The Enhancer Read online

  Chak continued interfering every time Meeral came near Jarph. For a few days Chak boasted of his clever driving that got them to their campsites faster than usual. Jarph looked at Meeral with a slight smile on her face.

  On the sixth night Meeral heard the strange noise she had heard a few nights before. She reached for the stone she kept in her bed, then peeked out of the wagon. Something was moving nearby -- touching the side of her wagon.

  Suddenly she heard Chak shout, "You get on that side, Rolim, and scare him toward me."

  Rolim stood so close to Meeral's wagon that Meeral could almost reach out and touch her. Figures moved. Someone waved a large stick.

  Chak shouted, "Hit him! Glitob, hit him on the nose!" Suddenly Rolim screamed. Meeral saw an animal scurry away into the woods.

  "You let him get away," Chak shouted but Rolim kept screaming.

  Quickly Chak lit a lamp. The porcupine was gone, but Rolim lay on the ground sobbing.

  "Her leg. It's full of quills," Jarph said.

  "I'll take care of it," Chak said. He took out his knife and gripped a quill between the blade and his thumb and pulled. The quill broke off leaving half of it under her skin.

  "Let me help," Meeral said. She slipped down from the wagon. "Take a hold with your fingers -- tightly."

  Meeral enhanced his pull. The quill slipped out of his fingers. She looked at the top part of the broken quill. It was hollow. Using Chak's knife, she gently cut the end off one quill. "Now pull it out," she said to Chak as she enhanced his grip and pull. It came out easily. One by one they pulled the quills out. Only the broken one remained. Meeral couldn't figure out how to remove it.

  "It will work its way out,"

  Chak said. "Put her to bed."

  With Meeral's help, Jarph picked up her daughter. Rolim moaned and whimpered as they carried her.

  When they reached the wagon, Jarph leaned close to Meeral and whispered, "You're in danger."

  Meeral heard Chak's footsteps. Before Chak had a chance to order her to leave, she slipped away.

  Rolim was miserable the next day. Meeral continued to enhance both wagons. They traveled rapidly as the hills were gentle and the road was more traveled and in better condition.

  When Chak finally realized that Meeral was enhancing the speed of both wagons he said, "I'm going to start paying you, Meeral. An onic a day."

  She thanked him. Any money she could get would help.

  "How would you like to work for me all the time?" he asked. "You don't want to work in Pactyl. It's full of rough characters."

  If Chak considered them rough they must be really dreadful. Meeral was on the verge of saying "no," but something told her to say, "I'll think it over." He continued telling her what a wonderful opportunity the job would be for her and how she would hate working in Pactyl. Glitob joined him.

  "You'll be working with me, Meeral," he said. "We make a good team." He and Chak laughed at some private joke between them.

  Rolim got worse. "We've got to get that quill out," Jarph said. "There's an expert healer at the Ezant compound in Pactyl. We must get her there at once."

  "Sure,Ó Chak said, but Meeral thought he didn't even hear what his wife said.

  Every movement of the wagon made Rolim cry out. At night Meeral could hear her moaning. Chak almost seemed to take pleasure in making long stops to trade, though he complained that Rolim was keeping him awake at night.

  They had just stopped at a campsite. Chak didn't want to go further as black clouds were rolling in from the west. He and Glitob had maneuvered the wagons through the narrow entranceway that was bordered by deep ditches. Meeral did not interfere, although she could have made the job much easier. If she had enhanced their muscles, the men could have easily moved the wagons by hand after the horses were unhitched. The same warning that kept her from blurting out her "no" when Chak offered her a job, made her keep quiet about her enhancing skills.

  "We should be in Pactyl tomorrow afternoon," Chak said, "and I'm not going to have that girl keep me awake tonight. Put her in with Meeral."

  "I'm her mother. I should take care . . . "

  Glitob interrupted Jarph. "I don't want my tent near that whining brat." He looked at the darkening sky. "Let me come in with you, Chak. Looks like some bad rain coming."

  It was decided that the two men would be in one wagon and the two women and the girl in the other. Meeral found Jarph watching her with wide eyes, as if she had won more than being with her daughter.

  Chak, too, saw the expression on his wife's face and said, "Oh, no, you don't." Again he hitched up his horse and moved the lead wagon so that it blocked the narrow entrance. He finished just before it began to rain.

  Rolim did not want any of the supper of bread and cheese but she drank some cider.

  Jarph nodded her head in the direction of the other wagon and said, "They'll drink stronger cider." Taking a linen scarf from around her neck she held it out in the rain, wrung it out and wiped Rolim's face gently. "I wish there was something I could do to make her more comfortable," she said, staring at the little girl's swollen leg.

  "Would a cold pack help?" Meeral asked.

  Jarph looked surprised then glared at Meeral. "That's not funny!"

  "I'm serious," Meeral said. "I cooled the beer in Cyrtuno. Remember?"

  She took the scarf, wet it and duplicated the cold from the earth to the scarf. She couldn't get the scarf as cold as she had the beer, but it made Rolim feel better. "SheÕs more comfortable," Jarph said.

  Meeral nodded. "We'll be in Pactyl tomorrow and we'll get expert help."

  "We won't," Jarph said.

  "What?"

  "We won't be in Pactyl."

  "But Chak said . . . "

  "He didn't mean it. He's taking us further south."

  "Why?"

  "He thought you would be so desperate for a job that he could talk you into working for him. He also planned that you marry Glitob."

  Meeral gave a quick laugh. "You're joking!"

  "No. They're taking us south anyway. Chak's gotten in with men like Glitob. I think they're doing something with the Draries that's against the laws of Lurdoa."

  "Smuggling, I think," Meeral said, remembering Glitob boasting to her about getting goods into Lurdoa at a lower price. Jarph nodded. "They're a bad bunch. He would get a lot of prestige by kidnapping Shejani's daughter. Your mother was the most glamorous woman in all of Lurdoa."

  But I'm not glamorous. I don't even want to be."

  "You're Shejani's daughter."

  "I wish I weren't," Meeral said.

  "I've been trying to warn you," Jarph said. "Chak wouldn't let me get near you."

  From the other wagon they could hear singing mingled with the beat of the rain. "They're really getting filled up tonight," Jarph said. "It would have been a perfect time to get away. I almost had it worked out."

  She explained that she had been planning to leave Chak when they got to Pactyl. He had become impossible -- mean and dishonest. Then she found he wasn't even going to Pactyl. When Chak put her and Rolim in Meeral's wagon she planned to wait until the two men had drunk themselves to sleep.

  "Then we could have escaped in the wagon. Too bad Chak saw what I was thinking."

  They sat, the two women, listening to the rain hitting the roof. It was hot and damp and they could hear Rolim whimpering. When the wind came in a gust, it blew into the wagon, spraying them with rain.

  "TheyÕll be sleeping pretty soundly, won't they?" Meeral asked. Then she added, "If we don't try tonight . . . " and she knew that Jarph knew the end of that sentence.

  They crept out into the rain and shuffled around in the dark until they located their hobbled horse. It took forever to harness the unwilling brute to their wagon. It took even longer to move Chak's wagon. In the dark it was hard to figure out when Meeral should enhance Jarph's quiet, and oh, so gentle movements as she shifted Chak's wagon away from the entrance of the road. They stopped often, waiting for a flash of l
ightning to see where they were. When they had moved the wagon, Jarph squeezed Meeral's hand and got into the driver's seat. They were both soaked. Meeral led the horse through the narrow passageway.

  They were almost out. Just to be safe, Meeral waited for another flash of lightning to make certain they were not too close to the ditch on each side. The flash came -- so close -- surrounding Meeral with light. Less than a second later came the crash of thunder. The ground shook and the bottoms of Meeral's feet tingled. A tall pine tree cracked and toppled over. The horse cried out in terror and sprang forward, knocking Meeral into the mud. She rolled out of the way of the plunging wagon and scrambled to her feet. The frightened horse passed so close to Chak's wagon that the moving wagon scraped the side with the screech of wood against wood. Again the whole sky flashed white.

  "Hurry!" Jarph shouted, as Meeral reached the side of the wagon.

  She was almost up on the wagon when a hand grabbed her from behind.

  "Meeral!" Jarph's shout was echoed by a curse from Glitob. Jarph reached across, pushing him in the face. In a moment of misplaced calculation, Meeral enhanced Jarph's hand, giving Glitob a tremendous push. It would have worked, except that he was holding tightly to her arm. They both fell off the wagon. Jarph's horrified wail floated back to Meeral.

  Meeral landed on top of Glitob. She heard the involuntary escape of his breath as he hit the ground. In one movement she was on her feet and running. Jarph's wagon was gone. Meeral plunged into the dense bushes next to the road.

  She dodged past trees and scrambled past bushes. She heard the two men shout to each other. Then she could only hear the pounding rain and crashing thunder but she kept on going. The bushes grabbed at her skirt so vigorously she thought Glitob or Chak had caught her. Often she fell, once right on her face. Wiping the mud from her eyes, she held her face up to the sky, but now when she needed it, the rain had stopped.

  All night she staggered unsteadily along, trying to keep parallel to the road. When the sun rose, the mud on her clothes and skin dried and cracked. She was further away from the road than she realized. When she finally reached it, she could see no one in either direction.

  She kept glancing back and forth, looking for danger and help. Chak might have passed in his wagon during the night. She was so tired she thought of stopping but if she lay down she might not get up. She thought of Shejani and tried to be angry. Instead, picturing her mother gave her strength.

  The bright sunshine made her miserably hot. Then she heard the click of a horse's hooves behind her. For a moment she thought she was dreaming for in the distance was the most beautiful bay horse she had ever seen. One foreleg was pure white, as if it wore a white, silk stocking. Even at a distance, she could see that the curve of his neck and the prancing of his feet were more elegant than any of the fine horses her mother had brought to Cyrtuno.

  She stood on the road, swaying from exhaustion when she heard a wagon coming down the hill from the other direction. It was Chak's. They must have passed her in the night, and were coming back. They were closer than the rider and were rapidly bearing down on her. If she could only slow down the wagon! She tried to enhance the friction on the wheels, but her head was too muddled.

  She turned. Gathering her strength, she began running toward the bay. She saw the flash of the white stocking on the horse, but it was too far away and moving too slowly. She would never reach him before Chak caught her. Keeping her eye on the horse and rider, she lurched toward them, willing them to go faster. As if her wish had become a reality, they suddenly seemed to be flying, bobbing up and down in the air with a bright light surrounding the head of the rider. As he came to an abrupt halt, he leaned over her. In that brief instant she saw that his eyes were blue and that the light around his head was not the glow of some godlike figure but a mass of blond hair.

  Chak was out of his wagon screaming obscenities at her when the man on the bay reached down and put his arm around her waist. She grasped him around the neck as he swung her up.

  "My wife!" Chak shouted. "Give me my wife!"

  "Is he your husband?" the man asked her.

  Meeral shook her head vigorously and held tightly to him.

  "Do you want to go with him?"

  She shook her head again.

  Glitob reached for the bridle of the bay, but the horse reared, raking the air with his hoofs and the two men retreated.

  Looking over the man's shoulder, Meeral saw Chak shaking his fist at her.

  "By Gurkonian Gut," Chak shouted. "I'll find you, Meeral. You'll be sorry you left me when you become just like your mother?"

  Meeral clutched her rescuer more tightly and felt the powerful stride of the horse as it galloped safely away from Chak and Glitob.

  CHAPTER 3

  Exhausted, Meeral saw only snatches of the landscape. Dense bushes and widely spread branches of trees covered it more thoroughly than she had ever seen growing in the north countryside of Cyrtuno.

  Whenever she opened her eyes, she focused on the carefully combed mane and pricked ears of the bay horse. Even with the gentle walk of the horse she would have slipped off the saddle if the man with the blond hair hadn't had a strong arm around her waist.

  Sometimes she dozed. Then, behind the dark of her eyes, she saw Chak and Glitob running toward her. She would tense her body and release a cry that sounded like the whine of a cat. The man would break in with a voice so deep that she not only heard the vibrations but also felt them where her back rested against his chest.

  "Drink. Open your mouth. Drink," he said.

  When she let the narrow neck of the leather flask into her mouth, she felt tepid water roll down her throat. Then he would ask her if she hurt in any particular place and she would shake her head, no.

  Once, after he had put the flask away, she raised her hand to brush away some dark object that was falling across her eyes. Her fingers tangled in her own hair, and she felt the globs of dried mud caught in the strands. The moan that came from her lips sounded hoarse and unfamiliar. She heard a chuckle behind her.

  "It'll take more than a flask of water to get you cleaned up, my dear."

  The soft thud of the horse's hoofs on dirt changed to resounding bell-like clicks. A man ran toward them.

  "Horses aren't allowed in the courtyard," he shouted.

  They kept moving until her rescuer pulled the reins and dismounted in front of a building. The man ran up waving his hands. "You can't bring that horse in here."

  A woman came out the door of a large stone building. She was about sixty years old, with a hawk-like face. Meeral knew she was a member of the Ezant religion by her gray robe gathered at the waist by a green sash.

  "I need help for this girl," her companion said. His voice had lost the gentleness Meeral had heard during their ride. The commanding tone made the guard of the courtyard step back as the man addressed the woman. "You don't know me but I've heard that the Ezants . . . "

  The woman interrupted in a tone of equal authority. "You know that the Ezants take care of women who need help. Bring her in -- and Padipt. . .Ó She turned to the guard who had tried keeping them out of the courtyard. ". . . take good care of that horse."

  Her rescuer helped Meeral into the building. He eased her down onto a wide, wooden bench.

  Sitting on the stool next to Meeral, the woman pushed back the matted hair and looked at her face. "Is she hurt?"

  "I've asked her several times. She always says she isn't," came that familiar voice of the rider. "I think she's just exhausted."

  "I'll have someone take care of her as soon as possible. Now everyone is busy watching our healing enhancer work on an injured child. The child's mother rode in earlier in her wagon -- from the North Road. All of us want to see to see how the enhancer solves a difficult medical problem." The woman paused then asked, "Has she had anything to eat?"

  "No. We passed a tavern but," he waved a hand vaguely in Meeral's direction, "she didn't seem to be suitably dressed for the occasion."
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br />   The woman gave an abrupt laugh. "Did you find her on the North Road, too, as you returned from the Duke's Lodge, your Highness?" She gave a trace of a curtsy as she addressed him by his title.

  The man looked surprised. "I know you are the High Priestess Zavona of the Ezant church but how is it that you know me?"

  "We haven't met, but I knew that you've not missed a social event nor neglected a lovely lady since you arrived."

  He bowed and said, "I've done my best."

  She ignored his comment and said, "I knew who you were when I saw your horse, 'Taur. That's his name, isn't it? A bay horse with such a distinctive build and silver-trimmed tack is easy to recognize -- just as you knew me by my distinctive appearance and silver trim," she said, running her hand over her steel gray hair.

  He smiled and walked around the room, looking at the wall hanging of embroidered pictures of men and women working and playing together. Meeral, lying on the bench, watched him stretching his legs after their long ride, his blond hair falling over his forehead. He moved his body in a manner reminiscent of the graceful movements of Shejani but his were as masculine as hers had been feminine.

  "I've wanted to meet the High Priestess of the Ezant. I've heard that you contribute a great deal to life in Pactyl," he said.

  "I'm glad you came. Besides all the parties you attend, I know you have been quietly visiting our banks, workshops, and industries. If I may ask, what made you take the long journey across the Lurpac Mountains from Lurdoa City to Pactyl?"

  "King ParToak sent me to study Pactyl."

  "For what purpose, or is it a secret?"

  "No." He paused as if trying to decide where to start. Then he said, "I don't need to tell you that six months ago my uncle ParToak was doing what he most liked to do. He was managing his estate in Lurdoan Heights, studying agriculture, history or whatever suited his interests. It never occurred to him that he would have to rule Lurdoa. He was fourth in line for the throne and thought he was perfectly safe."