…no, really
The Doclopedia #3,023
366 Days, 366 Paragraphs: #262
Chapter Thirty Six: Complications
Minutes after Porcero and Hadolfus had sent their messages, the Grand High Curator sent a report to Seyan. This was not good, not at all. She could only hope that her efforts to find loyal Seekers would pan out. Other than that, there wasn’t much she could do but relay information. Unless…
Smiling grimly, she sent a message to Porcero, saying, “Hey, Porky, you never got back to us. Don’t you love us? When we get the relic, we’ll let you know. Kisses!”
The GHC might be limited in what she could do for Seyan and the others, but she could at least keep poking Porcero with a mental stick. Maybe she’s even drive him crazy enough to make a big mistake.
Smiling at the thought, she made a mental note to send him a message every hour or so.
Dree, Ala and Bevan were stopped in a spot where the Road crossed a pretty large clearing. A few yards off the Road, they had started a large bonfire, which Bevan kept smokey by putting damp moss on it. They had passed a few riders on the way here, but most were just local folks traveling between Towns.
While Ala gathered more moss, Dree watched the skies. He hoped they got here soon, because some of the locals they had passed had stared at them a little longer than was polite and the Museum did have a price on their heads. The sooner help could arrive, the better.
Bevan looked around and saw that the dog, Sunset, was trotting up the Road in one direction, then turning and trotting back in the other direction, obviously keeping an eye out for trouble. She was easily the smartest dog he had ever encountered, if she really was a dog. Most Offroaders knew the tales of the shapeshifters, those people who could assume animal form at will. Many did not believe them, but Bevan tried to keep an open mind. His grandfather, who lived to be 94 years old, used to tell of once seeing a man running down the Road late at night. Suddenly, the man had taken a great leap, changing in mid-air into a large antelope before he hit the ground, his clothes disappearing. Grandfather had said that the antelope then ran off faster than any antelope he had ever seen.
Thinking about that, Bevan decided that he might have a chat with Sunset later. Shapeshifters had many legends connected with them, most often about them being tricksters or thieves or seducers. Maybe Sunset could give him the straight truth,
After Ala had gathered enough moss for a good long fire, she went back into the woods to pick some berries. As she walked, she thought of the last couple of days. Things had certainly been exciting, that was a fact. Actually, a couple of times, things had gotten downright scary. Not exactly how she had thought of life on the road back when she was hauling freight.
She knew that by now her letter had reached father. She wondered how long he would stay angry with her. If past outbursts of anger were any indication, she figured he’d cool down in about a year or so. The longest she’d ever seen him stay mad at anyone was when Uncle Covi had run off to marry that Entertainer woman from out west. That had lasted nearly three years, mostly because Uncle Covi had left a double wagon load of freight sitting in some little Town way off the main southern Road.
She was just imagining how father had cussed for nearly an hour straight when she heard horses coming near to her out of the forest. She had just enough time to duck behind a bush when she saw three men ride up and stop not thirty feet away. She recognized the oldest one as a man they had passed on the Road about two hours earlier.
“So, how do we do this, Dad?” the burly dark haired man with a beard asked. “Ride in fast, or sneak up on them?”
The older man, grizzled and gray, looked thoughtful for a moment. All three of the men had bows and short swords. They looked like they could use them.
“I think we’ll sneak up a bit closer and watch ’em.” the father said. “You go off there to the right Malz and you go to the left, Ertin.” Ertin was a young man not long out of his teens. He was thin and looked like a mangy coyote had been turned into a man. Ala figured he would be the most dangerous of the three.
“What’ll you do, Dad?” Ertin asked. He had a strange look on his face.
“I’ll sit right here, waiting for you two to come back and let me know what’s going on. Why the hell would three people on the run from the Museum stop to build such a big damned fire? Something isn’t right here.”
Then, he turned to Ertin and said, “But no matter what is going on, you leave that woman alone, boy. The museum ain’t paying for damaged goods. You touch her and I’ll make you regret it.”
Ertin looked disappointed, but nodded before he rode off. Malz just smirked and rode off.
Dree continued to watch the sky. He really hoped all of the smoke they were sending up would be visible for a long way. The fire had been going on for nearly an hour now.
Taking a break from skywatching, he took a bite of jerky and looked around. Bevan was standing beside the fire, but Dree could not see Ala or Sunset anywhere. Looking back to Bevan, he say that he was walking towards him.
Bevan bent down casually to get a piece of jerky and whispered, “We’re being watched, Dree. One man over by that dead tree…don’t look…and another on the other side of the clearing by that big spruce tree. Might be a third man farther in the woods.” He stood up and took a big bite of jerky. Then he bent down for the canteen.
“Ala is probably hiding. Sunset is probably getting into position to attack one of these guys. You’d better hide your comslate and stones, then pick up a knife without them seeing it. We may have to fight.”
Dree gulped and nodded. As Bevan walked back over to the fire, he slowly pushed his pack under a bush and then grabbed a hunting knife. He was very scared, but he wasn’t going to let his friends get hurt.
After a few minutes, Bevan saw the two men slip away, probably to go tell their leader what was up. He waited a couple more minutes, then ran back to his horse and got his other knives and his hatchet. He cursed not having a bow, but there had been none for sale in Blue Tree. Ah well, you do what you can with what you have.
Returning to Dree, he told him to stay put. Bevan then squatted down next to him. Now it was time for them to wait and see who made the first move.
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