Clown Wyrm - 17. Chapter 17 - Regrouping

Mercury turned away from the hotel’s walking direction, and she muttered one more, “What the fuck?” She was flummoxed by the incomprehensible monstrosity, but she focused on her companions. They were in a bad state.

Periwinkle and the Mechanic were both doing a little better than Norjia and Morwinna. The Mechanic had been drugged, and she was still feeling groggy and confused, but she was starting to come around. She was leaning against a tree and massaging her temples with her eyes closed. Periwinkle was gingerly touching his throat, which was red and raw, but he was okay. Norjia was on the ground, clutching her leg and staring at the bloody bandage around her thigh. Her cheeks were tearstained, and she was gritting her teeth. Mercury did not know how long Norjia would last before falling into unconsciousness, and she had no idea how to help her. The newest addition, Morwinna, was also sprawled on the path, and he was bawling. His pain from the bruises and cuts was far outweighed by the anguish in his soul. He kept saying things like, “They’re all dead,” and, “He killed them,” and, “They’re gone.”

Mercury suddenly had a realization, and she spun back around to glare in the direction of the walking hotel. “Shit!” she spat. “We lost everything!”

The group’s traveling gear, their clothes, and their money was gone.

“There’s an herb,” the Mechanic mumbled, and Mercury turned to her.

“What,” Mercury replied, “an herb? What are you talking about?”

The Mechanic scrunched up her face in concentration. “It’s called figglethorn. Its flowers prod-produce a stink… amm-ammonium carbonate,” she drug-stuttered. “It d-doesn’t smell good, but it can help make a person more coher… coher…” she shook her head and got out, “coherent, and I think that would help.” She looked over at her wife. “I’m not thinking stra-straight, and we need to help Norjia.”

Mercury gave her a confident nod. “Tell me how to find it. I’ll get the herb.”

“I can help too,” Periwinkle added. He stepped up to them and realized Norjia was still topless. “Here,” he offered, slipping the pale blue sheer shirt off his shoulders. He assisted in getting the sleeves on her arms. Since it had no fastenings, the garment draped open down the center of her torso.

“How’s your neck?” Mercury asked Periwinkle quickly, and he nodded that he was okay as the Mechanic continued.

“Figglethorn only g-grows in heavy shade with damp soil, so they’re usually found in clumps of t-t-trees that have a thick layer of underbrush. It’s…” She paused, inhaled, and took her time as she continued. “It’s pretty common and ought to be easy to find. The stalk and leaves are green, but each leaf is trimmed in red. The flowers are also red, and they’re pitcher-shaped.”

Mercury raised her eyebrows. “Oh, is it a carnivorous plant? We have pitcher plants where we’re from too.”

“It is.”

“Okay, I know what we’re looking for,” Mercury replied. “Anything else I should get?”

The Mechanic squinted her eyes shut and shook her head, and Mercury stepped into the trees with Periwinkle.

“Let’s try and stay close to the trail,” he urged.

The rain that persisted the previous two days had stopped during the hours of their imprisonment that night, and a faint glow in the grey clouds to the east promised the sunrise. The forest was dense and damp, and the pair of clowns found several clusters of trees that seemed like they should have had some of the figglethorn hidden at the base of their trunks, but they could find none.

As the minutes passed, the Mechanic was slowly feeling more clearheaded, but her wife was getting worse. Norjia was weak, and she was struggling to stay conscious.

“I need to get some things from the forest to help you,” the Mechanic explained. “I’ll be right back. Try to stay awake.” Norjia nodded, and her wife stumbled a little as she headed into the trees.

Time seemed to disappear for Norjia; it seemed like an eternity, because she was lost in an ocean of pain. With no distraction from the catastrophic damage to her leg, she could barely think; she was losing herself in the agony.

Morwinna was on the ground beside her, and he was trapped in his own suffering. Neither of them could help the other, and each might as well have been alone.

Mercury and Periwinkle had not managed to find any figglethorn for the Mechanic, and when they returned, she was gone. Norjia had slipped into unconsciousness, and Morwinna was barely functional in his misery.

“Oh no, Norjia,” Mercury whispered.

“Is she still breathing?” Periwinkle asked.

Mercury brought the back of her hand to the space in front of Norjia’s mouth and nose. “Yeah, she is.”

Periwinkle focused on Norjia’s bandaged thigh. “How do we help her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the Mechanic knows what to do. Where did she go? I thought she was all messed up.”

“Maybe she went to try and find those pitcher flowers too,” Periwinkle replied.

“I hope she has more success than we did.”

She and Periwinkle heard a shuffling in the underbrush not far from where they were, and they spotted the Mechanic through the trees. It was clear that she was searching, and she was holding several plants she had already found.

“Periwinkle, stay here.” Mercury rushed through the trees toward the Mechanic. “We couldn’t find any of the…”

“It’s okay,” the Mechanic replied quickly, and she glanced past Mercury. “I need to help Norjia.”

“What are you looking for?”

Instead of answering Mercury’s question, the Mechanic instructed, “Take these back,” and she handed Mercury a yellow flower, a cluster of greens with a small tuber attached beneath them, and a grey stone. “Clean off the root as best you can.”

“Got it,” Mercury replied, and she returned to Periwinkle. “The Mechanic’s on her way,” she informed him, and she handed him the flower and the stone as she began to wipe the excess dirt from the root. “The Mechanic told me to clean it. It’s like some sort of sweet potato or something.”

The Mechanic stepped out of the trees and ordered, “Put the flower onto that flat stone.” She pointed at a wide rock at the edge of the path and handed a second species of flower to Mercury. “I need you to grind the blossoms together into a paste while I prep the yam.” The Mechanic took the slightly cleaner tuber, ripped off its leaves, and handed them to Periwinkle. “We’ll need those too.” She drew a little pocketknife from her belt and shaved off thin strips of the small dense root until she had a pile of them. She stowed her blade, cupped all the pieces in her hands, and brought them to where Mercury was kneeling beside the flat stone. “That’s good enough.” Mercury stood and stepped back, and the Mechanic took her place. She held the shavings above the stone and began to squeeze them. Several droplets of moisture formed on her knuckles and dripped onto the crushed flowers. The ingredients began to hiss and sizzle as she combined them. When it stopped fizzing, the Mechanic scraped her concoction onto a thick leaf and brought it to her unconscious wife.

“What is it?” Periwinkle asked.

“It’s a healing poultice,” the Mechanic replied. She placed the leaf down beside Norjia and carefully removed the makeshift bandage from the terrible wound. She tore the opening in her wife’s trousers wider and fully revealed Norjia’s thigh. The Mechanic ever so gently packed the mixture she prepared into the hideous ripped flesh, which was still oozing blood. “This’ll help her stop bleeding and begin stitching her muscles back together.” The Mechanic turned to Periwinkle, took back the leaves, and laid them over the wound. She took a breath and said in a quiet voice, “Norjia probably won’t ever regain full use of this leg.” She took her little knife back out, cut a long strip off her own shirt from around her waist, and wrapped Norjia’s thigh in the fresh piece of cloth.

With the treatment complete, the mechanic slumped from her kneeling position beside her wife to lean against a tree trunk. She shook her head and squinted her eyes. Now that she was no longer adrenaline-focused, the effects of the drugs seemed to swirl through her again.

“Are you okay?” Mercury asked.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy.”

Periwinkle put his hand on the outside of Mercury’s arm, and she looked at him. He nodded away from the wives and Morwinna, and the two clowns headed a few paces down the trail to speak privately.

The grey sky was beginning to get a little brighter.

“What is it?” Mercury asked, but Periwinkle was already asking a question of his own.

“What are we supposed to do? We don’t have any food or water. We don’t know how far away we are from the next place that might have other people. We need to assess our situation and figure out what we’re going to do very soon.”

Mercury agreed, but she replied, “I know that’s all urgent, but we need to let them rest. Norjia, the Mechanic, Morwinna, and even you were all injured. Everyone needs to recover a little so we can think clearly.” She looked over at the others. “Obviously they know at least some of what’s out there in these woods, so maybe one of them will have answers, once they’re not all messed up.” Mercury looked back at Periwinkle. “It’s impressive that the Mechanic managed to get herself clear-headed enough to help Norjia, but I think everyone needs and deserves a rest.” She looked up at the gray sky. “At least it’s not raining.”

The two clowns sat together in sight of where the other three were resting.

“I know you want to take stock of everything,” Mercury said to Periwinkle, “and that’s important, but I think we don’t know enough, and we need their help.” She looked back at the other three. “And,” she added, “there’s a lot we need to talk about!”

Normally, Periwinkle might have felt nervous at hearing those words, as if he were in trouble or needed to be told bad news. The words we need to talk always felt like they proceeded some sort of break-up, but he instantly knew Mercury wanted to discuss the otherworldly time and place in which they were trapped, and he perked up at her words.

“So apparently,” Mercury began, “sex doesn’t lead to babies here,”

Periwinkle’s face reflected his confusion. “I know, but how is that even possible? Is this world like one of those dystopian movies where people can’t get pregnant anymore, and the human race’s very existence is under threat?”

“Or,” Mercury countered, “in order to control everyone’s genetics, did people in the past of this world somehow make it so sex doesn’t create babies? Like, is there some sort of weird gene overlord?”

“That’d be a hell of a job title,” Periwinkle stated with a snort of a laugh. “Greetings, I am the gene-overlord!” They both giggled and he added, “And nudity seems commonplace here.”

Mercury snickered. “Oh my Godzilla, seriously! Why are people just comfortable with all their stuff hanging out?”

Periwinkle smothered an embarrassed laugh.

“And what about this dragon that supposedly lives under the capital?” Mercury continued. “I wonder if it’s a dragon like you and I are picturing, or if it’s going to turn out to be something completely unlike anything we can imagine.”

“And how does magic come from it?” Periwinkle added. “Like, I’m sorry, but does it shit magic?” Mercury laughed again as Periwinkle continued. “And what kind of magic is it? A lot of things in this world feel like some sort of medieval era in Europe or something. Is it magic like Merlin and King Arthur, or like Gandalf, or Kvothe?”

“That’s the character from those books you liked, right?” Mercury asked. Periwinkle nodded as she added, “This place has a lot of stuff that is very off.”

Periwinkle shrugged. “I think it’s pretty clear that we’re not in the medieval times of our world; we probably need to rule out that idea entirely, and instead assume we’re in an alternate dimension.”

“Or some fucked up future,” Mercury replied. “But if that’s the case, I don’t get why there aren’t like laser blasters and other junk we would expect in a future world.”

“Which helps confirm,” Periwinkle said, “that this is probably another reality of some sort.”

Mercury nodded. “I agree. This place feels too weird to be our earth.”

They fell silent for a moment.

“How do you suppose we got here?” Mercury asked.

Periwinkle shook his head “I don’t know. Like we’ve talked about, I remember eating hotdogs at Raunchy’s, and then we woke up in what we thought was the basement of Unholy Mead.”

“And all our shit was gone,” Mercury said flatly, “just like now.” She looked over in the direction of the walking hotel again. “We should’ve fucking killed that asshole.”

Periwinkle then said aloud what both of them had already thought.

“It’s our fault that Norjia got stabbed and is all messed up.”

They fell into silence again.

“We shoulda fuckin’ killed him,” Mercury growled.

“Who knows what would’ve happened with that living building if we’d killed him,” Periwinkle retorted. “Maybe killing him would’ve set off some sort of chain reaction in the building that would’ve made things even worse than they are now.” He looked into Mercury’s eyes. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.”

“I know,” she agreed, “but once everyone’s recovered a little, we’ll figure it out together.”

Periwinkle glanced back. “Poor Norjia.”

“We’ve gotta figure out the best way for her to move,” Mercury replied. “Too bad we don’t have the cart.”

Periwinkle snapped his gaze back to her. “Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about Candi!”

Mercury looked alarmed. “Oh yeah, what do you suppose happened to her?”

“She must still be… inside the hotel.”

“Yikes.”

While they were talking, they noticed the Mechanic rise, and she walked over to the two clowns.

“Are you feeling better?” Mercury asked.

“I am, actually. It was as if all of a sudden, the effects of the drugs wore off, and I feel much more like myself again. I’m sure there’s still some junk working through my system, but I’m good. Now, we need to find some food and water. The river that feeds the waterfall at the campsite where we stayed a few nights ago ran north of the King’s Road, but there’s no telling how far away it is.”

“Do you think one of us could climb a tree,” Periwinkle suggested, “now that the sun’s coming up, and see if we can spot the river?”

The Mechanic eyed him.

“Yes,” Periwinkle replied, “I’ll do it. I used to love climbing trees, but help me find a good tree to climb.”

Not far from the path, the trio located a huge old tree with a massive trunk that towered high above the forest floor and stretched above most other treetops. Countless limbs reached out in all directions, and they looked like they would make good hand and footholds for Periwinkle.

He began to ascend. The climbing was fairly easy, even in his skirt and blouse, and he was soon higher than he realized. He looked down, expecting to see Mercury, the Mechanic, and the ground only a few limbs below, but they were much farther away. His breath caught in his throat, and he tightened his grip.

“Okay,” he whispered to himself.

Mercury and the Mechanic noticed that he had stopped, and they both called up to him.

“You’ve got this!”

“You’re doing great!”

“Okay,” Periwinkle repeated under his breath, and he looked up.

The next several branches felt like they were harder to climb, but it may have just been in his mind, and he was soon higher than some of the nearby trees. He had not yet climbed far enough to see out over the landscape, but as the trunk grew narrower, he knew he was getting closer to the height he needed to reach. The sun was shining brighter and brighter as he passed more layers of foliage. Periwinkle noticed that the tops of the surrounding younger trees were only a little way above him. His thin arms and legs were starting to shake, and he was sweating as he finally broke the layer of forest and got his first glimpse over the treetops.

Periwinkle gasped.

Like a vast green ocean, or rolling hills of grass, the roof of the forest stretched out before his eyes beyond the horizon. The crowns of the trees waved in the breeze, and Periwinkle was in awe. The view was extraordinary. There were birds and some other strange flying things above the treetops. Then Periwinkle saw the city. Far to the east, a solitary mountain thrust up from the surrounding forest, and a grand palace was at its summit.

“The capital,” he breathed. Then he focused on his task at hand. “Where’s the river?” Looking in the opposite direction, back toward Vorgos’ campsite, Periwinkle could see a break in the treetops that he guessed indicated the path of the river. He could see that it stretched far to the north, where it disappeared from view, but there was another section of trees to the east toward the castle that had a similar appearance. It looked to Periwinkle like the river might cross the King’s Road if they just kept following it.

He hazarded a glance toward the earth again, but he was high enough that the branches and leaves below him blocked the view, and he could not see the ground. A strong breeze suddenly blew against him, and it was scented with smoke. Periwinkle negotiated his way around to the far side of the trunk, and he saw the source. Massive flames were rising far to the south.

“Oh no, what’s burning?”

Periwinkle could not see if there was a city on fire, or if it was a section of the forest, but the column of smoke was stretching up and smearing a dark streak across the sky. He looked back toward the villages beyond the western start of the King’s Road, Tingedale and Lithia, but they were beyond the horizon, and there was no smoke rising to the west. The towns seemed unaffected by the flames. Periwinkle spent another moment appreciating the breathtaking view, the grand expanse of the forest, the castle to the east, and the cloud of smoke spreading to the south.

Then he noticed something he had spotted with the birds when he first broke the treetops, but it had not registered. “What the…” He was looking at a floating object.

It looked very much like a tree.

The strange thing was hovering higher than where the birds were flitting about above the forest. What appeared to be a thick trunk connected the seemingly leafy top and spindly root-like extensions at the bottom.

“That can’t be a tree,” he mumbled, even though the thing indeed looked like a tree, but it was up in the air. “It’s gotta be one of those flying things the wives told us about, but what is it really?” He stared at it for a few minutes before looking out over everything again, and he glanced at the branches below him.

Periwinkle knew his climb down was going to be slower than the ascent, and he began to make his way toward the earth again. A few branches scraped his knees and knuckles on his journey, but Periwinkle proved to still be a skilled tree-climber. When he was near enough to the ground, and he could see Mercury and the Mechanic again, he shouted down to them.

“I think I could see the river! I could also see a fire!”

“A fire?” Mercury hollered back. She looked at the Mechanic, who shrugged and shook her head.

Periwinkle paused and pointed through the trees. “It’s way to the south!” he yelled. “I don’t know what’s burning. I couldn’t see anything, but there’s a lot of smoke. I could smell it up there.” He descended the last few branches, and as his feet hit the dirt, Mercury let out a relieved sigh.

“Glad you’re back down here again.”

Periwinkle smiled. “That was fun!” Mercury laughed and smacked his arm. “What?!” Periwinkle added with a wide grin. “It was!” Then he looked at the Mechanic. “You were right about the river to the north. It looks like it cuts through the forest really far away, but I think it curves back again and either connects or crosses this path.” He pointed along the King’s Road in the direction they were headed. “And I could see the capital and the castle.”

“Could you see all the way back to Lithia?” the Mechanic asked him.

Periwinkle shook his head. “No, we’ve gone too far to still be able to see it, even from up there, but there was no smoke rising to the west. It was just in the south. I don’t think there’s any reason to worry about your home.”

“Mercury and I were discussing Norjia,” the Mechanic informed Periwinkle. “We think the easiest way for her to walk will be with crutches, so we want to find some sturdy branches.”

“And we figure,” Mercury added, “since Norjia is six-two, the crutches need to be up to about my shoulder-height.”

Periwinkle was not quite as tall as Norjia, but he leaned his elbow on Mercury’s shoulder and chuckled. “Yeah, that’s probably about right.”

The three of them had an easier time than they expected in finding a pair of sturdy branches that were close to the size they required.

“How long should we let Norjia rest?” Periwinkle asked.

“I want to see if I can find us anything to eat in the nearby woods,” the Mechanic replied, “and I think we should leave her while I look around.”

“We also need to try and get as far as we can by nightfall,” Mercury added. “Norjia needs real medicine, which we might be able to get in the villages near the capital.”

“You’re right,” the Mechanic replied. “The poultice I made is very temporary. I was limited on what was available in this part of the forest. There are probably edible plants.”

“Try not to stray too far from the trail,” Periwinkle urged as the Mechanic headed into the trees. “Wonder what she’ll find?” he added.

The two clowns looked at each other.

They shared a silent moment.

Mercury shook her head. “What a fuckin’ night.”