Journey to Yesod

Art drawn by: Bintang Hamal

Written by: Hunter Ake

Edited by: Lilliana Steele and Dee Dee Davis

Chapter 1 (Part 1)

Trinect 34^th, 1258 

             “Wake up, lizard-breath!”

              Sook’s eyes blinked open as the late afternoon sun pierced through the shutters. The tall woman looked even bigger than usual on the rickety cot beneath her.

              The snide-toned voice continued, “You’ve been out for almost a full day. Started to wonder if you would wake up at all.” 

              Sook brushed her long dark hair out of her face and slowly sat up, still feeling the toll of the earlier battle. “Owww, I’m regretting that I did. My abs are killing me.” Her eyes slowly closed again and she focused her thoughts in order to push past the pain. “What about Zenebe?!” 

             Dulani rolled her eyes while sitting at the foot of the cot on a dusty old chair. Her well-maintained black cloak and healthy hair stood in stark contrast to the dingy hovel they were both presiding in, “He’s fine! Ugh, how did I know that would be the first thing you’d ask? He was the first to wake up. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the first to go down.” Dulani’s voice ended on a hushed note, gazing down in thought. She didn’t want to argue, but she felt like she needed to say something. 

             “Zenebe’s not a close combat guy. It’s our job to keep threats off of him.”

             “That’s just an excuse for his inability to cover his own ass, he needs to be able to look after himself.” 

             Sook smiled softly, “The same could be said for us. We barely got out of there alive!  We failed as a group.” 

             Dulani rolled her eyes again and let the matter drop. “Regardless, he’s getting us a new job right now.” 

             “Oh, really?” Sook perked up. 

             “Yeah. It turns out these settlers aren’t just helping us out of the kindness of their hearts. They want us to investigate some kind of disease. Big surprise, the hydrosophist thinks the problem might be in the water.” 

             Sook stood up as she stretched,  immediately groaning as she felt another ache spring to life, “Hmm, well, if he turns out to be right, then it’d be pretty lucky for us. We can pay these people back for their help.” 

            “Ugh, your optimistic counters are so annoying. Oh! Also, I nabbed you this.” Dulani produced a slab of salted meat from her cloak and handed it to Sook. 

            “By nabbed, do you mea–?“ 

            “Yes, I stole it.” 

            “You stole from the people who helped us?!”, Sook shouted in a harsh whisper. 

            “Oh, shut up, you’re sleeping in a shack. Do you want it or not?” 

            Sook hesitated, weighing her growing hunger against her moral opposition to eating stolen goods. It was a position she had compromised on before thanks to Dulani’s insistence on procuring food for the group. Sook looked Dulani in the eyes and felt frustrated by the apathetic look on the thief’s face.  Sook gazed down at the snack which instantly made her feel even hungrier. She took the meat gingerly and dug in, chuckling to herself over her twinge of guilt.

             “Come on, let’s go see if Zenebe’s cracked the case already.”

             Sook and Dulani threw open the door to their dilapidated lodging and followed the well-worn trail toward the settlement proper. They stopped to drink from the stream and looked all around the canyon. The pair of women admired the peaceful beauty of the rolling hills and the cliff faces behind the sleeping accommodations they had just left behind. The settlement was as bare bones as a community could get. There were a handful of wooden structures to house a few dozen people haphazardly placed along the riverbank. It turned out that Sook was sleeping in the tool shed; not the most luxurious accommodations but she would never complain. There was an outhouse a fair walk away from the settlement and what looked like an attempt at constructing a fishing pier along the bank. 

             The pair arrived at the foot of the pier where a crowd had formed around Zenebe. The young man was sitting on the ground, legs crossed in his beige-yellow garb and head wrap. Water formed into an uneven sphere, rippling and floating just inches above his palm. His eyes were closed in concentration as the murmurs of the crowd drifted over him.

              Dulani crossed her arms in frustration, “He’s seriously still not done yet? He was like this when I left to check on you.” 

             “Just give him time, you know how much of a perfectionist he is,” Sook replied. 

             After an agonizingly boring chunk of time, the water coiled and snaked back into the river. Zenebe opened his eyes and stood up; with a smirk he glanced over at his comrades. “My apologies for the wait. To you, especially, Dulani.” 

            “So, you do listen when you do that! You just ignore people. Consider me shocked.”

             One of the settlers chimed in, “So were you able to find out what’s wrong?”

             Zenebe empathized with the concerned faces of the settlers as he took a deep breath. “You said the sickness began almost immediately after you settled here, correct?” 

            “Yes! We’ve only been here a month and already half of us have caught disease!” replied the anxious settler. 

            Another man in the crowd interjected, “I’m telling you, the spirits of this area are angry at us for being here! We should keep looking around for someplace else.” 

           The crowd’s murmurs began to swell until it was too much for Zenebe. “Please, I’ve determined the cause!” The crowd suddenly quieted down. “My apologies, but it looks like something up-river is contaminating the water. My companions and I will promptly determine what it is and report back.” The young man ignored the ensuing questions and ushered the two women to join him in distancing themselves from the crowd. 

           Once the trio was far enough away, Dulani inquired, “What’s wrong? Why were you so curt?” 

           Zenebe paused and glanced in the direction of the settlement to ensure they were a safe distance away before responding in a firm, hushed tone, “Because, the contamination of the water is almost certainly coming from people living up-river.”

            The group traveled up the river in relative peace and quiet; taking in the beautiful cliffs that rose before them that seemed to grow taller with each step; the bubbling river sped past them, waves splashing over rocks and mixing together in a gorgeous chaotic mess. Sook led the way with Zenebe close behind her and Dulani bringing up the rear. 

            Dulani still didn’t quite understand why the contamination being man-made, was worth worrying over, but she didn’t want another know-it-all explanation from Zenebe. Certainly, they could resolve the issue fairly simply. 

             Sook was the first to spot signs of civilization and shortly after, the group stood still, taking in the breath-taking scene. Nestled in an extremely narrow part of the canyon, just feet above the racing river, an entire community was suspended on beams and panels made from Wanza lumber. People were walking back and forth on walkways, only one couple stopped to wave and welcome the newcomers into the town. The trio noticed the homes, the marketplace, and the mill with a large water wheel powered by the strong river current. Large nets suspended down into the water from the frontmost beams; catching fish as they traveled underneath the town. The group stepped onto the beams, the wood creaking under their weight. Sook worried she might need to stay back but remembered that these beams supported entire structures. 

             Zenebe was the first to ask a bystander the name of the place. 

             “This is our paradise, Abbayona.”

             Zenebe was led off to speak with members of the community about the issue. Sook rushed off to the marketplace and began sampling all the seafood options. Dulani moved quietly, observing the town, and keeping a critical eye out for anything fishy. 

              “You gotta try this fish!” Dulani’s concentration was suddenly broken as Sook shoved a fresh filet in her face. 

             “Ugh, must you be so tactless? I’m trying to get a lay of this place.” 

             Sook munched on her filet, considering. “You don’t want to leave this up to the hydrosophist?” 

             Dulani’s face scrunched in frustration. “I am contributing to this job so we can get out of here quicker and get on with our journey. You could stand to be a bit more helpful too.” 

             Sook swallowed her fish and smirked. “If anything happens, I want to be fueled up and ready for action. We all have our roles to play and I’m not exactly a people person.”

            “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Dulani turned on the heels of her boots and strutted off, her hair curls whipping as she did. 

             Sook smiled at the casual rudeness  and headed back to the market. As she walked back, she noticed Zenebe speaking with four concerned men. She figured he’d  handle it or he would know exactly how she could help. So, she decided to try the crustaceans next. 

             Dulani asked about every building in the town; homes, markets and storage yet no bathrooms. That explains the sickness of those villagers. Pretty unlucky of them they settled down-river from Abbayona. “Ugh, and I sipped some earlier too!”, she thought to herself. A look of pure disgust was etched into her face.

             Zenebe was relieved. These men weren’t aware the settlement down-river had been established but didn’t seem too concerned with the news. One of them even offered to send supplies to them to help them relocate.

             The group reconvened behind the sparsely populated marketplace.Sook was in her element with her typically optimistic demeanor, “Well, it seems cut and dry to me, the settlers can relocate with help from Abbayona and that’ll be that.” Sook said both cheerfully and flippantly.

            Zenebe couldn’t shake his worry though. “That’s the best-case scenario, of course, but it’s not that simple.” 

             Dulani caught on, “If it were my settlement, I’d be delighted to discover an established location with free infrastructure just up the river.”

             Sook’s expression quickly changed, “Wait, you think those settlers would try to occupy this town if we told them about it? I didn’t get the feeling they were capable of that.”

            Zenebe shook his head, “They’re settlers. They have a job to do for whomever their patron may be. They’re sick and desperate. Desperate people are capable of anything.” 

            “I already scoped out the town. No sign of a military force at all. If they have weapons, it wouldn’t be enough,” Dulani added.

            Sook’s expression soured, “We’re assuming the worst here. We have no way of knowing how the settlers will react. You said it yourself, they’re sick. There are less able-bodied people there than here in Abbayona. I don’t think they’d be able to pick a fight.” 

             Zenebe attempted to bring the conversation down, “We have to choose our next option very carefully. This is a bell that can’t be unrung. Personally, I think we should lie to the settlers about the contamination. Tell them it’s a problem that can’t be fixed, a natural phenomenon; and then encourage them to leave.” 

            Dulani spoke in a harsh whisper, “We were tasked with a job. I say we complete it and be on our way. I don’t want to risk picking a fight with whoever their patron is.” 

            Sook maintained, “I think we should be honest with both groups and do our best to ensure peaceful cooperation.”

            Zenebe scoffed and shook his head, “Wonderful, a triple deadlock, this is going to be one massive headache.”