~ 56 ~
Common Sense
They met to decide on the best plan of attack: Malden suggested if the cave was not too far from where Valkrog was first found with the collider, then it would suffice as an anchor point.
“But what if Valkrog had moved the thing?” Sarina still found it hard to look at the Professor and see elements of both Makthryg and Valkrog’s faces in him.
Tomas snorted. “That ugly creature had more chance of moving that device by blowing air from his rear end, than he could with his hands ... oops.” He reddened. “Just a turn of phrase. And no slight on our new acquaintance.”
Andreas gave a small smile. “It is true. He was unable to move the device when he found it. He had already called for his master’s help.” He sighed. “Strange that you are both, and yet neither.”
So she wasn’t the only person who felt that way. She wondered what Lena would think when she saw her father for the first time, and smiled to herself, though that disappeared once she changed the when to an if. Orange Witch. Think Orange Witch and everything will be okay. She caught Professor Malden’s attention. “Professor, it’s great that Rona, Paolo, Andreas and Tomas will be able to rest here in relative shelter, but there are some things I have neglected to tell you.”
The man raised his eyes. “Reluctantly, I must suggest it cannot be much worse than our two universes sucking each other inside out, can it?”
“No, but it’s going to make our job harder. Firstly there’s the matter of making a portal to get us back: the last time we did that, it took Nathan, Lucio, Eva, Paolo and myself to make it work—and quite some practice.”
Malden’s brow creased. “Then we could ask Eva and Lucio again, can’t we? I will take the place of Paolo and Nathan.”
Sarina looked out of the mouth of the cave. The low, rolling black sky was almost above them, but the twisters remained in the distance. They’d become used to speaking over the constant roar of the wind and the now-frequent claps of thunder, but still, when she thought of travelling in such weather ...
She dismissed the thought and turned her attention back to Malden. “I’m sure they would gladly help. But they are not here—and that’s another thing: in all our experience with creating portals, familiarity with the departure and arrival points makes the work much easier. We’d really be better off in the township, which would have the benefit of allowing Eva and Lucio to join us.”
Malden stood. “Then we must away. Where is this township?”
Andreas moved to the cave’s mouth, and pointed down the hill straight into the mouth of the ominous cloud formation. “A turn of the sun’s solid march through that. Even Tomas, our stoutest trekker, would struggle. Let alone a weakened man and a slip of a girl.” He saw Sarina’s expression. “Even if she is the Orange Witch,” he added hastily.
“Not only that, Professor, but with all due respect, for you to take the place of Paolo and Nathan—that seems far-fetched,” Sarina said.
The man grinned, walked to the front of the cave and held up his hands. Sarina noticed a faint image of the missing finger silhouetted against the dark sky. Malden drew a deep breath, then thrust his hands out. Sarina shivered at the familiarity of the posture, etched in her mind from her battles with Malden’s former self. Two jets of snaking silvery-blue energy lines shot from his hands, and blasted up into the sky. Malden raised his voice in a wrenching call.
“LLLLEEEEEEEEENNNNAAAAAAAAA!”
He finished and, bowed down from the effort, moved back into the cave. He lifted his head and smiled at Sarina. “I still have a few tricks of my own up my sleeve. Now let me regain my breath before we leave.” He continued past and sat quietly.
“Very fancy. But what do we do about getting there?” Sarina muttered. A touch of her elbow—she looked around and up to see Tomas, his tousled hair and earnest ruddy face above hers.
“If the Orange Witch would allow me, I would accompany her and our new Wizard to the township. Andreas is correct when he describes the level of difficulty. If you were to attempt this by yourselves, with no maps”—he shook his head and closed his eyes before continuing—“then our battle may already have been lost. But with my aid, and my knowledge of the safe trails, then I would deliver you safely. That is, assuming our Chief Township Elder grants me permission.” He gave Sarina a nod, and turned to Andreas.
Andreas bowed and waved his hand with a flourish. “When you put it in such a way, Tomas, then the choice is already foretold. Our odds would be greatly increased, you are correct. And since we shall have no need of our own travelling supplies, you will take what you need from us to bundle together three packs for travelling.” He pointed to the rope on the floor, devoid of any magic. “You may yet find another use for this, if only to belay each other in these winds.”
Tomas nodded. “Then we shall be ready to depart in ten cries of the crow.” He began sifting through all the supplies and pulled out various containers, sack-like materials, knives, and long strips of cloth. An icy shiver ran through Sarina’s body when she realised what Tomas was gathering: emergency medical supplies; in case of a severe injury. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
A warm body made its presence felt and she opened her eyes to feel Rona’s gaze on hers. She opened her mouth to speak, but Rona pressed her fingers gently against her lips. “Shhh. We both know it to be the truth. You are my only way back to the other world. Once you leave, then I will not return. But, Sarina, I am not sad. I am grateful. Grateful to have known you; to have shared some of our lives together. I want you to know that, and to know when you succeed on the other side, as I am certain you will, that I will be content in this world, having survived our universes being ripped apart.”
Sarina brushed away a tear, and looked down, then back up. “And you have legs.”
Rona chuckled. “I plan to use them, believe me.” She frowned slightly. “But there’s something you haven’t told our new friend.”
Sarina looked puzzled. “What ... ? Oh, yes. In all the panic about how we might get back, I forgot what we’re heading back to. I’ll tell him while we wait for Tomas.” She embraced her friend. “Thank you for everything. You’ve saved my life and been there for everything when I needed you.”
“Then make it mean something, and do your best. And most importantly—”
“Yes?”
“Make Drysdale eat his words.”
Sarina smiled, fought back more tears, and sat down next to Malden.
“Yes, my dear. Are we almost ready?”
She nodded. “Professor, I haven’t told you everything yet. There’s something else you need to know about the world we are hopefully going back to.”
He raised one eyebrow.
“It’s not as supportive of our ... cause ... as you might think. In fact”—she hesitated again—“it’s probably better to think of it as exactly the opposite.”
He looked surprised. “Professor Harrison does not have the support to investigate solutions for the collider’s damage?”
“It’s um, even worse than that. The Professor is on the run, all the Dreamer Kids are in hiding, and a secret weapons group has been trying to steal the collider and turn it into a weapon. The man who”—she didn’t know the word for what had happened to the would-be assassin—“disappeared in sparkly fire, he was one of them. Still I suppose there’s no collider for them to steal anymore. Not that they’ll believe that.”
“But surely the world’s expert scientists must have got together over this issue with the moon, and Harrison will have appraised them. There will be cooperation, I am sure.”
She shook her head slowly. “There’s actually a strong group—some kind of cult, Nathan thinks—that is really well organised. They want the eradication of all children with any so-called super-powers.” She decided to refrain from making any comment about expert scientists.
Malden grunted. “Eradicate eh? They’re all about to be eradicated themselves and they’re concerned about mind-rea
ding kids? Not that they’d find much worth reading in their own minds by the sound of it.” He brightened. “Still. Common sense will prevail when we get there and show them our logic.”
Sarina forced a smile. So far, she’d seen little evidence of common sense prevailing anywhere in her world, especially when there was a crisis.
Tomas’s appearance in front of them prevented her thought from progressing. “Time to leave.”
Sarina steeled herself and looked out, grim-faced, at the twisters.
~ 57 ~
A Wall Of Rain
Sarina trudged down the hill, bent against the wind, unable to stop herself casting an eye at the looming clouds, which so far, had only barked and spat, but had held off soaking them, for which she was grateful. Leaving Rona, knowing she might never see her again was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, and her heart still ached from the last lingering embrace and shared tears.
Tomas led the way with confidence, looking back on occasion to check his wards. He’d loaded himself with almost everything, and had shaken off any attempts to lighten his load, showing them his brawny build and calloused hands. “Do you think we each have a role in our race to save us all? Then quiet your protestations, for I too have a part to play.”
Soon they had lost all sight of the rocky terrain hiding the cave, way up behind them, and now the ground levelled out as it met the forest. Tomas guided them into a trail. Sarina had imagined they’d be scything through wild jungle-like undergrowth, but Tomas had showed them there were pathways. Not well-used, by any stretch of the imagination, but clear enough that they could pass without much difficulty.
“We arrived by these paths,” Tomas grunted as he swept aside a fallen branch to allow the other two to come through, “though the storm will no doubt have its way with fallen debris, so keep your eyes peeled.” No sooner had he said the words than a branch fell with a heavy thud, shaking the ground close to them, and proved his point. He raised his eyes as if to say, ‘Do not say I did not tell you.’
The forest turned out to be short work, which surprised Sarina. She caught up with Tomas and walked by his side as they exited the last trail, fighting the intense pressure of the wind beating against them. She wondered why the wind wasn’t behind them, helping them, and chalked it up to another of life’s challenges sent to try her patience. A bit of wind was nothing compared to two universes chewing each other up. She looked up at Tomas as they marched, now into open ground and breathing hard. “I thought there would be forest most of the way back?”
“Too much thinking, Sarina. Aye, there will be more forest, but for now, we have more than half a turn of the sun to cover open ground, at which point we must rest, for it will be dark, and too dangerous for us. We must make haste over this land”—he gestured to the open plains they were now traversing—“for if those ugly twisty things, or whatever your lady friend called them, catch us out in the open, I cannot vouch for our safety. From what she told us, they contain fierce winds that can pick up an entire row of cabins, and drop them into a completely different terrain.”
Sarina looked back to check on Professor Malden. He was weak and pallid, that much was obvious once they were out of the cave. Tomas had forced them all to drink an unpalatable liquid he claimed to have survived on for one week by himself in the plains. The green liquid had burned her throat on the way down, but within a few minutes her skin was tingling and there was a noticeable spring in her step. As for Malden, he looked rosier than ever. But that seemed long ago now. She turned to her friend and bent her head down to avoid the stinging wind. “Should we drink more of that stuff?” She had to raise her voice to be heard now they were in the open.
Tomas shook his head. “I only have enough for our next leg after we rest. We must reach our next shelter on determination alone.” He cast an eye to the sky. “Aye, and before long, we will see the rain, and hard rain too.”
He was right. They’d gone no more than another kilometre, as far as she could judge, when they rounded a slight rise on the featureless brown plain ... and stopped.
“What in the Gods is that?” Malden said, and stood there panting, his hands on his knees, eyes fixed ahead and squinting against the wind.
In front of them—and moving fast from what Sarina could tell—was a massive, impenetrable-looking filthy-grey wall of rain.
“Rain. Hard and heavy.” Tomas shielded his eyes and looked around. “No way around it, I am sorry to say.”
“And we don’t have time to shelter,” Sarina said. “Is it my imagination, or is it heading toward us?”
“Aye it is.” Tomas unwound the rope from his shoulder. “We do not know how far we must march through it, but judging by the look of it, we may lose visibility. I will secure us together and lead the way. Please tie these over your heads—it will help.” He handed each of them a heavy waxed-cloth head covering to pull down and tie under the chin. Sarina put hers on and wondered if someone had come up with the idea by studying a baby’s bonnet, then over-engineered the specifications. The hat sat on her head like a heavy, smelly, solid blanket.
“What if”—she felt the tremble in her voice—“what if one of those twisters catches us while we’re in the middle of it?”
Tomas fixed her with a grim look while he tied ropes to each of them, looping around each of their waists and not taking any chances; avoiding using any clothing as a tie-point. “From what I can tell, we would be better off not knowing. Even if we had clear line of sight, could you run from one of those things?”
Sarina shook her head.
The ropes were secured, and Tomas led the way forward. The closer they got to the approaching rain-storm, the more the skies darkened. The rain front resembled a giant grey curtain sweeping the land to meet them—and then they were in its clutches. Rivers of water poured over her waxed-bonnet, as she’d come to call the hat, which had turned out to be spectacularly effective in limiting the unpleasant stinging and clingy wet-hair of a heavy downpour. But most of the time, this downpour was more like a waterfall. Tomas was right. She could hardly see him in front of her, and she held on to the rope for security. Professor Malden was behind her, that much she could feel from the drag of the rope. She gritted her teeth and bent over against the cascade, concentrating on splashing one foot in front of the other. The water had now gone all the way through her clothes—clothes she’d had no time to consider when they first set up the portal, and that were not designed for this weather. Not that many clothes would have been—at least, not clothes from their world. She wondered what it would be like wearing an entire outfit made from the same stuff as the wax-bonnet. Heavy and stiff, but dry.
She was in the middle of wondering how Tomas knew which direction to take, when the rope behind her pulled taught, and she was forced to stop, dragged forward a little by Tomas until he too stopped. The big man’s silhouette approached her as he found his way back down the rope.
“I THINK THE PROFESSOR MUST HAVE FALLEN,” she shouted over the roar of the rain. Tomas nodded and pointed along the rope, making a gesture she should go first so as not to entangle them. She walked her soggy hands one-by-one along the rope until she found the Professor on his back, his eyes rolled into his head.
Tomas moved past her, and shook the man. “PROFESSOR MALDEN. WE CANNOT REMAIN HERE. PLEASE SUMMON WHATEVER ENERGY YOU HAVE.”
Malden’s eyes fluttered open, and he spoke, but they could not hear him over the noise of the rain pounding their hats, bodies, and the ground. Sarina bent down next to the man and placed her ear near his mouth. “AGAIN, PROFESSOR.”
“Very ... sorry ... no more ... energy. Must leave me here.”
Sarina shook her head violently. Number one, she was not going to leave Professor Malden to die, not after they’d just reincarnated him and found Lena her father again. And number two, he was a key part of their plan to save their worlds. She grabbed Tomas’s arm and pulled him down to her. “CAN YOU CARRY HIM?”
Tomas shrugged, and cupped hi
s large hands to her ear. “Normally, yes, and for some distance. But with all this”—he gestured to the packs and tools strung about his person—“even I will struggle to make it through.”
“GIVE ME AS MUCH AS I CAN CARRY. WE’LL LEAVE THE REST. THEN GIVE ME SOME OF YOUR JUICE.” She saw the doubt flicker across Tomas’s face as he digested her request. She made a desperate plea. “YOU KNOW WE HAVE NO OTHER WAY. IT’S OUR BEST CHANCE. TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE IT.”
He nodded, and divested himself of everything bar his own clothes, sorting out the essential survival items amongst the driving rain and pooled water splashing up around them. The rest he kicked to one side, and raised his voice to Sarina. “CAN YOU MANAGE THESE?”
She looked over and nodded. “HELP ME PUT THEM ON.”
Tomas hung her with two large packs, one on her front, the other on her back, then dressed them with the few tools and vessels he’d deemed worthwhile carrying. He took one look at her, water streaming off his own cap. His expression said it all: disbelief. He reached into his jacket and fished out the small bottle of energy juice—harrowberry, he called it, she remembered—and thrust it at her. “ONE LARGE SWIG. NO MORE. WE WILL NEED IT TOMORROW.” She nodded and swallowed one large swig as prescribed, ignoring the stinging rain on her face as she lifted it up. The juice burned again, then she felt the warming tingle spread through her limbs. She nodded to Tomas, who had already packed the bottle away and had moved to pick up Malden.
He took one look at her, his eyes showing the determination she had yet to find in herself, then turned, took up the slack in the rope, and with a glance behind him, marched through the rain, Malden slung over his shoulder and bouncing like a sack of potatoes. Sarina lost sight of him as the rain pelted even harder.
She lowered her head and soldiered on, clutching the rope in front of her, and taking strength from Tomas’s determination and the buzzing tingle from the harrowberry.
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 90