The Ryle of Zentule

by Michael Green

  Letty raised her blade and swung. “I’m sorry!” She cried.

  The blade passed right over the creature’s frame, as if it was nothing but light. Letty gasped and stumbled backwards, keeping distance between her and the sphinx, who was moving faster and faster.

  “The Voice, it moves scornfully,” the sphinx stopped and looked to the ground.

  “I’ll help you. Just stop eating people,” Letty said.

  The sphinx raised her head. “A deal,” she said, coming still closer.

  Oh God. She braced for the worst, but saw that the sphinx’s claws had retracted.

  Letty stood still as she moved to within an inch of her face. She could hear the sphinx purring. She rubbed her cheek against Letty’s.

  She’s huge.

  The sphinx pushed past her, like an annoyed cat, and opened the church door with a paw.

  Letty followed, and they stepped outside.

  Wait, did the goblins have her locked in here? Maybe they expected me to kill her.

  Dean yelled, as he stumbled back into the gate. Emma looked just as scared, but kept her footing as she backed away.

  “What is that thing?” Staza yelled, drawing her sword.

  “It’s a sphinx!” Letty called out to them.

  Dean stared at them from behind the gate. “Did you answer its riddle?”

  “I think so,” Letty said. “We need to help her on her way.”

  “Where is it going?” Quill asked.

  “I’m still working on that,” Letty replied. “Stay back. I’m going to ask her a question. Be careful, because my blade won’t hurt her.”

  “What?” Quill asked, surprised.

  “The blade went right through her, as if she wasn’t there,” Letty replied.

  The sphinx stared for a long time at each face. “The Voice gave many shapes to its servants,” she finally spoke. “How could they harm each other?”

  “What does that mean?” Dean asked.

  “I think she’s saying that she’s made of the same stuff as your Argument, Letty. That’s why you can’t hurt her,” Staza reasoned.

  “That makes sense,” Quill agreed. “But why haven’t we ever heard of a crea—”

  “Ah! A sphinx,” Fidelio announced excitedly.

  Letty saw the sphinx’s eyes raise as the mice came through the gate.

  “Don’t eat them either, please!” Letty begged, stepping between them.

  “Eat us?” Fidelio said, surprised, “We’re natural allies! At least according to the stories.”

  The sphinx approached the mice and pawed at Fidelio, who backed away, while keeping a smile plastered to his face.

  “Shamed converts, these,” the sphinx said plainly.

  “Fidelio, do you know where the sphinx needs to go?” Letty asked.

  Fidelio looked up at the creature nervously, despite his earlier excitement. “A pair of sphinxes guard an ancient temple on the sur side of the Cyclo Mountains, not far from here.”

  Letty smiled and said, “That’s lucky, if she just wants to go home—”

  Quill interrupted. “Fidelio, how do you know that? The part about there being sphinxes in the mountains, I mean.”

  Letty didn’t appreciate the interruption, though she felt it was justified.

  “Well,” Fidelio cleared his throat, “my grandfather patrolled the foothills around the mountains. He told us they followed uncertain animals and twice came upon a hidden temple carved in the rock. They went inside, and found creatures with the heads of women and the bodies of lions—he didn’t mention the wings though. The sphinxes asked them questions, but they ran both times. They knew that if you failed to answer the question, the consequence was becoming dinner.”

  “Detailed story,” Dean said, looking at the others. “Sounds like he’s telling the truth, as far as he knows. But how did this happen in the first place? What is she doing down here?”

  “As far as I know!” Fidelio blustered.

  Letty ignored the mouse and said, “She must have left for some reason.” She stared questioningly at the sphinx.

  The sphinx looked up at them with a grin on her face. She pawed at Fidelio, who put a friendly expression on, though he was plainly quivering.

  “I don’t know why she left, but I think the ceiling going crazy,” Letty pointed upwards, “confused her. She was lost and came here by accident.”

  “What do we do with her?” Staza asked.

  “Well, that’s clear; we take her home.” Letty said. “It can’t be far.”

  “That’s not what I mean. The problem is that the goblins aren’t going to be happy if we just walk out of here with that creature. They’ll want revenge,” Staza said.

  Letty shook her head. “I don’t know, they might just be grateful if we get rid of her.”

  They stood there for a few minutes, everyone silently thinking of a plan. Letty was continually distracted as the sphinx played with the mice. Dozens of them had overcome their fear and climbed onto her. She was gentle with them.

  “Wait. Let’s get all the mice on her, and just pretend like she’s been subdued,” Letty said.

  There were a few incredulous looks.

  “Well, I can’t think of anything besides covering her in a sheet,” Dean said, “I say we go with Letty’s idea.”

  After piling the sphinx high with hundreds of armed mice, they approached the gate.

  “Maybe the goblins will help us get to Degoskirke, after we get her out of here,” Staza said.

  “That’s the best plan we have right now. They might know a safe way across the ryle lands,” Quill agreed.

  “It might not work if they know we befriended the sphinx, so everyone: weapons up, and act like she might kill us,” Letty commanded as they opened the gate.

  “What if she doesn’t go along with the plan?” Staza asked.

  They all stared at the sphinx for a sign of her intentions.

  The sphinx gave them an inscrutable, almost sarcastically blank expression.

  “We’ll just have to find out,” Quill said.

  They walked the sphinx out of the town, but the goblins were still some distance from the gate.

  “Which way, Fidelio?” Letty asked.

  Fidelio, who was sitting happily on the sphinx’s shoulder, pointed back through the goblin camp. “We need to go back the way we came and turn lanticward. The way isn’t marked, and it might take us some time to find.”

  Everyone, save Emma, scowled at the news, but before anyone could voice a grievance, the goblins spotted them.

  “They gots it!” A shrill voice called out.

  The goblin guards tried to keep the civilians away, but they rushed headlong towards the sphinx, who growled and bared her teeth, causing the crowd to bolt again.

  “It looks like she’s going along with the plan, unless she’s just being herself,” Letty whispered.

  “Stay back!” Quill and Staza both pushed curious goblins away.

  “Do you want to get eaten?” Emma asked a few curious green faces.

  A bold goblin yanked on the sphinx’s tail, which elicited an overwhelming roar. The sphinx bucked the mice off and turned around to swipe at the goblin, who tumbled away, lost its footing, and rolled a dozen times before landing on its face.

  The mice all scrambled to climb back on, but the roar was enough to send even the goblin guards running for their tents.

  After they passed through the camp, Letty looked back at the few pointy faces peeking out of tent flaps at them. “We’ll be back! But you can go inside your town now! It’s safe!”

  After they had gone some ways down the road, they saw the goblins packing up their tents.

  “Why did you go there anyway?” Staza asked the sphinx, who looked at her with a calm face.

  “Priests once. They could see, and would share the Voice,” she said.

  “What do you mean? Share the Voice—how is that possible?” Dean asked.

  The creature ignored him.

&n
bsp; “I think she means that whoever lived at that church once helped her with a piece of the Argument,” Letty said, holding out her own piece to show everyone.

  The Sphinx eyed the marble hungrily, and even leaned towards it.

  “Careful, Letty,” Quill said.

  Letty hid the Argument and asked, “What is your name, sphinx?”

  The creature looked from Letty’s pocket up to her eyes. “Aleta.”

  They loped along the road and turned right at Fidelio’s direction. “I think this is the way,” he pronounced hopefully.

  “Aleta, how long have you been out here?” Letty asked.

  Aleta gave her a curious look but remained silent.

  “Don’t upset her,” Dean whispered.

  Emma came up to Letty, who was considering another question, and nudged her. “I’m hungry, Letty. Can we stop for lunch?”

  “It is about time,” Quill said.

  Letty nodded. Everyone’s treating me like I’m in charge.

  “Fine, let’s stop to eat.”

  The march came to a halt, and they sat beside the road. The mice set up watches in the trees and Aleta lay against a mossy trunk. She spoke in verse and told stories to the mice.

  With her paw upturned and full of attentive mice, she spoke, “Thrice ten and century plied—have these eyes lidless been—watchful against the sunless sky—of my sunken climb. In that time, I have supped on flesh and the tender breast of nightmare beasts and once on a sigh-filled yes. There there, glassy, mousy eyes, tremble less, for filled of you, am I.”

  Letty was listening but felt a tug at her shoulder.

  “What if we can’t find her a way home?” It was Staza. “The others aren’t happy about this.”

  “I know,” Letty whined. She followed Staza and approached the group. They all looked up from their packaged food.

  “So?” Quill asked Staza.

  “Look,” Letty said sternly. “I don’t know why I feel the way I do, but I’m certain that helping Aleta is important. But I understand why you don’t agree, so I’ll make you all a deal: If we don’t find anything in a few hours, we’ll send her on her way with the best advice Fidelio has, and then get back on the road.”

  Her friends shared a look, and a moment later they nodded in agreement.

  “It wasn’t a waste of time either,” Quill said. “Now the goblins are indebted to us, and maybe Aleta will help, if we find the way to her temple.”

  Emma held out a protein bar and asked, “Will you come and sit with us?”

  Letty felt her guard lowering. She sat between Emma and Dean.

  “So, Andy’s caught up in all this,” Dean said. “Every time I blink, I feel like I should wake up, but each time I open my eyes it’s all still there.”

  “It’s funny,” Staza quipped, “I felt the same way on the surface.”

  Quill huffed a sound of agreement. “How can you stand it up there? The noise, and endless people everywhere you look.” He rolled his eyes at the recollection, and Staza nodded. “The food was superb though; I’ll give you that.”

  “And the supplies,” Staza added. “The stitching on everything is inhumanly precise.” She held up a pack and pointed at the sewing.

  Letty laughed. “I knew you guys felt that way; you did a good job of keeping calm though. And Staza, the stitching was done with a sewing machine. Maybe we can get one for Caspia.”

  “Sewing machine?” Staza mumbled, half in disbelief.

  They were silent. Emma and Dean looked at Letty for an explanation.

  This probably isn’t the best time to tell them about Pythia. I have nothing nice to say.

  “I’ll never get over cars,” Quill said, distracted. “You don’t have to feed them.”

  “Well, that’s not exactly true,” Dean said. “They eat, in their own way.”

  “I still can’t imagine how you live with it,” Staza said.

  “Cars?” Dean asked.

  “No,” Staza replied quietly. “I saw so many people on the surface.” She paused, searching for the right words, “It was crushing. You probably won’t understand, but—I know that I’m someone down here. I can’t explain it. Down here, there is no one else like me. I have value and purpose in Caspia, and so does everyone else. I might be one of the best fighters, and that means people look at me with appreciation, like I do for them. But on the surface,” she shivered at the memory, “I was nobody to thousands, and I can’t remember a single one of their faces. How can you live like that? You have no—” she struggled for words.

  “Community,” Quill added, and Staza nodded.

  The surfacers were silent. Letty wasn’t sure if Staza was wrong.

  “Well, let’s get back to it,” Fidelio said loudly, breaking in on their flagging conversation.

  The humans took the chance to leave the awkwardness behind. Everyone stood; the bags were packed and shouldered in minutes.

  “I say we just keep on this way. Eyes sharp, everyone; we don’t want to miss a clue,” Fidelio said, after accepting a place on Aleta’s well-muscled shoulder.

  The woods thickened as they continued, and eventually the road gave way to several trails. Letty allowed Fidelio to lead the way, while she kept an eye out.

  In a flash Aleta roared and bolted towards a tree, Fidelio flying off her shoulder and the other mice ducking for cover. She climbed up the tree in a few bounds and swiped at a large blue and green bird.

  The bird released a shrill cry and took off, barely dodging Aleta’s claws.

  “Shame,” Aleta said, landing softly on her paws and following the bird as it went. “They were made for me.”

  Letty saw Aleta licking her lips as the bird twirled and raced through the branches. A chorus of other birds picked up the call. Letty spotted four or five circling their group for a moment, and then they all flew off in the same direction.

  “I think we should follow those birds,” Letty said.

  Dean rolled his eyes. “Why should we follow the economy-sized peacocks?”

  Letty wanted to answer, but instead watched Aleta’s eyes as she tracked the birds. A moment later, her feline limbs pressed up and down, she arched her back, and her claws made indents in the earth.

  She wants to chase them.

  “Guys—” Letty stumbled back as Aleta bounded away from the group and after the birds. “Follow her!” Letty yelled, regaining her balance.

  Letty ran a few steps after her. The mice! They can’t keep up, can they?

  Letty looked back at Fidelio.

  “Just go! We’ll follow your tracks,” he said, shooing her onward.

  Letty turned and ran. Quill and Staza were strong runners, and could have left her behind, but they stayed by her side. Emma and Dean flagged from the outset.

  A few minutes later they had lost sight of both Aleta and the mice. Letty slowed to a stop. She was breathing heavily and hunched over. Emma and Dean caught up.

  “We lost her!” Dean complained. “Nothing to do now but go back and try to find the mice.”

  “He’s right, Letty,” Emma said, also gasping for breath.

  “No, the sphinx left a trail,” Staza said, pointing out a broken branch. “We could follow her for miles.”

  “Will you lead the way, please?” Letty asked.

  Staza did, pointing out crushed leaves and damaged shrubs as they went.

  “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about missing P.E.; we should be in top shape when we get back,” Dean said.

  “Yeah,” Emma agreed, still out of breath, “I never expected to be running through the woods with a backpack on. I mean, forget the mice, goblins, and sphinx, this alone is weird enough.”

  Letty wanted to join in, but she was focused on Staza, who followed Aleta’s serpentine trail so expertly that they never slowed.

  “What’s P.E.?” Quill asked, leaving the tracking to Staza.

  “It’s the easiest class,” Emma said.

  “Speak for yourself. The locker room—and sho
wering—what a nightmare,” Dean insisted.

  “Letty, are we going in circles?” Emma asked.

  “No, and if you guys paid attention, you might realize that,” Letty snapped, annoyed at her friends.

  “Sorry,” Emma whispered, half apologetic, and half hurt.

  A moment later Staza spoke to Letty as if continuing a conversation, though her eyes stayed on the ground. “You don’t belong up there after all. They’re too soft for you—that whole earth full of grown toddlers. I’m afraid your friends will infect Quill. He’s already a soft heart.”

  “What was that?” Quill asked, breaking off a conversation about classes with Emma and Dean.

  “You’re soft, like the surfacers,” Staza replied.

  “I certainly am not!”

  “Wait! Be quiet,” Letty said, hearing something.

  They all listened.

  There’s noise. What is it?

  “Water,” Emma said.

  Letty looked at her, surprised.

  It is water.

  “This way—the tracks are headed towards it,” Staza said, picking up her pace.

  The sound of rushing water intensified. They broke out through the trees and onto a rocky shore surrounding a stone filled-pool beneath a waterfall. The moss on the rocks was slick, and Letty nearly slipped as those behind pushed through the branches.

  “Slowly!” Staza yelled over the water, “Don’t push!”

  Letty looked up and saw hundreds of blue and green birds swirling around the rocky waterfall. They nested in the trees all over, and their cries only added to the noise.

  Atop a pile of slick rocks lay Aleta, the fringes of her mouth stained red. Her tail lolled lazily, and she looked up at them.

  Dean and Emma balked and descended back behind the wall of foliage.

  Even Staza and Quill found the bloodied sphinx unnerving. They raised their weapons as if by instinct.

  “I hate to sound like the surfacers, Letty, but is this the best plan?” Quill asked.

  I’m not sure.

  Letty felt herself relenting.

  There’s no point wasting more time. I don’t even know what I expected.

  As Letty was about to turn away, she spotted a blur of bright colors on the periphery. She examined it, but felt her eyes tensing as she stared.

  It’s a bird, but it’s so bright, it’s like looking at a flood light.