They left the road and crossed into the trees.
“Well, it’ll be easy for them to track us into the woods,” Dean complained.
“It’s not like we’re going to stop, right?” Emma asked.
“Just shut it, until we heal Quill,” Letty snapped.
Letty felt safer as they entered the coverage of the forest. They pushed on until the plains disappeared behind branches and leaves.
“Here,” Letty said, stopping.
They took off their packs, and a moment later Staza had found the flask of minoe.
“We stole a good amount from the ryle, but we can’t waste it,” Staza said, breathing heavily and taking a long moment to inspect the wound. She cut Quill’s pants off at the knee, and he muttered something about evening out the other side.
Staza ignored him and gave the bolt a slight tug. Quill cried out. Staza winced in realization. “We need to push the bolt through the other side before we heal the wound,” Staza said.
Letty remembered this happening to her in that garage. Quill’s eyes had rolled back inside his head.
“Wait—what did you say, Staza?” Emma asked. “Push it through?”
Staza grasped the bolt. “It will cause far more damage to try and pull it out. Watch,” she tugged on the bolt, and Quill screamed, his hands flailing wildly. Letty saw the flesh of his leg rise with the bolt.
“Hold his hands down, you two!” Staza ordered.
Emma and Dean rushed to obey.
“The bolt is barbed; it will tear his leg to pieces if we pull it out. Even with the minoe, he won’t be walking for hours at least.”
“Do it,” Quill said, biting down on his cheeks.
Staza took a breath and pushed the bolt through. Quill heaved and knocked both Emma and Dean over.
“He’s strong!” Emma said, getting to her knees and grabbing Quill’s arm again.
“The flask, Letty! Now!” Staza said, as she pressed down on the wound.
Letty struggled with the flask and finally poured some of the liquid onto the wound.
“And the other side, get it on a cloth and hold it there,” Staza said, lifting Quill so Letty could reach the bottom of his thigh.
Letty held the cloth in place for a few minutes before the wound closed.
“That’s impossible,” Dean muttered. “This would save lives…”
“On the surface,” Letty finished for him.
“Right, the surface,” Dean stared, fascinated and grimacing like he might throw up at the same time.
Emma, on the other hand, looked like she’d already thrown up.
Letty found the bloody bolt on the ground and held it up. It was barbed.
Emma fainted.
“Damn it!” Letty yelled. “Someone, wake her up, please.”
Dean leaned over to help, but then stumbled as well.
“I’m fine,” Dean groaned pushing himself up onto his elbows. “All the blood. It just gets to me.”
Emma mumbled before coming to.
“We can’t go on like this. We’ll need to camp here,” Staza said, rubbing Quill’s cheek.
“Fine, but we carry him further into the woods,” Letty answered.
“You don’t need to carry me,” Dean stammered.
“Be quiet,” Emma snapped. “They’re talking about Quill.”
They shouldered their bags. The surfacers were unsteady, but Quill was still worse. Letty and Staza had to carry him and several packs.
“He was shot. What happened to you?” Staza asked the surfacers, “Afraid of a little blood?”
Dean was silent and looked at the ground as he trudged on.
After a few minutes of huffing and puffing, Staza’s eyes shot up.
“What?” Letty asked.
“Water. We’re near a stream.” Staza pointed through the trees. “That way.”
Moments later, Letty heard it too. They passed a few more trees and saw a swiftly moving stream. It was about ten feet across, and two feet deep.
“Will it keep the mice away, if we cross?” Letty asked.
“It might,” Staza answered. “We should cross and find a place to camp for the night.”
Letty and Staza held Quill between them as they moved into the water.
“Wait!” Letty called out, as her foot slipped. They fell into the water.
“Get up!” Staza yelled.
Dean and Emma also fell prey to slick rocks. Drenched, the group lifted Quill and emerged from the water on the other side.
Letty felt snide. “Sorry. I tried my best; I’m not used to carrying bodies across rivers!”
Staza ignored her as they continued.
Less than a dozen trees further, both Letty and Staza gave out under the weight.
I shouldn’t have been rude. She was carrying most of the weight.
Letty looked over at Staza, who leaned against a tree, canteen in hand.
“I’m sorry for snapping like that,” Letty said.
“What?” Staza answered, confused. “Oh, that. Don’t worry yourself. The real trouble happens when weapons are drawn. Don’t think I can’t kill you before you can get at that Argument in your pocket,” Staza said, grinning.
Letty didn’t doubt it.
“What was that about, Letty?” Dean asked. “Something about arguing?”
Letty rolled her eyes and pulled the marble from her pocket. “This is an Argument. For some reason I can ‘wield’ it.”
She grasped it tightly and the blade shot from her hand.
“What the—” Dean scrambled away from the flashing light. “You’re doing that?”
“Yes.”
“Does that help us in any way?” Emma asked.
“I could slice through that tree if we had to, but I’d rather not,” Letty loosened her grip and the blade fluttered out.
“Wow…” Dean stared open mouthed. “Magic is real.”
“I don’t really know if it is. Everyone keeps saying that it’s religious,” Letty said, annoyed at the recollection.
Staza saw them looking her way for an answer. “We don’t learn a great deal about it either. I can tell you there was a war, for thousands of years, between the human race of Seers and the ryle—purple tentacled fiends—with their many races of warriors and servants. The war swung back and forth, with the Voices of either side making major changes to the world. One such early change was the creation of the Netherscape. Another change split the Netherscape into many parcels. All of that ended when the ryle crafted their scheme to separate the Seers from the rest of humanity. This happened about five hundred years ago. Once the dust settled, religion fell out of favor, and is now looked down on. Almost no one wields the Argument anymore, well, barring Letty here, and Andy.”
Dean looked confused. “So, that thing she just did is part of your religion?”
“Not mine,” Staza said. “No, but it would have been if I was born centuries ago. Humanity has to come to accept that we’ve lost to the ryle. The best we can do is live free in Caspia. Pythia takes care of us if we do our duty to the city, and we do.”
“After all this is done, you’re just going to go back to Caspia?” Letty asked.
Staza shrugged. “I don’t know about Quill. He has always been a romantic. I can see him getting inspired by Andy and dying a Seer’s death.”
“Wait, so you’re telling me that this race of purple tentacle monsters—the ryle—has control of all of mankind?” Dean asked.
“Well, I don’t know much about the surface. From what we’re told, there aren’t that many of them. The ones that control your society likely do it from places of power,” Quill said.
“Yeah, like their use of optometrists.” Letty explained how Ropt and Ziesqe were the same person. “You see, he just pretended to be human, and almost nobody can see his true form. We have these violet eyes, and it’s people like us they hunt, because only we can see them for what they really are,” Letty finished.
“My optometrist, who prescribed
me these glasses—my optometrist? He was a ryle?” Dean worked himself up into a frenzy.
“Calm down,” Staza said laughing. “It’s been like this for centuries. Life goes on.”
But Dean wasn’t satisfied. “It’s an affront! Don’t you see, human progress is all a lie if it was directed by these ryle. They’ve been keeping us stupid and distracted. Is any of this true? Did Andy and you really see them?”
Letty gave Dean a sympathetic look. He might crack; this is too much for him.
“And one of these ryle has Andy now?” Dean asked, dazed.
“Yes, but we have an idea of how to find him,” Staza said.
Letty found herself staring at Emma, who almost seemed excited. “Hey Em, why aren’t you freaking out like Dean?”
“What, me? Oh, it’s just that this sounds like—” she paused and looked up. “I can’t explain it, but I always knew there was more to life. Now it feels like we’re doing something important, even if I am useless.”
“You’re insane,” Dean said, still on the verge of pulling his hair out.
“I didn’t expect octopus monsters, or giant insects, but it’s better than going to class,” Emma said.
“I forgot about the giant insects, thank God we haven’t seen any—wait, you think this is better than class? We could die! Didn’t you see what happened to Quill? This whole thing is nuts, and you’re nuts for not wanting to leave,” Dean insisted.
“No, she isn’t,” Quill interrupted, groggily.
“Quill!” Staza hugged him.
“Too tight, careful,” he complained, and she let him loose.
“Thank God you’re okay,” Letty said.
“Thank the minoe too. And you,” he pointed at Dean angrily, “your insufferable cowardice woke me from my sleep. The girl has the heart of a warrior.”
Emma looked startled.
Quill continued. “She wants to live and die for something more important than that sedentary mush of slave distractions they have you addicted to on the surface. Of course it scares you, because even if neither you nor she realizes it, she is living proof that humans can aspire to more than self-satisfaction.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say,” Emma added with a smile.
“Well, I hadn’t really considered the whole crusading aspect of it. I mean, if our lives are basically worthless anyway, I can see coming along,” Dean looked at his feet as he spoke.
Quill reached out a hand and grasped Dean’s arm. “Forgive me, I was full of fire.”
Staza laughed. “When weren’t you full of fire, or a number of other things?”
They laughed, and Dean stopped looking so abashed.
After divvying out the rations and filling their canteens with water from the cool stream, everyone but Quill set about organizing a camp. They spread out their sleeping bags and discussed setting up an order of watch for the night.
Letty took the first watch, and timed two hours out on her cell phone.
No reception, but at least the alarm will work.
She listened to the stream nearby and tried to stay awake.
Should I wake Staza and Quill early? Maybe we can leave these two behind.
She thought about it for a moment.
They would never make it back to the portal. It’s too late now, and we don’t have the time to take them back. Even if we did, they’d just refuse to leave, especially now that Quill shamed Dean… and complimented Emma.
She shook her head.
I still hate it.
Letty looked through the leaves and watched the colors pulse on the cavern ceiling above. She leaned back against a tree trunk and considered each sleeping bag. It doesn’t look like Emma or Dean are sleeping. I can’t blame them. She checked her cell phone and saw the alarm was about to sound. She turned it off.
Time’s up. But I don’t want Emma or Dean on watch, that’s probably how they’d fall asleep.
She nudged Staza awake and offered her the phone to use as a timer, but Staza shook her head and tapped her brow, implying she didn’t need it.
Letty crawled into her sleeping bag, rolled over, and was asleep in an instant.
What felt like moments later, a hand grabbed her shoulder.
“Letty.” It was Quill’s voice. “Letty, wake up,” he said softly.
Letty pushed her hair out of her face and yawned. She rolled over and saw Quill. His eyes were locked onto something. She sat up and looked around.
Mice, everywhere.
“How the hell?” Letty whispered.
“They weren’t there one second, and then there were thousands,” Quill whispered.
“I’m glad you’re up,” an annoyed mouse spoke from the crowd. “Now, answer plainly, what are all you humans doing on our land? Who did you run away from? Some fool ryle not keeping track of you?”
Letty couldn’t spot the speaker, but stood up, and her sleeping bag fell around her legs. “We don’t belong to anyone. We’re just traveling.”
“Oh—right, traveling.” He laughed. As if prompted, hundreds of other mice joined in. The effect was gratingly shrill.
Dean and Emma sat up in their bags.
“Mice…” Emma mumbled, still half asleep.
Dean leaped to his feet and stumbled over his bag to get away, but as he turned, he saw more in every direction. “We’re surrounded, wake up!”
“Be quiet, Dean,” Letty said.
“Look at their kit; they might be telling the truth. Those clothes look like surface work to me,” another mouse said to the leader.
“Posh! How would you know surface work?” a third exclaimed.
Letty spotted the leader. He was a blotched yellow and blue. He wore armor brighter than the others, and was followed by a banner-mouse.
“I was with the O.O. a while back; we went up a few times. Those clothes aren’t far off what we saw. They’re not ryle slaves—I promise you that.”
The leader considered this. “Well, I suppose we will have to confiscate your possessions and then imprison you for trespassing. Nothing else for it.”
Letty had heard enough. She found the Argument in her pocket and held it out to them.
She was surprised when they shied away at the sight.
“I know you aren’t fond of religion. So stay out of our way,” Letty said, grasping the marble and producing a silver light.
There was a long silence as the light filled the forest. The mice were unsure.
“At them!” their commander yelled.
But none of the soldiers moved.
Letty tightened her grasp and produced the blade. The soft light gave way to the blade’s bright flickering.
“The blood is strong!” A mouse exclaimed. Another uttered the same words. Letty heard their small voices echo with the mantra.
“Silence that squalling! I’ll have none of that!” The commander yelled.
I thought these were Vychy mice.
“Attack!” The commander bellowed, slapping and shoving at the mice nearby, his other officers took note and harassed their mice as well.
Letty saw Dean waving to her. He pointed at the mouse commander and put his wrists together, pretending they were bound.
He thinks I should have the leader captured. It’s worth a shot.
Letty raised her blade threateningly and called out, “Seize your officers!”
A few mice obeyed instantly, while others froze in confusion. Only seconds later, swarms of regulars were disarming their officers and tying them up
“I say! Treason! This is mutiny—” the leader called out, before being gagged.
“Please forgive him, young Seer! The secularism runs deep in the noble houses of Vychy. Please, show us mercy!” a gray mouse called out.
“What do we do with them?” Quill asked.
“I don’t know,” Letty said, still taken aback by their sheer numbers.
“These mice will be punished when their masters learn of
this incident,” Staza said sadly.
“They’ll have us executed, my Lady,” the gray said.
“We can’t just leave them!” Emma insisted.
Letty sighed. “Those of you who would join us are welcome. Now plug your officer’s ears, and cover their eyes,” Letty ordered.
“Do you really plan to bring these mice with us?” Quill asked critically.
Letty ignored him.
Once the officers were sufficiently deafened, Letty continued. “Who wants to join us? We are traveling far from here. Raise your hands if you do; have no fear if you don’t.”
A large majority raised their hands.
“I’ve family back in Vychy, ma’am, I can’t just go on an adventure,” a brown mouse lamented. Several others echoed the sentiment.
“That’s fine. Whoever can’t go will be tied up and left with the officers. When one of them eventually gets loose, they’ll find you and assume that you are still loyal,” Letty said.
“Good plan,” Quill added, though he scowled at the mice.
The mice also agreed, and they tied up those who didn’t want to join.
Emma was satisfied that nothing bad would happen to the mice, and Dean was full of silent consideration.
The gray called out to Letty. “But which of us is to be in command now? We can’t work without officers.”
“Have a vote,” Letty said.
“A vote!” A mouse yelled, pleased at the idea.
“Yes, a vote! Haha!” Another replied.
“Is there a problem?” Letty asked.
“No problem, my Lady; it’s just that we’ve lived so long with democracy outlawed. This is a streak of very serious rule breaking,” the gray said.
They rushed enthusiastically to have a vote, but first the applicants had to give speeches.
Letty looked at her friends with a sarcastic grin. “Let’s have some breakfast, this might take a while.”
Emma tore into her bag and found a box of toaster pastries. Staza produced granola, and even a few energy drinks from hers.
“I’m not allowed to have these,” Dean said with a devious grin, as he cracked open a can filled with the noxious smelling drink.
“Don’t go crazy,” Letty said.
A few minutes later they were packing their trash and rolling up their bags.
Letty found the mice arrayed and ready to go. The prisoners and family-bound mice were tied up in a long line. About ten percent were staying behind.
The Ryle of Zentule Page 17