The Merchant of Death (19 page)

As Loor pulled me away toward the forest, I glanced back to see what was happening with Osa. What I saw was incredible. She was even better on her own. This amazing warrior woman fought both knights at the same time. She spun, thrust, parried, and rarely missed the mark. It seemed almost easy.

Loor and I dove out of the clearing into the woods, then turned back and hid to watch the end game. I knew that Loor wanted to be in there fighting beside her mother. It was killing her to be here, baby-sitting me.

“Your mother is amazing,” I whispered to Loor.

Loor didn't comment, but I knew she felt the same way. A few moments later, it was all over. The knights had been losing steam and after a few more ringing blows, they both collapsed to the ground either unconscious, or too exhausted to move. Osa remained in a crouch and swept the air with a quick 360 to be sure the fight was over. She then straightened up, spun her wooden stave like a ninja master and slipped it into its leather strap that ran across her back. The battle had been won.

“You don't deserve this, Pendragon,” Loor spat at me.

She was right. I didn't. These two women had risked their lives for me, and there was no way I was capable of living up to what they expected of me in return. But as bad as I felt, the
real horror of the situation hadn't yet hit. Loor and I stood up and started back into the clearing. Osa saw us. She took a few steps toward us, then suddenly stopped. Loor saw this and quickly put her hand out to stop me as well. Something was wrong. Were the knights waking up? I looked at Osa, who slowly returned to her fighting stance. She was back on full alert and started to reach for her wooden stave. I looked around the clearing, but there was no movement at all. The knights lay unconscious where they had fallen. Why was everyone so tense?

A second later I had my answer—a moment that will forever haunt me. I first heard a rustling and thought someone was coming through the bushes. I soon learned it wasn't in the bushes. It was coming from above. It was in the trees. I looked up and saw to my horror that perched up in the trees were four more knights. These knights weren't armed with clubs. They had bows and arrows. I had forgotten that the miner was killed with an arrow. These knights had been there the whole time, watching the spectacle. And now they were about to make their move.

Osa stood in the middle of the clearing, unprotected. Loor was about to run to her, but Osa yelled out, “Hide him!”

This made Loor stop. It must have taken every bit of willpower to go against her instincts and obey her mother, but that's what she did. She backed off, grabbed my hand, and that's when it started.

The knights let loose with their arrows, all aimed at Osa. The brave woman wore no armor. There was nothing to protect her from this deadly rain. All four arrows hit their mark, and Osa crumpled to her knees. Loor let out a pained little sound and started to run for her, but I grabbed her. By now the knights had already reloaded, and if Loor had run to her
mother, she would have met the same deadly fate. We stood there for a second, looking into the doomed woman's kind eyes. Maybe I was imagining things, but as I write this now I could swear that she gave us a little smile.

The knights unleashed another volley of arrows. But these weren't meant for Osa. These were aimed at us. Luckily we were protected by trees and they all ended up missing us or slamming into branches. But it was enough to throw Loor back into action. She grabbed my hand and off we ran into the forest, leaving behind her mortally wounded mother.

Loor knew the forest well. Keeping up with her was like running with a deer. She leaped over fallen trees, skirted boulders, and blasted through a thicket. We weren't going in a straight line either, and I realized that this journey was all about shaking the knights who might be trailing us. I was getting tired and had a nasty stitch in my side, but there was no way I would complain. Not after what these women had done for me.

We eventually made our way around to the far side of the village, where Loor brought me to a stone hut. I wasn't exactly thrilled with her choice of hiding places. All it would take for a knight to find us was a quick search of the village. But I soon found out that Loor had other things in mind. She quickly dove on the pile of animal skins that was lying along one wall and pulled them aside. Beneath was the same hard-packed earth that all the hut floors were made of. Loor took her wooden stave and started to scratch at the dirt. With a couple of quick digs, she unearthed a wooden ring. She threw her stave down, grabbed the ring and pulled. It was a trapdoor!

“This leads to the mines,” she said in explanation.

Oh, great. I had promised myself never to return to those mines. It was a promise that lasted a good twenty minutes.

“The Bedoowan are afraid of the gas,” she said. “They
never go into the mines.” She threw open the trapdoor to reveal another crude ladder leading down. Here we go again. She motioned for me to go first. Loor followed quickly and closed the door behind her. We climbed down only one ladder. It led to a small tunnel that we had to crouch down in to walk along. I could tell that it was angled downward.

“There are many of these small tunnels,” she said. “They bring air to the miners.”

So basically we were walking along a ventilation shaft. Made sense. But since this was only for ventilation, there were no candles to show us the way. It was like walking through ink. I kept one hand out in front of me in case a wall decided to jump out. But I wasn't going fast enough for Loor. She barged ahead and took the lead. She moved much faster and it was easier to follow her than it was to follow nothing. I just hoped she knew where she was going.

This ventilation tunnel led to a much wider tunnel with some ore car tracks. I figured this must have been one of the early mining tunnels that was dug before the Milago built the big cavern. We followed this tunnel for several minutes until it emptied out into a familiar space. It was the mine shaft where Osa and I first climbed down. When was that? It felt like a century ago, but it was more like an hour. We came out on one of the rock ledges and I saw that we were only three levels down from the surface. The familiar circle of blue light beckoned from above.

Loor stood out on the ledge and looked up. She was obviously debating with herself about something and it didn't take long for me to find out what it was.

“Go to the bottom,” she commanded. “I will meet you there. Go!” She stared at me until I started to climb down the ladder. As soon as I started down, she began to climb up. Just
as I figured. She wanted to go to her mother. I hung on the ladder and watched her climb to the surface. I know I should have kept going down as I was told, but I couldn't. Osa had put her life on the line for me, and I had to find out how she was. So after wrestling with the decision for a few seconds, I started to climb up.

When I reached the last ladder before the surface, I heard something coming from outside. I didn't know what it was at first, and when I finally recognized it, it made my heart sink. It was Loor. She was humming the same sweet song that I'd heard her humming by the river. I pulled myself up out of the mine shaft and what I saw then, broke my heart.

Loor was sitting on the ground next to the stone foundation. She cradled Osa's head in her lap and stroked her hair while slowly rocking back and forth as if lulling a baby to sleep. I didn't know if Osa was dead or alive. Lying next to her were the four arrows that had hit her. Loor had pulled them out. I stayed where I was because I didn't want to intrude. Loor was a proud girl and I was sure she wouldn't want me to see her cry.

I glanced around the clearing and saw that the knights were gone. The archers in the trees probably dragged off their unconscious buddies. The body of the Milago miner was still there though. He lay on his back, staring up sightlessly into the sky.

That's when I saw Osa's hand move. She reached out weakly and took her daughter's hand. She was alive! I quickly ran over to see if I could be of any help. Loor didn't acknowledge that I was there, except that she stopped humming her song. But Osa knew I was there, and she looked up at me with tired eyes.

“Do not be sad,” she said with a weak voice. “Either of you. This is the way it was meant to be.”

I had trouble holding back my tears. Osa wasn't going to make it.

“I . . . I'm sorry, Osa,” was all I could get out.

Osa then took her hand away from Loor and reached for the leather pouch around her neck. It was the pouch where she had put the silver ring.

“Take this, Pendragon,” she said. “Use it as you see fit.”

I took the pouch and pulled out the ring. Osa nodded encouragement, so I put it on the ring finger of my right hand. Oddly enough, it fit perfectly.

“You are both at the beginning of a long journey,” said Osa as she grew weaker. “Pendragon, I know you do not feel you are up to the challenge. You are wrong.”

I nodded, but I didn't believe her.

Osa continued, “Halla is in your hands. Remember that. Let it be your guide. Together you two will—” Osa caught her breath, gave a little shudder and closed her eyes. They would never open again.

This was a painful moment. Of course, I felt sympathy for Loor. The girl had just lost her mother. But I, too, felt loss. In the short time I had known Osa, I had developed an affection for her. She was the one voice of reason in the storm of confusion that I had been swept into. I trusted her. I felt safe with her. And my trust had proven to be well placed, for she had sacrificed her own life to save mine. That's a debt that can never be repaid.

I wanted to comfort Loor but I didn't know how. I struggled to find the right words, but Loor spoke first. “Go down into the mine, Pendragon,” she said. “I will meet you there.”

I wasn't about to argue. I just nodded and stepped away. Before I climbed down onto the ladder I said, “I'm sorry, Loor.”

Loor didn't acknowledge me. She just sat there, still
cradling her mother. As I climbed down the ladder, I could hear that she was once again humming the tune from the river. I had to fight back my tears.

I climbed all the way down to the bottom of the mine and found my way into the giant cavern. Once there I saw that it was business as usual. There was no day here and no night. All signs of the excitement from the explosion were gone. I didn't know what to do, so I found a quiet corner and sat down to try and think. To say that my mind was a jumble of conflicting thoughts was an understatement. I spun the silver ring on my finger. This strange piece of jewelry might actually be my ticket home. But as much as I wanted to use it, the idea of bolting out of here made me feel incredibly guilty. For some reason that I still didn't understand, everyone was expecting me to help these poor people fight for their freedom. Stranger still, an amazing person had just given her life so that I could live to carry out that mission.

I wished I knew what to do. If there was something these people needed that I could deliver on, I'd gladly do it. But lead a revolution? That's insane! I sat there for a while and even got a little bit of sleep. Finally Loor arrived carrying a basket.

“Come with me,” she ordered. So I got up and followed her. She led me down one of the mine tunnels that didn't look as if it were active. A few feet along we came to an opening to a small room that had been cut from the rock. It was set up like one of the huts with animal fur bedding, a table, and candles for light.

“This is where we come when Kagan is looking for us,” she explained. “You will be safe here.” She then handed me the basket and I saw that it was full of bread and fruit. I needed to eat, but I didn't have much of an appetite.

I took a chance and asked, “Where's Osa?”

“She was taken to the village”, said Loor with no emotion. “Tomorrow I will take her to Zadaa.”

Zadaa. That was the territory where Loor and Osa came from. So that meant Loor knew how to use the flumes to get around. And if she was going to bring her mother's body back home, I couldn't imagine she planned to climb back to the top of that mountain to get there. There must have been another way to use the flumes.

There was some serious tension in this little stone room just then. Loor was angry, but I wasn't sure how much of that anger was aimed at me. I was upset and sad and to be honest, a little scared of her. She had a nasty temper and if she decided to take it out on me, there'd be nothing left of poor Bobby Pendragon except a stain on the wall. I decided not to push Loor by talking. So I sat down on the animal fur and tried to act invisible.

Loor was like a caged cat, pacing back and forth. What I feared was that her anger would build to a point where she'd explode and take me apart. In a strange way, that was exactly what happened. But it happened in a way that I never expected. She didn't hit me. She didn't insult me. She didn't even scream at me. All of those things would have been understandable. But what she did hurt much more.

“I am taking you home tomorrow,” she said flatly. “You do not belong here.”

Whoa. That was the
last
thing I expected to hear.

“But . . . what about the revolution?” I asked lamely.

“You think you cannot help these people because you are not a warrior,” she said. “But the Milago do not need a warrior. They need someone they can trust. You are not that person.”

This took me by surprise. Obviously I was not a fighter like Loor, and I was not exactly the brave, hero type. But trustworthy?
Come on! I could be trusted. I was a good guy. Where did she get off calling me untrustworthy?

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

She looked me right in the eye and said, “How can someone be trusted who only thinks of himself? From the moment you arrived, you have plotted to get away. It did not matter how much the Milago need help. It was always about getting home.”

I was feeling a little defensive at this point. I thought she was being unfair and said, “Okay, maybe you're right. But I was kind of thrown into this mess without a whole bunch of warning. It's a lot to ask someone to turn their life upside down in a day!”