He gripped both her hands in his, making her bangles jingle. ‘Kora, I have every faith in you. Let’s agree to make our plans assuming that you will be able to do it.’
David paused and leaned in closer to her. ‘When you say we will actually be back in time, what exactly do you mean? That we will be there for real? In person?’
‘I believe so.’ Kora pursed her lips. ‘We should really be there, just as if we belonged in that time.’
He whistled softly, shaking his head in amazement.
She tried to meet his gaze but his eyes were glassy and unfocused. ‘David?’
His brow was creased in thought. ‘So what you’re saying, Kora, is that I might actually be able to see my father again in person? For real?’
So that was it! Kora sighed. ‘It may be possible. But I cannot say for sure.’
He leaned back from her, his expression unreadable. ‘I could see my father again,’ he repeated, his voice so low she could barely hear it. ‘I could say goodbye.’
‘Maybe,’ she replied. ‘But even if we can do it, he will be confused about who you are and how you got there. You are so much older now and we do not know what will be happening to him at the time.’
He nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t really listening. She glanced up at the sky. It was still dark, but a soft pink light glowed against the horizon and it wouldn’t be long before it was light.
She closed her eyes. It was probably only half an hour or so until the sun rose on her fourteenth birthday. She thought of her father’s promise to contact her on her birthday and wondered if Amurru had been summoned to Genesia yet.
She pushed herself to her feet. Suddenly she was very keen to get back to her globe. She grabbed David’s hand and hauled him up. With one wave of her fingers all their blankets and cushions vanished.
‘Ready?’ She barely waited for his nod before they shimmered, not into David’s little sleep-out bedroom on the verandah, but directly into her globe.
Distractions
Kora and David stared through the viewing portal. The kitchen light was on. Marcia’s tear-stained face looked tired as she sipped a cup of chamomile tea. Rodney paced the kitchen, stopping every now and then to peer out the kitchen window into the pre-dawn light.
‘Your mother came to the room about ten minutes after you left.’ Amurru pointed a stumpy finger at David. ‘When she found you gone she thought you had run away.’
David grazed a hand through the stubble on his head. ‘It’s not like the thought hasn’t crossed my mind.’
Amurru sighed. ‘Rodney convinced her not to call the police. He said you would be coming back because you had not taken any of your belongings with you.’
‘They went through my stuff!’
‘Your mother was distraught that you were missing.’
The word ‘missing’ seemed to hang in the air. A word that was painful for all of them. Kora glanced sympathetically at David. ‘Would you like me to shimmer you outside so you can come in through the front door?’
David was very still. They watched as Rodney paced over to Marcia and squeezed her shoulder before dropping a kiss on her head.
‘No,’ said David. ‘Let her stew a little longer.’
Amurru abruptly turned and shuffled away from them. ‘I have been summoned,’ he said, flexing his long, amber wings.
Kora sighed with relief. ‘I thought the waiting would never be over.’
Amurru simply nodded and silence fell between Kora and David. Finally David turned his back on the scene in the kitchen. His eyes flicked to Amurru, cocooned inside his wings. ‘Looks like you’ll have some news soon.’
‘Let us hope it is good news at last.’
An awkward silence stretched out between them as they waited.
‘Distract me,’ he said.
‘What do you want me to do?’ She pulled a face. ‘Cartwheels?’
A tiny smile tugged at his bottom lip. ‘You know, I really would have thought having a genie would be better than this.’
She shrugged. ‘I did warn you.’
‘How would you have celebrated your birthday if you were at home?’
She knew he was only trying to take his mind off his own family problems so she answered him. ‘There would have been a grand feast in my honour, followed by the Tournament of Terrible Talents.’
‘What’s that?’ asked David.
‘It is the funniest game. Genies compete in a series of four difficult tasks. There is only one rule — they must complete the tasks without using any magic.’ Kora grinned. ‘Just like humans.’
David laughed. ‘I guess that would be difficult for a genie.’ He looked thoughtfully at her. ‘I forget sometimes you have a whole other life there waiting for you. I suppose you have a best friend, too?’
‘Yes, her name is Bonnetta. We have been close friends since we were babies.’ Kora smiled. ‘She is very sweet and I am always in trouble for leading her into mischief.’
David grinned. ‘I can imagine that!’
‘She is not particularly powerful but she is incredibly beautiful. She has many admirers.’
‘I never thought to ask you that, Kora.’ David frowned. ‘Do you have an admirer?’
She sighed. ‘It would not matter if I had a thousand. My fate is already decided.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I am to marry a Clawdonian genie.’
‘Marry!’ The word choked out of him.
‘His name is Talon.’
‘How long have the two of you been together?’ His question sounded more like an accusation.
‘We are not.’ She half smiled at the shock on David’s face. ‘Not together, that is. I have only met him once. He lives on another planet.’
‘Then why would you marry him?’
‘Relations between Genesia and Clawdonia have long been rather strained. My parents and the High Council believe our marriage would unite the two.’
‘But what about you? Don’t you get a say?’
‘I am an empress,’ she shrugged. ‘Duty comes first.’
‘Don’t you care that you’ll have to spend the rest of your very long life with someone you don’t love?’
She did not want to think about marriage to Talon and she certainly did not want to talk about it with David. ‘It is complicated,’ she said, with no attempt to hide her irritation.
‘Okay, then. New topic. Why don’t we go over how we will attack Vennum when we come back through the portal?’
‘All right,’ she said, thankful for the change of subject. ‘I will make us gasmasks.’
‘And we’ll put them on before we come back through the portal?’ asked David.
‘Yes.’ Kora looked steadily at him. ‘The moment, the very second, we are back you will need to be ready to release the chloroform bomb. Otherwise they may have time to wish for their own masks.’
David nodded. ‘Why don’t we just come back ten minutes earlier, then?’
‘We cannot,’ replied Kora. ‘That would mean we would actually see ourselves opening the portal to leave.’
‘And that’s a problem?’
‘It is believed that if you see another version of yourself when you time-travel, one version of you will die.’
David looked shocked. ‘How can you be sure we won’t see ourselves?’
‘I will take a fix on the exact moment we leave, and will attempt to return to it.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be ready,’ said David. ‘Are you sure the chloroform bomb will be big enough to take out all the genies?’
‘It will not only knock them out but it will keep them unconscious for at least ten minutes.’
‘Then you’ll put a mask on Rihando to wake him up?’
‘I will, but I will also make a spare for you to carry in a backpack.’ She looked into his worried eyes. ‘If I am too weak you will need to place the mask on Rihando.’
‘You will recover, though, won’t you?’ asked David. ‘You’ll
only be exhausted for a bit?’
‘The truth is, I do not know for sure. Sometimes if a genie’s magic is depleted enough they do not recover, and even if they do recover, they may not be the same as they were before.’
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘I am sure,’ she nodded. ‘What other choice do we have?’
‘And you trust Rihando to take Vennum to the Slaytians?’
‘I would trust Rihando with my life. He will know what to do.’
‘And the Slaytians?’
‘They are not so trustworthy. But I do believe they will do what we ask. There is too much they want.’
Amurru uncurled his wings and settled them back into place against his silver suit. Kora and David turned immediately. His look of grave concern had them both stepping toward him. Something was seriously wrong.
‘What is it?’ Kora’s voice broke as she spoke. ‘What has happened?’
Amurru shuffled near enough to take her slender hand in his stumpy grip. ‘I am so sorry to have to tell you this.’ He took a slow, wheezy breath. ‘It is your father, Empress. He is missing.’
The point of no return
Kora was frantic. Her magic rumbled in her chest, barely under control. ‘Please, Empress,’ Amurru croaked. ‘We must remain calm.’
‘Um, Amurru?’ David’s voice was tentative. ‘Exactly how do we know Kora’s father is missing?’ His eyes flickered from Amurru’s face to Kora’s, and back again. ‘I mean, wasn’t he supposed to be out in the wilderness, alone, without magic?’ He shrugged. ‘I thought no one was supposed to know where he was.’
‘That is true, David.’ Amurru nodded. ‘But it has now been confirmed that the Emperor had planned to journey to the Slaytians. Along the way he was to rest at Tarru’s house. Tarru is my nephew and lives deep in the wilderness.’
Kora gasped. ‘So you did know where he was going!’
‘To help ensure the safety of the Emperor his exact journey plan was kept a close secret by the High Council.’ Amurru let out a long, wheezy sigh. ‘Even I did not know his planned destination until now.’
‘But I still don’t get it.’ David’s brow furrowed in confusion. ‘How can they be sure he is missing? Maybe he’s still on his way there.’
Amurru blinked his yellow eyes at David. ‘If that is the case, then his journey is taking far longer than anticipated.’ Amurru glanced anxiously at Kora before continuing. ‘The Emperor was to have arrived there several days ago. He planned to rest there until today, Kora’s birthday.’
‘So that is how he was going to contact me for my birthday.’ Kora let out a long, weary breath. ‘He would have planned for Tarru to teleport himself to the High Council, delivering my father’s report along with his birthday message for me.’ Her voice hitched as she spoke.
Amurru nodded. ‘The Council received word from Tarru late yesterday.’ He shook his head. ‘Words cannot express my sorrow at having to be the bearer of this dismal news, Empress.’ His shoulders slumped as he looked at her stricken face. ‘Tarru has searched, but there has been no sign of your father since he left the palace a week ago.’
They all fell silent. A long moment passed as they absorbed the news that Kora’s father was officially missing.
Kora did not want to say it aloud, but she knew it was likely that her father had been harnessed by Vennum. Despair twisted in her chest. She tried to block out the images that were flooding her thoughts. The horror of her father and brother in Vennum’s power, having to obey his every whim. She knew her father would be distraught at being forced to turn against his own people. She had expected to fight Vennum but she had never imagined she might have to fight her own father and brother!
‘I’m so sorry, Kora,’ said David, his voice barely a whisper. She knew he understood the helplessness she felt.
She nodded at him. But she couldn’t give up now. There was no way she was going to let Vennum win. She was Kora Archein, Empress of Genesia. She would do everything within her power to save Genesia and her family. She at least had to try!
‘We have to do it now, Amurru. And there is not a moment to lose.’
She grabbed David’s hand. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We are as ready as we are ever going to be.’
‘You mean we should leave now?’ asked David. ‘But it’s almost morning. I thought we were going to leave at night?’
She nodded. ‘I cannot leave my father and Atym in Vennum’s clutches for another moment.’
Fear flickered in David’s blue eyes, but he just nodded. ‘Okay, Kora.’
Amurru stood and walked across to them. He waved his hand at the portal where Marcia and Rodney still sat in the kitchen. ‘What about your mother, David?’
David touched his hand to his shaven head and Kora saw the flash of anger cross his face. ‘No,’ he said. ‘She can wait until we return.’
Amurru studied David’s face for a long moment. ‘You must realise, David,’ he said, ‘that there is a very real possibility you will not return.’
Kora took David’s hand. ‘Amurru is right, David.’ She managed a small smile. ‘Go and make peace with your family before we leave.’
David sighed and turned to gaze at his mother and Rodney through the portal.
Kora turned to watch them, too. She squeezed his hand. ‘It might be the last chance you get.’
moment of truth
She focused on the present. It took all her control to not let her thoughts wander to what-ifs or maybes. There was no room now for doubts, only the job at hand and that was to defeat Vennum.
She concentrated on the list she had made, carefully summoning each item. She looked up as David returned.
She could hear Marcia crying in the next room. ‘Did you not make peace?’ she whispered.
‘Not really.’ David rubbed tiredly at the stubble on his head. ‘She asked me to never disappear like that again.’
‘And what did you say?’
‘The truth.’ David turned to stare out the window. ‘What I could tell her of it, anyway.’
‘What exactly do you mean?’
‘I told her I would be going away for a while and that I wasn’t sure when I would be back, but that it was really important and something that I had to do.’
Kora was incredulous. ‘What did she say to that?’
David sighed. ‘She begged me not to leave and told me time and again how much I was breaking her heart.’
‘Would it have been easier not to tell her?’
‘Easier, yes.’ He turned away from the window. ‘But it would hurt her more to simply find me missing again.’
Kora looked sympathetically at him. The human boy in front of her was so much more than she had expected when she had first met him. She handed him the backpack she had prepared. ‘The spare mask and the chloroform bomb are in there, plus a couple of other emergency items.’
He opened it and had a look through the contents. Then he zipped it up and swung it easily onto his back. ‘And our masks?’
She waved her hand and they appeared around both their necks. ‘I think we should wear them so that we can put them on quickly if we need to.’
David nodded. ‘Is there anything else on your list?’
‘That’s everything.’ She looked up at him. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Not yet.’
She watched him walk over to the small cupboard by the bed. He opened it and pulled out an old box. Inside it there was a Swiss Army knife and a compass that he put in his pocket. Then he lifted out an old photo that looked as though it had been folded and unfolded a thousand times. He stared down at the picture and then bent his head over it and murmured something too quiet for her to hear. When he finally stood and turned to face her the photo was gone, hidden somewhere beneath his T-shirt. With a jolt to her heart she realised that something about him had changed. Despite his ordinary clothes he no longer stood in front of her as a boy, but as a soldier prepared for battle.
His voice was
firm. ‘I’m ready.’
She nodded and looked toward her globe in time to see Amurru emerge. He shuffled over and stopped in front of David. ‘On behalf of the High Council of Genesia, I express our sincere gratitude for what you are about to do.’
Before David could answer he turned to Kora and taking her hand sank to one knee. ‘Be safe, Empress,’ he said and touched her hand to his bowed head. ‘I will eagerly await your return.’ She thought she saw the sheen of moisture in his eyes as he released her and turned away without another word.
Speechless, she simply glanced at David and then, with a wave of her hand, shimmered them both to one of the most isolated places in Australia — the Simpson Desert.
yesterday’s web
The sun had risen on the desert turning the landscape a magnificent golden red. They had planned to do this at night but now it somehow seemed fitting that they would travel at the dawn of a new day because the outcome, for good or for bad, would also bring the dawn of a new era for Genesia.
David had been quiet since their arrival. ‘How much longer do we have to wait?’
‘About ten more minutes.’
‘You look tired.’
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘So do you.’
She was glad to see a small smile tug at his mouth. ‘I only meant to ask if it will affect your powers.’
‘Maybe a little.’ She shrugged. ‘But it cannot be helped. Even if we waited to do this I think it would be impossible for me to sleep now.’
Emptiness stretched out around them and David moved to stand in front of her, his face serious. ‘I want you to know, Kora, that no matter how this turns out I will have no regrets.’
‘Even if Vennum kills you?’
‘The chance to see my father again is more than I could have hoped for.’ He reached out and gently grasped her hand. ‘And I hope that you get the chance to see your father again, too.’
The sincerity in his voice brought the sting of tears to her eyes and she quickly blinked them away. Pulling her hand out of his she turned. ‘I think we have waited long enough.’
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