As always, I don't turn off free will, and I suffer for it. That's because sometimes they do interesting stuff all on their own. Yes, getting that gathering on the mountain was difficult and I had some trouble getting them all to behave according to the storyline. Errol and one of those ghouls, for instance, are mortal enemies and want to slap and shove each other all the time. Alka and Harcourt are in love and just want to admire and congratulate each other constantly. The others want to have pillow fights. Well, it's fun playing with them. Glad you're still enjoying it because I am, too.
Wed walked all night and for most of the next day. Sand was everywhere, rising and falling like waves that never move. Except they did move, shifting under our feet, making walking difficult. I glanced at Harcourt and Alka. They looked terrible and Im sure I did, too. Our lips were cracked and bleeding. Our faces were burned by the sun. Our eyes had sunk into our heads. I tried to question Harcourt once, about how he knew where to go, but all he would say was that we had to keep the afternoon sun directly behind us. Thats not as easy as you might think when you have to negotiate around sand dunes. Nevertheless, we kept going, one foot in front of another until it was dark again. Then it got cold fast. Alka sank down on the sand. We needed a fire but there was nothing to burn and no way to light it anyway. I said, We should keep walking. Itll keep us warm." Not yet. Alka needs to rest. Im rested. Im ready to go." She stood up again. Harcourt looked worried but nodded. Somehow we managed to keep going through the rest of the night and the following morning. I caught hold of his arm and stopped him, Were lost, arent we?" No. We are not lost. The sun, the stars have not changed. We have followed them as we should." Then we should have reached the well by now. Youve gotten something wrong. Not that it matters. Were dead for sure. Dead? I would have given in at the temple, but you raised anger in me, showed me that I was wrong to be passive. Now you are being passive, Sir. You are saying that you wish to lie down here and give in to death without fighting. Fight what? That? I pointed up at the sun. Think hard, Harcourt. What did you get wrong? It has all been right. The stars, the sun. The well must be nearby. He turned away from me and plodded forward. Alka followed him though she swayed on her feet. I followed them both.
I don't remember when we gave in and dropped to the sand. I only remember the ground against my back and the stars spread wide in front of my eyes until I closed them. I also remember that someone was there, looking at us, laughing at us. I don't like being laughed at. It made me angry but I was too tired to do anything about it, too tired to even open my eyes. I decided I'd sleep first and punch their lights out some other time.
Real life has been busy . More than that I've been busy searching the fansites for stuff to use in my story. Never found what I really wanted. I guess it's too hard to create some kinds of objects for the game. So much other cool stuff, though, that I didn't need for the story but downloaded anyway, like a water heater. It just looked so nifty I couldn't resist. Also, I had to make their clothes dirty! Two days walking in the desert ought to make clothes dirty and the three of them were so CLEAN. Then I took a mess of pictures and forgot about shadows! Gracious. I had to take the pictures all over again. Then I built yet another oasis. :nosleep: I did get pictures for the next chapter, too. Just need to get it written. Tomorrow, I hope. Now I have to go catch up on all the forum news I've missed.
"I'd punch his lights out some other time" made me laugh out loud. I do love Errol's (your) way of putting things. You posted! Yeah!
And you also showed me, unintentionally I'm sure, the mistake I made with pronouns. Good thing my husband didn't read what I posted. He'd have beaten me with wet noodles. I'm always making mistakes with pronouns, 'their' when it should be 'his/her,' or 'I' when it should be 'me.' Makes him nuts when me do it. Oops.
LOL, Lynet, and that's OK. I accidentally called Nwad Luna a couple of times in a post and had to go back and quickly correct it. You just get caught up in the heat of the moment, and little things like pronouns, and names, are easy to overlook.
Next morning I rolled over on the sand, sat up and the first thing I see is a big smile stretched wide across a brown face. They were sitting on the sand nearby, the smiling man and a woman with worried eyes. The man introduced himself, Mungan. And this is Seana. He put a hand on her knee, then handed me a water skin. I swallowed a little and looked around at Harcourt and Alka. They were breathing OK and still asleep. I introduced us to Mungan and Seana and added, Thanks for the water. We missed the well. On the other side of that dune there, he said. You were fooled by the sand. It moves. Yesterday the well lies in its shadow. Tomorrow it lies on the other side. We find the dead all the time, wrong side of the dune, never guessing how close the water is. Why doesnt the sand cover the well? Tis a lasting mystery of the desert. Perhaps because it sits in the lee of the rocks. The woman mumbled, These are evil days. Mungan rolled his eyes and shrugged, looking amused. Seana, my sweet, why this mournful song? We have guests. Three from Mahadeva. I saw the fire glow on the mountain. Portents and evils imminent. Seana, my flower, it is hunger that is imminent. Tend to the others now while I speak once more with our guest. Behind me, Harcourt and Alka were stirring, coughing, sitting up. Seana took the water skin from me and carried it over to them. Waring, Mungan said my name. He managed to swallow the middle of it. Were you in Mahadeva? I didnt know this land well enough to tell him anything but the truth. For all I knew, the temple town was the only other inhabited spot in the desert. Yes. Were headed back to a town on the sea that we visited a couple of days ago. Ishvara, it is. My cousin lives there. Wanikiya is his name. I straightened out the fingers on both my hands. Fists on display would not be wise, not when talking to a man about his cousin. I just nodded, my expression as innocent as any my battered face had ever managed. Well go with you, Seana said. Mungan nodded agreement, We need supplies and I heard that Jurg is laid up there with repairs to his boat. For now, today, you and your companions are in need of rest and food. Come, then, back to our well. It is a good well, better than the one here.
When I saw the well, I agreed it was a good one. The water bubbled up out of a fountain, sweet and fresh. I splashed it on my face and took a long drink of it. It was surrounded by a handful of columns and a couple of small buildings constructed of ancient blocks of red stone. Two tree stumps and an old, scarred stone bench were pulled up close to a fire that theyd enclosed with red tile and brick. Good idea. The brick got hot from the fire and radiated heat most of the night, even when they covered the fire to save on the wood. Where do you get the wood? I said, watching the fire. From the sand, and he laughed at my expression. Mungan laughed a lot. I decided I liked him for it after all, even if it was at my expense. Before the drought, he continued, there were trees all around here. The desert was further away, beyond Mahadeva. The trees died. The sands came and buried the wood, drying it out. We dig it up. We also plant a little grain and vegetables over there and carry water to them from the well. Why stay here? Why not stay in Ishvara with your cousin? He handed me a bowl of the inescapable gruel. Too many people. I like the quiet of this place. So does Seana. Seana giggled. I suspected too much quiet was getting to her. Every now and then she mumbled again about evil days, looking worried. Friend Waring, he said, you are very curious about us. Why so? Dont know, friend Mungan. You saved our lives and Im grateful. I got his big toothy grin in return. While I talked to Mungan, Harcourt and Alka ate their share of the gruel, washed up in the fountain and changed into clean clothes provided by our hosts. Seana examined the white gown Alka had shed and offered to wash it. If you do, Alka said, then it is yours. I do not like that dress. What surprised me about the clothes Alka now wore was that they had once belonged to a man. My Kate could do that anytime she wanted. Shed worn a police uniform, after all. But this world was more primitive and I had not yet seen a woman in anything but long skirts. Alka was dressed like one of the men in the village. The outfit surprised Harcourt as well. Shed changed inside of one of the stone buildings and when she came out he stopped her. These clothes you wear, he said firmly, are not appropriate nor sufficient. You are not even able to close this shirt and jacket against the burn of the sun. Stop, Iven, she raised her chin. I smiled at Harcourts continuing discoveries about his lady love. There was fire in her eye, Let it be, Husband. Yes, you are my husband because we were married in sacred Mahadeva, but I yet have the right to separate us. Her voice got softer, Seana has very little, nothing to spare for me. But there are more than enough clothes left behind by other travelers, all for men and boys. It will be easier and safer for me to travel in the guise of a young man. I had to agree with her there. Walking through the sand with those long skirts tangled about her legs must have been miserable.
I think she looks incredibly cute in her outfit, though I don't think I'd mistake her for a man. Mungan is a hottie! I expected him to be an old man for some reason before I saw his picture. Poor Errol doesn't seem to be holding up very well. He looks like he really needs a week's worth of sleep. Kate will have to give him lots of TLC when he finally gets home.
I think she's cute, too, but she'll have to tie her hair up. And I pictured Mungan as a little bit of a roue (should be an accent over the 'e'). I've been toying with the idea of that being the real reason he doesn't live in the seaside village, but haven't pursued the thought too much yet. Yup, Errol's a mess. So is Harcourt and a little bit for Alka. I downloaded makeup for sore lips, sunken cheeks, shadowed eyes and red noses. I ought to take pictures close up before they recover from the desert trek and look pretty again. I also found tree stump seats and put 2 of them at Mungan's Well. I looked for bedding on the ground (no bed or mattress) but couldn't find any. Oh well, can't have it all.
We lazed away the day beside Mungans well, holding to the shade around the columns. Mostly I dozed, waking long enough to eat oatmeal while sitting on a tree stump and listening to Harcourt and Alka chattering. Alka had discovered the mirrors outside the castle and had stumbled through them. But unlike me and Harcourt she had gone directly to the hold of Jurgs boat, missing Pleasantview. Reminded of Pleasantview I was reminded of Mom. I stopped eating, thinking back. Since she didnt die when I was a boy, I wondered where she was now. Was Lothario good to her? Was she still alive? Never mind that now, I told myself. I had to get home to Kate. I was confident that I would be going home this time. What else could stop us? At some quiet moment in the evening I cornered Harcourt and asked about the lightening. He happily lectured me about negative charges gathering at the bottom of a cloud and positive charges in the ground underneath and something even more jargon-soaked about excess electrons creating channels of charged air. Thats really great, Harcourt, except there were no clouds. They were coming together, forming high on the mountains. The day before we reached Mahadeva I saw the mountains and the clouds that formed in the evening around their peaks. There is not very much moisture, because of the drought, but enough to condense on the cooler slopes if the air ascends sufficiently high enough And you created a channel? The electrons created the channel. I simply encouraged them to form the channel in front of the stone alter where I suspected that the High Priestess would stand during the ceremony. How? Because of her engine beneath the mountain there is a great deal of metal there. There are metal stairs leading to it under a trap door beneath the rug in front of the alter. Very dangerous for them. I saw evidence of other lightening strikes on the walls. I am surprised that How, my friend? There was a heavy metal shield of war on the wall. I hoped they wouldnt notice that it was gone from the wall. They were extremely excited by the ceremony and watching only the three of us Harcourt! What did you do with the shield? I removed the quite flimsy trap door and replaced it with the shield. You or I might have noticed the uneven footing under the rug but the High Priestess and her guardians rarely touched their feet to the surface they appeared to walk on. This is why fire was necessary in addition to the lightening. It was good that the rug was already there because I would have had difficulty in locating one quickly. The shield led the lightening through to the metal steps and the engine in the mountain, probably destroying that as well. It might not have happened that night at all, I said. The lightening. Since lightening had struck before and doesnt strike again in the same place. We were very lucky. That is a common misunderstanding about lightening. It very often strikes in the same place if the conditions are right, and they are very right in that temple. It had been struck many times and it will continue to be. I do not think about luck, Harcourt smiled.
The next morning I felt great. I was fed and rested. I was ready to get moving. I paced restlessly, too impatient to eat, waiting for the others to finish getting washed and dressed. Mungan was down the hill fooling around with a big rug. I assumed he was laying it out in order to wind it up into a manageable bundle but I still worried. It looked too big and awkward for us to carry to Ishvara, no matter how tightly he rolled it . I wandered down to watch him. Maybe I could persuade him to leave it behind. As I got there he yelled for the others to hurry up. Get on the rug, he told us. So maybe it was just some sort of send off ceremony that required a rug. There were some cushions on it, too. Good. A few words said and wed be off. I rubbed my hands together. Seana, Harcourt and Alka joined me and Mungan in the middle of the rug. Mungan grinned wide and lifted his arms. The ground moved up under us. Alka screamed and fell into Harcourts arms. Mungan grabbed his wife. With nothing and no one to grab onto I fell over backwards on the cushions. It wasnt the ground moving. Just the rug. It rose into the air higher and higher, wobbling a bit. Then it moved sideways. Not too fast. Walking speed. We passed over top of Mungans well. Harcourt touched my shoulder and pointed behind us. There were the mountains wed escaped. I dont know how Mungan did it and I didnt care. The explanation about the lightening had been painful enough. I was not going to ask how the rug flew. I sat down on its edge and watched the desert slide past. The air was hot but peaceful. Late in the day we crossed the bridge and water separating the desert from the island. In the dark, under the moon, we moved into the mountains toward the sea and the village.
That is just awesome! And there faces are so well done. They look blistered and their lips look really painful. Makes me want to get out my chapstick. LOL Ruth
