by Eli Ingle
“What’s going on?” Rona asked Rigel out of the corner of her mouth. He shrugged.
“I don’t know. I must have missed this,” he replied.
“Don’t make me do this,” Uncle begged the Captain.
“I know it’s not what you want but I think it’s for the best. You can let go then and let them rest.”
Uncle whimpered when Laurie pulled him and the mannequins to their feet but did not resist him. Lowering the steps, they walked down and off, stepping down onto the hard ground and moving off the road.
“What’s going on?” Rigel asked Jhoan.
“Captain’s been talking to Uncle about those mannequins,” the bandit explained. “Said that maybe it wasn’t so healthy that he was holding onto them all the time and maybe he should put them to rest.”
“So what are they going to do?” asked Rona.
“Bury them I think.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask. Apparently, Laurie has thought it all through.”
“Doesn’t sound like it,” said Rigel.
Standing looking over the edge, they watched as Uncle and Laurie began digging a large grave for the mannequins. Uncle appeared to be crying as he did so but soldiered on regardless.
Once it had reached a suitable depth, they lowered the mannequins into it, the mother in the middle and the daughters on either side of her. Uncle clambered down and kissed each on the forehead before being helped out again by Laurie. Rigel noted with admiration that the Captain was really trying to do the best for Uncle. Laurie, who was usually so smart and clean, had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves and was now covered in dirt.
Before he had really thought about it, Rigel found himself jumping down the stairs and hurrying over to help. There were no spare shovels so he started pushing the dirt over the edge with his hands. Rona, Erdiz and Jhoan came to watch as the final soil was levelled on top, carrying something they must have made on the cart. Using a lid from one of the crates, Rona had written an epitaph in beautiful handwriting on the wood. She handed it over to Jhoan, who placed it at the top of the grave and pushed it in until neither wind nor rain could shift it.
“If I might say some words?” requested Laurie. “As Captain of an airship I have the right to conduct funeral services.”
“Please,” sniffed Uncle.
“We are gathered here to see in the rightful passage of three good souls on their journey from this life, a journey which we must all make in time. Here the wife and daughters of Ludo were taken before their time but we ask that their journey beyond be peaceful and enlightening, wherever they may go. May they rest in peace and may the sun shine over them.” He stepped back and gestured for Uncle to say something.
“Irene, you were always like a wife to me,” said Uncle. “And everything that a wife should be. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you and I hope you can forgive me … I’m glad that despite this we did get so many years together. Mary … Louise … I’m sorry I couldn’t look after you. I failed you and I’m so, so, sorry. My biggest regret is that you didn’t get to live out your life like you should have or do all the things that I knew you were capable of. I hope wherever you are now, you will have the chance to flourish … and to all of you, I hope we meet again someday. I can’t bear the thought of never seeing you again. Goodbye.”
He stepped back, unable to say more.
“Would anyone else like to say a few words?” asked Laurie. Erdiz and Jhoan took a brief turn each, expressing their hope that Ludo’s family would rest in peace.
Rigel wanted to say something but had no idea what. Everyone was staring at him. Then he felt Rona’s hand hold his own and they stepped forwards. Without speaking, but with each seeing a picture in the other’s mind, they watched as three separate rose bushes rose above the positions of the bodies: a pink one, a red one and a white one, the buds just starting to open. The children nodded at their handiwork.
“Those will live forever,” said Rona, at which Rigel nodded, not knowing how he knew, just knowing that it was true.
“Thank you,” said Uncle.
“And so we lay to rest the family of Ludo,” said Laurie. “May they rest in contentment and be together now, wherever they are.”
Chapter Nineteen
Frivlok stood next to the Deceiver. They were looking into the cell where Nýr had been locked. The Fallen One was standing with his back to them, staring at the wall. Frivlok was not sure what he should expect from the change, but there was something unsettling about the intensity with which the boy was staring at that wall.
“Can I go in?” Frivlok asked.
“Of course,” Vegalior said, turning the lock. “He’s all yours.” Frivlok grabbed the Deceiver’s wrist.
“He won’t … hurt me?”
Vegalior’s face twisted with a smile. “My Lord wouldn’t be scared, surely?” The look Frvilok gave him would have sunk an airship. “My apologies. I did not mean to offend. Of course, he could not hurt you. He is bound to you. To us – the cause, that is. Answering only to you Three, but respectful of us all.”
Frivlok nodded. “Good. As you were.” Vegalior unlocked the door and pulled it outwards. The solid steel swung out smoothly, booming as it hit the wall. Even at the echoing sound, the Fallen One made no indication that he had heard anything. Frivlok stepped inside and winced with irritation as Vegalior swung the door shut behind him and locked it. If it was no threat, why would he do that?
Taking another step forward, Frivlok looked around at the plain room before allowing his eyes to settle on the back of the Fallen One. His breathing (did he breathe?) was even and it showed no apparent signs of distress or anger. Frivlok cleared his throat but still it did not turn.
“Attention!” he barked.
The Fallen One turned slowly, first his head and then the rest, turning with his feet flat on the floor as though he were on ice. It was not easy to disturb Frivlok, but there was something about the movement that unsettled him. The Fallen One stood facing him and pulled a mock salute, smiling and revealing black gums. Frivlok was actually surprised that there had not been more of a transformation yet, although Vegalior had confided that this would happen in time.
“Hello, sir,” Nýr said. His voice had an echo to it.
“How are you feeling?”
The Fallen One took a deep breath and smiled. “I’m feeling just fine. Thank you.” He wiped at his eye and Frivlok watched as a gooey ribbon of black matter pulled away from the corner.
“What’s that?” he pointed as Nýr tossed it across the room.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m finished cooking yet,” it replied. “My skin is going grey but my eyes are still blue and I feel smoky. It’s leaking out of me but I think I’ll look different soon. I’m hungry.”
“You are?”
“Yes. I want to hurt people.”
“That’s … good. Who do you want to hurt?”
“Not you, dad,” it replied. Smiling. Frivlok blinked. “Yes, I can hear what you’re saying far away. I can almost hear what you’re thinking. But I want to hurt them. All of them. All of them that aren’t us. Most of all I want to hurt my brothers and sisters. I’ve done well, all things considered. I’m better now. I don’t hurt anymore. But I am angry and I am very strong. I’d like to do some hurting of my own. Can I go out and play?”
“Yes, Nýr. Yes. I think you can.”
*
The destruction of Vegalior’s town was swift and terrible. The Deceiver had originally objected to it. He was full of pride in his own work and resented its being pulled down around him.
Frivlok had changed his perspective, pointing out that they had to leave and what real purpose was there in it remaining? It had done the job of reviving them wonderfully and there could be no doubt that that was the noblest purpose of all. In the end, as Frivlok knew he would, Vegalior came around. It was not as though he had a choice. He also reasoned that where they were p
lanning to settle next would be a much larger project he could get his teeth into.
With Frivlok in the lead, the Three, Vegalior and Nýr moved away from the little village and towards the north. Woe betide any town or city that stood in their way.
Chapter Twenty
As it turned out, there was only one other town on their route to Jo-do Town. The first sketches of it appeared on the horizon in the early morning. The sun was burning the dusty plains with a heat haze, making anything further than a mile away harder to see. Black smudges of towers and steeples began to appear above the haze, indicating that there was something worth visiting up ahead.
By late afternoon, the whole town was visible and the Commander predicted that they should arrive there by early evening.
As the first purple streaks were blooming on the horizon, the Three, Nýr and Vegalior arrived at the edge of the town. A light breeze stirred their cloaks, flapping them in the wind. Even during the short period of time they had been travelling, the changes in Nýr were more apparent than ever. His eyes had dulled to a cloudy grey, his fingernails had blackened and the veins on his body now looked like they had been filled with ink. Black lines had appeared around his eyes. It looked like eyeliner but the actual skin had tattooed itself black. Smoke swirled around his feet and the unearthly double tracking of his voice was even more prominent that before. According to him, he was still only half finished but already eager to test out his potential.
Frivlok cast his eye over the town for a final time before nodding. “You may begin,” he instructed.
Nýr smiled, black gunk dripping from his mouth. With a few whispered words he brushed his hand over the ground.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then the ground began to bubble and shift. The Three and Vegalior watched with interest and some confusion. A terrible chittering sound emerged from where the ground was moving.
Springing out of the ground, five fat spiders jumped onto Nýr’s outstretched hand and sat obediently, looking up at him. The dead boy smiled and whispered to them, more words that Frivlok did not catch. Gently, Nýr placed the spiders on the floor and moved his hand over the first one. Squeezing his eyes shut, he rested his hand on the first spider. With a sound like a balloon being filled with wet meat, the first spider grew until it was half the size of one of the townhouses.
One by one he grew the spiders until they stood vigil at the edge of the town. Vegalior and the Three stared at Nýr with something close to amazement.
Nýr grinned at his handiwork. “Play,” he commanded, and the spiders charged into towards the houses.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning, they woke ready to start another day’s travelling. Rigel took the helm and Rona tried her hand at driving. Laurie had commandeered one of the crates as a table and was plotting a route on a map with Uncle.
“Where did you get that from?” Rigel asked, looking over the wheel at them.
“It’s mine,” said Uncle, as if this should have been obvious. “I hand drew it, but it’s still mine.”
“I thought all this was uncharted, though,” Rigel said.
“Rigel, what you’ve got to remember is that if we go far enough in this direction” – he pointed ahead of them – “we’re going to end up at cities. Proper cities! Not like the one I lived in.”
“Wait … what?” Rigel felt like there was some large gap in his memory about this.
“This whole place is inhabited but it sounds like you managed to arrive in the most uninhabitable and barren place. Further into Endirin, there is civilisation. All varying.”
“How so?” asked Rona, looked around.
“Well, you’ve got your Kozenians—”
“Hang on!” said Laurie. “What? Why are we only just hearing this? What do you mean?”
“The fallouts from Kozenia. They were bound to stick together – it makes more sense that way.”
“No, no, no. Stop. I don’t understand! What are you talking about?” demanded the Captain.
Uncle sighed as if this should be obvious. “Fallouts. No? They are people from each of the five planets that fall through the void into Everwere. See, some fell through from Earth. People who fell through from Kozenia banded together and built a few towns. We’ll pass through them, I’m sure.”
“But how did they get here?” asked Erdiz.
“Same way you did, I suspect,” replied Uncle, looking nonchalant as though this was something normal.
“No, no, no! Stop being awkward and explain this to us,” demanded Laurie.
“Alright,” said Uncle, holding his hands up. “I’m sorry, I thought it was common knowledge. Right, basically you’ve got your five planets that are linked and then there’s Everwere in the middle. There is a weak connection between the five planets but there is a strong link between all the five planets and Everwere. There are small gaps … links to this planet that are unseen by the eye. If someone is unfortunate enough to walk through one, they end up here, usually with no way to get back. It’s nearly impossible to return if you’ve fallen through … like trying to climb up a vertical slide while wearing socks on your hands and feet. So when that happens, they go wandering and usually end up looking for other people and then having to settle down in the new cities. A lot of them don’t make peace with it for a while but eventually they do …. They don’t have a choice really – they’re stuck here.”
“That’s horrible,” said Rona.
“Perhaps,” said Uncle, “but that’s still what happens.”
“Loads of people on Earth just disappear,” said Rigel, “and no-one can ever find them again. Does that mean they all ended up here?”
“Not all of them. Some people really do just disappear but some definitely end up here.”
“And the other planets?” asked Laurie.
“Yes, they have people falling through as well. People tend to settle with their own kind but it’s not exclusive – you can get people mixing into the different cultures – although that can create tensions as people tend to be stressed already about being lost and away from home so people arriving from different planets can upset the balance.”
“Out of everything, why would that be the thing that upsets the balance?” asked Rona.
“Some people are very close-minded,” Uncle explained. “They think there is nothing else in the universe and they are quite happy in their beliefs about everything and what’s right and what’s wrong. Falling through to another world can upset that quite a lot and these people can’t always accept what’s happened to them. Then when people from other worlds fall through and meet them, that upsets their notions about the world even more. Everything they believed in has been destroyed. They can’t find anyone to blame for their falling through – it’s no-one's fault, but because of this they direct that anger towards each other as a vent for their frustrated feelings.”
There was a pause.
“I hate people,” said Rigel.
“You are people,” said Uncle.
“That’s not making me feel any better.”
“Anyway, so that’s what we should be seeing when we arrive at these towns.”
“And we’ll get to Jo-do town first?” Laurie asked. Uncle nodded and pointed ahead of them.
“You can’t see it yet, but within the next day or two, we should arrive there … it will be strange going back.”
“What are you going to say to them about going back?” asked Laurie. “You said they were strict so do you really think they’ll be okay with you turning up again?”
“I hope so,” replied Uncle, looking doubtful. “I mean, surely they’ll understand when I explain to them what happened, or where we’re going ...?”
“The less they know about us, the better,” said Laurie, patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll look after you if they start causing trouble.”
“Thank you.”
“What will you do afterwards?” asked Rona.
“You’re very welcome to stay on with us,” offered Laurie. “We could use a navigator who knows about the place and what he’s doing.”
“Hey!” said Erdiz, looking up from her map.
“Do you really want me to stay?” asked Uncle. “I don’t want to be a burden … and I mean, I wasn’t asking to stay without being invited.”
“I know you weren’t,” smiled Laurie, “but the offer is still there if you want it.”
“Well, I’ll definitely think about it, thank you.”
“Onwards!” declared Laurie. Rona pushed the lever all the way down and the cart sped forwards, plumes of dust rolling away from the wheels.
*
“I’d suggest uncovering your boxes,” said Uncle. “The guards might want to inspect them. Also, if you have a hat for a disguise I wouldn’t say no.”
“Why do they have guards?” asked Laurie.
“Bit paranoid,” shrugged Uncle. “I don’t know. They just always have.”
“Put that on,” said Jhoan, passing him a wide brimmed hat and then pulling Erdiz’s reading glasses off her nose.
“Hey!” she protested.
“And put them on,” said the bandit.
Uncle put on the disguise. It was not foolproof, but it was sufficient to distract some attention away from his face.
“Why do we have to uncover the boxes?” asked Laurie.
“In case they want to look through them.”
“But why would they want to do that?”
“Because they always have done.”
“Do you think that’s a good enough reason for them to rifle through our stuff?” asked Laurie, folding his arms.
“Look, them’s the rules and that’s just how it is. I don’t make them and I don’t control them but if you want to get in here then that’s what you’re going to have to do,” said Uncle, crossing his arms and looking as petulant as Laurie did.