Refugees

by R. A. Denny

  “Lubar and I must stay near our post while we are on duty. I must warn you: do not go below this level. The areas below are strictly off limits to anyone who has not taken the watcher’s vow,” Telepinus said. “This city is not meant to be used as a road to somewhere else. There is no direct route to a northwest exit. You can easily get lost.”

  “I feared as much,” I answered. “That is why we had planned to stay above ground.”

  Star was pawing the ground of the cave and seemed anxious to be going. She pulled the rope I was holding, and then looked over her shoulder, as if to encourage me to come with her.

  "How were you planning on finding your way aboveground?" Telepinus asked.

  “We were following the stars,” I answered, not wanted to explain about the new star.

  “Why northwest? Are you headed for the trade post, or beyond?”

  Even though Telepinus was an acquaintance, I didn’t want to give him too much information. You never knew who else might want the answers to his questions.

  “We heard tales that the northwest was the best way to go to seek our fortune,” I answered, almost wishing I had not told him even that much.

  “That road leads to Tzoladia,” Lubar commented.

  I ignored his comment. Star was acting very fearful. She seemed so anxious to leave that I started worrying that she might start randomly spraying.

  “What’s with this yakama?” Telepinus asked.

  “Probably still nervous from the bandits,” I responded, while wondering myself at her nervous persistence.

  “Perhaps then you should be on your way,” Telepinus said.

  “Thanks,” I said, picking up my sword, sheathing it, and putting my sword belt away in a pack on Star. Lubar returned our face masks.

  “Stick to the top floor where all the animals are kept,” Telepinus instructed. “When you get to an exit, tell the guards that I sent you, and they will roll the millstone door aside to let you out. Remember: you must stay out of the sleeping quarters below and go on your way or the guards will have no choice but to detain you. Understood?”

  “I understand,” I replied. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  “Remember us when you return,” the quiet guard, Lubar said.

  “We will,” I said, and it felt good to think that Tuka had apparently convinced him we would return someday with a fortune, but then Tuka could convince moss that it was a rock.

  Just as we were leaving, Telepinus leaned in and whispered to me, “If I were you, I would keep to the left.” He spoke conspiratorially, as if he were passing a secret to a friend.

  “Thanks,” I said, and I figured it was as good advice as any since I had no idea how to navigate through these tunnels. I knew that some of the houses in the Valley of Chimneys in Hattom connected to these tunnels from the center of their homes, in case of an emergency, but I had only ventured into this underground city once, many years ago, with my father.

  “Thanks,” Tuka echoed, and Tuka and I hurried after our restless yakama.

  “Safe journey!” Telepinus called as he waved after us. His voice echoed through the chamber and down the corridors: “Journey, journey, journey…” and as we walked it faded and disappeared.

  When we rounded the curve, we reached a crossroads where three different passageways branched off. Our yakama did not hesitate to take the lead, choosing to go straight ahead. We paused where the path that branched to the left joined the main corridor, but Star plodded forward stubbornly, leaving us no choice but to follow her.

  “I thought I heard the guard tell you to go the left?” Tuka asked.

  I tugged at the rope, but Star just kept walking.

  “She is acting very strangely,” I said. “Help me with this.”

  Tuka and I both pulled on the rope. Star stopped and stood still, but she would not turn around and go to the left.

  “Maybe she smells some other animals down that way that frighten her,” Tuka suggested.

  “But you are right, Telepinus told me to go to the left,” I whispered.

  Tuka shrugged the plates on his Armored shoulders. “The guards didn’t seem to really know which way to go. Maybe we should just follow her. After all, it is sort of the blind leading the blind in here.”

  “But she might just lead us in circles,” I argued.

  “Animals seem to know things people don’t know sometimes. Maybe she senses which way leads out.”

  Star had started pulling straight ahead again, and Tuka let up on the rope.

  “Fine,” I gave in. “I can’t fight you both.” I followed behind Tuka and Star.

  As we walked along the corridor which had been carved through soft volcanic rock, I noticed arched doorways with millstones blocking them from the other side. Along the way were chiseled crevices, where linseed oil burned to light the way. Periodically I could hear a cow moo, a chicken cluck, or a sheep bleat softly. None of these sounds seemed to phase Star, who just kept walking.

  After a while we came to a ventilation shaft. We stopped for a moment to look upward where the shaft got smaller and smaller until it ended in a tiny hole that let in light and fresh air. I looked down into the depths where I knew that far below was the water well, connected to deep underground rivers.

  “Out of the depths I cry to you, Adon. Hear my voice.” I said quietly. Tuka looked surprised.

  “It’s one of the prayers Rhabdom taught me to recite,” I explained.

  “But he lived in a cave near the top of a mountain.” Tuka laughed quietly.

  “He’s a really old man. He has been many places. He hasn’t always been a hermit. I know he once lived in Tzoladia. He spoke of it often. Maybe he passed this way,” I said thoughtfully.

  “Or maybe he just meant from the depths of his soul.”

  “Whatever he meant, I hope he knew what he was talking about, sending us on this mission.”

  “You mean sending you on this mission. I’m just tagging along.” Tuka laughed.

  “No, he specifically approved your coming,” I reminded him, once again feeling glad for his company. I was concerned about him vomiting earlier, but I was hesitant to ask, not wanting to embarrass him. I knew he had not been sprayed by Star and Armored men never get dizzy.

  “You did a good job with the spin fighting back there,” I said.

  “Thanks,” he paused, and then added, “I…I never killed a man before.”

  “I know. You never forget your first time…but it gets easier. There’s a rush in knowing you escaped death and that feels good. Anyway, you had no choice, it was kill or be killed.”

  “I know. But my stomach doesn’t seem to know.”

  “Here, let’s clean off the blood with some of this water. That should help.”

  Hand over hand, we raised a large bucket, and washed our faces, arms, and legs. Then, as we paused by the ventilation well, we drank from our skins, refilled them, and prepared to move on. I thought of Rhabdom’s descriptions of beautiful natural fountains bubbling up from a river that flowed deep under the city of Tzoladia.

  “What was that?” Tuka said suddenly.

  I listened. “Water dripping?”

  All of these passages were cut through hardened volcanic ash called tuff. Legend had it that these tunnels had been dug by giant scaled creatures hundreds of years ago. I had noticed all along the way that there were small holes that passed through the tuff presumably into other passageways or chambers. I knew they were used for communication. There were also small holes that had been dug into the floor for the same purpose, or to pour hot oil through, in case enemies got into the tunnels.

  “No, voices. Listen,” Tuka whispered a little more urgently.

  I listened again, and it sounded like voices, far away, that seemed to be coming from a hole to our left. I could not make out what they were saying. For some unknown reason, it sort of gave me the creeps. All of the people should be hibernating, except those soldiers who had been left to watch. I reassured myself that it was p
robably some of the guards talking to the animals as they fed them. I knew that there were many more floors below that contained hibernating people, clay jars of wine and grains, and even some large stone vats for melting copper. I remembered Telepinus’ warning to stay on the top floor.

  “Probably just watchers feeding the animals,” I said, but added, “let’s get going.”

  We walked along in silence again, hearing nothing but the soft plodding of our feet and Star’s hooves along the rock surface.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Tuka whispered. “There was something strange about those guards.”

  “They seemed pretty friendly to me,” I said.

  “But why was the millstone open in the first place? Aren’t all the passageways closed this time of year?”

  “They must have heard our yakama approaching and pushed back the millstone.”

  “And something else,” Tuka continued. “What about the hands?”

  “Sure. Pretty gruesome, but normal procedure for soldiers to collect the hands of those they kill in battle so they can be counted for gold.”

  “I guess you’re right. I don’t know. Something about them made me uneasy, and they made Star uneasy too.”

  Tuka got me to thinking. I realized I had not told Tuka about the hidden pile of hands. I couldn’t believe that I had not thought to tell him sooner. “Now that you mention it, there is something I haven’t told you. When I went after Star, I stumbled upon a large pile of severed hands hidden under blankets in a dark, dead end. I assumed they were just more bandit hands the guards had collected.”

  “Seriously? What did they look like?”

  “Like severed hands, what do you mean?”

  “Were they Armored or Unarmored?” Tuka asked urgently.

  Though I had seen it, I had not really thought about it before. “None of the hands that I saw were Unarmored. They were all Armored.”

  “Oh no!”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. After all, one of the bandits we saw was armored. Maybe they separate the Armored and Unarmored hands when they count them.”

  “But if the people they killed were all bandits in sorties, why would they even open the doors for us at all?” Tuka continued. I did not normally know Tuka to be a suspicious person. My heart started beating faster, and I started getting nervous.

  “So what are you saying?” I asked.

  “Look at these small holes that lead up above, that we pass periodically.” Tuka pointed to one. “I think they had been watching us. I think they knew what was going on up above.”

  “So maybe they rolled away the rock to come help us.”

  “But they didn’t come out and help us, did they? Maybe they just wanted to add to their secret pile of hands to get more gold.”

  “So why didn’t they just kill us?” I asked.

  We walked along in silence for a while.

  “Because maybe they knew honest watchers were listening in the barracks below the guard door, and maybe they wanted to get us to a place where nobody was listening before they killed us,” Tuka said, with wide eyes.

  Again we walked along behind the yakama in silence.

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I’m also not convinced that you are right,” I said.

  “If I was right, then what would you think we should do about it?” Tuka asked. He seemed to be afraid, and it was scaring me.

  “I would say that we should go down some of these side corridors so we stand a better chance of losing them behind us,” I whispered. “But it will be pretty hard to hide a yakama.”

  “Unless we hide in a room with other yakamas,” Tuka suggested suddenly.

  It seemed a little crazy when we weren’t even sure we were in danger. But Tuka had me worried, so I decided we should try. I turned to Tuka and nodded.

  We walked along in complete silence now, only stopping periodically to peer through small holes into side rooms at the various animals housed there. In one room, filled with stone stalls, I saw a large white bull with long horns. Others contained goats or sheep. Finally Tuka motioned for me to come and I looked through a hole, where I could see a group of yakamas inside. There was a lot of straw on the floor, and several columns of rock, so the room had hiding places. I nodded my head as Tuka pointed to an open corridor off to the right.

  This time Star came with us willingly, maybe because she sensed the other yakamas nearby. We went down a small hallway that led to an archway with a stone across it on the outside. We pushed the stone aside and entered, but we could not push it back in place once we were inside. We had to hope that if the guards were up to something sinister, they would not come in here looking for us. One of the yakamas bleated, but that was nothing unusual. The straw seemed relatively fresh and many of the animals were eating from their feedbags. We took our sword belts from Star’s packs and strapped them on our sides. After hiding our loaded yakama in an area with other yakamas behind some pillars, we lay down to hide in the straw ourselves. We waited and listened in the dim light, which came from a linseed oil lamp near the front of the stable.

  Some of the other yakamas checked out Star, but then went back to whatever they had been doing. I was tired and needed sleep, but I was too nervous to sleep, so I just lay there, curled with my armor out and every muscle in my body tensed. It seemed like an eternity, but finally I heard voices.

  “Seems like we should have found them by now,” a very deep, but muffled voice said.

  “You should have told them that you were sure northwest was to the left,” a different voice said.

  “I didn’t want the guards below to get suspicious. They all know the left dead ends. ” Telepinus answered in his distinct voice.

  “What are we going to do about that yakama? I don’t want to get sprayed.”

  I realized I was holding my breath and I let it out very slowly. I felt the blood flowing to my hands, and I found myself instinctively touching my sword handle. Tuka had been right about Telepinus and Lubar. They were like hydois masquerading as chamois: definitely hydois.

  “I guess we’ll have to give up for now. It just means two less hands. Let’s just hope they don’t go downstairs!” Telepinus said angrily.

  I held my breath again. I heard an answer but I couldn’t make out what Lubar said. So I just lay there and listened.

  Finally, I heard footsteps going back the way they had come. Still, we lay there in silence for a long time. I uncurled and just afterward Tuka did the same.

  “Let’s get out of here!” I whispered to Tuka.

  We hurriedly collected Star. When we got to the wider corridor, I poked my head out and looked both ways, then cautiously proceeded the way we had been headed before. Tuka went ahead with Star, while I walked in the rear, with my sword drawn, glancing behind me every few steps.

  After a while, we reached a chamber with a large tri-vaulted ceiling and three openings to tunnels leading in different directions. I breathed a little more freely as we entered the open room with the high, broad ceiling, after having passed through so many tight corridors. Star went directly toward one of the doors, and we followed her. After all, by not going to the left before, it had probably saved our lives. We continued on in this way as quietly as we could, sometimes turning down a branch to the right and sometimes turning down a branch to the left, but always following Star. Thankfully, so far, she had not led us to any dead ends, for to be trapped in one could mean our death at the hands of Telepinus and Lubar.

  Tuka turned to me and whispered, “What instructions did Rhabdom give you again?”

  “This is probably not the time or place to review it.” I said, a little grouchily. I was anxious to be out of these tunnels and was growing very weary.

  “Just the part about how we would find Tzoladia,” Tuka said.

  “He said to follow my star,” I responded, wondering why it was so difficult for Tuka to remember this simple instruction.

  “I think we are,” Tuka replied and nodded toward the
yakama.

  I thought a moment. “You don’t think?”

  “Yup, apparently Star knows the way,” Tuka exclaimed.

  I felt like we had discovered treasure already. We still had a long way to go, but at least now we knew how to get there.

  Chapter 39

  Trees - Brina

  As soon as I landed on the departure tree, Barque started waving at me and motioning for me to come. He had obviously been looking for me. I felt guilty about not making more of an honest effort to let him know what I was doing, but he would not have let me go if I had. He had promised my family that he would not let me out of his sight, and I knew he would feel badly that he had failed before we even crossed the waterfall. He had sacrificed a lot to come with me. The least I could do was appreciate it. I did appreciate it, but that could not curb my curiosity and independence.

  “Am I ever relieved to see you!” Barque said with a welcoming smile, as I landed on the tree trunk. Not, “Where have you been”, or “What’s wrong with you?” or any sign of anger, just concern for me. That was Barque: always looking out for me.

  “I was watching that lion,” I said.

  I was glad for the sound of the waterfall, as it kept me from offering more of an explanation, which I wasn’t sure how to give. Barque nodded his head and pointed to the launching branch.

  “Ready?” he asked. We were the last ones on the tree, and the last few supplies were being loaded on the pulleys at the other departure tree. I shook my head yes, and followed him to the platform, where he politely let me go first. I knew he would follow right behind. Searching for a last look at my family, I looked back through the trees. It wasn’t difficult to find them. They were all waving, making long arcs with their arms, their glides following. I froze the picture in my mind. Fighting back tears, I waved back, then forced myself to turn away.

  I readjusted Eej on my back one last time. Then I moved my head from side to side, up and down, and triangulated the distance as best I could, but beyond that I knew it was best not to think any further. It was time to go. I went running across the platform and leaped into the air. The sound was deafening, the cool mist soaked my skin, and soon I was enveloped in the white fog, headed down at a sharper angle than I had ever flown. I had to figure the angle in my head and then be ready to parachute once I saw the far bank. Like a cool rain on a warm day, it was exhilarating. At one point the water was getting too close, so I turned my arms at an angle and then straightened and resumed my flight downward. I willed the power of the nearby waterfall to imbue me with strength instead of fear. The same Creator that held me in His destiny had created this waterfall and could control it. I only had to make it through the mist. In an instant, I could see the mesmeringa tree on the far side, and Sir Garwin beckoning me toward its trunk. I lifted my arms to parachute and pulled up, hitting the trunk with no more force than usual. I did it! I moved out of the way and waited with breathless anticipation as I tried to look through the mist for Barque’s arrival.