The Last Golden Rose

  Chapter 6: Meeting Mitchum

  “Are we ever going to get going, to get anywhere?” Ludus complained as he climbed over a large rock.

  “Why do you choose to complain so much, Lu” Mith inquired, walking nearby Ludus with her head down, and her hands held on her head.

  “Look at the time, we better find someplace to sleep or we will be caught out at night.” Ludus looked up at the sun, which was now settling near the westward horizon directly in front of them.

  “That’s the whole point; I believe seeing the spirits when they come out tonight will help us, we can ask them where to go.” Mith said excitedly.

  “Wait a minute, is there any other reason that you want to see the spirits.”

  “What? No, I just want them to help us.” Mith said shyly.

  “I got it.” Ludus announced sounding superior, sitting down on another rock he decided to scale. “You think your mom will be one of the spirits, don’t you?”

  “What? No . . . I . . . no.” Mith looked away quickly.

  Ludus jumped down from the rock, “Humph, whatever.” He continued walking, deciding it best to drop the conversation. Mith walked with him, several yards away and behind.

  As the sun began to set, the endless sand and rocks took a different look as the light changed and the shadows got longer. Mith and Ludus had to look at the ground the entire time, taking only swift glances up as the sun was directly in front of them. Mith saw several tents and shelters being erected far away on either side of them, wanting so badly to see her mother, she decided against asking any of them for help. The sun took a long time to sink below the horizon. While the minutes ticked by, Ludus complained loudly and frequently of a splitting headache caused by the sun’s bright glow on his eyes, he usually was not the type of person to complain very much, but as this was his first time out of his element, he did so quite often.

  Night came before long. Mith and Ludus stood completely still, staring around wildly in the darkness. Everything was different, they were different. Somehow in the moments after the sun completely fell behind the horizon and the night took over, Mith and Ludus had grown older. Not just minutes older, but years older. They did not see themselves anymore as two kids from Rerum, but as two young adults of Parli.

  The stars sparkled cheerfully down to them from millions of miles away. Mith was astounded at the amount of stars in the sky. She craned her neck all the way back to see, and almost fell backward as she tried to see all the stars at once.

  “Hey, Lu, Let’s sit a minute.” Mith spoke with awe, carefully, as if all the stars would hide upon hearing her.

  “What?” Ludus nearly shouted. “You want to sit, we have to keep going, it’s creepy out here, look at all the stars, there staring at us.”

  “Are you stupid, or just incredibly unintelligent?” Mith inquired hastily.

  “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “The universe is infinite. Don’t you listen when Clarin instructs us?” Mith was getting rather annoyed. She decided to sit on the ground, knowing Ludus would have to sit since he did not want to travel on alone.

  “I listen, most of the time. If she wasn’t so boring I would be able to listen more.” Ludus answered, he came and sat down next to Mith.

  “She’s not boring, she’s actually very animated, it’s hard to not want to listen and learn. Plus she’s very kind, and generous, and—”

  “Alright, I get you like Clarin, let us move on.” Ludus interrupted.

  Mith’s face reddened, though Ludus could not tell in the dark. “Oh, right, I just get carried away when I get excited. Excited about the night, I mean. Not about Clarin.”

  “You do not have to apologize to me, Mith.” Ludus shook from a cool breeze. “Wow, it’s getting cold out, or did Clarin tell you that would happen too.”

  Mith at once started to defend herself, but suddenly realized that Ludus was just joking. “As a matter of fact she did, she told us that the Rough gets colder at night because of . . . of . . ., well I don’t actually remember that part.”

  “That’s cool, I don’t either. I guess the only thing to do now is wait for the spirits.”

  “They should be out soon; I thought they would be out now.” Mith looked over her shoulder hopefully, but found nothing there.

  The two sat quietly on the sandy ground as the night grew longer. The air grew colder every minute, after ten Mith and Ludus began shaking, their teeth chattering. After twenty minutes their breath came from their mouths as great white clouds. At the same exact moment the two jumped up and began walking again. Huddling together they made their way blindly into the darkness. Unable to see the rocks protruding from the ground, they stumbled and even fell several times, but each time they got back up and continued on.

  “I knew it was going to be cold, but I had no idea how cold it would get.” Mith said, clouds expelling from her mouth with every word.

  “Maybe they don’t come out in the Rough, maybe their only in our region.” Ludus offered.

  Mith dismissed the idea, “No, they have to be here, Maows told me they’d be here.”

  “When did he say that? I never heard that.” Ludus said. A huge gust of wind chilled them to the bone, they huddled closer. A terrible feeling joined the wind. The kids were now being pelted with grains of sand, and even small pebbles. The pain was immense; instinctively they tried to hide their faces, but could find nowhere to hide them.

  “They will be here, I promise.” The wind was blowing so strong Mith had to yell so Ludus could hear.

  “Mith, we need to find shelter, we’ll freeze out here if we don’t.” Ludus screamed at the top of his lungs, even then Mith could barely make out the words.

  “I promised they would come.”

  “You promised? Who did you promise?”

  Mith froze, literally and figuratively. Ludus stopped as well, he looked deep into Mith’s eyes as best he could in the darkness, but could not make the connection; Mith was hard to read.

  “I promised myself that I would see her again. I promised myself I would see my mother again.” Warm tears fell from her eyes, only to be blown off her face.

  Ludus tried to understand what Mith was going through; he tried so hard to feel her sadness. It did not work, though for the first time in his life, he found the words to say to somebody that was saddened.

  “You will see your mother again one day, I promise you that. But for right now we have to keep moving.”

  “Are you sure? Are you absolutely positive?” Tears continued to pour, now more than ever.

  Ludus tried to grin through the brutal wind, only able to find a strange grimace. “Positive.” He affirmed.

  Finding the cold wind too hard to bear, he held Mith tightly, and continued to walk onward. She in turn held him tightly, and together they inched their way into the darkness and towards the hope of warmth. They found strength in each other, they moved as one. Heads held down, hair whipping in all directions, they continued. Footsteps vanished into the night, all heat gone from the world, they continued.

  More than once they found terrible thoughts in their minds that had been so carefully trained to never think of such things. Now suspecting the worst, Mith looked up into the wind, at once she gasped.

  “Ludus, Ludus, look up ahead.” Mith shook Ludus with what strength she had left.

  Ludus looked ahead too, and also gasped. For up ahead a glow could be seen, hanging in the air. Blocked for the most part by what was assumed to be a rock. Numb or not, they ran directly for the glow, somehow avoiding every rock as they did so. Within seconds they came around the giant rock, only to find another rock in their way. Continuing around the rock an opening appeared in a crack before yet another rock began. They squeezed inside and fell straight to the ground. Warmth radiated around the two freezing and worn bodies, all but sending the bitter cold into a memory.

  Mith was first to look around the small structure. She first spotted the war
m; friendly brown walls alit from a fire’s natural glow. Then she spotted the fire, only feet from where her head lay, it crackled and popped majestically. Then, last of all, she spotted a strange man sitting near the fire; he too was only feet away. A look of complete surprise was held fervently on his face as a crudely shaped wooden spoon dangled half out of his wide open mouth. In his hands he held a wooden bowl, constructed much better than the spoon. The man wore brown trousers and a brown shirt, though it appeared to Mith that the shirt must have originally been white. The surprised man also wore a pair of black shoes, made from a material Mith was not accustomed to. Sitting with legs crossed, the man stared back at Mith, the spoon finally falling from his mouth, landing with a splash into the bowl.

  Mith got to her knees, straightening the folds of her dress. Moving on her knees, she got closer to the fire and put her hands out to warm them. Ludus got up as well, staring at the strange man nervously.

  Mith was first to speak, “Excuse our entrance, sir, may we stay here for a while?” Her body continued to ache from the cold and sting from the sand.

  The man stared at the two intruders with uncertain eyes, watching intently as Ludus inched nearer to the fire. “Pretty nasty out there, huh?” The man said.

  “Yes sir.” Mith answered.

  “Yeah, sure is.” The man whispered, more to himself than to anyone else. He carefully slid one of his hands (the one not holding the bowl) through his short, dirty, dark brown hair. His eyes stared wide, as if transfixed on Ludus, who tried hard not to look away.

  “Say, what’s your name, Skippy?” The man asked of Ludus.

  “Ludus.” He answered.

  “Nice to meet ya Skippy, and. . . uh. . . what’s your name miss.”

  “Mith, sir.”

  “Ah, Skippy and Mithsir, it’s nice to meet you both.”

  Mith laughed uneasily, “No, no, it’s Ludus and Mith.”

  “Alright then, Mithsir, I promise to get it right next time.” The man smiled kindly.

  “Why don’t you give us your name?” Ludus inquired.

  “If I give you my name, you might find me later, and I don’t want that. Just call me Mitchum. Or if that does not suit you, call me Mr. Quinn.”

  “Then it’s nice to meet you Mitchum Quinn.” Mith said, nudging Ludus to say the same, he did not.

  Mitchum scoffed sarcastically, “These are not exactly the greatest of circumstances to meet someone, if you do not mind me saying Mithsir, but I agree that meeting you is the highlight of my night. Well, just above me finding wood to do this.” He pointed to the fire crackling before them. Mitchum put down his bowl, clapping his hands together. “So, why would two Bay Region kiddies be running around out here unsupervised? It can’t be that they remain so obtuse in those towns, still putting youngish people at risk of dying in the great big Rough, eh?”

  Ludus looked up quickly, “How did you know we were from the Bay Region?”

  “Why, it’s written all over your face Skippy, quite literally to be honest.”

  Mith and Ludus looked at each other uncertainly, then back at Mitchum. “All over our faces, what does that mean?” They asked together.

  Mitchum sighed loudly, straightening his legs out in front of him. “My goodness, they do not teach you anything do they?” The strange man waited for a response, but none came. “It’s your hair, kiddies. It’s your eyes. It’s your clothes. Do you understand now?”

  Once again Mith and Ludus looked at each other in confusion, then back at Mitchum. Not wanting to sound unintelligent they waited for him to tell them what he meant, instead of them asking. Mitchum Quinn picked up his bowl, pulled his spoon out, and went back to eating whatever was inside. After a long time of this he put the bowl back on the ground and continued to talk.

  “Listen, kiddies, I am not here to be the teacher you never had, but I will give you one lesson.” He paused to build up tension, and then continued. “Those from the Bay Region all have one thing in common; they have blue eyes, blonde hair, and wear ridiculous clothes.”

  Ludus looked immediately at Mitchum’s shirt, “It’s not as ridiculous as what you’re wearing.”

  “Wait a minute,” Mith cut in. “My father’s not from the Bay region, yet I still have blonde hair and blue eyes even though he has brown hair. How do you explain that, Mr. Quinn?”

  Mitchum rubbed his chin, and then responded, “I would ask you if your mother was from the Bay, but it doesn’t matter. As long as you were born in the region you will have blonde hair and blue eyes. Genetics has no effect on those traits on this island.”

  “My mother was from the Bay, I did not even consider that.” Mith whispered dolorously “My father is one of the few at home with brown hair”. She laid her back on the wall of stone behind her. “Hey.” She suddenly yelled out. “Where are the spirits at? You know the ones that should be here, guiding us.” The words could not come out of her mouth quickly enough.

  Mitchum’s face grew stern for the first time, “I’m sorry Mith, but there are no spirits.”

  Mith’s heart sank, her hands shook slightly as she tried to fight back tears. She looked to Ludus, who suddenly seemed interested in watching the fire. “No, they’re supposed to be here. Everyone told us they’d be here. Where are they?”

  “You both are from Rerum?” Ludus nodded silently, still looking into the fire. “I see. I’m sorry, Mith, but . . . they lied to you. I cannot say why they tell those stories; it only leads to disappointment, especially if. . .” He looked to Ludus, “A relative?” Mitchum whispered, almost without sound. Without looking away from the fire, Ludus nodded.

  “They would not lie to us.” Mith chocked through teary eyes. She turned her body to face the wall.

  All was silent for a while. Mitchum could not find the words to consol Mith. He finished his bowl of odd liquid quietly, occasionally looking from one Rerumese to the other, then back to his bowl. He could not see Mith’s face, but he could see her body shaking while she cried. Ludus did nothing but face the fire, his eyes closed and his mouth in a frown. Then, Mitchum thought of something.

  “I know.” He cried happily, “Have you eaten yet, because I have food.” Ludus opened his eyes and looked for the food, but found nothing. “No, no, it’s right here.” Mitchum pulled a large stone bowl out from behind the fire. “Its soup, I made it shortly before you arrived. Do you want some?”

  “Absolutely, I am starving; we have not eaten anything in forever.” Ludus looked to Mith; she had not reacted to hearing of food. “Mith.” Ludus whispered, inching closer to her. She did not answer, Ludus decided to leave her alone. He walked around the fire and sat in front of the bowl. Inside was a green liquid with lumps of some kind bobbing at the surface.

  Mitchum saw the disgust on Ludus’s face, “don’t worry, they’re potatoes, I picked them up in Merchant Square this morning. I do not have anything but this spoon to eat it with.”

  “That’s alright; I can just drink it out of the bowl, if that’s alright with you, Mr. Quinn.”

  “I do not mind, but save some for her.” he pointed to Mith, though since she was the only ‘her’ it was obvious for Ludus who he meant.

  Ludus drank half of the soup out of the bowl, and then put the bowl near Mith.

  “Can I ask you a series of questions Mr. Quinn?”

  “I suppose Skippy, but nothing about my past.”

  “Were you born here? Not to seem rude, but you are very different than the first person we met out here.”

  “That is about my past Skippy, but I will answer it anyway.” Mitchum sighed deeply. “I was born in the Forest Region; do you know where that is?”

  Ludus contemplated for a minute before responding, “I believe it’s on the other side of the Bay Region, to the Northeast, right?”

  Mitchum nodded, “That’s absolutely right. Anyway, I grew up there; it was a wonderful place to live.” He looked up at the stars that hung in the air. Watching them he continue
d, “I moved away when I was nineteen, everyone was pressuring me to do something with my life, wanting me to be some great person just because I had what they called ‘potential’.” He laughed, “Potential, everyone has that, not just me. They just wanted to control me, that’s what it was. Everyone there wanting things from me, to help them, to teach them, I didn’t want any of that, so I left.”

  “Did you ever go back?” Ludus asked.

  “No, still haven’t.”

  “I’ll bet they miss you.”

  “Ha, like they would.”

  “You can’t just leave and never go back, your family’s there.”

  “They drove me away, why would they want me back?”

  “Because they are still your family, they still love you.”

  Mitchum looked at Ludus morosely, “Just because you grew up like that does not mean everyone has.”

  Ludus had no response, so instead he changed the subject. “Where did you go after that?”

  “I enrolled in the guard school on the edge of the region, near the palace, which is a region in itself. If you do not know, that is where the king and queen live. I finished up school there and became a full guard, protecting the palace from the forces of evil.” Mitchum was becoming exceedingly nostalgic as he reminisced. “In addition the palace still has full magic so it was quite fun.”

  “The palace has what?” inquired Ludus, who was now very interested.

  “I am very glad to hear that Rerum hasn’t changed much, still refusing to teach anything important.” He said sarcastically.

  “What magic are you talking about?”

  “Do you know what all the regions are?” Mitchum asked, completely ignoring the question.

  “Yes, there’s the Rough, the Bay, the Forest, the Mountain, the Merchant, and the Royal.” Ludus counted off on his fingers to make sure he got them all.

  “Good.”

  Ludus waited for Mitchum to continue, but he did not. “Is that it, aren’t you going to tell me about the magic?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  “It is very late, it would be a good idea to get some sleep, so as to start early; I need to get you two to the Merchant Region.”

  “You’re going to help us?” Ludus asked in disbelief.

  “Yes I am; it’s clear to me that you need to learn a little more about this world before you go back to your lives in Rerum.”

  Ludus was about to tell Mitchum that they were supposed to complete the journey on their own, but he did not. At the moment he was mad at Maows and at all of Rerum for telling them lies all their lives. So he decided that having a guide would be just enough to get back at them.

  Mitchum gave them his mat, Ludus put that near Mith, hoping she would take it. After waiting for several minutes to see if Mith would take either the mat or the soup, Ludus curled up on the ground and went to sleep. Mitchum waited several hours more, until the fire died, and then went to sleep. The small structure got cold very fast, but by that time it was near daybreak. Mith and Ludus lasted through their first night.