The Girls of Ohmer Chapter 16 Snotrag

The Girls of Ohmer Chapter 16
Snotrag

As they entered the Village of Casa Dagger, Hilario asked Tom, "Where we gonna find your friend? Does he have a house in town?"

"Something like that." Tom said cryptically "Its more on the outskirts, but this time of day we can find him at the center of town where the market street bridges the river."

"Okey dokey smokey." Hilario said and continued leading Blue into the village.

Through the center of the community was a gorge containing a deep narrow river. In the center of town there was a single bridge crossing this river. In the center of the bridge there was a beggar holding a bowl. The center of the bowl was empty accept for the ever-present odor that surrounded the beggar. He was called Snotrag because of his appearance, but he could just as likely been called pisspot because of his smell.

Snotrag sat on the bridge berating passersby for not giving to the needy, and  cursing those who who gave for not giving enough. All in all, he was a detestable character. If it weren't for all of the through traffic on this bridge he would never get a single coin in his bowl. If it were not for his disgusting smell and appearance, he'd have been tossed off the bridge long ago for his rudeness. Being as he was, nobody even wanted to kick him for fear of soiling their boot.

As Hilario led the Ram across the bridge he smelled the beggar before he saw him. "OH MY GOAT!" He said." What is that smell?" The Girls wrinkled their noses while the dog, cat and squirrel reacted similarly.

Tom smiled "Help me down Hilario I need to speak to my friend.

Hilario helped Tom out of the litter, causing the Hammock on the other side of Blue to sink towards the ground. "Stay here." Tom instructed as he slowly walked across the bridge toward the smelly beggar. Tom shouted. "You're stinking up this bridge you dirty excuse for a pile of putrid pickles!"

Snotrag looked up from under his ragged hat. "Better to smell bad than to look as bad as the likes of you! You ugly monkeyloving steaming sack of shhhh.."

Tom raised a warning finger toward his friend, shaking it admonishingly. "Ah ah ah! There are children present!"

"As if my language were more offensive than your face!" Snotrag retorted. "What brings you to my bridge? You dirty conniving useless excuse for a slop bucket!"

Tom smiled widely, it was good to be remembered by an old friend. "I need to buy some dung." he responded. "Something to help my cabbage grow. Also there have been black beetles in my garden, do you have a remedy?"

Snotrags eyes widened at this last statement. " I may be able to help you. But not today! come back in a week, maybe I will reconsider! You stupid dress wearing donkey kisser!"

Tom responded loudly. "well if that's how you feel I'll take my business elsewhere you dirty urine soaked pile of rags!" Tom offered him a wave goodbye using a single finger in an upward thrusting gesture, then turned and walked back to his group. He asked Hilario to help him back into the litter and told him to lead the ram over the bridge and take a right on chasm lane.

Hilario was angry that the so called friend had been so rude. "Hey Tom, should I go back and teach pee pee man a lesson? He should not talk to a friend of Hilario like that!"

"Thank you for sticking up for me Hilario," Tom was smiling, he whispered behind his hand. "But there is no need. that was all code." Then continuing in a normal voice, Tom said. "There is a stable beside the river where we can put Blue, then we'll take a walk and find a place to stay."

Hilario knew little of codes, but chose to hide his ignorance in this case. It was getting to be frustrating every time he didn't know about the out-lander ways. Things in the jungle were much easier. At least for him they were, he thought his new friends would have a very hard time though. They might not survive long enough to learn that they knew so little of the dangers there.

They turned right after the bridge onto Chasm lane. This narrow road followed a descending path right down to the river.  There was no room for buildings, instead there were storefronts covering caves which had been dug into the side of the cliff.  About half way down they saw a stable and livery. The proprietor was not thrilled about having such a large animal to house and demanded double the payment. Tom agreed and handed the man a large gold coin saying "I'm not sure how long he'll be here but this should cover any expenses incurred."

The stable owner grinned. That was enough to stable this beast for over a year. "Yes sir, I will be happy to keep him." the man said enthusiasticly.

Tom quieted him saying,"The coin is more than enough for your services, the extra is for your silence!"

The stable man understood completely. "Yes sir." he said and pocketed the coin. "I'll put the beast in the stable right now."

The group walked down chasm street to just where it met the river, there was a bench sitting next to a boulder with overgrown vegetation around it. There were few people this far downhill from the shops so the small party had the bench to themselves.

Vay was getting restless. "I wanna go!" she pouted. "I wanna see Nina!"

Erika tried to sooth her. "I know Vay. I want to see her too, but right now we have to stay by the river. Would you like to sing a song with me?"

Vay smiled. " E I E I O?"

"Sure" said Erika,"That one will be just fine."

They both started singing in unison "Old Mac Donald had a farm, E I E I O. And On the Farm there was an eye lookin stuff, EIEIO!"

Soon Hilario had picked up the tune and began playing along on the flute as the dog and Squirrel danced along with Vay. Popsicle wanted nothing to do with the festivities, preferring to sit under the bench and act bored.

The Girls sang on about how the eye got poked and it started to cry, when Snotrag came hobbling down the street. He motioned to Tom. "Follow me and bring your gaggle of girls." he hurumphed.  Snotrag led them behind the boulder where he lifted up the undergrowth revealing a passage. Sewage was dripping from the passage and running into the river.

Erika plugged her nose as she followed the rest inside.   When they went a little way down the passage, it opened up into a wide room lit by some kind of glowing crystals in the ceiling.  Snotrag followed them, but stopped just at the entrance  He took off his stinky rags and hung them over the doorway. Then he stood up to his full height. Erika was amazed, he was much taller he looked without  his rags, and much cleaner too.

He turned and studied the group then giving a bow he said. "Honored guests, I am Scott Tragg, the former wizard of the mountain now beggar of the bridge."  Tom walked forward and hugged his friend.

"Oh it's been so long since I've seen you inside your home I'd almost forgotten that you weren't actually so disgusting!" Tom commented as he embraced his friend.

Hilario smiled. He liked surprises and this was a pleasant one indeed. As they walked deeper into the mountain the walls became sparkling crystal everywhere he looked. It was like being on the inside of a diamond. The air was clean and sweet, the light was bright, and the owner was friendly.  They walked on for a while when they entered a giant open area with a crystal castle in the center. It sparkled from within.

Vay was entranced by the view of the castle. It was so sparkly, she couldn't take her eyes off of it. Most of it appeared to be made of clear crystal accept for the large center tower that started clear then became a light rose color and then amethyst purple at the very top.

Scott Took his guests inside and fed them a scrumptious meal of bread and fish, followed by mountain berries that none of them had tasted before, accept for Tom.  Afterward, Scott showed them to their quarters and told Tom to meet him for a drink in the tower.

"Hilario, you stay with the girls, I will return in a little bit" Tom instructed. Then to everybody, "try to get some rest, we have a long journey ahead of us."

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Nina sat in her plush bed meditating about her magic. she was trying to dip into the dark power without being consumed by the greed and hate that accompanied it. Each time she was able to draw a bit more of the magic for her own use without becoming disgusted, however she feared that this desensitization was just a symptom of giving into the darkness.

She changed the focus of her meditation to concentrate on those she loved, but in the end she felt a rage growing inside her that they were taken from her. She then attempted to think about love and only love, the pure unselfish giving force in the universe. She remembered how it felt when she first fell in love. His name was Dirk, he was tall and handsome. His dark eyes smoldered when he looked at her. That look sent butterflies fluttering in her heart.  He was everything a young woman could want, the problem was he knew it.

Not long after they were married he had gone to a battle on the southern front, this was when Brock was just coming to power. After a heroic victory he decided to celebrate with one of the southland maidens.  Evidently he liked the attention of being a hero. Before long he was more concerned with the after battle celebrations than he was with the battles. Nina had found out about his wandering eyes and hands and... In the end, Dirk was slain on the battlefield. Nina grieved the loss of her husband, but it was tainted with the betrayal to her heart.  She had never loved another man again.

"That son of a DOG!" Nina shouted. Her anger at the long lost love surprised her almost as much as it enraged her. She wanted to spit on his grave for betraying her. She wanted to curse his soul!  Nina took a deep breath. she had to calm herself. This dark magic was changing her against her will, her temper had never flared like this without cause. She had been pacing the floor clenching and unclenching her fists. She stopped and looked at her black reflection in the shiny stone wall. It was as if she were turning into that person she saw there, cold, dark, hard, everything that she wasn't.

She heard the guards come to take the prisoner out of the room across the hall. She didn't bother to look out. She knew that no help would come from that woman. If anything, she was a new enemy. She wanted to take Ninas grandson away just as much as Brock did. Nina resigned to continue working on the overseer.  She had almost gotten him to open the door for her, what then? she thought. "I have to make a plan." she resolved. "I have to figure out where my daughter and her husband are, where they're keeping the baby. Then how to get out of here together."  She thought about each part of her plan. First she had to get the baby, without him the rest wouldn't want to leave.