Thomas Kindercook and the Pink Pyjamas

by Gerald Feather

  Alanna froze. Two big revelations in one paragraph. Thomas was related to Edric! He was royalty after all. However the biggest revelation. He wasn't a wizard! Suddenly Alanna felt ill. What had she gotten herself into? She couldn't let her father find out. If he found out... No. She didn't want to think about that. She had been utterly deceived by Gatsby and Thomas. She was so angry she could spit. Still, she thought, there was a legitimate connection to Edric, so it might not matter in the end.

  Alanna thought back on all that happened. Was the boy a complete fool? He had walked up to her father, faced Tretchbolt all the while he was merely a 14 year old human with no abilities whatsoever? Tretchbolt had a word for that. Snack.

  Gatsby took me to BlueShift, a city of Blue Dragons, which for some reason choose to be human most of the time. He said he could find help for us there, but really all he found was trouble. Lots of trouble.

  He was in trouble with this princess who lived there. Something about failure to appear at an arranged arrangement for an arranged marriage or something. I decided to follow him and make sure he was alright. That was the biggest mistake of my life.

  Alanna kept reading. The journal went on to describe their encounter from a slightly skewed perspective. Flipping through the journal, Alanna began to notice that the pages were numbered, and that Thomas, for some reason, seemed to have taken pages out here and there. From what she remembered of her travels so far with him, the pages that were missing should describe events that happened with her. The dinner, that night. The trip out here so far. They were all missing. Alanna put the book back as carefully as she could, the way she found it. She didn't believe he was going to notice anything amiss considering the manner in which he kept his stuff.

  The fact that Thomas lied to her still boiled inside her like lava, but she was going to have to control herself. She wanted to know more, and the best way to find out more was to let him keep writing in that journal, and pretend she knew nothing.

  It was middle of the day again when she heard Thomas return. He seemed to be clanging around outside Eventually he poked his head in.

  “Alanna?”

  “What would you like?” Alanna supposed that she could afford a little anger after Thomas clumsy attempt at 'helping' her.

  “I just thought I would check in on you. I caught some kind of fish in the river. I am just cooking them now, and wondered if you would like some.”

  “Harrumph.” Alanna was actually quite hungry, and the smell of the fish cooking over the open flame was making her stomach growl.

  A short time later, Thomas pushed through the tent flap with a tray that he had obviously stolen from Alanna's cart. He placed it down next to Alanna. Thomas had given her a healthy portion of fish as well as some fresh cut fruit, placed in a bowl to the side. There was a glass of water and some flowers.

  Thomas seemed to flush a bit when he noticed her looking at the flowers. “I'm not sure about the fruit. It looked similar to something we called apples. I hope it's not poisonous.”

  “Don't think for one moment that this gets you off the hook!”

  “Eat quickly, we really should get going.” Thomas said as he started to organize his things.

  “And how do you suppose that I am going to move in my condition?”

  “I'll let you eat. If you need anything, I will be just outside.”

  Thomas left the tent again, leaving Alanna alone with her meal. “What was wrong with that boy?”

  Alanna took a bite of the fish and washed it down with the water. “Pah.” She guessed she would suffer through the meal, but it was bland, with no seasoning. A chef Thomas was not. Still it had been thoughtful of him to cook for her. She was just about done the last of the hollief fruit when Thomas came back in.

  “You're finished? It's about time we got moving.”

  “I still have no idea how you plan to move me.”

  Thomas reached down and slung Alanna over his shoulder like an old laundry sack.

  “HEY! You can't just pick me up like that!”

  “Would you have let me had I asked you?” Thomas asked over his shoulder.“Of course not!” Alanna replied, hanging upside down.

  “Then what's the point of wasting time arguing?”

  Thomas packed Alanna out of the tent and laid her down on the back of the hand cart. He had arranged the items to create a kind of seat. Over top of the items, he had laid a thick blanket for comfort.

  “Hopefully this won't be too uncomfortable.” Thomas said as he walked back to the tent.

  “This isn't going to work Thomas.” Alanna looked around. Unfortunately her view was of the road behind them rather than the camp. Alanna sighed in exasperation.

  “Well that should do it.” Thomas said from behind, startling her.

  Alanna tried to shuffle around, unsuccessfully, to get a better view of Thomas. “I was trying to tell you, this isn't going to work.”

  “I know, I heard you.”

  “Why didn't you reply then!” Alanna didn't like to be ignored.

  “Because I didn't feel like arguing. I have to save my energy for the trip ahead.”

  As Alanna couldn't see Thomas, she glared at the road behind her. “Well you'll see. This is the stupidest thing that you have done so far.”

  “Worse than breaking into your room?”

  Alanna had to think for a moment.

  “Or worse than pretending to be your fiancee?”

  Alanna clenched her teeth, “We'll see.”

  Taking a deep breath, Thomas grabbed the end of the cart and started to haul Alanna up the path toward Mount Trekken.

  *****

  Victor sat on his cold throne impatiently listening to the storm outside. It should be soon. The Shadow would return with his victim, and he would figure out the significance of the girl who had activated the bowl of seeing.

  The candles in the room stared to waver, a few going out. A cold breeze swept through, alerting Victor to the Shadow's presence.

  “Master.” A deathly whisper of a voice emanated from the corners of the room.

  Victor stood up and looked around the room. Victor would never admit it out loud, but the Shadow's presence was more than a little unnerving. Especially hearing the voice come from all around. Not knowing exactly where it was caused Victor to jump on several occasions. The trick was to look for the darkest corner, and that was usually where the Shadow was.

  “You are back!” croaked the old man. “Bring me my prize.”

  “Master. You were incorrect.” came the omnipresent whisper.

  “What do you mean I was incorrect.” exclaimed the old wizard whipping his head around from corner to corner. He was starting to feel both dizzy and irritated.

  “There is no girl.”

  “That's ridiculous! I saw her in the bowl of seeing. There is a girl!” The old man spat and turned on his heel. He grabbed the bowl of seeing from the pedestal beside his throne.

  “You dim witted creature! It's not just your form that is absent.”

  Victor passed his hand over the bowl.

  “Bowl! Show me the traveller from before!”

  Small tendrils of smoke erupted from the surface and started to swirl around above the liquid. The bowl changed colours and started to glow. Victor gazed into it as shapes started to solidify inside. At first the image was faint, as if the age of the bowl made it slow to work, but gradually, a meadow came into view. It was a typical forest setting, with great old trees and a river running alongside a path. On the path there was a cart, being pulled by a boy. On the cart, sat a girl with long dark hair. Very fetching, if you cared about that sort of thing.

  “See?! Honestly, I have no idea what is the matter with you. I give you a simple set of instructions. Bring the girl. Unhurt.”

  The Shadow gazed at the bowl from his corner of the room. It did not believe that the girl they looked upon now, was the one in the bowl before, but it didn't feel like pointing this out. It really mattered v
ery little to it. As long as it followed instructions, there was little the wizard could do to it.

  “That girl there. Go get her!”

  “Yes.” The Shadow's cold voice came from all directions. Just as fast as the Shadow had appeared, it left to hunt out its new prey. The girl. At least it would have a snack before taking the girl. It didn't appear that the master cared about the boy. The Shadow would have smiled if it could have.

  CHAPTER 19

  TRAPPED

  Thomas wiped his brow on the back of his shirtsleeve as he stood beneath Mount Trekken. Three weeks had stretched into a month with Alanna's injured leg. It wasn't really an injured leg, Thomas knew that, but if he were talking to Alanna, anytime he used the proper term for where the injury was, Alanna would find something in the provisions to throw at him.

  Thomas was worn to the bone, but he had managed to drag the cart with Alanna to the foot of the mountain. She had finally given up protesting a couple of weeks before. She could be quite persistent even when it was obvious that he was managing. He had felt terrible when he discovered he was responsible for her poor health. There hadn't been much to decide, he had to help her until she was well enough to stand on her own. Time had helped however, and Alanna was feeling much better now. Staring up at the mountain ahead, Thomas hoped she would be able to walk up under her own power. If he had to go much farther pulling her in that cart, she would have to haul him up that hill.

  “I am guessing that we're there then?” came a voice from the cart. Alanna was still facing the wrong direction.

  “Yeah, I think so.” Thomas collapsed to the ground gulping for air.

  “Good. Now I expect you to keep your word. I don't want to be carted around like produce anymore.” Alanna pushed herself up off the cart and wobbled over to where Thomas was sitting.

  “You're crazy you know.”

  “I know.” Thomas replied coolly. “But we made it. Told you we would.”

  “I could have walked weeks ago.”

  Thomas really was one of the most stubborn individuals that she had dealt with. When he got it into his head that he was going to do something, he didn't let up. Or give up. Alanna looked at Thomas sitting at the side of the path. He looked absolutely beat and was completely covered in sweat. She had noticed though, over the course of the month, his physique was building. A result of pulling around a lot of dead weight she figured. She cocked her head to the side as if seeing someone else emerging from his shell. Every day he looked less and less like a boy, and was starting to approach something that looked like a man.

  Alanna sat down beside Thomas wanting to say something kind for a change to the wizard boy. Perhaps it was time to stop thinking of him as 'The Wizard Boy'.

  “I never thanked you.”

  “Hm?” Thomas was obviously conserving his energy for rudimentary tasks, like breathing.

  “You could have run away. You could have abandoned me when I was injured.”

  “If I had no conscience, maybe I could have done that.” Thomas looked down at the ground in front of him. “Actually, I never apologized. I should have. I dropped down on you from your bed. You must have been scared to death. And... I caused your injury.”

  “Let's call that one a draw then. I hit you several times with my training sword. I was in the process of trying to brain you when you did what you did. It was defensive, I don't blame you.”

  “Still, I could have found a better way.” Thomas picked up a stick beside him, and started to push rocks around on the ground. “I have never really been good socially.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah.” Thomas turned and laughed. “Hard to imagine hey? Back at home, I would be the one most likely at the library. At a dance, I would be standing at the side, talking about movies and books with others similar to me. I never got to dance with the pretty girl. I never scored a goal in sports. I pretty much have to fall into a situation that forces me to talk to strike up a conversation.” Thomas rocked to the side, pushing Alanna gently with his shoulder, “Or into their bed in your case.”

  Alanna gave Thomas an appraising glance. “I think you might do quite well in sports now, don't you?”

  Alanna sighed and joined in pushing rocks around with Thomas.

  “At least you have the opportunity to socialize with normal people. For me? It's always lord that, or lady that. If someone wants to go out with me? They have to go through my father. You can imagine how often that happens.” Alanna considered this for a moment.

  “You're actually the only one that my father has allowed to date me outright. You must have impressed him.”

  “Yeah, with my credentials.” Thomas stabbed at another rock on the path.

  Alanna tried to block the rock from skidding off to the side with her own stick.

  “By the way, what's the point of this game?” Alanna asked.

  “I wasn't aware it was a game!”

  “Oh.” Alanna said, and flicked the rock that Thomas had stabbed at earlier, off to the side of the road.

  Alanna felt sorry for him. He had lied to her, true. However, he had been tossed into this role against his will. Considering how he came to be with her, he had treated her much better than he had to. Here he was, a normal kid, taking care of a princess. No special abilities, no special training. Just a boy in over his head.

  Thomas and Alanna just sat at the foot of the mountain together in the quiet of the forest for a fair bit of time, and for once, the silence was comforting and rejuvenating.

  At last Thomas got up and walked over to the cart. “This will probably be the last chance I have to write in my journal before we make the trip up. Do you mind if I take a few minutes to myself?”

  “That's fine. You're still not going to share with me what's so important about that journal?” In truth, Alanna had found moments to sneak peeks into it, but so far, most of what she read was a day by day narrative of their adventure. However she noticed every so often, a page would go missing. She wished she knew where he was keeping those hidden pages. It bugged her, because it would most certainly be pages about her. Judging by the book, there were quite a few of them about her. That concerned Alanna. He was holding back. When they first met, if he was angry, he would come right out and insult her. Usually in the harshest way. Now that they had been travelling together for a while, he no longer complained. Actually, she couldn't remember the last time he had said a single unkind thing about her since leaving their first camp. She would have preferred if he would let things out as he went along, rather than let it pent up inside.

  “Do you think you are up for the walk?” asked Thomas as he finished writing.

  Alanna gently placed her arm over his shoulder. “You carried me this far. We'll do the rest together.” It was just after midday by the position of the sun. Luckily they could still see it up in the sky. There was a storm coming in. She would like to be to the half way point when it hit if possible. There were caves where they could take shelter.

  *****

  Thomas surreptitiously removed a few pages from his journal and placed them in a small pack that he wore on the inside of his shirt. It wouldn't be good if Alanna had read those pages. At the same time, he had to leave something behind, in case she did look at it. If she realized that he was hiding pages...

  The cart was going to stay behind, here at the bottom. They took out a tarp and pulled it tight over the belongings that they left behind. The provisions in their pack would still carry them for a few more days, long enough for them to reach The seer above. Thomas had been responsible for their dinners for the past month. He did his best to trap wild game, fish, and look for fruit in the wilderness. You never knew when things would take a turn for the worse, and he wanted to make sure their supplies carried them through any tough patches that came along. It was winter, and if this place was similar to home, it wasn't the easiest time of year to find food.

  Thomas held his breath as he watched Alanna get ready. She was radiant as usual. He c
ould almost wish that his marriage to her was more than an illusion instead of a tool to help release her from another relationship. A relationship with Gatsby. He felt a sudden flash of jealousy. She was very close with Gatsby. He wondered if Gatsby had stayed for the ceremony, would she have been happily married to him by now? Thomas shook those thoughts out of his head. The truth is, if he hadn't run away, Thomas would never have had this adventure with a beautiful woman. The hardship was more than worth the company.

  It was getting on in the afternoon when Alanna and Thomas finally started up the hill. Thomas didn't like the look of the sky. The wind was starting to pick up, and the temperature was starting to drop. Alanna looked determined, but the weeks of pulling Alanna in the cart had taken a toll on Thomas. Climbing up these steep inclines were a little beyond what his scrawny body could handle. As Alanna pressed ahead with determination, he stumbled and fell to one knee. Alanna was half way up the path before she noticed Thomas struggling to stand behind her.

  It may have been silly, but Thomas didn't want her to notice his lack of stamina. He realized that he was probably trying to show off for the princess, and he feared any sign of weakness would only lessen his image in her eyes. He pushed himself to his feet and with legs of jelly, pushed himself hard to go up the hill.

  “Are you alright Thomas?”

  “I'm just a little tired. But I'll be alright. I stumbled over a root back there.”

  “If you need to stop, we can rest here for now.”

  Thomas just looked up at the sky. The clouds were getting darker at an alarming pace. He didn't like the feel of it. “I think we better keep going.”

  Picking up on Thomas' concern, Alanna nodded.

  It wasn't even ten minutes later when the rain started. At first it was innocent enough, but then it started to come down with a ferocity that Thomas had never experienced before. Water quickly gathered in the path that they were climbing up. It was pooling, and running down where it could. Thomas was already soaked to the skin. He tried to keep his eyes on Alanna, pushing himself to keep up with her.

  Then, all hell broke loose. The sky opened up with a crack of thunder and lightening that hit the side of a bank up the hill in front of them. Thomas reeled from the noise as well as the light. He had to squint to see Alanna through the storm. There was a cracking noise from where the lightening had struck, and the bank started to give way.