Ch. 15
I woke with a start. There was something nagging at me. I felt as though I had a research paper due and I just now remembered. What was it? The anxiety was getting worrisome when I remembered what happened the day before. I told myself that that guy had confused me with somebody else. That was the only way I could calm myself down.
I honestly don’t remember what happened that morning. Dimitrius gave me some fresh bread he got somewhere. My thoughts were clouding up my mind, nothing else seemed to matter. I took another bath, not because I really needed it, but because I needed something to do, to have a place to think. Nothing got resolved. I now had so many things going wrong that I thought about just getting to the Technology and leaving, but then I’d think of Miggins, Janey, and all the other people I met. I knew that I wasn’t going to leave them without at least trying to help stop the invasion. I had no clue what to do. I was out of ideas, not that I ever had any good ones to begin with.
“What are we going to do?” I asked Dimitrius some ten minutes later, my voice emotionless.
“I’ve been thinking about that. For now I think we should stay here, but I want to go see Caib again. See if we can get this thing sorted out so you can go home.”
“What about the invasion?”
“Look, there’s no reason why you should have to be involved in this. This whole mess is between Voratiot and Hurdeen. The plan now is to sneak you to the Technology and get you home. And who knows, maybe I’ll come and visit you some time.”
I agreed to this, at the moment just wanting to get home. We went to see Caib. They let us in again, and we were back in that office by midmorning.
“Nice to see you again, Bessie.” Caib said sweetly.
I ignored him.
“Sir, we need to ask you to let Bessie out of Voratiot.” Dimitrius said.
“It’s nice to see you, Dimi, you weren’t really even here last time.”
“Yes sir, now about Bessie.”
“I see no reason to change my first decision.”
“But she needs to get home.”
“And I need Hurdeen.”
Dimitrius made several noises, as if trying to decide which one he should use to start off with. “Um, it would be easy to reconsider.”
“Nope, I either want the Earthling in Voratiot, or Hurdeen. I can’t have both.”
Dimitrius and I looked at each other for a second. This wasn’t turning out too well. I didn’t have anything to say, nor wanted to be in that office at all.
“Sir, if you would just let her leave, she has nothing to do with Hurdeen.”
“No, and that’s final, so you might as well just leave.”
I stood up and was almost to the door when Dimitrius finally followed behind me. In the hallway we whispered, not wanting anybody to overhear.
“Now what?” I asked, feeling that everything was even more hopeless than before.
He didn’t answer. The guard who let us in was standing right outside the door, blocking the stairs. Dimitrius went up to him and asked him to move, he would not. We moved down the hall, looking for a different way down to the first floor. More guards blocked both ways, we were trapped.
“Now what is all this about?” Dimitrius asked, clearly getting nervous.
They moved in from all sides.
Dimitrius grabbed me and pushed me behind him. “Now there’s no reason for this.”
All three lunged. We pushed forward as fast as we could, barely squeezing by the one in front of us, and streaked down the stairs and through the door. Once in the street we ran for it, pushing people out of our way, knocking some down, but it didn’t matter. We had to get as much space between us and our attackers as possible. Up this street, down that street, I had no idea where we were going. We dove into some building, both so tired and exhausted. We weren’t specific on where we hid. Dimitrius pulled me along to a table and I sat, apparently in a restaurant. More like a bar really, there were people up at the counter drinking something that I can only describe as mud.
A waiter came over and Dimitrius asked for two waters. And then we waited, hoping nobody would find us. The water came and I drank it down, not even doing my usual inspection like I do at most places I eat. My mind was too preoccupied with almost getting killed two days in a row.
“Bessie?” Dimitrius said quietly.
“Yes.”
“I think it’s time you leave Voratiot.”
I scoffed, “I would love to, but I can’t, not until we convince Caib to let me.”
“Bessie, there’s no point, he won’t do it.”
“I know, but we can still try, I can’t let them invade, that’s the whole point why I’m here.”
“Bessie!” He slammed his cup on the table, everyone was staring. “He won’t change his mind. Trust me; I’ve done a lot of business with him.”
“Excuse me?”
“I . . . I am the reason there’s a railroad. I am the reason they want to invade Hurdeen. They want to get to Earth. They want the Technology; I’ve told them so much about it.” He spoke quietly, shamefully.
It took me a minute to wrap my mind around what I just heard. I took it one part at a time. “You brought the plans for the train from Earth. You told them about the Technology so they would get it for you. And Earth, why do they want to get to Earth?”
“They needed incentive to invade.”
“You lied to me.” I blurted out, not really knowing what I was saying.
“I never lied; I simply did not tell the whole story.”
I felt betrayed, angered to the point where all the previous week’s happenings burst out of me. “The only reason why I am here is because of you.”
“Yes, but now we need to go, no more secrets. If we can sneak out of the city –”
“Why would you ever expect me to go anywhere with you? I have endured the most trying week in my entire life, all because of you! I’ll have better luck on my own, I have so far.”
I ran out of the restaurant before he could respond. I sprinted through the streets, toward where I thought the gate would be that we came in at. I didn’t have a plan. That much was evident. I had just left my only hope of survival, the one that kept me alive twice now, just because I was mad, because I felt like he had something to do with my predicament.
The gate eventually presented itself to me. The guards stood with their backs to me, checking in a man with a cart full of vegetables. I got past them with ease. I ran up the hill hearing noises close behind, they were coming. My knees slipped on muddy patches, smearing my pants with brown. My hair was plastered to my forehead with sweat, falling before my eyes as I climbed. At the top I took a quick glance back and to my surprise there was nobody there. Nobody was chasing me after all. I dropped to my knees, breathing heavy as I looked down on Impiral, realizing only too well what my departure meant: the invasion was about to begin.
I had to warn Hurdeen, if somebody listened; actually heeded my warning then I would feel better about leaving. As long as I tried I would feel better about leaving. But I wouldn’t be able to get home. I didn’t have the fuel stopper or the marsh oil. It was at this point that I really felt stupid about leaving Dimitrius.
It was too late to look back, I had to warn everyone. Thankfully I brought my backpack along when we went to see Caib, and so I had at least a day’s ration of food in bread, and several days’ worth of water. I turned from Impiral and the bay I never got to see up close, and started back for Hurdeen, with any luck I would get there before the Terror Bringers.
For the first part of the journey I disappeared in thought about what I would do if caught. Every one ended the same, with me bashing a few Terror Bringers around for fun before Caib personally surrendered to me. These were fun for me to daydream about. They greatly brightened my mood and help pass the time.
The sun slowly creped across the sky, each passing minute under its light had me feeling wo
rse and worse about how I left Dimitrius. It was a feeling of pure shame; I was sharing an embarrassed silence with myself. To make things worse I knew that each step was taking me one step farther from getting home. I had to do something. I thought about waiting just in case Dimitrius was coming up behind me. I flipped around but there was nobody there. I turned back and Poiye was standing right in front of me.
“Jeez,” I yelled, “don’t sneak up on someone like that.”
“You made a bad decision today.” He said. Today he wore a green suit with a black tie.
“Thank you for that, I hadn’t realized.”
“You can make it right.”
“No I can’t, I’ve already left. I can’t chance getting caught or killed by going back.”
Poiye stopped suddenly right in front of the shack Dimitrius and I stayed in a few nights before. “You can wait in the Forgotten Lands for him, he will be happy to see you.”
“You didn’t appear for him.”
“My place is with you.”
I walked past him and the shack. I did not know where I was headed; I didn’t really believe that anybody would listen to me if I told them to flee. I mainly wanted to get away from Poiye.
“You need to give yourself a chance to set things right, you are the only one who can.” He said, walking beside me.
“I don’t believe that.”
“You don’t have to, not now, not ever, but you need to know that some believe it.”
“Just go away.”
“I can help you.” He stopped walking.
I turned back to him, “No you –” I was brought to a halt. It was suddenly dark; behind Poiye was a low wall of rock.
I looked slowly around at the wall, at the boardwalk under my feet, and at the three huts that make up Dimitrius’s house. Everything else was too hard to see in the dark, except for a few fires in the distance, coming from other huts.
“How did you . . .?”
“He’s here, and he’s ready to see you.” He stepped back into the darkness, I had a feeling he was gone.
There was no reason to think that I had teleported, after all the sun was now down, and it definitely wasn’t before. The only explanation that came to me was that we walked this whole way and I don’t remember it. Is that possible? I suppose, but it was as unlikely as teleporting.
I walked up to his home, thinking that if the conversation went south, at least I could get the things I needed. And then I could go warn people, and get out before they expect me to get superpowers. It was my best bet to get out of Hurdeen alive. My hand knocked on the door, and I waited. Dimitrius came to the door; he took one look at me and stepped out of the way.
“I thought you would have been back in Yim by now.” He said as we took our seats.
“How long was I gone?” I asked, worried that weeks had passed.
“You don’t remember that you left me sitting in that bar this morning with guards all around looking for us?”
“Sorry about that and sorry for what I said.”
“I’m sorry as well, I never meant for you to be here.”
“I know.”
“I suppose you came for the oil and stopper.”
“I did, but I wonder if it would be possible for you to come with me, nobody knows the Technology like you.”
He sighed deeply, “I’m done, Bessie, I have had enough adventures with you to last me the rest of my life.”
“What about Earth?”
“I’ll go back one day, but for now I want to sit out this invasion. Caib owes me anyway; once he takes over I will be able to use it all I want.”
“Is that it, you’ve already given up?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Help me warn the people.”
“Nobody’s going to listen, that’s just the way it is.”
I had the strongest sense that he was right, but I had to try. “You never know.”
He gave me the oil and the stopper, which I put into my backpack. It was then time for me to make a decision. We stared at each other for a minute, not sure what to say or do. Finally I backed up towards the door. He knew what this meant.
“Goodbye Bessie and good luck.”
“Thank you for everything, I would never have been able to get home without you.”
“You’re not home yet; don’t let your guard down. The next few days will be the most trying yet, but I know you can get through it.”
I nodded, not sure of what to say as usual. I put my hand on the door and pushed, the cool breeze felt great compared to the frigid temperatures in Voratiot. I gave him one last look, hoping for that second alone that he would change his mind and come with me, or at least tell me how to use the oil and the stopper, or even how to find the Technology, but he did not, and I did not want to badger him anymore. I gave one more smile, and took my leave, across the boardwalk. About ten steps into the night I decided that I really did have one more thing that I should have asked him. I turned back, knocked on the door, and when he answered I said:
“Can I please stay the night?”
He laughed, “Of course you can.”
There was only one bed, a very small, very old and lumpy bed which I refused to sleep on, not wanting to take it from him. I stayed on the floor, I was getting used to it, and with a few of his extra blankets and a pillow it turned out to be rather nice. I fell asleep feeling better than I had all day, blissfully pushing all other thoughts away. I was just glad that I had patched things up with Dimitrius. In the morning things would be different. I would have to think about the invasion, and what I was going to do about it. So at least for that night I felt pretty good.