Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue (12 page)

At that, Carliss’s eyes widened and Salina looked up from her soup to stare at Si Kon.

“We give our allegiance only to the Prince and the King.” Si Kon looked respectfully at Takara. He gave up trying to eat and set his spoon aside as he continued.

“Being isolated from other Followers and living in a city that is hostile to the Prince, I allowed doubt to creep into my heart. That is why
Lord Drox was able to hunt and eventually imprison me. Many months I was imprisoned, and Takara and my daughters thought I had been killed.”

Takara’s eyes welled up as she seemed to briefly relive those difficult days. Si Kon reached for her hand.

“In spite of my disappearance, Takara was able to continue my business by capitalizing on the contacts I had made with other traders and merchants.” He paused and looked at Takara with great admiration, then looked back at Carliss.

“That is where Dalton found me. Were it not for his courage to fight Lord Drox and your courage to help him, I would still be a prisoner in that wretched place.”

Carliss accepted the compliment and wished him to continue on.

“When I returned home, I vowed never to let doubt cripple me as it once had, and I knew I must be bolder about proclaiming the Prince to the people of Moorue, no matter the cost.”

Takara leaned forward. “We discovered that Moorue is hungry for the truth of the Prince—”

“So we are now training four other families to become Followers and Knights of the Prince too!” Mariko broke in.

“Si Kon, that is marvelous!” Carliss exclaimed. “You’ve started a haven!”

“Yes,” Si Kon said. “There are only twenty-six of us—five families—but we are no longer alone. And we are growing. Akiyma’s family just recently became Followers.”

Akiyma paused in his eating just long enough to smile, revealing fragments of leafy vegetable between his teeth. Carliss suppressed a chuckle and looked back to Si Kon. For a moment, she was able to set aside the constant anxiety in her bosom to rejoice for what was happening in Moorue because of Si Kon and his family.

“In my absence, however, the nature of my business had changed dramatically.” Si Kon hesitated, looking for the right words to say. “I discovered that Moorue’s new major export is something dark and yet… not.”

Carliss swallowed her last bite offish and realized that with Si Kon’s
last statement, everyone else at the table had stopped eating too, even Ganoaf.

“What do you mean, Si Kon?”

Si Kon fidgeted a bit, then sighed. He put his hand to his chin, thinking hard.

“Lord Malco has developed something called the Waters of Moorue.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Carliss said. “A shop owner tried to sell some to me. What is it?”

“I’m still investigating, but I’ve learned enough to believe its effects are potentially very dangerous. That is why I sent for help from Brimwick Downs.” Si Kon stared blankly at a napkin on the table. “If you are not here to answer that call, I can only imagine that my messenger has met with calamity.”

Si Kon shook his head sadly. “The Waters of Moorue is a perfectly diluted mixture of water and something called esca crystals.”

Carliss’s eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat. “From the esca lizard!” she exclaimed.

Si Kon looked at her, quite stunned by her response.

“Perhaps, Carliss,” he said calmly, “though most believe that the esca lizard is a myth created to scare people away from Malco’s swamp. Some people say they have heard hissing and shrieks from Despon Swamp, supposedly from the esca lizard, but no one has ever seen such a beast. At least, no one has seen it and lived to tell about it.”

“I have,” Carliss said, trying to calm her excitement.

Si Kon looked as if he were waiting for her to recant her absurd statement.

“And it appears as though destiny
is
the reason for our meeting,” Carliss continued. All eyes were on her now. She leaned forward.

“Dalton was bitten by an esca lizard, Si Kon, and lies at death’s door as we speak. We have but five days to find the antidote and get it back to him before he dies.”

Si Kon’s mouth hung open as he processed Carliss’s words, still looking as though he couldn’t believe it. “How do you know it was an esca lizard?”

“Because I saw it,” Carliss replied. “And I killed it, or rather one of them. Two attacked us, but one disappeared into the forest.”

Si Kon looked at Takara and his daughters. They all looked as if they had seen a ghost, considering for the first time that these creatures might be more than just a myth. And if so, they were living nearby.

“Si Kon, I dare not waste another moment. Every hour I delay, Dalton moves closer to death. Will you help me?”

“Of course,” Si Kon replied. “I owe Dalton my life. I and all of my resources are at your disposal.”

Carliss leaned back in her chair and nodded, grateful for one friend they could trust in this strange land.

“We are here for another reason that is equally as grave,” Carliss said soberly, nodding toward Salina. “Salinas family was taken captive by a band of marauders, and we have reason to believe they were brought here to Moorue.”

Salina looked down and away, trying not to show the flood of emotion that Carliss knew was difficult for her to repress.

“I’m sorry, Salina,” Si Kon said tenderly.

“Do any of the castles keep prisoners?” Carliss asked.

Si Kon looked troubled. “Not that I am aware of. However, the only castle we know almost nothing about is Lord Malco’s. If your family is in this region, it is possible they were taken there.” He leaned forward to capture Salina’s attention. “We will do everything we can to find them.”

Salina looked at Si Kon. “Thank you. I am grateful.” She glanced at Carliss and forced a smile to her lips. “But we must focus on Sir Dalton for the moment—his time grows short. Si Kon, what else do you know about Lord Malco and these crystals?”

“As a trader, I make it my business to know where items come from and where they are delivered. Nearly every trader in Moorue is now dealing in Malco’s waters and making a healthy profit. From what I have learned, the crystals are harvested at his castle, Esca Prime, in the swamp and then delivered to the three district castles, where the mixture is processed. The three castles process the mixture differently, each one specializing in a particular taste. The city of Moorue is the distribution
center for the mixture, which is beginning to reach far into the kingdom. It is imperative that Chessington and the rest of the havens become aware of what is happening here, because eventually they will all be affected by Malco’s crystals.”

“But what is the mixture for?” Carliss asked. “And why is it so bad?”

“At first it wasn’t bad,” Si Kon said. “When it was first discovered, it was used to eliminate pain while a bone was being set or a limb was being amputated. And it worked very well. The man who discovered it kept his process a secret, telling no one. Then one day he disappeared, and not long after that, Lord Malco was producing a version of it that he called the Waters of Moorue. Malco’s waters had a much more powerful effect on the mind than the pain reducer the inventor had produced. It seems to induce a dreamlike state where one can briefly live, create, and experience anything he wants. It feels so real and so pleasant that people want to experience it over and over.”

Carliss was intrigued by Si Kon’s description of the mixture and connected what she saw happen to Dalton with what she had seen in various people since coming to the land of the Mooruvians.

“Is it like ale, where a drunkard comes to need the drink?” Carliss asked.

“No,” Si Kon replied. “Ale dulls the senses, and the body comes to depend on it. The Waters of Moorue heightens the senses, and the body does not depend on it, but the mind does. More and more we are seeing people of all ages, but especially the youth, wasting away their lives while enjoying the effects of the mixture. For some it is all they want to do. They will spend all they have to buy more mixture. Eventually they become imprisoned by their perceived need to escape into this dream world.”

There was a long silence as everyone contemplated Si Kon’s words. Then one small voice broke the silence.

“Master is right, Lady Carliss,” Akiyma said. “There are many in my district who would rather drink the Waters of Moorue than face the day. I’ve heard of many who have walked the bridge.”

“Walked the bridge?” Carliss asked.

Takara looked sadly at her girls and then at Carliss. “When people have experienced the dreams of the mixture for a long period of time, they become so discontent with the waking world that they will walk across the bridge that leads to the swamp, never to return.”

Mariko was struggling to hold back tears. She bit her lips. “My friend Kikomay is gone.”

“I’m so sorry, Mariko,” Carliss replied as Mariko leaned into her mother’s consoling arm.

Carliss looked toward Si Kon. “Why don’t people stop them?”

“Because it usually happens at night when no one expects it,” Si Kon said. “I suppose some have been stopped, but once they cross the bridge and enter the swamp, there is little that can be done.”

Carliss looked at Si Kon, perplexed.

“No one has ever returned from Despon Swamp,” he explained in a low voice. “Some think it is because the ground is deceiving and swallows them up. Others say that Malco is so protective of his castle and the surrounding swamp that he kills anyone who enters.” He smiled. “Then there are those fanciful folk who blame it all on the esca lizards.”

He looked over at Carliss, and she smirked. “Perhaps we will all be of their number before this day is through,” he added. He became serious once again. “Tell me, Carliss, how do we save Sir Dalton?”

Carliss gazed straight into Si Kon’s eyes, hesitating a moment before speaking.

“I must walk the bridge!”

THE LEGEND OF MORNING STAR

“That is absurd!” Si Kon said as he slapped the table. “Didn’t you hear me? No one has ever survived Despon Swamp!”

Everyone at the table stared at Carliss.

“I must try, Si Kon. It is Dalton’s only hope.” Carliss pushed back a lock of light brown hair that draped across her right eye. “We discovered an old book that says there is a special flower that grows in the swamp. It is the only way to save the life of one bitten by the esca lizard. So I must go to try and find it.”

Si Kon looked as if he wanted to protest again.

“I knew what I would face when I came here, and I’m not going back empty-handed,” Carliss told him firmly. “Somehow I have to get into that swamp and find the flower. It sounds like the bridge is the simplest way.”

Si Kon continued to stare at Carliss, deep in thought. Finally he nodded. “Tonight there will be a meeting for the Followers here. One of the men believes in your esca lizard and has spent a great deal of time trying to discover the truth of the stories. Many, in fact, have mocked him for this, insisting he wastes his time with myths and fairy tales.”

“Does he live far away?” Carliss asked, not wanting to waste a single minute. “Can we travel to his home and talk with him now?”

Si Kon slowly nodded. “Yes, I’m sure that Soro would love to visit with you if he is home.”