Five Days: an adventure (A Fantasy Adventure)

by Krishna Pareek

  Anna humphed at Derek and he was forced to believe the theory of invisible dome surrounding Sana.

  ‘He stole our princess, why emperor hasn’t been doing anything?’ said another soldier.

  ‘Great question!’ roared Derek quietly. ‘Why hasn’t he done anything?!’

  Anna threw a dead look at him. He fell silent.

  ‘He has been, fella. He had sent a unit of Special Forces to rescue her but they were killed and graved into the jungle.’

  Derek swallowed in. Special Forces … killed? What chance did he stand? No! He shouldn’t let himself down. He could do it!

  They could only hear the whispers of their conversation … when suddenly another bunch of words – another conversation went into his ears.

  He turned sharply towards his right. They were alone with the guards at the outskirts … who was it?

  The answer was Chief.

  He had been talking to the same man he met in the evening in their far right.

  ‘It’s your boss!’ said a panic-stricken Derek, he knew they weren’t well-covered from the right.

  But instead of doing something girlish, Anna stayed focused on the soldiers. ‘We’re not doing anything wrong, just keep your mouth shut.’

  ‘But will it work? You are going to lose your job you know that?’ he said, stretching a little behind the bushes, still looking at the Chief.

  ‘You’ll have to sacrifice and if we move today and return with Alicia, I’ll be promoted.’

  He nodded in agreement, checking for chief again but this time he noticed he was staring straight in their direction. ‘So’ – he took a deep breath, coughed – ‘Let’s do it.’

  His heart was bouncing, they were going to be exposed not only before the soldiers but before Anna’s boss too. He looked at her, she was fierce.

  They stood … the soldiers, who were discussing things until now, turned towards them.

  ‘This is no place for hangouts, kids. Go back!’ said the leader.

  The chief was now running for them.

  ‘H – He is sick of the air, sir,’ said Anna, pointing at Derek, who had managed to look convincingly green in the face, still eyeing at the running figure. ‘He needs to get out.’

  ‘Don’t be a fool, we can’t open the gates, take him to a doctor.’

  ‘I already have but he says this poor man needs pure air – nothing else will work.’

  He looked thoughtful but – ‘We cannot do it. Get a permission signed by the emperor.’

  The chief was fifty yards away from them … he got to do something … Derek ran towards the unit of soldiers, howled loudly and pretended to vomit at them. ‘Mooooo!’

  ‘Get away – get away!’ said the leader disgustingly as the troop of soldiers scattered. ‘Alright take him out, girl!’

  Anna was quick and steered Derek out as told.

  As they were about a twenty yards away from the soldiers … a sensation of warmness went through his very skin as though he had walked through warm steam. It must be the invisible dome.

  ‘Whoa—’

  ‘You’re sick!’ Anna reminded him.

  He crouched down – the soldiers were still looking at them – he knew that – the bold figure of Chief had also arrived in the frame.

  ‘How the hell will we get away?’

  ‘There is only one way – Transportation.’

  ‘But you said you can do it only between your office, Oxford and your house.’

  ‘But in emergency – you remember?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Derek, suddenly very bright. ‘But they will block it when they know you’ve broken the law and run away.’

  ‘They will but hey, if you don’t want to do it then tell me!’

  ‘No, I want to but – sorry – I am losing you your job.’

  She didn’t say anything but continued to stare at him.

  A tornado was taking its shape … dust surrounded them … from the corner of his eye he could see, soldiers panicking and running towards them but –

  They were gone.

  * * *

  ‘C’mon, we can’t stay here for too long,’ said Anna, helping a fallen Derek to his feet. ‘They will know we are here in no time.’

  ‘This thing fuzzes me off, to be honest!’

  He blinked, catching shots of blue glitters and darkness. He didn’t know where they had arrived but it was deserted, he could say by considering the absolute silence there.

  But when he surveyed the place – it was some sort of forest where trees stood widely spaced, twigs and dry leaves were all around the floor, the sky was very much clear now and moon lit most of the corners of the jungle, which was, in a way, better.

  But Anna was right, they had to keep up; they should go, as far as possible, away from that place.

  He got to his feet, rustling dry leaves under shoes.

  ‘We should hold hands, I know nothing about this place,’ she said and Derek felt she had flung an axe at him.

  He hadn’t considered the dangers of the jungle at all, the wild animals and if this was magical land there would have been some other creature, too. There stood a wall of trees and between them was darkness. He felt numerous eyes were watching him from there and he could say his feet weren’t allowing him to walk forth, but backing off wasn’t a choice now!

  ‘Come,’ he felt her hand in his and for some reason it was comforting.

  They took a step forth and went into the jungle. The first thing he heard wasn’t cheerful at all: howls and things which, in his opinion, were lovers of human flesh. But he had to save Alicia, he told himself.

  But how’ll you save her?

  Don’t know.

  Insane!

  Selfish!

  Okay, I am probably very selfish but not a big fool who’s on a suicide mission to save someone he hasn’t met properly.

  Just shut up!

  I am your mind, you cannot shut me up! And if you do – who’ll take you to death?

  Am I so stupid? Don’t you see we’ve already put our toe out … now we can’t look backwards.

  Humph! Stupid!

  ‘You took your medicines?’ said Anna finally sitting somewhere to his relief, after an hour’s walk.

  He chose a rock and took out the ragged pouch from his pocket – he kept the medicine in his mouth and the magical thing was: it dissolved in his mouth as soon as it had touched his lips and they were, literally, sweeter than any sweet he had tested in his life. He really liked it.

  ‘It’s great,’ he said smiling at Anna.

  She smiled weakly but didn’t say anything.

  His smile, too, disappeared. Why couldn’t she cheer herself up? Perhaps he should help her.

  What did he do when he’d be miserable?

  He’d sing his favourite song – simple!

  He cleared his throat, she didn’t twitch – that brought his spirit down for a moment. But he began anyway, it was something that’d suck all the miseries out of his heart and it was helping her too, because he could see her protesting.

  ‘Please … don’t …’

  ‘You remember we did a ball in high school?’ he said while singing.

  She closed her eyes in irritation. ‘Please …’

  She grabbed her hands and shook them rhythmically in a fashion which looked “close-to-dance”.

  But Anna was way too against it.

  She stood and walked away from him and sat against a tree at a distance, gazing at the endless forest in her front.

  Derek knew she was thinking about Bear, but he couldn’t do anything to protect him. It was a pure heroic act from his side. Saving as many people as he could but his absence was hallowing Anna’s inside. And this was unbearable for him because she simply was his best friend.

  And if he wanted to pay tribute to Bear’s soul (they might not be friends but he liked him) he had to take care of Anna.

  He walked to her and sat on a rock, playing with his fingers. Anna made no gesture that she had liked h
im there.

  Derek began awkwardly, clearing his throat. ‘I am sorr—’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said in an “I don’t want to talk” tone.

  Derek was stumped in a second. ‘Er—’

  ‘Please, I don’t want to talk,’ she said firmly, a tear falling down her cheek.

  ‘You can’t live with this, Anna,’ he said, keeping his hand on her shoulder. ‘Look, you can’t bring him back and believe me, he’d have wanted to die like that. Giving his life for someone else.’

  She wiped tears, not saying anything.

  ‘He didn’t spend his life, he lived it,’ he said smiling at her. She looked at him for the first time … and completely broke away after flinging herself at him.

  ‘I really loved him,’ she said, sobbing.

  ‘I know,’ he said patting her on the back. ‘I know.’

  For ten minutes, nothing disturbed her from squeezing out her dejections in the form of tears and sobs. Derek couldn’t see her so weak, she had always been a great help to him. She never denied him an arm of comfort in his miseries and so shouldn’t he.

  But saying anything to her that moment would not be sensible. Let her do it, he told himself.

  The sky before him was full of stars with a gleaming arc of milky-way, and if he wasn’t feeling a broken Anna on his shoulder he’d have been marvelling every inch of it.

  He felt as though numerous eyes were watching him from the far-off places, yet, he was feeling more isolated than ever.

  He didn’t know where he had to go, he didn’t know if he’d reach the Dark City before his death or not. He didn’t know how Alicia would have been feeling but the efforts of the emperor to protect him were surprising.

  He demonstrated care for his soldiers, too. He really had a great inside and he couldn’t imagine his pain when his daughter was snatched away from him. For whom he was so over-protective, so caring.

  He would bring her back, even if it was the last thing he had to do.

  ‘They are beautiful, isn’t it?’ said Anna, stars sparkling in her eyes.

  Derek just realised she had stopped crying anymore and was staring at the sky.

  ‘Yes,’ said Derek, giving a comfortable arm around her shoulder.

  ‘Do you think Bear’d be somewhere there?’

  ‘No, he is here,’ he said rubbing his chest. ‘He was great, brave and caring, just like his owner.’

  Anna smiled softly and he was very glad for that. But he should discuss what he was thinking –

  ‘What do you think about Christin?’ he asked cautiously.

  ‘I don’t know,’ in a voice like a whisper. ‘But he tried to save you, he saved his soldiers. He fought alone in the castle.’

  ‘Yes. He is not as bad as he looks or perhaps he pretends to be a non-caring old goose.’

  Something behind them moved, Derek frowned and turned around … nothing. Nothing had touched or moved the bush-line.

  ‘What is it?’ said Anna.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Derek, turning towards the sky.

  ‘What do you think about Alicia?’ she said.

  Derek coughed, he didn’t see that coming. ‘W – What?’

  ‘I know you more than anyone else,’ she said. ‘I’ll ask her about you.’

  He was turning pink on his cheeks.

  Rustle!

  There was something in the bushes behind them.

  He stood up, ignoring Anna who was constantly saying. ‘… What is it …’

  He gazed at the bushes, now whoever the intruder was, he wasn’t caring about getting caught - he was shaking the leaves madly.

  ‘Oh my god,’ said Anna, clutching Derek’s arm hard. ‘Who’s it?’

  It was hurting him but he was sensible enough to not break his sight off the quaking leaves.

  Then, next moment, his eyes suddenly widened as though a high-speed bullet train had just appeared in his front.

  A wolf walked out of the bushes, all his canines naked, his slow roaring breath was as though energy to the motor in Derek’s chest – his heart.

  ‘Behind me!’ he yelled at Anna, the medicine had really worked on his mind – he was feeling braver.

  The wolf continued to advance on the duo, Anna was hidden behind. Derek knew the wolf was preparing to launch himself at him and it was just a matter of time –

  Just as he had the hint of twitching muscle in wolf’s feet, he pushed Anna away and next thing he saw was the wolf grabbing him by his shoulders and pushing him to the ground.

  He struggled hard but the beast was very powerful … but after a couple of seconds when his strengths gave up he was conquered by a question – how come the wolf hadn’t crushed his throat between his jaws?

  ‘Bear?’ said Anna behind him.

  Derek frowned and realised his horrific yellow eyes, an inch away from his own.

  Bear licked his face and ran towards Anna. Derek was completely shocked, how come he was back, h-he watched him dead. But his senses couldn’t deny the wolf was playing with Anna without slightest of scratch on his body. That didn’t feel good.

  But Anna was crying happily, she had accepted him as fast as she could.

  He frowned and got to his feet absent-mindedly. Bear was healthier than ever, but … What if he was something dark? What if he was some sort of evil replica of him?

  ‘Anna, get away from him!’ he shrieked, not knowing why he was doing it.

  She looked at him, completely surprised. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘He is not Bear, he is dead—’

  ‘C’mon, it’s him, he may have—’

  ‘HE’S DEAD!’

  ‘HE’S NOT! HE IS HERE, WITH ME!’

  ‘Please, I don’t think—’

  ‘You’re over-reacting!’

  ‘I am not! He is dead he can’t be back.’

  She looked at the wolf who was staring murderously at Derek until now.

  ‘Get away!’ he shrieked again.

  But she wasn’t moving, not even twitching, just staring at Bear. His heart was already pacing madly, he wasn’t liking him, there, in her front.

  Then she, finally after seconds, which seemed hours, started moving away from the wolf and towards him. Bear wasn’t liking it, he could tell. He was ready if he attacked her.

  ‘BEHIND YOU!’ Anna suddenly shrieked and even when he’d hardly turned, something hit his head hard and the universe very light … lighter than air … lighter than anything …

  His chest hit something which he believed was ground … someone pulled his leg … someone was yelling madly, probably Anna … his head was hanging like his entire body … it was as though gravity had been reversed or perhaps he was hanging upside down … they were travelling … Anna was yelling, but he could hardly hear her and it was something good, too, because he knew they were together …

  He felt as though someone was brushing his face, or they were trees … he didn’t want to protest, even if he had to … he just liked that, hanging there …

  After, what looked like hours, they stopped … he wasn’t feeling as dozy as before but his recovering senses had only brought fear. The strange bliss was gone … he fell against his chest and a thud to his right told him that Anna had also been dropped.

  ‘Keep still,’ she whispered in his ear.

  She was probably very close to him because he could feel her breathing.

  ‘Who’re they?’ said someone in a masculine voice.

  ‘Outsiders, Gwarllow,’ said another man.

  ‘The girl tells that they’re from Sana and she had the identification, too but the boy …’

  ‘I told you he’s my boyfriend and we’ve been camping until you spoiled it!’ yelled Anna.

  ‘Shut up!’ hissed the second voice. ‘What should we do?’

  ‘We have been finding dead Sana soldiers for a while, perhaps he is one of them.’

  ‘I doubt it, he has no identification but a wound on his right knee.’

  Th
e chattering of footsteps and then, he felt someone pulled the hems of his jeans up.

  ‘Hmmm … it is Aurisca’s he’s suffered his attack and he’s still alive … brave.’

  ‘Aurisca!’ said a third voice, which was feminine and a little aged too. ‘Poor boy …’

  ‘What should we do, Gwarllow?’ said the second voice.

  ‘Take them back.’

  ‘Take them back?!’ yelled the aged woman. ‘You can’t be so ridiculous – they are children and what if Aurisca tried to finish the boy off.’

  ‘That is why he is not safe to our village.’

  ‘How can you be so unkind … I know you don’t like outsiders but have some love, at least for children.’

  ‘Please, Muriel—’

  ‘Please, Gwarllow, you’re our head and we respect you but you can’t leave them to die. What do you say?’

  ‘She’s right—’ the second voice mumbled.

  He didn’t complete his sentence, perhaps Gwarllow had indirectly threatened him.

  ‘Okay,’ said Gwarllow. ‘But they will be gone by afternoon – you understand, girl. Take your boyfriend with you.’

  ‘Fine, they can stay at my place,’ said Muriel.

  There was silence and he knew whoever this Gwarllow was, he was disgusted by the old woman’s decision.

  ‘Don’t repeat my mistake,’ said Gwarllow. ‘Get back to the Desria.’ And numerous footsteps walked away from them.

  Clap-clap-clap!

  ‘You okay?’ said Anna.

  ‘What happened to him?’ said Muriel.

  ‘They hit him on the head,’ she said.

  He opened his eyes slowly and saw Anna and an old woman, named Muriel, peering anxiously at him.

  ‘Up you get,’ said Muriel, pulling and helping him to sit.

  ‘You okay?’ said Anna, still anxious.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, rubbing his head. ‘What the hell was that?’

  ‘I’ll tell you everything once you come with me,’ said Muriel. ‘You are not healthy enough to talk.’

  ‘B – But where are we?’

  He just realised that they were in a big ground, in his front were the tiny orange lights of a town and behind him was the impenetrable forest, they would just have crossed.

  ‘This is Timple-Town,’ said Anna. ‘And Gwarllow, the headman, had mistaken us with something they are looking for.’