CHAPTER FOUR
LOLA
Bahumaku knocked exactly three times on the boarded front door of the small white house that stood before them. The house stood at the edge of the Sapphire Forest in the Tetra Highway. Only the caps of the mountains behind it were covered by snow; the pass beyond the house wouldn’t be completely covered until the cold season.
As they waited, Bahumaku spoke. “The shack was built as a decoy. It looks small, but in truth it goes on foh miles beneath the rock. The mountain itself is the actual house. A ratheh ingenious design, I must admit.”
From inside, they heard movement. After a short pause came a series of five rhythmic knocks. Bahumaku answered with a series of two rhythmic knocks. The door opened.
“Quickly,” someone said from inside. Katie, Bahumaku, and Chander entered. The door slammed shut behind them. The three turned to face their host.
A woman stood before them, now staring at Katie and her uncles. The look in her hazel eyes was of delight. Her blonde hair hung down to her shoulders. She looked as pale as a ghost. There was a strange wariness about her as well, as though she had not slept in days. Katie thought this odd since the woman was wearing nothing more than leafy brown pajamas.
“Alexandrir,” Bahumaku said, giving her a curious look. “What in blazes happened to you?”
“Baba, I’m so glad you’re here,” the woman said, throwing herself into Bahumaku’s arms.
Katie looked on curiously. She looked up at Chander, whose face was like a stone. Finally, Katie spoke. “Did I miss something?” she whispered to her uncle.
“Bahumaku and Alexandrir used to travel together,” Chander said.
“Are they . . . ?” Katie began.
Chander shook his head and answered her. “Just friends.” As he spoke, Chander’s eyes never left Alexandria.
“You know I wouldn’t have sent for you if it wasn’t urgent,” Alexandria apologized.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” Bahumaku said.
“Is that her?” Alexandria asked. She was clearly avoiding the answer. Bahumaku pressed her no further. He shared a long worried look with his brother.
Chander spoke after a long silence. “This is ouh niece.”
“Nice to meet you,” Katie said. She put out her hand.
Alexandria stared down at Katie, looking her over. A look of disbelief stretched across her thin face. “Still so young . . .” she said in a soft voice.
Katie looked the woman over and shrugged, putting her hand back down at her side. She looked over at her uncles, who both seemed to sense the same thing. When looking into Alexandria’s eyes Katie saw someone in desperate need of help. She wanted to say something comforting but nothing came to mind. Instead, she remained silent and wished there were something she could do.
“I must rob your uncles from you,” Alexandria said with a grin. Katie felt it suited her better than the melancholy look in her eyes. Something about those hazel eyes scared her. Maybe it was just a trick of the dim lighting inside the house, but they reminded her of the red eyes in her dream. Alexandria went on, “Feel free to wander around the house. I warn you, though, it’s really boring.”
Alexandria, Bahumaku, and Chander retired into the back room. “How’s youh sisteh?” Bahumaku asked as they walked.
“She carries the weight of the world on her shoulders,” Alexandria said.
Bahumaku laughed. “Some things neveh change.”
The door leading into the back room shut tightly behind them. Almost immediately Katie put her ear up to the door. It’s not eavesdropping when they’re talking about you, Katie told herself. She tried to listen in, but it was no use. The stone door was completely soundproof.
Having nowhere else to go, she wandered around the house. It was a four-by-four room, with one of the walls made of rock. The rest of the house was wood. Several odd and unique paintings lined the walls. Some were beautiful green landscapes. Others were filled with mythical creatures, both wonderful and terrifying. Some stood up while others stood sideways or upside down. Katie studied all of the pictures, taking them in. Her eyes fell lastly on the picture over the fireplace. It was by far the largest of all the pictures in the room.
Katie could tell by the eerie shape of the trees that the picture was of the Sapphire Forest, only the forest wasn’t as it was now. A vibrant gold replaced the blue. Gorgeous flowers lined the trees. Katie looked on in amazement. She wondered how the forest came to be so sad a place.
In the middle of the portrait stood a woman with golden hair. The woman’s eyes were as blue as the bright season sky. The gown she wore was the embodiment of grace and elegance.
Katie’s eyes scanned the whole of the picture, falling last on the signature. In the bottom corner of the portrait was the signature of her uncle, Bahumaku. Katie turned to the other pictures. Looking at them now, she noticed that they all bore Bahumaku’s signature.
Her eyes fell again on the large painting over the fireplace. She looked long at the woman in the portrait. Her ears came to a point. She was not a woman, but an elf.
Katie stared long into the picture. She wondered if the elf in the picture was really that beautiful or if her uncle only thought she was. Great care had been made in making this portrait. Every brushstroke looked as if it had been carefully planned. Katie could scarcely believe that so much detail could be put into a single picture. It was almost mind boggling. She felt as if she could reach out and touch it. She felt as if, at any moment, the picture would come to life.
“How did you know her?” Katie asked. Her eyes still focused on the picture.
“We were to be married. I painted this as a wedding present. She left before I eveh got the chance to give it to heh,” Bahumaku explained.
“What happened?” Katie asked. She looked up at her uncle, whose eyes fixed on the woman.
“She was called away. Heh people needed heh. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t wondeh if I did the right thing, letting heh go,” Bahumaku said. A look of love like Katie had never seen before burned in her uncle’s gray-green eyes as he stared at the portrait.
Katie saw something else in her uncle’s eyes as well. She saw a deep despair. It was the kind of despair that Katie felt when she thought about her parents. Bahumaku had always seemed to her to be full of hope. Up until this moment, Katie had thought nothing could touch him. Now, she saw in him a much more human side. Katie was unsure what to think. She didn’t know what to do or what to say. In the end, she did the only thing she could think of and embraced her uncle.
Bahumaku smiled. “Now. Go get yourself washed up. We’re going to be here foh a while.”
“Okay,” Katie said. She went to exit the room but stopped short. “I have no idea where I’m going.”
“Follow me,” Alexandria said. She and Chander had come out from behind the rock door some time after Bahumaku. Alexandria pulled a torch, which opened another rock door. Katie followed Alexandra down a flight of stone stairs. Chander stood facing the girls as they left the room. Bahumaku looked once more upon the portrait of Lola and made his way toward his brother. Chander gave him a quick glance. He held his monocle in his hand and wiped it off with a cloth.
“Does something seem off to you?” he asked.
“Indeed it does,” Bahumaku said.
“We must confront heh,” Chander said.
Bahumaku shook his head. “Let heh be foh now. We will confront heh in the morning.”
“I pray by then it is not too late,” Chander said.
Katie and Alexandria walked a long cavern-like hall. Dark scorch marks lined the cave walls, left over from the explosions used in making it. As they walked, Alexandria told the story of how the caverns came to be. “During the robotic uprising, these caves were used to transport people secretly from the forest to Tetra Highway. It was also used during the Nine-Hundred-Year War to get soldiers in and out of the forest quickly. My sister and I rebuilt them, with the Elves’ help, of course.”
Halfway down the hall, they veered into a stone bath. Katie stopped to admire the splendid view. There were seven small pools. The light from the torches made each of the pools sparkle. Stuck inside the cave walls behind the pools were gold and diamonds. When the light hit them just right it made colored sparkles appear all over the room, each one with different colored rubies behind it, all from colors of a rainbow. Inside the bath were two elf maids waiting.
Katie stood in stunned silence. Unless she counted the picture upstairs, this was the first time she had seen an elf up close. It was a creature she had read about in the many encyclopedias back home. Never did she imagine that she would see one up close. They were more wonderful than she could have ever believed, and taller. They were about her height.
Perhaps Bahumaku’s portrait hadn’t been that far from the truth after all. This adventure had turned out to be much more than Katie anticipated. She had seen shadow guards, a unicorn, and now, an elf. Katie’s attention quickly turned back to Alexandria, who hadn’t stopped talking. “Personally, I don’t mind being coated in dirt,” Alexandria said as the Elves prepared them for the bath. “It’s always nice to feel clean, though.”
If Alexandria had said anything after that, Katie wasn’t listening. She had never had a servant before and she wasn’t sure that she wanted one now. Katie had always been somewhat of a loner. She did what she wanted. It felt strange to have a servant. Regardless, she let the elf help her into the bath. The water was strangely warm.
As soon as the water hit her cuts and bruises it seared them; it hurt, but only for a little while. The pain felt oddly good against her skin. Entering the forest in a skirt was not one of her better ideas. She would have liked to change clothes before she left home. Katie felt quite irked with herself now for crying. She could have spent those extra few minutes changing into more suitable travel clothes. It was too late dwelling on it now, though. Katie stretched out, letting the water soothe all her pains away.
“Do you like it here?” Alexandria asked her after a long silence.
“It’s nice,” Katie admitted. She tried to sound polite as she spoke. She wasn’t used to this kind of service.
“Yeah. It is nice,” Alexandria said. She leaned in toward Katie’s pool and spoke in a hushed voice. “I could do without the wait staff, though.”
Katie laughed in agreement. One of the elf maids stirred in her place. Alexandria gave her a cold glare. The maid stood still.
“So how do you know my uncles?” Katie asked.
“Lola was my half-sister. She introduced us. We used to travel all over the world so that Bahumaku could paint things. It was just him, my sister, and me. Then everything fell apart when my sister became queen. Bahumaku couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, and left. Upstairs was the first time we’ve spoken in almost ten seasons,” Alexandria said. A long silence followed.
“Your uncles tell me that you’ve been having dreams too. What about?”
“I only had one. It was about my mom and dad.”
“Do you miss them?”
“Yeah.”
“I lost my parents too. That’s why I decided to become a traveler. I just wanted to get away from it all, you know?”
Katie did know. She knew all too well. But she didn’t answer. Thinking of her parents would only succeed in causing her grief.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Alexandria said, noticing the sudden change in Katie’s mood.
“It’s okay,” Katie answered. “Have you had dreams?” she continued. She did so partly to take her mind off her parents, and partly because she was intrigued. Up until now Katie thought she was the only one who had dreams. She had to stop and think about what that meant. Was the Great Dragon somehow involved in this? Katie wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. She listened on.
“Yes,” Alexandria said.
“What kind of things do you dream about?” Katie asked.
“They’re usually about my sister. I did have an interesting one about a monkey and some peanut butter recently though,” Alexandria said. The two girls laughed.
They sat in the bath talking of their adventures. Alexandria did most of the talking, as Katie had not yet been on many adventures. She remembered a few things here and there from her childhood, but, for the most part, it was all a blur.
The two of them talked until their hands and feet began to prune. They exited the baths and dried off with the maids’ help. From there they went further into the stone hallway. Alexandria stopped just outside a white hall. She opened the door to a white room with a bed, a chair, and a carpet, all the same snowy white.
“This used to be my sister’s room,” Alexandria said. Katie nodded and entered.
Inside, she found a white nightgown waiting for her on the bed. It was not what she would have chosen to sleep in, but it would do. It felt good to lie in a real bed again. She would sleep well that night.
* * *
Somewhere deep within the cavern Alexandria found her room. She sat alone in the dark. But, she was not really alone. From her dreams she had found him. She trusted him. Alexandria closed her eyes. She had no idea that the voice she heard was truly the Great Dragon in disguise. He spoke to Alexandria in her dreams. He used the voice of his first victim, Morpheus Draklore, my voice. That’s who Alexandria believed had come to her.
“So your friends have finally arrived?” the dragon asked.
“Yes,” she said timidly.
“Glad to hear it,” he said.
“They brought their niece with them, just like you said they would.”
“Good.”
“I thought when my friends got here I would be happy. What’s wrong with me?” Alexandria asked. She could almost taste the salt of her tears.
“Hush now, my dear. We’ll have none of that.” He pretended to comfort her. The dragon was always very good at telling people what they wanted to hear.
“I’m all alone,” Alexandria said.
“You’re never alone, my dear. I’ll always be with you,” he answered.
“I knew I could count on you. Thanks, Morpheus,” Alexandria said.
“Now, about the girl,” the dragon went on.
“What do you want her for?” Alexandria asked, sounding very afraid. She had begun to grow suspicious of the dragon, ever since he made her send the message to Chander and Bahumaku. When Alexandria had first heard the voice, some ten seasons ago, it was kind to her, even friendly. Now the voice had grown darker. Alexandria had to force herself to believe that it remained unchanged.
“As long as her uncles keep watch over her I am powerless,” the dragon went on.
“Morpheus, what are you saying?” Alexandria said.
“Worry not, my dear,” he said. With that, Alexandria fell into an uneasy sleep.
* * *
When Katie woke she found that her clothes had been washed and placed in a small white closet. She picked up her denim skirt and put it on under her nightgown. Her shirt and shoes followed. She sighed with relief when she was done. Katie had never been one for fancy clothes. She always preferred comfort to appeal. It was something she had picked up from her uncles, one of the few things anyway. They always let her pick out her own clothes on trips into the city of Tartarus. It was rare that they took her there, maybe twice since she had been living with them, and when they did take her, they made sure that she remained close at all times. Katie mostly enjoyed her time in the city. The only thing she didn’t really care for was the smell. She could almost smell that rotten fish smell just thinking about it. Katie gave a look of disgust and left the room.
Exiting, she walked down the hall. She wished now that she had paid more attention the previous night. Katie walked on. She explored several different rooms. One of the rooms she found to be filled with Elves, all busy with their daily chores. Katie stood in the doorway. They all appeared to be wearing clothes made of woven moss and leaves. Even their shoes appeared to be made from blue mud. A smile stretched across her face. Her eyes lit up with excitement. Katie tried to talk to them. None would speak. Most were too busy to spare her a glance. Only one spoke to her.
“What’re you doin’ here?” he said. Katie didn’t answer right away. She looked on at the brown-haired, brown-eyed elf. He looked familiar to her. In her mind’s eye she recalled the portrait hanging above the fireplace upstairs. She could see her long slender face, her dirty blonde hair, even her tan skin—they were all here. Katie suspected that this elf may be her son. The resemblance was too uncanny.
“I—” Katie tried coming up with a good lie. None came to mind. She shrugged.
“None of them can understand you. Most of the Elves here only speak Elfish.”
“You don’t,” Katie said.
“Aye. Me sister and I both speak your tongue,” said the elf. “Name’s Thomas.”
“Katie.”
“If you’ll excuse me. Lots to do, you know,” Thomas said. He gave a single nod and went on his way.
Katie continued down the hall. She wandered here and there without any specific location in mind. When she came to the stairs, she stopped. From up above, she could hear Alexandria and Chander arguing. Katie’s own parents had argued many times. She found it best to avoid confrontation. Still, she wondered . . .
Carefully, she crept up to the top of the stairs. She listened. What she heard, she could not understand. Only snips of broken conversation. Nothing made any kind of sense.
It wasn’t long before Bahumaku appeared at the doorway. His white and black pipe gave the impression of a cloud above his head. He looked down on Katie with sorrow in his eyes. Katie gave an innocent smile and a wave. When she saw her uncle’s eyes, her smile faded. She was about to ask what was wrong when Bahumaku spoke.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice, and closed the door. Katie tried listening at the door, but it was no use. Even if she could hear them, she did not understand what was going on. All she could do was wait. Katie walked down the hall, wondering what next to do. A door flew suddenly open, frightening her. It was made of rock and invisible to the naked eye.
Out from the room came one of the elf maids from the previous night. She carried a tray of tea in her hands. When she saw Katie, she dropped the tray out of fright. The tea and the cups spilled all over the floor. Both the pot and cups shattered.
“Bugger,” the elf cried. “I’m terribly sorry, mistress. I dinna mean to startle you.” She looked terrified and bowed her head.
“Call me Katie,” she said, putting out her hand. “I met your brother. I think.” Katie could see the resemblance at once. The elf before her now looked like a younger version of the one upstairs. The elf looked on a moment, unsure of what to do. She put out her hand and Katie shook it. “As you wish,” the elf said. Patches of fright lined her voice.
“What’s your name?” Katie asked.
“Me name—” the elf said, pausing a moment. She looked on in shock, as if no one had ever asked her such a question before. “It’s Ariel.”
“Hey. Can you hear what they’re saying up there?” Katie asked, looking at the elf’s pointed ears.
“Aye?” the elf questioned.
“What are they saying? Is it about me?” Katie asked, her voice filled with excitement.
“I dunna want to meddle in the affairs of others. It’s not my place,” the elf said.
“I won’t tell, if you don’t,” Katie said with a shrug.
The elf stood a moment in silence as if thinking it over. She wiggled her ears and waited. From upstairs, she could just make out the muffled voices from the soundproof room above. Ariel had to strain her ears to hear what was being said. “They’re confrontin’ her ’bout somethin’. She’s gettin’ all nasty. I canna make out anythin’ else,” the elf said at last.
“Thank you,” Katie said.
“Please. Dunna tell anyone ’bout this,” Ariel begged.
“About what?” said a smiling Katie.
“Thank you, miss—I mean Katie,” Ariel said, and continued on her way. Katie would spend several more days there in Alexandria’s house. Every day Katie tried to listen in on her uncles and Alexandria’s conversations. Ariel was always willing to help. She too was becoming fascinated with what was happening above.
Katie and Ariel grew braver as the days wore on. Ariel put her ear right up to the stone door leading from the cave into the house above. Each day Bahumaku and Chander tried to talk to Alexandria, and each day she resisted them. Only when Alexandria started yelling did the conversation turn to Katie.
Alexandria was adamant about Katie beginning her ‘quest.’ Katie could only shrug when Ariel asked about it. Chander and Bahumaku tried to argue that she was too young, but Alexandria insisted. She was strangely knowledgeable in the progress of the Great Dragon. This worried Katie’s uncles. The conversation would move swiftly back to Alexandria. These conversations went on for some time.
One day, to Katie’s complete surprise, her uncles let her come upstairs. Ariel was left to listen at the door alone.
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