“A little bit. While we were searching for backpacks and stuff, I went to the second level and poked around. I tried a few things with the wand while I was alone.”
Bobby finished eating and washed down the last of the ration with some water.
“Tried a few things? Like what?”
“Well, I was just fooling around, you know, but watch this.”
Sarah walked back down the hallway a few steps and Bobby stood up and turned around to watch her.
“Remember those stories we heard, about what happened when Simon the wizard fought the dragons?”
“The ones that Clara used to tell us? They were just dreams, Sarah. I doubt that they were real.”
Sarah frowned at him.
“Clara had a gift, Bobby. She had more of the Sight than any of us and she could see things in dreams that I never could. I never doubted her. You did?”
“Well...”
He shifted uncomfortably as she stared at him.
“I mean, yeah, she's the one who told us that the dragons had been defeated,” he acknowledged. “So I'll give her that. But some of her stories were a bit too, I don't know, fantastic to be believed. Anyway, that's not important right now. What were you saying about them?”
Sarah looked a little exasperated, but she let it pass and looked down at the wand.
“Clara told us that one of the ways that the wizard was able to defend himself from the dragons' attacks was with a magical shield. So I thought, why not try to do the same thing?”
“And?”
“And this happened.”
She held the wand straight out and then began turning in a circle. Bobby gaped in amazement as tiny yellow sparks showered out of the gem and floated up and around Sarah like glowing dust motes. As the first spark touched the ground, a shimmering globe of yellow light sprang up and encased her in a translucent barrier.
Sarah lowered her arm and grinned at him through the shield.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“Think? I think it's amazing! But, is it really a shield or is it just pretty?”
“Let's find out,” she told him with a laugh. “Grab that used torch out of the bracket and throw it at me.”
Bobby frowned at her.
“”No way. What if I hit you?”
“Oh, for... I didn't say to throw it with all of your strength, Bobby. Just toss it underhand if you want. Let's see what happens. I'm as curious as you are, actually.”
“Ah. Right. Sure, let's try that.”
He pulled the torch out of the bracket on the wall and walked toward Sarah. When he was about six feet away, he stopped and looked at the shimmering surface of the globe.
“You know, I can feel it a bit. Kind of like static electricity, you know?”
“Really? I can't feel anything. Well, toss that torch and let's see if the shield is actually useful or not.”
“Okay, here goes.”
Bobby tossed the torch, aiming to the right of Sarah, just in case. It flipped several times as it flew and then struck the glowing sphere. It exploded on contact with a bright flash and a loud sizzle, making Bobby jump back in surprise.
Sarah stared at the spot where the torch had hit the barrier and watched as a little puff of black smoke wafted upward toward the ceiling.
“Wow,” she said, wide-eyed.
“Holy crap,” Bobby added. “It's gone, just like that. What the hell is that shield made of?”
“Power, obviously,” Sarah replied. “But why is it so strong? I'm not a trained spell-caster, and I'm certainly no wizard. I thought that the barrier might, I don't know, slow down a projectile or something. I never thought that it would actually destroy it.”
“Yeah, well, do me a favor and don't get too close while you have that thing up, okay?”
Sarah smiled at Bobby's comment and made a sharp motion with the wand. The shield dissipated in a shower of sparks and they were both left blinking away the after-images.
“Well, that was educational,” Sarah said as she held up the wand.
The gem glowed steadily again, bright enough to light their way.
“That's one word for it. Scary is another,” Bobby told her. “I wonder what else it can do? Esmiralla said that it was an ancient weapon, from the time of legends, whatever that means. So is my sword, actually.”
“She said that? And when were you going to share that tidbit of information?”
Bobby could only shrug.
“Honestly, it didn't seem that important at the time. All it meant was that they were old. I mean, so what? Now though, after that demonstration, I'm guessing that both of these weapons,” he tapped his sword-hilt, “might be a lot more powerful than we could have imagined.”
“Gee, you think so?” Sarah said sarcastically. “I sort of picked up on that when your sword told you its name written in blood.”
“Nillanos,” Bobby whispered. “Yes.”
He looked down at the weapon.
“Do you have any more surprises for me?” he asked it.
“It probably does. But finding out what they are will have to wait, I'm afraid.”
Sarah walked toward the blast door and, when she reached it, laid her palm flat against its surface.
“We've decided to leave and head west,” she said as she turned back to look at Bobby. “It's a good bet that poor Clara and her people did not survive. I've called her over and over again and I haven't received an answer. We can't wait any longer. The drakes or the goblins or, God help us, the black dragon, could attack at any time. So we're going.”
“When?” Bobby asked.
“As soon as we can. We are going to let everyone get a good night's sleep and then set off in the morning. I wish we could let them have a few days to recover their full strength, but the others said that waiting would be the wrong thing to do. And they're probably right. That's why we were scouring the place from top to bottom, trying to find backpacks, maps, a compass or two and sleeping bags. We wanted to get everything ready while the others were resting. I'm just heading off to try to get some sleep now, along with Caroline and Miesha and the rest, but I wanted to feed you first.” She smiled a bit shyly. “And I wanted to show off what I could do with the wand. I had no idea that it would turn out to be so powerful.”
“I'm glad that it did,” Bobby said, his tone a little bleak. “In the coming days, we'll probably need all the help that we can get.”
“I suppose so. Anyway, I'll let you get back to napping,” she told him with a gentle laugh. “Again, if you hear anything suspicious, report it to us at once. Don't wait up here to find out what it is; we'll deal with it together.”
“Got it. Go ahead and get some sleep, Sarah. You've earned it.”
She reached up and patted his cheek gently.
“We all have. See you in the morning.”
“Night.”
Bobby managed to sleep for another hour or so, but he was restless and kept waking up and looking around in the darkness. Finally he pulled a torch out of his backpack, lit it and began walking aimlessly up and down the long corridor. He was tapping his sword-hilt with his left hand and holding up the torch in his right.
He was imagining what the future might hold for him and his people. Bobby had no idea what the country was like off to the west and beyond. He'd seen the map in his pack, of course, but he had a hard time visualizing what it looked like.
Would it be exciting? Exploring new lands and seeing new creatures, learning to hunt and fish and grow their own food? Or would it be a nightmare of scratching out a meager existence and fighting off endless waves of monsters? Who could say? But it had to be better than Ottawa had become. It was their home town, but now it threatened to become their tomb the way it already had for too many other Changlings.
“Doesn't matter what lies ahead,” he told himself as he paced the hallway, stroking the sword absently. “It will be an adventure, no matter what the future holds for us. Right, Nillanos?”
&n
bsp; He stopped in his tracks as he felt the floor shudder under his feet.
“What?”
Bobby looked around, frowning in concentration as he held his breath and listened. Was it an earthquake?
The ground shifted again; not violently, but there was a definite vibration under Bobby's feet.
He trotted back toward the blast door and stood close to it, waiting. When the next shake came up through the floor, he pressed his ear to the metal surface and waited.
Nothing. Whatever was making the ground shake, it wasn't on the other side of the thick steel portal.
He hesitated a moment and then grabbed his backpack and ran toward the stairs. Maybe it was only the earth shaking naturally, but he couldn't be sure. And if it wasn't, his friends might have to get out of the bunker through the back way.
The emergency tunnel was located on the second level, just outside of the stairwell, and he decided to check it out. Just in case. It was the only other way into or out of the bunker and Bobby was mentally kicking himself for not opening it earlier and walking its length to make sure that it was still secure. As far as he knew, none of the Changlings had ever used that tunnel. All they knew was that it led out of the facility in a roughly southwesterly direction. They didn't even know where it exited.
Well, Bobby thought as he reached the stairs, it's time to find out.
As he entered the stairwell, he thought that he heard someone walking up the metal steps from down below. He held up his torch and peered down into the darkness over the edge of the railing.
He listened for a moment, but the sounds weren't repeated. It must have been his imagination.
He hurried down the stairs until he reached the next landing and then opened the door onto the second level. Before stepping out of the stairwell, he listened nervously as his torch lit up the gloom around him.
The burning wood crackled and hissed in the silence, but it was the only thing that Bobby could hear. He stepped into the corridor and the stairwell door clicked shut behind him. Looking to his right, he saw the windowless metal door with the words 'Emergency Exit' painted on it in blocky letters. A push-bar opened it instead of a handle and, when Bobby walked over to it and ran a finger along its surface, a shiny line was left behind in the dust.
He wiped his hand on his jeans, feeling a little hesitant about unsealing the door. Obviously it hadn't been opened in years, but he was reluctant to disturb it, as if he was about to awaken a sleeping beast.
Bobby shook his head and leaned closer to the exit. Just as he had done up at the main entrance, he put his ear against to the door and waited.
Nothing. Even the shaking under his feet had stopped. The facility felt like it was holding its breath.
“Ridiculous,” he muttered to himself. “This is just an underground building, not some kind of brooding monster. Get a grip, man.”
He took a deep breath and pushed the locking bar. The mechanism squealed and then the door opened reluctantly. A blast of stale air blew past him, making him stagger back as a cloud of dust flew into his face.
“Damn it,” he exclaimed in a strangled voice. “Where did that come from?”
He rubbed his eyes hastily with his free hand and then squinted down the narrow corridor that lay beyond the door.
The hallway was no more than three feet wide and six feet high. It was lined with thick steel sheeting and looked like it could withstand anything up to and including a nuclear blast.
“Wow,” Bobby said in wonder as he tapped on the metal walls. “This was built to last, wasn't it?”
He entered the hallway, but had only walked a few feet when the ground suddenly shifted again. But instead of a mild vibration, the floor actually dropped a few inches and then rebounded, as if it was made of rubber.
The corridor was so narrow that Bobby was able to stay on his feet by bracing himself between its walls. For the first time, he heard a distant sound that occurred at the same time as the ground's shaking. It wasn't something that he could identify though; just a weird boom like a distant explosion. Someone dropping bombs?
With a dismissive shake of his head at the absurd thought, he continued to move ahead cautiously, now nervously waiting for the next convulsion. Fortunately the shaking seemed to have stopped for the moment.
Bobby counted his footsteps as he pushed forward. At twenty paces, the hallway began to gently curve to the right and it opened up, becoming wider and higher. Maybe the builders had hit softer rock at this point and had been able to made the corridor larger. He guessed that it was now heading more west than south, which was a good thing. But how far did it go? None of the Changlings actually knew.
Every few yards, he saw a light fixture built flush into the wall.
Too bad they don't work, he thought regretfully. I can't see very far with this torch. Whatever I'm approaching, I won't see it until I'm practically on top of it.
Another fifty steps and the corridor straightened out and began to rise gently. He felt encouraged that the back door was getting closer. He just hoped that, wherever it led, it was hidden from their enemies.
The dust on the ground was still undisturbed ahead and Bobby kept glancing at it to reassure himself. Nothing had found this tunnel, which meant that the bunker was still secure. That was the most important thing.
Finally, he arrived at the end of the corridor. He had lost count of his footsteps, but he estimated that he'd traveled at least a mile, maybe more. A ladder was built into the wall here and he looked up into the darkness. It was impossible to tell how high the climb was.
Should I climb it now or go back and tell Sarah that the tunnel is clear, Bobby wondered. Hmm. She'd probably want to know where the exit came out though. Yeah, I'd better take a quick peek.
He dropped the torch on the ground and it flickered and died, leaving him in total darkness. Then he secured the backpack tightly across his shoulders and began to climb.
The metal rungs were slippery with dust and he ascended slowly, acutely aware that the higher he climbed, the farther he would fall if he lost his grip.
About twenty feet up, the ladder shook so hard that it felt as if it was trying to fling him off. Bobby had thought that the mysterious shaking was over with and he was caught off-guard. He held on for dear life and the shuddering slowly subsided.
What the hell is going on, he wondered fearfully. What is causing that and where is it coming from?
Throwing caution to the wind, he scampered up the ladder as quickly as he could in the pitch blackness, afraid that the next tremor much actually toss him off. That turned out to be a mistake as he smacked headfirst into the ceiling in the dark.
“Ouch!”
Somehow Bobby managed to cling to the ladder as stars exploded behind his eyes and the top of his head felt as if someone had smashed it with a hammer. He groaned in agony and tentatively rubbed his skull, expecting his hand to come away sticky with blood.
Fortunately, his thick hair had protected his scalp and all that he found was a rapidly growing lump that was too tender to touch.
“Damn, you are so stupid,” he muttered to himself. “Of course there was going to be something at the top of the ladder, idiot!”
He waited for the fireworks in his head to fade away and then reached up to examine the ceiling. His fingers traced a round metal hatch and, in the center of it was a simple handle. Bobby grabbed it firmly and then twisted it to the right. It grudgingly turned and then the hatch abruptly popped open, allowing a shaft of blazing sunlight to shoot straight into his eyes. Naturally Bobby hadn't been wearing his sunglasses in the dark and the light burned into his brain like a laser beam. Added to the throbbing from his injured head, the pain was almost overwhelming.
He yelped out loud and ducked his head as he frantically searched his pockets for his sunglasses, keeping his eyes tightly closed. As soon as he found them, he awkwardly opened them with one hand and pushed them on to his face. Then he carefully opened his eyes slightly and pulled himself up a
few inches so that he was able to look around.
His vision was a little blurry but Bobby was able to see well enough and was surprised to discover that the hatch had opened up inside of a wooden building. A broken window allowed the sun to beam into the structure, but it wasn't really very bright. Because of his sensitivity to light and coming out of pitch blackness, it had seemed dazzling at first.
He heaved himself out of the hole and stood up, ignoring his headache as he examined his surroundings.
Bobby was standing in either a small barn or a large storage shed. The walls were lined with hooks and rusty shovels, rakes and garden hoes hung from them, covered in cobwebs and dust. The floor was concrete and was filthy. Mounds of dead leaves and twigs had blown in through a pair of broken windows over the years. When the hatch had opened, it had pushed aside the debris that had covered it. There were a few tiny footprints in the dirt, which Bobby assumed were made by squirrels or raccoons, but no other indication that anyone had been in the building for years.
He carefully walked over to the nearest window and peeked outside. The opening was facing to the east and, from where he was standing, Bobby recognized the hill that he had climbed the day before. The building stood among trees and seemed to be almost directly behind the hill, hidden from the entrance to the bunker. He was amazed. He had never even known this place existed.
There were no signs of enemies and the sky was clear, except for a few wisps of cloud.
Well, at least we have a way out of the facility, he thought with some relief. It would probably be better to leave this way than out of the main door. Safer for everyone.
He crossed the floor and peered out of the western window. Unfortunately the forest had grown so much that all Bobby could see were trees and brush. He knew that the highway was out there somewhere, but he wouldn't be able to find it without leaving the building, and he didn't want to do that, just in case there were goblins or drakes in the area.
Instead, Bobby returned to the open hatch and carefully climbed back inside. It was time to report back to Sarah and give her the good news.
Chapter 21
The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2) Page 30