Emon

By John Northern

“So why can’t we travel through the tunnel. Is it blocked?”
“ It might be blocked, but that’s not the reason you can’t use it. Long ago it was discovered that anyone who went into the tunnel never made it to the other side and also never came back. Something inside the tunnel is killing anyone who enters. And I might add that even the witches fear the tunnel, for they will send no one in with the intention of sending them to Falshadow. And believe me, they would if they could. It would be much easier to recruit members for their army.”
“Oh great,” said Silver. “Here we go again. And I won’t tell Lor Dak not to go into the tunnel, because he never listens to me, and I already know he plans to go. But I say to all of you who are listening to me—do not follow Lor Dak into the tunnel. Remember what happened to Jac’s two brothers. It’s just not possible for Lor Dak to protect everyone when he walks into a dangerous situation.” . . . . . . . .
Lor Dak was ever his indifferent self, but there was a little concern in his voice when he said, “Once I again I will warn all of you and strongly suggest that you stay behind until I find out if there is anything dangerous in the tunnel. It won’t delay us much if I have to send Silver to get you, and when everything is good, we’ll be on our way.”
Lem leaned back in his chair and said, “I don’t think any of you should go into that tunnel,—even you, the famous Indian. Take the time to find another route. It’s worth your lives. You think there’s nothing in there, but I’m telling you that for hundreds of years people went in there and never came out. It’s possible that the big monsters were having little monsters that grew up and continued to kill people. Or maybe there’s a sink hole. I mean there are a lot of different possibilities. And I’ll say it again—the witches would be using that tunnel if they could. I’ve heard that every few years they test it from their side of the mountain by sending one man in. When he doesn’t return, they continue to take the mountain route.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Northern
• Release date: Sep 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301918768

John Northern

Doctor of Chiropractic

Book preview

Emon

Published by John Northern @ Smashwords.com

Copyright 2012 by John Northern

2nd Edition January 2020

All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Mountain Ridge

Chapter 2 One Legged Lem

Chapter 3 Housekeep

Chapter 4 Tunnel of Death

Chapter 5 The Silver Monster

Chapter 6 Mayhem in Waynen

Chapter 7 Assailants in the Night

Chapter 8 Capture

Chapter 9 Slave Wagon

Chapter 10 The Maiden Voyager

Chapter 11 Jailhouse

Chapter 12 The Failed Caper

Chapter 13 Maiden’s Wrath

Chapter 14 Lor Dak’s Sword

Chapter 15 Disfigurement

Chapter 16 Lor Dak’s Trial

Chapter 1

Mountain Ridge

The sun was bright and the sky was blue with only a few white clouds floating along and casting small black shadows on the countryside. The green, leafy trees with their wide-spreading branches grew sparsely in the farmers’ fields of wheat and fields with other types of grain, and provided shade around the farmers’ homes, which sat serenely in the meadows with narrow, dirt roads leading to them. A slight breeze created ripples in the wheat stalks, and fluttered the leaves of the trees. The bullet train sped like an unstoppable arrow upon the track and through the fields taking them ever closer to their destination.

Maiden was sitting in the other swivel seat, next to Lor Dak, watching the country go by. Further out the farms, the trees, and the other objects seemed to be going by slowly, but close to the bullet train the objects were going by so fast they were just a blur. Even her computer brain couldn’t recognize nor categorize all of them. As she looked ahead to where the track would be taking them she starting thinking about her life. After her creation and after Father and his people fled the planet she had spent nearly a hundred thousand years in the City of Id. It should have been boring, but Father never programmed it into her computer. She had only recently learned the meaning of the word as she spent time with the humans. They looked upon boredom as a negative aspect of life. She was glad Father hadn’t given her the knowledge, otherwise she would have had to have left the City of Id thousands of years ago to find a more interesting life. And moreover, there were many times of stagnation, and as she thought about it she wondered if King Tba-dee made up the Emon test because he was bored. Maybe Father had programmed boredom into the King’s brain. Why else would he have performed such an evil test on the humans for all those years? She knew Emon did not exist. She was glad Lor Dak came along and put an end to the tests, and to the king, and to all the other androids. Thinking about all the androids being killed, she was suddenly wondering if she was alone in the Universe, if she was the last of her kind, with the exception of the jester, whom she would probably never see again. Was it possible Father went somewhere else and made more androids? If he did, she would probably never find out. She didn’t care. She liked the humans better anyway. She turned and looked behind her at Jac. When she caught his eye she smiled at him. Calmly and with confidence he smiled back—those were two of the traits she liked about him, and then she turned to the front and watched the four tracks running parallel to each other. They disappeared into the horizon, far ahead. A few moments later she felt a presence. She turned her head to the right and found Patrick looking down at her. He had been a sergeant in the king’s cavalry before he decided to join with Lor Dak. He was an average height with an average build. He had brown hair and an average face. Actually he was just about average in all his physical characteristics. He had one of the swords, which had been made by Lor Dak, sheathed and hooked to his belt on his left hip, and he had a dagger on his right hip. He had taken off his breastplate and had left it and his shield on one of the seats.

A strange expression crossed his face as he looked down at Maiden. He said, I saw you perform feats which are humanly impossible. I was in the cavalry which attacked Lor Dak’s foot soldiers, and I saw you jump from your neigh and with your sword you cut through the neigh soldiers faster than a streak of lightening. And even though I was fighting against you, and even though you killed or injured friends of mine, still I admired your reflex speed and your dexterity with a sword. I have never seen such a warrior, and when the fighting was over I asked people, especially people who know you and have traveled with you, if you were using black magic. Everyone said you are not a witch and you do not have their powers, so I am baffled. Can you explain to me how you can perform these feats?

Silver, who was on Lor Dak’s left shoulder, jumped into the air and did a one eighty. When he landed back on Lor Dak’s shoulder, he was facing Patrick and Maiden, but obviously thinking his action wasn’t good enough, he jumped on top of Lor Dak’s head.

Lor Dak took a swipe with his right hand and said, Get off my head.

Silver had to jump in the air to keep from being swatted. He landed on Lor Dak’s right shoulder. He obviously wanted to listen in on the conversation.

Maiden silently chuckled a bit at Silver’s antics. She looked back at Patrick and frowned slightly, but only very slightly, for she was not prone to display outrageous emotions. She swiveled her chair around until she was facing the back of the train. She said, What I am about to tell you will seem as though I am fabricating a story, but I say it is all true.

Patrick smiled sardonically and was quick to answer, After seeing what you did on the field of battle I will believe anything you tell me.

Good, I hate it when others think I am not telling the truth, or thinking I am exaggerating. Maiden paused getting her thoughts in order. She wanted her statements to be as believable as possible. She said, When you look at me you see a young, blond woman with blue eyes and a sexual figure. You see well-developed muscles, but not so much so as to make me appear masculine, which for most humans would look ugly on any female body. You probably think I have a sweet face, and this gives me the appearance of being weak and feminine. Maiden smiled charmingly, then said, When you study my appearance you are not seeing the real me, because I am not a human. I was manufactured thousands of years ago by a . . . . She wanted to say ‘scientist,’ but she knew he wouldn’t know what the word meant, so instead, she said, alchemist, who, at the time, was probably the most intelligent man in all of existence. He knew how to restructure the substrates of the atoms. . . . You don’t understand atoms so let me rephrase and say he could arrange the tiny particles of organic and inorganic matter. It occurred to Maiden her last sentence was almost as confusing as the first, but it wouldn’t matter. Patrick would get the idea. She continued, In the final analysis he was able to make my bones out of metal. It’s almost the same metal as the sword you are carrying, except it’s a little more flexible. This metal is so strong it cannot be broken and the joints cannot be torn apart, because of the metal straps holding them together. My metal bones give me the strength of ten men—maybe more. My brain, which I won’t attempt to explain, is made of materials which conduct thought processes much faster than a human brain—with the possible exception of Lor Dak. When this scientist made me he gave me the knowledge of a warrior and a princess, and thus my life was predetermined.

Patrick looked over at Lor Dak, who nodded his head. He turned again to Maiden and said, Amazing. I thought human babies could only come from human mothers. . . . But then again you did say you are not human, even though you look like a human. He mused for a moment, and finally asked, How do you keep your skin from getting old and becoming wrinkled?

My skin is very similar to yours, except Father, the man who created us, added something to the cells which keeps them young, and is passed down to the new cells. Maiden wanted to say ‘passed down in the DNA,’ but she knew Patrick wouldn’t understand. And she was certain he had no knowledge cells replace themselves. I don’t know what he added, because I wasn’t programmed to be a scientist." It suddenly occurred to Maiden none of the androids had been programmed to be scientists. Was Father afraid an android with Father’s knowledge could become a threat to the human race? Or to himself?—Maybe.

Patrick walked back and sat in his seat. One more question, he said. You used the words ‘we’ and ‘us,’ are you saying there are more of your kind?

There were, answered Maiden. When the idea once again struck home she might never see another android, she didn’t know if she should be happy or sad. She was definitely glad the murderous androids had been destroyed, but on the other hand, she believed she was now the only android still alive in the Universe, with the exception of the Jester, whom she would probably never see again. She continued with, But Lor Dak killed them.

All of them!?

Yes. And for a good reason—they took pleasure in killing humans. I was glad when he came and destroyed the other androids—that’s what we are called. And even though I may never see another android in my extremely long life time, I am pleased he killed them. They were as evil as any evil human being you will ever meet.

I see, said Patrick.

Assuming the conversation was finished, Maiden turned her chair to the front and quickly scanned the holographic projection, which Lor Dak had turned on before they left the train station. It was shimmering up from a visual-technique platform, which had slipped out from the console. It was now between the two swivel chairs. Maiden understood what it was and how to read it, but there were no humans, with the exception of Lor Dak, who would have ever seen a holographic projection. For the most part most humans had never even seen a bullet train. Suddenly she could foresee a lot of changes coming for the humans of this planet. Hopefully they would use the technology, which was about to come raining down on them, in a conscientious and thoughtful manner. She liked the human race and it saddened her to think they might destroy themselves with the coming weapons of mass destruction. Father had programmed histories of other planets into her computer-brain, and she knew of the wars, which had destroyed entire planets. She also knew this planet would need one central government, which would be strong enough to keep the peace among the kingdoms and to keep weapons of mass destruction from being invented and used. Could it happen? Would one central government emerge? How could she foresee the future?

She studied the holographic projection, but seeing nothing on it, she raised her sight and watched as the Cloudskil Mountains came closer. They were magnificent. They were peaceful. They were more fun to watch than thinking about weapons. It was the first time she had ever seen a huge mountain range. On the top—on the highest peaks and shimmering down past the middle of the mountains, was a painting of a brilliant white. She knew it was snow. She wondered what it would feel like between her fingers. And then further below there were large patches of green, which she knew were trees—like the trees in the Farnhorn Mountains, but from this distance she couldn’t tell they were trees—unless she were to telescope her eyes. And further down, the mountain curved and met with the plains. Suddenly she could see the tops of the buildings of a city twenty miles ahead and to the right of the track. The city of Mountain Ridge, she thought. A few minutes later, when they were closer, she telescoped her eyes and studied the city. It was more like a village—approximately eight thousand population. There were only two buildings on the main street which were four stories high. All the other buildings in the village were two stories or less, except for the train station, which also had four story buildings. There were numerous houses on the outskirts of the village. And she could tell being this close to the mountains made the air chilly—there was smoke coming from most of the chimneys. As they came closer, she scoped further down the track and studied the train station. She said, The station has been cleared. There are no rocks or soil on top of it. It could be this train station was never buried by nature.

Silver jumped into the air and did another one eighty so he could see the front of the train. Lucky for us, he said, or I guess I should say lucky for you, since I can fly, or ride on Lor Dak’s shoulder.

Lor Dak straightened up in his seat and strained to see it. How far away? he asked.

Fourteen point three six miles.

Lor Dak ran his fingers over the keyboard and the train started slowing. I just gave control over to the station computer. We should be pulling into the station in about five minutes, then we’ll decide what we want to do—probably spend the night and leave in the morning.

Interesting, said Maiden as she continued to scope ahead. There are four tracks, and they continue through the station toward the mountain. I’m wondering if there was a tunnel constructed through and to the other side of the Cloudskils.

Lor Dak nodded his head. Probably, he said. And if this is true case, it’s going to make our journey a lot easier, because otherwise it would take us weeks, or maybe months to go over the mountain—either on foot or riding neighs. He thought for a moment and then added, We’ll visit the people of the city and find out what they know.

Maiden checked her internal clock and found it was as Lor Dak had predicted—it was just a few seconds under five minutes when the train pulled into the station and came to a halt on the southernmost track. The station was on both sides of the tracks with the buildings rising to four stories, and above the tracks there were four crossover tubes for people to go from one side of the station to the other without having to walk over the tracks. Protruding from the buildings on both sides of the tracks were overhangs so people could wait without being exposed to rain or snow. Beneath the overhangs there were eight rows of benches extending the length of the station—approximately two hundred paces. On the far side of the benches were doors which led into the station. Built by Father’s race of humans, thought Maiden.

Look, said Lor Dak. There’s a man lying on one of the benches with a blanket over him. Notice how his face has a scraggly beard and how his brown hair is unkempt and knotted. This man is what is known as a bum, derelict, hobo, tramp, vagrant, beggar, vagabond, a street person, or a homeless person. Excuse me for the long list of names—I’m remembering what I read. This is the first beggar I’ve ever seen, and from what I remember they say there is no cure for what ails most of them. Since it’s psychological, there is no amount of money which can cure them. If you were to give this man a king’s fortune, he would quickly squander some of it and give the rest of it away. And afterward he would be back on the street, living in a deserted place, and sleeping under a blanket. They say there is no cure, but most scientists, and people in general, don’t realize infinity holds the answers to all questions, the solutions to all problems, the cure to all human ailments—it’s just a matter of searching the infinite reaches through the imaginations of our minds to find the cure. Lor Dak rose from his seat. Let’s go, he said.

Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay and philosophize a little more before we travel on? asked Silver.

Lor Dak ignored him. He walked down the short aisle and, instead of holding his hand over the light, he spoke the code word. The door slid open and he stepped through it. Maiden was quickly on his heels. She would always be near him. As of late she had come to see herself as Lor Dak’s protector. She was certain he was the most intelligent being in the Universe, and she had taken it upon herself to see no harm would ever come to him. In her mind he was the key to obtaining undiscovered knowledge and many new inventions. And she knew eventually he would become an unstoppable power. When he progressed to this state of being he would no longer need her protection.

We shall go to the city and talk to the people, said Lor Dak. And as I said before, we will spend the night. I love sleeping in a soft bed. Lor Dak pointed, "You see those canopies with tunnels going into the ground? Those are passageways to the two inside trains, built so people wouldn’t have to walk across the tracks.

He walked toward the doors of the station. Maiden was beside him, and the others followed.

Chapter 2

One-Legged Lem

It was mid-afternoon when Lor Dak opened the door to the Goat’s Hair Inn and stepped through the doorway.

As Maiden followed him in, the first thing she noticed was the long, bar-counter in front of the wall on the right. Behind it was a long mirror, which was also high—stopping a foot short of the ceiling, and in front of the mirror were hundreds of bottles and jugs containing different types of liquor or alcoholic beverages. The second thing she noticed was the dog popping out of the shadows of the bar. It ran at her with its tail wagging a hundred miles an hour. After he ran up to her and jumped up putting his paws in