Monday, September 26, 2005

   Chapter 9: Gerrit
It wasn’t possible! How could someone not be alive, and yet still have the functions of a living person? How could someone be dead but still alive?
These questions plagued the boys as they pulled their boat ashore at a riverbank on the Perol side, near a little port-town. Since the sky had clouded over towards the afternoon and looked like rain, they dragged their boats up to where the grass started. Panda and Contra showed them how they could use their boats as tents by turning them upside-down and propping them up on one end by using the paddles. There were even slits carved into the top edges of the boats, where the top of the oars fit right in.
Just as the soldiers were passing out food—the water of the river was purified by magic and was good for drinking—the rains started. They watched for a while as the showers got stronger, Lucifer and Sasheeta munching on sandwiches, before they decided that it was safest to de-prop the boat to keep water from coming in. Lucifer and the dragon made themselves comfortable while Pen pulled the paddles out of the ground and the boat. Once both of the props had been removed, the boat lay flat nearly against the ground, submerging them in darkness broken only by the edges, where a sliver of light still peeked through. But, as night fell, that, too, disappeared.
Pen lay awake in the deep shadow of the boat, feeling as the air inside grew warmer from the heat of Lucifer and Sasheeta’s bodies. The black-eyed boy was unfamiliar with such heat; he did not mind it, but he was a stranger to it. He inched his head closer to Lucifer’s midsection.
There it was! The steady beating of a drum that kept his friend alive. Why did he not have that music inside him? Why was he cold like the earth?
Why was he dead, but still alive?

Pen was the first to notice that the rain had stopped. There was also a sliver of pale light that was starting to sneak its way into the boat-tent. He crept to the front of the boat and lifted it up slightly, so that he could slide out.
It was morning, but the sky was still a sodden, gray color. He looked around absentmindedly, noticing that Panda was standing beside Keion at the far side of the camp. The griffon had noticed Pen and was gazing at him with his great orange eyes.
“Hey, good morning, Pen,” said Panda. “It looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while.”
“Bad weather?”
“Yeah, we’ve gotta wait a couple of days for these clouds to pass before we can go any further by boat. Once everyone wakes up, we’ll be checking in at the biggest inn over in the town. It’s too wet out here. Keion wants you to scratch his head.”
It took Pen a second to catch the abrupt change of subject. He strode over to the griffon and ruffled up his head feathers, causing the large creature to purr and close his eyes with contentment. Pen didn’t know why, but petting Keion made him feel somewhat better inside.
After half an hour, soldiers began to knock on the tent-boats to wake everyone up. Lucifer came out of the boat immediately, coming over to Panda and Pen with a sleeping Sasheeta cradled in his arms.
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