by Nelson, J P
I didn’t know what to say.
She winked a slow wink at me, “I think you made a good contest … and the lads will be speaking of it for years.”
Taking a moment to be quietly serious, I asked, “Do you think I should go with him?”
Lushandri looked me directly in the eye and held my hands, then breathing in deeply I saw her lovely chest rise and swell, then she exhaled in a lingering sigh before answering, “No, I don’t; because I want you to stay here.” And then her head tilted a bit and her eyes twinkled, “But yes, I do; because I think he could really use you.”
“But you don’t really know me, how could you guess …”
“I have spent my whole life around these islands. Every one of them has at least one secret that only I know. The sunken ships with gold, I know where a lot of them are. Caverns with relics and writing, I have seen lots of them. Many of the rocks out in the sea are hollow, and I know where some of the old pirates died and their bones are lying.”
She pointed off to the south-east and added, “A bit more than eighty miles, that way, the edge of the Bai’Yeuntite Crater begins, and down there I have seen the hulls of vessels with no sails; one has fins on each side as wide as the vessel is long and made of metal. Father took me there and he said some of those wrecks belong to no people or culture he had ever heard of.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“The point is, I am happy here, Wolf, and my place is here; but I long to know of the outside world. I only get news long after the fact. So I read, and I have read Doctor Wesney’s book of the Keoghnariu War.
“Wolf, he spoke highly of you from many standpoints. That and this past week have given me all I need to know.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, and then she squeezed my hand, “Wolf?”
“Yes.”
“Be the dashing gentleman you are, but don’t seek commitments that will hold you down … not yet. There is so much for you to do out there, so much you can accomplish. We live in a dire time when heroes are needed; you are a hero. All I ask from you is one thing …”
I was lost within her lovely eyes, “And that would be?”
“Be my friend. I could really use a friend, someone who can understand. Do you know what I mean?”
“Absolutely, Lushandri. I would be honored.” With that I delicately kissed her hand.
“Perhaps, you could write a journal or something? And you could bring it to visit me and share your experiences, first hand?”
“I would like that, very much. Lushandri?”
“Yes?”
“When we are alone, would you call me Komain? It is, after all, my birth name.”
“Komain …” She made it sound so smooth and warm. Her face was radiant, “… it would please me so much to do so.”
We rode around some more and then stopped in for an old fashioned meal at Sam’s Kettle. The chow was simple chicken and dumplings with lots of vegetables, but it was good and the coffee was better. I found that this was where Lushandri ate most of the time. For the later part of the evening I entertained her with all sorts of stories from my own adventures, my chums, and elvin history.
Lushandri had us driven up to an overlook which was gorgeous. There we sat as the driver slept in the carriage, and I played my flute for her as she leaned upon my shoulder. The night was crystal clear and for a long time we just sat quietly and enjoyed each other’s company. Finally we decided it was time to return to the town. As we were riding into the main town, we side-passed a box wagon with a couple of unsightly sailor types at the front, and they were followed by four horsemen. It was odd, but it was none of our business, and they were going the other way.
The one fellow who was driving, I thought, had an ugly scar across his face that looked like he must have caught the wrong end of a cutlass. And just as they passed us I smelled their rank, unwashed sweat mingled with wood and lantern oil smoke. This wasn’t the weekend, when many folk took to carousing, so there were few people out at this time of the night.
We rounded a turn which should have given us an open view of the bay and the side of the island, but instead in the not to far distance we saw a flickering glow against the darkness. The waft of the wind brought the smell of smoke to my nostrils, but not regular wood smoke. A sense of urgency overtook me and without thinking I commanded the driver, “Make to that burning, yonder, quickly.” He through a quick glance backward and Lushandri confirmed my request, but as he cracked his whip she looked at me with a startled expression.
The driver was fast in getting us to the site of a small manor house which was blazing horribly. Before we got there Lushandri recognized it as the home of a small plantation owner. From all around men were running to throw water at the place. I was out of the carriage before it came to a stop and was tuning in my senses to assess what I could.
Anyone could throw water and make a bucket brigade, but I was remembering only weeks ago, when I had happenstance to see a home burning. A man had staggered out of the place yelling, “They took her, they took my little girl!” Before I could get to him he had collapsed and died.
Over by a big stand of trees were several women trying to hold another woman back from racing into the burning home. It was there I saw Lushandri run. I tuned in to what was being said there, and the woman of the house was trying to yell in a panicked voice, “They’re still in there, Aerall and Jame, oh my gods somebody help them … they have my little girl … please somebody …” As I looked her way I saw she had a bundle in her arms.
“They have my little girl,” she said. My mind rushed … it was the same, but Aerall and Jame … they must be her husband and son … there was no time to lose. I ran to the growing water brigade and seizing a bucket, dowsed myself amid the men yelling at me, “What are you doing … are you crazy?!”
Running toward the home I tore another bucket from someone’s hands and dowsed myself again, and then found a piece of blanket. I grabbed a third bucket and had to wrench it from the man’s grasp as everywhere I heard chaos. Drenching the blanket I threw it over my head and back and leaped over a broken and burning door into the fiery hulk which once had been a home.
Chapter 64
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MY HEAT SIGHT would make me blind in this raging furnace, and the smoke above was heavy. Landing in what must have been a parlor I dropped low to the floor and focused hard on using my *Awareness* and *Movement Detection* abilities.
The floor about me had the smell of lantern oil and was ablaze, so I pulled out my dagger, that wonderful gift from still unknown benefactors, and touched it to the floor. In a seven feet radius from the blade, it pulled in the flame and quenched it. This would not save the house, nor the floor from igniting again, but it would protect me from the direct surface flame while I searched.
The house was not huge, not from plantation standards, but was plenty big enough and I heard-felt a big piece of roof fall in. This was a two level building, at least above the ground. I thought I heard someone groan and the sound of a child crying. It seemed to be coming from the room beyond, but the roar of the flame was causing the floor beneath me to tremble as well, messing up my sensory perceptions, and I was not practiced in sensing my way through manmade structures. Crawling as quickly but cautiously as I could, I kept pointing the tip of my blade to the floor, clearing my path.
A piece of ceiling fell from directly above me and I rolled, a narrow and close call, and then another piece fell from which I rolled out from under again. This time some burning wood stabbed its way into my new pants, pinioning my leg to the floor and slicing a wound across my left thigh.
With a hard yank I ripped my way free, but now I was blocked from the way I came in. I could see, somewhat, below the billowing smoke line and I was holding my breath as the dolphins taught me. But my eyes, all of this heat worked against me.
‘Use your imagination, Wolf,’ I told myself. ‘There must be a way. I can’t see, the heat is too strong.’ But wai
t, what if, could I, can I, see through the heat. Adapt, that was the key.
Those cries were closer, but were not moving. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I thought the man was hurt.
Adapt, adaptation … my eyes, eyelids … I remembered the transparent eyelids and *Adapted*. They protected against the burn, but … I worked to see beyond the heat, beyond the normal range of sight … unexpectedly everything became like black and white, or a grayscale, with regards to my vision. Suddenly I could see, I could almost see through the flaming walls, sort of. There, I had to get around that wall, and buried under some rubble I saw them.
The man was unconscious and lying on top of what must be a three or four year old boy who was held beneath him. I heard-felt a piece of wall cave in not far from me and knew I had very little time, if any. Something fell on top of me as I tried to rush around the wall opening into the next room. Even though I deflected the debris, it still hurt and knocked me to the floor. Looking about with my newfound *Gray Sight*, I knew it would only be seconds before it all came down.
Grabbing hold of the material on top of the man, I made it to rot and warp as fast as I could, hoping it would help me break something up so as to get through to him. A big piece did indeed break off, and I dragged the man just far enough to get him clear and grab the little boy.
The child was terrified and was clutching a stuffed toy bear close to his heart and I said, “You have to help me, little mate. Mon’Gouchett, I can’t believe how brave you are! You’re going to have to hold your bear close to my chest to protect him. Now hold your arms around my neck, and your legs around my waist. You have to hold on, now, hard, and don’t worry about choking me. We’ve got to save your bear …”
That little fellow held on for dear life as I grabbed the man, thankful he was only one hundred and forty or so pounds, for in this mess a heavy man would have been a challenge. Wrapping my now scorched blanket around the man, I heard-felt the ceiling start to crash in. I *Slowed* the world down around me to get all the help I could. Grabbing the man, with the boy hanging onto my chest, I slung him over my shoulder and saw through my graysight a transparency in the wall and knew it was a window.
Reaching deep into So’Yeth, I ran and *Leaped* in between the roof as it collapsed all around me with violent force, leapt through the glass window landing on my feet, then rolling and leaving the man on the ground I kept the boy in my arms as I came back to my feet. Glass was everywhere, the house collapsed, flames lit the sky, and several buckets of water got thrown all over me.
The man was hurriedly picked up and taken away as I handed the boy to his mother, the crying bundle now being carried by Lushandri who was staring at me. I took no time, and rushed immediately to the still unconscious man now stretched out on the ground. Pushing the others away I tore his shirt open while looking for more than the severe burns all about his body. I put my hands on his chest, reached in, and applied the *Heal* effect.
I believed I had enough energy to completely heal him, but I had a feeling I was going to need some for something else. His wounds I was able to reduce to second degree burns, and his broken back I repaired. There were also three crossbow bolt wounds with one head still in his body. The head I made to come out and I had it in my hand.
The box wagon was on my mind and I quickly went to the woman and asked, “What was it you said about your little girl?”
It was Lushandri who answered, “Some men came into the house, shot Jame and took Einna and ...”
I was going to yell out to see if anyone had seen any of the captures when Lushandri took my arm and said, “One of the men recognized a rider, but they got away before he could grab a weapon, and then there was the fire. He said the rider was a crewman aboard the Chikried.”
“That’s all I need to know.” I knew the Chikried. I had seen her at dock, and she had been in port at Sharpae when I uncovered that ring of child-slavers. Giving her hand a quick kiss, I turned to go.
“Wait, Wolf, what are you going to do?”
Turning back I said, “I’m going to get the little girl, Einna, right?” Someone had left a short bow and arrows leaning against a tree. Grabbing them I started to run.
“Hey-yo, those are mine …” A native yelled at me.
“Thank you,” I yelled back, “They’re perfect!” I started to run and turned back in mid-pace to yell, “I’ll pay you later.” And then I shook my legs out and caught my stride.
The Chikried was docked on the far north of the town, and we were at the south. There was no way I could catch the wagon by the roads. However, there was another way. Thankful for my memory, and the sightseeing time, I knew just the course to set. At a high rise overlooking the town, I now was using my *Long Sight.* Sure enough, I found them. They still were casually moving, not realizing they had been found out.
When the house had been burned in Sharpae and an investigation had ensued, the Chikried had been one of five vessels to cast off the morning immediately following, with no links tying either to the incident. I was betting the Chikried was ready to cast off the next morning, probably the same time as the Lohra Lai.
Why the fire? To make a statement? I didn’t know, but the lantern oil wasn’t an accident. It was the kind burned on ship, not the nice, aromatic stuff often burned in a nice home.
Scanning the town, I had an idea where I could overtake them. But I had to move fast. Just a hundred rods away was a rooftop just a few feet from the level of the road. It was there I ran and leapt to the top. The whole town laid before me in a cascading fashion all the way to the docks. Many of the roads were narrow, and they became more so the closer to the center of town it got. Becoming one with the wind I called upon all of my energy and ran with the rooftops as my ocean.
From building to building I ran faster, faster, *Running like the Wind* … leaping from one ledge to another … maneuvering around clotheslines, chimneys, crates and furniture … with speed and momentum I hurtled a street and hitting with a roll on the next rooftop the wind carried me up to my feet and I ran some more. Choosing my path among the alleyways I was able to soar without faltering … it almost felt as if I were sailing directly into the waves, my body a living sail as I literally ran with the wind.
I heard yells as someone saw me whip by above faster than any man should be able to run, around a highline structure I hurdled two young lovers, on another rooftop I startled a bum who was fast asleep, a flock of birds rose up and nearly knocked me over the side of a building. Off to the side I saw the box wagon again … I believed I could catch them, but I needed more speed.
Trying to veer to one side was difficult, for it was the wind I was channeled into, and turning on a button was not in my favor. I had to shape my path with my mind, like an invisible tiller. They were taking a turn onto a street just in front of me and I notched an arrow into my bow as I contrived an impossible feat. Still they were calm in what they must think a victory … but in a moment no more.
As the wagon’s path and mine intersected, I employed *Leap* as strong as I could, hoping to combine the effect with my wind-like speed. Just before the apex of my jump I attempted to *Slow* the world down, as at top speed I hurtled the sixty feet expanse from thirty feet above; the combination of contrasting effects knocked the air from my lungs as I used *Close Sight* to pin-point my target and carefully aimed downward, shooting into the body of the scar-faced driver.
My effects cancelled themselves out as I hurtled out of control to the other side. Hitting with my feet first, I managed to go into a roll, but I crashed into an upper structure and fell down some stairs as some arrows were thrown from my quiver and broke under my weight. Seeing a window I darted for it and tried to get my bearings. Bruised and bleeding, I found no bones broken, but no time to do even a quick Self-Heal.
I heard the horses outside leap into a run and I knew I had to get into the street. Yells were coming from the dwelling I had fallen into, but I made the street before my mark got around the corner. I had only two arrows that
hadn’t broken in my fall and I was able to pick off two of the horsemen. People were pointing at me, now, and yelling. A crossbow bolt whipped by me, missing by inches, and then another while a third person tried to line up his weapon on me. I knew I had to get.
Ducking into an alley, dropping the bow and tossing the now cumbersome quiver, I was hoping my memory served correctly and this was one of those S-shaped winding roads Lushandri had taken me through. Ducking overhangs, jumping over a drunk, climbing a fence behind which was a woman bathing, and then leaping the next fence just ahead of a man chasing me out with a meat cleaver and a barrage of colorful words, I fell into something I would rather not identify as one foot became wedged in a bucket. I heard the wagon in the distance coming around fast and I managed to kick the bucket off, then run up to a door which led to a staircase down to the next level.
The staircase wasn’t an option, so I side-jumped over the rail and landed on a tarpaulin covering what smelled like manure, and rolled onto the street as the wagon came by. Sprinting along side I jumped and grabbed hold of a rail and climbed up to the top.
One of the riders must have seen me and decided to climb up the other side, and sailors be able climbers, for as I got to the top I caught a boot to the head. Scrabbling up I took two more blows to the head and a knee in the cheekbone before I landed a blow of my own, and balancing atop that wagon wasn’t easy. If that wasn’t enough, the remaining rider climbed up from the side I had come up from.
It was nip and tuck there for a bit as the one supplied a rusty dirk into the mix. I guess he took his kidnapping somewhat seriously. Using the one against the other, I managed to run one of them through with his mate’s play toy. That left me with only one to worry about for a moment. We were braced against each other, he facing the driver’s bench and me facing the back, when his face turned to alarm as he looked over my shoulder.
Before I could garner his direction of sight, the box wagon ran under the spar of a business sign and clipped me against the knees. It took my legs out from under me and I fell backward with my opponent on top of me. The momentum carried us around in a whirl and I added some gymnastic whip to it. Spinning in the air, we landed flat on the cobblestone with him under me and his head cracked against the road.