Chapter 13

“Lad, at this pace we are better off heading back to Oh-jin!” Cici scolded Kopius after he insisted on another break. They had been walking the spiral staircase for at least thirty minutes with no end in sight. The beauty of it all faded with each step once it turned into a grueling march. “If that flame goes out before we reach the top, you’ll have to guide me. Hold my hand and what not.”

Kopius ignored the threats while he had a snack and a sip of water. While he was at it, he pulled up his profile page and looked at his Stamina bar. To his dismay, it was full. With that, the hopes of drinking his problems away poofed out of existence. He was grumpy–probably hangry–and hoped the small bite to eat would give him the push he needed to get to the top. Once they reached the top, the two still had to walk a short distance to Cawbachu.

“Okay, I’m ready man.” Kopius stated after a few minutes. “No more stops. Let’s do this.”

Roughly twenty minutes later and Kopius collapsed in dramatic fashion as they finally reached the surface. He rolled to his back and–much the same as when he had first climbed out of that first cave–really took in the open space. For the first time, in what felt like forever, Kopius had an unobstructed view of the sky. His calves ached and thighs had a pretty steady burn going until they had finally stopped. He sat up to give his leg muscles a massage when he was hit with an achievement window that popped in his field of vision.

image [https://i.imgur.com/gRZC6KX.jpeg]

“I don’t even know if that was worth it,” Kopius complained to himself, closing the window. He most certainly had to push himself that last ten minutes or so but he felt this achievement was easy, like anybody could get this.

“What’s worth what?” Cici asked from his sitting position on a nearby stone bench. Now that Kopius was sitting up he actually looked around to get his bearings.

The stairs they exited had a large gazebo type structure covering the opening and the immediate area around it. Worn and unmaintained stone benches lined the three sides of the stairs: some broken, others covered in a foliage. Beyond the covered area was a well trodden road, a large tattered shack with more chains keeping it closed than needed and a short wooden fence–Kopius guessed that was to keep small children or animals from wandering off the cliff.

The opposite side of the road was the beginning of another forest, various trees of size and color rose off into that distance while only bushes or barren land ran along the side of Escher Pass. Kopius decided to give his vertigo some stimulation and made his way over to the cliff.

“I got an achievement for climbing the stairs.” Kopius answered over his shoulder as he approached the low fence.

“Ah, yes,” Cici chuckled. “One of the longest sets of continuous stairs in all of Metem, or so I’ve been told.”

Kopius gave a shrug, girded his loins and looked past the fence to the great valley beyond. Escher Pass expanded well off into the horizon littered with hundreds–if not thousands–of hoodoos. The tall pillars were scattered in no particular pattern and their tops looked like hundreds of lily pads, resting on a giant pond. The place appeared peaceful, serene; like gazing down on Earth from a plane in the sky. Kopius imagined building a network of bridges to cross the Pass rather than the trek through it; he knew too well the dangers below. His shadow stretched over the edge of the cliff as the sun shifted to more dusky attire and Kopius didn’t want to spend the night outdoors.

“Which way are we heading?” Kopius finally inquired.

“Up the path this way,” Cici pointed. “North by west a bit. It’s a short walk from here, we will reach the gates by dark, just in time to eat.” He finished with a smile and a rub of his belly. Kopius noticed that Cici’s accent had returned, though he wasn't certain: it could be that he was just used to it. It wasn’t important at the moment so Kopius just chalked it up to hearing things.

“That must be the elev–the lift?” Kopius mentioned, pointing at the decrepit shack.

“Indeed it is!”

“Can we use that next time?”

“Doubtful.”

“Alright, worth a shot.” Kopius groaned. “The road there, Is that the Twelve Days March?”

“Indeed it is!” Cici said excitedly. “You’ll know your way about Metem in no time, my boy!”

The Twelve Days March–or the long way around Escher Pass–was level, well beaten and curved along the side of the cliff at a safe distance. The forest to their right had all the makings of a fairy tale in its mixture of colors and small wildlife. A few times Kopius half-expected to see a random woman singing to the audience of squirrels and birds. The trees were neither dense or sparse; instead they resembled spacing one might find in an orchid. They weren’t in rows or any kind of pattern, just comfortably enjoying their personal space. Cici whistled along as they made their way to Cawbachu.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The ‘short’ walk came to an end well after the sun had gone down. With two and a half moons in the sky, they were able to stay safely on the road and navigate without issue. Kopius had caught glimpses of the lunar surface while they were crawling their way through Escher Pass though he hadn’t realized it was actually two moons–well, two and half moons. There were two normal gray moons–two intact moons–that orbited relatively close to each other, while a third busted one trailed a good distance behind.

The ‘busted’ moon, with its purple hue, looked like someone had packed it full with TNT and blew one side off. Half of the thing was still intact, a semi circle floating in space. Trailing the floating half-dome was the makings of a comet tail fit for a sci-fi spectacle. It looked like a god had painted a giant jellyfish with long tendrils in the sky that was chasing the other moons across the universe. Kopius spent much of his time gazing up at it, mesmerized by the DigitalBlasphemy grandeur.

“Here we are,” Cici said, breaking Kopius from his moon gazing. He pointed down the long path to the sight of torch light peeking through the trees. “Just up there. Shouldn’t be a hassle this time of night.”

“Hassel for what?” Kopius asked, slowing his pace down a little.

“It’s nothing, lad. Procedure is all,” Cici answered assuringly. “We’ll have to pass through a gate. A checkpoint.”

“Really?” Kopius replied.

“This ain’t Feral Crossing, my friend. They’ve got walls, a functioning authority and a modest amount of wealth.” Cici pointed out. “Don’t get me wrong, they have scum a plenty inside. Hard to have one without the other. Anyhow, day time it’s busy. Right now, we’re the only fools out at this time. Follow instructions and we’ll get us a bite to eat after.”

The two turned the final bend and came to a high gray stone wall that began at the edge of the cliff and arced out through the well spaced trees. A large wooden gate, very similar to the one in Kickshaw, stood closed, blocking the path. In front of that was another gate made of iron. This was made up of equal sized, large squares. Big enough that a person could squeeze through but not comfortably. It seemed to be designed to slow down rather than stop something from entering. A smaller, regular sized metal slab of a door stood off to the side–directly under a large cauldron looking thing twenty feet above it. Torches blazed at three different heights in a number of different places, lighting up the space where Kopius and Cici stepped into.

“State your purpose,” someone yawned from the top of the dark parapet.

“We’re here to eat, sleep and barter with Weaver come morning,” Cici shouted up the gate.

“I ain’t no see nothing to bargain with.” The voice yelled back, annoyed this time.

“Right you are sir,” Cici replied respectfully. “My mule here can produce the goods.”

Cici looked over at Kopius and made a few hand gestures. Kopius shrugged in a wft way. The big man proceeded to make head nods and swirls with his finger.

“What?!” Kopius finally spat.

“Show them a bag,” Cici finally said.

“He’ll know I have an inventory ring.”

“Mules are paid transport lad, you’re supposed to have one?”

Kopius obliged even though it all seemed pretty obvious by now. He produced a large sack and the two men held it up to show the prodding guard.

“We have three in total, sir.” Cici shouted.

“Stay where you are.” The voice threatened. Cici gave Kopius a thin smile as they both suddenly looked to see if they were surrounded. The wide open path they had walked down remained as empty as it had ever been. Kopius almost leaped out of his shoes when a loud metal clang came from the small metal door. A few more clicks and clangs were heard and when the door swung open, six guards poured out. They didn’t surround the two men but they had their weapons out, not at the ready but out still.

“Hold on now boys,” Cici said with his hands up. “We can come back in the morning if that works better for you lads, hmm?”

The six men, almost in unison took an aggressive step back and into fighting stances.

“Kopius,” Cici said slowly without looking back at him. “Sheath your weapon friend.”

Kopius looked down at his hand to discover that he had pulled his sword out. He looked at in surprise and then up at the waiting weapons of the guards in front of him. He cautiously raised his free hand and grimaced as if to say ‘my bad’ and then used the same caution to return his sword to its sheath. Once that was complete he raised both his hands up.

“Sorry guys, I don’t even know… ” Kopius tried to explain but just trailed off.

“I told ya it's them,” one of the shorter guards said, using his long spear to point at them.

“Pull it up and look!” a taller guard shouted with the same voice that told the traveling pair to stay put.

“It’s them,” the spear guy confirmed.

“Yes, it's them,” a gruff but feminine voice agreed and with that the regime relaxed.

“Can I put my arms down?” Cici asked.

“Yeah,” the familiar voice replied. “Which is who of you? From the Tessel?”

The two men both breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief as the reality of the situation set in.

“Cici,” Cici said with a thumb to his chest. Pointing over at his companion, “Kopius.” They both gave a nervous laugh that helped to relieve their tension.

“Captain Nock and the night guard.” The man said as he stepped forward and did a salute of sorts. “Brint here is keen on his eyes, swore it was you and I lost five coins now that he’s right.” He reached into a chest pocket, pulled out five coins and handed them to the waiting hands of Brint. Brint, whose ear-to-ear smile lasted only until making eye contact with the Captain, retreated to his position in line.

“Before I can let you in gentlemen,” Captain Nock began, “you will need to answer one question.” He then turned to his small brigade like a band conductor. “All together now: What was the source of contamination of the Tessel?”