by S. L. Browne
“So, well, erm, where should I start?” muttered Marlo to himself, rather than to the boy at his side, who had gone rather pale in spite of his tan. “I suppose the beginning is the best place. Right, well, I’ll start at the beginning.
“We are Deruweld. And we can travel between worlds, thanks to the Jewelled Book of the Universe and the Cross Stones and some vortices that occur from time to time in different places, like the one we used just now. I thought it was about time I brought you back home to our world. A much better one than we just left, I have to say. Do you notice something?”
Magnus looked around. The landscape looked familiar, but there was no large town where a town should be, and no busy motorway either; and it was silent, apart from the sound of birdsong and the warm breeze.
Even the air smelled fresher and there were thousands of butterflies and bees darting in and out of the tall flowers and grasses along the dusty track: the only sign that feet had travelled there at all.
“I think it looks like where we’ve just been, but a bit different,” said Magnus, eventually.
“Yes, yes, you are right. It’s the same Earth, but in a parallel universe, and this is one of a very large number and it’s one of the best.”
“Have you visited many?” Magnus asked curiously.
“Yes, about fifty thousand so far. This one and the last one were two we liked the most, but the last one has pretty much had it. We tried to help it, but it began to sow the seeds of its destruction many years ago. We warned them of what would happen, but would they listen? No. So I think we will just have to let that one go, I’m afraid.”
Magnus looked at Marlo. “What about my grandparents?”
“Well, they will keep going, of course. They will leave when the time is right. Don’t worry, Magnus. They will try to help the innocent ones who have done nothing wrong and maybe they still have a slight chance to reverse the damage. However, they are now at the mercy of the Manges, and they are well established and hell-bent on destroying everything good and lovely on that planet.”
“The Manges?”
“Yes, they are like us, but not like us, if you understand.”
“What are we?”
“We are a form of human, but we are not fully human. For instance, you hatched out of an egg.”
“What!”
“Yes, it was a lovely, shiny yellow one. We have kept it in the Egg Museum with all the other important eggshells from the other important Deruweld who have hatched over the millennia. There aren’t many. There’s mine which is a soft orange colour, and some other notables who I’ve forgotten now, and your yellow one and, well, that’s it.”
“I’m important?” Magnus cried out, incredulously. “I am an ordinary boy and I have led a very uninteresting life so far, so how can I be important?”
“Learning languages, maths and science is very important!” snapped Marlo, and he sniffed. “Well, your life is about to become more interesting, so hold that thought.”
He walked stiffly and Magnus could tell he had hurt the old man’s feelings. Magnus was quite a sensitive boy and he was fond of Marlo, so he squeezed his tutor’s hand and whispered an apology.
“Right, where was I?” went on Marlo, as if nothing had happened. Magnus noticed that the Troodon was following him and he kept an eye on it. Troodons were carnivorous and one of the cleverest dinosaurs, or so the paleontologists claimed.
“The Manges are almost human too, but they are very different from us Deruweld. They are rather fond of the good life and they just go from one Earth to another, opening shops and large banks and mines and factories, and teach the humans bad ways and they make lots of money and live on small islands; and when they have destroyed the planet and used all its resources, they move on. They need humans to work and make things for them to sell, so they have never bothered with this one. Humans haven’t evolved here yet, thank goodness, so they stay away and leave us alone. The leader of the Manges is a particularly nasty character called Murdamond. He has twenty-seven large houses dotted all over the world, a large boat that never docks, and he owns most of the factories, banks and television stations on the other Earth. He owns countries too, because he’s good at making things that humans like and he takes their money and eventually he owns them and their governments. It’s a long, sad story. It’s happened on many other Earths, but I had hoped we’d save that one. But then they started polluting everything, and the bees started to die and we knew that time was running out, so we had to get you back here; we all decided your grandparents could try for another hundred years or so and then take the travel tube if things began to go even more pear-shaped.”
He stopped suddenly and pointed at a small rodent-like creature with a long tail and a face like a meerkat. “Do you see that?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Well, if there had been an exploding comet here like the one on the other Earth that killed off the dinosaurs, that creature there would have evolved into a human. As it is, it’s just stayed like that and, after the disaster humans have made of the many Earths I have visited, that’s a blessing as far as we’re concerned. They always listen to the Manges, and stop listening to us, well, me mainly,” Marlo grumbled. “We Deruweld believe everything should be free. We don’t use money and we live simply and we barter and only use what we need. We don’t dig out the earth or build smelly factories and cars, but simply use what we find scattered on the surface, and we walk everywhere. There’s a lot to be found if you look hard enough when you are walking. The Earth is more than generous.”
Suddenly the strange pre-human rodent stood on its hind legs and made a noise like a squirrel. Magnus chuckled and thought it looked quite sweet. That was right before the Troodon pounced on it and ate it, head first, right in front of his eyes.
“Oh,” said Magnus, not quite believing what had just happened. He swallowed and carried on walking. Marlo continued with his tale.
“The moment you hatched, we all knew you were special and destined to take over from me when my last heart stops.”
“Last heart?”
“Yes, we Deruweld have many hearts. When one heart grows old and tired it just stops and another one takes over. I have been alive for one million earth years, and I think I’m on my last one, but I really haven’t the faintest idea. I’m just guessing. I could have hundreds yet.
“So, anyway, your mother and father…”
“I have a mother and a father?” Magnus suddenly felt very dizzy. His head swam and he had to grab Marlo to steady himself.
“Oh yes, they live in that village there,” continued Marlo airily, as if just finding out you had a mother and a father at aged eight and three days was an everyday occurrence. “The village of Caredigrwydd. All being well, they will be working in the garden and they will be very excited to see you.”
“They just let you take me away from them?” Magnus was shocked and a little upset.
“Oh yes, it’s what we do and have done for thousands of years. The promising Deruweld are taken for instruction and the ordinary Deruweld carry on with their lives living simply, protecting our Earth and its animals and plants. However, I had this other Earth to try and save and I kept popping back to see how they were doing; but after Arthur died, things started to go wrong. They just stopped listening and said I was mad, and then their little markets became big shops, the people started to ruin the Earth by digging out its insides, and then Murdamond set up the first bank in a small village in Italy, and after that, things went from bad to worse.”
“Have the Manges ruined all the other Earths that have humans on them?” Magnus asked, wondering if Marlo was referring to the Arthur he’d heard about; but that couldn’t be possible, could it?
“No, not all, there are many that have perished from other factors. Some of them from super-volcanoes and various other natural disasters, and some from diseases that th
e humans couldn’t cure. Some Earths have no life at all and they are pretty grim, and some have poisoned air, and I know of at least two hundred that have evolved with no land at all, just sea.”
“How strange,” said Magnus, “I would like to see them.”
“Well, I wouldn’t waste your time with those,” said Marlo. “We High Deruweld need to look after the Earths worth saving and that means we need to use all our intelligence and cleverness. Even with all that, it’s mighty difficult. Money and treasures and material things are just too difficult for the humans to resist.
“Every now and again we get a good one, like Francesco, the one from Assisi; and Jacques Cousteau; and David Attenborough of the other Earth, but mainly they are just thoughtless and greedy. They don’t start like that. The little humans are usually sensible, but it all changes when they grow up. Not always. There are some good ones.”
They were approaching the village. Magnus could see that it was not like the villages on the other Earth. These houses were small and painted white and they had straw roofs and small windows. Outside each house was a tidy vegetable garden. Magnus could see some strange plants growing with wonderful flowers like nothing he had ever seen before on the other Earth.
“We grow them for the bees.” Marlo spotted that he was looking at them curiously. “Without the bees we are nothing. It’s very quiet, isn’t it?” he added, looking around. “I wonder where everyone is. And what is that strange sound I can hear?” They walked through the silent streets towards the noise and then came into a busy market square, filled with people laughing and chatting. There were brightly-coloured stalls filled with lots of curious objects, clothes, bags, shoes, crystals, small wooden toys and jewellery. Magnus caught sight of something small and silver being put into a leather pouch.
“But I thought you said Deruweld don’t use mon…” He stopped when he saw the expression on Marlo’s face.
Marlo stood perfectly still. His face had become dark, and his grey eyebrows were lowered over his piercing green eyes. Magnus felt a wave of energy flow through his body and it chilled him to the bone; he saw it move through the village, rippling the awnings of the market stalls and across the land, bending trees in its path. The people stopped chatting and laughing and gaped at Marlo; the birds stopped singing and the Troodon that had been following them ran away silently into the back streets.
“What in the name…!” Marlo exclaimed eventually. Magnus followed his gaze to see what had upset him so much and there, to his astonishment, he saw a tall grey building that was nothing like the others in the village. It had a shiny sign above the door and there were two words written in three languages. One of them Magnus knew straight away. It was the word Bank.
Chapter 4
“What is going on here?” roared Marlo. “I go away for seven years and I come back and you have built a bank!”
The people in the town stood very still and everyone looked sheepishly at each other, but no one said a word. Magnus stood beside his tutor and tried to take in the enormity of the situation. Marlo strode up the steps of the bank and went inside, only to emerge five minutes later, ushering the people who worked there outside. He stood at the top of the steps and looked at the crowd below.
“Tell me what happened. Now!” Marlo ordered.
There was silence for a long time and then some people shuffled nervously, holding their bags and purchases tightly, their eyes wide with fear.
“It was Janna’s fault really,” came a voice eventually.
“No it wasn’t!” came a high-pitched female voice. “How dare you!”
“Well, you wanted the jewellery and that handbag.”
“It was a very nice handbag,” came the female voice again.
Marlo stared at this exchange without a word, but Magnus knew that his old tutor was close to boiling point.
“Someone, anyone, please tell me what happened,” Marlo begged. Magnus saw tears in the old man’s eyes. He looked around the market place and eventually a young girl came over. She had long, dark hair and large blue eyes and she walked lightly up the steps and stood bravely in front of Marlo.
My name is Sylvana,” she said, “and you must be Marlo, our Chief, and most respected High Deruweld. Welcome home,” she said and bowed.
Marlo waved his hand impatiently.
“Thank you, Sylvana. Please now, tell all.”
“It happened exactly seven years ago. A stranger came with a cart filled with the finest leather handbags and jewellery we had ever seen. He refused to trade, saying that for such fine articles he would only accept gold or silver. We had neither of these things, well, not enough anyway, so we were about to leave when he said that he would accept a small piece of land to the north of here in exchange for the wares on his cart.
“After some discussion we agreed and we gave him the land. He gave us the handbags and jewellery and he left the next day. Imagine our surprise when he returned a few days later with more of the same kind of things, but these were even more fine and tempting. He said if we wanted these we had to work in the mine…”
“Mine!” roared Marlo.
“Yes.” The girl faltered when she saw how angry Marlo had become, but she steadied herself and continued. “The man said he had found gold in the ground in the land we had given him and if we helped him mine it, we could be paid with money and we could buy the things he made in the market.”
Marlo slapped his hand to his face. “You fell for it. You fell for his oldest and most successful trick.”
“Whose?” asked Sylvana.
“Murdamond,” replied Marlo.
“No!” cried the crowd, aghast. “It’s not him. It’s just a stranger.”
“It’s him all right,” muttered Marlo. “What next?”
“Well, we had to look after the vegetables in our gardens so we said no.”
“Good,” said Marlo. Then he looked around the market. “Where are all the chicks? It’s very quiet. What have you done with the children?”
The crowd looked very guilty at this point.
“They were idle,” cried someone. Magnus couldn’t see his face among the crowd that had gathered around him.
“They were stealing my apples,” cried another.
“They were catching little dinosaurs and putting them in our beds,” cried an old woman near to Magnus, whom he noted had a rather nice handbag.
There was silence for a minute. Then Marlo began to wail. It was a haunting sound and Magnus wished he’d stop.
“You sent the children down the mine, didn’t you?” he cried.
“Not just the mine, he needed people for the factory too.”
“You put the children in the mine and the factory!” Marlo had to hold on to the fence to stop himself from falling over. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Don’t worry,” said someone in the front row. “They are fine. It is keeping them busy.”
“How did you fall for this so easily?” Marlo asked. “You have no idea what you have done.”
“We were bored,” came one response at the front of the crowd. “We wanted some lovely things. The market is exciting. Our houses are filled with beautiful, colourful, charming things and we are happier now.”
“You wait till that factory clogs up your air with smoke and your bees and butterflies die and you start to find it hard to breathe,” said Magnus. He was worried now. As much as he liked humans, this Earth had dinosaurs and he didn’t want them dying out or choking on fumes.
“And who might you be?” asked a tall man in a very fine tunic, who strolled up to him.
“I am Magnus.”
“Ah, the Great One, or so they say,” said a hushed voice in the crowd.
“What smoke? What do you mean ‘hard to breathe’? ” asked a woman nearby.
“On the Earth… erm, the planet that we have just l
eft, in some countries the people have to wear masks because their air has been filled with poisonous gas from the factories. Their seas are filled with a sticky black substance called oil and they may have lovely things, but their world is dying,” he said calmly, and the people around him began to chatter worriedly among themselves.
“Factories are very dangerous places too,” he added. “And mines are extremely dangerous. I can’t believe you let the children go down there. They should be in school.”
“School? What is this school?” the woman asked.
“A place where children learn to read and write and discover facts and information,” replied Magnus. He looked at Marlo, who was listening intently, his face red with anger.
“The bank building would be a good place for a school,” Magnus went on. “I’d close the factory if I were you, and the mine, until we can find a safe way to extract the gold and a way to make the jewellery that doesn’t involve smoke.”
“We will not close the mine,” came a cry from the crowd.
“I like my new earrings,” shouted the woman with the lovely handbag, indignantly.
Suddenly there was a loud noise, like a hooter or an alarm, and some children ran into the market place. They were crying and extremely upset. “The roof has collapsed in the mine and Finlo is under it,” one of them cried. There was a scream and a shout and some people hurried from the market place, following the children as they ran back to the mine.
“I think you are right, Magnus,” said the man in the expensive tunic. “If what you say is true we must do as you suggest. I wish Marlo had told us about the bad air, the danger and the oily water. We might have thought twice if we’d known that. He just flies into one of his rages and tells us off as if we are children.”
“They are just facts,” said Magnus, with a smile. “I like facts.” He wondered why Marlo hadn’t told the people the facts. He looked up and saw Marlo walking towards him, and he wasn’t smiling.