Chapter 11: Back to Rerum
The usual sound of business and bustle that came with early morning in Brickem was famous throughout Parli. Some people could only imagine the sound of carts and wagons being hauled across the wood boards, the shopkeepers opening their shops of pastries and warm drinks, shouting merrily to the venders across the way to signal the start of a bright new day. Later in the day the smell of cooking bricks would wash over the town and mix with the smell of the noodles freshly made for lunch. Some say that is the true smell of Brickem, if a town were famous for a smell, it would be Brickem and that smell. Once the children got out from school their joyous laughter could be heard from every window where clothes dried on a line. The owner of these clothes hung almost half out of the window with a cup of warm cider in one hand and a bowl of noodles in the other. Then came night, when the children and carts quieted till the next morning, when the smell became a mixture of freshly cooked bricks and potato soup, when the new sounds were made in the house, where the families all sat around extremely dangerous fires built right on the wood floor of the kitchen. These people were not ignorantly bliss like the Rerumese, these people knew of the dangers, but believed love and food overruled the thoughts of any harm. These people never knew the evils their fellow citizens of Parli were capable of. These people only knew of hard work in addition to the comradeship felt between the other towns in the Merchant Region. But now all in Brickem, along with their comrades in all the other towns, were frozen in time. The usual bustle and smells were not present on this morning. The green grass was now completely replaced with brown sand. The wood grew hotter with every second; danger was near for the buildings in Brickem.
Mith had been awake for some time now, as she stared out of the second floor window to the house across the way. She had been startled awake by the warmth of the new day. All night she tried her hardest to stay warm in the soft blankets of the bed she slept in, and then suddenly she awoke after kicking the blankets to the ground for it was too warm for them. Mith looked up to the sun and deduced it was still sometime before midday. She looked back to the window of the house across the way. There was a clothesline that connected the two, with a pair of tan pants still hanging on it. But that was not what she was staring at. Across the way a young woman, about the same age as herself, was leaning out of the window, a red clay bowl in one hand while her other hand was pulling at the clothesline. Mith watched in hopes that the girl would move, but she did not. The girl wore a dark red shirt, far too big for her, possibly a night shirt, possibly just the fashion. Finally Mith turned away from the window and sat down on the bed. She took a look around the almost empty room, when she began to smell something, it was food of some kind, she was sure of that. Young Ms. Hardel put her shoes back on and departed the room to investigate. A small feeling inside her hoped it was the man downstairs, after somehow unfreezing.
Mith passed the room Ludus was in and saw him still sleeping. The blankets on his bed had somehow flown across the room and were laying some ten feet away from the bed. Ludus was on his stomach with his limbs all facing different directions. Mith could hear him snoring softly into the feathery mattress. She smiled in knowing Ludus was still moving, and then carried on to the stairs. With every step down the smell grew stronger. As soon as her feet hit the first floor she could see smoke coming from the kitchen down the hall. She walked into kitchen and immediately coughed; nothing could be seen through the smoke, except for two shadows. One stood completely still only about a foot away in the doorway, the other moved around the fire and became clear right in front of Mith.
“Good Morning, do not worry; it is not what it looks like.” Mitchum smiled dully as he said this. “I am not trying to burn anything down; I was just trying to get this cooking thing right.” He pointed to the kettle over the fireplace, which was still out of sight for Mith, though she could now see a small glow from the fire. “I do not think I did it right, though, huh, maybe I should try something else.”
Mith’s eyes started burning and she left the room and went out the front door, Mitchum followed after pouring water into the fire pit. They took some deep breaths as Mith rubbed her eyes until she could see again.
“I am going to see if I can find some food, I will be right back. Try to get Ludus up while I’m gone.” Mitchum said as he started away toward the next house.
“That’s stealing.” Mith protested.
Mitchum flipped around to see Mith’s red eyes and frown. “Look, if you haven’t noticed these people are not exactly in need of the food. And if they stay frozen a while the food will go bad, so really we are saving them from bad food.” And with that Mitchum headed for the next house. Mith stood with arms crossed awaiting his return.
As Mitchum was rummaging through the houses again, Ludus came outside yawning. “Smokey in there, hey, where is Mitchum?”
“Looking for food.” Mith did not sound pleased.
“Oh, good, I am super hungry. So, how was your sleep? I thought the bed was so awesome, I fell right to sleep, I think.”
“I slept.” Mith sounded even more agitated as she watched for Mitchum to return.
“That’s nice, it really is. Hey, you know what? We should ask Maows if we can get some beds like these. Do you think the other fourteen year olds ever slept in the beds, I think we may be the first ones. All the other ones probably did was touch the sign at the end of the Rough Region and go back, but where did they get the coins I wonder. . . Whoa, look at all the sand.”
“Do you ever listen?” Mith snapped. “Mitchum said that this region would turn into a rough. As for your other problems, just stop talking.”
Ludus had known Mith for some time, and knew she sometimes was hard to get along with, but he had never heard her like this. It seemed to Ludus that she was taking everything very serious, while he just let it roll off of him and tried to not think of it. He thought this strange since Mith was mostly an optimist, while he was not. The two became quiet and did not talk again until Mitchum returned some time later.
“Well,” he said as he returned. “I got provisions, enough for the way back.”
The three went to the window they climbed in the night before and divided the food. Mitchum had found about a dozen hard pastries, three potatoes, and a loaf of bread. Mitchum also brought a large glass bottle from his bag and shook it, it swished with fresh water. They divided the bred and pastries while Mitchum took the potatoes to make soup again later that day.
“That should do us until I get you back to Rerum.”
Mith started to protest this as well, “What do you mean ‘until I get you back to Rerum’. I am not going to let you find this Oldo guy by yourself.”
Ludus nodded in agreement.
Mitchum shook his head, “Not a chance, you do not know what this guy is capable of; I am not letting two kids from Rerum, of all places, to help me find the guy who did this.”
“And why not? We are just as much a part of this now as you are, besides, we cannot be the only ones on the entire island that know about this, I am very sure the palace has already sent someone to find him.”
“If he is not already at the palace making his demands, look here Mith, Oldo, if he really is the one who did this, is a dangerous person without the magic; just imagine how dangerous he is now.”
Mith’s voice grew with every word, “You think we’re too young, don’t you? You think we will get in the way. Well guess what Mitchum? We are not too young, and we could really help you.”
Mitchum lowered his voice, “I never said you were too young, I never even thought that. You two need to get home, you two need to be there in case something happens there.”
Mith’s face dropped, she had not even thought of the possibility of the same thing happening in the Bay Region. She took several steps back as if being hit by an invisible blow. Ludus looked on, too afraid of them both to interject his own ideas. Mith opened her mouth to say something, but the words did not come out.
She now knew Mitchum was right, that she needed to be in Rerum with her father, just in case. Mith dreaded the idea of being frozen, but she would rather be frozen with her family then to have to see her family frozen while she was not.
The case had been decided, without any more arguments the three took the first steps back to the Bay Region. Each looked back to the town of Brickem with different yet similar reflections. One final glance would have told the entire story. Sand now flooded the town, no grass remained. The houses and shops stood still and quiet, though through the eyes of the travelers they stood bare and ravaged.
The young ones walked once again, this time back the way they had come, this time without the pride of reaching a mile stone in their lives. This time they walked with awareness they never attained before. The awareness that there are those out in the world that would wish harm, with the awareness that their home town may not be the greatest place in all of Parli, and right now, at risk of being attacked by someone who does not even have to step foot anywhere near it. Yet even with this new awareness they walked braver than ever before, for now they had a weapon just as strong as a golden rose, they had knowledge. They had the knowledge of the past and the present, not much, but still more than they had before. And they began to crave it, the more they walked, the more they wanted to learn. On and on over the sand of the roasting desert they continued, and with the heat, their minds grew. With one look to the other, they knew that the same thoughts arose in their minds at almost the same time. Even if Oldo had roses, even if he was the most powerful being in the world, at least Mith and Ludus could learn as much as they could, and become just as powerful as Oldo, perhaps not as magical or as strong, but just as powerful.
After an hour into the Rough Region with complete silence, Mith and Ludus began to ask question after question to Mitchum.
“. . . Will Oldo be able to use the magic? . . . You said the food was magical? . . . Any chance we could go to the palace to make sure they know? . . . Does Oldo know where the bay rose is? . . . Anybody else hungry?”
And Mitchum had an answer for every one of them. “Oldo will not be able to use it directly, he will have to put it somewhere . . . The food is magical, but it is such a small amount that so far there is no evidence showing it would affect anybody . . . I am sure the palace knows . . . Oldo does know where the rose is, all the guards knew the locations, except one . . . Yes, I am very hungry.”
Mitchum pulled the water and bread out of his bag and passed both around. Each had a swig of water and some bread, and then continued walking. Mith and Ludus continued to ask questions, and Mitchum answered, he was actually very pleased with their attentiveness and was happy to oblige with the answers. Every now and again somebody who lived in the Rough Region would pass, though thankfully no rough dogs were seen. The people were much like Orman, though some were cleaner. No one expected that these people were in any way involved, Mitchum knew that the citizens there would not stoop so low. Overall the mood increased, Mith almost laughed at a joke by Mitchum about his tenure as a guard for the palace. She figured he was just trying to get their moods up.
“. . . and the king was standing right behind him the entire time.”
All thoughts of the dangers possible for Rerum did not reappear for some time. Mith and Ludus seemed to have forgotten about it all together, or at least made it seem that way. Mitchum suspected that they were just pushing it to the back of their minds because it was such a terrible thought. The sun raced across the sky that day, every time one of their eyes looked up to see where it was, it was at least three degrees farther across then it was the last time they had looked. With every question came a story, and with every story came a joke. In just one day Mith and Ludus learned more about the world they lived in than any other day in their entire lives.
Before any one of them could quite believe it the sun had reached the western horizon and began to sink below, night was afoot. Mitchum estimated that they were over half way back and made a decision to continue just until they found the shelter they had slept in two nights before. It took almost another hour, but they did make it. The air had gotten colder after the sun set, and it was hard to see anything in the dark, luckily the sandstorms had not started until after they were within the enclosure.
The shelter was the same as it was the last time they were there; they still had to squeeze through two huge rocks to get inside. The interior looked as if it had not been touched; the small fireplace Mitchum had built was not missing one burnt stick. Mitchum, who was first inside, put his bag down carefully and sat in the exact same spot he had sat in when Mith and Ludus stumbled in from the cold two nights earlier. The kids also sat in the same places they had sat in before. As soon as all were seated Mitchum lit another fire, using new logs he had found in Brickem. The fire exploded with life and warmed the shelter immediately. All looked into its red and yellow flames with a wary eye.
Mitchum glanced around at the two from Rerum he had met only a few nights before. He felt as if he had known them for much longer, at least a week. They certainly seemed older, when he had first met them they were full of innocence and false beliefs, but now they were stronger, their eyes showed reality instead of wonder. Mitchum felt suddenly very sorry for Mith and Ludus. He had, without really meaning to, ended their reliance upon their town. He had taken them under his wing and told them many truths, and he was certain to be telling them much more. His mind flashed back to the moments after he met them, they were happier. He knew it was not his fault that they were not happy now. They looked content on the outside, but Mitchum could sense the trouble within. They were scared, scared of finding their home the way they found Brickem. He did not dare say it out loud, but Mitchum was almost certain that if Oldo really was the culprit behind the rose snatching, then the entire Bay Region was already a frozen desert full of statues.
“Hello.”
Mitchum was so consumed with his own thoughts he did not hear that someone was calling him. He came back to reality and saw Ludus staring at him, worried.
“I’m sorry, I was thinking. What is it?”
Ludus looked to Mith, who was sifting sand through her hands, and then back to Mitchum. “If Rerum is frozen when we get there can we come with you anyway?”
“Yes.” Mitchum whispered.
Ludus said nothing else; instead he put his head against the cold stone wall and looked up until he could see the bright stars above. Mith curled up near the fire, said goodnight, and went to sleep. All three felt awfully tired, and within twenty minutes Ludus was also asleep. Mitchum watched Ludus’s head hit the sand, and then gazed back into the fire. It cracked and spit while throwing shadows across the shelter walls. He tried to stay awake, but it was impossible, within only a few minutes, he also fell asleep.
Mitchum awoke before the sun the next morning. He jolted awake after a dream in which Oldo’s face appeared over and over again. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and brushed the sand from his hair while reaching around for his hat. He put it on and grabbed his walking stick. His stomach hurt, he did not usually go to bed without eating. As he looked for his bag, something caught his eye. Mith sat against the opposite wall, her head on her knees, arms around her legs, staring steadfastly at him. He stared back for several seconds, not quite sure if she was actually staring at him, for it was much too dark to tell yet.
“Mith, are you awake?” Mitchum whispered, so as not to wake her if she wasn’t.
“The fire died over the night.” She whispered back. “It’s very cold.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Mitchum answered, realizing for the first time that his feet were numb with cold.
“White things fell from the sky after clouds took over, but the fire was still going then.”
“Most likely so, that’s called—”
“Snow.” Mith said quickly, with no emotion in her voice.
“Yes, do you have snow in Rerum?”
“No.”
“But you lea
rned about it.”
“Not until it fell.”
Mitchum tried to focus on her face, but it was still impossible. He desperately wanted to know what expression she was giving him. She sounded agitated for some reason. As he was guessing the look on her face, Mith pulled out something from the sand behind her. It crinkled as she lifted it.
“I found this in your bag, I did not mean to search your personal belongings, but the fire began dying and I was looking for more wood. I did not have the heart to wake you.” Mitchum had immediately recognized what she was holding. Mith searched through the various papers in her hands, going through them one by one. “You’re a teacher? Or do you want to be a teacher?” She awaited an answer but none came. “Lessons for the dumb; or how to teach the ridiculously impaired Rerumese.” Mith read. “By G. M. Quinn.”
Mitchum nodded sadly, “I’m sorry you had to see that, let me explain. It was written in protest, I was going to give it to Maows, to show what I really think of Rerum, and you know I don’t like the place.”
“Really, that’s interesting.” Mith said cynically. “But I don’t think so, because on the last page you wrote a note to yourself, do you know what it says?” Mith paused, but again did not wait for an answer. “It says that it was to become a pamphlet read by all in Parli, except of course in Rerum. And how would anybody from Rerum know, seeing as how we never let anybody into town. But even I have to admit that the story of the great Mitchum, as he is called in the story, teaching a very dim boy and girl from Rerum is hysterical, and historically accurate. And look, the boys name is Skippy, just like what you call Ludus.”
Mitchum had been staring at his shoes while Mith spoke; he waited until she was done to defend himself. “Mith,” he said tenderly, “I am so sorry, I wrote that story before I met you, I never meant for you to find it.”
“I know why you took us to the Merchant Region. You wanted to get more ideas, and why not, we were the exact matches from the story.”
“Mith.”
“In the first lesson you teach the kids what snow is, it’s strange that I find that one just as the snow falls. It is also interesting that I finished the story right as the fire finally died, as if the spirits are real.” Her voice shook slightly with anger, “Did you lie to us? Was all of it a lie or just a lesson for the stupid?”
“Mith, I wanted to help, I still do.”
“Have you helped others to Brickem?”
“Mith, you’re probably tired, why don’t you get some sleep and I will tell you later what this all means. Trust me it is not as bad as you seem to think it is.” Mitchum laughed, trying to calm Mith down.
“Is it funny? Are we funny?” Mith stood up and threw the papers back at Mitchum. “I believe that we can find the way back ourselves, come on Ludus.”
Mitchum was surprised to see Ludus was also awake, and had been the whole time. The dark shape that had been Ludus disappeared out of the shelter, Mith following. He got the impression that Mith and Ludus had organized what they were going to do before he had even woken up. They must really think that the Bay Region is alright, he thought to himself. Mitchum got to his feet, trying to grab Mith before she could go, but realized it would be best to let them go, for now. He decided to start after them a minute later and follow. Under any other circumstances he would have let them go back to Rerum and never follow them; he was not the type to want to explain things to those who are mad at him. But under these circumstances he had to make sure they would be alright all the way back, and possibly after that.
After standing in a shocked awe for a moment, He bent down and picked up the pages on the ground, put them in his bag where they were before, and headed out of the shelter. The cold wind blew right through the dirty white shirt and brown trousers. Why do I never where warm clothes? Mitchum asked himself. At first he could not see Mith and Ludus, but then spotted them running ahead. He sighed and started in a jog after them.
Over the next half-hour or so Mitchum ran after Mith and Ludus, making sure always to stay far enough away that he could see them but they would not be able to see him. He could not believe what had happened. Somehow he had become the villain; he had become the one to be scared of and not Oldo. It did not make sense to Mitchum that two young kids had managed to escape out of his presence just because of a misunderstanding. He knew he had to protect them but as he ran behind them he wondered if he really should. Over the last ten years he had managed to stay away from danger, of all forms. And now he was right in the middle of it. It would have been easy to just stop and live the way he had been before he ever met those kids. Mitchum fancied himself a nomad, moving from place to place and only stopping to chat when someone had food for him. He had explored all the regions in the last ten years. He met thousands of people and was even considered a hero once or twice. It would have been easy for Mitchum to go back to that life; all he would have to do was stop running.
Mitchum did stop running, not because he wanted Mith and Ludus to get away, but because he did not have the strength to continue to run in the cold after all of the walking the day before. Instead he walked quickly, trying not to get too far behind. But when he looked up he could not see them. He looked in all directions to see if they had gotten off course, but they were not in sight. Mitchum kept walking, with hopes that he would eventually see them soon.
The temperature started to rise with the sun as Mitchum walked, before long he was almost certain he would vomit from being light headed. But he did not stop, he continued, after about an hour, though it seemed to him to be at least three, he noticed something odd in front of him. At first he thought it was the heat playing tricks on his mind, but then he realized what it was. About a half-mile ahead Mitchum saw green mixed with brown. As far as he could see to the north (the left) and the south (the right) Mitchum saw sandy grass. Then it became clear; the Bay Region had lost its rose. Despite the headache he had he started running again. As he got closer he could see clearly where the barrier had been, and into the town of Rerum which was directly ahead. Mitchum slowed as he neared the edge of town. Just before he stepped into the Bay Region he heard a voice calling his name. He turned quickly around in hopes that it may be Ludus, but it was not.
Standing only ten feet behind Mitchum was an old man. It was hard for Mitchum to distinguish the man’s features due to a heavy coating of dirt on the man’s face. He had a beard that fell to his chest. He wore a very old, very loose shirt.
“Oh, hello Orman.” Mitchum said, squinting through the bright rays of the sun. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen two children pass, have you?”
Orman’s eyes widened as if asking: “Do you think I’d be standing here if I hadn’t?”
Mitchum looked on Orman with a particular disgust he saved specifically for him. “Well, did you or didn’t you?”
The dirty man began nodding very slowly. This, in addition to his eyes bulging gave him the look of a madman. “I did see them. The boy with the grim expression almost crying and the girl who looked too scared to cry. Yeah, I saw them here only minutes ago. They ran right into that crazy town.” He went up to Mitchum and put his head on Mitchum’s shoulder. “You know what, that town just appeared yesterday. Just-poof-appeared, no explanation or nothin’.”
Mitchum pushed Orman away from him. “Did you speak to them at all?”
Orman rolled his eyes around, thinking. “Not this time, I couldn’t bring myself to, especially after I saw how upset they were—I was over there.” He pointed to a pile of large rocks with an old carpet resting on top of them, some thirty feet away. “By the way, when are you going to pay me for my services? I set up my home right on the edge just like you told me. I talk to the kiddies just like you tell me. And I report what they say to you, and you still haven’t paid me. It takes a lot for me to look and sound crazy.”
Mitchum waved his hand for Orman to be quiet, “I know, I know. Once the pamphlet begins to sell I promise I will pay you. But don’t talk about that
right now, that’s the reason I lost track of those kids. I’m trying to protect them.”
Orman started laughing, “Protect them from what?”
Mitchum grabbed Orman’s chin through his beard and thrust it in the direction of Rerum. “Do you see that? Do you know why that is there today but not before?” Orman shook his head, “It is because of a person that is very dangerous. And when those kids, who I know have better sense than they displayed earlier, go running to a town that they do not know anymore, it freaks me out. I need to protect them.” He let go of Orman’s chin. “Do you want to go with me? I have to find them.”
Orman shook his head. He then sat on the ground, arms crossed. Mitchum took this to mean that he was no longer welcome. He turned and headed into Rerum without another look back.