The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 23. Chapter 23 - Red Raven's

“Almost there, boys,” Z’Matri said over his shoulder to Kosephaji and Relliduna as he led them through the Shifton streets. A moment later, he pulled open a door and waved them into a tavern. “Straight to the back and outside,” he directed. He turned and headed up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

Kosephaji and Relliduna walked through the dark interior of the tavern past several tables of people eating their breakfasts. They could see the glow of sunlight ahead, and it guided them to another glass door that opened onto a wide green park.

Ogomo and Nahli were seated in the shade of a massive tree. The tavern was positioned at the border of Teshon City, and the forest that spread across the region grew right up to the edge of the little park.

“Hello again, lads,” the giant boomed. “Sorry we couldn’t…”

“Is Pelipi with you?” Kosephaji blurted out. “There was a light when you tried to break us out of the prison; was it Pelipi?! Please tell me it was him! Please tell me he’s here with you!” Tears began to well in his eyes as the words flowed from his lips. He had not breathed a single one of these thoughts to Relliduna.

“I’m sorry, boys,” Ogomo said in a sympathetic rumble.

Nahli rose from where she was seated beside her huge brother, and she stepped up to Kosephaji and Relliduna. “We had a torch,” she explained. “When we came up to the cell wall, Ogomo was holding it, and he handed it to me to use his hammer. I gave it back to him as we headed down to the water, and we doused it before climbing in our submersible.” She added quietly, “I’m sorry we got your hopes up about him.”

“Z’Matri already told us about Pelipi,” Relliduna whispered to Kosephaji. “He’s gone.”

Kosephaji began to sob. “No! Don’t say that, Duna!”

Relliduna wrapped his arms around Kosephaji.

“I’m so sorry,” Ogomo repeated.

Kosephaji cried against Relliduna’s shoulder, and he could not stop his own tears. The two embraced for several minutes, and they poured out their sorrow.

When they calmed down again, Ogomo recommended, “Lads, head inside and order yourselves each a drink called the queen’s ecstasy.”

“It’ll help,” Nahli added.

Kosephaji and Relliduna reentered the dark pub and they approached the bar. Behind it, a barmaid was cackling with a young woman who only had one arm. She was wearing a black and white striped sash draped over where her other arm should have been. Relliduna stepped right up beside her, but he noticed that Kosephaji did not follow him to the counter and instead was approaching a table with a few people seated at it.

The barmaid spoke to Relliduna and pulled his attention. “Welcome to Red Raven’s, laddie. What can I get for ya?”

He smiled at the woman with one arm and the barmaid. “I was told to order queen’s ecstasies for myself and my friend, if you please.”

“Be right up!”

Across the dark tavern, Kosephaji stepped up to a seated woman who was smoking a joint. “Excuse me,” he said to her in a tone filled with awe. The two people at the table looked up at him. Kosephaji felt a little nervous and embarrassed, but he pressed on. “May I please see your arm? I’ve never seen machines like that.”

“Oh, well, these are organic machines. Some are my own design,” she replied with a note of pride in her voice.

“No, sorry,” Kosephaji said, “I know what they are; I’ve just never seen any like these before!” He sounded truly amazed.

“You know about organic mechanics?” she asked. “Have you been to my shop? My name’s Olona.”

“Oh, no, I’ve never been to your shop,” Kosephaji responded. “I’m from Xin, and we just got here.” He pointed over at Relliduna, who had joined in the conversation with the barmaid and the one-armed woman.

“I’m also from Xin!” Olona declared in delight. “How did you two get up here to Teshon City?”

“And what’s your name?” added a tall muscular woman with an older man beside her. They walked up behind Kosephaji. She gave him a kind smile and rolled her eyes at Olona for not asking his name. “I’m Ilya,” she added. “This is Dozi. And this is our new friend Unadi. Sorry, what’s your name?”

“Kosephaji,” he answered, looking at each of them; however, Unadi was focused on the bar. Kosephaji followed his gaze to Relliduna.

“What a lovely name,” Ilya replied. “Kosephaji, Would you like to join us?” She waved to one of the chairs at their table.

Unadi suddenly screamed and rushed at the bar.

“No!” Kosephaji cried. “Duna!”

Unadi snatched up an empty chair and swung it overhead.

Relliduna and the barmaid cringed away from the assault, but Tchama turned right into Unadi’s swing. The chair exploded against her and shattered pieces of wood flew around the tavern.

Tchama was unharmed.

Ilya ran over to Unadi and grabbed his arm again, but he howled at her like a beast and ripped himself from her grip. He ran out of the bar and into the city’s narrow streets.

“What the fuck is wrong with him?!” Dozi snapped.

Ilya looked confused and upset, and she hurried after Unadi.

Olona sucked air through her teeth. “I’m beginning to think turning off his mantis gland might’ve had some consequences we didn’t anticipate.”

“What the fuck?” Dozi repeated. “Sorry about that,” she said to Kosephaji. “He is not our friend. What’s your name again?”

“It’s Kosephaji,” he repeated.

“You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.” Dozi looked over at Relliduna, who seemed to be checking on Tchama, and she was smiling at him. “And your friend, too,” Dozi added as Relliduna brushed a few wood chips off Tchama’s shoulder scarf.

“Thank you,” Kosephaji replied to Dozi, “but we’ve got a couple friends waiting for us outside.”

Relliduna stepped up behind Kosephaji. “That was exciting, huh? She says she’s got some sort of invulnerability.” Relliduna indicated Tchama, who was still at the bar. “And Ogomo and Nahli won’t mind if we stay inside and make a few new friends and chat for a while.” He smiled at the four at the table. “Here’s your queen’s ecstasy.”

Kosephaji took his cocktail.

“Yikes,” Dozi commented, “it’s a little early for drinks that strong.”

“We just lost a friend at sea,” Kosephaji said quietly.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Tchama replied as she stepped up. “Would you like to tell us about your friend?”

“His name was Pelipi,” Relliduna said. “He was a Bio-Shift. The three of us were born down in Xin, and we left together. The ship we were on crashed and sank, and he… was lost.”

“That’s so hard,” Olona said.

“Thank you,” Kosephaji replied. “I don’t think it has quite hit me yet. We had a rough night.”

Kosephaji and Relliduna looked at each other and each took a sip of their drinks.

“Oooh, that’s good!” Relliduna said.

Dozi gave them an I told you so look. “You won’t realize how strong it is until it’s too late.”

An hour later, Kosephaji and Relliduna were completely drunk. It was barely 9am. They were outside with Ogomo and Nahli.

“Pelipi was my besshht friend,” Kosephaji slurred.

“Mine too,” Relliduna mumbled in agreement. “He was the best of the three of uzzz.”

Kosephaji and Relliduna had sat with Dozi, Tchama, and Olona for part of their first round of queen’s ecstasy. However, Ilya had rushed back in after several minutes to say she lost track of Unadi, and the women left with her. The two boys had joined Ogomo and Nahli on their second drink, but they were now halfway through their fifth round of queen’s ecstasy.

“D’ya think we should’ve left Pelipi in Xin?” Relliduna asked Kosephaji.

“Where exactly? And with who? Erm… with whom? Is it who or whom?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should’ve never left.”

Kosephaji sighed. “We left Xin because Pelipi and I almost lost you. How could we have known that we would lose him in the process?”

“Ugh… I think I’m done drinking,” Relliduna groaned, and he pushed his remaining half-glass of queen’s ecstasy toward the center of the table.

Nahli leaned over to him and Kosephaji. “There’s no wrong way for you boys to feel. Pelipi was quite a character, and I’m sorry he’s gone.”

Kosephaji also decided to abandon the last few sips of his drink. He and Relliduna embraced, and they were both brought to tears again.

When they separated, Kosephaji looked up at Ogomo and said, “We’re drunk.”

“And it’s almost 9:15 in the morning,” Ogomo replied with a rumbling chuckle.

“What’re we s’pposeta do now that your ship’s been smashed?” Relliduna mumbled to him.

Ogomo sighed. “We knew about the underwater barrier, and we have heard about crashes, but after testing my ship in countless challenging conditions, we were confident that it could get through.”

“We reinforced the hull and keel,” Nahli added, “and it should have been strong enough.”

“But it just wasn’t,” Ogomo concluded. “Our goal was to end up in Teshon City, but not permanently; we were planning on leaving again.”

Kosephaji raised his hand.

“We’re not in school,” Nahli told him with a laugh.

“Oh, right,” he mumbled, “so, I guess, well, how come the ship couldn’t get through?”

“We observed quite a lot of it from inside our submersible,” Nahli said. “The thing goes on for miles, and it looked too precise to be natural. It’s some sort of old barricade, we think.”

“It was strong enough to resist even my ship,” Ogomo continued. “The city guard who held you overnight informed the others that there are a number of warning buoys sporadically positioned along the barrier, but because it’s so vast, there’s no way for them to mark the entire thing.”

“So, they dunno what it is either?” Relliduna slurred.

Ogomo shook his massive head. “It’s blocked the waters surrounding Teshon Harbor for longer than there’s been a Teshon City.”

“For now, we’re stuck here,” Nahli concluded.

“But here is home,” Ogomo added, and he smiled.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that I don’t want to be here,” Nahli replied with another laugh. “I meant whenever we decide to leave, we’ll need to figure out some other means.”

Kosephaji tried to force down the drunken feelings swirling through his body, but he stumbled over his words nonetheless. “D’you wanna stay here? Tishin Schitty seems nice.” He scrunched up his face at himself and pressed on, “It’s nice seeing Shifts and Bio-Shifts out in the open.”

“The city went through a pretty brutal conflict that left a lot of people dead,” Nahli informed the boys, “but in the end, those who were left, committed to making this place more welcoming.”

“And it is,” Ogomo boomed with a grin.

“I wish Pelipi was here to see it,” Relliduna said.

Kosephaji smacked Relliduna’s arm, as tears filled his eyes again. “Duna, stop making me cry!”

“He woulda liked those three who we were drinking with inside,” Relliduna added, “the ones with the friend who was not their friend, or something; yeah, Pelipi woulda liked them.”

“He prob’ly woulda flirted with all three of them,” Kosephaji snorted, wiping his eyes hard. “You better not make me cry again, Duna.”★