The Other Side

by Alan Hotchkiss

  Riezgar was certainly no slouch either though and sensed the danger despite his gaze being averted away from Doogard. His sharp reactions saved him from a deadly blow as he moved his head instinctively just in time. The dagger glanced off his left cheek, opening a large nasty gash, but a minor wound nonetheless compared to the damage it would have inflicted had it struck its intended target area.

  The other Elves’ attention had turned away from their leader as they looked to find the source of the arrow that had pierced their comrade’s chest. They found it across the gym hall, at the exit where the janitor Mr Colman’s body lay. Piling through the door one by one were Fairy warriors, each with their bows taking aim, preparing to fire. As more arrows began to fly across the hall, the Elves all began to produce shields as if from nowhere, much like Riezgar had done with his sword. They held their shields in front of themselves as they spread out across the hall trying to find better cover from the arrow attack.

  As Riezgar had staggered back from the attack by Doogard, he felt the air whoosh as an arrow whizzed by, just above his head. Caught now by an attack from both sides, he quickly glanced behind him to see where and who the attack was coming from on that side. The sight of a large number of Fairy warriors streaming into the gym hall was not what he wanted to see. Still fearful of Doogard advancing on him, Riezgar quickly snapped his attention back to the Elf. However thankfully for Riezgar, Doogard had not continued his assault on him. Instead he had turned to the boy and cut him free of his binds. Then he had lifted Eric clean off his feet, threw him over his shoulder and began running towards the rear wall of the gym hall.

  ‘Cover your head,’ Doogard had yelled to Eric moments before leaping into the air, crashing right through one of the large windows that occupied that part of the wall, and disappearing out of sight on the other side. Riezgar looked on in disbelief and cursed himself for gloating over Doogard for too long instead of just taking care of the Elf and the boy, and returning home. The Fairy attack had caught him off guard but it wasn’t a surprise altogether. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the Fairies would be looking for the gem too and would have shown up sooner or later. As he moved to take cover behind a wooden gym horse, to protect himself from the Fairies’ arrows, Riezgar pondered his dilemma. Should he pursue Doogard and try to finish what he had started or stay with his soldiers and help to fight the Fairy attack?

  It didn’t take long for him to decide. On reflection it was actually quite an easy decision. As much as he hated Doogard and would like to pursue him, he would be too ashamed to turn his back on his guards and run away from a battle with their greatest of enemies. However, that did not mean for a second he was just going to allow Doogard to get escape freely.

  ‘Grogar,’ shouted Riezgar to the giant Elf who was trying to fit his huge frame behind a cupboard door and failing miserably. As the giant looked up, Riezgar instructed, ‘Go after Doogard and kill them both!’

  A smile formed on the giant’s face as he nodded to his leader, then bounded off towards the smashed window and leapt through it with ease, excitement coursing through his veins at the thought of finishing off what he and Doogard had started earlier.

  Chapter 37

  ‘Quick……….take cover,’ shouted Max as he turned and pushed Finn and Tala in the direction of some nearby trees. With a huge dragon soaring towards him at probably over one hundred miles an hour, Finn needed no encouragement to head for cover. As he ran with Tala their hands seemed to find one another and pulled each other along until they reached the cover of the trees and settled behind a large one with a trunk the width of a car.

  The whoosh of the dragon sweeping down was now as noisy as a small plane, thought Finn, then either side of the tree they were hiding behind suddenly lit up in an inferno of heat and flames. Finn and Tala cowered into each other as the heat scorched their backs.

  It only lasted a few seconds and then the flames disappeared, along with most of the heat, leaving a scorched trail of burnt trees and grass behind. The trees were sparse though and now that the giant dragon had flown over them and noted that Tala and Finn had survived its flames hiding behind one of the large trees, it seemed to realise that another form of attack may be called for.

  The dragon circled around once more then dived straight down and landed on the ground not too far from Finn and Tala. It stood still for a moment staring at the pair, snarling loud menacing growls. Then moving quicker than you would expect a great beast of this size to, it set off running towards them on its hind legs and flapped its wings to generate more speed.

  ‘Get over here’ shouted Max at the top of his voice. Finn and Tala didn’t need Max to tell them to get moving though, and had already set off running in an effort to get away from the beast.

  Max was standing at the river edge and was waving frantically to Finn and Tala, ‘Head for the water’ he shouted.

  Finn and Tala altered their direction slightly and sprinted as fast as they could over the grassy plain towards Max and the large river that came from the five falls. Finn could hear the snarling beast getting closer and he dared not turn around to look, for fear of falling over and then being done for.

  ‘Jump in the water……………….jump in the water!’ shouted Max repeatedly. Finn and Tala didn’t hesitate. Despite it looking like quite a dangerous river to be jumping into due to its size and current, they didn’t really have a choice, and as they reached the river’s edge they once again found each other’s hands and leapt into the river together—as did Max once he had made sure his younger companions had made it.

  Finn and Tala entered the water just as flames shot over the river, lighting up the dark water as they sank into the river. The heat could be felt from above, the water being boiled where the flames had made contact. Then as before, the light and heat died as quickly as it had appeared.

  As they began to kick their feet and head towards the surface for air, Finn could feel that the current was extremely strong and they were being pulled further down the river. Thankfully he had been a keen swimmer at school and having grown up near the sea had formed a good knowledge of dealing with currents. As long as they went with the flow and avoided hitting any dangerous objects they would just need to ride it out until the current calmed and they found a safe place to exit the river from.

  Finn and Tala had held onto each other and breached the surface of the river together, gulping in the air as they did.

  ‘Are you okay?’ shouted Max from slightly further down the river, floating on his back letting the current take him downstream, as Finn and Tala were.

  ‘Yes, I think so,’ replied Finn as he looked at Tala, who nodded to say she was.

  ‘Where’s it gone,’ yelled Finn to Max, trying to scan around to look for any imminent attacks.

  ‘Up there,’ said Max raising his arm out the water to point up to the distant skyline. Finn followed his aim and saw the great beast, thankfully soaring further away from the trio. On its tail were Aazer and Flix, shooting sporadic bursts of flames at the larger dragon.

  ‘They may be smaller but they’re fearless,’ shouted Max ‘and they probably just saved our lives.’ As Finn and Tala caught up beside him, he reached out a large arm for Tala to grab onto, keeping them all locked together as they sailed down the river at a fair rate of knots.

  ‘Does that happen a lot here?’ asked Finn.

  ‘No I can’t say that it does, in fact it’s been a long, long, time since a wild dragon has encroached these lands, never mind attacking anyone. My guess would be that it’s got something to do with that thing round your neck,’ replied Max.

  Finn glanced down at the gem stone held within the chain that had been a present from his parents. Beginning to ask Max a question, suddenly something grabbed his ankles and yanked him from Tala’s grasp, pulling him down into the deep river.

  Chapter 38

  Eric lay on his back, staring up at the blue sky, feeling a bit dazed and confused. Thankfully it had been soft gra
ss on the other side of the window where they had landed in a heap. That said, it was still a painful landing, but it could have been worse. Eric blinked his eyes trying to refocus his mind just as a large hand grabbed his shirt and hauled him up onto his feet.

  ‘No time to lie around I’m afraid,’ said Doogard. ‘Are you okay? Can you run?’ he continued.

  Eric glanced around, looking a little rattled but quickly regained his senses and remembered what was going on. ‘Errrrr….yeah…….yeah…….I think so,’ he stuttered.

  ‘Okay good enough, let’s move then,’ said Doogard, motioning with his head for them to get going. Gingerly, Eric began to jog after the Elf and away from the trouble in the gym hall behind them. As they reached the schools perimeter fence, Doogard turned to Eric and hauled the boy aloft, reaching right over the fence and dropping him the small distance down onto the other side. He then vaulted over it himself in one swift motion.

  Just as they began to jog again, a large thud from behind caught their attention. As they both turned to see what had caused the noise, Eric was horrified to see the giant Grogar rising from the grass outside the window that they too had leapt from. As Grogar stood to his full giant size, he let out a wicked laugh then began to charge towards Eric and Doogard.

  ‘C’mon boy, get moving,’ urged Doogard to Eric as they set off in the direction of the main town with a renewed, quicker pace.

  Chapter 39

  PC Hughes only had three months to go before he retired. He had enjoyed his career as a police officer in the town of Penzance. It was a nice area with a low crime rate and the worst thing he had to deal with was the odd bar fight, usually between some drunken tourists. An intruder alarm at one of the schools being set off was not all that uncommon, usually it was down to either a fault in the system or being carelessly set off by accident.

  During bad weather they could be triggered also, but today was a lovely, sunny summer’s day so that was unlikely in this case. Most of the time the station would receive a phone call from the janitor to say it was a false alarm and there would be no need for PC Hughes to attend. However PC Hughes had not received any word from the station yet and had been nearby when the call from the alarm company had come in. So he had headed off in the direction of the Humphry Davy school, just in case.

  As he turned his patrol car into the entrance of the school car park his first thought was that it was strange the gates had been lying wide open, as they were usually locked over when the school was closed. His second thought was to wonder what his car had just bumped over lying in the middle of the car park. Glancing in his rear view mirror to see what the object was, a bemused look appeared on his face as he could have sworn that he had just driven over a large door.

  PC Hughes brought the patrol car to a standstill near to the three black SUVs parked in the middle of the car park. They seemed a bit strange on their own but when he noticed the now missing main doors of the school he suddenly realised why the station had not been on the radio yet, as this was definitely not the usual false alarm. It wasn’t even just that the doors were no longer in their frame, which was odd enough, it was how it looked like they had been removed. Which judging by the damage to the surrounding frame and walls was by some kind of extreme force.

  Climbing out his vehicle he looked back at the object he had driven over and it was indeed one of the missing doors. He checked out the black SUVs first to ensure no one was inside them, which they weren’t, then a quick scan of the car park soon revealed the other door and PC Hughes headed off to inspect it. The door revealed nothing as to how it came to be lying in the middle of the car park however, as he stood over it he could hear strange noises and yells coming from around the other side of the building towards the gym hall. After another glance at the damaged front entrance, PC Hughes decided he would have a scout around the outside of the building first and set off in the direction of the noise.

  Chapter 40

  Shoppers on the now fairly busy high street, jumped out of the way then looked on in shock at the bizarre sight of Doogard and Eric sprinting down the street, closely followed by the gigantic figure of Grogar. The giant had already steamrollered right over the top of some unfortunate people who hadn’t been paying attention to the drama unfolding before them, and now lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.

  As they ran through the Greenmarket and onto Chapel street, Doogard shouted to Eric, ‘Keep up boy, we’re nearly there.’

  ‘Nearly where?’ wondered Eric, however he was now so out of breath and struggling to keep up with Doogard he didn’t have the energy to ask. Just as Eric’s legs and lungs were about to give up on him, Doogard came to a halt outside a pub on Chapel street called The Turk’s Head Inn. Eric had never been inside the place, but had walked by it many times so recognised it right away. Doogard opened the door with one hand and ushered Eric in with the other. ‘Quick in here boy,’ he said as he looked back to see where their pursuer was. Gragor was just entering onto Chapel street and Doogard ducked inside the Inn hoping that he hadn’t seen them.

  Eric was standing just inside the door as Doogard motioned for him to follow the Elf to the bar. Doogard’s eyes scouted around the Inn as if looking for someone. Several customers glanced up but quickly turned away when their eyes met with the fearsome looking Elf. ‘Doogard?........is that you?’

  The voice had come from behind the bar, it belonged to the innkeeper. ‘Jeez it is you……….my word it’s been a long time since you’ve been in here my old friend, you alright?’ he added as he looked at the state of the pair standing before him, drenched in blood and sweat.

  ‘Thomas I don’t have time to explain, we need to use the tunnel now,’ said Doogard urgently.

  ‘Okay mate, of course, c’mon,’ replied the innkeeper as he lifted part of the bar and ushered them to come through. Eric followed Doogard around to the other side of the bar, unsure where they going. The innkeeper then lowered the bar shelf down again and quickly made his way over to one of the beer taps.

  ‘Not used this in a while, be just like old times eh,’ said Thomas smiling and glancing around at Doogard. He then pulled down on the beer tap which instead of drawing beer, started a chain of clinks and clanks. Then suddenly, just beside where Eric stood, part of the bar that had looked like any other ordinary bar with glasses and bottles held within the shelves, opened inwards revealing a set of steps leading down into a dark tunnel.

  ‘Hold on to the back of my shirt and stay close,’ said Doogard as he crouched down into the dark gap. ‘Thanks Thomas. Could be an unfriendly coming in shortly,’ he said as he disappeared down the steps with Eric in close pursuit.

  ‘Understood,’ shouted Thomas and he gave a curt nod then pushed the beer tap back upwards and the secret door closed over once again. Seconds later a sneering giant entered the Inn.

  Chapter 41

  Finn tried as hard as he could to kick free from whatever was dragging him deep underwater but its grip on his ankles was like a vice. He wasn’t sure how far he had been dragged down, but it felt pretty deep as his lungs began to burn with lack of oxygen. It was also freezing and the water was now black as night.

  Just as he thought he could hold his breath no longer the grip on his ankles let go, immediately he began to kick his legs to try and head back to the surface again but suddenly something appeared in front of him and attached its hands to his shoulders, preventing Finn from swimming upwards.

  Looking straight into Finn’s eyes was what looked to be a beautiful lady, her long white hair seemed to radiate and glow in the deep dark water. There was something vaguely familiar about her too, but he couldn’t think why as he’d become too exhausted now to care. As Finn began to lose consciousness, his eyes closed over and unable to hold his breath any longer, he opened his mouth, expecting to feel the cold water rush in. As he did however, it was not water that rushed into his lungs, it was air. Cool delicious air that seemed to revitalise Finn in seconds. Something warm was touching his lips too, a mout
h. As the fog in his brain began to clear he remembered the girl, it must be her that was giving him air.

  Finn opened his eyes once again just as the strange underwater lady pulled back from his face and used her fingers to make sure he closed his mouth over again to keep the air inside. As Finn gazed at the strange being he felt warm again despite the water being ice cold. He felt safe somehow despite the dangerous predicament he found himself in.

  The notion to try and swim to the surface was gone, he was content to be where he was. He was also aware that she was naked, at least her breasts were, but it was too dark to see below her chest despite the light that her hair and face seemed to radiate. She raised a hand once again and rested it on Finn’s face. Strange, warm feelings pulsed through his body.

  She leaned in once more and instinctively Finn opened his mouth. The air that flowed in from the lady was like no air Finn had breathed before. Any feelings of exhaustion disappeared, in fact any bad feelings whatsoever disappeared. Finn felt great, it was hard to describe, he felt dreamy and loved and safe.

  The lady leaned back and Finn closed his mouth over. They once again stared at one another, however this time her eyes began to light up a little and suddenly Finn’s head became full of noise and images began to flash before him, too quickly to understand what they were, but people were being hurt, slaughtered. There were screams; loud, deafening screams and he began to thrash around in the water. Visions of blood shot through his head and he could taste it as well. It was becoming overwhelming and his primal survival instinct kicked in as he pushed away from the lady, this time managing to break free from her grip and kicking as hard as he could with his legs, trying to head for the surface. As he shot away from the strange being, the noises and images stopped but he didn’t feel like hanging around any longer and kicked even harder, fearing that he would be caught in that vice-like grip and pulled below once again.