Long, Dark Road

by Bianculli, Susan

  I was relieved. “But what was the yelling about?” I asked with curiosity. “I remember lots of shouting going on around me before I went night-night.”

  “That was because you took Dool off the table with you,” Jason replied. “Most ‘discussions’ seem to be one or the other of the combatants either trying to kill the other straight out, or to get one opponent to fall off la mesa without the other leaving it, too. But it was quite clear that you did it deliberately though it left the field undefended. It was argued that it was a fighting tactic you had employed, and the no-holds-barred rule was in your favor to do that. But the saving grace was that Dool’s hands and feet were on the floor while none of yours were, either then or when you fortunately returned to the table. That in the end was the clincher—going back to the table without touching the floor.”

  “So what happens now?”

  A blinding flash of silver flooded the room briefly, and when our eyes cleared of spots, Alveo, dressed in her silver layered robe, stood at the foot of my bed.

  “What would you like to have happen?” the goddess asked.

  Jason and I exchanged a swift glance at her question, then belatedly bowed to give her the respect she was due.

  “Ultimately I’d like to go home. I miss my family and my friends. And my cat.” I smiled.

  Jason didn’t say anything, and Alveo looked inquiringly at him. He sighed. “That’s a tougher question for me.”

  I was badly surprised. I’d just been assuming that Jason wanted to go back to New York City, but his words didn’t sound like it.

  “Though I miss the modern world, I don’t really belong there. I have no identity papers that say I can belong.”

  That smacked me in the face. I’d forgotten that Jason was “outside the system,” as he’d once described it to me. No legal birth certificate, no social security card, and he belonged to a street gang. True, they weren’t a violent gang, but they still lived outside of the law. And all the skills that Jason had put to use so handily for us had had their basis in that lifestyle.

  “If that were changed, would you go back?” the goddess asked.

  Jason’s and my mouth’s both dropped. Could she really affect stuff on the human side? I wondered.

  “Si, in a heartbeat!” Jason said, his face lighting up.

  Alveo smiled at him in return. “Then it is clear where you belong. Unfortunately I cannot change your life by making you accepted,” Jason’s face fell, “but I can give you the means by which this can be accomplished. Or rather, remind you that you have already taken steps to do that yourself.”

  Jason looked confused for a minute, and his face lit up again. “The jewels and coins!” he said with excitement. “I forgot about those!” Seeing the perplexed look on my face, he said, “Remember back in Jodron’s and Descora’s apartment after we’d released Emalai from her cage? When I found those bits of treasure lying about?”

  “Oh, yeah!” I said, catching his excitement, but then my excitement dampened. “Jason, you can’t just walk into a pawn shop and think to get a good price for them. They’ll swindle you, and maybe report you to the cops on top of it, thinking they’d been stolen in some heist.”

  “I do have someone I can go to who won’t cheat me too badly,” he began confidently, but then stopped. “Sin, you’re right. Some of those pieces would be beyond what I could reasonably expect to have turned into cash,” he said heavily.

  Alveo said, still smiling, “Would it be all right if you found them as buried treasure?”

  I leapt out of bed, excited again. “Jason! That solves everything! We can get a little treasure box, put all that stuff in it, and then after burying it somewhere we can ‘find it’ again. Sure, you’ll have to turn some percentage of it over to the government as a finder’s fee, but the rest you can keep free and clear!”

  Alveo waved her slender, chalk white hand, and a battered and dirty box appeared on the lavender coverlet of my bed. It looked strong, like it could withstand the ages, but also old and abused—the perfect thing that treasure buried a long time ago might be found in. I picked it up and found that it already had some heft to it. Intrigued, I shook it, and was rewarded with the sound of things moving around inside of it.

  “I thought I would add to it,” Alveo smiled. “As a thank you for all the work that you, Lise, have done for Me.”

  “I’ll have more than enough to start a new life,” Jason said. “I can go buy identity papers…” but I shook my head at him, interrupting him.

  “No. I have a better idea. You have amnesia. You don’t know who you are. And since you don’t have any police records anywhere, the government can’t match you up with anything. So they’ll have to make you papers. Like you’re in the Witness Protection program or something. And–oh!” I said as another idea occurred to me, “What if we play this off like you rescued me from some crazy kidnapper? That would explain my disappearance AND you could be hailed as a hero!”

  “I kind of like that,” Jason admitted, “But we don’t want to go too far with the story, do we? I mean, I’m a hero who happens to find a buried fortune too? Kinda stretches the imagination, don’cha think?”

  “Well, we can hold off on the treasure for a little while,” I said. “The main point is being a hero and all, and getting a new identity because of amnesia, is that it makes you part of society in a way you couldn’t be before. Plus, you’ll be getting money from TV and magazine interviews, probably, so you can live on that until it’s safe to go looking for the strongbox.”

  Jason caught my hand. “Don’t you mean ‘we’ mi amor?” he said, his brown eyes holding mine.

  I blushed. “We’re both underage back home. So it can’t be ‘we’ until I’m eighteen.” I then said a little softer, in response to his mute plea, “but then it can be.”

  Jason caught me up in a passionate kiss as Alveo, instead of flash-papering her way out of the room, faded away into silver shadows instead.

  Chapter 45

  Things happened pretty quickly after that. The Chirasnivian council, prodded by High Priest Canalis, rounded up all the Surfacers who were being held separately by individuals in the Leadership Ring and brought them to the Exchange. Neither Dusk, Auraus, Ragar, Heather, Jason, nor I went along on the round-up, preferring instead to go to the rooms of the Exchange to start organizing things there after it became our job to lead the caravan of ex-slaves back to the Surface. We wanted to be there to help the long-suffering captives adjust to the fact that they were going to return home, as well as work out the logistics of actually doing it.

  There were some problems with the roundup as some of the richer Under-elves at first refused to give up their “property,” meaning their Surfacers, but in the end either reason or force prevailed so that all Surfacers were brought to the Exchange rooms. Once most of them understood there would be no repercussions to them gaining their freedom, they were very happy about it and helped eagerly in getting things ready to go. A few, however, looked lost; Auraus took those aside and worked closely with those. Not surprisingly, Butterfly-wings, who had been afraid to be rescued last time we were here, was one of that group.

  “The main problem with the task at hand is that we do not know how to get up top anymore!” said Ragar at one point as the six of us were eating a meal in the old overseer’s office. We were making plans for the trek, deciding whom was going to be paired with whom. “How are we going to accomplish it? The closest ways back were blocked up by magic!” The mountain-cat-elf shot Dusk a sour glance, but Dusk merely shrugged in reply.

  “I will be assisting you with that,” said a new, but familiar, voice behind us.

  I turned around and then squealed with glee. “Arghen!”

  Arghen Spinam stood there, a half bashful look on his handsome face as the six of us cheered and jumped up to surround him and either clap him on the back or hug him. Or at least, we tried to, anyway. He was solid-looking but was a ghost, or maybe a hologram—there, but not really.


  “I will guide you to another outlet to the Surface. It is somewhat further away from the keep, but not by all that much, relatively speaking,” he said.

  “How are you even here?” Heather asked.

  “I am a helper now for the Goddess Quiris. I will be doing things for Her both on the physical plane and other planes of existence when She is too busy doing other tasks yet wants particular attention paid to something,” he explained.

  “So, kinda like a junior lesser god?” Jason joked, then held up his hands as Arghen frowned slightly. “Whoa, whoa. I get it, Arghen. I was just kidding. You’re her personal assistant. Her PA, if you will.”

  Heather and I rolled our eyes.

  “Does that mean we get a free pass to the Surface?” Heather asked, interrupting.

  “What do you mean by your words, Heather?” Arghen replied, perplexed.

  “That we won’t run into any monsters on our way?”

  He smiled. “That is what I am here for. Although I would still travel warily were I you because there may be those monsters who do not listen to a—how did Jason put it?—a PA, and you may need to back me up.”

  In pretty short order after the last Surfacer was brought to the Exchange, including those from Reconditioning, the caravan of Surfacers were supplied with enough food and water to last us until we got to the surface. I was quite happy to see that all our backpacks were returned mostly intact to us along with the caravan supplies, though I privately bemoaned the loss of the flying rug left lying somewhere in a tunnel in the vicinity of Kelsavax and the iron bar of Jason’s that had been kicked away down a different tunnel by Quorik’s scouts. Jason looked with nervousness at some of the Ogres and Giants brought in from Reconditioning, which made me realize they had to have been his kidnappers. Once they recognized him they seemed embarrassed to find out that he was a part of the beings rescuing them, so both sides decided to adopt an “I’ll-just-ignore-you” kind of attitude to the other.

  When we moved out, the caravan followed Arghen’s lead in the order that the six of us had come up with. But I couldn’t stop looking at the Kobolds and Troglodytes and other races that were still slaving away for the Under-elves as we passed by the pens and the fields. Silently I wished that we could take them all with us.

  Out of the blue, Auraus appeared beside me and said sadly, “I can guess what you are thinking, Lise, but I know you know that it is impossible for us to liberate them as well at this time.”

  “It’s not right,” I insisted, turning my head to look into her grey eyes. “They should be free, too!”

  “We cannot save the world, Lise. But we should always do what we can. Perhaps with trade set up with the Surface, we can change Under-elven society. Maybe not quickly, but it will hopefully come. I personally will work towards that.” The Wind-rider, too, looked unhappily out over the mushroom farms and the corrals where the harvest animals were being tended by those we could not help.

  Arghen led us at a decent pace through the tunnels of the Sub-realms, except for the times he had us stop while he flickered away to “do something.” My guess was that those were probably the times he went to convince some monster that it didn’t really want to walk a particular way and intercept us. Lots of the caravan members were glad each time he left, because after having been cooped up underground for so long—seasonals, in some cases—the Surfacers needed frequent rest breaks even though we weren’t going all that fast. Whatever Arghen did worked, however, and kept on working. All five days we spent underground, slowly trending upwards until we reached a cave that actually showed daylight, the caravan went unmolested.

  “Light! Real sunlight!” shrieked one of the more excitable Surface-elves at that sight, and suddenly there was mad dash for the mouth of the cave.

  The six of us pressed ourselves flat against the tunnel walls to let the stampede by, though Arghen, of course, didn’t have to worry about getting run down. Sounds of welcome were mixed in with the noises from outside, and I realized there was a reception committee waiting outside that was taking in the ex-slaves with open arms. I was happy to see that because I hadn’t been too sure where we would have had to go once we got to the Surface.

  “You did all this?” I asked Arghen when it was just the six of us plus him in the cave mouth.

  “Yes. I have bent the rules of non-interference quite a lot and will probably face some sort of disciplinary action for it, but as this is my first official action I will likely be forgiven, given the connection I had to the situation before I became my Lady Quiris’ helper.”

  “Why Arghen, you sly dog, you!” Heather exclaimed with a wink. “I didn’t know you had it in you to bend rules!”

  “Disciplinary?” Dusk asked, concerned. “Shall I speak to my mother about it?”

  “Do not worry,” Arghen said firmly. “It will be well. But I have other tasks to turn to now, and so I must leave you all. I wish you all a good journey, and a good life once you return to your world, Lise, Jason, and Heather. I have the utmost confidence in you that you will succeed in whatever it is that you wish to succeed in.”

  To our cries of “goodbye” Arghen faded from sight, like someone turning off an old 1950’s TV set.

  “Come on, let’s go outside and see who the welcoming committee consists of,” I urged.

  To my delight we found it was the Grey Riders. While we were talking with Arghen, they had sorted people into the same kinds of groups Dusk had done when we had set free the first group of slaves from the keep: those going to the eastern mountains and those going to the western mountains, plus one more: those going to the keep valley. Not surprisingly, most, though not all, of the Ogres, Giants, and Misceres chose the valley. But I was glad to see that some Surface-elves, Gnomes, and other races were planning on going to the valley as well.

  “Hey, Dusk!” he was greeted happily by his bandit-fighting band when we were spotted. They all came around to say hello and to welcome us back.

  There was sorrow when they found out that Arghen had not made it back with us, as Emalai was apparently eagerly awaiting his return back at the keep. My shoulders slumped. That was not a conversation I wanted to have.

  “I will tell her,” said Auraus bracingly. “You do not need to keep on shouldering everything now, Lise. Your tasks are over, and you can rest.”

  Her words made a weight that I hadn’t realized that I was holding lift from my back, but then I sighed. “No, it’s kind of my duty to tell her, but I would love it if you came with me for moral support.”

  Auraus agreed, and I said, “And then after that, I need a vacation from adventure.”

  “You mean, you need to return home,” said Dusk seriously.

  “What, don’t you want me around anymore?” I teased lightly, hiding the twinge of hurt I felt at his words.

  The Miscere Surface-elf folded me into his arms. “No, Lise. But you have been forced to mature at a faster rate than perhaps your species was designed for, though I do not know for sure since I do not know Humans. You should return to where you come from so you can find out who you are now.” He eyed me, and then a thought must have occurred to him because he added, “Unless you have no plans to return to your world?”

  “Oh, no, I do,” I hastily assured him. “I was just surprised to hear you say it, is all.”

  “Lise,” Dusk said solemnly, “I believe that I speak for all of us when I say that we would be happy to have you make your life here, if that had ended up being your choice.”

  Auraus and Ragar both nodded agreement.

  “Or even if you change your mind and make it your choice,” Dusk went on. “I want you to know that. You are very special to all of us, and we would be honored if you chose to stay.”

  Chapter 46

  Dusk was called away by one of the Grey Riders just then to talk over a change in the travel arrangements, but he didn’t leave before giving me one last hug.

  Wow, I thought, a dizzy smile on my face as I watched him join a small group and start l
istening. They like me. They really like me.

  Jason put his arm around me. “Do you want to stay?” he asked. “You can change your mind, like Dusk says.”

  “Don’t hate me, but no,” I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I do want to go home. But if you want to stay, you can,” I finished reluctantly.

  “I want to be where you are,” he said with earnestness, turning me to face him and taking both my hands.

  Happy, I kissed him. “Well, then, I guess the plan is still on!”

  “Plan?” asked Heather.

  Jason and I explained to the others what we had come up with to get Jason accepted back in New York City, and we showed them the strongbox that Alveo had created for us.

  “Well, if you’re going to go with a crazy kidnapper scheme as well as bury the strongbox so you can find it later, it would make more sense for you to be found by park rangers in the Catskills. Which means you should go through the gate that I used instead of the gate you used.”

  “But can we even?” I asked, as the old worry I’d had surfaced again.

  “Why not?” Heather asked. “You did tell me that Caelestis had held my gate open for your use, right?”

  “But what if she is wrong?” I blurted out, unable to keep my fear to myself. “She became a goddess after the Disjoin was created, not before! And in any event, there needs to be a human who stumbles into a fairy ring in the right emotional headspace to open it! We can’t even know it’s going to be your gate that opens. What if the next one opens far away from here?”

  Heather said reasonably, “Do you trust your Goddess, or not?”

  I took a deep breath and then let it out quick. “I do.”

  “Then stop moaning,” she said and lightly punched me in the shoulder.

  Dinner time eventually came, and after eating some excellent stew made by the welcoming committee, Auraus and I slipped off up the mountain to pray to Caelestis. We made a tiny stick fire on a flattish boulder top. After settling ourselves down cross-legged on either side of it, we began to pray. When I had caught Caelestis up on everything that had happened since my last full prayer to her, upon opening my eyes I saw the flickering lights of the fire change into swirling motes of golden light. Auraus and I smiled, knowing that that meant Caelestis was about to grace us with her Presence.