Onio

by Jeppsen, Linell

  “Wolf…Black Pony…attend me, please,” the queen ordered. The sasq and Tanah walked away. Onio took Mel’s hand and they moved toward the far wall. Food and water was passed around and Onio used soul song to ask, “Mel…do you sense anything? Do you think a spy walks among us?”

  Mel shook her head. “If there is a spy here, he knows how to shield his thoughts, Onio,” she answered. “Onio,” she asked, “was it a helicopter?”

  Onio nodded. “Yes, one of the soldiers’ black birds. They fly over these mountains often, but not usually during the winter months. That is why Tanah worries now.”

  The queen and her escorts returned and Tanah took water and a piece of meat. Drinking deeply, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and addressed her warriors again. “Wolf and Black Pony think there is nothing to worry about. Even if the soldiers tried to find us within these walls we could out-run them. It seems more likely that they are just flying overhead and have no idea that we are even here.”

  She took another deep draught of water and added. “We leave in a few moments…the time it takes to strap on the saddle. We must hurry, I think. Even if the soldiers are unaware of our presence, the fact that they travel at this time of year is cause for alarm. We move out, now!”

  Onio said, “Climb on my back, Mel, and give me the sack.” Mel did not argue and within moments, the troop of sasq was jogging briskly down unfamiliar passageways. They jogged for miles, sometimes climbing, other times turning abruptly and traversing staircases chiseled into the stone.

  Suddenly a gust of warm, damp wind caressed Mel’s face. She could feel a subliminal pulsing in the air currents as well. Rounding a bend Mel saw a vast cavern. A series of pools bubbled and steamed in the cool air. Two waterfalls poured into the largest of the pools and painted the walls with rainbows of color. It was one of the most beautiful places Mel had ever seen.

  The sasq grinned and put their sacks down, stretching. They had arrived at the moon pools. One by one, the warriors waded into the water, laughing and shouting with pleasure. Tanah gestured to Mel and together they walked around the falls, away from the males. The pool in front of them was egg shaped and as green as jade.

  Tanah removed her clothing and stepped into the bubbling water, and a smile stretched her cheeks. “Come child, these are healing waters,” she said. Mel gave up any pretense of modesty and, stripping naked, stepped into the pool. The waters bubbled and fizzed, smelling faintly of sulfur. It felt heavenly and Mel grinned with delight. She had lost track of how many days passed since she first saw Onio on the road, but she thought it had been at least a week and a half…maybe more.

  Tanah handed over a couple of cleaning cloths and the two women scrubbed away the sweat and grime of the road. Dipping their heads into the water, they washed their hair and took turns braiding each other’s wet locks into order. One of the medics emerged from behind the wall of cascading water and placed two sets of fresh clothes on the rocks by the pool’s edge.

  “Those breeches may be too short for you but the rest should do well,” Tanah said. Mel nodded in gratitude and wriggled into the pants and tunic. As Tanah had guessed the pants were high on her ankles, but Mel didn’t care. They were warm and clean.

  Tanah dipped two stout twigs into a cup of the water and handed one to Mel. The girl watched as Tanah rubbed the stick over her teeth and gums. Then, trying it for herself, Mel was amazed at how clean her mouth tasted. Ablutions finished, Tanah smiled and said, “I have only made this trek twice before with my mate, but I always look forward to the moon pools. Aches and pains will diminish, as will any ill humors of the blood. In addition, many of the sasquatch think these pools are sacred. It is good form for a visiting tribe to cleanse in this way before approaching the high lords.”

  Tanah turned suddenly in alarm, and moved around the curtain of falling water. Following in the queen’s wake, Mel saw the sasq warriors staring around the cavern fearfully. Many of them were coughing uncontrollably and tears streamed from their eyes. Looking toward the far end of the cave, Mel noticed smoke crawling along the stone floor. The smell burned Mel’s nostrils and instantly, her lungs seized up.

  “Gas…it’s some sort of gas!” she cried. Her eyelids closed against her will and her lungs hitched in agony. Gasping, she screamed, “Run, run, run!”

  She spun in place, trying through swollen, weeping eyes to see an exit, when an unseen hand grabbed her arm. Onio…thank God, she thought, and followed the guiding hand in blind submission. They walked quickly, and after perhaps a quarter of an hour, they came to a spot where the air smelled clear. Her eyes were still swollen shut, but Mel sucked deep draughts of air into her lungs, overjoyed that she and her friends had survived another threat.

  She used soul song to speak into the silence. “Onio, are you all right? Where’s Wolf…and the others?” Total silence met her question and Mel’s heart skipped a beat. Sensing a new and more personal threat she demanded, “Who are you? What do you want?”

  Laughter filled her mind…an evil snicker that chilled her to the bone. “So, the small human knows the sasquatches dearest secret.” Thunderbolt’s growl filled her brain like a foul, malevolent stench. “This fact alone will ensure the greatest possible reward for my troubles,” he continued. “First though, I think I might have a little fun.” The son of Two Horses placed his hand over Mel’s mouth and stifled her screams while he ripped the queen’s clothes from her body.

  Chapter 16

  Mel screamed as loud as she could but her cries sounded like a lamb’s gurgled bleat. She fought the huge, grasping hands and pinching fingers of her enemy with all her might but to no avail. She felt, more than heard, the material of her shirt tear and the skin of her breasts shrank with cold and fear. She howled helplessly as Thunderbolt’s mouth and teeth found her brassiere and tore at it with savage glee.

  His large, hairy hand fumbled at the waist of her leather pants with ruthless efficiency and Mel shrieked in fear. She was not a virgin; her one experience with sex was with a young, deaf boy she had met in a summer course designed specifically for the hearing-impaired. It was a clumsy coupling, and barely consummated, but it was tender and sprinkled with real passion.

  Mel didn’t have much experience, but she knew that sex with this hateful beast would tear her asunder. Tears leaked from her eyes and she cried, “Onio! Help me, please!”

  As if by magic, her prayers were answered. She gasped as a mighty jolt rattled her prone body, and then she was dragged backwards as Onio and Thunderbolt rolled in a tangle of limbs to the far corner of the darkened cavern. They fought savagely, biting and tearing at one another with abandon. Onio battled valiantly, but Thunderbolt was far heavier and taller than the mixed breed sasq. Within seconds, the enemy held the upper hand. Sitting astride Onio’s chest, Thunderbolt placed his hands around her friend’s throat and squeezed. Mel wailed in terror.

  A spear entered Thunderbolts body, piercing him from front to back. The sasquatch looked at the spear that pierced his chest and gazed up at the human woman who had killed him. He put his hands on the spear as if to pull it out, but fell over backwards instead. Staring up at nothing, he choked as arterial blood filled his mouth, then he gasped and died.

  Wolf and Mel sprang to Onio’s side but he was already climbing to his feet. The pattern marks of Thunderbolt’s fingers traced both sides of the younger male’s neck, but his eyes searched Mel’s in concern. He tried to speak but apparently there was already some swelling within the damaged flesh. He shook his head and used soul song to ask, “Mel, are you injured… did the traitor damage you?”

  Normally, Mel was rather shy and undemonstrative with physical affection, but she was so grateful and relieved by Onio’s heroic deed, she reached up and caressed his cheek. “I’m fine, Onio. Thank you…thank you so much!” Tears fell as she realized just how close she had come to being raped.

  Onio smiled and took her hand. Wolf placed his hand on the younger sasq’s shoulder and nodded in satisfaction.
Then they turned to face the queen, whose spear had ended the life of one of her own…her stepson, by human standards. Tanah stood by the cave’s opening. Although she was shaking, tears running unheeded down both cheeks, she stood tall.

  “So, this is our traitor,” she murmured, and the sasq warriors that surrounded her growled, rattling their clubs and spears in rage. Tanah nodded and spoke to Mel directly. “I thank you for your warning, girl. My people have no experience with some of the magic used by the small human soldiers…I think many of us would be dead now, if not for your clear message.” Turning to Black Pony and another trusted guard named Falling Waters, she spat, “Take Thunderbolt’s body to the closest way-station. He does not deserve the holy water’s kiss!”

  Black Pony’s bandage was smaller now. It looked as if the sasq warrior would keep his damaged eye, although it looked hideous with wet moss peeking over and under the cleaning cloth used as an eye patch. His good eye studied the dead sasq warrior with loathing, even as he nodded in obedience and removed Tanah’s spear from Thunderbolt’s chest.

  Falling Waters, an enormous older guard with white fur and a kind face, picked the dead sasq’s feet up, and the two warriors unceremoniously lugged Tanah’s stepson out of the cave. Mel tied the laces of her blouse closed and moved to stand in front of the grief-stricken queen. “Your majesty, thank you for saving me,” she stammered.

  Tanah frowned and shook her head. “I am no majesty,” she whispered. “I am the wife of Two Horses, king of the northern territories; the sasq who will be grievously hurt when he finds out what I have done to his first-born son.”

  Mel’s heart ached with sorrow. Tanah was risking everything, even the king’s wrath, to find her son. It hurt Mel to know that the queen’s own son by marriage had betrayed them, and even tried to kill Mel herself in his greed and jealousy.

  Mel said, “Ma’am…Thunderbolt said something before he attacked me that I think you need to hear.” Tanah stared at her, along with many of the guards that surrounded them. Onio and Wolf turned to listen as well. Mel gulped, hoping that she remembered the words correctly. She cleared her throat, although she used soul song to speak, “He said that there would be a reward given for me, especially when they found out that I know the soul song.”

  The sasq warrior’s roars of fury washed over her, flooding her mind with feelings of fear, wrath, and betrayal. Tanah stared at her in alarm and then she turned to Black Pony, who had re-entered the cavern. “We must go down, Pony,” she said.

  The large, black haired guard’s eye widened with fear but he nodded his head. “Yes, Tanah, we will make ready,” he murmured.

  Mel stared at the sasq warriors; they seemed visibly shaken. Although none of them seemed ready to defy their queen’s direct order, Mel could tell that what Tanah asked of them took every ounce of courage they possessed.

  Mel turned and looked Onio in the eye. He too, looked nervous. He stared at her and shook his head. “Come and walk with me for a moment, Mel,” he said, while Wolf opened their bags and removed furs from within.

  “Don’t go far, First Son, and return soon,” he muttered as they passed.

  Taking up a torch, Onio nodded respectfully and replied, “We will only be outside in the tunnel, Wolf.”

  Mel and Onio walked away from the general flurry of activity and stood about fifteen feet away from the cave’s entrance. Onio untied the furs from around his waist, handing one to Mel. “Put it on, Mel, and tie the laces tightly. It will be very cold where we are going,” he murmured, donning one of his own furs, an expression of worry etching lines into his brow.

  “Onio, where are we going?” Mel whispered. The sasquatches fear was contagious; her heart hammered and her palms were greasy with sweat. She thought she could smell the gas that had entered the cave of the moon pools but didn’t think it was possible from so far away. She stared up into the mossy brown of Onio’s eyes.

  “We go into the under-warrens…a place of mystery. These tunnels are the approved path for all landside creatures. The ways below are, well…not for creatures that live in the sun. We must be very careful…cautious. Wolf has been below before and says that he almost didn’t make it back alive.” Onio ran a shaking hand over his face.

  “Why do we have to do this, Onio?” Mel asked in confusion. “Can’t we just go back the way we came?” She did not want to go below. The fact that these huge creatures, the mighty sasq, were frightened of what lay below their feet scared her to death.

  But Onio shook his head. “It is fairly certain that Thunderbolts treachery has revealed our path…coming and going. The way we are going will take us far away from the small human soldiers and their war magic. It will also delay our arrival to the conclave of kings. We will leave a sign though, so that their scouts will know where we have gone, and why.”

  The sasq warriors formed into a line again. This time, it looked as if the women would be walking instead of riding. Tanah addressed them. “I don’t need to tell you that the underworld is a dangerous place. Be on guard at all times. Hopefully, we can traverse the pathway quickly and arrive at the king’s gate in one day’s time. We will not stop unless it is absolutely necessary. Move out!”

  They walked for about a half hour back the same way they had come. Mel saw the forward scouts stop at a large slab of rock that reminded her of the door to the way station. Sure enough, one of the warriors touched the rock’s surface and pulled it aside. There was a momentary pause as the sasq warriors gathered their nerve and then, one by one, they stepped into the darkened doorway.

  Onio stared straight ahead but grabbed her hand in his. Mel saw that he was frightened and trying hard to maintain his composure, and Mel decided to be a help, rather than a hindrance. Smiling bravely, she followed him into the maw of darkness. Wolf was behind her and she heard him say, “There is a staircase here, child. Hold on to First Son’s hand. If you feel yourself start to stumble, lean back into me…I will catch you.”

  The steps that were carved into the stone floors were crooked and uneven. Some were slick with moss and others were so dry they seemed to crumble into sand with every step she took. Her smile fled as the light of the torches dwindled in the thick, moldy-smelling air. What little light remained seemed to inflate and distort their shadows into hideous shapes. At one point, Mel almost screamed when one of the sasq’s silhouettes seemed to grow long antennae and pointed fangs.

  Finally, they reached the bottom. Mel’s relief was short-lived, however. There was an underground river directly in front of them. Its black water glittered in the torchlight and Mel saw the bodies of dead animals strewn here and there on the shoreline, like driftwood. The carcasses were bloated and their stink filled the air with a nauseating odor.

  Mel could hear the alarm in the sasq warrior’s thoughts as they stared about in bewilderment. Wolf growled, “There is something evil afoot here.”

  Onio nodded and said, “Mel, stay very close now. If we have to run, I’ll pick you up. I can’t take the time to look for you if you stray.”

  I’m not going anywhere, she thought with a shudder of revulsion, and heard Onio chuckle in response. Nevertheless, he kept a tight grip on her hand as the sasquatches made their way down the river’s shore. They hadn’t gone a dozen steps when the column stopped. The sasq stood still and stiff-legged, wide noses querying the stagnant air. Then, with barely controlled panic, they formed into a circle, staves, spears and pikes thrust outward in defense. Mel couldn’t see anything past their wide backs and she couldn’t hear what threatened. She held her breath and prayed.

  Suddenly, she saw strange shadows on the walls. Long pointy noses, humped backs and thrashing, prehensile tails jerked and slithered toward them! Then, she could hear them, as well. Shrill whistles pierced the sasq warrior’s ears, and Mel almost peed in fear as the sound telepathically warbled through Onio’s senses. It was rats…rats as large as ponies tumbling toward them in a writhing, seething mass. They chittered in excitement and their beady little eyes g
lowed as red as blood in the dimness. Mel screamed in mortal terror.

  Chapter 17

  The rats stampeded toward them like berserkers, hissing and snapping, their large square teeth glistening with saliva. Two or three of them instantly impaled themselves on the poised spears, but one of the beasts muscled through the defensive perimeter, squealing and gnawing on the warrior’s furs, weapons and flesh.

  Screams of pain and rage filled Mel’s senses. She searched frantically for some sort of weapon, but there was nothing, only a few hefty rocks with sharp edges. She gathered as many as she could without getting trampled by the sasq warriors, or having her fingers bitten off by the random rat that made its way through to the human women inside the protective shield.

  There was an open space, momentarily, and Mel flung a stone as hard as she could at a rat that was preparing to charge. She crowed with triumph when the rock hit the rat squarely on the nose. The rat rose up on its hind feet, pawing at the injury and squealing in painful surprise.

  Mel felt something jab her from behind and whirled in alarm. It was Tanah; with one hand, she thrust a spear with deadly accuracy at any rat that came within range and with the other, handed a dagger to Mel. “Take it girl, and defend yourself!” the queen gasped, turning back to her grizzly task.

  There was some sort of commotion overhead. Suddenly, one of the sasq guards was down, leaving a hole in the shield. Mel watched, horror-struck, as three of the giant rats fell upon the sasquatch, attacking his neck, arms and face. There was a red shower of blood and the sasq warrior lay dead, allowing the rats to feed in peace. Shaking with fear, Mel flung another missile and one of the rats fled, hissing.

  Within seconds, the sasquatches lost the advantage of superior size and strength; the rats were too large and too many. Mel screamed as another guard fell. Suddenly the rats were everywhere, attacking with impunity. The line broke as the warriors spread out, slashing, pummeling and stabbing at their frenzied attackers. One rat charged Mel and she slashed at its eyes with the knife. She missed, but Wolf’s war-club knocked it flying into the black river. She felt something at her back and saw Onio, long spear whirling, teeth grinding in concentrated effort.