Sarina joined Andreas in observing Makthryg. Why had her enemy changed his tune so suddenly? She noticed his missing finger and looked again at Valkrog, also missing the same digit. She remembered from their previous encounter Makthryg’s limp, that had mirrored Valkrog’s severe injuries from their own world. She moved across to the prone figure, and beckoned Paolo and Rona to join her. “These two are connected somehow”—she motioned to both Makthryg and Valkrog, who slumped against one of the cave’s walls—“and I think whatever is causing Valkrog to fade is killing Makthryg. We need him to tell us everything, but he doesn’t look like he will last the day. You two both have the healing power. Let’s rouse him a little—but be careful.”
Paolo looked doubtful. “I trust you, Sarina, but—”
“What do we have to lose? If we don’t find out what he means, then I might do the wrong thing again, and doom us all no matter what. Either way, we have to do something before that thing”—she waved her hand at the dark sky outside—“reaches us and we are all lost. If it makes you feel better, have Tomas sit on his chest while we do it.”
Tomas walked over. “That’s an invitation I cannot resist,” he said, and sat on the unconscious man.
Sarina looked at Paolo, then at Rona, who shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘having healing power’, but I’m in.”
Sarina smiled. “You’ll see. It’s like making a portal come to life. Hold my hand. Paolo will hold yours, then he and I will—” she shuddered—“take one of Makthryg’s hands each. We’ll send some of our energy to him. But only enough to repair him sufficiently so he can talk.”
“Tell me when I can jump on him,” Tomas said, straddling the sorcerer’s chest.
Sarina knelt down and held out her hand to Rona, and Rona did the same with Paolo, who had moved around to the other side. Paolo and Sarina looked at each other—Sarina saw the same look of disgust in Paolo’s face as she felt—and each then reached to take one of the man’s clammy hands.
Sarina felt a brief tingle of energy stream into her hand, then concentrated on sending glowing tendrils of sparkling power into the man.
Makthryg’s chest jolted up, startling Tomas, who shoved him back down. Sarina glanced at Paolo, who had a stunned look on his face, then her vision was lost as a blast of imagery hurtled into her mind. Tumbling, jumbled images. Of Lena, smiling up at her. The collider, flashing an angry message of bright-red LEDs. An explosion: spitting masonry and falling columns of brick and dust into the air. The sound of a baby screaming. A spinning wheel of fiery yellow and orange sparks ... then darkness. All this in the millisecond before she whipped her hand out of Makthryg’s.
“Who are you? What do you know about the collider? Tell us. Now!” She felt her fists tighten.
The sorcerer’s eyes flicked open. “I do not know this device ...” he trailed off and looked over at Valkrog. “I believe my creation has the answer within him, though he does not know it. I tell you the truth when I say you must not destroy the device, nor use it. I have no use for it”—he lifted a weak hand and waved it at his body—“I have come to the realisation I am dying. The young girl spoke to me, and ... I ... I believed you might save us.”
“How?” She felt her eyes blazing. “And why do you tell us this, if you are dying? What do you care?” She was now standing, her hands on her hips. She clenched her jaw. So many unanswered questions. Had her own careless actions with the collider endangered not one, but now two worlds? “Well?” She blinked away the hot wetness in her eyes. “Speak!”
Makthryg looked at her. His eyes had something in them—despair?—she wasn’t sure. “I do not know. My actions do not arrive with an explanation. Perhaps if you use your magic on him?”—he flicked his eyes at Valkrog—“his secret might be outed?”
“Pah! Why should I believe you?” An image of Lena swam before her eyes, and she blinked it away. Her vision blurred with the effort, and she looked away from Makthryg and toward the bird-creature. Then back at Makthryg, then again at Valkrog, before returning to Makthryg. She squinted at them both and stood back further into the cave. “Oh Great-Aunt Samantha, please be with me right now,” she whispered as she looked between the two figures. I see him and he doesn’t see me.
Paolo stood. “Sarina. What is it? Do you suffer? Has this evil thing entranced you? Did you also receive images of my father?”
She shook her head slowly. “I am perfectly fine.” She looked straight at Andreas. “Do you trust me?”
Andreas looked startled. “Of course. What do you plan?”
“Can you remove the rope from that thing?”
Andreas’s mouth hung open. Tomas remained seated on Makthryg but was shaking his head vehemently. “He will escape us!”
Sarina ignored Tomas and thought for a moment. “If you are concerned about him escaping, can we manoeuvre him to Makthryg and release the rope at the last minute?”
“Yes,” Andreas said, staring at Sarina.
“No!” Tomas said. “Andreas, this is madness!”
Andreas looked at his friend. “This time it is I who say our Orange Witch speaks the truth. I see it in her eyes—she has a solution.”
Tomas looked subdued. “Then may the Gods be with us.”
“If we don’t move fast, I think they will be with us sooner than you think, and they are angry,” Paolo said. He indicated the darkening sky. “Whatever magic is in this cave must be the answer to our questions. Why else have we been thrown together in this fashion? It is now or never.” As if to emphasise his point, the black clouds released a thunderous rumble.
They all looked at each other, then Andreas gave a nod to Sarina. “Then begin, with caution.”
Sarina walked across to the bird-creature, pushing down her revulsion at her proximity to him, telling herself not to be intimidated by his size. I can control my focus. I can control my focus. She took a deep breath, and pulled the loose rope end towards her and across to the cave where Makthryg lay, his eyes fearful and watching her every move. The giant creature followed, eyes closed, sleep-walking. She stopped at the feet of the sorcerer. “Tomas, will you please get up?” The man stood and moved to one side. Sarina manhandled Valkrog around until he faced her, repeating her mantra to herself. Now the creature stood at Makthryg’s feet, facing away from him, in such a way as if he were to fall backward, the sorcerer would be the perfect cushion for his back.
Sarina stepped back and took a deep breath. She looked at Rona for a moment, then at Andreas, Paolo and Tomas in turn. Makthryg still eyed her warily. “I wish to unwind the rope slowly. One part can still lay across his chest to secure him, but we need to lay him down on top of Makthryg—”
“What is this lunacy?” The sorcerer protested.
Sarina ignored him. “Rona can hold the rope, the three of you make sure to lower ... this creature. Then wait for my signal.”
The sorcerer protested and tried to get up, but Tomas placed a firm boot on his chest and pushed him back down.
Then Paolo, Tomas and Andreas came forward and steadied the near-vaporous creature between them. Sarina began to untie the rope, jumping a little when the creature stirred beneath her hands. She forced herself to focus on the task at hand, and left one loop of rope across the bird-man’s chest. Valkrog was awake now, and looked confused. He tried to shake himself free, but the rope’s magic held firm. Sarina had an idea.
“Andreas and Tomas—pass the ends of the rope from across his chest and entwine it around each of his arms and grip it tight. I think the magic will hold, but be quick.”
The two men wound the rope around while she watched.
Outside, the thunder clapped and a cloud of dust blew through the cave entrance.
Valkrog struggled. “What is this witchery? I demand—”
“Now!” Sarina shouted, and shoved the creature backwards with both hands, taking him by surprise. The men either side lowered the confused creature on top of Makthryg, who struggled to move, but Paolo had him pinned at the sh
oulders. The boy jumped aside at the last moment to allow the larger body of the creature to rest atop the smaller sorcerer, overlapping him.
Sarina fixed an intense gaze on both the creature and the body of the man she could see through him underneath. She switched her focus from Valkrog’s features, then to Makthryg, then again, from one to the other. She yelled an instruction to the others to hold the two of them together, then closed her eyes and held up her hands, palms down over the two bodies below her. She encased them in a spidery web of gossamer-like glowing silver thread, moving with speed and purpose from one end to the other. When complete, she opened her eyes. “Please stand to one side. Rona, can you pull out the rope?”
The men withdrew and Rona pulled the rope free in one smooth motion. Valkrog began to writhe inside the translucent silvery cocoon, but Sarina silenced him with one wave. She moved her hands up and down the two figures, as if carving and shaping. She leaned over, pressed both palms gently on the bird-man through the glowing enclosure for a few seconds, and stood back.
Tomas gasped and held his hand to his mouth.
“Well, I ...” Rona murmured, and watched in fascination.
The semi-transparent Valkrog sank slowly inside his master and faded from view, leaving one figure prone under the cobweb-like network of shimmering thread. The two bodies had merged.
Paolo looked over at Sarina. She saw the anxiety in his expression, and his unspoken question. She nodded. “Valkrog is no more.” She hesitated. “If I am correct.”
“I would rather it have been at my hand, but if I were unable, you would be my appointed executioner.”
“But I didn’t kill him, Paolo. Watch.” She bent down and tore away the cocoon’s webbing. Each fragment evaporated into a silvery mist as it was released, and vanished. She felt their eyes on her as she brushed away the remaining threads to reveal the figure of a man lying on the cave floor, his eyes closed. Not Makthryg, nor Valkrog, but still wearing Makthryg’s tattered garb. The bird-man was nowhere to be seen; no evidence remained that the creature had ever existed. The man stirred and opened his eyes.
Sarina knelt down next to him.
“Professor Malden, I presume?”
~ 49 ~
A Leaking Pouch
The man who resembled Makthryg and Valkrog widened his eyes. “My wife? There was an explosion ... is she ... ?”
Sarina shook her head. “I’m sorry, Professor. Six years have passed since that accident. Your wife, um ... didn’t make it. But your daughter—”
“Lena!” The man tried to sit up, but clutched his hand to his head when he did so. He lay back down. “Six years? What happened? Where am I?”
Sarina looked back at the others, all of whom wore stunned expressions. She lifted her shoulders as if to say: ‘Where do I begin?’, then turned back to the man. “Lena is doing fine, Professor. More than fine. But right now we have a big problem. In my world—our world I should say—apparently something I did with your collider sent it to this world, and it’s caused the moon to start falling to Earth. I came back here to find the thing and destroy it”—she held up her hand when the man tried to speak—“which I haven’t of course—it’s over there—and I think it’s also doing something nasty to this world as well. Professor Harrison was supposed to come here with me, but there was an accident and—”
She looked at the man. How did you explain all this? “Professor, is any of this making sense?”
The man groaned, and sat up. He examined one hand, turning it around and inspecting the area where the finger was missing. “Unfortunately, yes. What is your name, young lady? And did you say we are in another world?” He looked around and saw the others watching.
“I’m Sarina. This is Rona, also from our world. We are most definitely in another world. The man with his arms folded and staring at you is Andreas. He’s from this world, and one of the township’s Elders, as is Tomas here.” She pointed to Paolo. “And this is my good friend from here too: Paolo. I’d be nice to him, if I were you.”
She paused, wondering how to explain to the man what he used to be, and how much grief he had caused all of them. Especially Paolo.
“You were an awful sorcerer called Makthryg. And you made or conjured some nasty bird-like creature out of yourself called Valkrog. I think that explosion years ago blasted you into this world leaving you with no idea who you were. Maybe you got a sudden overdose of dark-rem which infected your mind. Whatever it was, it gave you a very unpleasant personality. And powerful magic. And amnesia.”
“Ma-k-thrrig. Yes, I see how I might have arrived at that. My full name is Theodore Richard Gregory Keith Malden. I must have jumbled that up when I—”
He stared at Sarina. “How do you know all this?”
“It’s a long story. Most of which you won’t like. For years you’ve been the enemy of the people who live here. But right now, Professor, we need your help. When you were, ah, Makthryg, you told me that destroying that thing”—she pointed to the collider—“would doom us all. But you didn’t know why. Only that Valkrog somehow held the secret.”
The man studied Sarina. “And you somehow worked out that this Valkrog and Makthryg were just parts of the same person, and if you reassembled them, the secret may emerge?”
Sarina nodded.
“Good grief, ah, Sarina. I don’t think I would have arrived at that hypothesis in a million years. Brilliant work.”
Sarina smiled at the man’s use of the word hypothesis. It reminded her of Nathan—
The sense of urgency came flooding back. “Professor. We can’t sit around talking. You have to help us fix this machine, or we’re in big trouble. Take a look outside.” She pointed to the cave’s entrance and the sky, dominated by ominous black clouds.
Professor Malden eased himself to his feet, and Sarina saw how obvious it was he was neither Makthryg, nor Valkrog, but the combined image of the two she had seen through her blurry vision. If she hadn’t understood how Great-Aunt Samantha had drawn those composite images of wanted criminals from the victim’s and witnesses’ descriptions, she might never have superimposed the two on each other. And Makthryg/Malden would have perished along with his creation.
Malden peered out of the cave, shielding his face from the blasting wind, then drew back into the shelter. “We must talk. All of us. If what I think has happened is true”—he looked at Sarina, then at the others—“then you are correct. We must hurry.” He motioned for them all to sit.
Andreas leaned forward. “Sarina, if I had not witnessed this with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. But you must understand—we have fought this ... man for years, and not only that, his creation killed Paolo’s father. Do you expect us to sit and parley like old friends?”
Paolo put his hand on Andreas’s arm. “It is done, Andreas, did you not see it? This man has no memory of what he was. Valkrog is gone. Makthryg is no more. I cannot bring my father back, but perhaps together we can save our world. Rest your plough, for this field is now barren.”
Andreas sighed. “Wise words, from one so young. Then speak, Theodore Malden, and put words to your presence, so that I might believe it more.”
Malden nodded and wiped his brow. “I will make restoration for my deeds as best I can. For now, I am of the opinion something dreadful has occurred. The collider seems to have been dispatched quite brutally through a rift into this world—”
Sarina flinched and Malden gave her a sharp look, then continued. “And in so doing has ripped what we might think of as a membrane delineating our universes and created some leakage.” He gazed into the distance. “Probably rem-interference leakage, and therefore some gravitational crossover. Hence the changes in the moon’s orbit, and this wild weather.”
Tomas looked around. “Does anyone else have any idea what he is talking about, or is it just me?”
Rona looked over at Tomas’s pack, and pointed to the water pouch hanging from it. “Imagine our world inhabits a huge pouch like that, and a knife has sl
iced it open. The water now leaking out? It’s the essence of our world contaminating your world.”
“Oh.” Tomas looked sheepish. “It was just me then.”
Malden shook his head. “No. I am apt to describe things too technically, but our clever friend uses a helpful analogy. But what we must now do, to continue the analogy, is to push the knife back through the hole, and at the same time, force it to repair the wound.”
He looked around at them all. “If this is not done with care—with the correct codes—or if the device were destroyed, then we would end up with—”
“A bigger hole and no water,” Tomas said.
Malden nodded his agreement. “You learn fast, sir.”
“And it would seem you know a lot about this device.” Tomas stared at Malden.
“I invented it.” Malden gazed over at the innocent-looking collider.
“Then you must know these codes?” Andreas’s lips were pressed tight.
Malden turned to Sarina. “Six years ago, you say? My ... accident?”
Sarina nodded, and Malden looked back at Andreas. “No. With six years passing, all my previous calculations would be wrong. Any codes I used would be complete guesswork.”
“Then how can we fix it?” Sarina couldn’t help blurt the words out.
Malden’s face was grave. “We must make contact with Harrison. I take it we can be assured of full cooperation from the ... other Earth? Our world? This shift of the moon must be big news and I’m certain Professor Harrison would be intently focused on solving the problem, with the help of all the international communities. As long as we can bring considerable resources to bear on it—and assuming we can contact Harrison—then, yes, I could re-calculate the codes, hopefully return the collider, and probably fix the issue.” His eyes defocused, and he stared into space.
“When you say ‘hopefully’, and ‘probably’, what does that mean exactly? Will it fix this rift-thing?” Sarina said. She dared not mention Professor Harrison certainly didn’t have anyone’s full cooperation, and that they were being pursued by a powerful criminal weapons trading consortium, or that she herself was about to be exposed as the world’s most wanted person, or that anyone associated with Professor Harrison was being painted as some ugly super-psi-kid to be bred out of society. She’d exchanged a brief glance with Rona when Malden had talked about cooperation and seen the panic in her eyes. But before she mentioned any of that to those gathered, she wanted to know: could Malden solve the problem. Did they have any hope?
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 87
