Compendium

by Alia Luria

  “Wireless is too weak from this vantage. I need a direct link.” Its normal low voice sounded impossibly loud in her ears.

  She cursed silently, and Compendium, reading her thoughts, responded, “I can do nothing about my current range.”

  I know. She retrieved her tool roll, laid it out on the ground next to the trunk, and foraged the ground for a suitable root. Then she pulled a paring knife from the roll and shaved a strip of bark off a promising-looking root. She carefully attached Compendium to the root with some prepared strips.

  “Connection established. Retrieving schematics. Retrieved. Would you like any other information?”

  Get any other information about the Druid Village you can grab. I’ll tell you when to stop.

  “Affirmative. Retrieving access manifest. Retrieved. Retrieving Druid personnel manifest. Retrieved. Retrieving artifact list and descriptions. Retrieved. Retrieving the personal data of Head Druid Augustin Rosewater. Access denied.”

  Did that set off an alarm?

  “Unknown. Retrieving security schematics. Retrieved. No alarm activated. Attempting to retrieve Rosewater’s personal data. Access denied. Access denied. Access granted. Retrieved. Alarm. Alarm.”

  By the Core! Have they discovered you?

  “Negative. Alarm indicates that Druid security has spotted movement on the Village perimeter. I believe the others in your scouting party have been revealed.”

  Mia debated for a moment whether she should try to warn them or whether she should stay hidden. Can you send a message to any of them?

  “I can connect to Thaddeus SainClair or Cedar Kannon, as both meet minimum requirements.”

  Connect me to SainClair now.

  “Transmission initiated. Patching in Thaddeus SainClair.”

  “What is this?” SainClair’s voice said in her ear.

  Uncle, it’s me. I’m contacting you through Compendium. Your position is compromised. The Druids are aware of your presence. You have to retreat.

  “It’s too late,” his voice said in her ear. “They have arrows pointed at us already.”

  Damn. Mia unhooked Compendium from the tree and used the joining paste to seal off the scrape in the bark. She looked around hastily, unsure which way to go. She tried to hold back the rising bile in her throat.

  “They will be entering the tree line from your right. There is one main entrance in that direction, so you will have to head in the opposite direction to evade them.”

  Compendium’s calm voice reassured her. She listened carefully, and with each step, Compendium guided her farther from the entrance and from the others. She stood near the edge of the Village on the opposite side, her body frozen, waiting for Compendium’s instructions.

  “They are distracted by the commotion. You are clear to reenter the forest.”

  Mia inched toward the edge of the tree line, intending to follow Compendium’s advice, but stopped and looked directly up to the massive thick of treetops above her. Tucked between the trunk she was standing next to and the one she had just passed was a bridge composed of branches tied together to form a platform. The branches had grown together over time and melded into a solid surface. Rails had been fashioned from rope suspended along the sides of the plank. Mia’s eyes traced a path down the tree to where she stood. I can climb this.

  “That is not advised,” Compendium said.

  She gritted her teeth. I have to do something. She felt around for handholds in the large, rough trunk behind her.

  “It is advised that you retreat and formulate a plan. You are entering the Village alone and unarmed.”

  Nonsense. I have my throwing knives, my tools, and you.

  “You are risking this operation. This is reckless,” the voice said. Its tone remained emotionless as usual, but Mia grew irritated.

  They’re distracted, and any perimeter breach I make won’t be detected. I can’t wait around any longer. The time is nigh. She had to stop herself from speaking the words aloud. The book continued talking into her ear, warning her of the dangers. She ignored it and picked her way carefully and slowly up the trunk. You can assist me or be silent. I’m trying to concentrate. The bridge was still approximately fifty feet above her when she glanced upward. She was a skilled climber, but she’d been cooped up for almost a cycle. Her muscles already were tiring. She took a deep breath and renewed her efforts, scaling the large tree in small increments. The sweat formed a sheen on her skin, affecting her grip. She muttered quiet curses and plodded along. Just as she had lulled herself into a rhythm, her toe slipped, and her feet gave way, leaving her clutching the trunk with just her hands. Her feet scrambled against the rough surface of the tree as she tried to gain purchase with her boots. Her palms dampened further with sweat, and she tightened her grip on the handholds to which she clung. Her heart raced, and it took all her concentration to slow her breathing. She finally regained her footing after a few tries. She stilled herself for a moment, steadied her breathing further, and let her heart rate slow. Once recovered, she began the sluggish ascent once again.

  Mia tossed all thoughts from her cluttered mind, emptying a bucket into the void below her, and focused solely on moving her body upward. When she finally reached the lowest branch on the tree, she pulled herself atop it to rest her limbs briefly. She brushed the dampness from her forehead with her sleeve and wished she had packed a gourd of water. She gave herself a brief respite to recover and resumed her climb. She worked like this for approximately an hour, until she was finally right under the bridge. She listened intently for signs of voices or footfalls. Compendium had been silent since she had told it to quiet itself, and she rather thought it was acting a bit petulant at this point or at least as much as an inanimate object could.

  Compendium, can you sense anyone nearby?

  “Negative,” the book replied. “This area appears to be deserted at the moment.”

  Are my uncle and the others still alive? Mia held her breath as she waited for a response.

  “Affirmative. They were taken up a lift into the Village on the north side. They have been deposited in holding cells on the third level.” She didn’t want to risk communicating with SainClair or Cedar if she could avoid it, not until she could spend some time learning about the Village’s sensors and security systems from Compendium.

  How do I get to the holding cells?

  “You will have to travel across a series of bridges to the center of the trees. The Druids keep prisoners in cells scattered around a central guard tree, which is always manned. Attempting to walk right up to the cells is impossible and thus unadvisable.”

  Thanks, she thought sourly. Let me decide what’s impossible. She remained silent on the “unadvisable” part, because she sensed any plan would be deemed unadvisable by a sensible person. Where is the Shillelagh kept?

  “Higher up in the trees,” the book said in her ear. She peeked over the side of the bridge and up.

  By the sacred groves! She saw another level of bridges and rooms above. How many levels are there?

  “Five,” said Compendium.

  Let me guess, the Shillelagh’s on the top level?

  “Affirmative.”

  Ah, how did I know? Her mind was racing, and tension wracked her whole body. Where should I go first? If she freed the others, the Druids would sound the alarm. Also, how would a group of them get to the fifth level? The Shillelagh was probably equally well guarded, if not more so. She hoisted herself onto the bridge, trying desperately to be noiseless. The branches creaked subtly under her weight. Once she was on solid footing, she curled herself up into a ball against the trunk of the tree and tried to stay as still as possible. Compendium, alert me if you sense anyone approaching.

  “Of course,” the book replied. Was she mistaken, or did the voice sound just a tiny bit affronted, as if her request were so obvious it shouldn’t even have been given form? Mia rolled her eyes and settled the green cloak around her with the dual intent of blending in as much as possible among t
he leaves and appearing as a Druid who’d just slipped away for some time alone.

  She rested her body, but her mind wouldn’t quiet down. It was consumed with thoughts of SainClair and Cedar and even Borus. She wriggled Compendium free from her sash and opened it while keeping it largely shielded inside the cloak.

  Show me the Village schematics. She studied the plans to the fortress in the trees and peppered Compendium with questions. The entrances were vertical lift conveyances hidden inside the trunks of the trees. Genius. Why didn’t the Order have those? The conveyances were guarded on the first level to prevent strangers from entering the Village. They weren’t guarded from the second level to higher levels. Mia needed to get to the second level and didn’t relish the thought of continuing her climb. She racked her brain; there had to be a way up. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but she asked Compendium how the Druids expelled waste from the village.

  “They have a pump that brings water from the nearby river and pumps it up into the trees. This is used for drinking water and waste disposal.”

  But you can’t hear it?

  “It is pumped through dead, hollow trees,” Compendium replied.

  Interesting. Are there other hollow trees? I don’t much fancy getting you wet.

  “That would not be advised,” it agreed.

  Apparently not much is advised today.

  “There are other trees that are hollow that comprise access tunnels around the Village.”

  Are they all guarded?

  “Negative,” said Compendium. “They are sealed off but not watched. From the outside, they are indistinguishable from the other trees, and thus it is not anticipated that anyone knows about them.”

  Well, perhaps we can unseal one. A plan began to take root in her mind.

  33 Jailbreak

  Lumin Cycle 10152

  Mia felt the hollowness of the tree the moment her chisel bit into its bark. Where the wood beneath should have been thick and slightly soft, the blunt plane instead met a hard, unyielding surface. Methodically she worked the small tool farther into the trunk with each muffled thunk of her hammer. She damped the noise with the Druid cloak, which was still around her shoulders. It was slowgoing, and blisters formed on her already abused hands. Finally the tool broke into the hollow center, the plane sliding easily to the hilt. Next she worked the small chisel out from the trunk and replaced it with an equally small saw. She moved the saw back and forth along the trunk and alternated tools while her arms ached and body sweated until she was able to pop out a portion of the trunk.

  Are you sure there’s an access hatch above? Mia gritted her teeth. She had no desire to repeat this process from inside the trunk, suspended far above solid ground.

  “Yes,” Compendium said.

  She rested for a moment to regather her strength then felt around inside the black, hollow trunk for some sort of grip or step or ledge. To her surprise, she found a rudimentary series of ledges carved inside the trunk. She pulled a small gourd from inside her bag and tapped it to ignite the chemical light within. Then she set it to hang around her neck from a lanyard and pulled herself into the pitch black of the hollow tree. Once inside, she braced herself against the curve of the trunk and struggled to maneuver the slab of bark back over the carved hole. “That will have to do,” she muttered, and began the slow ascent upward.

  Mia’d never climbed inside a tree before, and the entire process unsettled her. With only the flicker of the gourd around her neck to guide her, she climbed up the inside of the tree, silently instructing Compendium to alert her to the nearest hatch on the next level up.

  She was just beginning to contemplate the relief that letting go of the ledges and falling to her death would bring when Compendium’s voice broke through her thoughts.

  “The hatch is approximately five rungs above on your right,” the voice said in its usual calm manner.

  And can you determine whether the room is empty?

  “My sensors indicate that the outpost currently is unoccupied, but they have not been calibrated for this environment, and interaction with the Druid system data could be glitchy.”

  Mia grunted. So you’re saying you don’t really know.

  “My data indicates that the room should be empty, but I cannot be certain.”

  She rolled her eyes, bit her lip, and frowned. Well, I guess it’ll be a surprise then. Trying to stifle any noise her body might make as it knocked around inside the tree, she felt around the wall for the seam to the hatch. You don’t per chance know how this actually opens, do you?

  “Negative.”

  I thought as much.

  “Then why did you ask?” said Compendium’s voice in what Mia suspected was its attempt at sounding earnest.

  As if it were possible for an artificial consciousness to be earnest. The heat and exhaustion are just getting to me.

  “My sensors indicate that your body temperature and readings are within normal ranges,” Compendium said in response.

  Mia had to bite her lip to keep from shouting a response. You scan me? The possibility alarmed her a bit.

  “It is a function of my sensors. I automatically scan all beings in my vicinity.”

  Why didn’t you tell me? She was scandalized for her person but also annoyed since it was such a useful function.

  “You did not request to know such information.”

  Well, if something is useful, you should say something. Mia wanted to continue this line of discussion, but she needed to get out of this hatch to solid footing. She could feel the seam but not a means to open the hatch. She knocked softly around the edges but couldn’t find a hinge. Does this door pop off completely, or is it hinged?

  “It has a hinge.”

  I may have to force it. Bracing herself against the ledges and the opposite wall of the trunk, she positioned her shoulder against the small door then pushed against it. There was no give at all. Grunting, she flexed her leg and applied increased pressure. A small sigh escaped from the wood as it flexed ever so slightly, but still the door didn’t yield. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she shoved against the door, applying as much pressure as possible. With a creak and a cracking noise, the door finally swung open. With her shoulder no longer wedged against a solid wall and a relative lack of forward momentum due to her energy being transferred to the wooden door, there was no longer anything holding her up against the shaft wall. She sunk like a stone. It was only her reflexes that saved her from falling back down the shaft of the trunk.

  Mia gripped the edge of the doorway into the outpost as her feet flailed uselessly below her, scrabbling for purchase. Grunting again, she urged her foot to the left until a ledge registered under her toe then used the leverage to slowly pull herself up. If the outpost isn’t empty, I’d probably know by now. Any Druids present had ample time to haul her from the shaft or just kill her right there.

  Finally she lay sprawled against the trunk of the hollow tree, attempting to regain her breath and slow the rapid beat of her heart.

  “You would do well to make haste,” Compendium said.

  Unable to string her thoughts together or form words, she merely grunted in response and focused her attention on breathing. As she recovered from the physical exertion, she surveyed her surroundings. Built around the hollow tree was a wooden room constructed of planks and thatch. It appeared largely empty except for the hollow tree to her back, although it did contain a doorway and large windows looking out at the forest. From her vantage point, sprawled out on the floor, she was unable to see anything but sky through a tangle of branches. The light was quickly draining away, and she noted it would soon be dark outside. She had to make it to the proper lift and find the others, but she had urgent business to attend to first.

  Compendium, find me a place to rest.

  Mia awoke with a start to the sound of a nearby owl hooting. Darkness had fully settled on the Village. The flicker of the night lights swirling behind the branches above her danced and mixed with the pinp
oint lights of the gourds and the glow bugs spattered among the forest, much like in Hackberry. Once, the quiet stillness of the nocturnal fauna and muted lights in the sky and among the trees would have bought her comfort and joy. Tonight, however, a cold fear settled deep in her spine, running itself back and forth from her neck to her bowels. She tried to brush aside the burgeoning feelings of panic and concentrate on the task at hand.

  When the owl launched into a particularly intricate series of hoots, Mia used the opportunity to mask her rustling noises as she dropped down from the tangle of trees in which she had been sleeping and onto a wooden walkway. She situated the green cloak close about her body and moved slowly but purposefully toward the center of the Village. Compendium guided her along, whispering instructions into her ear. She found it difficult to hear them over the sound of her own heart, but she proceeded steadily, her face the best facsimile of impassive that she could offer.

  Her thoughts were filled with the others. No doubt they would have told her to abandon them and make straight for the Shillelagh. Certainly not! she argued in her head, her own responses to the pleading requests to do her duty to the Order. Her companions had supported her on this journey. They had placed their lives and reputations within the Order in her hands, and she wouldn’t let them down. They would all leave together or not at all. Her hands clenched in the cloak, and she took a slow breath. She filled her mind with thoughts of Cedar and the Crater Grove, of that night they had kissed. His dark eyes and brown skin floated across her senses. She sighed lightly and tried to remain in the feeling. It was a retreat for her, almost a dream rather than a memory. It was her only one. She shouldn’t have squandered their time together. I knew how I felt, even before that night, and yet why? Why had I persisted in my folly that it was otherwise? It was always him. Since that first awkward conversation on the ship, she had felt drawn into his vortex. I really must be related to SainClair. My stubbornness mirrors his so completely.

  Perhaps this wasn’t the time to consider the details of her relationship with Cedar. Nevertheless she felt the shake of her hands subside and the beat of her heart slow. I can still confess my feelings to him. There will still be time for us. I just need to get him and Uncle Thaddeus and the others out of those cells and safely back to the Compound. That was the pledge she made to herself, the thought that carried her down the winding walkways strung between the giant trunks—bridges through the aerial forest—to the transport room, into the lift, and up to the level where the detention cells resided. Each minute that passed where no one called out for her to halt or placed a weapon in her path bolstered her confidence. She quickened her pace slightly and held her head higher. She didn’t pass a great many Druids on her way to the cellblock. A couple of men deep in conversation, their faces old but their strides strong, walked past her with not so much as a glance in her direction. She didn’t pick up any of their conversation, so hushed were the tones. Compendium, could you hear those Druids talking?