by M S C Barnes
Seb lay still, eyes closed, hoping the nausea would go if he didn’t move. His mind turned back to that last soul, to its many memories and the evidence of the goodness in the lives it had lived. And then it jumped to the veiled vision of the brief meeting and suddenly he sat up, heaving. Zach leapt off the bed and reached for the bucket.
“Mate, it was right there; right there! You just had to ask.” He thrust the bucket under Seb’s chin.
“Zach!” Alice shouted. “The bubble!”
Zach jumped back onto the bed. “Oops! I’ve got this,” he said.
Seb felt the bed on the other side of him dip as someone landed heavily on it and then a small arm looped around his shoulders, propping him up.
“Concentrate, Zach,” he heard Trudy snap, then he heard Aelfric call to Pace and another weight depressed the mattress. Pace lay his bulk across Seb’s legs and energy started to spread through his body. Within moments, he felt able to open his eyes. He was lying with his head on Trudy’s shoulder, her fuzzy hair tickling his forehead.
Aelfric sat down on the end of the bed, his hand on Cue’s back. Even with his head swimming, it struck Seb that the exertion of carrying him back from the riverbank had taken a heavy toll on Aelfric; he looked deathly pale.
“Seb, can you call the other wolves?” he asked. Seb heard the words but his thoughts were muddled so he just lay, head on Trudy’s shoulder, and stared back at Aelfric. “Can you call the wolves?” he repeated, leaning forward. Finding it impossible to keep his eyes open Seb allowed his lids to close once more. Aelfric spoke softly, “Sit him up.” Trudy pushed Seb’s head off her shoulder as Zach pulled him upright. “Seb, I need you to stay awake,” Aelfric said. Seb forced his eyes open. “You need to call the other wolves,” Aelfric said slowly. “I cannot be here while you do that. Once I leave, call them; they will give you the energy to counter this illness and re-establish your own protection.”
He stood up. Pace, whimpering, lifted his huge head and began to climb down from the bed. “Stay!” Aelfric ordered and the wolf snorted. As Aelfric took a step away, Cue gave a small bark. Pace leapt off the bed and Seb felt the energy he had been giving him drain away. “Cue,” Aelfric sighed, “I do not have the strength to battle with you; don’t make me.” The two wolves now sat in front of him and each put their head under his hands.
“Aelfric’s injuries are still bad,” Alice said into Seb’s mind. “The wolves won’t follow his instructions. They know you are sick but obviously feel his need is greater.”
In the recesses of Seb’s mind, he heard Alice’s words but paid no heed to them. He closed his eyes again and lay his head back on the cushioned headboard.
“If you leave, the wolves will go with you,” The Caretaker said, quietly. “Only if Zach and Trudy remove their protection will they feel the necessity to stay and protect Seb.”
“Yes,” Aelfric said, sounding resigned. “But we cannot risk that. The wolves cannot guard against sympathetic influence, only warn of it and, even with their help, Seb will not recover fast enough to protect himself if an attack comes. Dierne, how long will Greg and Aiden be?”
“Another ten minutes,” Dierne answered.
Aelfric nodded. “Trudy, Zach, you need to keep the protection in place until Greg and Aiden are finished.” He lowered his voice. “Zach, you cannot permit yourself to be distracted.”
“Totally focussed,” Zach said. “Totally,” he repeated. “Not looking at the oh-so-fantastic swords on the wall. Focussed,” he finished.
“This is no time for facetiousness, Zach,” Trudy barked.
“My lady, I don’t even know what that means,” he chuckled. “Now let me concentrate.”
Trudy huffed and then pulled her arm out from behind Seb’s shoulders. “Five minutes and I will take over,” she said.
The occupants of the room sat in silence as the minutes ticked by. Pace, on Aelfric’s instruction, reluctantly jumped back onto the bed to lie across Seb’s legs, but would only remain there if Aelfric kept a hand on his back. Seb felt a small amount of energy filter back into his body but still couldn’t fight off the exhaustion and sickness. He whimpered.
“Are you going to puke?” Zach asked, sounding worried.
“Zach,” The Caretaker said, “Do not concern yourself with anything other than using your aura to protect him.”
“Just saying.” Zach fidgeted. “I’m right in the firing line.”
“Seb? Can I help at all?” Alice called into his mind. Seb had been teetering on the verge of sleep and now Alice’s voice dragged him back.
“I just feel so sick,” he answered silently and forced his eyelids open once more. Aelfric sat on the end of the bed, head bowed. The Caretaker had moved around and stood, one hand on his back. Cue was leaning up against his legs.
“There must be something more we can do for you?” The Caretaker whispered.
“Time and the wolves,” Aelfric mumbled back. “I will be fine, Morgan.”
Trudy slid off the bed and walked round to stand in front of him. “Go and lie down at least,” she said. “We will guard Seb; so you can rest without worrying.”
He looked up and gave her a tired smile. “When Seb is strong enough to call the other wolves, I will,” he said.
“Where is my brother with that tonic?” she demanded of Dierne.
“Five minutes,” Dierne said, his rustling voice sounding like a sigh.
Trudy leapt back onto the bed. “Zach,” she said, “Go and help.”
“Oh, just in time for the washing up I’ll bet,” Zach moaned, getting off the bed.
Trudy wasn’t listening, she was frowning down at the bedclothes, holding Seb’s arm, concentrating. The Caretaker hadn’t moved. Zach shrugged and stomped towards the door.
Seb watched the goings on as though detached. His mind continually wandered back to the visions he had seen when reading the soul and, every time, he was drawn to remember the meeting, and every time he did that, he felt his stomach somersault, the nausea return and the tiredness sweep over him. On each occasion, Pace would whine.
As it happened again, Aelfric looked up. He glanced at Pace and then at Seb, noting him swallowing, and breathing hard.
“What caused that Seb?” he asked. Seb couldn’t answer, he groaned and put his hand to his stomach. “Seb?” Aelfric asked again. “What caused it?” He stood and walked around the bed then sat beside Seb. “Aiden and Greg will be here soon with something to help with your physical symptoms, but what I believe is causing them, Seb, is a subliminal message and we need to know what that is, so that you can learn to block it. Can you understand me?”
When Seb didn’t answer, Aelfric hooked his arm around his shoulders and pulled him over to lean against his body. Instantly, the sickness and tiredness cleared and Seb felt normal. He jerked his head up, relieved. “I cannot risk doing this for long; Cue will summons more wolves to help me,” Aelfric mumbled. He had surrounded Seb with his aura and, Seb guessed, was using his own energy to relieve Seb’s symptoms. “What causes the sickness?” Aelfric stared at him, his eyes dull, lacking their normal vibrancy.
Seb shook his head, trying to think. “I don’t understand what you mean,” he said. “It just comes over me, whenever I read a soul.”
“No, Seb, it isn’t only then. You read that soul over twenty minutes ago and I have watched you. There is a resurgence to the symptoms, like something triggers them afresh. Is it something you see? Something you hear? A word? A Sound? What makes the symptoms worsen?” As he spoke, Cue whimpered and put his head on Aelfric’s lap.
His thoughts now clear, Seb pondered the question and, involuntarily, his mind flashed back to the partially hidden vision of the meeting this last soul had, only a short while before he had encountered it at the riverbank. A wave of nausea hit him, his stomach churned and he gagged. As the spasm ended his energy was sapped away and he lowered his head and closed his eyes. Within a second, the symptoms had gone and he looked up as Pace leapt off him a
nd lurched over to lay across Aelfric’s legs. Cue was whining and stood up. Aelfric had put his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes.
“Aelfric?” Dierne zoomed over to him.
“Cue, do not call them!” Aelfric said, weakly. “Sorry, Seb,” he added and withdrew his arm from Seb’s shoulders. Instantly the nausea and tiredness returned and Seb groaned. Aelfric stood up and Dierne helped him move around to sit at the end of the bed just as there was a gentle knock on the door.
Greg and Aiden entered, Aiden carrying a small cup. Steam swirled up from it and he walked across with a big smile on his face.
“Seb, this will help, like before,” he said holding the cup out to Seb who didn’t take it.
“Drink up, Seb,” Greg said. “Lavender and ginger are a good combination for curing nausea.”
As the smell of the ginger hit Seb’s nostrils, his stomach heaved.
“Come on Seb,” Aiden encouraged him. “It’s Helen’s recipe. It helped last time didn’t it?” He sat on the bed beside Seb and held the cup to his lips.
Staring at the swirling liquid, Seb didn’t think he could drink it. But he felt so dreadful he had nothing to lose. Lifting his hands, which trembled with weakness, he took the cup from Aiden and drained it. Swallowing hard he tried not to bring the contents straight back up.
“Good,” he heard Trudy mumble as Zach, without knocking, opened the door and walked in.
“Has he drunk it? Disgusting stuff. Made me want to puke just smelling it,” he said, screwing his nose up. He walked over and stood beside the bed, taking the bucket from the floor and toying with it.
“He drank all of it,” Aiden said happily. “He should feel better soon.”
Seb lay his head back and closed his eyes, waiting for the drink to take effect. He thought over what Aelfric had said about a subliminal message. He sort of knew what that meant. Weren’t there rumours of films and TV programmes having little pictures embedded in them which flashed up so quickly people didn’t register they were there? The idea was to trigger a desire for certain drinks, or food, or to buy certain products. But what did Aelfric mean that his symptoms were caused by a subliminal message? And then it dawned on him. The hazy meetings — things said that he couldn’t hear; a vision of someone he couldn’t clearly see! And as he thought of those meetings he vomited. Zach lunged forward and caught it in the bucket.
“That is gross!” Zach said. “Nasty!” He held the bucket away from himself.
Seb was now worse than before. Although he had thrown up the meagre contents of his stomach, the sickness hadn’t abated and his energy levels plummeted. He toppled sideways and only Trudy’s support kept him upright.
“Did you make any more of that?” she asked, pointing to the cup Aiden was holding. Aiden nodded, hopping off the mattress and walking towards the door.
“Well he’s not drinking it, even if they have!” Zach protested and Aiden stopped in his tracks. “He’ll only throw up again.”
“Seb, you had your eyes closed this time,” Seb heard Aelfric say. He forced his eyes open. Aelfric was looking intently at him. “So it is something you are hearing or remembering that is setting this off,” he said.
“I know — what —” Seb panted. “Memories; visions.” Suddenly he remembered how, instantly he had stepped into the fresh air on Solomon and had been shocked by the cold and the noise, his symptoms had gone. He had been distracted. “I — need distraction,” he said to Aelfric.
Aelfric stood up. “Call Dom, please,” he said to Dierne. “Seb, use Alice. Use him to help you avoid recalling the visions.” He turned to Alice. “Happy or sad, you need to find the strongest of Seb’s old memories — nothing recent. Have a care what you show him. Use nothing that may be connected with the subliminal message. Can you do that?” he asked. Alice nodded.
“Let me in Seb,” he spoke into Seb’s head and Seb, struggling to keep his thoughts from wandering back to the visions of the meetings, opened his mind up to him.
Alice set to work lifting out the most powerful memories from Seb’s lifetime; exciting events from his young years, Christmas mornings, birthdays, holidays, even just recollections of stamping in puddles in the pouring rain, anything that made Seb’s brain pause to relive them. And every time Seb’s mind drifted, compelled to think of the very thing he should avoid recalling, Alice pushed forward another memory, changing the course of his thoughts, twisting them away.
Seb was vaguely aware of talk going on in the room but his head was full of the remarkable passage of his own short life and he couldn’t discern what was being said. And then he felt a touch on his arm.
“Seb, I am going to teach you to deflect; but first, I need to know what the trigger is,” Dom said slowly. Seb hadn’t heard him enter the room.
His thoughts were dragged back to the present and he stared around him as if waking from a nightmare. The distraction had worked; the nausea had eased off and his energy had returned.
Dom stood beside the bed, looking down at him and Alice hovered behind his shoulder. Aiden and Greg, Seb noticed, had left the room. He wriggled himself more upright. Aelfric, watching him, gave a small nod.
“Are you able to call the wolves?” he asked.
“I think so,” Seb said.
“Good,” Aelfric smiled. “Wait until I am gone then. Zach, you need to remain. Be ready to step in if Seb becomes unable to protect himself.” Zach grinned and, handing the bucket to an annoyed-looking Trudy, nudged her off the bed before sitting down and holding on to Seb’s arm. “Dom,” Aelfric said, “The wolves will help Seb withstand the symptoms the vision provokes, so that you can explore it.” He paused, and then said more carefully, “You know what we are looking for.”
“I will find what I can. It shouldn’t take long,” Dom replied, looking determined.
Satisfied, Aelfric left the room, taking Cue and Pace with him.
There was no question of Alice leaving; as Trudy, The Caretaker and Dierne followed Aelfric, he swooped across and sat on the end of the bed.
“Dierne says you are clear to call the wolves now,” he said after a moment.
Seb wasn’t sure how he was meant to do that and he hoped it was as simple as asking, like with the flamers. Sure enough, as he thought about needing them, the seven wolves leapt into the room, materialising through the far wall, and formed up in an arc around the bottom of the bed.
“Gotta love the beasties,” Zach said.
“I’m not sure I needed so many,” Seb mumbled.
“Aelfric believes you may,” Dom said. “We have a difficult task to undertake and you will need their energy.”
As the wolves moved in closer, without Seb asking, a line of fairies began transiting through a large, oval mirror which hung on the wall to the right of the bed. They formed shimmering links between the wolves, and then Zach and Dom had to lean back as the tiny figures darted in front of them to link the wolves to Seb. He felt a sudden rush of strength, so powerful he had to lie his head back on the headboard.
“You okay Seb?” Zach asked, confused.
Seb smiled at him. “I feel great,” he said. At that moment he felt capable of anything. He turned to Dom, “What do I need to do?”
Dom didn’t look at Seb, he glanced at Alice. “Be ready to divert him,” he said and once he got a nod from Alice, he turned back to Seb. “Tell me the cause — Exactly the cause.”
Seb was lost for a second, not knowing how to explain, but then his brain pitched and the recollection of those meetings stormed into his mind. Sickness and fatigue hit him like a tidal wave and he slumped back. Instantly, energy from the wolves poured into him, countering the symptoms.
But, having thought of these images, Seb could not now dismiss them. They played in a revolving loop; as soon as one encounter was done, the next played, then the next — one after the other until the first started again. Nondescript, obscured, Seb could fathom nothing of their substance and yet he couldn’t shut them off; he was drawn,
compulsively, to witness them and, as each one unfolded, he felt a fresh wave of sickness and tiredness. Each time, the wolves countered the effect, but he couldn’t stop watching these visions.
He heard Dom speak, “Seb, tell me about the vision.”
Seb shook his head. “I see nothing,” he complained. “Nothing. Just haziness. I know there is someone there but I can’t see them and I can’t hear what they are saying.” He had his eyes wide open but registered nothing of his surroundings; the sights of the real world were as hazy as the visions playing in his mind’s eye.
“This is a trap, Seb; know it for what it is,” Dom said slowly. “There is a hidden message in what you are remembering, that keeps you coming back to the event and keeps sowing a seed of sickness and tiredness. You have to see, and you have to hear. Tell me. Once I know the words or images that are the cause, I can help you ignore them, block them out.”
Seb strained to comprehend what he was witnessing. But it was like clutching at fog. Whenever he tried to peer through the cloaked visions or listen to the mumbled words, they warped and changed into the next vision.
“I can’t,” he sighed. “When I try to see, it disappears.”
“Let Alice help,” Dom said. “Let him isolate whatever you are remembering.”
Saying nothing, Seb nodded and felt Alice walk through his mind, as though tiptoeing towards the memories that were still playing over, and over. As the next vision began, Alice spoke to him.
“I can see only one thing, Seb.” And now he pulled one shape forward. It drifted out of the haze — a person.
“A man,” Seb said to Dom. “It’s a man. I don’t know who it is though, I’ve never seen him before.” He stared at the mental image. There was still nothing in the background that he could make out, but Alice had worked wonders. Seb had a good view now of this person and he described him as best he could to Dom. “He is quite old, sixtyish,” he said and Dom coughed. “Tall, skinny — really skinny. He has long hair, which is grey and tied back in a ponytail. He is wearing a long black coat, like a winter coat and he has a walking cane.”
