202) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 35 -- On a Quest!

When she woke up, there was a note in Devona’s handwriting. “After breakfast, see you at the woodshed!” She had left a heart at the end in place of a signature. Kohra stared at the heart for several long seconds, before pulling on her clothes for the day.

* * * * *

            The next few days were much the same. The three girls started practice first thing in the morning, when they were freshest. Then ate lunch in the Inn. By late afternoon, they’d be at Coraanyan’s, helping him and hanging out with the horses. Dominic, Gorb and Reilly came too. They thought it was best if Coraanyan got to know all of them. They needed him to trust them, so they could lure him away without arousing suspicion. Kohra was well aware of the irony, but when you’re on a Quest, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. 

            Then, they’d retire to the Inn for dinner and the wonderful camaraderie of Juanita and her regulars, many of whom they were getting to know on a first-name basis. Kohra found herself staying late each night, despite her exhaustion, lingering even after the others turned in. She loved sitting around the bar, listening to their jokes, swapping stories (that is, mostly listening), and singing bawdy songs. Juanita was a wealth of rather racy tunes that she, apparently, had picked up during her “sailor days.”

            Sometimes, Kohra felt foolish, naive young girl that she was, sitting around a bar with these worldly folk and their stories. What could she possibly offer them? But still, they accepted her, like the Klliik. She didn’t have to be anybody but herself. It was the closest she’d ever felt to those nights in Ms. B’s dining room. Except here, everyone was way drunker.

During their fifth afternoon of practice, something clicked. Lenny called it The Arc, because it was, essentially, a lightning bolt that arced between them when they properly combined their energies.

Yes. A lightning bolt. An actual, for-real, firewood-exploding lightning bolt. Kohra found it almost impossible to believe, to accept the reality that they were able to wield such power. But despite her doubts, it kept happening. And the burnt wood shards littering the area around them were the indisputable evidence. 

It was entirely because of Lenny. She was like an amplifier, a multiplier. Devona surmised that it was like cupping your hands to make your voice louder, or narrowing the banks of a stream to make the water run faster. But none of them, not even Lenny, understood how she did it, or why their energies combined into lightning, when none of them could produce anything like that on their own.

Once they could produce it reliably, they focused on stabilizing it, for just a second or two, long enough that Lenny would be able to aim it.

After their fourth bolt, Kohra staggered back, doubling over like she was in pain. “I’m…just tired.” She waved Dev off. “I need a break.”

Lenny plopped happily down onto the ground, vibrating where she sat, manically exuberant. “I could do this forever!” Approximately three seconds later, she was sound asleep, keeling over on the wet wood chips and ash, snoring loudly. They half-carried, half-dragged her back to the Inn, dumping her unceremoniously onto the bed. Kohra and Devona sank to the floor, panting.

            “We better be careful not to push our limits,” Kohra said.

Devona nodded, grimacing. “I don’t think Lenny believes she has limits….”

* * * * *

            The next day, Devona and Lenny were scheduled to go riding with Coraanyan. Kohra had decided to sit it out. As much as she wanted to go, she didn’t think she could handle a whole day of Devona with Coraanyan. It was just so…obvious. She refused to consider the possibility that she was jealous. No, it was all Devona, acting like a fool.

Besides, everyone else was staying back to see Reilly talk to the horse, and she didn’t want to miss that!

It was a perfect day, cool, with a slight breeze. The three riders set out first thing in the morning, trotting through birdsong and flowers, Lenny immediately galloping ahead, standing up in the stirrups, flapping her arms. Devona stayed rather close to Coraanyan’s steed, smiling at him, frequently.

Kohra watched them go, feeling miserable. Coraanyan really was wonderful with horses, so gentle and intuitive. They had gotten to know him quite well by that point, and everybody thought he was great.

Still…. Kohra shook her head. Does she have to be so…OBVIOUS about it?

Kohra watched until they had ridden out of sight, then turned with the others toward the barn where the black stallion was kept in the last stall.

* * * * *

            That night, after dinner, Kohra had to sacrifice her Juanita-time at the bar, so they could all gather in Gorb and Dominic’s room and discuss what they’d learned that day. They’d had to hold back during dinner for fear of being overheard. It was painful; Lenny and Dev ended up talking the entire time about their magically dreamy day with Coraanyan, the picnic by the little stream he’d taken them to, and blahblahblah. Kohra kind of tuned it out, focused as she was on making eye contact with Juanita whenever the inn-keeper breezed past their table.

            Finally, in the privacy of their room, Dominic dramatically took center stage, like a ring-master starting the show. “Ladies and gentleman! The amazing, the astounding Reilly, the famous animal tamer, Master of Great Cats and Friend of Horses everywhere!” He made the sounds of a cheering crowd, stepping back to give Reilly center stage.

         “I talked to Horsey!” Reilly exclaimed, either dancing with excitement or wiggling because she had to pee; it was unclear. “It was the best! We talked about all kinds of things! He is SUCH a nice horsey! He told me where they go! It’s all the way in the mountains! There’s a broken statue, and then this path, and there’s a log house, with two giant blue oxes!”

         “Oxen,” Devona corrected.

         Reilly stuck out her tongue, defiantly. “Anyway, I know I can find it.”

         Lenny raised an eyebrow. “How did a horse tell you all this?”

         “I have to pee!” Reilly bolted from the room.

         Kohra laughed.

         “What’s so funny?” Lenny asked.

         “Nothing.” She smiled and looked down at her tea, taking a sip.

         Reilly returned a minute later, launching right back into what Horsey had told her, evidently having forgotten Lenny’s question.

         “And he’s been into the swamp! But only a couple of times. He hates it there! The Master, uh, the Hooded Man, usually lets him stay on the road with the caravan. But one time he went in far, deep, deep into the swamp. They even took a raft down a river! He saw dead people walking! And scary black ghosty-things! And he met the frogs! But they don’t bother the Master.”

         “Why not?” Devona asked.

         Reilly shrugged. “I don’t know! Horsey was terrified! They’ve never gone back down that river again. Horsey doesn’t like the swamp…” Reilly stopped, pouting. “I feel bad for him. He doesn’t like serving a bad Master, but he has no choice.”

            Kohra was dumbfounded. “How can a horse tell you all this?”

            “Exactly!” Lenny cried.

            Reilly thought for a moment. “He doesn’t ‘tell me’. It’s not words, hahaha!”

Everyone waited for her to say more.

“What? Don’t you get it?”

            Kohra shook her head, a bit embarrassed. “Uh, no?”

            Reilly turned to the others. “Anyone?”

Lenny shrugged. Gorb stared at the froth in his mug. Devona maintained a pensive look on her face like she ALMOST understood.

Dominic replied, “Look, I don’t get it either. If he doesn’t use words, how does he tell you all this stuff? It doesn’t make sense!”

“YOU don’t make sense!” she shouted. Then laughed.

“Okay fine. It’s like dreaming, sort of. Like seeing things in your head!”

            Gorb was looking intently at Devona. He had been for some time, although he thought he was being far more subtle than he actually was. 

“What?” she asked, sharply. “Let me guess. You’re wondering if I will agree to resume your Quest, right? You want to know if I’m up for it?”

            Looking sheepish, Gorb nodded. “Aye.”

            “Well, one thing I want to get straight right here and now. Gorb, you have to come clean with us. Tell us what this Quest is all about. And ‘following the Light’ is not good enough. I want details.” Devona crossed her arms stubbornly.       

            Gorb hemmed and hawed, grumbling that there were things people were better off not knowing, then hemmed and hawed and grumbled some more, but in the end, he had no choice. Maybe this was the will of the Light. Maybe it was time for him to trust these young ones. After all, didn’t he believe that they were brought together for a reason?

* * * * *

            “So, did you believe all that?” Dominic asked the girls as they walked down to the woodshed together the next morning. He’d come down to watch them practice.

Kohra nodded; she believed Gorb. Lenny shrugged, like she didn’t care either way.

            Devona thought about it for a bit longer, like she was still considering her opinion. “There are parts of his story that don’t add up,” she said finally. “But overall, I believe it. Gorb is too honest. And it does make sense that my parents would hire him for a Quest like this; they’re always involving themselves in high-level politics and things that the average person can’t understand.” She smiled proudly. “He is telling the truth. I just think he’s leaving some things out.”

            “Maybe it IS better for us not to know some things,” Lenny murmured, seemingly to herself.

            Dominic spoke up. “If life is a chessgame, and you are a piece on the board, is it better for you to know that? Or should you just size up that bishop you’re gunning for, and prepare for battle?”

            “I don’t know.” Kohra looked him in the eye. “But I don’t like the idea of some chess-master looking down on all of us, seeing us as nothing more than pieces in some grand game. I don’t like that at all.”

            “Me neither,” Dominic agreed. Even Lenny nodded.

Devona nodded too. But she knew she felt quite different from the others. She had long ago accepted the reality of powerful Beings pulling the strings and controlling much of what happened in Eden.

            “Well, I’ll state it up front, I don’t want to do this,” said Dominic. “A long, dangerous journey into the mountains, following some dream that Reilly got from a horse? And for what? We already risked our lives once.”

“Twice actually,” noted Lenny.

“Yeah! Twice! And that was before we even knew the Reaper was out there. What if it had found us? We’re lucky we even made it here!”

He looked around at each of them. Nobody met his eyes; they knew he was right. They were alive only by luck. “Heading even further into the Wild, much, much further, is crazy. And for what? Because Gorb was told to follow this guy?”

Nobody responded, so he continued. “And what if he IS some super-important crime lord or something? Clearly, he’s a Zhaalmohhrian. Or at least he’s working for them. Let’s say we do find him. Somewhere in those mountains we somehow manage to find his secret hideout or whatever. How do you think THAT is going to turn out?”

He shook his head with finality. “No, no way. If we make even one mistake…. Just, no.” He sat down on a piece of not-yet-exploded firewood, looking up like he dared them to disagree.

            Kohra nodded. This really was a ridiculous idea. Who did they think they were? Spies? They could barely take down an old hermit, and had to run for their lives from spear-toting frogs. Dom was right; they needed to focus on finding out news from Anthor, like what happened to their families, and when they could return. They certainly didn’t need to go disappearing into the Wild, never to be heard from again.

            Lenny held up one finger. “I have two rules in life.” She looked at her finger. “Enjoy myself.” She raised a second finger. “Postpone dying for as long as I can.” She put her hand down decisively.

            Suprisingly, it was Devona who swayed them. “I believe we should follow Gorb’s Light,” she murmured.

            “Seriously??!!” Kohra actually shouted. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Follow Gorb’s light?? Dev, you of all people, I wouldn’t —”

            Devona interrupted, bristling, “What do you mean, me of all people? I believe in the Light, or the Good, or whatever, just as much as you! Just because of, what happened, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t for the Good! I mean….”

            She dropped her voice, getting herself under control. “If it wasn’t for Gorb’s Light, he wouldn’t have been chosen by my parents to be my protector in the first place. You and I, we would probably never have found each other again! And yes, what happened was terrible, Kohra, but it happened to me! I’m the one who gets to say what it means and how important it is. And now, look at our progress Kohra! Look at what we’ve learned in just a few days! We can shoot LIGHTNING BOLTS!”

            Devona paused to catch her breath. “All of that happened because we made choices we wouldn’t normally have made. We chose to follow Gorb’s Light. And here we are, stronger than ever.”

            Kohra didn’t know what to say. So in typical Kohra fashion, she just murmured, “Hmmmm, yeah,” and nodded, hoping someone else would talk.

            Which was Dominic. “Wow. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right.” He laughed. “We’re only free, maybe even alive, because we chose not to do the sensible thing, right from the beginning. Everybody who took the safe, sensible option got captured back in Anthor. But we’re still free. Choosing the wrong thing got us this far.”

            Lenny clapped her hands, changing her mind instantly. “Yay! Doing wrong things!” She started twirling around, doing cartwheels in circles while they kept talking.

            Kohra reluctantly nodded. But she knew her heart wasn’t in it. She intuitively felt that this wasn’t going to turn out well, and weren’t you always supposed to trust your intuitions?

But, what if your “intuition” is always telling you that you can’t do it, you’re going to let them down, you should quit, you shouldn’t try?

The others were excited. It sounded like they were making plans to travel. Kohra wasn’t really listening.

* * * * *

            After their practice (which Dominic was completely astonished by, leaping to the ground with his hands over his head the first time they produced the Arc), they walked back to the Inn with a new buoyancy. Seeing the power of the Arc had given Dominic a huge boost of confidence in their decision to continue Gorb’s Quest.

            Kohra kicked at pebbles as she walked, knocking a couple into the pond. She watched the ripples, diminishing asymptotically as they spread in wavy rings across the otherwise glassy surface. Her mind felt the same way, like it was almost clear and reflective, but someone kept kicking pebbles into it; no matter how much she tried to find that inner calm, everything was waves upon waves upon waves.

            I don’t think I can do this. They always say you find out what you’re made of when the going gets tough, when you’re put to the test, and all that. But what if you find out that you don’t have what it takes? Then what do you do?

            Our training is going well, that’s true. Thanks to Lenny. I don’t think I can do anything without her, but that energy, the Arc, it’s kind of horrifying. We could kill someone, easy. I don’t think anyone should have that much power. What in the worlds are we going to do with it?

            And what if I make a mistake? What if I can’t Connect when we need to? Or what if “the swinging door” swings the wrong way? What if, what if I lose my focus? What if I just can’t do it? I don’t know. I’m not ready for this….

* * * * *

            They had gathered in the girls’ room, sitting on the two beds, except Lenny who was sprawled on the floor with a pillow tucked under her head. Kohra was staring fixedly at the floor wondering how she was going to get herself out of this. Then Devona made the announcement to Gorb that they were “all in,” and he let out such a shriek of delight, sweeping them all into a group hug, laughing and hollering and praising the light, that even Kohra finally found herself smiling.

Here we go, to our doom.

            When the noise subsided a little, Dominic cleared his throat. “There are, uh, a few details to figure out. I mean, we are not equipped for a long trek, especially not in the mountains. And we have hardly any money left.”

            Gorb scowled, his hand unconsciously reaching for the place he used to keep his coin-purse; Kohra, Devona and Lenny all stared straight ahead.

            Dominic continued, “And even if we hadn’t, er, lost the money, there wasn’t enough anyway, not for a long trip, through hostile country, past the Reaper somehow, past all the Earthborn and bandits and whoever else might want a piece of us. And then, yeah, the mountains! You can’t just wander through the mountains like it’s no big deal. We don’t even know where we’re going! We’re trusting that Reilly learned enough from a horse, to get us to some little shack way out there?”

         Everyone was frowning at him. Hadn’t he just been all excited about this just a few seconds ago?

         “Look, I’m sorry! But we have to be realistic. We can’t follow the Hooded Man if we can’t survive the journey. We’ll need protection from predators and Gods-know-what-else is out there. This is no day-hike. Which, around here, seems to be a death wish anyway.”

         He turned to Gorb, who looked crestfallen. “Look, I’m in, okay? I’m not saying we shouldn’t go. We decided already. We’ll help you follow the Light. But getting equipment is the first step. So, how does the Light say we should do that?”

         Gorb nodded, sighing somberly. “’Tis a problem, an’ I got no solutions fer ye rrright now.” He stood up and turned to go, then stopped. “But I wan’ t’ t’ank ye. Ferrr believin’.”

         They listened as his heavy footsteps trudged down the wooden hallway. Dominic left shortly afterwards, feeling like he had somehow rained on everyone’s parade. He was just trying to keep them alive!
         Nobody said goodnight when he left, although Kohra caught his eye and smiled. He managed one in return.            

A few seconds later, Kohra was drifting to sleep, long past trying to figure out solutions to their dilemma. To her, this wasn’t a dilemma at all. She was glad that nobody had any realistic ideas. She looked up at Juanita’s sea-shell pictures that decorated the room, and smiled, snuggling even deeper into the blankets. Why not just stay here until it was safe to go home again?