Anarchist Knight

Chapter 11-The Ox

Tobal didn’t know if anyone had missed him. He left that evening and struggled his way up the cliff leading back to sanctuary. He was well on his way along the narrow cliff ledge as the sun came up and shed it’s light into the valley. He didn’t want to talk with anyone. All he wanted to do was get away and be alone for awhile. His gut was churning with a mixture of raw emotions.

It wasn’t fair, this was his clan, his circle, his people, his friends. For Goddess sake, he was in the middle of the wilderness attempting to become a citizen of a forbidden city. What was the likelihood she would be doing the same thing. The world simply wasn’t that small.

He was in a numbed state as he made his way toward sanctuary for the first time. The trip was a blur and he didn’t remember much. He ate from his own food supplies and didn’t bother hunting for anything but water for his two canteens.

The cheerful, easy piece of mind he had experienced during his solo was gone and he stumbled blindly along. The connection he had formed with nature was temporarily forgotten as the sun beat mercilessly down on him during the day and he slept on the hard ground during the night. The next two days it rained mercilessly and he narrowly avoided a flash flood that swept his camp away with most of his belongings.

Luckily he still had his map and compass in a pouch around his neck and was able to triangulate his position. He was wet, cold, tired and hungry as he trudged across a muddy terrain made slick in spots by red clay that clung to his shoes making every step a challenge. The water had filled his shoes and sloshed between his toes. He could feel blisters beginning to form on his heels from the chaffing.

When he arrived at sanctuary nobody was there. He was a disappointed but also very humbled that he had lost most of his supplies in the flash flood including his jerky. As he chewed down some of the nasty tasting stuff from the machine he resolved to wait right there until someone did show up. There were usually several new people each month that somehow arrived at sanctuary from where ever they came from. Remembering Rafe’s advice he stripped completely leaving his gear in a corner and went through the medical exam again getting a new set of robes, pack and med kit and most important fresh socks and a new pair of hiking boots.

Tobal thought about using the new robe as a rain coat or slicker and grabbed several blankets to take back to the lake as a covering for his teepee. He went through the contents of the new pack, med kit and found another knife, razor and toothbrush to replace those he had lost in the flood. He looked at his old wet hiking boots wondering whether he should keep them or not. Besides being soaked, they were almost worn out from the rugged life style of the past two months. He decided to hang onto them anyway. Boots were hard to come by in the wilderness and homemade ones just didn’t have the comfort of these heavy duty hiking shoes.

He was feeling satisfied with his pack and starting to feel better in general when he heard footsteps entering the building and a timid "Hello".

He froze in the darkness waiting. There was a short silence and the footsteps continued until he heard the familiar mechanical voice saying.

"Do you seek sanctuary in the city of the sun?"

A timid female voice answered weakly, "Yes, I do."

Tobal moved silently to the edge of the dark archway and looked into the other room. He saw a slight figure with her back toward him. She was entering the sliding door into the exam area.

Yesterday he had gone through the exam wearing his med-alert bracelet and it had been nothing like the two day processing he had gone through the first time. It had only taken about 3 hours before he emerged with his new clothing and gear. He knew it would be two days for this newbie to finish processing so he settled down to wait. The pouring rain continued and he assumed Zee and Kevin had decided not to travel in the storm and would be coming later after the weather had cleared.

It was around noon on the second day that a sure footed hulk came through the door dressed in the gray tunic of an Apprentice. It was a boy Tobal had seen at circle briefly but hadn’t talked to. He felt this hulking boy had been hostile toward both him and Rafe. Tobal remembered the boy’s name was Victor, but most people called him the Ox, probably because he was so slow and big. The Ox stopped and grinned when he saw Tobal.

"Anyone come in yet?" He asked.

"Yeah, someone’s processing right now", Tobal replied.

The Ox padded over to him, his bulk towering over Tobal in a menacing way. He could see the five chevrons on the Ox’s sleeve and knew the Ox intended to claim this newbie for himself.

"You’d better run along little boy", the Ox told him. "I’ll take care of this one."

An icy feeling settled into Tobal’s gut. He felt sick and powerless to stop what was happening. The Ox was too big for him to take in a fight. He sat back on one of the cots without saying anything. A small flicker of triumph gleamed in the Ox’s eyes as he turned and went outside for his pack.

Moments later Tobal heard a door slide open and the girl, now dressed in a gray robe and carrying a bundle, stepped into the darker room where he sat waiting. As if on cue the Ox came stomping in and walked up to her. He roughly grabbed her arm.

"Come on, I’m your new teacher",he growled. "Let’s get going".