by Dale Furse
‘I have spoken to those in question.’
They were back already? ‘I should have buried them in that crater.’
‘You could never do such a thing.’
‘You wanna make a bet?’
Irritation swept across Tanat’s face. ‘Don’t say things like that,’ he almost growled. ‘You will only give your enemies what they want and others in positions of power might be persuaded that they are right and admit you to a closed restoration.’
Sam said, ‘Tanat’s right, Nell. Give us your word you won’t say that sort of stuff.’
‘Fine. I won’t say stuff like that even if I think it.’
‘Don’t even think it,’ Tanat said.
‘I think she’s playing with us,’ said Sam.
‘I hope she is,’ Tanat mumbled. He gave a shake of his head as if to clear his mind and rested his hand on her foot.
‘Ow,’ Nell exclaimed.
Jerking his hand away, he said, ‘You have more injuries.’
‘Not really. It doesn’t hurt much now,’ she lied. ‘What did they have to say for themselves?’
‘They insist the blowpipe held a tranquilliser and it was meant for you, not the Kroll.’
‘Me?’ Nell was getting sick of people trying to catch her as if she was some kind of wild animal, and even sicker of not being taken seriously by those around her. ‘Did they tell you they tried to stab me then?’
‘Apparently it was an accident. He tripped and the knife more or less fell on you.’
‘It seems to me, my enemies have a lot of accidents with knives,’ Nell said. ‘Nadar said stabbing Mekie was an accident too. Funny, if that accident hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have had Mekie’s life to barter with and I wouldn’t have agreed to go with him.’
‘The didn’t trip,’ Sam said. ‘He fell after he stabbed Nell because I threw a rock at him.’
‘We have ways of finding the truth, Sam.’
‘If the dart had a tranquilliser in it, why did Pren nearly die?’ Nell wanted to know.
‘It is poison to Krolls.’ Tanat rubbed his eyes as Lesel walked into the room carrying a tray of dressings.
‘The sun will be up soon,’ she said, placing the tray on the small table beside the bed. ‘There will be time enough to talk after we all get some sleep.’ She dipped some material into a bowl of yellow fluid and began washing Nell’s arm.
Nell tried to pull away, but Lesel held her wrist in an okfor grip with her other hand.
‘Hold still,’ she said. ‘This will take time to heal and you are too weak to fight the wound and any bacteria.’ She wrapped the cotton wool like dressing around Nell’s arm and it melded together at the ends.
Tanat stood. ‘Ma is right,’ he said, as he stretched, arching his back. ‘We will talk later.’ He held the door open.
‘But ...’ Nell began, trying to sit up.
Warmth and love flooded from Lesel’s hands. Nell bit her cheek. Maybe her grandmother didn’t hate her.
Pushing Nell back onto the pillows, Lesel ordered, ‘Sleep.’ Her voice was stern but lacked any of the previous ire. ‘We will take you before the Gramlax Council when you are well,’ she said, and kissed Nell’s forehead. ‘Out you go, young man,’ she said on her way out of the room.
‘I’ll be out in a jiff. Promise,’ Sam said.
When they left, Sam stood and leant close to Nell’s face. ‘I didn’t want to come back, you know. That Melt and the other Krolls made me.’
‘I know,’ she said, and suddenly exhausted, closed her eyes.
Sam’s lips touched her cheek for longer than a peck. Her eyes snapped open.
‘I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you,’ he said, backing away and turning off the light.
After he slipped quietly out the door, Nell wondered about that kiss. Oh, she had kissed boys before. Sometimes boys would go to the beach for rides and when she had spent some time with them, a few had taken her for long walks into the rainforest. Sometimes Nell would take a special boy to a swimming hole along the river that spilt out into the ocean. After many hours of handholding on such walks, the constant contact often led to making out.
Sam’s kiss was much more intimate than any other time he’d shown how much she had meant to him, and she didn’t need to read his mind to know there was a deep love behind it. Looking into the depths of her being, she realised she didn’t like Sam that way. Oh, she loved him, but as a brother and of course, she’d be lost without him too.
Mekie crept into her mind. Nell had definitely been jealous of Mekie’s crush on Sam. Why? She frowned. Huh. She was as territorial as a crocodile, using Sam’s silly flirting to hurt Mekie. The girl might be her cousin, but Mekie had grown into a real friend. Nell would have to make it up to her. Grunting at her body’s weakness, she rolled over onto her good side.
***
Sun shone through the large round window above the bed and Nell smiled at the pink rays of light. She snuggled down into the soft pillow. Remembering what had happened the night before, her eyes popped open. She felt for the bandage and peeled it off. All sign of pain and all sign of the wound had completely vanished as if it was never there. She bent forward and felt her foot. No pain. She slowly turned it one way then the other, then faster. Not even a tinge. She had expected to heal fast, but the blood from the severed vein had stopped oozing by the time the Kroll’s song ended. She peered at the wound. Even I couldn’t stop the flow of blood that fast. Had the Krolls’ song healed her like it had cured Pren? She smiled. What a neat trick.
Maybe Melt will come to see her with news of Pren. She had to get to the platform. She dressed and opened the bedroom door, ripping the door handle out from Lesel’s hand on the other side.
‘Where do you think you’re going, young lady?’ she said.
The last person Nell wanted to see was her grandmother.
‘I thought I’d speak to Melt,’ Nell said.
‘He’s not here. Now sit down so I can examine your wounds.’
Nell frowned. As far as she knew, her grandmother didn’t even know who Melt was. ‘I’m fine. Look.’ Nell twirled around.
Lesel took Nell’s arm and examined it. ‘You are an amazing young woman, Granddaughter.’
‘Yeah, I guess I am sometimes.’
‘The Kroll named Melt came to see how you were earlier. I told him you were healing satisfactory and he left for the Council Concourse.’
‘You don’t seem worried about Krolls talking to you.’
‘I have had time to digest the tidings and I understand these are times of change.’ She brushed the back of her fingers along Nell’s check. ‘Perhaps before you, I would have been more astonished. However, that’s by the way, I see you are capable to go to the concourse.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the Council of Gramlax has requested your presence.’
Nell wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. Was she in trouble? Lesel wasn’t acting like she was.
‘G’day,’ Sam interrupted from the open doorway.
‘Good morning, Sam.’ Lesel turned back to Nell. ‘Hurry up, and you’ll need to put something in your stomach before we go.’
‘I’m all for that,’ Sam said, giving Lesel room to pass. He gave Nell a wink and closed the door on his way out.
Hanging on the back of the door was a new outfit. Nell jumped up and grabbed it. She loved jade-green. The blouse was almost the same colour as Kale’s skin and the material felt like silk but it was thicker. Nell slipped it over her head and half turned to the mirror. The slits that allowed room for her wings to grow were hardly noticeable and Nell hoped they would hold their shape in a wind. The black trousers were loose-legged like Tanat favoured. Nell could see why; they were the most comfortable pants she had ever worn. Lesel wanted Nell presentable for the council and the comfy pants meant it might be a long day.
***
Lesel smiled widely when Nell entered the dining room. Nell smiled back and wondered
what had happened, other than the Krolls visiting, to change her grandmother’s attitude. ‘You don’t seem to be so mad at me this morning,’ Nell said.
‘The only reason I was so angry last night was because I was worried that you’d been killed. I could have shaken you for putting me through that and I would have if you weren’t injured.’ She lowered her eyes to the table. ‘I apologise for the things I said. I never thought you’d be responsible for a war between the s and Krolls and I don’t know why I said that.’
Hugging her grandmother around the waist, Nell said, ‘I’m sorry for scaring you.’
‘Don’t be, Nellen, I’m certain I will be worried about you many more times but I understand too; you have to take risks to find what you are searching for. Although there will be pain in what you uncover, I believe we, and the entire known universe, will be better for that knowledge.’
‘Thank you.’
Lesel gave Nell a squeeze and guided her to sit down. ‘We will move forward now. Eat up.’
Sam didn’t need to be told twice and as he piled his plate, he asked, ‘Where’s Tanat?’
‘He should be at the Concourse by now,’ said Lesel.
***
The Kroll waiting on the landing dipped his head in a low bow as Nell walked through the doorway. She hoped all the Krolls weren’t going to act that way. Over breakfast, she had learned that Lesel and Tanat had spoken to many Krolls that morning. All had come to pay their respects to Nell on their way to the council meeting and extol Nell’s bravery. They also shared how she and the Krolls were forever bonded. Nell understood the song had formed that tie.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ Nell said, as she touched his neck.
‘We are forever in your debt.’ The Kroll kept his eyes to the ground. ‘You are our missing link.’
‘No way,’ Nell said aloud then continued with her mind, ‘I’m not part Kroll along with everything else, am I?’
The Kroll laughed and raised his head. ‘I didn’t mean that you were. I meant, without your assistance we would never have saved our beloved leader, Pren.’
‘Mekie was right. It’s rude to have private conversations,’ Sam said, as he climbed onto the Kroll’s back.
‘That is true,’ Lesel said. Her lavender wings appeared a little paler in the morning light as she rose into the air. ‘Follow me,’ she called, and flew east.
The Kroll was soon beside her and Nell fell in behind. The s they passed nodded to Lesel and gazed at Nell, but none had the angry or accusing expressions of the night before. These s were curious rather than afraid of her.
As Nell rounded a high mountain, a leaned out her window and waved. Nell waved tentatively back to the smiling face.
‘Good morning, Nell of Wexkia,’ another older female called from her landing bay. Others in the mountain must have heard her because soon all the windows had s of all ages hanging out of them waving and calling out to Nell.
Lesel slowed to speak to Nell. ‘Every person on Gramlax will know the truth by now.’
Nell stared at her. ‘Then why do I have to go before the Council?’
‘You are not on trial, child. If anything, the Council of Gramlax will be standing before you.’ As Lesel spoke, a loud rumbling sounded below.
Nell peered down. On an expansive plateau, thousands of s gathered. Their chatter sounded like a stampeding herd of cattle approaching from a distance.
Someone yelled and pointed in Nell’s direction and all discourse stopped. No more of the crowd’s constant chattering, only silence.
They flew over the mute crowd and landed before a raised rock carving of a , wings unfurled, with his hand resting on a floating Kroll’s right shoulder. In front of the carving were three men sitting in okfor high-backed chairs. They must have been uncomfortable because the hard metal had no cushioning.
‘Is this the Council?’ Nell asked Tanat, surprised there were only three men on the raised platform.
‘No,’ he replied. ‘It appears that instead of the council, you are to go before the Elders of Gramlax.’
‘Oh,’ Nell said, and gazed back at the throngs of people behind her.
Nell was so taken with the crowd she didn’t see the hundreds of Krolls hovering until she heard a familiar voice call out her name from above. Melt. She looked up and beamed at her new Kroll friend.
The army of Krolls silenced and as if their moves were rehearsed, they bowed their heads and glided apart into two separate halves. It seemed like an honour brigade. Pren flew between the two halves and floated down to Nell.
‘Pren,’ Nell said, as she flung her arms around his neck.
‘Hello. Are you well?’ he asked.
‘Yes, yes and so are you,’ she laughed.
As soon as Sam jumped to the ground, his Kroll rose and joined his brothers and sisters forming a half circle behind the Elders.
‘Nell, child of Wexkia,’ the Elder sitting in the middle said as he stood. ‘And Pren, oldest of Krolls, welcome.’
The two remaining Elders rose to their feet. ‘Welcome,’ they said in unison.
All three bowed, first to Nell, then to Pren.
The one Nell assumed was the leader stood up. His face was as wrinkled as a crushed bed sheet. ‘I am Gradarg and we, with every last citizen of Gramlax, thank you for helping to save the Krolls’ beloved leader, Pren, oldest of Krolls. We, the citizens of Gramlax, also hold Pren in the highest regard. He and his loyal subjects welcomed us into their fold when we first came to Gramlax for which we were and are forever grateful.’ He bowed low to Pren, turned and stooped once more to the remaining Krolls. The other Elders did the same.
Facing forward again, Gradarg continued, ‘We have the citizens responsible and know the truth of what happened. Will you entrust them to us?’ The hand he offered was bony.
Pren gazed at all three Elders before turning his face to the waiting Krolls. Every Kroll’s set of eyes indicated they agreed with whatever decision Pren made. He touched his chin to Gradarg’s hand. The Elder smiled. ‘Now to the celebrations.’
‘Wait,’ Nell said. ‘What is the truth? Why did they want to hurt us?’ But the music had already started. waiters, with platters held high, wound their way around and through the crowd and like a much rehearsed play, the crowd fell back to leave an open space around the musicians before jugglers, dancers and acrobats descended out of the sky. They filled the circle of space and proceeded with their entertainments. Krolls floated down to mingle with the s and accept the waiters’ offerings of gropil flowers. A scantily clad dancer pulled Sam away from his group and began to dance around him. Sam threw Nell a crooked grin and joined his dancer in the rhythm. He had always enjoyed dancing but had learnt some new moves since the last time Nell saw him dance. That was around a campfire with a girl who had come to Cape Hollow for the weekend. His new moves would have made that girl blush but the dancer now encouraged Sam, gyrating her hips in time with his. Nell was glad Mekie wasn’t there at that moment.
Nell looked around for the Elders. They too were enjoying the party, moving around, chatting while eating and drinking. So was Lesel. She was sipping wine and flirting with Panap, the head of the school they had visited. Nell glimpsed Tanat off to the side talking to Zenez from the mine. Nell bit her lip. She wanted answers, not celebrations. As she thought this, a waiter pushed a drink into her hand and hurried past her to continue his task. She turned to give it back and found Pren beside her.
‘It’s made from gucca berries,’ he said.
‘I don’t want a drink, I want answers. Don’t you?’
‘We need forbearance sometimes, Nell. There will be time enough for questions.’ He gave a waiter a small nod and she was soon offering a napkin and the platter to Nell.
Nell forced a smile and took the napkin and a small round titbit of some sort. Was she the only one who didn’t want to party? It would be a long day. Pren asked her to dance. She did. Maybe the time would pass more quickly if she kept busy but she doubted it.
‘Yes,’ he said and floated to where Gradarg was chatting with a woman. As the old Kroll approached, the woman left.
Nell started to go too but Melt said, ‘Not yet, Nell. We have a dance first.’
‘Maybe later,’ said Nell, and again moved to go but Melt flew in front of her and placed his head on her shoulder and gently forced her to sway with the music. A sparkle of light merged between Melt and her, and as it warmed, her body drew her closer to the Kroll. She became dizzy and dipped forward. ‘What’s happening?’
‘Take a deep breath and open your eyes.’ Melt’s voice sounded normal, not distant.
Nell did as he said and the dizziness disappeared. She opened her eyes wide and her mouth fell open. ‘What was that?’ It was different from what she had felt with Pren and it was different from what she felt with Melt before that moment. She still felt her connection strong with Pren but the feeling of oneness with Melt surpassed anything she’d ever experienced before in her life.
‘That, my child of Wexkia, is us as we were meant to be.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘We were always meant to be joined as no other. You and I now have a unique connection. You healed us with your song. All Krolls now know they can find their true Wexkian connection.’
‘But I’m the only one so far.’
‘You have opened the way and now there will be others.’
‘That’s so great.’ As Nell wrapped her arms around his neck and over his back, she noticed the throng had thinned and more were departing. How long had they danced? As Gradarg and Pren moved toward them, all the other Krolls rose above the Concourse and hovered as if waiting for some sign from Pren that the celebrations were over. At the same time, Tanat, Lesel and Sam joined Nell.
‘You look tired,’ Lesel said.
‘I’m fine,’ said Nell. Lesel frowned and felt Nell’s forehead. ‘Don’t worry.’ Nell pecked her grandmother’s cheek.