~
Avers did not look much better. Three days passed and she was barely able to ambulate on her own. Her fever nagged and she sweat through her clothes.
“The queen mandates it,” Pepla said to Tuck. “We must go. She must come.”
“What if we chose not to go? What then?” he asked.
“If we are lucky she would put us in prison. Probably, though, she would feed us to her lions.”
“Three thousand years have passed and nothing has changed.”
“What?”
“Oh, Pepla, don’t worry about it. Let’s get on it.”
“I’ve been through worse,” Avers said as she hobbled across the room. She landed in Pepla’s arms.
“My lady, are you looking for this?” she handed over her black and purple exo-suit. Pepla helped Avers remove her clothes. Her open sores had healed enough so they no longer required packing. Her exo was torn in many places. Still it fit. Pepla helped her squeeze into it and zipped her up.
While Avers got ready Tuck launched his mecha.
“So nice to see you again sir,” Calvin said. Tuck did not respond. Instead he waited outside for the rest of the party. He could feel the warmth of the potatoes radiate from his stomach. It felt good to be full.
The troop traveled north out of town through The Great Wood. The trees pressed them so tightly they could not see the sky. A road was there once, but it was scarcely traveled now. Perhaps because it was so difficult to find.
Pepla girded her spear, shield and battle skirt. The two Royal Messengers bore similar gear as Pepla, but carried with them Corinthian Helms, bronze armor; a cuirass and bracers. Also, they carried shields on their backs. One wielded an axe while the other carried a mace. Both were wrapped in leather bands between shoulder and waist. Their bodies were covered in scars and their hair was woven in many braids.
The party was well equipped. They had an ample supply of water and dried fruit to sustain them. For the most part Avers was able to walk with the rest of the party though unprepared for any sort of skirmish.
As they walked Tuck spoke with Pepla, “I am confused by you.”
“How so?” Pepla asked.
“You’re smart, young and strong. Why do you serve Avers?”
His words caused her to blush. She turned her head away. When she looked to him he noticed her face; a splash of freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose and a warm smile.
“Sir, I am hardly young.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
“A mere child from where I come from.”
She smiled again.
“I have trained to serve the queen in combat for fifteen years. I can hold my own with the best of my sisters using only a spear.”
“Ah, still so young. So, inexperienced. Have you ever killed a man…or a woman?”
Her eyebrows narrowed.
“Yes, I have killed,” the smile disappeared from her voice. She plied one of her long braids between her fingers.
They were quiet a moment before she spoke again.
“To answer your question why I serve Lady Avers; I was abandoned by my mother when I was young. By law I become property of the queen…of the state. The state either puts women to work or sells them.” She paused taking a breath. “I was sold.”
“Avers bought you?”
“At first no. I worked for another woman. She put me through training, but she was mean. She liked to argue and complain.”
She looked away saying nothing.
“And then?” Tuck asked.
“Eventually, I was up for sale again. This time Lady Avers had compassion on me. I don’t know why or how, but she said she had been praying about it. She told me you are a Christian. You understand when I say this, right?”
“Sort of.”
“Anyways, she bought me and told me about her prayer. She had a modest amount of income since the queen provided residence for her at the estate, but she had been so lonely living there all by herself. She told me she prayed for companionship. A friend. Someone to confide in and share dreams with. One day God…roused her up to go to The Pedestal. There she saw me and felt this overwhelming desire to…to buy me. So she did.”
“So she owns you?”
“I am her legal slave. No more am I the property of the state,” she said with a smile.
“Does she treat you like a slave?”
“Hardly, I’m more like a servant or even a friend just as she wanted,” the smile returned. “She’s an easy master. She asks little and gives much. I could not think of a better woman to serve. Who else would tell me the truth of Christ?”
They continued hacking and sawing through the thick undergrowth. At their best guess of midday they stopped for lunch. Each woman ate a quick meal washing it down with a swig of red wine. As they communed a loud humming passed by above the trees. As soon as it had appeared it was gone. No one knew what it was, but everyone looked anxious.
“Do you recognize that noise?” Tuck asked Hermenes.
“No, but it can only mean one thing. We are going in the right direction.”
Tuck desired to continue his questioning from earlier. He found Pepla near Avers who eyed his mecha suit.
“Does it make you wish for yours?”
“It does,” Avers said. “I wish you hadn’t destroyed it.”
“Tell me, Pepla, about Nething. You said it is…arcana. What does that mean?”
“Nething is evil. Travel to Nething is forbidden. Outlawed. They are evil.”
“Why?” Avers asked.
“They practice vapori.”
“We have left Amazonia,” Hermenes said interrupting their converstation. “The terrain ahead should change significantly.”
“What do you suspect?” Pepla asked.
“The forest should thin until we reach a lake. Once crossed it is not far until we reach the city Adduo, the capitol.”
“Right,” Pepla said. “How will we cross the lake?”
Hermenes looked to Postulis.
“That,” she said, “has not been determined.”
As they walked Tuck noticed the density of the trees begin to thin. Or at least Calvin told him so. Calvin also told him that the weather was getting colder. Not much, but enough to be glad that he was inside his mecha suit. He looked at the women he was with. Each was wearing a leather skirt. No sleeves and no gloves. They did wear long boots strapped up to their knees, but he doubted their ability to keep them warm if it got much colder.
Two days passed. The chopping and hacking lessened. The ‘road’ wound its way into a clearing where they found a surprise. There in the middle of a meadow was an old house. It was two stories tall with a hole in the middle of a well worn roof. Behind it was a large barn and a field of clover.
“There are cattle in the field,” Tuck said.
“Where? I don’t see any cattle,” Postulis said.
“He can see better,” Avers advised. “They’re probably further down.”
Tuck nodded.
Hermenes knocked on the door, but no one answered. She knocked again. Suddenly, an explosion burst through the roof of the barn.
The party made its way around surrounding the barn. Tuck secured the entrance. To his surprise a one eyed man came running out with his hair on fire.
“Ah!” he screamed. “Help me. Help me!”
He ran right by Tuck into the house.
“What was that?” Avers asked.
“We are in Nething,” Hermenes sighed. “Everything is backwards here.”
Soon, the man came out of the house.
“Visitors! I do not get many visitors anym
ore. Come in, come in,” he gestured towards the barn not the house.
Inside was dark and damp. The man disappeared into the shadows, but he must have been rustling through clutter because Tuck could hear everything he did.
“Where is it…yes this…no, none of those…hmmm, I don’t think they would like…oh, yes, yes, of course…”
As he walked further into the barn he heard a humming noise. It was subtle, but noticeable.
“I am detecting a large mass moving with a great velocity,” Calvin said. “You should be cautious.”
The barn went on forever. Finally, he found the man, but to his surprise he was standing in light. Light from above. From the ceiling came two wires which connected two glass bottles. These bottles emanated the entire room.
“Welcome to my laboratory,” the man said with his arms in the air. “I’m afraid I d’nt have much to fill your belly. Forgive me, I wasn’t expecting guests. Here,” he handed everyone a vial of water, “this may quench your parched throats.”
“I have never seen such a place,” Hermenes said gazing at the lights.
“Those? Oh, those are just lightning bug guts. Come on. Come further and have a seat.”
The party followed him back through a hallway. The next room was even brighter than the first. The walls were lined with long wooden tables littered with glass containers of various substances. Some were bubbling. Some were shattered. There was a charcoal mark on the far end that extended up through the ceiling; probably where he was working just as they knocked on the door.
“Won’t you have a seat? There, now, tell me about yourselves. Why are you here? How can I help you? You look like weary travelers if you ask me. What is it that is on your mind, hmm?”
Hermenes spoke first, “We are from