Elephants Meet

 

“Bebe, leave that beast alone!” Alpen’s annoyance was clear as he paused to insert his shoulder under Mellen’s armpit.

Drindl bent his head forward to check on the limp body. “We need to get him help.”

“The bastards,” Alpen said, looking down the valley into the evening shadows. He turned to look at Bebe again.

“Why is he curling his trunk like that?” Bebe asked as she caught up to the others.

“Why is he…” Drindl shifted under Mellen’s weight and turned to look at the elephant, then said in an urgent voice. “Alpen, we need to take cover. There’s another elephant nearby.”

With his free arm Alpen gave the signal for silence as they carried Mellen to the forest edge and let him slump on the ground. Alpen checked for a pulse and was satisfied. “He needs food, not potions,” Alpen growled in a soft voice as he scanned the slope of grass and rock they had just left.

“I’ll be right back,” Drindl said as he crept deeper into the forest.

Looking to her left, Bebe could see a dim cloud of moonlight through the trees. The elephant was not far away, rubbing the side of its head on several tree branches. Again, it raised its trunk, curling the tri-tip end, but this time it let out a soft grunt. She turned at the sound of a burble bird, then looked to Alpen who was also alert. The sound traveled again through the whispering air between the trees. Alpen let out an answering call.

Now came the sound of a strange language, then a familiar voice and the soft trumpet from another elephant. “Alithea!” Bebe started forward to the sound, then remembered Alpen and Mellen.

“Go,” Alpen waved her away, his voice showing a quiet jubilation. “Bring Alithea here. She needs to look at Mellen.”

Bebe dashed through the wedge of trees that had separated the two parties, then stumbled in the shadows and out into the clearing. “Bebe!” Alithea called out to her and rushed to her side.

“I’m OK,” she said, favoring her left knee. She stood up and embraced Alithea, squeezing Erthen between the two of them. She stepped back and looked down at Erthen gathered in Alithea’s arms. “Baby boy, you’re all right.”

“Not so baby anymore,” Alithea said as she hefted the toddler on her hip.

“Just a few days and he’s grown so big! Here, let me take him,” Bebe asked and held out her arms, but Erthen shrank away from her.

“He doesn’t remember you,” Alithea said in an astonished voice. “It’s only been, what, a few days?” She looked down at Erthen. “This is Bebe.”

Erthen looked up at Bebe in the darkening light, not recognizing her, but remembering the sound of her name. He raised his arms and Bebe gathered him into her arms. She whirled on the grassy slope. “I thought…,” she didn’t finish the sentence, but caught sight of Fallon. “And you!” She reached out one arm to him even though he was out of reach. She noticed the woman next to Fallon, trailing behind the pallet.

Fallon motioned with one arm next to him, “Bebe, this is Sisseku.”

Bebe stopped her swinging motion with Erthen. “Sisseku?” The woman next to Fallon nodded. “We have Mellen, we have Mellen, oh God, we have Mellen!”

Sisseku didn’t understand the language, only the name of her partner that she thought was dead. She looked to Fallon, who translated. Sisseku put down the small bundle she carried and rushed to Bebe’s side, repeating one word.

Bebe looked to Fallon, who said, “She wants to know where.”

Bebe handed Erthen back to Alithea and reached out to Sisseku. “I will take you. Close by. Oh, he’s in poor shape, Sisseku. I’m sorry.” Sisseku again looked to Fallon who translated and waved her away with a nod. Sisseku followed Bebe from the clearing into the dark shadows of the slim wedge of forest.

As Bebe led Sisseku through the forest, she saw only the dim figure of Alpen huddled over the tall grass at the edge of the forest. As they neared, Bebe called out, “Alpen, I have Sisseku.”

Sisseku rushed forward at the sound of Alpen’s name. “Alpen?” He turned to her and called her name, moving away from Mellen. “Mellen?” she asked, motioning toward the dark shadow. She knelt down next to Mellen, feeling his neck, his stomach, his upper legs. She bent down and listened to his ragged breath. “We need to…” she broke off realizing that neither Alpen nor Bebe would be able to understand. She swiveled to look at Bebe. They were all adjusting to the pale light. “Fallon,” she paused, reaching for the word in their language, but it was the same in all their languages, “Elephant.”

Bebe pointed to the elephant browsing the early autumn leaves. Sisseku shook her head, then held her arms wide and motioned to and fro to indicate the pallet. “We’ll put Mellen on the pallet,” Bebe said. She turned and ran back through the forest.

Sisseku sat silently over her partner, brushing Mellen’s cheek as she waited. The rest of the party came up the hill with the elephant pulling the skid of calf carcass. The elephant stopped its browsing and ran forward to greet the other elephant. Alithea offered to check Mellen, but Sisseku wanted no delay. Drindl and Fallon unloaded the calf from the pallet, then Drindl, Alpen and Fallon carried the slumped body of Mellen onto the pallet. Fallon and Alpen hoisted the calf carcass onto Drindl’s shoulders, while Bebe joined both elephants. Sisseku lay down next to Mellen on the pallet, speaking softly into his ear and as they followed the elephants down the hill to the village. 

 

After the Carnage

 

As Alithea and Fallon approached the garrison compound, the silence made them especially cautious. When Erthen pointed to the waiting elephant and made a sound, Alithea covered his mouth with her lips to signal quiet to the boy.

“Sisseku?” Fallon called out as they neared the open pavilion. He put out an arm to block Alithea as he scanned the tables where the bodies slumped in death. “Sisseku!” Her body was slumped forward at a nearby table, her head cradled in folded arms. As he had done with the others, Fallon touched her neck to feel for a pulse.

“What?” Sisseku abruptly jerked awake and lifted her head. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“I thought you had died like the others,” Fallon said.

Sisseku  looked past Fallon to Alithea and Erthen. “Who are they? They are not from the village.”

“My partner and child.” Since they were leaving, Fallon saw no point in lying and introduced them. “We are going to leave. We don’t feel safe here.”

Sisseku was disappointed. “Help me load the meat onto the pallet. This is a wonderful gift for the others in the village.”

Alithea wandered through the bench seats in the pavilion, occasionally reaching for a pulse on a soldier’s neck. She came upon the queen, her head slumped on the table in front of her. She reached down, grabbed the queen’s light brown hair and gently lifted the head from the table. The skin was pale in death, as though carved from a stone of pale moonlight. “I do my own bidding, not yours.” She turned her face to Erthen, who reached up a small hand to touch her lips. “Respect, baby boy. We respect others.” She leaned her face to the boy as he gurgled babble words at her, then let the queen’s hair loose. The head fell forward with a dull thud.

Fallon helped load the meat on the pallet, ready to fend off any questions about the food or Alithea, but Sisseku did not ask how Alithea came to be there. “Sisseku, where did the Fae rider go?”

“She went over the palace earlier while we were preparing the food,” Sisseku said as she looked around. The elephant curled its trunk around a clump of grass, yanked it from the dirt, then tucked the grass into its mouth.

“Such strange creatures,” Fallon said.

“We need some of the meat,” Alithea reminded Fallon.

“Why don’t you come down to the village?” Sisseku asked. “It’s getting late and you’ll be safe.” She looked around. “You’ll need water and I wouldn’t drink what they have here. Who knows what killed them?”

Fallon glanced at Alithea, who was alert to the conversation. “Sisseku suggests that we spend the night in the village.”

“They will be curious about me,” Alithea warned. “Now she knows that we are together.”

“Let’s take the chance. Since the queen and her garrison are dead, they may not care. In the morning we can properly prepare food for the journey.”

“There’s a Fae rider in the village who patrols with a wolf bear at night,” Alithea reminded him.

“The village is north,” Fallon argued. “The cave where we were captured is that way. There may be some of our belongings there. We cut up the meat and leave tonight from the village?” They agreed and Fallon helped tie the meat to the pallet, then covered it to protect it from flying insects which were becoming more numerous in the twilight air.

“How do we tell this beast where to go?” Alithea asked as she bounced Erthen on her hip.

Fallon turned to Sisseku. “Without the Fae rider, how will we control the elephant?”

“She knows water is down in the village,” Sisseku said as she looked to the trees. “Grab a switch. We may need to urge her on from time to time. They dawdle to eat.”

Sisseku held the small branch in her hand as Fallon walked alongside the pallet, making sure the meat stayed secure as the travois bumped along the lumpy ground. Alithea followed behind, carefully dodging small animals that poked their heads out of dirt burrows under the darkening sky.

Suddenly, the elephant picked up its pace and Fallon had to walk quickly to keep alongside the pallet. “How do we get it to slow down?” he asked as he glanced back at Alithea who struggled with the quicker pace.

“I don’t know,” Sisseku answered as she hurried along. “Her trunk is curling up. She smells another elephant close by.”

 

Down Slope

 

As they descended the slope from the mine, Bebe rocked from side to side astride the elephants neck. She restrained the impulse to use her foot claws to secure herself. By the time she got near the bottom of the slope, the din from the mine had diminished. She turned back to the tent and called to Alpen. He leaned out of the tent and answered. “East?” she asked.

Alpen turned toward inside the tent, then turned back to Bebe. “North. We need to look for Fallon and Alithea.”

“They’re…” Bebe didn’t finish the thought, afraid to confirm what she had supposed. She pinched the top of both elephant’s ears, hoping that the animal would stop. She was surprised when it did. Without using her claws to launch herself from atop the elephant, the ground seemed far away. On her knees, she crawled back to the tent, conscious of her precarious position. “Alpen, help.” He stuck his head out of the side flap of the tent and held out an arm. “Lower me to the ground,” she said. Holding onto his arm, she jumped the rest of the way, careful to back away from the tree trunk legs as she landed.

“Can you find a hill or a large rock?” Alpen looked down from the tent.

Bebe glanced ahead of the elephant and behind. “I can look. There’s no rope. Nothing to lead the elephant with. The Fae warrior did it all with her tendrils.”

“Once you find something, find some tall grass,” Alpen said. “They like that. You can lead the elephant with food.”

“How is Mellen?”

“Dazed. He wants to know if he will get his evening dose,” Alpen said. “That’s how they kept the miners prisoner.”

“What happens to him when he doesn’t get, you know…” Bebe didn’t want Mellen to hear.

“I don’t know.” At a sound from inside the tent, Alpen ducked back inside.

Bebe walked to the front of the elephant and scanned the area. She had stopped at a level clearing before the land descended further. On her right, the ground steepened. She paused at the scuffling of the large, padded feet behind her. Turning to look back, the elephant moved forward to her left. From inside the tent, she heard the surprised riders. Not knowing what to do, she called, “It’s all right.”

She moved alongside the trunk that curled up like a large snake. She put out her left hand to stroke the wrinkled skin. When the elephant grunted, she withdrew and looked up at the placid eye staring at her, it’s long graceful eyelashes hinting of an unreachable intelligence inside the large head. She looked up at the tent, but it stayed secure as the beast plodded down the slope, edging toward the tree line. It stopped, curling its trunk around some coarse foot high grass and pulling it up. The sheaf of green shoots disappeared into the mouth below the root of the trunk. Bebe called out, “It was hungry.”

Alpen stuck his head out of the tent flap. “This animal is too slow, too big. We need to leave him alone.” He threw out a long cloth and used it to lower himself down the side of the elephant. The animal protested at the shift in weight but kept on chewing. Alpen called up to the tent and Mellen shimmied down, followed by Drindl.

Alpen said, “Back away and watch him. I’m going to loosen the tent harness under his belly.” Reaching under the belly, he fiddled with the harness then backed away quickly. The tent platform sat askew on the elephant. “Watch out,” he warned and pulled the cloth tied to the platform. The frame tipped toward him and he backed away to join the others. The elephant turned its head to the sound and moved forward faster than expected for such a large animal. It stopped a little ways down the slope and continued feeding.

Bebe looked to Alpen and pointed down the slope. “That’s north, more or less.”

Alpen was distracted by his brother, Mellen, who leaned on Drindl for support. Alpen shook his head as he looked at Bebe. “I thought he could walk, but I see he can’t go far.” He waved to Bebe to lead them down the slope. “Stay alongside the tree line for cover.” He joined Drindl, the two of them holding Mellen up as they continued down the slope.

“Bye, baby,” Bebe said as they walked past the elephant. She walked over a few steps and patted the great trunk. Looking into one yellow brown eye, she said, “I hope you’ll be OK.” She walked away to join the rest, but the elephant made a high short bleat and she turned back. “You want to come? Come on.” She had marveled at the Fae’s ability to control wild animals, and never thought that an animal could be social with others not their own kind. She grabbed some grass shoots and held them out to the elephant. She tried to keep her hand still as the tip of the trunk grazed her wrist and curled around the grass.

“What are you doing?” Alpen called up the slope.

“I think he wants to follow us,” Bebe called back. Turning back to the elephant, she spoke more softly. “Come on, now.” She made tsking sounds as she backed down the slope toward the group. The elephant lumbered forward, its trunk lifting up to the sky in a graceful curve. All the way down the slope Bebe turned back occasionally to call to the elephant.

“I’ll trust your instincts,” Alpen said when they paused for some rest. His displeasure was obvious.

“Maybe he can smell water,” Bebe explained. “An animal that big has to drink a lot of water.”

“He could store it somewhere and we would never notice,” Alpen commented as he inspected Mellen’s face. “He needs to eat. Mellen, I mean. Not the elephant.”

Drindl had gone ahead while they rested. Alpen and Bebe looked up at the sound of his voice from down the slope. He waved one arm as we continued up the slope toward them. After catching his breath, he said, “There’s a village at the bottom of the slope around the curve of trees. I see smoke so maybe can get some food.”

“Guards?” Alpen asked.

“Not that I saw,” Drindl said. He looked at Mellen. “Any better?”

Alpen shook his head. “The food might help.” He looked up at the darkening sky, then motioned to Drindl. “Let’s go before its nightfall and we can’t scout the village.”