Helga: Out of Hedgelands, Rick Johnson [suggested reading txt] 📗

to the opening above him where Helga, Burwell, Bwellina, and Janty waited. He unfastened the rope from around his waist and gave two sharp tugs on the loose end. Helga and Janty pulled it up, to prepare for Helga to descend.

Helga had convinced Janty to allow her and Breister to return with her to the WooPeace. They hoped to meet with WooZan alone so as to not create a sensation in the WooPeace unnecessarily. Breister knew that WooZan came daily to the LuteWoo. Their plan was to be there when she came and talk with her about the possibility of allowing free visiting to and from the WooPeace.

“She’s not going to like it,” JanWoo-Corriboo declared with conviction. “WooZan is going to blow a cork to find you guys in the LuteWoo when she gets there. Never in recorded history has anyone ever descended through the LuteWoo! Creatures are scared to death of the Fire Beetles that live there.”

“But, as you know, and we all can see,” Breister observed as he made ready to descend, “there is no multitude of fearsome Fire Beetles here, unless you want to count that centipede over there. I guess if you counted all his legs, that might pass for a multitude!” Everyone laughed, but also realized that what Janty said was true. Although it was clearly open to the outside, for untold generations, no WooSheep had ever tried to enter or leave the WooPeace through the LuteWoo.

“This is the only chance we have to speak with WooZan privately,” Helga said. “If we are going to have any chance of getting a hearing from her, we must not confront her before the rest of the WooSheep. There is no other way to get a private moment with her, except to try to meet her here in the LuteWoo.”

“But this is also just about the worst place to meet her,” JanWoo-Corriboo added worriedly. “This is her place of personal reflection. It’s as if we’re confronting her in her personal retreat. She’s not going to like it.”

“I know,” Helga agreed, “but how else to get a moment with her? She would like it even less if we showed up at the Common Bowl and started talking to the WooSheep about opening up to the outside!”

“Well,” Helga declared grimly, “we’ll soon know how WooZan will like it. Here goes nothing!” With her pack securely strapped to her back, Helga tied the safety rope around her waist.

Janty and Burwell lowered Helga down to where Breister waited. She unattached herself, tugged twice, and the empty rope shot up out of the LuteWoo. Janty was tying it around her waist, and was about to follow Helga down, when a loud commotion from below caused her and Burwell to halt their activities and draw back away from the edge. Clearly WooZan had arrived, and she was not happy.

“Is it you? The Wood Cow Woonyak, returned?” WooZan screeched. “How dare you return? How dare you drop into the LuteWoo like this? Are you mad? Hunjah!” WooZan calmed herself suddenly, and dropping her voice said in more pleasant tones, “No, I’m sorry. You startled me so badly. This has never happened before. I did not know what to say. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Hunjah!” The hairs on Helga’s neck bristled with caution. She did not trust WooZan.

“Why have you come here?” WooZan asked. “What can this humble servant of the WooPeace do for you? You surely have come for something. You did not plan to come here, where you knew you would find me, if you did not want something from me. What can this humble servant do for you?”

“We have come to ask you to open the WooPeace to regular visiting with outsiders—with creatures from the world above,” Breister replied.

“You don’t know what you are asking,” WooZan said, shaking her head sadly. “The only true peace is in the WooPeace. No, you do not know what you ask. But the WooSheep know. They know that only great evil can come upon us from discontents and rebels like you. You do not know this, but I know this, and the rest of the WooSheep know it, too. Hunjah!”

“Don’t be so sure, WooZan,” Helga replied. “We know many creatures, both in the WooPeace and in the WooSheep Bottoms above, who want the two worlds to come together, or at least open to visits from family.”

“There are no WooSheep above,” WooZan declared. “Only the dead exist in the realm above!”

“But are we dead?” Helga demanded. “We have come from the world above and we are flesh and blood just like you. You don’t deny that, surely?”

“Yes, I know who you are, and why you are here,” WooZan replied with a faint, but noticeable coldness. “It matters not that you are real creatures. You have come to disturb the tranquility of the WooPeace. That is all I need to know. You do not exist. You cannot exist. Hunjah!”

“But, WooZan,” Helga pressed on, “how can you say that something that clearly exists, does not exist? You are a wise and intelligent creature. I see the wonders of what you and all the generations of WooZans have accomplished here. We do not wish to destroy it. We just want creatures to be able to live in both worlds, if they wish.”

“You are a fool!” WooZan replied. “The very fact of your seeming to exist in both worlds will destroy the peace of the WooSheep in both worlds. Both worlds cannot exist. The WooPeace is happy and at peace. I’m sure the WooSheep at the Bottoms have their own type of happiness and peace. So be it. I care not about that. But different happinesses cannot exist together. Such thinking will destroy both. Hunjah!” WooZan’s voice left its traces of friendliness behind and became colder.

“WooZan,” Helga continued her appeal, “there are children separated from their parents...running in hiding to see them. There are grandparents who have never seen their grandchildren. There are creatures that have not seen old and dear friends in many years. There are creatures that have never visited the honored graves of their ancestors. Surely this cannot be the peace and happiness you speak of?”

“The Woonyaks who leave the WooPeace have chosen these things for themselves,” WooZan declared. “We welcome all Woonyaks with open arms and the warmest hospitality we can offer.” WooZan looked at Breister. “This Wood Cow was a Woonyak. Tell her, Woonyak. Tell her how you were received here. Tell her how I pulled your nearly dead body out of the freezing water and gave you life. Tell her how you were saved and welcomed. Tell her these things. Or are you only a traitor and a rebel, who thinks only of himself and what he wants, moment to moment? Tell her how you were saved and welcomed. That will reveal the truth. Hunjah!”

Breister was silent for a moment, pondering what WooZan had said. Then he replied, “WooZan, we have not come to disturb the WooPeace. I think you know that. When you rescued me and cared for me and welcomed me, you did so as creature to creature, as friend to friend. I recall how you gently laid my nearly lifeless body on a soft pallet here in the LuteWoo...on this very spot! I recall your pride as you showed me the WooPeace and introduced me to the Common Bowl. I respect all these things. They were done as one creature to another creature, not as WooZan to Woonyak. We have not come to destroy the creature-to-creature caring and love you showed to me, but to show it to others. Is that wrong? Do you not have brothers and sisters in the other world also?”

WooZan laughed. “So it is worse than I thought,” she said with a cool smile. “You are not simple fools after all. You do know what you are doing. You have come to consciously re-make the WooPeace according to your own fantastic ideas. Well, you have not the right to do so!” She paused, closing her eyes as if considering what to say next.

“The WooZans of the past have given the WooPeace centuries of undisturbed peace.” WooZan continued. “The WooPeace is still in the hands of the WooZan. I am well able to protect the peace and happiness of the WooSheep. Hunjah! I have no need of your fantastic dreams that the two worlds can ever be one. If you meddle further in the affairs of my creatures, I will have to look at you in the light of rebellion. There will be no ‘creature to creature,’ as you put it. I will act as the WooZan, and do as I must. You will stand before me as a Woonyak rebel, and be judged as you must. Hunjah!”

Helga looked intently at WooZan. She began to see something that she had noticed before, but had not understood. WooZan was looking at the skylights as she spoke. Her eyes never looked at either Breister or Helga. It was as if they were not there and WooZan were talking to herself. This perception sent a chill down Helga’s spine. “WooZan,” she asked, “who lives in the WooPeace? Is it creatures, or some illusion of your own dreams? I see creatures that love and laugh and feel things for each other. I think you see only the ‘WooPeace’—some image you have in your mind. But, I don’t think any creatures live there.” Helga paused and looked directly at WooZan, trying to make contact eye-to-eye. WooZan still did not look at her. She kept her eyes raised past her.

After a few moments, she spoke. “Yes, for many generations, the WooPeace has existed in happiness and peace. Those that live here, live according to the WooPeace, or they do not live here.” Now WooZan lowered her eyes and looked directly at Helga with a cold stare. “You want the two worlds of WooSheep to become one. You think this will make the creatures happy. But then there will be differences and arguments about what the WooPeace is, or should be. The WooPeace will be destroyed if such a thing comes to pass. For centuries, the WooSheep have been assured that they lived in perfect happiness and peace. That has been the doing of the WooZans. Hunjah! You wish to destroy the WooPeace...” WooZan’s voice grew soft and cold. She stepped closer to Helga and looked directly into her eyes for the first time. “And you wish to destroy the WooZans.” She said nothing more, but the cold, intense gleam in her eyes said all that Helga needed to know.

WooZan turned away and walked toward where her boat was beached. “You wish to take away the WooPeace. That is clear,” she said. “So be it. We shall see what the Council of Inquiry has to say. I will summon them. Tomorrow they will give their verdict. If you agree to wait here until tomorrow afternoon, the Council of Inquiry will decide. Hunjah!” WooZan’s voice had an icy edge that made the coolness of the cave seem even colder.

“The Council meets at noon,” WooZan explained. “I will return with its decision shortly after noon tomorrow. I will bring you food enough for the night and you will be my guests. Tomorrow you will hear the verdict.” WooZan mounted her boat and moved off into the darkness beyond the circle of light at the bottom of the LuteWoo.

“Whoa, that WooZan gives me the creeps,” Helga shivered.

“Yeah, and what’s this business about the Council of Inquiry?” Breister wondered.

“I don’t know,” Helga replied, “but I didn’t like the way she said it. She’ll be back with our food soon, and then we’ll try to consult with Janty and the others. We need a plan.”

Janty, Burwell, and Bwellina were lying hidden at the top of the