Into Eden: Pangaea - Book 1 (34 page)

During the night, Perez awakened to a sound below. A muttering that sounded like voices, but were too indistinct for him to make out at this distance. They sounded like people talking on the ground far below. Jesse? He thought. And Enoch? No. Too many voices for just the two of them. He strained for a long time trying to hear their words, but in time lack of sleep and loss of blood won-out and he fell back asleep.

Perez awakened with the sun creeping through the window high up by the ceiling. Time to get moving, he thought. He was hungry from lack of eating, and weak from lack of blood. At least panther-lady hadn’t had a boyfriend. Nothing went “bump” in the night to disturb his otherwise uneventful sleep, except the voices down below and he remembered having a nightmare. He and Jesse were fighting with swords somewhere on a jungle road. It was just like what he had seen in the globe at the Prophet’s. The nightmare gave him chills. He would never draw his sword on his brother, he thought. Except he did, back on the mountain. That was foolish and it never should have happened. He would make sure that it never would happen again. He would never give Jesse a reason to be angry with him, and yet in his heart he knew that Jesse did have a reason to be very angry with him, and he prayed that Jesse would never find out.

Perez sat up and examined his chest and shoulders. The bleeding had stopped, but he had lost enough blood that he felt extremely tired and weak. It didn’t matter, he had to climb down, weak or not. There was no food to be had in the tree-house so he couldn’t spend another day here recuperating. Besides, if he didn’t find Jesse and Enoch soon they would give up looking for him and he would be stuck in this gods-forsaken jungle on his own, no thank-you. So over the side of the balcony he went, clinging to the vine and grasping at branches to climb back down.

Climbing back down was both slow and exhausting. Perez had to stop and rest several times, sitting on one of the larger branches and leaning up against the tree trunk. He half expected to find the panther-lady dangling on some branch, but thankfully she had fallen all the way down and he didn’t have to climb around her—except that when he did reach the bottom there was no body to be found. Something had dragged her away in the night. Not only that, but his pack had been ripped open and his food had all been eaten. All that remained was half of one biscuit that Merana had made him back in Bastrap, and huge ants now swarmed over it. Famished, he picked up the biscuit and knocked off the ants.

Perez’s pace that morning was slow and deliberate. One long step with the left foot, one step with the right. In a few hundred paces he came across another stream with large, three-towed footprints. Now it was one long, quick step with the left foot, one quick step with the right. By ten or eleven bells Perez had reached the Green Highway and turned left. Jesse and Enoch had to be somewhere up that road.

Jesse and Enoch hid beneath a fern alongside the Green Highway watching. There was still no sign of Perez. Every few minutes Enoch would sniff the air searching for a scent. Suddenly he announced, “Jesse, I think that I’ve got something. Yes. It’s Perez. Definitely Perez. But I’m smelling his blood.”

“From what direction?” Jesse asked, panicky.

“To our left. Back down the road in the direction of the river.”

Suddenly, everything that Jesse and Enoch had discussed the day before about allowing Enoch to take the lead was forgotten, and Jesse ran out onto the road to his left, with Enoch running along behind. Jesse ran for almost a mile before he saw Perez, who was slowly limping along the road toward them.

“Perez!” Jesse exclaimed. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Perez said, “but let me tell you that there’s more in that jungle that can kill you than lizards. Do you have any food? I’m starved!”

“Sure,” Jesse replied, and then led them back off the road where they sat down under a tree where Jesse shared some of his food with Perez and Enoch. They were enjoying their noon meal when Enoch suddenly said, “Quiet! Get down!”

In the distance they could hear the thump of boots, and the creaking of wagons and carts. In a few minutes a long wagon train could be seen approaching from the direction of New Sodom. The wagon train was led by perhaps fifty wagons bearing dressed stone and pulled by triceratops. Guarding the wagon train were hundreds of an-nef of every variety: ram-heads, jackal-heads, bull-heads, lion-heads, and panther-heads, carrying spears and crossbows. Bringing up the rear were oxcarts stacked high with large burlap bags and barrels. Supplies, Jesse thought, for the an-nef themselves. When the train had almost completely passed them, two chariots came along passing the wagons, and driven by an-nef in full black battle-gear such as was worn by Anubis and his men the night that they stormed Nashon’s estate, except that these uniforms clearly displayed on the breastplate the red and white stylized Ram’s head of Canaan, Eden’s emperor, and the an-nef wore black cloth masks that completely obscured their faces. Through one’s helmet could be seen bull-horns protruding, and the other an-nef’s ears (it could have been a wolf-head or a jackal-head) stuck up through the other. The an-nef charioteers wore black capes with red linings and on their shoulder-pads were painted white hands that looked like a cross between hands and paws, with long claws at the end of each finger.

As the chariots approached the an-nef guarding the train scattered as the charioteers yelled, “Make-way! Move, you dogs!” These an-nef were pushing their horses hard, and whipped them liberally.

When the last of the train was out of site—and earshot—Jesse asked Enoch, “Who were the charioteers that were dressed in black? And what was with the masks?”

Enoch shook his head, “Not sure. The black uniforms don’t look much different than the ones that I remember from the An-nef War, but I see that Canaan has added his own little insignia with the ram’s head on the breastplate. The red lining would indicate that they were either officers or members of some elite unit. But the masks and the paw-prints on the shoulders are all new to me. It’s obvious, though, that they command a lot of respect—or fear—within the ranks of Eden’s legions.”

With the day half-spent and Perez still mending from the previous day’s attack, it was decided that they would spend the rest of the day resting up and strike out at first light the next day. They retreated back in the forest a few more paces and made camp under the same ferns where Jesse and Enoch had spent the night before. That afternoon while Perez slept Jesse and Enoch made a brief foray into the forest in search of food. They didn’t have to look far. As they were now in hostile territory they decided that campfires would be taboo until they retreated back to the safe side of the mountains. That meant that humans would have to stick to eating fruit which they found aplenty. The jungle was filled with trees that bore an orange-colored fruit that when the skin was peeled off and the sections eaten were delicious. Without anyone to tell them what they were called they started to refer to them as just, “orange balls.” Also in the jungle were small trees that bore a longish yellow-skinned fruit that when peeled contained a white, mealy center that was sweet, if not too flavorful. Enoch thought that these were called, “bandannas” but he wasn’t sure. If Perez had only known how plentiful these fruit-trees were in the forest he never would have come out so famished. For Enoch (who wasn’t much of a vegetarian) the jungle was filled with little creatures that Enoch remembered as conies. They were not too smart and not too fast, so they made the perfect prey for a dog who had to eat on the run. Over the next few weeks the humans would become tired of a steady diet of orange balls and bandannas, and Enoch would long for some flesh other than conies, but for the time being these became the staple of our three travelers as they pressed south on their way to New Sodom.

Two days after they renewed their walk along the Green Highway their journey took a necessary detour when Enoch, who had been walking up ahead as their scout, suddenly came running back to meet the boys. Each day they had encountered wagon trains going in each direction around mid-day. The trains always came from the direction of New Sodom laden with dressed stones and supplies, and always made their way back empty. As the trains passed the three would hurry off into the forest and take cover until the last wagon was out of site, then get back on the road and head south again. But on this day as Jesse and Perez huddled behind a clump of giant ferns, Enoch came back and let them know that there was a large crew (at least a thousand) of an-nef on the road up ahead paving the highway. They would have to go around, and that meant sweeping out into the rainforest far enough to avoid contact with the an-nef and any foraging parties that they might send out for orange balls and bandannas, and far enough that they might encounter some of those big-headed giant lizards. This was not in their plans.

“Paving the road?!” Perez exclaimed. “Why would anyone want to pave a road all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? We’ve got to be over eight-hundred miles from New Sodom!”

“For the same reason that you would build a bridge over a river far from any trade routes,” Enoch replied.

“They want to trade with Atlantis?” Perez asked, incredulously.

Enoch rolled his eyes, “No, Firefly. To move an army. I fear that Canaan is prepping for the An-nef War, round two. He’s not going to make the same mistakes that Mizriam made in his ill-fated attack. He’s constructing the means to move an army overland quickly, and he’s armed them with advanced weapons like his crossbows. I’m willing to bet that over the past five centuries Canaan has been building a formidable force while Herculous II has been paring his legions down to the bone. The question is—if I’m right—what are we to do about it?”

“We have to tell someone,” Perez replied. “We have to let them know! We should head back immediately!”

“No!” Jesse shot back. “We are not going back! Did you forget about Anubis? What he did to Father and Josiah and Asa? He has to pay! We must make him pay!”

“But Jesse…”

“No, ‘But Jesse’ Perez! You two run back to Albion and tell Hezron or whoever you wish about what you have seen, I’m going to New Sodom!”

Jesse jumped up and started off through the jungle headed south. Perez yelled after him, “Go ahead! This was your stupid idea in the first place! I never should have agreed to come with you! You’ll just get us all killed, anyway!”

Jesse ignored Perez’s taunts, and kept on walking, but Perez was not finished.

“You think that you’re cool now that you’re ‘Master of the house of Nashon!’ I’ll tell you what…”

“Shut-up!” Enoch snapped. You’ll bring every an-nef in miles swarming over here armed with crossbows and spears! Do you want that? Just remember what your temper almost cost us back on the mountain. Werewolves aren’t the only thing with ears!”

Perez didn’t know what to say. Enoch was, after all, right.

“What should we do, Enoch? Head home, or go on?”

Enoch considered that question for a long time before he answered, “I speak only for myself. I must stick with Jesse. I feel an obligation—a duty—to protect him now that Nashon’s gone. Go back to Atlantis if you wish. No one will think less of you. I’m still hoping that Jesse will reconsider his plan of revenge. If the an-nef don’t kill him, the hate inside him certainly will. Besides, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the bridge. I believe that we still have time, and may learn more, gods willing, if we journey all the way to New Sodom.”

Enoch said no more, but tuned and trotted off in the direction that Jesse had gone a few minutes earlier. Perez scooped up his tattered backpack and went after him.

Enoch looked back and said, in a low voice, “Did you decide to come with us?”

“Do I have any choice?” Perez whispered in reply. “He’s got the compass and you’ve got the nose.”

Enoch smiled and let his nose lead them back to Jesse.

Chapter 17
The Demons of Sodom

By late that afternoon the three had made their way around the an-nef paving the Green Highway. Jesse’s fears that they would encounter either an-nef foraging for food or giant lizards doing the same proved unfounded, although they did come across more of the three-toed footprints that Enoch said smelled like frogs. But one thing that did concern all three of them was the ever-present scent that Enoch was getting of dogs. Either these forest were teeming with them—which they all thought unlikely—or they were being followed by a pack. The pack was probably the spirit-hosts that the panther-lady had mentioned to Perez, but their constant presence—and elusiveness—proved to be a source of concern. At night they would hear the mutterings in the forest—sometimes they seemed to be quite nearby—a fact that Enoch verified on more than one occasion. On other days it appeared that they had disappeared altogether, then Enoch would get a scent or one of the boys would see a flash of black fur darting away beneath some low-hanging fern.

One night a few days after they had passed the an-nef road construction Jesse awakened from a nightmare. He had been dreaming that he and Perez were fighting with swords on the highway again. As he rolled over in an attempt to get comfortable and fall back asleep, he realized that he was staring into several pair of glowing yellow eyes. For a moment he did nothing—just lay there afraid, his heart racing. Then he let out a yell, “WHO ARE YOU!?”

Perez and Enoch were awake immediately.

The eyes didn’t move, and their owners gave no reply. Then Perez drew his sword and leaped to his feet. The creatures scattered back into the darkness, muttering as they went. But this time they were able to discern one word, “Human.”

“What were they?” Jesse asked Enoch at last.

“Dogs.”

“Spirit-hosts?”

“Yes. Unclean spirits.”

“You mean like the lion?” Perez asked

“Yes.” Enoch replied. “Like Castor-Pollex. They are possessed by what many would call, ‘demons’ and I fear that the closer that we get to the old city of Sodom the more of them that we will encounter. Remember what the smuggler said, ‘old Sodom’s full of ‘em. A fearful lot’ he said. We should avoid Sodom at all costs. Go around it if we must.”

“And risk encountering giant lizards, and panther-people? I don’t think so! We’ll stick to the highway!” Perez declared.

“Enoch, I’m inclined to agree with Perez on this. We need to stick to the main road. But we’ll be sure to only go through Sodom in daylight. No spending the night there,” said Jesse.

“I hope that it can be done,” Enoch replied. “Sodom was a great city. Very large. Its ruins are extensive. It may take us a whole day just to traverse it. But if you’re determined to go through, we’ll go through. Just the same, I recommend that from now on we keep a watch at night like we did when we were facing Castor-Pollex. These dogs are getting braver and we don’t know what they may try.”

“I agree with you on that!” Perez said. “I’m wide awake and I’ll take the first watch. You two get some sleep.”

Jesse and Enoch lay back down, and within seconds Enoch was snoring away. But Jesse—like Perez—was now wide awake and unable to sleep. What had started as a nightmare had grown into the realization of a new danger that none of them had contemplated. Spirit-hosts with unclean spirits. A whole pack of them—and they had been following them for miles. In just a few days they would have to walk through a dead-city that was teeming with them. Wonderful. Jesse lay motionless for some time but his mind was still racing. Finally he decided that he might as well not even try. He crawled over next to Perez, who sat staring out into the darkness, sitting up with his back resting against a tree.

“Perez!” he whispered.

“What?”

“We need to talk about it.”

“Talk about what?”

“You know. The nightmares. And don’t say that you’re not having them, too. I’ve seen you at night.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why not? Not talking about it won’t help.”

“Talking about it won’t help, either.”

“Listen, Perez. You and Enoch and Abijah are the best friends that I’ve got in all Pangaea. You know that I would never hurt either one of you, ever.”

“Oh? That’s why you drew your sword on me back on the mountain?” Perez’s voice was angry.

“I drew on you? You drew on me!”

“I said that I didn’t want to talk about it!”

Jesse sat up and leaned back against the tree next to Perez. “Perez?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you think of any reason that we would want to kill each other?”

“I SAID I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!” And with those few words Jesse knew that he could.

The next morning was like every morning for the past week. They got up, had a breakfast of orange-balls and bandannas (conies for Enoch) and headed back down the road. Another twenty-five or thirty miles to walk. But today Jesse was troubled more than any day that he had been since the start of his journey so many months ago. Somewhere along this road he and Perez would fight to the death. He had seen it. Perez had seen it. But why? He thought that Perez knew, but Perez wouldn’t talk about it. Did Enoch know? The Prophet had told Enoch about the fight, that he knew. But did the Prophet tell Enoch
why
they would fight? Did even the Prophet himself know?