Chenda and the Airship Brofman (26 page)

Verdu rested with his head in his hands. Chenda asked, “No prospecting for you today?”

He shook his head, exhausted. “I'm sorry I pushed you so hard. I knew we needed to get across the open ground as fast as possible, and get to fresh water. If we had stopped to rest, we would have all baked to death in the sun. Here in the caves we should be able to find water with less trouble.”

Chenda shook her canteen and took another deep drink. “I understand,” she said, handing Verdu the water. “I'm glad to be out of the scorching heat. Nice and cool down here. I hate that I got all weak and wilty.”

“I'm just hoping that we haven't jumped from the frying pan to the fire. The elements above may not be our worst obstacle. The woman who has been leading us says she is a member of the Tugrulian Resistance, but I don't know if we can trust anyone here. Spies are everywhere, to be sure. I am trying to get to Taboda's contact so we can find your mystic and get you out again. We can't hide from the spies for long. All areas of Tugrulian society have various agents; the heirarchy spies on the Resistance. The Resistance keeps tabs amongst the soldiers. The Emperor has men everywhere. Never forget it. That's why I'm keeping you ladies covered and silent. I can pass for just another Tugrulian, but you will have a harder time.”

Chenda scooted closer to Verdu and put a hand on his arm. “I appreciate what you are doing for me. Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You-” his voice broke off. “I hear someone walking this way.” He made a quick double hiss to Fenimore, who grabbed Candice by the hand and pulled her quickly back to where Verdu sat. He looked relaxed but positioned himself between the approaching footsteps and his friends.

The veiled woman reappeared and spoke in Tugrulian to Verdu, who looked pleased. The woman turned and went back the way she had come. Verdu signaled for the group to follow, and they plunged into another dark passageway.

After several minutes, they entered a chamber where water trickled down the rocks, plinking and plopping from stalactite to stalagmite. Sitting against the far wall next to a dim oil lamp was another woman. Unlike all Tugrulian women they had seen so far, this one wore no veil. She was short with a round, pleasant face, dark hair and eyes, and skin much fairer than the average Tugrulian. The woman leading Verdu started speaking in a manner indicated introductions were being made between him and the seated woman, then she made a small bow to each and hurried away down a nearby tunnel.

Verdu spoke again and Chenda only recognized a few words, “..... Ahy-Me.... Taboda.... Tjalk....” Finally, he gestured to Chenda and said, “Pramuc.”

The woman turned her head skeptically to examine Chenda. She spoke to her in a tone that sounded like an order, but Chenda didn't understand. She glanced at Verdu for assistance. Verdu spoke again to the woman, who nodded.

“Ah,” she said, “I see. I vill try to speak du words of de Republic.” She struggled onward. “Take de cloth away from da face, voman.”

Again, Chenda turned to Verdu for guidance. He reached out and helped her remove the veil. Chenda imagined how she looked after a day in the maddening heat, sweat and dust. The round-faced woman stepped closer to Chenda and put a hand on either side of Chenda’s face. She looked deeply into her eyes and a distrustful expression crept into her face.Then she nodded.

“She thinks she is Pramuc, not!” the woman accused Verdu.

“Yes, I know, Ahy-Me. But it doesn't matter what
she
thinks she is, it only matters what Pranav Erato thinks. She also has the Great Singing Stones.” The woman dropped Chenda's face and made a small hop backward. “Show her, please,” Verdu said with an encouraging head bob.

Chenda dug around amongst her many layers of clothing and pulled out the velvet bag. She wasn't sure why, but her fingers were trembling as she opened it and pulled out the two loose stones and the gold necklace with its stone pendant. She extended her hand and the stones to Ahy-Me, who slowly started to back away, her eyes wide.

She suddenly turned to Verdu and started chittering wildly in Tugrulian, waving her hands and pointing. She turned to Chenda and started pushing the hand holding the velvet bag toward the hand with the stones. “Avay! Avay!” she begged, looking around to be sure no one had entered the dripping chamber.

Verdu said something in a soothing voice to Ahy-Me. He said the same words to her over and over, and the small woman began to calm down.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I can live dis part of my life vell, and vill take you to du Pranav Erato. You make rest now. I do go, and come soon.”

“We will wait in peace here, Ahy-Me.” Verdu said in his most soothing voice.

Ahy-Me scurried away from them and then suddenly turned back and raced up to Chenda. She placed her hands on the sides of Chenda's face again and pressed her forehead to Chenda's. A second later, she dropped her hands and ran off down a dark tunnel.

Fenimore said, “Well, well. I think that went smoothly. I think your 'she's the prophetic liberator' bluff worked.”

“Who's bluffing?” Verdu said and both men shrugged in unison.

Candice, sensing an impending philosophical argument, changed the subject by asking, “What was that forehead touching business about?”

“That is how Tugrulians greet their holy men,” Verdu said. “You may need to get used to that, Chenda, and respond appropriately.”

Chenda bit her lip. “Greeted as a holy woman? I don't know... it seems so dishonest. I don't want to go around pretending to be something I am not. Especially to people who have faith. I... just don't know.”

Verdu took Chenda by the shoulders and turned her to fully face him. “You need to go along with this, and do so convincingly. Otherwise we are not going to find Pranav Erato. Ahy-Me is a gatekeeper, for lack of a better term. It is only through her that we will find your mystic. I want her to think that you are the Pramuc. It helps your cause.”

He placed his hands on Chenda's face just as Ahy-Me had. “So, here's what you do...” he brought his forehead to hers. “Look in the eyes, always. Look deeply - never away. They will be looking for answers in your eyes, so be relaxed.  They will see what they want to see there. Put your hands behind my ears and brush your hands down my shoulders to my elbows.” Chenda followed his instructions, but felt foolish. “Now,” he said, “push me back slightly by my elbows.” She obeyed, and then Verdu dropped his hands. “It's the most formal of greetings,” he said, “and a blessing to boot.”

Chenda, who had grown accustomed to very close proximity with Verdu, felt like this was too intimate, too unnatural. “It rather makes me uncomfortable,” she told him.

“Perhaps you should practice a bit,” Candice offered. “Here, let me help you.” Chenda turned her body to Candice and repeated the greeting several times. Verdu commented on each attempt, “No, you never lean in,” he instructed. “Always keep your gaze focused on the eyes.”

Finally, he was satisfied. “That looks great. Keep it in your mind, I think you will be needing to do it a lot before we are done here.” He looked around but heard nothing but dripping water. “We should rest a bit.”

They sat together, and Chenda passed out some of Kingston’s traveling bread. The dense, chewy food was surprisingly filling, but not especially tasty. Chenda, sitting on the ground in front of Fenimore, leaned back against the tall man's knee. “I need a nap,” she said.

“So take one,” he replied, tossing her flight coat onto the ground next to her. “You all should, I'll keep watch for a while.” Chenda's flight coat, soft and fluffy as it was, couldn't ease all of the lumps out of the rock beneath her, but it hardly mattered. She dropped into a deep sleep after just a few moments.

She dreamed of caverns filled with people, all dark haired and olive skinned. Each reached for her, wanting to be blessed by her touch and her gaze. They crowded in on her, pressing her back to the wall of the huge cave, one after the next, touching her face and wanting her sanctification. She was pinned there, and still the crowd pushed forward. Chenda felt herself melting into the rock behind her, first her head and then her torso and arms, on down to her feet, until the crowd finally pushed her into nothingness. She was trapped inside the stone.

She awoke then with a yelp and sat straight up. Verdu rushed to her side. “What's wrong!” he demanded.

“Nightmare,” she said. She looked around. Nothing in the cavern had changed, except that now Verdu kept watch as Fenimore slept. She returned to the warm cocoon of her flight coat and tried to close her eyes to sleep again, but couldn't seem to shake her dream. Verdu paced around the cavern, occasionally looking at Chenda's restless repose. He started to quietly sing the forbidden lullaby. As Chenda focused on the song, she began to relax again, and eventually returned to a dreamless rest.

The passing of time in the dark, dripping cave was unknowable. When she awoke, Chenda couldn't begin to guess how long she slept. The others were already quietly talking. Chenda yawned and rolled from her side onto her back. She ached from sleeping on the hard stone, and her tongue felt huge in her mouth. She craved water and, strangely, pickles. She crawled over to the pool of water that collected around the stalagmites, and started to drink. It was cool and refreshing, but tasted strongly of minerals. She drank until she could drink no more, trying to drive off the last of the feelings of dehydration. She refilled her canteen as well, and then looked into the dark pool.

Between drips, she could see her reflection in the dim lamplight. She looked so different. Her short hair was tussled and dirty, and her cheeks had lost some of their youthful fullness. Her eyes held the most striking change; they
looked
now instead of just being open in sight. She smiled at her rippling reflection, and thought,
So t
his is what I am today...

Candice's face appeared next to hers in the puddle. “Lose something down there?” she asked.

“Nope, just thinking of dunking my head,” Chenda said.

“Sorry, my dear. We are out of time. Verdu says he hears someone coming.”

Chenda stood and returned to Verdu's side as Ahy-Me arrived. She was loaded down with a heavy pack, but greeted the group warmly. “I come, you see! We go now, or yes?”

“Yes!” Verdu said. “Please lead us.”

Chenda had many questions for Ahy-Me as they walked. “Where are we going?”

“Ve go to Pranav Erato. Under Kotal. Many miles,” she answered.

“Will we travel underground the whole way?”

“No. Ve rise one night walk. Den down under again.”

Chenda thought for a minute, then asked. “What is he like, Pranav Erato?”

“Very small and very beeg,” she said. “You like heem, I know.”

“How is it that you speak the language of Kite's Republic?”

Ahy-Me smiled a wicked smile, “Vhat? You dink de Republic is du only to send spies? No, Tugrul make spies, yes. Only girl spy get school. I learn to spy, but no go to Republic. Me...” she frowned, struggling for the right word. She spoke to Verdu for a moment.

“Ah,” he said, “You washed out of the program.”

“Vash out!” she said. “Yes. Send me back home. But I see too much in school. I can no stay vith du old ways. I hear dat girls come to certain caves and make resistance. I come. Pranav Erato see me and say 'you know vhat you see vhen you see. I use you.' He teach me all de...” another word questioned to Verdu.

“Prophecy,” he supplied.

“Yes. He show me. I listen. I help very much.” She smiled, pleased with herself. “Ve climb now.”

The tunnel ended in a large chamber. At the far side of the chamber, the small group stopped beside the rubble of a rock slide, hundreds of feet high. “You follow. Ve all be fine.” Nimbly, she started to scale the rocks, and the others followed in her footsteps. They climbed for hours, until at last they reached an opening that led to a tunnel that sloped gently upwards. Chenda's limbs ached from the climbing, but she could do nothing about it. On they marched, until, finally, light could be seen in the distance up the passageway.

Ahy-Me turned to the others. “Ve come to the end of dis tunnel system. Ve must pass over land next. Dark ve vait for - dree hours. Rest, yes?”

Wordlessly, everyone hunkered down where they stood.

Chenda wadded her flight coat and propped it behind her head, closing her eyes. It only seemed like a few heartbeats later that Fenimore gently shook her awake. “It's dark now. We need to move on.”

“So soon?” Chenda hauled herself up and started walking again; the light at the end of the tunnel was gone. A few minutes later, they were under the stars. Chenda filled her lungs with fresh air. The rocks around her were releasing the heat collected from a long day of blazing sunlight. A cool wind blew from above, swirling together with pockets of hot air rising of the stone. The countering sensations sent shivers up her spine.

“Ve must go faster here,” Ahy-Me said. “Patrols are strong here by du Capitol. Make dis slow run.” She started to trot away across the dusty rocks. The others followed, they continued on with a mixture of trotting and walking for several hours. Ahy-Me called them to a stop.

“Ve rest here, few minutes,” she said.

“Where are we?” Candice asked.

“Ve half vay to next tunnel,” she answered. “Dis vas one time greatest farmland in all vorld. Den de wars come. Dees land - poison. No grow now. No grow ever.” She spit on the ground.