by JJ Hawken
‘Oh, you poor things,’ Sap cried. ‘Keep her warm. Speak to her, little Danny. Don’t let her drift off.’
At least they had found somewhere to disembark. It was by a huge pile of rocks, which didn’t feel in any way familiar.
Now, where was Olivia?
He furrowed his brow. Blimey, she’s in a funny place. Bang next to a rock face and surrounded by a heap of boulders. She’s shivering. No wonder. How did she get there? He zoomed out and pressed the cloud button, which cleared away the rain.
‘Apples alive!’ he exclaimed, bashing his head with his hands. ‘They’re on opposite sides of the same pile of rocks, and they don’t even know it!’
He zoomed out further on Olivia’s monitor. ‘I know where it is!’ he exclaimed, his eyes almost bulging out of his head in excitement. He checked his watch. It was ten minutes before four o’clock or thereabouts. Just over an hour before nightfall. He’d have to hurry.
He darted out of his room, bursting with an energy and purpose he hadn’t felt in years, when an idea shot into his head. He turned on his helmet light, and skipped down the cellar stairs.
Now, which door was it? He headed along a musty brick corridor that smelled of old wet rags. He stopped outside a low, thick wooden door laced with metal studs right at the end. Cut into it were the markings "II". Roman numerals for cellar number two.
Now, he thought, how did the door open? There wasn’t a key, he was sure of that. It was something smarter; keys could be lost or discovered by nosey children or unwanted guests.
He strained his brain trying to work out what it might be. ‘Oh, come on!’ he cried out. ‘Why does my brain always go blank at times like this?’
He thumped his fist on the wall. One of the bricks shifted. His eyes darted up and he groped about, pushing the bricks to see if anything would happen.
Nothing.
He screwed his eyes up. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been down here. From the corner of his eye he spotted a piece of stone protruding from the wall. Maybe that was it. He pushed it.
Again, nothing.
He left his hand there as his head tilted forward, and he tapped the wall with his forehead in frustration. The stone moved! He doffed it further and heard a neat ‘click’.
‘Ah-ha!’
He twisted the metal ring on the door and the latch clicked open. He was in.
Inside, a smell of moss and dust and linseed oil surprised his senses and, as he brushed past the cobwebs that drooped from the ceiling, he shone his helmet torch to see what he could find.
He smiled. Neatly stacked on slate shelves running around the walls were hundreds of small bottles obscured by layers of dust.
Starting at one end, he picked each bottle up and blew the dust off to reveal the writing which was neatly etched into the glass. Names like Spindle Sap, Ogre Blood, Wood Ox, Willow Potion, and Oak Spit. He hurried on, hoping like mad that when he saw it, he’d know.
A flood of memories rushed in, almost overwhelming him.
These were his bottles. HIS potions! From a time ... well, from a lost time, a time he’d forgotten.
He continued along the row, reading out the names as he went until he spied three bottles with the words ‘Resplendix Mix’ in bold writing scratched on each.
He pulled one off the shelf and brushed it down. In the torchlight, the colour was like liquid gold, and, as it moved, little diamonds of light danced within it.
Resplendix Mix. This brilliant stuff would help them, he was sure of it.
He shoved a bottle into his pocket and tore out of the room.
Closing the back door, he was instantly set upon by the water, the weight on his hard hat pushing his head into his body.
What was the best way to the bottom of the cliff? he wondered.
The lane was acting like a drain, so the road was impassable.
Maybe he could lower a rope from the ruin and let himself down? He fingered the coils strapped around his torso. But he knew the rope wasn’t long enough, and what if he was swept off the top!
No, he would have to go across country, through the woods and then somehow up, along and onto the ledge.
He’d need a lot of luck and he needed to hurry.
Xinder
What a wonder, Xinder thought, rubbing his new eyes. Sleep. How invigorating! But now I have a strange feeling of emptiness inside me.
‘Food!’ he yelled out. ‘Schmerger, I think I require food. WHERE IS MY FOOD?’
Lying down, Xinder saw the black pointy beard of his servant stopping at a respectable distance. The little creature bowed. ‘Your Lordship?’ the bent figure of Schmerger said. ‘With respect, Sire, you haven’t eaten for a thousand years. Are you yourself today?’
Xinder rose and marched up to the servant. ‘I require food, immediately. A feast.’
The servant recoiled. ‘You have become ... ASH, Sire.’
‘Marvellous, isn’t it. I have a human child within me and it requires feeding. Understand?’
‘But there is no kitchen,’ he replied.
‘NO KITCHEN?!’ Xinder roared. ‘What kind of palace is this?’
Schmerger shook his head. ‘May I be bold, Sire, and say that ever since I was assigned to your Lordship, there has never been a kitchen. Your Lordship banned them.’
Xinder thrust out his arm, picked the man up by the throat and threw him at a table which splintered over the floor. ‘Is that so?’
The servant rubbed his neck.
Xinder walked over and pulled the little man up. ‘How and where do you eat, Schmerger? Show me.’
The servant bowed and led the ghost down the wide main staircase, down a corridor and through several doors, before entering a small room.
Xinder followed, delighted that for once he could actually see the outline of rooms and his grand bed. Even his dim profile in the mirror was now visible. It was a shame he couldn’t see with any detail, but it was a great deal better than nothing at all.
Schmerger picked up a wicker basket. ‘From Mrs Schmerger, Sire.’
‘Tell me,’ Xinder quizzed, ‘what is in it?’
‘It was my lunch, Sire,’ he said. ‘There is little remaining.’
‘Give it to me!’ Xinder said, thrusting his hand into the basket. He pulled out something black and stodgy and, without hesitation, stuffed it in his mouth. For the first time in ages he chewed. Aside from a tingle in his mouth, it tasted like soot. But he hoped the boy inside found it favourable.
Schmerger backed out of the room, trembling, leaving the food for Xinder.
Xinder pulled out another piece and popped it in his mouth. This time, it crunched and splintered. Xinder spat it out. ‘Schmerger,’ he yelled, ‘what is it?’
‘It is the leg of a bird,’ the servant said from outside the door. ‘One does not ordinarily eat the bones.’
Xinder crashed a fist down on the table. ‘I need more food. What is there to drink?’
‘Nothing but water, Sire,’ Schmerger said, bowing. ‘Your Majesty has never had a requirement for any.’
‘Well, I do now. Bring me some this instant. We have a great thirst.’ Xinder marched out of the room a trail of dust behind him. ‘Let me see this palace of mine.’
Xinder knelt down and brushed a glass-like puddle, seeing a face smile up at him. ‘Let me reacquaint myself with my poor frozen people.’ He stood up. ‘Let us banquet. Let there be a glorious feast! Bring wine.’
Xinder marched through the doors and found himself at the foot of the grand staircase.
His mood barely less than euphoric. He had an idea.
‘Animais, Animais, Animais,’ he called out.
Moments later Guda appeared, his infiniti tingling with electrical current. ‘You called?’
Xinder smiled. ‘Now, my dear ugly Animais, why don’t we pay another short visit to find out how the Sacrum are dying? Perhaps I can persuade the boy Danny to join willingly with me one last time, before his poor soul is cast into the w
ild expanses of space.’
Guda’s infiniti opened wide and Xinder, seeing it’s outline for the first time so clearly, forced the boy within him to bend down. In one motion, they dived through.
Anika
Danny stared at his watch. It had gone four. When was sunset; five, half five? He crawled over to Anika and cradled her in his arms.
‘Hey, Ani,’ he said, sheltering her face. ‘Don’t give up on me. There’s only a little while to go, you know. And I’m going to keep you alive, if it’s the last thing I do.’
He ran his cold hands over her face.
If he was cold, then she was icy.
Softly, he massaged her heart. He didn’t know why, but it just seemed the right thing to do. ‘Please, Anika, you’ve got to come back. Don’t you dare back out now. I don’t know what I’d do without you. If you go, we’ve all had it. Everyone, not just us.’
Her eyes flickered and the corners of her lips turned up.
Thank goodness, he thought. A spark.
He’d keep talking, and, somehow, he had to keep her listening.
‘Right, here’s what we’re going to do,’ he said. ‘I’m going to pick you up and start carrying you over these rocks and stuff, OK?’
Very gently, he picked her up and negotiated footholds in the debris. One step followed another, each one swaying, each a desperate act of concentration.
Every so often he studied her face to make sure she was still with him before carrying on. He leapt from one rock to the next, disregarding the rain, disregarding his burden, and worrying only about the next step.
As he climbed, he carried on talking. He spoke about what was going to happen and how safe they were going to be in only a little while. He chattered about anything else he could think of.
When he ran out of things to say, he started singing.
The first song that came into his head was a song their mother had taught them when they were young. With chattering teeth, he sang it as best as he could. When he forgot the words, he hummed it, his voice shaking with cold.
After a few minutes, Anika’s eyes flashed open. He looked down at her and smiled, trying to hold back his tears while he continued humming.
He felt her tensing. Her eyes opened wide, telling him something.
What was it?
Her eyes rolled back.
Danny tensed.
NO! NOT ANOTHER ONE!
Instantly, Danny tossed Anika over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. He reached the top of a boulder and tried to see beyond it, but saw only the steady veil of rain.
‘Anika!’ he cried out, ‘I’ve got to jump and I don’t know where we’ll end up. If this goes badly, just remember that I love you. You’re a cool girl, Sis.’
He had no more time.
Danny sucked in as much air as he could. He closed his eyes, bent his knees, and jumped as high and as far as he possibly could into the dark unknown.
Olivia
Shivering, Olivia remembered their last holiday as a family, skiing, high up in the Alps.
Beautifully hot with a bright blue sky, at lunch she had stripped off her jacket, thrown off her hat, and ditched her long johns, giving them all to her mother who crammed them into a rucksack.
They’d jumped on a chairlift and headed up to the top of the mountain. Halfway up, the chair had stopped and swayed in the air. They stayed like that for ages. An hour, maybe more.
Then, the weather had changed.
First, the clouds blew in, followed by an icy, biting wind and horizontal snow.
She sat there, freezing, with nothing but her father’s arm around her to protect her. In the seat behind, her mother was holding the bag with her clothes. An hour later, every bone in her body ached, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.
She remembered how it took two hot chocolates before she could move her jaw open enough to say anything.
What she would give for that hot chocolate now.
What had her father said?
Keep moving, girl. That was it. And if you can’t keep moving, hug someone. Hug them nice and tight.
A warm feeling filled her as she remembered how Danny thought this was the perfect excuse to go around hugging people. Everyone had thought him rather cute; even, momentarily, Anika.
Olivia tried to smile. Now out of the rain, the cold had begun to creep into her like roots of frost knitting into soil.
She needed to move. Using her hands as a guide, she felt for a jagged, protruding rock so that she might get a decent foothold. She found one, lifted herself up on it and then fingered another further up. She’d done enough climbing to know that planning a route up and making sure one’s feet were stable were the keys to success.
The problem was visibility. Combined with the numbness in her fingers, it meant that she couldn’t determine if her grip was true. She slipped back and landed with a wet thud on the ground. Olivia shook her hands vigorously out in front of her, and slowly the blood began to return. She jogged on the spot, the wet remains of her trousers sticking to her legs, and rolled her head on her shoulders.
She needed to search further along.
Once again, she followed the face of the rock, guided by her hands, her legs now knee-deep in the water. A little further on, she found the perfect spot; an outcrop of stone concealed by bushes.
Moving them aside, she found two easy steps. She pulled herself up, placing one foot carefully on the first step, then, hugging the rock, she tested her weight slowly on the next. It felt solid, as if purposely carved out of the rocks.
Her arms searched around trying to find another foothold. She levered herself up and did the same again, noting that the steps curved around the rock face. She climbed until she realised she was on a flat ledge.
With the rain driving at her, she had lost her sense of direction. She sat on the ledge trying to fathom the angle of the steps in relation to the rock face. She crawled on her hands and knees in the direction of the cliff face, scanning for any sudden gaps or boulders. Aside from pebbles, it felt smooth.
She edged on further before she realised the rain was subsiding, then it ceased altogether. She wiped water from her face and leaned into a big, round rock. Olivia felt strangely elated, as if she’d solved a tricky equation.
She examined the boulder, and figured that it sat directly under the cliff face, with the incline protecting her from the rain.
But how would she get out? The logical answer was to head high up to the right, towards Appleside Farm. The light was failing fast, though, and the rain still wasn’t letting up. Maybe she’d have to stay put until the morning. At least, she’d be out of the rain.
Anyway, hadn’t Danny told them the storm would continue until sunset, or some nonsense like that?
Two lightning bolts suddenly blasted out of the sky. They were directed just beyond the landslide, where she’d come from.
She hardly had a chance to react, only to duck down.
What if those were for...?
In a heartbeat, she dashed forward and threw herself off the ledge, just before a huge charge spat out of the sky and smashed into the exact spot she’d been standing.
Olivia tumbled into the water.
She sank as low as she could go, amazed at how much the water had risen in such a short time. She stayed underneath as long as her lungs could hold her, hugging the cliff face, as splinters of rock and stone punched the pool like deadly shrapnel.
When Olivia surfaced she noticed a big difference in her surroundings. The water level had edged close to the surface of the ledge, so that instead of climbing the stairs, she simply pulled herself out and sat down with her feet dangling in the pool.
She shivered in the near-darkness. Her heart was thumping wildly.
She realised what the difference was. Drizzle! The torrents of rain, the endless pounding, had subsided.
With the quiet came an enormous sense of relief.
She smiled through her chattering teeth.
The remains of her clothes stuck to her like cold, soggy slime, but she still had to survive through the night. The temperature would drop, as it always did at about this time of year, and there was no hope of a warming fire.
In the next breath, her thoughts turned to Anika and Danny. There had been three huge thunderbolts; one each, perhaps, for the three of them. Why this would be she had no idea, but it seemed right to Olivia, even if it was absurdly illogical and absolutely terrifying.
She shuffled along in the darkness.
‘Danny. Anika!’ she called out. ‘Are you there?’
She listened, but heard only the swishing sounds of the running water beyond.
Again and again she called out, trying to hear a response.
No reply was forthcoming.
16
Sap, Thursday
Sap was at the point where he needed to start making his way along the steeper, sharper cliff face. He faced the rock and shuffled along, happier in his step where the mud gave way to stone. As he angled across the cliff face, overhangs gave him welcome relief from the downpour, while other parts showered him with mud and loose rock. He dug his fingers into every tight crevice and small hole. Moving along as quickly and carefully as he dared, he hoped he hadn’t started too high.
Presently, he was able to take stock of his position. He rested under a deep overhang where he found a decent foothold. He gulped in huge mouthfuls of air as he leant into the stone.
Should he drive a bolt in to the rock so that he could attach the rope, just in case?
He found a hole, delved into his pocket, and found a quick release bolt. He thrust it in and the metal fastened. He put his weight on it, and it held. Good. He tied the rope to the metal loop, and attached the rest around his body.
As he turned to inspect his next footholds, a huge electrical pulse flashed out of the sky to his left. He looked on in shock. A second bright charge rocketed out of the sky from the same place a millisecond later, almost blinding him. His eardrums seared with pain.