by BC Powell
Side by side, Larn and I race towards the Barrens. Once we’re on the road, I watch him ignite, focus on the beams when I glitch, and slam into my own travel. After finding a series of beams that flow directly over the firm dirt path, I concentrate only on those.
Tela occasionally shoots off the side of the road and skims through the Barrens. She loops over a hilltop, I assume keeping an eye out for Murkovin, before angling back to the road. I trail Larn, both of us well behind Beck and the transport. The road gradually steepens with the once-distant Mount rapidly growing larger in my vision.
We all reduce our speed before we reach the blind hills. When we fly over their crests, the sensation is similar to crossing over the giant humps of a high-speed roller coaster but with much greater intensity. I almost wipe out while sailing over the second peak, but I manage to regain enough control to stay with my blend. As we near the Mount, the web of beams around us tints with shades of green.
“Slow now!” Larn screams, the sound of his voice warbling past my ears.
With tremendous concentration, I slowly pull my particles away from the light. After I feel that my body has restructured and I’ve faded to a sprint, I glance at the towering blue-needled, purple-barked pines that come into focus around me. I slow to a jog before stopping beside the others.
Standing in front of the black marble wall that surrounds the mountain compound, all four of us spend a few moments catching our breath. I gaze up at brilliant green light piercing through the edges of the clouds and reflecting in the ebony slopes of the enormous Mount of Krymzyn.
“Well done,” Larn says to me. “I was concerned you wouldn’t be able to keep up the entire time, but your speed seems to increase every time you travel.”
“It was actually easier than I thought it would be. Once I’m on the beams, it’s kind of peaceful in a way.”
“It can become almost meditative,” he replies.
“Going over the blind hills is pretty intense,” I say. “I really had to focus to stay in control.”
“I find them quite exhilarating,” Beck comments.
Tela steps to me and raises a hand over her head for a high five.
“You like these high fives, don’t you?” I say after slapping her hand.
“The Travelers will all do what we can to support you,” Tela replies. “It wouldn’t be fair of us to ignore customs that have meaning to you.”
“Thanks, Tela. That’s really nice of you.”
“What did you call that thing you just did?” Beck asks.
“A high five,” I say.
He walks to me and raises one hand into the air in front of him. “If it’s an important custom on your plane, then we should all share in it.”
I slap his hand with mine. “I wouldn’t say it’s important, but it’s just, I don’t know, fun after you do something rewarding.”
“Fun?” he asks.
Before I can answer, Tela jumps in. “Something that makes you feel so satisfied inside that you want to do it again. He calls that fun.”
“Fun,” Beck replies with the word now in his vocabulary. “I’ve learned a new word as well as a new custom.”
“It’s a great morrow all around,” I say, smiling to them.
“Did you notice the Murkovin we passed?” Larn asks me, always taking the role of teacher.
“No, I didn’t see one. Where was he?”
“In the Barrens, south of the blind hills, but he was a few miles away. You should try to keep your eyes open for them as you more frequently travel between the Delta and the Mount.”
“Will we see them often?” I ask.
“It’s not uncommon,” Larn answers. “It’s typically just a lone Murkovin crossing the Barrens. But you should always keep an eye out for them.”
“I was really concentrating on the road. I didn’t notice much else.”
“That’s all you should do at this point in your Apprenticeship, but I want to make you aware of it for the future.”
“I’ll try to look out for them,” I reply.
With Beck pulling the tube behind him, the four of us walk to the mammoth black wall. After the steel doors swing open, we pass through the gate and pause on the other side. A female Watcher stands by one of the doors—I assume she’s the person who opened the gate—while a male Watcher looks down at us from on top of the wall.
“Hars,” Larn says, pointing to the man, then swings his hand to the woman standing beside the gate. “And Sora. I present to you Chase, our Apprentice Traveler.”
“Greetings, Chase,” Sora says evenly as Hars bows to me.
Both of the Watchers have stern expressions on their faces while they study me, making me feel a little self-conscious.
“Greetings, and nice to meet you both,” I say as politely as I can while nodding to each of them.
Sora disappears behind one of the doors of the gate for a few seconds and then walks to where we stand. When she stops in front of us, she hands each of us a steel helmet with a pull-down visor and a pair of black gloves. The faceplate of the helmet has a thin slit in it just big enough for a person’s eyes to look through.
“Put these on immediately if Darkness should fall,” she says to me.
“Thank you,” I reply.
Looking around at the majestic pine-like trees, I remember the ferocity with which the needles seemed to prick me when I touched them before, even while the trees were sleeping. If the branches are awake and in motion, I’m sure the effects are much more damaging and painful.
Beck takes the handles of the transport in his grip before leading our way up the path towards the Mount. With Tela and Larn by my sides, I follow close behind. A hundred yards past the large clearing where the Constructs work, we turn off the road and onto a narrow path. Strolling through the thick forest of purple and blue, we soon reach a small glade surrounded by enormous steel trees.
An open-air tent identical to the one in the Delta, except about half the size, stands in the middle of the clearing. A few rows of steel tables reside underneath the canopy with the same selection of items on their tops that the Market in the Delta has, only in smaller quantities.
“This is the Market of the Mount,” Larn says to me. “When we transport clothing, rope, and sap from the Delta, this is where we leave them. You can always refill your flasks here from one of the storage containers when you need to.”
“I don’t remember seeing this the first time I came here,” I reply.
“Market is well hidden by the trees. Even from the path to the Reflecting Pool, it’s difficult to see.”
Beck rolls the sap transport to where two of the steel tubes already stand on the outer edge of the tent and sets the handles on the ground. Tela stays beside me, but Larn crosses the tent to a row of several of the football-shaped wagons used to carry items between the Mount and the Delta.
“We don’t have anything to transport to the Delta,” Larn says, turning to me. “Would you like to try towing an empty transport behind you?”
“Sure,” I say. “Do you think I’m ready?”
“I’ll leave that to you,” he replies. “We usually practice on the Traveling Hill first, but given how quickly you’ve progressed, I think you may be ready.”
“Is this another one of those trial-and-error situations?” I ask.
“To an extent,” Larn replies. “You need to keep enough of your particles intact to maintain your grip, which you’ve mastered with spears. When we slow near the bridge, you have to retract your particles much more slowly than you normally would due to the added weight behind you.”
While considering Larn’s proposition, I remove a flask from my belt and sip the contents. I can’t think of a reason why I shouldn’t give it a go. “I’d like to try,” I eventually answer.
“Bring a transport with you,” Larn says, pointing a hand at one of the vehicles.
I return the flask to my side, walk to Larn, and hand him my spear, helmet, and gloves. After taking the handles
of an empty transport in my grip, I pull it behind me, following the others on the path. I’m surprised by how light the vehicle feels despite its size. The wagon portion, not including the handle arms, is at least twelve feet long, and the center is about five feet wide. Once we’re on the road to the gate, Larn provides more explanation on how to travel and stop with the transport behind me.
When we reach the wall, Larn returns our helmets and gloves to the rack by the side of the gate. After Sora swings the doors open, Tela and Beck sprint down the hill in front of me. As I jog through the gate, I check to make sure my grip on the handles is comfortable and secure. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Larn trailing me, but well off to the side of the road.
On the steep downhill slope, I rapidly gain running speed. The beams flash into my vision and I burst forward, but the transport handles slip from my hands. Quickly retracting my particles, I stop to look behind me. The metal handles scrape along the black dirt until the transport grinds to a halt.
“You didn’t keep your hands intact enough for the weight of the transport,” Larn says, stopping by my side. “Keep the principles of friction in mind. You need a firmer grip than you would use on a spear because of the difference in weight.”
“Trial and error,” I reply.
“There is a bit of that,” he says.
Looking down the steep road to the Barrens, I see the trails of light I know are Beck and Tela crisscrossing over the dreary terrain. Cutting sharply around weathered black sustaining trees and arcing over the tops of hills, they’re apparently waiting for me to catch up.
I return to the cart, grab the handles, and run down the road again. This time when I flare into my travel, the cart stays with me. I feel it rise a few inches off the ground as I stream down the road, but the small wings on its sides keep enough downward thrust that it doesn’t sail away.
As I soar over the crest of the first blind hill, for a split second, I think the wagon is getting away from me. It jumps higher into the air, almost to the point I can’t maintain a grip. Trying not to panic, I clench my hands and focus my vision downward, fairly simple with all the beams from overhead. When the wagon sinks closer to the ground, my stomach returns to where it should be.
A minute later, I spot the bridge in front of us. While I gradually reduce my speed, my body morphs into shape. I slow to a sprint, but the transport handles rocket through my hands. Before I have time to react, the wagon smashes into my back, face-planting me into to the hard path.
A clamor echoes through the desolate hills as the cart flips in front of me and crashes to the road. With dirt-laced blood trickling down my face, I watch the transport tumble to a stop at the edge of the bridge. My hands feel like I scooped flaming coals from a fire. The rest of my body burns the way it would if an entire hive of wasps had their stingers sunk into my skin. After I roll to my back, the faces of Larn, Tela, and Beck appear above me.
“You’re bleeding,” Tela says flatly.
“I’m getting really good at that,” I mumble, trying to decide if my jaw is broken.
“It’s not an acquired skill,” she replies.
I hope that one day the people of Krymzyn learn to recognize sarcasm. It would sure help take the edge off situations like this.
“Is anything broken?” Larn asks.
“Just my pride,” I say.
He nods knowingly, removes a flask from the rope around my waist, and pours sap into my palms. “Rub it on your face. Make sure to get the dirt out of the wounds.”
The sap immediately soothes the agony in my hands. I slowly sit up and rub the liquid into my face. As soon as I take a few gulps from my flask, the pain begins to recede.
“Are you sure nothing’s broken?” Larn asks.
“I’m sure,” I reply, picking a few specks of black crystal dirt out of my skin.
“I’ll take the transport to the Delta for you,” he offers.
“No,” I say, firmly shaking my head. “I’ll do it.”
Feeling only a few dull aches in my body, I stand and return the flask to my belt. As I walk to the cart, I’m surprised there’s not a single dent in it, although light glints from several fresh scratches in the steel. I flip it right-side up and pull it behind me onto the bridge.
Larn joins me by my side. “When you detached from the light, you did well until the very end. The transport still had too much momentum when you receded into your sprint.”
“I thought I had it,” I say, “but as soon as I came out of my blend, I realized I’d slowed too quickly.”
“With practice, you’ll learn the proper feel of slowing to compensate for the force of the object behind you.”
“I think I’ll get it on my next try.”
“Your next try should be on grass,” Larn says. “I shouldn’t have suggested your first attempt be on the road. I apologize for my error in judgment.”
“Please don’t worry about it. I really wanted to do it.”
“Thank you,” he replies solemnly. “If it seems like I push you hard, it’s only because I have great faith in your abilities.”
I turn my head to him and smile, truly appreciating his supportive words. “Thank you, Larn. That means more to me than you know.”
He nods his head to me, stoic as usual but with the same warmth I saw in his eyes when he looked at Sash during Darkness and told me he felt peace knowing I was with her.
We cross over the arch in the bridge and walk to the gate. Cavu is the Watcher on duty at the entrance to the Delta. He disappears behind the top of the wall while he climbs down a ladder. The stocky and ruggedly good-looking young man opens both of the gate doors for us. Standing by one, he examines me carefully as I pass by, probably because of the mixture of sap and blood all over my face. I arc around him towards the side of the wall to drop off the transport.
“Chase!” he calls to me.
I stop and turn to him. “Hi, Cavu,” I reply.
“You’ll get it on your next try,” he says with great confidence.
I bow to him before answering. “Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that.”
Cavu may not know it, but between his words of encouragement, Beck’s friendly demeanor, Tela’s constant support, and Larn’s statement of his belief in me, I feel a greater sense of acceptance right now than I have at any other time since being in Krymzyn. It more than makes up for the way the Watchers on the Mount looked at me, and I have to believe that eventually they and everyone else here will view me as one of their own.
After leaving the transport by the wall, I kneel to the ground with a smile of satisfaction on my face. “Sash,” I whisper. “I’m going to our habitat.”
“I’ll meet you there, Chase,” I hear a few seconds later.
Chapter 21
Sash is sitting at the table when I enter our habitat, a pitcher of sap and two cups already perched on the steel surface. When she turns to me, she takes instant notice of the dried blood covering my face, and smiles sympathetically.
“I had a little stumble learning to carry a transport,” I say.
“Did you break any bones?” she asks.
“Not this time,” I answer. “I guess broken bones are about the same as a stubbed toe in Krymzyn.”
“For Travelers,” she wryly replies.
I smile at her. “I need to clean up. I’ll be right back.”
After locking my spear into its clasp, I walk past Sash and straight into the waterfall cavern. The soothing sensation of the fall washes away the last remnants of pain. I clean the blood from my hands and face, remove the belt from my waist, and wash off my flasks. Finally, I take my clothes off to rinse them under the fall.
Back in the main cavern, I hang my things on the hooks and slip into a pair of shorts. As I walk to my spot at the table, I pause to kiss Sash on her cheek.
“How was your morrow?” I ask, sitting on a stool beside her.
“It was good. I visited the trees early and then spent time with the children.”
“I did. She said to tell you she’s sorry for your injuries.”
“She knew about my fall?”
“She sensed your pain while I was with her,” Sash replies. “That’s why I had sap waiting for you on your return.”
“She’s an interesting little girl,” I say.
“She really is,” Sash replies. “How was your trip to the Mount?”
“Other than the fall at the end, it was great. I liked traveling on the road. I was really surprised at how effortless it felt.”
“The strength of the beams is consistent over the road,” she says.
I take a few sips of sap before looking into her eyes. “I felt like I stood on my own two feet today. Like I’m starting to believe in myself here, even when I’m not with you.”
Sash smiles to me and nods her head. “I’m so happy to hear you say that. The first few morrows you were here, I tried to stay with you all the time. I never wanted you to feel alone or lost. As you began your Apprenticeship, I knew you had to make your own way here . . . sometimes without me. So I gradually began leaving you with others, although I always worry about you.”
“I never want to be a burden on you,” I say.
“You never will be.” She leans forward, kisses my lips, and sits back again. “You’re not that kind of person. I’ve said it before, but I’m proud of you, Chase.”
“Thanks, Sash,” I reply. “I also feel like some of the people are starting to accept me. Cavu was really nice to me after I fell.”
“He’s a good man,” she says. “Now that you’re more active as an Apprentice, everyone will soon accept you. You’re proving yourself more and more with each morrow.”
“Larn said some supportive things to me, too. I guess it made me feel like he’s really accepting me as a Traveler.”