Chapter 32: Just Passing By
The first glimpse of sunlight woke Ludus from his slumber. He opened his eyes but instantly the world went out of focus. Once again he felt that he was suddenly moving very vast. The feeling stopped and the world came back into focus. Ludus looked about knowing that he was again seeing everything through Lwid’s eyes. It was a grey day; rain drops could be seen but not felt. Wind could be seen blowing through a woman’s blonde hair that walked directly in front of him. Her hair was in a long pony tail, tied together with small strings. Ludus involuntarily looked up and saw the palace looming ahead. It looked much different now when it was new. It shined despite the lack of sunlight.
The doors opened as he arrived. Two doormen stood on either side, each wearing an orange tunic. The inside looked the same until he looked up. The painting had only just been started. The four people who were working on it were somehow floating near the ceiling. In the center of the room stood Portur, though significantly older than when Ludus had seen him the day before. He walked right up to Portur and then looked up once again.
“Better watch out, he looks tired!” Lwid yelled up to the floating painters. One looked down and waved.
“Don’t say that, they know I won’t drop them.” Portur said. Ludus was not sure why he could now hear the others, but he liked hearing their voices. Portur had a relatively high voice for someone so tall.
“Oh, Port you take the fun out of everything.” Ludus thought it funny that Portur had a nickname.
“Hey, gents.” A voice Ludus recognized came into the room.
“Oh, hello Ijnus, you have a nice tour?” Portur asked, not taking his eyes off of the ceiling.
“Splendid if you do not count that each time we turned a corner we were back at the same place.” He turned his attention to Rerum who stood nearby. “When your magic sets in this place we might actually find something.”
Rerum scoffed. “Just be happy that I did not build this place using magic; that would be disastrous.”
“More disastrous than waiting five years for it to be completed? We have ruled this island for ten years and yet now we finally have a true place of command.”
“I told you before, Iggy, power is not about control.”
Ijnus turned and walked away without saying a thing. A thought came to Ludus that he hated that nickname. The palace went out of focus and Ludus returned back to his own time. He wished that he could have seen and heard more, but he could not control anything about the memories.
Ludus shivered in the morning chill. The sun had not yet fully come from behind the horizon. Looking around he saw that Gyrd and the minions had already gotten ready to continue. Mith sat nearby on her knees and watched Ludus. She then stood up and offered her hand. He took it and got to his feet. The minions made the same formation around them as the night before. Hatchet passed around cooked rabbit to the travelers. Also just like the night before Mith and Ludus got significantly smaller pieces. Mith was not fond of rabbit and ended up giving half of hers to Ludus.
Gyrd set off shortly afterward, leading the group continually south toward the bay. Hordna and Gubba were now in front of Mith and Ludus while Creen and Hatchet were behind. Vensa walked beside Gyrd. Contrary to her best efforts Mith could not stop staring at Gubba constantly twitching in front of her. She did not mean to, it was just that he was the first person she had ever seen to do that.
Ludus on the other hand could not stop staring at Hordna. Ever since he heard her story the night before, while pretending to be asleep, he started to like her. He tried hard not to think too much because he knew Mith could hear. Hordna was probably one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. Though while living in Rerum his entire life with the same group of people, it did not take much to get that distinction. He continually gazed upon her sandy brown, shoulder length hair. The way it blew in the desert wind was quite remarkable. Multiple times he had drifted over to be closer to her and ran into Mith.
Walk straight, would ya.
Sorry about that.
He thought it would be strange to try and explain to Mith how he felt about Hordna, especially considering he could not even explain it to himself. This was really the first time he ever had feelings like that for someone else. That is not counting the girl he once thought he liked back in Rerum. Her name was Wenda, and she was still a known friend of Mith. After he stopped liking Wenda he blamed his crush on the sandwiches her mother packed for her. He would often tell his friends that only a real crush can see past sliced tuna on rolls.
The heat set in quickly that morning. Now that the magic was gone, Parli had to go by the normal temperatures brought on by that time of year. It was almost the middle of summer, though normally the magic would regulate the temperatures. Ludus felt that it must have been nearing the boiling point. Secretly he wondered what melting flesh smelled like. It was a strange thing to think about, but it kept his mind off of Hordna. Mith entered his mind with a question.
Would you want to see Rerum still frozen?
Ludus was taken aback by the question. He had not actually thought that far ahead. Truthfully he still did not know where in the Bay Region they were. They had not yet passed any towns or people.
No, not really. I would rather wait until it’s all over. Now I have a question.
What?
Why were you talking so much with Hordna last night? Do you want to change her to our side?
At first I did. But now I don’t see how that would be possible. Just leave the planning to me. I’ll let you in on what I come up with when we get to the jail. For now just try and find out what else you can do with the magic.
Alright.
The main concentration on Ludus’s thoughts turned to the magic coursing through him. He tried and failed to bring on a memory. He had already tried several magical things the night before, which all failed. Now he was beginning to ponder the real meaning of magic. Perhaps the magic that he had was not meant to be used for external purposes. Maybe it was simply an internal force used to further advance the knowledge and well being of its host. But Ludus could not explain how Portur managed to levitate painters high above him. Unless it was only Lwid who had internal magic, meaning all five lords and ladies might have had different styles of magic. Or maybe it was the fact that Ludus got the internal magic, and Mith had the external. As far as Ludus knew she had not found out what she could do. The ideas swam around in his mind for almost an hour before his head ached too much and he went back to staring at Hordna.
The group stopped for lunch a while later. It was now around midday. Four of the minions ate with Mith and Ludus while Vensa and Gyrd debated the next move, after failing to find anything even related to a town. They heard bits and pieces of their conversation.
Vensa had said: “Did he take all of them . . . Do you know which way is south? . . . Why do you travel without a compass . . . Are you mocking me?”
Gyrd had said: “Do I look like I know the answer to that? . . . I believe we are going south . . . I don’t need a compass . . . yes, I am definitely mocking you.”
Mith liked the bickering and hoped it would eventually tear the group apart. Unfortunately Vensa apologized and let Gyrd remain in control of the path they were to take. Nobody bothered to ask the two people who actually were from that region on which way to go. Both Vensa and Gyrd considered Mith and Ludus to be unknowing of directions. Apparently it skipped their minds that those two kids had found the mountain rose and Ijnus’s sword.
The heat was immense once they started to travel again. It would not have been so bad if there was any kind of shade. The water supply was dwindling so Hatchet put rations on it. Thirsty and tired the group continued through the sand looking for the bay. The bay of Parli was large and cut deep into the region, so it was strange that they had not yet reached it.
About an hour later a town was seen in the distance. The inhabitants had not been taken yet by Oldo, which surprised Gyrd sli
ghtly. The citizens of this town, to which no one knew the name, were ice cold to the touch despite the heat. The minions used their bodies as coolants, much to the protest of Mith and Ludus. After a while they decided that staying cool was the most important task. Ludus found a girl about his age and stood back to back with her. Her cold body instantly cooled him down. Mith found a boy about her age and did the same. Ludus looked over to Mith and put his arms around the girl’s neck. Mith, not wanting to be outdone, did the same. Hordna came up to tell them to say that they were leaving; Ludus quickly withdrew his hands from the unknown girl.
As the day went on the formation around the captives loosened. Daggers were no longer needed and were returned to the boots and pockets where they were kept. Ludus managed to strike up a conversation with Hordna. It centered on their lives and Ludus learned a lot. He learned that Hordna had the same birthday as his mother. She knew how to shave sheep, and she also had once seen a creature that she described as being ten feet tall with antlers. Ludus had told her about his life in Rerum and his relationship with Mith, strictly a friendship.
Mith overheard most of the conversation and at first thought Ludus was trying to get Hordna on their side. After watching the way Ludus talked to her, she started to realize what was really going on. Feeling a twinge of jealousy that not even she could explain she looked for a boy to talk to. Creen was too old, Gubba too creepy, and Hatchet was having an in depth conversation with Vensa regarding a creature he had heard Hordna talking about.
“Yeah,” he had said to Vensa, “antlers, like huge antlers.”
“Is she sure it wasn’t a big deer standing on a rock?” Vensa had said, disbelievingly.
“No, it was like a man or something, with antlers.”
Mith decided Gubba would be a better candidate to talk to and started walking next to him. He still seemed strange to her out but maybe he wasn’t as weird as he looked. She at first asked about his life, in which he responded by just smiling. Mith looked to Ludus and tried to hear his thoughts, but somehow he had managed to shield them from her. She tried to ask Gubba where in the rough he was from but could not get past the way he looked at her to continue. He had a look on his face that said: “I know what you are saying, but I really want to pretend that I don’t.”
Mith moved away and continued to make up a plan for when they would get to the jail. Gubba went over to her after a while and walked beside her. He looked over to her without looking at her numerous times. At once he spoke.
“How’s the m-magic?” He smiled as he talked.
“Pretty good.” She said uncertainly
“S-sorry about having to t-take it from you.”
She could no longer talk to him after he said that. For the last few minutes she had looked past the fact that they were still enemies. It was in her nature to want to be friendly to everyone she met. She also still saw the best in people and thought their loosening of the formation meant they did not care as much to hold them captive. Although she knew it was her idea to be taken to Oldo by them. For the rest of the trip Mith walked alone.
Eventually water could be seen in the distance. It was a refreshing sight and everyone walked just a bit faster to reach it. The pink sand beach had not been altered by the lack of magic. Upon reaching the water there was a sigh all around. Their sweaty light-headed bodies suddenly felt a little less tired. The jail could be seen in the distance.
Ludus sat in the pink sand and ran his hands through it. The usual familiarity that came with that motion was missing. It was as if he had never actually looked upon the beach before. A wave of nostalgia swept through his body. The little boy that would spend hours on the pink sand was no more. Part of him wished for the return of that Ludus, the one that had far fewer cares. He looked at his hands as they were filled with sand. The person he had become in the last few days was not the person he had always known. The change was dramatic. Dirt and scrapes now resided on the hands that were once always smooth. A tear formed in Ludus’s eye for the end of innocence. He knew that when he returned home he would be different, but to what extend he did not realize. Then he thought of what he had said to Mith outside the tunnel. He had told her that she had to be strong, and she was. Now was his turn. He formed a fist around the sand and watched it fall back to the ground. Mith saw the pain in Ludus and put a caring hand on his shoulder. He looked up to her and nodded.
Just thinking.
Mith helped Ludus up. He gave her a small hug. Over her shoulder he noticed huts in the distance. He pointed this out to Mith. They both knew that it was Rerum that they were looking at. Not wanting to attract attention to their home they pretended that they did not notice it.
We are just passing by. Mith thought to Ludus.
We will be back, by dark I hope.
Gyrd made up his mind as to what to do and led the group eastward along the bay, away from Rerum. Small waves lapped up against the pink sand as they walked. Ludus occasionally went to the water and splashed some on himself. It felt good, though bittersweet at the same time. Both he and Mith now felt nervousness that increased with every step. Traveling with Gyrd and the minions had not been so bad, though actually meeting the person who was responsible for all of their hardships was frightening. Ludus still thought of Oldo as a hairy beast-man, while Mith saw him differently every time she now thought of him. Secretly, Mith wanted to meet the man who convinced so many people to work for his goal. She believed he must have had incredible oratory skills for such a task.
Two wooden boats were found tied to a post on the beach. Gyrd knew that meant there were some of Oldo’s less experienced workers nearby collecting statues or scouting. He found his own needs more important and untied the boats. The first boat was for Vensa and himself, the second for the minions and the children. Together they pushed off from the beach and headed for the jail.
The boats had two oars a piece. Vensa rowed one and Hatchet rowed the other. Mith and Ludus sat in the center of the second boat, surrounded by the minions who had once again formed the dagger wielding arrangement. In minutes they were half way across the bay. The boats rode smoothly across the blue murky-brown water. Closer and closer they came to the jail, more and more nervous became Mith and Ludus. A fish or two could be seen sporadically at the surface.
Barely five minutes later the boats arrived at the rocky island. It looked different from that angle. Mith looked up at it and for the first time really saw that it was a jail and not a rock. Barred windows could be seen disarranged throughout the floors. The silence was only broken by the crashing of waves on the steep rocks. Gyrd and Vensa jumped from the boats onto the rocks. Hatchet and Hordna had to help Mith and Ludus from the other boat. In an attempt to keep Mith and Ludus from fleeing, Gyrd did not tie up the boats and let them drift away.
Without a word he led the group to the small metal doors and into the building. The smell is what hit Ludus first. It smelled of ancient mildew and old bread. He coughed upon entering but soon got used to the smell. Gyrd turned to the children in the small stone-walled entryway.
“This way, dearest’s, I’m sure my master wishes to meet you.”