The Grim Conspiracy

by C. Craig Coleman

  “We’re not leaving this place without The Eye.”

  Toda frowned and set the packs down. “No, of course not, I should have known that.” He looked back at the faint trail that had brought them into the clearing.

  “Be ready with your sword, Toda.”

  Malladar stepped to the rock edge of the pool and looked back to see if there was a reaction among the undergrowth… nothing. He touched the still fluid coated vine basket to the water, again no reaction. Trying to disturb the water as little as possible, the prince slid the spear shaft down to the bottom of the pool. Still, the plants didn’t move. He gently slid the basket under The Eye stone.

  Toda was fidgeting. “Did you get it?”

  “It’s in the basket.”

  “Well bring it up and let’s get out of here.”

  As Malladar lifted the meteorite, light reflected brilliantly off something uncovered under it when the sand was disturbed. The light shimmered lighting the whole pool.

  “The brilliant light is more than the sunlight reflecting off that thing. It’s coming from the round object itself.”

  Toda’s high-pitched voice revealed his growing fear.

  “Scoop it up too, and let’s go!”

  Malladar scooped up the lustrous object with The Eye and brought them up out of the pool. As the basket broke the surface, the light disappeared from the orb. Toda stepped over to grab it, and his hand touched the pool’s water.

  The plants surrounding the clearing began to shake. The purple vines appeared suddenly growing, almost slithering through the plant stems. They grew fast. More and more appeared, weaving left and right through the woody saplings. The vine tips turned red. Scales emerged, making the tips like arrowheads.

  “Grab the satchels, Toda! Make for the trail. The vines are weaving a wall around the clearing. They’ll seal us in any minute. Even our swords will be useless if they close the circle and weave a top like a woven beehive.”

  Toda shot away as a spring released. Malladar grabbed The Eye and the shiny object from the basket. He was fast on Toda’s heels just crossing out of the clearing and into the path as the vines shot across closing off the escape.

  Malladar’s sandal caught on a vine. The tip instantly whipped around his ankle. The vine coiled back tight, jerking him back. He fell on the ground. More scarlet vine tendrils sprouted from the coiled vine and spiraled towards the fallen prince. Malladar felt a tip shoot through his leather sandal pad just under his foot.

  “Toda!”

  Though Toda spun around, Malladar realized he couldn’t make it back before the frenzied, probing tendrils drilled into him. A flush of nausea turned his stomach.

  The sprites appeared at that instant flying down to Malladar’s hands. He clutched the meteorite and metal orb in each. The sprite he’d saved earlier flew up smiling in his face then darted back to his hand. He opened it. The three sprites together lifted The Eye holding it suspended between the murderous tendrils and the prince. The red vanished from the tips. The vines drew back. The sprites flew The Eye over prostrate Malladar and held it again between prince and vines on his other side. Again, the vines drew back.

  “Get up!” Toda stood beside him.

  Malladar rose on one elbow and took Toda’s offered hand with the other to stand up. Remembering the meteorite, he spun suddenly to find the hovering sprites holding The Eye for him. He extended his hand, and they fluttered down, releasing it in his care. Hovering, they bowed their heads and flew off fading into the forest.

  “Look at that!” Toda said. He pointed to the pool.

  When Malladar looked back to the clearing, the pond was half empty. The living spring that protected and hid the shiny metal object had stopped flowing. The vibrant light that filled the clearing was fading. The purple vines were turning green then translucent as they shriveled. Weeds sprouted across the clearing. Within minutes, dead leaves filled the former pool as the forest canopy shrouded the former glade.

  “Unbelievable!” Toda said, watching the transformation.

  “Fascinating, at this rate, I expect before nightfall there will be no sign at all that this ever existed other than a depression in the soil,” Malladar said.

  Toda pulled on Malladar’s arm. “Let’s get out of here before something else befalls us in this bizarre place.”

  When they reached the main trail again, they stopped for the night. After setting up the camp, Malladar was examining his sandal where the vine had shot through it. There was a hole but no other sign of the vine.

  Toda sat beside him on the log and poked the fire with a stick. “Say, what was that shiny ball you fished out of the pool with The Eye?”

  Malladar had stuffed the objects in his pockets as they fled the clearing. He drew out The Eye, pulled his haversack up in his lap, and tucked it down in the bottom for safe keeping again. He set the pack back down beside him and pulled the shiny object from another pocket.

  Toda squinted in the firelight looking at the object in his companion’s unfolding hand. “Looks like a medallion of some sort. The chain is missing.”

  Malladar examined the finely detailed gold metal. He looked up at Toda, his eyes ablaze.

  “Yingnak! It’s The Eye of Dindak held in the fanged jaws of a fiery dragon! For whatever reason, Bobo led us to this orb because it’s somehow related to The Eye of Dindak and its power.”

  “Why would a small orb be hidden under such sinister protective devices?”

  Malladar studied the trinket’s details. He then stared into the fire thinking and mumbled, “Beings more powerful than any people we know of hid it and long before our kingdoms existed. I fear it’s a warning!”

  36: The Tremor

  Eva examined herself in the polished copper mirror the servant held up for her. The gown was beautiful but not extravagant relative to the richness of the court. She felt a chill thinking how precarious her position was. Agmar tolerated her, provided her with essentials and a few extras so that she might fit in at court, but he kept his distance. She wondered how she was supposed to seduce the king if he saw to it they were never alone.

  When King Agmar’s attendant knocked at her suite, she barely had time to stand and turn when the red-faced man thrust open the door, bowed, and stood back as the king strode in. Dressed in court attire, he stood a majestic figure. She offered a full, deep curtsy, her head observing every inch of him from his sandals to his headdress. He extended a token nod.

  “We, well, I wish to go hunting. The affairs of state have scrambled my brains through a long morning of arguments. These people fawning all over me for hours on end are so tiring. I thought to go alone, but the high priest reminded me that would put the kingdom at risk of disaster should some accident occur.”

  “I’m so sorry your majesty has suffered so with the weight of your responsibilities. Tigmoor is so blessed that your ample shoulders can more than counter the burdens.” She bowed her head to the king.

  Agmar shook his head and put his fists on his hips, “By Yingnak, I’ve listened to that sucking-up all morning. Must I hear it from you, too? I’d thought at least Ickletor had poisoned your mind against me such that you wouldn’t grovel.”

  Eva’s shoulders drew back as her eyes narrowed and lips pinched. She straightened her back as if going into battle.

  “How dare you suggest I would grovel? I came seeking a new start under your protection. You belittle me unjustly. Though I am a bastard child, I’m the daughter of the high priest of Octar, your conqueror! I must beg your indulgence, but not your pity. I’ll not endure your insults.”

  She looked back, snatched a cosmetic jar from her dressing table, and hurled it at the king.

  Agmar ducked and stepped to the side as it flew past and shattered against the wall behind him. The servant jerked open the door, and a guard rushed to it. Agmar waved them away. The attendant bowed and again closed the door.

  “Are you mad, woman? You’re lucky the guard didn’t hurl his spear before I could stop him.”<
br />
  Ignoring the question, Eva stood stiff as a board, eyes fiery staring at the king.

  “You owe me an apology, Your Majesty!”

  The king’s eyes swelled. He stared at her in silence. She feared then she’d gone too far. My temper will be my undoing I fear, she thought.

  “No one speaks to me like that, woman, high priest’s bastard daughter or not.”

  I’ve committed myself now. I dare not back down. “This bastard does if it’s warranted! My name is Eva.”

  Agmar stood speechless and staring a moment and then burst out laughing. Eva realized she hadn’t taken a breath since her outburst and feared she was turning blue.

  “By god, so you do say what you think. How did Ickletor handle you all these years? No wonder he dumped you off on me.” His grin lit up his face.

  “I’m not one to be ‘dumped off,’ Your Majesty! Father graciously granted me the boon to vitalize your boring life!”

  Agmar doubled over laughing. “What a queen you’d have made.”

  Eva stepped forward, “It’s not too late.”

  “Down woman or I shall have you locked up until I can find a lusty husband for you who can calm your passions.”

  Eva relaxed, “You’ll do.”

  Again Agmar all but choked laughing. “I’ll take that under consideration, but my nobles would assassinate me if I thought to marry Ickletor’s daughter.”

  Eva cocked her head, “So I must settle for being your bird dog then. So be it then. When shall I attend you for the hunt?”

  Agmar stepped over to Eva, took her hand, and patted it. It was the first time he’d touched her. She felt goosebumps flash up her arm and hoped he didn’t notice.

  He smiled at her. “I must dismiss the court for the day and change my attire. Hunting in this feathered cape would cause the ministers apoplexy. Be ready in an hour. I’ll send an attendant to bring you to me.”

  Eva turned her head slightly with her eye, cocked, “What exactly are you hunting, my lord? I’m already caught.”

  Agmar laughed again, “So you are, but today we will seek a caiman or some beast by the river. We shall preserve your honor.”

  Eva chuckled, “Too late on that, but thank you for the sparing my dignity.”

  Chuckling, Agmar left with his head shaking.

  *

  With due caution, a tracker led the king’s party along a jungle trail towards the rare spot where a river flowed above ground close to Tigmoor. Agmar followed with Eva, jittery and checking all around for possible wild beasts, behind him. Several nobles followed them frowning. Eva knew the grim faces reflected their resentment of her presence ahead of them in the king’s favor.

  As they approached the narrow, sandbar by the river, the spotter raised his hand, and the party stopped in their tracks. Agmar’s attendant stepped lightly around Eva and up beside Agmar with bow and arrows. The tracker crouched and crept like a jaguar a few more steps and froze. His arm back behind him, he motioned for Agmar to approach something on the sand ahead.

  A howler monkey shouted a warning. Large, garish birds flew up from the riverbank into the trees squawking all the while. No one moved. Without a sound, Agmar slipped up beside the tracker who then pointed. Eva moved up two short steps, ever so cautious that she not snap a twig and spoil the king’s hunt. She delicately pulled back a fan palm frond and peeked ahead. An eight-foot caiman, fat having eaten recently, lay asleep in the sun on the bank.

  Agmar positioned an arrow in the bowstring and drew it back. All of a sudden the caiman’s head shot up scanning the area. In an instant, the reptile’s body seemed to spasm so quickly did it dash into the river.

  “My lord!” Eva murmured.

  “Yingnak!” Agmar said, releasing the arrow’s tension. He thrust the weapons back to his attendant and looked to the tracker, “What alarmed it? No one made a sound.”

  Eva had felt the slightest tremor under her feet just before the caiman bolted. She looked again at the river and saw tremors in the ripples and eddies.

  “Move back from the river at once, my lord!” Eva said. She began to retreat and bumped into a noble eager to get around her and closer to the king. Eva grabbed the king’s arm and pulled him. Agmar cocked his head quizzically at Eva as she tugged. The noble moved ahead, anxious to show his bravery advancing out onto the bank at the water’s edge.

  “There’s nothing here that frightened the beast,” the noble said poking around. He turned, smiling at the king when the ground beneath him opened up and swallowed him. The river flowed in filling the fissure. The dead noble floated up in an eddy as the rest of the hunting party scrambled back along the trail. The river regained its level and strength. The current rushed on carrying the courtier’s body with it.

  “We must get back to the city, my lord,” Eva said.

  Another greater tremor shook the forest. The canopy swayed, animals dashed among the plants, flocks of birds flew from the shaking trees. Amid the tremors, another fissure split the earth close behind them, cutting them off from the path back to the city.

  A terrible cracking sound drew attention to a huge, dead mahogany tree near the trail. The massive trunk seemed to move in slow motion toppling down across their path pulverizing a servant carrying supplies just behind the jittery, clustered nobles.

  One courtier turned to the king presumably to ask his advice on what they should do next.

  “Your Majesty!”

  Eva looked just over beside her. Agmar was unconscious and prostate under a limb that had broken off and fallen on the king. Gasps arose among the lords. They froze. It was Eva who rushed to the king’s aid.

  He’s breathing, at least, she decided. She checked for visible signs of internal injuries, blood coming from his mouth but saw none. There was a nasty gash on the side of his head; blood flowed from that. She looked up at the nobles and servants immobile and fixated on their monarch. Frightened rabbits, she thought.

  “Get over here and get this limb off the king!”

  “Is the king dead?” one noble asked.

  Eva scrunched her face displaying anger. “No, but he will be if you don’t get over here and lift this tree limb. All of you! I can’t lift it by myself. It’s going to take us all to free him.”

  Eva directed the men to align along the bough and lift it enough so she could pull Agmar from under the large branch. The men stood and watched as she tore fabric from her britches and bound it around Agmar’s head to stop the bleeding. She looked up at the men.

  “Well don’t stand there, use those fine swords and cut some saplings. Make a litter for the king. He’s not going to walk back to Tigmoor.” She turned to the tracker, “You at least know how to make a litter, don’t you?”

  As they worked, Eva gathered herbs her mother had taught her about and applied them to the gash stemming the flow of blood before binding the wound. She looked up when the tracker rushed up to her. He bowed and took off his hat.

  “My lady, the tree fell across the crack in the earth. We have the means to cross it.” He looked up scanning the men finishing the litter. “Do you think these men can cross the tree trunk carrying the king?”

  Eva assessed the men now looking at her. She cringed. The tracker was the only one with whom she felt she could trust the king’s life.

  Some of them would gladly let Agmar topple off the side of the log, she suspected. Back in the city, they’d claim I pushed him over. They’d declare the throne vacant before Prince Malladar could return to claim it. One of them to seize it proclaiming himself king after working a deal with the others. They’d soon rid themselves of this foreign influence, the daughter of the man that humiliated their kingdom. It would be too tempting. I must protect the king from those threats.

  “What’s your name?” she asked the tracker.

  “Womak, my lady.”

  She lowered her voice, “Womak, I think you and I must take charge of the king. Those men might not have the king’s best interest at heart while he’s so vulner
able.”

  Womak glanced up briefly at the nobles. His eyes seem to swell as his head bobbed slightly.

  “I’ll have the men carry the king to the log. I want you and that attendant carrying the king’s weapons to cross it to be sure it’s safe and can handle the weight. We must cross before most of the nobles. If they cross first, they might abandon us here.”

  Womak nodded and hurried to test the tree trunk.

  “You men… bring the litter,” Eva said to the fearful entourage. “I didn’t feel any broken bones, but he still might have internal injuries. Place the king on the litter with care. Keep his head elevated. Then take him to the base of the tree trunk.”

  One noble whose garments indicated he was of a lower rank than the others took a step closer.

  “The tree trunk is round. We can’t carry his majesty across such a log and keep our balance.”

  “No, I suppose not,” Eva said. “Bring some lengths of saplings.”

  “What for?”

  “We can lay the litter on the log and tie lengths to the sides to hold it steady on the top of the log. Now let’s get going.”

  They moved the litter setting it down just to the side of the log. Womak had inspected the tree. He looked at Eva, “It’s rotten. I’m not certain it will hold our weight.”

  Eva nodded but motioned with her hand that he should proceed to cross it. “We must try. We have no other way to get the king back to safety. His head wound has started bleeding again. We can’t wait for rescue from the city. They must be dealing with crumbling building there.”

  The nobles stood by watching as the tracker stepped up on the tree trunk and steadied himself. He jumped up and down and then looked back grinning. There was no reaction from the tree. He then scrutinized the log further out before taking his first step across. Slow and cautious, Womak crossed the fissure. Then he called for the weapons-bearer to cross after.

  The man made his way across halfway, but then the bark just ahead broke loose and tumbled into the abyss. He stood motionless and looked back at Eva eyes agape and pleading. Another moss-covered piece broke off beside his foot and gave way slipping off the wood. Looking down, the man shifted a bit, just enough, and man and bark slipped off gliding over the side. For an instant, his hand grabbed at the wood, slick without bark. Then he was gone trailing a scream that seemed to fade yet linger a long time.