What is this place?” asked Forward Scout Eye. The female bodyguard, Arrow, was still flopping unconscious on his broad shoulder. They had traveled a long distance from the duned desert near the big city. This was strange country to Eye. Moisture and fungal scents in the air revealed ocean and wildlife were nearby. The threesome were now tossed close together in the ship of life on an expansive ocean.
“For us, this is a sanctuary called The Nursery, for others it’s Hell,” answered the young bewitching Anchor.
“What kind of an answer is that? Which is it then sanctuary or Hell?” asked Eye.
“You’ll see as we get deeper inside,” replied Anchor.
Rose-colored marble walls rose up forming a cathedral effect. It was an ancient abode like a ruin or a tomb. There was evidence of quarrying for pink rock. The stalactites and stalagmites from the cave roof and floor appeared as jagged jaws closing around the weary pilgrims. Was it a dreary dungeon for the doomed? A sharp crunching was heard underfoot as if walking on fragile glass seashells.
“Where are we heading in this mammoth cave?” asked Eye. The silence was starting to bother him.
“Eye, just follow me to the chamber on the other side. Please follow as closely as possible as there are numerous pitfalls and traps. Numerous,” she emphasized.
Eye was going to be happy to sit. Arrow’s limp heaviness was straining him long ago.
“OK. This is the spot,” said Anchor sitting down on a pinkish-tint bench obviously garnered during the palace looting at Shiloh.
The indicated grotto was a lumpy hollow beneath the earth’s surface. It was filled with weapons and
food and supplies of all kind.
“I suppose this is your healing stuff?” said Eye sarcastically.
Anchor smiled sheepishly.
“I’m also an avid battle souvenir collector,” she retorted.
Eye shook his head.
“Anchor, you amaze me. I bet you read a lot,” he said deliberately like an inarticulate moron.
Anchor ignored his fake awe.
“Now, we must tend Arrow. She looks better but I’m needing male saliva.”
“Say what!” shouted Eye in disbelief. Eye wondered if she meant a transfusion or worse.
“Just jesting,” she laughed impishly, “you really are fun to tease. Wait until I tell Arrow your reaction. Ha!”
Eye smirked. She was fun, he thought.
“What’s the idea asking for man’s spit? Who orders a man to smear vegetables on a pretty lady? What’s your explanation, Royal Doctor Anchor?” mocked Eye. “You’ve got no esteem for human things.”
“I am the same Doctor who brings you to a safe hiding place. But also a place of death. Million of beings perished here. Beings who’s crunching skulls we walked on to get to this ironically safe place. Genocide. They were murdered here. None of them lived but one. Alone, one, grew up amid the decay,” said Anchor grimly, “Mocking human refinement and revealing our vulnerability is my charge and my pleasure.”
“You were the one? Closed up in here alone?”
Anchor said nothing. She looked at ceiling.
“Where did your name, Anchor, come from? Who gave it to you? It’s so strange.”
Anchor smiled at this apprentice man who had so much to learn.
“Look. Up there,” motioned Anchor. She nodded up toward the cave roof.
In the dim, Eye made out the shadowy outline of a large, heavy ship anchor suspended from the cave ceiling by a huge pulley and chain. As a trained military man, he could make out the ring, the eye, the stock, shank, bill, fluke, arm, crown, throat, and the palms.
“Odd how many parts are named after animal parts,” said Anchor frankly.
“How did you know I was thinking that? Are you clairvoyant?” asked Eye.
“Not really. People just think I read minds because I divine thoughts so exactly. It’s all context, body language, intonation, pacing, stuff like that,” she replied.
“Why is the giant anchor hanging up there?”
“A merciless executioner, named Morgan, the Sea Dweller, hung it there. He used it as a mashing instrument. A heavy blunt crushing object,” said Anchor without feeling, “I chose my name. It is symbolic and magic. It has a destiny.”
Eye felt numb. Speechless.
“How can you tolerate being here?” Eye finally asked.
“My suffering and deprivations give me power. Power to save beautiful people like Arrow. . . with or without men,” she smiled baring her pearly teeth then she spit on the ground in the most unfeminine manner.
“Anchor, I like you. I’m your friend and ally. You teach me how to heal people and I’ll be a warrior no more,” said Eye.
“Sorry. You remain a warrior. I need one so I’ll survive to friendlier shores, and then I’ll teach you what you cannot teach yourself. Stand clear. Arrow is becoming conscious. She’s bound to be rabid. She hates that steroid garbage.”