Call of Ring(Compleled)

4 The Plan

Blake couldn’t see anything, but he overheard every word exchanged between his assailants. In fact, the words he heard, were the first of any from anyone in this confusing new world he found himself in.

“Sir Aesar! It worked!”

“Of course it did,” Aesar said responding to one of his underling dwarfs. He continued on almost in the style of a victory speech, clearly the one in charge of this ratty brigade.

“Marinating rabbit meat in hot water with Coca Leaves, has enough of a sedation effect, that it can easily knock down a man three times this kid’s size.”

“Now tie him up, and load him onto the stretcher. Pronto!”

A few dwarfs stood guard while two tied his hands and feet together with rope. It took four of them to load him on to the make-shift wooden stretcher. The same four picked him up and began to carry him. Blake had been spotted near the wild berry fields just after the break of dawn, only hours before. The discovery was reported to Sir Aesar, and a plan was hatched quickly and set into motion. There was irony in the fact that the dwarfs conquered this human foreigner on top of White Mountain. It was a sacred territory that had been theirs as a race for centuries. Tradition held that it was named White Mountain because of its chalky soil clay giving it a stark white appearance. It stood as an anomaly among other mountains filled with green vegetation and trees.

Once a year, their entire community would gather on this mountain to celebrate their race’s survival over centuries of war and famine. The day was called “Day of Gratitude”. The traditions were a fixture. Set menu, and the same rituals. The singing of their anthem entitled “White Mountain”. A response of gratitude from the elders. And a speech from their leader. Aesar had been their leader for thirty-three years. And finally a massive bonfire atop the mountain that could be seen from miles away when darkness fell.

The menu consisted of skewered rabbit roasted on a spit and sweet potato stew. To celebrate, fermented coca leaf tea for the adults, and regular sweetened coca tea for the children. Coca Leaves were good for so many things. Dwarfs had perfected their various uses over the years. But it was also the dwarfs alone who knew that when rabbit meat and coca leaves combined in hot water, the chemical reaction was the strongest of sedatives as there was in the known world.  

Aesar was an opportunist. But even he could not believe his fortune this year. Tonight they would celebrate the annual Day of Gratitude. One of the things he would be thankful for was the timely capture of this foreign intruder onto their land. They were on their way down from White Mountain into the valley known as the Mayan Plain. There in the capital city, they would deliver their prisoner to the King Adelai of the Midori Empire. Aesar would negotiate a reward with Adelai, and the celebration tonight would be even sweeter than he had anticipated before.

It was a long and bumpy descent down from White Mountain into the Mayan Plain. Although he heard every word exchanged between his captors, Blake did not attempt to open his eyes until he heard other voices. New voices had emerged that seemed more distant than those of his captors. It sounded like people whispering. Cautiously opening his eyes, and ever so slightly, he squinted to discern who the others were. Through his mostly sealed eyelashes, he discovered they were walking through some sort of market. It was the vendors and customers that had stopped their regular business. They were whispering between one another observing the procession. Presumably, they found it odd watching a group of dwarfs carrying his half-naked body on the stretcher. His arms and legs were tied to the make-shift structure. Feeling groggy, he suddenly wondered whether he had been drugged somehow, and tried to remember what had happened.

“It was that fabulous smoked meat”, he realized.

“It must have been a trap; it was too good to be true. But where are they taking me?”

Resigned to the fact that he could neither escape nor control where he was going, he tried to observe more about his whereabouts, being careful to not bring attention to his consciousness.

The market they were marching through seemed another century. But it was oddly familiar, and Blake couldn’t put a finger on why. The road was a dirt one, and the vendor booths were made of crude wood, covered in cloth. People were dressed in assorted types of fabric covering, mostly brown and white colors. He noticed that everyone was barefoot. Suddenly he wondered why he was covered with only a small patch of fur, while everyone else seemed more appropriately covered up. He then remembered briefly the image of his Dwarf captors stepping out from behind the bushes. They were dressed in the same small covering of fur.

“But why am I dressed like them? And why are others dressed differently? How did I get to this world, and who chose my clothing of entry for this bizarre new world?”

These questions spun around in his drug-induced subconscious.

Blake could hear the sound of children playing in the distance. In one booth he saw different types of grain for sale. Another had vegetables, and still another assorted fruit, some of which he didn’t recognize. Yet again, the familiarity of this market struck him. But he didn’t know why.

The dwarfs did not take much care in holding the stretcher level. In fact, it seemed as if they were purposely trying to give him a bumpy ride. They suddenly made a sharp right turn down a different path. The sound of the other voices faded.

“Not much further men!” barked the commanding voice of Aesar. He continued.

“This should be a great moment for our people. It is time to negotiate better equity for our kind.”

His crew grunted their approval, and the men carrying Blake jolted the stretcher up and down simultaneously in apparent celebration, but they did so to the great dismay of the prisoner’s comfort. Together they all burst out laughing and began singing a tune. The first lines rang out:

“White Mountain all of us bless Thee; 

May we always party with glee.

Upon thee we feast and Celebrate;

God please forever protect our Fate.”

Blake decided to open his eyes and raise his head, not caring at this point if anyone noticed he was awake. No one noticed him initially. The new path was fenced in by a solid and neatly trimmed hedge. They were walking within its narrow corridor presumably leading to a place of importance. Blake felt the stretcher tilt, his head upward, and feet closer to the ground. Steps were being climbed, but they weren’t mere steps. They were stairs fashioned of marble. As he tried to lift his head further, the dwarf carrying the rear left section of the stretcher noticed his movement and shouted out:

“Sir Aesar! The prisoner is awake.”

The anthem was interrupted, and the procession came to an abrupt halt. Aesar returned to the back of the group where Blake was being carried.

“Hah! It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

Aesar stared at Blake in the eyes, and then suddenly slapped his across the face. It was so hard that his upper lip split and began to bleed. Aesar then showed him an evil grin, winked at him maliciously, and returned to the front of the group. As they began walking again, Aesar shouted to the group, “If he is scared now, wait until he meets King Adelai. He is in for a fun few hours.”

As if on cue, the dwarfs re-launched back into their anthem.

They only managed four-line before they stopped yet again, but this time it appeared as if they had reached their destination. Blake overheard words of greeting exchanged. He could not understand all the words but presumed it was a dialogue with guards to the entrance of a building. Maybe it was even a castle. A King Adelai was referenced, after all.

Soon they were entering into a vast expanse of an entranceway. The ceilings were more than twenty feet high with elaborate chandeliers positioned in all the right places. Antiquely carved pieces of furniture adorned spaces that Blake could see as he craned his neck to steal whatever view he could. The hallway turned a sharp left and opened into a large room.

THUD!

The dwarfs carrying him stopped had let the stretcher fall the ground creating the sound of an emphatic slam that echoed through the chamber walls. A sudden burst of pain shot throughout every nerve of Blake’s body. It was so unexpected. He had been tossed to the ground like a prized slab of gamed meat.