The Land of Broken Roads

Everyone turned to look at Dirt, who wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. Look at all of them in turn? Look away?

Marina said, “Dirt is… Where do I even start? Do I skip to the trees?”

Ignasi said, “No, Marina, you will make it too complicated. Let me put it this way: See him sitting there, handsome and mild? He is an honest, friendly little boy, deserving of all affection. And yet, all the most terrifying moments in my life have involved him in some way.”

Hèctor snickered. “That’s a good way to put it.”

“What are some of these terrifying moments?” asked the Duke, leaning forward very slightly.

“Well,” said Hèctor, “there’s the giant wolf. But you knew that already. So how about the time he talked the gryphon into not eating us?”

“I will never forget the ghosts, personally, no matter how hard I try,” said Ignasi, taking another drink of his wine.

Hèctor said, “Or the time he killed goblins with that stick and the thing he was worried about was getting blood on his pants.”

-He is a human, though,- said Socks, sounding a bit protective. -And not anything else. You are making it sound like he isn’t one again. He is human.-

“And you’ll never catch me saying otherwise,” said Hèctor with a hint of a grin.

“He’s quite a child,” said Marina. “Dirt can talk your ears off telling you his stories, and you should let him. But what we came to ask you for, my Lord, was for your help reopening the roads. And believe me, we know better than anyone what that means. Not just patrols. It means workmen to keep them in good repair. It means reclaiming Llovella. Now, I know you have a good reason for not doing it yet, after all this time. But we’re here to tell you it’s possible. Me and Hèctor and Ignasi were willing to die to prove it. The frontier might be at your doorstep, your Grace, but we’re here to tell you it’s time to push it back.”

Hèctor said, “We thought we’d be sitting here with a wagon full of goods to make a better case. After we lost the wagon, we thought we’d be showing you packs full of goods. Then we lost the packs. But we made it. It’s possible. I’m going to be honest, though. It’s not a safe road. We almost got killed more times than I can count. I can’t promise everyone you send is going to survive. But what I can promise you, is that if we don’t do it, if we don’t take the risk, then we’re going to die. All of us. Every last human. I can feel it, your Grace. We all can. Marina’s upset everyone’s being cautious but that’s not quite it. I think everyone knows the end is coming and we’re trying to hide from it.”

An uncomfortable silence followed. The children shifted in their chairs and the Duchess’ folded hands tightened subconsciously. The Duke furrowed his brow and scratched his cheek, unable to give a quick response.

A servant stepped in quietly and set a large cooked bird, plucked and still steaming, in front of the Duke. Shortly after, another brought out a bowl of steaming vegetables, and another brought two loaves of bread. They didn’t stop there, and soon the table was covered in more food than Dirt had seen in his life, all of it steaming and aromatic, with too many smells for him to tell apart. In the center of it all were two fat pigs, all carved up and ready to eat except the faces. They were enormous, possibly weighing as much as Dirt did, and had to be carried by two people.

The Duke flicked a finger to summon a servant and said, “How many pigs do we still have cooking? Any more, or just these two?”

“Two more, my Lord,” whispered the servant. They all wore the same clothing, which was making it hard for Dirt to tell them apart.

“Are they done cooking?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Good. Take these two over to our largest guest, and bring out the other two for him as well. Socks, I apologize if this is not enough to fill your stomach, but we were not expecting you,” said the Duke.

-It is fine. I want to taste the pigs,- said Socks, lifting his head. A bit of drool dripped from his lips and darkened a pillow. -Four of those will be a good meal, and if I am still hungry, Dirt can give me sap later.-

Before the servants had a chance to carry the pigs from the table over to Socks, the pup lifted the platters with his mind and carefully brought them over by himself, taking great care not to spill anything off the sides.

Seeing the pigs floating across the room was enough to get everyone but the Duke to stare in shock. Even the Duchess’ jaw dropped, and Màxim stood up on his chair to get a better look, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Socks shifted around on his pillows so he could sit up, then tilted the first platter right into his mouth, shaking it to get it all. Most of the bones had been removed, it turned out, but the head was still crunchy and he chewed it a couple times before swallowing.

The Duke nodded, then cut a slice of roast bird and set it on his mate’s plate. “My Lady,” he said politely. Then he cut a piece for himself and set the knife and fork back on the platter, gesturing for Dirt to cut himself some.

Marina, the two men, and Dirt wasted no time filling their plates, but the others couldn’t stop staring at Socks. The pup ate the second pig in sections to draw out his enjoyment of it, and when it was gone, he watched the door eagerly for the next two.

“Tell me, Dirt,” said the Duke, raising a bite of bird with his fork, “How are you involved in this? What is your place with them?”

“Oh, they’re… some friends,” said Dirt, trying not to be too obvious about peeking at them from the corner of his eye to see if they objected. They didn’t. “I haven’t traveled with them for very long, but it looked like they could use some help, and I wanted to meet some humans. They taught me their language and lots of other things.”

“I knew I heard an accent in your voice. What language do you speak, aside from ours?” asked the Duke.

“I don’t know what it’s called, but it sounds like this. Hello, my name is Dirt, and I am talking in my own language right now,” he said.

The Duke sat up in his chair. “No!” he exclaimed.

“What?” asked Dirt, shrinking back in his seat.

“The language of records. That was the tongue of the ancients! To think there are still some who speak it, out there somewhere beyond my borders,” said the Duke. His eyes took on an excited gleam that replaced his carefully dignified demeanor.

“Well, just me, probably. But you can still find old ruins with our writing on them,” said Dirt.

“Say something else, so I can be sure. I want to hear more,” said the Duke.

“In a sea of delightful wine, a mouse may only die,” said Dirt, sharing a popular tongue twister. Then another, “Although they are under the water, they try to curse under the water.”

“See if you can translate this. If you can, then I will know for sure. Boy, meat, you want, good boy!” said the Duke, more excited each moment.

“That means, ‘boy, meat, you want, good boy,’” said Dirt. He sank further in his chair, knowing why the Duke asked. “They also know ‘come out,’ I think.”

The Duke had no blame to lay on him, however; instead, the man grew more excited than ever. “Your name means ‘dirt,’ doesn’t it? What does the wolf’s name mean?”

“Yep, it means dirt. And his name means socks, like you wear on your feet,” said Dirt.

“Marvellous!” cried the Duke. “This is a day of days. Tell me, Dirt, please—you must know, why do the goblins speak the ancient tongue?”

“I have no idea. When I first met one, I didn’t know there were other languages in the first place. It took me a while to realize,” said Dirt.

“Ah, a shame, a shame. Do you know much of the ancient people? Does any of their lore survive among your kin?”

“I think I said already, but I don’t have any kin. These are the first humans I ever saw. But I know a little about the Sunset Empire. What sort of thing?”

The Duke had yet to take a single bite. He still held the chunk of meat on his fork and waved it around to gesture with. “Anything! Wait. Tell me this, first. How were you raised without any parents?”

“I just woke up in the forest one day. I met Socks, and then… I learned how to talk to the trees and made friends with them too,” said Dirt. He took another bite and only then realized that it was even better than the cow meat from the other night. The bird was tender and bursting with flavor, herbs and salt and a hint of sweetness. He’d been so distracted by the conversation he hadn’t tasted his previous bites.

“And the forest was in a place once called Turicum? I thought I recognized that name. Can you answer this? Did the Sunset Empire ever truly exist?”

Dirt said, “I’m certain it did.”

The Duke clapped his hands and said, “This is incredible, truly. Scholars have been arguing for centuries whether the empire was a fanciful legend or the truth. We have so little from those days, and the things those writings tell us! I was one of those who never believed. I only learned the language to read the old records. Have you ever seen any of their writing?”

“Yes, I’ve seen some,” said Dirt. “Not a whole lot, but I read the sign on a tomb once. It was in an old ruined city called Ocriculum.”

“Do you remember what it said?”

“Sort of. Do you want me to say it as written, or translate it?”

“Both,” said the Duke.

“I think it was something like, ‘O Shepherd of the Dead, Here lies Callius Something Something. He was a magistrate and he was sixty-six years old when he died. His heir closed this door,’” said Dirt in their language. Then he translated and said it again in his.

“Marvellous! We only have the names of a few of their gods, and that is one. Now it is certain,” said the Duke.

The rear door opened again, and four servants entered carrying two more pigs. Amusingly, they only dared get close enough to Socks to set them just out of his reach before they scampered away, and the pup had to slide them into range with his mind.

After watching to make sure the pup got the rest of his dinner, the Duke said, “If I bring you some texts, would you read them?”

“My Lord,” said the Duchess, “Let the poor boy eat. How often do you think he’ll see a Duke’s table, and here you are interrogating him.”

The Duke paused, then visibly schooled himself into calming down. His countenance smoothed from uninhibited eagerness into convincingly sincere affection “Of course you’re right, my Lady. Later, I will insist he tell me everything. But I am being an ungracious host. After our meal, we can speak more about these plans to reopen the roads. I fear it will be harder than you all realize, but I will not refuse you so quickly, when you’ve brought me such a treasure. Shall we have some music?”

“Yes!” said Dirt immediately. “Please? Who will sing? I can, but I only know one song.”

“No one, darling boy,” said the Duchess. She gestured to a servant, who knew what she wanted because he’d been listening. He hurried out of the room, leaving everyone munching on their meal and watching the door in anticipation. When he returned, he led a group of four musicians with different instruments to a corner of the room. One had a flute, but the other three had stringed instruments Dirt didn’t recognize. They weren’t lyres.

The music they played was lively and complicated, allowing each musician to demonstrate their skill. Dirt gave up trying to follow the melodies and simply let the music carry him into a happy reverie, eating food that was more delicious than he’d imagined possible. The others talked, but their words passed over him without leaving much effect. He smiled when he heard laughter, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

Until he saw Socks sit up and peer around, having noticed something odd. -What do you think that is?­- said Socks. No one else reacted, though, so the pup was only speaking to him. Socks sent him an image of mind-sight, showing a dim and misshapen mind through which passed periodic images of roofs and buildings and not much else.

“I don’t know. Do you want to see where it is?” replied Dirt.

-Let’s,­- said Socks, and their minds slid together. Socks and Dirt looked at the minds nearby, pleased they could tell them apart much easier now. Well, the boy’s mind could, anyway; the wolf hadn’t had any trouble in the first place. But now there was no doubt which mind belonged to whom, since they could place them. That was the Duke, and behind him, a servant, and another, and then the musicians over there, and behind the door, two more servants hurrying down a corridor.

The minds of the city came into clarity and were no longer a field of indistinguishable lights, but instead, a sky full of stars, each one fixed in space. And far above them, surprisingly, the misshapen-half mind hovered on the drifting currents of high breezes, gazing downward.

-“What is that?”-

-“We still can’t tell. Does it look like something only half-alive, like the tentacle beast?”-

-“It does, but it is not the same.”-

-“Is it a threat? Do we need to go catch it?”-

-“Maybe. How are we to know?”-

-“We should go look at it.”-

-“Let us send the boy, then. The wolf doesn’t fit through the doors.”-

Socks and Dirt had the boy stand up, pushing his chair back, and say, “We’ll be right back. We need to check something.”

They hoped the boy didn’t sound too odd, since they’d never tried interacting during a mind meld before. The wolf closed his eyes while the boy sprinted from the room, leaving a chorus of surprised comments behind him.

The boy raced down the ornate hall and turned down the entryway. They pushed the door open, careful not to slam it, and stepped outside. The soldiers in metal remained, still standing guard, and now Socks and Dirt could see each of their minds distinctly enough to know they wondered what he was doing out here alone, even though they didn’t speak or even turn to face him.

“We’re just checking something,” Socks and Dirt had the boy say.

The wolf lifted another bite of pig into his mouth, letting its savory richness linger on the wolf’s tongue so they could enjoy it. Dirt and Socks said, -“That really is good. We think it’s better than the chicken.”-

Meanwhile, the boy gazed up into the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. There was nothing in the sky, at least nothing close enough to see.

Dirt and Socks had the boy turn to a soldier and say, “Do you see anything up there? In the sky? Can you help us look?”

The soldier didn’t reply, nor did he look up into the sky. He kept his eyes on the road ahead, keeping vigilant watch for any approaching danger.

Socks and Dirt sighed and kept watching. They might be imagining it, but there was a shimmer in the blue, a flaw like ripples of heat in the distance. As they watched, it circled in gentle arcs but no form appeared and it might have been nothing, or the result of staring into the sky with the boy’s human eyes. No birds or other flying creatures to see, just the ripple in the sky. Whatever it was, its mind took note of buildings and people, but only in a flashing, disjointed way, as if the greater part of its thinking was happening elsewhere.

-“We don’t know what it is, but we don’t like it.”-

-“No, we don’t. It seems wrong.”-

“Dirt?” said a timid Èlia, the Duke’s daughter. She’d come out to get the boy and the wolf hadn’t noticed.

“Oh, yes, we’re fine,” they had the boy say. “Do you see that up there? That shimmer? The ripple in the sky?”

Èlia stepped the rest of the way out the door and Màxim followed close behind her. She asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want to come sit back down?”

“We’re fine, we promise. But please, can you look? Do you see that? Either of you?” said the boy, pointing up at the sky. The two children stepped into the sunlight and gazed upward.

“That wave?” asked Màxim.

“Yes. Good, you do see it. We are wondering what it is. Do you know?”

The misshapen mind spotted them down there, three children staring up at it from the ground. An instant later, it vanished completely. No mind in Dirt and Socks’ mental sight, no tiny ripple to see in the sky.

“I don’t see it anymore,” said Màxim.

“I still don’t see it,” said Èlia.

“It’s gone now,” said Socks and Dirt, using the boy.

Ignasi stepped out the doorway. “Dirt?” he said.

Socks and Dirt sighed to themself, then severed the mind meld since their prey was gone anyway.

“Sorry, did I make you worry?” asked Dirt sheepishly. “I’m coming back in now. I just had to check something.”

“You didn’t seem yourself for a moment there. Are you well?” asked Ignasi.

“I’m fine. Let’s head back in so I only have to explain once,” said Dirt.

Màxim and Èlia gave him looks of mild concern, then beckoned him to follow. Dirt wished he could still see their minds, but his mind sight revealed only a glowing haze of white with almost no distinction, just like before. He resolved to get some serious practice at that, because losing his mind sight any time he was in a city would be a serious handicap.

The children led him and Ignasi back down the entryway, along the hallway, and back into the large, glass-lit room. The Duke stood when they entered, but it seemed more to get a good look than because he was supposed to. “Is he alright?” he asked.

“It wasn’t that weird, was it?” asked Dirt.

“You were a completely different person. I can’t explain it,” said Marina.

“It was that weird,” said Hèctor.

“Sorry. I had to check because there was something in the sky. Màxim saw it too, but it’s gone now,” said Dirt, timidly making his way back to his seat.

“What was in the sky?” asked the Duke. “And how did you know it was there, if you’re inside?”

Before Dirt could answer, a note rang out in the distance. A horn, blowing an alarm.