Chaos and Retribution Box Set, page 76
part #1 of Chaos and Retribution Series
She took a couple steps closer. “You better not be a bad man,” she said, giving the man a dark look. “You’ll be sorry.”
The fat man held up his hands and shook his head vigorously. “I assure you, young miss,” he said in a breathless voice, “I have nothing but the best of intentions. My only concern is for your welfare. The day is drawing on and this is not the best of neighborhoods for a young lady alone. Only accept my offer of help and I will whisk you away quickly and safely to your home, wherever that may be.”
The quickly part was what convinced Aislin. Surely Mama had already realized she was late. Her only chance to salvage this whole mess was to get back home as fast as possible.
Besides, if he was planning something bad, well, she would have a surprise for him. One he wouldn’t forget.
She walked the last steps to the carriage and took the man's hand. His hand was slick with sweat and she almost lost hold when he pulled her up the steps and into the carriage.
The door closed, the driver cracked the whip, and the carriage lurched forward.
“Where is it you need to go, young miss?” he asked. His black hair was heavily greased into thick curls that framed his round face. A drop of oil was running down the side of his face.
“I need to go to the Tender estate. You know where that is, don’t you? And we have to hurry. I'm already late and my mother will be angry.”
“We certainly don't want your mother to be angry,” he said with a smile that pulled his fleshy lips back from small, white teeth. “Lucky for you that I came by when I did. I’ll have you there in no time at all. You can trust me.” He wiped at the oil running down the side of his face with one thick thumb.
He kept talking, but Aislin had already quit listening. She'd been living in Qarath for two years now and she’d learned that there were lots of people who talked and talked without really saying anything worth listening to. Even when they stopped talking and waited for her to respond, she could never figure out what they wanted her to say. Nor did she really care to figure it out. To her most people were nothing more than obstacles to be navigated around. She sat back in the seat and looked out the window of the carriage.
“It certainly is hot today isn’t it?” he said, taking a small handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his forehead with it. “I don't know when I've ever seen it this hot so early in the year. Are you hot?”
Aislin flicked a quick look at him and then went back to looking out the window. If she ignored him, probably he’d shut up after a while. Most people did.
“You know what I like on hot days like this? I like to have a cool drink. What about you? Do you like cool drinks too?”
He waited. Aislin said nothing. She wondered how long it would take to get to the estate.
He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small bottle. He pulled the cork out of the top and held it up to his lips. He tilted his head back, drank noisily, then lowered the bottle. “That sure is good,” he said, licking his lips. He held the bottle out to her. “Do you want some?”
Aislin looked at the bottle suspiciously. She shook her head.
“Are you sure? It’s really very good.” He took another drink from it and held it out to her again.
Aislin had to admit that she was thirsty. And it was hot in the carriage. Maybe one little drink. She didn’t want much.
She took the bottle and had a little sip. Hmm. That was pretty good. It tasted like it had honey in it. She glanced cautiously at the man. He smiled and nodded.
“Go ahead. Have as much as you like. I have plenty more.”
Aislin finished the rest of the bottle and handed it back to the man. His smile got a lot bigger.
“See? I told you. I told you that you could trust me.”
The carriage continued on. The horses’ hooves were loud on the cobblestones. The carriage turned, then turned again. It came to a halt and Aislin heard the driver yell something. There was an answering shout and the sound of a gate being dragged open. That was strange, Aislin thought. Why were they going through a gate? Her vision got a little blurry and she tried to blink it away, but it didn’t seem to help.
The carriage rolled through the gate and then she could hear the gate closing behind them. Were they already home? she wondered. She took hold of the door handle and opened the carriage door.
It took her a few seconds to get her eyes to focus properly, but when they did she frowned. She turned back to the fat man. “Hey, this isn’t my home,” she said. She scowled at him. “You better not have tricked me.”
The fat man was smiling, but there was something different about his smile now. It didn’t seem friendly at all. There were too many teeth. Also the blurriness was getting worse. His face kept fading in and out.
“I’m starting to get mad,” she said. Her words sounded muffled.
She could sense water nearby. It was a pond, with fish swimming in it and plants floating on the surface. She reached for the water and gathered it to her. She would show this man why he shouldn’t have tricked her. She would make him sorry.
But something was wrong.
She couldn't seem to take hold of the water. It kept slipping through her grasp. And why was she so sleepy all of a sudden?
She started to get out of the carriage, but her legs failed her and she fell on the ground. Her eyelids were so heavy. She could barely keep them open. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t seem to make her arms or legs work.
As if from a great distance she heard the fat man say, “Be careful with her. With hair and eyes like that she will fetch a great price in Ankhara, but not if she is damaged.” She heard his raspy breathing as he leaned close and felt his hand on her hair, stroking it. “Sleep, little miss. By the time you wake up we will be far from here.”
Chapter Two
Aislin opened her eyes. She tried to sit up, but her body didn’t seem to want to obey her. Then she noticed something weird. The sky looked funny. It wasn't blue. It was more of a hazy yellow color. She heard a voice.
“Is that her?”
A different voice. “That’s her.”
“Not much to look at, is she?” said the first voice. Both of the voices sounded strange, not like any people Aislin had ever heard. But at the same time there was something distantly familiar about them, like people she had met so long ago but had forgotten.
“Maybe if you weren’t lying down,” the second voice said. This speaker sounded like a man.
There was the sound of movement. Then the first voice said, “That didn’t help. She’s still awfully small. And spindly.” This speaker sounded like an old woman.
“I thought she would be bigger by now,” the man’s voice admitted. “Maybe she’s not getting enough to eat.”
“It’s hard to believe that something so small can save the world.”
“She might still grow.”
“She better do it soon. We’re running out of time.”
“Speak for yourself,” the man’s voice said. “I have nothing but time.”
Aislin struggled and all at once she was able to sit up. “Don’t you know it’s rude to talk about people behind their backs?” she said crossly.
Her eyes widened in surprise. The two people she’d heard talking weren’t people at all. They looked a little bit like people, with two arms and two legs and everything, but their skin was yellow and they didn't have any hair. Almost no hair anyway. The one sitting down had a few scraggly hairs. They were very long and stretched all the way down to the ground. She seemed to be very old. Her skin was hardly yellow at all. Most of the yellow had been bleached out, leaving her kind of a chalk color. The one who was standing looked old too, but not as old. They were both staring at her, watching her closely.
Aislin looked around. She was on some kind of mountaintop. Hills and valleys covered in brightly colored plants stretched in every direction. There were flocks of birds, even more brightly colored than the plants. They flew slowly, lazily, hardly flapping their strange, broad wings. It looked more like they were swimming than flying. She looked up and saw no sun in the sky, no clouds either.
It was all very peculiar, and yet, at the same time, there was something familiar about it too.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“You don't remember ki'Loren?” the male said.
“What’s a ki'Loren?” Aislin asked.
He shook his head sadly. “You shouldn’t say that so loudly. She has feelings, you know.”
Aislin was feeling confused. “Who are you talking about?”
“Ki’Loren.” He fluttered his hands at the world around them. “All of this is her.”
Aislin crossed her arms and glared at him. “You’re not making any sense.”
“He does that a lot,” the old female said. “I mostly ignore him. You should do the same.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’m the only one around here who makes any sense at all,” the male said, crossing his arms over his chest. The motion looked strange on him. Aislin had the feeling he was making fun of her and she quickly uncrossed her arms.
“You mean like the time you walked around for days on your hands because you were certain that ki’Loren was about to flip upside down?” the old female asked.
He frowned. “It didn’t end up happening, did it?”
“No. But you did fall and bump your head.”
“Maybe I don’t always make sense,” he said thoughtfully.
Aislin was starting to get a headache. “Can you just tell me where I am? I have to get home.”
The male looked up. “I expect you’re somewhere in Qarath right now.”
“This is not Qarath. I know that much.”
“Well, you’re not here,” the old female said. “Or at least, most of you isn’t.”
Aislin looked down at herself. She didn’t see any parts missing. “How did I get here?”
“Probably bumped your head like I did,” the male said. “And, since you used to live here, you thought you’d take the opportunity to come back for a visit.”
“I used to live here?” Aislin looked around and once again had that odd feeling of familiarity. She looked back at them. “Who are you anyway?”
“So you forgot us too,” he said sadly. Abruptly he sat down on the ground and put his hands over his face. His body shook as if he was weeping, though he made no sound.
Aislin looked at the old female. “Is he always like this?”
“No. Sometimes he’s worse.”
“Will you answer my questions?” Aislin asked.
“He is Ya’Shi and you may call me the Ancient One,” the old female said, stroking her long, scraggly hair.
“Sleepy One would be better,” Ya’Shi put in. “This is the longest I’ve seen her eyes open in years.”
“I’m not sleeping, I’m contemplating the mysteries of existence,” the Ancient One said loftily.
“The mysteries of snoring is more like it.”
“Can you two just stop?” Aislin pleaded. “I want to go home.”
“Then go,” Ya’Shi said. “No one is stopping you.”
“You did come to us,” the Ancient One said.
“But I don’t know how to leave.”
“It’s simple. Remember that you’re not here,” the Ancient One said. “That’s how I get away from him.”
Aislin remembered then, the fat man, the honey-sweet drink. “I don’t know what will happen when I get back. He did something to me. I’m frightened.”
“You’ll have to take care of him,” the Ancient One said.
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Then I suppose he will haul you away to Ankhara where you will be made a slave and the world will be doomed, once the Devourers come through from the Abyss and get the key and use it to break open all of existence.”
“How do you know about the Devourers?” Aislin asked. She’d thought about them many times since that day she found the glowing red object in that strange black room. In her mind she pictured them as having lots of long, black teeth. But she’d also kind of started to think they were something she’d made up. She’d only been a little girl when that happened, after all.
“I know lots of things,” Ya’Shi said loftily.
“That’s not helpful,” Aislin snapped. It was something her mother often said to her when she was being difficult.
“They’re the beings you’re supposed to save the world from,” the Ancient One said. “Though from where I’m sitting it looks like you’re not taking that job seriously at all. It looks more like all you want to do is play.”
“You’re talking about the bad time Mama said is coming.”
“We are,” the Ancient One said.
“And I’m supposed to stop them I guess, the Devourers.”
“Only if you don’t want them to bleed off our little world into the Abyss,” Ya’Shi said.
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“It probably won’t be very pleasant for anyone,” the Ancient One said. She and Ya’Shi were both staring at Aislin very intently, as if waiting for something.
“But I don’t know how to stop them. I’m only one girl and I’m not very big.” She scowled. She didn’t like thinking about how small she still was. Everyone kept saying she would grow someday, but she was starting to think she never would.
“You'll get bigger, won't you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope so.”
Ya'Shi looked at the Ancient One. “I don’t think she’s going to figure it out.”
“Oh, well,” the Ancient One said with a shrug, “we've seen the world end before.”
“It didn't end that time, remember?” Ya’Shi said. “The other stubborn one, this child’s mother, she stopped it.”
Aislin perked up. “You’re talking about Mama, aren’t you? Did she really save the world?”
Ya’Shi nodded. “Some years ago.”
“Wouldn't it have been a good idea to tell me this?” the Ancient One said. “Here I've been worrying all this time.”
“You were there when it happened,” Ya’Shi pointed out.
“Where?”
He pointed at the ground where she was sitting. “Right there. The same place you always are.”
“Really?”
“Indeed.”
“You'd think I'd remember something like that,” the Ancient One said.
Aislin spoke up. “Have you forgotten about me?”
They both looked at her curiously. “Who is she again?” the Ancient One asked.
“The girl who's supposed to save the world.”
“Oh, right.”
“How do I save the world?” Aislin asked.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” the Ancient One said. “You’re the hero after all. You and the other two children.”
“I don’t feel like a hero, and I don’t have even one friend,” Aislin said. “The other kids think I’m weird.”
“We do too,” Ya’Shi assured her.
“That’s not a nice thing to say!” Aislin protested.
“She’s right,” the Ancient One said sternly to Ya’Shi. “Behave.”
Ya’Shi lowered his head and mumbled an apology. But as he did so he tilted his head toward Aislin slightly and she saw him smile and wink at her as if they shared a joke.
“I kind of hate you,” she told him.
“He has that effect on everyone,” the Ancient One said. “You should have seen how Shorn reacted to him. He really hates Ya’Shi.”
“That’s not true at all,” Ya’Shi said with a wounded air. “Shorn and I grew very close during our short time together.”
“Close to breaking your neck, you mean.”
“Please stop,” Aislin said. “This isn’t fun at all.”
“Life isn’t always meant to be fun,” Ya’Shi said, holding up one long finger in admonishment.
“Can’t you just help me figure out what I’m supposed to do?” Aislin asked. “I don’t want the Devourers to eat everything.”
“We will,” the Ancient One said. “When the time comes. But right now you have a more immediate problem.”
“The fat man,” Aislin said.
The Ancient One pointed at Aislin. “You won't be saving much of anything if you don't save yourself. Best if you wake up soon.”
“But I can't,” Aislin said. “I don't know how.”
The Ancient One looked at Ya'Shi. “Are you sure it was a good idea to have Netra raise her?”
“Who else was going to? You?”
The Ancient One looked around. “Maybe not such a good place to raise a child,” she agreed.
“I thought you were going to help me!” Aislin yelled.
“We are,” the Ancient One said. “Isn't this helping?”
“Just tell me how to wake up!” Aislin yelled.
“I usually wake up by opening my eyes,” the Ancient One said.
“That's a good place to start,” Ya'Shi said. “Try that.”
Aislin touched her face. “My eyes are already open.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I'm sure!”
“Well, it was worth a try. I guess there's nothing else we can do,” Ya'Shi said. “The world will need another savior it seems.”
Everything started to fade. Aislin felt herself slipping away. “You have to help me!” she cried.
“You’re the girl who can control water, aren't you?” Ya'Shi said.
“Yes,” Aislin replied.
“Wasn’t there water in what the fat man gave you?”
The world was growing very blurry now. Aislin could hardly see Ya'Shi or the Ancient One at all. “There was,” she said.
“Then you can control it,” he said. “Remember one last thing,” he called out to her. “You don’t just control the Sea. You are the Sea.” The world faded out completely.
Chapter Three
Aislin was nowhere. All was blackness. She could only distantly feel her body. It felt terribly heavy. She couldn’t make it move, no matter how hard she tried.
