Tokus Numas (13 page)

“Maybe you have some sort of special ability that could help you to fight for what’s right.”

Deep down Petro wished it were true, but the one thing that did come to mind was his ability to see into the future. It would come in handy if he knew how to use it—and when. Maybe that was something the Numas could help him with, but he wasn’t ready to reveal this to them, not yet.

“Well, your secret is safe with me. No need to worry about me opening my big mouth,” Adar said. “I thought it was strange, anyway, how the Father was able to land during the ceremony. I could barely make out what was being said from where I was, but I got most of it.”

Petro seemed dumfounded. “How’d you hear us? I mean, were we a good ways from everyone else.”

“I read lips, learned it when I was young. I couldn’t hear a thing for years; then one day, poof. My hearing comes back,” he said.

“Oh, so when I do this,” Petro mouthed the words. “What’s up with Sha?”

Adar returned with a shrug. “I don’t know. He doesn’t talk, really. Why do you think I went to sleep so early in the back of the wagon?” Adar said.

The two finally finished their food and drank their water, and it was time to rest. Adar got up and pulled the bunk down by the rope as Vetus Sepher had instructed. He hopped up into the bed and stretched out.

Petro went over to the door, turned the light off, and crawled back into his berth. He lay there, thinking about Dugual, about the Father, and about this so called prophecy. Was the Father planning to attack Dugual? He was surely threatening King Amerstall—but why? The only thing Petro could come up with was the Free City. Dugual was protector of the Free City, and all contracts for technological advances came through Dugual. Was that the reason?

***

When Petro awoke, it was pitch black. He got up and stumbled across the floor to the door. He steadied himself to get his bearings. The vibration of the metal wheels on metal track came up through the floor and into his feet. They were still moving, he concluded. He felt around for a light switch and found one. Flick. Low, unobtrusive lights came on. The basket was still there on the floor, next to his berth. There was a jolt, and the train rocked back and forth slightly and then settled back in place. He wondered if they were still underground or on top, for it was dark out. Petro opened the door and peered out into the dimly lit corridor. There was no one. He strolled over to the door, which opened to the dining room, and passed by a restroom on his left. When he got to the other door, he tried to open it, but it was locked. He scratched his head and went back to the other side of the car and tried the door that led into coach. It, too, was locked. His forehead creased between his eyebrows. There was a sound coming from behind him, so he walked back toward the dining car. The sound came from the restroom. It was running water. The door opened before Petro could even move to the side, and Sha stared at him. The two didn’t even exchange one word; Sha pushed past Petro and went back into his room, carrying a glass bottle full of water. Sha was a strange fellow, Petro thought, and he hoped that when they got to Tokus Numas, they’d go their separate ways.

Petro went back to his room and sat thinking about why they might have locked the doors. It could be because they didn’t want them to leave—or escape was more like it. Maybe they thought he might be in some danger, so they put them in this car by themselves, locked it, and had guards on the other side of the doors. That did sound more plausible to him. There was one more reason; maybe they felt he might be a danger to other passengers. Nah, that really didn’t add up. Vetus Sepher did mention to him that part of the reason he was at Tokus Numas was because of the prophecy, which he didn’t like. Did the Numas know he could see the future? He doubted it. Did the prophecy go into such detail? He also doubted it. However, his curiosity was peaked to know more about this prophecy the Father had mentioned. The thought of the Father brought back the thought of King Offing and how the Father had killed him. Why? There was the rumor King Offing had attacked a border village of the Father’s lands, but was it true? Petro wasn’t sure. The Unified Kingship would handle the matter—he moved away from thinking of King Offing to thinking of Dia and Silda. He missed them already—and he’d only been gone a little while. Would it fade? This feeling of being alone, away from his friends? Growing up didn’t seem to be what he thought it might be—it sort of stunk.

A new thought came to his mind—did Queen Lilith and King Amerstall know about this prophecy? If so, why didn’t they tell him? Did they think he couldn’t handle it? Why did the Father tell him on the field? He recalled the Father saying he felt Petro was ready, but he was not fooled by his words. There was a different reason for it, even if Petro couldn’t see it now. Petro let out his breath and leaned back on his berth. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

There is an energy that resonates from Spearca, one that has not been fully understood. The studies carried out have found little information as to what this energy is, and what it does—only small measurements of it have been recorded, the ebb and flow of it pulsating over and over, until there is a larger, more noticeable discharge of energy.

—From
Energy Sources
, by the scientific community of the Free City

P
etro felt the sting of sunlight beam through the glass panes into the sleeper car. He yawned, stretched, and then picked at an eye booger from the corner of his eye. “That’s a big one,” he said quietly to himself before flicking it away. The train rocked back and forth, like being on the open waters in a boat. Outside he could see the expanse of a pine forest; a large, glistening lake; and mountains in the backdrop careening by. They were still headed westerly, but they had veered north to where the mountains began leaving behind the open plains and deserts in the southwest. He caught a group of deerlings eating off a patch of withered grass, taking in the last of what they could before the winter came.

Petro went to get up and banged his head on the bunk. “Owww.” He rubbed his head. Adar groaned, still in a deep sleep. The snores he gave off in the middle of the night were so loud they had started to worry Petro.

“You awake?” Petro said.

“Yeah…I just need to pry myself out of bed is all. I’m so tired. That ride in the back of that wagon took it out of me. They should consider giving us some kind of cushion if we are going to ride that long,” Adar said. “And these robes—they help, but I was cold.”

“And those poor horses, how do you think they feel?” Petro jabbed back in a playful tone.

Adar pulled the pillow over his face. “Ugghhh.”

“Come on. Let’s see if we can explore a little instead of just staying in here the whole time. Sound like fun?” Petro said. What he really wanted was to distract his mind, even if it were for just a little while.

“All right. Give me a moment,” Adar said. He pulled the blankets off, swung his legs over the edge of the bunk, and leaned forward. “You want to ask yappy to come with us?”

Petro laughed. “I guess. He can’t be that bad.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” Adar jumped down off the bunk.

The two walked out into the aisle and went next door. They knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Petro put his ear up against the door. “He might be in there,” he said and then knocked again. He was thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bother Sha. He just didn’t seem like he wanted any company, so Petro stopped. “Let’s get something to eat and then come back, OK?” he said, but he thought maybe Adar would forget about Sha, and they could go explore the train on their own.

When they got to the dining car, Petro hesitated a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Adar asked.

“Nothing; it’s just that last night when I got up, I came out here, and the doors were locked.”

Adar reached forward and pulled the latch, and the door opened. “Hmm, well, it’s open now.”

Petro went through the opening, followed by Adar.

They were still in the mountains, of course, passing by the vast range in the distance. He could even feel a difference in pressure up here; his ears had a sort of stuffy feeling to them.

“I see our food is here,” Adar said.

There were two baskets sitting out. Petro picked one, and Adar took the other. They sat down at a booth and started in on their breakfast. Petro glanced back over his shoulder to where they had just gotten the baskets. “There’s only two baskets?”

Adar had a peeled egg in his mouth already; he gave a shrug and chewed on his food.

“I guess you’re right. Maybe Sha got his earlier this morning,” Petro said. If he did, he must have gotten up early, but Petro really couldn’t tell what time it was here. There was no way to tell, and the winter days were deceiving with their gray, overcast skies. It could be early, it could be midday, or it could be getting close to the evening, but he felt it was somewhere between morning and midday.

“Did you know Sha? I mean from before now?” Adar asked.

Petro put his food down. “No, I didn’t know him. We probably didn’t travel in the same circles,” he said and immediately wished he could take it back.

“Because you were a ward; that’s understandable. So what did you do back in Dugual?”

There was a knock on the door behind him, and a train conductor entered into the room. “Good morning,” he said.

Adar and Petro replied to him with good morning. The conductor gave a slight bow at the waist and started off.

“Sir? Have you seen our friend Sha?” Petro asked. Something was nagging his gut about Sha and the missing basket of food, not to mention Sha filling up his bottle of water the night before in the restroom.

“No, sir. I have not. Is there any concern?” the conductor asked.

“Oh, I knocked on his door, but he didn’t answer is all,” Petro said.

The conductor nodded, tipped his hat, and then spun around and left the dining car, heading toward their sleeper car.

“You ever think about changing your mind?” Adar said.

It was something Petro actually hadn’t thought of until now. “Can we change our minds?”

Adar put his elbows up on the table. “Yeah; didn’t you read about it in your tablet?”

Petro glanced around and gave Adar that look one gives when one meant to do something, but that something ended up not happening at all. “I sort of lost my tablet,” he said.

Adar laughed. “Truly? Well, you aren’t missing much. They…”

Just then the conductor came back into the dining car. “Sirs, your friend Sha is not in his room. I thought you should know. He’s probably just moving about the train,” he said. Then he disappeared back through the door.

Was Sha just moving about the train, or was he up to no good? Petro wondered. Sha had kept quiet all this time, kept to himself, and he just didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with anyone. It didn’t sit well with Petro. “I think we should go look for him,” Petro said.

“What…why?” Adar said. He took a quick drink of his water and capped the top.

“I think he’s trying to leave.”

Adar looked at him with a curious look. “Ummm…OK, and why do you think he’s trying to leave?”

Petro stood up and packed up the rest of his food in the basket. “Well, he was up late last night when I came out into the aisle. I nearly ran into him coming out of the restroom, and I noticed his bottle of water. He’d filled it back up, and now his basket is gone, and he’s not in the sleeper car.”

“That don’t mean anything. He could be just eating his food somewhere else on the train,” Adar said.

Petro thought about it, and it didn’t quite add up. “Maybe, but he’s been distant as well. It makes me wonder what’s going on is all. Regardless we should try and find him. Maybe he needs some company.”

Adar got up and brushed off the crumbs that had collected on his lap. “I think maybe he wants to be alone. If he wanted company, he wouldn’t have left the area.”

Petro wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Come on.” He took a quick drink from his bottle, set it down, and led the way out of the dining car.

The two of them went into the coach section where the other passengers were sitting. The first thing Petro noticed was the smell; it was that spicy beef that permeated the air. It smelled good, actually, and he thought he’d prefer it to the eggs and bread he was eating back in the dining car. Come to think of it, the Numas should really have something else for them to eat. The train was not as full as Petro recalled, and he wondered if they had stopped in the middle of the night. He felt his heart speed up. If they had stopped, maybe Sha got off; maybe he decided not to go onto Tokus Numas. He slowed his pace and stood off to the side near a couple of empty seats.

“What’s going on?” Adar said.

“Are you sure you can change your mind? About going to Tokus Numas?” Petro asked, his voice low.

“Yeah, that’s what I read. Why?”

“Because I think we stopped last night, and I think maybe Sha got off the train,” he said.

Just then, from other side of the train, coming through the door, was Sha. He walked toward them, but wasn’t looking at them; he was looking through them. He passed on by without saying a word.

“Come on,” Adar said, and he led the way back to their sleeper car. Petro followed, feeling a little like a beardwhick.