Chapter 4The Wastend

  As they descended the ridge, down into the wastend from the fields, Jonah could see a dramatic difference in the ndscape. The farmnd above had been bright, green and full of life from the hard bor that the workers had put into tilling and preparing the soil for growth as well as the aqua duct that directed water from the nearby Caspian River to keep the normally dry soil moist. The wastends, on the other hand, were a dark gray, almost bck, for as far as Jonah could see. As they got closer to the bottom of the ridge, he could see that the grey of the dry, dusty earth seemed to cover the expanse. Even the rocks and boulders seemed to have adopted the darkened color of the dirt.

  All around him, Jonah could see the twisted and deformed pnt life of the wastends, bckened with red highlights that practically screamed danger. He now understood why Rasheed had warned him to avoid them as they had departed the city. As the horses, which were of clockwork design, drew the cart along the road, the pnts would twist and turn, leaning toward the cart as if struggling to reach out to grab an unwary passenger. Jonah shuddered thinking about what might happen to an unsuspecting person or creature that got too close to one of the twisted pnts.

  As if sensing his discomfort from the distorted ndscaping that covered the wastends, Alissa scooted close to Jonah and wrapped an arm around him. Jonah looked toward the front of the cart and saw Rasheed's wife, Lilly, do the same to Rasheed, the only difference being that they had Basheer sandwiched between themselves as if to protect the boy from the dangers of the wastes.

  Keeping his eye on the horizon for any potential threats Jonah put an arm around Alissa giving her a quick hug to let her know he was okay. She did not let go and if anything, clung tighter.

  After a couple of hours ride into the desote nd, Jonah saw something moving on the horizon to the southwest. After tapping Alissa on the shoulder to let her know he needed to move, he half-stood, half-crouched attempting to keep his bance as he made his way to the front of the cart. Watching where he stepped so that he would not damage any of the goods being transported, Jonah slowly made his way to the front. As he neared the front, he reached out a hand and tapped Rasheed on the shoulder to get his attention.

  “I know, d,” Rasheed said before Jonah could touch him. “I just saw them too. Keep an eye on them and let me know if they draw any closer. Hopefully they have not spotted us and will go away, if not, then we may need to find a suitable pce to defend ourselves, but I do not want to leave the road if we don't have too.”

  Jonah watched the shapes on the horizon for the rest of the day, but they never seemed to get any closer or further away. Even when the cart rolled to a stop for lunch, the shapes in the far distance seemed to stop as well. Upon resuming their travels so did the shapes, continuing to follow the trader's cart as it rolled steadily on.

  There was little conversation and everyone's nerves were on edge due to the unknown stalkers that followed just on the edge of the horizon. Alissa spent most of the day huddled next to Jonah, not saying much; instead she seemed content watching him when she thought he was not paying attention. Jonah thought that on more than one occasion he saw Rasheed turn around and watch the two of them with an odd gleam in his eye, but Jonah could not quite catch him in the act so he refrained from upsetting Alissa from where she snuggled against him. Shortly before the sun began to set, Rasheed stopped the cart and gestured for Jonah to come to him.

  “Lad, I'm going to need your help setting up the perimeter fence for the camp before sunset.” the older man said while pulling a strange bundle of wires and sharpened metal stakes from a compartment that was cleverly hidden behind the driver’s seat of the cart. “Normally, I would get Basheer to help but he is slow at getting the fence set up since he is not strong enough to do some parts of the set up yet, and I pushed on longer today then I normally would. We have limited time to get this up before the sun sets.

  “Here take this hammer and stake,” He said, handing Jonah a hammer and stake. “Take these to the back of the cart and drive it into the ground about five feet from the corners on this side.”

  Jonah moved to do as instructed; noticing that Alissa and her mother had moved to the far side of the cart and were messing with something on the ground. The stake was about three feet long and the top of it was hollowed out, for what purpose Jonah could not guess. He drove the stake into the ground about a third of the way then returned to Rasheed to find out what to do next. Rasheed gave him four more staked like the first one and pointed at the spots he wanted them pced, emphasizing to Jonah the importance of getting the evenly spaced from one to the next.

  As Jonah drove the stakes into the ground, he watched Alissa and Lilly go about the tasks they had started. They had a rge and inviting fire roaring off to the side of the cart as Jonah drove the st stake home into the earth. He stood up to see if there was anything else that Rasheed needed him to do, but Rasheed was currently busy with the wires that had been stored with the stakes.

  Rasheed took what looked like extra-long stakes and set them in the hollow part the stakes that were in the ground, then he took the wires and ran them from one stake to the next at varying heights to where it would be hard to cross without hitting at least one of the wires. When he finished, the entire camp area was completely enclosed by the wires. He then connected them to a strange bck box that he referred to as a battery when Jonah ter asked him about it.

  While Rasheed was working on the fence, Basheer was busy unrolling a rge leather canvas that he attached to the side of the cart then, using two rge wooden poles stretched over the entire campsite creating a rge roof that would offer some protection from the elements as well as covering the fire so that it would not be put out, should it rain. The setting up of the camp was complete just in time for the sun to dip below the horizon and the twin moons, Si the western moon and Illsa the eastern moon, began to rise. Soon after, the southern moon of Vera skimmed the horizon in the southern sky.

  Lilly made a delicious stew that everyone ate with gusto before retiring around the warm fire. Rasheed and Lilly id a rge bedroll out on the opposite side of the fire from Jonah and crawled onto it with Basheer in tow, then covered the three of them with a bnket. As the night wore on it grew cooler than Jonah would have thought possible considering how warm the days were. Soon, Jonah was shivering a wishing he had though to buy a bnket for the trip when Alissa walked over and sat down beside him.

  “Do you not have any bedding?” She asked looking at him from under her heavy shes.

  “No,” he replied blushing a little. “I didn't think it would get so cold out here at night considering how everyone talks about how hot it can get out here.”

  “Well then,” she said standing and extending her hands to help him up. “It looks like we will have to share bedding. Now don't give me that look, Daddy will understand. You won't be of any use to me if you freeze to death or get sick from the cold. Plus, it you are worried about how it will look, we will both be clothed so nothing inappropriate can happen.”

  She led him to where she had id her bedding out and sat on it, patting the spot beside her indicating that he should sit. When he sat down, she wrapped an arm around him and pulled him down beside her when she id down. She then pulled a bnket over the both of them. Alissa snuggled up next to Jonah smiling and pulled his arm around her body so that they would have the maximum amount of contact between them.

  Soon Alissa had drifted off to sleep leaving Jonah lying wide awake, wondering how he was going to get to sleep in his current predicament. His heart was pounding in his ears at the intimacy that he was sharing with this gorgeous vixen that he had been attracted to from the moment he saw her. After several minutes of listening to her softly snore, he started to rex only to startle awake again when he realized what the soft mound that his hand was currently wrapped gently around was. He tried to slowly move his hand to another position without disturbing Alissa, but as he moved his hand a curious thing happened. She gave a soft murmur of pleasure in her sleep while simultaneously adjusting her hips against his groin and pulling the hand back into position on her breast. Jonah id there motionless, almost afraid to even breathe, lest he wake her. Eventually he fell into a dreamless sleep.

  #

  The next morning Jonah awoke to Alissa straddling his hips while looking down at him while a sly grin of her face. She leaned down to whisper in his ear.

  “Good morning, Jonah. It's time to get up.” She said softly. “Oh wait, you already are!”

  She giggled then stood up and went to go stoke the fire while Jonah continued to y under the thick bnket, embarrassed. He could see Rasheed watching him with that odd gleam in his eye that he had the previous day when Jonah thought Rasheed had been watching him and Alissa on the back of the wagon.

  Jonah gulped thinking that his life was over when moments ter Rasheed signaled for him to come over to the back corner of the cart. Jonah got up slowly and walked over to Rasheed who was now scowling. Trying to appear brave, he made his way to Rasheed, thinking the man was going to kill him for being inappropriate with his daughter. Instead, the older man instructed him on how to unhook the battery so that the fence could be taken down and stored away. It took Jonah and Rasheed only minutes to break the fence down and store it all away.

  “Lad,” Rasheed said suddenly, as they finished packing the st of the fence stakes away under the seat. “I know my little girl has her eye on you. She has for a long time now, and there are much, much worse than you out there that she could find interest in, especially since we travel so much. I need to know two things d, before I continue.

  “First, I know you are sweet on her as she is on you, but are your intentions honorable? I need to know that you aren't just wanting to take advantage of my little girl, because if you are...” He trailed of letting the threat hang in the air before continuing. “Second, I know about your... habits shall we say.”

  Noticing the look that Jonah was giving him, Rasheed expined. “I’m not blind, I know one of the reasons you hung around was because you were fishing for information on various items that I knew about that the nobility had obtained. When those items inevitably when missing a few days ter, for the third time, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

  “Look, I just don't want my daughter ending up with a thief who will leave her alone one day because he got caught committing a crime. I don't want that for my little girl, she deserves better. So, I ask, would you be willing to learn from me so that you could provide the type of stability she and you deserve that comes from mostly honest bor?

  “Now think long and hard before you answer those questions d, I do not want you to put your foot in your mouth just because you want to tell me what I want to hear. I know that though you are a thief, you are an honorable man. You have never stolen from me or any of the other merchants and for that I am grateful. I like you, d, but I am sure you can understand why I asked you those questions. I don’t expect an answer today, but I want one by the time we reach Ib.

  “Now that that is out of the way, I’ll move on to the next matter. I have my suspicions about why you wish to travel to Ib. I am not going to stop you from doing what I think you are going to do, but I ask, if you can answer yes to the questions I asked of you, then please, either let it be your st or don't steal the stone at all.”

  Jonah stood there mouth agape at what the older man had just said.

  “How did you know that is what I was going to Ib for?” Jonah asked incredulously.

  “I didn't for sure, but you just confirmed my suspicions d. After all, the story of the stone is all over New Cardeth these days. If you really want to get your hands on that stone, there is an honest way to go about it, if you are interested in that.”

  “I'm listening”

  “Well, the Ibians have a ceremony on the night when the twin moons are at their fullest. They all gather around the statue and dance the night away as each take a turn trying to remove the stone. They believe that eventually the right person with reach up and the stone will fall out of the statue into the hand of the person who is chosen by their god to restore life to this world, which they cim is slowly dying. The Ibians even allow outsiders to participate in the ceremony in order to raise the chances of finding the right person.

  “There are multiple benefits to participating. First, the Ibians accept any outsiders that participate in the ceremony as citizens, so you will be granted citizenship, which will make it easier to come and go as you please. Second, if the stone drops for you, you get to keep it, though, be aware that the Ibians will then expect you to go on a quest to restore the world. Third, you won't viote any ws by doing the ceremony so you won't have to worry about reprisal from the Ibians.

  “It’s just something to think about. And if the stone doesn’t choose you, then you still get the benefits of trying as well as permission for my daughter’s hand, freely given by me.” Rasheed then walked off, having said his peace, and went about helping Basheer take the leather canvas down to store it away for the day.

  Jonah rubbed his chin thoughtfully, letting Rasheed’s words sink in. If the stone just dropped into his hands during the ceremony, then it would be his, no fuss, no cuss. If not, then he could always steal it ter if he felt so inclined. As for what Rasheed had said concerning Alissa, Jonah knew he was seriously interested in her and would be honored if she would accept him in a more serious capacity as opposed to the pyful flirts they had exchanged over the years they had known each other. He just never really thought she seriously liked him the way he liked her. He would never dream of taking advantage of her, but he understood Rasheed's concern. Any caring father would have the same concerns about their children.

  About his thieving days, Jonah knew that they necessarily weren't over, but, if he got the stone maybe he could go from thief to adventurer. They were basically the same thing as far as he was concerned, only one gets arrested for stealing another man’s treasure while the other gets praised for stealing treasure from ancient tombs. He could see a certain appeal for that, but given the way Rasheed had spoken to him on the subject, Jonah pnned to give it serious thought for the rest of the day at least.

  Jonah looked around to find something to help with and upon seeing Alissa and Lilly busy chatting while cooking breakfast, he walked over to see if he could lend a hand. Seeing him approach, the two women both fell silent. Jonah, confused by this, figured maybe Lilly was giving Alissa a chat like the one he had received from Rasheed.

  He left the women to their privacy and went to scan the horizon to see if the followers were still there. Sure enough, after a few moments of looking he spotted them in the distance, appearing no closer than they had before the previous night fell.

  Jonah walked over to Rasheed and pointed them out to him like he had the previous day. Rasheed told him to continue watching them, but not to concern himself with them unless they started to get closer.

  Rasheed told Jonah that they should be able to reach the ferry at the Thane River by te midday and if they were still being followed at that point, they would loosely tie the ferry off on the opposing side of the river to discourage usage. Jonah asked if that was wise considering someone else might need to use the ferry in haste and Rasheed assured him that the people who regurly travel the road would be able to quickly retrieve the ferry if necessary.

  Rasheed, Basheer, and Jonah finished packing up everything that was left to pack with the exception of the cooking gear that was currently in use. Shortly after they finished the packing, Lilly called everyone to breakfast. The women had prepared a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and grits that were quickly consumed with many compliments given from the men to the cooks.

  As soon as the cooking gear was cleaned up and stored away, the group was quick to get moving again with their followers matching their pace as the sun steadily rose on day two in the wastends.