Bactine (29 page)

They were only a few streets away from the rather busy shopping area. The beautiful weather had lured many people outside, and this made walking along a very slow affair. Melia proved to be no stranger here. She knew every shop and what they sold, the best places for bargains and the names of at least half the people they met in the streets. No one made any remark about Melia and Daniel walking together, they were greeted in the most friendly fashion.

"Oh Daniel, look, here!" Sudden excitement seemed to grab Melia as she almost dragged him to the window of a shop. It looked dark and murky inside, and at first Daniel was not sure what he should make of the few items in the window. He saw something that looked like half a violin, a few pieces that might have belonged to a trumpet or trombone, and strings. He knew strings. Guitars had strings.

"This is what I play most," Melia said, an almost loving look on her face.

"Oh. Really." Daniel stared at the items and wondered how that together might make an instrument. Or perhaps they were all separate instruments.

The woman at his side laughed. "Poor Daniel... you were not joking when you said you are a musical barbarian. Come, let me take you inside. You can meet Master Cloris who makes all the beautiful things."

They entered the shop. It took Daniel's eye a while to get used to the dark innards of the place, but Melia seemed to know her way around. Quickly he was taken to the back of the store where a wrinkled man in an amazing outfit was busy working on a large brass cylinder. The man wore brown pinstriped pants and a shirt that had lost all memory of being white. Over that he wore a thick leather apron. He had a large wrench in his hands with which he was tightening a big lump that was meant to keep a metal pipe in place.

Daniel stared at the man's head, though. On his forehead there was the most extraordinary pair of goggles he had ever seen. They were made of copper or brass, had strange metal spikes protruding from it everywhere, and the whole thing was held in place with strips of leather.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHH", the man, who had to be Master Cloris, groaned as he pulled the wrench with all his might. The wrench did not move. Nor did the cylinder. "Gotcha," the man said. He tried to remove the wrench from the bolt. The wrench again did not move.

"Master Cloris?" Melia spoke gently, as if she was afraid to yank the man from his work.

The man looked. "Oh!! Melia!! How nice to see such a friendly face!" He came over to her and frantically shook her hand. "And who have you brought? Another pupil? Ah, yes, maybe you are interested in this new instrument I am making, wait, let me show you."

The man scurried off without another word. As he was busy somewhere in the bowels of the back room, Melia giggled. "I'm sorry, Daniel, he is often like that."

From unknown places there were sounds of heavy things being moved, light things falling on the ground and some subdued muttering. A loud bang made Melia scream and grab hold of Daniel, who instinctively put an arm around her.

"Oh... you are strong." Melia leaned into Daniel for a moment. She had to raise her voice to overcome a strange loud spluttering sound that came from back where Master Cloris had gone to.

Daniel was about to worry, when the man came back. His goggles were around his neck now, a black streak was on his face. He pushed a strange contraption along on a rack with small wheels. The thing, again with leather straps and lots of metal, had a frightening number of buttons on either side, and there was a metallic flexible line hanging from it. The line bobbed at the huffing and puffing of whatever machine was spluttering out of sight.

"I'm terribly sorry about the little audible mishap back there," said Master Cloris. He looked at Daniel. "You never told me your name, young man."

"Daniel Zacharias, sir. Nice to meet you."

"Oh yes, of course, I know. Now look here..." Master Cloris bent over the strange thing with the bobbing line.

Melia pulled Daniel closer to the contraption.

"I call this my steampordion. It uses air pressure to generate wind inside the instrument, and the wind goes past things inside there, and when I press these buttons here..." He pressed buttons. Something hissed in a very annoyed way and the flexible line sprung away from the instrument, wriggling like a snake with a bad temper.

Master Cloris stared at the jumping hose. "Oh. It still does that." He shook his head and clogged away, to the back room. After only seconds the spluttering stopped, causing the mechanical snake to stop its wild dance.

The man came back. "This, I'm afraid, was not the best impression." He reached for his forehead. Then he muttered something and stuck the goggles back where they apparently belonged. "Well now, my dear Melia, what brings you here today?"

Melia explained that she wanted to show Daniel around and meet Master Cloris.

"Daniel? Oh, yes, that's you, isn't it?" Master Cloris held out a hand that looked like it had saw more grease in a week than Daniel would in his whole life. He carefully shook it.

"So you are not looking for a new horn-violin? Well, lucky you, Melia, I don't have any that would live up to your requirements at the moment."

"Master Cloris knows me so well," Melia said to Daniel, who was looking for a way to clean his hand. Melia had dealt with this before, he noticed. She opened her little purse and slipped him a handkerchief.

They looked around the shop for a bit, while Melia and Master Cloris communicated in a jargon that was completely lost on Daniel. They then said goodbye to the strange man, who seemed to forget about them the moment he turned to go back to his wicked machines.

Back in the fresh outside air, they both blinked their eyes until they could properly see again.

"I hope you liked it, Daniel." Melia slipped her arm through his.

"If nothing else, it was very entertaining," Daniel grinned. "I do believe I owe you a handkerchief."

"Don't worry, dear Daniel, I can wash that." She was quite practical, Daniel noticed. A sour moment made him think of Xandree and her practicality, but Melia started walking and he tagged along.

They passed the shops from there on and then turned into a much quieter street.

"I have my classes in my house," Melia said. "It is right up this street, and then we turn to the left. It is near where the playing fields are."

"The playing fields?" Daniel wondered.

"Yes. It is where the women play Folling. I've never discovered what they like about that," Melia said as she shook her head, making her curls dance. "Oh dear, there you have some. They are always so dirty."

At the end of the street a group of people came around the corner, loudly talking and yelling at each other. Daniel grinned at the loud bunch that was so completely different from the calm and sophisticated life on this planet he had seen so far.

"Oh goodness," Melia said, "it is them. They are always so loud. It is almost a disgrace, Daniel, I am sorry you have to witness this."

The group of women came closer and Daniel was surprised to see how muddy they all looked. He began to wonder what Folling was about, when one of the women in the group stopped and stared at him. The others noticed her standing still and stopped also, the noise chatter slowly dying out.

"Rayko, come on, the carriages are waiting!" one of them yelled.

Rayko? Daniel got a slightly strange feeling. This had to be another one.

The muddy shape walked over to Daniel and Melia and stopped a few feet away from them. She stared at his face, at the arms and back at his face. "You," she hissed.

"Miss Dandra ko Galem?" Daniel carefully asked.

"Yes, Mr. Zacharias. What are you doing here?" She planted her dirty hands on her dirty hips.

Melia's arm slowly pulled away from Daniel's and she stepped back, slowly.

"I am here, having a nice time, Miss Dandra ko Galem. And I am not in the mood to have that ruined by you. I've had enough problems that originated in your family, and I'm glad I am free of that now."

Rayko glared at him, mud cracking on her cheeks. She turned to the group of women, held up her hands and yelled: "Toss!"

"Daniel..." Melia said, but it was too late.

A ball flew into Rayko's hands and a moment later it landed full in Daniel's stomach. It was more the surprise than the impact that shook him up. As he clenched the ball, it left magnificent mud streaks on his clothes.

"What the hell..." he wanted to know, as the young woman grabbed the ball from his hands.

"Hah. Serves you!" Then Rayko paced off to her friends, who cheered at her, and the group walked off, even louder than before.

"Daniel? Are you well?" Melia kept a distance from him, afraid that his mud would become her mud.

"Yes, thank you, I'm okay. I just wasn't prepared for that." He looked at the group of women.

"I think you should have told me, Daniel," Melia said, stepping away from him. "I am a grown woman and I can take that."

"Told you what, Melia?" Daniel didn't understand.

"That she is your girlfriend."

"She is what? No way. She's a brat and a nuisance that kicked my shins at the soirée of her father when we danced- Melia?"

The music teacher quickly walked off. Daniel went after her.

"Leave me alone, Daniel. Please. Do not make me angry or cry. We had a nice afternoon, and we should leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Zacharias, I bid your farewell."

Daniel stood in the middle of the street, stunned, not knowing what to say or do. That was the best thing he could do at that moment, but it did not feel like it. He looked back at where he had last seen the noisy group. They were gone. When he turned his head again, Melia was gone too. "Women," he muttered, "nothing but trouble." He turned and walked back towards the streets with the shops.

-=-=-

Daniel had gone home, taken a shower and changed. With his soiled suit in a bag, he went out the door again and took it to a cleaner who promised him the suit would be good as new.

From there he walked around a bit and came by the Tub, the bar that had been redecorated. Curious what it had become, he went inside. Not much had changed. He ordered a beer at one of the concentric bars and looked around at the clientèle as that was the main entertainment at this early hour. The man behind the bar was too bored to have a chat, so Daniel decided he'd finish his beer and find another place, when suddenly a tiny white-haired woman stood there. She stared at him from a modest distance.

Daniel emptied the glass. The white-haired woman was still there, still watching him. "Excuse me," Daniel said, "is there something I can do for you?"

Carefully, as if she had to be weary of her head, she nodded. Slowly she came closer. "You are the man who was on the Pricosine."

"Yes." Daniel was not sure what he had to do next, so he waited.

"Do you know what happened to them?"

"No. I am sorry. I don't. Please believe me that I want to know also. May I know who you are?"

The tiny woman shook her head and stepped back. "No. No, that is not important. I just want to know how they are..." Quickly she walked off and disappeared to the street.

Daniel frowned. "Do you know who that was?" he asked the barkeeper.

"Who?" the man asked.

"Hmm. Never mind." Daniel paid for his beer and left the Tub.

As he was cruising down the street to a place he knew to serve a good supper, his hydger rattled in his pocket. He flipped the box open and saw the black triangle. "This'd better be good..." After finding a quiet spot, he flipped the switch.

The familiar brushing sound was there again. "Have you found people to sail the boat?" There was no beating around the bush this time.

"Yes. I have a few people, that should be okay. Not experienced sailors, but they can put up a fight if need be."

"You will need people like that. Listen. I will tell you where the boat is."

Daniel listened carefully as the mysterious person detailed where in the harbour the boat was. Daniel understood that it had to be a very old and deserted area, but the directions were clear and concise. "Okay. I got that."

"Inspect the boat," the brushing voice said, "I will get in touch again in a while." Then the black triangle disappeared.

"Looks like we got us a boat," Daniel mumbled, sticking the hydger in his pocket. Then he pulled it out again and called Tomlin.

"You got word of a boat? That is good. We should have a look as soon as we can," said Tomlin as he heard the news. They agreed to meet at the harbour entrance in two hours, that would give everyone time for a quick bite and get there.

Daniel waited at the harbour until Tomlin arrived. There was another man with him, who turned out to be Tomlin's friend Gerolf.