Contents and chapter links
Previous set of chapters
___Pooralay led them down into the dell, chattering amiably; though Seifas noticed he stepped on Dagon’s foot in passing, probably for laughing at him again.
___“Actsh’ly,” the stranger said, “now that I’m here, I’m even more sure that I’m at th’ prop’r place. Well,” he added, after a moment’s thought, “not complet’ly sure, but ev’rythin’ seems t’ be tallyin’ up that way.”
___They watched in all directions as he led them down the slope. Being in the open, made the juacuar feel nervous. The kilopace of clearance round the Tower gave an ample firing field.
___“So, okay,” the little man continued, “what’s th’ end of a woods? It’s like y’re askin’ where the end’f a blob ‘r circle is: nowhere. Sure you c’d have an arm o’ th’ woods thrown off like here or there—hell, most woods got a hunnert ‘r thous’nds of ‘em—but what makes that ‘the end’?” he crooked his fingers. “Nothin’. It c’d be th’ b’ginnin’ just as eas’ly. So, I figur’d that once you get t’ th’ middle of a woods, basic’ly you’ve establish’d an ob-jec-tive-ly dis-tinc-tive part o’ th’ woods. Right? Y’can’t go any furth’r into th’ woods, once y’reach th’ middle—’cause at that point y’re goin’ out again. And that,” he ended, “is an end!”
___He turned with hands spread wide in triumph, walking backwards, waiting for applause.
___“That seems logical,” nodded Jian, deep in thought. He seemed to be the only person taking Pooralay seriously yet.
___“But why,” he asked, “would you be looking for this Well?”
___The short man blinked and stumbled, and the others stopped in amazement.
___“Y’mean y’never heard of it?!”
___“Um…” Jian shrugged, looking around, “…maybe I’ve led a sheltered life so far?”
___“Yeah…” Pooralay mused. “Yeah, okay, that I c’n buy…” He shook his head. “So, anyone want t’ ‘xplain it?”
___Dagon rolled his eyes. “It’s a kiddie tale.”
___“A legend,” Portunista corrected—coming to Jian’s defense, as Seifas saw…
___“A treasure.” Gaekwar pointedly stared at Pooralay.
___“A risk,” asserted Othon, folding his arms.
___“A prophecy,” Seifas emphasized.
___“Well…that’s helpful!” Jian smiled—perhaps at his pun.
___Pooralay grunted. “Yeah, it’s all o’ that, I guess.” Then he recited:
___“The Well at the End of the Wood
___delivers both evil and good.
___Make your choice and leap into strife.
___Learn the price of death and of life.”
___Seifas and Portunista studiously recited the poem with him. Gaekwar sounded embarrassed, but still he chanted it. Dagon only rolled his eyes again, and turned away; perhaps to keep on watch for trouble. Othon didn’t join the chant, exactly; but he clearly rumbled “life.”
___“‘Kay. So y’re not all ign’ramuses. I was b’ginnin’ t’ worry.” Pooralay scowled at Jian, before resuming his downslope pace.
___“So…basically…nobody knows what the Well may be.”
___“Well, no…heh-heh-heh,” Pooralay chuckled, at his own pun. “But it’s obvi’sly somethin’ worth findin’.”
___Dagon snorted. “Yeah, sometimes second sons of merchants or nobles, with nothing better to do, get all decked out to gallivant around the countryside, looking for the thing. It’s an excuse to look good for the ladies, get into fights…They call themselves ‘errants’, like that’s supposed to be impressive.”
___“Confidence tricksters also harp on the Well,” Gaekwar added, staring at Pooralay.
___“True errants do exist,” insisted Seifas. “But they’re very rare.”
___“We weren’t taught about the Well by our instructors,” Portunista said—not as far as she got, Seifas silently amended!—“Maybe the history teachers knew something about it…or…”
___“Researchers,” Othon finished.
___“Superspace researchers maybe?” Gaekwar gestured at the Tower.
___“Who knows?” shrugged Portunista. “But we’re working at it backward. We would have to know about the Well, before we could begin to guess who knows—or knew—whatever…” She trailed off, thinking. By her thirsty look, Seifas supposed that she was dreaming about more power than she had imagined.
___The juacuar decided, that whatever it took, he would prevent her from finding the Well—for her own good.
___And a darkness settled on him, for he knew what he was willing to do—to keep her from becoming a monster…
___They finished their hike downslope, each of them in silence—even Pooralay.
___Then as they reached the tent: “This is yours, I guess.” Gaekwar jerked a thumb.
___“Yeah…” The little man absently waved, striding past without a glance. Then he sat and stared by turns, first at the cubic Tower now looming over them, then at the grassy valley all around.
___Meanwhile, Seifas eyed the tent, then scanned the far encircling treeline. “But,” he said to everyone, “he hasn’t been staying here.”
___It took a moment for Pooralay to register this. Then he grinned and cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah…oh, hey, you’re good!” He assessed the area once again himself. “Yeah, I got here ‘bout three days ago. Set th’ tent up kinda as a decoy. Guess I shoulda come down here an’ scuffl’d it some at night, t’ make it look more lived-in.”
___“So, you’ve seen activity in the Tower?” Portunista asked.
___“Not a peep,” he shook his head. “But that don’t mean a thing. Been sittin’ aroun’, scoutin’ th’ area, tryin’ to get th’ lay o’ th’ land.” He chuckled again, sardonically. “Tryin’ t’ get up gumption enough t’ tackle th’ door or a sluice, or work m’ way up to the roof and look around.”
___Seifas motioned for the squad to settle in; they kneeled or squatted comfortably, beneath the azure deepness of the sky. The sunbeams slanted down with friendly fierceness, yet with definite lack of heat. Winter would be coming soon; and Seifas paused a moment to enjoy the feel and smell and sights, inhaling them, forcibly banishing darkness away from his thoughts.
___Then he padded over to the little man, and sank to sit beside him.
___“Let us play a game.” He smiled with equal menace and goodwill.
___“D’pends on th’ game, don’t it?” “Poo” smiled back in much a similar manner.
___“Your accent comes from Tafel, probably Tafeltop itself.”
___“Sharp ear!” Pooralay chuckled—it hardly took a genius to figure that…
___“You’re good enough with knives that you aren’t carrying any weapon larger than the two long daggers holstered on each belt, at hand.”
___“Bloody good eye. Remind me never t’ fight a jaguar…”
___“However, the knife you used for blocking ‘wristboy’s’ disc from launching—”
___“Gaekwar!” “Wristboy” interjected. Pooralay arched an eyebrow at the juacuar—but Seifas knew the information wouldn’t be much gain: he doubted any farming mother named her son an ancient word for “cowherd”…
___“That knife,” continued Seifas, “was a balanced throwing dagger.”
___“So?”
___“You haven’t been camping in the tent; where would you ‘come down from’ at night to make it look more slept-in? Only the trees around the rim.”
___The little man had stopped his grinning, though his eyes still twinkled.
___“When we detected your approach, your feet just seemed to suddenly plop on the ground from nowhere.” Seifas didn’t tell of how they knew this. “You clearly weren’t surprised to see us; yet you purposely scuffled leaves as you got closer. Why? To make us think you always move so loudly, perhaps. Either your eyes are sharp enough to spot me in that brush, or else you already knew that I was near, and made a solid guess of where I’d be most likely hiding. Jian was standing with the rest of us when you arrived, and never turned his back to you—and yet you knew the sap was on his back. You watched him lean against the honey tree.” Seifas smiled, matching evaluating stares with Pooralay.
___“You were in the branches of the trees—close enough to see us; maybe to hear us, too. And then you quickly moved a little further off, quietly and unseen, dropping down to meet us on the path. You surely possess the necessary handspeed and precision.”
___Seifas stopped a moment. His “sparring” partner didn’t bat an eyelid.
___“Portunista over there was right.” Let him know her name as well, Seifas thought; if he’s heard of her, he might also know she commands a group of companies, and that might help forestall some future problems. “You’re a thug.”
___Pooralay conceded with a sigh.
___“I am Seifas.” The juacuar gave him a greeting hand. No reason not to be polite, he thought. Besides, a thief might soon be useful…
___A hesitation—then Pooralay accepted Seifas’ hand. His shake seemed genuine. “I’m not confessin’ t’ nothin’, y’unnerstand…but rottin’ good for you.
___“Okay! That leaves doll-boy ov’r there, whose name I couldn’t care less about—”
___“Dagon!” “Doll-boy” growled.
___“Whatever…Okay, my turn now.” He clapped his hands together, and resumed his shadowy grin.
___“There’s an encamp’d br’gade ‘bout sev’nty-seven hunnerd paces south o’ here, ‘r so.”
No one expressed any shock; this didn’t seem to disappoint him. “I take it this ain’t news t’ anyone. I’d make some c’nclusions from that, ‘xcept there ain’t no point, ‘cause I follow’d you here from y’r camp! Yeah, I thought that might get more reaction!
___“Shadowed you at an angle, ‘bout a hunnerd paces t’ y’r left, followin’ down th’ stream t’ mask my noise. Y’didn’t swing wide enough,” he winked toward the juacuar.
___On seeing Seifas’ self-chastising scowl, the little stranger not-unkindly laughed: “Don’t knock y’rself too hard upside th’ head; you were obvi’sly inna hurry t’ get here—or maybe someone else was inna hurry. Y’didn’t strike me as th’ sort to rush a job like that. Th’ lady here runs the gig; Othon said so, but she obvi’sly ain’t th’ squaddie leader. So she’s got a higher rank. Justa guess, o’ course.”
___“Good guess,” Portunista admitted grudgingly. Not a bad idea, however, to let him confirm the scope of her authority…
___“Meanin’ she’s th’ one t’ blame for hurryin’ out here late in th’ day.” Seifas had to forcibly smother a kindred grin; Portunista wasn’t amused.
___“Sap-boy didn’t know that this was s’posed to be a lake. He seems a little wet b’hind th’ ears, but no one told ‘im diff’rent, so I’m guessin’ you weren’t comin’ here for, let us say, th’ u-nique ge-o-gra-phi-cal features of th’ region. Y’re here for the Tower. You were ‘xpectin’ a Qarfax fella; and y’figure he’s in the-o-ret-ic re-search. That makes this a Cadr’st Tower—even though it don’t much look like one,” he wryly observed. “Lady’s prob’ly a maga; word is, mosta th’ Cadre’s vaporized themselves. Two an’ two t’gether, y’re here on a gadget-lootin’ run, give y’r brigade some punch.” He shrugged. ___“Maybe I c’n help. Eyecansee, I c’d use some help,” he sighed. “I hate t’ mess with magi.” Turning, he regarded the Tower. “Guess that’s gonna change, huh?” And he sighed again. “Place gives me th’ heebiejeebs. I kinda gotta feelin’ ‘bout it. I trust my feelin’s!” he declared, and spun back around to the group.
___“Well, it isn’t like you have to ‘mess with magi,’” Dagon said. “You could just hike on out of here; go find a lonely merchant-lady to fleece.”
___“Whassa-matter? Y’think y’r odds are bad with me aroun’? Sure I thoughta tailin’ out,” admitted the little man, “but I didn’t come here f’r th’ loot…Well, y’know, maybe a little, just f’r my ‘xpenses…Hey!—why’m I ‘pologizin’ to you guys?! Y’re just like me, only taller, ‘n’ rookies! I ain’t here f’r treasure! I’m here ‘cause—!”
___Smothering what he was going to say, Pooralay sulked instead. “Y’re just here t’ get y’r brigade some firepower. Whoop-de-floggin’-do. Good luck, and have at it. J’st stay outta my way.”
___“And power over life and death and good and evil doesn’t count as ‘firepower’…” Gaekwar said acidically.
___“Who knows j’st what it counts as?” shot back Pooralay. “Who said it’s ‘power’? Sounds more like knowl’dge t’ me. But then, I don’t have your obvious decades of ‘xperience, decipherin’ multi-millennia cosmic hooey!!” And he spat in Gaekwar’s direction.
___“Could be both,” Othon murmured, looking at the sun descending in the west. Seifas knew that Portunista also would consider knowledge power…
___“So, why here, do you think?” asked Jian politely. Pooralay huffed for a moment, eyeing Gaekwar—who recalled his crippled disker! The lanky man edged off, looking nonchalant, and crouched as if on watch behind them near the tent—while he surreptitiously started repairing the workings.
___“Yeah…okay…” Poo threw threatening glances at the rest of the squad, but did appear to be calming down. “Why here. Good question. Betcha made a wunnerful kid in school. Well, once I d’cided t’ find ‘The Well,’ I went t’ Tafeltown’s Orthogoni. Kinda scorched fr’m all th’ fightin’, but still in pretty good shape. Busiest scribblers I ever saw. Them’n th’ Promulgat’rs, goin’ in and out, alla th’ time. Makin’ copies t’ help replace th’ books that were lost in th’ fightin’, I guess. Overheard that most o’ th’ other Orthogonies also were hit, some o’ them directly. No total losses, but…anyway,” he moved along, seeing impatient scowls nearby. “I kinda wander’d in while they were busy. Figur’d they wouldn’t be int’rested helpin’ a…” He sighed again. “…a thug, like th’ lady said—helpin’ me, findin’ somethin’ like th’ Well. Always kinda liked researchin’ maps ‘n such. I coulda… borrowed…books I guess, but it just…didn’t seem right…Whaddayou smilin’ at, sap-boy? So, okay, I go in, mess around, avoid some people, find th’ maps—best maps in th’ world at an Orthogoni.”
___He shook his head, staring at the ground, focused on his memories. “Never knew there were so many forests in Mikon. Th’ rottin’ cont’nent’s thick with ‘em! A million square klips at least, up in the Middlelands, and mosta th’ maps o’ there’re older’n dirt. But first I concentrated on th’ local stuff; y’know, Casio an’ Lemalsamac, some of Krygy, not too far inland. Kinda pokin’ around, eyes’re gettin’ bleary…then…bam!” he jumped. “Just like a target, right there on th’ page!!” Pooralay looked at them. “I mean, I never knew it would happen just like…!” He faded off, controlling his exuberance.
___“Four rivers,” he began again, more calmly, bending down to scribble on the ground. “Well, brooks, actsh’lly. They’re bigger on th’ maps than here, an’ I can see why, now: more water here ‘rigin’ly, w’d make th’ brooks more swoll’n backin’ pressure.” After looking around at them, he then continued. “Comin’ from th’ four points on th’ compass, down from these here mount’ns to th’ north, an’ from those ridges there,” he pointed. “You guys came in through the pass back there, th’ southeast corner; most sensible way t’ bring a big group into th’ area, and it’s close t’ where y’re camped.”
___“And I bet you camped on the northern side of the dell,” inferred the juacuar. “You wouldn’t need to watch your back as much.”
___“Yeah, good guess,” agreed the little man. “I’m sure you guys got maps—didn’t y’see the lake right smack b’tween th’ rivers?!”
___Everyone but Jian looked pointedly at Portunista, who folded her arms and tapped a booted toe.
___“Qarfax could have bribed—excuse me, requested—the mapping guild to keep his privacy; and obviously the trader maps were drawn by people who had been here. What does it matter anyway?! Let’s go, before we’re camping in that puppydog-tent tonight!!”
___“Testy minx,” Pooralay muttered. “So, I’m thinkin’, hey, a map-sized lake, outta th’ way,” he hurried along as Portunista spiked a glare in his direction; Seifas could hear the ‘cowherd’ chuckling—very quietly!—behind them. “Buncha natural signs’re pointin’ at it, so t’ speak; it’s in the middle of a wood, right? And best of all, get this—there ain’t no rivers leadin’ out-a th’ valley! Betcha didn’t notice that, eh??” He proudly grinned, as their expressions changed to something more like awe than skepticism.
___“Where’s the wa-ter go-in?” he gleefully observed. “Has t’ be down a hole; and lookit, what d’y’see?” He pointed behind himself, not needing to look.
___The brooks were diving into sluices, one in every Tower side—with nothing coming out.
___“Rotten blood!” Gaekwar snapped his disker back together, and rejoined the group.
___Pooralay was almost dancing in excitement. “See? See?! It’s a well…in th’ middle…of a wood! An’ th’ middle of a woods is gonna be th’ closest you c’n get t’ bein’ at its end!” He clapped his hands together with a smack, whirling toward the center of the dell, delighted as a child who’s found the treasure stashed for Stilleve Day. “And lookit, lookit, surprise, surprise! It’s a WHOLE…EYE-BLINKIN’…TOWER!!!”
___And throwing back his head, he cackled and hopped and shook his fists for joy!
___“SO!” he spun again to them, with another popping clap! Their faces—even Dagon’s—had become slack-jawed and wonderstruck.
___Everyone’s face, that is, except for Jian’s. He was standing with his hands on his hips, and grinning.
___“Who wants t’ go in with me?!”
But along with Gaekwar, he’s my favorite character to write. If I had to write side novels, and if I could do so while not revealing too much about him, he’s the one I’d follow.
) Once I realized it made sense to go visit the place, yep, sure, a square-faced ‘tower’!