Chenda and the Airship Brofman (25 page)

“What did that little weasel shout?” Fenimore asked.

“He said, 'Welcome to the Tugrulian Empire. Enjoy your stay.'”

Chapter 14

RESISTANCE

With Verdu back on the dock, Fenimore helped untangle Candice and Chenda and hauled them to their feet. “Come on,” he said. “We're too exposed out here.” The small group walked quickly off the dock and angled due south, just as Taboda instructed. Like the coast, the landscape here featured weathered and windsanded stone. Occasionally, Chenda could see small, scraggly plants nestled into the crags and pits of some of the rocks. The little brownish-green tendrils looked as if they clung to their toeholds for dear life, as if at any minute they would be swept away by a gust of wind.

While the foursome briskly strode along, Verdu arranged them. “I'll take the lead,” he said. “If we come across anyone, I'll do all the talking. As women, you two will walk one behind the other, with Fenimore at the end to see that you don't run off.” He smirked. “Sorry to say, no talking, ladies. A Tugrulian woman would never speak in front of a man who is not her family, and then only when spoken to.”

Candice snorted her disgust.

“I'm not saying it's a right and proper thing, I'm just saying it is. You are in Tugrulia now. Blend in or we're all dead.” He turned his head toward Candice and she made a curt nod.

For miles, all they passed were rocks and scrub vegetation. Chenda could see a few low mountains in the distance, but they never seemed to get any closer. The cool morning faded quickly into a stifling midday. Chenda wiggled around within her baggy gown to strip off her heavy flight coat. Fenimore called quietly from behind her, “Let it drop, and I will carry it for you.” Once she was free of the bulky coat, she found that the Tugrulian clothing was well suited to the heat. With each step, air circulated around her body, whisking away the sweat. She felt more comfortable, but found she was getting very thirsty.

Chenda took the canteen from her belt and unscrewed the cap. She started to take her veil off, but Fenimore hissed loudly in her direction. She stopped to look at him.

“There are people watching us from the top of the rocks far to the east,” he whispered. Chenda looked to the left casually and saw a few men lounging across several giant boulders. Each man was dressed just the same as the others, in red and orange uniforms, and all carried shiny short swords at their hips. They were far enough away that she was sure they could not hear her, but she whispered nonetheless.

“Soldiers?” she asked.

“I think so,” he answered quietly. “They've been keeping an eye on us for a mile or so.” He closed the gap between them a bit more. “Drink through your veil, it will be just fine.” Chenda took several swallows, then trotted ahead to Candice, tapping her on the shoulder. Candice took the canteen and drank through her veil as well.

As they continued, the Tugrulian soldiers seemed to lose interest. Their expression showed that it was too hot to bother with checking up on the small group. Chenda soon understood the full extent of that notion. The heat became crippling as the hours passed. Soon after Candice and Chenda finished the last of the water in the canteen, Chenda found it hard to continue walking in a straight line. All she could focus on were the small trickles that ran down her back. She could tell she was walking slower with every passing mile, and she tried to recall if Taboda had mentioned how long the journey should take. Another mile passed beneath her feet, and she couldn't remember where she was going or why, just that she needed to follow the vague, person shaped shimmer in front of her.

Finally, she stopped. She swayed for moment and watched darkness creep into the edges of her vision, then she crumpled to the dusty ground.

Chenda lay there and took several breaths. Then tried to get back to her feet. Several pairs of hands found her and helped her back up. She couldn't get her eyes to open properly. They felt so sticky and dry. She could hear Fenimore's voice by her ear, and in the quietest of whispers, he said. “Don't. Speak.”  The tone of his words frightened her. She sensed she and her companions now found themselves in some kind of danger, and her adrenaline started to flow. She perked up slightly, and focused on trying to see and think clearly.

Fenimore's hand shoved her forward a bit, but didn't let her go. He was guiding her as she stumbled along. She trusted that there was a good reason why he wasn't letting her stop and rest for a moment, but she couldn't put the pieces together. A moment later, the blazing heat and blinding sun suddenly dissipated. Fenimore's hands pushed Chenda fast now. She could hear the sound of trickling, bubbling water and Verdu's voice, talking very fast in Tugrulian. As they caught up to his voice, Fenimore stopped and pulled Chenda close to his side.

There was another voice, that of a woman. She sounded surprised as she spoke to Verdu. As the two continued speaking, Chenda heard splashes of water very near to her. She ached all over at the sound of it. She clawed at her veil, desperate to see and hear, to clear her nose and mouth of the muffling fabric. Fenimore's heavy hands reached around her body from behind and pulled her arms to her sides, pinning them there.

She groaned, but he hissed in here ear. “Shh!” If she could have summoned the energy to cry, she would have. She knew water flowed just inches from her, she could feel it, hear it and smell it. Why wouldn't Fenimore let her have it?

Verdu prattled on with the unknown woman, back and forth, and Chenda started to tremble. Finally. The talking stopped, and Chenda heard several pairs of footsteps walking away. Chenda tried to move her hands again, but Fenimore held her fast. Another terse whisper, “Wait.” The seconds ticked by and felt to Chenda that the whole span of her life was passing again. Her body started to quake.

Finally, she heard Verdu's voice. “Now, be quick!”

Fenimore dropped her hands and pulled her veil off. Chenda could see again, and her eyes searched wildly for the water she knew was near. Fenimore's hands pulled her down to her knees and guided her shaking hands to a small pool of water collecting in a shallow depression in the rocks before her. With reckless abandon, she scooped and threw water into her dry, cracked mouth, gulping it in. Fenimore's hands were beside hers, gathering water for himself. The inefficient scooping irritated Chenda, so she lowered her face to the pool and quickly sucked in the water, only stopping when she ran out of air to breath. Fenimore took her empty canteen and filled it and then pulled Chenda away from the stone basin, making a space for Candice and Verdu, who likewise flung themselves at the opportunity to relieve their thirst.

Chenda leaned against a low rock looking up at Fenimore, who gulped more water from the canteen and poured some down the front of his shirt. He offered more to Chenda, who grasped the canteen and drank deeply. She looked around as she swallowed. They had entered the shadow of a mountain. She could see the direction from which they had come, and the waves of heat snaking up from the bleached stony ground. Although she could see for a great distance in all directions, she saw no sign of the person to whom Verdu had been speaking.

“What just happened?” Chenda asked no one in particular.

“We found our mountain,” Verdu said between gulps. “And I think we may have found the women of the cave that Taboda spoke of.” Verdu started splashing water over his head and neck, soaking his long black hair. The water trickled down, making dark splotches on his shoulders and chest. He sagged against the rocks nearest the basin. He turned to Candice, “Well spotted, Professor.”

“Thank you,” Candice said, her voice raw with dehydration.

“I'm so lost, someone catch me up,” Chenda croaked.

Verdu picked up Chenda's discarded veil and dunked it into the water. Wringing it out over his own head, he said, “A few hours ago, we saw the mountain shaped like the head of a lizard, our key landmark, and we angled toward it. About two miles back, Candice recognized a few formations in the rock that would most likely lead us to a cave entrance. She was spot on.” He turned to Candice with a smile, “Of course, the fact that you said you were sure there would be water here made me want to marry you.”

“HA!” Candice said. “Keep your flattery. It's simple geological observation. I just knew what to look for.”

Verdu stood and cautiously looked around, “Let's take one more round of water each and then get you ladies covered up again. I'm not sure yet if we've found safe company, and I want to be sure you all stay under veils until we are resting in the bosom of the resistance.”

“That sounds very sensible,” Chenda said as she knelt to drink. “So where is this cave?”

Candice pointed to a shadowy crag about 100 yards to the west of them.

“Sorry, I don't see a cave,” Chenda said.

“The entrance is low and tiny,” Candice said between gulps. “I bet when we get over there, it will drop almost straight down, and it will look from the top like a dry well. Most people wouldn't see it at all. You really just have to know it's there.”

“You know it's there,” Chenda said.

“Well, Taboda told us it would be there, so we knew to look and there you have it.”

“Ladies, veils, please, I think I hear someone coming. Hush,” Verdu said.

Chenda covered her head again, the wet fabric cool and soothing on her skin. She arranged the eye-slit properly and turned to the sound of approaching feet. Three veiled women appeared from the shadowy crag and walked toward them. When they were ten yards away, Verdu started talking quickly, gesturing to Candice and Chenda. He clasped his hands together pleading. The lead woman spoke a few subdued words, and motioned for the group to follow her. The other two women stayed at the small pool, looking cautiously out into the heat away from the mountain's shadow.

Candice had been correct about the shape and angle of the cave entrance. The veiled woman gave instructions to Verdu, and then jumped down the hole.

“
I'll go first,” he whispered. “I'll help you at the bottom.” Verdu jumped in.

Chenda looked into the hole and could see Verdu's dark outline below. He made two quick hisses, indicating he was ready to catch, and she jumped. Chenda tried to relax as she raced toward Verdu, but all she could think of were his words as they left the
Brofman
- “This is flying, not falling.” Now she was falling, into a deep hole no less. She hated it. She fought against the panic. Before it could overtake her, Verdu scooped her out of the air and set her down on the sand at his feet.

She shivered from the fear that still gripped her, and he started to soothe her in a language she didn't understand. She couldn't understand his words, but his intention was clear. It was enough to help Chenda pull herself together. There was danger here, and she needed to keep her emotions in check. She nodded to Verdu and pressed her back to the wall of the cave, trying to take up as little space as possible.

Verdu hissed again and Candice appeared. Then Fenimore. The group turned and followed the mystery woman through a small gap in the stone. This path led sharply downward into the cool darkness. The woman carried a small, glowing lantern, but its light only helped a little. Chenda stumbled along on the uneven ground. Deeper into the mountain they went. Chenda and her companions walked for ages. She wondered how they would ever find their way out of the dark maze should something happen to the woman leading them. Eventually, the path became more level and wider, then emptied out into a great cavern, where they stopped.

Verdu asked what sounded like a question to the leading woman. She replied, gesturing for them to sit on the low rocks; she turned away and disappeared down another dark passageway with her lantern. Chenda expected to be left in total darkness, but the vast chamber had a subdued glow to it.

“Candice, why can I still see? Where's this light coming from?” she asked quietly.

“This mountain is only a bit of a thin shell in places. When it formed, this chamber was a bubble in the molten rock, and a rather dirty one at that. As magma bubbled up and formed the mountain here, ribbons of sand got mixed in and melted into columns of glass. Some of that glass leads from the outside of the mountain to this cave. Millions of threads of glass that just kiss the surface, and swallow a bit of daylight. It's a rare phenomenon, but not unheard of.”

Verdu chuckled, “I'd always wondered why the glowing caves glowed.”

“What little light that makes it down here bounces around and gets reflected off those gemstones,” she added.

Fenimore perked up. “Gemstones?”

“I've seen several types since entering this cave structure.” She pointed around the chamber. “Ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, aquamarine, chrysoberyl, andalusite, apatite, citrine, iolite and kyanite. Oh, and rhodolite and tsavorite garnet.”

Fenimore tried to look around himself with nonchalance, but he failed. “So, um, which of the stones are worth the most?”

“The rubies and sapphires, probably. But the iolites are plentiful,” she eyed him meaningfully, “if you are looking to grab some low hanging fruit.”

Fenimore picked up a few stones, eyed them critically and frowned. “I can't tell which stones are what.”

Candice sighed and said, “Come here, I'll show you what you need to look for.” They went to the far side of the cave where Candice started to point at various stones. Fenimore listened intently.