“He’s been asleep for a while now. Leland, would you like some tea?”
“No... no.”
Caroline could not contain herself any longer. “Leland, what is it?”
Marcus pulled something out of his bag, dropped it with a thud onto the kitchen table. “This!”
It was the charred leather notebook that belonged to Thomas’s father.
Chapter 11
Thomas padded down a long dark hallway lined with black, monolithic stones. The sound of breathing was coming from somewhere. Wait a minute. It was coming from him. The hall twisted and turned at weird angles. The walls were closing in on him. He began to run.
The sound of his feet pounded in his ears as it echoed down the nightmare hallway. If he could just run faster, maybe he could get free of the darkness. A turn in the narrowing hall, then another. What’s that?
A glimmer of light ahead. Almost there. Thomas flew around the corner and found himself bathed in the most glorious sunlight.
Relieved to be out of the eerie hallway, he stood blinking in the brightness, taking in the view. Thomas stood in a green meadow, on the most gorgeous spring day he had ever experienced. His senses were on overload.
The trees, the sky, the waterfall (wow, there was actually a waterfall!) were all in the most vibrant of hues. Thomas was basking in it all when a voice spoke behind him.
“Thomas.”
He spun in the direction of the voice.
“Thomas.”
There, in the distance, silhouetted in the sun, stood a man. Could it be? He looked so tall and strong. A suitcase sat on the ground next to the man.
Thomas took another step. It was!
“Dad!”
Thomas sprinted to his father, who enveloped him in a huge hug.
“Dad! Oh, Dad! You’re home.”
Daniel pushed Thomas back from himself, held him by the shoulders.
“Bud, I’ve still got work to do.”
“No. You have to come home.”
“I love you, Son,” Daniel said with deep sadness.
Thomas’s father stood and, picking up his suitcase, turned and moved toward growing dark clouds.
“You have to come home!”
Lightning struck. Daniel didn’t flinch but walked steadily on.
“You have to come home! Dad! You have to come home!”
To no avail, Thomas shouted over the raging storm as his father slowly marched away, and finally disappeared into the gray, swirling mist.
“Dad!”
Chapter 12
Thomas bolted upright in his bed. He was covered in sweat.
Still disoriented, he scanned his room. “Dad?” The curtains at the open window whipped in a frenzy. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Thomas hopped out of bed to close the window. And just as he grabbed the sash, lightning crashed startling him. “Mom!”
He dashed down the hall to his parents’ bedroom door but didn’t enter until he had regained a little of his composure. Then he slowly opened the door and poked his head in. “Mom?”
The room was dark and empty. Then Thomas heard muffled voices drifting up from downstairs. He followed them. It was his mother, and she sounded upset.
“Leland, what are you saying?” Thomas heard her plead.
Thomas followed the voices to the kitchen doorway and silently peered around the doorjamb. Thomas recognized the old disheveled man. He was a fellow professor from the university. Dr. Marcus paced frantically as Caroline sat at the kitchen table. The old man stopped, faced Thomas’s mother, and said, “I know where Daniel is.”
“What?”
“Well, no, not precisely where he is, but...”
“But what?
Dr. Marcus resumed his pacing, while nervously wringing his wool hat in his hands. “Well, where he left from... or made his exit. No, ah... his leap. Yes, that would be more accurate…”
“Leland, please.”
Seeing the pleading in Caroline’s eyes, Marcus stopped pacing and nodded. He sat down next to her at the kitchen table.
Caroline reached across the table and took Marcus’s hands.
Marcus calmed. “Please forgive me. When Daniel didn’t come back that night, I went to Mairead Fhada, searching for some answers. I found his notebook and papers scattered among the stone circle.”
“What?”
“I’ve been going over and over his notes. Which was difficult, because a lot of them are missing. And there was something else strange, Gavin Albright, Daniel’s doctoral student, hasn’t been seen either.”
Caroline’s mind was racing.
Marcus tried to reassure her, “I’ve got someone following up on young Albright.”
“But-but, why didn’t you tell me this before?” Caroline demanded.
“I didn’t want to add to your worry. At least not until I had some answers.”
Caroline leaned in. “Do you?”
“I found something. And I admit it sounds far-fetched. But since none of the other options is possible, the least impossible just might be the answer.”
“Well?” Caroline responded, finally losing her patience with the old professor.
“I’ve been going over Daniel’s research, what’s left of it. Everything he wrote about Mairead Fhada. It all points in the same direction. You know how Daniel had always seen Mairead Fhada as an ancient place of worship, or an observatory?”
Caroline nodded.
“His most recent notes, from a few days, before he disappeared—uh, before we last saw him—indicate a new piece of research changed his mind about what Mairead Fhada really is.”
“What is it?”
Dr. Marcus looked at her gravely. “A door.”
Unknown to his mother and Dr. Marcus, Thomas still stood just beyond the room’s door, taking in every word. He tried to make sense of it all. Mairead Fhada, a door?
Marcus continued, “According to Daniel’s notes, the door is only open a short time... then begins to close... If my calculations are correct, he doesn’t have much time to get back.”
At this revelation, Thomas’s eyes went wide, and he bolted from the house, slamming the door behind him. I have to get to my dad! It was all he could think.
“What was that?” exclaimed Dr. Marcus.
Caroline stood with rising concern. “Thomas?”
Chapter 13
Thomas pedaled his bike as fast as he could, straight toward Mairead Fhada’s ancient ruins.
Another storm was brewing. Lightning illuminated the sky, and a split-second later, a thunderclap exploded. That was close. Thomas raced on
He didn’t know what he would do when he reached the ruins. He just knew he had to get there, pulled by the love of his father. Maybe he could figure something out. He had to find his father and bring him home!
Thomas hit a muddy hole and launched from his bike. He hit the ground hard and sprawled exhausted to the ground. He yanked the bike up only to see its front rim twisted out of shape. Useless! Lightning flashed again, illuminating the monolithic stones in the distance. He was almost there. “Dad!”
Thomas dropped his ruined bike, and with all the strength he could muster, pushed himself to his feet. As the rain began to fall, he surged on toward his goal, and finally arrived in the circle of monoliths.
“Dad!” Thomas darted among the stones. He searched round and round the stones until he could search no more. The silent dark stones seem to stare at him defiantly. Finally spent, Thomas leaned his exhausted body against one of the giant pillars. He slid down and collapsed in a heap.
Thomas glared up at the stones now towering over him. They seemed to mock him.
After a beat, he got his breath and moved to get up. Placing his hand on the ground for leverage, he felt something that didn’t belong. What’s this?
He rolled to his knees and separated the tall blades of grass at the base of the stone. He reached between them and pulled out a piece of paper. It was charred and frayed, wet from the rain, but still legi
ble— His father’s diagram of Mairead Fhada.
Chapter 14
Caroline and Dr. Marcus roared across the countryside in Marcus’s old Range Rover.
“Leland, why didn’t you come sooner?”
The old man frowned in shame. “I had my suspicions… but I—I thought I might just be worrying you needlessly.”
Thomas studied the charred paper. He immediately recognized the Celtic circle sketched within the perimeter of Mairead Fhada. Glancing from the diagram to the enormous stones, Thomas suddenly understood. He knew what the hand-drawn circle was - a pattern to be followed. If Dr. Marcus said that his dad thought Mairead Fhada was a door, then this must be the combination to unlock the door!
Marcus’s Range Rover slammed into a pond-sized puddle. The old truck stalled. “Come now! Don’t fail me!” Marcus exhorted the Rover. He shut it off, then turned the key again. The engine only groaned. Yet another turn of the key, and this time the engine roared to life.
Marcus threw it into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The tires just spun in the mud hole. “Come on!”
The old professor tried again. The tires continued spinning.
“I’m truly sorry, lassie. She’s stuck fast.” Marcus turned toward Caroline. She bolted out of the passenger seat and rushed through the downpour, toward the stone circle of Mairead Fhada and her son.
Chapter 15
Thomas scrambled to his feet and dashed to the center of the ruins. Cross-referencing the diagram and the stones, he rotated the paper, so the graphic was oriented with the actual stones.
That one? Thomas sprinted to the same stone where Daniel had started his strange walk, the twelve-foot high monolith, standing outside the circle, known as Long Meg. Thomas looked around in desperation.
Lightning flashed, and thunder rolled.
Shrack! Kaboom! Lightning struck the stone nearest Thomas, knocking him to the ground. In fear, he dropped the paper and cringed as he slowly squinted up to see the lightning gripping the stone pillar with an electrical hum. He was right!
He grabbed the paper and scurried to his feet. With renewed confidence, he referenced his father’s diagram again. Now he knew what to do. He just had to follow the picture.
Thomas walked a loop to the center, then back out to the next stone. Lightning struck that stone and held. Thomas continued following the drawing’s pattern, in what he hoped were his father’s footsteps. Stone by illuminated stone, the lightning strikes pushed him on, until he reached the center of the ruins.
Out of breath, he looked up to see every stone clutched by the writhing arms of lightning.
Chapter 16
Caroline stumbled through the wind and the rain. She peered through the storm and saw Mairead Fhada, in the distance, glowing with power.
She could see the terrified Thomas standing at the center of the ruins, surrounded by the glowing, crackling monoliths.
Caroline ran on. She was almost there. She could see her son silhouetted against the white fury. “Thomas!” she called in agony. Over the tempest, Thomas heard his mother’s cry. He turned and saw her racing toward him. Across the distance, their eyes met. “Thomas!” she pleaded.
His love for his mother compelled him to stay in this world. His foot inched toward her, then froze. No. He commanded himself. I must find my father. I have to bring him back. He looked upon his mother one last time.
“Forgive me,” he whispered.
Lightning arced from each of the stones, enveloping Thomas and lifting him up. And in a white, blinding flash, he was gone.
Chapter 17
Thomas lay on his back. His pajamas emanated steam. A full moon glowed brightly in the night sky. Stones towered over him, like giant, silent sentries. His eyes twitched. He struggled to sit up, finally succeeded. His hair stood on end.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Thomas. Staggering to his feet, he could hardly walk a straight line. And whatever Mairead Fhada he had started out in, this was clearly not the same place… or perhaps not the same time?
While the standing stones looked familiar, Thomas realized there were more of them—standing, that is. Basically, the same site, but it seemed not-so-ancient somehow. Then it hit him.
There were no toppled stones here. This is what Mairead Fhada must have looked like in its original construction.
Thomas peered between the stones, and his breath fled away. The moon cast eerie shadows everywhere, and where he should have seen the distant lights of the village, he saw only a dark, unspoiled forest.
Thomas strained his eyes, searching that distance for any sign of life or light. But only a breeze rippled through those trees, making them sway in a giant rhythmic dance. A shiver ran through his body.
With growing foreboding, Thomas sensed he was not alone. He whirled around and encountered… no one. He strained his adjusting eyes harder, and mustered up enough courage to shout. But his voice came out as just a tiny squeak: “Who’s out there?”
Still nothing. But Thomas couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched by someone at the dark forest’s edge. The full moon, high and bright, pushed that forest’s shadows nearer to Thomas.
In the blue twilight, it was almost imperceptible where the actual forest stopped, and the shadows began.
And then he saw it—movement at the nearest edge of the tallest tree’s longest shadow. He first thought it might only be the wind blowing the trees harder. But then he heard a low, faint, rustling, scratching… like the wind, but somehow different.
Unable to stop himself, Thomas took a few steps toward the forest’s edge. There, the sound seemed to emanate from the longest of the shadows. What was that?
Then, unbelievably, before Thomas could even fathom it, the shadow of that tallest tree began to expand toward him, gathering speed and breadth as it skittered across the ground. Thomas’s mind reeled, unable to comprehend what he saw.
The scratching sound grew as the shadow continued to stretch and writhe toward him. Slowly, the shadow’s leading-edge separated itself from the ground, and rose to become a large, human-looking hand, but gloved in black.
Thomas stood frozen. The black-gloved hand reached for Thomas, even as Thomas watched, in horror, as the moving hand grew an arm, then a torso, then the entire ghastly figure of a heavily armed medieval warrior all in black.
Nearly six-and-a-half-feet tall, the shadow warrior towered over Thomas, and its long dark cloak rustled in the cold breeze.
Its face was hidden by a metal helm with only slits for seeing. The helm of the dark warrior turned toward Thomas, and the eyes there glowed red and hot like lava. Those burning eyes told Thomas, whatever soul this being might have had, was undoubtedly now long gone.
Thomas turned to run but was paralyzed as he saw a host of other shadow warriors morphing out of the darkness all around him. He opened his mouth to scream. But no sound came as the shadows engulfed him.
Chapter 18
A dark, horse-drawn, jailer’s wagon raced through the forest, pulled by powerful black horses whose hooves pounded the earth, and whose eyes rolled in fury as hot exhalations shot from their nostrils in steam.
Two hulking shadow warriors drove the box-like paddy wagon; one of them cracked a long whip over the horses, and they galloped faster still.
Inside the rough-walled box, Thomas sat quivering in a corner, gripped with fear. He chanced a look out the barred window.
The forest flew by; it was blanketed in a thick fog that the moonlight just barely showed through. I have to get out of here! Thomas thought in a panic. His eyes fell on the rustic metal latch on the coach’s door.
He grabbed and twisted at it as hard as he could, but to no avail. It was stuck fast, probably locked from the outside.
So Thomas grabbed the window bars and pulled with all his might, then pushed. Strain and desperation made sweat spring from his forehead and roll into his eyes. But the bars stayed immovable.
He pressed his face to the bars, straining to see anything outsid
e that might help him. He could just make out the moon above the dark horizon. For a moment, there was a break in the forest, and the wheels clattered over a wooden bridge. Thomas could hear a rushing river below them. “Help!” he cried. “Someone, please help me!”
Suddenly the moon was eclipsed for a split second, as something huge passed over the wagon with a rush of wind. The horses squealed in terror, and the carriage lurched to an abrupt stop. Thomas was thrown to the iron-covered floor.
A clamor arose from outside. Some huge beast growled, and clashes of steel rang through the air. Thomas peered out the window again, but the fog obscured everything.
As the sword clashes continued, Thomas abruptly tried the door handle again. This time it turned, with a slow screech of rusted metal. As quietly as possible, he slowly opened the door, crept out onto a little step, then eased himself to the ground.
He stood a moment, shivering and vulnerable, as the sounds of an unseeable battle surrounded him. He strained to see through the fog, but could only make out vague, fast-moving shapes. This is my chance, he thought. I am out of here!
He broke into a wild sprint. In the thick fog, a big shadow suddenly blocked his way. Thomas darted in another direction and sought refuge behind a large tree that he had nearly run into. He spun with his back to the tree, his eyes darting to and fro. Trying to hold his breath, he listened intently, orienting himself to where the mist-shrouded battle was taking place.
There were more growls, clangs of iron, cries of pain… then silence. In the silence, Thomas stood petrified, unsure of what to do or which way to go. He finally decided: I’m heading away from this craziness, as far into the forest as I can go.
OTHERLANDER: A Long Way From Home Page 3