50. The start of things

 

Daniel walked along the corridor, to the room he was told to consider his own for the time being, when he heard a soft sound from Rayko's room. The door was open, so he looked into the room.

Rayko was sitting halfway up, a tonne of pillows in her back. She sat staring at a cup of something that was on a small table on her bed.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked.

Slowly Rayko looked up. There was surprise in her face. "Oh... I had not expected..." She smiled. "I am not well, preacher."

Preacher? Daniel could hit himself. He was still in the Nahmyo preacher garb, and had not remembered that Rayko was following that philosophy. "I am-" he started to say as he came into the room. He stopped talking as he saw how she tried to lift a hand. "Do not strain yourself. You are still weak." He sat down next to the bed, the hood far over his head. He whispered, hoping she would not recognise his voice while at the same time he felt bad about fooling her.

"I am hurting. Inside and outside," Rayko said, slowly, and clearly with problems. "I don't want to be a burden to the people here. Not even to..." she had to breathe a few times "that man who saved my life."

"What is your bother with him?" Daniel asked, hoping he was not too obvious.

"He is so..." another moment to breathe "so... rough. Impolite." Rayko closed her eyes and sighed. "I know I should not harbour these thoughts, preacher, but... he angers me. And I know I anger him. And still he risked his life for me. He could have died in that cellar with me." Her words ended in a whisper.

Daniel gently took her hand. "The ways of people are never explicable, or understandable." He did his best to make sense. He was sincere in a way he had never thought possible. "There are always motives beyond feelings. Actions that defy logic and emotion. Actions that transcend minds."

Rayko sat silent for a while, then tried to reach Daniel's hand with her other hand. She winced.

He reached out and touched her other hand. "Do not strain yourself." He put the hand he held in her lap. "Drink up. And rest." He got up again.

"Preacher?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Will you come back and talk to me? It is important... it helps me. To make me feel better."

"I only convey the words of Nahmyo," Daniel said, with a smile. "And I will come back to you. But now you rest."

"I will. Thank you, preacher."

Daniel walked out of the room and quietly went into his own. There he changed into his remaining suit, which had suffered quite a bit from the experiences of the days before.

-=-=-

Huajo left the carriage that had brought him to Clelem's house. He had made sure the man was at home by announcing his upcoming visit. Clelem had reacted a bit surprised about the call, but had invited his fellow ship owner over.

The fat man had some trouble getting in and out of the floater-carried basket. After was ordeal, he entered the reception building. Clelem himself was there to greet him, the way it was proper to do among equals.

"Dear friend," Clelem said, "I must say I am still surprised about your announcement. Please, follow along to the house. My wife is looking forward to meeting you again."

"Thank you, dear friend. It has been too long ago that I paid you a visit, especially in this testing time," said Huajo. He noticed the quick glance of Clelem that betrayed caution.

"I take it that you have heard that our child has gone missing," Clelem then said. "Yes. We are very worried about her. And even Warlem, our no-good son, seems to be at a loss about Rayko's disappearing."

They walked on to the large hall with the fountain. Ugidra was waiting, standing next to the basin. "Dear Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy, such a surprise, your visit," she said as he greeted her.

"I wish the reason of my visit was a more cheerful one, dear lady," Huajo said. "I have heard of the strange vanishing of your daughter, Rayko. I want to hear from you directly, dear friends, if there is any news concerning her."

As they walked over to a couch, Ugidra shook her head slightly. "No, alas, there is no news. We have asked the police force to search, but they have not found any trace of her."

Clelem sat on the couch, next to his wife, and said nothing. He just looked sad.

"And then the horrific explosion that happened in Skarak," Huajo remarked. "It looks as if there is a plague going around lately."

Clelem and Ugidra both acknowledged having heard of the explosion. "Many dead there, I have heard," said Clelem, holding a cup of tea. "It is such a shame."

"I know," Huajo said. "I want you to know, that if there is anything I can do for you to find your daughter back, you only have to ask. I have people, I have ships and I have connections. Do not hesitate."

Ugidra thanked him abundantly, even though offering was all he had done so far. Clelem nodded and at that moment the mouse came in. Gaguran walked up to his boss and whispered something.

"I hope you can excuse me, dear friend," he said and walked off with his serving man. A few minutes later Clelem returned, seemingly relieved about something.

Huajo had kept an eye on the man, without Udriga noticing that. He was good at these things, as he was in the game of business since long.

Clelem sat down. "I really would like to thank you, dear friend, for your generous offer. And I am sure that Ugidra will agree that we would appreciate all effort that you could put into finding our girl again."

Ugidra beamed at her husband, for the sudden support he gave her. "Yes," she affirmed one more time, "we really want to have her back."

Clelem nodded. "I just heard, from my serving man, some more distressing news about the building that exploded, in Skarak. It seems that one of the people who died in that terrible accident was the security man, Mr. Zacharias, who was so brave in rescuing the crew of my ship."

Huajo had to hand it to Clelem: he was a fabulous actor. The man looked seriously grieved, how he sat there, with his head hanging down and his sagging shoulders.

Huajo put a big hand on the man's shoulder. "That, my friend, is awful. I know how much you valued him. I heard you even invited him to a party one day. Not even so long ago."

Ugidra watched Clelem. Clelem himself nodded. "Yes. I did. He appreciated it. He was worth it. He even danced with our daughter..."

Ugidra took Clelem's hand and tried to comfort her husband. "Maybe, Seigner, it is best now that you give Clelem some time," she said.

Huajo nodded. "Of course, my lady." He got up and followed Gaguran who took him to the floater. The serving man did not even wait until Huajo had arrived at the foot of the hill, which told Huajo something...

-=-=-

"I am sure that this serving man of his came to tell him something about the building you lived in, Mr. Zacharias," Huajo said to the face on his hydger.

"It certainly sounds like that," Daniel agreed. "I hope his wife was not too shattered about the news that I am dead. She was the one who asked me to find their daughter in the first place."

"She looked more concerned about her husband. But that could be because he was there." Huajo was not sure about that. "The man has a set of very nasty traits, this much I have discovered. And the serving man he has, that is a character to avoid as well."

"I can only agree, sir. I would not trust that man further than I can throw him," said Daniel.

"Anyway, Mr. Zacharias, I have done that part of the plan. Now we can but wait. I will be at my house. If anything perspires, I will let you know."

"As I will inform you, Seigner," Daniel said. "Thank you for the update and I hope you will have a good day." He closed the box. "Okay, Mr. Dandra ko Galem. The bait is out. Now it's your move."

The senator was not in at the moment. Daniel had an idea. He put the hydger in his pocket and went outside, to the garden. Kernak, the huge Kotrvayk, lay silently under the leaves of a low tree.

"Hello Kernak," Daniel said, calmly. He did not want to startle the large animal, so letting her know he was near was the best thing he could think of.

Slowly the big red head looked up at him as he came closer. Daniel kneeled down with Kernak as she sat up, her large yellow eyes directed at him. Only then Daniel noticed that the eyes of the Kotrvayk never seemed to blink.

"You are one special creature, you know," said Daniel. "Nah, you probably don't. But to me you are. I have never seen one like you, and I've been around."

Kernak gently pushed her nose against his shoulder. Daniel had no idea what that meant.

"Do you know what I am supposed to do here?" he asked the large animal who kept pushing him. As she pushed him over, he laughed. "Hey, what's that? Do you want to play?"

As if she understood him, Kernak walked off a bit, took a large piece of wood, it looked like a branch of a tree, between her teeth and carried it to him. She held it up and prodded him with it.

Daniel grinned and took the branch in both hands. A low growl came from Kernak's internals as she slowly tugged at the branch. Daniel pulled back. And Kernak pulled. Soon after that, they both were tearing at the piece of wood as if they were crazy. Daniel did what he could to get the animal off her spot, but she had four big paws and her large tail and would not budge.

Two servants had come out to watch the strange wrestling match and whispered to each other. Daniel had noticed them come out but he did not spend any attention on them. The fight with the animal was too intense, too fascinating and too much a great distraction for him. It took his mind off things. All these things that were bothering him, enveloping him. All that counted now was to either wrench the wood from Kernak's jaws, or to pull her from her spot.

Kernak had no trouble with Daniel's struggles. It was as if she pulled exactly as hard as he did, matching his powers and not overgoing them.

After almost twenty minutes Daniel had to give up. He was soaking wet from sweating, from the fight. He dropped to his knees and laughed, laughed as a madman. "You are a rotter, Kernak," he laughed, slapping at the animal who had dropped the branch. "You know how to distract people."

The big red head was close to Daniel's face. He could not resist. He put his arms around the thick solid neck and hugged the animal, still laughing. Kernak let him hug her, as if it was part of their game. Then Daniel let go and just lay down on the ground, catching his breath again. Kernak prodded him one more time with her nose, and then went back to her spot under the low tree.

Daniel felt free. He felt good. For a short time there were no attempts on his life, there were no plans and plots, no pirates and other nasty people. After a while he sat up.

The servants were still looking at him.

"I did not hurt her, you need not worry," Daniel said to them.

"It is not her we worry about, Mr. Zacharias," one of the servants said. "There has not been a human being who ever took down a Kotrvayk. It is a miracle that she wants you as a person to play with. This does not happen often, sir." They bowed and left him alone again.

Daniel frowned. Why had they bowed? People here were very polite, but so far nobody had bowed for him. "Weird," he mumbled as he got up. Before he went inside, he kneeled with Kernak and petted her for a while. "Thank you, Kernak. This is what I needed. I owe you."

A deep rumble was his reward. Daniel went inside and found it was time for a bath.