Tourist - 14



A mile away, in a small dune, the entrance was laid out in a stone border. Lee had instructed us, on risk of death, that we hide any weapons we had on our bodies or leave them at the door. Ben made sure to drop back into his limp, leaning heavily on the staff he carried. I kept the Siri sheathed, much to my chagrin.

There were guards waiting for us just inside the rock.

“Halt,” one growled, throwing out her sword to block our path. “What business have you with the Charisat?”

“We are in need of medical care for this man,” Lee gestured to Ben. “His leg is injured and he has sun sickness.”

As I went around to support Ben so that he could look more sickly, I wondered if it was even possible to get sun sickness from a fake sun.

The five guards, however, nodded to themselves and each other, and parted to allow our party through. “Accompany them,” the first guard spoke to one of her companions. “Bring them to the healing rooms, and find the Doctor.”

“Yes, mistress,” the guard replied in a sharp bow.

We were lead down flickering tunnels and were passed by many women, all of which seemed to be wearing the uniform of the guards: brown, torn cloth over some kind of skinlike black substance that made their white skin almost glow in contrast. Unlike Lee, they seemed almost pointed, or sharper. All of their faces were longer, and their fingers seemed drawn out like clay. But they all smiled as they watched us go deeper, or nodded their heads and whispered to each other.

Soon, the guard nudged us into a room offset from the main tunnel, which appeared to continue deep into the earth.

The guard pulled off its headdress, and again appeared another woman. I shook my head. No doubt a different hierarchy than on the earth’s surface. Things like that can change in 300 years, I reminded myself bitterly.

“You will stay,” the guard commanded as we set Ben down on a shelf bed. “And I will fetch the Doctor.”

As she left, Ben straightened up and I turned to Lee, who was frowning in the direction of the door.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I whispered.

“Absolutely not,” he replied without taking his eyes off the entry.

“Wonderful. And you are aware, of course, that there’s nothing wrong with Ben’s leg?” I was exasperated now. Things had not been going well for the past month, let alone day.

“Totally aware,” Lee said, turning to me. “Which is why I’m going. By the time the Doctor gets here to treat you, I’ll have found Darren, and we can get out.”

“They’ll just let us leave?”

“They should,” Lee hedged, before quietly slipping out the door.

“Fuck,” Ben concluded.

I plopped down on another stone palate that was carved out from the wall. “I second that.”

“Getting Darren away from Karl...” he shook his head. “I don’t see that happening.”

“Me neither,” I admitted, running a hand over my weary features, trying to wipe away some of my fatigue. “Ben, you know you can trust me, right?”

“Guilty men like to parade their innocence,” the man replied.

I looked at him. “I’m serious. Lee said something to me, and I’m not thinking straight right now, and I think I’m going to pass out any second, but I believe him when he says you’re going to have to do something really hard soon. Whatever it is.” He was staring at me like I was a loony. “I want you to know that whatever you’re going to have to do, I’ll be there.”

“What if I have to kill you?” he deadpanned.

“That’s not funny,” I answered. “Of course I’ll be there if you have to kill me. How could you kill me if I’m not there?”

His serious facade cracked into a smile and he broke my eye contact. “You’re ridiculous. But thank you.”

“Any time,” I told him, and settled against the stone.

“Look,” Ben said, shaking my shoulder. I snapped awake without even having realized I’d been sleeping. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. “Look,” he repeated, “when the Doctor, or whoever, gets here, it’s going to be bad. She’s going to take us somewhere, and we’ll have to fight our way out. But at least we’re not going to have to worry about Darren. And maybe we’ll get to see if they filleted Karl’s body. Right?”

“Right,” I answered.

“So rest, okay? Sleep for as long as you can.” He pressed my shoulder down toward the rock, and after a half a second of protest, I simply gave up. I had been going for too long, too far and too fast. Sleep had to give some time.

~*~*~*~

I awoke to Ben’s persistent nudge, jerking up on the stone, my shoulders immediately screaming in protest.

“Someone’s coming,” Ben rushed. “You slept for maybe two hours. How do you feel?”

“Ten times better,” I mumbled, stifling a yawn. I felt like shit.

“Gentlemen, what can I-”

The Doctor rounded a corner and stopped. The two female guards that followed screeched to a halt before they collided.

The Doctor was Karl.

His cheerful voice, one that I was not sure I had ever heard, dropped immediately into the cold steel I was familiar with. “Benjamin. This was not a wise choice.”

“Where’s the third?” came the inquisitive voice of the guard who had led us here.

Karl took a quick glance around and turned to the two women, pointing back out into the passage. “Find Darren, and you’ll find the third. Keep them in the main chamber until I come for you. They’ll be having some company.”

The girls skittered off, and Karl turned to me again.

“Honestly, I thought you two would have more common sense than this.” He shook his head. “But I suppose that was why Darren used you...not to bright, easy to manipulate.”

Ben started upward, but I slammed a hand on his shoulder to keep him seated and rose myself. Karl grinned a horrible, jack-o-lantern smile. “You must remember, Ben, you’re horribly injured. Want that leg to heal, don’t you?”

The blonde slatted his eyes in anger and I could feel his body shaking under my hand. But if we killed Karl now, we would never find Darren, or, worse yet, it would do something to Darren’s mind. It would sever the connection between the two too quickly or in a wrong way, and Darren’s synapses would be clamped off like burned bone.

The Doctor gestured to me. “Help him up, and walk in front of me. We have a party to get to.”

We trudged forward, me needlessly slinging Ben’s arm around my shoulder and helping him limp towards the door. His staff clacked heavily on the stone flooring.

“A dinner party,” the Doctor said with a smile.

tbc...