A Silence Heard (4 page)

What a jokester, I thought as she made tiny circles in the fabric of their coats with her forefinger. The two males chuckled, she smiled, stepped back and yawned. “Apologies for such a display of fatigue, but we have travelled long and far and are dwindling in respect of rations. As I said before, both Darlene and myself would be only to pleased to offer our services as trade for succour.”

“What? Oy, Kendra! What’s with the, ‘Our services’. You may do as you desire, I on the other hand…”

Kendra stopped my protestations by shoving her mitt over my gob. I mumbled through her fingers, “I am not a thing to be…” She pressed her hand harder and I shut the huff up.

“Hush Darlene, dear.” She dropped her hand and put her arm around my shoulders. “She is yet young. Time and experience will render her mild.”

I wished to rant more, but Kendra pulled me closer to her side. Oswald narrowed his eyes and turned his head towards Eadgard, Marcellus and Wirt. Alfred leered in my direction, raised his left eyebrow and winked. Kendra elbowed me in the ribs and I gave back the smallest of smiles.

“I am assuming this Backpacker is your guide?” Oswald said and walked over to said S.A.N.T. He straightened his spine and stood a hand or so taller than the fat Agro.

“Indeed, I am.” He looked to Kendra who widened her eyes. Eadgard coughed and continued. “But not such a good one to have lost us all.”

I almost clapped in admiration of his seamless deceits. How easily the lies flowed forth from his stubble-jawed gob.

Oswald stared. “These things do happen I suppose. The flight was long?”

Eadgard did not blink as he answered, “Very long and difficult to navigate.”

“Evidently. You do seem to have quite a motley crew. Look, Alfred, a Woodsfolk, and a relic from the past,” Oswald said, and sauntered over to Marcellus. “What a large fellow you are. So fair of skin. So lacking in nose.”

Alfred lifted his chin, went over to Marcellus and through barely open eyes, looked at him as though he were staring at a lesser being. “I have seen such hominids in books from the far past.” He leant forward and looked him up and down. “You are a Clonie, are you not? A beast from the Beyondness? Strange to see such a creature outside its cage.”

My friend’s mouth twisted and his face went red. Eadgard and Wirt looked to him and I held my breath. Kendra released me from her embrace, clapped her hands and let out a girly-squeak that forced the two Agros to turn in her direction. Eadgard put his hand on Marcellus’s arm and stopped him from lunging forward.

“Gentlemen, I am withering quite away from lack of attention. What dreadful
 

behaviour to leave two Ladies without escort or consideration,” Kendra said and pouted.

The Agros showed her their small white teeth, wrinkled up their noses in mock annoyance and walked over to where she and I stood.

“Quite right to reprimand us for our behaviour. Alfred, come. Let us allow these good people to gain rest and comfort in our abode.”

“Indeed, Oswald, where have our manners gone? Please, Ladies and…other folk, join us for some refreshment,” he said and pointed towards the opening in the ground.

The speaking guard looked to his friend with a furrowed brow. “What about the Clonie sir?”

Oswald finger flicked in the direction of Marcellus’s near exploding bod and said, “He is as welcome as the rest, Horace.”

“But, sir, he is a…”

“Guest. Do not concern yourself.”

The guards coughed and Horace said, “Shall we accompany you?”

“That will not be necessary. I sense little danger. Besides, Horace, security is tight below as well as above,” Oswald, said, directing his gaze straight at Marcellus, who narrowed his eyes by way of response.

“Kendra, Darlene, if you please,” Alfred said and took hold of Kendra’s hand and my elbow. I took care not to take my giveaway paws from out of their hiding place. Oswald walked in front and we followed him to the ground hole. Alfred let go our hands and stepped into the black space. He appeared to hover for a moment then dropped quite out of view.

“Do not look scared Ladies. There is nothing to fear. You just step onto this warm area of air,” Oswald said and did so, “and down you go, as gentle as a leaf floating to the ground. Ladies, if you will join me?”

“How exciting. Come Darlene let me embrace you and we shall descend together.”

Kendra gripped onto my waist tighter than a blood mite on a moocow, and together we stepped onto the invisible patch of heat next to Oswald. A strange sensation it was too. I saw nothing below me except for a dark shaft. My feet were held in what felt like a hot glove and I stood stiff, as did Kendra. I felt her nails dig into my back and then with a whoosh we fell as fast as a shooting star, down into the blackness.

Chapter Four

What Lies Beneath

The air lift landed softly into a small area of intense white light. It was so bright that I had to raise the mitt guard to shade my face. A bit of loose fakefur embedded itself in my eye and I was forced to abandon said hiding place to rub away the offending blob. I blinked and through blurred vision saw Wirt and the rest standing in front of me.

Kendra grabbed my exposed six-fingered hand and plonked it back inside the fluffy tube. “Do not take out your paws. Understand?” I nodded and contorted my face in an effort to force the last remaining fragments of fuzz to be tear-washed away.

I guess my countenance appeared freakish for I felt a puffy-fingered caress slide across my back and heard Oswald’s smoochy voice in my ear, “Darlene, you look quite put out. What ails you?”

“The dazzle that is everywhere.”

“Yes, the light is bright indeed.”

“And then some,” I said and screwed my eyes up even more.

“Now, now, no cause for such squinting. It quite ruins your youthful mien.”

“Yeah, well, just turn down that glare and I will be able to resume my look of teen that you and yours seem to find so appealing.”

“Ah, now, that is something we cannot do. The radiance is a necessity to allow our flowers to grow.”

“Flowers? Where?”

He leant in close and put his hands upon my shoulders. “Why, everywhere. Try to focus and you shall see.”

I blinked again and the haziness left my sight. Before me was a humungous array of petals and stem. Oswald let go and I turned and turned gasping at the colours, shapes and sizes of flowers that adorned every wall of the place we were in. Which was little more than a square white room without any door or recess that I could see.

The flora that surrounded us was so abundant and exotic, that I almost reached out to touch them. I did not. Instead, I let my lungs fill with their delicious aroma. The scent they offered my nose was so sweet that I became quite light-headed.

“What wondrous things. You grow them for sport? Or for food?”

“Food? No, we grow them for the beauty, scent and seeds. Which are quite edible. So, yes, you could say in a manner of speaking, that we do grow them for food. In fact, if you will follow us further, you may all partake of their deliciousness.”

Oswald went to the wall opposite and pushed his hand between a mass of blooms. To my wonder, the flowers fell to the floor and the wall slid open with a low grinding sound. He bent down picked up the fallen flowers and walked into the opening closely followed by Alfred, who turned to us and said, “Through here, if you please.” Then he too slipped into the recess and was gone.

Eadgard raised his eyebrows, shrugged and entered the exit in the wall. Wirt went after him and Marcellus turned to me. “We have no choice. We go. Adara not fear. We make sure no leering male harm.”

I grinned at his serious face and he returned it with a soppy smile. He led me to the opening and attempted to enter it, but as he was somewhat larger than us all, needed to bend his head a tad to get through the narrow opening. He stifled a grunt as his noggin banged on the frame.

“Come, Adara, best not keep these Agros waiting,” Kendra said and pushed me forward. I moved unsteadily and my mouth became dry. I had an uneasy feel in my lower gut and hoped it was the start of the reddies and not an omen that things were about to become nasty. Still, I held my breath and followed Marcellus.

With Kendra close by I stepped through the door thingy and into a narrow green corridor. Our friends stood in a huddle. When we neared, the Agros gestured for us to follow, then turned and walked away. We did indeed follow. I was glad to have Kendra’s arm around my waist and relaxed a tad.

It was a strange passageway to be sure. Not at all like the cheery room outside. Attached to the low ceiling were flickering tubes so dim that they did little to illuminate the place. They buzzed like bumbles gathering pollen and I hoped that our journey through this noisy corridor would be over soon. I noticed that on either side were doors with writing on that I could not decipher. I slowed my pace when we passed one such portal, and thought I heard a young ‘un’s high-pitched voice. I stopped and pushed on the metal barrier.

It did not budge.

I pressed my ear to it and Kendra pulled me away.

“Did you hear?”

“Hear what, my dear?”

I listened again but the sound was no more. Kendra noticed my head-cock and did the same, leaning in close to the door. “I cannot make out any noise, Adara.”

“No?”

“No, not a thing.”

“Perhaps I was mistook?”

“Perhaps.”

Mebbe it was the telempathy thing like before and my bro was somewhere near. Kendra moved as if to go, but I stayed her by stroking the raised symbols at the top of the door. “Do you know what these symbols say?”

“No,” she said, pulled my hand away and glared. I put my mitt back into the muff and we continued to walk along the corridor. I wondered what was behind the locked entrances and would have gone back, but was prevented from returning by Kendra coming to a halt in front of me.

We’d stopped by what looked like a dead end. Oswald pressed his hand against the wall and it parted with a whoosh to reveal a bright yellow high-ceilinged room full of trees and shrubs. It looked as if the outside had been stolen and plonked down into this below space.

Dotted here and there were wooden benches and chairs adorned with large colourful cushions. Fine woven mats lay underneath some wide spread branches of the slenderest trees, and they looked so comfy that I almost left the others to lie upon them.

A long lost, yet familiar sound of birdle song woke up my ears and we all turned our heads upwards in search of said avifauna.

“Yes, yes, birdies abide in this our earthly paradise,” Oswald said.

As if on cue, a flock of blue and black birdles fluttered past our faces, twittering and tweeting. An urge to open my gob and let forth a sound to gather them to me, swelled so intense-like, that I had to clamp my jaw together to dampen the impulse. Kendra must have sensed my craving and slipped her arm through mine. She hugged me close and the feeling dissipated.

“Sit, sit,” Alfred said and swept his arm around the room. “Anywhere you wish and I will send for refreshment. Kendra and Darlene, may I escort you to a place of prettiness that matches your own?” Alfred exposed his tiny white teeth and wrinkled his nose. Then he winked.

Now, if the situation were not so precarious, I would have flattened the flesh eating Agro with a well-positioned punch for uttering such triteness. However, such were our circumstances, that I held forth and merely smiled a sickly-sweet smile and let him put his arm about my waist. I stiffened when his probing digits slid downwards.

As to what he was looking for what amongst my thigh-flesh I dared not allow myself to think. He put his other arm around Kendra’s midriff and steered us like a land boat to a bench that rested against a heavy-scented purple flowering shrub. He let us go, bowed in the direction of the seat and put out his right hand, palm upwards.

“My dear ones. Please, please do sit.”

We did and he straightened. I looked past him and saw Oswald gesturing to Eadgard, Marcellus and Wirt, to also take a seat upon a similar bench. They sat rigid, hands flat on their knees and looking in our direction. Alfred squeezed his plump self between Kendra and me. He looked at my half- exposed chest and put a finger on my arm.

“Darlene, allow me to remove your hand tube so that you will be able to partake of some food and drink.”

I shook my head and stuffed my hands further into the hiding place. He let more fingers touch my flesh and moved them to the top of my muff. He stroked the soft covering and slid his fingers down towards where my hands lay. Kendra quickly intervened, took his fingers in hers and twisted him around to face her.

“She is yet unaccustomed to courtship-sham. Please forgive her reticence.”

Alfred frowned and I looked to Marcellus, who was about to rise and come to my aid. But Oswald placed his mitt upon his shoulder and pushed him back down to sit. My friend offered me a soft-eyed look and I managed half a smile by way of placating his concerns. Oswald came towards us and stood over me. “Is there a problem Alfred?”

I gulped and Kendra giggled. “Now, now. It is not polite to loom so over a novice.”

Oswald put his foot on the bench and I leant away and into Alfred, who gave forth a most unpleasant back-throated “Heh, heh.” The two Agros exchanged a low-eyed look of lustful intent and moved nearer to my bosoomers. I bent forward and crossed my legs.

Kendra girly-giggled again, stood and quickly said, “Perhaps after some refreshments and idle chit-chat, Darlene will succumb and give you both a massage.”

The two leering Agros relaxed their attitude of keen. I sat back somewhat relieved to be free of their eager attention. “A massage? Well, that would be nice. As would a pretty ditty,” Oswald, said.

He sat next to me and shoved his bottom in my direction. I had no option but move mine and found myself pressed against Alfred, who put his hand on my thigh. Thusly clamped between the two Agros, I let my knees make contact with each other and clenched my thigh muscles so hard, that I thought they would snap. Oswald brushed his fingers up and down my neck and both males smacked their lips together as if savouring a tasty morsel.