by C. A. Farlow
Standing behind her, Lauren realized that Alex was at least three inches taller than she was, probably more. She isn’t even standing up straight. Never found a woman taller than I am. God, focus or you’ll drop her.
Alex swayed to the left. Pain shot through Lauren’s shoulder and she grasped Alex more tightly, muttering, “Quickly now.”
Raising her left arm Alex attempted to point the blade toward the low hill. But she didn’t have the strength to lift the heavy sword. “I…I cannot lift it.”
Lauren felt Alex’s knees buckle and quickly reached around her to grab Alex’s arm and hold it up. But her hand closed around the blade instead, palm and fingers pressed against the cold metal. Pain lanced through her arm, stiffening her spine, as the blade’s power burned through her.
Chapter Five
COLD, BLACKNESS, ICE SHARDS, slicing, cutting…lost
Warm, brightness, dew drops, holding, healing…safe
Ffrwyn stood within the parted shield holding it open with her body and mind. She could hear Alex and Lauren struggling to escape their dreamscape. She was trapped under the shield. She knew the sled wouldn’t fit into the cave entrance. She didn’t have the mental strength to hold the shield open and help them. All she could do was wait. Wait for the wolves to arrive, and wait for Alex and Lauren to wake up. If they wake up!
How long she stood, she didn’t know. But the sun had long since dropped below the horizon. It was a new moon, and the darkness was thick and impenetrable. Hoarfrost was precipitating on her back, and still she waited.
She heard them before she saw them. “Now what?”
“Ice, you must put this anger away until you have time to deal with it. We have greater problems now.” Ffrwyn was angry with the situation and exhausted from holding the shield open.
“Are they dead?” Snow nosed Alex’s left hand that still held the sword hilt. The blade had sunk into the snow beside the sled. “Alex is warm, and the sapphire still pulses.” Snow tilted her head. “Though, the pulse is different.”
Ffrwyn watched as Snow touched her nose to Lauren’s cheek and the wolf jumped back. “She is frozen. Her skin is stiff and cold. I fear she is dead.”
“Good riddance. One less worry.”
“Ice, you cannot say that. She saved Alex. Alex would have bled to death and then where would we be?”
“Will you two leave off? I cannot hold the shield open much longer.” Ffrwyn’s muscles trembled with fatigue. “We must get them into the cave. Ice, can you get the sled off? It is too wide and long to make the turn into the cave.” The wolves inspected the sled pulls.
Ice struggled to tear the duct tape with her teeth. “We are going to have to tear the leathers. I cannot tear this gray material.”
Ffrwyn continued to brace herself against the pressure of the shield. “I do not think you can chew through the stirrup leathers.”
“No, the gray material will not tear and I cannot chew it.” Ice’s frustration clear in her mindvoice.
Snow suggested, “Ice, we will each take a side and chew the leather only.”
“Hurry, you two, I cannot hold the shield open much longer.”
“We came as fast as we could, when we heard Alex’s scream.” Snow gnawed at the dangling leather.
“I do not think that was Alex that you heard. I think that was Lauren.”
“Ffrwyn, how did this happen?” Snow asked.
“Lauren helped Alex stand in the sled. As Alex lifted the sword to open the shield, she couldn’t bear the sword’s weight and began to collapse. Lauren tightened her hold on Alex and grabbed for her arm. She must have gotten ahold of the blade instead. As they fell, the blade sliced an opening in the shield. I began to move through the shield when they dropped the blade and I was trapped.” Her trembling increased. “I was blinded by a backlash of light. When I could again see, they were lying as they are now.”
“Lauren should not have touched the blade. Only Alex can use this sword. It is bound to her and only her.”
“I understand that Snow.” Ffrwyn whinnied in frustration.
Ice growled as she continued to pull and tear at the stirrup leather as the saddle slid back and forth on Ffrwyn’s back.
“Ice, stop. Let us try to uncinch the saddle and pull it all off together.” Ice trotted around to Ffrwyn’s other side.
The wolves grabbed the girth and pulled. Their combined weight was too much for the worn strap and it broke above the buckle. The wolves fell backwards, rolling head over tails, ending up in a furry snowdrift.
“I hate when that happens.” Ice huffed, blowing snow from her nose.
Ffrwyn pulled out from under the saddle and turned around to the sled. “Come on, now that the shield is fully open, let us get them into the cave and out of the cold.”
Ice and Snow each took a sled pull and began dragging the sled and its occupants through the shield. Once the five were through, Ffrwyn dropped her mindlink, and the shield closed with a resounding pop.
This cave was larger than Lauren’s. It was a huge inverted bowl that was hollowed into the low rocky hillside. Soft light emanated from phosphorescent algae that covered the walls, casting a diffuse glow on the occupants. A small spring trickled from a crack in the rear cave wall and created a pleasant sound in the otherwise silent interior. Stacked neatly to the side of the entrance were a number of supply crates and to Ffrwyn’s delight, fresh hay in stasis-bags.
“Should we try and get Alex off of Lauren? See if she lives,” FFrwyn asked her furry companions. She stood over Alex and whiffled her hair. Bending low she nuzzled her cheek.
Weight, heavy, can’t breathe, sinking…lost
Ffrwyn startled back from the pair in the sled. “I can hear their pleas.”
Snow came up beside Ffrwyn. “I think we should try. I do not think Lauren can breathe with Alex’s weight on her chest, and she is lying across the edge of the sled. That had to hurt when she fell.”
“But she made Alex fall. And taking the sword from her could have killed Alex.”
“I do not think so, Ice. Alex does not seem to be hurt, at least, no more than she was. I can hear her again.” Ffrwyn continued to nuzzle Alex’s face.
The horse watched as Snow stomped over to Ice and growled in her face. “You have got to stop this. I am tired of your whining and anger. Lauren is not to blame for any of this. Truth told, she has probably saved us if she really did position the sword to open the shield. You know none of us can do it without Alex. We are inside and safe. No one will find us here and we can stay here until they wake.”
“Fine, I am going out to hunt. You two can take care of them.” Ice ran off into the night.
Snow collapsed beside the sled.
Ffrwyn’s booming voice rumbled. “It is going to be all right, Snow. I can feel it. We just need to make it back to Fuar Ćala. Ice will either get over her anger or she will not. Alex is healing even Lauren said so earlier today. And you said we are safe here.”
Looking up at the horse, Snow’s voice trembled over the mindlink. “I do not know what to do for them. I do not know how to help. Lauren was taking care of Alex and now she needs taking care of.”
“Just pull Alex off of her and let her breathe. She will survive or she will not, but Alex is warm and needs to be comfortable.”
Ffrwyn watched Snow try to pull Alex off of Lauren and the sled. But all the tubing kept getting tangled, and Alex would not let go of the sword so its weight was being dragged too. After pulling and pushing and tugging and tearing, Snow finally had Alex resting beside the sled.
Lauren rested across the sled where she fell. Her body was still ice-cold to the touch and did not respond to either physical touch or mindvoice calls. Snow and Ffrwyn could do nothing else for either of them but watch and wait.
Quiet, dark, breathe easier, sinking, hurt…lost
Warm, light, sunlit smiles, rising, healing…found
Alex began to stir. Her eyes fluttered and with a great exhale she shot to a s
itting position. “What happened?” Rubbing her forehead, Alex realized they were in the cave, and she was reclining against Ffrwyn. The great horse provided a warm sturdy backrest. Snow curled around the sled at Lauren’s side trying to share her body heat,
“Alex, can you hear me?” Snow huffed, not wanting to leave Lauren.
“Yes, I can. What a relief. I thought I had lost you forever and would never hear you again.” Taking stock of the situation, Alex saw that Lauren was draped in an awkward position across the sled and appeared to be unconscious. “How did we get in here? The last I remember I was not able to lift the sword and then I was falling.”
“Lauren caught you and lifted the sword to open the shield. But as she did so, she touched the blade. The two of you were knocked unconscious by the energy backlash. Ffrwyn was trapped under the shield. We broke her saddle to release the sled. Then we dragged you into the cave.”
“Touched the blade! Does she live?” Alex reached out trying to touch Lauren, determining if she had a pulse. But with her right arm tied across her chest she could barely move.
“She does, but her life-energy is very weak. It is draining away, and I can no longer hear her.” Snow continued to nuzzle Lauren’s face, her voice now little more than a whimper.
Shaking her head to clear her muddled brain, Alex asked, “How is that possible? She should be dead and all of us trapped outside the shield.”
“We do not know. But she does live. We must help her, now.”
“I know. Neither the sword nor the shield should have responded to her, but they did. And none of you should be able to hear her much less talk to her. None of this makes any sense. She should not even be here.” Alex waved her good arm towards Lauren’s reclining form. “Yet here she is.”
“You must try and calm down. We have been able to talk to Lauren since we found her in the cave. When we found her, she was freezing from falling into the lake. We kept her warm until she woke and then were able to talk to her. Somehow she crossed the nexus between her world and ours when she entered the cave. Now she is trapped here. We do not understand how any of this happened. But we do know she has taken good care of you and of us.” Snow tilted her head. “We could not talk to you because of your injuries and loss of blood. Lauren saved you. She saved all of us.”
Ffrwyn added her thoughts, worry mellowing her normally-booming voice. “Lauren is very confused too, Alex. She knows or thinks she is on an Earth as she calls this planet, but she cannot understand why nothing is as she knows it. She is lost and very sad. But she put all of her personal concerns aside and focused her efforts on saving you. It seems she has done a very good job. Your energy-armor was damaged in the Comin ambush. It was not able to heal you as it should. She tended your wounds in her way and the armor did the rest. Can you help her, Alex?”
“We cannot hear her any longer, but you may be able to. You must try and reach her Alex, or she will just slip away as her life-energy seeps back into the earth.”
Alex realized she had a tube running from the back of her left hand into a plastic bag. Strange device. She pulled at the tubing in her left hand, tearing it from the vein. She tossed the tube aside and rose unsteadily to her knees. But these simple tasks exhausted her, and she fell back against Ffrwyn panting.
Cold, dark, buzzing, lost…done
Alex heard Lauren’s whisper brush the edge of her mind. “You are not done! Lauren, do you hear me?” Alex said, her shout echoing within the bowl of the cave. Reaching out with her mind, Alex searched for Lauren. “Snow, I need to touch her. Can you help me over to her side?” Snow crouched beside Alex and provided a sturdy support as Alex inched her way over to the sled and Lauren.
Alex reached out with her mind again as she placed her left hand on Lauren’s arm. Alex recoiled from the pain she felt. The physical connection transmitted far more pain than their mindtouch did. But Alex maintained both connections.
“Come on. You are not a quitter. I can feel your strength. Use that. We are here and will add our strength to yours. You cannot die, Lauren. It is not your time.”
Cold, hurt, angry, lost. Done. Whispers continued to float from Lauren’s wounded psyche.
Snow curled tightly against Lauren, stretching out along the entire length of her body. Placing her head across Lauren’s legs, Ffrwyn closed her eyes in concentration. “We are losing her, Alex! You must do something. She is slipping away.” Ffrwyn’s anguished plea drove Alex on.
“She will not give up. Lauren, hear me!” Alex commanded, her anxiety causing her heart to pound against her chest.
Alex gathered the mental strength of her companions to her and pushed their combined power outward, crashing like a tsunami into Lauren’s inner-being. “You cannot leave us. We need you. I need you!”
Cold, hurt, new, need…done
“No you are not. Come back to us. We will help you, and you will help us. We are together. Come back now!” Alex’s shouts rang through the cave and the companions.
Ice crashed back into the cave. “Quit screaming! What are you doing? I heard you miles away. You will call the Comin.” But the three barely heard Ice and couldn’t stop. They were lost in their shared mindlink.
Ice jumped on Snow and then tried to push Alex away. Ffrwyn just mumbled in her discomfort. Alex reached out, grabbing Ice’s mental energy and pulling it into the link.
Cold, hurts, loud, found…not done?
As if from the opposite end of a long tunnel, Lauren’s voice echoed back toward them.
“There! I have you now,” Alex exclaimed. “Come on, Lauren, come toward us. Come toward the warmth.”
“Her psyche is shredded from the blade. We will need all the pieces to put her back whole. Do not let her be hurt more,” Snow pleaded as she snuffled through the darkness, trying to locate all the pieces of Lauren’s mind.
“I will not. I will protect her as best I can, but I am so tired. Need to get to her soon. She must come the rest of the way to us. She must want to come to us.”
Warm, hurts, bright lights, want…no, not done
Lauren’s voice grew stronger. “Help me, Alex!”
Alex smiled. “Come on, Dearheart. You must come to us. We need you.”
Lauren could not feel her feet or her legs, but she knew she must walk to the end of the tunnel toward the echoing voices. She knew she must meet this voice. The one who called to her heart and pulled at her soul.
The tunnel was a quagmire of thick, oozing mud. It grabbed her, trying to pull her back, back to the darkness. Like hands holding her in place, the mud pulled at her. Hands on arms—arms on bodies—faces on bodies—faces—faces she knew—faces of everyone she had lost. Memories. She recognized the faces, but she knew she was never safe with them. Would she be safe with the new voice? Go back or go forward? She was so cold and everything hurt. Suddenly the light in the tunnel began to fade, and she knew she needed to decide. Go back to what she knew or go forward to something new.
Lauren heard a booming voice in her mind. “Ffrwyn?”
“Yes Lauren, come on. We have you now! Do not let go.”
Lauren watched someone leap into the tunnel, struggling through the morass of her memories, trying to catch her up. “Who are you?”
“Hear me. We are here for you. Here is living. There is death. Do not leave us!”
Lauren wanted to give up. Struggling through the memories was too hard. Just as she turned to go back to what she knew, a mind reached out and grabbed hers, just as a hand caught hers. A jolt of anguish tore through the mental link, jarring her. Her palm was raw, branded from where it had touched the blade. But the grip on her hand tightened, regardless of the pain.
Pain, hurts, the voice, need…see.
Lauren looked down at their joined hands. They looked so right together.
“This way. Come this way.” Lauren moved toward that voice. “That is it, this way.” Lauren struggled toward the figure—against the hands pulling at her from the mud—picking her knees up higher she r
eached out with her other hand. “Help me. I can’t escape the memories.” The figure reached out with a burst of mental energy and grabbed Lauren around her waist. “There I have you. Let us go this way. This way is home.”
Chapter Six
LAUREN’S EYES FLUTTERED OPEN, and she tried to sit up but was held in place by a great weight on her chest. “Ice, get off me. I can’t breathe.” She tried to push the wolf away but didn’t have the strength to budge her. Her legs were trapped under Ffrwyn’s head, and she was sandwiched between Snow and Alex. Alex gripped her left hand tightly. Her branded palm ached. “Alex, let go of my hand.”
No one moved. She lay looking up at the ceiling. It sparkled like tiny stars where crystals in the rock matrix caught and reflected light. She could hear water trickling in the distance. Where am I? I remember helping Alex to stand, helping her lift the sword. But then, nothing.
Lauren tried to sort out the muddled images. It looks like we’re in a cave. Somehow, we must have opened the shield.
The weight on her legs lifted, and Ffrwyn’s warm eyes filled her vision. “There you are. What’s going on? Is everyone hurt? Unconscious? I can’t get them to wake up. Can you help get these guys off of me? I can’t breathe.”
“Of course.” Closing her eyes, Ffrwyn reached out along her bond to the others. Lauren heard the horse’s voice booming in the back of her head. “Wake up. Lauren is back with us.”
Ice woke next. Lifting her head, she looked into Lauren’s eyes. “You are awake. Well, I guess we are going to have to tolerate you a while longer.” A frown moved across the wolf’s face, and clouds gathered in her eyes.
Frustration rose in Lauren. “You know, Ice, I’m over your sarcasm and back-handed compliments. Get your butt off of me!” Lauren’s loud voice stirred the other two companions. Rising, Ice peered down at Lauren as a string of drool ran out of her mouth and dropped onto to Lauren’s cheek. “Ew…that is so gross!” Lauren tried to wipe her face, but Alex still held her hand, and the other was trapped under Snow.