blankets,” he said to Billy.
Chapter 12
Dhath Gl’clot 12
When Anna reached the summit, she gasped. The bleak plateau that stretched on infinitely was the same one she had seen for a moment in the New York Subway, as well as in Brian Teplow’s sketchbook.
“The Endless Barrens of None,” Govil said with resignation.
Mountains were barely visible in the distance to the north and west. The surface of the entire expanse was made of flat, featureless, reddish stone as far as the eye could see.
“Where do we go from here?” Lamb asked as he halted his shuffler alongside Anna’s.
&n
bsp; “Beyond those mountains lies the domain of Gho-Bazh,” Ganon said ominously. His mount rounded on Lamb’s, and the guard reined it in sharply. “Around the northernmost top is the city of Kreipsche.”
“This road continues along the southern edge to Tiornen,” Govil continued, “and then curves northward along the eastern foot of the Groaning Slopes of Woe. We will follow this path to Tiornen and, as long as we are not detected, we will continue into the foothills and overland parallel to it.”
“Won’t that route greatly increase our chance of discovery?” Lamb asked. “Why go to Tiornen at all? Why not avoid other travelers and go straight toward the mountains? That would surely be more secure.”
“As the name suggests,” Govil replied, “there is nothing between here and there aside from rock, heat, and death. There is no cover for the likes of you and I. Predators of all kinds will see us coming from far off and set upon us unawares if we venture from the trail.”
“And you will need food and water by the time we reach Tiornen,” Ganon added. “Ration your remaining supplies. There won’t be anything edible until we descend off the Barrens again.”
“You said we would continue on the road if we were not detected,” Anna said. “Who would be looking for us? And happens if we are seen?” Govil eyed Anna suspiciously.
“If Gho-Bazh becomes aware of us,” he said in irritation, “he will send his troops to rescue you.” He clicked his mandibles savagely. “Know that I will kill you myself and feast on your brains before you are reunited with the sorcerer.”
“If we lose the advantage of stealth,” Ganon said, “we will have to circle around the Groaning Slopes of Woe and trek through the jungles of Folly to avoid pursuit. That would be better than attempting to cross the mountains themselves, but the jungle will be more difficult than the road around the Barrens.”
The Other Realm Page 7