Waterlogged - Watery Truth
#3 of Adventures in Columns
Waterlogged is a story written by a lost, unnamed, burnt, uncertain, shattered wolf (a lubus Lupus, if you will) in three parts. This is part three. This part is also probably my last submission for a while (Has it really been 7 months since draft two?).
Yay! This is draft number three! Based on input, I might be making a fourth draft. Right now I think three are quite enough.
Comments, complaints, ratings, relevant PMs - all welcome. Oh, and I'm nigh useless with the tag system here - sorry if the contents aren't accurately described.
I stood back, away from the pillar I had just been reading, and turned to the old figure slouched on the ground nearby. He was breathing raggedly, his voice the only sound that could be heard. The only sound, besides the drizzle of water falling from the ceiling high above us. The water fell on us alone, in the maze of pillars: on me, Samhach the recorder, and on my charge, the weaver of stories, the greying, dying creature before me. His name is Cliabhach. For the sake of those who hear this tale, I shall spare the moment of his death.
Bi Sàmhach!
With that last command, I stopped recording and knelt as best a pack rat could by the still wolf body. "Come on, Cliabhach, the recording's done. Time to work." Cliabhach jolted up with the old vigour I knew so well. He felt about on the ground for balance, then looked at me with fierceness in every line of his face.
'I was nearly certain that you wouldn't make it in time.' He shook his 180cm-long body to get some of the water off of it. 'Right, so just to make sure, you are now officially Sàmhach the bobcat, not Samhach the recorder. You did want to be a bobcat?' I appreciated the gesture.
"Female anthropomorphic bobcat, if you would. Clothed."
'That's what you are, then. The foolish Samhach died trying to escape and his body was never found, though his record will remain for the Ruati to read in their little enclave. They shall hear of the demise of Cliabhach by . . .' He sniffed the air to his right carefully as he thought. I stood back up and leaned against another pillar. "By drowning?" Cliabhach shook his head. 'No, they wouldn't believe that. Not unless Sian was involved, and you know I can't involve him in this yet.'
Cliabhach paced back and forth around the area, leaving puddles where the black paws touched the ground. 'I thought we sorted this out earlier. Come on, think, think, think!' He turned abruptly and looked carefully at the closest pillar. I followed his gaze. "Did you leave yourself a hint, maybe?"
Cliabhach spoke, seeing the story he had carved without eyes. 'It's possible, yes. Just a small reference that they'd misunderstand or ignore. Hmm.' His left paw moved quickly over the inscription, sweeping through his story.
'No, it's not in this piece. Let's check the others. You're going to have to direct me to them again, I'm afraid. Might as well start with part two.' He padded behind me as I ran off toward the second pillar. "Your nose still working?," I called out. 'Seems to be.' He muttered something under his breath. Within two minutes we had arrived at the second inscribed pillar. Cliabhach was drier now, but his skin still glistened slightly in the low light.
'All right, let me check.' He stood up near the mottled surface and felt the words he had carved there only the day before. 'Nothing, nothing, nothing, . . .' Suddenly, his ears perked up. 'Ah, I think I know what it is. I want to check the first piece as well, just in case.' He moved back from the pillar, and looked at me expectantly. 'So, aren't you going to guess?'
I started somewhat. "Is it something to do with that Naomi? She was the only one not to pick up a branch, as well as the most experienced member of your group, so . . some kind of slow-acting poison?" Cliabhach stared at me. "Um . . well, maybe some reference to that slope you saw? Darkness at the bottom and no plant cover along it, so that could be a reference to your coming death, or lack of hair, or . ." A sharp bark interrupted my suggestions. 'No.'
Cliabhach sat back against the floor. 'You need to see the first part more than me. Come on, I'll show you it again.' He picked himself up, with some difficulty, and moved off toward the first inscription. I followed, trying to figure out what hint Cliabhach was referring to. "Not the single hit inflicted by that trident-user, was it?," I asked. Cliabhach called back, 'no, but you're getting closer. You think too much - which means the Ruati will as well. Try to remember your history.' I slowed my pace as I thought through the basic structure of our situation.
As we stood before the pillar with Cliabhach's first piece inscribed, I turned to the wolf next to me. "I think I might have it." He turned his head a little in my direction. 'So, let's hear it.' Cliabhach took his paw off the surface, stretched his back out, then sat down with a sigh. He looked at me with intense interest, and I began.
"First off, I'm going to assume that the story is supposed to be your addled memory of recent events."
Cliabhach nodded. 'Right.'
"So, most land animals and plants can't breathe underwater. Residents of the more advanced settlements, like the lakeside Taigh-Sol . . Teigh-Sol . ."
'Taigh-Solais. It's right on the edge of Loch Thien, and known mainly for the giant lighthouse which gave the city its name.'
"Yes, places like Taigh-Solais have developed a way for humans and anthropomorphic animals to breathe underwater using pressurized gas. The canisters needed are difficult to make, though, so beings seen under the surface tend to fall under one of two groups. One is comprised of researchers from the Solais Institute, and quite small in number. The other is those who can breathe water naturally, like fish and plankton."
"Of course, there's a third category: Sian and his friends. As the controller of clouds, he has been granted the power to purify any water -"
'Wrong. Sian by himself cannot breathe water, nor can he purify it. That is precisely why we are on this journey in the first place.'
"Fine, Sian was granted the power to purify and breathe clean water, but this has since been sealed away in a stone statue and hidden somewhere safe. There were one or two loose associations of towns and individuals that wanted to gain this power. They tried to determine how Sian had achieved it. Some succeeded, some didn't, and the individuals that did obtain those abilities were few and far between."
"Not everyone with these skills wanted to be seen as they were. My records say most modern water-breathers are either recluses, runaways, or just extremely insular. So the fact that the guy under Lake Flic in your story had no problem breathing implies that he is not just a renegade - which I assume is what you wanted to point out here. A sort of cultural note, yes?"
The wolf shifted slightly. 'Go on, you're nearly there.'
"So Lily and Naomi are two female friends, working underground in the closest city as your contacts, which means they represent your strong connections within the lupine and human communities. You use their help to try to get through an area that only you can traverse easily: when a threat arises, they deal with it. When you finally reach a dark and foreboding area, your connections leave, and you too must leave at once or face death."
"That slope represents the way to the home of the Ruati, and Naomi and Lily's departure their failure to support your political push against these foreigners. Your proposed trip to the mountain in the last segment is the biggest topic of gossip back in Thoille. Cliabhach visiting the hills for a week is definitely Cliabhach on a diplomatic 'vacation' to the most famous desert cave system of the north. Where he dies of starvation, of course."
Cliabhach grinned. 'Infamous is more like it.' He stood up once more, seeming nearly to fall over in the process. 'Time to get going. Mind showing me the way out?'