EA#05
The Mountain in the Clouds, Part Eight
“
I awoke.I’d fallen asleep in a hammock. In a grove of hemlocks. In the highest city in the world.
And I had been drinking stargrape juice. It seemed I was still gripping the cup in my arms. The cup that was really just the rind of the melon, halved open with a knife and lightly mashed inside to juice it.
What a delicacy, I thought, smiling broadly. I could get used to this place.
“How was your rest?” the female voice of my host called out from somewhere.
“Very well, it seems, by the shape of me,” I said. I peered around, trying to adjust my eyes to the light. It seemed bright as sunlight. But it couldn’t be. Not up here in the clouds in the evening. With what seemed the threat of a storm looming in the distance.
I spotted the winged woman walking towards me from down the causeway. She held her hands behind her back, but moved demurely in her legs, head cocked down coyly. She was amazingly beautiful. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed earlier.
Something about the way she was moving…
“You deceive yourself,” she spoke, as if hearing my thoughts.
“Excuse me?” I parried deftly.
“Lying does not become you, one who has the power of discernment. There are not many who pass the first ordeal of the ascension. You have done so, though you doubted you would. You have triumphed and we all triumph with you. We are with you, Troy. You have all our backs from here on. We believed in you when you did not, and you proved yourself able to do what must be done in order to prevail.”
It was a blessing to receive such praise from the woman. She had such a forthright way of speaking that it all hit me much more powerfully. I truly felt the love and respect coming from her, and from all of them.
It was a lovely feeling, but it passed moments later.
I wonder if such glorious states of being really can last… if it could even be maintained for long. It’s so overwhelming, almost too much emotion. The amount of love…
No wonder it had to pass… now wonder…
“Are you ready for your next trial?”
“May I ask you a question, first?” I breathed.
“By all means,” answered the winged woman with the ornate headdress.
“What is your name?” I queried.
“Ah,” she laughed, to my surprise. “My name is Angie. Simple, right, you must be thinking?” She smiled.
“No, I wasn’t,” I said in awe.
“Are you ready, now, Troy?”
“Ready,” I said.
“Then we will be on our way.”
The portal opened up again. This time I think I must have eaten something. Or maybe it was that stargrape juice. My stomach did not want to settle while I spun through the myriad of magical interdimensional doors with lights and colors whirling all around me… no, by no means. My stomach wanted rather to hurl all over the non-floor of the place.
When we stopped on the other side, I had to pause on my hands and knees, holding my solar plexus, wondering if I were truly going to heave. The muscles of my face tensed up, and I glutched the grass tightly in anticipation.
But like the glorious feeling I’d had earlier, this passed as well. Not soon enough.
“Are you alright?” asked my host.
“Yes, fine, thank you. I always do that when I travel through magical doors.”
I got to my feet and looked around. I was in a village of some type. No, never mind, a town. Or bordering on a city, the more I looked at it. Well, city is a malleable word, I’d say. More townish. Villagey city-like town place….
Anyways, it was teeming with life. There were street vendors and pawners and tradesmen milling about selling wares. People seemed comfortable and business flourished.
But it was still a place of want. There was a more rustic feel to the buildings, and more dirt in the streets than not. They were not paved like the capitals cities back home in the rest… well, wherever the rest of Paelstor is. Somewhere through the magic door and way down the mountain from here…
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Neverwhere. We’re not far from your last puzzle,” she answered, gesturing with an open palm down the hill behind us.
I looked and saw in the distance the labyrinthine hedge maze that I had just faced earlier.
Was it still today? I thought. How long did I sleep this afternoon? The moon was… but wait, this is the magic place again. The time here is different.
I think…
Angie became very serious again, like she had been before the maze.
“You are about to face your second test. This will be a test of your strength.”
“My strength?” I tried to stop her.
She continued, “Yes, but perhaps not in the way you are thinking.You must find your own strength, your true strength. I cannot tell you more. You will discover your path if you enter this place. But be cautious. This town holds many secrets.”
My host was turning away when she paused and added, “But that should be no problem for one as discerning as you.”
Then she walked off a few steps where a set of flat metallic bars materialized out of the air. She stepped one foot after the other up the floating stairs. The higher she went, the more she vanished, until all of her body and her entire magic staircase were gone.
It struck me how fluidly that happened before me. And it struck no one else in town.
But someone struck me next.
“Move, you sleeser,” barked an angry man at least a head and two shoulders taller than me and built like an ox.
“I was standing still,” I said.
“That’s my problem,” he snapped back. “You were in my way. Now move!”
He shoved me hard under my collarbones and I went flying back through thecrowd and landed in a heap of wood and straw. As I lifted myself out of the shaky wooden cart and pulled loose hay out of my mouth, I thought, Great, real show of my strength, there. This test is already going so well.
I wonder what my strength is. I was never a swordsman, or adept at the magical arts. Maybe fishing? Eh, I enjoy it. But I wouldn’t say my great haul, that ten pound lobster fish, was much of a prize in the fishing world…
“Are you ok?” asked a kind voice.
She was there in front of me in a moment, reaching out her hand to help me onto my feet. She wore simple peasants clothes. But her face shone through the muck and dust. It was the face of an angel.
“Uh, yea, yes,” I stammered in response. “Yea, I’ve been pushed harder before.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. Not physically anyways…” why did I add that bit?
“Ok, well, Mr. Physically fit but otherwise questionable, I’m really sorry about that guy. You’re new to town, I can tell. Part of living here so long. Yea, that guy over there,” she pointed at the ox who had pushed me. He was hassling a group of old men down the street, holding one of them by the scruff of his shirt.
“He thinks he’s one of them,” she nodded knowingly. But I didn’t know.
“Them?”
“Oh, right. Not everyone has their own neighborhood giants to worry about. I forgot, it’s just us.”
“Giants?” I wondered.
“Yea, giant assholes more like it. Taxmen. They’re the taxmen. They come every fortnight for their price. A penny for every grain of rice.”
“That sounds steep,” I joined her. “I wouldn’t want to see that tax bill.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“You’re a funny one, huh?” she said. “Name’s Gill. Welcome to Titanton.”
She reached out a grimy hand. I took it and shook.
“I’m Troy. Nice to meet you.”
I couldn’t help but squirm with a silly feeling of exhilaration. It was mostly her, but the idea that the town was named… it was too funny to me. To think that this country-like city bears the moniker of the Titans. If only Gill could see the T’hor Hill Lands of legend, where the mightiest of kings have lorded for centuries unhindered…
“So,” I said. “Tell me more about this ox, uh, giant-wannabe over there… What’s with his attitude?”
“He and a handful of thugs have decided it’s better to join them than fight them. Since the giants keep coming, every other nightfall on Urday, these guys start the whole thing early, demanding payments. Once the giants arrive, the men give the money like offerings, and they worship. They actually get on their knees and offer prayers and praises. This mostly just makes the giants laugh, but they entertain these men because they know they are useful.”
“Sounds like a bunch of fools,” I mocked.
“Truer words could never have been said. Where are you from, Troy?” she asked me.
“I’m from somewhere. But right now I am in Neverwhere. And from the sounds of it, this is the night, and the giants will be heading this way any moment.”
“You’re right about that,” said Gill.
“Then what do we do?”
She laughed and shook her head, hands on the sides of her hips.
“We hide. You’d better come with me and get out of sight if you don’t have a place to stay.”
I realized I would indeed be in a bad spot if I were caught in the streets when the giants did arrive.
“No place,” I answered. “I think I will take up that offer to get out of sight with you, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“I wouldn’t be offering if it were,” she said with a wink.
She grabbed my arm and began leading me away from the busy street. It appeared that everyone had the same idea. All the tumultuous activity I had seen before was gone. The last vendors were finishing packing up their wares and closing shop for the day. Everyone was rushing to and fro, possessions barely clung to their grip, slipping from their bodies as they ran.
I guess this town’s got a bully problem.
“
Thank you for reading. Please leave comments or share if you really liked the piece.
Blessings to you all,
Matthew