by Shane Mason
‘Were you seen?’ Antavahni said and trod to Argus.
‘By who? The men coming across the valley,’ Ari said.
‘Who else?’ Antavahni snapped.
It reached over and took the pistol off Quixote and placed it by Argus, saying in a calmer voice, ‘Not yet little one.’
Almost on cue Melaleuca and Ari stood in front of Antavahni and said, ‘Who are you?’
A slender plant-clad arm reached out and touched both of their chests. ‘I mean you no harm though the men following you do.’
Antavahni snapped to full height and peered in the forest’s direction while Melaleuca tried to catch its eyes to see inside it.
‘You cannot read what does not exist. I am not of this age.’ Antavahni looked down and then said thoughtfully to Melaleuca. ‘Trust your intuition always.’
‘Are you male or female?’ said Lexington as she studied his body and made notations against a hasty sketch.
Antavahni lifted Lexington’s pen-hand off her notebook. ‘Neither, though once I was the male of my species. It matters not now, for soon I shall pass over,’ he said sounding as if he spoke to long-dead ancestors. ‘I, Antavahni, last of the Etamols.’
A wave of pity emanated from him and all the cousins felt an unexplainable deep remorse. Melaleuca checked Lexington; concerned Antavahni may have been too much for her logic, though a fresh glow sat about her. She studied him despite what he had said.
‘Don’t trouble your questioning mind with me,’ Antavahni said to Lexington. ‘Soon there will be enough chaff for your intellect to weed out.’
‘And our parents?’ Melaleuca said.
‘Trouble not about them.’
‘But where are they?’ Lexington said.
Antavahni raised his hand and chanted, ‘Naawaatha ammtennagh eoaoe.’
A sudden floating sensation fell over the cousins and their feet went numb and soon all feeling left their body. One by one their legs gave way and they fell softly to the ground, sleeping by the time their bodies lay still.
Antavahni lifted them with little effort, laying them beside each other and then waved his hand over Argus, chanting more strange words.
Argus stirred and his heavy eyelids opened and faltered half way, shut again, and then struggled to open fully. Blood shot eyes finally peered out from behind them.
‘Get up,’ Antavahni bade Argus.
Argus blinked, rubbed his eyes and took stock of where he was. ‘How long have I been asleep?’
‘Mere minutes. An ill chosen time to sleep.’
Argus tried to get up though each time he collapsed. A great thirst welled up in him and his lips felt dry. Argus hauled his knees up and hung his arms over them, figuring he would wait for all his aches and pains to subside.
‘Your age is a weak race,’ Antavahni said with contempt and waved his hand over Argus.
Antavahni chanted and a bolt of electric-like energy ripped through Argus. He writhed in convulsion as shock after shock surged through him. Argus gasped and struggled to breathe, feeling his brain freeze and his whole body scream in silence. And then it stopped. Vitality pumped through Argus and in an instant he felt refreshed, as if he had been asleep for hours.
‘What the...’ Argus said gathering himself enough to add, ‘Thanks. I think.’ God, I am glad this crazy mission is over.
‘A man of your discipline should have fought off sleep.’
‘What’s it matter now. Jobs done.’
He felt relieved saying those words. For twenty years this unknown mission had sat in the back of his thoughts. Now it was done. He could return home to his estate and live out the rest of his years in the luxury he had grown used to. He cast a look of satisfaction at Antavahni, yet despite the shimmering appearance of Antavahni’s face, there was no mistaking the confused look that crossed it.
‘Done,’ Antavahni said. ‘The cousins must be taken to Agorrah. They cannot stay here.’
‘What? Taken where? My deal was to get them out of harm’s way. Rescue them. There. There they are. Rescued. Finished. You take them from here.’ He stood up surprised at his nimbleness.
‘I can only travel as far as the border. It is you who must cross them over. You have to do this. You have to do this to remember.’
‘No.’
‘Remember.’
‘If I’d known this was the mission, twenty years ago, I would have said no.’
‘You took the gold. You gave your word.’
Argus chuckled and his demeanor changed to amusement.
‘Well Mac. Dunno what was up in your “age,” but welcome to the real world of this age. Gold’s gone. My word ain’t worth a thing now. I ain’t doing it.’
He curled his top lip up in a snarl.
‘Remember, you must remember.’
Argus shook his head disgusted. ‘I got paid for a job. I done the job. That’s all there is. Final.’
A sympathetic smile formed on Antavahni’s pallid face. ‘But you have nothing to go back to.’
‘Yes I do, I ─ ’
Antavahni held his arm out toward the forest and chanted and four trees slowly faded away.
‘Your laws of physics do not apply to me.’
The empty space where the trees were, spoke of a power that could take everything away from Argus.
‘Okay…okay…what’s involved?’ I should kill this freak first chance I get.
‘Good.’
‘What is involved?’
Antavahni spoke with great pronouncement.
‘Only one path ahead of you lies. No matter where you turn, it will now always lead you to it.’
‘Listen to the question freak. What do I have to do?’
‘There is land hidden in the southern reaches of what is now called the antipodes. Take the cousins there. I will help you transport them as far as the Long White Cloud Mountains, across which you must take them for it is the border I cannot cross. Or do you remember the way?’
Like a faint ember hidden in the cinders of a burnt-out fire, Antavahni’s words singed him, rekindling old smoldering memories.
‘What’s gone should be forgotten,’ Argus said.
‘I will escort you if you cannot remember the way.’
‘Are you nuts? Look at me!’ Argus pulled his top off and displayed his ageing body. ‘This mission nearly killed me.’ He grabbed the baggy skin under his arms and tugged it. ‘I don’t have the strength anymore. I am old now!’
‘Indeed.’
Antavahni held his hands over Argus and started chanting again, though this time clouds gathered, the land darkened and the earth trembled beneath Argus, his legs buckling under him. Electric-like energy tore through him again, and this time he felt his skin stretch and tear, and his bones and muscles twist, and wrench asunder from his body’s fabric. And then it stopped. Light flooded back and the earth became still.
As the pain subsided anger replaced it.
‘Enough,’ Argus cried out. ‘Stop this.’ He clenched his fists and leapt to his feet with the ease of a young man.
Antavahni’s face went blank and he swayed back and forth, falling to the ground with little noise and lay still, breathing with a gurgling sound.
Pleased, Argus reached for his pack.
Time to get out of here.
Melaleuca mumbled, and he looked at her sleeping face and something stirred inside him. He wanted to ignore the feeling though knelt to check her. Sleeping deeply all the cousins seemed peaceful. He looked again at Melaleuca, noting that even asleep her face appeared commanding and regal, almost queen like. Her face was that of a younger version of the dead woman back at the destroyed homestead.
He reached out to touch her and pulled his hand back in shock. His gnarled old skin had been replaced by youthful skin. He traced his eyes upwards. Slender arms filled with sinewy muscles met his gaze and he looked down at his torso. A young man’s body had replaced his old worn out body.
‘What the hell happened?’
Antavahni lifted his head with difficulty.
‘My powers are not of this age.’ He coughed. ‘After 50,000 years my health suffers. I’ve not long left. Get them to Agorrah. They are the last chance to save this age.’
‘You made me young again?’
‘Only in body.’
For the first time in years that Argus could recall, something resembling a sense of wonder fell over him and he considered what Antavahni had just wrought in him, and, more importantly, the power that had been unleashed.
‘What’s so special about these kids anyway?’ I want what this freak has. ‘And what’s in it for me? More gold? I don’t need gold.’
Antavahni stood, arched his back and faced the sun, concerned at the tone in Argus’s voice.
‘Come help me move them and I will divulge what they are and why you must help.’
***
The cousins slumbered for many days in their unnatural sleep and many dreams came and went. In the last dream they all met on an expansive white desert, playing and letting their imaginations soar. Even Lexington and Melaleuca laughed and danced, though as the dream wore on Melaleuca stopped playing and became suspicious.
‘Ah guys, I don't think this is a dream.’
‘Yeah it is,’ Quixote said suspended in mid-air.
Lexington stopped.
‘I think you are right. In a dream you are not supposed to be aware you are in a dream. But I certainly am.’
Melaleuca stood on the barren landscape and realised she had never seen a white desert before or any desert at all, yet she had been happy to accept where she was. The others slowed to a halt as the same realisation struck them.
The desert floor appeared to blend into the sky and curve back upon itself, though the distance seemed so great it was hard to tell where the horizon started.
‘Where exactly are we?’ Lexington said, reaching for her notebook and discovering she had no clothes on. She yelped in surprise. ‘Where are our clothes?’
All of them were naked.
Melaleuca stared, confused at their naked bodies. ‘Have we always been naked...or......?’
The word “naked” snaked out of her mouth in big letters, split into four and then rolled around her body and moved on to Lexington.
Quixote laughed and said, ‘Hey ask this guy.’
A small figure trod toward them dragging something dark. He spied them and looked shocked, and with a burst of speed he ran for them and yelled, ‘Not now, too early, you should not be here.’ He swung his arms at them and their bodies disintegrated.
***********
Ari awoke from the dream first and felt icy air pressing against his skin. He could not move his legs and try as he may his eyes would not focus. He tried to rub them but his hand kept on hitting his forehead.
‘Easy fella,’ came a voice that sounded like Argus’s but different. ‘Take your time. Ya been asleep a while.’
The words made little sense. How did that explain his arms and legs not working? He relaxed and drew in a deep breath. Many new smells hit him - fresh smells, sharp smells, pungent smells and aromatic smells - all richly mixing together and suggesting they were somewhere other than where they had been put to sleep.
‘Where are we?’ Ari said still groggy.
‘You will see when you are fully awake,’ came Antavahni’s voice.
Melaleuca stirred and mumbled, waking to find her arms and legs did not work either. Blurry images filled her eyesight. Perturbed she tried moving her arm and managed to hit both Lexington and Quixote as they woke up.
‘Mel. It’s okay,’ said Ari, his voice sending a reassuring feeling through her. The crackle of a fire burst into life and its warmth fought the chilly air back, helping to thaw her wits out.
Over and over she repeated the word “trust” mantra-like in her head and when she felt ready, she tried to stand up though she struggled.
‘Ari help me.’
His strong hands gripped hers and he pulled her up. She leant on him and they both took in where they were.
A rugged expanse of land, devoid of trees and teeming with small yellow bushes and autumn coloured scrub, spread out before them, and an all-pervading dampness hung in the air so intense she could smell the wetness.
In one direction the land stretched as far as the eye could see - an empty distant horizon, semi-blending with the sky. In the opposite direction the land tilted up, gentle at first and then it climbed steeply into a mammoth mountain range, the tops of which were covered in rolling dark clouds.
‘Cool dream eh,’ Quixote said happy to stay lying on the ground.
‘It didn’t feel like a dream. Ari, can you work out where we are?’ Melaleuca said and cast a challenging look at Argus and Antavahni.
‘Hang on,’ he said gazing around.
‘It was too real for a dream,’ Lexington said sitting upright. ‘Which suggests we were actually there. But that cannot make sense, unless...’
‘Yes cousin,’ Melaleuca said, ‘now is the time to use your brain and work out what it was. Facts and stuff.’ She turned to Argus who stoked the fire. ‘Where are we?’
Argus bent his head toward Antavahni and nodded as if to say he had the answers.
‘Yes. I will expect a full explanation from you,’ Melaleuca said pointing at Antavahni.
Antavahni and a young looking Argus sat silent by the fire and tended it, staring into the dancing flames.
A disquieting sensation leached off the land into Ari. At first he could not name it and then he grasped what drove such emptiness in him. The scrubby plain had no sound. No birds, no animals, no wind, no far off cries, no water moving, nothing, but an eerie silence that hung over it like a great solitude.
‘This is a land of nothing,’ he said. ‘What time of day is it?’
Argus pointed to the sky.
‘Time does not matter here,’ said Antavahni.
The overhead sun sat hidden behind hazy grey clouds that filled the entire sky. Ari had never seen a sky as bleak and lacking in brilliance. God had erased meaning and sheen from it, and the longer his eyes supped on it, the more arid he felt. A shiver ran through him and he pulled his eyes away and stared at the ground. A stunted bush of jagged twigs and small leaves stared up at him.
‘Well?’ said Lexington lifting her head and blinking her eyes to focus on Ari.
Ari shook his head and Melaleuca knew what he felt in an instant.
‘Nothing. He feels nothing. We are nowhere.’
Antavahni pulled a large pot of steaming liquid off the fire and poured it into four wooden cups.
‘This broth will help you wake up.’
With eager hands they all cupped the broth, and warmth flooded through their fingers and down their arms. The rich mixture of spices and other unknown aromas tantalised them and they sipped it, discovering it tasted even better. The liquid flooded their bodies and filled their senses with wakefulness.
Antavahni stood.
‘Come, we still have a ways to go. There is little chance any one followed us but we must push on.’
Melaleuca shook her head at the others and then said to Antavahni, ‘We go no further until we have cleared ourselves.’
Rosy cheeked and with cold red-tipped noses, her cousins stood behind her and faced off with Antavahni.
‘Clear yourselves then, but be quick.’
Argus stood and stretched himself.
‘Look,’ Quixote said. ‘He’s lost his face.’
‘What happened to you?’ Lexington asked.
Antavahni pushed in front of Argus.
‘Discover it for yourselves. Get on with the clearing.’ Unsteady on his legs, he produced a walking stick and propped himself up.
‘What are they doing?’ Argus asked.
‘Watch and then you tell me,’ Antavahni replied.
The cousins play-acted out all the events they could remember since being attacked. Over some events they went back and forth until everyone could agree on what had ha
ppened. However, Quixote acted out what he wanted to do, not what had actually happened. In his version he rode the Kockoroc and whipped off thousands of miles away to discover new lands. This annoyed Lexington, and while Melaleuca and Ari were normally amused by his antics, this time they found them a little irritating also.
Half way through it, Ari turned to Melaleuca and said, ‘This used to be quick and simple.’
‘Just keep going. Much has happened.’
Over their hills they pretended to run. Questions were thrown at Argus. The forest chased them down the hill. Lexington balked at telling them about her inner voice and nearly revealed it. Instead she merely explained she needed a new way of working things out. Melaleuca acted out her feelings, sharing for the first time that doubt had crept in and that now she resolved to trust her instincts.
Quixote had more forays into his wild-west imagination. Amongst the facts he had held Argus’s pistol and had tracked down the men who had attacked them and defeated them. The other cousins persisted in the actual facts of what happened, which seemed only to fuel Quixote’s far flung ideas even more. Like a match to spilt petrol Quixote’s recounting of events got wilder and further from the truth until the force of his imagination covered all the past events with possibilities that seemed highly impossible, though amusing.
‘...and then with their pants down they couldn’t walk. They tripped up over their legs, fell, splat in the mud and rolled around like babies...’
And on he went until the cousins burst into laughter and even Lexington giggled a little though felt slighted. She normally analysed what they had done. This frivolity, as enjoyable as it was, did not answer any of her questions.
Argus cracked a bemused smile.
‘So they tried to act everything out. So what?’
‘Have you never cleared yourself?’ Ari said.
‘It looks like something groupies would do,’ he said back and earned a ‘shhh’ from Antavahni.
Already Melaleuca could see a shift in her cousins as if a small weight had been lifted off them. Strange, she had never thought of their “clearings” as a tool to make them feel better. She had only seen it as a...
