02. Exiles at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker

Author:Jack L. Chalker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-01-31T23:27:08+00:00

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Mavra Chang awoke with a start and looked around. It was dark—she'd been sleeping for quite some time. Suddenly, she had a headache and various other aches and pains from sleeping so hard and in one position. Solid sleep.

She looked around, spotted Renard and Nikki reclining, backs against a broad tree. She was asleep, and he was half-asleep, his arm around the plump girl. Mavra could see in a moment what had happened; there was little way to clean up here. It bothered her, and it bothered her that it bothered her. Possibly because she could not understand it.

She turned and crept up to the edge of the clearing. Not much traffic or signs of traffic now.

Occasionally a cart would go by, two torches blazing from holders in its side grotesquely half-illuminating the strange creature that pulled it; but clearly traffic was at a minimum. She doubted the cyclopses had good night vision; they seemed mostly inactive after sunset, active from first light.

She crept back to the pair, who hadn't moved, and gently woke them up. Nikki seemed to be calmer, which was good, but worse mentally. Mavra wondered if the effect accelerated despite what Renard had told her, or if it was just more noticeable when you started to get down below the normal level.

"We're about ready to go across," she told them. "We'll go as far as we can tonight to try and make up the lost time."

"We gon' run 'croth?" Nikki asked, sounding almost eager.

"No, Nikki, not run," she replied patiently and slowly. "We will walk across, slowly and nicely."

"But th' big thing'll thee uth!" the girl protested.

"There aren't many of them," Mavra told her. "And if one comes near, we'll just lie down and be quiet and wait for it to go away."

Renard looked at Nikki and patted her hand. She liked that, and snuggled up a little to him. "Let's go now, Nikki," he said gently.

They got up and made their way to the edge of the plains. No torches or carts in sight except two dim lights far off in the distance. Probably the same one that Mavra had seen, going away, she guessed.

"Okay, let's all walk now, nice and easy," she told them, taking Nikki's right hand in her left and Renard's left hand in her right. They started out.

The crossing was almost too easy. The cloud cover had remained, making the surroundings even blacker, and there was literally nobody on the roads. They crossed the clearing in about twenty minutes with no problems, and Mavra wished that all her troubles and worries were so easily laid to rest.

But then the rain started. Not a bad rain, or a big storm, but a steady rain that was warm but uncomfortable. It quickly turned the ground into mud and soaked them through. Nikki seemed to enjoy it, but it was miserable going, and the trees didn't offer much protection.

Mavra Chang cursed. The mud was becoming deeper and more treacherous, and they couldn't keep going much longer in this kind of mess.

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