Chapter 22 Searching for Relemill

We’re coming down between the two mountain tops, abundant with life and beauty. The stunted trees hide the paths that mountain rams and deer made with their nimble hoofs. Small patches of grass get saturated with moisture, left by big wooly clouds that rub their massive sides as they squeeze through the rocky ridges to get to the plains of Tirra…

“This is, like, the most dangerous passage in the whole Kardiren territory!” I exclaim, watching the rocky ground getting closer, until we come to a rough halt. The ship shakes and stops. “Can’t you take us directly to Lynn?”

“The problem is, I saw the file, I know that he is not well, but alive, and I got cut off before I could see where he is.” Kallitris gets up from his seat, and gives me his big hand with dark intricate patterns all over his skin.

“Why?” I take his hand and get lifted out of the seat. He is so impressively strong.

We leave the ship and the gust of wind almost knocks me off the cliff into the precipice. I catch a look of it – misty and bottomless, when Kallitris grabs me, and drags away from the edge.

“Because your darling Eva chick managed to reveal my coordinates to Leot. He tracked me down and blocked my access to the General Information Field. My people are working to get around the problem, but for now, thanks to you and your friends, we’re on our own!”

The rocky granite at our feet is sparkling with mica and quartz, and deeper yet, there are vast deposits of silver. One part of my programming is to search for ore and metal deposits, namely copper and silver. The latter in great amounts overloads my mind.

“So, why would this be the most dangerous passage in the Mountains? You need not be afraid of anything with me!” Kallitris laughs and walks into some growth, obscuring the narrow path, leading South, into Tirra, the country of my dreams.

I never have time to respond. The voice of silver gets into my mind, making me feel like a fly, stuck in a sticky-sweet web. My knees get weak and I collapse to my friend’s utmost surprise. The last thing I see is his loving, concerned face, and his huge wings, fluttering in the wind.

I wake up to an impressive sight. I’m held by a man of a stunning beauty. His long black wavy hair flow down to middle of his chest, he has massive physique, but his face is gentle and endearing. His eyes are blue, but then they become green, then purple, then black, and then blue again.

“It’s me, Kallitris.” The man says in a soft, even passionate tone.

I should’ve guessed.

“Sorry. I did not let you know in time…” I can barely speak, and yet, I can’t hide the excitement. He hates changing his shape. My lover is ever more beautiful an intriguing, but why now?

“ I figured it out. I accessed your mind. Frankly, I had no idea you react to silver like that. Good news is that I found out where your buddy Relemill is. Bad news is that Leot tracked me down. I had to change my appearance, but this disguise won’t last long. His search systems are everywhere now. We must go.”

Kallitris whistles and two horses walk from behind the trees nearby. My friend comes up to one of them, a gray mare, revealing a surprise – he’s got a big heavy looking sword on his belt! Sheirer tries to mount the horse and falls down. Apparently between the new body, the new creature and the pressure from Leot he could not handle it very well.

“Impressive horseman skills!” I laugh, and the horse snorts.

“I’ve never been close to one of these things, Domiarn!” He snaps, and gets on the horse with the second attempt.

We must go South. The road is sandy and straight, surrounded by lines of young trees, coming really close to the edges of the road. We ride into the dark depths of the forest as the horizons behind us are aflame in a sunset of the beautiful land where everyone can love whoever they want, without exceptions.

What a wild ride! Kallitris quickly learns the idea of riding the horse. He probably accesses its mind telepathically, as it suddenly speeds up. The gray mare carries him away, as if he was weightless, and I can barely follow.

There is force around my beloved friend. The force that can’t be measured. It is exhilarating and scary at the same time. So what happened while I was out of it? Leot tracked him down because Eva turned him in? How? And what is going to happen if he does get caught? I realize I’m not ready for this turn of events. I can’t part with him, and I don’t want to.

“The horses are getting tired!” I yell as I finally catch up.

But Kallitris is unrelenting. Something is making him ride even faster. We fly straight through the forest and into a field. A village is seen faraway.

“We’re on the way to the settlement where your friend is kept.” He answers.

The road curves around a small pond, and the thunderous sound of our horses’ hoofs startles several birds in the grass nearby.

The village is closer now, and Kallitris slows down, giving us all a much-desired rest.

“He is kept? What does it mean?” I breathe heavily as I ride closer to him.

“He was sold to slavery.” Sheirer suddenly gets tense, as if listening to something, unavailable to me.

“He was what?! No way…”

He was in slavery all this time?! The understanding of that lingers on the edge of my mind, and then penetrates me with numberless long, thick needles of pain.

“This is not the worst news.” Kallitris jumps down his horse, and leads her across the field into a small forest, surrounding the village. “The worst news is that he is very sick. Some kind of cell mutation.”

We walk among the trees, shedding leaves, rustling in the wind. Another field can be seen from behind the trees, But this one has something planted on it. A lot of people, probably fifty or more move along the rows, pulling something from the ground, and throwing it into big bins, standing around.

We creep up closer, and I look into the faces of the people. They are dirty, tired, dull.

“See the horsemen around the field?” Kallitris points to the distance.

A gust of wind rips off the remaining leaves from the bush we’re hiding behind, and we duck closer to the ground. I’m shocked to see that the field is guarded by at least five horsemen.

“Your Relemill is right in the middle of the field. Over there. My plan is to walk among other slaves, take him, and bring him back here, before the guards figure out that we’re stealing a person in the open.”

“Kallitris, this is not very good. It feels kind of stupid! Do you at least have a Plan B?”

“Yes. In case we won’t make it to the forest I’ll defend us with my sword here.”

“You don’t know the first thing about swordsmanship!” I’m upset at the lack of planning, but I can’t get mad at my lover’s new look. He radiates love for me with every glance, every smile.

“ I downloaded a tutorial, Demi!”

I would laugh if it was not for such a tense situation!

“Can we wait at least till dark and get him then?” Now, this sounds like a good plan. Besides, it is getting darker with every minute. It should not be long before everyone will finish work and will be sent to whatever housing they have.

“Unfortunately between you fainting in the mountains and me avoiding the detection by Leot’s search system we’ve lost quite a bit of time. We were supposed to be here much earlier. Now it’s almost too late.”

“Why?” I watch the people working on the field, and then the bored guards quite aways from each other, whose horses are chewing grass nonchalantly. They do look unprepared, but still…

“Because his file tells me the date and time of his death.” Sheirer’s human face shows the signs of immeasurable pressure, which I know has little to do with Relemill.

“Wow.” This is all I can say, pondering my own mortality. All of a sudden the idea of grabbing Relemill right here looks beckoning. Because who knows how much do we all have left? “So when is he going to die?”

“In less than ten minutes.” Kallitris grabs my hand, and we walk to the field very slowly.

We bend, and get back up, and make a couple more steps to our target, pretending to pick something here, then there. I become totally breathless as one of the guards turns and looks straight at us. Kallitris pulls me down, and I’m surprised to find a carrot on the ground. Big, orange, dirty carrot. I pick it up and, paralyzed by fear, I freeze under a stern glance of the guard with that stupid carrot in my hand.