Two Halves: chapter 41

lets go 41... even though it's late

Genma was running his hands over Bestalel as he lay on the large stone amplifying mechanism. It was built out of a crystal similar to the Jeori and was used exclusively in healing. Once the magic runs through the body being healed and goes into the crystal it is funneled back into the one doing the healing.

 

“You’re telling the Kintera himself entered my soul? The all father entered me!” He was near hysteria as he examined Bestalel. After they had carried to the healing ward Genma had started the examination; his healing prowess was impressive.

 

“Yes, but how is Bestalel? Is he ok?” asked Nicolas impatiently.

 

 “Physically there is nothing wrong with him, but if what you said is true he had been touched by the divine. Inside of his mind right now the information Kintera gave his is rooting itself deep within his psyche. I don’t know if he will even wake up; it all depends on him now” He pulled off the long waterproof scaled gloves, and put them on the stand next to the healing mechanism. He wiped his forehead and sat down onto a low bench in the room. There were several other healing mechanisms lining the walls and multiple recovery beds beside them. None of them were filled though, and the long thin candles in their holsters were burning low. A drip of tallow fell to the floor and hardened.

 

“Put him into the recovery bed, prolonged exposure to the crystal without a healer working on him will cause the magic to be sucked out of him.” Genma leaned back and closed his eyes, while stroking his short rust red goatee with one hand. Nicolas picked up Bestalel again, now accustomed to his weight, and hefted him into one of the beds. The sheets were a strange assortment of high quality fabrics, most likely tributes brought to the monastery. They did not realize the monks tried to live a simple life, and only gave the expensive gifts for the use of their guests.  

 

They sat in there for a few minutes watching Bestalel’s slow breathing. He had not moved or reacted to anything around him since being touched by Kintera. Though when his eyelids were lifted up his pupils darted around wildly, seemingly at random. Eventually the High Father exited the room, mumbling something about duties he must attend to. Nicolas and Zeckle stayed much longer, sitting and waiting for Bestalel to wake up. Hours past and the single drop that had hit the ground earlier had molded into a small pile of hardening wax. The suns slowly crept across the sky until they fell under the ridge above Gen. As the last of the light slipped slowly out of the room Bestalel stirred.

 

He left out a spluttering cough and tried to sit up in bed before collapsing back into his laying condition. Nicolas rushed to his side and helped him into a sitting position.

 

“Water, please,” he whispered dryly. His voice was strained and weak, but his grip on Nicolas was still strong. Nicolas motioned for Zeckle to get the urn of water sitting behind the recovery beds. She brought it over and rose to Bestalel’s lips. He drank quickly so that a little dribbled from each side of his mouth. After he drank he coughed again and looked around the room.

 

“Thank you,” he said in a stronger voice. Bestalel pushed his hands down and forced himself into a more comfortable position in the bed. His eyes were red rimmed and swollen, but they still looked around with a keen cunning.

 

“What happened? Kintera said he was giving you the information we needed.” asked Nicolas. Bestalel was slow to answer, with his mouth hanging open for a second unspeaking. His eyes moved like he was reading something off a cue card.

 

“I know where we can find the Cloud Walkers,” he said at last. Nicolas beamed at him and Zeckle looked excited.

 

“So, where are they?” asked Zeckle. There was another long pause as Bestalel gathered his thoughts.

 

“I don’t know exactly, but I know where we need to begin. It’s like I can something on the horizon, but nothing beyond that, but once I reach that I will be able to see the thing on the next horizon,” he paused at their confused looks. “I’m sorry. It is hard to explain, but I know where we need to go first.”

 

“Where?” asked Nicolas. He was starting to be extremely confused by what Bestalel was saying, and frankly nervous at what it could mean.

 

“A inventor, in Gen. His name is Sozimon Kilgrapha. He had what we need to get to Cloudtop quickly.” Bestalel swung his legs out of bed and got up, and after a shaky step he was sure on his feet. “We need to go to Gen, now.” At this Nicolas led them back through the building. The healing chambers were at the back of Heart Caller’s cathedral, and they had to make it through a series of deserted rooms that were devoted to the various stages of worship. They finally made it back to the main chamber where a young monk was sweeping idly, and when he looked up to see Bestalel he fell to his knees and bowed before him.

 

“One who is touched by the bronze star,” he mumbled under his breath as they past. Bestalel put his hand on top of the young monk’s head for a moment in passing, and as they left the young monk got back up clutching his scalp is reverence. Through the garden similar things happened; word had traveled fast around the monastery and everyone already knew of Bestalel’s transformation. He reached down and brushed the tops of their heads as he passed. Each monk afterwards rose to his feet and looked upon him in wonder. The animals there were allowed into the grounds followed slowly behind them, maybe seeing a bit of their creator in the mortal form. As they passed the small lake towards the stables all the fish tried to pile into one end of the pool, and several were forced onto the banks. A few surprised monks rushed over to toss them back into he water before they suffocated.

 

Genma was standing in the doorway to the stables. He was now in ceremonial robes, fine white fabric embroidered with gold, with small seven-sided bronze stars hanging from strings. He held out his hand to Bestalel who shook it.

 

“You are about to embark on your journey aren’t you, my son,” said Genma as he turned and walked into the stables. Inside were familiar animals like the Krignal and Zana, but several more that were very different. Things that looked like tortoises with long necks ate from small hanging plants in front if their stalls, and what looked like a giant feline with a gem embroidered saddle slept peacefully on a pile of hay.

 

“Yes, I am sorry for leaving on such short notice, but now that I know how.  I will be able to lead my friend to where they need to be to make our plan happen.” He smiled sincerely and walked to the stalls where their Zana were. They all cocked their heads to look at Bestalel, and now that Nicolas was looking all the other animals were turning to look at him as well, even the feline’s ears were pivoting so that it may hear him.

 

They took the Zana back towards the lake outside before mounting them. The entire monastery seemed to have gathered on the banks to watch them go. They got several cheerful waves from the younger disciples and the occasional knowing grin from the older more stoic men. They Zana quickly made their war back up the mountain, and the suns only become visible when they were only moments away from Nicolas’s family stable. They went inside and put the Zana back into their stalls and rehooked the feedbags to their beaks, and took their packs of their backs. The monks had been kind enough to prepare the Zana fully for their departure and had loaded them up with the packs they had.

 

They walked back down into the house, but no one seemed to be home. Viccor did not some to meet them at the bottom of the stairs and there was no sound of working. They made their way through the house and back into the grounds. The Gili mushroom had retracted their tendrils and caps had closed up. Down in the bottom of the city the stalls had closed and only a few more were open. Most of the ones that still had their curtains up were food stands trying to advertise dinner to every passer by. Nicolas felt his stomach growl, and had realized he hadn’t ate since he had been on the transport, except for a few stray cookies offered to him by Viccor earlier.

 

Bestalel must have heard him, and when they passed on of the cleaner places occupying the upper levels he walked up to it. An old man glozes was passing out fried shuncks of spindlefeet meat and Javin root. The small patties had been breaded and fried in oil, and were crisp. Nicolas remembered eating similar roots in his youth, deep within the cave systems behind Gen there were still pools where fish could be found, but they were to few and far between to feed a population. They had to import the spindlefeet from around the mountains where they were plentiful. Bestalel reached into his coin sack and handed over a small silver disk and asked for three orders of fried spindlefeet. The old man stared at the coin and bit it to test it was genuine, and when to proved to be real he stowed it in a pocket and handed over three orders.

 

They at as they descended towards the second level and out towards the docks. As they made their way into the dockyards the houses became shabbier and unkempt; they passed an open bar where several crew from their transport were playing cards. Bestalel went into the alley between the bar and the building next door and went behind it. They made their way between the buildings towards the rear of the level, and up against the back wall was a large open garage. Inside were several machines of various sizes, some only large enough to carry one man, and two big enough to have a crew of several. Under the big machine was a man lying on his back working on one of the larger devices. He rolled out of small board with wheel and walked over to a hose stick out of the wall, and without looking at his approaching guests hooked it to the tank at the back of the machine and began to pump water into it.

 

“Hello, are you Sozimon Kilgrapha?” asked Bestalel as the man continued to pump. He turned away from the rig and looked at them for the first time. Sozimon pulled up his small goggles to reveal startling green eyes. His face was nearly covered in grease and his hands looked like he had been working in a coal mine for years, and in his belt was an oversized set of tools.

 

“Yeah, what’s it to ya?” he asked gruffly, and after saying it turned back to his work. From his pocket he produced a wrench and detached the nozzle on the cistern, and water spilled from the tube and spilled onto the floor. Then he pulled a sparker from his belt and started trying to light the brazier under the boiler.

 

“We would like to commission one of your machines. We need transport to Cloudtop and one of your crawlers is the fastest way.” He finally finished lighting the brazier and the charcoal began to crackle under the reservoir. Sozimon looked up at them and a smiled crossed his face. His teeth were old and yellowed, but his eyes sparkled.

 

“Well it’s good to hear someone wants to use my machines. No one ‘round the docks trusts em cause they don’t come Salex plans. If yall wanta get all the way to Cloudtop your gonna need my biggest piece.” He walked back through the garage between different machines. Come were small two wheeled devises while others looked large enough to house several people comfortably. Nicolas realized the space was war to big to be housed within the small building and that they must be going back into the wall. The room was gently sloping downwards and the roof was getting taller proportionately. In the back past all the machines and small workbenches was something much larger than the rest. It was probably thirty feet tall with a large spherical boiler adhered to the back. The brazier under it was much large than necessary and probably provided much more power than needed.

 

It had four large legs that were curled up at the moment, under it was two huge tank treads on either side of the machine. On one side was a open door into the cockpit. There were four chairs leading to the back of the machine where another door led to what looked like the engine room.

 

“Ok, this here is the Canyon Creeper. Up that ladder there is the living space. There is enough room for three people, and it can run for about a week without havin’ to be refilled. It’s got Jeori lamps on the front so you can see at night, and… that’s about it.” He said it with a smile and tapped the ride of his machine. The front was rounded and dull with the windshield of the cockpit about halfway up.

 

“I’ll buy it,” said Bestalel.

 

“Buy it? I couldn’t sell it to ya. I’ll rent it to ya for the trip to Cloudtop though for a couple of Genzis. I’ll throw in a repair kit and show your friend here how to drive it.” He hauled himself into the Canyon Creeper up the short ladder to the doorway. Nicolas followed him and Bestalel walked around to the back to the boiler tank. Zeckle followed him up the ladder. Sozimon sat in the large chair at the front of the windshield and started to point out different things for him to examine. There was an automatic lighter fro the brazier and separate controls for the treads and legs.

 

After nearly an hour Nicolas had a basic understanding of how to pilot the transport, and Zeckle could steer it for when he needed a rest. Bestalel had handed over the money and Sozimon was moving the various machines out of the way to allow for the Canyon Creeper to exit at the front of the building. Sozimon had said he already measured the gaps between the buildings and that they could make it through the wider lanes and back onto the main road easily.

 

Zeckle had gone into the lower levels to find a building that was still open and selling supplies. From how Sozimon described the journey to Cloudtop could only take three days. He said that his machine could go at least five times the speed of the larger Crawlers. As soon as Zeckle returned they were going to leave.

 

Bestalel continued to act strangely the entire time. Often he would stare at a wall for several minutes as if reading. He would sit and bury his face in his hands and mutter quietly. When Nicolas tried to talk to him he wouldn’t respond readily. It was strange to see him like this, once so strong, reduced to this.

 

After a while Zeckle returned with the supplies and they started to pack the gear into the small room above the cockpit. The room had four cots hung on removable hooks. They took down the fourth one and replaced it with their gear hanging on the different clasps. Nicolas lit the brazier using the starter Sozimon had shown him. He could feel the water begin to boil and the back of the engine vibrate. Nicolas started the tank treads moving slowly across the garage. Sozimon led them through his workshop and into the passage system.

 

While Nicolas and Zeckle sat in the cockpit Bestalel had gone to the small room above; the only explanation he gave was “to think”. Zeckle held up the map of the surrounding landscape, with Gen and Cloudtop marked clearly on its surface. They were going to have to pass several plateaus but nothing like the Devil’s Spring. They were trying to make a route that avoided the small settlements and towns dotting the course to Cloudtop. If they were to come during a Salex collection raid it could be disastrous. Not only would they probably confiscate their vehicle, but also they would probably be recognized and taken in for questioning.

 

Bestalel had handed over the Genzis earlier. Sozimon was so happy to have the money he threw in one of the small speeders. The single boiler two-wheeled machine was named Lantern because at the twist of a crank several Jeori kites would be launched from its rear much like the larger transports. It was now strapped to the roof of the Canyon Creeper. As they passed the building people looked out at them with mild amusement. Sozimon was fairly well known in these parts and waved to many them. He shrugged off the few catcalls from people claiming his engines were inferior, or that Nicolas and them must have some kind of brain damage to want use one of his transports.

 

They finally made their way to the docks. The crab they had come in on was still being unloaded; they stared at the machine as it past. They made their way out into the mountains and on the harbor Sozimon waved to them happily. Nicolas began to steadily increase the speed of the transport until it reached full go. The boiler was going furiously behind them and the entire back half of the Canyon Crawler was shaking violently, but what he had said was true. At this speed they would be able to make it all the way to Cloudtop in three days.

 

They sailed over the landscape, and at every small bump they would momentarily get airborne. Nicolas was mystified at how Bestalel could rest above when he was nearly lifted from his seat at each pebble they passed over. The only thing they kept him for leaving his seat was the series of buckles criss-crossing his chest. Zeckle had selected a route that took them through a number of low valleys. They were passing through one now. They were going through the stream at the center of it, and even though they would not be running out of water they Zeckle had left to the engine room to extend the troughs. They plowed through the water at lightning speed, throwing waves of it onto the bank at either side. Every so often they would see a Krignal pack making its way through the underbrush that lined the banks, every so often a lone male would be walking solemnly through the bulge trees, trying to find a male to challenge for control of its herd.

 

A few hours later night had fallen across the landscape and they kept the engine room door open to filter the heat in. Nicolas lay on the long padded bench that was the back seat and had pulled the many clasps around him to try and hold himself down. Zeckle was sitting in the driver’s seat. Neither of them wanted to climb up into the room above to see what Bestalel was doing. The new Bestalel made them both slightly nervous.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay on the chapter. Football has started weight lifting so instead of being gone from 4-7 I'm gone from 1:15-7. That cuts a lot into my writing schedule, but I'll try to make it up to yall this weekend.

Reviews

[Norma M Sutton]

Late in reading it, but it's good. Good luck with football this year.

[Aggie Skeleton]

You play football? Anyway, very good, I shall read on as always.

[Daniel Gardner]

This is really good so far. It took me a little while to get through all the chapters, but it was worth it. I enjoy your writing style as well as your creativity with the names.

[Tea And A Cheshire Smil..]

Another good chapter :)

[Nicaushio Yamaki]

good

[Huggy Bear]

two thumbs up:)