Xinder Rises

by JJ Hawken

  Suddenly, a hand flapped out of the water, and momentarily gripped the end of the branch. Then it fell away, caught in the torrent.

  She shrieked and fished into the water, but she felt nothing but twigs, leaves, and debris flashing beneath her.

  Anika thumped the branch, tears streaming from her eyes. How much more could she take?

  Not much, she realised, now that she was on her own.

  Danny

  Danny flew into the air and landed in the middle of the torrent, his body shipped away by the water. He swam with all his might. When he surfaced, a huge branch straddling the track lay directly in front of him.

  His lungs burned.

  He reached up, but however hard he tried he couldn’t get a hand-hold on the bark. After several attempts, he felt his nails starting to detach.

  Before long, Danny let go.

  The water took him. He needed to keep his head up, but every time he did the rain battered it down. While he searched for buoyancy – a branch or a tree he could grab hold of that might keep him afloat – he thrashed out like a madman, kicking the water beneath him in a last, massive effort to survive.

  Something caught around his left leg, rendering him helpless. A root? He succumbed, shattered and beaten. He smiled as he let himself go, Xinder’s words coming to him as he floated away: If it wasn’t the thunderbolts and it wasn’t the rain, it was the landslides.

  But, to his surprise, he remained bound by the snare around his leg and found the water pushing him towards the bank. He made a grab for a protruding root, twisting his body round while keeping his head up.

  He sucked in a mouthful of air and gave his foot a yank. It did not yield.

  He tried again, this time while holding the root on the bank with his other hand. It moved! He did it again, and then again. Now there was enough slack to allow him to bend forward and feel his ankle. He pulled his left leg towards him and touched something coarse and thick. Danny’s mind worked overtime. Then it struck him. The swinging rope!

  He pulled harder and the rope came away a little more. Now there was enough slack for him to try and untie the knot.

  It wasn’t the trickiest knot he’d ever come across, but the rope was thick and the water pulled him away from his task. The rain beat down, and every time he thought he had untied the knot, the slack tightened and he was back to where he started. He gave the rope an even bigger tug. The whole branch jerked. This time, the rope slipped off his foot and, while holding on to the end, he tied the rope around his waist.

  He heard a scream. Even above the roar of the rain and the torrent, it couldn’t be mistaken.

  It was Anika, screaming.

  ‘INCOMING!’

  She’s still on the branch!

  Danny pulled with all his might and felt the wood slip. He tugged harder, nudging the branch towards him. He gritted his teeth and jogged it, pulling harder, in rhythm.

  Suddenly, the branch twisted off the bank and slid just enough to give him encouragement.

  There couldn’t be much more time. One huge yank was all it needed.

  He harnessed the rope around his shoulders and hollered.

  The branch broke free and sped forward, just as a thunderbolt crashed into the bank almost exactly where the bough had sat.

  Danny wondered if Anika had managed to get out of the way. But, he had no time to think, for now the branch began slipping down the slope, joining the torrent, which was washing everything down the lane.

  Danny felt the rope go tense and found himself dragged behind it. Trying to keep himself above the water but gaining speed, he hung on for dear life as the branch hurtled into the main body of the river. As the river levelled out, he pulled himself along the rope, closer to the tree-trunk, and gritted his teeth as he pulled himself up and onto the end of the branch.

  He dropped his left leg out, using it as a rudder, and the great branch pitched towards what he hoped was the bank on the left-hand side.

  Exhausted, Danny collapsed, his head face down on the wood, with water sluicing over him.

  Hearing a noise, Danny lifted his head. Was someone sitting near him on the branch?

  ‘Anika – Ani’ he groaned.

  ‘Come with me, Danny Delaux,’ the voice said. ‘Only I can save you now.’

  ‘Save me,’ Danny repeated.

  ‘Say yes, and it will be done.’

  Danny’s eyelids closed. ’Xinder?’

  ‘Danny, just say the word.’

  What did he have to lose, why didn’t he just agree?

  ‘You can do the easy thing, boy. Your life is not over by any means.’

  Danny’s brain swam but all he could think of was his sisters.

  Nothing else.

  Just Olivia and Anika.

  The branch jolted.

  Right then, he knew there was no other way. Danny had to move Anika to safety and then find Olivia. Better to die together trying to save the world, than not trying at all.

  ‘I’d rather die with my sisters than join with you,’ he called out, weakly.

  The voice laughed back, ‘I will return, Danny, one more time. You may need me yet. Your dear sister is so very close to her death and, when that happens, you will all have failed.’

  15

  Sap, Thursday

  Sap hadn’t taken his eyes off the panels. It was impossible. How could children so young survive the tumult out there? They’re only little, he kept thinking, the tears forming again in his eyes. In a second the panel changed. A huge flash burst onto the screen.

  Sap fell back. Lightning? Sweet apples! His skin prickled.

  Anika lay on the tree branch as it crashed into the bank, but where was Danny? Now Anika hung on for dear life – Danny must have been swept away. What was she doing? Screaming?

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. Another flash struck directly at Anika. Sap shrieked and felt for his heart. He could hardly bear it. He watched as the entire branch of the tree hurtled down the makeshift drain towards the swollen river.

  Danny dragged behind, under the water. Sap yelped and clasped his head in his hands. How did the boy have the strength? Anika lay there, just as she had before. She hadn’t moved. The screen flickered, as though faulty.

  Sap leaned forward, and gave it a tap in the hope that that might restore it, but it flickered again. Lines cut through the clear picture as if there was poor reception.

  All of a sudden, he figured what this meant.

  The colour drained from his face.

  ‘NO, NO, NO!’ he yelled out. ‘Don’t give up, Anika. Whatever you do, littlun, DO NOT EVER GIVE UP!’

  Olivia

  For every step Olivia took forward, she seemed to slide back two more. When she was out in the open, she found herself pushing blindly through sheets of water with no idea where she was heading.

  She extended her hands out in front of her and felt a gentle pull, first one way and then the other. With each step, her feet touched on harder ground. Sometimes, her hands swung her around at right angles, and every so often she had to backtrack. She trusted in it, though, for it was the only hope she had.

  The one thing that terrified her was the thunderbolts.

  Anika seemed to be able to hear the thunderbolts forming. Every time Anika screamed, they’d run away and a thunderbolt crashed into the spot where, only moments ago, they had been. Now there was no Anika, and Olivia sensed that it was only a matter of time before another thunderbolt would come. She had a deathly feeling in her gut that it would come directly at her out of the blue.

  She moved forward, all the while waiting for the crack or the blast. As fast as she went, the trickle of water around her ankles kept swelling. For every surge she made forward out of the water, in no time the level had caught up with her, sometimes to as high as her knees.

  A stomach-wrenching fear filled her.

  Olivia redoubled her efforts, crawling and scampering over fallen branches and brambles until she bumped into the base of a tree t
hat would offer her decent protection from the rain.

  Olivia leaned back and, instinctively, pushed her hands into the air above her head. She forced her palms outwards, her fingers touching.

  She channelled every thought, every single ounce of energy she had into protecting herself. She didn’t know why, but her hands and her spirit were her last hope.

  She closed her eyes and waited.

  Just as Olivia thought of putting them down, a thunderbolt sliced out of the sky. A fraction after she heard the distinct crack, Olivia slammed herself towards the space in front of her with everything she had.

  An intense burst of heat thumped into her hands, her flesh instantly burning, her body pushed into the ground.

  She gritted her teeth and pressed against it harder and harder. The stink of burning skin invaded her, as if rods of molten iron were being welded in the place of her fingers.

  As suddenly as it had arrived, it was over.

  Olivia slumped to the ground, her hands smoking and her eyes closed, a look of peace fixed on her face.

  Ryan

  Ryan tried to row with the flow of the water but the current was too strong and, besides, he had no idea where he was going. When he stole a look from under the canopy, he was met by a wall of water sluicing from the sky.

  He pulled in the oars, inspected the canopy, and drove a couple of nails into the areas where he sniffed a weakness.

  Then he returned to the bench to help Sas bail out water. With the amount coming in, it needed both of them to work flat out.

  As ‘The Joan of’ pitched through the waters, and as the storm smashed down upon their tiny vessel, Sas thought of Olivia, Danny and Anika.

  They wouldn’t stand a chance out there in this weather, and every time she imagined them trying to soldier on or getting swept away, her spirits sank. Her previous thoughts of rescuing them could never happen.

  Every so often, ‘The Joan of’ would bash into something hard and solid, like a wall or a car, and they would be thrown forward. It was at these moments that both of them knew the strength of the boat would be tested.

  All it took was a crack or a small hole, and that would be the end of it.

  At other times, ‘The Joan of’ ground against something, or span around as it diverted off an object, the water pitching the boat one way and then the other.

  Several times, Ryan levered the boat away with an oar, lurching back into the swell.

  Sas kept her head down, sobbing as he went outside. On returning, Ryan would hold her, and stare reassuringly into eyes which betrayed nothing less than abject terror.

  His eyes, she noticed, were wide. Not so much in fear, she thought, but with excitement. To her, Ryan was having the time of his life.

  She heard him singing a hearty sea shanty as he tossed the water out with his bucket, his singing grew louder and louder with each movement until it was in direct competition with the rain.

  Sas didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or hit him.

  For a while, at least, the singing stopped her wallowing about the disaster and about her friends.

  Xinder

  Xinder wondered how his relationship with Fitzpatrick would work in their combined state. Right now, the boy was slowing him down and there was still so much to do.

  Would the boy continue to do as he commanded?

  Xinder threw his arms up in the air and clapped his hands as a shower of ash fell over his head.

  All of a sudden, a feeling of heaviness overcame him.

  Sleep again? Really!

  Xinder clenched his fist and found that when his concentration focused on that movement alone, the fingers came together whether the boy liked it or not.

  Xinder pressed one foot down, followed by the other. He felt a modicum of resistance, like a badly-fitting drawer that needed to be forced shut.

  He willed his leg to move, but the movement felt sluggish and sleepy. Instead, he pulled his leg back and thrust it forward in a loose kicking motion, ash spraying everywhere.

  He flailed his arms about, moving them faster and faster until the boy trapped inside him did exactly as he wished.

  ‘We’ve places to go, my little friend, and there’s not a moment to lose.’ Xinder said out loud. He couldn’t tell if the boy inside him could hear, though the odd cries he heard told him that the boy wasn’t entirely deaf.

  ‘Do my bidding, little friend of Danny Delaux,’ he said, ‘and everything will work out just fine. We may even get to like one another. Until then, I am going to make you do as I do.’

  But as hard as Xinder pushed and cajoled, the boy inside him soon slowed to a standstill.

  Where was this child’s energy? Wasn’t that the point? Or was the boy being deliberately difficult?

  A few minutes of rest should do the trick, and then he’d be off.

  Perhaps he needed food and water. He’d try Schmerger and see what the elf might come up with. Anything to get the damn boy moving properly.

  ‘In due course, there will be sustenance for you,’ he spoke out. ‘But for now, boy, I need your energy. Resist, and I will hurt you.’

  If the boy was going to be a nuisance, then two could play at that game.

  Olivia

  Splashing water woke her up. Olivia opened her eyes, aware that her body was shivering like it did after a swim in the cold North Sea.

  The thunderbolt! She’d survived! How long had she been out? Five minutes, or half an hour.

  She sat up and inspected her hands. Even in the dim light, she could see that large, black, circular burn marks radiated on her palms. Her body tingled, the electrical charge still fizzing through her like gas in a soda.

  How? She thought. How had she done it? It didn’t make any sense. By rights, she should be frazzled.

  She checked her limbs one by one. They worked, even if her body ached like crazy, and her head sizzled as if someone had opened up her skull and given her brain a scrub with wire wool.

  ‘Keep going,’ she thought she heard from somewhere. ‘Move! Now!’

  She looked around.

  She heard it again, as if someone was with her, egging her on, boosting her and begging her not to give in.

  She forced herself forward and, instantly, fell flat on her face.

  Again, she heard the voice, encouraging her on.

  She crawled, finding a steady rhythm with her knees, elbows, and hands. Soon she was above the waterline, and she kept on going until she doffed her head on a large, sheer rock.

  ‘BLOODY HELL!’ she cried, as she rubbed her forehead, conscious that the rain had now ceased pummelling her.

  She must have arrived under a rock shelf, she thought, and, for the first time in ages she felt a thimbleful of comfort.

  She sat back, stretched her legs, and cradled her head in her hands. Damn, she was hungry. But where would the next meal come from?

  That’s if she remained alive long enough to eat again.

  Olivia pulled herself together and tried to find her bearings.

  She inspected a split rock. She wondered if she could narrow down where she was by working out where this type might typically be found on the river bank.

  Moments later, there was a terrible explosion of noise, as though two trains were crunching and scraping into one another right above her.

  The sound grew closer and closer, until it was right next to her, all around her, and above her.

  For a ghastly moment, the noise went right through her.

  She curled into a ball, shut her eyes, and covered her head.

  Out of the sky, a deadly cascade washed past, careering onto the area from which she had crawled.

  Olivia shook uncontrollably. Even above the noise of the water, the cracking, crushing, and splintering sounds told her that everything in its path had been obliterated.

  For several seconds, the cascade rattled on until the landslip had done its bidding and the cacophony ceased. Olivia’s heart thumped wildly. She wouldn’t have stood a chance.
>
  At length, she ventured out into the rain. Only a couple of metres forward and through the veil of water, she encountered a vast pile of boulders, rocks, mud, and splintered wood, that rose up like a slag heap in front of her.

  She slunk back to her sheltered position as a terrible thought began to wash over her.

  If she’d found refuge underneath a cliff face, the likelihood was that it was either a landslip off the top of a hill, or - and she thought this to be more likely - a section of the cliff face had simply collapsed. That would explain the boulders.

  In her mind, she pictured the geography of the area and, especially, the position of the cliff face. She knew that in front of her probable position was a ledge. Above this, a sheer wall of rock rose up vertically for seventy metres or thereabouts.

  Then, like a thought one doesn’t want to think about but cannot avoid, she had a terrible realisation that if Danny and Anika had come after her, they would not be alive right now.

  The other thing she realised, much to her shock, was that she was completely and utterly trapped.

  Sap

  Seeing Olivia’s monitor struck by lightning followed by Anika’s monitor crackle spurred the old man into immediate action. What should he take with him?

  He turned on the torch and shot off towards the shed. His heart and mind racing, he grabbed a section of rope, a small axe and his hard helmet with a built-in torch on the front. He dashed into his cold room where he stored his huge variety of apples. He selected eight rather small ones from the special box he kept near the door.

  In the cloakroom, he found his long, waterproof coat and his walking boots, which he slipped on as fast as he could.

  He returned to the bedroom and stared at the screens.

  Danny was cradling Anika, he could see that. Tears streamed down his face.