by T. Z. Leigh
The genuine concern in her stare made his stomach ache. Maybe she saw the utter helplessness in his eyes and heard the dread in his voice. For the first time in his life, he felt like an incompetent man. She sat down and laid her hand on his.
"Tell me," she prompted.
He revealed to her what Teselda had found out and what the plan for the royal heirs was. He hadn't looked at her while speaking, but now lifted his gaze to see tears flowing down her face. She didn't move at all, and then in a flash, she was gone. He knew where she was going and followed suit. When he got to the nursery, he found her holding their son in her arms. The sight of them broke his heart.
"I'm sorry, but it's the only way to keep them safe and protect both worlds."
"If he goes to the Sewasphere, I might never see him again, Ryor," she whispered, her voice wavering.
"Of course you will, just not for a while. We'll all be reunited one day and defeat these tyrants together. I must leave here tomorrow morning with him...time is something we cannot waste."
He held them both, knowing that there was a chance this could be their last day together.
◆◆◆
The four rulers had planned to convene at Ana's palace in the Dolatica Province. Teselda sat on a guest bed, watching her daughter sleeping and worrying if she could stand the cold. The Solkateen District was mostly a hot desert. Dry, cracked mud or dense sand dunes filled the land, except for one area. In the centre was a glass tower in which she lived, on a hill. Surrounding it, eight springs gushed drinkable water from deep beneath the ground. It was an amazing sight. The eight fountains filled a moat and then ran like rivers to all ends of the District. The aptly named 'glass spider' was a wonder; a miracle of the desert which she sorely missed.
Right now, however, there was something she would miss even more. Her beautiful girl. She covered her with another blanket and went to the window, hoping that Ryor and Qayto, who were due to arrive with their sons, wouldn't take long.
She rebuked the cold as she shivered, but even though she was only used to hot weather, she had to admit the Dolatica Province was truly magnificent. The land was an expansive ice sheet, white as far as the eye could see. A cold ice desert with several large, deep holes in random places leading to the icy waters below. (Their source of water for consumption or healing, and for fishing.) The land was surrounded by the ice crown - six humongous subglacial mountains with only the tops visible. The overlapping peaks prevented wishful intruders from entering the province undetected as there was only one entrance, which was heavily guarded. Anyone who attempted to climb the mountains would slip to their death. A gigantic, impenetrable fortress in the middle of the ocean was about as impressive as you could get.
I still hate the cold, she thought.
She noticed Ryor and Qayto arriving at the palace. She left the room, told a guard who was stationed outside the door to watch her daughter, and headed downstairs to the main hall.
Ryor and Qayto had travelled by sea for two days and were cold, hungry, and exhausted. After the long and tiresome journey, they indulged in a short rest and a warm meal. After a couple of hours, it was time to deal with the matter at hand.
"Where am I going, Mama?" Teselda's daughter asked after finding out her mother would not be going with her. "You come too, please."
"Mama will come soon, baby," Teselda replied, fighting the tears that wanted to escape her eyes. "You and your friends must go with Sven. He's going to take you somewhere safe, where bad skryts can't hurt you. It's going to be fun, there'll be lots of games to play. You be a good girl for Mama, alright?"
"Yes, Mama." The girl put her little arms around her mother and hugged her tightly before running off laughing. "Sven! Let's play, please!"
Teselda walked over to Ana, who was holding her baby daughter in her lap.
"Let's get this over with. I can't take it much longer, Ana."
"I agree. Sven...I think it is time for you all to leave."
"Yes, Your Highness."
He picked up Ana and Ryor's babies and called for Teselda's daughter and Qayto's son to follow him. A white tunnel opened and he entered with the children.
"Do not fear, Your Majesties," he said with conviction. "I will guard them with my life."
Chapter Twelve
PRESENT DAY
"What are you saying? That we're not human?" Zachery asked.
"Half-skryt, half-human. Children born from a human and a skryt," Sven told them.
"How would we know which one is a skryt?" Jamie asked.
"By now, the skryt in your family has either disappeared or is dead," Sven said mournfully.
Zachery frowned. "Erm...both of my parents are still alive and live at home as normal," he said, wondering what the hell Sven was saying.
"Sadly, Zachery, I have to inform you that the woman living in your house is not your mother. Your mother died when you were a baby. The woman you know is your step-mother."
Zachery's brain momentarily shut down. "What the hell are you talking about? If that happened, why didn't my dad tell me?"
"People go to extreme lengths to protect what they love, Zachery." He pulled out a photograph he had put in his pocket earlier. "This is your real mother," he said as he handed him the photo.
Zachery reached out, his hands shaking as he took it from Sven. Sure enough, the picture was of his father kissing the cheek of a woman he'd never seen before, who was smiling affectionately and holding a baby. Him. He had to sit down.
"This leads to what I wanted to tell all of you," Sven explained. "You are all in great danger. The enemy has been hunting your skryt parents for many years and has managed to dispose of them. Unfortunately, all of them were murdered."
"My mom isn't dead! I'm still in contact with her!" April shouted, clearly frustrated.
"A trick. How long has it been since you've seen her? Not since your parents' divorce, I'm sure?"
April simply nodded in agreement, her cocksure expression wavering.
"That's because she was killed shortly after. Sam's father died of illness and Jamie's father supposedly committed suicide. Tragic...yet not coincidental."
Jamie saw the others give quick, discreet looks out the corners of their eyes. Except for Zachery, none of them had known that her father passed away, let alone how. Now she wanted to deal some significant damage to Sven for revealing her secrets without hesitation. She probably would have if he didn't interrupt her line of thought with more shocking news.
"I know it's a lot for you all to take in, but the situation is even more dire. For years, there have been skryts watching over you four, keeping you safe. With me as the headteacher of Hergetson, we figured the situation was under control. However, someone leaked the information of your whereabouts to the opposition, and they are trying to kill you too."
"Why?" Zachery queried, confused.
"You four are the only ones preventing them from achieving their goal. Once they are rid of you, the royal bloodline will end and the balance in our worlds will tip from good to evil. We must prevent this at all costs. Both of our worlds as we know them will be gone."
"What can we do?" Sam asked weakly.
"You must come with me to the Skrytosphere. Only there will you be able to develop your powers."
Suddenly, there was an enormous bang from the door. Jamie's heart flailed.
"The tesrars...they're here!" April screeched.
"Come, we must go quickly!" Sven shouted.
He put his hand on something that hung from his neck, closed his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. As before, the light appeared, rapidly increasing in size. When it was big enough, he stepped into it and motioned for the others to follow. Jamie didn't know what to expect, but they had no other place to run and nowhere to hide. She hesitantly followed him.
"What if tesrars break into the bunker and come after us?"
"Don't worry, Jamie, they can't. Once no one has entered for ten seconds, the tunnel closes. It has already be
en twenty. I've been counting," Sven assured them. "It's a safety measure for emergency situations. Relax. For now, we're safe."
They marched down what seemed like a never-ending passageway.
"So, it was you who was contacting me?" Zachery asked, keeping stride with Sven. "When I received a phone call telling me to leave the school, and when I received a message while unconscious?"
Sven stopped abruptly, turned to Zachery, and after a short pause, said, "You receiving that message shows that you're very special. Keep that in mind while we're in the Skrytosphere. I had to try and warn you. It was all I could do at the time."
Sven began walking again and this time, they followed silently. It was ten minutes later when they emerged from the tunnel into what looked like a dense forest.
"This is the Mezatica Territory. How does it feel to be home, Sam?"
Nothing could have prepared Sam for the overwhelming feeling he had. He truly was home, and he felt the connection as soon as they had exited the tunnel.
The five of them proceeded through the forest. A spectacular display surrounded them as they saw bushes that were all colours of the rainbow and trees with blue and red leaves. They came to an enormous waterfall and Sam's feet failed to take another step. He had conflicted feelings of amazement and fear when he saw that the waterfall cascaded in mid-air, with no land base or source.
"How is that even possible? Where is the water coming from?" Zachery asked, staring at it.
"You've never heard of water falling from the sky?" Sven asked with a chuckle. "Remember all of you, this world is like yours, but very different. In a sense, it is a magnified version of the Sewasphere. Yes, it's magnificent...but it can be dangerous too. Be careful."
He started walking, so the others did too.
"What other miracles are there in the Skrytosphere?" Zachery asked.
"There is a beautiful place in the Shadateen Nation where..." He broke off mid-sentence and stopped dead in his tracks. "Don't speak and don't move," he whispered.
The others obeyed his orders, not daring to question. There was a faint rumbling and vibrations under their feet, which suggested something was moving underground. The rumbling was getting louder, the vibrations getting stronger, and Sam realised that it was coming closer and closer.
"Please tell me it's a train," April whispered.
Suddenly, the movement stopped, and Sven looked at them in disbelief.
"Run!" he commanded. They sprinted, following him as he kept looking around as if searching for something. "This way!" he yelled, as a gigantic creature broke through the surface.
Sven led them to a tree that must have been the inspiration for an interdental brush. The trunk was thin, appeared sky-high, and had fronds growing out of it, spiralling around the trunk all the way to the top. He started climbing up.
"Hurry! The tree looks weak, but it's very strong. Get as high as you can!"
They all climbed as fast as their limbs could lift them. It took all their effort, but they reached high enough that they were off the creature's menu for today, and Sam finally had a chance to see what had been chasing them. An animal as big as a tank and probably the most bizarre thing he'd ever seen. It had the body of a badger, the head of a rabbit, and the face of a snake, fangs and long hissing tongue included.
"Are you sure that it can't reach us?" Jamie whispered anxiously.
"Yes, we're safe. These trees are poisonous to kolodors, so they won't come any closer."
"Is that what they're called?" April asked. "Wait. You mean there's more of them?"
"Yes," he answered while they stared at him in angst. "But don't worry, they migrate to the south this time of year. This one must have been a straggler."
Sam was unconvinced, but they only had his word to go on. What did they know about this world? After a short time, once the creature had given up and left, they descended and continued to follow Sven into the unknown.
Evening approached. The sky was now golden, casting silhouettes across the tips of the trees. Zachery was overwhelmed, yet intrigued and excited. They had travelled through a forest that was unlike anything he had ever seen, and it was only now sinking in that what was happening was actually...real. Despite his anticipation, he was exhausted. They had been walking since they climbed down that tree, only taking breaks to eat whatever they could find, which was mostly strange fruits that were picked from other trees in passing. He couldn't wait to sit down and rest. Sven spoke after a long period of silence, making his wish come true.
"There's somewhere we can sleep for the night up ahead. A safe place we can rest before we reach our destination," Sven told them.
"What is our destination?" Jamie questioned.
"You'll see, but for now, keep going in the same direction. You'll come to the house in a minute. I'm going to check the perimeter to make sure all is well."
Sven disappeared through the bushes and the others headed in the direction he had shown them. They came to a stone house that appeared to be abandoned. The door looked battered, as if attempts had been made to break in. Zachery tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He leaned against the door and tried to twist the stone handle with all his strength, but it was no use.
"A little help, Sam?" Zachery hinted, oblivious to the fact that Sam had suddenly stopped thirty seconds before and was currently staring at the door with his eyebrows knitted.
"Why don't we just read the writing? I think the door will open for us," Sam proposed.
"What writing? There's nothing there," April pointed out.
"You don't see the writing in big letters?"
"Obviously not, Sam. Just read it, my feet are killing me," Jamie moaned.
Sam stated loudly, "Culazar Razim."
The door opened and they went inside. Sam shut the door behind them, then took a deep breath. It was strange to think that his father came from such a miraculous world. Sam always knew that his father was a great man, but discovering that he was even more special made Sam well with pride.
After a look around the house, they saw there wasn't much. Whoever had lived there were very simple skryts. There was a place for cooking and a single table in the kitchen, both made from stone. The two other rooms were almost bare, with only a stone bed and some stone shelves in one room. The other was completely empty except a single shelf on one wall, with a picture above it. For a reason he couldn't explain, Sam felt drawn to the image. He stood in front of it and gazed. It was of a white symbol that he'd seen before on a black, diamond-shaped background. He pulled the chain out from under his shirt and looked at the silver pendant.
"They're exactly the same. This symbol has to mean something," Sam told them.
The orange stone on the pendant started glowing as it did before. As the stone began pulsing, his body pulsated too, as if it wasn't just his heart beating, but his whole body. He feared he was becoming ill, or worse. His vision became blurry as the world spun around him, then faded away into darkness.
"Go! Go!" Qayto ordered. "We don't have much time!"
Irisena was attacking the Mezatica Territory with full force and had closed in on their position. The four rulers had escaped to Qayto's home to discuss their plans, only to find the enemy trying to break the door down with whatever might they had.
"If we go into hiding, we leave the world at the mercy of savages, Qayto."
"This is out of our hands, Teselda," Ana intervened. "There is nothing we can do, except wait."
"Exactly. The time of reunion is nearly upon us," Qayto said.
At that, he walked to the shelf that was on the wall, took a deep breath, then punched the area underneath it. A section of bricks receded two feet into the wall after a few seconds, then slid sideways, revealing a secret passage. Qayto, Ryor, Teselda, and Ana crouched through the hole, then straightened to walk briskly down the dark passageway to safety.
"It's all up to the children now," Ryor said, as the bricks slammed shut behind them.
"Sam! Sam!"
&
nbsp; He could hear Sven's voice calling from afar and wasn't sure what was going on, but his voice was coming closer and closer, forcing him to emerge from a deep sleep. He opened his eyes, saw worried faces peering at him and suddenly recalled where he was and what had happened.
"How long was I out?" he asked.
"About half an hour," April informed him.
He lay there, confused about what he had dreamt.
"I had a weird dream. I think I saw our grandparents trapped here. They went into hiding, escaping through a secret passage, because they couldn't defeat the skryts who were trying to capture them."
April's voice was dubious. "You...saw them?"
"Yeah. I think it was really them."
"What did they look like?" she queried.
"I'm sure your grandmother is Teselda. She looked a bit like you."
April's eyes shone as she smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah. It's weird, actually. We don't look so different to them." Not only weird, but sad. We had these relatives all along, and we didn't even know about them. "I might be wrong, but I think the other lady is Zachery's grandmother and the other man is Jamie's grandfather. She had blonde hair and he had black hair."
"You're right," Sven told Sam, then asked eagerly, "Did you, by chance, see where this secret passage was?"
"Yeah, but I don't think it was real. It wouldn't have made sense. Why would they choose an obvious hiding place? It would be too easy for them to be found."
"Where was it, Sam?" Sven asked, impatient to hear the answer.
"Why?" Sam queried as he sat up. "Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because what you saw must have been true. They're still alive and have been missing for a long time."
"What?" Zachery shouted. "They're still alive, and you're only telling us now?"
"Forgive me; there was a reason I didn't tell you." He turned to speak directly to Sam. "You had to discover your powers with a clear mind. The situation is already nerve-racking. If I had told you earlier about your grandparents, you would have been too distracted in your desperation to find them. It would have been nearly impossible to develop your ability."
