Chapter Ten: Earthbound
“Can we please dispense with the music”, snapped Elstein. Ilich took one last look at the spinning lady before closing the lid of the felt-lined box and letting the silence back in.
“I don't know why you don't like music”, grumbled the troll.
“Because we are supposed to be listening out for the enemy, not playing with children’s toys”, snapped the jackal.
Ilich left the bedroom and stomped angrily about the house. It had been many days since they'd come to Old Earth, many days of waiting, watching and listening. There had been no sign of any foe from Avalen. Sometimes the metal things on wheels raced past with lights flashing on top of them. In the day some children played on the grassy area in the middle of the road.
Aside from that there was little to entertain the two visitors from another world. The dreamer still dreamed, the blue chalk still glowed and Ilich was growing bored. Trolls got bored easily. Back home he would have wrestled other trolls, or hunted some bears or challenged his brother Lom to a rock throwing contest. But none of those simple pleasures were available to him here so he'd explored the house from end to end, and he'd found the music box with the dancing lady which seemed to irritate Elstein so very much.
At first he'd found it strange that he felt no thirst or hunger here. The jackal had tried explaining it to him using long complicated words. When these did not work he just told the troll it was a side-effect of where they came from and what they were. Ilich was no closer to understanding but he grew used to the phenomenon. He did not seem to tire either, which was also odd and only added to the boredom for there were all the more waking hours to be filled.
Sometimes he heard noises from the house next door which was joined on to the one in which they hid. He heard them talking, crying, laughing and doing something which Elstein called 'watching television'. The jackal had told Ilich that he must be extra quiet during these times for his footsteps and the ten tons they carried made an awful creaking din when he stomped up and down. In the hours when the family next door were up and about Ilich was told to stay down stairs and be as still as possible, only adding to the boredom.
After the first few days Ilich had asked Elstein why no one else had come to the home of the dreamer. The jackal told him that this dreamer was alone in the world and that its people were used to not seeing him.
Ilich went down to the room all covered in pink things where he'd found the music box. He sat on the comfortable bed and thought how he might whittle away the night. The sky was clear and the moon low; there was not even rain to entertain him with the pitter-patter song which it played in the windows. Then he head Elstein’s voice. “Ilich”, was all he said but it was the tone which got the troll’s attention. It was not a tone of casual summons or irritation at something Ilich was doing, this was a tone of apprehension and caution.
Ilich placed the music box gently on the side which he'd taken it from and then walked back to the bedroom where the dreamer slept. The talented jackal stood by the window gazing out intently. “Elstein”, said the troll. The jackal peered out of the window for a moment or two more before turning his black eyes on the troll.
“I think it may be time for you to serve your purpose”, said Elstein.
Ilich nodded and made to leave the room.
“Wait”, said the jackal who took out his blue chalk and began to draw more lines around the room. He spoke as he drew: “It may be that I need to get the dreamer out of here, in which case I will move everything within this border”, he said, drawing lines all around the walls of the bedroom. “You will need to be within the lines to come with us, otherwise I cannot help you, do you understand?”
“I understand”, said Ilich, walking down the hall and making his way down stairs.
Beyond the Dream Page 21