Still Falling: Book 1: Solstice 31 Saga (16 page)

It was still only 4:30 a.m.

Barcus closed the window and closed his eyes. Em promised to wake him before they arrived.

It seemed like only a few minutes before Em turned on the HUD, allowing in the full morning light. It was 7:40 a.m. now, and Barcus recognized the quarry road as they moved by it. The trees had all been removed from the road. It was easy going. He could see the wall of The Abbey as they approached.

He was planning on walking Par directly over the broken section of the wall and directly into the compound.

He asked Ash to announce their arrival.

Po and Olias saw Par climb over the breach in the wall and then over the inner walls to the kitchen yard. Par lowered the ramp and Barcus jumped out.

When he rounded the side, he saw that both Olias and Po had their heads downcast and eyes averted. He walked up to them and placed hands on their shoulders. “It's all right. She won't hurt you. Her name is Pardosa.” They looked up nervously at his smiling face.

“I'm starving,” Barcus said as they smiled back. They cast dodging glances at Par as she backed up to unload by the outdoor kitchen.

If they decided to tell him about the tub, he knew that he would take a bath right after breakfast.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ash the Stone

“The Emergency Module kept him busy and distracted.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Emergency Module Digital Forensics Report. Independent Tech Analysis Team.

<<<>>>

Breakfast was wonderful. There were pancakes with syrup made from diced dried apples stewed in honey. And there was real bacon. It was served on beautiful earthen plates with matching mugs for tea and cups for warm cider.

Olias was eating gleefully and in quantities only a young teen could manage. Po was unselfconscious as she ate more than she usually did. Olias encouraged her to eat more.

As she began to stand to collect the plates, Olias got up first and started with Barcus right behind him. They carried the plates to the basin in the open kitchen. Olias commented, “She is still uncomfortable with us taking her work away. You may not realize that this makes her feel, how does she say it, inadequate.” Olias was chewing unfamiliar words. Em was translating for Barcus. The boy shifted back to common. “She does not know how to think about any of this really. But she will be fine.

“She said that you control her dreams. She never has nightmares if you are here. More magic.”

“Nightmares?”

“Horrors have been done to her. They return and haunt her, dreams of reliving it.” Em’s translation of common seemed too short. Olias was saying far more words than the translation allowed.

“Her life. It has been... difficult,” Olias said. “She has never had so much sleep or so much food.” He paused, deciding something. “She sees things that need doing. She does not want to tell you what to do in your own house. She just does them or asks me to. She has started asking Ash, but only about firewood. He can carry a lot.”

She came out just then with a few more dishes, and they fell silent. They went back in to get the rest of the dishes, and there were no more.

“I will clean this up. Olias, please show Barcus the surprise we have for him.”

Barcus knew what the surprise was already.

“Let me get a fresh tunic before we go.”

Olias's eyes went wide, thinking this was more evidence of Barcus’s magic powers. Barcus was amused by his reaction. Olias was still frozen in shock. So Barcus grabbed a fresh tunic and led the way up to the new bath.

***

Soaking and scrubbing in the sunken tub was far better than he had expected. The stone tub was deep in the center and had built-in benches all around. One side had a couple of steps up to floor level. The wall at the end opposite the spigot was slanted so he could stretch out if he liked after he was done scrubbing and washing his hair. That was exactly what he did.

He let the water’s heat soak into his bones. The slow but constant flow of the water swept away all the suds as well as the dirt in the water, even the dirt that sank to the bottom somehow. It was a brilliant system, based on the same technology as the floor heating systems. He was considering a reassessment of The Abbey to look for other innovations when he heard someone add logs to the fire.

“You don't need to do that, Po. I'm almost finished.” She was once again shy, averting her gaze. The fireplace was the only light in the room, and the shadows were deep in the dark stone tub because it was sunken low in the floor.

She slid a three legged stool out of the corner and looked at the fire as she spoke. “Olias and I have been talking about how we should behave here. With you.” She swallowed hard, “Did you know I should be bathing you? This is a Keeper’s bath. Bathing is a Keeper’s sacrament. I don't think you know that. Just as you didn't know you should not sleep alone.”

“That's right. I knew none of these things, and much more I expect,” came his measured reply.

“I have never eaten at the same table as a Keeper or any man for that matter. I have only served. I have never been allowed to eat the same food as the men, not to mention a Keeper, not even the scraps. I have seen women beaten for simply tasting uneaten food that would have gone to the pigs.”

“That will never happen under this roof,” Barcus said.

“I know.” There was incredulity in her voice.

“I will never eat anything better than you, or better than anyone else under this roof,” Barcus vowed.

“I have never been allowed to speak unless spoken too,” she continued, head bowed.

“I expect you to speak when you wish or need.”

“Every sentence out of my mouth before now always ended with the words ‘my Lord’ for Keepers or ‘sir’ for men of age.” She paused. He waited.

“Keepers would have killed me by now for daring to read. Or any of these other things I just spoke of. I have been raised to obey and nothing more.”

“I know you are strong enough, Po, to treat me the way I ask, to make decisions, to act. I've seen it. If you are ever unsure, ask.

“Please understand you can say ‘no’ to me at any time,” he stated and then paused.

“Do you want me to bathe you?” she asked.

“I can bathe myself.” He watched her head bow a little more, as if in disappointment.

“What do you want me to do?” she offered.

“I want you to eat three meals a day and become strong,” he said.

She glanced up at him, and he caught and held her eyes.

“I want you to learn to read and help me understand this world. I want you to be my friend, not my possession. I want you to do only the things that YOU want to do. I want you to be free, just like me.”

She looked away from him, looked down at her hands.

“May I please still sleep in your bed?” she asked.

“Yes, Po. But, only if you want to.”

“Do you want me to?” she asked. It was almost a whisper.

“Yes. But only if YOU want to.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, clenching her hands together. “What sort of magic is this?” She rushed out.

“Em, please follow her. Make sure she is okay.” A window popped open that showed Po moving up the stairs to the wall. She went toward the North Tower, entered quickly and sat on the steps, hugging herself.

“I'll watch her and keep you informed,” Em said in a sympathetic tone. The window closed as he got up out of the tub, feeling truly clean for the first time in weeks.

***

Po sat alone on the steps in the tower, trying to sort out what she was feeling inside.

“You know you saved him, saved his life.” The voice was a deep low rumble. Po turned her head and saw the deepest blackness in the shadows move, just enough for the outline of Ash to be revealed. “That first night of fire, you saved him.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

“And that night in Greenwarren, he almost lost you again. You saved him again that night. You saved this entire world I think.” Ash said.

“I don't understand,” Po whispered.

“Po, he is the most powerful Keeper ever to walk this world. He has come from the stars where he lost his soul. You have helped him begin to find it again, here. You have no idea that you may be his most powerful magic.”

“I am nothing,” Po whispered.

“No. You do not know the depth of your meaning. Beside you, I am nothing. I am only stone and will.”

“I don't understand,” Po pleaded.

“Simply know this. The stronger you are, the stronger he will be. The smarter you are, the smarter he will be.”

“Why is he doing this? It feels like he is reaching into my chest and stopping me from breathing sometimes.”

“That is his greatest sorcery,” Ash said.

“He has so much more power than any Keeper I have ever met,” Po said.

“More than you may ever know,” Ash said.

There was a long pause.

“You talk a lot for a stone,” Po said.

Just then, her Plate chimed.

***

Barcus got dressed and went to find Olias. As he exited the bath chamber, Barcus took a good look at the damage directly in front of him. “Em, this definitely looks like a dropped bomb explosion to me. From this vantage point, the crater is obvious.” Barcus looked at the rafters and the open floors. It made him think of images from the war.

Barcus found Olias unloading the cases from Par, who was backed up to the outdoor kitchen area. They were almost done.

“Par asked me to help unload these. Is this all right?” He was setting down a med supply case and the gun case.

“Olias, please take those two and slide them under my bed.” Olias did without question. Next was one of the large, heavy ammo cases Barcus had prepped. That went into the gatehouse.

After everything had been offloaded, Par retreated to the garage beneath the cathedral ruin, climbing down into the shadows.

Barcus turned to Olias and spoke in common tongue. “I need you to make some salvage runs with Par. Can you do that? In fact, I need you to be in charge of all the salvage operations. You should use your own judgment to select what we need. Po and I will let you know if we need anything specific. To help with this, I want you to have this.” Barcus handed him the second Plate in its book cover.

“You will be able to talk to Par, Ash, Po or me with it. It has maps. It can also help teach you to read. You can use it to keep lists or remind you of things. Ask it anything. Just be careful with it. We only have two.”

Olias was holding it as if it was made out of the most fragile of glass.

“Open it. Touch it like this to activate it. Now you can ask it anything,” Barcus shared.

Olias looked up and said nothing.

“Plate, where are we?” Barcus asked.

“You are in the cook’s pavilion in the south end of Whitehall Abbey.”

An aerial view of the circle of The Abbey opened on the Plate. A bright green dot correctly indicated his position with “Olias” over the dot.

“Show where everyone else in Whitehall is located.”

Dots appeared for Ash, Po, Par and Barcus.

“Plate, add icons.” Faces appeared by Barcus, Po, and Olias. Full size icons of Ash and Par appeared.

“Oh! Po is there, in the tower with Ash,” Olias said.

“Plate, call Po.”

“Hello? Barcus? Is that you? Is everything all right?” Po asked, concerned.

“Yes. I am showing Olias how to use his Plate. Say hello to Po, Olias.”

“H-Hello?” Po laughed.

“What!?” Olias took umbrage.

“I can see you!” They looked to the tower where they could see Po waving a hand. They waved back.

“Do you see this little icon in the top right? That makes it a video chat. So you can see and talk.” He selected it and Po could see them. “Press yours now, Po.”

There were several icons across the top of her Plate. Barcus was watching over her shoulder in a HUD window.

“The next one over to the left. The green one.”

She touched it, and Olias could see her.

“If you hold it up like this, we can see what you see,” he informed them.

Po could see herself from below, and they could see themselves from above.

“It also holds a teacher. Her name is Em. You can ask her questions and she will answer. That's enough for now. We need to get to work. Olias is going on a salvage run and will need to pack.”

Po efficiently closed the Plate, put it back in its pouch and was headed down the spiral stairs to get food together for Olias's trip.

***

Everyone split off to perform their various tasks. Barcus went to the throne room for a detailed status.

“Stu, are you doing okay?” Barcus asked.

“Yes, boss,” came his reply.

“Em, what's next on the list?” Em strolled in and seemed to stand next to Barcus, looking at all the status windows.

“More salvage runs and repairing the wall are the next two priorities on the list. I think that if we can use Par to make a couple quarry runs before she heads out with Olias, Ash can work on the wall while they are gone,” she replied.

“Do it. It would be great to have that done before the next big snow,” Barcus said. “Once winter hits, we will likely be stuck inside. Restoring water to the south end would be great as well.”

As they discussed other priorities, Par and Ash moved out.

Two and a half hours later, Olias was ready to go.

Par had demanded that she be swept out before she left. Barcus was surprised that Po went in and did it without a word. On sweeping the last of the debris off her ramp, she said to Olias, “Get a couple more brooms and dust pans, please.”

“
And you were worried that they would not handle this well,”
Em said in Barcus’s head. “
They are taking to the Plates better than expected, as well. I will still keep control on them,
” Em added.
“It's still a bit early to try to explain AIs or Augmented Reality to them.”

“Have you developed lesson plans for them yet? Plate usage and reading, for starters?” Barcus asked.