Clown Wyrm - 18. Chapter 18 - Penniless

Norjia awoke and sat bolt upright, but doing so wrenched her injured leg, and she let out a wail. She gritted her teeth and gingerly brought her fingertips to the bandage around her thigh.

“I’ve got you,” the Mechanic said beside her.

Norjia turned to her wife. “My leg,” she managed to groan.

“I know,” the Mechanic replied, and she brought a hand to her wife’s shoulder. “I treated it while you were unconscious, but we’re going to need to try and make it to a community area as soon as possible. You need medicine and proper healing remedies. Here,” she added, “chew on this.”

“It hurts,” Norjia managed through her teeth.

“I know,” the Mechanic repeated. “This tree bark, called trilithon, has a compound that will help dull the pain. Just chew it for a few minutes. I tried some earlier; it tastes kind of sweet.”

Norjia accepted the small woody chunk, and she began to gnaw as her wife caressed her cheek.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you. We found some makeshift crutches, and we’ll continue on this mad journey.”

Norjia nodded. “To kill R’Kathlug.”

The day was gray, but it was not cold, and the five were grateful that it was not raining. Despite everything they had gone through, the group knew there was no turning back.

The Mechanic had found and dug up several hearty roots that reminded the two clowns of carrots and radishes, and as they began again down the King’s Road, the group came upon an apple tree. Morwinna ambled in a zombie-like state, overwhelmed by the sorrow of his loss and the terrible things he had experienced. He ate nothing, but the others ate the roots and several apples each.

The travelers stopped for a rest in the early afternoon, and the Mechanic applied a fresh poultice to Norjia’s wound, which had started seeping blood again. Norjia's wife had helped her hobble along with the branch-crutches all day, and Norjia was impressed with how well they worked for her.

“I know you’re exhausted,” the Mechanic said quietly as she tied another strip of fabric that she cut from her shirt, over the new poultice, “but we can’t stay here for long. We need to keep moving and get you to somewhere that’ll have proper medicine. I’m sorry, my love.”

Norjia gave her wife a weary smile, and the Mechanic noticed there was no sadness in it. “I know we need to keep going.”

After a few more minutes off their feet, the five rose again and continued their tedious trudge along the King’s Road through the forest.

Periwinkle and Mercury were leading the tiny procession.

There was no sign of how far away the next community rest area was, where there might be some medical supplies. The travelers kept a slow pace that accommodated Norjia. The land before them began to rise, and their hike became more of a climb.

“This sucks,” Mercury grumbled quietly to Periwinkle as the gradient increased.

“This part of the King’s Road,” he replied, “is like that really steep street back home. You know the one I mean?”

“Oh yeah,” Mercury grunted, “it sucks to climb that hill too.”

Norjia did not voice a single complaint, even though her leg was screaming in pain. She was weak. Her whole body throbbed, and yet still she walked.

After only about forty minutes of the uphill struggle, the land again flattened out to a broad plateau. The forest was dense on either side of the travelers, but they could now see ahead of them a great distance along the newly finished track. There was a sense of relief among them that the next portion of their journey would be easier, but a horrible crack brought more trouble.

Norjia cried out in anguish, as one of the branches she was using as a crutch snapped, and she fell. Her wife tried to catch her, but Norjia hit the ground with a painful thud, and she grabbed her thigh. The Mechanic knelt beside her to examine the wound, and she looked up at the others.

“We need to stop here so I can reapply some medicine.”

“Okay,” Mercury replied, “and Periwinkle and I will try and find a replacement crutch.”

Over an hour later, the five of them were slowly on their way again, but Norjia was struggling.

Sunset arrived, and the travelers were preparing to stop for the night, when they saw a light shining in the distance.

“What’s that?” Mercury asked.

“Is it a campfire?” Periwinkle added.

“No,” the Mechanic replied, “it’s a torch.”

They arrived about twenty minutes later at a rest area with a single permanent building that was little more than an oversized shed. The space was not as fancy as the campsite with the shower-like waterfall, but a lovely clearing had been cut into the forest, and there were two other small groups of travelers already setting up their tents for the night.

The Mechanic immediately focused on the strangers. “Do any of you have medical supplies? One of us is badly injured and needs proper treatment.”

“Over here!”

Most of the people in the glen looked in the direction of the voice, and a woman stepped out from the little building.

“We have supplies,” she stated, and the Mechanic approached her. “In here.” She waved at the door, and the Mechanic entered. “I’m Emmu.” Inside were two more women, and one of them placed a medical supply kit onto a small table. “This is Pennil and Risla. Please, take what you need.”

“How’s Vorgos?” Risla asked the Mechanic.

“Vorgos?” she repeated as she opened the first aid kit.

“Yeah,” Pennil confirmed, “you came from the west.”

The Mechanic furrowed her brow. “Oh, do you mean the campsite? Yes, we stayed with him several days ago. We escaped that freaky hotel last night.”

“What hotel?” Emmu asked.

“The walking hotel, about a day’s journey from here,” the Mechanic said, pointing back along the King’s Road.

“There’s no hotel between here and Vorgos’ campsite,” Risla stated.

“And I’ve never heard of the Walking Hotel,” Emmu added.

“No, sorry, it was called the Labyrinth Hotel,” the Mechanic corrected. “I don’t know if the thing was a giant machine, or if it was magical, or what, but there was a killer, and there were dead bodies, and the thing walked away after we escaped.”

The three women were very confused.

“What are you talking about?”

The Mechanic looked from one to the other and back again. “You really don’t know about the hotel that was back there?” She focused on the supplies in front of her. “Listen, I need to go treat my wife’s injury. Maybe we can talk more about this later.”

“Would you like my assistance with the medicine?” Emmu offered.

“Thank you, but I can handle it,” the Mechanic replied. “We’re in a bad state though. In our escape from the hotel, we lost everything. We have no food, no clothes or shelter, and no money.”

“We can help with the food,” Risla stated, “but we’re volunteers on a rotating two-week schedule. We don’t have any money to spare.”

The Mechanic grabbed what she needed and returned to the others. “Norjia, I’ve got some proper treatment and better bandages. Mercury and Periwinkle, maybe you two could head back to the building. The women said they have some food they can share with us.”

“You got it,” Periwinkle replied, and the two clowns stepped up to the little structure.

“Excuse us!” Mercury called out, and the three women invited them inside. They each introduced themselves, and the clowns graciously accepted a loaf of dense bread, a large wedge of cheese, and several canteens of water.

The Mechanic was about to redress Norjia’s leg, but the wounded warrior woman whispered something to her wife, and the two of them began to head down the trail away from the campsite.

Mercury ran up behind them. “Where are you going?”

“This is going to hurt,” Norjia stated. “Thought I’d do the other campers a favor and not moan and groan in their presence while Dizriolith does my leg.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Mercury replied. “I’ll leave you alone.”

Morwinna was seated on a stump. He was staring at nothing. His eyes were vacant, and his face sagged.

Mercury stepped up to Periwinkle, who was trying to offer Morwinna a little of the cheese and bread, but he was not responding. “Well, if you’re not gonna eat some,” Mercury said to him, “then we are.” She tore off a chunk of the bread and stuffed it into her mouth. It was more satisfying than she expected, and she let out a rapturous hum. “Oh my Godzilla!” she mumbled out the corner of her mouth. The dense bread felt like it was nourishing her very soul. “This is incredible.”

“He won’t take any,” Periwinkle said of Morwinna.

“He’ll eat when he wants something,” Mercury replied. “I, for one, want something!” She took the cheese and enjoyed a bite from it as well. “Oh effin’ yes,” she said in a voice of ecstasy. “Why the heck is cheese always so good?! Periwinkle, you gotta try it.”

He snorted a laugh. “Alright, alright, and Morwinna, if you’d like some, just let us know. I’ll leave one of the canteens for you.”

The two clowns took a seat nearby, and Periwinkle joined in the meal. A few minutes later, Norjia and the Mechanic returned, and they were also very satisfied with the food.

They were each lent a blanket for the night, and the four exhausted travelers fell asleep as the grey sky darkened.

Morwinna however, was still seated on the stump, and his misery was starting to become madness, but he was not alone for long. The three volunteers realized he was awake, and they brought him into their little building. He stayed with them throughout the night.

The next morning, the travelers awoke to wonderful smells. The camp volunteers were cooking breakfast for their guests.

“Come join us,” Risla encouraged, and everyone who had stayed overnight at the little clearing sat together around a merry fire with the sun coming up to the east.

The grey clouds had broken, and there was a feeling of hope among the four who were on their rebellious mission to the capital. Even Norjia’s injury seemed to be doing much better with the medicine that the three women had shared the night before.

When Mercury, Periwinkle, Norjia, and the Mechanic had finished their breakfast and were preparing to continue their journey, Emmu approached them.

“Dear guests, Morwinna needs help. He’s struggling with his terrible trauma, and I don’t think he can make it to Urliov Township on his own.”

“We’re getting close to Urliov?” Norjia asked.

Emmu nodded. “It’s about a two-day journey along the King’s Road from here. The three of us live in Urliov, and it’s where we get our supplies. If you leave soon, you should reach the Urliov River before nightfall, and then the township by late afternoon the following day.” She glanced over her shoulder at Morwinna, who was standing by the door to the little building, and then she focused back on the other four. “My father owns and runs a public house called the Riverbed Inn. It’s in the town square and easy to find. Please bring Morwinna to see my father. I’ll send a note for him with you, explaining his situation. Pennil, Risla, and I need to be here for another eight days to complete our fortnight commitment, but then other volunteers will be taking our place, and we’ll head home and help Morwinna get his life back together.”

Norjia bowed to Emmu. “This is very kind of you. We’ll get him to Urliov.”

“Thank you. I’ll pack a bag with some food for you for the next two days. It won’t be much, but it’ll help you get there. The note for my father will be in the bag.” She returned to the little building, and a moment later, she came back with Morwinna and a small sack. “Here’s some more bread and cheese, and also a dry smoked sausage.” She handed the bag to Periwinkle. “Hopefully that’ll get you through the next two days.” Emmu turned to the Mechanic. “And did you take everything you need from the medkit?”

The Mechanic put her hand on the back of Emmu’s and said, “I did, and thank you so much.”

The five travelers started out along the King’s Road again, and there was fresh pep in their steps. Morwinna even seemed to be feeling lighter, but by midday, he was beginning to fall behind. His lack of sleep and food was catching up with him, and the group decided to stop and let him rest. Norjia had continued to keep her complaints to herself, and she was very grateful to get off her injured leg. She sat against a tree as her wife redressed the slowly healing knife wound. Periwinkle and Mercury portioned the bread and cheese, and the Mechanic handed them her pocketknife to slice off some pieces of the sausage. They were very hungry, but their lunch was meager, and they were soon finished eating.

Morwinna had leaned back against a tree, and he was asleep.

“How long can we let him rest?” Periwinkle asked quietly.

“We’ll wake him in an hour,” Norjia replied. “I think I’m going to do the same.”

“We should all rest a little,” the Mechanic suggested.

None of the others fell asleep, but they all relaxed in the shade to the side of the wide path. They did not talk much, and when an hour had come and gone, the Mechanic rose and headed over to sleeping Morwinna. She placed her hand on his shoulder and gently shook him.

“Morwinna, it’s time to go.”

His eyelids slid up, and he did his best to focus on her. “Okay,” he shoved himself up from the forest floor and managed to get his unsteady feet under him. He felt very groggy and exhausted, but he followed as the small group continued on their way.

The sun crept across the afternoon sky, but more clouds rolled in before evening, and the sunset painted the sky in blues and pinks. The travelers were making their way more slowly than the three women at the campsite predicted, and it was long after nightfall when they finally approached the Urliov River and could hear its roar rumbling through the trees.

They found a place to bed down, and the clowns handed out everyone’s small dinners, but with no tent, bedrolls, or blankets, they each struggled to get comfortable on the hard ground. Morning came too soon, and the five rose, feeling very tired as they continued.

The grey persisted through the next morning, and the group could see sheets of rain falling in the distance ahead of them. By midday, they could also see Urliov Township, but by then, it was raining on them, and before they arrived at the thriving village, they were all drenched. The inn was easy enough to find, and with the note from Emmu, her father accepted Morwinna as his guest, but he apologized to the others that before he would give them a room, they would need to be able to pay for the room.

Back out in the rainy street, Mercury, Periwinkle, Norjia, and the Mechanic huddled together under an awning. They had finished the last of the cheese, bread, and sausage earlier in the afternoon, and they were hungry, but they were still penniless.

The Mechanic took her wife’s hand. “Norjia, we’ve only got enough medicine to change your bandage one last time.”

“Then let’s wait and change it in the morning,” Norjia replied. “We need to see what this town has to offer these days. I haven’t been here in years, not since before the ban on ghlistick travel.”

Mercury perked up. “Are there rebels? Maybe they could help us.”

Norjia seemed to like the prospect, but she shook her head. “I have no idea how we would find them. We’re getting closer to the capital, and there will be more and more royalists and zealots, the closer we get. I think we need to keep our goal secret for now and not reveal ourselves as rebels.”

“I agree,” the Mechanic stated, and she pointed at a sign that read PRAISE THE WYRM in pink and gold letters.

“Oh, great,” Mercury said, “religious nuts.” She focused back on the wives and Periwinkle. “Okay, so if we are on our own, any idea what we should do?”

The rain continued to patter down on the awning above them, and Norjia suggested, “Maybe tomorrow I can pick up some work at the local smithy.”

Her wife did not like that idea one bit. “Norjia, you’re in no condition for blacksmithing!”

Norjia looked at the bandage on her upper leg. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We may just need to wait until morning to figure things out.”

“This night’s gonna suck,” Mercury complained. She looked up at the rain, but the darkening grey sky showed no sign of letting up.

“Are there sanctuaries for displaced people?” Periwinkle asked.

Mercury frowned at him. “You mean like a church? I don’t want to go to a church.”

“Nor do I,” the Mechanic agreed. “I’d rather spend the night out in the elements than in a church.”

“I guess that settles it then,” Norjia replied. “Let’s try to find a dry spot to wait out the night.”