She would not stop a hunter but was obligated to ask the question. “I have come to see the healer,” Jubal replied hoarsely.
The dark-haired giantess smiled. “His hands are cold to the touch but he has nearly as many free customers as he does inmates. I am sure he can help with that throat. The office he works out of is through that entrance and down the hall, third door to the left.”
“My thanks to you,” Jubal replied and walked on through the gate. She had not even asked his name. It was almost too easy.
Following her helpful directions, Jubal arrived in a sitting-room full of people. The inmates were clothed in light brown linens, both males and females. The Anakim standing just inside the door in the gray uniform and holding a spear was clearly on duty, but the two unarmed guards sitting in wooden chairs alongside the convicts were coughing and clearly there to see the healer. The men were both Tinies, as was most everyone else in the room.
The people wearing woolen robes of assorted colors were not residents of the compound. They were the citizens who could not afford the gratuities charged by Aakacarn healers.
“Can I help you, Weapocarn?” the guard asked politely.
The mannerly way the question had been phrased probably had more to do with the reputation than the fact that Jubal’s outer persona was the larger of the two. “I am here to see the healer.”
Rows of chairs were lined up facing the front of the room. The sick guards were closest to the door and all the remaining chairs had been taken. The Anakim pointed his spear toward a woman sitting in the very last chair in the last row. “You stand over here and the rest of you move down one chair.”
His orders were followed immediately and not a soul dared to complain. The response to the command had come so quickly the practice clearly had become a routine. It seemed some people were more privileged than others. Out of fairness Jubal would normally wave away the courtesy but being pressed for time, he walked over to the first chair and sat down.
The inner door opened and out stepped a young woman who was rubbing her right arm as if she could not believe it had been healed of whatever injury had befallen her. Thanatos, wearing his traditional black silks and hooded cloak, followed right behind the tiny female. His pale blues watched her leave the room and then fixed on his next patient. “You have no readily apparent ailment, but come into my office and I will determine what illness troubles you.”
Jubal quietly followed the healer into the next room containing a single chair and a long table. A row of cabinets full of drawers lined the wall.
“Hop up on the table,” he was instructed, and so obediently did as he was told.
Thanatos glared at the weapons. “The few Weapocarns who have sought my help came in unarmed. You are the first to enter the compound ready for battle. I bet every guard was extra polite to you. Well, do not for an instant believe such toys impress me. Now, are you going to tell me what ails you or must I use an Aaka to determine the problem?”
Jubal leaned forward and for an instant ceased feeding power to the amulet. His true self appeared and then vanished in an eye-blink, causing the pale blue orbs facing him to open wider, the narrow jaw to open, and twin eyebrows to shoot up and wrinkle a normally unexpressive forehead.
“I just don’t seem to feel myself today. Aside from that, I was hoping for a progress report,” Jubal spoke in his normal voice.
Thanatos regained his composure quickly, snapping his mouth shut, and then nearly cracked a smile, but managed to keep a straight face. “Uncle, you are a man who always manages to show me something new. I caught a glimpse of the figurine you are wearing and so now understand how this is possible, yet must admit assuming the form of another man never occurred to me.”
“I hope it does not occur to anyone else,” Jubal replied. “This amulet and others I have made will help us move about in plain sight without anyone truly knowing who they are seeing. With the tools I am developing we will be elusive and difficult to identify, especially if a need to focus life-force energy beyond the construct is required.”
Rather than explain, he allowed the Aaka, Potential, to play in his mind. Within the persona indigo blue shined brightly, but beyond the image the hue became a vivid green. The healer’s aura glowed gray like the coat of an old wolf.
“I thought our hues were unique and unalterable,” the collector of the dead stated what he had been taught.
Jubal nodded affirmatively. “It is as you say, but within the figurine I created is a yellow hue that only shines when my energy is focused beyond the construct.”
Thanatos smiled, although it was so creepy it would have been better if he had not. “Blue and yellow make green. Your accomplishment is astonishing and I appreciate the craftiness involved,” he responded and then his eyes seemed to light up. “I want you to make me a persona with the appearance of a skeleton, cloaked in black of course, and give it a color filter to disguise my hue.”
“Why on earth would you want something like that?” Jubal inquired. “I mean, I will make it, even though an animated skeleton would not pass unnoticed on the street.”
“I will use whatever amulets and personas our endeavor requires, but that special one I want in order to frighten any adversaries who stand in my way,” Thanatos replied. “Terror is a potent weapon especially when backed up by my repertoire.”
He had a point worth considering. “I will create the requested amulet and might make a few of my own along those lines,” Jubal agreed.
Thanatos sat down in the chair. “You asked for a progress report. Very well, I shall report,” he reached back and opened a drawer, then pulled out a scroll. “Put this somewhere in your clothing. It is a drawing of this facility and will help educate the rest of our team on how the compound is laid out. I have listed the names of all the guards, including Captain Ruffard. He is one ill-tempered Anakim, by the way, and did not want me here. I suspect he feels having a Nephilim in the building undermines his authority. Ares, who is in charge of both the guards and the Weapocarns, personally approved of my becoming the attending healer of this facility, and so the captain had no choice but to accept my presence.”
Jubal sat stroking the beard of his Weapocarn persona and after few moments of consideration, brought his hand down. “Have you been able to speak to the inmates on our lists?”
Thanatos shook his head. “So far I have only seen the people who are ill and no one on our lists seems to need healing. Most of the inmates are out with their assigned taskmasters and workgroups. They work from sunrise to sunset, but their evenings are free. The people waiting in the other room are the only ones here other than the guards you saw upon arriving. I have decided each inmate needs to come in for a diagnosis to be sure the entire population is healthy. That method will take a few days but will ensure I see everyone. Betsenadab will be in the very first group and so will a few of the others on our list. The night guards will arrive shortly before dark and will be here all night. I have spoken with Xerxes, who is a lieutenant, and one other guard who is willing to join our cause.”
Jubal leaned forward. “You have been busy. Good thinking on coming up with a legitimate reason to meet Betsenadab. You will accomplish two things at once, ensure everyone is in good health, and soon meet everyone on all the lists. I am pleased Xerxes is joining us. Who is the other?”
“He is a Tiny with an unusual name, Hubris the son of Lathem.”
The chance meeting must have been more than happenstance; one of those things that were simply meant to be. Jubal was willing to bet one of his flutes on the possibility. “You have done well and I will trust in your judgement regarding Hubris joining our team. I am not sure when or if I will be coming here again in this guise.”
Thanatos nodded acknowledgement.
Jubal folded his hands, remembering the scolding he had received. “I started this project far later than I should have and now we only have months to accomplish our goal. I promised the priest we would act tonight. Natura, Hermes, and Ur
sa have each found a family who desire to leave Semidon. We will be moving three families, a total of fifteen people. We have identified more who wish to leave, but they are not yet ready, and even the three families who are do not know the move will be tonight.”
Thanatos rubbed his chin. “So soon, I thought it would be days yet, but if the priest insists we must comply. How did the others of our team take the news?”
Jubal ceased the power to the amulet long enough to make the Weapocarn image disappear so he could put the scroll within his shirt pocket, and then resumed the Elusion persona. “You are the first to know of the change in schedule so I do not know what their responses will be, but they will have no more choice than I do. The priest confronted me shortly before I left my home to come here and exhorted me to act with haste, this the rest of us must do while you remain here and implement your plan.”
“I will glean the information we need, be assured. I bid you a successful night,” Thanatos replied, and then glanced at the door and added, “Now, if we are finished with this interview, scream loudly and then run from this office. I believe some of the folks sitting out there are merely using this as an opportunity to skip being in a work-crew today. If you do this right, only those who are truly sick will remain.”
“What about the dignity of Elusion? The fellow’s reputation for fierceness will be shattered.”
Thanatos rolled his eyes. “The man does not exist. How can you possibly hurt his reputation? Besides, he would not be the first person to flee from my presence.”
Jubal could not come up with a decent argument and so reluctantly agreed. He hopped off the table and in three steps threw open the door, and ran screaming through the waiting-room. Four men and three women wearing light brown linens followed him into the hall moments later. He stopped, pretending to catch his breath while they passed him by.
He walked ten paces toward the exit when a man in a gray uniform with broad black stripes on his shoulders with a pair of gold bars on each came around the corner. He had a bronze knife at his belt and one hand on the hilt. His black hair was cut short and his squinty eyes locked onto the only other person in sight. “That uniform does not entitle you to walk fully armed into my facility. I am ordering you to leave at once.”
A strong desire to humble the man nearly overcame good sense. Jubal decided to walk away as commanded and so nodded acceptance of the order and headed for the outer door.
“Before you go, I will have your name and claim that nice pair of knives at your belt as due penance for your indiscretion,” the officer called out in a commanding voice.
Jubal turned around and a stubbornness he could not resist took hold of his better judgment. No one ever ordered a Weapocarn to hand over his weapons. “I am leaving as ordered and will not bring weapons into this compound again. I will even give you a gold coin to buy your own steel knife,” he spoke gruffly.
The Anakim officer had crossed the distance in the time it took to complete the sentence and stood face to face with the man he hoped to intimidate. “Correction, you will leave as ordered, turn over those knives, and give me a gold coin to atone for your insolence. Just so you know; the Captain of the Guard has the authority to arrest even a Weapocarn.”
“It seems we are at an impasse because a Weapocarn has the authority to arrest anyone behaving disorderly, even the captain of the compound guards whose authority goes no farther than the gates. You see, my authority extends citywide and beyond. I think we should just part ways and never trouble each other again,” Jubal replied and a moment later realized he had gravely insulted the man.
“Unfortunately for you, we are not just anywhere else in the city, we are standing right in the middle of my facility and fully within my jurisdiction,” Captain Ruffard replied snidely while gripping his hilt daringly.
Jubal glanced at the knife. “If you draw that weapon, I will take it away from you and, well let’s just say it would be better for you to leave that knife where it is.”
Out the blade came, slashing toward Jubal’s right hand, which shot out and clamped tightly onto the bronze shaft. He yanked inward, pulling the captain forward with the same hand, and lightning quick Jubal’s left fist came up, connecting with Ruffard’s jaw, sending the man falling backward to land sprawled on the floor.
Jubal stood holding the bronze knife in his hand and then tossed it up the hall where it hit the floor and skidded all the way back to the corner from which the captain had appeared.
The officer rubbed his jaw and suddenly kicked out with his boot, the heel aiming for Jubal’s ankle. A quick hop insured the miss and then Jubal reached down and lifted the man into the air with one hand.
“You would not dare harm me,” Ruffard snarled, clearly too angry to be afraid.
“You would be surprised at what I would dare. I have fought lions, bears, crocodiles and more,” Jubal replied, and then he grew tired of talking and struck him in the side of the head and into unconsciousness. A quick opening of the hand allowed the covetous officer to drop and hit the floor.
“I am certain what you did was against the rules,” a deep voice said from behind. “He would not have done more than prick your hand. Still, he should not have drawn the knife.”
Jubal spun around to see the guard from the waiting–room standing twenty strides away and holding his spear at the ready. “He and I had a disagreement. We both agreed I should leave but the dispute came when he insisted I give him these knives. Even though he is currently unconscious, I am willing to obey his first order, but these weapons go with me. Can you and I agree to this?”
The guard rested the butt of the spear on the floor. “This pointed-stick I hold is impressive to the unskilled inmates I watch over, but does not seem to have the same effect on you, not the way facing Thanatos affected you at any rate. Then again, not to be insulting, I too am wary of the gaunt-featured Aakacarn,” he replied, while eyeing the knives of his opponent. “If you promise not to reach for your weapons on the way out, this spear will rest right where it is, is that acceptable to you?”
He clearly did not want to fight and neither did Jubal. “These weapons will not be drawn, that I can assure you.”
The Anakim nodded and watched as Jubal exited the building. He crossed the courtyard wondering if at any moment he would hear a gong or horn blow or some other sort of rallying cry. Time seemed to creep by as he walked, but the guards stayed at their posts, and he made it all the way to gate two before his path was suddenly blocked.
“Was Thanatos able to help you?” the giantess asked.
Jubal smiled at the green-eyed Anakim. “Alas, it is not possible to give me a better sounding voice,” he replied huskily. “I’m not one to make speeches and the beasts in the woods don’t care what I sound like, so I am not terribly disappointed.”
“Does that mean you will not be visiting this facility again?” She asked almost as if she cared.
“Your captain does not like me very much. It is best for me to stay away,” Jubal replied and then stepped hurriedly through the gate and out onto the path leading into the city. The alarm could be raised at any moment and putting some distance between him and the compound seemed to be a good idea.
Thunder rumbled, causing him to look back toward the facility. Dark clouds were drifting in quicker than his stride was taking him. It took only a few moments to determine a downpour would overtake him before he could reach home. “Better pick up the pace,” he said and then began jogging.
Other folks had noticed the clouds and were hastening their steps as well. The wind came next, blowing hard and swaying the branches of the trees along the boulevard. Lightning lit up the sky, followed by a crackling boom, and then rain fell in heavy sheets. Puddles soon formed and Jubal was splashing water with each footfall, although not a drop of moisture touched him or even dampened his silks. The Weapocarn persona protected him from the elements, a pleasant side effect he had not anticipated, but decided to count as an added bonus.
Rathe
r than seek immediate shelter like everyone else was doing, he chose to run on, secure in the knowledge nothing could harm him. The street leading home was coming up on the right. He picked up speed, breaking into a sprint right at the corner, and then lost traction on the stone. Arms flailing, he slipped onto his backside.
“Okay, I walk,” he called to the heavens, which were somewhere above the dark mass that was over the city.
The only part of him that had been hurt by the fall was his pride, which he swallowed and then stood up. The energy field creating the persona was not as thick as the other shapes he could assume, but proved to be sufficient protection none-the-less. He did not want to find out if it was thick enough to resist tooth and claw or a blade.
He continued his journey up the street with more caution and a little less cockiness, while trying to ignore the pouring rain, which was relentless. His focus needed to be on the mission. He had not considered the weather when he made the promise to Mel, but dared not allow the development to be an excuse to break faith with the priest.
“Nothing is going to stop me from getting those people to their new home tonight,” Jubal declared, just as he passed a sycamore tree.
A bright burst of light, an explosion of sound, the feeling of a thousand ants crawling on and under his skin, and the next thing Jubal knew he was flying backward. The flash burn on his retinas was so severe he could not see any better with his eyes open than with them closed. More worrisome than what would happen when he hit the ground was the heat causing him to sweat; but those concerns vanished the moment he lost consciousness.
Chapter Twenty: We Go Tonight
The first sensation Jubal became aware of was a searing pain in his chest, right above the collarbone, and after that the realization his silks were soaking wet. The tingling he experienced earlier had stopped, but there remained a little fuzziness in his thinking. The Elusion persona did not protect him from all of the elements; he managed to conclude that much even while being out of sorts.
Dawn Of The Aakacarns Page 40