Blackrift Gate

On the way to Pellosi he met a number of travellers going to the fair, some traders and two families riding on a cart, cackling children, chickens, goats, all in one. They called Gepetto to get on the cart, but Gepetto smiled and waved them goodbye. He does not need to waste money on such luxuries.

  He would get to Pellosi in no time, he has gone there before, when he was younger and yet to meet Sisilia. A few travellers were coming back from there. It was not far. The road was recently repaired too. He reached there earlier than expected. Gepetto was happy, though his back was killing him.

  Pellosi was almost the same as he had seen before. He walked to the dirty red tiled inn and rented the cheapest room beside the stairs.

  He unloaded his backpack on the table carefully, and suddenly felt a sprain on his back. He barely threw himself on the bed and lied there, clenching his teeth. He was not accustomed to walking with load on his back for years and his spine was reminding him of that. The spraining pain slowly subsided into a dull ache, and the severe tiredness almost forced him to sleep. He slept uncomfortably till late evening, when he woke with severe thirst and hunger pangs. After he had some water and gulped down some of the bread and cheese he had with him, he found it was already dark outside. He could still hear sounds from the bar, so it was not too late yet. He had his own rations, and did not care for spending a dime more than necessary, so initially he thought not to go there. But he was running low on tobacco, so he finally decided to go and check out the inn. Bar was almost empty beside the few regular drunkards that seem to have making the noises. Gepetto paid no attention to the drunkards, and went straight to the innkeeper, who was a burly man with a magnificent pair of mustaches and a bulging stomach.

  Gepetto bought some tobacco after a lot of haggling. The innkeeper did not seem to mind, and talked with him, asking him where he was going.

  “Bessil instead of Vermont for selling herbs and things? You must be insane!”He laughed.”You should really go to Vermont, though it will take a bit longer, you will get a good price there. Nobody would even buy the things you are selling at Bessil.”

  “But back when I went to Bessil..”

  “Back then the apothecaries were all near Bessil, but now all has shifted around Vermont. More buyers there, and a bigger fair.”

  “But I only have seven days at best till I go back..my son is very sick and..”

  “You can go north to the Tirki port..”

  “Tirki is the opposite way to Vermont!”

  “I know. But it is the closest port from here. You got to get to the port first. It does not matter that Tirki is a bit on the opposite way, as going there would ultimately save you time. You got to take the steamboat that leaves from Tirki down the Oli river upto Vermont, and same on the way back. It would be over well within a week if you take the steamboat. Otherwise if you walk the fair would be over before you even reach Vermont.”

  “Steamboat? I never rode a steamboat before!”Gepetto said without any attempt of hiding his fear.

  “It is easy peasy. Everyone is riding it now a days. Even grandmothers. Only problem is the fare.”

  “Yes, yes, that is why I thought about going to Bessil. I will have to spend too much to go to Vermont and it will eat up my profits.”Gepetto almost turned with the tobacco to go back to his room.

  “Not if you have someone in the know.” The innkeeper chuckled”I know the fare collector Jusef there, so if he knows I sent you, you will not need to pay him.”

  “Its so kind of you! I would be forever grateful and God will bless you..”

  Innkeeper raised his hand”Not for free. No need to thank me. Pay me half the fare for one side, and I will give you my letter.”

  “How much?”

  “Fifteen Lira..both sides.”

  “I..I will tell you in the morning.”

  “As you wish. Good night.”

  Gepetto went back to his room with a bit of tobacco and a lot of thoughts. He did tell Nancy that he will take a week to return, but Vermont is way too far for his comfort. It will take more than seven days on foot in each way, so taking the steamboat is his only realistic option. He could not possibly pay the full fare, if he wants to afford Peter’s treatment, so he decided that he would try to haggle down the price.

  He had an uncomfortable dream that night, but could not remember what it was as he got up. He woke up with an aching body, and a worried mind. Something about this new plan felt not right for some reason, and as he was washing himself up in the cold water, he was still dilemmatic. Yet he had to make a choice. As he clothed himself back up, he decided to talk with the innkeeper. Only planning to take the offer if he could still get a better price.

  In the morning he met the innkeeper.

  “So did you make up your mind?”

  “Fifteen Lira is too much. Please have mercy on my son.”

  “Aye, senor I am already doing you a favor.”

  “Please, a bit less for this old man.”

  Ultimately they decided on twelve lira. The innkeeper took a parchment and rubbed his hand on the inner side of the sooty chimney, and stamped on the paper; then rubbed his hand clean on a dirty piece of cloth hanging on a ring beside the chimney, possibly used to clean the pokers.

  Gepetto was a bit skeptical about the letter, but he had already decided taking a risk in this. If Bessil has changed as the innkeeper had told him, his entire plan would fail and he could not take that risk. Without a good profit from his stocks, he was not going to afford the treatment for his son anyway. Ceterum Sanguis is not cheap. Vermont has always been a big city, so there is little chance that he can not make anything there. If the steamboat option was there in his youth, he probably would have gone to Vermont instead of Bessil anyway, he pondered. Maybe it is for the best.

  With this, he left for Tirki. The road was through a forest road. The road was covered in dried leaves, as the cold has already started to bite down on the trees. The weather was quite pleasant yet. The only fear Gepetto had was from animals, or bandits. However, the innkeeper fairly assured him that it was a safe road.

  However, it was too empty for him. Gepetto was getting uncomfortable and feeling like he should really go back, but he shook off his paranoia and pushed on. His son depended on it, and he was going to go there.

  “Who is there?”Gepetto cried out as he stared at the figure standing far away in the forest, beckoning him. Again.

  The innkeeper told him that this rout through northern forest is not frequented by many travelers, so he did not expect human company. His trek through the almost abandoned road was calm so far, except the chriping of few birds that were still out before winter fully comes. It was already colder, and he could feel it in the cold breeze passing through the trees.

  This was the first trail he had passed, and he turned to look at it just out of curiosity. This figure was just standing there and waving, as if expecting him to come towards him. Gepetto was not going to go anywhere near him of course but running away did not seem a good option either. He could not walk fast with this load even in the best of roads, and here the path was all crossed by roots and riddled with dried bushels and shrubs every so often. So he pretended to ignore him and walk away, even though a chill ran down his spine feeling the uncanniness of it all. But soon enough he saw another similar trail going in the same direction in the forest, with the same shady figure waving at him. This time, he could not resist but ask.

  The figure did not answer.

  “What do you want from me?”

  The figure suddenly started to walk towards him, almost effortlessly through the thickets. As if he was floating. Yes, he was. Floating almost at half a man height.

  Gepetto cried out in horror, and tried to run as fast as possible. He could not leave the bag on his back even with what he saw. He did not look behind and walked as fast as possible, trying to distance himself from the horror. His heart felt like it would burst out of the ribcage. He was feeling out of breath, sweating even though the cold air was passing th
rough his clothes and little holes moths have eaten away. He stumbled on a few roots and fallen branches but barely maintained his balance and walked on.

  He could hear eerie sounds behind him. He could feel it closing in. Waxing and waning. Jesus! He could not think anything, other than the fact that he had to get away from it.

  Soon he could not walk anymore. The sunlight was waning. Already? He could swear he was not walking for more than a few hours! The sounds were almost deafening now. Shrill sounds, swishing sounds, as if breezes passing through thousands of leaves, as if whispers of many sorrowful souls were passing through.

  Gepetto was stumbling now. He collapsed once, and got himself back up. Struggling, he staggered forward, but then collapsed again. The otherworldly cacophony was closing in, and Gepetto knew it would be a bad idea to turn his head to see what was pursuing him, yet he had to.

  What he saw was something he never could imagine in his worst nightmares. There were shady figures. More of them. All approximately human in shape, but they all were floating, and their figures were distorted. Some had their arms bent in a weird way, some had their legs placed in awkward angles no living human could. They looked like puppets that were being dragged by many strings.

  Gepetto tried to crawl out. Praying for salvation, he clawed on the ground in desparate attempt to drag himself away from these pursuing menace. But they were already upon him. Their shady hands grabbed him, and in an instant he felt like drowning in a sticky sea of some kind, where he could not see and nor breath. He could feel arms grabbing him, things that were not arms were slithering around his hands and legs and waist, and most importantly he felt his memories, his cherished memories and feelings, his will to live, slip away slowly.

  “No! No! No!”He cried out. He threw his arms violently.

  Just then, he could smell it. A smell of wild roses. ]

  “Sisilia!”He could identify her smell anywhere. Amid all these grabbing vile hands, he could feel her hand touching him. Her soft hands, as he remembered when they tied the knots. He cried out to her, and felt he was being pulled. For a moment he felt he could see her arm and her figure, slightly radiating in this darkness.

  “I will get you out.” He felt he could hear. She was dragging him out from here.

  The others in this darkness were not pleased. They seemed to be getting furious. Sisilia was pulling him through the crowd, but they were getting slowed down, and there seemed to be no end in the dark ocean of vile things. Sisilia tried a lot to find a break but she could not. Everywhere it was all the same.

  “There is no other way.”She cried out in despair. “They would not let both of us go!”

  “Who are they?”Gepetto cried out.

  Gepetto could not understand what was happening, but soon he felt Sisilia radiating brighter and brighter. He could see her form, and it seemed like she was struggling, spending her last bit of power into maintaining the light she had created. With a blinding flash of light from her, Gepetto was thrown in a direction, radiating away from Sisilia, as her glow dimmed out after the desparate flash.

  “Good bye!”Sisilia cried.” Save our son!”

  “No! Please stay with me!”Gepetto cried out, but the last he could see was Sisilia being grabbed by thousands of arms and grabbing things, as her light slowly died down. The things were no longer paying attention to him. The darkness around him was getting thinner. He could not recall what happened after that.

  Chapter 3

  Gepetto woke up. He was lying on the road on his face. It was dark already.

  He got up. Nobody else were there and the moonlight was flooding the road ahead. He did not know what to do. He had no idea if he had passed out in the middle of the road from exhaustion, and whether what he had seen was a bad dream, but his mind and heart was aching to no end. He was weeping silently, the same way when Sisilia had left him alone in this world. Her memories and the painful voice when she parted from him was all too real.

  He knew Tirki should be right ahead and the most he wanted now was to be among humans, as he was quite clear that if what he experienced had anything to do with reality, he should get out of this forest as soon as possible. His bag was still tied to his back, so he did not waste any more time to start walking forward. It seemed much easier to walk in the moonlit night, almost as if he felt rejuvenated for some reason.

  Thankfully, he reached Tirki port very soon. He never came here before, though he knew about this place. Earlier it was mostly an establishment of the lumberjacks and some traders who used this port at times. Now the traders of northern Frurolis, and other cities reached here from the road down the northen mountains. However, they all reached Tirki intending to use the port to reach the flourishing cities southwards along the river Oli. Thus very little trade happened here at Tirki, besides for the rustic locals who lived around the port in their shacks and cottages that stretched into the forests. Gepetto had no intention or mood to talk with people about what he had experienced. He quickly reached near the port, avoiding any contact with the locals who mostly seemed to be asleep barring a few drunkards that were loitering about.

  Many people were gathered near the port, all huddled around massive fire pits. Some were still eating from the few stalls that were selling the last of their wares but most were trying to sleep. Ferry comes early tomorrow.

  Gepetto had his food in the bag but did not have an appetite. He was mentally exhausted, so he found a corner where he is not likely to be disturbed or seen, and took out his blanket from his bag to wrap himself and the bag together. He slept, clutching the bag, remembering the last vision of Sisilia. He prayed for her for long, before he drifted to sleep eventually.

  His sleep was disturbed. He saw himself standing on dark water of a peculiar ocean, where in the distance he could see a light in the backdrop of a weird looking sky. He felt the light looked familiar, and he seemed to fly over the water towards the flickering light effortlessly. As he came closer, he found it to be Sisilia. Her eyes were closed, and she was seemingly weeping silently, as her light flickered.

  “Sisilia!” He cried.

  She suddenly looked at him, and he screamed. Her eyes were all black, and she had suddenly transformed into one of the figures he had encountered.

  “Go back!” The figure cried out, as it started to approach him uncannily. He suddenly realized that many such figures were coming out from the dark ocean underneath him. He tried to run, and he found himself running through the woods. All of a sudden, he stumbled upon something, and he turned to find out that it was himself.

  He screamed out again and woke up. As he opened his eyes, he felt relieved and looked around. Thankfully none has awakened from his shriek.

  The steamboat came at dawn. The whistle was something he had never heard. So shrill and loud! “It will even wake the dead people in the coffin.” He muttered and hastily packed his blanket inside the bag.

  He got up with the others, as the plank was lowered and the passengers got down. He suddenly felt an eerie sensation of being watched for a moment, but he brushed it off.

  Soon the steamboat started to move. He was astonished at the speed it was moving through the river, cutting through the streams and waves. He looked at the picturesque valleys and forests as they passed. Soon they passed Vellis.

  Suddenly he was aware of a new development on the ship. The fare collector was coming for them.

  He was worried about the collector. He almost forgot about the letter. He did not know how he will react and more importantly how others would react if they see he is getting special treatment about the fair. So he just pretended to keep the parchment that the innkeeper gave him, peeking from his pockets at an angle where anyone looking at him could see the soot marks of the innkeeper. If the collector is actually a man known to the innkeeper, this hint should be enough for him. Thankfully the collector seemed to get the clue and pretended not to notice him and his baggage.

  It took a whole day and night for the steamboat to travel to Ver
mont. Gepetto did not try to make any friends, and tried avoiding drawing attention to himself as he was not paying anything. Most of the travellers on board seemed to be heading to the fair.

  As the steamboat neared Vermont, Gepetto watched in awe, passing the series of buildings near the river, and the tree adorned embankment. Behind the line of buildings and small houses of the lower city, he could see the spires of palace of Lord Vermont. Soon the steamboat stopped at the jetty and they all got down.

  Chapter 4

  It was not hard for Gepetto to find the fair, as most seemed to be headed that way. Near the fair there were many inns and tents that had cropped up to accommodate people that came in from many parts of the country. Most seemed full, and from what Gepetto gathered from the conversation of the crowds of disgruntled people around the places, he understood that the rent was too high. It was of course expected from the shops setup just to exploit the crowd of the fair. He decided he would sleep in the shop itself. That way he could also protect his wares from getting stolen. He did not waste time trying to find a tent for the night, and went in.

  Inside the fair, Gepetto tried to find a suitable place to set up shop. Most places were full, and he would have to pay good money to actually set up a regular shop, but for a vendor who would mostly lay his things out before himself, there was really not much system for allocation of space and collection of fees. Everyone was sitting in whatever space they could find.

  Gepetto finally found a place for himself near a mirror shop, and beside a dump. He did not like the idea, as it was somewhat stinking, and was not the best place for his fragrant goods. But other places were even worse.

  In any case, he sat down and took out the little tarpaulin he had with him and a bit of rope to make a small cover over his head and his goods, and a cloth on the ground. Most small vendors like him did the same.

  He had a rather bad morning in regards to sales. It did not seem like anyone was noticing him or his small shop. He regretted sitting here, but he did not have much option. Suddenly he felt like he was being watched again. “I should be glad if someone did though.”He thought, and shook off the feeling.