Ruin & Reliance

by Jeremy Dwyer

  “I don’t eat much. This is plenty,” Sophie said.

  Ciaran was sitting directly next to Sophie so he leaned in and whispered into her ear, saying: “You might as well enjoy it.”

  Sophie nibbled at the bread, slowly, and her disdain for the meal and the host was unmistakable.

  Bericus probed Sophie’s thoughts and understood why. He telepathically relayed this to Baron Redmond.

  “You are a thin woman, Sophie. You needn’t fear eating a large meal will make you portly. No proper man will judge you for enjoying a feast after a long journey,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Thank you for your concern, Baron. I’m just a very picky eater,” Sophie said.

  “Is it the food, or the company, that troubles you?” Baron Redmond asked.

  “I’ve been through a lot of hard times, Baron Redmond. It’s hard to be at ease,” Sophie said.

  “Waderav is divided among thousands of lords. Some are kind, most are cruel. This is unfortunate. Yet, I am kind. I am also generous. I wish you all well and do not wish to have you endure any hardships. Here, you will have no difficulties. You will be treated as guests and lavished with fine meals and given comfortable beds in which to spend the night. I will not treat you as slaves. You are free now,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Thank you, Baron. We actually would like to offer our services to work your farmland, to show our appreciation. We’re not here to take advantage of your hospitality, and you’ve already been so generous,” Ruth said.

  “Bericus told me of this already. I must say that I have more than enough farmers to work my land. Even they are too many, and there is plenty of food to eat here, in this desert region, because of the Gradaken waters they drink, enabling them to cultivate the land so well,” Baron Redmond said.

  “How can we repay your generosity, Baron?” Ruth asked.

  “Stay until you are rested. Speak well of me to anyone who asks. When you are ready to leave, travel eleven (11) miles to the south and enter the territory of my good friend, Duke Gauvain. He is always in search of new farmers and miners and will have work for you, with fair pay,” Baron Redmond said.

  “We look forward to working and earning fair pay. That’s why we came this far west,” Ruth said.

  “I must urge you, however, to go no further west. In that direction is only a cruel and vast desert, lacking even a narrow stream of Dead Waters. The sandstorms are harsh, and the land is haunted by evil spirits the likes of which I have never seen elsewhere,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Is your castle at peace, Baron? Do the spirits ever trouble you here?” Patrick asked.

  “The castle remains untouched, completely free of hauntings, because I drink the Zovvin Ocean waters to have spiritual powers and fend them off. I would prefer to drink other waters, such as the Kazofen waters to work the stones or the Ursegan waters to live through the ages. Yet, my work here allowed me only this choice. I have occupied this castle for twenty-eight (28) years, and chose my waterbinding accordingly,” Baron Redmond said.

  Ruth watched as Molly and Sean were still feasting. She gestured to them to pause while Baron Redmond was speaking. Elise did the same, and they finally stopped after a minute.

  “You’ve certainly been successful, Baron. Your castle is magnificent. This feast is magnificent,” Sean said.

  “It’s finer than any I’ve ever seen,” Molly said.

  “Thank you. It pleases me to delight my guests. My home is yours. Tonight, you will rest. Tomorrow, you may choose to travel or to rest and feast again. Bericus will show you to your rooms,” Baron Redmond said. He stood up and exited the banquet hall.

  “Come with me,” Bericus said. Ruth and her traveling companions followed Bericus out of the banquet hall, through the castle’s corridors and into their rooms, each of which was ten (10) feet wide and long with eight (8) foot high dome ceilings. Red satin carpets and adorned each room and the beds each had brass frames and cool, white linens.

  ~~~

  After everyone had been situated in guest bedrooms and the doors were closed, Bericus returned to the throne room.

  From his throne, Baron Redmond said: “Urge them all to leave early tomorrow and go south. Duke Gauvain will treat them well enough and profit by their labor. The females are sufficiently attractive for his tastes. Their escape from slavery is of no concern to me. I only care that they go south and not west. See to it that they do as I advised, Bericus.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Bericus said.

  “Use your powers to their fullest,” Baron Redmond said.

  ~~~

  Bericus exited the throne room and drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial to refresh his powers of telepathy and empathy. He walked through the castle corridors and passed by each of the guest bedrooms. He exercised his powers to telepathically urge the guests to leave soon and go south. After this, he returned to his own quarters and rested for the night.

  ~~~

  Baron Redmond went into his bed chambers and rested for the night. In the morning, he drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his vial to be energized with the power to connect to the spirit world. From its mount on the wall, he took hold of his six (6) foot long golden staff, tipped with a lapis lazuli. Redmond then waited for a telepathic message from Bericus regarding his guests.

  ~~~

  In her guest room, Elise woke from troubled sleep, sat up in bed and tapped Odhran to wake him.

  “What is it?” Odhran asked.

  “Did you have the dream?” Elise asked.

  “I didn’t really dream anything special. I just know that we have to go south to work the farmland. There was that. I saw us there, standing in the fields, if that can be called a dream,” Odhran asked.

  “No. I mean something more sinister. I need to speak with our host,” Elise said.

  A knock came at the bedroom door. Elise got out of bed and opened it.

  Sophie came in and said: “We’re getting out of here today. I don’t want to be here another minute. I had a nightmare, and I don’t believe in dreams coming true, but I trust what’s in my head more than anything Redmond says.”

  “For once, I agree with you, Sophie,” Elise said.

  Odhran got up out of bed and asked: “What dream did you have?”

  “This whole desert is haunted, including the castle. Redmond’s a liar and the other guy he mentioned – Duke Gauvain – plans to enslave us, not pay us for the work, and it’s not all farming and mining work. Some nasty, sleazy stuff,” Sophie said.

  “That’s very similar to my dream,” Elise said.

  “And mine. Nobody’s touching me like that,” Ruth said from behind Sophie.

  “What are you talking about? I just dreamed we went to work on the farm down south,” Molly said from behind Ruth.

  “Me, too,” Sean said, standing next to Molly.

  “I didn’t have any sort of nightmare. We just need to go south and work for Duke Gauvain,” Patrick said as he stood in the doorway outside Elise and Odhran’s guest bedroom.

  “I dreamt of danger. The men among us were forced to work in fields and mines for long hours with little rest and the women were abused for the duke’s pleasure. Going south is a mistake. Yet, it was just a dream, but too frightening, and I still feel it bothering me,” Ciaran said as he came forward and stood in the doorway.

  “Redmond knew we were slaves. That could mean there’s a telepath – either the baron or his little friend, Bericus, was reading our thoughts,” Ruth said.

  “If they can read our thoughts, they can try to manipulate our thoughts,” Sophie said.

  “Nobody else can control my thoughts. I think whatever I want to think, and dreams are just random,” Sean said.

  “Are you sure about that, Sean? Ever heard of the Elanatin waters?” Ruth asked.

  “I know what all the oceans are, but that doesn’t mean everybody can use them well. Plenty of people drink the Kazofen waters and still do lousy work on gemstones,” Sean
said.

  “A powerful telepath can still mess with your thoughts, even your dreams,” Ruth said.

  “We didn’t even all have the same dream. What am I supposed to believe?” Molly asked.

  “Not the baron or his servants. I didn’t have the nightmare, but more than one of you did, which is suspicious. If they were lying to us at the banquet, they wouldn’t use telepathy to tell any of us the truth in our dreams. They would try to hide the truth and convince us to go south,” Patrick said.

  “Which means that the dream of danger didn’t come from the baron or his assistant,” Ciaran said.

  “It was more than a dream of danger, Ciaran. It was a vision,” Elise said. She then knelt down and prayed, saying: “We pray to Thee, Our One True God, to guide us to a safer place, and to protect us from shame and harm, from indecency and spiritual attacks.” After praying, she stood up.

  “Let’s gather the farmers and then talk to our host. Maybe we should ask him a few questions and see if we can catch him in a lie,” Ruth said.

  “I agree, and I know just the question to ask,” Elise said. She exited the room, followed by the others. They went to the other guest rooms, knocked at the doors and roused the fifty-six (56) farmers from their sleep until all of them were gathered in the corridor.

  ~~~

  When Bericus awoke from his sleep, he drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial to be energized with the powers of telepathy and empathy. He exited his room and walked through the castle corridors to meet the guests. He saw that they were already awake so he probed their thoughts to learn their intentions. When he realized that they planned on going anywhere other than south due to bad dreams, he became alarmed and telepathically transmitted this message to Baron Redmond.

  “Bericus, we need to speak with Baron Redmond,” Elise said when she saw him approach.

  “I will inform the Baron,” Bericus said. He turned around and walked through the corridor toward the baron’s bed chambers on the far side of the castle.

  ~~~

  In his bed chambers, Baron Redmond received the telepathic message from Bericus and became alarmed. With his staff in hand, he opened the door and met Bericus in the corridor.

  “I will meet with the guests and urge them to go south at once,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Some of them had nightmares, that Duke Gauvain would enslave and abuse them,” Bericus said.

  “They have no way of knowing his intentions,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Yet some of them do,” Bericus said.

  “We must convince them to go south, Bericus. Exert your powers to their limit and convince these people to follow my advice. Remember, I owe a great debt to Duke Gauvain. These men must work his fields and quarries, and these women must become his concubines and give him pleasure so as to repay his loan to me. That is the only way to spare me a great deal of my fortune. At the same time, none of these people is to go west,” Baron Redmond said.

  Bericus drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial to be energized further with the powers of telepathy and empathy. He exerted his powers to their fullest as he walked through the castle corridors toward the guest bedrooms, attempting to compel the guests to travel south. Baron Redmond walked behind him to see if the telepathic commands were successful.

  ~~~

  When Elise saw Baron Redmond approaching, she said: “Baron Redmond, we want to thank you for your hospitality. We will be on our way.”

  “You are welcome. Now, I trust you will be traveling south. It is only eleven (11) miles to the territory of Duke Gauvain. If you leave early, you can avoid much of the desert heat. Rest when the many suns are brightest and then continue your journey to arrive there before the end of the day,” Baron Redmond said.

  “I ask that, before we leave, you say a prayer with us, that our journey may be safe,” Elise said.

  “A prayer?” Baron Redmond asked.

  “Take my hands, please, and pray with me,” Elise said.

  “I have my own religious beliefs. Do not risk offending me, in my own castle, with your foreign faith,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Our journey southward should be blessed so that we reach the territory of your good friend, Duke Gauvain, don’t you agree? We all wish for success, and we will have it, if only we pray together, to the One True God, who gives all good things,” Elise said.

  “You are my guests, to whom I provided a fine feast and comfortable beds. Yet, you offend me with this religious ritual of yours, which is against my own system of beliefs. I will not pray with you. Do not claim that only your deity is true. I am deeply insulted. Now, please leave my castle immediately, and travel south to find work there. Be sure to treat Duke Gauvain with more respect than you have shown me, and do not mention your primitive religion or your arrogant claims that you worship the only true deity. If you keep quiet and work hard, you may earn his favor. But if you pompously preach this religious fable of yours, he will become very angry, much as I am now angry, and things will go very badly for every one of you,” Baron Redmond said.

  “Thank you, Baron Redmond. You’ve been so gracious with your words and deeds,” Elise said.

  “Show them the way out, Bericus,” Baron Redmond said.

  Bericus led Elise and her traveling companions through the castle corridors and to the main entrance. He opened the doors and the guests exited the castle.

  ~~~

  Elise walked briskly away from the castle, one (1) mile toward the south, and her traveling companions followed.

  “We’re going anywhere other than south,” Sophie said.

  “We’re going west,” Elise said.

  “Is that still where we want to go?” Sophie asked.

  “Yes,” Patrick said.

  “It’s precisely the direction Baron Redmond told us not to go,” Ruth said.

  “It could still be bad going west, even if south is the wrong way to go. He said there was not even a stream of Dead Waters in the desert in that direction. And I don’t see any water, so maybe that much is true,” Molly said.

  “We came from the east, so that leaves north,” Sean said.

  “Baron Redmond wanted to send us into slavery of the most depraved sort by directing us southward. He rejected joining me in prayer to the One True God, which means he cannot be trusted. No, we should go exactly where he told us not to. He wants to keep us from what is right, and we can’t allow that to happen,” Elise said.

  “Look, I’ll trust a dream, especially since a few of us had the same one. But this whole prayer thing is no test of right or wrong. I don’t join you in prayer, and that doesn’t prove I’m lying,” Sophie said.

  “Baron Redmond took great offense to the prayer. You just don’t believe, but he became hostile and even threatened us,” Elise said.

  “We didn’t have bad dreams about you, Sophie. We did about him. I say we do the exact opposite of what Redmond wants,” Ruth said.

  “Now, that’s an explanation I can agree with,” Sophie said.

  “West it is,” Ruth said.

  “First, a prayer,” Elise said. She knelt down on the desert sands and prayed, saying: “We pray to Thee, Our One True God, to guide us safely on this journey, that we may be nourished and protected.” After this, she stood up.

  “You pray a lot. I can think of better ways to spend my time. We’ve got a lot of traveling ahead of us, across a desert, and I don’t even see a stream of water to drink from in this heat. Look up. See all those suns? We need to get some shelter from their heat,” Sophie said.

  “Yes, I do pray a lot. We have a long journey ahead of us. God will be our shelter from every danger, and He will quench our thirst with the waters we need,” Elise said.

  “Let’s get moving and find some shade before the suns get real hot in the middle of the day,” Ruth said. She started walking westward across the desert. Elise, Odhran, Patrick, Sophie, Molly, Sean, Ciaran and the fifty-six (56) farmers all followed them.

&nb
sp; ~~~

  Inside the castle of Baron Redmond, Bericus telepathically reached out and probed the thoughts of Ruth and the other guests, who were just within his range. “They’ve decided to go west, my lord. They’re doing it out of spite. They think you are lying to keep something valuable away from them,” he said.

  Baron Redmond said “go forth!” and then tapped his staff on the marble floor of his castle. The lapis lazuli at its tip changed from dull blue to many glowing colors. A swarm of spirits emanated from the crystal and moved westward.

  “They won’t get far. The desert is haunted. I wasn’t lying about that,” Baron Redmond said.

  ~~~

  The sands began to move ahead of Ruth and she shuddered when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t move! Scorpions!” Odhran said as he placed his hand on Ruth’s shoulder.

  A large tail – nine (9) feet in length – with a stinger at its tip sprang up from the sands. Claws surfaced and the scorpion’s head appeared. The creature moved toward Ruth.

  Odhran drank anew of the waters of the Gradaken Ocean from his vial and was energized with the power to control plants and animals. He walked forward and touched the giant scorpion’s claws and head, exerting his influence over the creature. The giant scorpion turned southward and scampered across the desert sands.

  “Drink up, all of you. There may be more,” Odhran said.

  The other fifty-six (56) farmers all drank anew of the waters of the Gradaken Ocean from their own vials to be energized with those same powers.

  After another ten (10) minutes of walking westward, seven (7) more giant scorpions appeared, followed by another eleven (11) only two (2) minutes later. The farmers gathered to touch them on their claws and heads, directing them southward.

  “That was all too close for my liking,” Ruth said.

  “What are we supposed to do?” Molly asked.

  “Just let us go ahead, and stay close,” Odhran said. He took the lead position, and the farmers worked with him to encircle the rest of the travelers.

  Sand dunes made travel difficult. The difficulty increased when the tall sand dunes began collapsing in front of them.