Abuud: the One-Eyed God (34 page)

The four savages dragged Wylan back to the clearing with the fire pit. One man used a thin vine to bind Wylan's hands behind his back, while another tied Wylan's feet together. The savages laughed as one of them knelt next to Wylan and pulled the crude knife from his belt. Wylan's eyes opened wide in fear as he realized what the savages intended.

Suddenly, a knife sailed out of the jungle and struck the kneeling savage in the side of the head. The man died instantly and his body fell on top of Wylan. The other three cannibals growled and lowered their spears as they crept towards the jungle where Tedi was hiding. Wylan tried to shout a warning, but the words would not come out. He trembled with fear.

Arik shouted and leapt into the clearing with his sword drawn. The savages immediately turned and thrust their spears at Arik. Arik danced out of the way and then dove towards the trail. While he was jumping to his feet, Tedi sprang out of the bushes and shouted. Two of the savages turned to face the new threat, and Arik charged his lone opponent.

The cannibal facing Arik shoved his spear for a quick kill. Arik jumped back and swung his sword hard into the spear. A resounding crack sounded as Arik's sword sliced the shaft of that spear in two. Before the savage could recover, Arik continued the twirl his mighty swing had started and raised his sword higher. The sword sliced into the cannibal's midsection and the savage howled a guttural cry as his body fell to the ground.

Tedi danced lightly as he fended off the two spears pursuing him. The savages worked well as a team, and Tedi knew that he could not maintain the defense indefinitely. He saw Arik kill his opponent and move towards the back of the two remaining cannibals. One of the cannibals started to turn towards Arik and Tedi leaped forward. He drove his sword deep into the savage's back as Arik was doing the same to the cannibal facing Tedi. Both savages fell heavily to the ground and died. Tedi moved swiftly to Wylan and cut his bonds.

"We need to be moving along quickly," Tedi said. "Are you alright Wylan?"

Wylan swallowed hard and nodded. "Where did you two learn to fight like that?" he asked. "I thought we would all die."

Arik bent over and retrieved Tedi's knife and handed it to him. "We had a good teacher," Arik said to Wylan as he retrieved three spears from the ground and handed one to each of his friends. "His name was Alexander Tork. Let's move out."

"Alexander Tork?" echoed Wylan as he got to his feet and rubbed his wrists. "He's a legend. Did he really teach you how to fight?"

"That and more," answered Tedi. "He taught us to be quiet on the trail."

Arik led the way swiftly along the trail in the direction they had been going before the attack. The distant mountain did not appear to be getting any closer as the trio sped quietly along the trails.

Tedi scooped up a small pebble and threw it at Arik. Arik immediately stopped and turned around. Tedi held a finger to his lips, and Arik strained his ears in an attempt to hear anything that sounded alarming. The three boys remained motionless and silent for several minutes before Tedi walked up next to Arik.

"It was fairly large," Tedi whispered. "Whatever it was, it did not appear to have detected us. Why don't you let me lead for a while?"

"If it will save me from more pebbles hitting the back of my head," Arik chuckled softly, "lead on."

Tedi led for an hour before he suddenly stopped again. He held up his hand to indicate that Wylan and Arik should remain silent and motionless. Several hundred paces farther along the trail was a large tiger. The beast was feasting on some small animal in the center of the trail. Tedi pointed to the tiger. Arik slowly unstrapped his bow and plucked an arrow from his quiver. He moved silently past Wylan and next to Tedi. Arik nocked an arrow and waited patiently. The minutes dragged by slowly as the tiger devoured its prey, but eventually the large beast moved off into the jungle. Tedi remained motionless for several more minutes as he listened to the movement of the tiger. Finally he nodded and continued down the trail.

As the daylight began to fade, Tedi started looking for a place to camp for the night. The jungle was still rather dense and he had no luck in finding a clearing. As darkness started to claim the jungle island, Tedi halted at the intersection of two trails.

"I cannot find a clearing to camp in," Tedi said softly. "We may have to camp on the trail."

Arik and Wylan huddled around Tedi. "That does not sounds like a good idea," remarked Wylan. "We just saw what happens to things found on the trail. I don't look forward to being eaten by a tiger."

"I have to agree," commented Arik. "Traveling by night might be less dangerous than leaving ourselves exposed on the trail."

"Perhaps," mused Tedi. "We will continue on for a while, but I think we will need sleep to maintain our edge against whatever dangers lurk in this jungle."

Arik nodded in agreement as Tedi continued along the trail they had been traveling. The jungle grew dark as the lightness of day finally faded completely. Tedi stopped again at another intersection as he heard the distant trickling of a stream. He turned left at the intersection and proceeded toward the sound. The sound grew louder as the trio approached the source, and soon Wylan and Arik were able to hear it too.

When Tedi reached the stream, he found a clearing along the bank that was small, but suitable for a campsite. The noise of the stream was not loud, but it allowed the boys to talk without too much fear of their voices carrying for any distance.

"This looks like our camp for tonight," announced Tedi.

"Do we dare have a fire?" asked Wylan. "It would keep the night critters away."

"True, Wylan," responded Arik, "but it will also invite those creatures that do not fear fire. It would be like shouting to the jungle where we are. There will be no fire tonight."

"At least we will have the stream as a barricade on one side of," Tedi added optimistically. "I think we should sleep in shifts so we can always maintain a guard."

"You will get no argument from me," Arik nodded as he fished through his pack for the coils of thin wire he carried. "I think I will lay a line tonight just in case."

Tedi was about to agree when the sound of beating drums drifted clearly into the campsite. A tremor of fear raced down Tedi's spine as he thought about the four cannibal bodies they had left behind at the first clearing.

The prison wagon rolled through the double gates of Ongchi, and Bin-lu watched as the guards slammed the gates closed behind them. His body ached from being tied to the cage for so long that he actually began to look forward, with a bit of relief, to the cell he would be thrown into. Bin-lu frowned as he tried to figure out why he had been arrested. His mind had dwelt on his arrest almost continually since the soldiers seized him, but he could not figure out how he had managed to offend them.

The scenery outside the cage turned from drab to bright colors, and Bin-lu marveled at the size and wealth of capital city. He had never been to Ongchi before and, under different circumstances, he would have been extremely excited. Even knowing that he was bound for prison, Bin-lu could not stop gazing at the thriving metropolis. Massive crowds of people filled the streets of the city center, but they all moved out of the way of the prison wagon. Nobody paid any particular attention to the wagon, however, causing Bin-lu to realize that the wagons probably were a rather common sight in the capital. The thought depressed Bin-lu as he remembered the Lanoir of his childhood. When he was growing up, there were no massive armies, no seizing of villagers to forcibly build an army, and no arrests without a crime being committed.

The prison wagon passed through the city center and came to a gate in yet another wall. There were numerous soldiers along this wall, and the prisoners were inspected before the wagon was allowed to proceed through the gate. As the wagon passed through the gate, Bin-lu gazed in wonder at the contrast to the rest of the city. Inside the wall were spacious gardens with fountains sprinkled everywhere. Beautiful statues lined the paths, and the crowds of people were nonexistent. In fact, the only people visible were dozens of patrols of soldiers. Wherever Bin-lu looked, a column of soldiers was marching.

The prison wagon turned to the right and Bin-lu's viewpoint changed. His eyes grew large as he gazed at the magnificent palace off to the wagon's left. It was easily the largest building that Bin-lu had ever seen, as well as the most expensively decorated. A broad sweep of stone steps led up to massive stone platform before the main doors to the palace. The railings of the steps were interrupted periodically by marble statues. The steps themselves were too numerous for Bin-lu to count.

The stone platform was adorned with fancily carved columns, but all of this wonder paled in comparison to the palace itself. The walls of the palace were richly colorful and covered with carvings. The carvings were intricate works of art depicting people's faces, dragons, mountains, and waterfalls. The borders surrounding each carving glinted with gold, and the front wall of the palace seemed to stretch on forever. Bin-lu's vision of the front of the palace was abruptly terminated when the wagon turned once again and proceeded along the side of the palace.

The military presence alongside the palace was heavier than in front of the palace. Soldiers were everywhere. The wagon stopped alongside a large pair of doors and soldiers immediately congregated around the cage. The door to the cage was opened and the prisoners were ushered out. Bin-lu and one other prisoner had to be untied from the bars and were kept separated from the rest of the prisoners. All of the prisoners were made to form a single column, which was flanked by soldiers on both sides. Bin-lu and the other special prisoner were pushed into position at the end of the column. The door to the palace was opened and the column marched into the palace.

Inside the doors was a large, bare room. On the other side of the room there was an intersection of corridors. The column of prisoners turned to the right, but the flanking soldiers for Bin-lu and the other special prisoner were led straight ahead along a different corridor. The corridor was unremarkable and ended at a flight of stairs. They climbed the stairway and it emerged in a large and elegant area of the palace. The floor was white marble with a flurry of red streaks running through it. From the stairway, the marble floor extended hundreds of paces. It was also dozens of paces wide. It resembled more of a plaza than a room inside a building. The walls were covered with a rich red material and had dozens of alcoves; each alcove contained a sculptured bust on a pedestal. Two huge ornate doors interrupted the right side of the wall. Opposite the doors were marble steps leading to the front of the palace. The ceiling was so high that Bin-lu had to crane his neck to see the intricate woodwork that comprised it. The whole ceiling was a carved wooden mural of a battlefield.

Well-dressed people roamed around this plaza. Some scurried with haste down corridors directly off the plaza, while others dallied and talked in groups. One woman, leading a group of six, small children, stopped and stared at the prisoners as they passed. The woman was obviously a foreigner, but the children were not. Everyone else ignored them. The soldiers herded Bin-lu and the other special prisoner to a marble bench outside the massive set of ornate doors. The four soldiers flanked the two prisoners as they were instructed to sit on the bench. Several long moments later, a distinguished looking man, who Bin-lu thought might have been a noble, approached the prisoners. He stared at them for some time before talking quietly to one of the guards.

After the quiet conversation was over, the noble left and returned promptly with two more soldiers. He stationed the additional guards near the other special prisoner and then disappeared through the massive doors. Bin-lu glanced at the other prisoner in wonder. The man was older than Bin-lu and his faced was badly bruised. One eye was swollen shut and a recent cut ran down the side of his face. Bin-lu noticed that the man's arms were taut and his hands were curled into rigid fists. To Bin-lu, the prisoner appeared like a wounded animal poised to strike. Sitting next to the other prisoner suddenly made Bin-lu feel very unsafe.

The noble reappeared through the massive doors and commanded the guards to escort the dangerous prisoner through the doors. The prisoner refused to move. Two of the soldiers seized the prisoner's arms and dragged him off the bench, while the other two soldiers drew their swords. The prisoner tried to shove the soldiers away, but they held him tightly. One soldier placed the tip of his sword at the prisoner's throat while the two soldiers holding the prisoner bent his arms behind him and secured them with a cord. The four soldiers forced the bound prisoner through the massive doors, and the noble followed them. Bin-lu sighed audibly and the two remaining soldiers looked at him.

"It is much better not to resist," instructed one of the soldiers. "It only becomes harder on you if you do."

"I have done nothing wrong," answered Bin-lu. "Therefore, I have no reason to resist."

The soldier nodded almost sympathetically. Bin-lu sat staring at his feet wondering why he was a prisoner. Two more soldiers entered the large area from one of the corridors and stood talking across the room. Bin-lu heard laughter from the soldiers. The laughter seemed so out of place to Bin-lu, as if it belied the seriousness of his predicament. One of the soldiers guarding Bin-lu turned and walked over to the new arrivals. More laughter came from the small group and the remaining soldier's attention was riveted on his fellow soldiers. The remaining soldier glanced at Bin-lu and then at his fellow soldiers. After a minute of indecision, the soldier walked over and joined the small group. While he kept his eye on Bin-lu, the soldier joined in the conversation of the group. Bin-lu felt the presence of someone next to him on the bench, and he turned to see who was there. His eyes rose in surprise as he recognized the woman who had stared at him when she was escorting the six children earlier. She sat with her head bowed.