By J. R. Bennett
<Chapter III ~*~ Chapter V>
Chapter IV
Reports from Apothem
~*~
It was the early
morning. Ed sat at his writing desk
studying several reports about a city in the Fineylands
called Apothem. The reports from inside
the city read of a mysterious purple cloud rolling into the area and looming
over it for several days before finally descending upon Apothem. The second set came from one of the traveling
outposts of the Order of the Four Keepers.
They claimed that after the cloud ascended from Apothem that the entire
population had vanished without a trace.
The purple
cloud seemed oddly familiar. Ed needed
to consult his book of Deltic Myths but there was one problem: The shelf that
the book rested on loomed over Zach, who was asleep on the futon.
Ed looked about
him. Conveniently nearby was a wooden
ladder that Ed had brought in to replace the current one for the attic. Silently, Ed leaned it against the shelf and
began to climb. As Ed went up, the shelf
groaned from the weight of the ladder and him.
Nervously, Ed reached for the book, inching cautiously.
That’s when
it happened. As soon as the book was in
Ed’s hands, down went the shelf, with Ed and the book, right on top of Zach and
the bed.
I wish I
could say it was a pleasant moment, but the fact that a penknife nearly stabbed
Zach in the shoulder, and the fact that Zach chased Ed out of the room with it
would only prove that I was lying. Ed
merely went into the kitchen to read his book while waiting for everyone else
to wake up.
The morning routine was the same as before, except this time
everyone had new clothes to wear from the trip to the tailors. Ed sported a dark three piece with a wing
collar and a silver tie while Travis and Zach wore polo shirts and Alice was in
a blue dress.
The Kina’s
house red brick building near the Old District.
Ed led the crew to the front door where a young woman in what looked
like her good dress greeted them.
“Morning
Katherine!” Ed called. “Is Dr. Kina in?”
“He’s in
his office,” was the cheery reply.
Ed went a
head up stairs leaving the others to be entertained by Katherine Kina.
Mr. Kina
was ancient looking with a bushy beard that looked overdue for shaving. Dressed in a blue cardigan, he sat at his
desk studying copies of the same reports that were sent to Ed.
“I trust
you read the reports,” he said, getting right to business.
“I did.”
Kina opened
a drawer and produced a reel of black tape.
“This is a recording from one of the Order’s outposts in Apothem. It starts just as the cloud is spotted over
the city and goes until the cloud lands.”
Kina then put the tape on a player with a hand crank. As soon as the handle was turned, this is
what they heard:
Speaker:
This is Thaddeus Gallows of the Order of the Four Keepers. Right now, there is a plume of purple smoke
or something coming this way. No one
knows what it is or if it’s from a chemical accident or something. It seems to be coming down now.
It’s real thick. OH! What’s that!?
Ed looked
pale. The voice at the end sounded
horse, angry, and lustful, all in one word.
The work Manookoo seemed odd, familiar almost. He scribbled the name down on a piece of
paper.
“In a
week’s time,” explained Kina, “The order will be presenting its findings before
Parliament when they meet in a week’s time.
Our sources are tracking the cloud and its heading here. The Gallan-Gallet will not be able to fight
back unless we can be prepared. Ed, I
want you to prepare a report and present it before Parliament.”
“In a
week?” asked Ed with some hesitation.
“Yes. Time is of the essence and our Mr. Bloom
ensures her majesty would eagerly agree with our proposal if we presented the
matter.”
“I’ll have
to look into it some more first. That
Manookoo bit seemed familiar.”
“I would
recommend seeing George about it.” Kina
said, getting the final word. “He’s more
educated in old languages and myth, I’m sure Manookoo is from the Zeltic
myths.”
After this,
Ed left. He oddly quiet as he drove out
to George’s house. The others thought he
was acting queer. Every now and again,
he would begin muttering to himself. It
was unnerving.
The car rolled to a halt in front of some familiar town
houses. George’s wife, Emma McTrotter, was
in her gardening cloths and tending to the flowerbed while George was working
on an old car on the driveway.
“Hullo,”
called George from the car.
Emma went
down to meet the crew. Ed went up to the
car and asked George what he knew about Manookoo.
“Sounds
Zeltic,” was the reply. George then went
into the house to find a book that he thought would help.
“This” –
George explained as he handed the book over – “should be of some help. However, to my knowledge Manookoo was the
name of a cult in Zeltic myth. They pop
up all the time in the Lomassmay
epics.”
Ed thanked
George and left with the others.
Once at home, Ed shut himself in his office, forgetting that
his friends were there, setting straight to work examining books and writing
his report for the order. He was in his
office until Zach stormed in with lost patience.
“I’ve had
it!” Zach snapped.
“Had
what?” Ed asked, ignorant of what was
going on.
“I just had
it. I’ve had enough of your arrogant
attitude. It seems as if ever since you
brought us here, you’ve been showing off, and I’m sick of it!”
“I brought
you guys here to show you a good time. I
wanted to show you that I am alive and well and that everything would be
fine. If you have an issue with my
generosity –”
“Generosity? You just brought us here to show off and then
leave us. It’s just typical of you. You show up and then then go off on your own
adventure, ignoring everyone else in the proses.”
Ed looked
gravely at Zach, his reading glasses perched toward the end of his nose. “Look,” he said finally. “I’m not trying to show off. I was never expecting to have this work
thrown upon me. The only up side to this
is that I can take you to Bathill
in
the end. Zach, what am I supposed to
do? I want you guys here but I have my
duty to the order and the empire to uphold.”
“Then ask
us to help.” Zach shot back. “You would
have better luck.”
Ed had to
agree to this. It wasn’t long until all
four were scattered in the room. Books
and paper covered in notes littered the floor.
Through their research, the group was able to establish the following:
1.
The
Manookoo were an ancient cult that honoured the Zeltic god Manoo
,
god of the underworld and son of the chief god, Horcus
.
2. Horcus
damned them for practicing human sacrifice.
3.
The
cult’s punishment was to wander the earth for eternity on a rock called Spyruss
. Manoo was forced to live with his cult on
this rock and wander in the shroud of a purple cloud, with only the souls of
the damned to quench his hunger.
4. It
is believed in the later years of the Zeltic Empire that Manoo would ascend
upon certain regions that were becoming complacent in their ways and consume
the souls of its inhabitants.
It took the
better part of the day for Ed, Alice, Zach and Travis to compile their
notes. They then took turns to dictate
the report to Little Dill, who danced on the keys of Ed’s typewriter to create
the work. When the job was done, they
had a report of fifteen pages.
The next morning Mr. Kina paid a visit. Under Ed’s insistence, everyone had to be
dressed in full attire when the chairman of the Order of the Four Keepers
arrived. The elderly professor arrived
in a grey suit and was presented the compiled report.
Dr. Kina
was left in the living room to read the report while Ed and the others sat in
the kitchen with a pot of tea between them.
Ed looked exceedingly nervous, he never did like the waiting period of
between giving a person a draft to read and their response, his hands shook as
he tried to lift his teacup to drink.
Everyone else was quiet, except Little Dill, who slurped his tea with great
gusto.
It wasn’t
long before Kina joined them in the kitchen.
“You still need work on your writing style,” Kina explained (he was
always meticulous when it came to writing), “but it will do nicely. I will have it sent a head to Bathill so it
may be presented before Parliament.
You’ll have to be there for Wednesday next week to present it formally
before the throne and both houses.”
Kina didn’t
say anymore after that, he made his way to the closet for his coat and left.
Ed look
bewildered as he watched his mentor leave.
“What’s
that matter?” Alice asked.
Ed did not
answer. His look of bewilderment quickly
changed into a smirk, and then into a grin.
“Ha!” Ed
cried as he slapped his hands together in a loud clap. “We’re off to Bathill!”
