Chenda and the Airship Brofman (27 page)

Candice looked at the ground around her, a loose mix of rock, soil and dust. She picked up a handful of dirt and rubbed it between her fingers. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply. “Hmm...," she said thoughtfully. “Chenda, may I have the canteen?”

“Sure,” Chenda replied. “What's with the soil sniffing, Candice?”

Candice poured some water onto the dirt in her hand and then slurped up some of the muddy water. “Interesting.”

“Why are you drinking muddy water?” Chenda asked.

“Tasting, not drinking,” Candice muttered. “Here, you try it.” She held her cupped hand to Chenda. “Seriously!” she added.

Chenda shrugged and put her lips to her friend’s palm and sipped. She felt the grit in her mouth, sliding against her teeth and her tongue. She tried to clear it from her lips, but the more she tried, the more the dirt seemed to saturate every part of her mouth and throat. She could smell the soil in her nose, and as she breathed, the sensation of earth expanded in her body.

She let out a moan. “Ick,”she said. “Why did I do that?”

“Can't you taste it?” Candice said. “It's sweet soil. Fertile. There's no bitterness to this earth, no overwhelming saltiness either.” She sniffed another sample of dry soil. “Other than the dryness of the soil, there's no poison left in this field. Don't you see? This whole business about toxic Tugrulian land seems to be a lie. All they need to grow food here is a bit of irrigation, some fertilizer and a sack of seed.”

Candice turned to Ahy-Me. “When was the last time anyone
tried
to grow crops here?”

The Tugrulian woman looked stunned. “Not for 100 years, maybe more. De law forbids. No one dare.”

“This land,” Candice said with conviction, “could grow anything.”

Ahy-Me pressed her lips together and committed Candice's words to memory. Fury played across her face. Ahy-Me's round face said it all; she would spread the word to everyone she knew -
we need not starve, the Empire lies to us, we can grow crops again in the valley.

“
Dank you, great teacher,” Ahy-Me said as she placed her hands on each side of Candice's face. Candice returned the embrace of respect with the appropriate caress.

Ahy-Me jumped up. “Ve must go now. Yes!” On they went, jogging under the star-filled sky.

As the morning twilight sparked in the eastern sky, the party reached a rocky hillside. Ahy-Me led them to a deep crack in the stones, an unremarkable fracture in the mountainside that opened into a smooth tunnel. In minutes, they were deep inside another cave system.

Chenda could plainly see Ahy-Me relax as they moved further into the hillside. Being above ground was not her usual habitat. She scurried through the caves with ease and grace.

“Dees way.” Ahy-Me would call back to her followers. “Not long. Soon.” She moved faster. This cave system seemed dramatically more complex than the first. Every few hundred yards, Ahy-Me would turn off into a new cavern or passageway. The tunnels changed direction often, and Chenda had no clue how far they had come, or if they were above or below the level at which they entered the hillside. After an hour of this frantic, twisting journey, the companions entered into yet another small cavern. This space however, had no other passage out. They had reached a dead end.

“Vait here,” she said, leaving her companions at the tunnel entrance. Ahy-Me walked across the small chamber and pulled a dirty square of cloth down from a lumpy rock, exposing what Chenda thought was a skeleton. But the skeleton stirred to life, and sat up to look at Ahy-Me. He place one frail hand in hers and smiled.

She alternately nodded and shook her head several times, as if answering silent questions from the extraordinarily emaciated man. Without taking her eyes from his wizened face, she pointed at Chenda. He turned his attention to her.

Chenda was shocked to see the brilliant, sparkling blue eyes. They were the eyes of a child, clear and wondering, set into the face of a leathery, old man. The fellow gathered his spindly legs beneath him and practically danced toward Chenda. His delicate arms floated out beside him as he approached, bobbing as if he were at the direction of a puppeteer. It was a peculiar kind of grace, both delicate and unstoppable. His body halted before Chenda, but his limbs seemed to keep floating, as if each arm and leg were doing a happy little dance all on its own. One hand drifted to Chenda's face, a single finger brushing her chin, and she felt his greeting wash over her, his message arriving in her head without actually escaping his lips.

Welcome, Chenda, my dear one. I am Pranav Erato. Alexander and Edison did well in protecting you, and to them I am most grateful today. I have been waiting for you to return here for more than 20 years. Let me be the first to welcome you home...

Chapter 15

PRANAV ERATO

Fenimore's voice intruded on Chenda's now wildly swirling thoughts. “Are we there yet? Is
this
the man we have been looking for?”

Pranav Erato looked at Fenimore, then made a wild series of joyful nods. He approached Verdu, who placed his hands on each side of the mystic's face. Chenda watched in wonder at the deep holiness Pranav Erato conveyed through the returning caress.
His
touch was a blessing. She felt the grace that the tiny old man bestowed on Verdu, it filled the cavern. As Pranav Erato released Verdu, he made quick, floating bows to Fenimore and Candice, emanating gratitude. He returned to Chenda's side and clamped one hand around Chenda's wrist. He looked to Ahy-Me.
My blessed angel, will you please take these others to a place where they can rest? Let them know that I will be with the Pramuc for a-time.

“
But I'm not the Pramuc,” Chenda interrupted, speaking out loud.

The mystic turned his sparkling eyes to her.
I know you are not, but you may yet be.
He tilted his head to one side and with much sympathy thought to her,
I can see the suggestion burdens you. We will think on it no more for the time being. There are so many more things to tell you first.
His attention drifted back to Ahy-Me.
Let the others know that I will be with Chenda for some time. I will call for you to return soon. Until then, Chenda and I will require solitude.

“
Ve go now! All but Chenda. Come! You come to food and rest. Pranav Erato vill speak only vith Chenda.” She waved them toward the tunnel leading out of the chamber like she was shooing chickens.

Fenimore protested. “No. We've brought her this far, we are not going to leave her unprotected now.” He stepped quickly around Ahy-Me and reached a hand out to take hold of Chenda's free arm. As his fingers closed around her elbow, Chenda felt a tingle shoot through her and a blue spark jumped from her fingertips to Fenimore's chest with a loud snap. Fenimore rocked back on his heels, and the shock would have landed him on his backside if Verdu hadn't been right behind him, breaking the fall. Pranav Erato giggled silently, holding one withered hand in front of his thin lips. The sparkle in his eyes conveyed mischief.
Let your soldier know I can protect you, too. I am no threat to them, and never to you.

Chenda turned to Fenimore, “It's okay. I will be fine here. Pranav Erato has much to tell me, and I am curious to hear. After all, his answers are the reason I came. I will be back with you soon.” She gave a thankful smile to her friends as Ahy-Me hustled them out of the chamber and down the tunnel.

You must have a thousand questions for me, my darling girl. I have all the time in the world to answer them. But first I need to ask
you
some things. I know that Edison, gods rest his soul, instructed you to seek me out, that I would be able to tell you what you need to hear, but why would you risk so much, everything, for simple answers? You could have lived your whole life in comfort where you were.

“
I know. But I felt... compelled. At first I thought it was because I loved him, and I wanted to fulfill his last wish. I know now that reason was as naive as I was. I also wanted to know who I am. I began on the day of Edison's funeral to wonder of what am I capable. It seemed that the answers lay to the East, here, with you. I needed to know that you existed, and discover what you meant to Edison. How did you know he had died?”

The mystic's eyes sparkled.
I know a lot of things. And, y
es, compelled is right. As are we all in this world. Edison was compelled to love you, and Alexander was compelled to be a father to you. I am compelled as well. Your companions and I are also at the mercy of our fates, as you will see. It's not inescapable – fate – just compelling. It's hard to break a path once you are on it, but you can if you choose. Let us sit a moment and I will tell you who I am, and who you are.

He pulled Chenda over to a dim lamp resting on a low boulder and pushed her toward a stool sized rock beside to it. He squatted down before her, his bony knees resting under his chin. His long arms reached out and cupped her hands.
Let us begin...

You are not Chenda Frost, the wife of Edison, or Chenda Bode the daughter of Alexander. You are not the orphan left behind or the widow left alone. I tell you what you are not only to open you up to the past you need to throw away. You are more than the life you have been leading. You are more than you know about yourself. You were born here, in this cave system, could you have guessed that?
His eyes sparkled.

“No,” she said, “I don't believe it,” she whispered.

It's true; I witnessed your birth myself. Hold very still and I will show you.

He screwed up his face in a comical pucker and a sudden flash burst before Chenda's eyes. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, and, once she no longer saw the chamber before her, a vision appeared inside her mind. She saw a young woman supported by several others, struggling to give birth. The supporters were all dark skinned, Tugrulian women, but the laboring woman, moaning through the pain, had creamy skin, exactly like Chenda's. Her hair covered much of her face, tendrils sticking to her moist skin. With a loud groan, the woman bore the baby forth, and a midwife joyfully shouted as she cut the umbilical cord and loosely wrapped the tiny newborn girl in rough cloth. She handed the squirming bundle to the mother, who clutched the child to her chest. She kissed it three times on the forehead, and with each kiss, Chenda felt the light pressure of lips on her own head, the perfect memory of her mother's kiss. The woman lifted the child and Pranav Erato's spindly hands reached forward. Chenda realized this was his memory; she was seeing though his eyes. His hands lifted the squalling infant, and the babe was all that could be seen from the mystic's point of view. The child's eyes opened and Chenda recognized herself in their shape and color. She also saw deep into herself, as Pranav Erato did on the day of her birth. She felt the stir of a deep chime ringing through her. The infant her, as well as the grown body she had become. She felt the overwhelming joy and hope he felt on the day of her birth. She sensed also the horror of what the mystic was about to do, or more truthfully, had already done.

Chenda's eyes burst open, “You took me and ran!” she accused.

Pranav Erato nodded sadly.
I did. Your mother never forgave me, even though she came to understand the necessity of it in time. You needed to be far away from here. The priests of the Empire knew you were coming - there had been so many omens. When you were born, there was a great earthquake beneath the Temple of the Dia Orella. It blew the doors right off the hinges!
He silently shook with laughter.
There was no doubt that the Pramuc had been born. I had to get you far from here. The priests went wild looking for you. That's when I found Alexander Bode and convinced him to take you as his own child.

Chenda held up her hand. “Wait, my mother didn't look Tugrulian. Was she? And if Alexander Bode wasn't my father, then who is?”

Pranav Erato sighed.
Yes, your mother was born in the Empire, but she was born with “undesirable coloring.” Her parents knew she would be a burden to the family – unmarriageable. They sold her into servitude. Eventually, your mother, Abhya by name, served as a maidservant to Bhagnee, a third daughter to the 14th wife of the Emperor. A nobody as far as Imperial Princesses go. Traditionally – the Emperor will give away these lower princesses as gifts – it seems to these men that's what daughters are best used for. One day, word came to Bhagnee that she was to be presented as wife to a wealthy Mae-Lyn trader who had impressed the Emperor. Bhagnee was terrified of the obligation laid before her and hid in the palace. Her mother, certain that the Emperor would be furious with her and her child if his decree was not met, dressed Abhya head to toe in Bhagnee's wedding clothes, darkened her skin with dye and passed her off as a little princess. The Mae-Lyn trader took his new bride, got drunk and did with Abhya what all newlyweds do. By the end of the night, Bhagnee's mother found her. She tracked down Abhya in the honeymoon suite. With the groom fast asleep, Bhagnee's mother made the girls switch back again. The bridegroom awoke in his marriage bed later and was none the wiser. Bhagnee sailed away with her arranged husband, and Abhya was tossed away like stale bread. Exiled by Bhagnee's mother,
alone and, as she soon learned - pregnant, she eventually found her way to me.

The man you knew as your father, Alexander Bode, I freed from a Tugrulian prison. He was scheduled to be executed – convicted of spying. He really was one you know – a spy. As I hid him, I came to know him well, and trust him. When you were born, I saw an opportunity and arranged to have him return to the West with you. I placed you in his arms, and he loved you as if he had fathered you himself. He also recognized the vast potential for power that was born within you. He knew, if the legends were true, that in the hands of the Emperor, you could be turned into a weapon that would destroy the West. So, he took you away and made you his own. However, his love for you clouded his judgment. Once he brought you to his home, he never intended to bring you back here or tell you about your destiny. But Fate has a way of making itself heard.