Into Eden: Pangaea - Book 1 (16 page)

Sheriff Able had heard enough. With the mention of the boat he lost his temper and kicked the chair hard. Lamech toppled over, banging his head on the floor as he went down and he began to cry again, “Please don’t hurt me! I’m just trying to make a living! I meant no harm! I have a wife and two children! Please don’t hurt me!”

“You take me for a fool!” the sheriff yelled at him. “A boat?! On the open seas?! Might as well tell me that your colorful friends strapped the crates on the back of a pterodactyl and flew them in! Unless these crossbows can kill a sea-monster they’d have a very hard time getting to Mavenport by boat! You’re pathetic!”

The sheriff bent over and picked up the sword that lay beside the chair. He wiped the blood off the handle, and then stormed away, leaving Lamech lying on his side on the floor tied to the chair and crying. As he left he turned to Deputy Arkin, “Cut him loose, then go home and change before you come back to work.”

Whitehurst had become a city under siege. Spearmen guarded the city’s entrances. Bands of men roamed the city and the surrounding towns with spears looking for signs of lions. The day before half the men of the city were wearing swords, by midday as the rumors spread all the men and boys over seventy had strapped on a sword and many of the women could be seen wearing them as well. Rumors of the lion attack at the center of the city spread quickly. By the time that Jesse, Seth, and Enoch arrived back at the Emperor’s Inn the rumors had begun to take on a life of their own. While Enoch went back to the stable to rest up before the following day’s journey, Jesse and Seth decided to grab their evening meal in the inn’s common room. While trying to eat, they were told (in confidence) that an entire pride of crazed lions had struck the city the night before, ransacking homes and dragging men, women, and children from their very beds! In strictest confidence the man said that he had actually seen three of the lions running down the middle of the street with toddlers dangling from their mouths, the poor babies crying all the while for their mommies. “I tell you,” the man shared between drinks, “it brought tears to my eyes!” When he was done with his tail of horror he moved to the next table and began talking with a new group of men. No sooner had he left when another man came and took his place.

“Have you heard about the an-nef?” he asked. “They’re back! Dozens of them! Roaming the streets with their high-faluttin weapons and shooting people at random! Jest like it was target practice! Ain’t safe to go out on the street day or night!”

Just when Jesse and Seth thought that the tales could get no wilder, they were informed that the boats on the river had all been sunk by river monsters that chewed through the defenses at River Bend and swam all the way to Whitehurst, sinking boats as they went. For a people that barely a month ago was skeptical about the existence of an-nef, the city now clung to any rumor, and—it seemed—the wilder the better.

The “meat of the day” that evening, was (not surprisingly) mutton. While Jesse and Seth enjoyed what might be their last real, cooked meal for some time, Jesse looked up and was surprised by a familiar face: Sheriff Abel of the house of Farin.

“Thought I might find you here,” the sheriff said as he sat down across from them. “You had any more business down at the Razor’s Edge?”

“Nope,” said Jesse, “we thought that you best take it from there.”

“Didn’t go back, huh?”

“No,” Jesse repeated. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” the sheriff went on, “I have some sad news to share. The shopkeeper Lamech was found floating in the Elmer this evening. Throat cut. Seems that he and his business partners had a falling-out.”

Jesse pushed aside his remaining lamb-chops and beets. “We were hoping that you’d have a talk with him before something like this happened.”

“Oh, I did. Spoke with him not an hour after you left my office, in fact. But he was—how would you say it—reluctant to speak to me. The best that he could do was come up with some wild tale about getting his arms shipments off a boat anchored in the Eastern Sea outside of Mavenport.”

“A boat in the sea?” Seth exclaimed, “I don’t believe it!”

“Neither do I,” the sheriff replied.

“So what brings you here, Sheriff?” Jesse asked.

“Just making sure that I hadn’t missed anything…and that you two hadn’t gone back to pay the shopkeeper another visit.”

“Never!” Seth exclaimed.

“Didn’t think that you would. But I had to ask. Oh…and by the way, an-nef may be using those fine weapons, but I doubt that they made them.”

“What? Why do say that?” Jesse asked.

“Because I saw two of the men that Lamech was doing business with. Looked more Atlantan than an-nef. Clean shaven. Fancy dressed. One of them was missing a hand after I got through with them. Haven’t seen anybody like that around have you?”

“No,” said Jesse. “You cut off his hand?”

“No choice. He drew his sword. You don’t draw your sword on Sheriff Able if you want to keep all your appendages. And one more thing, I thought that travelers like yourselves might be able to help me with something.”

The sheriff drew a sword and laid it on the table. “The hand that I severed was gripping that handle. Ever see one like that before?”

Seth picked up the sword and looked at it carefully. The handle was carved from ivory—a common enough practice in both Atlantis and the Territories—but the insignia on it was unique: a mountain that appeared to be floating on the sea. Seth shook his head, “In all my travels I have not seen an insignia such as this.”

“Flip it over,” the sheriff said. “What do you make of the inscription on the other side?”

Seth turned it over and read the inscription, “’God is One.’ Hmmm, I really can’t say. Such blasphemy would not be tolerated in Atlantis. The carrier would be brought up on charges for such words.”

Jesse felt a chill. He said nothing, but could only think of his father’s dying words, “There is just one God. I know that now.”

“Well, if either of you hear anything, or see anything, be sure to let me know. This morning I was faced with an animal attack. Tonight I’m trying to solve a murder.” With that, he scooped up the sword and got up to leave.

“Oh, Sheriff,” Jesse called after him. “What’s going to happen to the crossbows?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” the sheriff said absentmindedly. “When I went back to Lamech’s shop after they fished his body out of the river the crates were gone.”

Chapter 9
The Last Farm

Jesse and Seth were fortunate enough to share the same room that night. It seems that the sailor that was sharing Jesse’s room and had passed-out on the floor the night before had spent all his money on liquor and could no longer afford his half-share of the rent. That opened up the other side of the bed for Seth, which the innkeeper was more than welcome to rent-out.

The next morning Jesse and Seth gathered their things and met Enoch in front of the inn. Things were much quieter than they had been the morning before, there had been no more reports of lion maulings and no more bodies fished out of the river. Just the same, there was an air of tension that was unmistakable. People watched the out-of-towners carefully as they walked down the street, pulling their children close if they got too near them. Even Enoch seemed on edge, barking and growling at another dog as they walked toward the city’s commons.

“What was that all about?” Jesse asked Enoch.

“I told him to keep his nose to himself or I’d chew his ears off.”

Before they left Jesse called the three of them together. “Seth,” he said, “are you sure that you want to go through with this? They’re still time to change your mind.”

“I’m in this all the way, Jesse,” he said. “Always wanted to hunt another lion. What better opportunity to help out my fellow man than by killing a man-eater.”

“He’ll be hunting us,” Enoch put in.

“I’m counting on it,” Jesse replied.

“One more thing before we head out of town,” Jesse continued. “We know that Castor-Pollex was in town night before last. We don’t know which way that he left. He could have crossed over the bridge and be tracking us on the other side of the river. After all, that’s how we came into town. Or he may have gone down the Southern Highway, thinking that we’d stick to the main road for the rest of the journey. As I see it, we’ve only got a fifty/fifty chance of winding up on the same side of the river. With the river between us it would be difficult for him to get to us, although we might be able to get to him.”

“I vote for the Highway,” said Enoch.

“Why?” asked Jesse.

“Because I’m willing to bet that he’s on the other side. He’ll think that we’ve stayed on the far side of the river. I want to keep the Elmer between us.”

“I’m with Enoch,” said Seth. “I want to kill the murderer, but I’d rather do it on our terms. You’ve still got your bow, and if you’re any good with the thing then if we catch sight of him you should be able to at least wound him. Then we can cross over and finish him off.”

“Very well. The Highway it is, then,” said Jesse. “The wind’s changed direction since the storms rolled through Whitehurst. It’s now coming out of the south. Enoch, that nose of yours can act as our early-warning if Castor-Pollex is up ahead waiting for us.”

“Long Nose to the rescue!” said Enoch.

With that, the three headed down the Southern Highway on their way out of town to Mountain Shadows.

At the edge of town they met a band of men toting spears. “Watching for lions?” Seth asked.

“Yes.”

“Seen any?”

“No.”

“Seen any tracks?”

“No.”

“That’s comforting,” Seth said to his companions. “If our lion-friend was on this side of the river then he probably would have left some tracks in that muddy road.”

“If he stuck to the road,” Enoch observed.

“Enoch,” asked Jesse, “what does your nose tell you?”

Enoch stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. “It tells me that it’s rained too much to get a scent. And wherever Castor-Pollex is he’s too far away for me to smell him, or he’s tracking us from behind. We do have the wind in our faces now.”

The last thought was not a comforting one, but they walked on, Enoch occasionally taking a moment to sniff the air, and Jesse and Seth constantly looking for lion tracks in the road. Occasionally they would look behind themselves—just to make sure.

As their first day wore on, the farms along the road became further and further apart. By noon the last of the farms had been seen on the far side of the Elmer, and trees were becoming scarcer as well. Now you would only see them around the small farmhouses that dotted the landscape. Most of the terrain was covered with short buffalo-grass and sheep could be seen ranging on the hills. Enoch ran up ahead, trying to catch some scent or catch a glimpse of a track, and Jesse and Seth had established a good pace that the two men thought should permit them to make Jesse’s targeted thirty miles per day.

They watched Enoch as he ran—almost a side-ways trot—as he searched the road and nearby scrub bushes in vain for some sign of lion.

“How long have you known Enoch?” Seth asked for awhile.

“All my life. He’s my father’s brother.”

“I see. And the fact that he now resides in that animal doesn’t bother you?”

“No. That’s the only way that I’ve ever know him. He died thirty years before I was born.”

Seth thought on that for a while. On the surface it seemed like a strange relationship. A spirit-host and boy being best of friends—but of course it was really quite natural. Many a boy has a dog as a friend. This one just talked. They watched Enoch as he detoured from the road to chase a rabbit. The rabbit dodged and weaved, and after a while Enoch returned to the road and resumed his search for much bigger game.

“Tell me of your travels, Seth of many houses,” said Jesse. “We have much time to spend together, and I’d like to hear what you know of the world.”

“Not as much as I’d like…but more than many,” Seth began. “For starters, I’m of the house of Klietos...” For the next hour or so Seth gave Jesse the overview of his long life, from his childhood in the Cardassian Mountains, to his days of living in Atlantis and Mountain Shadows. He had even seen sea-monsters once when he visited Mavenport, he told Jesse. “Great serpent-looking things covered with scales and with giant fins on their back! Any man foolish enough to set sail on the ocean will pay for it with his life!”

“But you’ve never been to Eden?” Jesse asked him at long last.

“No.”

“Enoch has. He tells me that it’s a vast jungle. He went all the way to Sodom during the An-nef War.”

“Yes, and teeming with terrible creatures, so I’m told.”

“What do you think lies beyond the jungle?” Jesse asked him.

“More jungle.”

“And beyond that?”

“A southern sea, I suppose.”

“And beyond that?”

“No one knows.”

“So what would happen,” Jesse asked, “if you built a boat fast enough to outrun all the sea-monsters, and put it afloat in this hypothetical ‘southern sea’ and just kept on sailing. Where would you go?”

“You’d drop off the edge of the world,” Seth declared confidently.