Search the Forgotten - Chapter Twelve      They came in the dark.  I was awakened for a moment but then I was rendered unconscious by something placed over my face.  A cloth.  It seemed I was drugged.  I was a long time in the dark.  I think I woke up.  I felt sore and bruised, as if I'd been in a brawl.  I tried to open my eyes.  It took some time.  Or so it seemed.      My vision was still dark.  There were darker shapes moving in the dark.  There were voices.  I couldn't tell what they said.      A shadow grew closer.  The dark went grey and grew light.  My eyes hurt.  The shadow became clear.      Uncle, I thought to myself.      The light went all grey.      I heard voices but all was shadow on shadow.  Greys.  Dark and light.      "You kidnapped the wrong person!" a voice said.      Uncle somebody or other. I couldn't recall the name for some reason.  I know it though.  Uncle...uncle....      "That wasn't my fault!  He was in the room," a gruff sounding voice said.      "Fool," a calm, quiet voice said.  A cultured voice.  Was I supposed to know this one?      "Does he look like Antryne to you?" the uncle voice said.      I know that I know who's voice that is.  I blinked my eyes but all was shadow.  Shadow on shadow.      "No matter," the quiet one said.  "We can still use him.  Arif will do as a first threat.  The plan will simply need...adjusting."  A shadow came close and seemed to stare at me.  "Like your nephew here, will need adjusting."  The shadow retreated.  "You shouldn't be too put out, Kilian.  The king will still get what's coming to him."      Kilian...Kilian.... That name was familiar.  Uncle Kilian! Disbelief.  Did he cause this...abduction?      Darkness.  Buzzing.  Dizziness.      Pretty colors.  But far too bright.      Faces.  Faces I knew.  Old faces overlapping young faces.      You betrayed me, Uncle! I shouted.  My mouth didn't move but I shouted.      Something jerked my body.  My muscles twitched and hurt.  Tremendously hurt.  I closed my eyes.  I blinked.  I opened my eyes.      A face.  Was he the betrayer?  He seemed young, but another face overlapped.  Older.  I screamed my anger and frustration.  Who was this!      I shoved him away from me and got to my feet.  I was outside now.  Trees.  Grass.  How did I get outside?  I had to get away.  Didn't I have a horse?  A musical sequence came to mind.  I whistled it and knew my horse would come.  I saw a sword nearby and I picked it up.      There were two people.  I thought I should know them.  Did they betray me?      My horse galloped to me and stopped in front of me.  I climbed in the saddle and turned toward the two I saw.  My vision wavered and the colors were...wrong.  Everything glowed with an inner light.  They shouted to me.  They knew my name.  Did they betray me?  They wanted me off the horse.  They said I wasn't well.      "Liar!" I yelled.  "Deceivers!"  They wanted to use me.  To make someone...I lost the thought.  "Betrayers!"  I had to get away.  I had go.  I had to go...east.  I glanced beyond the two and knew that for east.  It was away from here.  I yelled, "Yaaaaaa!" and urged my horse to gallop.      They shouted but I rode fast.  I had to get away.  I had to go...somewhere.      My head was buzzing.  I was still dizzy and I clung to my horse as much as to his reins.      This horse was fast.      Someone was yelling behind me.  Should I know that voice?      Get away...get away...get away....  I had to.  Where was I?  Who was I?      My head was buzzing and the world's colors weren't right.  Trees and grass and bushes glowed.  A light of golden violet shown from my horse's head and neck.  A flock of pale green flew from a tree and I only just realized they were birds before they disappeared into another pastel pink shining tree.      What was happening to me?      The horse ran until it got tired.  I don't know how long it was.  It seemed like forever.  The sky grew dark but the life around me was bright.  Green tree leaves shown light pink, grass had sharp red flaming edges.  My own hands shown with an inner fire of gold and white and violet and other shifting colors.      Hours passed as we ran and yet it seemed time hardly existed.      The horse stopped and I got down.  I was sore.  I grabbed the horse's reins and I walked.  I had to get somewhere.  I didn't know where.  We walked until I just had to stop.  Or the horse did.      Sparking flies flew around my head and I shooed them away.  Grass and the leaves on the trees gave off their light.  There were dim, objects on the ground with little to no light to them.  I picked one up and it was a rock.  It glowed brighter where my fingers touched it.  I tossed it away.      What was this light?  Was it life itself?  I looked at my horse again and I swear I could feel his tiredness.  I could feel his animal life.  It was different from the plant life of the trees.      My head was buzzing.  And it ached.      I must have slept because I woke up and I was on the ground.  I stood.  Wiped sleep from my eyes.  My head buzzed, but not as loudly.  Everything gave off an inner light as before.  I whistled and my horse came to me.  My horse was still saddled.  How neglectful of me, I thought to myself.  My horse nodded his head.  Maybe he was agreeing with me.  Maybe I was just crazy.  The horse snorted.  He nudged me as if he shared a joke with me.      My throat was dry.  I found a water skin with the things attached to my saddle and I took a drink.  I put the skin back.      "Come, horse," I said to the horse.  Red?  My horse's name came to my mind.  Red.  I climbed into the saddle and let Red take me forward.  East.      Later, when I realized through my buzzing headache that I was hungry, I found some jerky of some kind in one of my saddle bags and I ate some in spite of its dark muddy aura.      Red took me quite some distance that day.  I was sure that I'd gotten away from...somebody.      Who?      The liar.      I reached a silver and daisy yellow glowing ribbon, that I realized was a river, shortly before nightfall.  Red and I drank and I made camp here.  This time I remembered to unsaddle Red.  He seemed relieved.  The stars all shown in bright pinpoints of many colors and the only moon in the sky at the moment was a dark brown glowing curve.      With all the bright light the living things gave off I thought it would be impossible to get to sleep.  I was wrong though.  I was tired.  So was my horse.      Red.      Sleep was dream filled but when I woke up I could remember nothing of them.  I ate something from my saddle bags for breakfast.  It had nuts and berries in it and it shown forth with pale blue and sandy radiance.  It reminded me of some...one.  My head buzzed but not as bad as yesterday.      I saddled Red and we rode southeast.  I followed along the river, still aglow with its life.  It looked a bit fast here to risk a crossing.  I hoped I'd find a slower, maybe shallower section, where I could cross and resume my eastern travel.      The buzzing was almost gone by the time I found a slow wide section of the river.  Its silver and yellow light was dimmer than it was this morning.  I hoped it wasn't deep here and Red and I started across.  I was on foot and leading the horse.  The water was cold.  There were dark pebbles in the water.  The water reached my chest when I was about in the middle of the river, but that was as high as it went.  Then it dropped as I and Red continued.  I should have rode Red across, I'd be mostly dry.      Once on the other side, I dumped the water out of my boots.  I dried off what I could with my blanket.  I refilled my water skin.  I tried to think of what else I should do and my head buzzed for a moment.  Before I climbed back into the saddle, I and Red both drank our fill at the river.  Then I mounted up and Red and I continued our eastern travel.      Traveling away from...the liars.      Liar.  Liar.  Lie ar.  Lie ar.  Something about that word.  Liar.  Lie ar.  I lar.  Sie lar.  Something.      Traveling to...what?  To whom?  I didn't know.      My head ached.  I felt nauseous.  The next thing I knew I was on the ground and Red was looking down at me.  I thought of sugar and thought he wanted some for some reason.      Crazy.      I stood up.  Where was I?  I was about to climb back into the saddle and thought better of it.  My head throbbed.  We resumed our walking.      It was some time later that I realized that the light from the river was barely noticeable in the day's light.  Perhaps whatever the betrayers did to me was wearing off.  The grass still had red edges.  The trees still glowed light pink, though not as brightly.  I gave my head a shake at the strange beauty of it all.      We came upon another river.  Wide and moving fast.  We couldn't cross it here.  We followed it south.  Some hours later, I thought riding would be alright so I climbed into the saddle and we rode at a quick trot.  But then, Red wanted to go faster.  So I let him.      Hours later.  We came to where the river joined another river.  The river Red and I had followed was on our left.  There was a river on our right.  The rivers joined together in front of us.  Was this the river I'd crossed before?  Perhaps I should have stayed on the other side of it.      Now what?      I looked around.  The river we'd been following was as fast as ever.  Too dangerous to cross.  The river to the right was slower.  Was it slow enough?  I couldn't tell its depth either.  No choice.  I urged Red to cross the river and I stayed on him this time.  We were halfway across, Red was half under water.  The water continued to get deeper and I thought we'd go under, but then the water level dropped.  We climbed out on the other side and Red was pretty much soaked.      My legs were wet and there was water in my boots again, but that was easily remedied.  I wondered if I should have just followed that first river.  Well, now I had a bigger river to travel and it was heading south-southeast.  I saw mountains some distance ahead.  There was something about mountains.  Going to mountains.      We stopped when my stomach growled hungrily.  I rummaged through my pack and found some line and hooks.  I wondered if there was any fish in the river and I decided that fishing for an hour wouldn't be a bad thing.      I fished.  Red grazed.  I got hungrier.  Red grazed.  I fished and remained hungry.  Red grazed.  The pig.  I fished.  Red grazed.  Was there no end to his appetite?  I caught a fish.  It's inner light was pale and blue.  It wasn't very large, but it fed me.  Once I cleaned and cooked it over a fire and ignored it's light as it went from light blue to thin dusty brown.      After more traveling we found that the river cut through some low foot hills.  Mountains loomed overhead.  There was something about mountains.  Wasn't I going to go through the mountains or something?  Or did I do that already?  I thought about that for a moment.  I remembered mountains and some dark passage of some kind.  I wasn't alone when I went through there.  Who was with me?      The liars.  Liar.  Li ar.  I lar.  Sie lar. Sy lar.  Sylar?  Something.  I'm forgetting something.      I rode Red through the foot hills, intending to take a look at these mountains.  But night grew and the mountains were still some distance away.  I stopped for the night.  Fished for my supper.  Didn't catch a thing.  I ate a portion of cheese and one of those nut and berry things that was in my pack.  The food tasted bland.  I craved something else.  The things around me still gave off a faint light, but it was all fading and the colors were ill defined.      The next morning, I fished for my breakfast.  I got lucky.  I caught two good sized fish.  I cooked and ate them both.  For some reason I couldn't define, my breakfast wasn't satisfying.      Red and I resumed our journey toward the mountains.  It took us half the day as near as I could tell.  The sun never seemed to show itself above the mountains.      The river cut through the mountains and the ground was pebble covered on this side of the river and there were boulders of varying size scattered about.  It was almost level, but did have a slight slope toward the river and some scrub brush and weed grass grew in patches.  I presume the other side of the river was the same.  I could see lines on the rock walls here that seemed to indicate different water levels.  The highest was over my head.  Hopefully, the water level wouldn't rise that high while I was going through.  Also, hopefully, this river would lead me to the other side of the mountains.      The river twisted and turned as it cut through here.  A few hours into the mountains, Red was walking at the edge of the water, the wall of the mountain on my right was almost close enough to touch.  A switchback curve took us through an area where the mountains joined and formed a low but wide tunnel.  Once again, I had to get my feet wet.  The tunnel was too low to ride through.  It only took an hour to travel through the whole passage.  The space between the rocky walls widened and so did the river, as if it were set free.  But it moved slower in it's wider freedom.  The rock ceiling opened up as the mountains on either side no longer touched.      Soon, I was able to resume riding.  By the time Red and I reached the end of this pass and the mountains opened up to reveal low grassy hills, it was night.  I made a camp near the river and spent the night.      I didn't catch any fish.  I tried though.  I wanted something to eat and it wasn't fish.  I didn't know what it was, but I wanted it.  My head buzzed with a headache and I lay down, and wrapped my blanket around me.      They came in the dark.  I was awakened for a moment but then I was rendered unconscious by something placed over my face.  A drugged cloth or something.  It seemed I was a long time in the dark.  I think I woke up.  I felt sore and bruised, as if I'd been in a brawl.  I tried to open my eyes.  It took some time for it seemed the eyelids didn't wish to move.      My vision was still dark.  There were darker shapes moving in the dark.  There were voices.  I couldn't tell what they said.      A shadow grew closer.  The dark went grey and grew light.  My eyes hurt.  The shadow became clear.      Red shoved me with his nose and woke me.  I got up, relieved myself on a bush and then went fishing.  This time, I caught a fish, unlike last night.  It was good, but somehow I thought it would have been better if someone else had cooked it.      Who?  I could swear that I had a name on the tip of my tongue.  What was it?  Who?      One of the liars.      No.      Liar.  Lie ar.  Sylar.  Jai lar.      Something wasn't quite right.  There was...something.  Someone.      I was out of the mountains.  The river continued to run south southeast.  I needed to go east but didn't want to leave the river just yet.  But I also thought this would be the best time to cross to the other side.  When we were ready, I rode Red across the river.  I barely got my boots wet.      For the better part of the day, I followed the river.  I saw a rabbit at one point and wished I had a bow.  If....  Something with an S.  If only...I could remember.      I shook my head.      I tried fishing when I got hungry.  Too bad I couldn't just eat grass like Red.  I really must get him something besides grass though.  I think he wanted something sweet.  I caught a big one!  A few minutes later I caught another.  I was doing pretty good today.       Well, I was at first.  Two was all I got.  I cooked and ate the fish and the taste left something to be desired.  It filled my belly, but I wanted something else.  It was while I was eating that I noticed that things looked as they should.  The grass was green and so were the trees.  My hands didn't shine and neither did my horse.  It was odd.  I was getting used to seeing the light that life gave off.      Red wanted to run when we resumed traveling, so I let him.  We continued to follow the river and it widened even more.  But then, the river became a small lake.  As we rode around it, a branch split off of the lake and went east southeast.      Good, I thought to myself.  I wanted to go east and now this part of the river was going much more in that direction.  It was also a fair provider and it seemed a good idea to stay close to it.  Surely I'd reach some sort of village or city if I followed the river.      We made good time and when the sun was near set in the west, I stopped Red--who was walking by this time anyway--and made camp.  I managed to catch a small fish for supper.  Afterward, I stayed up for a little while and watched the stars come out.      Throughout the day, something was gnawing at me.  I couldn't tell what it was.  But it felt like a hunger and I had an odd sort of headache.  Mostly, it had nagged in the background of my thoughts, only peeking out a few times.  I wanted something I could not name.  I wrapped my blanket around me and lay down.      Finally, I went to sleep.       I saw a man with a bow and holding out rabbits to me.  There was a short, dwarven man and we fought side by side.  I saw a young man in a kitchen, rushing back and forth.  I saw a woman.  She looked like she might be related to the man with the bow.  Then I saw an older man.  Knowledgeable.  A man with a cultured voice.  There was a man I called uncle.  Betrayer!  Liar!  I saw a plant.  It had a stalk with three large leaves and when I pulled it out of the ground I saw a fat, onion-like bulb.  It glistened with a sheen of silver.  I dreamt I ate it.      I startled awake, sweat drenched and stared around in the night as my stomach cramped.  A silver grey crescent moon was in the sky.  A smaller moon raced by the larger.  It was also a crescent.  A brief wave of pain washed over me.  I doubled over and a moment later it was gone.  I sighed and lay down and wrapped myself in my blanket.  I couldn't remember my dream, which was probably just as well.  I almost dreaded going back to sleep.  But I managed it.  I dreamt of darkness and shadows. - = - = -      I woke, dream puzzled.  I rose from under my warm blanket into the cold morning air.  I went to the river, to wash my befuddlement from my eyes and head, and as I bent over the water something jumped at me.  I swung my arm out to knock whatever it was away and my hand slapped something wet.  I watched as the fish sailed away from me and landed in the bushes on the bank.      Laughing, I ran over to the bush and grabbed hold of the fish.  I brought it up and gazed at it.  "Good morning, breakfast!" I said to it and laughed again.  I hoped this fish was a sign that my luck had changed for the better.      After I ate, I broke camp and continued to follow the river.  I really wanted to head directly east, but that would take me further away from the river and I had no bow with which to hunt.  I supposed I could make snares to catch small game, but I thought I'd have to spend time in an area for that and I felt that I had to keep moving.      So, I followed the river.      As the river meandered through the hilly countryside, so did I.  It was beautiful here, though the morning was a little chilly.      I suddenly thought of something.  A plant of some kind came to my mind.  I seemed to think that they tasted good and I wished I had one to eat.  I got down off Red and searched my packs and didn't find any of it.  I shook my head and tried not to think of food.  I didn't have much with me.  I climbed back into the saddle and resumed my journey.      What was this craving I had?  Was it related to my need to travel east?  East.  I felt that I had to get somewhere.  Or maybe I had to get to someone?  It seemed important, this going east.  I wished I knew why.      I rode until midday and stopped to let Red drink at the river.  I drank too and then rummaged in my pack for something to eat.  I found a small lump of cheese, rather dry.  Almost too dry.  My stomach growled and I figured I might as well try to eat it.  I shoved it into my mouth and found it hard to chew.  I wished my cheese was some of that glistening plant that I kept seeing in my mind.  Still, I had to make do with the few supplies I had.  There was no telling when I'd come across a village or farm or city.  And despite my luck so far, fishing wasn't always successful.      I drank more river water to wash down the cheese.  It wasn't very tasty but it was enough to keep my stomach quiet for a while.      When Red and I continued on our way, he pranced a bit before walking, but I could feel his need to run.  What a horse I had!      "Let's go!" I said and he needed no other urging. - = - = - Return to top of page.     I...uhm...don't think I'm ready for email yet.    ;-) But that doesn't mean you can't try and send me a note! Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 B. J. Miller Jr. All Rights Reserved