Then she was gone.
Katheryne stood, supporting Perri’s lifeless body on the knife. She stepped back, letting it go, and the body slumped to the ground. Katheryne dropped to her knees. She shouldn’t have had any tears left, but she cried them anyway. She’d just lost her friend twice within a matter of minutes, and this final time it had been at her own hand.
She got down on the ground beside Perri, and laid there for a moment. She wanted to stay there with her friend, but Perri’s words came back to her. Katheryne got up, walking quickly back into the cabin. There would be time for regret and recrimination later. Now they had a job to do.
It was strange, seeing Derren, Krista, and Chran lying sprawled on the floor, but what was more surreal were the two figures lying asleep on the bed.
Perri’s arms encircled Katheryne’s body, but Perri was dead, Katheryne knew. The tears she cried now weren’t real, she knew this, just like this dream wasn’t; but her grief sat like a mantle on her shoulders, pushing down on her. She lay down on the bed beside them, her face inches away from her friend’s auburn curls and closed her weeping eyes.
Katheryne had no idea how to get back to the real world. Would she be trapped here by the Beast’s magic? A brief stab of panic caused a lurch in her chest, but she fought it down, and gradually her breathing deepened. Next second, she woke up, with Perri’s lifeless arms around her. Katheryne cried till she was sore, holding onto the still warm arms, unwilling to let them go, as if in doing so she might be able to keep Perri here for a little longer. It was no good, she finally accepted, and with a loud sniff she carefully extricated herself from their grip, and looked down at a person she would never talk to again.
Tears welled again, and grief threatened to overcome her, but she steeled herself and crossed to the others. She reached out with her mind, searching for damage, and finding nothing serious she gently awakened them. Chran had a huge bruise on his face, but as she watched, it vanished.
Derren shook his head, groaning at the sudden movement. “What was that? I feel like a grezn just sat on my head.” He referred to one of the large herd animals of his home world.
Chran sat up, rubbing where the bruise had been. “I don’t know what that is, Derren, though I hope it is large and savage. Only such a beast could account for the way I feel right now.”
Derren laughed as he helped his friend to his feet. “You always did have a glass jaw, Chran. Remember that time on...”
He broke off as Chran jerked upright. He watched his friend’s eyes go from shock and alarm, to denial and anguish inside a second.
“No.”
It was a whimper, but that one single syllable held a depth of pain he never wanted to experience. He turned to his sister, and saw a ruined soul looking back at him, wanting the arms of her twin. Inside a second he was there, but it was only then he was able to look over her shoulder and see the reason for her anguish.
Katheryne returned to the bed, and sat holding Perri’s hand, looking back at them.
“Perri is dead.” She looked straight at Krista as she continued, barely hanging on. “She saved me Krista. The Beast had me on my knees, ready to end it all, but Perri fought back enough to give me time to...”
Krista caught Katheryne’s pause. “Time to do what?”
“She…the thing inside her at least, had a knife. It was going to kill me and you guys would think I’d just died in my sleep,” said Katheryne, and her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward, drawing Krista into her gaze while ignoring the shocked mutterings of the others.
“Krista, Perri fought back. She threw the knife at my feet and as soon I picked it up she…” Katheryne lowered her head and her tears dropped to the wooden floor. She couldn’t face going over is so soon, but Krista had a right to know. “She ran onto the knife, Krista. I couldn’t stop her.”
Katheryne’s eyes pleaded for Krista to understand, but Perri’s last words flashed into her mind. “We don’t have time to go over this now,” she said. “I’ll explain it all, but Perri gave her life so we might have a chance to save everyone.”
Krista’s eyes were full of tears, and her face was a mask of pain and confusion. It was clear to Katheryne she didn’t understand, and as she looked at Derren, she thought he didn’t either. But then he came across, and enveloped her in his arms.
“You are the strongest person I have ever met.” He raised her face, kissing her on the cheek as he looked at the others.
“We have lost a friend today, but remember what Katheryne has lost. Her mother, father, and now her best friend.” He stared at his sister as he continued. “We will grieve and we will remember.” He freed an arm and invited his sister to take his hand. Katheryne did likewise to Chran. “But now, we have a job to do.”
Krista took his hand, and embraced him and Katheryne. Chran joined them, basking in the glow from their souls.
All of them were overcome with emotions and memories of the best things about Perri.
Derren chuckled. “I remember the day Krista and I burst into you apartment, Kat.” The corners of his lips twitched into a small smile. “Perri’s protective attitude towards you was quite terrifying. I actually think she was going to attack me at one point.”
Chran snorted. “Remember the huge mountain of bacon she made me the first day after hatching? I have no idea how she managed to fit so much onto one plate. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m a vegetarian.”
All of them smiled at the memory.
Krista reached over to take Katheryne’s hand, squeezing it hard. There were no words for what they felt. The depth of their loss threatened to ruin them both, until they linked minds briefly. Both of them smiled at the image of Perri kicking them up the butt, literally this time.
Through tears of happy memories, they drew comfort from each other.
Then, it was done. They had a job to do.
Chapter Forty Four
Into the Heart
“She doesn’t slow down, does she?” said Filumé, grinning.
Kore grunted at his friend’s joke. “She must be part Dwelf. She’s definitely no Elf, I know that much.”
The three of them ran through the trees, dodging branches and roots which nefariously arose to trip them up. Gwenyth ran with reckless abandonment, her feet leading them unerringly through the murk. She was a shadow, attempting to escape them, or so it seemed as they struggled to keep up.
Her voice sang back over her shoulder. “I am neither Eldar nor Dwelf, Kore. I’m a human and I come from a world called Earth.”
Filumé and Kore exchanged a glance, as they leapt across a small stream. Both of them wondered the same thing.
Why call a planet after dirt?
As they travelled deeper into the heart, any residual light faded into utter darkness. Kore and Filumé were equipped to deal with little or no light to guide them, Kore though his race’s natural ability and Filumé by using his arts.
Gwenyth used neither. She simply knew the way somehow, but it was working. She led the way to the greatest threat either of them ever contemplated. As they looked around, they saw the depths of the evil which spread throughout the core of the forest. The trees were black and twisted, and the smell of damp and rot assailed their senses.
The trunks they ran past were bare of bark, and the sap wept from sores on the surface of the trees below.
The woods were in pain.
Gwyneth stopped and they skidded, trying not to collide with her. They watched her still form, as she sniffed the stagnant air.
Filumé smiled as he saw her small upturned nose wrinkle at the smell.
Ahead of them lay a dark pit, which swallowed the shadows themselves.
“We’re here,” she said. She turned to face them. “You should stay here. You have no idea what is in there.”
Filumé smiled defiantly. “And you do?”
Gwen appeared ready to utter a retort, but instead paused, before smiling warmly.
“No,” she replied. She l
ooked at them with compassion for the first time in the short hours they’d known each other.
“But I have seen it, even if I barely understand what it is.” She shrugged. “Look, I just don’t want you to get hurt, ok?”
Kore returned her smile, and felt an urge to embrace the child. But instead he bowed deeply, his beard touching the ground.
“It would pain me to see harm befall you, girl,” he said in his thick burr. “I feel a strength and power in you greater than I’ve ever experienced. I fear, however, this may be too much for you.”
“He’s right, Gwenyth,” Filumé said. “I don’t know you. I have heard of you, and the abilities you display to great delight. But blowing up a sandbank, and singeing a mermaid’s tail is far from what you may face here.”
For a second, Filumé saw the little girl who Gwenyth was, barely sixteen years of age. Sixteen years; such an incredibly short span to hold so much power and responsibility.
But as they watched, she gained a strength and bearing greater than the sum of their years.
She looked out at the pit ahead. “In there, is the evil which will destroy us all if left unchecked. You saw the forest as we ran through it. It's dying in agony and the rot is spreading.”
Any further conversation was drowned out, when the ground violently shook beneath them. They were thrown off their feet as the sky flashed above the pit. Hues of indigo mingled with forks of lightning, and the trio was assaulted by the shock waves of deafening thunder from above. The trees swayed wildly, and Gwen watched several of them topple into the pit as the ground beneath them gave way. She watched in horror as the blackness expanded outwards.
“It’s growing,” she shouted, above the screaming storm. She leaned against an ancient oak, and tried to pull herself up, but her hand sheared the bark off, and she slipped, just as the ground in front of her began to slide into the abyss. Gwenyth had nothing to grab onto, and she floundered in the river of stone and dirt as it swept her over the edge. She fell.
A hand emerged from the waterfall of earth, grasping hers and arresting her descent. She hung by one hand as her face was assaulted by an endless flood. Slowly the hand drew her clear, and she felt firm ground under her. She let go and scrabbled free from the immediate danger, ready to thank Filumé or Kore, whoever her savior was. She wasn’t ready for the person lying with a rope around her waist, held by a group of small, grubby beings who blended with the undergrowth around them.
“Ami!” Gwen’s outburst shook her friend out of her daze.
“Oh, Gwen. There you are. I saw you fall over, and I just jumped.” She smiled innocently. “Looks like I grabbed the right hand.”
Gwen returned her smile, before realizing what she’d said. “Amilee, what do you mean, the right hand?”
The adolescent elf shrugged, as if it should be obvious what she’d meant. “Well, the other two guys. I didn’t know them, so when you all went over, I jumped after you. I got lucky.”
Her smile lit her face, but vanished when she saw Gwen’s dismayed expression.
“Um, I did right, didn’t I, Gwen? I mean I figured you might not want to fall into that.” Amilee curled her lip, as she indicated the growing maw of the pit.
Overhead the storm intensified but Gwen didn’t care.
“Ami, are you sure they fell in?” The intensity of her gaze frightened Amilee, and Gwen saw her fear, instantly regretting her overzealous attitude. She rushed over and hugged her friend.
“Ami, I’m sorry. And thank you for saving me, but we don’t have much time. Do you see this?” Gwen looked up, indicating the madness above. The winds made it hard to hear so they had to shout. In the distance tornados were visible, ripping up the living trees outside the darkness around the pit.
Tears of fright were in Amilee’s eyes. “What is it, Gwen? I don’t understand. What does all this mean?”
A small voice raised itself above the winds, “It the Veil. It falls.” Gak walked up, barely reaching Gwenyth’s waist. “It time, child; time you do what you brought here for.”
Amilee looked on in confusion. “What do you mean? Gwen, what does he mean?” She was frightened, Gwen realized. She shouldn’t even be here. Gwenyth had decided Amilee would have been unsuited to the battle she saw ahead, so had asked her to stay with the Faer Folk at the Tree. Clearly her friend had other ideas.
“It means I have to go, Ami,” said Gwenyth, “Only for little while, I hope.” This was a lie. She knew where she was going but had no idea what would happen when she got there. She kneeled down before the Brownie chieftain.
“Gak, how long is that rope of yours?” She pointed to the coils lying around them.
The small figure smiled, as he picked an end up, looping it around Gwenyth’s waist, tying it expertly into a knot.
“This rope ours and the forest’s. It will be as long as you need it be, child of us all.” A smile hid the sadness he clearly felt. This child had shown him and his race kindness and respect, when she might have cast them away. Because of her, the majority of his people lived as guests of the Faer Folk, in safety within the boundaries of their lands. “Be safe, Gwenyth.” He bowed, his head almost touching the forest floor.
Amilee looked at Gwenyth. “You can’t go. You can’t leave me Gwen. You’re the only friend I have.”
Her face betrayed her certainty that this was what she thought, but Gak took her hand.
“Little one not alone.” He smiled lovingly, as if she was a daughter of his own. “We never forget how you protect us, along with Gwenyth. You are family now.”
Gwenyth smiled at the scene. Amilee would have a group of childish, mischievous friends to play with.
All she had to do was save everyone else, she realized, as she ran and jumped over the edge.
Simple, right?
Chapter Forty Five
Facing the Beast
The three of them clung on to each other, as Chran flew over the facility. Below was a sea of red white and blue flashing lights, interspersed with muzzle flashes, and the brilliant explosions of flash bangs, as the special-forces teams attempted to assault the armored shutters of the security building where the Secret Service agent was holed up.
Tracer rounds from the barrel of a heavy machine gun reached out from the building to pepper the closest patrol cars. Several of them hit something volatile and two of the vehicles exploded, killing over a dozen policemen.
Derren cringed. “It’s like attacking a fortress. Maybe we might lend a hand? I’m in the mood for a fight.”
Katheryne sat behind him, with Krista clinging on to her, threatening to cut off circulation to her brain. She shrugged Krista’s hands from around her neck to get enough breath to reply.
“I think we might come as a bit of a surprise to the guys below. I don’t think they’re being terribly discriminate with their firepower right now.”
As if to demonstrate this, an urban assault vehicle mounted the pavement adjoining the bunker and opened up with its 30mm cannon, obliterating the heavy door, and smashing the armored windows. Swat teams swarmed in, but it was clear to them no one could have survived.
Derren leaned forward, and shouted, “Chran, we need to get in there now. Are you close enough yet?”
They had tried to create a portal to the underground facility, but even Katheryne had been unable to burn through the interference surrounding the lab. They resorted to flying here on Chran’s enlarged form. Derren and Katheryne enjoyed the experience immensely, but Krista became airsick within seconds of liftoff. Plus, she was terrified of heights. Even Liberi had their own personal fears from their past lives. Derren’s was clowns. Heights was her’s.
Chran flew low over the main building, settling on the roof, as he morphed to human size. His magic lifted them and deposited them upright on the asphalt.
“Hold my hands everyone,” he said, and they did so. Instantly, they were overcome with a sensation of warmth, as they began to sink down though the floor.
“It might
be advisable to close your eyes,” Chran shouted. “We’ll likely be phasing through several power conduits. I suspect this facility may have some quite powerful ones, and I wouldn’t want you to be blinded before we get there.”
The humor in his voice was evident, but they all did as he suggested. Even so, there were flashes that turned their vision pink, as they plummeted downwards
Eventually they slowed, and then stopped, as they arrived at their destination. The ground solidified below them, as they came to rest upon the floor of the main laboratory level.
A retching sound accompanied several curses. Krista wiped the back of her sleeve across her mouth.
“Please...please, show me the person who prevented me from portalling here. I want to kill them. Slowly.”
Derren laughed, even as he took in the surroundings. They were in a wide corridor, with several doors leading off it. A short distance away on their right was a heavy steel vault type hatch with a key-pad lock. What drew their attention, however, was the door at the far end of the passageway. A riot of noise came from the opening, various alarms mixing with a sound of pure, maniacal, laughter.
“Three people,” Katheryne whispered, though why she did so she didn’t know. No one in that room could possibly hear her. “Two males, armed with pistols. One female, armed with a dragon in her brain.”
Chran growled deep in his throat. “Whatever that is, it’s no dragon. It may have been once, long ago. We should be careful, however. It possesses more than dragon magic.”
“And how are we even going to get it to fight us?” Krista voiced what all of them wondered, “I mean, up till now it’s stayed hidden behind someone.”
A thin smile appeared on Katheryne’s lips. “Leave that part to me.” Her voice was ice, edged with anger.
“Just take care of the two guards. This son of a bitch isn’t going to escape this time, even if I have to enter the Never and kick its scaly butt back to Earth.”
Worlds of the Never: A book with Dragons, Faeries and Elves, mixed with Science Fiction and Time Travel, for Young Adults and Teens. (Tales of the Neverwar 2) Page 19