24. STINKS 

     There was heard, at a frightening volume, Ka-wambo!  Crunch!  An unseen Giant, a floating tree, hit the Mona Fidelity on its way downstream.
     Upon hearing the noise, Freegirl jumped put of the oarseat and grabbed her head.  “No!” she yelled, with no attempt to contain her reaction.  “Not again!”  Elfen tried to console her but she became hysterical.  She jumped up and down.  “Aren’t things hard enough!”
     “It’s fine, Freegirl,” hushed the Rower of the Rivers with a soft voice.  “It’s fine.  There is no damage.  The log did not puncture us.” 
     Elfen had investigated the sound as his traveling partner had shrieked, and breathed deeply for the beautiful blessing he’d received—for indeed, if a wreck happened in here, there was no guarantee a beach would be gained before the boat’s sinking.  The reality made him very thoughtful.  The walls were too steep and slick for a swimmer to climb, and without torches, the darkness would be maddening.
     His passenger yowled with emotions of happiness and fear, while the captain lead her back to her row station.  
     At that same instant, another yowl, deeper in the cave, lurched at the sailors.  It had a slight gurgle to it and sounded painful.  The screaming voice was horrifying and in despair, and it rattled the nerves of the outsiders. 
     The sailors stared in the direction of the oncoming sound, and in the semi-darkness of their torchlight, they froze.  They wondered if it might be a dying animal, for what kind of person would make such a violent wail?
     Instantly the scream died, but the feeling it invoked stayed, and grew inside their stomachs.  The hearts of the travelers thrashed in their chests, and the hair upon their skin burned from the chills the scream had created.
     The silence following that stomach-stabbing yell was almost as frightening as the sound had been, but the sailors were committed, so they rowed forward.
     Soon, the torch glaring from the Mona Fidelity flickered, showing an upcoming beach—gray sand, softly sparkling with the dull sunlight creeping through the ceiling cracks.  Deep in the heart of the Re-Legion, the travelers had become adapted to the dank air, as they reminded themselves to breathe slowly and filter the toxins.
     Elfen and Freegirl stood in the oar space to get a better glimpse, still rowing. 
      At this part of the river, the walls had come together to a width of about fifty feet.  In this narrow section, the depth of the water was the deepest, where no anchor to the bottom’s security reached.  Both sides of the Whisper Waters were now easily viewed slipping through the tunnel, the rock walls steep and dangerous, the beaches narrow and crumbling.   As the sailors neared, shore people could be seen interacting, most of them standing around a monster barbeque pit.
     A peculiar sweet odor of burning meat radiated into the nostrils of the two approaching.  As their apprehension vibrated, they sauntered closer, while Freegirl and Elfen viewed the scene.       To their left, a giant fire pit flamed upon the slim beach.  On their right, people kneeled and lounged upon a strip of shoreline gravel. 
     As the sailors continued squinting into the dimness, Freegirl remembered where she had smelled the pungent odor.  Miseries!  Her recent horrible dream was manifesting into life!
     The young traveler put her hands to her head and yelled, “Noooo!!!!!” and flopped back into her seat.  At once, Elfen saw what had caused her violent reaction.
     The stink that permeated the air came from the firepit, where two human corpses were skewered and roasting.
     Their minds had never imagined something as insane as this.  A man at the pit was cutting chunks of the dripping flesh off one of the legs, and shoveling the meat into his mouth.
     Elfen felt the urge to vomit, and it was all he could do to keep his stomach down.
     Freegirl crawled frantically on her hands and knees into the cabin, and wretched her guts free of everything in her stomach.  She could not repel the disgusting odor, while tears burst from her eyes.  Please boat go!  Please boat go!  Please boat go!
     Elfen forced himself to stay calm, aware and composed, while refusing to look to his left where human flesh was being devoured.  He sat back down, and rowed with urgency.
     “Who’s this?  What is going on here!”
     The Rower of the Rivers could hear shouting across the water from both shores, while he and his boat floated in direct line of the yelling.  He knew the Mona Fidelity was announcing itself like a golden orb in the grave, but he kept his head looking forward, rowing automatically.
     “Let’s dunk it!”
     Elfen’s heart plunged to his feet.  This was a fear he had never experienced.  It was something he had never even contemplated.  It was the fear of madness, and the newfound danger of human beings—annihilation by one’s own kind.  He could hear Freegirl’s moans from within the cabin.
     “Yaaaaaaa!”  The people on the shore were becoming quite excited.  “Let’s prod it!”  Vicious laughter bounced across the river, attacking the sailors from both sides.  “How dare they come through here!”
     An arrow sailed above Elfen’s eyes.  Hitting the wall behind the barbeque, it bounced and landed in the disgusting fireplace.  The Rower of the Rivers stiffened for a moment, but the aim missed.  He hoped the Re-legion illness would continue to hinder their ability to shoot accurately.
     “Stop, you idiot!  They have a sign written by No!”
     “Who knows but us if we kill them!  Stick the outsiders!  Stick the outsiders!”
     The snickering persisted.
     With more rude laughter and taunting remarks, Freegirl, in a heap over a bucket in the cabin, began to feel wicked.  When she finally stopped puking, her eyes flamed with anger, her breathing was heavy, and the urge to snarl swelled from her stomach and into her throat.  A vicious animal was being born to her soul. 
      It was at this time, she and her companion heard a new voice. 
     “Drop your bows!  Everyone will know!  Nolife sees more than any of us!  That is why she was chosen!”
     The bickering continued as the boat passed the vocal onslaught.  “So what!  No is dying!”
     More arrows soared through the air from each side.  They appeared to strike nothing, useless aims clanking off the rockwalls, and always missing the man at the back of the water vessel who steadily moved his oars.
     Miraculously, the Mona Fidelity sailed through the arguing in one piece.  Hypnotically, the Rower of the Rivers lifted an oar, put it back in the water...lifted the other oar, put it back in the water... then lifted again, over and over, and over and over—lifting... pushing... lifting... pushing...       Forever he lifted the oars, one by one in rhythm, traveling forward through the Re-Legion, waiting, and waiting for the horrible stench that was in the firepit to leave his senses.  He knew the unholy memory would never leave his mind.

     Eventually, toward what must be evening, Freegirl returned to the deck.  She was absolutely drained and looked exhausted.  Her eyes were swollen and red, dark circles surrounded them—an unbelievable sight for a Child of the Glimpse.
     Elfen looked at her with sympathy as he brought the boat to rest on a small beach.  He, too, was unnaturally tired.  Though he felt apprehensive about relaxing the Beast on any shore of the Re-Legion, he needed to take a break. 
      If he met any of the Sell Fab Users here, he would remain calm and not react.  But if any of them made an attempt to hurt him or his passenger, he would kill them where they stood.  Plain and simple.  And there was no doubt.  He would crush the lives out of their bodies with his bare hands.  Elfen had the strength of a lion and he knew it.  The Sell Fab Users were as weak as rats.
     Mercy, had he changed.
     A tiny thought in the back of his head still pleaded to help these people, but they were beyond help, it was obvious.  
     Yet, this tunnel was a part of Mother Nature, a part of paradise, and these people were defiling it with their ill presence.  Anyone interfering with paradise and serenity should be dead. 
     These could not be Elfen’s thoughts.  Was he really thinking these things?
     Death to the Sell Fab Users, the humans without Light!  The dull lost in the Re-Legion, death to them all, and death to their disease!
     The narrow shore where he planted the Beast, seemed safe.  The distance to the opposite wall went back to its original half mile.  The ceiling loomed high overhead, as the unseen sky.
     Freegirl slowly lumbered to the oarbench, where Elfen sat quietly—oars still in hand.  The Rower of the Rivers glanced up toward his companion. 
      Climbing out of his seat and carefully discarding his oars, he gently took Freegirl by the back of her head.  With both heads bent to the floor, and with foreheads touching, they kneeled together slowly, and crouched upon the deck—tightly clutching one another's shoulders.
      There they sat rocking, for moments…and moments… and moments.
     Rocking…Rocking…Rocking…    





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