Arcene: The Island

by Al K. Line

  "Come on, Leel, it's time to get out of here."

  Woof woof.

  Leel shifted her position, head resting on Arcene's legs, the weight unnoticed until she felt light as a feather without the bony head of her friend. Leel stood and stretched, back arching and head craning forward and up as if searching for the light, or food.

  Food. Gosh, how hungry am I? What time is it? Judging by the hunger pangs that stabbed at her belly, it was now morning. How had she slept so long under such circumstances? Because there was no sense of danger, that was why. The mole person had saved them, had given them its home and done what it could to make them comfortable.

  Such creatures were not common, but three hundred years of a society so disparate and scared meant that many people had changed beyond all recognition over such a time. For Arcene it was normal, but she knew enough stories of how life used to be to know those people would think the world now impossibly strange.

  Some worshiped strange gods, others took themselves away from the world entirely, and others followed different paths, ones that led them back to basics, to animalism or forced regressions until they knew little of the world they lived in and had no concept of the technological age they had missed by a few centuries. The mole person was clearly one of those people, if it could still be called a person.

  There was probably a whole group of them, following their own path through life, becoming something unique, far away from what humanity now was, maybe lost in caves hundreds of years ago, somehow surviving and taking on all manner of strange behaviors as time passed and new generations were born in the dark.

  She'd met weirder people, met much more dangerous people who called themselves civilized, so she didn't judge — she had no right, and who was to say it wasn't a better life anyway?

  It wasn't for her though. Arcene was born to revel in the freedom above ground, to explore, have adventures and discover such strange people, not become one of them.

  "What do you think, Leel, should we wait or should we go?"

  Woof, woof.

  Leel was already heading for the tunnel entrance, and Arcene knew her friend was right. This was no place for a girl and her dog, this was mole person territory. It had been a nice place to visit but she wouldn't want to live there.

  "Wait for me, and don't go running off," warned Arcene, worried about the forest, aware Leel was not the best at remembering events of a few minutes ago let alone a whole day before.

  Leel turned and waited for Arcene, then began the steep climb up the passageway, hopefully to freedom and the wide world above.

  Almost immediately, things went wrong. Tunnels branched off at regular intervals, nothing just heading up in a nice straight line. Roots hung low like twisted limbs, there to hold them tight or drag them back down, and in places the earth was soaked, their bodies caked in it as they retreated and took another turn.

  As they tried first one way then the other, Arcene had to subdue her panic — it would overtake her otherwise and she'd find herself curled up in the fetal position, whimpering and begging for worms.

  Again. Again and again they tried a different route, until they were thoroughly lost and she wasn't even sure whether they were heading up or down. But they kept on, clawed over mounds where the tunnels had virtually collapsed, turning left then right and never giving up, but tiring as lactic acid built and the hunger pangs intensified.

  They had to get out soon, they simply had to. How many tunnels did the warren contain, and where was the mole person when she needed it?

  Something changed. Maybe the air was fresher, maybe there was a little breeze? It was hard to tell as her body was thick with mud, her nose was blocked, and she'd been staring at Leel's rear for so long she was seriously getting annoyed with the foul odors that seemed to be the only thing that penetrated her stuffed nostrils.

  It was! It was the smell of smoke, and it was lighter. Would it be safe? Could they get out or was the fire still burning?

  "Leel, wait a minute, it could be dangerous." It was no use, Leel was scrambling manically, kicking dirt into her face as she scampered up the remaining part of the almost vertical tunnel, disappearing into the pinprick of light far above, blocking it entirely as she made her way to the exit.

  Then there was light again as Leel exited.

  Arcene clambered up and kicked hard to gain purchase on the earth, fingernails digging deep for a hold, and then there she was, lying on her back, staring up at the blue sky. It was later than she'd thought, not morning at all. Where had the time gone? It was past afternoon already!

  The sky? The day before, the canopy was dense, the sky hidden by branches and leaves.

  Arcene got to her feet.

  The forest was decimated, nothing left but splinters of trees, branches gone, leaves incinerated, the ground ankle deep with ash and charred wood still smoldering in places, but mostly it was slush. The rains must have come in the night and doused the fire, stopping it spreading further.

  At least there was still hope for stretches of the forest, but as far as she could see in any direction it was carnage. Dead trees and ash, no birds, no animals, just smoke and the strong smell of devastation that tickled the back of her throat and penetrated her stuffed nose.

  "Leel, I think that's a waste of time." Leel licked at the pads of her paws, doing that strange nibbling action she often did when something was lodged deep. Leel lifted her head and stared at her, then resumed her work as if telling Arcene she didn't know what she was talking about and she could stay dirty if she wanted.

  Arcene shook her head at her friend and crouched down at the tunnel entrance. "Thank you mole person, we owe you our lives."

  There could have been a faint "I. Am. A. Mole" from deep underground, but Arcene wasn't sure if it was real or her imagination. She scratched an ear and a blob of mud dislodged, then listened again. Maybe there was a voice, although it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her, but either way, she owed the mole creature a lot.

  "Come on, Leel, time to go."

  Leel stopped her cleaning routine and moved carefully through the remains of the forest, hopping now and then when she put a paw in a hot spot.

  They headed toward the coastline, away from the forest and the hidden world beneath.

  She Saw Seashells

  The forest wasn't completely decimated. Less than five minutes of walking saw the sky hidden once more, charred stumps turning to lush growth on the canopy where saplings fought for light. Then the trees thinned out, becoming sparse as they reached the edge, the sky visible again. The rain had done its job well and doused the fire, saving at least part of the forest.

  Soon enough they came to the edge, the landscape changing from natural to artificial.

  Arcene and Leel stood at the top of a steep escarpment and stared down at the remains of a village. A road weaved its way from over a small rise to their right, then down the hill, leading to a small fishing harbor where flotsam and jetsam bobbed languidly against stone walls still intact and looking like they would last for a thousand years.

  Tiny cottages dotted the village, cramped and terraced as land became more prized the closer it was to the harbor and the sea.

  The sea, the beautiful sea, the salty tang, the view into infinity, in this case interrupted by the scene Arcene had seen once before.

  "It's an island, Leel. It's the sea with a cool island out there, how great is that?"

  Woof! Woof, woof woof.

  They stared at the strange sight, unexpected and beautiful. The island was as jagged as the blackened stumps in the forest, as if the rock too had been burned by the fire. Huge shards split the sky like monolithic flints, the entire island converging ever upward to what was clearly man's interference with its natural state.

  There were little buildings seemingly placed at random, spanning rocks at various levels, a large main building at the peak with towers, turrets and walkways — what a proper castle should look like as far as Arcene was concerned. Althou
gh you couldn't really call it a castle, this was more man doing his best to build an intimidating home that declared power in the most unlikely of places.

  But even the scale and impressive collection of buildings faded in comparison to the lush greenery and colors that could be seen even from their vantage point. There were huge swatches of blues, reds and yellows, and large expanses covered in grass, incongruous by their flatness and perfection amid the chaos.

  It would have taken a lot of work to carve out such large open spaces and it was very impressive indeed. Arcene squinted and made out steps and paths that crept around outcroppings of rock, or disappeared right through in some places, and encircled the whole island at countless levels — in other words, it looked like a really cool place and they had to visit.

  It wasn't an option, Arcene's innate sense of curiosity and her inquisitive nature meant there was no way she could pass up such an opportunity — they would visit the island and uncover its secrets.

  All they had to do was figure out how to get down to the harbor, get across the water, find a way in and hope that if anyone lived there they didn't mind her popping over to say hello.

  For a moment, Arcene had a strange sense of déjà vu. Having just come from one strange castle here she was at another. But this was different, this was no castle as she had ever known one, this was as if the rock itself had decided where to place buildings and had accepted some, changed its mind about others, creeping over them and giving the whole edifice an organic feel that called to her, wanted her to come visit. Play, explore, uncover secrets.

  But should she go? She should try to get home, and she dearly wanted to see Lucien, but what adventures would she miss? Was this irresponsible? She was a mother, after all, and mothers didn't go running off and never returning home. What was a few days though? This was her one chance to have adventure — she'd cared for her child for seven years, subduing her nature, acting responsibly. She was young, still wild at heart, and who was she kidding? There was no way she could miss out on this.

  A Nice Place to Visit

  Arcene walked away from the sight of the island and the village crowded around the harbor, moving along the cliff top to find the access road that would hopefully allow her and Leel to get down to the water and somehow get to the island.

  She promised herself they wouldn't stay long, would only take a day to do a little exploring. No big adventures, just a short stay to check out the mysterious place. The first sign of danger and they would be gone, head along the coast and make their way home to The Commorancy.

  A day was all right, wasn't it? She wouldn't stay long, didn't even want to as she craved a hug from her son. Needed one. She missed his smile, the smell of him, wanted to bury her head in his perfect hair and take in his essence. She'd never thought of it before, what he smelled like, but the freshness of the coastal air after the cloying atmosphere of the forest, and the aroma of damp earth, had opened her senses, and the first thing she had thought was how amazing such a simple thing as the smell of your child was.

  So, a quick foray into the village, find a way to get to the island and that would be it, then it would definitely be all about finding a way home to be reunited with her family.

  The wind tugged at Arcene's tattered kilt, and a strand of hair worked loose from her pigtails. Then the ribbons were free, hair untangling and cascading down her back before the wind lifted the fine-as-silk strands so they drifted like gossamer. She held the red ribbons tight, the simple pieces of material feeling important. It was a part of home, that was it, they were hers and they were familiar, so she clutched them tight like they were as precious as her son.

  The cliff edge had eroded in places, the limestone exposed, the drop high and impossible to clamber down. Leel bounded off ahead looking for a safe route to the village, cut off as the cliff curved away, so Arcene kept walking, hoping to find the remains of the road.

  As they rounded a bend, signs of the road became apparent. The land flattened out and the road, or what used to be a road, guided the way down.

  Whenever she saw these old transport routes she thought of how they once looked: covered in pristine, black asphalt, and probably jammed full of people in their cars as they had what they used to call "vacations," where they frantically hurried to picturesque places like this to forget the jobs they did, and spend a few precious weeks pretending they were free.

  Such concepts were alien, seemed ridiculous to Arcene. Why didn't people just live somewhere nice to start with and not do stupid jobs that made them depressed and angry?

  It was all about money. Everything used to be about money. Virtual digits floating around the world that dictated people's lives and made them sad. Working hard so they could buy cars, and houses they made it to in time to sleep, where children were safe but never seen as there was always more money to be made so bigger houses could be bought that they would then spend less time in.

  Arcene never understood why people didn't just go live in the country and forget about all that stuff, but she supposed you had to be a part of it to understand the motivations behind the actions of people that lived in a world when it was crowded and life was very different to anything she had ever known.

  Her thoughts had drifted again, as they often did when she experienced relics of that ancient past, and now here she was walking along a road that was no longer a road, just a flat expanse where the grass was shorter and trees erupted in strange places, making it look like some kind of manicured strip of garden.

  The road vanished inland, obliterated by forest where nature did what it did best and reclaimed the artificial construction, but as it headed down the steep slope to the village below it was still mostly visible.

  They wandered down the winding, narrow road, twisting and turning as their route cut into the hill, but heading down to whatever remained beneath. Arcene caught glimpses of the houses that still stood, stared into roof spaces where tiles were long gone, fallen to the ground in piles, now covered in weeds.

  She took in the splintered rooftops, wooden beams jutting up into the air, home to seagulls and white from centuries of their droppings. Then the view was lost again as they turned a corner, only to be revealed moments later, this time a little closer, and so the same thing was repeated as they descended.

  At last, they were in the village proper. A ramshackle collection of ruins, some burned to the ground, others relatively intact, windows smashed but buildings still standing, doors open where properties would have been raided by those desperate for food or shelter countless generations ago. But the buildings were few and far between on the hillside, the majority crowded around the harbor, forming a semicircle on the lowest level, facing out to sea and the island.

  It felt nice to be on flat ground — after the day she'd had Arcene was overdue a little normality and steadiness. The climb down had been straightforward but she felt out-of-whack, unbalanced, like she was still being pulled this way and that by forces out of her control.

  How was Fasolt doing? Was the balloon still airborne, even without the basket floor, or had he landed somehow and returned to look for her?

  Arcene thought about trying to find him, to search out a suitable bird in the sky and fly away to look, but it held too many dangers. He would be far away, the storm would have seen to that, and taking up residence in a creature any distance from her own body always made her feel exceptionally ill. No, he would be fine, he knew she was strong and independent.

  And she'd felt his mind touch hers as she crashed into the trees, and again when she landed in the pile of leaves. She'd signaled to him, told him she would see him at home, and then he retreated from her presence, sticking to the agreement made that they would never intrude in each other's minds — it was taboo, you had to be your own person.

  So, Fasolt would stick to their agreement made in The Noise. He would go home, she would make her own way, and he would battle with the balloon as long as it stayed airborne. It was silly for them both to be delaye
d, and anyway, he knew what she was like and that she welcomed the chance for adventure on her only trip away for years.

  She put such thoughts aside, willed herself to focus on the present, and as her hair whipped about her face and she inhaled deeply of the salty air, she took stock of her surroundings and let everything else fade away.

  It was all about living in the now, taking in as much of the experience as possible, not letting other things crowd your mind and stop you truly experiencing the real world. It was easy to go through life only half-awake, never present, so Arcene became one with herself, opened her mind and her senses to the moment and lived life to the fullest. How it was meant to be. Something the few people still alive on the planet seldom accomplished.

  The tiny community was beautiful, in its own way. Arcene stood on the edge of the harbor wall and turned in a circle, looking first out to sea then at the buildings crowding the edge of the ancient paving, cobbles peeking through the moss that made a beautifully compact carpet of green, contrasting sharply with the white seagulls wandering around, seemingly unafraid of Arcene and her companion.

  "Leel, you leave them alone." It was no use, Leel had stayed by her side long enough and she was practically ready to burst at the sight of so much free food, apparently asking to be eaten. With her body trembling with anticipation and excitement, Leel bounded after the gulls, only to find they weren't the static snacks she had believed. The birds took to the air as one, screeching their warning to others, mocking Leel as she jumped at them, huge jaws snapping on nothing but air.

  The houses that fronted the quayside made Arcene think of dollhouses she had discovered over the years, the doors tiny, windows allowing glimpses into ramshackle interiors where nothing remained but broken furniture and the chaos wrought by infrequent flooding over the years. There would be nothing to find, little of any use, certainly no food.

  At the thought, her belly rumbled, but it would have to wait. Unless Leel somehow convinced a gull to land in her mouth there was little chance of them getting anything fresh to eat. And besides, the night was coming soon, they would have to make do with a little of what was in their pack and suffer the hunger pangs. She could deal with a lot, had, and would, but hunger was almost too much to bear.