ROAD TO CORDIA (25 page)

     “I’ve wasted enough time with these two,” Lord Raptor said to the soldiers. “Usher,” he turned to QT whose quiver factor immediately increased.

     “Yes, my lord?”

     “Show this female where to go to request a Healer for her village. Now get out of here,” he said to Ee'Rick and Ja’Nil. “I have work to do.”

     QT immediately made shooing motions in an attempt to get them out the door and far away.

     Unfortunately, Ja‘Nil‘s manners kicked in. “Thank you, sir,” she said, putting her hands together over her chest and politely inclining her head.

     “Come on, come on. Let‘s go,” urged a still terrified QT. She turned to follow him.

     “What’s that?” roared Lord Raptor.

     QT literally fainted. He fell to the floor with a boneless thump. The two soldiers clapped their hands to their sword hilts. Ee'Rick narrowed his yellow eyes, shifted slightly so he was in fight mode, and bared his teeth in a way that would never be described as a grin. Ja’Nil froze.

     “Sir?” she asked timidly.

     “That ring!” His green skin was dark with anger, his black eyes blazed. He reached out and grabbed Ja’Nil’s hand so hard she thought her bones would break.

     “Ow!”

     “Let go of her,” said Ee'Rick starting forward only to run into two swords pointed directly at his heart. He stopped abruptly.

     Lord Raptor stripped the ring off Ja’Nil’s hand, taking some skin with it.

     “My courage,” she protested.

     “What?”

     “I... nothing.”

     “Where did you get this?”

     “Lady Fayre gave it to me.”

     “Why?”

     “Why?”

     “Yes, you lying little Earther slut, why would the Truth Teller give you a ring?”

     “Truth Teller?”

     Lord Raptor didn’t bother explaining; he simply backhanded her across her face. The force of the blow snapped her head back; her jaw felt broken and her eyes crossed. In order to keep on her feet she was forced to back pedal. Her backward movement brought her up against the prone body of the unconscious QT. She tripped over him and fell.

     Through the ringing in her ears, she faintly heard a shout. Time and movement slowed. She watched as Ee'Rick, moving with the slowness of an underwater swimmer, grabbed Lord Raptor by the collar of his tunic. One of the soldiers swam into view and brought the flat of his sword down on Ee’Rick’s head. His knees folded and his body made a graceful slide onto the floor.

     Now there are three of us down here, she thought with scrupulous mathematic exactitude, as she tried to fight off a concussion.

     “Search them,” she heard Lord Raptor order.

     Still in slow motion, one soldier searched Ee'Rick while the other stood by, sword at the ready. They found the knife in Ee'Rick’s ankle sheath almost immediately, and Ee'Rick’s purse,          ”Nothin’ in here but coins, ya lordship.”

     “Put it on my desk.” The soldier reluctantly complied.

     “Good quality clothin’,” said the soldier, running his hands over Ee'Rick’s leggings. “These here beads looks like real gold, ya lordship,” he said as he examined the trimming on Ee'Rick’s leggings.

     Lord Raptor didn’t bother commenting. He was busy emptying Ee'Rick’s pack on his desk. He examined every bit and piece. “Nothing,” he muttered to himself. “Who in The Circle is he? What is he?” He shoved the pack and its contents off the desk. “Search the girl,” he ordered.

     “Right ya are, ya lordship,” said the other soldier. They left the unconscious Ee'Rick and pulled Ja’Nil to her feet. She was too dizzy to stand by herself. One of them held her under her arms, resting both his hands on her breasts. “Nice little handfuls we gots here.” The  other soldier searched through her pockets.

     “Nothing,” he announced. The other soldier stopped supporting her and watched to see if she could stand on her own. She could. Barely.  He then went through her pack. “Half a ham roll, ya lordship.” He poked at it. “Stale.”

     “That’s it? Nothing else?’

     “Got some bracelets, ya lordship.”

     “Let me see.” Instead of taking the bracelets off Ja’Nil’s wrist, the soldier grabbed her hand and pulled her over to Lord Raptor, sticking her hand under his nose. Lord Raptor examined the bracelet closely. “Cheap paste,” he sneered. “Typical peasant stuff.”

     “They look like the beads and stuff that mutant there is wearing,” offered the soldier.

     “Paste,” Lord Raptor repeated. “What about her shoes? Did you check her shoes?”

     The soldier let go of Ja’Nil’s hand and squatted down to pull off her boots. He proudly deposited them on Lord Raptor’s desk. Ja’Nil, without the soldier’s support, swayed dangerously but managed to stay upright.  Lord Raptor looked carefully at the well-worn footgear resting on his gleaming desk, then with the back of his hand he nudged them onto the floor. He turned back to the swaying Ja’Nil. “What were you supposed to do with the ring?” he asked.

     “Nothing. Just greetings.”

     “Why did she give you the ring?” He was yelling.

     Ja’Nil felt as if her head would split. “So the Queen would know it was from Lady Fayre. Got ruined though.” Her tongue felt thick, her thoughts hazy.

     “Ruined?”

     “Got wet. Got ruined.”

     Lord Raptor looked carefully at the ring. “So it did,” he said with a smile. Then he deliberately crumbled it in his fist. “There’s no wire. It’s just a piece of parch½ junk.”

     The Lady had said something about a wire, but for the moment Ja’Nil couldn’t remember what.

     “Get them out of here,” ordered Lord Raptor.

     “Yes sir.” The soldiers snapped to attention. “Ehh, what ya wants we should do with them, ya Lordship?”

     “I don’t give a -- No wait, throw them in the dungeon. I may want to question them again. Especially the mutant.”

     Ja’Nil wanted to protest, but everything was happening too fast. The soldier shoved her boots into her hands and gave her a push out the door. She stood on wide spread legs trying to remain upright. The two soldiers grabbed hold of Ee'Rick and dragged him out of the room. His head hung down and half his face was covered in blood.

     “Come on, ya,” said one of the soldiers, prodding her forward with one hand while with the other he helped lug Ee'Rick down the hallway.

     She was shoved and Ee’Rick was lugged down a series of stairs that became narrower and narrower, until they arrived at a room lit by several old fashioned lanterns. The soldiers let Ee'Rick drop to the floor. Ja’Nil wasn’t even sure he was alive until she heard him groan.

     There were several other soldiers and guards in the room; one was sitting behind a desk.

     “What’s this?” he asked.

     “His lordship wants ‘em in the dungeon.”

     “Both of them?”        

     “Both of ‘em.”

     “We could keep the girl up here for a while,” suggested one of the soldiers straightening away from the wall.

     “Youse do what ya wants, I’m just telling ya what his lordship said.”

     The men shifted around nervously. Ja’Nil noticed no one asked which lordship he was referring to.

     “That’s a weird looking boy,” said one. “I ain’t never seen his kind before.”

     “I have,” said another. He looked anxious.

     “What is he?”

     “It was a long time ago,” muttered the anxious soldier. “I don’t really remember.” But he continued taking nervous peeks at Ee'Rick.

     “Put them both down,” ordered the man behind the desk.

     Four men grabbed up the unconscious Ee'Rick and carried him down a short hallway lit by lanterns. One of the other soldiers pulled Ja’Nil along. Another man scurried ahead to pull up a heavy barred gate set flush in the floor.

    
That doesn’t look good.

     Ja’Nil dug in her heels. Her guard barely noticed. He simply picked her up by the back of her tunic and carried her along.

     “Put me down.” She swung at him and missed. He looked down as if surprised to see her. But he did not put her down. Instead, he raised his left fist as if to slam her in the face. Ja’Nil ducked. Then, to her surprise, he did put her down, but that was because they had arrived at their destination, a hole in the floor.

     The men carrying Ee'Rick dropped him in a heap next to the hole. As she watched, two of them, using their feet, pushed Ee'Rick to the edge of the hole and then rolled him one more time so that he fell through.

     There was silence, then a thump, and then a groan.

     “Still alive,” said one the guards with satisfaction. “Ya next, ya pretty piece ya.” Some of the men laughed.

     Ja’Nil turned blindly and tried to get away. Strong, rough hands grabbed her and shoved her towards the hole. She pushed back, but it was no contest. A tall man grabbed her hands and held her dangling over the hole.

     “No,” she pleaded.

     “One!” shouted the man dangling her.

     The other men joined in. “Two! Three!”

     She screamed as he let go of her.

CHAPTER 25

     “Umph!” She landed on her feet, with legs bent, then fell onto her side and rolled onto her back. She was alive.

     Above her, with much grunting, two guards replaced the barred trapdoor and moved off. Light filtered down from above. Thank the Lord they left the lanterns.

     She sat up slowly. Her head didn’t hurt too much, but her jaw, where Lord Raptor had hit her, was killing her. She could feel it beginning to swell.

     Behind her, there was a groan.

     “Ee'Rick?” Oh Lord, even hissing his name between tightly clenched teeth was agony. She turned so she was on her hands and knees and looked around the dim cell.

Ee'Rick lay a few feet away on his side. She crawled over to him.  “Ee'Rick?”

     No answer, not even a groan.

     Had he just died? She touched his shoulder. In the poor light, it was impossible to see if his chest was moving up and down. What if he was dead? It would be her fault. He had been trying to protect her. She was practically a murderer. This whole horror of a trip was cluttered with dead bodies. First there was Cho, then Aunt M’eer, then the man killed by the Red Horse soldiers, that one was NOT her fault, then there was the woman who was killed in her place. Would the Lord of the Circle ever forgive her for that? Next there was the children’s grandda, and now, no wait, then there was the Queen, and now Ee'Rick. She knew more dead people than live ones. If Ee'Rick was dead, that made seven dead people in, she counted on her fingers, seven dead in thirteen days.

     “Ee'Rick, wake up!” She pushed roughly on his chest.

     He groaned.

     “You groaned,” she accused. “You’re alive!” She shook him again. “Please wake up.” Her hands were resting on his chest; she could feel movement. Yes! She groped for his neck, but didn’t really know where to feel for a pulse. Finally, she grabbed up his hand and tried his wrist. There it was. She put his arm down and felt her own pulse. Hers was slow and steady. Ee'Rick’s was fast, almost frantic, and not so even. Maybe he would still die. She remembered how, before they got to the dungeon, she had tried to run away and leave Ee'Rick behind.

     “I’m not a very good friend, am I?”

     Ee'Rick, still unconscious, said nothing.

     “Please don’t die.” Again, Ee'Rick had no comment. She straightened his crumpled body out so he would be able to breathe more comfortably. At the moment, there was nothing else she could do for him.

     The light from above flickered, and she held her breath, as if doing that would keep the lanterns lit. Apparently, it did, or more probably, there was still some oil left.

     They were in a rounded room about fourteen lengths across. She stood up slowly and walked to the nearest wall. It was composed of stone and earth. The ceiling was at least eighteen lengths above her head with the barred trap door smack in the center. Could she climb up there? Maybe. Would climbing cause the walls to crumble and fall down on them? Maybe.

     She slowly circled their prison. In one area, there was a small trickle of liquid. She touched it with her finger, then smelled it, then put her finger in her mouth. It had a muddy taste to it, but it was water. With a quick look at Ee'Rick and another look up at the barred trap door, she pulled her tunic over her head and pushed it into the path of the trickling water. The cloth soaked it up like a sponge. First, she rung out a little water into her mouth, then she re-saturated her tunic and brought it to Ee'Rick.

     “Open your mouth,” she told him.

     Nothing.

     Carefully, she squeezed some water over his closed mouth.  His lips parted slightly and she squeezed out more water for him. His tongue came out and licked his lower lip. She re-saturated her tunic and brought him more water. It took five trips until he closed his mouth and turned his head slightly away.

     She took his pulse again. It seemed slower, steadier. In fact, he seemed to be asleep, not unconscious.

     Ja’Nil washed her face and Ee’Rick’s. It took awhile to get most of the blood off him, some of it had dried, and the rest was sticky. At least there didn’t seem to be any new blood. Now what?

     Now she badly needed to pee. How embarrassing. She tried to ignore her full bladder. Impossible. Finally, red faced, she moved as far away from Ee'Rick and their water source as was possible, and squatted. It was so loud! Ee'Rick never moved.

     At least, now she was more comfortable. Moving away from the jinny area, she lay down next to Ee'Rick and stared at the light coming through the barred door to freedom. She slept.

* * *

    
And she was in freezing water again.
Once again she was reliving the sinking of her father’s fishing boat.

    
The boat is gone; her parents are gone. All around her is the open sea, no land in sight. The rain and wind conspire against her. She can barely breathe for her broken ribs. Her left arm is useless. At least the freezing water has numbed the pain. Holding tight to the sobbing Yonny, she begins to pray.