Iliona and the resumption of ties Read online

  “I don’t care if she’s involved, Zian. I don’t care who she’s leading. What I care about is that there was a betrayal, and it injured me, and there’s much I can lose because of it. Like the rest of my timer’s training.” He said the words in such a serious way, Zian could not sustain his gray eyes.

  “This is sorrowful, Ed. Because who’s going to train you if the timer’s membership stops being, due to all this you don’t care right now?” He said, looking to the floor, thoughtfully.

  “This thought of yours is so bizarre that I won’t even take it as a possibility.” Ed stood gazing him seriously.

  “Well, I have nothing else to say about it. I don’t know anything about Muriel plans. If she hid things from you, she hid them from me as well.” He said, meeting Ed’s eyes.

  “By the way, you are in the suspect’s list too, since you’re closer to Muriel than I’m. So, they must send someone here anytime soon.” Ed said, breaking his tense look, and smiling calmly as whom talk about the weather.

  “To arrest me? And you say it that patiently?!”

  “No, not to arrest you. We’re not that violent. First, we invite you to our realm at the Administration building to answer some questions. And just then, we arrest you.” He said with theatrical indifference.

  “And what if I refuse to go?”

  “Then they also arrest you,” Ed answered him with a half-smile.

  “Why you say this smiling? This is not funny, Ed, you make a joke out of everything, how can you….” But Zian’s nervous reaction was interrupted by the doorbell. He looked to Ed with astonished eyes, and this latter one remained calm but not smiling anymore:

  “Zian, this is a big circus. They just need to point guilty ones to have what to show to their audience. However, this is a non-return path. Soon there will be groups of humans landing in Iliona City.”

  But Zian just ignored what Ed was saying and went downstairs to check the doorbell’s camera panel he had attached to the side of his door. On the screen, he saw two ilions, one with a dark blue cloak, like Ed’s, and other wearing an amber one. Both of them had gray hair.

  “Timers,” Zian whispered to himself, but Ed heard it anyway.

  “You should answer them. They’ll just invite you to appear at the Building.” Ed said, coming down the stairs. “Open the door, listen to what they have to say and they will go away. Just don’t tell them I’m here because I’ve already passed the invitation’s phase.” He advised.

  “Who is it?” Zian asked by the screen microphone.

  “Administration’s service.” The one with the amber cloak responded. “I have an invitation to Zian Primey.”

  Zian felt his throat parched.

  “He’s not in the house at the moment, but you can say what the invitation is about and I’ll pass the message to him.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s a message that concerns only to him. Besides, he has to sign a note meaning he received the invitation personally.” The blue cloak added.

  “What’s happening?” Timothy appeared downstairs, with clean clothes, and his backpack on, but no one answered him.

  Through the screen, Zian saw the amber cloak shook her head to her companion, and this latter one said in return:

  “Since he’s not at home we’ll come back later.” And they turned their backs to the front door, walking away.

  “What have you just done?” Ed said behind him. “Haven’t you heard a word of what I said?”

  “One of them was wearing an amber cloak. They were not both blue ones. Amber!” Zian repeated alarmed. “Amber cloaks are not sent just for invitations!”

  “They are sent just in case the ilion tries to escape after the invitation,” Ed responded to him, seriously.

  “They said they would come back later,” Timothy said, starting to be alarmed too.

  “There’s no coming back later to Administration services. Or they realized you were lying or they will be outside waiting for you to arrive.” Ed said ignoring that comment had come from Timothy. “We need to get out of here,” Ed said closing his eyes to concentrate.

  “Wait.” Zian cut off his focus. “There’s Hugo. I can’t let him here for them to take him.” He said worriedly.

  “You’re not giving names to your chairs now, are you?” Ed asked, looking around.

  “Of course not. I’m talking about... Come and see for yourselves. You can open the nil outside, behind the house, so we can all go.” Zian said to Ed, leading them toward the backyard’s door in the kitchen.

  *

  When they arrived in the backyard, Timothy could not believe his eyes. There was a sower dragon lying in there. And even knowing Tevis was taken away by one of them last night, in his mind, he had pictured a regular dragon, not one with trees on his back.

  “Here you go, Hugo. It’s time to wake up.” Zian said, stroking Hugo’s snout.

  Hugo had tall and elongated structures on his back, very similar to tree branches, and they were made of his own skin. Which had a silvery gray color, covered with many scales that were of a vivid blue in his chest and paws. While paler scales covered his thin but resistant wings, located on the sides of his long body. And, on the top of his head, he had two small white horns, with long black lines in their tips, like antennae. He also had a long red stain that started between his horns and descended ‘till the beginning of his snout, which was covered by his wispy dragon cartilage that thickened on the sides of his jaws.

  “Wow!” Timothy couldn’t help expressing his admiration.

  “It’s not allowed to raise them anymore, you know that, right?” Ed said, observing Hugo and imagining the amount of energy he would spend, opening a nil to pass a dragon.

  “I know,” Zian answered him sharply. “My grandfather found Hugo when he was a baby dragon yet. But there was no one to take care of him after he passed away. So I adopted him.” He gave a short explanation. “We can’t let him here. Nobody but Tevis and I know about Hugo.”

  “That’s why you chose to live in this isolated area then?” Ed asked.

  “Yes. That’s also why I painted the outside of the house all in black, so it’s easier for him to find his way back when he flies. They detect the black better than other colors.”

  “Hmm. After seeing your chairs collection, I thought painting the outside of the house of pitch black was just another whim of yours.” Ed said without much interest.

  Hugo finally opened his rhombus shaped eyes of an amber yellow, waking up from his nap. And when Timothy saw those eyes he opened his mouth to make a question about sower dragons, but something ahead called his attention: he saw two ilions, whose cloaks swayed in the wind, coming toward them. They were the timers to whom Zian had lied a few minutes ago.

  “We should hurry,” Zian said following Timothy’s eyes. “You better think of a nil further from the ground, like above the house.” He said to Ed, climbing on Hugo’s back and helping Timothy to do the same.

  Ed started climbing on the dragon’s back as well when the two timers started running. As soon as he was “on board,” Zian took an orange whistle out of his pocket and blew it in a way Hugo understood it was time to fly. He stood up, stretched his forepaws, then started flapping his wings, giving some steps forward. In a way, he took flight above the heads of their persecutors, who stopped running and only looked up, protecting their eyes from the dust revolved by Hugo’s big wings.

  “Irc Mariesa,” Ed pronounced focusing somewhere over the house. “Now we just have to turn and head in that direction.” He pointed ahead, after the scratching sound that was already familiar to Timothy. Zian moved one of Hugo’s antennae toward his home, saying “this way now, Hugo.” And they disappeared from their chaser’s view while overflying the black house.

  18

  Questions among the sleeping ones

  Dark buildings and empty streets whose lampposts of yellow lights turned off by their own with sunrise. A deep silence in which the only dweller was a warmth summer breeze shaki
ng the green leaves under a new moon. That was the scenario of oblivion. They were back in Nagranto.

  “This was the first place it occurred to me,” Ed explained to them, as Zian looked at him with questioning eyes.

  The whole city was sleeping, and Timothy thought that silence a very sad one.

  “What about the people who were walking in the streets when the singing began?” Timothy asked, noticing there was no one in the streets.

  “We don’t let people hanging out there, or burning in the sun. We usually tell them to find a safe place to rest during the singing. When they wake up, they will not remember what they were doing in there; they’ll just get up and go on with their lives.” Ed explained, sitting in Hugo’s back, between the tree trunks.

  “Can we stop by in my house? I want to see my parents.” Timothy asked sitting too.

  “Sure, but Hugo will not fit on your street, so…” Zian started.

  “There’s a beach behind the house. You can guide him there.” Timothy suggested.

  “Ok, I’ll try to.” Zian nodded. He was guiding Hugo by his thin black antennae. He used to turn them to the direction he wanted to go, and Hugo understood him, most of the times. “These black strings coming out of their horns are very sensitive ones, and the sower dragons use them for coordination matters. That’s why you should never cut a sower dragon’s antennae off. Otherwise, they will be pretty confused.” Zian explained while touching one of them, adjusting it to the wanted direction.

  “What do they eat?” Timothy asked toward Zian, remembering the question he was about to ask before they needed to run.

  “Fake stars. The sower dragons go up in Iliona’s sky, passing among them. Consequently, the stars get entangled in their branches, and when the dragons return to land, they have plenty of stars to eat. That’s why despite having a large jaw, they have a long, thin tongue, to catch the fake stars on their back. They often shake their long bodies as well, to knock down the stars that remain on the farthest branches.”

  “Is that why they are called sowers, because of these things similar to trees in their back?” Timothy asked, touching a branch near him, which was coarse and resistant as the rest of Hugo’s skin.

  “Not exactly. They catch so many fake stars in their branches that most of the times they don’t eat them all at once. So when they fly it happens them to drop some along the way. And the ancient ilions used to believe trees could sprout from them. Even though that’s not true, because there’s not such a thing as a fake star tree, the name remained.” Zian said, looking ahead not to miss the way to Timothy’s.

  “Are you all right?” Timothy asked toward Ed, realizing he was too quiet, sat and still looking ahead. Some strands of hair had come off the grip of his ponytail, and they were dancing in the wind in front of his face. Along with his short blue cloak on his back. Ed said nothing, though. Then, Timothy tried once more:

  “It must take a lot of energy to open these nils, especially when you make a dragon pass through one of them, right?”

  “It’s all about focusing and concentrating. If you do these both, you can direct the power of your mind to the place where you want to arrive.” Ed answered drily without looking at him. Timothy kept looking at him, giving up of asking anything further.

  All three of them fell silent, as thinking about the quietude of the city, while the wind swayed their clothes.

  “How will you wake them up again? Is there a song for this too?” Timothy asked.

  “They’ll wake up by themselves; it usually takes a day, or two,” Ed said.

  “It’s here, I guess,” Zian announced behind them, he blew his orange whistle in another way, and Hugo started landing. They were already flying over the beach.

  “Watch out the gazebo!” Timothy exclaimed in vain. The beach wasn’t lit as the streets and Zian didn’t see the gazebo. He tried to change direction, but Hugo was already too close of the belvedere to stop. He landed in a clumsy way because Zian had pulled his black strings to stop him, but his right wing hit Timothy’s beloved gazebo anyway, which dismounted with the impact as a castle made of sand.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to stop it.” Zian excused himself.

  Timothy jumped off and analyzed the silhouettes of the destructed gazebo. He felt sad as if everything he knew was fading. That empty city, so silent and different from the Nagranto he knew. His sleeping parents, even knowing they would wake up thinking nothing happened. His missing uncle. And, lastly, his destroyed gazebo. He wanted to see his parents.

  “I had good moments in there.” He took a deep breath. “But I can build it again right?” He said more to himself than to Zian. “The backyard door must be open. I’ll be right back.” He added, quickly walking across the sand toward his house.

  “I don’t know why we have to carry him along with us. We should just let him here. I can’t take him doing all those questions anymore, why he has to ask so much?” Ed commented when Timothy reached the back door and entered it.

  “You’re too surly with him. I don’t know how he even tries to make conversation with you.” Zian said, sitting by his side in Hugo’s back. Both waiting. “I don’t know how any of us still do.” He added in a mockery tone.

  “If it weren't for me you would be heading to the Administration building right now.”

  “I know. Thanks for that, by the way. And thanks for bringing Hugo too.” He caressed Hugo’s back who responded with a soft sniff.

  They were facing the dark sea. There were almost no clouds in the sky, so the new moon was quite visible and lonely. There was just a dim illumination coming from the distant light poles in the street behind them.

  “About Muriel…” Zian started, “I guess is not entirely unlikely she’s involved in this.” Ed suddenly looked at him, but Zian stood looking ahead to the sea.

  “You said you knew nothing about it.”

  “Well, she’s fond of the resumption of Infiesa idea.” We talked about it once or twice. You know what Infiesa means, right?”

  “It means ties with humans.” Ed thought about it for a while and looked ahead again. “Like I said, I don’t care if she’s involved. Since we’ve been working together, she seemed pretty fond of humans anyway.”

  But Zian said nothing to that.

  *

  Everything was just as Timothy had left the previous morning. The breakfast dishes, half of them in the sink and another half on the table yet, where the chairs on which the ilions had sat were still out of place.

  He turned the kitchen’s light on, and headed upstairs, passing by the living room, whose door was locked from inside.

  His parents’ room was open. He entered it and saw the two of them resting in their bed. He turned on their bedside lamp that cast a warm white light on their faces. They seemed to be sleeping so placidly as if nothing was happening indeed. He felt they were safe. He took off their shoes because they were still using them, and checked around their bedroom, which seemed to be fine as well. He closed their window next, that was half-open bringing in a sea wind that was swaying their cream-colored curtain.

  Before turning off the light to leave, he looked at their faces again, observing their heads sinking into the soft pillows, their still eyelids, and calm breath. Suddenly, despite all that undisturbed scene, he thought about Winda’s warning. And he left the room feeling the timers could be sweetly cruel indeed.

  *

  “They are fine,” Timothy said when returned to the beach, putting more snacks into his bag he took on his way back through the kitchen. “They are sleeping deeply and calmly, and there are no ilions in the house either. I checked the other rooms before leaving. I guess the nil in the attic hasn’t been used either.” He took a deep breath. “You are sure they’ll be fine, right? I mean, no memory problems, or anything like it.” He asked toward Ed.

  “Yah, they’ll be fine. About the nil in your attic, all the nils of Nagranto that were not closed before the singing are being watched and therefore wil
l remain unused ‘till everything backs to normality again. So there’s no need to worry.” He said standing up on Hugo’s back and saying: “Can we go now?”

  “Yah. To the Grooves’ Valley. It’s not safe to come back home, and we can’t be flying over Iliona City with Hugo either. People will see him and make comments, and it's not the time for us to be the center of attentions. I need to see Nense, she’ll know what to do. And Tevis is also with her.”

  “You could just say you want to see him,” Ed said, closing his eyes. But he opened them right away and announced: “I can’t open a nil here, this area has become a sealed zone.”

  “What you mean by sealed zone?” Timothy asked.

  “As a nil keeper I could tell you what it means, but I think Ed can explain it better.” Zian purposely passed the task to Ed, who frowned at him.

  “We don’t have time to explain him every term we use.” He answered, annoyed.

  But as Zian and Timothy just kept staring at him in silence, with waiting eyes, he just sighed: “Fine. Come here.” He said, climbing down Hugo’s back, and walking toward the water.

  Timothy looked at Zian, as mentally asking what Ed had in mind. But Zian just followed him, curious, and Timothy did the same.

  “This is the fastest way I know to explain this,” Ed said, stopping in the wet sand, near where the waves ended. “Now put your finger in the water.” He ordered to Timothy.

  “What?” Timothy seemed confused.

  “If you don’t want to do it, we can always climb on the dragon again, and get out of here,” Ed said, nonchalantly.

  “Fine.” Timothy sighed, walking a little further, with the cold water entering his shoes. He leaned downward and put his index finger in the water. Then looked at Ed again: “Now what?”

  “Now, the water is around your finger. And your finger is making a hole in it, right?” Ed spoke.

  “Right,” Timothy answered. Then he took his finger out of the water, straightening himself. “You’re not mocking me, are you?”