Chapter Ten
Night drew her curtain over the sun.
"We have a long day of travel ahead of us tomorrow," said Meegle.
Marius said, "I'll fetch bunches of mara-grass for us to sleep on."
"We have cotton sheets which we spread on top of the grass, to prevent itching."
"Katy and I slept in trees the last few nights, because of the wild beasts who roam the forest," Andrew said.
"We travel this path often, and we know the forest well," assured Marius. "Those animals are rarely found in this part of the woods. But as an extra precaution, we will sleep with our bows beside us. Between our bows and your sword, we should be safe from all but a pack of eaguars. But I guarantee you, eaguars are never found here anyway."
They arranged the bedding and lay down to sleep. A few minutes passed, when Katy pointed at the sky. "Ooh, how pretty. What is that? It looks like a gigantic fireworks display."
"That is the result of many comets colliding with each other," Meegle replied. "It happens pretty often in the sky of the Realms."
"Where do the pieces land?" Andrew asked.
"Mostly they stay out in space," said Marius. "The small percentage that do fall here typically burn up before they hit the ground, or fall harmlessly into the Sea."
"A half a comet caused a tsunami a couple hundred years ago, in the Southern Sea," said Meegle. "But such occurrences are rather uncommon. I wouldn't worry about it."
The brilliant show the sky put on for them lasted several more minutes. And then, they were soon asleep. The trekkers slept soundly that night, with no horrifying beasts awakening them.
The next morning dawned like any other. They woke to the trilling of birds. Katy went off in search of fruit and water for breakfast. The others packed up the bedding and prepared for the road. Ten minutes had passed when a mile down the path three men dressed in blue uniforms, with dark blue helmets, appeared from the skies. They flew with a sort of open, one-manned helicopter. It was essentially just rotors with an engine, and a harness that hung down below the blades. The men landed on the path.
The instant they landed they disconnected from the helicopters and folded the blades up neatly into a small box, with a handle for carrying.
The men were armed with spears.
Two of them split off into the forest, while the third advanced towards the wagon. Andrew noticed that they were moving quickly and efficiently, like trained soldiers.
"It's Blue's Elite Guard! They may be looking for fresh slaves!" Meegle hissed. "Quick, hide in the mara-grass before they see you!"
Andrew dove into the back of the wagon and covered himself with the grey grass, hoping against hope that he had not been seen.
The Guard rapidly covered the distance between the landing point and the wagon. Andrew peeked out from a small hole in the wooden wagon wall. He approached the brothers, towering over them. He must have been at least six foot six.
"Have you two seen any humans?" the Guard asked. His voice was cold and metallic. Inhuman. His oily mustache wiggled as he talked.
"N-No sir, we d-didn't, sir."
The Guard held up a small, black, rectangular box, which emitted a rapid, high pitched beep. "Our sensors indicate that there is a human in the area. Those found guilty of lying to the Guard can be punished by death, you know."
"Self made and self imposed law," Meegle muttered.
"What?" shouted the guard, pressing the tip of his spear nearly through Meegle's nose.
"N-nothing, sorry," said Meegle. But the expression on his face showed anything but remorse.
"What would a human from the Mortal Realm be doing here, in the Rainforest of Green?" Marius asked boldly.
"That's none of your business" the Guard snapped.
He walked around to the back of the wagon.
"Now, I suppose you won't mind me sticking my spear into this here mara-grass, being that there aren't any humans in it, or anything else for that matter. Correct?" he drawled.
Beads of sweat poured down the brothers' faces. They were trapped. Andrew, their Narwah, their benefactor, was only seconds away from turning into human shish-kebob. —
"No!—"
"Yes!—"
The Guard raised his spear, about to plunge it straight into the grass where Andrew was hiding.
Then a high-pitched scream was heard, coming from the forest. They found Katy.
The Guard's radio crackled to life.
"You found her. Good. Orders are to take her to the King immediately. Over.”
The Guard started to walk away. “You two are lucky that I must go now. Or I would stay and deal with your insubordination. One of you was lying, perhaps both." said the Guard over his shoulder.
Meegle and Marius glared back at him with an expression of greatest loathing written on their pudgy faces.
A quarter mile down the path another one of the Guard appeared, Katy flung over his shoulder.
She beat her fists on the Guard's back and screamed, "Put me down, put me down you fat oaf! Andrew will take care of you! He knows judo!"
Andrew looked at Katy's face. It showed her fear, her utter horror over being taken by the Guards. He wanted badly to do something. But he couldn't. Getting them both captured wouldn't help any.... so he was forced to watch in pain, as Katy was taken away from him.
The Guard sniffed. "I have never heard of this Lord Andrew whom you speak of." He pronounced it like Ahn-drow. "I doubt he will be a concern. Let's go, our Supreme Master awaits."
The Guard and his partner gagged Katy and tied her wrists together. In the blink of an eye they unfolded their heli-packs, strapped them on, and took off, Katy in tow.
Katy was gone.
Andrew was distraught and broken. All he could think was that he should've done something. Something to help her. He should've challenged the Guards with the katana. Or shot at them with the brothers' bows and arrows.
The small part of Andrew's mind that could still think rationally through the fog of his grief told him that there was nothing that he could've done. The immortal Elite Guard had hundreds of years of training behind them. He had no hope of taking them on alone.
But rational thinking wasn't coming easy for Andrew now. Sorrow pierced his very soul. Who knew what the tyrannical Blue would do to her?
He climbed out of the mara-grass. The brothers walked over and immediately spotted the grief on his face.
"We're sorry. Was she special to you?"
Andrew nodded.
He didn't know if he could go on. The person that he cared about most in the world was gone. What was the point of anything now?
Then Bella came trotting out of the forest, and headed straight for Andrew. He held her and petted her. Instantly, her magic took effect. Andrew found his strength and courage returning, his fear and sadness ebbing away. Although the pain didn't go completely. It was only numbed somewhat.
Andrew was now torn over what to do next. Go after Blue, or go after the maker of the book?
"Where are they taking her?"
"Probably to Blue's undersea fortress."
"He prefers to reside beneath the great blue sea."
"Can I go there and try to rescue her?" Andrew asked.
"It would be impossible to penetrate with anything less than a small army. And even then, your chances wouldn't be good."
But Andrew saw a ray of hope in this. "Maybe it was Blue who created the Kingdom of the Light and summoned me here. I will turn myself in, and Katy will go free!"
"You are right that it is certainly possible that it was Blue who lured you to this world. But he would never give up a useable slave. Even if you were to turn yourself in, Katy would remain a slave of Blue for the rest of her life, regardless of whether or not she was the one who he was searching for."
He was right. The plan wouldn't work. "You make a good point, M
arius. I guess you would know something of Blue and his slaves. So what do I do? How do I go about freeing Katy?"
"I think that your best plan of action would be to try and find out why Blue had his men were searching for humans," said Meegle.
"And when you do find the person who created the book and summoned you here, you will have gained the answer to that question as well," said Marius.
Meegle explained, "if Blue is indeed the maker of the book, and the one who brought you here, then he was simply searching for the person that he summoned."
"And if someone else created the book, then it must follow that the reason Blue is searching for you is to keep you from meeting up with that person," said Marius.
"Okay," said Andrew, his mind made up. "I will continue to Cassara, to solve the mystery of who brought us here. Trying to break into Blue's compound by myself is suicide anyway. But everything just got a lot more complicated. Besides for finding a way home, I also need to free Katy."
"Wise choice," said Meegle.
"Like you mortals say, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Marius. "And you are choosing—"
"—the hard place," said Meegle.
"—the rock," said Marius at the same time.
The brothers looked at each other and laughed. Andrew smiled. Yesterday, this slight disagreement would have been cause for a fight to the death. So there was hope for Blue's slaves. He only hoped that he could rescue Katy before she became a slave at all.