Kamerrean

by Karen Binnie

  Chapter 11

  Jez sat cross legged in front of the fire and drinking the strange liquor they called Kailch whilst Cooper busied herself removing the barrel of water from the room, the night had closed in and I had no idea of how late it was but the Kailch was making my eyes heavy.

  Jez was scowling to himself and apart from the clearing up noises made by Cooper you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, no-one seems eager to speak first, the air made more intense as Cooper finishes and joins him beside the fire. She can’t take her eyes off the band which he had replaced on his wrist, glad to find it amongst his clothes. The green gems glistened in the firelight, casting a pattern across the wall, he took another swig of the drink and turned his head catching Cooper’s gaze, he seemed captured by her striking beauty.

  The silence was broken when the curtain pulled aside, Eldeen now refreshed and returned to his earlier vibrancy.

  Jez nods in his direction “I thought you gave him a sedative to help him sleep?”

  Cooper smiles, “I lied” she replied.

  Eldeen clutched a small bottle in his hand which he places on the shelf above the fire, “Do not speak as if I were not present, I may be old but I can hear quite well.”

  He taps Jez in a consoling way on the shoulder as if to let him know he did not chastise him, then he returned to his favoured stool.

  “It appears Jez we have been too judgemental, unless the cascelet you wear has been stolen?”

  “The what?”

  Cooper replied for her grandfather, “the band upon your wrist, it is known as the cascelet, there are only four in existence, a symbol of leadership to our people, until now we only knew the whereabouts of two of them, now three. If we could just locate the fourth...................”

  Cooper glanced towards Eldeen, pain etched on his face at the mention of the lost cascelet.

  “Look Jez, I have one too,” I hold up my wrist to show him.

  This was the first time Jez heard the girl speak, she was English, a pomme.

  “Let me see it?” he asks.

  I rose from my seat and knelt beside him at the fire holding my wrist out for him to see. He took my hand in his, his hands seem so huge in mine as he turns my hand over to look at the cascelet around my wrist.

  He looks thoughtful as he takes in the white leather and how it looks almost new not battered like the black of his, he turns my wrist the other way and I can tell he is counting the eyelets which lace the band together. As he does, I do the same with his, we both have the same number, laced in the same way.

  I watch as he looks at my wrist, confusion in his eyes, he has brooding eyes of the most incredible blue. He catches me staring at him as he lets go of my hand and returns his gaze to the fire saying nothing.

  Cooper interrupts, “we have already discovered that Jol inherited hers from her grandmother, we are keen to learn where you inherited yours?”

  I’m just as confused as Jez looks, I stare at the earthen floor, I had not told them I had inherited it, I could have stole it from Gran for all they knew, in fact in a way I had, I had taken it to wear that evening without permission, decided to wear it on a whim, how could I ask Gran anyway? We had not heard from her in over a year, in fact the more I think about it, the more I worry that dad would not believe the note, he would not believe that Gran had turned up out of the blue and taken me whilst he were sleeping.

  My stomach flip flops with worry as I begin to nibble at the dry skin around my finger nails, I always do this when I worry, once I had even made my thumb bleed. Ok, so Gran is a bit strange sometimes but she surely would not to do something like that, it doesn’t add up, if only Al’ice would hurry and return to let me know everything was alright.

  Jez’s deep voice roused me from my worries, “It was my father’s” he said proudly, I notice the raised eyebrow glance between Eldeen and Cooper.

  “You are proud of your father, young man, who was he?” asked Eldeen.

  Jez would not look away from the dying flames of the fire and hesitated in his response, “I do not know, only that my mother loved him very much.”

  He choked back the lump in his throat, I peek from under my fringe at him, it was clear this was a hard subject for Jez, I can detect a sense of loss, a loss I was only to familiar with.

  He cleared his throat and turned to look at Cooper, “I must thank you for saving my life, this has been…………………………….I am quite tired, can we finish this tomorrow?”

  As he speaks I realise I had not yet thanked Jez for saving me from the evil, whatever it was, but I don’t know how to say it, he does look tired, perhaps I can thank him tomorrow.

  “Where is that girl Alice?” he added.

  Eldeen smiled at him, “it appears, that girl as you put it, may well be your brother Jez, he is on an errand for young Jol here and is not expected back until morning, perhaps it is time to put aside your differences?”

  We both stare at him, the old man was a fool, how could this be possible? The sense inside was strong as we both glance at each other for a second, then look away, do we both have the same thoughts, do we both know what the other is thinking?

  Cooper reached behind the curtain and dragged a lumpy mattress from beneath Eldeen’s bed and placed it beside the dying embers of the fire, motioning to Jez that this would be his, she has incredible strength.

  “I think it is time we all rested” she added, “Grandfather may I speak with you outside a moment?”

  She opened the door and the full moon shone brightly against the fallen snow, lighting up the surroundings, their feet crunched in the snow as they both left allowing the door to creak behind them.

  I want to ask Jez more questions but don’t know where to begin, I decide to leave him in peace, now is not the right time perhaps. I enter the doorway to my room, at least I think it is the room intended for my stay, as I start to close the door on Jez, the one candle placed in a recess on the wall lights all by itself, I jump and gasp all at once, how did it do that?

  “What is it?” asks Jez, concern in his voice.

  “It’s nothing” I reply, my heart beating so fast, I look back at him and hesitate before adding, “Goodnight then”, as I close the door, the candle burns brighter as if someone had turned up the dimmer switch and whisper to myself, “amazing!”

  I stay there with my back against the door, I can almost hear Jez’s heartbeat on the other side, my imagination must have the better of me.

  Jez stood, a mirror image on the other side of the door listening, simultaneously we both reach for the latch on either side, then drop our hands and turn to our respective beds.

  Jez was a mystery, one I needed to explore, if we are related somehow? I never had any cousins, have no other family apart from dad and Gran, until now. I try to shake the image of his naked body from my mind, those tight muscles, no stop it Jol, he is kind of family, I tell myself. I look around the room to distract my thoughts and see my bag on the bed and remember my other phone, I switch it on and check for messages. There was one flashing from an unknown number, did I dare open it? should I check with the others? It could be a trick? My heart began racing again, I long for calm in my life but it looks like fate has decided otherwise. But hang on, there’s no signal, no bars, how can there be a message? It must be a trick.

  No noises come from the room beyond, I don’t want to wake the others, it’s only a message, what harm could it do to open it? I press the open message button, the screen flashes with the words, Jol, Lost, Help, Kate. Oh shit! what did that mean? I’m staring at the words, Kates in trouble, what can I do? Thinking, thinking, I close the phone, what can I do? I’m pacing now and nibbling my thumb, Jez would understand, he’s from my world, but he must be sleeping by now. I stop at the door and listen for any sound from the other room, nothing, I lean back against the door, ‘oh Jez what should I do?’

  ‘Text her’ came a voice from inside my head, I jump back from the door and stare at it,
was that him? I lean forward, touching the wood with my palms and listen, there’s nothing, no sound.

  There is no signal anyway but could I try, the message had arrived somehow, I could hope for a miracle and take the chance while the phone still worked, ‘I‘m ok, on hols wth Gran, dn‘t go 2 my hous.’

  I begin pacing again, would that be enough? the evil demon might look for me there and take Kate by mistake, what if it sensed Kate was my friend and looked for her to get to me, no she must get away, I’m torn for ideas, where is it safe for Kate to go? I’ve got it, frantically tapping the keys I hit the send button, ‘find moana.’ The egg timer stares back at me as the phone tries to send the message, still no bars, this is stupid! At last it clears the screen.

  It had not been Kate’s number, what if had not been Kate? But I had to try, just in case, I saved the number, if it was Kate I needed to get in touch. I thought about what I had just done then decided to send another message to back up the original story, I’m no good at lying but dad wouldn’t be able to tell from a text message. So I hit the send button again, ‘I’m ok dad, will ring when we reach our destination, Gran says hi, love you.’ The message was wordy but dad was no good with text speak, I turned the phone off to conserve the battery and stuffed it back into my bag.

  Tomorrow I will find out exactly where we are and what day it is, I need to keep a check on how long I’m here, they said time moves slower back home but I need to know. I lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling, tonight I feel lost and alone.

  Kate was still running. Clarintor’s evil laugh resonated through her eardrums, menacing her as she ran. Her wet clothes were chafing against her skin but she fought the pain, the adrenalin keeping her going, her bare feet slipping against the snow. Just ahead, a clearing where the great lake rested and where the snow had not reached, finally her legs buckled and she fell in a heap beneath a large pine, her breathing harsh, her lungs stinging with exhaustion as she lay there crumpled on the ground, her face thrust forward in the mud as the breaths slowly found a rhythm.

  Too scared to move at first her ears listened out into the night for any sounds from behind, there was just the gentle breeze which rustled against the tree's canopy. Finally regaining some strength she pushed her face up from the dirt and her body back onto her knees, she sat against the trunk of the tree her legs tucked, with her cold bare feet underneath her for warmth. The great lake just ahead illuminated her face from the moons reflection, barely a ripple broke its surface and she wondered how the snow had not reached this far, why had it been focussed around the house?

  In her hands her fist closed tightly around Stanton’s jacket, as the realisation of what had just happened consumed her, she began to shiver, goose bumps erupted over her body, she pulled on his jacket and sniffed at the musty odour of the cloth, her face buried in Stanton’s smell. The tears began to wash over her, overwhelmed in grief and fear she began to sob uncontrollably, streaks marked her face from the tears, she was full of emotion her heart racing. The image of his floating body etched on her retinas forever, the laugh echoing in her mind as she rocked gently clinging to his jacket for warmth.

  The emptiness in the pit of her stomach threatened to take her, take her into the darkness never to return.

  A twig snapped behind, she opened her eyes in fright peering tentatively around the side of the tree, scared of what she might see, the startled rabbit looked just as scared as she was, pausing in fright from her image before hopping off into the bushes. The shock had woken her from her despair. She stared long and hard at the empty spot where the rabbit had been as her heart slowly regained its normal beat, willing her to survive.

  Kate rubbed her palms together to rid them of the dirt, strangely they did not feel sore after she had slammed down so hard against the ground, crawling towards the lake, something hard pressed against her body, rolling on to her side she reached into the jacket pocket and pulled out the book, with it came shards of glass from the broken skylight.

  This book held the key to calling the angel, the book they had risked their lives for, she brushed off the broken bits of glass and looked at the strange old leather that bound the book, there was no time to look at it now and she replaced it in the pocket. There was something else in there though and she reached down deep amongst the shards of glass to find an old and battered cell phone. Her face lit up at the find and hoping Stanton hadn’t locked it with a password she turned it on, the battery was very low so she thought it best to send just a quick text, but what would she say, thinking, ok that’s it, she quickly typed in four words Jol, Lost, Help, Kate, she punched in Jol’s number and pressed send, then turning the phone off to conserve the battery she placed it back in the jacket.

  Sitting at the edge of the lake she washed her hands in the cool water, forcing the water up against her face in a vain attempt to wash it, she could not see her reflection to check on her efforts, perhaps because the moon was now lost behind cloud. More determined now, she picked herself up and decided that the best plan would be to get as far away as possible.

  The sound of sobbing became increasingly louder as I open my eyes several hours later, sure that this was no longer a dream. I stare at the wall at the foot of the bed and the direction of the sobbing, the wall has gone, no longer visible, how could this be? am I dreaming? I sit up and pinch myself for real this time as I watch the wind outside swirl violently without penetrating my invisible wall. I swing my legs out and stand reaching for the candle forgetting that wax melts and step towards the void.

  A creamy white light shines from the candle as I approach the wall, I raise my hand expecting to hit something solid. I can see through the invisible wall and locate the source of the sobbing, outside on the river bank sits a lonely figure with messed up hair wearing a sports jacket. I want to reach out to comfort the lost soul, a shimmer runs across the void as I touch it, I can feel the cold stone of the wall but as I push further, through the nothingness, I can see my hand emerge on the other side, the biting wind jolts me awake. I pull my hand back and reach for the cloak Cooper had given me earlier, pulling it tight across my shoulders I push my body gently through my invisible wall.

  The wind catches my breath as I emerge on the outside, the ground cold and wet as the snow penetrates my shoes, still the figure sobs with its back to me. I hold the candle higher, amazed that the wind doesn’t blow it out, my magic candle, the stuff of dreams but this was no dream. I follow the light towards the sobbing woman and reach forward to touch the soaking shoulder of the jacket, she turns towards me, the sobbing stops as I let out a silent scream at the image before me, faceless, with wet and wild hair.

  Cooper had been standing outside the building, a solitary tear rolled down her cheek. Glancing to her left she saw Jol walking in the darkness towards the river, then collapse to the ground. Cooper ran swiftly towards her as she witnessed her thrashing around desperately trying to remove her cascelet, she fell on top of her to hold her down.

  “No Jol you must never remove the cascelet, what has happened to you?”

  Her eyes rolled back in their sockets and her body limp, Cooper glanced around into the night, wondering what had happened and caught a glimpse of a green light reflected in the river. Lifting Jol’s tiny frame, Cooper carried her back to the sanctity of the cottage. Both Eldeen and Jez did not stir as she entered and Cooper gently placed her on the bed, carefully removing the wet shoes, all appeared normal.

  Cooper did not witness the same wall as Jol and wondered how on earth she had managed to get past her to the outside, she sat at the foot of the bed, determined to watch over her.

  Eldeen had been unable to witness the event for he had slipped away into the night, it was forbidden to disturb him from behind the curtain, thus allowing his escape. The old man could turn the wall beside his bed into an invisible exit, he had been unaware this night that his secret wall had been mirrored on the other side of the cottage.

  Detached from reali
ty he managed once more to create his inner soul, above his head a shadow unfolded and stretched its tattered wings, once a magnificent golden bird it now looked more sagged and worn with age but still able to fly. Many, many years before he had soared across the heavens, grand in his stature, but with age this transformation had taken its toll. Eldeen had vowed never again to unfold his wings until it was time to soar for eternity but tonight had forced the necessity.

  Rising up into the night sky his journey would be a long and arduous one, taking him high above the Scottish mountains, across the highlands and his final destination, the islands far north known as the Orkneys.

  Here lived the Ferimiah, a dangerous duo, Eldeen had crossed their path once before. Their magic surpassed his own and tonight he sought their wisdom and the tonic which would help Jol in her unknown quest to save his people.

  Back in the cottage he left behind, his human form remained a shell which housed just an ounce of the man, but enough to deceive others if they ever dared to cross his barrier.

  To Eldeen's surprise the Ferimiah were waiting for him as he descended to the earth, he did not like to be found in his transformed state, at his age it left him feeling vulnerable.

  “Welcome Eldeen, we have been expecting you” they spoke in unison and turned entering the cave beyond, allowing Eldeen the dignity to return to his human form unhindered by their stares.

  Of course he should have known they were expecting him, the taller of the conjoined twins was a master at reading the opaque crystal globe he possessed.

  He entered their humble surroundings, a large stone had been carved into a table at the centre with a wooden bench on either side, the only furnishings that could be seen within the cave. He took a seat without being asked, you did not trifle with pleasantries with the Ferimiah, however they unusually offered him a drink, “you are weary from the flight we see, age does not bode well with you.” added the shorter one.

  “Thank you, is it poisoned?” he asked.

  The tall one interrupted, “why poison when you come to request our help, you are aware we will require a favour in return?”

  Eldeen drank the cool water from the cup, quenching his thirst, “straight to the point as usual, you have read the crystal? then no explanations are needed.”

  Taunting, the tall one replied, “you wish to accelerate time, you fear Al’ice will not be able to control his emotions, control his desires……….”

  “Leave my family out of this.”

  “Come now Eldeen, this involves your family, you cannot hide the truth from me.”

  “Just tell me what you want.”

  “I suspect you will not like our proposition.”

  Eldeen drained the cup and thrust it upon the stone, “Come on then, one of you, out with it!”

  Eldeen found the taller of the two more infuriating, the hump on his back his deformed conjoined sister was far more approachable.

  She sensed his dislike of her brother, it mirrored her own disdain for her sibling, unable to free herself, she had grown accustomed over the years to the life of peacekeeper. “Eldeen let us all be calm, there is no need for this angst, brother pour our guest another drink, his journey has been a long and arduous one.”

  Pouring another cup, the brother continued, “You will send the girl to the Elaich once the transformation is complete.”

  “What insane a request, No, I will not allow it.”

  “You must listen Eldeen” added the sister, “she will not be harmed, my brother has foreseen this.”

  “Then why send her? to what purpose will this achieve, no-one has ever survived such a meeting.”

  “I do not have to explain, I ask this of you in return for the elixir you seek.”

  Eldeen rose from his seat and stepped towards the entrance, the sea crashed against the rocks below as a storm gathered on the horizon.

  “I should not have come, we can wait the year, I will not send her to her death.”

  “Your people die and you would wait! will she still be pure in a year, what kind of leader are you?”

  The clouds were rolling as the darkness ahead tightened across the sky, Eldeen watched as his mind clouded with indecision “it is a difficult situation, with an outcome in your favour I fear, this disease could well be of your making!”

  “Such accusations, I warned you once before Eldeen”

  “Shut up brother, I will handle this. Eldeen you must gift your amulet to the girl.”

  “It is not time.” he answered softly.

  “Please listen, the amulet if worn by the chosen one will control the power of the Elaich, she will not be harmed, she must bring the amulet to us once the meeting has taken place, we only wish to capture the power of the Elaich for ourselves.”

  “Enough sister, it is of no consequence the power we seek.”

  “And what can the almighty power of the Ferimiah need with the enchanted powers of the Elaich, I wonder? how do you expect her to travel such distances to visit you here?” shaking his head he added “No, it is impossible.”

  The taller twin could contain his frustration no longer, “this is our only offer, here take this” he held out a small bottle encased in a framework of silver netting and full of liquid, “give her this and her blood will be mature enough to heal your people.”

  “How long?”

  “Time cannot be measured, you will know when.”

  “You originally said two weeks, do you go back on your promise?”

  “Ah yes but your impatience was clear, I have perfected the mixture.”

  Eldeen eyed the small bottle suspiciously, “How do I know this will not harm her?”

  “Do not trifle with me old man, why harm the one who can bring us the powers of Elaich, she will do this, we shall arrive at our summer residence by the end of the week.”

  The smaller twin added, “Eldeen, the weather is closing in you must leave now, except our offer, it is the only way.”

  The swell below the entrance sprayed the wavering Eldeen with the salty sea, he was torn between right and wrong, life and death.

  Jez had felt the warmth for a while now, his heart a steady beat, he tried to move his body like before. The prickles of sensation from the sheets which bound him to the bed he could feel so distinctly, but movement eluded him once more.

  He listened to his surroundings, there were others with him, perhaps nurses, doctors going about their rounds, each sound echoed loudly in his mind, so loud his head began to ache.

  He tried to focus on his memories to block out the awful din of his surroundings, the machines, the scraping, the footsteps, the loud whispers and anything to take his mind from the smell penetrating his nostrils.

  Rambling images haunted by the old gipsy woman. Who was she and how did she know his name, his real name. Trying desperately to place the incident, Jez was confused. All other memories had seemed strangely familiar apart from this one. His brain a crumbling wreck of his life, he fought hard to push the old grey and craggy face from his eyes.