LeOmi's Solitude (34 page)

They searched the living area and looked for
any signs of violence.

LeOmi pulled out her cell phone and pushed
the speed dial, “Sergeant, I just wanted to let you know that my
grandmother has left. I’m concerned that she may be in trouble by
that Compton. You’ll let me know if you hear anything won’t
you.”

LeOmi knelt by her Grand- Mère’s chair and
suddenly the tears started; the flood waters were released.

Bekka knelt beside LeOmi and consoled her,
Bekka’s own tears flowing through LeOmi’s empathic emotions.

“It is good for you to get the pain out and
take time to heal.”

“It is not time to heal, I have to do
something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know–I don’t know…not yet
anyway.”

* * *

Slone said, “Good of you to make it, LeOmi.
Meet Durk Wyman, my counselor. He will accompany us into the
orchard and woods areas.”

LeOmi nodded to him.

The whole group was there. Slone had his
sword out, pointing it as he spoke.

“A few days ago, we had a training mission
that you missed LeOmi.”

He pointed his sword at her.

“In it you were all assigned numbers.”

Sweeping the crowd with his sword pointer, he
continued, “Two through six are one point, seven through nine are
zero points, ten through Ace are a negative point. This is a
Blackjack card counting method. I am pretty sure that you know what
Blackjack is, don’t you LeOmi?” His sword pointed at her again.

“I’ve heard of it but I don’t spend my time
playing cards Slone.”

“It is a way to keep track of what is left in
the deck of cards. A way to gain an advantage over the house.”

“LeOmi, you are assigned the Ace. Rickey is
our other Ace. We only have two Aces which is what you would find
in a half deck, which is twenty six.”

Just by the attitude of those around her,
LeOmi had a feeling that things did not go well at the last
training mission.

“Has anyone ever heard of Lightening
War?”

He pointed around with his sword again,
“No?”

“Lightening War is a military strategy based
on speed, surprise and military force. In other words, get to the
enemy quickly. Hit them fast and hit them hard.”

He paused again and looked around, “In this
training session, we will use each other as an example of the
enemy.”

He waited for any questions and then, “Our
battle grounds will be the caves in the wooded area. We have a time
limit of thirty minutes before sunset. You have ten minutes to get
into position. When you are tagged, come back and report right
here.” Slone made a circle with his sword and stuck it in the
sand.

“Begin.”

LeOmi started jogging towards the woods. She
intended to hide, rather than be a part of Slone’s training
session. The caves were obvious as she approached the woods. She
climbed down into a large cave that seemed to go back a very long
way. As far as she could tell, she was alone. She snuggled into a
creviced area and waited.

The spotlight surprised her.

“Scorpion mothers carry their young about on
their back. There could be eight or a’ hundred in the brood. She
provides protection and regulates their moisture levels and without
her, they are pretty much defenseless until they have undergone at
least one molt.”

“Albert?”

The light went past LeOmi and shone on the
walls and ceiling of the cave. There were hundreds of scorpions and
even more baby scorpions, incredibly eerie looking, crawling back
and forth and all around their mothers’ backs.

“Stand very slowly.”

LeOmi carefully made her way out of the
crevice and to the opening of the cave.

“Take cover,” he whispered, corralling her
back into the cave.

“Here comes the Kraken.”

“Huh?”

“The bad guys’ train.”

Slone’s group were in a single file, about
four feet apart combing the woods, but not going into the
caves.

After they passed LeOmi asked, “Are they
looking for me?”

“Yep.”

“So it was a trap?”

“Yep. If you are not in the woods, you are in
a cave.”

“Probably stung by a scorpion.”

“Yep.”

Albert and LeOmi made their way back to the
wall opening. Slone and Durk were waiting for the group to
return.

LeOmi heard Slone say, “She is not wholly
with me. Not yet.”

“Will she ever be?”

“She’ll come around.”

“I don’t know, Slone.”

Albert untied a ram’s horn that he had
attached to his belt. He motioned for her to hide behind a tree and
be prepared to leave through the wall opening. Then he went about
twenty feet into the woods and blew the horn.

Slone and Durk rushed into the woods and up
to Albert.

“Before LeOmi sneaked around the wall
opening, she heard Albert say, “Why do I have to keep running
students out of the woods this year? Were you born stupid Henrick
or did you have to study?”

Chapter 18

Organize and Control Through the
Right Officers for the Duty

Back at the Olive Tree, moments before
sunset, Bekka had her notebook out, writing as LeOmi told her all
that happened.

“I have to admit, I almost took his
sword.”

“But you didn’t. Did you?”

“No, I just moved it beside the wall. I also
wrote “Aced” in the sand.”

“You didn’t?”

“Yes I did.”

“You know that this could go on for a long
time, if you keep doing the one-up on each other. There is also the
possibility that someone will get hurt…again.”

“I think I’m finished with Slone. I’m not
going back to the alcove or to the training.”

“It is probably best. I’ll let the Council
know as soon as possible. Gunnison will still probably want to talk
to you.”

“I figured he would.”

* * *

Slone was at the alcove near the Olive Tree
the next morning. She attempted to jog past him and Durk stepped
out of the shadows to stop her.

Slone came to stand in front of her and said,
“That stunt was uncalled for yesterday.”

“What stunt?”

“Were you trying to embarrass me?”

“I could have taken it, but I didn’t.”

“It would have been better if you would have
taken it.”

She tried to skirt her way around him and
Durk seemed to jump to attention.”

“Doing the master’s orders, D.W.? Like a
little puppy dog? Well, go fetch somewhere else.”

Durk’s face turned red.

“It’s okay, D.W.; she has that effect on
people. I’d just as soon pierce a lung sometimes.”

LeOmi turned to face Slone. “Embarrassment
can lead to mistakes.”

“Mistakes for who? Are you listening? We have
passed into the next phase. Grow up.”

“You grow up.”

“This is your last chance.”

He extended his hand, not taking hers but
expecting her to take his. Then he said, “Every man or woman is
judged according to their own acts. You must know that time is
running out.”

“You want me to join you and Rickey and Ralph
and Adolph and D.W. over there?”

He still left his hand extended, “I want you
to join me. You know King David didn’t start out with Hebrews. He
had to gather what he could find when Saul was trying to kill him,
Canaanites and Philistines. The key to having a hide-out in a
seemingly bottomless pit is to have assistance on the outside.”

“Like a horde of scorpions.”

“Your lack of trust is disturbing. It is like
a brick wall to those around you. I will win, with or without you,
whichever way you choose, but you have to ask yourself, ‘What
matters more than anything else in the world?’”

“Are you threatening me?”

“If you are not with me, here and now, then
you are against me.”

He pushed his hand out further.

“Take it!”

He seemed frozen, frozen with greed. But what
he wanted was her will. He wanted to take away her right to choose.
He wanted to be her will, her motivation for everything.

The sweet song that had been running through
her head emerged,
While the dew is still on the roses…

Slone dropped his hand. “No matter to me. But
it will matter to you.”

* * *

Gunnison asked, “So he threatened you?”

“No, not exactly. He was more annoyed than
anything else.”

Mrs. Shadowitz stirred her tea loudly,
“That’s enough Leo. Let’s put this behind us.”

LeOmi asked, “Mrs. Shadowitz, may I see
Ruby?”

“Of course you may, but I must warn you that
she isn’t talking.”

Gunnison said, “Did you know that your father
has been to see her every day, and she hasn’t spoken one word to
him.”

“He stays there for hours, just reading to
her.”

“I have to try. She is my sister.”

“Yes, of course. Just don’t get your hopes
up.”

Chapter 19

Plan for the Terrain

The Mattaraw Prison was at The First
Mountain’s Magi City. It was essentially a hollow cube made of huge
stone blocks. It was a beautiful sight to see, if it wasn’t for
what it was. There were four compact levels, all stacked like
bookshelves on the inner walls. The lobby was centrally located and
it extended up the four stories so that you could see people
meandering around the balconied halls.

All the second, third and fourth level’s
halls, floors and the stairs were made out of a type of fiber mesh
imbedded acrylic, very thick but you could see people down below,
and towards the ceiling.

Bekka had been taking LeOmi’s father every
day after lunch and coming back for him after a couple of hours.
Sunday, LeOmi went with her father and Bekka.

Ruby was on the fourth floor.

“LeOmi, this is Basque Renoir. He is the
guard who escorts us to Ruby.”

He politely nodded and motioned towards the
stairs.

“Has she eaten today, Basque?”

Basque showed with his fingers “a little
bit”.

He led them directly to Ruby’s small enclosed
room. She was pacing back and forth, ignoring her visitors as much
as possible.

“Ruby?” LeOmi went directly to the area where
small holes had been made, so she could hear Ruby, but she said
nothing and continued pacing.

There weren’t any other occupants in the next
rooms on either side of Ruby–as far as LeOmi could see.

Jacob Jones sat in one of the chairs that had
been brought for them; he took out a book and started reading. It
was a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien.

LeOmi sat, Ruby paced and their father
read.

After about an hour LeOmi and her father said
good-bye to Ruby. Tears were streaming down Ruby’s face, but she
didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at them; she just kept
pacing back and forth.

When they reached outside, her father said,
“You noticed that Basque doesn’t speak.”

“Yes.”

“There is nothing physically wrong with him.
It is a choice that he has made. He has been a guard in this
facility for more than fifty years and he is so distressed by those
imprisoned around him that he chooses not to speak. It is his
silent witness to the pain that the imprisoned cause, not just to
themselves, their family and friends, but to those in the world
that have compassion. His silent witness has helped many.”

* * *

The Quarters had a good number of people
gathered for dinner, but LeOmi’s small group was silent.

The coneys weren’t allowed out of the bag in
The Quarters, but they often propped their front paws on the legs
of those sitting nearby. Today, it was her father who set beside
her and his fruits and vegetables were dropped into the bag without
them asking at all. Now, they slept curled up in the bottom of the
bag.

LeOmi watched as Gail came in and found a
seat over on the side, not too far away.

After a few minutes of Gail staring at LeOmi,
Bekka got up to speak to her, but Gail got up and left.

Bekka said, “Well that is better than having
her stare at us while we’re eating.”

LeOmi’s father asked, “Who was that?”

“Gail. I don’t know her last name. She is in
Emerald Tribe.”

He asked, “A friend?”

“I suppose you could call her that, I hope
she thinks so anyway.”

“You hope?”

“Yeah, I quit Slone’s Summus this morning and
I think that he may have sent her to talk to me.”

Bekka said, “She doesn’t look happy.”

“No, not at all.”

Jacob Jones said, “What’s this Summus?”

“Slone has a little group that he started
here at school. They do extra training and have extra lecture
sessions, all led by Slone.”

“And you quit it?”

“Let’s just say that Slone is taking his
leadership to a new level, a level that I do not want to be a party
to.”

“And Gail doesn’t want you to quit?”

“It would seem so.”

“Jacob, are you ready to go back to Magi
City?”

He stood and said, “It is time.”

LeOmi stood and gave her dad a big hug, and
when it was time to let go, she held him just a bit more. He kissed
the top of her head.

“I hope I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“We can have lunch before you go to see
Ruby.”

“I’d like that.”

LeOmi gathered the sleeping coneys and left
The Quarters after her dad and Bekka. Gail was just around the
corner waiting for LeOmi to see her. Then she ran into King
Solomon’s Copper Shop. LeOmi watched her go in.

It is probably a trap, but Henry would go
in, for Gail’s sake?

Gail’s head peeked around the door of the
shop and she came out, “LeOmi, I told them I would distract you,
but I’m worried. I think they are planning something.”

“Why? What are they planning?”

“They have gone to Magi City, something about
your dad.”

Did I get you riled up yet? You seem to
focus better when you’re angry.