Journey to the West By Bert McKenzie Copyright 2010
Chapter V
Dannemel heard the door to the library open and voices approaching his hiding place. He tried to shrink closer to the back wall of the small, confined cabinet, and suddenly went deaf. The sound died away as if a large blanket had been draped over his head. At the same time, he bumped the back wall and it opened behind him, dumping the boy unceremoniously onto the dusty floor of an unused room. He looked about in surprise and noted the wooden floor and the faded and peeling wall paper. With a shock Dannemel suddenly realized he was in the world of humans. He had escaped his pursuers and magically landed here. Of course he knew that they would still follow him, so the logical thing to do was to get as far away from the magical gateway as possible. He stood and cautiously but quickly crossed to the door of the room and stepped out.
The dwelling was truly amazing. The entire structure seemed to be made of wood. The walls were covered with brightly colored patterns that appeared to be printed onto paper, but when he tapped them, they emitted a hollow, wooden knock. This was considerably different from the stone constructions back in his homeland. Dannemel wondered how these humans managed to keep their dwellings standing. After all, everyone knew that wood is only a transitory material. In a few generations it would need to be replaced. His people always used stone and earth for constructions of this sort. It made structures permanent, needing only occasional repairs, and no living forests were decimated in the building process.
The boy quickly found the stairway and headed down. He could tell from the view out the nearby windows that he was on an upper floor. He just needed to get to the ground level, exit the building, and lose himself in the world of humans. As he finally stepped down into the foyer he heard voices just behind the large door that looked to be a main entrance. Dannemel dashed for the nearest open doorway, slipping into the drawing room.
Caseldra and Rood entered carrying large boxes of equipment closely followed by Sharon and Jennifer. The doctor was closely supervising the transportation of the boxes, fearing her porters would not realize the fragility of what they carried. They quickly mounted the stair and disappeared above. As soon as the four were gone, Dannemel slipped back out into the room, looked cautiously around, then bolted for the door. Once outside he began to run, dashing down the sidewalk and out the open gate. He quickly ran across the vacant street and into the park just opposite the house, disappearing into the trees bordering the river.
Sharon supervised the transport of several more loads of drugs and equipment with which Dr. Sorenson had been willing to part. They placed everything in the empty room on the third floor of the house in preparation for taking it through the magic gateway back to Tuatha. As the group rested for a moment the closet door suddenly burst open and Scott and Robin jumped out into the room. "Where is he?" the king demanded.
"Where is who, lord?" Rood asked, looking surprised.
"He just came through here," Scott said. "We were right behind him."
"We've been in and out of here for the past hour," Jennifer explained. "No one came through here."
"I don't understand," Scott replied in confusion.
"The difference in our time," Robin said, realizing their mistake. "He must have arrived here in a different time. We have already lost him." Scott and Robin quickly explained to the others who it was they were pursuing and why. Caseldra and Rood helped them search the house and nearby area, but it was already too late. The group reassembled in the empty room to transport Sharon's equipment back to the land of Faerie, the immediate situation with the refugee tabled until Robin could consul with his advisors and make better plans. Dannemel could be almost anywhere by now. The six of them would be totally inadequate to the task of finding him if he didn't want to be found.
Once across the barrier, Sharon sent Rood off to find servants to carry the supplies to her room in the halls of healing. She hurried off to check on Alex. Meanwhile, Robin went in search of Melcot and Scott accompanied Jennifer back to her chambers. An hour later the king's personal advisors met in the conference chamber just off the throne room. Sharon, Alex and Akuta were conspicuously absent.
"You have spoken with the healer?" Robin asked the captain of the palace guard. "What says she of Alex's condition?"
"It looks not good, lord," Rood replied. "He appears to be growing weaker. The lady Sharon is studying his blood with the odd tools she brought from the other world, and she has given him some potions, but I see little change. Our own healers hold little hope. They feel his spirit loosening its grip on this world."
"NO!" Scott said angrily. "We'll have to get him to a real hospital. We'll have to take him back to the other world."
"Scott, please," Jennifer said and Robin reached out to grasp his lover's hand.
"But it's not supposed to happen like this," Scott cried, tears coming to his eyes. "Everything was going so well. It's just not fair." He dropped his head in his hands and began to weep softly. Robin stepped close and hugged him tightly, allowing Scott to sob. The room grew deathly silent except for the sounds of human grief. In a few minutes Scott began to pull himself together, his sobs fading to silence. "I'm sorry," he finally managed as he dried his eyes on his sleeve.
"Why apologize you, lord?" Caseldra asked, looking closely at Scott.
"I think she means we all feel the same, Scott," Jennifer said. The human looked around the faces of his fairy friends. The grief he felt was matched on all of them.
"Well, it's just not right," Scott said, anger building in his heart and replacing the cold emotion of grief with its black heat. "We've got to do something."
"Everything that can be, is," Rood answered softly. "Sharon and the healers will try what they may. If Alex must leave to journey to the western islands, then no one may stop him."
"How fares Akuta?" Robin asked, trying to divert some of the concern from the dying man.
"He fears, my lord," Rood responded. "I can feel his fear deeply. He fears for his love, the pain and suffering Alex must endure. And he fears the journey he knows Alex must take." Rood paused for a moment. "But most of all, he fears the great separation that looms ahead and draws ever nearer. And..."
"And?" Jennifer prodded anxiously, as Rood again paused.
"I too, fear," the tall blond captain said as he turned his blue eyes on the human girl.
"The black-bond?" Rowana asked tentatively. Rood gulped and nodded silently.
"Black bond? What's that?" Jennifer questioned.
"When we are joined together," Caseldra explained, "it is very difficult to lose a mate."
"Well, of course," the human said a little shortly.
"You understand it not," the little fairy girl continued. "We mate for life and become as one. When a partner leaves, the one behind is incomplete. Unless the remaining loved one has a strong anchor to hold to the land, he or she may be drawn by the black-bond to follow the departed."
"I have seen it rarely in your world," Robin said. "But it does happen even there, usually to the old who have spent many seasons together. One dies and the other becomes so despondent that soon the one left behind dies as well. You humans, being closer to the animal kingdom, can oft' times recover from such blows of grief." Scott made a mental note of Robin's crack about the animal kingdom, but didn't interrupt him. "Our people are not so fortunate. As the lady Caseldra has spoken, the black-bond often takes both mates unless there is a strong anchor to hold one to the land."
"What sort of an anchor?" Jennifer asked.
"Usually a child from their union," Rowana answered softly.
"Isn't it ironic?" Scott said with a bitter laugh. "If Akuta died, Alex would grieve and eventually be okay, but if Alex dies, Akuta will die too, from a broken heart." Everyone sat silently for a few minutes, each lost in his or her own thoughts about the couple they had known as close friends.
"We must talk of other things, lord," Rood finally said, breaking the stillness of the room. "What of the lad you followed to the human world?" Everyone seemed relieved to change the subject and consider other business.
"My father works on a solution," Caseldra volunteered. "He develops a tool that shall point out the location of any native Tuathan in another land."
"A most useful device," Robin acknowledged. "How soon till it is complete?"
"Another few days,"
"Days?" Rood exclaimed. "Know you the time difference between our worlds? When Elnar has his tool ready, Dannemel may have lived many seasons and caused much harm. He may betray our world to those humans who would come to destroy us."
"There is little we can do to hasten his task," Robin said in an attempt to calm Rood and placate Caseldra who was beginning to glare angrily across the table at the captain. "My lady, we would be grateful if you would assist your father and inform us the moment he is ready." The dark haired girl nodded and stood, crossing to the door. Just before she reached it a resounding knock was heard. Caseldra cautiously lifted the latch and opened it.
Standing in the outer chamber was a member of the palace guard. He nodded to Caseldra, then stepped inside, quickly crossing to Rood. He handed the captain a small, carefully folded piece of paper. Rood opened it, scanning the contents of the note, then quickly passed it on to Robin. The king looked at it, and then slowly stood. "My friends," he began slowly, "Alex has passed on to the islands."
There was a momentary silence of stunned shock as the group tried to digest the news. Then Robin pulled his chair out of the way and dropped to his knees, instinctively facing west. He made the Tuathan gesture of prayer and softly began the song of the dead. Rowana stood and crossed to the king's side, and knelt beside him, adding her voice to his. One by one the men and women around the table knelt and joined in to sing their friend's spirit on its long journey. Even Scott and Jennifer took part in the odd ritual, the haunting music bringing a measure of solace to their heartfelt grief.
"Well, this isn't Shangrila," Sharon said as she and Scott relaxed in her rooms and shared a pot of tea, a concession from her past life that the doctor had brought back to Tuatha with the medical equipment. "We aren't going to live forever just because we're here."
Scott nodded over his steaming cup. "I know that. It's just that we'll live a lot longer than..."
"Than humans back home?" She finished his statement with a question. "Not really."
"Yes, we will. Old Thomas, Robin's tutor was at least probably three or four hundred years old when he died. And that was only because he was an old man when he came here back in the middle ages."
"The middle ages. How long ago was that, Scott?"
"Well..." He was confused by her question of the obvious. "Several hundred years ago. I don't know. I'm not a historian.
"Give me a date. Just make one up if you don't know," she persisted.
"1500."
"1500 in our world?" she asked. "And when was that here?"
"What do you mean?" Scott questioned, not following her train of thought.
"When our world was in the 1500's, it might have only been twenty or thirty years ago here. Old Thomas was hundreds of years old only in comparison to people in our world. But living here, he skipped over all that time. From his point of view, chronologically and biologically he was probably only 80 or 90."
Her explanation was beginning to sink in. "Then we aren't going to live any longer than normal?"
"Not from our point of view. How long have you been here?"
"About nine months."
"And biologically you're nine months older. But if you go home people there will think you're several years older. You see? There's no change to us, only a change in perspective between the two worlds.
"So your theories on the slow down of metabolism and a possible cure for AIDS..."
"Are just a lot of crap. In fact, if anything, it seems that the HIV virus is growing faster here than back home. I guess Tuatha agrees with it. That explains why Alex's disease progressed so rapidly.
"So much for Robin's noble plan of saving people from the disease."
Sharon nodded sympathetically, and then reached for the pot to freshen their cups. "I guess we're back to waiting for a real cure based on human science. But we do have a problem here. I'm afraid I'm going to lose Akuta, too. It's that black bond thing. He's in a catatonic state and his vital signs seem to be dropping. There's nothing I can do for him."
Rood sat in the chair close by the reclining platform in the halls of healing. Akuta was stretched out on the hard wooden table, his eyes open but unfocused, staring up at the ceiling. He was totally unresponsive to anyone or anything. But still Rood tried to get his attention, to focus his mind back on the present and away from the long journey his human lover had just taken.
"My friend," Rood said softly, knowing his words were heard, but not really heeded. "You must return for my sake. We have known each other since childhood. You have always existed, and I cannot contemplate a life without you. I need you." Rood squeezed his friend's hand so tightly that his own hand hurt. Slowly, tears began to form in Rood's eyes as he realized his pleas were ineffective.
"Remember all the fun we have had together? How about the time you told Margafel I wanted to couple with her, and then you hid my clothes while I bathed and brought her to my chambers. I thought I was trapped for life by that one. She chased me around the room until my cries finally struck pity in your heart and you came to rescue me." But there was no response. "And what of the time in the land of humans when I tricked you into meeting that reversal in the back room of that pleasure hall? If it had not been for my prank you would not yet know you preferred men to women, and you would not have met Alex." At the mention of the name Rood suddenly felt guilty. He quickly glanced up and saw a single tear escape from Akuta's unblinking stare. "I...I am sorry." Rood again dropped his head, holding Akuta's limp hand against his own damp cheek.
"My two comrades, I would speak with you both," a voice said. Rood looked up to see Robin standing next to him. The king shifted his eyes from Akuta's prone form to the captain. "I have a problem that needs your combined skill. The delegation of youths from the western kingdoms has returned to the blue tower. I know not what they have planned, but a messenger was recently dispatched from the tower and rode out of the palace. I fear some devious plot is about to unfold. I must have my experienced men to counsel me and fight at my side."
"I am here for you, my liege," Rood said, dropping to one knee and extending his arm.
Robin firmly clasped his friend's wrist. "My gratitude and that of the kingdom is yours," he replied, then turned to Akuta. "And you, my friend? Will you not aid me in this most desperate hour?" The catatonic man continued to lie unmoving and unresponsive. Robin dropped to his knees beside the platform, gripping the edge of the wooden structure. "My lord, I need you. We all need you. Our very land may be in danger. Surely you cannot refuse us." But still there was no sign of awareness.
Rood placed a comforting hand on Robin's shoulder and the two men stepped to the far corner of the room, conversing in wind whispers so no one else would hear their discussion.
"We have truly lost him," the king said sadly. "He is gone to us, and the black-bond will draw him to follow after his love."
"What of this problem of the blue tower?" Rood asked.
"I know not. Something is in the creation, but there is little for us now but to be vigilant."
"And..." Rood had to swallow hard before he could force himself to continue. "And what of Alex?"
Robin glanced over at Akuta. "The old father himself has wrapped and woven Alex in flashweed. His body awaits the ceremony in the worship grounds. It was hoped that Akuta would send him on his journey, but now...I fear you and I shall have to send them both."
At that moment Caseldra and Jennifer entered the chamber to check on Akuta. "How is he?" the human girl asked.
"He is near death," Robin answered in a wind whisper.
"You can't find this anchor you spoke of?" Jennifer questioned.
"It is no use," Caseldra replied. She didn't bother to direct her voice in the wind whisper. What harm could now come if Akuta heard her or not. "The anchor is his love, and his love calls him from the western islands."
"Western islands," Jennifer mused. "That's really a pleasant way to think of death. Not like dying at all, but more like going on a cruise."
"Essentially that is what happens," Caseldra answered. "Only the flesh dies. The spirit journeys to the west."
"But not really."
Caseldra looked at her lover with shocked amusement. "Yes, really."
"But if that were the case you could just go to this place and bring the spirit back," Jennifer argued.
"No, because once the body decays or burns in the flashweed there would be nothing to which the spirit could return."
Jennifer was astounded at the fairy's simplistic belief in a physical heaven. "You mean we could really go to this island place and talk to the dead?"
"No, it is guarded by Gilgamesh. Only he can talk to the dead as he stands in both the land of the living and the land of death," Caseldra explained.
Jennifer laughed at the odd belief. "Gilgamesh? I took ancient history. He was a Sumerian king on earth before the time of Christ. What makes him so special?"
"He was a Tuathan prince," Rood corrected her. "He lived in your world for a time."
"He was given the secret of immortality when he journeyed to the west in search of his departed mate. So he is not dead, yet not alive," Caseldra finished.
"And if this Gilgamesh told someone else the secret of immortality, they could just bring it back and no one would ever die again? Wouldn't that put him out of a job?"
Rood ignored her jibe. "Legend has it the secret of immortality will restore life to the dead."
"You really believe this?" Jennifer asked incredulously. "Then why hasn't anyone gone in search of this island?
"That is the difference between human and Tuathan," Robin answered. "A human would go in search to defeat death. A Tuathan knows death is a part of life and accepts it."
"But what about people who died before their time? People who should never have died? People like Alex? You actually think he could be brought back to life by this secret of Gilgamesh?"
The fairies exchanged glances for a moment, and then Robin answered her. "My lady, Alex is dead. This is but a false hope."
"Perhaps not."
Everyone jumped in startled surprise at the voice. They turned en masse to behold Akuta sitting on the edge of the platform, his eyes glittering brightly. "My lord," Rood said and ran to embrace his friend.
Akuta hugged him, and then pulled him back to look into his friend's face. "Perhaps Alex can yet live!" he said with mounting excitement. "I shall go to the western islands and bring back the secret of immortality!"
"Well, at least we found an anchor," Caseldra wind whispered to Jennifer.