Gorinthians (33 page)

When they arrived at the
small campsite, the others were all awake and waiting for them,
looking curiously at the newcomer as she studied them with equal
interest. Terrance reached out with his
yar
and started the fire in the fire
pit, causing Lori to jump in surprise.

Terrance knew that the
others would be able to feel the overpowering resonance that was
emanating from Lori as well. It had taken him years to learn how to
mask his own resonance. The fire that Terrance had started licked
hungrily toward Lori as her uncontrolled
yar
wandered aimlessly around them,
causing the rest of the party to shield themselves from her
unintended intrusion.

Terrance gestured to the
rest of the party. "Some introductions are in order. Everyone, this
is Lori West. You can just call her Lori.” The others waved or
welcomed her with a smile.

"You have already met
Selindria. The light-haired young woman with the innocent face is
Cha'le. Try not to turn your back on her if you can help it.” At
that, Cha'le's eyes widened innocently. "The young man next to her
is Celdic, my son. The other two young men are Lendel and Jalorm.
The dark-haired young woman is Li. I am called Terrance and this is
Thistledown. I believe that you already met Lochnar,” Terrance
finished dryly, as Lori looked around for Lochnar, who had not
returned to camp.

"I thought that we were
meeting up with more people than this,” Li said with a perplexed
frown.

Terrance cleared his
throat. "Yes, well, this is somewhat of a surprise for me as well.
There are a few things that you should know about Lori. First, she
is not one of the people that we had planned on meeting.” He paused
for a moment before continuing. "Second, Lori is not from this
planet and has no knowledge of
yar
or anything like that."

The others stared at Lori as
if she was a big puzzle, a puzzle that might blow up in your hands
if you were not careful. "How did she get here?” Lendel asked as he
looked at her speculatively.

"She said that she went to
sleep and found herself wandering down the road over there,”
Terrance replied gesturing toward the road. "She didn't think that
Thistledown and I were real when she first saw us. She thought that
we were part of a dream that she was having."

"How do you know that she is
from a different world, and not just another part of this one?”
Selindria asked shrewdly.

Terrance let out a long
sigh. There were only a small handful of people living that new the
truth about his origins. He had tried to keep his past a secret and
just become another part of this world. Now, for the first time
since he had arrived on this world, he felt a glimmer of hope that
he might one day see his own world again.

"What I am about to tell you
is known only to five other people.” Taking a deep breath, Terrance
began, "I am not from this world either. I used to be a scientist
on a planet called Earth. I had always wanted to learn how to
travel through wormholes, how to stop the aging process, heal all
of the diseases that plagued our world and countless others. I
dabbled in countless fields of study. We had the technology to do
these things, but politics always seemed to interfere with the
research. When I was still young, I wrote a book that made a lot of
money and I was able to fund my own research. My partner and I were
working on ways to dispel radiation, an after-effect of some of the
current technology of our time that could be very dangerous.
Instead of finding a way to neutralize radiation, we stumbled on
the secret of wormholes. We were just preparing for our first test,
sending a small light transmitter through the gateway on our side,
when we heard the war sirens. We turned on an invention called a
television, a device that transports images and sound from one
place to another, when a person announced that a foreign country
had launched several hundred nuclear missiles at our country. A
nuclear missile is a weapon that we had created that destroys
entire cities, leaving a decay in the air that kills anything
living for hundreds of miles around. When we saw the missiles
coming out of the sky, we decided that we would chance going
through the wormhole without any previous testing, since we would
die anyway if we stayed. This world is where we ended up.” Terrance
finished with a sigh, remembering the way his elation at their
discovery had turned to dismay as the war sirens began
wailing.

The others stared at him
silently for some time before Selindria finally cleared her throat.
"Who is this partner that you brought with you?"

Terrance laughed
mirthlessly, "I see that you aren't going to let me leave that part
out. His name is Jerard."

Chapter 19

Seranova felt her muscles
burning in her legs and lower back as she pumped at the pedals of
the vessel that she created. They left the dock two days ago, each
of them taking turns pedaling while one of them slept in short
shifts that left them refreshed, if slightly sandy-eyed. Ferrich
had settled down once he had examined every inch of the vessel and
understood how it worked. Seranova spent two shifts with him
pedaling next to her. She was not certain what was more exhausting:
pedaling the water wheel or trying to keep up with all of the
questions Ferrich had about her inventions. When he had seen how
her bottomless sack worked, he had wanted them to lower him into it
so that he could study the insides. He glowered indignantly when
she told him that they would do no such thing.

Morindessa had just watched
him silently most of the time, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
Morindessa was not much of a conversationalist, staying silent on
the shifts she shared with Seranova. Even pedaling, Morindessa
seemed to have a dangerous air about her, as if she were on the
verge of leaping from her seat into violent action. Morindessa had
relieved Ferrich of his shifts an hour early each time, telling him
that she could not sleep. Ferrich was so tired from each shift he
did not even argue. He stumbled over to the front of the deck and
fell immediately asleep. As far as Seranova could tell, Morindessa
was not even slightly tired from the prolonged stress on her legs
and abdomen that pedaling continuously produced.

The sun was sinking on the
western horizon as they came in sight of the Southern shore of Lake
Magnus. Seranova felt relief well up in her as she saw an end to
her forced labor. An hour later, they were close enough to the
shore to begin looking for a secluded place to hide their
vessel.

"Over there," Morindessa
said, pointing at a small inlet. Large cottonwoods surrounded the
inlet, which made a canopy over the small cove. Seranova pulled her
steering lever backword, turning the vessel toward the
inlet.

Ferrich woke up at the sound
of Morindessa's voice, stretched and then winced at the sore
muscles in his legs. "This might be a popular way to travel,"
Ferrich yawned, "for the first two hours."

Morindessa laughed softly.
"You just need more practice, Ferrich.” Glancing at Seranova slyly,
she continued, "I am sure that Seranova can make a cart on wheels
that works the same way."

Seranova tapped her lips
thoughtfully, "You know, that's not a bad idea. It probably
wouldn't take more than a day or two to build."

"No, that's quite all
right,” Ferrich assured her seriously. "I wouldn't want to waste
any more time than we have to."

"But think of how strong
your legs would be,” Morindessa urged him, her eyes sparkling. "You
would look like a horse in no time at all."

"Just the animal I always
wanted to be,” Ferrich replied dryly, studying the shoreline where
they would land. Turning toward Morindessa, he raised one eyebrow
slightly. "Do you really wa- . . . " Ferrich broke off, looking in
the distance behind them. "What is that?” he cried, pointing back
at the endless-seeming, watery horizon.

Seranova and Morindessa both
rose from their seats to peer behind them where Ferrich was
pointing. Seranova could see what looked like a pinprick on the
distant horizon. She looked questioningly at Morindessa, whose eyes
had gone distant. A moment later, her gaze sharpened.

"Warship,” she said tersely.
"It looks like they aren't going to give up very easily.” Her brow
was drawn down in a scowl, an odd look on her normally stoic face.
Turning back to Seranova, she sat back in her seat. "We had better
hurry. They have the soldiers rowing, so they will probably be here
before morning."

Seranova immediately sat
back in her seat and began pedaling. They worked silently as they
drifted up into the small channel, a large cover of green tree
branches looming over the top of them. The shore looked just as
alien at this end of the lake as it did at the village of Laketown,
the bank breaking sharply down at the edge to a sheer drop of
hundreds of feet. Seranova looked into the water beside her
longingly as they navigated around a bend that showed the end of
the channel in front of them. She wished they had time for a night
here at the lake, where she could do a little exploring.

Pulling the steering lever
sharply backward, Seranova swung the vessel around so the back end
was facing the shore behind them. "Pedal the other way now,” she
instructed Morindessa, who nodded with understanding and began
pedaling backword. A moment later, they thumped into the shore and
Ferrich jumped over to the lush, green bank and held the vessel
steady for them. Seranova walked to the front of the deck and
pulled a large rope out of the bench that lined the front, tying it
to a cleat on the back of the vessel.

"We might as well tie it
up," she explained to the others when they looked at her
questioningly. "You never know if we might need it
again."

Once Seranova had tied it to
a large tree a few feet in to the shore, they began making their
way through the thick foliage that surrounded the lake. It was an
interesting procession that made its way through the woods.
Seranova and Ferrich walked stiffly as the muscles in their legs
cried out in protest. Once again, Morindessa seemed unaffected by
the endless hours of rigorous pedaling, walking gracefully through
the thick brush while she watched every direction at
once.

They continued traveling
south, toward the city Morindessa had called Chasel Ri' Aven,
moving slowly through the thick undergrowth. They did not talk very
much, mostly because Ferrich and Seranova were spending all of
their concentration on not becoming tangled in the thick ivy that
hung from the cottonwoods all around them. Morindessa called a halt
at midday for a short lunch.

Morindessa began rummaging
around in her pockets. "I can never find my flint when I need it,”
she muttered distractedly. "You would think that I-" She broke off
with a small frown on her face, pulling out a small rectangular
object. She stared at it so intently that Seranova finally asked
the question, "What is it?"

"Nothing,” she replied with
a start, looking up to see Seranova and Ferrich watching her
curiously. "It's nothing,” she repeated, though she did not seem
convinced. Her eyes were still distant as her lips turned down into
a frown of concentration. "We need to keep moving. We will eat on
the way."

Seranova shared a look with
Ferrich. She knew he was thinking the same thing, What isn't she
telling us? Morindessa put everything back in the pack and tossed
each of them some dried meat and cheese. They began making their
way through the difficult undergrowth once more, while trying to
eat at the same time.

A few hours later, they came
to a road that had fallen into disuse, with weeds growing as tall
as their waist. It was better than traveling through the woods
however, so Seranova did not complain.

"Where do you think we are?”
Ferrich asked Morindessa, looking up and down the road.

Morindessa shrugged, "Some
woodcutter’s track I would imagine." She began walking to the east.
"The main road should be this way."

They followed her down the
weed-choked road, talking occasionally now that they were out of
the thick forest. Trees lined the road to either side, preventing
them from seeing anything but the road in front of them. The sun
was disappearing in and out of the cloudy sky, casting flickering
shadows across the road.

"Morindessa," Ferrich began,
his forehead creased in thought, "I have been meaning to ask you
about a few things."

Morindessa glanced at him
warily, "What kind of things?” She absently brushed a stray lock of
hair behind her ear. Her soft boots made almost no sound as she
walked beside Ferrich on the weed-choked ground.

Ferrich was silent for a
moment, as if he were unsure where to begin. "Most of the people
that we have met so far seem to know you,” he said finally,
unwilling to voice the entire question.

Morindessa looked slightly
relieved at the question. Seranova wondered what she thought he was
going to ask. "My name is fairly well known in most parts,”
Morindessa replied carefully. "I run a business that is a little
shady. Sometimes there are people that do really bad things to
other people. The people they do it to usually have friends who
want retribution. I offer my services to bring the offenders to
justice, without getting involved with tedious trials that will see
the guilty party live without punishment."