…wait, what?
The Doclopedia #3,027
366 Days, 366 Paragraphs: #266
Chapter Forty: Good Times, Bad Times
Flying was the best thing ever! Dree could not imagine anything more fun, although when he told that to Seyan and Lahn, they had made some vague reference to girls. That was crazy talk. How could girls be more fun than this? They were hundreds of feet above the tallest trees, moving along at 38 miles an hour and every once in awhile, birds would fly alongside them. They had been flying for nearly two hours and it was incredible!
Dree looked down and watched the world pass beneath them. He saw creeks and Towns and sections of Road and, at one point, a herd of deer. He saw squirrels running through treetops and hawks building their nests. Off in the distance, he saw mountains and lakes and even more forest. He imagined flying off to all sorts of adventures. This was going to be a great story some day, when he became a Storyteller.
It was the greatest day of his life.
Far to the south of Dree, his friend Carso was riding a stolen horse as fast as he could towards Long Bay. He was pretty sure that three Seekers were on his trail, maybe less that a half day behind him. Twice he had turned off the main Road onto smaller local Roads in the hope of losing them, but he knew they would probably get word to Seekers up ahead. Shortly, he’d turn off the Road for the rest of the day. It would be slower going, but it would maybe get him past any Seeker ambushes.
Carso was tired and hungry and his butt hurt from days in the saddle, but he was determined to get to the relic so he and Dree could keep it away from the Museum.
Hadolfus was having a quick bath in a stream when the comslate buzzed. Being as he was twenty feet from it and otherwise engaged, he told Padro to see what the message was. He felt sure it was another ranting order from Master Porcero, urging them to move faster or not trust anybody or to remember their loyalty to him. He was beginning to think that Porcero was drinking too much.
Padro looked at the comslate and saw Zao’s message. He had feared as much, based upon Porcero’s sudden swing from triumphant glee to frantic rambling. The questions he had to answer now were whether to tell Hadolfus the truth and what he, Padro, should do now.
Telling Hadolfus the truth about the new state of affairs would put him into a very dark state. Padro had suffered through far too many of the older man’s tantrums to want to deal with another. Besides, he had never really liked Hadolfus much anyway.
As to what he should do now, Padro took note of the fact that Indee was about three days easy ride in one direction and Tronto was about a week’s ride in another. Big Cities like those would offer many chances at a new life for a former Museum staffer.
He decided to ride with Hadolfus at least as far as Long Bay. From there, he could catch a boat to Tronto or ride on down to Indee. If Hadolfus managed to get the relic, then figure out how to unlock it’s power, he would stick around and see what happens. If not, well then, time for that new life. Perhaps he’d try his hand at cooking. He had always liked cooking.
Turning to Hadolfus as he deleted the message, he said, “Just another message urging us to move faster and get to the relic or die trying.”
Hadolfus gave a disgusted grunt. “Easy for someone to say who is riding in a quadcycle. We’ll leave after a bite to eat, Padro. With any luck, we’ll reach the Long Bay area tomorrow morning.”
Padro nodded and began preparing their lunch.
Almost every outlaw Seeker who had received Zao’s message immediately broke off the search and found an inn or tavern where they could think about what their next move would be. Most got very drunk in the process.
But the four Seekers sitting in the Timbertown Inn were not getting drunk or thinking about running off to hide from the Museum. They were thinking about the relic and other ways they might profit from all of this.
“I’m telling you,” Seeker Tonas began, “that if the Museum had the relic already, we’d have seen them gloating on the comslate. No, they don’t have it yet, so we might as well push on and go for it.”
The other three agreed that it was better than running off. Seeker Xandy offered another idea that pleased them all.
“These Museum agents are traveling fast. Seems to me, whatever they’re traveling on might be worth plenty of bucks. I know people in half a dozen Cities that would buy it from us.”
“That’s true,” Tonas agreed, “And come to that, the Museum might pay to get their agents back in one piece. Then there’s the parents of the kid who’s out there relic hunting. All that might add up to a fat bag of seed money for us.”
Seeker Binjim spoke up for the first time in hours. He was among the oldest of Seekers and his words carried weight. He had been involved with Porcero and his plans for nearly thirty years now. News of the High Curators death had hit him hard.
“I say that we go to Long Bay and try to make some money off the relic, the traveling machine and maybe the boy, but I will personally put an arrow through the heart of the Museum’s agents…and anyone that gets in the way.”
His statement hung in the air for a couple of minutes before Seeker Lorah broke the silence. She was the youngest Seeker at the table, but noted for her ability to size up situations and almost always pick the best way of dealing with them.
“So, we get the relic, the transport, the boy and then we head to Tronto? We can test the relic, sell the transport, ransom the boy and get new clothing and horses. After that, I’d say we take the remaining money and head for the East Coast Road. Once we hit Portlin or maybe Bahstin, we can go south, west or east across the sea on the Sea Road.”
Again, everyone agreed. They then finished their ale and left the inn for the hard ride north.
Bevan and Ala rode along at a trot. The deer paths through the forest made for pretty easy going and so they and their pack horse made good time. They had kept one horse, but sold all the others in the first Town they came to. They had also sold most of the items they had taken from the outlaws & Seekers. All told, it had come to a fair number of bucks, allowing them to buy food, clothing, a tent and other camping equipment. Traveling would go much easier now.
When they had rigged up the pack horse, they found that Sunset could ride comfortably on top of the packs and the horses back. Right now, she was sleeping peacefully and no doubt dreaming canine dreams.
As they rode, the two of them talked about many things, Eventually, the conversation turned to what they would do once this was all over.
“Well,” Bevan began, “I expect that I’ll travel on with Dree. The life of a Storyteller involves a lot of traveling and he is younger than most who start out on that life. He’ll need a friend and protector for a few years. Besides, I became a Roamer to see the world. If I can help Dree and possibly become immortalized in some of his stories, all the better.”
He looked over at Ala and saw that she had a look on her face that he had seen more than once in the past few days.
“What troubles you, my friend?”
What to tell him? That she had no clue about where she wanted to go, only vague ideas? That she liked Dree and felt like a big sister to him? That she really liked Bevan and wanted to maybe be more than friends? She was so confused!
Which is why, when she said all of that and more in a great rush of words, she had such a shocked look on her face afterward.
Bevan did not laugh at her, or even smile. Instead, he rode closer to her and took her hand.
“You must do and go where you please, Ala. It is how Roamers, or Far Travelers as your people call them, live their lives. You can travel alone or as part of a group, whichever you choose. You can go wherever you want to. I know this seems too big to imagine now, because it did for me at first, but you only feel this way because your choices were so limited before. After awhile, you won’t be able to imagine any other way of living.”
Now he smiled at her.
“You can trust the words of a person who followed a herd of cattle on the same route for his first 14 years of life. It was not unlike following horses asses.”
She laughed at that. He was right, she was just overwhelmed by all the freedom and choice. In many ways, most Roadbound were as restricted in their own way as the Townies or most of the Offroaders. She just had to get used to just letting each day be different.
Still holding his hand, she asked, “And what if I want to stay with you and Dree?”
“We would both like that, I promise you. Dree thinks the world of you and I find you to be excellent company, even as I wait for you to make the Woman’s Choice.”
Ala had no idea what the Woman’s Choice was and she told him that.
“Ahh, of course! I am a dung collecting fool!” he exclaimed, lightly tapping his fist to his forehead. “I forgot that not all women are Offroad women. You see, in Offroad society, women choose their men, be it for a lifemate or a sexual partner or any other relationship. Either partner can end a relationship, but only women can initiate one.”
If Ala had been any more stunned, she would have fallen off her horse. The whole idea of women calling the shots in a relationship was not at all common among the Roadbound. Many marriages were still arranged for family or business reasons and despite the deference given to the old women of any family, men where usually in charge.
“So you’re saying that until I make the first move, you and I will just be friends and nothing more?” she asked him. “That I must ask you before we can…umm…get to know each other better?”
He nodded. “Until I can start thinking more like a Townie or Roadie, yes.”
Ala grinned and looked at him with an appraising eye.
“Well, you do look like a healthy young fellow, so, Bevan, I would like to get to know you better if we are going to be together for awhile.”
He laughed at that. Not said quite like an Offroad woman would, but good enough.
“I would like that, Ala. Now, since we are due for a rest stop anyway, why don’t we stop by that stream up ahead and have a quick bath before we advance our knowledge of each other?”
Ala thought that was a great idea.
Behind them, on her moving bed, Sunset smiled.
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