The Return To Erda Box Set

by Beca Lewis

  Lady remained overhead, Cahir had already slipped into the fields, and the Priscillas had flown ahead. I thought that perhaps it was to let people know I was coming. So, I was alone as I walked the road into town.

  The first person I saw was Liza, James’ daughter. She was running full tilt down the road to me. I wanted to pick her up and spin her around, but in the short time since I had seen her, I swear she had grown six inches. Instead, I bent down and gathered her into my arms.

  No words were needed. I was grateful for Liza’s gift of the star necklace, and she was thankful that her father had returned safely. We unwound ourselves, each brushing tears away as if they never happened. Liza linked arms with me and chattered the whole way into town.

  Yes, they knew I was coming. A big feast had been prepared. Yes, a few friends were waiting for me. Yes, she was happy that the star that showed me a 4D version of the world had been so helpful.

  “Liza, do you want the star back? I can see it sometimes on my own,” I said, when she mentioned the star.

  We had almost reached the first home and people were starting to step out of their doors to wave at me.

  “No. I don’t need it anymore. And until I am old enough to travel with you, or that mean man is gone, you need it. It will show you what you need to know.”

  “It would be my honor, Liza. And someday we’ll do a walkabout together, and you can show me the world as you see it.”

  “Yes!” Liza exclaimed clapping her hands together, and then she grabbed my hands and started pulling me towards the town hall. “Come on. They are waiting for you!”

  We started running together, saying hello to everyone in the streets, heading for who knows what. But with someone like Liza on our side I couldn’t see how we could fail.

  Well, I couldn’t allow myself to see failure. As we ran, I promised myself once again that I would keep her and her people safe. Somehow.

  *******

  I thought that I was prepared to see everyone, but when the door of the town hall opened, I almost fell to my knees in shock. Was everyone in the village here?

  “Everyone except who is behind you,” Liza said. It was only later that I realized that Liza had read my mind. I turned to see that all the people who had waved to us as we came through the streets were now standing behind us.

  “How?” I asked.

  “Berta and the Priscillas planned it, or at least they let us know you were coming so we could get ready,” Liza whispered.

  In the back of my mind, I realized that Berta and the Priscillas had probably been working together for a while. But at that moment all I could do was stand there in amazement. I wasn’t even aware that tears were running down my face until Pris came over and dabbed my face with a cloth.

  Standing in front of the group were the four men from Kinver who had traveled with us to defeat Shatterskin: James, his brother John, Thomas, and Mark. I ran to each of them preparing to shake hands, but instead was pulled into a hug by James, and then a group hug. They circled me as I sobbed. Once I recovered, I noticed that they each had an armband on that said “Kit.” They had one for me, and I slipped it on.

  “Come on, Hannah, let’s celebrate. The village has been preparing this feast for days,” James said, slipping one arm around my shoulders and holding Liza’s hand with the other.

  I smiled at James. He had remembered that I wanted a place where I could be just “Hannah,” the girl I remembered being who had lived in the Earth dimension. I never wanted to lose that girl who loved unconditionally and knew the love of her family and friends.

  James had promised me that Kinver would always be the place I could come to and not be royalty. He had told me I would always be like his daughter, and a father like James was just what I needed at that moment.

  It took quite a while to get to the food because I insisted on stopping and thanking as many people as possible for their hospitality. I was aware that I hadn’t protected Kit. I didn’t get him home as I had promised, so their gratitude was almost too much for me.

  Killing the Shrieks and Shatterskin had not made me feel bad. They weren’t alive. They were machines driven by Abbadon. But Kit’s death and one of the dragon’s death had been weighing on me since the moment I had heard about them. I had to keep myself from saying, “If only,” and letting that drag me down into one of my famous, but not loved, pity parties. It didn’t stop me from having nightmares though.

  Finally, Liza tired of the constant hugging and shaking hands grabbed me and said, “Come on, Hannah. I’m famished. Let’s get food.”

  Something about her tone made me wonder what she was really up to, but I followed her through the crowd to the back of the room, wondering even more what was going on as the crowd kept stepping back to let us through.

  I thought that I had done enough crying for the day, but when I saw who was standing there waiting for me, I couldn’t help myself. I burst into tears and started running.

  Deadsweep Twelve

  Standing there waiting for me as if it was the most natural thing in the world were the same two people who were waiting for me when I fell through the portal into Erda: Beru and Ruta. I hadn’t known them then, but now I did. Knew them. Loved them.

  Neither Ruta or Beru were big huggers, but they both let me hold them so tight they probably couldn’t breathe. In Beru’s case, it was like hugging a flower, maybe a sweet pea. Her long arms circled me, and she laid her beautiful head on my shoulder for a minute. I could have stayed there forever. But I had to hug Ruta too. Hugging him was more like clutching a stump. But still, his embrace as he patted me on my back made me weak with happiness.

  After our hugs, we did our handshake—upside down, and finger wiggling. Beru loved doing that, and it made everyone laugh as Ruta did his best to finger wiggle back at us both.

  “No questions right now, Kara Beth,” Beru said, taking my arm and leading me to the food table. “Let’s just celebrate with the village.”

  I nodded. I would have done anything Beru asked me to do at that moment. I suppose I should have known she would be there. After all, it was her village. But, I hadn’t dared to hope. It would have been too disappointing not to find her there when we arrived.

  The party lasted for hours. Once again, Ruta, after drinking something that looked like syrup, got so happy he stood on the now empty food table and danced. But he wasn’t alone. I got up, too, shocking myself. A few months before this would have been way too embarrassing. I was dancing with a tree stump—on a table. But Ruta’s joy, as contained as he kept it, was so contagious, I couldn’t help it.

  It didn’t matter anyway. The whole village was dancing—children and adults. Even Mayor Tom joined Ruta and me on the table to dance.

  Later I realized that we danced that night because we needed to. We all knew that we were heading once again into a fight with Abbadon for the safety of everyone in the Kingdom of Zerenity. We had to take every minute of joy and celebration that we could, while it was there.

  The moon was high in the sky when the party started to wind down, as parents took their children and headed home, stopping once again to thank us all for saving their village. We all nodded solemnly and did our best to look sure that we could do it again.

  Finally, the room was empty except for me, Beru, Ruta, the Priscillas, and James. I was exhausted. We had traveled all day and danced all night.

  I asked, “Are we leaving tonight?”

  Beru looked at me like she often looked at me. As if I was an idiot. I loved it. I had missed that look. “Of course, we are not traveling tonight,” she huffed, and then laughed.

  We all laughed. I am sure it was one of those laughs that happen when you are so tired you can’t see straight.

  When he finally caught his breath, James said, “We prepared rooms for each of you, Hannah.”
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  He wasn’t kidding about preparing rooms. Mine was at his house. His wife, Lorraine, had left the party earlier, but was still waiting up and showed me to a room that reminded me of my bedroom back in Earth. The Priscillas stayed with me, but Beru took Ruta home to her house in the village.

  Beru’s parents had left the village at the first mention of Abbadon’s movement east, and had gone to another town, leaving their home empty. It was a little surprising to me that Beru’s parents hadn’t returned yet, and I wondered how Beru felt about that.

  However, the villagers had kept Beru’s family home in good condition, or so she told me later, without mentioning how she felt about the fact that her parents hadn’t returned home. Did she worry about them? Did she know where they were? None of my questions were answered that day.

  I knew that Ruta’s family had died in the same attack that my mother had died in. She had been visiting Ruta’s village at the time. Visiting villages and towns was something that my mother loved to do, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that was what she had been doing at the time of her death.

  Ruta and I had never talked about it, but I know that when we had found the manufacturing plant where Abbadon was using his captives to run his machines, we had both hoped that we might discover his parents and my mother. When we didn’t, we didn’t say anything. What was there to say? It had been a small, impossible, hope for both of us.

  We weren’t the only ones who had lost loved ones. Someday I wanted to find every person who had lost someone and make sure that they were well, but that day would have to wait.

  Breakfast at James’ house was so wonderful I could almost pretend that it was just like breakfast back in the Earth Realm with my parents and my brother Ben, and sometimes all our friends. Except this breakfast was with a family that reminded me of flowers, someone who looked vaguely like a tree trunk, and fairies. It was fantastic.

  We all helped Lorraine clean up afterward. I knew what we were doing. We were being both helpful and delaying the inevitable. We had a job to do. I wasn’t sure how long the walk was to the Castle, but I was sure that Beru and Ruta were going to want to get moving. However, they didn’t seem to be in a big hurry, lingering over their drinks and chatting with Liza about what she was studying in school.

  Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. We had never started walking later than sunrise, and now it was mid-morning. “What the ziffer?” I asked. “Why aren’t we getting going?”

  Ruta grunted. I loved it. He was back to being the Ruta I remembered. The Priscillas giggled, and Beru just gave me one of her famous looks that I had seen scare grown men. Ah, back to normal.

  No one said anything. Finally, Liza took pity on me and whispered that they had another surprise for me.

  Zut, another surprise? Was it a person? When I heard the low sound of a gathering of notes I knew what it was. As the song became louder, I rushed outside.

  I could see the Sound Bubble was on its way, and there was someone inside it.

  Deadsweep Thirteen

  The Sound Bubble landed, and Zeid stepped out. I was torn between being mad at him for leaving me with just a note saying he would see me soon, or the joy of seeing his face again. He smiled at me, and I forgot about being mad. I apparently also forgot about being a Princess because I almost knocked him over as I ran to meet him.

  For a moment I was worried. What if Zeid didn’t like me anymore? It wasn’t an idle worry, because even though I remembered that we were to be married one day, I couldn’t remember if we chose or if it was chosen for us. However, at that moment it didn’t matter. I was just happy to see him. Truthfully, it probably never mattered, because even when I couldn’t remember a thing about my life in Erda, my heart did little flutters from the moment I saw him.

  The only thing that had stopped me from revealing my feelings before had been Johnny’s friendship bracelet that I had been wearing. I glanced at my wrist. It wasn’t there anymore. I had returned it to Johnny before going to Eiddwen. Suzanne had taken it back through the portal to the Earth dimension. But since she hadn’t talked to me since she returned, I had no idea how Johnny had felt about it.

  Now, I only had the bracelet with the picture-jasper stone on my wrist. The one Professor Link had given to me, or as he said, returned to me. It felt familiar, although I still didn’t know why. Did it have a power I was supposed to know how to use?

  All that went through my head as I ran toward Zeid. One question was answered when he picked me up and swung me around in a circle. I’m not little, but Zeid managed it somehow. The hug he gave me afterward alleviated my fear that he didn’t care about me anymore.

  “So you missed me,” he said.

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Don’t you want to know where I’ve been, and where we are going?” Zeid asked.

  “Maybe,” I answered

  ‘Oh, for Zut’s sake,” Pris said, flying at us both. I ducked. I knew she was heading for pulling my hair. Missing me, she got Zeid’s hair instead. She pulled at the lock of dark hair that kept falling over his forehead until he said, “Ow,” which struck everyone, including me, as hilarious.

  With Pris around, no one could take themselves too seriously. Pris’ sisters had no problem ingratiating themselves with Zeid. After a few quick kisses on his cheek, they returned to my shoulder and stared at him. Not that I could blame them. Zeid is easy to look at. But he looked tired in spite of his trying to look as if he wasn’t.

  When he saw me looking at him with concern, he shook his head slightly as if to tell me not to ask, and turned to the rest of the group standing there, and said, “Are you all ready?”

  “Do you want something to eat first?” Lorraine asked.

  Zeid took both her hands in his and said, “Thank you, Lorraine, but I think we best be leaving.”

  It wasn’t until I saw the tears in Lorraine’s eyes that I realized what was happening. All four men who had fought with us before were coming with us again.

  “Oh, no! I can’t take you away from your families again. Liza needs you, James. The village needs all of you. I can’t. No,” I shouted.

  I even stamped my foot, which I’m sure looked absurd. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t be responsible for their deaths. I wanted to come back to Kinver and be Hannah again someday, and I needed these people to be there when I did.

  It was Liza and her father who calmed me down, at least enough to grudgingly admit that it was their choice. Liza said she and her mother would be fine. The rest of the village would watch over them. James explained that he had to go. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t help us. The other three men nodded in agreement.

  “Besides, you need me to question everything don’t you?” John said.

  It was true, John did question everything and that was a good thing even though sometimes we didn’t like it. Thomas and Mark said they were going for Kit. He gave his life to save the Kingdom. They weren’t going to let him down now, and that was all there was to it.

  Once I realized I couldn’t stop them from coming, I told them how grateful I was, and I meant it. But then I realized how many of us there were.

  “Are we all going in the Sound Bubble?” I asked.

  While we had been talking, it was sitting there silently, shimmering in the sun. Before, the bubbles had dissolved when they landed. This one appeared to be waiting for us. But there were so many of us.

  “And what about Cahir and Lady? And although I love riding in that thing, I thought we weren’t to use it unless it was an emergency. Wait. Is this an emergency? And are we going to the Castle? Wait. Where are we going?” I sputtered the last of the questions.

  “Geez, Kara Beth. Questions, questions, get a grip,” Zeid said, turning to look where Lady had landed on the ground near the bubble. “I’ll let Suzanne answer y
ou.”

  As if it was something she did every day while we watched, Lady morphed into Suzanne. Once again I wasn’t sure if I should be angry or happy, but I chose happy and rushed over to hug her. I had even more questions, but at least I knew enough to wait to ask those.

  “Here are your answers, Kara. Yes, it is somewhat of an emergency. At least we don’t want to take the few days it would to walk to the Castle. So, yes, we are going to the Castle. Yes, we are all going in a Sound Bubble, except Cahir who refuses and has already started across country to get there.”

  I started to ask another question, and she held up her finger to stop me. “No, we can’t all fit into the bubble. There are two.”

  Across the valley, I heard the harmony of a hundred notes as a second bubble arrived. The bubbles hovered over our groups and then settled around us. I loved the feeling inside the Sound Bubble. I knew that Ruta didn’t like heights, so I pretended that I needed to hold on to him as ours rose into the air. He probably knew what I was doing, but he let me, and I hoped it helped.

  I waved to the village of Kinver and whispered that I would be back, and prayed that I was telling the truth.

  Deadsweep Fourteen

  The first time I arrived at the Castle, people were standing outside waiting for us. Unhappy people. Angry people. Unhappy and mad at me because they thought I had deserted them. They bowed and glared at the same time. Having lost my memory of the me that had come from Erda, I had no idea why they were mad, or why they were bowing.

  Suzanne had been with me then, too and she had pinched and pulled me to direct my bowing and walking. I had been blown away by the Castle and beings of all kinds waiting for me as if I was royalty. Even though, for some reason, they were not happy about it.