"Too old to protect the women, eh?” I said, trying to be clever. “Or maybe too old to have children?"
My comment caused even Kat to stop chewing, and the entire table peered at me with expressions of surprise and horror. In a matter of seconds, a moderately pleasant atmosphere had now disintegrated into tetchy and uncomfortable silence. Madam B's smile was gone, her pretence and patience were slipping. "When will you be leaving, gentlemen?" she asked.
I waited for Kat to answer, for only he knew it. "In the morning," he grunted. "For the Macros."
"So soon?" one girl added. "Shame."
That synthetic tone agitated me. It was worse when I saw every face wearing that same mask.
"It will be a daunting climb," said Madam B. "Not many travel up the slope of the Macros, and those who do…never come back."
The danger welcomed, Kat grinned behind handfuls of stale bread.
"What's your business up there?" asked L, resulting in the immediate glares from her fellow villagers. The question was innocent, but L hastily withdrew it, and I cringed, watching her feel the lashes under her clothing.
"What's wrong?" I asked her. "Everything okay?"
She parted the tangled hair away from her eyes and dimly smiled back. "Good, mister. Fine, mister."
"She's healthy, Mr. Fox," added Madam B. "Now, you have inquired about us, you've accepted our hospitality, and eaten your fill. Tell us about yourself. We women would like to hear more. Have you ever climbed before? There's a good start!"
"I've never climbed," I answered, thinking it wise not to press more attention onto L. "In my day, I'd use a car for the steeper hills."
"Car?" pried a puzzled-looking brunette.
"Like a horseless wagon,” I explained, forgetting that some if not all of these women passed long before the invention of the automobile. “It's got four wheels and an engine to power it."
"Sounds complicated!" said Madam B, to further snickering.
"There are harder things in life, I guess. A friend once told me that the world is made up of tiny miracles. Now, you take a whole village, and all the women pregnant, that's a lot of miracles to go around. Wouldn't you say?"
"We are blessed!" said Madam B. "Mysterious fate has brought us women together to bear our children. Here we are, safe and happy in that endeavor. Do you have children of your own, Mr. Fox?"
All of a sudden, I was mentally pulled out of this murky village and myself. No dizzy spell from a returning migraine, this was something deeper, like a blood illness. I was dumbstruck by a question I could not remember, and as these women awaited my answer, I could only stare at the empty dinner plate under my nose.
"Are you well, Mr. Fox? Mr. Fox?"
I held a blink and the image of Kathy for several seconds before hauling my mind back out from its unmarked well. "Fine," I returned, hollow-faced. "I'm fine. Thank you for the meal." I dropped my fork with a clang; dinner was over. Two women removed my plate, and as they waited for Kat to finish, I attempted to regain my mental place before an odd moment washed me over with amnesia.
The head instantly returned to my shoulders upon witnessing Madam B bend and whisper into L's ear. Something short and to the point was said, something that delicate silly girl did not ever want to hear.
"Madam B?" I grumbled. "This village is the safest place in the Distinct Earth, why is that? I see no men to ward off trouble. Or am I…being sexist?"
"You're being something!" blurted one.
"Your attitude is prehistoric," said Madam B, composed. "We women are quite capable of handling trouble, whatever form trouble takes. Men allow emotions to rule them; their presence here would only disrupt the balance. It's my job to keep the continuity, and we don't need men to maintain that."
"So?" I asked, suppressing a laugh. "How the hell do you get pregnant?"
Like a game of tennis, all eyes followed the ball back to Madam B, but I spoke before she could return it. "Pardon me, ladies, please. I do appreciate your hospitality, and I am not saying you need men, it's just that I see vulnerable, pregnant women here with no obvious fence or defenses around their village. Surely, in a realm like this one it would be wise to be prepared for danger? Alert at least, for your babies’ sake?"
Still indifferent, Kat continued shoveling food into his mouth. Perhaps he already knew these answers.
"No one would dare hurt us!" stirred the passionate redhead. "They wouldn't dare it!"
"Why not?" I pressed her. "What's so special about you?"
Madam B's mask was gone, leaving an ugly frown for a face. "You may not see our defenses," she cried, "but they do exist! We are a peaceful community, Mr. Fox; we do not cause trouble and we do not seek it. Most wander the Distinct Earth with no purpose, but here everyone has a purpose, and everybody is safe!"
"Safe?" I mocked. "You lash the shit out of these women and call that safe? What if a wizard were to enter your village, bog pigs, flying birds, or Christ knows fucking what else!"
"You've said enough!" exclaimed Madam B, seething. "We no longer wish to spend time in your company! The sensible thing would be to return to your bed and lock yourself there till morning…that would be the sensible thing."
Insolently, I knocked any nearby goblets or plates aside. "I've been threatened before lady, and candy coated or not, they all sound the same to me! Just what the fuck is going on here? Stop the charade, cause it's making me sick, or is that the meal I just forced into my stomach?"
Consenting disgust filled the air, and all of the women, L included, left the table in a hurry. "How about some honesty?" I yelled at their backs. "What are you crazy people hiding?"
Approaching Kat, a hot-faced Madam B was the last of them left at a table of dirty plates. "A length of rope seems to have gone missing from the supply shed, samurai. Sometime today, in fact. Have you come across it on your wanderings at all?"
Kat shook his head at her question or accusation, and Madam B wished him a pleasant night, but only him. Finally finished with his food, the samurai slid an empty plate to one side and scowled my way.
"What?" I shrugged. "Can't I get a straight answer?"
"Can't you shut your mouth?”
7. Hell In The Barn
With the early hours came a fog swooning down from the mountain. His stomach full, a snoring Kat crouched in the corner of our shack, his right hand hanging like a dead weight over his katana.
Madam B said the sensible thing would be to lock myself here until the morning. I thought about it, and I knew I could walk away from this village, and forget their pregnant bellies and peculiar behavior; it wasn't my problem. Unfortunately, inquisitiveness flows through every detective's blood. The white house intrigued me most, and that is where I would start the investigation.
Getting up from the mattress, I pondered waking Kat, but the idea passed as soon as it arrived. The man cared only for himself, and I already could imagine what he would say: "Remain where you are! Do not disobey me!" or something along those lines. Thus, with care and time taken over each step, I left the shack and a slumbering samurai behind.
Outside, a crystallized frost over everything reminded me of winter in Ontario.
Torches long burnt out, I moved fast, rubbing my arms and shrinking past shadowy hovels, unknowing if anyone was watching from those dark windows. Mud sank and molded around my footsteps as I arrived at the now-empty dinner table, cleared of goblets, cutlery, and plates, with morsels left to the rats. I had to erase the memory of that meal, the food, and company. Why did I have to open my damn mouth?
Creeping toward the white house, I could not stop my teeth from chattering, and felt for the expecting women over my trail. Safe, sure, but happy?