Red World Trilogy

by V. A. Jeffrey

  "It seems a price was paid for that freedom." Said Injol quietly.

  "Yes. It gave the negroni a stronger footing in the land and their power has been growing slowly ever since."

  "Your great uncle spoke of the essences of the disciplines but he did not say what the essence of Black Alchemy was." Said Rapheth.

  "You are looking at it. Or close to it when you look at me." Said Injol. Oratio nodded.

  "The real essence is power and dominion over all creatures, even life and death; creating a man or a creature from body parts or corpses and making it rise and live again, except it is not a true man anymore but can do the bidding of the alchemist. That is the black essence. The monteferi are the next thing down from that." Rapheth shivered involuntarily. He could feel the disapproving looks of Shukala and Ephron boring into his back but something in him deeply desired know.

  "For me, I have turned their travesty of my form into an advantage." Said Injol. They walked along until the first moon had climbed upon the violet horizon. A cat mewled in the distance and the men slowly began making their way back to the house when Shukala noticed something.

  "Rapheth! We are being followed." They were all on alert.

  "I have seen shadows trailing us for some time, since we turned from the Fountain of Tota." Said Rapheth. He immediately put his hand on his dagger and the others did the same. Injol was only armed with one sword instead of two swords and grumbled about feeling naked. Like feral cats their followers seemed to appear from out of the fabric of night. They were dressed in black and wore black rat masks.

  "P. . p. . poison! Poison darts! They will hit us with poison!" Stammered Oratio. Injol stepped immediately to the front and with a great flash ripped his cloak off and it flew out catching several darts just in time. With his other two arms he fished out two daggers and pitched them expertly, taking out two of their pursuers. This gave the others time to mount a defense and they sprang into action. Shukala, using his own cloak as a shield from any more darts flew at an opponent and then barreled into his legs and with his dagger, slashing and ripping at his thigh. The man stabbed him in the arm. Seeing them locked in a deadly embrace, Rapheth sprang upon Shukala's opponent trying to rip off his mask but it seemed seared onto his face. Rapheth slashed the man's face but he made no sound. He turned and lunged at Rapheth knocking him down and Shukala was up again and plunged his dagger into the man's back. Rapheth snatched the man's dagger and they went for Oratio who was down, trembling and incapacitated from a poisoned dart. Two of the black figures were trying to hoist him up and carry him away but Rapheth and Shukala were upon them. Rapheth stabbed one in the side of his neck. They dropped Oratio and the other faced them getting ready to pull out a sword but Shukala threw his dagger and it caught in his throat. He made a sighing sound and slumped over. Then Shukala fell to his knees, gripping his arm which was oozing blood. They looked over the scene. Rhajit and Luz had killed two, Injol three of them and Ephron had one down. But Rhajit was sweating and swaying, hit with poison and Oratio was falling into unconsciousness.

  "We have to hurry and get them home!" People were peeking outside their windows at the sudden commotion. Shukala and Ephron hoisted Oratio up on their shoulders and Injol supported Rhajit and they all hurried back to the house as swiftly as they could.

  "Baudolino! Baudolino!" They called wildly, bursting into the house. Rhajit collapsed onto the floor. Injol carried him to a divan.

  "What is the matter?" Enira came running downstairs.

  "Poison! We were attacked! By hooded men in black. Oratio is poisoned!" Said Rapheth.

  "Oh, oh, oh dear! Baudolino! Baudolino!" Cried Enira. Soon the whole house was in frantic chorus. Baudolino came hobbling downstairs.

  "What is it? What has happened?"

  "Oratio and Rhajit have been poisoned. We were attacked by men in black!"

  "The gods! The gods!" Baudolino cried. "He is like a son to me! Bring him and your friend Rhajit upstairs to my laboratory! With all swiftness!" The family gathered them upstairs and laid them out onto the work table side by side. Baudolino went scrabbling through a far shelf and picked out a wooden box with a burnished letter "R" on it. He flipped it open, fingers trembling. Oratio began convulsing and screaming.

  "Are you men sure he does not have a demon?" Asked Shukala fearfully.

  "Certain poisons work in such a way as to make onlookers think so." Said Lomarco. Baudolino took out a tall, stoppered vial and he mixed this with a cup of wine. He grabbed a funnel down from a shelf.

  "Injol, put this through his teeth if you can. Careful of your fingers. I must get this down his throat! Hold his chin still!" He said. Injol did so and he poured the wine mixed with this potion down the funnel into his throat. Oratio began choking and foam curled out of his mouth. They held him as he went through more convulsions and then his body slowly went still. Baudolino then went to Rhajit and followed this same procedure. Rhajit's reactions were not as severe as Oratio's. Rhajit vomited but they were able to get more of the wine down him. He sat up weakly. Sejano administered to Shukala's wounded arm, cleaning and bandaging it.

  "You will need to stay near the chamber pot. What will come next will be more sweating, a fever and violent, explosive bowel movements." He turned worriedly to his great nephew.

  "Get some blankets to wrap him!" He called to his sister.

  All that night a vigil was set for both men. Rhajit, the stronger of the two, pulled through by the next morning. Luna made a broth that had been simmering since the night before, as they both had lost much fluid.

  "We left dead bodies in the street and I am certain if one got away. I am surprised no one has showed up at the house." Said Rapheth. They all kept the vigil for Oratio was still feverish.

  "Druta. The drug used on him I think, by the scent of it and the reaction he is having." Said Injol. "It is used as a way to immobilize a man first before kidnapping him. Not to kill but to do horrific things to him later. One can feel pain even more sharply with druta." Said Injol.

  "I suppose you would know." Said Baudolino softly.

  "Thankfully, we saved your nephew from such a fate." Injol said. Rapheth felt chilled to the bone.

  "And they figured that because we are foreign, who would miss us?" Said Parso. This set a somberness on all the household.

  "Perhaps Poor Oratio did himself and his family a great disservice by allowing us to come here." Said Ephron reproachfully, looking at Rapheth.

  "Never say such a thing!" Said Baudolino. "I do not believe so."

  "We were being watched then. Probably for a long time." Said Luz.

  "Well, did you expect anything else?" Snapped Ephron.

  "What else were we supposed to do? Lodge at an inn for months at a time with no coin to pay?" Rhajit flared back.

  "Ephron, let us not fight about this. What is done is done. We will find a way out of this. Rhajit, do not tax yourself." Said Rapheth.

  "Perhaps we should go to the town guard and let them know we were attacked. Perhaps it may be worse for us if they come to find out on their own?" Said Shukala. But the family all said no to this.

  "No, no! It would be worse if we did that. I fear the officers here have been infiltrated by the negroni. They are the thugs the Blacks use to do their dirty work in Pallinona. Did anyone see you come here?" Asked Enira.

  "I do not think so." Said Shukala.

  "We cannot be sure," said Parso.

  "It was very dark. No officials had come by at the time." Said Rhajit.

  "Then keep quiet and stay in the house. We will try our best to handle things. Our family has had feuds with certain forces before and so far we have prevailed. We are alchemists, and influential ones at that. They cannot simply do whatever they will to us like they can to others."

  "I fear this time we will have terrible trouble, Enira." Said Luna wringing her hands. After two days Oratio finally pulled through. The day after that, there was a visitor.

  "Good day, master Baudolino!" It was a young o
fficer of the town guard. Baudolino greeted him at the door.

  "Good evening. What may I do for you?" Said Baudolino. "I am a very busy man." He said impatiently. The officer was not deterred.

  "It has come to our knowledge that you have visitors in your home."

  "I did."

  "Then they are gone from here?"

  "They are gone. My grand-nephew has left for Lavuso and they with him."' Baudolino was short with him. The officer's gaze was cool.

  "Well? Are we going to stand here and stare all day? I have work bubbling over in my laboratory!" Said Baudolino.

  "I am sorry for any disturbance to you, good master." Said the officer. "But a crime has been committed and it is my business to question suspicious people."

  "And why would you assume my guests had anything to do with any crime? What company do you think I keep here?"

  "About when did your guests and your grand-nephew leave?"

  "They left yesterday morning." Said Baudolino. The officer frowned, narrowing his eyes.

  "I see. Thank you." Said the officer suddenly and he left. Baudolino shut the door.

  "They will check at the gate you know."

  "Yes. But the jackasses who man the gate in the morning are usually half drunk and barely record a thing. I am thinkin,g my dear Enira, that perhaps we need to pack some things and get you and Luna off to stay with family in Corela."

  "Why?" Asked Luz.

  "They will be back and this time not in any official capacity. I just get a feeling. Many authorities in Tidua have been bribed by the negroni."

  "I am sorry we have caused you and your family so much trouble!" Said Rapheth.

  "So am I". Said Parso sadly. That day the most important things were packed into chests from the labs and the two women packed up their clothes and what little jewelry they had. Rapheth and Parso, with Fredriko's help, took special care to pack and take the still unfinished chilyabe with them.

  "How will we get out of here if they decide to come back?" Asked Ephron one night.

  "Baudolino says he knows a way out of here. I guess we will find out soon enough." Said Injol. When Ephron left the room he turned to Rapheth.

  "Rapheth."

  "Yes, Injol?"

  "I just wanted to say that I do not go along with your friends on the matter of alchemy. Even after what I have been through, I can see the wisdom in its knowledge when put to good use."

  "I have tried to get them to see this but to no avail, Injol. I am amazed that you are not offended by my views."

  "At one time I might have been. But alchemy is where men get their swords, some of my most valuable possessions. And I would never give up my swords because someone else was offended by how it came into being. And I do not think your friends would either. Forgive me for being forward. I do not mean to offend."

  "I am not offended at all. I thank you for your honesty and support."

  It came, hours later. The youngest of Baudolino's brothers, Sejano, awoke everyone in a fright. The house was on fire! It was a strange fire and it was consuming debris and matter fast, like a swarming horde of locusts.

  "Sea fire! Sea fire!" He screamed.

  "The secret way out is here!" Commanded Baudolino after gathering everyone up. Injol grabbed the four swords decorating the wall in the main hall and they all hurried downstairs with their bags and clothes on their backs, everyone grabbing what they could find. Baudolino herded them onto the ground floor. The ground floor of the house was where they kept the animals and where the stable was located. They loaded up the wagon as the fires closed in from upstairs. The horses were in a panic. Letting most of the horses flee they managed to reign in two of the draft horses. Fredriko opened up a large, hidden door in the wall.

  "What is that?" Shouted Rapheth.

  "The other way out of the city! We'll never escape the city through the front door!" He said. "Come! Follow me and Baudolino!" Bridling the horses and guiding them, with torches and oil lamps they pushed the great wagon filled with their things through the wide tunnel.

  "Remember the tunnels I told you about from the old wars with the northmen?" Asked Oratio, weakly. "Most were walled up after that, but a few still exist." Even as the smoke began to fill the basement barn they made a narrow escape through this tunnel under the city in the near dark with only three torches.

  "Where does this tunnel lead?" Asked Parso.

  "Just outside the town wall. From there we will have to make our way north to Corela. We have family there. Rapheth felt a great weight of guilt weighing upon him. They could have easily given him and his men up to the negroni but instead protected them and lost their home for it.

  For hours they trudged through the dark, the tunnel a long, serpentine winding thing that seemed to go down further into the hell pit of the world but they eventually found themselves climbing upward again. Several times the wagon became mired in watery ditches and they had to dig it out and once they found themselves forced to wade nearly to their waists through water and were not sure if they would make it through with the wagon at all. At one point, Mariamne accidentally waded into a deep hole in the water and nearly drowned. She had to be carried by Marco which made the going even slower. Finally, they came through the other end of the tunnel, hidden by fauna and flora and wide, vein-like ferns. Baudolino went cutting through the vines with a hatchet, which, flesh-eating and fat, tried to capture the group once they emerged through the other end. Injol went slashing and cutting with all four of his borrowed swords until the vine was demolished, but not before all of them had been whipped and bled from the vine, stinging from its hard little thorns that it used as teeth.

  "What are those things!" Asked Shukala.

  "Blood mordus. They take a man down into the ground to feast upon his flesh. Someone long ago brought them from a far away land and they have stayed. It is difficult to get rid of them." Said Baudolino. It was dawn when they had arrived outside the city wall and they were some paces away from it. They were in the woods now. One of the brothers, Marco, had a compass. He pointed.

  "This way is north to Corela. We know the way." They hitched up the horses to the water-soaked but intact wagon and climbed in, bewildered, tired and wary. Luna whimpered softly. Fredriko patted his wife on the back to comfort her. Baudolino put his cloak about his sister's shoulders as Lomarco helped her into the wagon. In fact, all of the women were put into the wagon. Oratio looked mournful which made Rapheth feel even worse. He did not think that was possible. But they were alive and the dawn had come to bring in another beautiful and clear day.

  "Night comes soon, even after the dawn. To the business!" Said Baudolino and they went north.

  Chapter Five

  All three exist in life; the Darkness of Evil, the White Light of Truth and the in-between of gray. Stay as close to the Light as you can so that when you encounter the gray areas of life - and you will - the gray will be illuminated by the Light of Truth. You were a child of light but as a man you have the power to choose light or darkness. Steer your course into waters too dark and you will lose your way. You will be lost.

  - Book of the Women, (proverbs recorded by Dartok, the judge of the Mother Tribes)

  Egi at first light was mysterious. It piqued her fantasies even more than she imagined. Especially since she was now a free woman. She loved the beautiful colored paper lanterns that dotted the streets and houses come late eve. And unfortunately suitors had come calling. Kaisha had settled herself in a small mansion on the main street of the city, not far from the temple of Nimnet. From her bedroom balcony it was visible. When she walked the paved streets she observed the normal bustle of the city, such as housewives gathering water early in the morning, the great merchant caravans that made their way up the gorge into Egium, slaves everywhere tattooed with mysterious symbols and tinkering machines at work. Even from her balcony when she would take her ease from time to time she would see a flittering or a quick flash of silvery light as these messenger machines would fly through the city.
Little mechanical birds or insects flitting to and fro. Once she saw a lady sitting by a window writing with a recording machine and a few people at the day market she saw that were made of both flesh and metal.

  They had limbs made of metal or even in the case of one man, half his face was covered with metal. She, fascinated with this man, could not help herself and went up to him, simple desert mouse that she was. He gave her a curious look at first but then laughed, not unfriendly. He'd told her that he had lost half his face and an eye in a forging accident - he was a blacksmith by trade - and that he had a metal eye made for himself. He liked it so much that he had a guild brother create a liquid sort of metal, nearly pliable as flesh, made for the burned half of his face. He even popped his eye out and showed it to her. It was a round piece of silver and some other alloy with the tiniest gears - she did not know what those were until he explained them - and the iris was made of light amber, the same color as his fleshly eye. The metal on his cheek felt cool but soft like skin. She gave it back to him, thanked him and went away stunned. People in Hybron would have been scandalized to see a respectable woman accosting a man in the street and would have been further shocked and offended that such a man existed. "I am a mechanalogue," he'd told her. She did not know if it was a wondrous thing or a curse but here it did not seem to matter. If I had such an accident that disfigured me I would never want to be made into something like that. It reminded her of that traveler many years ago, the one they journeyed with in the merchant caravan. The one Anet had plagued so with questions. He had a mechanical heart which was monstrous-looking. A curse. Yet, it kept him alive, Kaisha. Who are you to judge? another voice in her mind reprimanded. He had not seem weakened or destroyed by it at all. It made her mind reel.