Desolace Omnibus Edition

by Lucian Barnes

  He shuffled his feet forward, keeping his hands out at arms length in front of him; moving them slowly back and forth, searching for obstacles in his path. He walked this way for a short distance and then encountered a wall. Keeping one hand on it, and the other in front of him, he followed the wall until it opened onto another room. Cautiously, he entered what he thought to be a bedroom. A sliver of moonlight was coming through a window in the room and he could just make out the shape of a chest of some sort lying on the floor. He took a couple of shuffling steps toward it and barked his shin on something. He cursed under his breath and then bent down to rub his leg. He then reached out to feel what he had run into. He moved his hand over it for a moment and then realized what was on the floor before him. A bed.

  Then George stood, shuffled his way back to the entrance of the room, and began feeling about to see if he could find a door. He found one moments later and closed it. He then shuffled across the room to where the chest lay on the floor. He grasped the sides of it and tried to move it. The chest was very heavy, but he found he could move it. He slid the chest over to the door and lodged it firmly against it to make sure the room was secure. Satisfied, and slightly out of breath, George returned to the bed and carefully lowered himself onto it. He lay back on the mattress, which was more comfortable than he imagined it would be, and closed his eyes. Almost instantly sleep swept him away.

  Chapter 15

  Something wasn’t right. Natasha should have been back by now. She had sensed that their new friends might be in danger and had gone to check on them. Now, Jack was getting the feeling that maybe she had run into more than she could handle on her own, he cursed himself for letting her go to investigate alone. Still, something was confusing him. When Jack raised his snout to the soft night breeze he got back mixed signals about where his beloved Natasha was. He knew something was wrong though. The scent he picked up from the north, which was carried on the wind, was mingled with the scent of blood. There was also another scent of her that seemed to be much closer that had the same coppery smell to it, but the second one seemed fainter. It was like she was in two places at the same time and that just wasn’t possible.

  The second scent was harder for him to track down because it appeared to be coming from someplace downwind. Worriedly, he stood up from the bed of straw where he had been resting. Cautiously, he stepped away from the barn that had once housed their livestock and now stood empty. All of their animals had fled from the homestead when the commotion in town had started that drove everyone from Haven.

  As Jack moved away from the barn and got closer to the main street that ran through town, the once faint scent grew stronger. He rounded the corner of his house and stepped into the street. Both moons were now visible in the night sky, and the light they shed was very bright. He could see something glinting further up the street, but from this distance he couldn’t tell what it was. Whatever was down there, reflecting the moons’ light, was definitely something new. Nothing in this town would account for what he was seeing. He cautiously made his way to the opposite side of the street, watching the strange reflection.

  Moving carefully from the shadows of one building to the next, Jack inched his way closer. When he got within a hundred feet he stopped. Before him was a strange looking horse, which had two heads and six legs. The entire creature that stood before him appeared to be made of metal. Who, in their right mind, would create such a monstrosity? And why?

  The breeze shifted and blew from the direction of the strange beast he was pondering. The mingled scent of Natasha and blood was overwhelming. Feeling a sense of urgency stronger than any he had ever felt before, Jack sprang from the shadows and rushed headlong toward the smell. As he approached the strange horse it turned one of its heads to look at him. The malevolent red glow coming from the eyes of the beast brought Jack to a screeching halt that kicked up a cloud of dust. As the dust began to dissipate, he saw his worst fear realized. Dangling by the hair, which held it to the saddle of this strange creature, was the head of his beloved Natasha. For a moment, Jack stood frozen in place, staring at it in sadness. Tears streamed from his eyes, soaking the fur on his face. Then, he let loose a howl that was a mixture of sadness and rage before racing off to the north to find his new friends. As he did, Jack swore to himself that he would avenge her death somehow.

  Chapter 16

  Edward opened his eyes to find that both moons were now in the sky; their light filtered through the treetops that nearly covered the small clearing. Beside him, Katie was still asleep and snoring lightly. The fire they had built was almost completely out; only a few embers still crackled with life. As he looked around, Edward noticed Amber patiently waiting for them over near the horse. The glow that emanated from her form made the whiteness of the horse more pronounced, making it look almost spectral. Sitting up he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and as Edward looked down at Katie’s gently rising and falling chest, he wondered how long she could remain strong. He wasn’t even sure how she had managed it this long with so many strange, new things bombarding her brain. Edward knew that he would just have to have faith. The gods surely knew that she would be able to handle whatever came her way or they wouldn’t have brought her to him.

  He leaned over Katie and gently shook her shoulder to wake her. She mumbled something that he couldn’t make out and then rolled toward him as she opened her eyes. “I guess nap time is over?” she asked groggily.

  “Yes. We really should get moving since our guide is back.” He pointed toward where Amber stood.

  Katie sat up and rubbed her face briskly. With the fire all but a memory, she was cold. At least, she thought, her clothes had dried out while she slept. Even though the leather of her pants was kind of stiff, it still beat the hell out of the soggy way it had felt when she had lain down. She brought her knees up to her chest and rubbed her leather pants to loosen their stiffness. She then stood up, raising her hands high above her head, and stretched her aching muscles. After doing so, Katie bent down and offered her hand to Edward, helping him to his feet.

  Suddenly, a howl pierced the night air. Edward and Katie exchanged a nervous glance as the sound echoed through the trees. It seemed to have come from the direction of Haven, but the echo made it hard to be certain. “Maybe it was Jack or Natasha,” Katie whispered anxiously. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen either of them.”

  “I hate to say this,” Edward replied, “but it could also be another of their kind. One that may not be so friendly.”

  “You have a point,” she said. “It would be silly of me to assume they were the only ones of their kind in this world.”

  “I don’t want to wait around here and find out. Do you?”

  “Not on your life!” Katie rushed toward Edward.

  He mounted the horse and reached out for her hand. “I think it would be better if we both rode,” he said. As she grasped his hand, there was a noise from nearby that she couldn’t identify. Edward heard it also, and quickly helped her onto the horse's back behind him. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to stick around and find out what made that noise.”

  “Lead the way, Amber.” Katie wrapped her arms around Edward.

  Amber didn’t seem to need any prodding to get underway. Something about the nearby noise had spooked her, too. She quickly began weaving her way through the trees to the north. Despite the feeling she had that the man whom had killed her was somewhere south of their current position, she had the feeling that they should continue north. Something of great importance lies in that direction, she thought. Whatever it is would surely be beneficial in bringing an end to the murdering heathen.

  After setting a break-neck pace for about an hour Amber suddenly stopped. Edward nearly walked the horse right through her glowing form. “What’s wrong Amber?” Edward inquired.

  Obviously something had her rattled. She was acting the same way she had back at the tavern in Haven. She seemed very nervous and the glow radiating from her was pulsating. D
uring one of the brighter flashes, Katie noticed something shining about fifty feet ahead. It seemed to be large and near the base of a tree. She pointed to it, showing Edward where to look. Katie felt his body tense up as he saw what she was pointing at. “Wait here,” he instructed her as he shrugged out of her grip and began to dismount. Even though she wasn’t fond of staying put, she did as she was told.

  Katie realized that she could still be helpful from where she sat atop the horse. Pulling out the crossbow, she laid one of the metal bolts in the guide, and pulled the drawstring back. With the weapon loaded, she trained it in the vicinity of the shiny object ahead.

  Edward slowly walked toward the shining mass, using the inconsistent light of Amber’s glow as a guide. When he got within ten feet of the object, Edward suddenly stopped. The thing that lay on the ground before him was familiar; it was the mechanical creature that had attacked them back in Haven. He was unsure at the moment if the creature was still functional, but it was lying in a heap, which suggested that it wasn’t. He looked back nervously at Katie. It looked like she was aiming something in his direction. He hoped it was the crossbow.

  He turned around again, refocusing his attention on the metallic creature. Cautiously, he moved a little closer ... still no movement. Then he realized how stupid he was being. He could easily cast a spell that would tell him if the creature was still operational. He lifted both of his palms toward the sky and began to concentrate. Sparks, tiny at first, began to sizzle just above his palms. He turned his hands toward the heap of metal before him, unleashing a small jolt of lightning. The creature before him did not stir in the slightest.

  Feeling that the beast was no longer a threat, Edward began walking toward the heap of useless metal. He bent down to closely inspect the defunct creature. Small tendrils of smoke rose from the heads he had struck with lightning. Edward turned toward Katie and motioned for her to join him. Moments later she was standing beside him, her crossbow was trained on the smoking remains of the mechanical creature that had once caused them considerable anguish. Mike especially. Just the thought of her new friend no longer being amongst them brought fresh tears to her eyes.

  Edward saw the grief on her face and stood up to hug her. He felt the hitch in her breathing and knew that she was crying, but didn’t understand why. “What’s wrong?” Edward asked as he tried to brush away her tears.

  “Nothing. I just saw this creature and began thinking about Mike,” she said with a sniffle.

  Now he understood. In the short time they had known Mike, he had become like family to them. He hugged her even tighter and waited for her breathing to become more even. Once her sobs began to recede, he let go of her and bent down again. Edward pointed to the chest of the beast. “What do you make of this?” he asked.

  Katie bent down and looked at the area where he was pointing. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “It looks to be a model, or serial, number of some sort,” she told him.

  He looked at her quizzically. “I’m not sure what that means.”

  “Well. On Earth there are large manufacturers that use such things. Basically, they are used to keep track of inventories but are often used to identify objects. That way the correct repair parts can be found easier,” she explained, hoping she had made the process understandable to him.

  Edward considered the information Katie had provided him, and his thoughts wandered back to the conversation she had with her friend when she was using the magic paper from his pouch. “You don’t think your friend had anything to do with making this thing do you?”

  “The thought had never crossed my mind until now,” Katie said, “but now that you brought it up … I think what she is being forced to do in that awful place could be very similar. I do remember her mentioning something about putting together things like this, but a creature of this complexity would almost certainly have taken a long time to build. It is very unlikely she played any part in this particular beast’s construction.”

  He thought about the points she made carefully. “Though I have no knowledge of such things, I would imagine you are right,” Edward conceded. They stared at the ruined hulk of metal. Not long ago, it had tried to rip them to pieces. “Perhaps we should be on our way,” Edward suggested. “This creature is obviously no longer a menace to us.”

  “True,” Katie replied. “Although, I have an insane urge to smash this thing to bits and make sure that nobody gets the bright idea of trying to fix it.”

  “I don’t think we need to worry about anyone doing that. It isn’t like it is in a location that has much chance of discovery. Besides, we should really keep moving. I don’t relish the thought of whatever we heard back in the clearing catching up to us.”

  “Good point,” Katie said, rising to her feet. They both walked back to the horse in silence. As they did, Katie removed the bolt from the crossbow and released the tension on the drawstring. Edward mounted the horse and then reached down for Katie’s hand to help her up.

  Once they were ready to set out again, Edward spoke softly to Amber. “If you would … please continue to lead us on our way.” Amber looked in the direction of the heap of metal nervously for a moment and then began to move northward again. Edward nudged the horse and they followed her.

  Chapter 17

  For the last hour or so, Amber had worked her way closer to the stream that separated the woods from the mountains to the east. As they continued to weave their way through the trees, a new sound emerged. It drowned out the gentle whisper of a breeze that rustled the leaves overhead ... it was the sound of rushing water. Fifteen minutes later Amber led them to the source. They stopped for a moment to take in the beauty of the sight before them. Water cascaded down from rocks high above their heads, creating a rather large waterfall. The moonlight shimmered off the rushing water giving it a surreal, almost magical, appearance. At the bottom of the waterfall was an enormous pool of water that fed the stream they had followed for most of their journey.

  For some reason, the horse seemed nervous about approaching the rushing water. Perhaps it was the deafening roar of cascading water, but Edward found himself wondering if it wasn’t something else; something just ahead that they couldn’t see yet. He did notice that there seemed to be a strange glow emanating from behind the waterfall. Perhaps that was the reason the horse seemed to be spooked.

  Now that the others had caught up to her, Amber turned and walked into the waterfall as if it had no more substance than a curtain. Edward turned his head and spoke loudly, hoping that Katie would be able to hear him. “Looks like we are getting wet again.”

  “Okay!” she yelled and tightened her grip around him, hoping that the water wouldn’t hit her like a big fist and knock her from where she sat. Edward nudged the horse, but it wouldn’t budge. He pushed down on the horse’s neck and tried kicking a little harder. The horse refused to move.

  He turned his head again and yelled to Katie. “I am going to get down and try to lead the horse through. Once I am down, I want you to move up into the saddle and hold on tight!”

  Katie loosened her grip on him and yelled back. “Okay!”

  Edward got down from the horse’s back and waited for Katie to get into the saddle. Next he flipped the reins over the horse’s head and looked up to see if she was ready. She nodded to him that she was, and he began trying to lead the horse through the water. At first, it was acting like a stubborn mule by planting its feet in its refusal to move forward. Then, as Edward persistently kept trying, the horse reared up. The reins started to slip through his hands, but he somehow managed to hold on. Thankfully, Katie was still in the saddle. Apparently growing up on a farm was showing its usefulness once again. She motioned to Edward to try again. This time, when he began to pull on the reins, Katie leaned forward and kicked the horse with all her might. Startled, the horse bolted forward into the waterfall, nearly trampling Edward in the process. Once they were through the water, the horse seemed to calm slightly, but was still acting a little
nervous.

  However, their attention was quickly diverted from the horse, as they found themselves in yet another cave. Albeit not a very deep one, with another swirling portal hovering just above the floor near the back wall. This portal was about the size of a door, but was oval in shape, like a large floor mirror that belonged in a fancy mansion. The swirling colors of the portal pulsed with every shade of blue ranging from the deepest blue of twilight, to the light blue of the sky on a cloudless day.

  Strange noises emanated from it, which Edward could not place. They were just barely audible, as if the portal was whispering to him in a language he could not understand. He turned to Katie. “Can you make any sense out of the sounds coming from the portal?”

  Before Katie had a chance to answer him, Amber spoke up. “That is the sound of traffic, mixed with an underlying music of some sort that I’ve never heard before.”

  Edward nearly fell to the ground as he staggered backward. He had forgotten that Amber could speak here and wasn’t just a floating apparition. When she had answered his question it had caught him by surprise for a moment. Katie couldn’t help but laugh as she watched Edward pin-wheeling his arms, trying not to fall. She strolled across the cave, to where Edward teetered on the edge of balance, and put a hand on his back to steady him. As amusing as it was to watch him flail, she didn’t want him to fall and hurt himself.

  He turned to Katie and thanked her with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

  “I’m sorry for laughing at you,” she said humbly.

  Edward turned his attention back toward Amber and the swirling portal that she stood next to. He walked over to it and began listening again, then motioned for Katie to join him. As she joined Edward next to the portal, Katie immediately recognized the music. “Oh my god! I know that music!” Katie said excitedly. “That is one of Julie’s favorite bands, Mercyful Fate! I would recognize that singer’s voice anywhere! There must be a concert going on near where the portal leads.”