Chapter 14: Mitchum’s Plea
Everyone in the crowd wore a black shirt and black pants, except for the man who spoke to Mitchum; he wore a yellow shirt and yellow pants. Mith guessed that his attire meant that he was of higher ranking then the others. At first glance she wondered if this man was Oldo. But after further observations she concluded that he was not evil looking enough. She imagined Oldo to be at least a head taller than any person she had ever seen, with glowing red eyes and teeth that were too big and sharp to stay in his mouth.
“I knew we would find you if we looked hard enough. Did you really think you could get away with a plan so absurd?” The man looked from Mitchum to Mith and Ludus, then back up at Mitchum. “And you decided to get a couple of hostages I see. It is alright now, kids, you’re safe.”
“No, no, no. You have it all wrong, they’re not hostages; we’re traveling together. We were actually on our way to the palace to tell you who did this.”
The man stepped forward, holding his sword out in front of him. “Are you trying to tell me that you did not do this? Then who did?”
Mitchum stepped forward, the man waved his sword around threateningly. “I did not do this, it was Oldo . . . at least I think it was Oldo.”
The man tapped the sword against his chin, “Oldo, hmm, maybe it was Oldo. Alright, you’re free to go. I knew it wasn’t you anyway.”
“That’s it, you’re not even going to ask why I think it is Oldo?”
The man tapped his sword against his shoulder and frowned, “Quinn we’ve known each other for years; do you really think I ever expected you to be able to do something like this? Now Oldo, him I can see doing this.”
“I’m not entirely sure if it is him, we need to check.” Mitchum said, sounding very relieved to not be a prime suspect.
“No, it is him.”
“What do you mean, are you sure?” Mitchum asked.
The man nodded, “We lost contact with the prison, every boat but one we’ve sent did not come back. The one that did said that they saw Oldo leaving with somebody they did not recognize. And just like any other good scout they came to me first instead of trying to capture the escaped convict.” The man suddenly looked around at the crowd still gathered around. “Hey, people, let’s start finding clues alright?”
The crowd began to disperse and search the town. The man who was talking with Mitchum, general Turff, introduced himself to Mith and Ludus. Upon hearing that they were from Rerum he promised that he would do anything in his power to stop Oldo and restore the town to the way it was. Mitchum explained to Turff that the Merchant Region was also frozen, which came as shock to him. Turff insisted that they recount their entire journey to him. Occasionally the general would make remarks such as “Oh, I see” or “that’s interesting” as Mitchum retold the events of the last several days.
“And did you by any chance see anyone unusual on your way here?” he asked.
Mitchum thought for a moment before responding, “No. Listen, Jord, we need to find these kids someplace safe to stay while you look for Oldo.”
Jord Turff shook his head, “No, no, Mitchum. We are going to get Oldo as soon as we are done here. I’m going to send some of the guard out to the jail to pick him up and end this silly thing.”
“You can’t do that, you already know he has two of the roses. That is a lot of power in his two hands. The safest bet now is to go back to the palace and wait for him there, if he wants all of the roses he’ll have to go there eventually.” Mitchum argued.
Jord Turff paced around twirling the sword around. “Interesting idea, the palace is the only safe place left now.”
Ludus stepped forward and addressed general Turff before Mitchum could stop him, “Why is the palace the safest place, why not the Mountain Region.”
Turff looked at Ludus as if he had never seen anybody like him. “Do you know who I am, son? I am a general of the Parli guard.” He pointed to a seal on his chest that read: Parli guard, and had a picture of the island on it. “And I will not be talked to in such a manner, in fact I am the only person standing in the way of Oldo’s mad dash to power.”
Ludus was not in the least bit threatened, “And we see how that’s been going so far, good job.” He was unaware of why he would say such a thing, and did not notice how it sounded until he saw how Turff reacted to it.
“Wh-what, Gai control him.”
“Control me? Your job was to control Oldo, and you failed. Now my home is a rock garden.”
Mith stepped back, out of the way. She was hoping not to get noticed. Mitchum stepped forward and tried to restrain Ludus by putting his hands on Ludus’s shoulders.
“Ludus, that’s enough, the general was not aware of the situation in its entirety until just now.”
Ludus shrugged Mitchum away, “That’s another thing, how are you supposed to be the head of the guard if you do not even know the whole situation.” His anger was rising, he could not control himself.
Turff did not reply, he simply nodded his head and walked away, into the nearest hut where a guardsman had been trying to get his attention. Mitchum turned to Ludus with a look of surprise.
“What in Parli was that?”
“I don’t know, I was mad, I mean look at this place; this is my home.”
“Alright, but you’re going to have to apologize, I hope he will still take you to the palace.”
A guardsman, the one who was trying to get the attention of Turff, came up to Mitchum and began talking in hushed tones. After about a minute of talking he shook Mitchum’s hand and returned to the hut. Mitchum then turned to Ludus and Mith to tell them what he said.
“We are going to the palace in about an hour; we just have to wait for them to finish checking the town for clues.”
Ludus shook his head, annoyed. “Wait an hour for them to stare at our family and neighbors.”
“What is it with you, today?” Mitchum asked, trying to sound nicer than he felt.
The next hour passed longer than most hours seem to. The heat increased as the entirety of the present guard and the three travelers watched grass shrink into the sand that grew out. Beads of sweat covered the foreheads of all present. Ludus, still mad, watched the shadows grow longer of the guards that ran back and forth between huts still looking for clues. Clues both Mith and Ludus knew they would not find. Nobody had anything to hide in Rerum. At one point they caught a conversation that two guards were having nearby.
“Are you sure this is the leader’s hut?” One guard asked the other.
“Yeah, I’m sure; I think that’s what that old guy is sitting on the floor.”
“Maybe you’re right, well catalogue him anyway.”
Mith and Ludus were appalled by what they were hearing, but Mith realized that it had to be done and shrugged it off. Ludus on the other hand did not like the way they talked at all and whispered under his breath at how mean the Parli guards seemed to be. These are the ones supposed to protect us from Oldo? He’ll have the entire island by dinner. Once the hour was over a female guard came up to them.
“It is time for us to move along, if we leave now we can make it to the Royal Region by morning.”
“Sounds good,” Mitchum said as he got to his feet and dusted off his pants, “ready, all?”
Mith and Ludus got off the ground and followed Mitchum who followed the guard. They walked to the edge of town where a group of Merchant Region horses were strapped to large carts, all having a tent on them. The horses were said to be the largest in the world, and the strongest. Each horse was dark brown with a white mane. The guard took them to one of the tents and allowed them to crawl inside and rest for the trip back. As Mith crawled in she saw the rest of the guard lining up in their black uniforms, she noticed the determination in most of their faces, as well as the youth that radiated from them. The average age seemed to be only eighteen or even younger. Some looked no older than herself, but she was a bad judge of age.
/> The tent was cooler than the outside, which was refreshing. The cart they were sitting on, though, had many splinters. Most of which seemed to end up in Ludus’s hands throughout the trip. Noises could be heard from outside the tent, mostly Turff calling out the orders to return to the palace at speed five, whatever that was, several minutes later they were off, and the cart’s wheels rolled along the sand that now covered the entire region. Early on a young man only two years older than Mith and Ludus joined in the tent complaining of nausea. He started up a conversation with Mith, who he thought was cute and was soon laughing at everything she said, though she never said anything funny. After a while Turff poked his head into the tent telling the young guard that he should return to walking since his “insane laughter” was proof he was better.
About an hour later another guard scrambled into the cart, this one a young lady only three years older than Mith. She suffered from a very bad headache. That is when Mitchum realized that they were in fact in an infirmary cart. Ludus tried to strike up a conversation with her, feeling slightly jealous of Mith from the attention she got from the last person in the cart. The girl was in a worse shape than the nauseated boy and eventually told Ludus to “shut it”. He sulked for much of the remaining trip.
Every couple of minutes Mith would sit on the edge of the cart and survey their surroundings, calling them back to the others inside. For every place she described, from strange looking rocks, to full towns they passed through, Mitchum knew exactly where they were. When asked by Mith how he knew so much about the Bay Region, he simply answered by saying: “I travel a lot.”
Ludus was not the least bit interested in the areas they passed through, claiming a headache caused by being in a cramped space. He sat in the far corner, as far away as he could get from the others, and secretly thought about his hometown and his family. He thought about what he would do to this Oldo guy if he came across him. First thing he would do, would be to get him down to his level. When Ludus imagined Oldo, he imagined a seven foot tall bear like man with sharp claws and yellow eyes. The second thing he would do is knock Oldo’s head against the ground several times. Ludus delighted in these fantasies and made up whole stories in his head, each ending with Oldo begging to be allowed to give back the roses.
In the late afternoon smells started wafting into the tent. And several minutes later an older man climbed into the cart and handed each of them a metal bowl with soup inside. It tasted very salty; the cook said it was packed with nutrients. Several brown dumplings swished around in the grayish soup. It reminded Mith of the soup they had had when they first met Mitchum. After a while of eating in silence Mith started up a conversation.
“Mr. Quinn, can I ask you something.”
“No need to call me that anymore, we’re all friends here now.”
“Right, if we are friends can I ask you a few questions?”
Mitchum looked at Mith suspiciously, “Yes.”
“Why did you leave the Forest Region? Were there any other reasons why you left, besides what you already told us?”
“What did I tell you?”
Mith hesitated, trying to think of exactly what he had said. “You said that people were trying to control you, that you did not want any of it, so you left.”
“Right, I remember that.” Mitchum took off his hat and spun it around his hands. “I told you then that I did not want to tell you much, and I still don’t.”
Mith put her bowl down and crawled over to Mitchum and sat beside him. “I know, but I want to know. You know about us.”
“My past belongs with me and I plan on keeping it with me.”
“Is there something you don’t want to talk about?” Ludus asked from the corner.
Mitchum nodded, “Yes, and that is exactly why I will not talk about it.”
Both Mith and Ludus found that it would be useless to continue badgering Mitchum on his past, so they stopped. Ludus went back to fantasizing in his corner, while Mith crawled back to the edge of the cart. She looked out at all the people in uniform following. Her thoughts wandered to Oldo. I wonder where he is. She imagined what he would do when he saw the entire palace guard coming after him. Mith laughed a little at the thought.