The Mission

 

At sunup, Drindl returned to the pinkle tree with his treasure, some root tubers that he had taken from a gorgy. He shook Alpen and Bebe awake, then held out the cleaned tubers for their inspection. “There’s some water down the hill,” he added. “I cleaned them up. He was eating them so they should be all right.”

Bebe took one and bit into the stringy meat. “How did you know where to look?”

“A gorgy was digging them up. He would have make good eating, but we don’t have any fire tools. We wrestled.” He held up his arm to inspect it. “He grazed me with his teeth, I think.”

Bebe looked at the arm. “He didn’t break the skin. You were up early.”

Drindl had a sheepish look. “I, uh, couldn’t sleep well.”

Bebe smiled. “It’s good, Drindl. They’ve been putting something in our food. I think our fast helped purge it from our bodies.”

Chewing the fibrous roots, Alpen looked around. “Nothing to carry this fruit or the roots.” He looked down at what was left of his tunic. It was too dirty. “Show me the water. I’ll clean this and we’ll use it as a satchel.” He took off the tunic, put the pinkle fruit in the dirty tunic. Bebe and he followed Drindl down the hill until they came to pond at the bottom of the slope. After rinsing his tunic and the pinkle fruit, he made a makeshift satchel. Bebe rinsed her tunic, then threw it over her shoulder.

“Put it on,” Alpen insisted.

“It’s wet,” Bebe protested.

“We’re not animals,” Alpen said. Bebe looked at him, daring him to go on. There was a tone of desperation in his tone, as he glanced at Drindl. “Please. We don’t have much left.” Drindl looked away and she shrugged the tunic on.

They walked back to the pinkle tree where a gorgy snuffled and chewed the pinkle fruit they had left. Its head lifted, saliva and pinkle bits falling from the broad snout as it huffed at them. “You would make good eating, fatso,” Alpen laughed. Their mood lifted despite the loss of some of the fruit.

They continued north, trusting that the mine was beyond the forest before them. They stopped at the trumpet of an elephant ahead. “We’re here to get Mellen,” Alpen said. “Our weapon is stealth.”

//////////

“I’ll put my sword down.” When Drindl laid an invisible sword on the ground, Bebe laughed. Alpen wasn’t amused. “Sorry,” Drindl said to his mentor. In advance of battle, Alpen was shifting the dynamic between he and Drindl.

Bebe pointed to the sky above the treetops. “What is that? Bugs?” The wind had shifted toward them and a haze drifted over the forest. It was the first thing they had seen flying in the air since they arrived. As they neared the forest’s edge, it was less noticeable, and they picked a wandering path through the evergreen trees. The trees thinned and they came on a stand of leafed trees. Bebe picked a few yellowing leaves, rubbing them between her fingers. “This isn’t autumn yellowing. Maybe bugs.”

Drindl inspected the bark closely. “I don’t see any bore holes.”

They both turned to Alpen when he said, “Energy dust.” He took another lick, then nodded. He held a leaf to Drindl, who took a taste, and agreed.

“Let me try. I’ve only had a taste or two in my lifetime,” Bebe said. Only warriors ate energy, but she had secretly tried some when she was younger. One of her friends said that a woman couldn’t have baby girls if she ate energy, while others disagreed. She cautiously touched the leaf to her tongue, then spit. “It’s bitter.” Alpen and Drindl smiled as they waited. “Oh, wait,” Bebe said, “there’s a spicy, sugary something.”

“That’s energy,” Alpen said. “Even in these small concentrations, there’s nothing that tastes like it.” He looked at the branches above. “The dust is blocking some of the sunlight, slowly killing these trees. Hey, where are you, Drindl?”

“Here.” He stood at one of the evergreen trees, peering at the bark. “The needles won’t hold much energy, but it’s enough to repel bugs that want to eat these trees. The energy is good for the evergreens, but it's killing the leaf trees.”

“I didn’t know you knew so much about trees,” Bebe said.

“I was training to be a farmer, but then I got a growth spurt and Sarten wanted me in the warriors.” Even Alpen was surprised.

“We have a few makeshift spears and some pinkle fruit and roots,” Alpen said. “The energy will help.” He looked at a leaf. “Maybe. Don’t know how much energy is really on these leaves.”

“I’ll bet this killed the faeries we saw yesterday,” Bebe said. “They were breathing it in.”

“This is why there are no birds,” Drindl said. “No bugs. Nothing that is small and flies in the air. Larger animals like the gorgy this morning are not bothered.”

“We’ll have to lick a lot of leaves,” Alpen said. He picked some and handed them to Bebe, but she shook her head. “We need every advantage.”

“But I won’t be able to have any girls if I eat energy,” Bebe protested.

“My mother was a warrior,” Drindl said. “I have a sister, so I don’t think that’s true about the girl babies.”

Bebe turned to him. “Your mother was a warrior? I didn’t know women could be warriors.”

“There’s not many,” Drindl admitted. “She fought with the Glade tribe.”

“Your mother is a Glade?” Alpen asked incredulously.

“Was. She died in that dispute with the Cawthingi over trade routes.”

“Sarten knew your mother was a Glade?”

“I think so. He knew my dad. He’s Jade.”

“Drindl, we have spent months with you, and you are a mystery,” Bebe said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

“How many nights we sat around the cooking fire trading stories and you didn’t tell us your mother was a warrior?”

“I didn’t want you to think I was a traitor or something,” he said.

Bebe shook her head,  then turned to Alpen and took some more leaves out of his hand. “Tell me when to stop.”

“You can’t have as much as we do. You’re not used to it,” Alpen said. He looked ahead. “The mine isn’t too far. The energy will be taking effect as we get there.”