Mungus: Book 1 (24 page)

             
Lauren then looked around to see if anyone was within earshot and then whispered to me.  “I’m saving you.  I love you.  Stand up.”

             
My brain was fried, and I didn’t have the energy to work out what she had said.  I didn’t know if I could trust her, but I didn’t really have another option.  I got to my feet and stumbled to the front door of the Cell.  Lauren took out a set of keys from her pockets and unlocked the door.  The hinges squealed and it opened.

             
“What’s happening?” I asked.

             
“C’mon,” she said.

             
Lauren helped me up onto the back of the black horse and then she got onto the saddle herself.  “Where are we going?” I asked again.  She didn’t answer and I rested my dizzy head against her back.  She slapped the reigns, squeezed her heels, and the black horse jolted out into a sprint over the dirt roads.

             
I held on tight to Lauren’s slender body as we jostled up and down over the land.  Around us, crops danced in the wind and sweaty Beardsleys and Grecos were bending over to pick cotton.  A cold sweat ran over my face and I kept my mouth shut for fear that the motion would make me vomit.  I looked around Lauren’s leather coat and saw that we were headed straight for the gate at the front of the farm.

Lauren pulled the reigns and the horse skidded to a stop at the gate.  A tall Salyer with a golden earring stood in front of the entrance.  He had a sword in a sheath beside his hip and his arms were crossed.  “What can I do for you, Lauren?”

“Open the gate,” Lauren said.

The guard kept his arms crossed and shook his
bald head.  “I’m afraid that I can’t do that, seeing as you have a prisoner with you,” he said, nodding at me.

“I’m taking him to the Theatre.  I demand you to open the gate for us.”

The Salyer laughed.  “I don’t think so, sweetie.  Something that you need to understand is that you’re not in charge here anymore and Di said that…”

Lauren pulled a musket out of her heavy coat making the
guard freeze midsentence.  “Open the gate,” she said sternly.  The guard swallowed then nodded.  He took his key ring off of his hip, flipped to the correct key, and twisted the lock.  He pushed the gate open and Lauren put the weapon back into her coat and we took off.

The grass whipped underneath us and Lauren pushed the horse to a pounding pace.  I wrapped my arms all the way around Lauren’s midsection as the wind whistled off of her coat.  I was being jostled up and down as the animal dug into the earth and sprang itself
forward.  We rode like that for twenty minutes; we held on tight and the horse kept an incredible pace.  Lauren directed the horse over to the tree line and then pulled the animal to a stop.

When the horse was still, Lauren jumped off and walked over to her daughter who was tied to a nearby tree.  “I tied her here this morning,” she said.  “I didn’t think that I could get both of you out at the same time.”  She looked off in the direction of the farm.  “We need to be quick.”

“Can I have some water?” I asked.  “And where are we going?”  I was hunched over on the saddle with my eyes closed trying not to be sick.  Lauren handed me a canteen and I began to gulp the water down.

“I don’t know where we’re going,” she said.  “I figured that you had a place.”  Fresh sweat sat on her forehead as she hoisted Julia up and put her in front of me on the saddle.

I drank down some more water.  “Yeah, I have a place.  It’ll be hard to find though.”

“But can you get me there?”

“I can try.”

I drank the last of my water and put the canteen around my shoulder.  Lauren hopped onto the front of the horse and grabbed the reigns.  “Hold on,” she said.

I wrapped my arms around Julia and grabbed onto her mother in front of her.  The horse jerked and we were flying forward again.  With some water in my stomach my head began to clear some, but I still didn’t feel like riding a horse at full speed.  We ran over the land until the neat fields were behind us and the trees grew wild with clouds of green leaves.  The Salyer guards never caught us and I wasn’t even ever sure that they followed us.  I pointed and told Lauren to go this way and that.  I didn’t have as good of a sense of direction as Saul or Rusty, the horse that took me to town, but with days of wandering through the forests and a few trips to Burl’s of experience to work with, I was able to get us close.  That’s where we ran into the trouble.  We wandered around the area that Burl’s house was in for hours.  I saw meadows that I recognized, big trees, and then I pointed and somehow never was able to find the place.  Julia began to cry and the sun went down.  Lauren was understanding with me, but she was upset that we hadn’t found it yet.

“Are you positive it’s around here?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m certain.  I remember that tree specifically.  Saul and I stopped there and camped one night.  So I think that if we just head in that direction then we should be there soon.”

Just then, the sound of a dog barking rang out from the opposite direction that I had pointed in.  Lauren looked at me.  “What was that?” she said, her face had grown worried.

I was scared at first too; a wild pack of dogs could have easily overtaken us.  But then I remembered and a grin spread across my face.  The dog sounded vicious and its vocal cords strained with anger.  “That’s Snuggles,” I said.

“Snuggles?”

“Yes, Snuggles.  It’s Burl’s dog.  Follow the sound of that bark.”

From there the house was easy to find.  The snarls and barks were loud and vicious, leading us right to Burl’s house.  The brick structure sat dark under the moon.  No flame flickered in the windows.  “Is this it?” Lauren asked.  From where we sat we could see Snuggles thrashing about in his cage, throwing its body against the walls.

“This is Burl’s.”

We went and put the horse in the pasture with the rest of Burl’s livestock.  Lauren took off its saddle and it slumped off, tired from a hard day’s work.  We walked along the little paths in the land toward Burl’s house.  Snuggles had stopped barking and it was quiet except for the chirping insects.  “You’re going to love Burl,” I said.

“He is a good guy?” asked Julia.  She was trotting along beside her mother, walking fast to keep up with our longer strides.

“Oh, the best.  He’s the nicest guy.”

“And he won’t mind having us?” Lauren asked.

“No, not at all.  The reason that Saul and I were going to the farm was because Burl said that he would house some escapees.  He’s lonely out here all by himself.  He’ll enjoy the company.”  We walked across the lawn and to the front door.  “Here it is,” I said.  I opened the door and we stepped into the quiet house.  It was
all dark in there and the candles sat cold and unused.  Silver light projected in from the windows and spilled onto the floor.

“Burl?” I called out, looking around.

“Bu-urr!” squeaked Julia.

I went throughout the house, into the guest room, Burl’s bedroom, and again I checked in the kitchen; no one was home.  I got a match out of the pantry and lit a few candles.  The orange flame flickered and filled the room with a soft light.  Lauren pulled Julia onto her lap and sat down at the table.  I searched the room with my eyes looking for some clue as to where Burl had gone.

“Where do you think he is?” asked Lauren.

I sat down at the table and looked around the room once more.  “I don’t know,” I said.  “He was acting as though he would be here when we got back.  I guess that we are a little late though.  I hope that he is okay.”

I fixed us all something to eat.  We split loafs of bread and drank glasses of water.  It wasn’t an extravagant meal, but we were hungry.

“So how did you find this place?” Lauren asked.

I told her the story starting with my escape from the farm.  As I talked, Lauren listened and petted the little girl who had fallen asleep in her arms.  When I was done the room became silent and Lauren held onto Julia in the light of the candle.

After some time Lauren looked at me and whispered, “I’m sorry about Saul.  If I could have done anything to stop it I would have.”

“I know,” I said.

Lauren got up, put Julia to bed in the back room and then came and sat back down at the table.  I got up and fixed us both glasses of water and we sipped slowly and sat still as if we were waiting on something.  The night dragged on and the candles grew low around the kitchen.  I sat staring out of the window wondering where Burl was sleeping that night and if he was okay.  When Lauren’s water was all gone she stood up, walked over to where I sat and kissed me on the forehead.  She retired to Burl’s room and I stayed up late that night by myself wondering when he was coming home.

I was up early the next morning and moving around the house.  Burl’s bedroom door was shut tight and I didn’t want to bother either Lauren or Julia.  I cut myself some bread and covered it in peach jam for breakfast.  Burl’s pantry was filled with a variety of jarred fruits and jams.

I paced around the Burl’s living room for a while, trying to figure out in my head where he could have gone.  I guessed that town was the most likely option.  He said that he sometimes traded in town.  I knew that he had done it before and that he knew what he was doing, but still, it made me nervous.  I wanted him to be back, to be okay.  I cared about him.  After I had paced around for a little over an hour I decided that I had to get out and do something to occupy myself.  I wrote a note on some old yellowed parchment and left it on the kitchen counter.

Lauren,

I’ve gone out to work on the farm.  I’ll be back before dark.

Walt

I went out the front door and although it was still early the day was muggy and hot.  Snuggles was barking in his kennel so I went to the chicken coup, picked some eggs, and rolled them under the food slot of his cage.  He devoured four eggs and when he was done he glared at me with angry eyes and egg running down his muzzle.  He snarled and showed me his teeth.

Then, I went up to the garden.  I took a big bucket and picked all of the ripe fruits and vegetables that I could carry.  Then I climbed the
swanness tree and ate some of its fruit.  The inside was runny and even though I was careful, the purple juices ran down my chin and stained my shirt.  I laughed out loud remembering the time that I had woken up to find Saul’s lips and chin covered purple.  When I was done laughing I started to hurt and miss him.  So I got down from the tree and kept working.

I walked by the pasture and saw cows and horses bending down and chewing on the grass.  I hadn’t noticed last night, but Rusty was gone.  I looked up at the clouds and again hoped that Burl was okay.

The lake was smooth and still.  I entered the shed and grabbed three of Burl’s fishing poles.  I put some wiggling worms that I found in the damp earth near a tree onto the hooks and then cast them out into the lake.  When the lines were tight I thrust the end of the poles into the dirt so that they would be held upright.  While I was waiting for a fish, I got water from the lake and shined my shoes.  When that was done, I cleaned the poles.  Then I cleaned the shed, inside and out.  I cleaned the baseball bats, I cleaned the shovels, hoes, rakes, I cleaned the wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, and I cleaned all of the cobwebs out of the windows until they were sparkling and clear.  When that was done I went and sat back down by the poles.  I reeled each one in to find that all of the hooks were still baited.  When that was done I cast them back out and waited.  I looked around, nervous, trying to find something else to clean.  I looked down at my shoes.  They had gotten dirty from walking around, so I cleaned them again.  When that was done I sat looking at the water.  I looked around me again; the shed was nearly sparking in the sun.  I couldn’t find anything else to do.  I sat, wrapped my arms around my knees, and did what I had been afraid to do for the last few hours-I cried.

When the sun was getting close to the ground I packed up my things and headed back toward Burl’s cabin.  I had caught two fish that day, but neither of them had been big enough to be worth keeping.  I wiped the tears out of my puffy eyes.  I had a calm about me as I walked back.  I was still sniffling from crying and I found that after I had gotten all of those tears out of my body I felt good.  I breathed in deep clean breaths as I walked.

I walked past the pasture and peaked inside.  The animals were still grazing and I scanned along the grass for Rusty.  He wasn’t there.  I took a deep breath and headed back to Burl’s.

Snuggles started barking at me before I could see the house.  I turned the corner and I saw Rusty standing beside the house and Burl sitting high up on the saddle.

“
Hiya, Walt!” Burl said.

My faced beamed with delight and I ran over to greet him.

17

The Midnight Plan

             
Rusty looked tired and was weighed down with different barrels and sacks tied along his saddle.  “Where have you been?” I asked Burl.

             
“I should ask you the same question,” he said.  “Ye’re late, you know.”  He hopped down from the horse, landing on his good leg, and wrapped me in a strong embrace.  “Where’s the big ‘un?” he said, smiling.