Chapter 9: Ordin
A hasty farewell to the goblins, promising she'd be back again, this time in their lifetimes, and Helaine was once more trekking up to the mountain retreat of Shanara. Not finding her hostess in the kitchen or main room downstairs, Helaine thudded up the stairs in search of the sorceress. But it was Dorian she found first.
"Erm..." Helaine stuttered clumsily, her tongue suddenly impossible to control.
"Back so soon?" He inquired. His teeth were very white. Helaine managed a watery smile. Damn me, she thought furiously, I can't fall to pieces every time I get looked at.
"I...I need to get to one of the Rim Worlds. I was looking for Shanara. I need someone to open a portal for me to come back."
"She thought you weren't going to be around for another three days or so. She's visiting a centaur herd on the far side of the planet right now."
"Oh." Helaine bit her lip, thinking.
"But I can help you. After all, I'm a magic-user too." Dorian raised one eyebrow subtly. Helaine struggled not to notice.
"Thank you. Do you mind if we go soon? I'm in something of a hurry." She started to picture their destination in her head. Treen, the land of the Beastials.
"No need to go there." Dorian broke into her thoughts. Helaine stared blankly, confused. "Ekeln-An will do just fine. It is similar to Treen, but much more friendly, I find." Dorian smiled again.
"Whatever you think is best," Helaine said weakly as he opened a Portal into the great beyond.
Pixel was transplanting a bush to a sunnier patch of the garden when he was suddenly aware of Crow, crouching next to him. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked, one finger up her nose.
"Gardening," Pixel replied, swiping at her hand, "and don't be disgusting." The girl scowled and rubbed her hands into her brown smock. She watched Pixel in silence for another twenty seconds before interrupting him again.
"Why're you movin' that plant?" She asked, still twisting her hands in her clothes. Her small pug nose was dripping again, and she twitched it furiously. Pixel could see she was trying to avoid rooting around in it again.
"Have a blow," Pixel commanded, literally pulling a handkerchief out of nowhere. Crow accepted and rubbed the cloth roughly across her face. She apparently had no experience blowing her nose, concluded Pixel as he answered her question. "The shrub needs to be transplanted because it isn't getting enough sunlight here under this tree." Crow stopped wiping her nose and handed Pixel his handkerchief back.
"He dunt need sun." Crow stroked one of the leaves of the bush. "Not so much water. His roots is rotting 'cause they're too wet."
Pixel stared at the bright amber hands as they continued to brush over the leaves. "How do you know that?" He demanded. Startled, Crow looked up.
"'Cause, he says so!" She frowned. "Ent you listening?" Her lower lip protruded ever so slightly, as though she was pouting.
"Listening to what?" Pixel thought slowly. Crow did have some potential for magic, after all. Maybe she had some sort of affinity for hearing things.
"The plant! Says you're nice 'nuff, but not real smart." An impish look spread across her face in an almost-smile. Pixel put his hands on his hips indignantly.
"Oh really? Well what else does 'he' say about me?" Out of the corner of his eye, Pixel saw Score start across the courtyard towards the garden.
Crow reached her hand through the foliage and cocked her head. "He says I'm a good lis'ner, an' y'oughta pay attention to me." She removed her small fingers from the plant and twisted her mouth. "T'other man, um, t'one with the funny white skin," "Score," Pixel interjected. "Yeah, Scur. He says I gots t'help you, else he ent gonna teach me magic."
Pixel froze. Score was planning on teaching the stray magic? He shot out a link to Score, still on his way over. *You can't teach Crow magic.* He snapped angrily.
*Ouch, not so harsh* Score returned, in response to Pixel's irate thoughts. *And why not?*
*How many crazy magic-users have we encountered? How are we supposed to keep Crow from becoming just like one of them?* Pixel couldn't believe Score's stupidity. *She was doing just fine on Jewel. That makes her just as strong as any of us.*
*And what were you going to do? Lie to her?* Score shot back angrily. He was only a couple of feet away now, and Pixel could see an irritated wrinkle on his forehead.
*Just because we're taking care of her doesn't mean we have to let her in on everything we do!* Pixel pleaded. *Score, we can't raise another power-starved magician bent on killing us.*
*I certainly never intended to do that* Score glared at Pixel and then smiled at Crow, who was watching the two boys suspiciously. "You have leaves in your hair." Score said affectionately, reaching to brush them off the girl's indigo hair. Crow cringed and closed her eyes. Score withdrew his hand immediately. "What's the matter?" He asked, ignoring Pixel's frown.
"Dunt touch me." Crow said with a shudder. As the boys watched, the lowest-hanging branches of the tree bent down and shielded her.
"Whatever you want." Score said, trying to sound nonchalant. It troubled him. Crow grasped one of the branches firmly and bunched her eyebrows together. She's afraid, Score thought suddenly. He forced down a sickly feeling that accompanied thoughts of what he had seen other slum kids doing for money. None of them had wanted to be touched either. Score looked up at Pixel. The other boy's eyes were wide with concern, and the previous argument was forgotten.
"Why don't we go inside," Pixel suggested, glancing down at the quivering girl. She didn't respond, but followed them slowly to the castle.
The world of Ekeln-An was nauseating to Helaine. Dorian had insisted on waiting in a room in an inn for her, and the city streets were muddy and filled with waste. The sky was in a perpetual state of wetness. It spat globs of rain at her as she trudged down another refuse-filled lane. The residents were strange, too. They filled the streets with their stank, moldy presence, and not a single one of them seemed to have bathed in the last century. Even worse, the skin of these people appeared to be rotting away, a sickly green color, sagging and drooping. It strongly reminded Helaine of her and Score's encounter with the corpse of the slain hero, Cormac the Red-Handed. She took to focusing her eyes on the back of Dorian's head. Everything else turned her stomach.
"We are almost there." He turned to tell her with another of his incredible smiles. "The inn I know is not far." Helaine tried to be happy. The inside of the building was probably just as wretched as the rest of the world. Chin up Helaine, she told herself repeatedly. You're going to see your father.
Dorian had spoken the truth, because it was not too much longer before he entered a shadowy building that boasted being "The Black Boar". It smelled like vomit and urine. Helaine resisted the urge to join the fellow in the corner who was violently rejecting the contents of his stomach. Dorian found a stout, hook-nosed man, and spoke to him in a grating language. The man handed him a key, and Helaine again followed Dorian, this time up a dark stairwell. He stopped in front of a dilapidated door, and unlocked it to reveal the room.
Helaine's jaw dropped. Beyond the door were chambers more likely to entertain a king, and certainly not to be found in a run down dive like The Black Boar. The floor was carpeted in a rich purple and an enormous gilded bed dominated the spacious room.
"This shouldn't be here!" Helaine protested, even as she stepped through the door to gaze at the carefully painted ceiling. "Its too...too nice!"
Dorian seemed to take pleasure in her amusement. "Enkeln-An is full of surprises, Helaine." A shiver ran through her spine when he said her name. Helaine bit her lip and tried to focus.
"Where will you make the Portal?" She asked softly, trying to remain absorbed in the fabulous mural on the wall, instead of the overtly sexual presence so close to her.
"Here is fine." He said with a smile. "No need to go outside in the squalor. What is your destination?"
Helaine stared at the well-chiseled face. It was very nice. She thought quickly of Shanara. Dorian was living with the sorceress. He was not for her. "Ordin." She said weakly, cursing herself. What was the matter with her?
*****
The Author is heartily ashamed of not updating.
Sorry.
Chapter 1. Morning
Chapter 2. Changes
Chapter 3. Last Night
Chapter 4. White Monkey
Chapter 5. Searching
Chapter 6. Child
Chapter 7. One Candle
Chapter 8. Crow
Chapter 9. Dorian
Chapter 10. Ordin
Chapter 11. Votrins
Chapter 12. Gone
Chapter 13. Mother
Chapter 14. Mardren
Chapter 15. Scars
Chapter 16. Tears
Chapter 17. Mend
Chapter 18. Summons
Chapter 19. Council
