by Ben Yallop
They turned and ran up the narrow and dark cobbled street and quickly into a side alley. There was little light. No moonlight filtered between the tall buildings. Calls began to ring out, voices shouted ‘fire’ and a noise, like someone beating a metal pan with a spoon began, a loud clanging which reverberated between the tall houses. They moved on quickly, turning this way and that, racing down narrow streets that twisted and turned like the inside of a rabbit warren. Once or twice Ferus caught sight of them and leapt after them, but the narrow streets were such a maze that they quickly lost him each time. As they ran the streets looked wrong to Sam, old fashioned but not old. The people were even stranger than the houses, their clothes, their build, the way they moved. It all seemed wrong.
As they ran through the strange city more people began to spill onto the streets and then a muffled church bell began to sound. The din increased. Behind them a glow seemed to fill the sky.
‘Have we lost him?’ panted Hadan eventually.
‘Think so. For now.’ breathed Weewalk. ‘In here.’ he added, motioning to a small house from which three people had just hurried out.
They ducked through the open doorway, closing it quickly behind them. Hadan moved to the side of the window and looked out carefully. Sam put his hands on his knees and sucked in air.
‘Weewalk.’ he panted quietly, when he had regained his breath. ‘Where are we?’
Weewalk didn't answer, just breathed heavily.
‘Weewalk,’ Sam said again, standing and fixing the kobold with a look. ‘When are we?’
‘Ah,’ said Weewalk ‘Now. That is a very interesting question. But. If you'll excuse the pun. Perhaps now is not the time.’
Someone dashed past the window and Hadan shrank back. They stood in silence for a while. Then they moved on into the street again, and hid and then moved again before following a procession of people making their way into a church. Crowds were filing into the stone building with arms full of their belongings. One man even carried a pig. The vicar looked at him sternly but let him in anyway. They were all moving away from the fire which seemed to be quickly getting out of hand.
Weewalk, Hadan and Sam took up residence in a shadowed corner at the back of the church, away from other people. They collapsed, exhausted. As soon as they slumped onto the floor Sam felt the last of his energy drain away and his eyes began to close.
‘I reckon we're safe here for a while.’ said Weewalk.
‘Tell me, what's going on?’ said Sam.
‘Please, give me a little time to think. Try to get some rest if you can.’
Sam scowled but slipped his rucksack from his shoulders and punched it into the most comfortable shape he could and stretched out on the cold stone floor. He closed his eyes and after a few minutes changed his breathing so that it would appear that he was asleep. He lay still and silent and strained his ears as Hadan and Weewalk hunched together and began to speak in whispered conversation.
‘He's got the gift. A strong presence when he's threatened.’ said Weewalk softly, pulling off a boot with a wince. He stuck two fingers through holes in the leather and then took a cloth from his bag and pouring a little water on it, wiped at the claw mark on his foot. ‘It wasn't me that threw that garoul through a wall, or knocked Ferus off his feet.’
‘I guessed as much.’ said Hadan grimly. ‘What have you got us into? If he's really that strong already, without even knowing it, then the Riven aren't going to stop until he's dead. The Riven King won't let him survive. He’s too much of a threat. Even if he isn't the one, the Riven won’t take any chances. We've been lucky. Ferus has underestimated him.’
‘I know, I know.’ said Weewalk, rubbing the bridge of his nose. ‘There's no doubt that we need to get him somewhere where we can get someone else to have a proper look at him. You know how rare those powers are. I think it's about time we told him the full story too.’
‘Agreed.’ said Hadan, ‘Now they've found him he will always be under threat. We can't leave him. He wouldn't last long.’
Weewalk gave a huge yawn ‘Right now, I'm too tired to think about it.’ he said ‘Best get some sleep while we can.’
It wasn't long before Sam fell asleep too, despite the questions that squirmed in his head like a bucketful of eels.
Kya left the empty house and tried not to let herself be panicked. This was the fifth place she had tried since leaving Suun-t-Marten and taking the Great Line and still she was no further on with her mission. She had eventually found the ruined fortress and the line inside and now she was somewhere further north. But how was she to find one person when he could be in any place at any time? The directions she had been given had set her on a path but had not, probably could not, have told her exactly where to find the boy. She only had a vague idea of what he looked like. At least he was travelling with a mine kobold, that would make him easier to spot, but he would be keeping well hidden if he had any sense. She knew he was likely to be in this world, but where? Any leads she had managed to find had proved to be fruitless. Perhaps he had been found already. What would that mean for the future of her world?
The last inn she had been to had been burnt to the ground. She needed a better plan. She had decided to try the obvious places first but no-one had been able to be much help. She had hoped that the boy would end up in one of the known places that offered safety to those pursued by the Riven. There was one more place she could try. She had purposely left it until last, aware that she was likely to pick up some unwanted attention, but there she would be able to ask around, and if he hadn't been seen she could, at least, ask someone to keep an eye out.
When Sam awoke Weewalk and Hadan were already sitting up, chatting. His whole body ached from sleeping on the stone floor and Sam arched his back and stretched with a groan. Despite the pain in his neck and shoulders Sam decided that he felt infinitely better for some sleep.
Hadan moved closer and handed him a couple of cold sausages and a hunk of bread, before picking up a jug of water and pouring Sam a cup.
‘The other people here have been generous’ said Hadan, ‘They’re sheltering from the fire. It seems to be spreading across the city. Every time they put out one part another seems to spring up somewhere else. I suspect Ferus is trying to flush us out, but we're safe here for now.’
Sam felt his stomach rumble as the water hit the emptiness. He bit off some sausage and took a mouthful of bread. Food had never tasted so good. After he had eaten Weewalk and Hadan drew him further into the corner of the church and Weewalk began to talk.
‘When Pyxidis came to our world many years ago and all but destroyed it he also created the lines. Over time we noticed the strange aura around these lines and we investigated them. Some who spent a lot of time near them and had been granted Pyxidis' gift of presence found that their powers developed. We learned to open the pathways and use them, and some of us from our world found themselves here, in your world. But we didn't just find ourselves in your time. We found some lines led to times in your past. There was a scramble to use the lines and find a better world than the one Pyxidis had almost ripped to pieces. Powerful individuals from Mu have travelled back and been seen to do what has been considered to be miraculous by your people. You’ve probably heard of them. They’ve passed into legend in your world. Whole religions have been based upon their presence.
There are other races in our world who live on islands separate from the lands around the Rivenrok Complex, far across the black seas and glowing fields who have gone through in groups and been worshipped as Gods by your ancestors for bringing what seemed to be incredible technology and mysterious powers. For example, there's a land far from Rivenrok called Shambala and they’ve made regular contact with a race of your people. Tibetans I think they're called.
Mucking around in time is difficult though. Some of us may yet travel to your past which raises complicated questions. Have they already arrived? Your past has already occurred. Does that mean the people from our future can't help but
go back and do what has already been done?’
‘Hang on,’ said Sam, ‘This is confusing. Give me a minute. The sign on the bakers we arrived at. It said Pudding Lane. That's where the Great Fire of London started. We're in the year 1666, aren't we? Are you saying that we caused Ferus to follow us here, and if we hadn't then the Great Fire, which is going on now, would never have started?’
‘Possibly, but you already know about it. It's already happened. So, did we always have an influence on its start, or did it, in an alternate past, start in some other way? We always thought we could only affect events in the future ahead of us but then we found the lines. Perhaps, like a pebble dropped in a pond, our existence sends ripples in all directions. Or is it all predestined, perhaps you can act in no other way. But that doesn't feel right, does it?'
'Okay' said Sam 'but if you can travel to other times then you know what will happen in the future.'
'We really don't. Things change we think. We're not really sure. But we've not yet been able to build a complete picture of what the future holds. Of course, stories and legends appear from ahead. Prophecies you might call them.'
Weewalk shook his head.
'Sam, don’t worry if you find this hard to deal with. The greatest minds in both our worlds have studied this for as long as we have had a concept of time and no one has ever been sure of what happens. We just have to run with it.’
Sam lifted his hand and looked at it. He gave it a wave. ‘Did I do that because I decided to, or was I always going to do it?’
Hadan laughed. ‘Crazy huh?’
‘Anyway, that is a mystery we may never fathom’ continued Weewalk ‘But now you get the power of the lines. People and creatures from my world are able to leave it and appear in different times in yours. The lines are variable. Some seem to lock two places and times together, they're more stable. Some can fluctuate. You might end up in the place you were expecting, but at a time that you weren't planning for. But, many of your legends and myths and unexplained phenomena are caused by us. Stories from the past develop over time. Your Loch Ness Monster is a species of sea creature that lives in the De’Aan Ocean in the far north of Mu. It moves back and forth between worlds. That's why it's so hard for you to find. I have a good friend back home called Squatch. Hairy chap, big feet. Every now and then he pops into your world. People have found the tracks, even photographed him. Your history is full of the tales. The technology of the Egyptians and the Aztecs didn't come from nowhere. I already mentioned how the Tibetans discovered a portal to the place called Shambala. The Dogon tribe in Mali met a fish-like race called the Nommo who taught them of the stars and planets well before the invention of the telescope. The Bermuda Triangle is riddled with lines to all over the place. Atlantis is in Mu that's why men have never been able to find it again. Lines are not always fixed. They come and go over years as the worlds move across one another.’
‘Why hasn't anyone here ever realised any of this before?’ said Sam.
‘People from your world just don't understand. The visits from this world become stories and legends and myths and fairy-tales. Vampires, werewolves, goblins, pixies. These all have some basis in truth based on people and creatures from our world. Time may have warped what is accurate but they are real. Remember, we don't get here very often and our visits are spread throughout the entirety of history. The paths are fairly rare and many of them lead to a time when even the technology you have in your time would have been considered miraculous. And, yes, some have stumbled upon Mu by accident. Many of your people vanish each year. Have you heard of the Marie Celeste? I mentioned the Bermuda Triangle and you know all about that, I presume. Heard of exorcists? They're nothing more than people who are able to affect or close lines. Often they don't even realise they're doing it. But sometimes people do actually become aware of Mu and try to break through’, said Weewalk. ‘Once they even managed it in a place called Montauk. Normal men learnt how to create a bridge between worlds.’
‘What happened?’ asked Sam.
‘Well,’ said Weewalk ‘The details are a little hazy but so far as we know in 1943 there was once an attempt to make one of your great warships invisible to enemies through new science using light. It was called the Philadelphia Experiment or Project Rainbow. By pure chance the tests were conducted near the entrance to a line. When the machine was switched on the ship did indeed vanish. But it wasn't simply invisible. The scientists had actually managed to open a door and the entire ship went though. But they couldn't control the power. They managed to pull the ship back, but not all the crew came back with it. I expect some of them survived their trip to Mu, and may even be there still. The scientists weren't sure what they'd discovered but they realised it was something completely new and powerful. However, the project was considered to be a disaster and the Government closed it and hushed it up. However, some men on the project didn't want to stop. They met years later to try to restart the project. They created a chair which amplified presence to incredible levels. In time they were able to open a line in a place called Montauk and begin to control some of that power, some of the presence. Some of the scientists and crew from the original warship were seen years after they were thought to have died. Some people even absorbed a little of the power of the line and began to be able to control objects and even other people with their minds, but it is said that those people soon became unstable and destroyed the equipment effectively ending the project. The lines that men made were different somehow. Dangerous. Rough. And they conveyed too much power.’ Weewalk gave a grim laugh. ‘You know, the scientists even thought they had made contact with aliens from another planet. It was people from Mu who they saw. There are still holes in Montauk which lead to Mu, and I know there is a line to a place in our world called Icut, but it's not been used in a long time. It is possible that your people realised there was a hole there many years before that experiment. I can't think of any other reason why that area is called Connecticut. In fact, the hole may have opened again. I heard that a monster of some sort was found washed up on the beach nearby.’
‘You said that people absorbed some of the power from the lines.’
‘Yes, it seems that people in either world can, over time, absorb a little of the magic which the lines emit, more from those few man-made lines. It doesn't affect everyone but it means that some people in your world find they are able to move things with their minds, bend spoons, think of a friend a minute before he knocks on the door. This is presence. Where the barrier between our worlds is at its thinnest people can have an impression of the world on the other side and experience what they call ghosts. These are sometimes echoes as if the sights or sounds from the other world are travelling out of a long cave, but sometimes we create the illusions to keep people away from areas that are useful or dangerous. These are the legends of abandoned haunted houses!
Only a very few people in every thousand years show any real level of power, the ability to move enormous weights with the power of the mind, the ability to manipulate fire or to heal another by just touching him. You've seen that my presence is pretty limited but I am stronger than most. Those with real ability are often recruited into the Riven as children and brain-washed. It's like a cult. But, did you ever learn about King Herod and his bid to kill the babies who might one day threaten him? Same story. Different time. If you don't join you're as good as dead. The Riven King who rules from the Rivenrok Complex, wants to eliminate anyone with any significant power so that there can be no future challenge. He wants to rule a defeated, simple population, without the power to resist his authority. So, anyone with any power, or with little or no power but rebellious tendencies like me and Hadan, who don't join the Riven, are in for a visit from one of the Riven King's generals, like our friend Ferus. The Riven are also using the lines to infiltrate your world to gather slaves. There are very few people in your world with presence and so most are easily controlled. The other thing you should know about is the prophecy as it occupies the mind of
many Riven. It is said that a mighty warrior, with a legendary presence, will save us from the Riven King The King is taking no chances, although no-one seems to know if the prophecy is true. That is the one aspect of the unknown future that persists, and the part that worries the King the most. That someday he will be challenged. Which brings us to you, Sam.’
Weewalk turned and looked directly into Sam's eyes.
‘Sam, how was it that you were able to throw that garoul off me and hurl it through a wall?'
‘What?’ said Sam, ‘That wasn't me. You did that.’
‘How did you manage to hit Ferus with such a powerful block that he staggered and lost his hold on the flame? I've not seen people who've trained for decades be able to fend off that terrible sorcerer. He's being rather cautious around you, Sam.’
‘That was you too.’ said Sam, ‘It wasn't me, I don’t know how.’
‘Show me.’ said Weewalk.
He placed a sausage on the floor, out of sight, where no-one else in the church would be able to see it
‘Move it.’ he said.
‘Weewalk, this is stupid. I can't move it.’ said Sam.
‘Try.’
‘I don't know what to do.’
‘Put your hands out towards it. Then just concentrate on it and will it to move. Roll it into the corner.’
Sam sighed and shifted so he sat cross legged, his back to the people behind him. He stretched out his arms, and splayed his fingers. He concentrated as hard as he could. He thought he might be able to feel a strange heat running up and down his spine but nothing moved. He tried harder, but nothing.
‘I can't do it.’ he said.
‘Hmm, we'll see.’ said Weewalk.
Sam slumped feeling gloomy. For a moment he thought he might have managed it, that he might be special. Then suddenly he realised something and beamed.
‘I just thought.’ he exclaimed happily ‘My grandfather. He knew!’ Sam clapped his hands, delighted. ‘He knew. He wasn't going mad, ha! He knew about Mu. When he talked about other worlds he knew.’