At the same time, the small humanoids swarmed the insect-men. Ganon was pressed back and tripped over Lamb. The insect-man landed on his back and was hacked to pieces. Lamb covered his head with his arms and waited for the end.
But it didn’t come. A moment later, the sounds of battle died down, and Lamb heard chittering conversation from the newcomers. Lamb looked up, and saw that pieces of Ganon had been scattered over a wide area.
Govil was on the ground in several large sections, his legs and lower abdomen separated from his torso. He threatened his attackers feebly with the claw end of his mancatcher. Several of the small combatants lay motionless in two or more cleanly sliced pieces around him. As he watched, Lamb saw three of the small humanoids carry Ganon’s weapon over behind Govil. The others distracted him, and the three positioned the claw and snipped off the guard’s head in a single, deft motion.
Lamb turned to the shufflers. The male animals had both been slain, and one of the flyers was eating from a carcass. Some of the small humanoids were taking the reins of the female creatures. Then he saw the other surviving flyer perched over Anna who lay motionless.
Lamb leapt into action and scrambled the short distance, yelling and waving his arms. A moment later, he climbed up onto Anna’s mount and found the flyer rubbing its tentacled face on her chest leaving behind some kind of mucus. Lamb swatted at the creature with his hands ineffectually until the flyer beat its wings and pushed him off the shuffler’s back. He landed hard and everything went black.
Chapter 14
?
Anna was moving through the darkness. She was in some kind of net, on her back with her arms at her sides, being pulled head first through soft, cool earth. Her body was sore all over, but she could feel moisture being absorbed through her skin. The darkness was close and confining, but she was unnaturally comfortable and at ease.
She did not know how long she had been unconscious. The last thing she remembered was the shufflers and the flying creatures fighting all around her. The flyers had resembled the form the cultists had taken when Utgarda appeared at the Church of Cosmic Understanding, and Anna realized that they had been partially transformed into the same flying beasts.
Anna tensed as she realized that they had been attacked and captured by Utgarda’s minions, but she was unable to retain the distress. The comfort and solace the earth provided as her body flowed through it was overwhelming.
◆
“What the devil happened?” O’Malley cried as he reentered the basement chamber. He ran to the prone bodies of his friends. Anna’s face was pale, and she groaned intermittently hugging her chest. O’Malley gently moved her hands aside, removed the blanket, and opened her jacket and blouse. She was covered with small cuts and abrasions, and there were several large bruises on her right side suggesting fractured ribs.
“They were attacked by some subterranean creature and Dr. Rykov was caught in the melee,” Bierce said in his neutral, expressionless tone. “Then they were attacked by some other people and subdued.”
“Help me,” the priest said to Billy, who watched over his shoulder, as he gently sat Anna up to remove her jacket and blouse. A moment later, the watchman kneeled down and held her under the arms while O’Malley pulled the garments from her sleeves. Her arms and back were also cut and bruised.
“Get me my valise,” he said absently to Billy. When nothing happened, he shouted, “NOW!” A moment later, Billy held the valise open so that he could see what the priest took from it. O’Malley rummaged through and removed a vial of green fluid and a roll of gauze. Billy grabbed the wrist holding the vial, but O’Malley yanked it free, removed the stopper, and poured the contents into the roll of gauze. He then rubbed it on Anna’s cuts and bruises. There was a hissing sound as the fluid made contact with the wounds, and an acrid smell filled the air, but then the flesh of her many cuts and scrapes smoothed over and all but disappeared.
The ointment had no effect on the bruises beneath the skin, however, so O’Malley wrapped the fluid-soaked gauze tightly around her ribs, covering the bruises, and tied it as tightly as he could.
“That will have to do,” he said with resignation, “until Harry can get a good look at her.”
“Dr. Lamb is also in some distress,” Bierce said.
O’Malley examined the doctor’s unconscious form and noted a bleeding wound on the back of his head. Under Billy’s watchful gaze, he reached into the valise and removed his last roll of gauze. He pressed the roll against the gauze around Anna to absorb some of the excess green fluid, and then gently wiped Lamb’s head. It was superficial. Wadding up the wettest portion, he pressed it to the wound and wrapped the remainder of the roll around Lamb’s head to hold it in place.
“The Junazhi wish to know if they are still functional,” Bierce said. O’Malley glared at the canister since he could not see any of the aliens at the moment.
“If you mean are they still alive,” he snarled, “then yes, they are still functional. The doctor’s injury is minor, but Anna probably has several broken ribs. I doubt she will be of much use for this errand now.”
Bierce’s lights flashed and a Junazhi appeared at O’Malley’s side. The being was transparent, and its forelimbs flitted about inside Anna’s chest amidst her bruises. Within a few moments, the bruises faded to mere discolorations. Then the alien faded away again.
“The wounds to her shell should mend properly now,” Bierce said, “but the Junazhi do not know what impact it will have on her mental form.”
◆
Lamb awakened in a cave. The small, large-eyed, large-eared beings were all around. Their eyes glowed in the dim light. Several of the flying creatures entered through a hole a short distance away. Lamb was in a sitting position against the side of the cave, and felt unusually calm and well rested. He was not restrained in any way, but his clothing was torn to shreds, and he was covered from head to toe with dirt. As he slowly gathered his bearings, Anna walked up to him with a broad smile.
“Good morning,” she said cheerily. “How do you feel?”
“Anna!” Lamb cried. “You’re OK.”
“I am whole and well,” she said. “The Draunskur have rescued us, healed our injuries, and revitalized our bodies.” Lamb realized that he was neither hungry nor thirsty anymore. “Apparently, while the surface of the Endless Barrens is dead, there are ample life energies beneath it, and we have absorbed enough to restore us back to good health.”
“I’ll say,” Lamb said. “I haven’t felt this good in years.” He paused in the middle of his revelry. “How did you figure all this out?”
We spoke with her, a voice said in Lamb’s head.
“They communicate telepathically,” Anna said. “They don’t have mouths.”
“What do they want with us?” Lamb asked Anna. “What do you want with us?” he then said to the Draunskur gathered around them.
Our master wants you to complete your mission, the voice said. And will help you.
“The Draunskur are going to take us to the other side of the Endless Barrens, near Gho-Bazh’s territory. It will save us weeks.”
“What about guides and supplies?” Lamb asked. “We don’t know where we are going.”
We cannot go beyond the realm of our master. We will transport you as far as we are allowed.
“They have offered us equipment from the extensive collection of things they have acquired,” Anna said.
She held out an ornate short sword for Lamb to inspect, and the doctor noticed that Anna was now dressed in sturdy traveling clothes under a thick coat of animal hide. In addition to the baldric for the sword she now held, Anna also had a bandoleer of thin knives over her shoulder, and tall leather boots on her feet.
“If you are ready,” Anna said, pulling Lamb to his feet, “you can take your pick and we can be on our way.”
◆
Some time later, Harry Lamb emerged from the burrow they had been sheltered in. Rather than toward the cave mouth, Anna had le
d Lamb deeper into the cave, surrounded by friendly and almost affectionate Draunskur.
They were brought to a cavern that rivaled the treasure chamber of Ali Baba’s forty thieves. The room was filled with all manner of goods. There were weapons, armor, clothing, tents, blankets, rugs, and other equipment captured from travelers through the Endless Barrens.
“Take your pick,” Anna said with a sweeping gesture. Harry glanced at her with amusement and noticed that she was now dressed and equipped almost exactly as she had been in Brian Teplow’s drawings. He wondered if that had been deliberate, but what did it matter.
Lamb searched through a vast collection of weaponry. Among the swords, spears, and polearms of various sizes and shapes, he noted several of the mancatchers that the insect-men had carried. Buried in the armory, which was piled haphazardly on the floor of a cavern, Lamb was attracted to an ornate, golden baton that seemed out of place. One end was thinner than the other and ended in a blunted point. He picked up the baton, which was heavier than it looked. It must be some kind of club, he thought.
That is an energy weapon, the Draunskur voice said in his mind. The minions of the sorcerer were granted their power. Only the faithful of Gho-Bazh have been known to make them work.
Lamb kept the baton, but also picked up a small, recurved bow with a number of gears and levers to adjust and hold the tension. He took a quiver of arrows, and a short sword. He then rummaged through the hoard and found tough leather pants and a thick, but comfortable shirt. These he covered with armor similar to Anna’s. Finally, he assembled a collection of blankets, water skins, and other assorted camping supplies.
As he gathered up the equipment, Lamb noticed Anna loading it into multiple sets of saddle bags, which the Draunskur then gathered up and walked off with.
“Where are they taking those?” Lamb asked with concern.
“It will be with our mounts when we arrive,” Anna said with an expression Lamb could not decipher. “Trust me.”
With the assistance of the small beings, Anna then led Lamb through a labyrinth of subterranean passages until they emerged into a pit surrounded by columns that was identical to the colonnaded Roman-style temple in the Church of Cosmic Understanding. Unlike the temple in New York, however, a stone staircase rose from the sandy pit to the gallery above.
They ascended the steps and Lamb realized that this was the where the cultists’ ritual had brought them. Utgarda had arisen from the sandy floor of the pit. And Liv Lee had been flung from here into the Endless Barrens of None to become Queen Sif of Brynner.
Outside the temple, six of the flying Draunskur waited patiently. Lamb watched as Anna approached one. The creature hopped up and gently took hold of her shoulders. Its talons were long enough to completely encircle them. Then it and two of the others flew off.
Lamb was frozen in place. His feet would not respond when he commanded them to approach the creatures. One of the waiting flyers took wing and landed on his shoulders, wrapped its talons around them, and took off. Lamb flailed his arms as his feet left the ground. The two remaining flyers flanked him, and the three followed Anna and her escorts toward the setting sun.
◆
O’Malley shuddered as Lamb’s viewpoint took flight and the landscape shrank below him. The image on the screen followed them above a vast, open wasteland toward high mountains. Anna dangled precariously in the talons of a winged creature reminiscent of the ones they had fought at the Church of Cosmic Understanding. Two others flew to either side as protection.
◆
As they traveled, Anna saw a large column of dark spots advancing across the empty landscape in the distance to her right. Each carried something that reflected the sunlight and they twinkled like stars. As she watched, dust kicked up around the column, and a large number of the flying Draunskur swooped in to attack.
An image appeared in her mind. It was the man in the red conical hat from Rose’s cabinet at the Cavalier Club. He stood on a rise and watched the column of Pointees go by. He seemed to notice Anna, met her gaze and said, “Have you figured it out yet?”
◆
The flight must have been swift, because O’Malley got vertigo whenever Lamb looked down toward the blurry ground as it sped past far below. It seemed like an eternity, but the group started downward toward a pair of the six-legged mounts with the blade-like forelimbs. The beasts were fitted with saddles and multiple sets of saddlebags filled to overflowing with provisions.
Dozens of the small, large-eyed, large-eared beings wandered about the creatures, checking tack and other mundane tasks as the flyers approached and let go when their passengers’ feet touched the ground.
◆
We can take you no farther, the Draunskur voice said in Lamb and Anna’s heads. The path you seek is just below, and the two glanced toward a gentle slope before them. It will take you to the sorcerer’s realm. Fare well.
Without hesitation, the flyers took to the air in the direction they had come from, while the assembly on the ground sank into the stone below their feet. In an instant, the two were alone with the shufflers.
“They certainly don’t stand on ceremony,” Lamb said, mounting one of the beasts. The six-limbed reptile-bird eyed him warily as he approached, but allowed him to climb onto its back.
“Indeed,” Anna agreed, and mounted the other creature. “Our destiny awaits,” she said as she willed the shuffler toward the slope. As she descended, Anna wondered why she had said that.
Lamb followed, and the beasts easily climbed down to a familiar-looking packed-earth path that now ran along the foot of the tall mountains on the other side. The gentle rise on their left was covered alternately with thick stands of trees and rocky outcroppings before the steep slopes of the mountains thrust up abruptly. On either side of the path, narrow but deep drainage channels paralleled it.
Without another word, Anna’s mount reared up, its front two pairs of limbs thrust into the air, and then took off down the path. Lamb spurred his shuffler forward and followed at a gallop.
Chapter 15
?
Anna and Lamb rode single file with Anna in the lead. The shufflers had no reins. Instead, they seemed to know what was expected of them and responded to the squeezing and relaxing of their riders’ legs. Lamb had heard somewhere that warhorses were trained to respond in this way so that riders could wield their weapons unimpeded.
The journey was pleasant, and the two were comfortable now that they were properly dressed. The path they followed was more evident now. The mountains that rose sharply on their left, and the slope up to the plateau on the right, sheltered the trail from the heat of the sun, and whatever moisture there was collected in the space in between. As a result, sparse lavender or pale purplish foliage grew on either side of the road, and here and there, trickles of water that flowed from the high slopes pooled in the gutters that ran parallel to the path.
“I suspect that we have climbed in elevation,” Lamb said. “The temperature has dropped significantly.”
“I would agree,” Anna replied, turning back toward Lamb. “The air seems a little thinner here. It’s harder to take a deep breath.”
Lamb had not noticed the thinner atmosphere, but he had been raised in the mountains of upstate New York, while Anna had spent most of her life at sea level.
“Don’t overexert yourself,” he counseled. “It will take a few days to adjust. Let the shuffler do the work in the meantime.”
“This is not a new experience for me,” Anna replied. “I did fieldwork in the Caucasus Mountains for three years.” She turned to face forward again. “You should take care yourself.”
◆
“They seem to be back on track,” O’Malley said in relief, taking a sip of tea. Anna and Lamb were now riding at a leisurely pace on a well-traveled road. Occasional travelers on wagons pulled by six-legged beasts passed in the other direction. The passersby avoided eye contact with the two, and only seemed to acknowledge the pair when Anna or Lamb addr
essed them.
“And they now resemble the figures in the drawings. Do you think that was deliberate or just coincidence?”
“I don’t know,” O’Malley replied conversationally. He had gotten accustomed to the situation, and sat comfortably in an old arm chair facing the display of Lamb’s visual input. Billy had brought the chair from another part of the house. A tea set sat on a coffee table next to it. The center of the room now more resembled a comfortable living room than an alien laboratory.
“They have diverged from the story told in the sketchbook,” O’Malley continued after taking a bite of a biscuit. “All of their companions in the drawings turned out to be adversaries. And there were no drawings of anyone else.”
“It is a most curious turn of events,” Bierce said from the table behind the priest. “The Junazhi tell me that they are learning a lot about shared subconscious experience.”
“What do they do with this knowledge?”
“The Junazhi are a shared consciousness. What one knows, all know, as do those with whom they are linked, such as myself. I have learned things about the multiverse beyond human comprehension.”
“Does Billy also have this knowledge?”
“Billy is not linked to the Junazhi consciousness. He is a servant. The Junazhi have dominated his mind and he performs as collective consciousness commands. He obeys me at their sufferance.”
“I see,” O’Malley said bitterly. “Billy is their slave.”
“For lack of a better term, that is correct. He is not wholly controlled. He is free to do as he wishes unless given a task. The only thing he is required to do is protect the Junazhi from discovery.”
The Other Realm Page 9