by Suzie Taylor
Alf looked puzzled.
“They do look like buildings but... ” She clambered down and fingered some small holes in one of the flat vertical shapes. “See, these are windows. Weeny windows.”
“Weeny is right. Maybe bolt holes?” suggested Ben.
“No,” she insisted, scraping back the moss, “Windows. Look…” she dug a little into the mud. “And a doorway, see? It’s all made of stone, not metal or bricks...”
“But those are tiny!” argued Ben. “And there shouldn’t be anything man-made in here anyway – it’s a National Park… Aboriginals didn’t build stone machines. At least I don’t think so. It’s the scale that doesn’t make any sense. It’s widespread – even up the banks there, and yet the shapes are all too small to be human buildings. I don’t get it.
“They’re fairy windows,” said Nadia in a matter of fact tone. “It’s a ruined fairy city.”
“Preposterous!” said Alf.
“Come up with a better explanation,” she shrugged.
Alf opened his mouth, but for once in his life he couldn’t.
They all began to explore, foraging around the edges of the stream, or wading in it to look at the ‘buildings’ more closely, occasionally calling to one another to share their discoveries. Nadia busied herself taking photographs from every angle. The structures within the water looked as though they had once been interconnected with arching bridges; stumpy rows of support pillars were still visible as well as the openings into which they led.
“Hang on a sec…” said Alf suddenly. “This one looks like it has roots – like tree roots going down into the pebbles!”
“They all do,” said Nadia without looking up.
Alf waded over to Ben who was busy pulling vines off one of the larger formations. “These things are stone…” he said, “but not the same sort of stone as the rocks downstream. It’s like petrified wood; and yet they’re buildings? Why would there be roots on buildings?”
“No idea,” said Ben. “I agree they are kind of… organic looking.”
“Wood petrifies from being buried in sediments and volcanic ash. That would make them as old as the dinosaurs!”
“Maybe they were just carved to look like trees,” suggested Nadia coming up behind them.
Alf moved some of the pebbles aside with his toe. The roots were worn smooth but were by no means worn away. They couldn’t be that old. He shook his head. It was bizarre.
But it wasn’t just the stone structures that were unique. Ben noted that some of the plants were also unlike any he had seen before. The variety of mosses, ferns and flowers that grew on the stone structures was amazing and even some of the trees looked different.
“I’m no expert, but have you seen a tree like that before?” he asked Alf, indicating a particularly beautiful lacy tree fern that branched out overhead and was hung with pale, bell like flowers.
“No... I haven’t. Maybe it’s prehistoric! Maybe these are like the Wollemi pines that they found in the Blue Mountains! If we can propagate these they could be worth a fortune!”
It wasn’t long before they began to notice that they were hungry. There had been so much to see and explore, food had almost been forgotten until Nadia’s stomach made a noise that could be heard over the waterfall.
“Lunch!” said Emily. “But I’ve got loads of dirt up my nails. I only painted them yesterday.”
“So long as it wasn’t there when you were making the cup cakes,” said Ben. “Are they chocolate ones?”
“Sorry, ran out of cocoa.”
“Chocolate is my favourite!”
“Dirt up the nails can cause an infection,” said Alf. “Happened to me once. They had to amputate the extra finger on my left hand. There see? I still have a scar.”
“That’s on your palm!” said Nadia “You couldn’t have had a finger there!”
“I did! I was only a baby when they took it off but I still miss it. Dad said my great granduncle was a Nephilim.”
“I guess he knew you’d believe it,” said Nadia.
“What’s a Nephilim?” asked Emily.
“Six fingered cone-heads from outer space,” said Alf. “They were the result of angels abducting humans and breeding with them.”
“So you’re saying you’re not entirely human?” said Nadia. “Tell us something we don’t know...”
“We’ve got enough to think about right here and now,” protested Ben as he sat down to unpack his lunch. “This place is reality - but who’d have thought it could even exist? I mean… real small people… fairies, whatever. They certainly weren’t human.”
“I wonder why it hasn’t been discovered before now?” said Emily.
“There’ve been stories of fairies for centuries but…” Alf didn’t like it. Fairies did not fit with his rationale nearly as well as aliens did.
“So if there are real fairies there could even be unicorns!” exclaimed Emily eagerly.
“We don’t actually know what was living here,” cautioned Ben. “And I don’t know about fairies. Just ‘cos they were small people is doesn’t mean they had wings.”
“I wonder how long ago this happened?” said Emily. “I wonder where the fairies are now?”
“In a rainforest things break down quickly. Hard to say.”
Alf was busy dismantling his roll. “Petrified wood,” he said. “It’s gotta be old... and yet maybe not so old if the circumstances are right; it just requires minerals to replace the wood. The volcanoes around here are way too old to be responsible for this lot.” He ate his ham in one mouthful but the lettuce and tomato went on the reject pile. He then began the process of picking out the centre of his roll so that he could leave the crust behind. “Don’t forget we still need to find out where the Bug Dragons are coming from.”
“I think there’s enough here to look at for now,” said Ben, “but it might be worth our while seeing how far this city goes into the forest.”
“That crow is watching us,” Nadia observed suddenly.
“It’s a raven,” said Alf.
“It’s been watching us for ages.”
“Don’t worry,” said Ben. “Crows don’t swoop.”
“Raven,” muttered Alf.
Nadia reached back into her bag to get her phone. “Gonna photograph it,” she said.
“Go for it,” said Ben. “Photograph everything.”
Alf circumnavigated the area, trying to assess just how large the city had been, whilst the others scraped and dug in various places, tracing the outlines of walls, sweeping back the composting leaves and sticks of the forest floor, tearing away the groundcover plants and becoming increasingly excited as they went. Houses and larger multi story buildings, roads and bridges were all beginning to emerge from the mud and leaves on the banks of the stream. The people, Ben assessed, could not have been more than about 5cm tall. He managed to trace the outline of a wall as far as he could until it hit the vertical root mass of a palm tree and he could go no further. The soil on the other side was hard and littered with rocks.
“Need a spade,” he muttered to himself. Then he felt someone clutch his arm. It was Emily. She pointed at a branch close by.
“What?”
“There.”
He followed her gaze. Perched on the end of a twig, stood the tiniest, most delicate horse imaginable, pure white with translucent turquoise wings.
Ben’s jaw dropped and he stared in silence.
The horse gazed back at them and snorted. Ben’s heart was beating very quickly.
“Alf…” he called, way too quietly. “Alf!” A bit louder.
Tearing his eyes away, he backed down the bank and grabbed his friend by the arm. “Up here… quiet!” he muttered.
Alf climbed up then stopped and stared, searching for the right word. But before he was able to find it, Nadia wandered over to see what they were looking at. The horse flew away.
Ben sighed and looked at her accusingly.
“What?” she asked.
> “It was a tiny little horse with wings!” squeaked Emily. “You should have seen it!”
“Impossible.” Alf shook his head in consternation. Horses were not meant to fly. They were not at all aerodynamic… but this one not only flew, but flew smoothly, not erratically like a butterfly. It had to be a hologram. Maybe there was a hidden projector somewhere? He diverted his gaze up into the trees, searching for any sign of technology. Maybe this was all some kind of giant playground like Lego-land, intended for a lost human civilisation; a civilisation that was technologically advanced like the Atlanteans were supposed to be. He put his hands behind his back and began pacing.
“I don’t know why you have such a problem with flying horses if you believe in cone heads from outer space,” Nadia pointed out.
“They’re completely illogical,” Alf replied.
“I reckon it’s time to check out that little island with the pillar,” said Emily. “Anyone else want to wade over?”
“You don’t know how deep that is,” warned Ben, “and the water’s cold. You’ll whinge all the way home if you’re wet.”
“Will not,” Emily retorted.
“Go on then. But we’re going to have to go soon.”
She waded in until the water level reached the bottom of her shorts at which point she turned to look back.
“See?” said Ben.
Emily huffed then walked determinedly forward until the water was up to her armpits but that seemed to be the deepest point. The water was indeed cold but she gave no indication of discomfort and quickly reached the island and clambered ashore. The central spire was almost as tall as she was and pulling back sections of the leafy vine revealed that the stone underneath was a darker shade than the other buildings and felt smooth and metallic to touch. It rose in a series of evenly spaced ribs around a hollow centre and ended with a wafer-thin disc that was completely black underneath. The ribs themselves were covered in layers of fine writing that seemed to be part of the stone itself rather than etched onto the surface.
Emily stood on her toes to look at the top more closely, and gently rubbed the smooth surface. A soft green glow began to emanate from the centre and it became polished and clear as glass
“Hey guys, you gotta check this out!” she called
“What is it?” asked Ben.
“It’s got a light in it. It’s like it’s alive!”
“Can’t swim,” said Alf.
“You don’t have to,” Emily reassured him. “The water only came up to here on me... and I think it might be shallower over that way.”
They all joined her as quickly as they could. Ben and Nadia who were taller, were able to look down into the top and stare, mesmerised, their faces reflecting the luminescent glow. The radiated light increased in intensity and their eyes widened as they found themselves looking into a deep green pool in which grew a variety of trees; so huge that their trunks sunk down to immeasurable depths. As Ben stared into it he found himself being drawn in, and more things began to come into focus. The trunks of the trees contained windows and were full of intricate curling shapes, staircases, pillars and doorways. There were floating lights and drifting leaves and the faint sound of voices becoming increasingly clear as he fell. For a moment he thought he was seeing the ground but then realised it was just a patch of ground, almost like an uneven mesh suspended amongst the giant trees and his vision began to carry him below it, further and further down into a space that shone like the depths of a tropical pool. It was at that point that he became vaguely aware of someone pulling at him. The tugging became more intense, dragging him upwards, and then he lost his balance and both he and Nadia fell heavily onto the ground. Emily was screaming.
“Yeow, what’s going on?” he protested.
“You were… being sucked in!” Emily shrieked. “What was it?”
“There was another forest in there! Like this but full of lights and voices... people things.”
“People things?” asked Emily.
“Yeah... sort of... hanging in space. Faces I think...” Ben frowned, trying to remember. “It was like the voices had a form but I can’t really remember what form.”
Emily and Alf exchanged glances.
“I think they were paintings,” explained Nadia. “Portraits.”
“In a forest?”
“I think so,” said Nadia. “I don’t know! It all happened so quickly. I saw faces and lots of leaves. Everything was kind of upside down.”
“It was weird and confusing but in a strange way I reckon I could see more than I usually can,” said Ben. “I mean directionally - I could see both sides of a leaf at the same time!”
Alf, who had grabbed Nadia, was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He had dropped his phone which was lying on a nearby plant, glowing with green mist. “You know there are at least ten different dimensions,” he began lecturing, his tone dark and serious. “If you dive into one that you’re not built for you don’t know what might happen.”
“What?” asked Emily. “What dimensions?”
“Time, length, height and depth,” Alf explained. “We experience those, but physicists say there are others that are not knowable by us in these bodies.”
“And you think that’s another one in there?” asked Ben incredulously.
“I don’t know. But you were breaking apart there. Look at what you were looking into. It’s thin and flat; you can see underneath it and all around it.”
“It went downwards… like forever”, said Ben “but we were only on the threshold; I don’t think we really went in.”
“You looked like you were going in to me,” said Alf
“Some of my hair is gone…” said Nadia suddenly.
She was right. A few of the strands that would normally have been hanging close to her face looked as though they had been chopped off.
They all stood back a bit and eyed the pillar more respectfully. The green glow began to subside and then vanished altogether. Alf glanced down at his phone. The light in it had likewise disappeared.
“What if I’d reached out and touched it,” Ben wondered. “I might have lost a hand! But then if I’d have been sucked in altogether I might still be ok – just… well on the other side I guess.”
“Maybe,” said Alf. “Wanna risk it?”
Ben didn’t. He looked at Nadia who was staring at the pillar, her eyes slightly dilated and her lips pressed together in a determined line.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said. “You’re not going in there.”
“How else are we going to find out what it is?” she demanded.
“Not that way!” said Ben. “You may get in but who knows if you’ll ever get out again? Those people we saw... they might be trapped. They might be people who have been sucked in before.”
“They looked like images, not living people.”
“Maybe they’re images of the fairies who used to live here,” Emily suggested quietly.
They considered that in silence for a moment. It seemed the most plausible explanation.
“I reckon we need to send in a reconnaissance probe,” said Alf. “You could build one couldn’t you? Something to record data and transmit information back to us.”
Whilst Ben was flattered by his friend’s faith in his electronic skills he was not sure that ‘probe kits’ of a type that could transmit information from other dimensions, were likely to be available in the local store.
“Um... maybe.” He turned and frowned. “What’s that smell?”
“You can smell it too?” asked Nadia.
“It’s horrible,” said Ben. “It smells like something dead...”
“Maybe we disturbed some kind of subterranean gas reserve,” Alf suggested.
“Ew,” said Emily. “You mean this could be like a grave-site?”
Nobody liked that idea. They all looked around trying to locate the source of the stench. It wasn’t coming from the pillar and there was nothing to be seen in the surrounding p
lants or even over the water. Emily suddenly gripped Nadia’s arm.
“Up there,” she said, pointing at the sky. “I think we’ve got company.”
A group of black birds was circling them from above.
“More black magpies?” asked Emily.
“Surely not...” said Ben
Nadia’s eyes narrowed. “Get under cover! Quick!”
“There is no cover...” Ben began, then ducked as the first bird dived. “Run! Swim!” he shouted.
They all ran into the water and began wading back to shore as fast as they could. Several of the birds swooped down over them and it soon became a frenzy of splashing water, flapping wings, shouting and screaming.
Nadia was first out and immediately grabbed her lunchbox which she put on her head before pouncing on a stout branch that was lying on the bank of the stream. As the others sought the cover of the surrounding bushes and trees, she turned and charged back out into the water shouting at the top of her voice.
The birds startled by her reaction rose into the air, but not for long. When the first one attacked, she was ready for it.
THWACK! A puff of black feathers flew out in a cloud from her stick and the bird plopped down into the stream like a rag doll.
“Come on you cowards!” she yelled.
The others watched in horrified fascination from the safety of the trees. “What does she think she’s doing?” Ben said, incredulously. “Is she crazy?”
“Just don’t get on the wrong side of her when she’s saving the world,” Emily advised.
Another two birds took the dive from different directions but ended up in a similar condition to the first. The rest then attacked en-masse and for a brief period there was an uncoordinated frenzy of black feathers, shouting and stick waving. Nadia’s lunch box flew up in the air and her glasses fell in the water, but there was still no doubt as to who was doing the most damage.
“She plays tennis,” Emily whispered to Alf in the way of an explanation.
“Not like that I hope,” he muttered in reply.
The surviving birds finally gave up and flew heavily off into the trees. Nadia lowered the stick, took a deep breath then retrieved her glasses and lunch box. ”Need a better helmet,” she said.
