‘She walked home. That’s all.’
‘Was she okay?’ Lexington asked.
‘I guess. She was blubbing most of the way.’
‘But you saw her go into her house?’
‘Sure.’
Melaleuca stood in front of him.
‘Starting now, you are going to tell Lexington all you have discovered. And if you object, I will make you write them up instead.’
‘Come on then Lex.’
Lexington motioned for Melaleuca to move and then stood in front of Quixote.
‘Qui. I am upset with you. You killed that bird.’
Quixote started to speak, but Lexington’s hand shot out and covered his mouth.
‘But I am also grateful….That is twice now you have saved me.’
With a spontaneous wooden motion, she leant forward to peck him, bumping his cheek hard with her lip.
‘Ewwww,’ Quixote said.
Realising what she had done, she went as red as Quixote was now turning.
‘I mean…just…you know…um…thank you….that’s all. N…n…now I realise you discover things. It would be good to do as Melaleuca says,’ she rushed out trying to cover up her clumsy kiss of appreciation.
Before she could wonder what came over her or face a surprised Melaleuca and a grinning Ari, the panel to the secret passageway clicked open and they all froze, staring amongst themselves. Someone shuffled inside it, and then Argus’s head appeared.
‘Argus!’ Melaleuca said, annoyed. ‘Where’ve you been?’
He wriggled out, stood and dusted his body.
‘Well?’ Lexington asked. ‘We thought you had abandoned us.’
Quixote held his bracelet wrist up.
‘You should see what we found! I’ll kick your tough butt.’
Ari lowered Quixote’s arm.
‘Shh Qui.......Can we trust you Argus?’
Argus shifted about on the spot, not making eye contact.
‘I needed to check some things, that’s all.’
Melaleuca took a step closer.
‘What’s wrong? I can hear it in your voice.’
‘I am to, ahh, make sure, everything is okay.’
Lexington tucked her hair behind her ears.
‘Well, it’s not. Do you know anything about what’s going on?’
‘Play. You are to play.’ He flicked his hand toward Quixote. ‘The little one’s right.’
Suspicious, Melaleuca walked up to him, and locked onto his eyes.
‘What exactly do you know?’
‘Play?’ Lexington said, and then trying her gentleness, asked, ‘Go on, tell us Argus. We need to know.’
Argus averted Melaleuca’s eyes, dropping his unsure act, and chuckled.
‘None the worse for wear, are you? In fact...’ Argus eyed Lexington. ‘Were you trying your powers of seduction on me? Sorry, Hon, you’re too young.’
‘No!’
‘Perhaps we do not need you,’ Melaleuca said.
Another voice spoke from out of the secret passage.
‘It may already be too late for that!’
The voice sounded familiar, though changed. Jeeves’s head appeared at the secret passage. As he entered the room, another figure shambled behind him. Pembrooke clambered out feet first. They stood there together looking at the cousins.
‘Too late for what?’ Lexington asked.
‘Too late to stay hidden for a start,’ said the voice from the secret passage.
Uncle Bear-Nard pushed himself out and without stooping, stood to his full height. Instead of a vacant expression, his face now had strength and defiance in it.
I am the Harbinger, but they shall not know that yet.
‘Perhaps you are used to seeing me like this,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said, dropping his shoulders. ‘P..p..p..perhaps...more l...l...l..like this!’
‘Why is it too late Uncle?’ Melaleuca asked.
‘Yes, yes, yes. Please, everyone sit. I will answer some of your questions. I apologise for staying hidden for so long. It was necessary.’
‘Why?’ Lexington asked.
‘Wait,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said, and then spoke to Pembrooke. ‘Quickly, outside, stay on the lookout,’ and then to Jeeves, ‘Distract Gerty for me would you.’
Uncle Bear-Nard sat on the bed, and caressed Melaleuca’s cheeks. ‘You have your mother’s face and her fire.’
Melaleuca blushed.
Lexington had her notebook at the ready.
‘Where are they?’
‘Did giants live here once?’ Quixote asked.
‘Shh!’ Uncle Bear-Nard said. ‘Please. Listen.’ He stood, paced back and forth, and then faced them as if he had made a decision.
‘It is very, very, very important, that you work out what is going on for yourselves.’
The cousins protested immediately.
‘Please listen,’ he said, holding his hands up to calm them down. Sadness washed over him, and years of waiting for this moment and all the experiences that went with it, tumbled around in his mind.
‘You want the truth, not just any truth, not just a truth, but the real truth. This, however, you can only discover for yourself. Never listen to anything other than yourself and your heart. Make the discoveries for yourself. If other people reveal things to you, they can only do so from their own untruths.’
He pondered his words and then added, ‘This is why even I don’t trust what I say. This is proof of my truthfulness.’
He motioned to Melaleuca to come closer.
‘Come, look into my eyes.’
Melaleuca fixed her eyes on his, locking into his mind. On a boat, moored at the same beach the cousins had fled from, she saw Uncle Bear-Nard help their parents disembark and flee, and then she saw Uncle Bear-Nard hide the bracelets and brick up the costume room.
‘That will do,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said, breaking eye contact. ‘Now tell the others.’
‘We trust him,’ Melaleuca said. ‘He helped our parents escape. All of them, our fathers, and our mothers.’
‘Mothers?’ Lexington said. ‘All four of them?’
Melaleuca nodded.
‘We only found evidence that Melaleuca’s mother lived here and only she went to the Vahn. Why is that?’
With tenderness, Uncle Bear-Nard said, ‘Work it out. Your mother has told me how smart you are.’
A frustrated Lexington glared at her Uncle.
‘However, to help you start, if you get something right, I will tell you. No one can teach you. I am a guide. Teach yourselves.’
‘Telepathy,’ Lexington said. ‘Our parents spoke to you with telepathy didn’t they. It makes sense. Quixote’s mother was talking into thin air like our parents were there, the night we fled. Well?’
‘Yes.’
‘Our parents were the Marauders,’ Quixote said.
‘Yes.’
‘And they wrecked havoc on New Wakefield about thirty years ago,’ Lexington said.
Uncle Bear-Nard remained silent.
‘But that hardly makes sense. We were told how the Marauders went berserk.’
Uncle Bear-Nard still stayed silent.
‘It was someone else dressed as the Marauders,’ Melaleuca said, testing him.
Still silent.
Ari said, ‘We are to save the children at the Vahn.’
Their Uncle did not reply.
‘We’re not!!!’ Ari looked at Melaleuca. ‘But I felt for sure.’
‘Then what are we to do?’ Quixote asked.
Again Uncle Bear-Nard did not reply.
‘Play?’ Melaleuca asked.
Their Uncle nodded.
Aunty Gertrude’s fast paced footsteps could be heard banging along the corridor.
Pembrooke dashed into the room.
‘Leg it, Jeeves must’ve mucked up.’
Both Argus and Uncle Bear-Nard dived into the secret passageway, followed by a fleet footed Pembrooke. Within seconds Aunty Gertrude barged into the room, and stood there, hands on her hips
, her livid face contorting into something more caring.
‘I came as soon as I could....After today’s melee, are you...are...are you...okay?’
‘Would not have happened if that poor girl was not beaten so,’ Melaleuca said.
‘That girl got what she deserved!.....besides…..’
Aunty Gertrude stopped and tried to put on a more gentle voice. ‘…..Perhaps it might take some time to grow accustomed to our ways.’
‘What hurting people for pleasure?’ Ari said.
‘You don’t understand. It is necessary!’
‘We don’t want to understand,’ Lexington said.
‘But you have to! You must be strong to survive.’
‘Nothing here can hurt us.’ Quixote said.
‘But you must listen!.......You must listen.’
Boosted in confidence by Uncle Bear-Nard’s words Aunty Gertrude seemed a mere trifling now, and Melaleuca saw she felt it. Fed up with her Aunt’s behaviour, she bore her eyes into her.
‘The time for listening to you is fast coming to an end,’ Melaleuca said.
Aunty Gertrude felt the chill of her words, and thought of her honour, and how, if the cousins failed horribly, her name would be tarnished.
‘Fine, tuck in for the night and we shall see.’
She left.
The cousins ran to the secret passage entrance, pushed on the horse’s tail and clambered in, only to find it empty.
Lexington faced the others.
‘I swear I will turn over every fact, every theory until I get nothing but yeses out of Uncle Bear-Nard.’
‘Make sure you use the costumes and do it through play,’ Melaleuca said, but then corrected herself. ‘Through pretend.’
‘I can tell,’ Lexington said. ‘Perhaps I am starting to get feelings like you. But we were not meant to be attacked. We were not meant to be sent to the Vahn. I am even not sure we are meant to be here.’
Melaleuca gritted her teeth.
‘Forbid that one day we might be called on to use the costumes and we get caught in endless debates. What or wherever we were meant for, this is where we are now. Move forward.’
***
Argus slurped the warm soup. He sat in an empty room waiting for Uncle Bear-Nard. Apart from, “protect the kids,” little else had been explained.
The door opened and Uncle Bear-Nard entered and slumped on Argus’s bed, resigned.
Argus dipped his bread into the soup
‘You don’t know what to do next do you?’
‘Six years. Six years too early.’
‘Nothing in battle ever goes according to plan. You must have a plan within a plan within a plan. Overcome, adapt, and improvise.’ He leant back in his chair. ‘What was supposed to happen?’
‘Their parents used the bracelets, but became corrupted. They started fighting to save all the children.’
‘Just like these kids want to.’
‘Yes, just like. The bracelets can work forever if the wearer can just stay pure and innocent. The children were to stay sheltered in their valley until they were beyond puberty, then come here and use the bracelets.’
‘They’re using them now.’
‘Not to attack. They were to use them to play that’s all.’
‘Who left them the notes?’
‘I can’t be sure.’
‘Gotta be an inside job. Someone here who knows that the kids would use the bracelets in a way that would lead them to the same fate as their parents.’
Uncle Bear-Nard screwed his face up.
‘How could you know that?’
‘It’s the way the world works.’
‘Not this time. We must take steps to preserve their innocence.’
‘But you said they have already attacked people.’
‘Only a few. It’s not too late….It can’t be too late.’
Argus rubbed his head, burped and loosened his trousers. ‘So what do you want me to do now?’
Uncle Bear-Nard stood, angered by Argus’s relaxed attitude.
‘First of all, get this into your skull. If those children become corrupted, then, when this age closes, the next age will be one of darkness. These are the last. They are Omega Children. There will be no more after them.’
‘Oh for Pete’s sake. Asking me to wet-nurse kids is one thing. Hell, for gold I’d just about do anything. But don’t ask me to believe in that rubbish. You know, I have more respect for those kids than I do for you.’
‘Good. It’s a start. Now listen up. If the kids want the children at the Vahn protected or rescued, so be it. You are going to rescue them.’
‘Me!’
‘I will tell them to not worry about the children; you are going to take care of it.’
‘Great. Rescue snot nosed kids.’ He shook his head and thought of the gold, though one thing bothered him. ‘With those bracelets and costumes then, what were the cousins supposed to do, given the power they wield? Play until they are old people?’
‘Given your lack of faith, don’t worry about it. Just stick to the tasks I give you.’
Chapter 30 - Competition
As they slept, they entered their private dream worlds for a second time.
A horde of people spreading out across fields and plains, and reaching back to forests, and the edges of great seas, stood before Melaleuca. Across their stretches, many cities of past, grand ages lay in ruins - their glory faded to rubble. A low hum of expectation rose from the vastness as all the millions of people stared at her.
I am not dreaming, this is real.
She searched her eye over the throng. A broken mass lay before her, millions of scores of once proud soldiers and noble rulers, looking to her, waiting and waiting and waiting.
‘Have you waited long?’ she asked.
A tattered, shattered lady wearing a broken tiara stepped forward. ‘Aeons, ages, and epochs, we have tarried.’
Ari raced through forests and bounced from mountaintop to mountaintop. He followed the call of the earth, searching out the unexplored places crying out to yield up their ancient secrets. A lush relish filled his heart.
As he dived off a mountain peak into a valley, the range shook and rocks started pounding off the side, until the whole range subsided into the earth. He watched in horror as land-mass after land-mass crashed together, and forests, kingdoms and civilisations sunk into the sea. A slow foaming foment bubbled and swirled.
Out of the foment rose a flat desert landscape, any hint of plant or animal life gone. The arid parched dryness, even in his dream state, made him uncomfortable.
Where am I, thought Lexington, searching around her dreamscape, I know I am dreaming, but last time...
Instead of the heart of the stars and the void of blackness, before her stood a statue hundreds of feet tall with different coloured balls of shimmering light trapped inside it.
By morning the cousins had once again forgotten their dreams, and assembling at the base of the stairs they once again waited for Quixote.
He appeared out of nowhere.
‘Sorry guys. Back soon.’
Moments later he burst out from the underneath the Grand Ascension Stairs and joined them.
Melaleuca tapped her foot.
‘Where have you been?’
‘Looking around.’
‘Using those boots.’
‘Yep.’
She glared at him.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I listened to Uncle last night. I did nothing except looked.’
‘I want someone with you at all times Quixote. If something happens to you, how would we know?’
‘Umm…Telepathy?’
‘Take someone with you.’
Pembrooke appeared at the doors.
‘Come. The lady and the master of the house are elsewhere.’
****
The cousins passed under the iron-gate, walking alongside injured students. Bandaged and burnt, they hobbled in as if nothing brutal had occurred.
&nbs
p; Entering the Vahn, they caught stares and strange looks, becoming aware of people whispering about them; some even pointing. Ari heard two seniors mutter how odd it was the outsiders did not have one mark or scar on them.
To their surprise, despite their injuries, students whizzed by, invigorated, hurrying more than normal. Abuzz with a new excitement, something stirred the students.
Lexington touched her invisible bracelet.
‘How can they be so happy after what happened yesterday?’
‘Perhaps they are just used to it,’ Melaleuca said.
Ari pushed his unblemished hands into his pockets.
‘What are we dealing with? The children at the Borstal didn’t want to be saved and these guys are happy.’
‘Correction,’ Lexington said. ‘One of the children at the Borstal wanted to be saved but the other kids dragged him back.’
Jerkin Bod’armor strode up to them, a malicious grin on his face. ‘I will enjoy tearing you apart fish-strengths.’
Around Jerkin students cheered and shouted, ‘Glory to the champion.’
Melaleuca sized him up and down, noting he had no burns on him.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Here victory is everything.’
He forced a laugh and walked off leaving them confused. More students filed by, hurling abuse, telling them they would drown at the bottom or that fire would consume their ship. None of the comments made any sense. It became more bamboozling when a small girl walked by, and without making eye contact, said some of the Vahn was on their side and not to despair.
Ari reached out to stop the girl but she did not turn back.
‘What has gotten into them? You don’t suppose any of them saw Quixote change yesterday, or worse, that French bunch is going around telling people we are the Marauders.’
‘Maybe they mean the Unforbidden Forest?’ Quixote said.
A voice from behind answered them.
‘You are supposed to work it out. But I don’t think they want you to.’ Con stood behind them looking as deformed as ever. ‘I just hope the Marauders can help you beat the top team.’
Melaleuca swung around to face him, and the others did likewise.
‘Team? Beat? What are you talking about? What is going on? Everyone else says we are going to lose. Lose what?’
Vahn and the Bold Extraction, The Page 11
