by Dale Olausen
Twelve shadows formed a silent circle in the middle of the spacious room. In the daylight the shadows had been women dressed in dark green hooded robes. They sat cross-legged on low cushions on the wooden floor and had been sitting there for a long time, unaware of their surroundings and of the hours creeping by.
Now, in the near dark, one of them stirred. Slowly she raised her bowed head and closed a fist around a bright jewel that she had been cupping in her left hand. With a practiced gesture she slid the chain to which the green and gold gem was attached, around her neck, burying the jewel under the fold of her robe. She shook her shoulders as if to make certain that her body still functioned after all the hours of motionlessness, and then gracefully rose from the low seat to stand tall on the pale wood of the floor.
In the light of day, Marlyss, the Eldest of the Circle of the Twelve, the Sacred Witch Circle of Ferhil Stones, would have appeared a striking woman. Her eyes were steel grey and piercing, her face pale, and her hair black as empty space. She was not young, and her features were deeply lined, yet her figure remained lean and graceful, if lacking in the sort of femininity which attracts men. Marlyss was not, and never had been interested in being desired by men. She had always had other, more important, things on her mind.
The other eleven shadows were stirring too. One by one the hooded women slipped their gems into hiding underneath their gowns and got up on their feet. One tossed back her hood and strode over to the southern windows, throwing open the shutters, and pushing out the casement panes, to let in the sweet night air. There was a glow of pale light on the eastern horizon and it brightened the room slightly with its promise of moonlight to come.
“She is so amazingly strong,” Marlyss said to no-one in particular, “that it’s hard to believe she is one of those Terrans. She has had no training at all, yet she defied both us and those others, and crossed a barrier between realities besides.
“We must find her, of course. Those others won’t think of doing that – they’re not interested in that sort of thing. I want that girl here, at Ferhil Stones, in training. Once trained, with her strength and sensitivity, there won’t be much that she can’t do.”
None of the eleven ventured to reply.
“However, before we start searching we must all eat and rest. Come.”
Briskly she led the way to a stairwell which was concealed among the shadows in the northwest corner of the room. The other women followed her without speaking, the one who had opened the shutters and the windows being the last to leave. She stopped for a moment at the top of the staircase to smile at the light in the eastern sky. Lina, the first of the seven moons, was rising. She was full tonight, as she was every night, a good companion to the travellers who chose to journey in the cool of the night rather than in the blistering heat of the white sun. She was also a trusted friend of those who did their travelling not by physical means but through the use of the powers of the mind.
*****
Darkness. Sarah was falling swiftly through the darkness. For a long time she fell steadily, until at last she started to wonder if the motion would go on forever. But finally the descent seemed to gradually slow down, as if the medium through which she was plunging had begun to offer resistance. Then unexpectedly the fall came to an end as she thudded down on some springy surface on her hands and knees.
On her hands and knees! At first that was all that she could think. She had hands and knees with which to break a fall! She was physical again! No longer was she a formless shadow speeding through black space!
She opened her eyes.
There was light all around her; warm golden light, soft and subdued, so welcome after all the darkness that she had travelled through. She looked up to find its source and discovered that she was in a forest. Around her were tree trunks and above her a canopy of boughs and leaves through which light filtered down. She turned to look at the ground and saw under her hands and knees a rug of thick, springy moss on which her fall had ended.
She sat up on the carpet of moss to examine, first of all, the body that she now had. She gazed at her hands. They were the hands that she well knew – long fingered, pale skinned and a little rough from lack of care. The nails had been cut short and left unpolished. On the palm between the thumb and the forefinger the old scar was in its place – she smiled as she recalled the story behind it.
When she and Cam had been children they had once stolen out of the city for a hike on one of the Nature Preserves that ringed Laurentia. They had had no parental consent for the jaunt, and how they had succeeded in lying their way past the Park officials, Sarah never knew. But they had done it and, outfitted with an “authentic”, old-time pack of camping gear, they had had a glorious, day-long hike, along a beautiful forest trail. It had been an experience worth the subterfuge, marred only by an accident that Sarah had had with a sharp, antique implement known as a “hunting knife” which she had insisted on trying out, unforgivably clumsily. Fortunately the first aid equipment inside the pack had been thoroughly modern and Cam had been skilful enough to use it well. On their return home, however, they had not dared to mention the cut, out of fear that their liberal house-leaving privileges would be curtailed, if their mother heard about the hiking trip. The wound had received no further medical attention, and had healed to form a scar, an oddity very rarely seen any more.
Sarah ran a fingertip down its curve, absurdly pleased to see it there. It was proof that she was herself; she was inside her own physical form.
Delighted, she wiggled her toes happily. But - hey, just a minute - what was this? Bare toes? That was not right. She stared at the bare feet and shook her head. The last time she had been physical her feet had been shod in sturdy shoes which had been badly scuffed up by all the walking that she had done.
Almost afraid to do so, she let her eyes wander up her bare legs and further, to see what clothes, if any, she was wearing.
A dress! She had on a smock-like, knee-length, yellow dress! A child’s dress! It looked as strange to her as the scar on her hand had seemed familiar. She had not worn a dress in years, not since she had grown old enough to fight with her mother about clothes. Dresses were silly, frilly, feminine things, limiting and uncomfortable! She was not frilly, or silly, nor did she wish to be limited in any way. Let the likes of her sister Maris wear them; women such as she enjoyed it when men stared down their low-cut gowns, or admired their legs. The plain, practical Sarahs of the universe were better off in pants and tunics or bodysuits – those clothes were more suitable for work, and for action!
But here she was, sitting underneath a large tree on a carpet of moss so soft that no rug manufacturer in the Confederation could have duplicated it, wearing nothing but a skimpy yellow dress! And she did not feel in the least silly or frilly.
What had happened to her? What place was this in which she had found herself?
She stood up and looked around herself inquiringly. All about were trees; the forest appeared the same in every direction. Which way should she travel to find answers to her questions? There seemed to be nothing that she could use as a guide: no path for her to follow or a signpost to read. She leaned her back against the nearest tree trunk while trying to think things out.
The bark felt rough, but nice and friendly under her touch. Friendly? She pulled back and turned around to stare at the tree. Why had she chosen the word “friendly” to describe the feel of bark? She reached out her fingers to touch it again. It felt rough, nice – and friendly. She shook her head.
Abruptly she knew which way she ought to start walking.
“There’s a meadow out that way,” she murmured to herself, nodding in the direction which the inner knowledge indicated. “I’ll go to the meadow.”
Leaving the tree with its friendly bark behind, she struck off towards the meadow. The forest through which she walked was delightful, and she spent no time puzzling how she had known where she should go. Instead, she breathed in the woodsy odours, looked at the trees that
she passed – the forest seemed to be made up of several different species, all of which were unfamiliar to her – and now and then stopped to admire a stray woodland blossom that she found at her feet. The place was filled with peace and calm – such a welcome change from all the trials and challenges she had been through.
She came to the meadow almost too quickly. In fact, in her enjoyment of the wooded surroundings she had forgotten about her destination for a moment, when suddenly she stepped through a curtain of low bushes onto an expanse of grass. She blinked in surprise at the brightness of the open space and threw a quick glance behind her to make sure that the trees were still there.
When she turned her eyes back to survey the grassland, however, her delight with it was as complete as it had been with the forest. Such green grass! So much of it! This was no small meadow but a huge field that sloped up to a green hill on the horizon.
The sky! Sarah stared at the sky and, trembling, drew in a lungful of air, then expelled it. In the forest, under the leaves of the trees, she had not been able to see the sky. Now she saw it – and could hardly believe her eyes. She had not seen a sky like this, ever before, not even in the storybook vids of her childhood. It was luminous. There was no sun shining in this sky – the sky itself gave off the golden light that illumined the landscape.
She felt disoriented, but only for a moment. Quickly the disorientation was replaced by an inner certitude that the luminous sky was right, it belonged. That was the way the sky of this world was supposed to be, and that was the way it was. Nothing else was possible.
Turning her attention to things closer at hand, she squatted down to examine the grass at her feet, just as she had examined the brownish “grass” on the mountain slope of the Planet of the Amartos. Here, too, she discovered flowers, a profusion of small, brightly-coloured blossoms growing among the grass blades. They were of many different species, coming in all the colours of the rainbow. Were they real? She reached out shaky fingers to caress one or two – yes, they were there, she could feel the smoothness of the petals. A delicate perfume wafted up to her nostrils and she drew in lungfuls of it, enraptured. She gazed about her in amazement and enchantment, like a child freshly come to the wonders of the universe.
Standing up again, she remembered that she had been on her way somewhere. She had come through the forest to find the meadow and now was there. Where should she go next?
“There are many mysteries that you can explore in this wonderful world of ours,” whispered a voice within her head. “Pick any direction at all that appeals to you, and you will find much to interest and delight you.”
She accepted the voice even as she had earlier accepted the knowledge that the meadow was where it was and the rightness of the luminous sky. Following its suggestion she decided to climb up the hill that sloped up ahead and began to walk briskly towards it. Stepping across the grass she discovered with surprise that, without any conscious effort on her part, her bare feet were picking their way among the blossoms so as not to crush a single bloom. “The grass is for walking on; the flowers to enjoy,” the mysterious voice inside her head explained. What a weird, wonderful world she had stumbled into! It was so different from the reality that she had left behind!
The thought of her own world cut sharply through her happy mood. She stopped short to stand rooted on the grassy slope while troubles from another existence tumbled over her, shattering the peace that this place had given her.
The Witches’ Stones, the greencat and her own body! Her eyes searched for and found the familiar scar on her left palm. But its presence made no difference! She swallowed. The Sarah who belonged to that other reality was caught in a trap along with the greencat and the Witches’ Stones! All of them were in the hands of The Organization!
“I can’t let that be! I have to go back! I have to go back to my own world and get us away from them somehow!”
Suddenly she was a stranger among the grasses, the flowers and the trees. A breeze blew around her, trying to calm her panicky thoughts. The golden sky-light shone warmly upon her as if to melt the chills that were slithering down her spine. She was grateful for the concern shown by the beings of this reality, but she knew that she could not accept the offered comfort. Instead, she would have to find a way back to her own world where she could try to set right what had gone wrong. How to go about it she had no notion, but somehow she must do it. She could not linger among the meadow grasses and flowers any longer; her path must lead her elsewhere.
“Well, if you must go, you must.” Again that voice within her spoke. “Travel, then, over the hill in the direction in which you already are going. Beyond the hill you will find those who will help you.”
She started to climb again, now in a much more sober frame of mind. Her feet were still avoiding the flowers among the grasses but her mind was not on the wonders that surrounded her.
How much time had passed since she had escaped from the two fires that had been chasing her? How much of a head start did those thieves of The Organization have on her? She had spent time in the forest and on the meadow but how much time? Was time in this reality the same as it was in that other one? Or might a minute here be a year there, or vice versa? There was no way she could tell. What did she, after all, know about this place into which she had fallen out of black nothingness?
What were The Organization Hounds planning to do with the amartos, her body and the greencat? Had The Organization scientists really unlocked enough of the Stones’ secrets that they would be able to use them to further their ambitions in the galaxy? The idea made her shiver – she did not want her universe rearranged to suit the mad dreams of the empire-builders.
“No!” She spat out the word fiercely. She must return in time to rescue the Stones, the greencat and her own body, before any harm was done through them. All else was unthinkable. The Terra Confederation was not a beautiful, peaceful paradise the way the world in which she was at the moment was, but it was her world and she would not stand idly by while it was altered beyond recognition.
When she reached the top of the hill she stopped for a moment to gaze down its other side. She saw a valley there, and in the valley, a building, the first evidence that she had come across that there were people other than herself in this strange and wonderful world. She understood, with that inner knowing which was fast growing familiar, that the building was her destination. There she had to search for the way back to her own reality and there she would find those who could help her with the quest.
She stared at the building curiously; it was an odd one. It brought to her mind the fairy story vids that had fascinated her as a child. It looked like a fairy castle, complete with towers and turrets and a high, surrounding wall. All that was missing were knights on horseback and Rapunzel letting down her long hair!
A patch of dense forest grew around it, but outside of that the grassland stretched unbroken up the slope of the next hill and beyond. No roads led to the castle, and no peasants’ hovels squatted next to the wood. The building seemed out of place in the landscape, as if it had been thoughtlessly dropped there, though it really belonged somewhere else.
Nevertheless, it was Sarah’s destination. She started climbing downhill, aware, for the first time since she had entered this world, of an apprehension and caution within her. She hesitated to approach the castle – it stood apart from the landscape which she felt was benevolent, and that bothered her. She did not know what the castle was, and she mistrusted it. But the inner knowledge told her that her road home led through there; therefore go there she must.
She sighed even as she walked on determinedly. What a shame it was to give up all the beauty and mystery of this place. But what else could she do?
At the edge of the forest she found out that she had been wrong about there being no roads. There was a road that led to the castle through the wood. It began where the grass and the trees met and for a few seconds Sarah stared, amazed, at the place where the meadow abruptly ended to give
way to sand. She shook her head; everything was so weird. Certainly the castle did not belong to the landscape – had it been dropped there merely to help her find her way home?
The fine sand was pleasant under her bare feet. She turned around for a last look at the hilly grassland and at the luminous, golden sky that arched above it. Feeling sad, she lifted an arm and waved goodbye, knowing that the gesture was understood. She bit her lip, then, and turned around again, stubbornly concentrating on the road in front of her. She was going home.
Chapter Eighteen
“So you have come.”
The gold-flecked eyes studied Sarah with lively interest.
“Yes, I have come.”
Sarah spoke the words defiantly and did some scrutinizing of her own.
The woman before her looked ageless. Her face and eyes radiated the wisdom and maturity of one who has experienced much, yet her features had the freshness of youth and showed none of the deterioration that in Sarah’s reality always accompanied the passing of years. Her body, garbed in a gold-coloured robe seemed as slim and agile as that of the girl who stood in front of her. The hands, clasped together at her waist were as smooth-skinned as Sarah’s own. The golden hair which she wore pulled to a knot at the nape of the neck, showed not even a sprinkling of grey.
Her face broke into a warm smile and Sarah’s defiance melted away. She sensed that she had been accepted as simply and naturally as the trees and grasses had earlier accepted her. There was no need to feel afraid and uneasy.
“So you want to leave our beautiful world?” the woman asked.
Sarah smiled a little sadly. Her emotions were mixed. On one hand she would have loved to have stayed to explore the pastoral paradise she had found; on the other, she well knew that her life in the other existence was far from complete.
“Yes,” she replied, forcing her tone to convey conviction which she did not feel. “I have things to do.”