Forsaken At The Crossroads

by Joe Sniezek

  “At this very moment? Just wait,” Eniyan said, and continued to cut off Wilfer’s angry retort, “You struggle to make decisions when none need to be made. You do things when it’s time to wait, and you hesitate when it’s time for action. That is the cause of your misery.”

  “For how long? This isn’t going to have a good ending,” Wilfer said, gesturing up ahead.

  “You will know when the time is right,” Eniyan replied.

  “Maybe I’ll just take a nice nap then,” Wilfer said sarcastically.

  “Good idea. Save up your energy,” Eniyan countered with good humor.

  Although he did not take a nap, Wilfer did relax. He was in a more receptive state of mind, perhaps it was the fatigue of travelling. “What’s your advice then?” He asked.

  “Just be as ready as you can. Conserve your energy for when you need it. If you see an opportunity, take it. But also be subtle; let the guards grow complacent. Be boring for them and they will stop paying attention to you,” Eniyan explained.

  Wilfer was impressed with that advice. He should have been listening much closer to the old man all along. But that wasn’t fair, he had been listening to him. Perhaps he had been asking the wrong question all this time.

  Wilfer took Eniyan’s advice. He calmed himself both physically and mentally. He realized just how much energy he was wasting struggling against his bonds. It was much better to work with them and not against them; they weren’t going to break. He also realized just how much mental energy he was wasting raging against things that couldn’t be changed. How many opportunities had he already missed because he was distracted by rage, angst, and self-pity? Already, he was feeling better. He now understood how the old man could almost be smiling even in such terrible circumstances.

  ∞∞∞

  Sunset was approaching, and the soldiers and their horses were weary. The squad had slowed down considerably. They covered much less ground in the afternoon than they had in the morning.

  Wilfer said quietly to Eniyan, “Distances change here, right?” and Eniyan just winked for a response. There was something interesting there, but no further opportunity to talk and find out more.

  They stopped for the night. While the soldiers cooked up their chow and set up their tarps and tents, Wilfer said to Eniyan, “Get some sleep, right? Even if we escaped now, we’d be too tired to get very far. They’d catch up in an instant.” Eniyan only nodded and sat back on the ground. A soldier passed him a bowl of hot watery gruel. He gave one to Wilfer as well. They ate in silence and fell into a deep sleep after the long day of walking.

  Wilfer awoke partway through the night. He guessed he had slept about 4 hours, but he couldn’t really be sure. Eniyan did not stir, but his eyes were open. Eniyan said nothing but made a subtle gesture to demonstrate the loosening of the ropes around his wrists. Wilfer understood; he would use this wakefulness and the cover of darkness to work on his bonds. They were quite tight so he decided to gnaw on them. He was careful to try to bite only the inside of the ropes so that the fraying wouldn’t show during the day. He noticed a very slight give to them. He didn’t want to break them yet or the soldiers would simply retie them with fresh rope, but he was sure a quick tug would break them. Now, he only needed to wait for the opportunity.

  ∞∞∞

  They resumed their march at sunrise. Wilfer was careful with the weakened ropes around his wrists. He only had a half night of sleep last night; the rest was spent loosening his bonds, but he felt like he had more energy. He looked over at Eniyan and saw that the old man was limping. When Eniyan noticed him looking, he gave Wilfer a quick wink. Wilfer was relieved and took the hint. He didn’t want to form an identical limp; that would be too obvious. Instead, Wilfer tried to make his breathing heavier, drooped his shoulders, and walked with an exhausted flat-footed stumble. He kept his gaze unfocused towards a spot a few paces ahead. He gave all outward appearances of a man on the brink of exhaustion.

  The guards noticed their prisoners were weakening and slowed the pace. They were not willing to stop, but one rode alongside Wilfer and offered him a canteen. Wilfer pretended not to see. The guard shrugged and continued on but their pace was noticeably slower.

  Wilfer remained alert for escape opportunities. Simulating exhaustion was more tiring than walking normally but Wilfer trusted Eniyan’s plan. After another two hours of walking, Wilfer slumped down on the ground when they stopped. He rested his forehead on his knees. Eniyan sat down next to him, slowly with the appearances of an old man with aching joints.

  Eniyan whispered to Wilfer, “When you see an opportunity, take it. Forget about me.”

  “No,” Wilfer protested.

  “It’ll be alright. I got a plan.”

  “Should we plan to meet up after?” Wilfer asked, obviously confused.

  “I’ll find you. Don’t worry about it.”

  ∞∞∞

  After only a quarter hour of rest, they continued their journey. Wilfer did not know if he should continue to feign exhaustion but the old man still limped. Wilfer decided that he would walk more normally for a while and pretend to slowly tire so that they might get another break in a couple hours. Until then, he just remained alert for his chance of escape.

  Wilfer reflected on the true wisdom he had learned today. There was no point in struggling if he couldn’t break free. Certainly, he tested the bonds. But if they held, it was more beneficial to remain calm. Even animals knew that, didn’t they? His thoughts ran deep; how many times in his life had he done just that? He often strained against unbreakable bonds, whether they were physical, social, or mental. His entire life has been that. He had never tried to contribute to the greater good. He had always been as selfish and obstinate as possible as a form of rebellion. But all young men do that, don’t they? Maybe this journey has aged him.

  Lost in thought, Wilfer was surprised when Eniyan suddenly stumbled. Based on the wink earlier, Wilfer knew that this was a ruse but it looked real. Eniyan had fallen face forward, likely breaking his nose as he slammed into the ground. The old man wasn’t moving. His heart pounding with worry, Wilfer ran over to Eniyan to see if he was still breathing. He leaned his face down over the old and heard him say so softly that it could barely be heard, “The rope is untied.”

  The guards came to a halt and dismounted to check on the old man. “What now?” the lead soldier said.

  Wilfer used the disturbance to snap the ropes around his wrists. He gave a sharp tug on the leash and bolted downhill to the tree line as fast as he could. The soldiers were surprised, which was their failing.

  All soldiers had already dismounted, likely expecting a break. Two soldiers quickly remounted their horses and gave chase. Three more followed on foot. The remainder watched in stunned silence. In a second failing, they had taken their eyes off Eniyan. The old man used the opportunity to jump up and flee uphill, in the opposite direction. The trees were much closer and much thicker there. Within a moment, Eniyan disappeared deep into the bush. The remaining soldier attempted to follow but stopped at the edge of the thicket.

  The nearest mounted soldier quickly caught up with Wilfer. He slapped him on the back with the flat of his sword, knocking Wilfer to the ground. The soldiers who remained on foot pounced and roughly tied his hands and feet. Wilfer let out a sharp grunt as his hand was wrenched behind his back with a soldier’s knee pressing on his spine; his shoulder socket would be sore for days. The guards hauled him to his feet and gave him a hard slap on the cheek; it was enough to drain his remaining will to fight.

  Wilfer was dragged back to the road. The soldiers debated whether to give chase to Eniyan. “Should we hunt the old man?” a soldier asked.

  “Why bother? I don’t think he’ll be much leverage anymore,” Zumi said gesturing at Wilfer. “That was a clear betrayal.”

  “Could he come back and cause trouble?” the soldier suggested with a shrug.

  The lead shoulder instructed, “Track him for two hours then catch up with us. If
you don’t see any sign of him, that means he’s probably gone for good. If you do see him, shoot him on sight.”

  Wilfer was surprised by the sudden change of orders for Eniyan’s treatment. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. However, that old man was crafty, so Wilfer suspected he wouldn’t be harmed so easily. But Wilfer honestly wasn’t sure if Eniyan would return for him. Eniyan’s plan was very clever but which side of the ruse was Wilfer on? He wasn’t so sure anymore. Thinking back, everything Eniyan said since their capture could be viewed from either point of view. The whole thing made Wilfer’s brain ache. Wilfer hated ambiguity; it burrowed into his mind and nagged at him.

  The group resumed walking. Wilfer was now leashed to a horse instead of Eniyan. He didn’t have to fake his tiredness this time, he had given his all for his escape and that drained all his energy.

  The captain pointed at Wilfer and said, “He’s too crafty, lash him to a horse.” They laid Wilfer facedown across the back of the horse and bound him: hands together, feet together, arms together, knees together. With the blood rushing to his head, this was an extremely uncomfortable position. His escape attempt had caused this situation to go from bad to worse, Wilfer thought as he cursed Eniyan’s name.

  Sixteen

  Wilfer shifted as he tried to find the most comfortable position when tied across the back of a horse. He decided the best was to let his legs hang down. This acted as a counterweight and elevated his head. It increased the strain on his back but decreased the dizziness from the blood pooling in his head. The horse wasn’t pleased with his unbalanced load and often walked at an angle to compensate. The horse’s comfort wasn’t Wilfer’s top concern and if the horse became too tired, the soldiers may allow him to ride normally.

  Zumi noticed Wilfer’s difficulties before the soldiers did. She had her own solution to the problem. Her horse pulled up next to Wilfer’s and she said, “You’re doing this to yourself. You do see that, right?”

  Wilfer, of course, ignored her in silence.

  She persisted, “Can’t you see that your actions don’t make any sense? You want to find out what is happening yet you keep running away from the only place that has any answers?” She had a point.

  “Look,” she said, “They have to bring you back but they don’t have to drag you back. Of course, you had to try an escape. Who wouldn’t? But now that you see how bad your decisions have been all along, maybe you’ll be smart enough to cooperate.”

  Wilfer gave a short grunt in response to show that he was at least listening. She did have a point and the discomfort of his current situation was very persuasive also. But he never let up on his vigilance. There might be yet another opportunity for escape. He watched the soldiers as Zumi talked; they remained passive and let Zumi talk to him. They were quick to stifle conversations they did not approve of, so this endorsement of Zumi only increased Wilfer’s skepticism of her arguments.

  “It’s clear that Eniyan was poisoning your mind. From the very beginning, he was steering you in the wrong direction. He’s a sneaky one; he made it seem like he wasn’t doing anything at all. He’s gone now. I knew he would betray you at the first opportunity. But now that you’re free of him, I know you’ll be more reasonable,” Zumi continued to press her advantage.

  It occurred to Wilfer that the plan to play along still had its advantages. He did not see any reason why it would not continue to work. At the very least, someone might loosen his ropes. He would allow himself to be persuaded.

  “Won’t you?” Zumi said after a moment of letting her argument sink in.

  “Yeah,” Wilfer said reluctantly.

  Zumi looked satisfied but said nothing more. The guards let Wilfer’s discomfort further soften any resistance he may have left. After some time, a horse trotted to catch up with them; it was the soldier who had tried to apprehend Eniyan. The soldier returned empty-handed.

  “Any sign?” The Captain asked the scout.

  “None. That crazy old man never even looked back,” the scout said with a bitter laugh.

  The group paused for a break once the scout fully caught up to them; the horses needed a rest. Wilfer was dumped carelessly on the side of the road. His hands remained bound so Zumi gave him a sip of water from her canteen. He drank it as fast as he could but only got a couple mouthfuls – not nearly enough.

  When it was time to resume travel, Zumi asked again, “So you’ll come along willingly? Get answers to your questions?”

  “Yes,” Wilfer said simply.

  “They’re not as willing to trust you as I am,” Zumi pointed at the guards, “So they won’t untie you. However, you can ride my horse with me.”

  Wilfer mounted the horse and sat behind Zumi. The soldiers tied his feet to each other underneath the horse and also to the saddle straps. He could not reach any of the knots, and he did not try to because if he fell, he would be killed as the horse dragged or trampled him. Because of this, they left his hands unbound to help with balance.

  As they rode on in this new arrangement, Zumi continued her sales pitch, “I really am looking out for you, you know.”

  “If you say so,” Wilfer replied. He was barely paying attention.

  “What makes you think I’m not? I’ve been keeping you safe this whole time,” she reminded him.

  “What you’ve been doing is spying on me,” Wilfer countered.

  “I have been keeping you safe. You’ve been diving head-first into danger since I’ve met you. You make terrible decisions, you know. What else was I supposed to do?” she said.

  “If you really cared about me, you’d have been honest since the beginning. Friends tell each other the truth,” Wilfer said.

  “Honesty? I’ve been honest with you from the beginning. The safest place for you to be is with me in San La,” Zumi said.

  “Yes. So you’ve said.”

  “Just think about it for a second. You can’t go home; you’ve been kicked out. Deep down, I think you know that. So what do you do? You just wander around the wilderness looking for answers. How could the answers possibly be out there in some strange land? You’re a man without a country, whether you are ready to admit that to yourself or not.”

  Wilfer blushed. He knew most of what she said was true. “So handing me over to my enemies is somehow better?”

  “I just can’t get through to you. Every time I try to help you see reason, you run further away. Come on, Wilfer. The land of giants? What kind of insanity is that?” she scolded him.

  “I didn’t have much choice. Where was I supposed to go? You just said I can’t go home. And I’m not sure I will last very long in this no-man’s land.

  “How many times do I have to ask you to come with me to San La?”

  “Well it’s too late now,” he snapped.

  They fell silent for a few minutes. When Zumi felt that Wilfer had calmed down enough, she started again, “It’s not too late. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, now that you’ve seen reason. I can convince these guards to leave you with me. If I can promise that you won’t ever return.”

  “Like a prison? Or some hole for me to disappear down?”

  “We’re not going to lock you up but you’d just have to stay put. No more adventures. After a while, you could find ways to help us. Who knows, eventually you could become important and indispensable.”

  “It sounds too good to be true,” Wilfer said to her but thought to himself that it actually sounded terrible.

  Zumi knew that Wilfer wasn’t convinced. She continued her attempts to influence him, “All your friends abandoned you. Not much for friends, anyway. You lost some of your memory lately; you’re not thinking clearly. A dirty old homeless man? A giant and a squid? What kind of companions are those for a sophisticated man like you?”

  Wilfer certainly didn’t think of himself as sophisticated, but she was sounding more reasonable. “When you put it that way, some of that does seem a bit crazy, but so does running off with you to San La. Isn’t the rational thing
to just go home and face the music? Find out what’s going on, for good or bad?”

  “No. See, that’s what I was talking about,” Zumi said.

  Before she could say more, Wilfer continued, “I think I’m the one who has to say no. One last time, I’ll have to decline your invitation. The only thing that makes sense is going back with these soldiers to my homeland.”

  Zumi was disappointed. She had to regain his trust somehow. This was her last shot, if he didn’t come with her now, he’d be out of her reach. “Alright, I give,” she said, “I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  Wilfer snorted in derision. How could he believe anything she said now? But maybe listening to her lies was better than sitting in silence. He needed another opportunity to escape and one was more likely to come from conversation than silence. Not that it mattered because Zumi started talking again regardless.

  “We’ve actually met before,” she said as she felt Wilfer tighten in surprise behind her. “We were very young. Merely children. You visited our Capital. Don’t you remember?”

  Wilfer did not remember. A few times in his youth, his father brought the family to various boring places where Wilfer had to wear uncomfortable clothes and sit still as people talked around him and about him, but never to him.

  “We didn’t talk very much. You kept to yourself but I thought you were quite handsome, even back then,” Zumi said as she turned around to look at him.

  Wilfer smiled and asked, “Why didn’t you mention this before when I joined your picnic?”

  “I should have. It just didn’t seem right at the time, since you didn’t seem to recognize or remember me. I guess I was a bit offended by that.”

  This news was causing Wilfer’s suspicions to rise. “That makes our random meeting out in the forest seem a lot less random. There’s no way I can believe that was an accident.”

  Zumi sighed, “No, I admit I was waiting for you. I knew if you came through the gateway, you’d go cross country to avoid the guard post. So I played some music to draw you in.”