©2025 SammyC

After a convivial farewell dinner in Georgia & Eric’s home, Alvin took his leave, saying he needed to rise early the next morning and get everything ready for our train trip.

We had just had a delicious meal of Blinkbird Fricassee, served over mashed tubers of some kind and a colorful three-bean salad. Eric’s cooking skills far outmatched those of Langston’s tribe, and we suffered from our attempts to stifle satisfying burps. Georgia ushered us into an adjoining room where she served us some fruity tasting wine to help in the digestion of our sweet feast.

The first sign that there was something wrong was a creeping sense of immobility. Initially, I attributed the feeling to the lethargy one normally experiences in such a serene setting after eating perhaps a little too well. But my arms and legs appeared to be anchored to my chair. Swiveling my head around, I saw all of us in similar straits. Merlyn, in particular, was alarmed and opened her mouth, wanting to scream, but no sounds emerged. I tried to speak for all of us and discovered I had been rendered mute.

Georgia stepped into view, standing above me. She peered into the pupils of my eyes. Nodding, she pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of me.

“I know that you won’t remember a word I’m about to say, but in the interest of putting you somewhat at ease, I will tell you what is about to happen. Slowly, perhaps within a handful of minutes, you will lose consciousness. No, it’s no good trying to speak, Rani. At least temporarily, you won’t be able to. None of you will.”

“Rest assured, we will keep our promise of getting you to your destination in time to attend your wedding to Prince Kelvin. However, you must realize that we cannot let you go, possessing the knowledge of who we are and where we live.

We in The City have thrived in isolation from the destructive impulses of both Kingdoms for more than a century and a half. You have seen the marvels we have inherited from the alien race that left behind this underground complex. I’m sorry, Rani, but we cannot allow the descendants of the very people who exiled us into the oblivion of the wilderness to destroy everything we have accomplished against all hope and reason.”

“You might shake your head, but it is the mark of your rapacious people. Ignorance in the pursuit of power. The good of the few above the good of the many. We are only 350 in number. Your thousands would overwhelm us, even with the technology at our disposal. No, as Mayor, I cannot countenance such a disaster.”

“You will be taken to our medical facility, where we have devices that can erase your memory of this city and its citizens. Yes, especially your memory of my son, Alvin. He is the treasure of our people, the future of our society. We will not risk his valuable life to have him become embroiled in the superstitious machinations of primitive minds. He will not accompany you on the train tomorrow.”

“Luna has decided to stay with us, stay with her father, and become a part of our community. She will make a fine companion for Alvin. She is smart, capable, and beautiful. I know that you are all those things as well. But Luna is one thing you are not. You are not a woman.”

My mouth stretched to scream, but only silence resulted. Tears began to roll down my cheeks.

“Yes, Eric told me the truth the first night you were here. Luna did not betray you. So, you see, you can have no future with Alvin. He would discover the lie of your identity soon enough, and it would all end in tears more voluminous than you’re shedding now…”

Despite my anger and frustration at not being able to speak, my eyes were starting to close. Georgia was still pontificating about everything as if lecturing me the way Merlyn did during her tutorials, but her words made less and less sense. Finally, my eyes closed shut. Darkness fell upon my consciousness.

An incessant ringing woke me from my slumber. There was a vibrating buzz in the pocket of the strange clothing I was wearing. I looked around me and saw our entire contingent, except for Luna, seated in hammock-like chairs, facing forward. We appeared to be in a long, narrow chamber. I could sense subtle movement and a sound like rushing water. Except it seemed we, the chamber that is, were inside the water, like a leaf being swept along a river current.

Everyone else was asleep. Instead of trying to wake them, I reached into my pocket to determine what the ringing and vibrating was about. It fit in my hand, and I turned it around to the smooth, glassy side. Suddenly, an image materialized on the object. A young, nice-looking man with piercing blue eyes and a shock of wavy, brown hair immediately began to speak.

“Rani, it’s Alvin—”

I shook off my stunned expression and exclaimed, “Who are you? Are you a god or a demon?”

Alvin laughed. “Of course, they erased your memories of us. It’s not important right now. I didn’t know my mother had planned this. I wouldn’t have left early last night… Hopefully, you will regain your memories someday. I know I will never forget you, Rani.”

“Have I ever met you, my lord?” I asked, hoping not to offend this strange deity.

“Listen, the thing you hold in your hand will allow you to communicate with me wherever you are. It is twinned to mine. All you need to do is speak directly into it, and I will answer. If you need me, I can reach you in a matter of hours. Remember, just speak into it if you need help. I’m signing off now. Don’t lose it. Keep it with you at all times. I…I love you, Rani.”

The thing in my hand went silent and turned the color of a dark stone. I shook it and was about to speak into it when Merlyn shouted, “Hellzapoppin! Where are we?”

Like a row of dominoes, Amos, Daisy, and Edward were startled awake one after the other. There was a din of voices as I tried to calm everyone down, though I was in a state of panic myself.

“Well, well, you’re all finally awake.” We turned around and were stunned to see Malcolm striding toward us. It looked like he’d come through from an adjoining chamber.

“Malcolm! Senshi didn’t kill you!” I jumped out of my seat and ran to Malcolm, stopping a step or two from him as I realized I was showing too much enthusiasm at the sight of him.

“Of course not. She traded me to the underground people. You were all there!”

“What are you talking about?” Amos roughly pulled me away from Malcolm and stood nose to nose with him.

“Hey, your arms! They’re healed. No splints. Look.”

Amos held his arms in front of him and turned them this way and that. “But, how? What strange magic is this? Merlyn?”

Merlyn shrugged her shoulders. “Not me. Medicine is one of the few fields of learning I never mastered.”

Malcolm laughed. “You all act like you don’t remember everything that’s happened the last three days.”

“The last thing I remember is the sudden rainstorm that made us climb down from that ridge,” I explained.

“Look at the clothes you’re wearing. The underground people gave you those. We’re riding on what they call a train that’s taking us to the Western Kingdom.” Malcolm massaged his chin through the sparse beard he sported. “You really don’t remember anything after that? They must have done something to you to forget.”

“Forget what. And who are you talking about?” asked Amos in an angry tone.

Malcolm bristled at Amos’ attitude. “Look, you idiot, you’re the one who’s at a loss about the last few days, not me. And stand a little farther away, will you? Your breath reeks of Blinkbird and beans.”

Amos grabbed Malcolm’s tunic and reared back his healed right arm to strike when a 2-meter-high image blinked into view at the front of the chamber.

Merlyn was the first to exclaim. “Luna! Where are you? And where are we?”

“Hello, everyone. Please sit down. There is nothing to be alarmed about. You are safely on your way to the Western Kingdom. You should arrive in four hours.”

“What is this chamber that we are in? There are no windows—” Merlyn waved her arms at both sides of the chamber.

“Merlyn, you are on a train, a mechanical conveyance that moves along a pair of rails in an underground tunnel.”

Amos addressed the image of Luna. “Who’s controlling this machine? Can we stop it if need be? It’s frightening to feel so helpless. To be imprisoned in this moving chamber. And you say we’re underground?”

“It drives itself. My father tells me that its journey is ‘programmed’ into its controls. When you reach the end of the line, the doors to the cars will open and you can retrieve your Rumperdons in the car behind you. A passageway to the surface will light up for you to follow. I’m told the Western Kingdom is an hour’s ride from there.

“So rest easy, my friends. I will leave you now. Farewell. We will probably never see each other again. I’m sure you will be a wonderful queen of our planet, Rani. And Merlyn, thank you for mentoring me. I owe you so much. One more thing. Rani, it was not I who gave away your secret. It was my father. But he had to tell. He is one of them now. As I am, too. Goodbye.” Her image dissipated.

“This is hard to believe. It is like a dream,” Amos said in a soft tone.

“Now do you believe me?” asked Malcolm.

“Believe what exactly?” I replied. I was annoyed more than scared.

“By the way, what secret was she talking about?” Malcolm inquired.

In unison, Merlyn, Amos, and I shouted, “It’s a secret!”

Malcolm shot his hands up in the air and shook his head as if in defeat.

Merlyn mumbled under her breath. “Do you suppose Luna has passed over into the spirit realm? She mentioned her father, Eric, but he’s dead. How could she communicate with him? Unless she too had gone beyond the veil of existence.”

“And you call us primitive savages!” Malcolm sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs. “I’m going to go through this just once, so listen very carefully…”

He told us his story, starting with the moment he left us to try and stop or at least delay Senshi’s pursuit of us. After the riders from Langston’s tribe were picked off one by one by Senshi’s archers, leaving him alone and almost crushed beneath his wounded Hobnob, Senshi came up with the idea of trading him to the underground people in exchange for me. When they arrived at the dome of the underground people, with Malcolm tied and gagged, they were told that an exchange couldn’t be made. They had already eaten me!

“In good faith, considering our history of mutually beneficial trade, the underground people agreed to accept me in exchange for the usual goods and tools. What a shock it was. A pleasant surprise! To see you, wearing that very odd outfit, greeting me inside the dome. They had lied about eating you! There weren’t even any gnaw marks on you…that I could see.” There was a devilish smirk on Malcolm’s lips.

“Anyway, they took me away to solitary confinement, and the guards told me that, instead of eating the lot of you, they treated you like royalty—”

“Well, I am. I’m a Princess,” I said proudly, my chin pointed to the sky.

“The next morning, they had me go through a farce of a trial and summarily convicted me of various crimes—none of which they proved me of committing—and showed me the door. They did give me a Hobnob, and, Rani, you gave me some dried meat and wine to hold me over. I told you we would meet again. And here I am!” His broad smile irked Amos enough to pull his arm back reflexively.

“I don’t remember any of that.” I tried massaging my temples to summon the memories.

“Silly girl, you’ll give yourself a headache doing that,” Merlyn admonished. “Well, some of what Malcolm said must be true. But he wasn’t witness to what happened to us during that time. Perhaps these underground people placed some sort of memory-erasing spell on us.”

Amos didn’t bother to look up when he asked Malcolm, “So if they made you leave, how did you manage to end up on this…this train with us?”

“By now, you should realize that I’m quite resourceful. They had two guards escort me out of that place. As we’re riding along, I suddenly placed their faces. I knew them. A couple of times, they would bring out our packages of goods in what they called a truck. I would strike up a conversation with them. You know, just men stuff. I don’t want to offend your sensibilities, Rani, so I won’t go into detail. Where was I? Oh, yeah, I was smoking some fine dreamweed at the time.”

“What’s that, Malcolm?” I innocently asked.

“Well, they thought I was smoking rolled up cornsilk. I passed it to them to take a puff. Pretty soon they were in seventh heaven—”

“I believe that seventh heaven refers to the highest sphere of spiritual joy in the semitic religions of our home planet,” Merlyn interjected. “Or a 20th century video program.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Malcolm continued. “Every time we came by to make trades. Every three or four months. I’d trade them half a kilo of the stuff for whatever came to mind. So, this time, I exchanged the half a kilo I had on me for information and re-entry into the underground city. They knew you’d be placed on this train in the morning. I got inside with the animals in the next car and waited for you sleepy bobos to wake up.”

“Where did you get this weed you’re talking about?” I admit I was more than a little curious about this.

“Langston’s tribe. It grows wild nearby. They cultivate it to use in some kind of tribal ritual. Since their tribe has been annexed by us, it was a simple thing to requisition a monthly supply of it. Even Senshi’s been known to smoke some of it now and again. Say…”

He patted the pockets of his breeches and, after a bit of a struggle, came up with a couple of thin sticks of compacted dreamweed. “Want to try some? I’ve got these last two left.” He waved them in front of my eyes. They gave off a rather distinct odor.

I tentatively reached out with my hand, but Merlyn slapped it away. She wagged her finger and shook her head.

“No? Well, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll light up and relax a bit. Luna said we have another four hours aboard this machine.” He sat back on a chair a few meters away from us and took out his flint and steel fire starter kit. Once he sparked a flame, he lit up one of the thin sticks and took a deep puff. He coughed once and then puffed again.

The smoke wafted over to us but before I could inhale, Merlyn used both hands to wave it away from me. This only directed it toward Amos. He stood up and slowly approached Malcolm. They spoke in low tones. With a broad smile, Malcolm handed Amos the other stick of dreamweed. Amos leaned down and his back blocked my view.

I glared at Merlyn. She made a disapproving sound by smacking her lips.

“That’s for men, not you, little girl.”