The Return To Erda Box Set

by Beca Lewis

  Turning back to look at us she said, “How was I going to tell her that I was letting that happen? I couldn’t.

  “Instead, I ended up telling her that I was from another village, had escaped, and needed to rescue her to make myself feel better for what had happened with my village. It wasn’t that far off from the truth.

  “It took a long time. She was worried about her children and the rest of the village. She would only leave after she saw us getting carried away. I convinced her she couldn’t do anything to help if she was captured too, and finally, she agreed to come with me.”

  Aki was holding her mother’s hand and crying almost as hard as her mother. I had never seen Aki cry. The horror of what was happening was a hundred times harder for her than the rest of us. She was suffering in two timelines, and there was nothing I could do but listen and nod as if I understood. I understood, but I would never really know how that felt.

  As Ruta worked on healing Tarla of her immediate pain, we asked Aki how they got away.

  “It was Niko. He pretended to capture us and then he dragged us into the forest. At first, someone yelled at him that he was going the wrong way, but he told them he had plans for us.”

  Aki’s breath caught in her throat. “They gave him the high sign. Good for him. He was taking what he wanted. We screamed to make it real. My mother’s screams were real. Mine were almost as real. The whole thing was terrifying. Mom didn’t know it was Niko. He was a Raider. He looked just like them.”

  “After a while, Niko whispered to us to start running, and he walked out of the woods to help capture more people. I heard people yelling at him to come help with the children. I know he did. It must have been terrible.”

  All of us hung our heads. What could we say? It was terrible.

  So far we had not heard from Niko or Zeid. We didn’t expect to until things had died down. The chance that someone might notice our open channel was too high. We would be switching every four hours to a new one from now on until we were done, but it was safer to leave theirs closed until they opened it again when they were safe.

  We had laid Tarla in the back of the cave. Ruta’s ministrations had calmed her down enough to sleep. We thought that probably she hadn’t had a peaceful rest for many years. Seeing people she had never seen before, who spoke a strange language must have frightened her even more. Did she know she was safe?

  “Will you be able to heal her leg, Ruta?” Aki asked.

  “I made it stronger so she will be able to limp, but I am not sure I can take those scars away or completely heal the leg. Her mental trauma is so intense it is keeping me from doing a complete healing. Once this is all over, perhaps. But for now, that’s the best that I can do.”

  Aki reached out and held Ruta’s hand and then leaned over and kissed him. Ruta gasped and then smiled bigger than I had ever seen him smile. We all need praise. We all need to know that we are useful and needed. It’s not that we aren’t, it’s that we yearn to be told.

  The Priscillas still hadn’t returned. And they had not checked in either. With no communication from them or Niko and Zeid, we were left to wait. Once Tarla woke, we would leave the cave and follow Pita and Teddy to the circles that would take us down to the tunnels where the next part of our plan would unfold.

  That was assuming that the first part had gone well. We had Niko and Aki’s mother. Now, we needed Niko and Zeid in place. And safe. Safe. We needed them to be safe.

  I needed them to be safe.

  Abbadon Thirty-Four

  Our plans changed after Tarla woke up. She was so terrified that we were afraid to move her. Besides we hadn’t heard from Niko or Zeid. Scary enough in itself, so no one said anything. We didn’t want to make it worse.

  Aki spent most of the day sitting beside her mother holding her hand and sometimes speaking to her in their native language, which seemed to be helping. I wondered if Tarla would be able to accept that Aki was her grown-up daughter, or if Aki was going to leave it alone and not try to explain it again.

  Anne and Garth sat together quietly. I thought they had plenty of practice observing where they were, instead of interacting. I needed to learn some of that skill. Instead of feeling like I wanted to punch a wall out, or at the very least complain about the waiting.

  Teddy and Pita were monitoring our channel, and talking over something they were designing. They wouldn’t share what it was because they said sharing ideas too soon was like pulling up flowers to see if the roots were growing.

  The Priscillas still hadn’t come back. Was I the only one worried about that? Aki looked at me and frowned. Okay, maybe not. Ruta had checked on Tarla one more time before heading outside, and then I imagined that he headed back up into a tree.

  I seemed to be the only one who was having trouble waiting. I paced back and forth across the cave until Pita gave me a look and told me to stop it. By the look on everyone’s face, they were all in agreement.

  “Why can Ruta go outside and climb a tree and I have to stay in here,” I whined. ”What use am I in here?”

  “Well, Impatient Girl,” Teddy said, “You aren’t. Why not go visit Ruta?”

  Everyone in the cave tried to hide their pleasure at that idea, but I knew what they were thinking. Not only did they want me to leave them in peace, they thought it would be interesting to first, see me climb to the top of the tree, and second, bug Ruta with questions. Because they knew that was what I would do. I was, once again, filled up with questions. Could I do it? Could I climb the tree? Would I?

  “I will then!” I said, trying to sound positive and ended up sounding childish. I turned on my heel and walked out of the cave hoping I looked dignified. But when I whacked my hand against the cave entrance and everyone laughed, I knew I had only succeeded in looking ridiculous. It was par for the course.

  As soon as I stepped outside into the forest, I felt so much better. I could almost forget that we were in the middle of fighting a battle. A battle that the more I thought about it, the stupider it seemed to me, which is why I needed to get some questions answered.

  Climbing the tree to get to Ruta would be easy once I got myself in tune with the trees because I knew they would help.

  I stood waiting for a tree to call to me. Trees don’t call out vocally, at least not to me. Instead, it’s as if they send out a thought beam and it catches me and wraps around my heart and pulls me forward.

  It didn’t take long to feel that pull. I silently thanked the tree and mentally bowed before walking over to sit under the red maple that was only a few feet from the cave entrance.

  Its leaves were beginning to turn. Soon the whole tree would be ablaze with bright red leaves. Every autumn I marveled at the ability of trees and plants to let go. They are not only letting go, but they are also giving. Every leaf provides as it transformed into soil, which in the cycle of life would support other life including other trees.

  That thought helped ease my distress a little. I was holding on so tightly to our plan, I was blind to everything but that idea. Which then made me worried, or angry, and that just increased the cycle.

  Thinking that a tree would never be angry because it was dropping leaves, I had to laugh, and the tree responded by dropping a shower of leaves onto my head.

  At the same time, Ruta stepped out of the tree.

  “I thought I would save you the climb,” he said. “I understand the need to ask questions out loud to gain clarity. I often do that myself.”

  “I’ve never heard you do that.”

  “That’s because you have never listened, or been available.”

  Seeing my downcast face, he added, “You’re learning, Kara Beth. You are so much wiser than when you first returned. And it wasn’t all that long ago. Besides, Beru has always been the one who listened and helped me figure things out.”

 
“I’m sorry, Ruta. You must miss her as much as I do. I think that’s what is making all of this waiting so much worse. Beru is always here for all of us. And Cahir. I miss Cahir.

  “I worry that they won’t be there when we get back. That we will do something that changes everything and then some. Or that all the people we love won’t be there. It’s actually more than worry. I’m afraid.”

  Ruta reached over and put one of his hands on mine. “We need that fear, Kara. But it can’t let us become blind to what is going on, or be paralyzed by it. Which scares you more? That they won’t be there or that you can’t return?”

  “That they won’t be there. If I can’t return, I could still hold out hope that they were still alive, or maybe see them in this timeline.” I paused for a moment to hear what I had just said. “So, could we see Beru and Cahir in this timeline? Or any of the rest of our team?”

  “We could if they are here. But that’s the tricky part, isn’t it? By seeing them here, we may end up being the cause of them not being in the future when we return to it.”

  “You’re sharing with me aren’t you, Ruta?” I asked smiling at him. “Thank you! Are you ready for all my questions now?”

  Ruta nodded yes with the tiniest smile on his face, but before I could begin, the Priscillas came flying through the trees straight to my head. Both Ruta and I ducked. I tried to cover my hair, but Pris got a hold of it anyway.

  “We have news! Meet us in the cave.”

  Ruta and I looked at each other and shrugged. I stood, offered a hand to Ruta, and the two of us walked into the cave together. I had a tiny bit of satisfaction at the amazed looks on everyone’s face. Ruta holding hands?

  But the Priscillas were ready to talk, so we made ourselves comfortable and prepared to hear their story.

  Abbadon Thirty-Five

  They took their time. The Priscillas love a stage. They waited until everyone was ready, including a now awake Tarla who stared at the Priscillas with a smile on her face.

  “She knows you?” I asked in bewilderment.

  “She knows fairies,” Pris replied and then flew over to Tarla and started talking to her in Tarla’s native language. Soon the other two fairies joined them. All of them were babbling together waving their hands in the air. Aki talked excitedly to Pris while Tarla, La, and Cil smiled and nodded.

  The rest of us looked on in amazement, waiting as patiently as possible for them to be done.

  It was Aki who told us what they had been talking about after the conversation died down and Tarla looked more at ease than before. She was now leaning up against the cave wall, while Cil lounged on her shoulder. I smiled at Cil. I knew what she was doing. She had done it for me countless times. Calmed me down. Gave me courage.

  “Mom didn’t know the Priscillas, but she knows some of their relatives, and they were discussing the times they spent together. No, I had no idea that the Priscillas knew my native language or that they had known about my family. That, I know, is partially my fault. Niko and I never revealed our secret to any of you. Maybe we should have done it earlier.”

  Pris flew over to Aki’s shoulder and kissed her on the cheek and whispered something.

  “Oh, they knew all along, but chose to keep our secret,” Aki said, crying again out of gratitude. First, she had her mother back, and now she knew how well she had always been watched over.

  As Aki spoke with us, Tarla’s face started to change, and when Cil said something to her, Tarla began crawling towards Aki. We didn’t need to know her language to understand that she had finally recognized Aki. The crying and hugging lasted a long time. It raised all our spirits. We had accomplished one thing. We had reunited Aki with her mother. It was a win on our side.

  There was much to do, and we had no idea what the outcome of what we had done would be. But at that moment there was pure joy in all our hearts.

  *******

  “We still need to hear what the Priscillas have to say,” Teddy finally said, breaking into the celebration that was going on. “And I know that Twinkle Eyes is still bursting with questions. Most likely ones that we better try to answer while we still can. So let’s get on with it, people.”

  We all laughed. Pris retook center stage and began to tell us where they had been and what they had discovered. She had all of our attention, something I knew she loved. Cil remained on Tarla’s shoulder to translate what Pris would say. It didn’t take long for Pris to disrupt everything. In fact, it only took a few seconds and two sentences.

  “As you have heard, some of our relatives also lived here during this timeline. So, we went to see them.”

  At first, we all gasped in horror wondering what that choice had done to the future. But then we looked over at Aki and her mother and realized that we were already messing with timelines by rescuing Tarla. And that wasn’t even counting the fact that the adult Niko was now in the same place as his child-self. We were already playing with fire.

  “I sure hope we know what we’re doing,” I mumbled to myself, and Ruta gave me a nod. I loved it, Mr. Grumpy agreed with me.

  Pris continued, “I know. It might have been reckless, but we thought it was the right thing to do. Like the Ginete, we too don’t have a problem viewing more than one timeline at a time.”

  Turning to Anne, Pris said, “How do you think we knew to come out of the forest at that time to save you from Abbadon?”

  “Wait. Are you telling us that we are in some kind of time loop? You did this very thing before? Are you going to burst out of the forest again and punch Abbadon? What good will it do? Seriously, I don’t get it.”

  Teddy shook his head and said, “I don’t think any of us get it. But let’s pretend that we do. Are you going to do the same thing again?”

  Pris slapped her head and looked at all of us as if we were idiots. “Ziffer. No. We’re here before we do it, or did it last time. That’s why we chose this time. Or Suzanne did. If you think about it, when Anne tells Abbadon no, that would be the perfect time for us to capture him. He is out of control at that moment.”

  I was so upset that I stood up without thinking about it.

  “Well, then why did we need to let Abbadon raid the village? Why did Niko and Zeid need to get to the Castle? Why did we do all that if we are going to capture Abbadon? And then, what the ziffer are we going to do with him? Assuming that your plan to capture Abbadon works.

  “And wait, how will Zeid and Niko know what is happening. Didn’t you change everything without telling us? Shouldn’t we have known?”

  The more questions I asked, the more upset I got. I was actually stamping my feet and trying to keep my hands from getting hot enough to release a fireball or two. I didn’t think I was alone in feeling that way. Everyone else was looking at Pris as if she had lost her mind. Everything about the planning of the mission seemed entirely out of whack.

  The Priscillas had made me frustrated before, but this time I felt like strangling them or at least pulling Pris’ hair the way she pulled mine. Luckily for Pris, Niko came online just at that moment, and what he had to say was scarier than the Priscillas bogarting our mission and putting our future in danger.

  Abbadon Thirty-Six

  Niko spoke quickly. “Zeid’s here. The Raiders appear to have accepted us. Or at least they are giving us the impression that they have. It’s hard to say if it’s an act or not. There’s not any camaraderie between them, so the fact they don’t recognize us doesn’t seem to matter.

  “We think that there is something else going on here. We believe that after the men from the villages are captured, some of them, or maybe all of them, return as Raiders. We recognized at least one of them from the men captured at Willowdale. Maybe Abbadon does something to them to turn them into a Raider.

  “The women, children, and older men are taken somewhere else. We have
n’t found that place yet. It’s harder to sneak away then we thought it would be, so Zeid is going to have to do his vanish and reappear act more often than he wants to.”

  “Have you seen Abbadon?” Teddy asked

  “The last time we saw Abbadon was at the Raiders camp. I know I keep saying this, but something seems very off about them. We have to act almost brain dead not to stand out. We wanted to let you know that we found out that we are to be going out on raids every day. And some of the places are located days away.”

  Before any of us could say anything, Niko added, “It’s okay, we are not going. We’ll figure out a way to remain here in Abbadon’s Keep and explore the buildings. But you need to know that bands of Raiders are being sent out to search the local area, so it’s time for you to get to the tunnels. Be careful. There are already Raiders near you. Abbadon must suspect something.”

  Zeid burst into the conversation, “Gotta go. Something is happening.”

  After that announcement, the channel went quiet.

  We all stared at each other in horror. What was happening? Were they safe? Besides, we hadn’t had time to tell them about what the Priscillas had done, and their hair-brained idea. But we couldn’t worry about that. We had to get out of the cave and to the magic circles that would take us down into the land of Ginete and Whistle Pigs.

  Aki said something to her mother, and she nodded and stood up. We grabbed our backpacks, put out the fire and did everything we could to make the cave look the same as when we entered it. The circles were about a mile away, and the Raiders could be anywhere.