THE DELVING--4
Lord of the Kings,
Ruling all things....
Lash of his tail,
Sneering at mail.
What of a sword?
Helms make him bored.
Teeth and sharp claws
Sprouting from paws;
Lightning attack--
Front of the pack.
But when all's done,
Isn't it fun?
Lick at one's fur;
Curl up and purr!
-- Ballad of the Cat's Tale
Chapter 4: A Late Arrival
The wind whistled over the edge of Twilintarn. The waters of Truth rumbled in its depths, and a very discouraged Dana Schubert began to climb the long, winding staircase that threaded its walls. In the confused scene at Mt. Horeb, she had seen the bright light streaming from the mysterious doorway that had suddenly appeared before them. Ben had leaned the articulated family coach against a tree and sprinted for the aperture. No one had indicated what they were supposed to do, and after some hesitation, Dana had followed him. Another figure had appeared from her right to cut her off, shoving over the threshold in front of her. At the same time, shots had rung out, some from air guns and some from firearms, likely belonging to Destroyer spies, but as Dana had turned her head to see what was going on, she had seen the purple-robed figure of the Grand Wizard who had tried to stop them from turning onto the road leading to Camp Labak. Since he had been unmistakably holding a rifle to his shoulder, and seemed to be training it on her, Dana had put on a burst of speed, and in a totally uncharacteristic move, dived into the ground on the other side of the opening as if she were trying to recover a football which had been lost to the opposite team. In fact, when she landed across the border into another world, she had felt something that seemed very much like a football, but it squirmed from her grip as if it were alive; simultaneously, the lights went out. If they were indeed lights. A voice had spoken to someone ahead of her, saying something about going up or down, but Dana didn't quite catch it. A door had opened, and whoever it was had gone out. Dana had headed in that direction, and pushed on a stone wall, which opened onto that circular staircase which she was now ascending. For no reason that she could understand, she had gone down. When she was nearly at the bottom, she had looked up to see a stranger headed in the opposite direction. He had slipped and fallen, afterwards lying quite still, but some warrior woman had come along and pulled him out with a rope. She imagined that others must have helped her pull the rope up; the stranger seemed to get rather battered as he was dragged hastily over the lip of the well.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact not much more than half an hour, Dana reached the end of the stairway, a bare platform some twenty feet below the rim of Twilintarn. As she pondered her situation, a huge, leathery-winged creature, resembling a heavy-duty bat from a nightmare, swooped down from the sky and dived toward her. Utterly terrified, she tried to run, forgetting that there were no handrails in the Well's interior. Before she knew what was happening, her body had assumed a sickening angle and was headed toward the bottom again. But suddenly she felt rough hands seize her feet, and, upside down, body snapping over like a limp rubber band, golden blonde hair whipping in the breeze, she abruptly started to ascend instead of descend. By the time they were over the plain surrounding the well, she began to squirm and scream. The Nequam hissed malevolently, and squeezed her ankles harder. But Dana was not to be outdone. Squirming around as her feet began to lose all sensation, she managed to unsling her air rifle... air rifle... she must have gotten Nancy's rifle somehow--she was supposed to have a pistol. But no matter--Horton had taught her the basics. It was painful to take aim, but she managed to point the barrel at a round opening near the beast's tailbone. Summoning all her will power to maintain her focus, she slowly and deliberately squeezed the trigger. At close range, the .25 caliber pellet penetrated deep into the Nequam's body. The monster screamed in pain and jerked violently, but it did not release its grip on Dana's ankles. Unwilling to let its prey go, it struggled to maintain altitude, but began to spasm in descending circles. Not wishing to confront a live and furious creature on the ground, Dana took aim again and pumped two more rounds into the Nequam's nether regions. When they were scarcely ten feet above the trees of Lorningwood, the fingers at last relaxed, and the young World-woman fell head first into tangled branches. Her assailant, bereft of life, plummeted with many crashes to the forest floor below.
Scratched and bleeding, but very much alive, Dana managed to crawl into a position close to the tree's trunk. Not wishing to discover what sort of wild animals lived below, she found a reasonably uncomfortable perch where a large branch forked off, and settled down to watch the growing darkness. Somehow the thought of food did not seem inviting, so she did not attempt to access the provisions in her pack. Instead, she concentrated on planning what she would do when daylight returned. So occupied, she gradually drifted off to sleep. Despite her painful condition and her precarious position, she slept soundly, and was surprised to open her eyes and see the warm rays of the morning sun in the branches above her.
Looking down, the World-woman first saw the body of the creature that had lifted her from the Well. It was clad in dark armor. Flies buzzed about it, and a putrid odor arose. She began to gag. But then she spied a black cat prowling among the trees, moving quickly. Curious, she scrambled to climb down and follow it, forgetting the stinking carcass, but quickly regretted her haste--her injuries, combined with the stiffness of remaining bent and motionless throughout the night, made motion a painful proposition. But when she reached the ground, the cat had flopped down on its side and was staring intently at her. Remembering her cat back home, she cautiously approached it, hand outstretched. The cat eyed her curiously, but did not run. When her hand got close enough, it cautiously sniffed. She was overjoyed when it allowed her to scratch behind its ears, and it began to purr loudly. At close range, she noticed that it was not solid black, but had faint brown tiger stripes along its sides, and there was a tiny white spot on its chest.
"Nice kitty!" she said. "Could you lead me to some good water?"
The cat meowed and quickly jumped up, trotting to the right. Stiff though she was, Dana made sure to keep up. It was hard to believe that the cat had understood what she said, but on the other hand, all animals have to drink.
Within five minutes, the sound of a chuckling stream was heard, and soon the cat was lapping its fill. Dana sat on a rock, grateful for the chance to cleanse and dress her wounds. None seemed serious, although her clothes had some bloodstains. A quick check revealed that she still had her air pistol as well as the rifle, and plenty of pellets. After a time she began to feel better. "Now where?" she asked the cat, but it only curled up at her feet and closed its eyes for a nap.
Dana would not take this for an answer; she had noted that the cat was a male, and addressed him once more: "What's your name, boy? You look well-fed. Perhaps you have a friendly master."
The cat opened one eye and regarded her briefly, but then resumed napping.
"I could pick you up and carry you, but I wouldn't know which way to turn."
The cat's tail twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Maybe if I carry you, you'll wake up."
The cat remained motionless.
Dana felt impatient after being motionless herself for a number of hours, so after making sure her pack and rifle were in order, she reached down and picked up her feline guide. He was heavier than she thought, but she cradled him in her arms and watched to see what he would do.
His head turned in the direction of the rising sun, so she followed suit. His gaze did not waver, so Dana began to pick her way among the trees. When she had to veer to either side to bypass brambles or avoid large rocks, his head turned, almost imperceptibly, to keep her going in the right direction. Or at least she hoped it was the right direction. She loved cats, but that did not mean that this one would actually take her where she needed to go.
At length Dana looked ahead and saw what looked like the mouth of a cave looming into view. "Do you live in there?" she asked.
The cat swiveled his head around and looked her straight in the eye, glaring at her as if to say "NO!" But Dana, eager to seek any sign of human companionship, headed toward the cavern opening anyway.
The cat had other ideas. Suddenly and sharply he bit her hand, so hard that Dana yelped and almost dropped him. He apparently thought that was a good idea, because he extended his claws and tore himself free from her arms. When he reached the ground, he began to trot briskly to the left of the cave entrance, leading the way up the hill above the dark void. Before long he began to sprint, bounding alternately on his front and rear paws. Dana had a hard time keeping up.
But suddenly she froze in her tracks. She had wanted so badly to find someone--someone besides a cat, that is--but when she saw the grey, lumpy back of a human figure seated on an old log ahead, with clouds of smoke rising, her first impulse was to scream. But the cat jumped to the end of the log and ran swiftly to the old man, rubbing against him and purring. The man turned and faced Dana. She almost giggled out loud when he did--he looked so much like the sign on an inn, back in her world, in Sky City. He was very much the picture of a mountaineer, with a rumpled, pointed hat, brim pulled low over his eyes, with shapeless, baggy garments. He was smoking a corncob pipe. A brown earthenware jug with a cork stopper sat on the ground. He laughed and picked up the jug, removing the cork, and took a good pull. When he was finished, he reinserted the cork, put down the jug, and turned to the cat.
"Lorry," he said, "Ye'll be the tarnation of me yet. Where have ye been?"
The cat ignored him and began to wash its tail.
Turning his gaze on Dana, he continued. "Lorean is his name, proper, but I call him Lorry. And ye can come closer--I don't bite! But Lorry does--yes--that he does!" He guffawed loudly at his own joke.
Dana felt her face reddening. She had left her own world to rescue a kidnapped bride, but instead she was listening to a sign that had come to life.
"Yes, he does!" she sputtered. "And he already has--bitten me, that is!"
"Now, now," the old man remonstrated. "Ye down't have to talk like that--it's all in good fun!"
Dana resisted the urge to argue with him. Perhaps this man could help her find Tam Lin. She did have a map of Earthwithin, but since there had been no welcoming party--at least not that she could see--she had no idea where Tam Lin was, or anyone else, for that matter.
"I'm sorry. My name is Dana Schubert, and I'm looking for a minstrel named Tam Lin. Do you have any idea where I can find him?"
"Minstrel--Tam Lin--the green man--that's who ye want?"
"Yes!" Dana spoke eagerly.
"Sorry--been 'bout a year. He never stays in the same place long--minstrel he is."
Dana felt deflated, and a bit dizzy. She wobbled toward the other end of the log and sat down. The man stood up--Dana saw that he wasn't very tall--and extended the jug toward her.
"Good stuff--make ye feel a powerful lot better."
Dana shook her head.
"Name's Montford--don't stay in the same place meself very much--but can't move fast as that minstrel fellow." He returned to his place on the other end of the log. He remained silent for a long time, and Dana's mind raced as she tried to figure out her next move. At last she spoke.
"When your cat was leading me here, he tried to keep me from going into a cave down there." She pointed down the hill in the direction from which she had come.
Montford nodded. "Lorning cave it is--evil place, even though the Lornings are gone. Never go in there meself."
Dana had heard about the Lornings. She didn't ask any more questions about the cave. Instead, she dug into her pack and pulled out the map of Earthwithin. Unfolding it, she approached Montford.
"Have you ever seen a map of Earthwithin?"
Montford's eyes widened as he saw the crisp, white paper with its colorful lines and legends. "Noo... never have... any maps at all."
"But you've been to a lot of different places...."
"That I have."
"Could you give me some advice, then? Horton--he was our leader back there--said that these maps were as good as they could make them, but not terribly accurate."
"Sure--whatever I can."
The odd pair bent over the map, their conversation murmuring in the depths of the forest, and Lorry curled up and went to sleep.
CHAPTER 5
MILEPOSTERS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
MILEPOSTERS
The Allegheny Trail Alliance Web site has maps
and many links to information on trails in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and West Virginia.
Messages: carolinaivy AT juno DOT com