by Curtis, Gene
They searched the living area and looked for any signs of violence.
LeOmi pulled out her cell phone and pushed the speed dial, “Sergeant, I just wanted to let you know that my grandmother has left. I’m concerned that she may be in trouble by that Compton. You’ll let me know if you hear anything won’t you.”
LeOmi knelt by her Grand- Mère’s chair and suddenly the tears started; the flood waters were released.
Bekka knelt beside LeOmi and consoled her, Bekka’s own tears flowing through LeOmi’s empathic emotions.
“It is good for you to get the pain out and take time to heal.”
“It is not time to heal, I have to do something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know–I don’t know…not yet anyway.”
* * *
Slone said, “Good of you to make it, LeOmi. Meet Durk Wyman, my counselor. He will accompany us into the orchard and woods areas.”
LeOmi nodded to him.
The whole group was there. Slone had his sword out, pointing it as he spoke.
“A few days ago, we had a training mission that you missed LeOmi.”
He pointed his sword at her.
“In it you were all assigned numbers.”
Sweeping the crowd with his sword pointer, he continued, “Two through six are one point, seven through nine are zero points, ten through Ace are a negative point. This is a Blackjack card counting method. I am pretty sure that you know what Blackjack is, don’t you LeOmi?” His sword pointed at her again.
“I’ve heard of it but I don’t spend my time playing cards Slone.”
“It is a way to keep track of what is left in the deck of cards. A way to gain an advantage over the house.”
“LeOmi, you are assigned the Ace. Rickey is our other Ace. We only have two Aces which is what you would find in a half deck, which is twenty six.”
Just by the attitude of those around her, LeOmi had a feeling that things did not go well at the last training mission.
“Has anyone ever heard of Lightening War?”
He pointed around with his sword again, “No?”
“Lightening War is a military strategy based on speed, surprise and military force. In other words, get to the enemy quickly. Hit them fast and hit them hard.”
He paused again and looked around, “In this training session, we will use each other as an example of the enemy.”
He waited for any questions and then, “Our battle grounds will be the caves in the wooded area. We have a time limit of thirty minutes before sunset. You have ten minutes to get into position. When you are tagged, come back and report right here.” Slone made a circle with his sword and stuck it in the sand.
“Begin.”
LeOmi started jogging towards the woods. She intended to hide, rather than be a part of Slone’s training session. The caves were obvious as she approached the woods. She climbed down into a large cave that seemed to go back a very long way. As far as she could tell, she was alone. She snuggled into a creviced area and waited.
The spotlight surprised her.
“Scorpion mothers carry their young about on their back. There could be eight or a’ hundred in the brood. She provides protection and regulates their moisture levels and without her, they are pretty much defenseless until they have undergone at least one molt.”
“Albert?”
The light went past LeOmi and shone on the walls and ceiling of the cave. There were hundreds of scorpions and even more baby scorpions, incredibly eerie looking, crawling back and forth and all around their mothers’ backs.
“Stand very slowly.”
LeOmi carefully made her way out of the crevice and to the opening of the cave.
“Take cover,” he whispered, corralling her back into the cave.
“Here comes the Kraken.”
“Huh?”
“The bad guys’ train.”
Slone’s group were in a single file, about four feet apart combing the woods, but not going into the caves.
After they passed LeOmi asked, “Are they looking for me?”
“Yep.”
“So it was a trap?”
“Yep. If you are not in the woods, you are in a cave.”
“Probably stung by a scorpion.”
“Yep.”
Albert and LeOmi made their way back to the wall opening. Slone and Durk were waiting for the group to return.
LeOmi heard Slone say, “She is not wholly with me. Not yet.”
“Will she ever be?”
“She’ll come around.”
“I don’t know, Slone.”
Albert untied a ram’s horn that he had attached to his belt. He motioned for her to hide behind a tree and be prepared to leave through the wall opening. Then he went about twenty feet into the woods and blew the horn.
Slone and Durk rushed into the woods and up to Albert.
“Before LeOmi sneaked around the wall opening, she heard Albert say, “Why do I have to keep running students out of the woods this year? Were you born stupid Henrick or did you have to study?”
Chapter 18
Organize and Control Through the Right Officers for the Duty
Back at the Olive Tree, moments before sunset, Bekka had her notebook out, writing as LeOmi told her all that happened.
“I have to admit, I almost took his sword.”
“But you didn’t. Did you?”
“No, I just moved it beside the wall. I also wrote “Aced” in the sand.”
“You didn’t?”
“Yes I did.”
“You know that this could go on for a long time, if you keep doing the one-up on each other. There is also the possibility that someone will get hurt…again.”
“I think I’m finished with Slone. I’m not going back to the alcove or to the training.”
“It is probably best. I’ll let the Council know as soon as possible. Gunnison will still probably want to talk to you.”
“I figured he would.”
* * *
Slone was at the alcove near the Olive Tree the next morning. She attempted to jog past him and Durk stepped out of the shadows to stop her.
Slone came to stand in front of her and said, “That stunt was uncalled for yesterday.”
“What stunt?”
“Were you trying to embarrass me?”
“I could have taken it, but I didn’t.”
“It would have been better if you would have taken it.”
She tried to skirt her way around him and Durk seemed to jump to attention.”
“Doing the master’s orders, D.W.? Like a little puppy dog? Well, go fetch somewhere else.”
Durk’s face turned red.
“It’s okay, D.W.; she has that effect on people. I’d just as soon pierce a lung sometimes.”
LeOmi turned to face Slone. “Embarrassment can lead to mistakes.”
“Mistakes for who? Are you listening? We have passed into the next phase. Grow up.”
“You grow up.”
“This is your last chance.”
He extended his hand, not taking hers but expecting her to take his. Then he said, “Every man or woman is judged according to their own acts. You must know that time is running out.”
“You want me to join you and Rickey and Ralph and Adolph and D.W. over there?”
He still left his hand extended, “I want you to join me. You know King David didn’t start out with Hebrews. He had to gather what he could find when Saul was trying to kill him, Canaanites and Philistines. The key to having a hide-out in a seemingly bottomless pit is to have assistance on the outside.”
“Like a horde of scorpions.”
“Your lack of trust is disturbing. It is like a brick wall to those around you. I will win, with or without you, whichever way you choose, but you have to ask yourself, ‘What matters more than anything else in the world?’”
“Are you threatening me?”
“If you are not with me, here and now, then
you are against me.”
He pushed his hand out further.
“Take it!”
He seemed frozen, frozen with greed. But what he wanted was her will. He wanted to take away her right to choose. He wanted to be her will, her motivation for everything.
The sweet song that had been running through her head emerged, While the dew is still on the roses…
Slone dropped his hand. “No matter to me. But it will matter to you.”
* * *
Gunnison asked, “So he threatened you?”
“No, not exactly. He was more annoyed than anything else.”
Mrs. Shadowitz stirred her tea loudly, “That’s enough Leo. Let’s put this behind us.”
LeOmi asked, “Mrs. Shadowitz, may I see Ruby?”
“Of course you may, but I must warn you that she isn’t talking.”
Gunnison said, “Did you know that your father has been to see her every day, and she hasn’t spoken one word to him.”
“He stays there for hours, just reading to her.”
“I have to try. She is my sister.”
“Yes, of course. Just don’t get your hopes up.”
Chapter 19
Plan for the Terrain
The Mattaraw Prison was at The First Mountain’s Magi City. It was essentially a hollow cube made of huge stone blocks. It was a beautiful sight to see, if it wasn’t for what it was. There were four compact levels, all stacked like bookshelves on the inner walls. The lobby was centrally located and it extended up the four stories so that you could see people meandering around the balconied halls.
All the second, third and fourth level’s halls, floors and the stairs were made out of a type of fiber mesh imbedded acrylic, very thick but you could see people down below, and towards the ceiling.
Bekka had been taking LeOmi’s father every day after lunch and coming back for him after a couple of hours. Sunday, LeOmi went with her father and Bekka.
Ruby was on the fourth floor.
“LeOmi, this is Basque Renoir. He is the guard who escorts us to Ruby.”
He politely nodded and motioned towards the stairs.
“Has she eaten today, Basque?”
Basque showed with his fingers “a little bit”.
He led them directly to Ruby’s small enclosed room. She was pacing back and forth, ignoring her visitors as much as possible.
“Ruby?” LeOmi went directly to the area where small holes had been made, so she could hear Ruby, but she said nothing and continued pacing.
There weren’t any other occupants in the next rooms on either side of Ruby–as far as LeOmi could see.
Jacob Jones sat in one of the chairs that had been brought for them; he took out a book and started reading. It was a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien.
LeOmi sat, Ruby paced and their father read.
After about an hour LeOmi and her father said good-bye to Ruby. Tears were streaming down Ruby’s face, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at them; she just kept pacing back and forth.
When they reached outside, her father said, “You noticed that Basque doesn’t speak.”
“Yes.”
“There is nothing physically wrong with him. It is a choice that he has made. He has been a guard in this facility for more than fifty years and he is so distressed by those imprisoned around him that he chooses not to speak. It is his silent witness to the pain that the imprisoned cause, not just to themselves, their family and friends, but to those in the world that have compassion. His silent witness has helped many.”
* * *
The Quarters had a good number of people gathered for dinner, but LeOmi’s small group was silent.
The coneys weren’t allowed out of the bag in The Quarters, but they often propped their front paws on the legs of those sitting nearby. Today, it was her father who set beside her and his fruits and vegetables were dropped into the bag without them asking at all. Now, they slept curled up in the bottom of the bag.
LeOmi watched as Gail came in and found a seat over on the side, not too far away.
After a few minutes of Gail staring at LeOmi, Bekka got up to speak to her, but Gail got up and left.
Bekka said, “Well that is better than having her stare at us while we’re eating.”
LeOmi’s father asked, “Who was that?”
“Gail. I don’t know her last name. She is in Emerald Tribe.”
He asked, “A friend?”
“I suppose you could call her that, I hope she thinks so anyway.”
“You hope?”
“Yeah, I quit Slone’s Summus this morning and I think that he may have sent her to talk to me.”
Bekka said, “She doesn’t look happy.”
“No, not at all.”
Jacob Jones said, “What’s this Summus?”
“Slone has a little group that he started here at school. They do extra training and have extra lecture sessions, all led by Slone.”
“And you quit it?”
“Let’s just say that Slone is taking his leadership to a new level, a level that I do not want to be a party to.”
“And Gail doesn’t want you to quit?”
“It would seem so.”
“Jacob, are you ready to go back to Magi City?”
He stood and said, “It is time.”
LeOmi stood and gave her dad a big hug, and when it was time to let go, she held him just a bit more. He kissed the top of her head.
“I hope I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“We can have lunch before you go to see Ruby.”
“I’d like that.”
LeOmi gathered the sleeping coneys and left The Quarters after her dad and Bekka. Gail was just around the corner waiting for LeOmi to see her. Then she ran into King Solomon’s Copper Shop. LeOmi watched her go in.
It is probably a trap, but Henry would go in, for Gail’s sake?
Gail’s head peeked around the door of the shop and she came out, “LeOmi, I told them I would distract you, but I’m worried. I think they are planning something.”
“Why? What are they planning?”
“They have gone to Magi City, something about your dad.”
Did I get you riled up yet? You seem to focus better when you’re angry.
“Thanks Gail.”
LeOmi ran to the subway station that went to Magi City.
She ran to the little house her dad was staying in. He wasn’t there.
She took the subway back to the mountain.
Oh Bekka please be at the Olive Tree.
She was there.
“Bekka, I need to go back to the Mattaraw Prison. No time to explain.”
Basque nodded a hello and started up the stairs. LeOmi could hear her father reading above. “Thank goodness you are okay.”
When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw Slone, leaning casually against the acrylic partition, Durk stood beside him. Ruby stood facing Slone, she was smiling also.
Father stopped reading. “LeOmi, what is it?”
“I was just making sure that you are okay. I was told something by someone, and I guess she just sent me on a wild goose chase.”
Bekka motioned toward Slone with her eyes and LeOmi nodded in response.
Slone said, “LeOmi, Ruby tells me that you were here earlier.”
Jacob Jones said, “Ruby told you? I didn’t see or hear her speak to anyone.”
“Well, Mr. Jones, Ruby and I have our own way of communicating. None-the-less?” Slone looked at LeOmi questioningly.
“Well, yes I was here earlier. She is my sister, Slone.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? Ruby used to be my counselor, until you had her arrested and put in here.”
“Ruby was smiling at LeOmi now.”
“Just act like you belong. They will sense that from you and accept it as fact.”
“I didn’t know, but now that I think about it, it ma
kes sense.”
Ruby’s smile faded, and she started pacing the floor again.
“They are expecting you to act a certain way, be cautious, don’t let your guard down.”
Ruby continued pacing.
Slone came up to LeOmi, and whispered, “I could have taken him, but I didn’t.”
LeOmi turned and looked at Slone. “Then, why is he here?”
“Let’s just call it a suggestion. I suggested that I would like to come here and he offered to chaperone.”
“Treat others the way you want them to treat you and you shouldn’t have any problems.”
“Slone, can’t we be nice to each other?”
“We’re past that, remember.”
“Kindness for kindness, aggression use aggression. If it calls for walking away—do it.”
“Slone, you’ve won this one. I want to walk away. Let me.”
“Aced!”
“Yes. You’ve aced me this time.”
“But LeOmi, you know I can never walk completely away.”
He kissed the tips of his fingers, turned and put his hand on the acrylic petition. Ruby stopped pacing and looked at him. He was still looking at LeOmi. Then he turned and went down the stairs, Durk followed.
Ruby started pacing again, never saying a word to them.
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…
* * *
The next day, Bekka had a letter from Ruby.
Yes, dear sister, I am the betrayer. Just like the ones mother used to read about in those books.
It wasn’t the way I wanted it though. We were supposed to be a team, she and I, but she couldn’t. She was trying to protect me. But this was the life that I chose and if you had any sense you would choose it too. There may still be time.
I found out about our linage at Grand-Mère’s. You were too afraid of the old woman, I wasn’t and I searched the house. Grand-Mère, Emma Jacquelyn DuBose gave birth to Yvonne DuBose, born to inherit one of the biggest brothels in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Our father, Jacob, saved her from her life. But…apparently she never really could shake free of it.
When I became a part of the Order, she became active again, not opening the house on Dorcus Avenue’s upper rooms, but with the Order. But, as you know, Compton never really trusted her, especially when she fought so hard to keep you from choosing to join our path.