Bactine (55 page)

Kernak was very easy going and followed along calmly as Daniel walked down the hill. The crossroad, he knew, was behind a long and slow bend, but he was very early and had plenty of time to enjoy the gentle breeze and the sunshine. As he walked along the deserted road, he was suddenly very aware of being there, in the land, the feel of the ground under his feet, the large Kotrvayk with him. It made him slow down and come to a halt.

Kernak turned her mighty head to looked at him, and walked back. She lay down at his feet. Daniel hardly noticed it, as he took in the scent of the area while the wind messed with his hair. He squatted down and stroked Kernak's head. "This is an amazing place, girl," he told her. Slowly he rose to his feet again, and as he made the next step, Kernak was up also and with him.

Daniel noticed it now and was stunned. What an amazing creature. They went on. It took them over a quarter of an hour to reach the crossroad.

"In the morning", the cloaked voice had said. Well, there was plenty of morning to enjoy.

Daniel and Kernak waited. At times he took a short stroll, the animal on his heels. They lay on the ground, sat, and Daniel at times whistled a tune. Then he heard the familiar rattling of wheels on the hard road. A carriage worked itself towards the crossroad.

Daniel and Kernak stood again when the carriage reached them and came to a halt. Daniel's hand was on Kernak's back. "It's okay, Kernak."

The door of the carriage opened, and the cloaked figure came out of it. As soon as the entire person was with both feet on the ground, the cloak unfolded to its large size. Daniel heard the rush that the strange mask made of the breathing.

"I am here," said the mysterious stranger. Behind him, the carriage slowly pulled away, en route for a new customer.

"Yes. And so am I," Daniel said. "You need not fear the Kotrvayk as long as you do nothing strange or threatening."

"I see. You said you want answers. Ask me your questions."

Daniel grinned. "Let's begin with a simple one. Who are you?"

The dark shape seemed to hesitate for a few moments. "I had expected that question, just later." Slowly a hand was raised and the strange face filter was removed. The hood fell over the face hidden underneath it. The face filter was dropped to the ground and rolled away.

Kernak stood calmly. Daniel was tensing up.

The figure slowly pushed the hood back.

Daniel stared. "You?"

"Yes. Me." Rayko looked him in the eye. "Who had you expected?"

"Beats me, but not you."

Kernak slowly walked over to Rayko and nudged the woman's hand with her head. Rayko didn't even seem to notice, so focussed as she was on Daniel. Gently she scratched the head.

"I don't get it," Daniel said, truthfully. "You were the person who knocked me out with that stick in the park? You proposed getting in the way of your father?"

"Yes. And yes." Rayko picked up the face filter. "Would you mind holding this while I take off this hot cloak?" She walked over to him, Kernak in her wake, and held up the filter.

Daniel took it from her hand and watched how she dropped the black cloak to the ground.

She stood on a very skilfully made construction that made her look taller, wearing her own shoes in it. She held on to Daniel's arm as she unclipped the buckles that held her feet strapped onto the platforms. "Ahhh. That is so much better." She rolled up the cloak and put the platforms in it. Clearly she had done that more often.

Daniel looked at Rayko, as she looked up at him. "It's really you, right? The woman that kicked my shins at the party, and who was so stubborn on the ship?"

"I kicked your shins, yes, and I still don't regret that. And I was not stubborn!"

"Yes, it's you alright."

"Arghh. You are still the same too. Now, when are you going to ask me to walk up to the house of the senator with you? This cloak is heavy." She groped at the black mass that had started to slip from her hands. "Not much of a gentleman, are we..."

"By the winds, give that to me then." Daniel lifted the cloak and the platforms from her hand. "And yes, let's go to the senator's house." He remembered something. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "I'm sorry, Rayko. Would you please walk to the house with me?"

Rayko looked at Daniel. This time it was her turn to be surprised. "Yes. I'd love to, Daniel."

They started walking, Kernak between them. They both rested a hand on the hard hairy fur of the animal's back.

"So, why did you call me on that evening after I had left the party?" Daniel asked. "And how did you get the number of my hydger?"

"Getting your number was easy. I just copied it from my father's device. And I have an unregistered hydger." Rayko was silent for a moment. "I thought you would be the right person to help. Especially after what you said at the party." She looked down at the ground, so Daniel could not see her red cheeks.

"What I said at the party? We were just trying to leave each other's throat where it fit best, if I recall correctly."

"I uhm... I did something rather unladylike, Daniel." She looked at him, her cheeks still red. "When you were talking to the senator, I was sitting in a chair behind the conifers behind you. So I heard everything." She blushed even deeper. "I'm sorry now, Daniel. I heard so much of you."

Daniel grew more and more confused. This all was entirely not the way he had imagined the encounter with the cloaked person would unfold. "But why? I mean, eavesdropping is not a nice thing, but I can live with that. Why did you call me?"

"When I was on the boat that time-"

"Ship."

She laughed. "Yes. On the ship. In the wall I found a loose board or so, and behind it I found a lot of small packages. I took one and when I was back home, I found someone who could tell me what it contained."

"Drugs," Daniel knew.

"Yes. I showed them to my... father."

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no. Tell me you didn't."

Rayko stopped also, Kernak did too. "I did. I said I had found the drugs and asked him why they were on the ship. He said it was none of my business and I should stop bothering him about it."

"That was it?" Daniel could not believe that. Not after what he had learnt about that man.

Rayko hesitated and started walking again. Daniel joined her, as did the Kotrvayk. "No. He told me something more then. He told me that he had contact with that pirate, Birkle something. And he had told that pirate not to attack the ship on that voyage because I was on board."

Again Daniel was tempted to stand still. "He did that? And he told you? Why didn't you tell someone? You could have told me."

"Who would have believed me? You? Would you even have taken the time to listen to me? We did not exactly part as the best of friends at the soirée, Daniel."

He had to agree with that.

"And my... father was powerful. He threatened me. He said I would get into serious problems if I were to tell anyone about this. I knew I would. Well... you know."

"Now there is a threat to seriously be scared of," Daniel said. "He has surprised me in more than one way."

They were silent for a while, as the road started to climb more steeply for a while.

"That is why I invented the man in the black cloak," Rayko said, "as that looked like a way I could get in touch with people without anyone noticing it was me. I think it worked pretty well."

"You had me fooled until you showed your face, I have to give you that."

"I really wanted you to help me, Daniel, but I could not do it any other way. I hope you understand that." Her voice sounded almost begging. "I hoped you would go and save the people from the Pricosine, I bought the boat for that."

"You bought it, just for that?" Daniel was perplexed.

"Yes. I have some credits I can use, and I thought this was a good investment. Too bad it was too small," she sighed. "But I heard how you went and rescued them." Rayko looked at Daniel and there was a clear hint of admiration in her expression. "I was so happy about that, Daniel. Really, I was. But it was so painful to hear how many people died..." Her voice dropped to a mere whisper as she said that.

The memory of that jumped Daniel and he too fell silent. Without saying a word they walked up the last part of the road to the house.

"Wait here for a moment, will you? I'll guide Kernak back into the garden first," Daniel said.

Rayko nodded, and watched how Daniel disappeared inside with the large animal. Kernak looked at her for a moment, before she followed Daniel.

Daniel opened the door again. "Please, come in." He let her in and soon they were in the small library. Daniel had stored the black cloak and what had come with it in his own room for the time being. "Would you like something to drink?" He was surprised that she had not complained about the long walk uphill.

"Yes, please. Tea would be nice," she said with a shy smile.

"Sit where you like. I'll go and arrange for some tea." Daniel left the room, and returned with two glasses of water. "Tea will done soon. I thought you would appreciate this."

"Oh. yes. Thank you." She accepted a glass and slowly sipped from it.

There was a tension in the room. They both were aware of it, and neither of them knew how to break through it for a while.

"You know, Daniel... I have talked to my mother. About... her husband."

Daniel was surprised that she referred to Clelem like that all of a sudden.

"He was not my real father, she said. And not Warlem's real father either." Rayko stared at the glass, as if there was something fascinating going on inside it.

"Excuse me, please. Your tea," a servant said, who came in with the tea. Soon after, they were alone again.

"When my mother had told me that, there were many things I suddenly understood about him," Rayko continued. "Most of the time he regarded me as property, or a thing, or something like that. And not just me. All of us."

Daniel nodded. He recalled the moment where Clelem had literally shoved her into his arms, without twitching a muscle. "Yes, I see that now as well. Maybe you can explain something to me now."

"What is it you want to know? I want to tell you what I know. You are entitled to know it."

Daniel picked up his teacup. "When you had disappeared, Warlem came to me and asked me to come and talk to your mother. When I was at your house, he showed me a recording of a person in a black cloak, who came to the house through the garden. It looked like... you. But you were the one kidnapped, so it could not have been you. How does that fit?"

"I wanted to go out of the house. I wanted to try and contact you. There were too many people in the house and I was afraid someone might hear me, so I changed into the cloak and left through the garden. But before I got to the side gate, I discovered people there too, so I had to back into the house again." Rayko wrapped her arms around herself, as if she was cold suddenly. "They took me away from the house that same evening."

Daniel saw a few tears in her eyes. "Rayko, are you feeling well?"

She looked at him. At first she wanted to nod bravely, but changed her mind. "No."

Daniel got up and sat down next to her, on the couch. He put an arm around her and pulled her close.

Rayko did not resist. She leaned into him and started to sob. "It was a big man, Daniel. He put something in my face. Before I lost consciousness I saw Gaguran Slindris come into my room." She started crying, her body shaking as the memories came back to her. "Then I woke up and I was tied up and in that dark place. Gaguran was there, and the big man, and a few others. I could not see them, but I heard them talk. They said that something would be going down soon, but I don't know what that was."

Daniel got the eerie feeling that she had no idea where she had been exactly, nor what had been the plan of her step-father. He gently rocked her. "It's all over now, Rayko. It is all behind you, like a bad dream. Slindris is gone. And your step-father is gone also. They can't hurt you anymore."

The woman reached for his free hand and held it. "I know. But it hurts in such a strange way." Most of her tears had stopped flowing now. "I always saw him as my father, and then he abused me like that. He wanted to kill me, didn't he?" Her voice had gone into a whisper.

"I'm afraid so, Rayko. And I'm sorry for that. Really." Daniel felt pain for her, as she had gone through all that. She was not the kind of person that should have to face things like that, but some bizarre twist of fate had made it happen.

"Sometimes there are things in a life," he suddenly heard himself say, "that throw everything you know upside down. It is then when you have to find the trust in yourself, and in the harmony that is the world around you. Nothing happens without a reason. Usually we don't know the reasons, but things happen. We can fight them but we can't beat them if they are meant to come true, Rayko."