Fire crackled merrily, shadows danced across the walls and ceiling forming intriguing designs. I yawned and smiled because I could feel the difference in the air. Either a warming trend occurred or those sweet males had started on some project that would produce similar warmth to what helped me move about easier.
“I shall have to learn what they appreciate in gifts.” I would have to take them somehow. They had given me simple tools to work on engaging my brain in taking a new skill that would otherwise go unknown and unacknowledged. I couldn’t let this opportunity escape me either.
Right now, I thought of what I could make for the two men. “I can just ask outright since that is the most direct method.” I mused on the prospect because I’d began doing simple words and reading them in proper sentences.
Under my breath, I chanted softly. “Ask, learn, absorb, begin, understand, practice, repeat with new words, new spellings, and new ways of using language.” I had also begun learning to write names and learn their pronunciation. I’ve discovered that phonetics isn’t easily learned but it made sounding out words much simpler than any other method.
I just had to remember that what a word sounded like didn’t come close to the spelling. That didn’t stop me from wanting to add to my store of growing knowledge. I knew blank spaces in my head meant I’d known similar skills but couldn’t break through the blocks yet. Either it wasn’t time for them to come down or I hadn’t come across a situation that would unlock and remove those blockages.
I yawned, fell asleep, and began dreaming about another flash from the past.
Steep cliffs surrounded us. Several jagged rocks tumbled into the waters surrounding the raft. Heavy rainfall had caused deep flooding in several areas where we normally would put into dock. Forced into traveling several hundred miles out of our way, I feared for the lives of the passengers accompanying us.
My boys and girls stood at the corners, with paddles in hand, while the guide stood at the rudder. I sat with the passengers because I’m useless as far as navigating on water. It wasn’t my element nor could I discern distances easily with the unexpected twists and turns the wide winding river took us.
I glanced at one of the passengers. Terilee, she glanced at me with a lifted eyebrow. I shrugged. “I don’t recognize this place. It isn’t the same as what I remembered.”
Terilee laughed at me. “Well of course it wouldn’t. Almost ten years have passed, silly,” she chided me. “It isn’t as if any of us have grown any smarter in the last decade.” Her tone held reserve.
I merely sighed. “I’m not the same either. Why did you return to the caravan?” I noticed she had a tattooed collar around her neck now. Embedded spikes made me swallow nervously. When had the caravan began that little detail?
Terilee touched her throat when she noticed me staring and shrugged, indifferent to my dismay. “Women are slaves but this time we went to a new owner. One that won’t treat us badly, Myra, and doesn’t blame us for infertility of the men. You are fortunate that you did escape.”
I frowned hearing that but wasn’t entirely sure if my ears deceived me. I also didn’t recall Terilee that submissive either.
Right then the children turned to glance at me. They slanted their gazes at the passengers and conveyed warnings I understood. A trap, most likely, but one I didn’t quite catch. Therefore, I chose to continue observing and asking questions when I could.
One of the guides turned and stared at me. He had flat green eyes. Dark curling hair that hung to his shoulders, framing a powerful muscled chest, exposing extremely scarred and tanned skin. He glowered at me as if resenting the fact I even rode in the raft with them. Who was he and why did he stare at me with such hatred?
Terilee followed my gaze and immediately twisted to avoid meeting his gaze. “That is Roanoke. He wasn’t part of the original caravan. He comes from somewhere else. No one knows what he is, other than a color changer.”
Huh, odd, I merely inclined my head. “What of the other three guides?” I had a feeling I should know who they were but had no notion of why.
Terilee laughed softly. “Why don’t you recognize the one with tawny sun streaked orange hair? I could’ve sworn that is, ah...” pain twisted her features. “I’m sorry...I am unable to tell you.” She panted.
A definite sign of something wrong. I did look at him and instantly my skin crawled. If Orland and Morley were somewhere nearby, I’d feel them, one would think. I continued to observe him and sighed. In this case, I wouldn’t distract him. No point in doing something that would send us over an actual hundred-foot fall. I’d seen it happen before and had no wish to experience such a disaster myself any time soon.
Artemis murmured. The tawny orange-haired one is actually Antony. He is in disguise, mother. Don’t blow his cover.
Huh, that made a difference for me. I followed her directive on that. I also didn’t bother to worry about others who’d come into my peripheral view. This dream had connotations that distressed me. When would I become helpful to them?
Once we rounded another dangerous curve and surmounted four more cataracts, I saw the last possible docking point. “Over to the left,” I called. “Else we’ll go over a fall into underground tunnels.” We’d die at that point too if I remembered what occurred beneath those caverns.
I’d explored as a child and what I found is I could breathe beneath water, but only in a form that allowed water to run through it with buoyancy. I hadn’t remained in the form long, but enough to know there wasn’t a way out of the underground tunnels.
I saw Roanoke exchange a quick startled glance with the other guides. Evidently, they had known about the turnoff, but hadn’t realized a passenger would as well. I ignored that strange moment and focused on the complications of maneuvering a raft.
That’s when I realized a memory had come to me of something I didn’t recall doing. I shrugged and put it aside as something to mull upon when I had alone time. Meanwhile, all of us took turns tossing lines to various waiting people on the dock.
I saw no one familiar there but it didn’t bother me. After all, I’d arrived there before but with much less to carry. I turned and picked up bundles of varying weights.
“Here, give me that. You shouldn’t take on such awkward amounts while not standing on a steady surface.” His voice familiar, I glanced around startled to see Antony giving me an impatient scowl.
With a shrug, I gave way to him, but insisted on carrying my personal luggage. I didn’t carry much with me for these travels and later transactions. Instead, I preferred to purchase items to fill heavy bags for the return journey overland. “How is our sister doing?” I quietly inquired.
A smile lit Antony’s face. “She’s doing good and looking forward to meeting her nieces and nephews.”
For one reason or another, I hadn’t met my younger sister until she reached the age of fourteen, the year I’d escaped the caravan and bore four babies. When I finally did meet her, it was through circumstances better left unremembered. I almost shuddered as the weight of the incident shook me from head to toe.
Antony gave me a concerned glance. “Don’t let the incident distract you right now,” he warned me. “Whatever you think happened, most likely didn’t as you’d recall.”
Strange but I merely forced visions from hazing my mind’s eye. He was right. I had to focus on my footing if I didn’t want to wind up swept over the waterfall that waited for the unsuspecting a mere ten feet around another corner.
Even as I thought it, I winced hearing an agonizing scream and echoing shrieks from the very place I didn’t want to envision. I sighed. “Someone took a dare, huh?” I saw someone on the dock who heard me and merely laughed with disdain.
“There’s always going to be some fools that don’t listen to warnings.” He met my gaze with measuring remoteness.
Huh? I looked up and around, realizing I was the only one left on the raft. The others had already exited and my four children waited impatiently for me to disembark. Now I had to figure out the pattern before anyone realized that the water disoriented me very badly.
As for the speaker, Roanoke, I remembered his name. “I’m sure there are.” I responded with a shrug. What else should I say other than yeah he was right? Nah, I wasn’t giving him that satisfaction.
“I suppose you’ll find your way here and about without much trouble.” Roanoke smiled suddenly. “Welcome to Orange post. Here we take lessons in the village and sell goods. We’re tested for placement in various types of apprenticeships that can practice from afar.” He shrugged when I stared at him bewildered. “Oh don’t worry; you have to show off your work,” he stated when Antony hit him with a withering stare.
I grunted as I made my way through the winding rocking path to which the raft was precariously tied. “I’d rather ensure I don’t join the idiot who just went over the falls, thank you very much. I’ll ask what you’re talking about once I’m on somewhat solid footing.”
A faint rattling caught my attention and I looked upward as I took the final step onto the dock. Something perched there, ominous, menacing and I pointed with wordless horror. Only as before, no one saw what I did as I pitched forward onto my face, into much splintered wood of the dock.
Sweat covered every inch of my body. I hated dreams like that. I wasn’t able to tell if it was manufactured or not from other sources. Whatever warnings or portents it held, I would discuss with Carob and perhaps Antony. Sometimes they shared the same dreams as I did. I didn’t know if the babies had the same difficulties.
It never occurred to me to ask them much less see if I could address them through mind speak. The ability had returned from sheer frustration and the males had heard me cursing unusable objects—that turned out very easy to operate—when I hadn’t found readable instructions. When I explained my issue, in muted tones other than screaming aggravation, they’d laughed and then reassured me.
The recollection calmed me down and I was able to fall asleep, dreamlessly this time. Thus, another day began, after an uncomfortable dawn prior. What with new nightmares dogging my heels I didn’t know where to turn next. Despite that problem, I relaxed against a pillow as I awakened and yawned. I knew I would have to address some concerns the two males held in regards to my children. Names, why did I have to pick names? Bah, I’d worry about it later. Irritated I shrugged as other needs nagged at me. I also reasoned that it wasn’t as if I had to make the decision today.
Throughout the past days, though the babies gave me hints of their names already. “Artemis, Ares, Selene, and Samuel,” I slowly spoke the names and sighed somewhat ruefully. “Now I just have to understand their pronunciations and the meanings.”
I grimaced in dismay as something else occurred to me. “Not to mention learning how to spell the names, and figure out what else I should do with them,” I sighed wearily contemplating the task and shook my head uneasily.
Just the thought of doing that, understanding how to write more than my name, gave me the jitters. “A cherished dream, a need buried within me. Soon shall I learn to write and more?” I savored the notion. Beyond that, I knew I had to start focusing on how to integrate into the males’ household.
I found them baffling, intriguing, and unsurprisingly fiercely protective of their privacy. On more than one occasion, I debated the notion of leaving but always found it difficult to leave. I had no wherewithal to draw from either, much less survival skills that would assist me in a different environment.
* * * *
Eerie noises came from above and around them. “This place is weird.” Morley glanced warily upwards and grimaced. “How can anyone want to live in that place where water doesn’t run off predictably?” This was worse than inside the canopy or the ruins where demons dwelled. “Has she lost her mind entirely beyond what the potion did to her?” He shook his head doubtfully. Yet this site, envisioned from more than one source meant the recapture of Myra and taking her brats.
“This is what she saw in a dream,” Morse stated unmoved with his grumbles about the location. “You don’t have to join in the planning or the action,” he reminded Morley with mocking confidence. “After all, all it’s going to do is depose the demon and disperse the spirits’ soul essence into the ether.”
He cast Morse an annoyed scowl. “I’d rather not talk about it right now.” Undecided whether he should setup the ambush or not, Morley stood with skepticism soughing through him, and regarded his erstwhile companion dubiously.
He still had his doubts about the location no matter what Morse propounded about its prime area for trapping idiots. “This is the paradise where she’ll come to sell her goods whatever she makes worthy of purchase?” Such alien barren landscape filled him with awe and no little fear. How would anyone give up life in the canopies on high for a dreary place such as this? He didn’t get it.
“There are cliff people, Morley.” Morse shrugged. “They have similar practices as what you do with females and the like.” His face turned stony when he added. “They however don’t enjoy creating fabrics. Those that they do, they use for practical purposes. Thus they purchase the colorful ones when deciding it’s time to find a wife or husband.” His smile turned sly.
Morley shivered because he distinctly remembered some macabre scenes. “That’s just plain weird. I thought I was bizarre in my tastes and beliefs.” He rubbed his arms because hair prickled when he recalled the visions. “Is it foresight or simply a twisted imagination that gave her those images?” He’d asked the wrong person evidently.
The older man made a very rude noise and just shook his head in disbelief. “How the hell would I know?” Morse gave him a dirty look. “I haven’t seen anything that she makes yet.” He stretched his arms and rose from a crouched position. “We need to move—these trees such as they are, will attract lighting much faster than if we’re near some of the rocks.”
“I know that much indeed,” Morley grunted but didn’t argue with that assessment. “I’ve seen what happens when someone is struck.” He also knew the destructive properties of the lightning. “It is a pity that the lightning bolt that hit two girls standing in a clearing didn’t fry them.”
Even as he remembered, Morley shrugged his frustration because he’d called that lightning down on purpose to fry Myra. “Back then, she didn’t have a problem with learning skills as a girl properly should.” He hadn’t cared about her companion at the time, Terilee something or other.
Morley ignored the fact that Morse had grown very quiet and contemplative, almost morose as soon as he’d mentioned the lightning strike. She’d proved a problem because she’d ignored his advances and resisted impulses he’d planted to bring her to his bed.
Later he decided he’d dispose of her somewhere else and she’d wound up as a better bargain in gaining safe passage to this area previously. His brow wrinkled. Huh, he did have some notion of this area that he hadn’t recalled.
“Why had you mentioned that and the changes engendered in Myra?” Morse inquired casually.
Morley thought about the question and shrugged because it didn’t strike him as intrusive or strange. “Oh I just recalled because not long after the incident, she became distinctly darker, remote, distant, and definitely hostile toward me and other males that would’ve courted her.” His jaw clenched as he began realizing just how differently she altered.
He missed the fact that Morse’s eyes narrowed with displeasure at his casual dismissal of Myra’s troubles. “Not that it matters now.” It was almost as if another creature inhabited her and kicked the placid slightly dull but very feminine girl and replaced her with someone else, far more resilient and a real fighter too.
Morley pondered something else bothering him and he shrugged eventually. “She’s useless because of the retrogression she went through immediately after the poison took effect.” He snorted derisively. “She couldn’t even find her way to a watering hole without half-drowning in the process.” He mocked the fallen female with rising hatred.
Interesting that that the memory shook loose now, but he decided it would serve him well. He could refresh the memories as he took in all the changes six years made since he was last there with the caravan. “I doubt we’d have this conversation about Myra, demons, and ambushes.” On one hand while it destroyed and burnt anything in its path to ash and glass, it also gave new life with the seeds lying dormant a place to grow once the ash dissipated.
Thunder rumbled somewhere nearby. Lightning flashed continuously. Water roared through narrow ominously dark-hued canyons. Occasionally he could make out figures moving along walls though how they stayed up there amongst the washouts, Morley couldn’t fathom.
The older man who’d talked him into coming out to this area smiled with confidence that aggravated Morley. “Aye because tapestries that scared the whey out of your lily-livered Elders appeal to folks that don’t travel in areas where myths are alive but merely legend.”
Morse glanced at him. “You do know that vampires and other creatures exist, right?”
No shit since very likely he was a vampire though he’d yet to manifest any sign of needing blood or dropping fangs on someone. He gained his kicks in different passions, none of which he cared to discuss with either Morse or anyone else for that matter either.
A sigh escaped Morley. “I do,” he conceded absently. “I’ve some oddities in my background that never came to light.” He’d arranged to join the caravan on advice of others. A way of coming of age, they’d insisted. Now he wondered if they’d done it to prevent him from taking over a coven of vampires.
Ravines once open, now filled with water, as they become impromptu waterfalls and gave way to becoming cataracts. Morley had never traveled this far from the usual routes. Yet Morse informed him the caravan had done so although apparently his memory took a leave of absence.
What he saw was a dangerous paradise filled with hidden traps, one that held promise of prosperity. Only crazy and daring travelers ventured through the winding canyons via raft and boat to follow dusty legend and turn it into reality. Morley found it threatening and didn’t think it worth the hassle. However he’d come this far and knew it wouldn’t hurt to continue exploring the edges of the area.
Leafy trees bowed in the wind. Vines alternately whipped into live curtains and then braided into large clumps. Spears of granite and limestone protruded light and gray against brilliant pink, red, and orange-jagged cliffs. As he studied the sight, Morley Guy’s hands clenched. The setup was too good to be true.
He turned his head and stared at Morse. “This isn’t familiar to me, but I imagine it will work as far as an ambush is concerned.” Speculations whirled through his head, none that he cared to share with anyone. “Are you sure they’re going to travel down this way at some point?” No, he didn’t trust Morse to create a situation that would force a confrontation between certain forces.
“Not for a couple weeks, since she’s still recovering.” Morse shrugged indifferently. “I’d think others would want time to set up an ambush that’ll actually work this time.” His cool stare passed over Morley. “You don’t want to go through one of the nastier tortures that demon can come up with. What he’s done so far is mediocre.”
Say what? Morley gawked at Morse in shock. Infuriated that he knew as much as he did about his problems, Morley glared at Morse. “How the hell do you come by all this information?” He demanded answers after having received nothing of value from Morse or anyone else for several days.
Morse grunted. “I answer to higher deities. Those deities want the demon subdued or at least quelled for a period of time.” He folded his arms once more. “As for how I came by my information, it’s simple,” He tilted his head at Morley’s infuriated motionless form and stopped him cold with disgusted contempt.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere, you moron.” Morse shook his head at Morley and proved he was a tad slow on the uptake. “Even the deities need informants loyal to their whims.” A feral gleam entered the pale amber eyes rendering them crimson grey. “You aren’t the only one who wants to gain power.”
Morse’s tone turned censorious, chiding when adding very sarcastically. “I go about it somewhat differently and a tad more subtly than you have, that’s all.” He glowered at Morley, his calm vanishing for the first time in Morley’s memory. “Besides, I have nothing I cherish in the world. At least nothing I would outright claim and shout to the deities.” He stopped talking then and simply waited for Morley to make up his mind.
Bullcrap he didn’t, but he’d find Morse’s weaknesses and exploit them when they weren’t on the verge of succeeding in a venture long sought not just by Morley. He knew of other individuals he hadn’t exposed in all his time collaborating with the demon that wanted the girl dead. Now he suspected he understood the reason why. Morse had just signed his death warrant and didn’t realize it yet.
Not appreciating the sarcasm, censorious tone, or the contempt lashing at him, Morley just smirked. “So what did you do that landed you here in what I presume is painful exile?” He mocked Morse. “I don’t believe you’re here willingly when you can operate elsewhere so much more efficiently.” He shrugged and dismissed the mocking taunts of earlier.
Morse snorted at his remarks. He didn’t respond to the baiting or taunting nature of anything Morley flung at him. He merely remained implacable and stony-featured as he regarded Morley with growing disgust.
Morley caught that change in attitude and revised his stance. He didn’t want to alienate Morse until he had the opportunity to dispose of him into the demon’s keeping or his primary bosses. “I’ll listen to what you’re going to suggest about the ambush, old man.” He forced a friendlier demeanor as he coaxed Morse to talk to him more. “Obviously I’m out of my depth and I need to work a tad harder at being more subtle.”
He smiled slowly as he offered his opinion. “Now what should I begin when recruiting people to become the hunters without giving indication they’re likely not going to survive the ambush?” Morley knew he’d likely escaped a very nasty wakeup call when he altered his attitude toward Morse. The other had more sources readily available than he realized and would benefit from that knowledge once he drained it from the individual later.