But what of their mission to locate the source of the River of Thought and destroy the dreamstone dam? Nola thought they should attend to that first. But she didn’t voice her thought. For one thing, if they didn’t do something about the Fren soon, they would never reach the source.
Spirit trotted north, back the way they had come. Mich followed with Tina clinging tightly to his waist. Snort flew ahead to watch for danger.
Nola was just a little green. Tina, despite her status, was very pretty, with her long blond hair and more than adequate bosom. She had been a mess when they arrived in Kafka, but her clean-up job had been effective. Now Nola worried how she herself looked. As if she didn’t have more important things to be concerned about.
Tina was frightened by just about everything they saw. When they stopped for a snack, she was even frightened by the spotted oranges, but she enjoyed them. Nola told her to be careful not to eat any mushrooms, but Tina reminded her that the mushrooms were her own idea. Tina found Nola’s story of eating the worm eggs hilarious.
When night drew close, they were near the worm tunnel where they had been abducted. They discussed it and decided they should inform King Kras of his warriors’ fate.
They soon discovered that King Kras’s kingdom was in ruin and the king himself was deathly ill. His pedestal lay in a crumbled, tarnished heap.
“I feared that when I hadn’t had word of them. Do not worry, they are not dead,” he mumbled.
“What’s up with you, Kras? What happened to your kingdom and your pretty silver throne?” Tina asked.
“I was preparing to send you a message when I learned that you were here, my dear Christine. When I called forth the royal ca-vanymph to carry the message, I was attacked by the Fren. There were many here. I fear they have made off with my son. His enclosure had been ripped open. None of my loyal subjects remain. I fear they are all dead or run off.” He coughed up some green goo, and turned an ugly shade of brown.
“Don’t worry!” Tina cried. “I will help Nola fight the Fren and I’ll bring back your people. Just don’t die!” She embraced the slimy worm.
King Kras jerked back and blinked his red eyes. “No!” he coughed. His voice, despite its cracking, was still authoritative. “I must insist. You cannot fight the Fren alone. You must enlist the dragons. They reside in the unknown region of Kafka.”
“But the dragons won’t help us,” Mich interjected.
“They will if you have the right credential. Here, carry this to them. You must continue south.” He looped his tongue up to remove his crown. Inside the silver bowl was a medal. It was made of iron and was in the shape of a crescent moon. Resting inside the curving moon was a six-pointed star.
Nola heard Spirit whinny for the first time. His voice was sweetly terrifying. The Kahh!
“Yes. Take it to the dragons. They will not refuse you. No one will.” He tongued it to Mich. He coughed feebly and rolled his eyes, which had now turned black. Tina hugged him again, gently, and his skin tone looked better where she touched it. She was, indeed, his Creator.
Mich turned the star over, looking closely. “But what is it?”
Kras grimaced with pain. “Leave me. There is danger here. Go—now!” he gasped.
“But I can heal you!” Tina protested. “It will take some time, but I know I can do it. You’re my creature.”
“Yes. That is why I will not let you take the risk. You are immeasurably more valuable than I am. You must go.”
“Do it,” Mich recommended. “We must protect our Creators at all costs, and we of Kafka appreciate the dangers better.”
“But you can’t really want me to go,” Tina protested to the great worm.
“Yes. I want you to go. Instantly!” Kras sagged, seeming to deflate, and his color deteriorated even more.
Tina’s expression changed. “Well, if that’s the way you feel.” She let go and stepped away, hurt.
The group left Kras behind. Tina seemed not to care anymore. “I never liked him anyway,” she commented sourly.
Nola believed that most Creators would be strange people, but this girl gave new meaning to the word. Nola did not question her. She thought it better to give Tina time to adjust to being in Kafka.
Then something shifted in her mind, and she realized that she had been looking at it the wrong way. Tina simply couldn’t handle rejection, even for good cause, so she pretended she didn’t care. Even to herself.
Once outside, they foraged for food. Mich was too nervous to eat so he sat and waited. He hoped that he could find his father. It was likely that the Fren had killed him, but he put it out of his mind. What kind of hero was he? Kafka was falling and he could only watch. He hoped that whatever special power Nola and Tina had would manifest itself soon.
The group gathered around the tunnel entrance in the dark. The night was unusually quiet. Nola lay huddled against Spirit’s flank and Tina sat beside her. Snort rested his serpentine head on Mich’s lap while Heat grazed.
Mich took the medallion from his pocket and handed it to Nola so she could give it a close inspection. The edges were sharp, like a knife.
“Esprit, you called this a Kahh,” Nola said. “What is it? “
It was a gift to the dragon Kafka, from the Great Wizard. You know him as God.
“From God?” Nola wasn’t sure she understood that, but decided to let it pass. “What is it for?” she asked, still confused about how it would get dragons to help.
Reading Spirit’s thoughts, she knew that dragons were the worst monsters in Kafka. They were numerous and often attacked in swarms. A few were so large that one could easily kill a Centicore with one chomp.
It is the hope symbol. It is the sun rising over the moon, representing light overcoming darkness. In legend, it is used whenever Kafka is threatened, to unite its denizens for the common good. Whoever you show it to will offer his help unconditionally. But only to the one who holds it. It is the one law by which humans and dragons alike must abide.
Heat lifted his head. That is true. However, should it be shown to one who is truly evil, such as the Fren, the symbol will be forever destroyed and all hope with it. Ones like the Fren have no hope and will destroy all they can find. There is a saying. “When the Kahh is lifted high, your enemy will be your friend, all good creatures will be your brothers and hope will satisfy.” As long as a creature has hope then it must obey this law.
Mich hadn’t heard that part, but it made sense now. That, perhaps, might be the reason none of them had ever heard of the worm king. If he was meant to protect the Kahh, it would be wise to remain secluded. He hated to think what would happen if Reility ever got his hands on it. He stuffed it back into his pocket.
Nola had an idea. “Could we use it on the Centicores instead?”
Come to think of it, we could, Heat thought. The Centicores are a rare species, but we could use them too. The dragons are better at fighting large numbers than are the Centicores, but we could accumulate quite a fighting force with those.
Yes, Spirit agreed. It’s too bad that we cannot use the Welties. They would have turned the tide in our favor. He glanced at Nola. Perhaps Nola will find the strength to remember them back into existence.
Nola suddenly felt the burden of saving Kafka weigh heavily on her. Why didn’t she know what to do? There had to be someone who could help her.
The group rested, somewhat uneasily. Mich wished the night was colder so that Nola would seek shelter in his arms. He really did love her. He would much rather have a cushiony, warm girl like her in his lap than a scaly basilisk. If all was lost and Kafka fell, he swore to himself that, somehow, he would get her home safely, though she would take his very soul with her.
Tina, who was not used to this, tossed and turned until Nola finally explained things to her. They talked together for some time. In the morning, Tina seemed more at ease, and the booze had worn the rest of the way off. “You know somethin’?” she remarked musingly. “I’m all the way sober now, and not
only no hangover, I don’t even want to get crocked again.”
“I think those healing berries healed more than your shoulder,” Nola said.
Tina squatted behind a tree to answer nature’s call. She had consumed a lot of alcohol, but now it had cleared. When she was done, she found a luberry bush and sat there, eating and thinking.
She wished she hadn’t gotten involved in all this. It was barely believable, but she had pinched herself several times. She was not dreaming. Not in any ordinary sense. She wished she were.
Kafka was certainly better than the street. She just wished that her grandfather were alive to see it all. He had a wonderful imagination. After his death, she had no one. It hadn’t been long before the money ran out and she was evicted from her home. She found work on the street. She hated it, but it paid her bills and kept food in her stomach, so why should she complain? It was certainly better than being homeless, like her friend Martha.
Martha had turned old and weak from sickness. The last time Tina saw her, she was sick but too weak to vomit. Tina blamed society for that and swore she'd never let it happen to her. But she had been well on the way there when this happened.
Now she wondered: had it really been coincidence? She had felt a tug at odd moments. Could it have been when Nola passed within her range, or dreamed of Kafka? Had she been tuning in on another Creator? And Nola had felt the tug too. Otherwise she would never have befriended a drunken prostitute.
Tina hoped that her new friends never found out that she was ashamed of herself. That was no way to be around people. Once people found that out, they used her, then left her to the dogs like leftover table scraps. She couldn’t figure out why Nola had been so nice to her, even with the tug of Creation. She decided it was pity. Tina wasn’t too proud to accept pity now and then, but she knew that pity didn’t last forever.
“Hey, you okay?” Nola asked, stepping through a bramble bush to reach Tina.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Why don’t you go back to your friends now?”
“Let’s not start this again. We had such a good talk last night. Why don’t you go back to your friends?”
“I ain’t got no friends, girlie.”
“I don’t have any friends,” Nola corrected her, annoyed more by her attitude than her vernacular.
“Whatever. I don’t have and never did have ‘friends.’ All I got is Johnboy. He protects me and he ain’t never asked me for too mucha my change, so I give him some merchandise free a charge.”
Nola, despite herself, was disgusted. Tina was really a pretty girl. It was too bad that she had wasted herself that way. Yet at the same time she realized that others might say the same about Nola’s own abusive relationship with John. How much difference was there between Tina’s Johnboy and Nola’s John? So maybe she couldn’t afford to be judgmental.
Tina sighed as if she were being forced to do something difficult and got up to join the others.
“Well,” Mich said, “I’m glad you’re all right. It’s not safe to go off by yourself around here, especially with the Fren population on the rise.”
Tina turned away. “Yeah, right,” she mumbled.
Mich was unsure how to react. He did care about her. Without Tina, he wasn’t sure that King Kras would have parted with the Kahh, and they might have been doomed. He decided it was best just to ignore her bad attitude and get on with the journey. “Let’s go. It will be another half day before we reach the Unknown section of Kafka and there is no telling what we’ll find there. We’d better get there before it gets dark. It’s time to locate the source of the river.”
Nola didn’t understand. “I thought we were going to find the dragons.” Though she did feel that it was best to get to the source rapidly, if they could stay clear of the Fren long enough to do it.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said. “I thought it would save time if I gave the Kahh to Snort. He will inform the dragons, then they will meet us at the edge of the Unknown tonight.”
Heat stamped a foot. You gave the Kahh to Snort?! Did you realize that when those dragons get here, they will devour us!
“Not if I have the Kahh,” Mich explained. “Snort will fly back early and bring me the Kahh.”
I hope Snort doesn’t run afoul of a Fren or a Demon.
Mich hadn’t thought of that. He could see the worried look on Nola’s face. He still wasn’t quite used to this leadership business, and didn’t want to make too many bad mistakes. But he really didn’t think this was a mistake. “No, he will stay in the air. As long as he is airborne, he will be fine.”
Heat persisted. What if he runs into a transformed demon!
Heat had a point there. Damn that equine sense! “Let’s just hope the demons learned their lesson last time. The demons are mean and cruel, but they are cowards.”
Nola wasn’t sure about that. And what had happened to their agreement that she would lead the mission? She knew she ought to assert herself, but somehow she didn’t—and was disgusted with herself. Mich was a nice guy, but his well-intended actions were almost suicidally risky.
She smiled, privately. She was supposed to be the suicidal one! But maybe she would get up her gumption, or whatever, before Mich blundered too badly.
So they had to be satisfied with Mich’s decision. Tina mounted Heat behind Mich and the group traveled due south, into the unknown. Nola noticed how the young woman’s breasts and thighs pressed against Mich’s backside as she rode, holding on close. Neither of the two gave any evidence of noticing the contact, and Nola was disgusted at herself for being bothered by it, but she was. She wished they could find a separate steed for Tina. She would have traded places with the girl, but knew that Spirit would never allow it.
Mich was sorry that he had not explored his father’s kingdom before. He had simply lain around the castle most of the time, letting his friends wait on him. They really were friends, he decided. He had long thought of them only as servants, but he came to know each of them by name. His favorite was Misty, the palace ghost. He wished she weren’t so shy. He would love to hear some news from the castle, but Misty would never show herself to all these people. Besides, she and Snort had some sort of rivalry. Mich had never quite understood about that and he didn’t want to be nosy, so had never asked for details. What could a ghost and a basilisk have to be competitive about?
Nola sat confidently on Spirit’s back. They conversed wordlessly. “How can everyone expect me to save Kafka? I can’t even save a dollar!”
I would not worry, Nola. I know that you will find the power within yourself soon. But, you will not find it until you let go of your reality. I can see in your mind that you still have doubt. This is not good. The Fren feed on doubt.
“What do you mean, the power within myself? I have no special power.”
Spirit shook his mane and snorted. I never thought I would use this word, but that is spurious! You are a Creator!
“So, what does that have to do with anything? If I have some kind of power that only a Creator has—”
Not a Creator. You. You are different from the others. I can feel you pulsing with it.
Nola was getting frustrated. She calmed herself, then phrased her thoughts better. “What is this power that you are speaking of?”
Spirit tossed his head, laughing with equine mirth. Why, imagination, of course! I thought you knew that.
Nola thought about it. She did have an imagination. Even her parents and her high school teachers thought so, but they also thought she used it for the wrong things. She used it to daydream a lot. It brought her nothing but trouble.
“But what did you mean about letting go of my reality?”
You have been born and raised on Earth. Everything you do, everything you say and how you act are all dictated by an Earthly reality. You know no other way than the ways of Earth.
Nola was confused. “So?”
You must learn that the rules that apply on Earth do not apply elsewhere. You must believe in Kafka and you mus
t disbelieve the Fren and their dams. You are the only Creator with an imagination strong enough to disbelieve things from existence.
“Oh,” she said, brightening. “I have a really good imagination. That should be easy!”
That, my dear friend, remains to be seen. Then he added, I hope you are correct.
Nola wondered what would become of Esprit and Mich if she didn’t pull through for them. As long as she believed in them, they would always be there, wouldn’t they? And what would happen to her other creations, such as the nymphs and the sea horses?
Spirit had read her thought. I’m afraid we will all be gone. If Kafka is destroyed, all its creatures will be destroyed with it.
Nola was appalled. “But I can’t let that happen! I love you!”
Spirit’s thoughts were tinted red as if he were blushing. And I you, my friend. Michael would be lost without you as well. He loves you too, you know.
Nola was taken aback. “He does? But how could he? I barely know him!”
Untrue. You know him well, you just cannot accept him for what he is. As I have said, you have been trained to an Earthly reality.
Nola could not refute that. That was, indeed, how she felt. But what could she do? She was what she was, an Earthling.
I hate to interrupt, Heat broke in, but it seems we are coming upon the Unknown.
Nola craned her neck to see. Up ahead was the river and, as far as the eye could see, nothing but golden grasslands. There were no trees, no bushes, no flowers and no signs of life, not even a gust of wind.
Something was strange, though. The river had dwindled to a mere stream. It must have been getting less and less deep the farther they traveled down it. Nola had been too busy with her thoughts to pay much attention. What could account for this?
They traveled farther down the river until the landscape looked the same from all sides. The grass grew tall and, except for the river, the land was featureless in all directions.