Jack Chalker: Echoes of the Well of Souls

Both he and Julian stared at that wall. Inside there was where they’d awakened after dropping through, somehow, to Zone from Brazil. Inside there they’d received their briefings and gone through the gate the first time and wound up here.

“Can anybody just use it?” he asked.

“Well, yes ‘n’ no. Accordin’ to treaties, anybody’s supposed t’ be allowed to walk through any gate, but not everybody likes everybody else and not everybody signs treaties, and some who does sign treaties don’t always remember what’s in ‘em, if you gets my meanin’. Still, mostly you can, but you only can if ye turn ‘round and come right back to home. Zone itself’s for official types only. Kinda handy for some emergency-type trade, though. If ye needs somethin’ quick, ye can always have a fellow someplace far off push it into Zone by his gate, then ye pick it up there and push it back and it’s here.”

“You mean things as well as people are transported? That’s not like the ones we went through.”

“Oh, it be handy, but limited. Mostly things like medicines and stuff and fancy stuff for the rich come through. Most all else goes in or out by ship and overland by all sorts of ways. It don’t allow no animals or bugs or stuff through, so it’s safe, but them critters can get into Zone, so they spray and inspect and all that in there, and they really don’t allow much use of the thing for that kind of trade, you see. Most bugs and stuff don’t like it outside their home, and most races can’t catch other races’ diseases, but there’s always a few what can. And most anything can live inside the Zone.”

“Have you ever been outside of Erdom?” he asked the trader.

“Me? A few times, yes. Not far, though, and not on any of them floating contraptions. Been up north where they grow tobacco. Be a big trade item here, only for the very rich. Gave it up, though, after a while. Them Ambrezans be mighty strange folks, and I don’t much like them contraptions floatin’ you in air and all that. Also it be wet and smelly, with water just hangin’ in the air. They be also makin’ smart remarks about our ways and looks and how I treats me wives and all that. The longer you’re away, too, the better home seems. This place was made fer us.”

Lori couldn’t imagine himself having that problem, but he might. Who could tell what sorts of places those other hexes were? “Is there anywhere where we can see a map of the world? Find out about some of the other hexes and races and the like?”

“Oh, there’s plenty books ‘n’ maps and stuff, but if ye can’t read Erdomese, it don’t matter, does it? Down by the port there ye can get stuff in a ton of crazy languages as well as the one they use for translators so we can talk to one another, even them what don’t have mouths. But ye can’t read that, neither, so what’s the use? Best go down to the port and pump some of them funny critters that runs the boats.”

Julian’s head came up and looked at Lori, who had the same sudden thought. “You mean those translators work— even in Erdom?”

“Yep, they do. Got several kinds. Some folks wear ‘em, some get ‘em stuck inside ‘em—don’t recommend that be done in Erdom! I hear tell they be hexes where they can look right inside you and see what’s there and do all sorts of miracle things. The rich and nobles go there when they needs stuff. ‘Course, you and me, we can’t afford it and don’t have the contacts.” He looked at the sun. “We better be gettin’ on down there if we want to be on the flat afore dark. It be all downhill from here and windy. The woods don’t stop here where ye think; they just go down, too.”

The sun did set before they were all the way down; the road was good, but they were descending maybe two kilometers or more in a fairly steep grade, and the compensation was a serpentine roadway that switched back and forth on itself for what seemed like forever.

Still, even though it was some distance yet to the city, the flat made it easy going and the city was certainly not something anybody could miss. It was big and bright and seemed lit up like a million Christmas trees.

Julian’s past military experience spotted a puzzle. “I wonder why they have city walls if they light the place up like that.”

Even Posiphar didn’t know the answer to that when Lori passed along the question to him. “Guess if anybody be attackin’, they’d put them lights out,” he guessed.

This was one city that did not close at night. Oh, the shops and bazaars were closed, but there seemed to be clubs and nightlife and eateries and music and gaiety all over the place, all illuminated by brilliant oil lamps, some, with stained glass, casting fairyland glows that ranged the spectrum.

Posiphar directed them to a small hotel. “Farewell, lad. It’s been a very interestin’ time we be with you, and the gods go with you. With my brood we be stayin’ with some old friends in their place near the docks. Ye mind yer money, now. Ye ain’t got much, and it goes quick.”

Lori felt like he was losing his oldest friend, which in a way was true, but they parted on a handshake rather than the embrace he almost gave the old fellow. Men did not do that, not in Erdom.

Julian looked at the hotel. “Well, my husband, it looks a little seedy, but cheap at least.”

Lori grinned. “You mind your manners and tongue here or we’ll both be in trouble.”

“Yes, sir, my Lord and Master,” Julian responded mockingly, but she shut up.

The place was a little seedy, but it wasn’t all that cheap.

While he liked the city, its sights, sounds, and smells, Lori had to wonder how long he could afford to stay around this place before he had to find a job of some kind. At this rate, not long, and there was much to learn and probably a lot of money to raise before they could ship out of here.

The next morning he got directions from the desk clerk to the Holy Office. Best to get that out of the way as soon as possible, they’d both agreed, although it was not something they looked forward to. Posiphar had confirmed that the church was a master of drugs and potions, and it was here, in the unique climate and conditions of the south coast, that they grew and bred their stuff. He’d figured as much. If a monk in a jerkwater town like the one they were married in knew that much, imagine what the ones here knew and could do!

The monk read over the marriage contract and the annotations and paperwork from the desert monk. Then they were separated, somewhat to Julian’s panic, and taken to different rooms that looked very much like Erdomese-designed versions of doctors’ examining rooms, and that was what they proved essentially to be. The monk who examined Lori seemed a bit younger and in a little better shape than the others he’d seen, but the doctor knew his stuff and gave a pretty reasonable physical. At the end the monk left for a couple of minutes, then returned with three small cups filled with different colored liquids.

“Recline on the examining couch and take the orange liquid and then relax,” Lori was instructed. “I will return in a few more minutes. Your wife is fine, and I’m sort of going between the two of you.”

Lori noted that the doctor didn’t leave until the liquid was clearly swallowed. It tasted like burned orange.

After a while things got very pleasantly hazy, although he was never completely out. He just lay there, kind of floating, and he didn’t feel any anxiety when the monk-doctor returned and checked his eyes and reflexes.

After that came a whole series of questions, and he answered every one, although the moment he answered, he found he couldn’t remember the question or the answer. Feeling good, he was agreeable when told to down the green liquid, and after a very short time, he was out cold, at least as far as he was concerned, and he never did know about the third cup.