Relonor's Journal

by River Gheuens

  “You know, wench, I am pretty beat, and we could probably use some sleep.”

  Vadoma’s voice sounded wistful, as it came from somewhere beyond my vision, “Are you saying that, since we found some beds, you want to take me to bed? In these dirty things?” Though she was out of my wind vision, a patting noise sounded from her direction, accompanied by several coughs.

  A bright blur of feathers came into the room, as I naturally raised my arm to give David a perch. Before you ask, it was just an urge I had to raise my arm. David raced past my arm, while stretching his wings, to bring the forward motion, to a slowing halt, a fingers space above the end of the bed. He had his weight suspended motionless in the air, as he closed his wings, before he fell to his perch, as his talons gripped the end of the bed. It was a thing of beauty. I had watched his command of the wind, which flowed over his feathers, as he make subtle movements, which altered his aerobatics.

  I closed the door before I went about examining the room. There were two and forty beds, which one and twenty were on the left side of the room, while one and twenty were on the right. There were beds attached to the tops of the beds, which make the space a place where two people could sleep. Between each bed, and up against the wall, there were desks and a chairs for each desk.

  The one thing, which was out of place, were the boxes, which were laying on the ground. They were made out of metal and held a rectangular shape. The lid was attached to the box with hinges. I opened one of the box. Inside the metal box, there was a divider, which turned each box into two separate compartment. Inside this box, on the left side, there were clothes, which were well worn and torn. On the other side of the box, there were tomes and papers, tubes filled with minty smelling stuff, brushes for the teeth and hair, a few knives which folded in on themselves and a object wrapped in an oil soaked cloth. Gingerly, I pulled the oil soaked bundle out of the box, as my breath caught in my throat.

  Vadoma had sneaked up behind me to whisper, “What is it?”

  Her voice caused me to jump, which caused me to juggle the oil cloth. “I think it is one of the Widow Makers the Gunslingers used to carry when they were on business. The Gunslingers are not unlike a Samurai. From what I have read, there were many such Gunslingers at the time of the Eruption, ‘Afore the world moved on,’ as they would say.”

  Vadoma paused as she waited for me to continue, as I still moved slowly to set the bundle down. Her patience broke, “And? What is a Widow Maker?”

  “They were guns. True Widow Makers were huge guns with sandalwood grips. I think they got that name, because they would kill the person it was aimed at. That would make a widow of the partner which was left. They are not unlike our crossbows; however, instead of using a physical release of tension to shoot a bolt, they would use a chemical reaction to shoot an arrow out of a cylinder.”

  I had finally set the oil cloth onto the bed, which had a layer of dust on the wool blanket, which was tucked into the bed. Feeling like I was an archaeologist from a tome, I slowly turned back the edges of the oil cloth, which revealed black metal and another material, in the shape of an L.

  I let out an audible sigh. “It is not a Widow Maker, but a gun, which was used by the Lesser Gunslingers of the time. I think the Gunslingers set the Lesser Gunslingers upon the world, to keep the peace from evil men who had no honor.”

  She started reaching for the bundle as I yelled, a bit too loudly, as David screeched at the same time, which echoed around the chamber. “No! They are things of death. There are stories of them going off when mishandled.” I played the last word over my tongue, as I was unsure how I felt about it. Why would you have a weapon, which you were not properly trained how to use? Were they that lazy, in which they did not train?

  “Then, why did you handle it! You could have killed all of us then. At least, let me get us killed for once.”

  “Wench, you wanted to come into this place. Technically, you tried to kill us first,” I quipped back, while letting a tease fill the end of my rebuttal to this wench of mine, as she walked away from me.

  Hello, brain! This wench you are talking about is your friend. And, a friend which wants to kiss you. And, you want to kiss her. Those lips. Just friends. Never could she fall for a woman like me. All the voices please stop arguing for one minute! At least disagree one at a time.

  I let a chuckle fall from my lips, at the train of my thoughts.

  “What is so funny?”

  “Nothing, wench. The voices are arguing in my head again,” I responded to her with my sarcasm.

  “Great, now, you choose to lose your mind! Let us all just go mad as a hatter then! It seems I am the only one rooted in reality at the moment.” I could not get a sense of how she said it with her voice.

  “Yea, figured I was not busy for a while, so I may as well lose my mind up in here. At least the door is closed, so my mind cannot get far,” I said as seriously as I could.

  Laughter was trying to be held back as the smile shone in her voice. “Well, at least you closed the door, so it cannot run away.”

  “I know, right? So thoughtful of me.” Silence spanned a few heart beats.

  Vadoma’s voice turned serious. “And, our situation?”

  I looked in her direction for a moment, as I was not able to really see her dull face in my vision, for a clue of what she was feeling. After a few moments, I sighed. “Goal is still the same. We do need to find water some time soon. May chance allow, you can study the map while we rest. I think this is a good fall back position, as we can use this room as a base camp to explore. At least, we can sleep off of the stone tonight.”

  I patted the bed besides the Lesser Widows Maker. Dust billowed into the air which was causing both of us to start having a coughing fit.

  After recovering, she quipped, “Maybe, I should take some of these out into the hall way, to shake them off. This dust is something else.”

  I nodded my consent into the darkness. “I will check the rest of these boxes, to see if there is anything we can use in them.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. Then, I will help you search.”

  I called to her as a plan started forming in my mind. “No. I want you searching the map, to see if you can find where they stored their water. We need to find some soon, or us getting out of here will not matter much. The collapse a few levels up will make it more difficult to get anything of space, which is needed to stack upon, to the upper part of the collapse.”

  I could tell her head was going up and down with her voice. “Da. That makes sense. We could carry these boxes to stack them up. That would take time to get enough of them up there though, I would think.”

  “Yes, and, cause us to need water more. But, I want to put that lower on the list. We would need to stack, how many to be exact, to have a stable base to reach the ledge?”

  Vadoma was quiet for a few moments. “Four?”

  I cracked up laughing, as the thought of Vadoma stacking four boxes in the cavern to climb the stack, which produced a fall again. David let out a quieter than normal screech.

  She dragged the bed into the hall way. I heard beating sounds as she invaded the enemy dust camp, then commenced to give them the ass whopping, which the dust deserved. Her army of talking rocks were right on her heels. I chuckled as I went about working on my half the solution, which I had set out in my plan.

  She came back before hopping onto the bed, which still make a cough escape her mouth. She started studying through her tome.

  After I had went through a few more of the storage boxes, I heard her exclaim, “Da. There is a water storage on this level. Before you ask, it says right here, ‘Water Storage.’ There is a symbol at the door, which is drawn there. It looks like a skull. Maybe? Or, it may be how they wrote water in another language they used.”

  “About how far do you think, wench?”

  I heard her flipping pages in her tome, before pausing while she was doing some calculations in her head. “I would say it is an hour, or so, walk.
We have to go through the second door, to the right, out there. That takes us past several storage areas. At the end of the path, there is the room which has, ‘Water Storage’ listed. Are you having any luck over there?”

  “Not really. It looks like they kept a lot of clothes. They have more of those folding knives. It is such a pity to leave a weapon like that. There are a few more of the Lesser Widow Makers, though for some they did not even bother wrapping them up. There are a few metal boxes, which have metal cylinders in them. A few boxes which are of glass and metal, with buttons on them; however, nothing happens when you press the buttons. A string here, with these two balls, were attached to one of those boxes. There are a lot of papers and tomes too. I would so love to have a light to actually see what the fuck I am doing though. You good?”

  “Da. You want me to look over the papers or search boxes, oh wise ass leader?”

  I quipped back to her, “And, why do I have to be the leader? I do not want to lead this cluster fuck. I mean, really, I think too much to be a leader. So…” I dragged the word out, “Why not you be the leader of this cluster fuck and leave me out of it, like up by the lake. Yes, just take me up to the lake. Then, you can come back down to this cluster fuck and have your fun.”

  Anger and tears filled me for no reason as I continued. “I mean, really, the first time out by myself, and what do I do? Fuck it all up, like I usually do. And, this time I did it so bad, I am going to die.” I paused in my rant, as the emotions ran through me with such power, they caused my words to tumble out of my mouth. My brain was no where to be found, to stop my mouth from going on it’s walk about. “And, I have not been with you. And, this is just so Powers that Be unfair!”

  Tears were streaming down my face, as the emotions flowed over the dam, which should hold them from bursting forward like this. I built that dam. I know how strong I built it.

  Vadoma was in front of me with her arms around me, as she was pulling my crying face down into her neck. David had left his perch to fly over to the bed behind me, with his eyes intent on me. Small little screeches were coming out of his throat.

  In that moment, with all the pain I have horded my entire life, the pain came pouring out of my eyes in my tears. The fears, which I have accumulated over my life, joined the pain to bring the sobs. Then, the loneliness of my life joined the party, to bring the snotty nose.

  Because why freaking not. Let us be a hot mess in front of this beautiful woman, who has my heart.

  The party of emotions was done, as I was all sobbed out. Vadoma asked really quietly, “Girl. Have you taken your medication lately?”

  My anger flared at the statement for no reason. “Yes, I have. I am not even a normal woman. I mean, I have take this pill, then that pill…”

  Vadoma cut in, “And, having mood swings like any other woman. Girl, serious, when did you last take it? You are taking mad as a hatter to the next level at the moment! You…you…you have went past being as mad as a hatter to become her royal bitchiness.”

  I took my pills this sun’s crest, right before sun’s rise meal. I thought about everything which has happened. We had to be well past sun’s fall, which was past the time for my medication again. “This sun’s crest, right before sun’s rise meal.”

  “Take your medication and come over. I want to cuddle you.”

  I am not a stupid woman. When Vadoma asked me to do anything, the answer was always yes. May the Powers that Be help me now. I am so screwed.

  I dug through one of my pouches, to find the vial inside. I popped the cork while I shook out one pill, before popping it into my mouth. I replaced the vial before I followed her to the bed.

  She had lain down, before holding the blanket open for me to crawl inside. I slipped off my weapons belt, while setting it on the floor within easy reach of the bedding, before crawling into the bedding. The bedding could use a proper washing to get the smell out of it, but it was much better than sleeping on stone.

  After we both got comfortable on the raised bed, it fell apart on us. We decided to sleep on the floor, rather than try another of the beds, which were off of the ground.

  Vadoma pulled me to her chest, so my back and her chest held no difference. She wrapped her right arm over me, which held me in tension against her body. It was as if she was trying to hold my soul in her grasp, while knowing it was all she could do, as my physical body was in the way.

  I sighed as I released myself to her, thus letting her be my protection for a night. And, just like that, the weight I had felt, like I was carrying for as long as I could remember, lifted from me.

  I fell asleep in her protective arms with a few errant tears, which came for no reason. Well, there may have been a reason.

  Even with the worst the universe could throw at me, it has given me the beauty of this moment, to offset all the pain it had put me through, to get to this one place in time. For nothing of worth is ever given freely.

  Entry 14

  4 Months Before

  Turtle Subterranean Lake

  West of Groenplaats

  See Archive R.L 18.05.76.00162-18.05.76.00168 Turtle Cave Lake for scientific notes and diagrams of this area.

  We came to a door, which was closed, with a symbol on it. When we went to open the door, it fell apart, as it fell into the next room. A hot moist breeze played over my face while ruffling David’s feathers.

  Many things happened at once with my wind vision. The light on my wind vision increased, which brought the white back to my vision, except for David in flight. David released his perch, my shoulder mind you, as he turned into a bright white light, as he headed into the cave, while screeching loudly in triumph. A tiny rodent with a hand for it’s nose, which was a few strides inside the door, tried to run away from the noise of the door falling apart. A turtle slid into the floor, about eight paces into the room, which make a wet sound, and caused the floor to spread out in waves. Lastly, Vadoma gasped while moving her hand to her mouth.

  David fell on the little rodent, as he was grabbing it in his claws, before giving his wings several beats, as he lifted the rodent from of the floor. The rodent fought in his claws, as it dangled and squirmed. David banked left, before he landed on the bumpy ground.

  My mind’s logic kicked into motion. David found himself a meal, while the sudden movement has startled Vadoma.

  I stepped into the room, which smelled of rotten eggs. The room was a lot brighter in my vision, with air currents coming off of the floor, some of which I believed was a liquid of some type. It was most probably water.

  Around the door, the floor lost it’s smoothness, while looking more like a forest floor, as there were turtle shells and bones littering the ground. There were short looking mushrooms on the floor. Knowing from my field craft, they would most likely have some type of poison or toxin in them and be sickening, at the least, or fatal, at the most.

  David was several paces inside and to the left of the door, on the floor, as the critter was still struggling in his claws, as he looked around the cavern.

  “Well, go on David. Eat your treat.” David looked at me for a moment, then darted his beak into the limbs and fur, as he tore meat from the critter.

  “This is just beautiful. Look at all the life,” Vadoma’s voice held a measure of wonder to it. “And, we have water!”

  “Where, wench?” My throat going dry with the thought of having water after all of this time.

  Vadoma looked at me for a moment. Then, in a low voice, she said, “Are you using your wind vision?”

  “Well, yea, it is dark in here, wench. And, it is quiet beautiful with these air currents.” I looked at the currents of wind in front of me, which gave the cave a feeling which it was actually breathing, like the cave was alive.

  “Open your eye, love.” I totally missed her word slip as I opened my eye.

  The view was astounding. There were bio-luminescence lights of green, blue, orange and red coming from everywhere. A few feet from me, a long slender fish, whi
ch was about three hands long, was looking at me from the shallows of the water, in which it had found itself in. Along it’s body were lines of light blue, which glowed. The fish saw a glowing orange snail crossing over a grassy surface in the water, which glowed a bright green. The fish pounced on the snail, while it make cracking noises, as it broke the shell of the snail in it’s mouth.

  The turtle, which had slid into the lake, sat floating a few paces away, with a bright orange glow of lines coming from his shell.

  The fish brought my attention back to it, as it made a splash with its tail, as it was snout to blue glowing claws, which were attached to a crayfish the size of my hand.

  This is just a small slice of what I saw, spanning out into the distance in front of me, as the room was lit by the many living candles.

  There was water trickling down some surface, which made dripping noises into the water slowly. This made the cavern sound like it had the beat of a heart, which was slow and steady. Echos of things crawling out of the water could be heard. The tearing of flesh from bone, as David ate was to my left side. Bubbles bursting from the waters surface came from some unseen place.

  On the bank of the shore, the turtle shells, which had long since gave their residents to the clearing at the end of the path, glowed in a dimmer orange. Mushrooms glowed a reddish orange, which grew along the bank, over the shells and bones, which littered the area.

  In the water, the crayfish was eating some of the red moss, which was growing green in the water. Another fish came into the shallows. The whiskered fish lowered his dorsal fin, which looked like a huge sail, to his body as he swam in closer to the shore. He had a dark black body with long whiskers, while being about four or five hands in length. Along his body, in dots and on his fins, there were purple lights, which formed intricate patterns, as they looked like a star filled sky. The tips of his whiskers glowed a bright purple light, which gave him the look of him carrying miniature candles on his face, to light his way.