he who

 He watched the sunrise, wondering what day it were. Sixth or seventh maybe, since the mountains.

"I'll take one blue and two yellows," he said, over his shoulder.

The brown skinned vendor served him in a little sealed canister saying nothing.

He continued to watch the sun for some moments, then turned and paid with the coins he'd had off the dead captain.

"How far …" he said, "to the sea?"

The squint eyed man gestured with his chin at the horizon: "Far not."

He glanced back at the brown river once more and nodded, squinting and went on his way.

There was a water fountain in the middle of the plaza, and he stripped and swam. The sun was rising and the water sparkled, and he splashed and dove for maybe an hour before he remembered that it was an illusion. To get the dust off and swim was good, but the air was yet poison here; every cool breeze a breathe of death.

He swam back and climbed out and pulled on his shari and, grimacing, took out the blue he had bought and swallowed it. A masdf was watching him across the fountain. He stared it down and it smiled hideously. He shut his eyes for two seconds, tilted his face just out of the sun; when he opened them again it looked away and began to sob. He filled his waterskin and went.

When he got to the sea it was late afternoon and hot and there was a gentle sea breeze. He stood for almost an hour breathing the sea air, before he went for a swim. There was the pyramid, some miles out. A handful of little water craft were ferrying to and fro. After some deliberation, he got out and walked down the beach to the quay.

He had a few coins left for the passage and paid a black man and was ferried across.

"You are expected," said the robed figure at the landing, face hidden in a cowl. All was perfectly still; the sea very calm.

"You say that to everyone," he said.

The other may or may not have smiled.

"Come," said he or she.

He followed.  A figure perhaps man perhaps woman stood in the shadow at the slant entrance.

"Why have you come?"

"I am not sure…I don't remember some things; and I am not sure where I am or where from.

A man … a man told me to come here…."

"Who told you that?"

"I don't know his name. We were prisoners together…."

"Prisoners? Where?"

"On a ship. The ship was wrecked and we were seperated, but first he told me to go to the pyramid on the sea between the river and the--"

"What ship?"

"I don't know," he answered in measured tones.

"How did you come to be a prisoner? Are you a criminal?"

"I did not come here to be interrogated. I … fought in a war…. I was captured, taken prisoner. We were put on a ship. There was another prisoner…. He--"

"What war? Where?"

"I don't know where. The ship may have travelled a long way before I escaped. I … don't know…. I was … I think they did something to me after they captured me…. I...

"Can you pay?"

"Yes."

"With what?"

He dug out the gem stone he had been saving, a large, perfect . "Now what can you do for me?"

"We can ascertain whether the one you speak of is here or has been here; and we can help you find answers within yourself that are lost to you; and … it is possible we may be able to trace a route to the future you seek."

The anteroom was a hive of nerves and sweat and stale odors. He waited in line for the booth with the little blue girl for several hours, studiously avoiding conversation, until he could stand it no more. The noise and smell. He took one of the yellows and calmed himself and waited.

The little blue girl took him back to her pavillion when it was his turn. When she spoke he knew she was woman actually and not a girl, possibly even ancient. "May I ask..." she said in a voice like a tapestry, "what impetus led you hither?"

"I fought in a war … on another continent, or planet maybe, I am not sure. I was taken prisoner … there was another prisoner…. I escaped; I think he did also; I am not sure. I would find him."

She stared at him, and might have almost smiled, but seemed to consider. "The day is getting late," she said, after a moment. "I will take no more aspirants today…. How will you pay?"

He showed her the gem he had saved for the purpose.

She stared at it. "That will suffice, I think--your impetus is obscure, to be sure…. We can attempt to plot a route for you ... on the morrow. How … did you know to come here?"

"He mentioned it. The other prisoner."

She regarded him a moment. "That may facilitate the search. Like I said, I am finished here for the day. You are not sickly like the others. You may come with me."

He nodded; and she blew out the candles and led the way in.

She took him to her cell at the end of a long upward sloping dark passage; leading the way without light. There she guided him in the dark with calm feverish hands to a pallet.

She said, "Are you hungry?"

"I will not refuse what is offered," he replied correctly.

She went into the dark and there were sounds of opening and closing, and she returned shortly and found his hand and placed there a small leaf wrapped parcel. He took it silently and opened it and ate the breadlike fruit, or whatever it were.

She shuffled in the dark near him, then all was silent, and when he felt sure, he slept.

He woke some hours later perhaps. She still slept, nearby. In the dark he stared at nothing and tried to remember…. How far back? Before the war it were as if he had been in an enchantment….; and before that there was love…. And then he had been prisoner; and there was a great accident, and he fled….

Dawn was signalled by a beam of sunlight through a pinhole. The woman rose and felt for his arm and then his hand and led him up and back down the passage by which they had come.

***

She took him not back to her pavillion but by a different route, ultimately winding far downward.

"Fortunate you were last of the day and able to pay … for this," she said, glancing back. The passage let into a huge space--if it were a chamber it were vast. The darkness overhead was spangled with stars. "Else, you would have had to sprawl with the others for the night, perhaps many nights, and in the end you would have simply been ushered on to one of the medicine men, and you would have been offered drugs; and whatever answers you might have found would have been tainted; or worse.... Do you find fortune favors you often?"

"I don't think so," he said, unsure how to answer.

"Well, your gem looked good," she said matter-of-factly.

She stopped and turning, took his hand and led him to a bridge over a wide, dark water; and thence to a torus shaped isle, in the middle of which was a little pool of twinkling stars. She smiled for the first time, he thought, though the light was dim.

"Now the gem," she said, "if you would seek a route. This is where we come, the savants, for our own seekings. You are fortunate, like I said.

I bring you here because you were last in line for the day, and because you are not sickly, and because you are honest, and because I am intrigued by the lineaments of your face."

He nodded.

"Now the gem," she said.

He retrieved it and gave it her.

She disrobed and nodded that he should do likewise. He did so and carefully placed his satchel with his shari and followed her into the silky warm water. It was super-saline, and he floated easily.

He gave over the gem.

She stripped and waited expectantly.

He stripped and placed his satchel with his shari and followed her into the water.

It was super-saline and silky.

"Relax," came her voice, hypnotically now.

He hoped that weren't all.... The gem he had given was no trinket. He had it off the captain of the ship he had escaped from….

"That's all," she said, as if detecting and challenging his savvy.

She smiled back at him. "The gem is as good as … the gem is good, yes? You are basically honest, I know."

He said, "I had it off a dead man. An officer of the vessel where I was prisoner."

She stared at him a moment. "You have many secrets," she said, "not the least to yourself."

"If any other comes and asks, go along with what I say; and I promise I will give you the best route that can be found."

He nodded.

"You will relax," she said, her voice changing timbre. "Relax and try to remember and observe the stars."

He started to relax, then wondered if he should climb out and take the other yellow from his equipage, when her voice came back once more: "If you are unsatisfied … you may visit my pavillion again free of charge, but I cannot promise more help than you may find here."

He let go and floated

"I will be quiet now," she said. "If you see a bird; then you are fortunate indeed. Heed it. I think you would not have come here if a clue to what you seek were not buried in you."

He relaxed, as he had the night prior; and he gazed up at the stars; and he let go of the time before the war, before he was captured—drugged and captured…. The stars shimmered softly, and he thought he heard a chime. He struggled to remember. He relaxed. He worried that he had no money left. He relaxed. He had water in his canteen, and one yellow left…. He relaxed. The stars scintillated. His heart beat louder. Something felt wrong.

The stars blurred slightly. He relaxed. How long could he stay in here? He was not thirsty, but--

Something grabbed at his leg and jerked. He struggled. It was gone. All was dark and silent. He thought better of speaking.

A shock of electricity, or what felt like it, went through him,

The woman's breathing altered, and there was a soft movement, and he felt her fingers touch his arm.

"Why do you seek this other?" she whispered.

He tried to remember. He struggled to find the answer. "He seemed to know where we were; and some way or place t/0o go after where a man might go after."

Silence. 

"How do you think he knew these things?" she said softly.

"He is a wizard … I think."

"And he has been here, to this place, before?"

"I don't know."

"You may find him, and a way to go on."

"Relax, and think of the man you seek, all your memories, every detail … nuance…."

He shut his eyes and floated and a--

There is pain, then memory. A cascade of random instances of fear, pain, crossroads, women slaves and men, and then…. The blue sky is flecked with white clouds; he is in the cool shade. Another sits there with him. It is hot without, in the blinding sun, but in the shade it is cool. ,But It is cool in the shade

"This is not so bad," says the other.

He looks that way, and the other is glancing back at him. A man perhaps his age, or older, or younger.

"They'll be back in a few minutes," says the other, staring off across the wide land. "I don't remember who I was before the war either," he adds softly and closes his eyes.

Some minutes pass.

He hears the wardens coming back.

"But I know who you are," says the other.

He turns and looks. The other looks directly at him.

"This will be over soon, do you know where you will go?"

With a tremendous effort of will he looks away and keeps turning

"Did you find him?" she says, looking down at him.

He nods.

"Did you discover the answers you require?"

He shakes his head.

She shakes hers. Then her face contorts and screams, but there is no sound, and he convulses and feels he will drown, but then--

He opens his eyes again. The darkness is interrupted with flickering red light. He thinks he hears a scream. He closes his eyes and welcomes pain, and it comes. Then memory.

It is dark and a thunderstorm of rain pours down. A face is near, lit by lightning. It is the other, he has shoved his way through the milling, squirming mass of wretched bodies: now shouting through the downpour, "I know a place … to go!"

A bright light swivels onto them from above, and a harsh, inhuman voice barks something.

"There is a pyramid! " shouts the other. "By the sea! Where the river--" But he is kicked in the face from above, and then something slams into him, and all is black.

We flew over

X

He opens his eyes again, and the darkness is interrupted with dancing red light. He thinks he hears a scream now. He closes his eyes and welcomes pain, and it comes. Then memory.

It is dark and a thunderstorm of rain pours down. A face is near, lit by lightning, surrounded by dark milling bodies. It is the other: intense, unafraid, alive, shouting now through the downpour: "I know a place to go!"

Then a bright light is turned on him, and harsh voices lash at him from above.

"I am called Wellman!" shouts the other.

Then he is kicked in the face from above.

He snaps awake. The blue skinned woman, if it is her, is glaring down at him; the face is contorted.

"What are you doing?" she says.

He does not understand. Why can't he remember anything before the war?

"This is the last time," she says and turns and all goes dark again.

He screams.

He wakes. Under the tree again. It is cloudy this time.

"A nightmare," says the other, nearby. "They'll be here any minute."

He does not look. There is no wind in the leaves of the tree.

He sits up.

He is waked roughly. The blue skinned woman, if it is her, is glaring down at him; the face is contorted.

"What are you doing?" she hisses.

He does not understand.

Someone else speaks, behind her. It is a man's voice, deep. Deep, but broken.

She turns and says something.

Then she turns back to him: "This is the last time."

He is hit by a shock and a bright light blinds him.

x

"This is almost over," he says. "They drugged you when you were captured. They are losing the war now, can you tell? This is almost over. There is a--"

All is white. He flails a moment, then sits up. His head is throbbing. He is bleeding in many places. There is a stench of urine.

The other speaks from somewhere near. "That was foolish, maybe; but I would do it again. They are losing the war."

He cannot see. The light is too bright.

"I will tell you something, " says the other. It sounds like his mouth is bloody; maybe teeth broken. "They are losing the war ... can you tell? Also, I know where you come from. I don't remember where I come from… they drug us all when we are captured; but I saw you when they brought you in. You are--"

There is a sound of heavy metal door, and the other screams and does not stop.

He speaks quickly, "They will separate us now! When you are free go to the pyramid on the sea—where the river—I saw it when--" He screams. Maybe dead--

She was staring down at him again, her face unreadable.

He felt confusion.

"Are there more … memories?" she asked.

He spoke thickly, "I don't think so.

"Then we will have to go with what we recorded. Are you confident?"

"I don't know."

X              "Well when you are ready proceed to the landing.

****

"Like yourself, he is not of this world. Unlike yourself, he bears traces of another. You are fortunate. We may plot a route for you; but it will be uncertain; and you traverse at your own risk, you understand?"

He nodded.

"The analysis and plotting will take some time; perhaps a day or more. Shelan will show you to the gardens and patio, where you may rest or contemplate."

He rose and followed the other woman, Shelan, through a doorway.

"Well, you can wait on the patio. Refreshments are served thrice daily. The analysis may take up to several days. Then you'll have the best answer we can give you. Your gem was good, and I have given you the best you could find here, where you came of your own will. Will you be content to rest and wait for possibly several days?"

He was not sure. He nodded.

"Then follow Shalee, and fare you well as fortune will have it

She brought him by a long dark corridor to a sunlit patio facing the sea. There were few others there, and they reclined in the shade, naked or clad in plain robes, drinking water from crystal carafes. Shelan took him to a little carven fountain and gave him a carafe and a glass and a large dish of

He lay in the sun and swam in the sea and ate fuits and nuts for the remainder of the day, enjoying the clean air more than anything. He would not mind, he t

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