Approaching Storm (Alternate Worlds Book 2)

by Taylor Leigh

  * * * * *

  Music was blaring from the speakers. Something old-school, Tartan, punk, loud.

  After the morning’s excitement, Sam was grateful Tollin had put it on. Despite its volume, Sam found it a welcome distraction.

  She put a sandwich together in the kitchen, at the same time trying to put together the strange happenings of the day. There wasn’t much for it, though, Sam didn’t understand. The Myrmidons were shipping something to their base hidden out in the forest, something—Tollin had informed her—that had to do with power. But what it was, she couldn’t begin to fathom. She decided, for now, it was best to just leave things be.

  The song continued to blare in the background, popular from about thirty years back. It wasn’t long before she found herself being pulled into the lyrics.

  ‘Oh, you can sing!’ Tollin said, waltzing into the room.

  Sam froze, mid-spin, embarrassed. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

  He waved his hand dismissively. ‘Oh, please, don’t stop on my account! I love a good Scottorian bard myself.’ He pitched his voice lower and belted out, ‘But ye, my dear, I’ll be gone, nay a year, as I sail through the raging storm…’

  Sam broke into a grin. ‘Well, you’ve certainly got the voice for it!’

  Tollin shrugged animatedly. ‘Ah, well, as with all good Scottorian bards, all you have to do is just drop your voice and drag it out as much as possible.’

  Sam folded her arms. ‘That’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you; if you’re not human, and you weren’t born on Scottorr, how it is you’ve got a Scottorian accent?’

  ‘Well,’ Tollin said, clearly delighted to talk about himself. ‘Dragons have inherent memory, as you know, and that’s one of the traits that got passed down to me, as you also know. So, that being said, when I was born, I had a whole databank of languages and accents already in my head, from every Realm and country you could think of. Scottorian just felt best for me.’

  Sam shook her head, delighted by the complete ridiculousness of it. ‘You were just programmed with all of them at the beginning? Did you ever just take one out on a spin, you know, just to try it out?’

  ‘Oh, yeah, loads of times! But, like I said, Scottorrian just felt best for me.’

  The song died away, throwing the room suddenly quiet. ‘Well, I think it fits you perfectly.’

  Tollin flashed a disarming smile. ‘I’m glad you think so, Samantha Turner!’

  Sam drummed her fingers against her arm. ‘So, what are we going to do about the Myrmidons?’

  Tollin leaned around her to swipe up half of her sandwich. ‘We?’ He took an impressive bite.

  Sam tilted her head at him. ‘Yeah, we. We’re a team now, you and me. And I’m not about to be left out. This is personal for me.’

  Tollin’s dark eyes twinkled. He swung himself up onto the counter. ‘Well, the Myrmidons here aren’t just sitting idly on their hands. They’re building—or have built—something enormous. A power generator capable of fuelling ten cities the size of Flotsen, and that’s saying something! Technology like that shouldn’t even be possible in this Realm, but until I get a proper look at the generator, I can’t make a judgement on what it’s doing, or how to turn it off.’

  Sam nodded. ‘But it’s not doing anything good.’

  Tollin pulled a sour face. ‘No, I should say not. They’re certainly not using it to help the Druid villages, that’s for sure! No, they’re using it for something else, something connected with the anniversary.’

  Sam leaned up against the counter he was perched on. ‘You said you wouldn’t know what to do with it if you didn’t get a good look at it. Does that mean we’re going to get a look at it?’

  Tollin’s thin lips twitched. ‘That’s the general idea.’

  ‘Okay, kids!’ Marus said, a couple hours later. ‘You can all compliment me on how brilliant I am, trust me, I won’t mind.’

  They were in one of the massive, unlocked computer labs, where Marus had been hard at work all morning.

  Tollin pulled out a crooked pair of old wire-rim spectacles and gazed at the computer screen in front of Marus. ‘What have you got for us?’

  Marus flashed a big grin. ‘It took me the majority of your day out, but I managed to hack into the computer system. They’ve changed their passcodes since I was here last. This coding looks like O’Neill’s handiwork, clever bastard.

  ‘Mission logs on just about everything you can imagine: artefacts, Realms, dragons, time reports on Daemon expansion, I could go on. But that’s not the most interesting thing; there are some sparse records on Myrmidon board meetings.’ He leant back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. ‘Am I good or what?’

  Tollin studied the information. ‘I’m impressed! I mean, it wouldn’t have taken me all morning to hack in, but still, you’re progressing rather well!’

  Marus glowered at Tollin sourly.

  Sam shook her head. ‘How’d you manage this? Ancient dragon knowledge extend to hacking, too?’

  Marus smiled widely, showing all of his teeth. ‘I wish! I’ve gotten pretty good at some things over the past ten-thousand years.’

  Tollin grumbled as he read over the list. ‘It says here that Clieg Erikson made some advancement with the generator. That’s troubling. There’s also mention of an unexpected breakthrough. It’s all so cryptic it’s hard to make out.’

  ‘Breakthrough?’ Sam looked at him. ‘Something to do with other Realms?’

  Tollin groaned. ‘Looks that way,’ he turned to Marus. ‘Can you make us some fake ID?’

  Marus sighed. ‘The ones I gave you for shopping weren’t good enough?’

  Tollin waved that away. ‘They were fine, but I was thinking of something a little more…high up.’

  Marus studied him. ‘What did you have in mind?’

  Tollin’s wild brown eyes shone. ‘We need to get into the Myrmidon base here. See what’s going on.’

  Marus laughed. ‘You’re barking! You can’t just go waltzing in there! They’ve no doubt got our identities tagged, not to mention the obscene amount of security they’ve got in that place. It’s completely unfeasible! I would have to make up a tonne of background material for you, with all of the security clearances, it could take weeks!’

  Tollin nodded. ‘We don’t have weeks. Get it done.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sam’s mind whirled as she lay in her room that night. Her first night at the manor she had been so exhausted she hadn’t much paid attention to where she was, but now she was restless.

  Sam’s room was fine, she did admit that. But it felt much too great for one person. She could imagine some ancient royalty sleeping here, not her.

  The curtains blew softly in the cold Scottorrian breeze from the massive open window and her great canopy bed felt too empty. Sam had never been in a place with so much space, and she found herself feeling small.

  Sam sank deep in the covers, staring up at the ceiling. She had no idea how late it was since there was no timepiece in the room, but she could tell by the stars outside that it had to be well past midnight.

  Her brain had made it quite clear she was long past the point of falling back to sleep. She sighed and pushed herself up, annoyed. She had no idea what to expect with the morning and knew she’d regret it if she didn’t sleep now, but it was a failing endeavour.

  Sliding out of bed, her bare feet touched the cold floor. She shivered slightly, hardly used to the climate change of passing from one planet to the other so fast. It had been blistering hot on Scrabia, while here on Scottorr the planet was still a cold spring.

  Sam reached the door of her room and pulled it open slowly to peek down the hall. Exploring a castle in the dark was something she’d always wanted to do. Who knew if she’d have another chance? And such a place as this had to be loaded with secrets.

  Sam’s room was located on the second storey and her floor consisted of one long hallway which wrapped around the atrium. Sam�
��s room was to the right of the staircase at the far end. Across from her was Tollin’s room. Beyond that, she could only guess at.

  She stepped out into the dark hallway and cast a glance at Tollin’s door. From what she could see the light was out.

  She debated about what her next move should be. To her right was the long stretch of hall that circled above the vestibule. There were plenty of strange doors to try that way. On her left, was a giant set of doors that took up the entire reach of the wall. The rumbling, growling that came from behind could only be that of a sleeping dragon.

  Sam padded down the hall, her shadow looming in the lights mounted on the walls, trying the first door she came to: locked. The same came from the next and the next. Her disappointment began to rise. A few of the doors did swing open for her, but there wasn’t much to see. One room was full of paintings under sheets; another had nothing but a lone telescope poking out of the window. Sam had just about reached the end of the hall when she looked forward. There was one door left; it looked very similar to the one Marus was behind.

  Sam paused, tracing the carved designs over the wood lightly. There was certainly something curious about it. A red glow framed the door in a muted glow. She pressed her ear up against the wood and listened. The room beyond was not exactly silent. A low humming emanated from something that sounded mechanical.

  Moving her hand along the rough wood, she found the latch and pushed it gently. To her relief it was not locked. Yet the scraping noise it made as it pulled free made her wince and the door let out a long, weary groan was it swung inward heavily on its hinges.

  The room before her was dark. Red lights were fixed to the walls about three metres up, and though they did not give sufficient light to reveal the dark room, she could tell it was round. Scattered about were strange machines with looping wires branching off up towards the black ceiling, humming with a patient steadiness. Little red lights blinked every now and then from the machines, glowing with star patterns and times. It was all was very familiar—if much newer—of that device Tollin had saved her from when they’d first met.

  A faint chart on the wall was written with AN and VY OUT, and a list of dates and times. Above the chart were a long white feather and a faded drawn portrait of a girl with the word “Cheers” written across it. Sam stepped closer and frowned at it in the dull light. It held an eerie likeness to her. She shivered and turned away. It wasn’t her. The drawing was too old.

  She walked farther into the room, eyes quickly darting towards the corners, half expecting to see some undead thing lurching at her. One of the largest machines took up a good portion of the room, and behind it a curving metal staircase went twisting up into the darkness. A red lamp had hung just over the stairwell and illuminated the rusted metal.

  Sam craned her head back to look above her, hoping to see where the stairs lead, but the blackness was too thick.

  It reminded her of the void they’d been trapped in. That dark nightmare that hadn’t yet left her dreams. Yet, this wasn’t menacing, there was no evil thing lurking out of sight. She wasn’t sure when she’d be able to stop telling herself that.

  Her curiosity got the better of her and Sam crossed the room cautiously, her hand finally coming to rest on the rough rail of the stairs. She set her foot on the first step and tested her weight. It went bobbing slightly with her weight, but Sam decided it held up rather well, considering how old it must have been.

  Taking it slow, Sam ghosted upward into the darkness, knowing where to put her foot only by the memory of the last one. She wished she’d brought a torch with her. The talks of ghosts with her conversation with Nelly and Terrance seemed ages ago, but it came back to her in a rush as she felt a gentle breath of cold air across her skin.

  She did not know how long she had been climbing, things always felt ages longer in the dark, but gradually Sam began to see a faint midnight glow, the colour of Marus’s eyes. She smiled in triumph and quickened her pace up the stairs, ignoring the mistrustful shake it made. Till at last Sam found herself at a stone landing. A light: dark and blue pooled on the floor and Sam stepped onto the solid ground gratefully.

  Before her was another spiral staircase, this one made of thick stone steps. Along the walls were carved images of dragons and wolves and constellations of stars. She followed the art, fingers tracing a jagged, swirling script of ancient text and ran through it.

  Sam didn’t realise she’d reached the top till she stumbled over the last step, falling to her hands and knees. She let out an irritated huff but at once forgot her stinging palms, distracted by the glow that now spilled around her. Sam lifted her head and saw an open stone doorway leading out onto a flat platform, and the view beyond made her gasp.

  Pushing herself up, Sam stepped through the doorway, gaping at the sight. She was standing at the top of the tower.

  Beneath her bare feet the floor shone like glassy crystal, painted in streaks of colour and dots of light. It took her a moment to realise it was not the floor, but a reflection of the sky above.

  The edges of the tower had no ramparts or barriers of any sort, and the drop must have been stomach-lurching. Machines quite similar to the ones below hummed quietly from the boundaries of the circle.

  Above was a canvas of colour. The sky was not black, but indigo. Streaks of blue, purple and gold flecked a backdrop to the slowly rotating world of pinks and crimsons. The red planet was close from its recent passing and lit up the entire sky with a soft glow. Sam could make out the deep craters in its surface and the very faint lights of cities.

  Sam sank down, overwhelmed by the view. The sky was not supposed to be this beautiful on Scottorr. The clouds made sure of that.

  But here was something else above that marred the view; dark clouds were swirling over its surface like a blemish.

  She watched the storm with morbid interest as it sloshed and churned like the ocean. She found it hard to believe she’d flown through that. It was spreading like a disease, stretching out its tendrils and covering the desert. Was that the void?

  While that awful dark was spreading across Scrabia, something else was slowly leaking across Scottorr in rippling ribbons of glowing clouds. It was light, appearing out of nowhere till, almost at once, it blotted Scrabia from view. Here and there it burst into life in slow blooms, swelling into a nebulous mass, reminding her of a tide of plankton. Little particles drifted down around her, like falling stars, warm and inviting. She reached out her hand and watched the golden colour dance across her skin. It was more curious than anything and she wondered where it came from. Was it some odd life form, like the feeders, that only existed here, when the worlds were so close?

  There was something so warm about it, so alive, like the darkness, yet just the opposite. Inexplicable. Beautiful.

  ‘Can’t sleep?’ A voice came cheerily.

  Sam jumped and the light blinked out of existence, as if just as startled. Tollin was leaning in the doorway. So, he’d found her. That hadn’t taken long. She found herself pleasantly pleased by his sudden appearance. ‘You must have been king of seek and find,’ she smiled.

  She didn’t see the expression through the wash of colour as he walked her way. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around his knees. ‘Seek and find?’ A quizzical face turned towards her.

  Sam frowned at his glance. ‘Yeah, you know, all the kids hide and one tries to find them.’

  ‘Oh,’ Tollin said quietly, trailing off into silence. They both sat, staring up at the spectacular view. ‘Didn’t play many games. Didn’t have much of a childhood I guess, but I did get good at that hide and seek game. Marus was always trying to pin me to the wall with a spear.’ A smile was in his voice.

  Sam smirked quietly. ‘You deserved it, I have no doubt.’

  Tollin shrugged. ‘Probably.’

  Sam ran her fingers along the smooth surface, staring at her face mirrored back at her, framed by light. ‘So were you following me, then?’ she asked at last.

&nbs
p; ‘What? Oh, no. I just heard you leave and…well, wanted to make sure you were safe, that the ring wasn’t… you know. Knew you’d find your way up here eventually!’ He chuckled slightly.

  ‘Not sure if I like that super-hearing of yours,’ she huffed. Peeking over at Tollin, she saw he was smiling in amusement. ‘Guess I should be grateful you’re so alert. Doubt Marus would wake up for anything.’

  Tollin laughed. ‘Oh, he’s got his faults, but he’s still keeping an eye out for you. Dragons always sleep with one eye open, don’t you know that?’

  Sam sighed. ‘There’s a lot I don’t know.’

  Tollin nodded. ‘Well, you’re clever. You’ll catch on quick.’

  Sam wasn’t one to blush, but she nonetheless felt her cheeks growing warm under his stare. ‘So, what is this place anyway?’

  Tollin blew out a breath and leant back on his hands. ‘Oh, lots of things. It’s always been associated with science and learning. Exploration.’

  Sam watched as a shooting star died overhead. ‘Well, that explains the machines.’

  ‘Yeah. Perhaps to someone wiser than I. Some of the mysteries of the world will always be mysteries to me. Doesn’t matter how much a travel. There are still places like this, ancient knowledge, ancient people, ancient technology that I’ll never understand.’

  ‘Doesn’t that drive you mad?’ Sam asked.

  ‘I can’t know everything, I suppose. As much as I’d like to,’ Tollin’s voice carried a hint of regret.

  That wasn’t the answer Sam was expecting. ‘What? Even with your inherent memory?’

  ‘Even dragons don’t know everything. And I’ve never had the time to discover it for myself. Even as old as I am.’ Tollin sounded slightly sad. ‘There are others who know…others who worked this place out.’

  ‘O’Neill?’

  ‘Yeah…He’s a clever old devil. One with too much brains and too much time. Dangerous combination, that.’ His eyes shone in a way that was non-too pleasant. ‘If I never have to work with him again I would not complain.’