by Shane Mason
He stepped into the room and groped for the objects. He ran his hands over them, counting all 14 and breathed a sigh of relief.
***
Lexington paced back and forth. She had heard the gunshot over twenty minutes ago yet no one had returned.
She pulled out a notebook, opened it and wrote...
Why?
Then wrote...
Why us?
She sat on the lid of her foxhole and waited.
‘Yes I know I should be in the foxhole,’ she said to herself, ‘but I think better out here.’
‘I think your mum wanted you to work it out for yourself,’ her thoughts replied.
‘Mmm. Well she is not here, so help me work out what is going on.’
‘You haven’t told the others about me yet.’
‘Mum told me not to. Said the others would understand later.’
‘Are you ashamed of me?’
‘Don’t be absurd. You are me.’
‘Then tell the others.’
‘At the right time.’
‘The time is now.’
‘The time is time to work out what is going on. Melaleuca knows something and I want to work it out before she gets back.’
‘Fancy. Melaleuca gets it right every time and you have to think. Maybe you just need what she’s got.’
‘You are supposed to help me solve the things that I cannot. That’s how Mum said you came into existence.’
‘My birth? How does it go again?’
‘Look you can play later, time to work.’
‘Hmmmph. I never get to play. Maybe I just won’t work.’
Lexington sighed. The last thing she needed was her mind rebelling. With nothing in the past twenty four hours making sense, she needed its help analysing what little she knew. And Melaleuca knowing something she did not, irked her. She imagined being Melaleuca and tried to have an instant feeling.
‘STOP THAT!!’
‘Stop what?’
‘Stop doing that feeling thing, it hurts me.’
Lexington grabbed her notebook and wrote...
That’s why!
Her mind’s voice silenced itself.
Pen and notebook down, she rubbed her temples and pulled her hair back, resting her hands on her head.
Why attack us? Who could possibly want us and for what? Where to start? She thought of their library and her need to question her parents, even though they rarely answered. She knew the drill. All the cousins had done it a hundred times before. One of the parents would take them somewhere, to a book, a piece of land, hand them an object or draw a diagram for them, and they then had to work it out for themselves.
But they were not here.
She picked her pen up and wrote down……
Why
And then waited. As soon as her thoughts spoke she wrote……
That’s why
And her thoughts fell silent again.
Feeling horrible for doing so she wrote both words out several times until she felt sure that her thoughts would behave.
‘Help needed,’ she said.
‘State the question,’ said her thoughts meekly.
‘Why us? I want answers now. Before Melaleuca comes back.’
‘We need clues or the others, so we can play-act out recent events.’
‘Clues? Yes. No time for play acting. What sort of clues?’
‘Anything could be a clue.’
‘Yes, we need real proof, evidence. I’m going back to search for it.’
She wrote “that’s why” in a hurry and stood to leave, though far off noises alerted her to approaching people chatting with excited panic. She fell to the ground and threw her camouflage net over top of her.
Melaleuca burst into the clearing followed by Ari and Quixote and then Argus.
Why is she hiding?
‘Lexington, get up. All of us grab our packs.’
A perplexed Lexington rose up out of her net and faced off with Melaleuca.
‘What is going on and who is this?’
Melaleuca lifted the lid to her foxhole.
‘No time.’
She glanced back over her shoulder and took in Lexington’s stance and sighed.
‘Ari. Pack her things.’
Ari jumped into Lexington’s foxhole and started stuffing her gear into her pack.
‘He says he is here to save us,’ Ari said and Melaleuca heard his softness for Lexington. He popped his head up and cast an evil eye at Argus. ‘We don’t have a choice. There are hundreds of men crossing the valley as we speak, heading this way.’
‘Men? Why? Save us from what? Where are we going?’
Melaleuca climbed out of her foxhole and pulled her pack behind her and scanned the scene. Surprised, she saw Quixote with his pack on his back, ready. Ari lifted Lexington’s pack out of her foxhole while Lexington held her ground with an expression on her face that told Melaleuca she would not move until she had answers.
‘We can talk as we run,’ Melaleuca said.
‘Have you told them what you were told last night?’
‘On the way,’ Melaleuca said. She pulled her pack onto her back and walked to the other side of the clearing though out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Lexington lifting her pen to her notebook and approaching Argus.
‘Where are you taking us?’ Lexington demanded of Argus.
‘You must be Lexington.’
‘Yes. Lexington Dodeca Varfor Arrnor to be exact. I have many questions ─ ’
‘Save it kid. I have to ─ ’
Melaleuca bore her eyes on Argus and made a loud throat clearing noise.
‘Ahem!’
She raised her eyebrows in a question.
‘Your sister says to get going. Do it,’ Argus said. ‘She is the leader.’
‘She is not my sister. She’s my cousin. Where are we going?’
Argus threw his arms up in frustrated tiredness.
‘Oh for god’s sake! Over the hill. Doesn’t matter right now. Let’s just get going.’
In unison Ari and Quixote both said, ‘Over the hill.’
‘The adventurer and the clown,’ Melaleuca said, sensing a new excitement growing inside them though she knew this information would slow Lexington down.
‘Over the hill,’ Lexington said and swiveled her head to Melaleuca. ‘And I suppose this is a right decision? Hmm? Does it feel good? Perhaps we need some facts to back it up?’
‘My orders are to take you over the hill,’ Argus said. ‘Shut the lids. Cover your tracks. Hurry. Get going now.’
‘Who gave you those orders?’
‘Lexington! Stop,’ Melaleuca said.
‘But it does not make sense. If the men were after our parents then why are they heading toward us?’
‘I don’t know Lexington.’
‘That’s right. It is not a decision. It’s a question. To answer it thinking and working out is needed.’
Whatever attitude Lexington hid in her words Melaleuca had never heard it before. It had a hint of a challenge and an undertone of jealousy.
‘What is bothering you?’ Melaleuca said.
A demure foolish expression crossed Lexington’s face.
‘You dismissed what I told you before and you are doing it again.’
‘Enough,’ Argus said in a weak voice. ‘You’re pissing me off. I’m tired, cranky and losing patience and it feels like ravenous wolves are eating me. And...’ He snarled at them. ‘...my head hurts. They’re not after you!’
‘What then?’ Lexington said.
‘I don’t know. An object of sorts.’
‘What object?’ She wrote in her notebook.
‘You want to stay here and die? Just get moving.’
Melaleuca narrowed her eyes and shot an ungrateful look at Argus.
‘What object?’ Melaleuca said.
Argus hung his head and shook it, muttering low words and then pulled himself as upright as his tired frame would allow.
> ‘Stay here and die then.’ He started walking off uphill.
He’s right. No time to waste.
‘Follow him. Now,’ said Melaleuca in her most commanding tone and with her eyes dared Lexington to ask more questions.
‘But we are leaving clues behind!’
‘MOVE LEXINGTON.’
Up the hill they sped with an ease that surprised Argus. Despite carrying packs and camouflage nets they muscled their way up through the trees higher and higher. Lexington stopped every now and then to catch her breath but still maintained the group’s pace. They chatted amongst themselves and even though Argus tried to shut them up, he noted they ignored him.
The trees got smaller and the undergrowth of bushes thinned out, giving way to patches of tussock and flax. Instead of towering fronds, gentle ferns sprouted, and the air’s crispness reddened their cheeks.
After some time they realised they had never been this far before and their normal banter finally slowed and became quieter. With each step a sense of mysterious adventure stirred in them. Even wanting to know their parents’ whereabouts diminished and only Lexington gave thought to it, pondering what little facts she had decided upon.
A few hours later Melaleuca followed Argus through the last line of thin, bent-over gnarled trees, and along with her cousins burst out onto an open hillside of scrubby tussock near the snowline. The hill soared for hundreds of metres upwards and snow sat barely visible on the tops. Large patches of rocks erupted out of the earth and though a gentle wind blew downhill, tussock bushes leant at right angles upwards, a testament to past blusters.
Ari trod forward of Melaleuca, holding his arms out wide, and she could feel his want to hold it all - still Argus continued his upward trudge.
‘Wow,’ Ari said.
Something about the hills had always called to Ari, some silent song of stolid solitude. It seemed a good sign and Melaleuca took in the others reactions. Quixote cavorted around like a lamb let loose for its last play of the day, and Lexington opened her eyes wide as if panged by a feeling of infinity.
‘Everyone okay?’ Melaleuca asked.
Ari turned to answer, a broad smile crossing his square jaw.
‘Oh yeah. This is amazing….What do you think Lex? Can you feel it? The earth spirit?’
‘I can,’ Quixote yelled.
Lexington nodded in acknowledgment.
‘The air is fresher, thinner. And there are an abundance of negative ions. This accounts for changes in light and the affect on us. I have given you my opinion on what you feel in the earth before Ari.’
Even Argus stopped and turned, looking at her incredulous.
‘Lex,’ Melaleuca said, ‘even I can feel something in the earth and I saw what you felt.’
Quixote stretched his arms up and pushed his belly out.
‘Oi, Lex! I feel where giants have been.’
Lexington rolled her eyes at his words and said to Melaleuca, ‘Do you realise you just made Ari right by making me wrong? Another decision?’
‘Ahhhhh,’ started Argus, ‘do whatever this is later. Keep moving.’
‘Sure. Are we going up and over there?’ Ari said, pointing to the top.
Argus waved his arm between two of the bare rolling mountaintops.
‘Nooo. We go over the pass, between the tops.’
A long lazy slope spread between them like a reclining arm chair.
‘Yesss. Over the Giant’s Arm Chair,’ Quixote said.
‘The what?’ Argus asked.
‘His head lays up there and his feet rest there. Giants used to live in this land and that’s where they rested.’
Argus rubbed his eyes annoyed.
‘Just...f...follow. Shut up. Follow. We need to get over the pass and under the cover of forest before sundown. If we keep stopping to admire the scenery we’ll get caught.’
Ari and Quixote took up his words and dashed through the tussock, clambering over rocks as if to prove to Argus they could beat him there. Lexington held her ground.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Argus asked.
Facing downhill, Lexington’s eyes wandered over their small valley peeking out miles below. She could see the end of it and just make out the river that swept by. In the distance beyond it, lines of many hills faded away to lesser shades of blue.
Melaleuca walked back to her.
‘What is it now?’
‘None of this makes sense?’
‘It will all make sense.’
‘Look.’ Lexington pointed to their valley. ‘You can see our trees. They stand out from the other ones. Once we cross over this hill I think we may never see our home again.’ Sadness tinged her words.
‘Let’s just get over the hill.’
Melaleuca took her arm and gently pulled her and Lexington’s face drooped.
‘Our parents are gone,’ Lexington said. ‘You know it, I know it.’
‘Lexington. Let’s go.’
‘Why won’t you tell me what was said to you?’
Ire rose in Melaleuca. I hate that self pity tone of hers.
She knew that they needed to get going. The time for talking would be later.
‘We are being chased,’ Melaleuca said.
‘Did you touch the men? Are they real? It could be a trick. Light and mirrors can make one man look like many. I have not seen it but have read about it.’
‘Okay then! Mum said, “Go as far as you can see and then you will be able to see further.’’
Melaleuca let Lexington’s arm go with a forceful flick. ‘Okay. There. I have told you. Let’s go.’
Lexington looked at their valley once more - the largeness of it stilling her over-active mind. The gentle haze of distance called to her and like a chorus of blues they mixed with the sky making her feel a small part of something greater. She wondered if this was the earth-spirit Ari had so often spoken of.
‘Let’s go Lex,’ Melaleuca said.
‘I think if Ari stood here he would say our valley does not want us to go.’
‘They are just hills Lexington, that’s all. The world is full of them.’
‘But you said you felt ─ ’
‘Hills, Lexington. Hills.’
Argus screamed at them to get moving and his voice carried far enough to echo back.
Lexington faced uphill and started to walk. She needed time to think. All this action made it hard for her to sort things out in her mind. A feeling of needing to return dogged her.
***
High overhead a giant eagle-like bird, a Kockoroc circled. From its skyward vaunting view it focused its crisp eyes and spied the small party of people weaving, like disjointed dots, up to the low pass of the Giant’s Arm Chair.
***
Melaleuca grabbed Lexington’s hand, squeezed it and shot her an awkward smile. She could feel Lexington’s resistance but they had to move. Up ahead she watched Argus stumble and disappear over the low pass.
Half pulling Lexington behind her she soon crested the pass. A howling wind smacked into her with a startling suddenness. She fought for her footing, released Lexington’s hand and Lexington tumbled backwards.
Ari and Quixote stood a few feet below her and leant into the wind, arms outstretched, laughing and pretending to fly.
Dry barren hills dropped away from Melaleuca, sloping down in rough ridges and gullies to the valley floor a great distance below. A giant marshy swamp spread along the entire valley, and mushy pools and reeds stretched as far as she could see.
Argus struggled back up to the pass and shouted over the wind, ‘MOVE! WHERE THE HELL IS THE OTHER ONE?’
Melaleuca turned back. Lexington lay amongst the tussock and stared back at the tree line mesmerised.
What is she analysing now?
A lone attacker moved amongst the trees and appeared to stare up at them. Melaleuca dropped between the tussock bushes leaving Argus confused. She pointed to the trees and he dived to the ground as well, though he stood out as a strange bump agains
t the skyline.
‘Lex. Crawl back and get the others.’
Lexington held the attacker in her gaze and said, ‘Is this what you saw? Did he kill ─ ’
‘Lex! After. Go and get the boys.’
She turned to go but before she could leave Ari and Quixote tumbled down the hill, and upon seeing Lexington’s confused appearance, Ari said, ‘We saw Argus drop and figured something was up.’
‘Well done,’ Melaleuca said. ‘Listen, here’s what we are going to do.’
They huddled as she explained the plan.
Argus’s body almost refused to stand up. Pain seemed to shoot everywhere. He didn’t care about the cousins, but he had never failed a mission. A strength of pride surged through his arms and he pushed his body part way up and blinked the sweat and gunk from his eyes.
Oh no! What are they...
Argus watched Quixote leap up and run to the right, and Melaleuca and Ari slide forward as the attacker spotted Quixote. Instead of running toward Quixote the attacker slipped into the woods and disappeared from sight.
Argus stood up and dashed down towards Melaleuca. Bloody fools.
Melaleuca peered through the tussock ready to attack but the attacker had gone. Before she could speak to Ari, Argus appeared above her and gripped her clothing, hauling her to her feet. Lexington appeared behind him.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ Argus yelled.
Ari launched himself into Argus and shouted, ‘Unhand her.’
Argus stumbled backwards and then slapped his own forehead in frustration.
‘That was a scout! A scout get it! Now he has gone back to tell the others. And guess what will happen then?’
Melaleuca brushed her clothes off where Argus had grabbed her.
‘You understand little of how we work.’
Argus threw his hands up. ‘Now the whole bloody army will descend upon us.’
‘Then we have to stop him,’ Ari said.
‘Stop him! How? Right now he is ripping through that forest, the same one we took our time coming up, back to his men. You want to run into them as well. Sheeessshh!’
‘Enough,’ Melaleuca said. ‘Let’s just go then, away, the other direction. Quixote, Ari. Let’s go.’
Lexington tapped her head as they walked back uphill toward her.
