Asmireen
©2024 by Jonathan Scott
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Chapter 7 - Nahli
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Smart Words
15.12 One man, he go to far place. He bring he's wife and he's children. He bring he's all. He hope a new good life.
15.13 He see two man on the road. One man, he talk to two man.
15.14 Two man, he be friendly. He be polite. He share food. He be rich.
15.15 One man and two man, they be friends and they travel together.
15.16 Two man, he have a beautiful gold hat. The hat, it be big expensive.
15.17 One man, he have a nothing hat. He be poor. He like two man's hat.
15.18 Two man, he say "One man, two man love you. Please take two man's hat, sell the hat, be rich and be happy."
15.19 One man's wife, she say "No." and thank two man, but one man, he say "Yes." and he take the hat and be happy. He say "I sell the hat in far place city tomorrow and I's family be rich."
15.20 Two man, he smile, he say "Goodbye!" and he go.
15.21 Next day, one man, he and he's family get to far place city.
15.22 Wall guards, they see one man's gold hat and they take one man.
15.23 The hat, it be King's son's hat and King's son, he be gone.
15.24 The King, he kill one man and one man's family.
15.25 Two man, he sit by he's fire and count King son's gold. He say "Thank you, One Man." and then two man bury the King's son in the big trees.
Jake awoke at daybreak. He rolled over and found that Hank was gone. He quickly and quietly placed his dagger back into its sheath and stood. Quick stood as well, arched his back and yawned. Nearby, he could see Gale and Gideon contentedly chewing on grass. Jake bent over and pet Quick.
It was going to be a beautiful day. There were no clouds in the sky and there was a cool pleasant freshness to everything. Jake smiled ever so slightly. The scenery in this land was always spectacular to him, especially in the early mornings. There was just something about his lands that he preferred, even though he had never even seen other lands with which to compare them to.
There was a fire. Apparently Hank had awoken first and was now off hunting for something fresh to eat. Jake stood by the fire and warmed himself. It was an enjoyable way to wake up.
His mind drifted back to a time when he had been on a small journey with his father. Homer never left the women at home alone, so when there was a need to travel anywhere overnight, either he or Shane would always remain at home. This time, it had been Shane's turn to stay, so Homer went off with Jake to keep him company.
Jake had awoken then much as he did this day; early in the morning surrounded by beautiful scenery. And like today, the first thing he did when he woke up that day was to walk to the fire and warm himself. The difference that day being that his father had just finished preparing their breakfast of toast, jam, fruit, sausages, eggs, and cheese.
Jake remembered sitting across the fire from his father that morning at their campsite as they ate. He remembered looking carefully at his father that day. Jake was always amazed at his father's intense ugliness in the mornings. Homer was an acceptable looking man. He was neither handsome, nor was he ugly. In general, he was quite unremarkable looking, except in the mornings, and especially when they camped, when somehow this average looking man simply became hideous. With each bite, Jake would closely study his father's perfect absence of beauty. He studied the incredible lack of uniformity in the direction of the hairs on top of his father's head. He stared at the droopy unintelligent look of his face as his father's mind slowly escaped unconsciousness. He noticed the bad posture that everyone has in the morning as their bodies rebel against gravity renewed. And he was amazed at the odor of death that emanated from his half open drooping mouth. Homer though, noticing Jake's intense attention would simply look at him and smile and they would converse until it came time to stand up and continue on their way. Jake always admired his father for those mornings. It wasn't that he admired the ugliness. The admiration came more from his father's apparent lack of embarrassment at it. There just seemed to be something wholly respectable and superior about a man who could look so monstrous, but still retain his pride, maturity and poise.
Jake smiled. His father had taught him more about being happy than he or Jake would probably ever realize.
Today was Thursday. Their village had died on Sunday. Jake thought back and tried to remember what he had been doing this time Sunday morning. Then, he remembered. He had been practicing for that stupid recital. It had been so important to him that he had chosen to wake before dawn to practice.
"That was only four days ago!" he quietly exclaimed to himself.
He remembered his anxiety. He remembered his mother, Saja, bringing his breakfast to his room for him so that he could continue to study uninterrupted. He remembered the noise that his family generated as they got ready for services. He remembered his father trying to help him, but then giving up. Then he remembered his father scolding him and telling him to get out of his room so that they could all get to services in time. Then he remembered seeing Hank slap Jolie. And then he finally remembered burying his family's burnt and torn bodies.
It surprised him. He had been feeling constant dread for perhaps a week now. He had felt dread before the blast, and then he felt it afterwards as well. The only difference though was that the dread he had felt before the blast had only been a child's dread, which, of course, is nothing at all compared to the adult's dread that he had felt since and after. A child's dread is often of things that don't truly matter. An adult's dread though can only come with a real appreciation and understanding of how bad bad can be. Jake thought about the childish dread he had felt that morning while practicing for his recital. He then forced himself to stop feeling ashamed of it.
Quick walked several yards away and began to relieve himself on a small neighboring tree.
"Now there's a good idea." said Jake who then immediately shook himself out of his thoughts, forced a calm smile to his face and joined him.
Jake then returned to camp and looked at the sleeping body of Marie.
"One thing I know for sure is that I got a bunch of questions for you today." he jokingly said to himself as he walked to the wagon.
Hank returned with two rabbits. He and Jake then began to prepare breakfast as Marie slowly awoke and joined them by the fire. The top of the sun was now above the horizon and the entire world began to sparkle. Marie stood quietly wrapped in a blanket. Jake looked at her and remembered how she had run the day before. He had thought that she had been like Kira. Now though, he realized that he knew nothing about her at all.
"We're going to get to see the Mirrorball today." said Hank.
"I've never seen it before myself, but when we get close enough to Eastbrook today, we'll be able to." he continued.
Jake looked towards Eastbrook. He'd heard about the Mirrorball before, but then again, so had everyone else. He began to wonder what it would be like. There was a small pause in the conversation and then Marie coughed slightly and spoke.
"I've seen it before." she said.
Jake and Hank looked at Marie. Both believed her instantly.
"It's just a big shiny ball. What's the big deal?" she said.
"You mean it's just a big shiny mile high ball with a perfect mirrored unbreakable surface." Hank stated. He almost seemed offended that she would not be amazed by it.
"It's just a big shiny ball. It was fun to see it at first, but I forgot about it after about a week." Marie continued.
"After a week? Did you used to live in Eastbrook or something?" asked Jake.
"Yeah, I moved there with my momma after papa died for a while, but then we came back to Pine Mountain after things got strange."
"What's strange about Eastbrook?" asked Hank.
"Momma said that Nahli was."
Jake and Hank still knew very little about Marie's religion called 'Nahli.' All they really knew about it was that everyone seemed to know about it outside of William's Peace, and that it gave it's members a super power. They also couldn't understand why they would not come to help Marie's mother as she lay dying. Nahli so far simply seemed odd.
"What did she say was wrong with it?" asked Hank.
"She didn't tell me. We moved back to Pine Mountain to get away from it though. I think momma was mad at it. We were going to leave the church and go back to Papa Voice, but then the explosion happened, and well, now it's just too late."
"So, why do you think she was mad at it?" asked Hank.
"I don't know."
During that day, a small conversation broke out from time to time amongst the group. It would sometimes be about Eastbrook or the Mirrorball. Most of the time though, it was about Nahli. Both Hank and Jake pelted Marie with question after question, each time being unsatisfied with her lack of understanding.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, a miracle happened. Marie was once again sleeping in the back of the wagon. Jake was dozing off himself as Gideon obediently trodded down the path. In front of them was a somewhat tall hill that they chose to cross over just as they had crossed over so many others. And, then the miracle happened.
As they climbed the hill, they saw a bright silvery shining sphere move into view. The ball was immense. It dwarfed the nearby mountains. It was beautiful. Within it's surface lay a perfect reflection of everything around it. It seemed to be completely out of place. It looked as though an infinitely tall giant had accidentally left behind one of his marbles when he had gone off to find a new place to play.
"Look at that thing!" said Hank.
"It's immense." he said again.
"What is it?" asked Jake.
There was a pause and then Hank responded.
"It's the Mirrorball, stupid." Hank responded blankly.
"I know that. I mean...what is it? What's it for? Where did it come from?"
"Nobody knows."
"Is it empty or is it solid?"
"Nobody knows." answered Hank.
"Somebody's got to know something about it."
"Nope. Nobody knows anything about it." responded Hank continually watching the ball in complete respect and admiration.
Marie awoke and once again joined Jake on the seat of the wagon.
"We're getting close to Eastbrook. We should be there soon." she said.
"I always wondered why people would live right next to that thing." said Jake.
"I don't know. Maybe people just like to see it. Plus, maybe the land is good or something. I don't know." replied Hank.
As they approached the city, they spied a wagon filled with people coming down the road towards them.
Hank saw the wagon and then turned to Jake.
"Don't say anything. I mean it." Hank warned. He then scowled at Jake in a very strange and threatening way. Hank was far too strange to spend time with.
Jake wasn't sure what to do. The people in this wagon, what would they do when they saw Pine Mountain? Would they leave it alone? Would they ransack it? Then, what if they were heading all the way to William's Peace? What then? Jake didn't know, but he was concerned.
As the wagon came closer though, Jake saw something strange. On the front seat of the wagon, there was, what Jake guessed to be, a family: a father, a mother, and a son, all of whom happened to be somewhat overweight. The overweight father sat still on the seat holding the reins, the overweight mother sat with her head slightly bowed forward and tilted to one side as if she were sleeping. The overweight boy though sat still playing with his toys. This was where Jake began to notice the strangeness.
In front of the boy, there were three small balls: red, yellow, and blue. The balls were floating in the air. The boy intensely stared at the small balls as they moved in an interlaced pattern in front of his body. Somehow the boy was juggling these balls without actually touching them.
The family and their wagon slowly passed Jake, Hank, Marie and Quick. As they passed, the father simply tipped his hat, said "Goodday!" and continued on his way.
From that point on, they began to see more and more strange things. As they passed one farm, they saw an overweight man flying above his crops dropping something onto them. As they passed another farm, they saw a tremendously overweight woman, standing by a rose bush, touching the rose buds that then would grow and blossom at an incredible speed. She would then pick the roses and put them into a basket she held. As they passed another farm, they could see an overweight family outside their home standing next to baskets and baskets filled with vegetables. These vegetables though were vegetables that they had never seen before and seemed so strange in appearance that their existence somehow seemed improbable.
Slowly the Mirrorball increased in size as they approached Eastbrook.
After another hour, from behind, they could hear the jingling of bells. Jake looked behind them to see a wagon approaching them at high speed. So, he gently tugged at the reins and Gideon slowly inched over to one side so that the approaching wagon could have more room to pass. As the wagon passed though, Jake noticed that there were no horses pulling it, rather, there was a toothless elderly woman holding a sturdy rope that was tied to the wagon's frame. She smiled a big toothless grin at them and waved as she mightily ran past them pulling the wagon and all of its contents. Jake remarked, that, had he pushed Gideon as hard as he could, he probably could not have caught up to her.
Jake and his group slowly crept along the rode and over a hill. They were now completely in shock over the things they had seen that day. Only Marie felt comfortable and at ease as she slept in the back of the wagon. As they passed over one hill, they could see in the far distance the walls of Eastbrook. As they began to wonder what they would see within her walls, they felt a small shudder of fear.
Thirty minutes later, the walls of Eastbrook were clearly visible. All but Marie were completely stunned and were now waiting to see what would happen next.
Then, Jake and Hank, from behind, could hear a small strange sound that seemed to repeat itself at a constant rate but was also growing in volume. The sound reminded Jake of a time when he'd been out working in a field with his brother Shane several years ago. Shane had somehow managed to close the petals of a flower in and around a bee. Shane had held the flower to Jake's ear at the time and Jake had heard an amazing desperate electric buzz that reminded him of the sound that he heard now.
Jake, fearfully, looked behind himself once again. He felt small. He was only a young man. He wasn't strong. He wasn't terribly intelligent either. Even in the world that he was accustomed to, he was not mighty in any sense. In this new world that he was now becoming aware of though, he was even smaller. How could he survive here?
Behind Jake, he saw in the far distance a small speck. But, then, he didn't. The speck had disappeared. But, then he saw it again, but this time, it was much closer. Somehow, the speck had disappeared and reappeared one hundred feet closer. With each disappearance, the buzz came again. And so, Jake watched the speck grow as it blinked down the road one hundred feet at a time. Jake also heard the buzz grow. As the speck approached, Jake could see that the speck was a boy. As the boy came even closer Jake could see that the boy was tremendously overweight.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Jake watched the boy travel down the road and past his wagon. At the rate he was moving, Jake knew that the boy could probably get anywhere almost as fast as Marie. Jake continued to drive as he watched the boy once again become a speck far off in the distance.
Hank was silent. So was Jake.
From the back of the wagon, there was a rustle. Marie stood and sleepily climbed back onto the seat.
"Where does your uncle live?" she asked.
"In Eastbrook." said Jake as he continued to watch the speck move off in the distance.
"No. I mean, what's his address?" she asked again in minor frustration.
"#4 Purple Way, Old Town. Why?"
Marie raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Your uncle's rich?"
"A little. He's a professor at the Language Guild."
Marie then leapt from the wagon and began to walk quickly alongside.
"I'm going to go and get your uncle so he can wait for us at the city gates. We gotta be careful." she said as she ran off. Behind her, a small line of dust rose off the ground. She was already half of the way to the gate.
"Careful about what?" Jake asked himself aloud.
"This town has got to be crazy. How could you police a town when the people inside of it are capable of anything? Think about it. What would happen if even that granny that was pulling that wagon got out of line?" said Hank.
"What do we do?" asked Jake.
"I have no idea, but this much I know, maybe I better look into this Nahli thing. It sounds like one of these gifts might come in handy." answered Hank.
"Don't leave Papa Voice Hank."
"Why? What's He ever done for you?"
"I just don't think it's a good idea." responded Jake.
"Mind your own business boy."
"Don't forget Jake. Don't you tell a soul about the explosions. Let's see what things are like first." Hank said as he and Jake approached the gate.
Jake, Hank, Quick, Gideon and Gale approached the gates of the city. On either side of the gate stood two men. All four of them wore a badge and a sash. As they stopped, one man approached their wagon and began asking questions.
"State your business here." he said.
"I'm sorry, what?" said Jake.
"Why do you wish to enter Eastbrook?"
Jake paused for a second. He then looked at Hank who was scowling at him. Hank then spoke.
"We're here visiting family."
Jake then looked at Hank and then back at the guard. Jake knew that if there was ever a time to tell someone about what had happened in William's Peace, it was now and he cursed himself for having not thought of sending Marie to do it earlier. People's safety mattered much more than the scraps of property either had left behind.
He then looked at the wall guard and said "We're from William's Peace."
Hank looked down in intense but well hidden rage.
"Last Sunday, our town was attacked by a large monster. We're all that's left of it. Everyone else was burned to death. We came here to tell you about it and also to make contact with my family. On our way, we passed through Pine Mountain and it's the same there as well. Everyone there is dead too." Jake said.
"You're from William's Peace?" asked the guard as he looked at them more closely.
Hank's head was down. It was obvious that his rage was so immense that bowing his head was all he was capable of at the moment. And Jake knew for certain that when Hank became capable of more later, that Jake would find out about it. Jake was afraid.
It was then that Jake noticed that one of the guards was intensely staring at him. But then, he realized, that he wasn't staring at him, but rather past him.
"Watch out. We got a runner coming." said the guard.
And at that, one of the guards began to crouch and wait. Jake thought about looking behind him to see what was coming but instead decided to keep watching the guard.
The guard was a younger man, perhaps even still in his teens. This, of course, was odd. Who would put a teenager in place as a wall guard? Usually these positions were left to men that were slightly older, perhaps even in their thirties.
All of a sudden, the young guard's eyes opened wide, and he leapt, or so he seemed to. The guard's legs and waist remained where they were while the top half of his body shot into the air. The top half of his body had simply fanned out from the rest. This young man was stretching as though he were made of nothing but a thick liquid. His entire body had soon spread out into a large thin and wide blanket of sorts. Then, a split second later, a small form exploded into the young man's blanket shaped body. The young man allowed the small form to enter as he gathered the rest of his body about the victim, trapping him much as Shane had trapped the bee. There was a bit of a struggle, but eventually, the small form of a boy was pulled from the folds of the young guard's body. Another guard, simply by pointing at him, picked the boy up off of the ground and placed him in a sack that two other guards were holding as the boy frantically pedalled his feet through the air desperately trying to make contact with something. The boy was then carried off out of their view.
After a few seconds, the first guard came back and began to speak with Jake.
"Yeah. We know about William's Peace and Pine Mountain. You have our sympathies. You also have our assurance that everyone that needs to be contacted about this has already been contacted. Thank you. You're free to enter." said the guard as he waved his arm.
Jake looked at Hank. Hank was looking at him in absolute rage. Jake began to shake. He had done his duty. He had told the guards the thing that civility required. His conscience was clear. Now though, Jake had another problem. How would Jake deal with the madman that accompanied him? All Jake could do was replay the memory of Hank slapping Jolie over and over in his mind. He wondered if Hank was capable of more violence than just a slap. He reached down to feel the dagger that was at his waist and somehow knew that it would not be enough to protect him. Nervously Jake flicked the reins and entered Eastbrook.