by Peter Plasse
“First off, we’re going to hide this transporter thing,” said Orie.
“Is that what that is?” asked Ryan. “You mean that’s the thing that you use to beam to this other planet?”
“Ravenwild,” said Orie.
“Oh yeah,” said Ryan.
Orie pulled the truck over to the side of the road and told Mark to pass him the watermelon and the knife. “Look around and find me some sort of plastic bag to put this in so it won’t get wet.”
Mark found one under the seat and handed it to Orie, who had already cut a conical hole in the end of the watermelon. He slid the device inside the plastic bag, folded it multiple times, and put this in turn into the watermelon, carefully replacing the rind of the watermelon back into the hole.
“Why did you do that, Orie?” asked Ryan.
“A theory I have,” he said. “Look, when we get to the barn I’m going to jump out and hide this under my dad’s workbench.”
Ten minutes later they were all in the living room, having dropped Gracie off at her mother’s house. Seconds after that they were all asleep. Each was surprised when they awoke around noon and their strange visitor had not reappeared.
Over cereal and toast Orie announced his plan.
“We have to go to Boston,” he said.
“To Boston?” they both exclaimed. “Why to Boston?”
“We have to get that thing analyzed. My dad worked with this guy for a summer at M.I.T.. He is a physics professor... some math genius. I figure this thing has to be a computer so, like on our computer, you can look at the memory to see which commands were the last ones entered, it must be the same with this one. All we have to know is: What was the last command entered, and it will show it was for three people, Dad, Mom and Hemlock. So we enter the same command and the three of us can beam there. Or, we can look at the command before that, and we will see that it was for two people, and two of us can go.”
They all jumped when Minos Arterios stepped out of the laundry room. “Very well thought out, Orie,” he said, “And you know, you are absolutely correct. But tell me something, how did you plan on getting back home?”
Orie didn’t answer. He was too busy kicking himself for having shot off his mouth before they had checked the house to make sure they were alone.
Mark and Ryan exchanged a quick glance.
There was a brief silence.
Orie spoke next. In a way, he was gambling everything on his theory. Also, he had decided to trust this man, wizard, whatever. Hemlock had never seemed like a “stand-up guy” as his dad liked to say. There was always something about him that led you away from trust. And sometimes you have to choose whom you trust. “Okay,” said Orie. “We have a thing, it looks kind of like a TV remote, but I’m betting it’s a computer of some sort; one that is capable of altering the mathematics of our existence, and therefore shift our physical locations, using some type of mathematical mirror, to put us in another parallel dimension. I’m also betting you have no idea where it is.”
His stomach roiled. They had left the watermelon right in the truck in plain sight. He guessed Minos Arterios already knew this, but maybe not. They had completely forgotten to stop at the barn and hide it. He began to sweat a little. His only bargaining chip was that device, and if Minos Arterios, who clearly wanted it for some reason, had it, he was conceivably out of options for going after his sister. “Crap,” he thought. “That was so stupid.”
Minos Arterios stared at Orie. His look was one of genuine admiration, respect even, although his face was always a difficult read, and mostly covered in shadow from the hood of his robe, which he never took down. “Well played, lad,” he said. “Well played. And correct to a fault. So where does that leave us?”
Mark and Ryan also stared at Orie with mouths open. Now they knew why he was in Advanced Science.
“What are you offering as a solution to fetching my sister, and Mom and Dad, from this Ravenwild place?”
“You will go there now. I will provide you with detailed real-time maps of all the countries in computer format that you will download onto your laptop, and change-shift with, to Ravenwild. When you get there these files will have been transmuted into regular parchment maps. They will occupy a knapsack’s worth of things you will have to carry along with you, but do not lose them. They will be the whole key to always knowing where you and the others are.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” interrupted Orie. “You said, ‘you’. You’re not going?”
“That is correct,” said Minos Arterios. “For reasons I have neither the time nor the liberty of going into, I cannot venture to Inam'Ra at this time. I am, unfortunately, involved in other matters of a more pressing nature to which I must attend.
“Now, listen. Most beings refer to the planet of ‘Inam'Ra’ as ‘Ravenwild’, because it is the name of the country where the Humans, Elves, and Dwarves live. But the name of the world, Inam'Ra, appears on some of the maps, and I don’t want any confusion. You will bring weapons. I have obtained them for you. They are outside. You will arm yourselves, pack up the survival supplies that are with them, travel there, and rescue your sister. After that you will find your mother and father.
“And remember this, the positions of all of them as of when you transport will be clearly marked on the map as dots. Know that the positions of the dots will change as their actual positions change.
“Now, about rescuing Stephanie: As I have said, her position will be indicated on the maps. It will be up to you how you go about it.
“There is one other thing.
“You will most likely have to kill to rescue her, to even survive yourselves. Can you do this?”
Orie thought for a second. “I can,” he said.
“Can they?”
Mark looked at Ryan. They both nodded, “Yes.”
“In that case, the only question that remains is, are these lads accompanying you on this perilous mission?”
Orie looked at Mark and Ryan.
“I’m in,” said Mark without hesitation.
“Me too,” said Ryan.
“I’m going too,” announced Gracie, walking in the back door. Nobody moved, too caught up in the intensity of the moment.
“That will not be possible,” said Minos Arterios. “The technology we have at our disposal will permit a maximum of three to be change-shifted. The sum of the combined reflections of as many as three is pushing it, but these lads are small. It shouldn’t be a problem.
“Go then,” he said. “Our window to do the change-shift is closing. Get your weapons on.”
The boys stood. Out the backdoor they went and down to the truck.
When they returned, strapped to the back of each was a broadsword. They also sported a bow, a quiver of arrows, and several long-knives tucked here and there. They had found three ancient-looking, stitched rucksacks made of some sort of animal skin with leather straps hanging off the sides. Inside each of these 'survival backpacks' they discovered food in tins and a rudimentary medical supply kit which held the most basic toiletries, medications, and wound-management supplies. There was quite a bit of rummaging about as the boys searched for outfits and such that fit. To Gracie’s surprise, when they were done and Orie had checked everybody off, there was a lot left over.
Orie looked at Grace, “Well, I guess this is it. Goodbye.” They hugged. Gracie had tears in her eyes as she hugged the other two. Then she turned and walked off up the driveway.
“Let’s get it done,” said Orie.
Neither of the other two said a word. They climbed back up the stairs and went straight to the living room, but were surprised that Minos Arterios was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is he?” asked Ryan. Mark began to speak, almost to himself. “This is all pretty freaky. How do we know we can trust this guy? Are we sure we want to do this? Wizards? Transporter things to beam us to another planet? I don’t know, man, but I’m not sure we can trust this guy … ”
Orie was not paying attention to M
ark’s mutterings. He was busy trying to figure something out. He would bet money that Minos Arterios needed the transporter device to transport himself to where he wanted to go. That had to be it. Why else would he hang around with a bunch of kids when he had ‘more important matters’ he needed to get to?
“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
He went down the back stairs and retrieved the watermelon. As he had guessed, it was right where they had left it. He was going back up to the house when, suddenly, out of the shadows, Gracie appeared, moving towards him silent as a wraith. To his greater surprise, she was dressed in battle garb, complete with medieval weaponry.
“I’m going,” she said. Her tone said that she was not going to take no for an answer.
“You can’t go,” said Orie. “You heard Minos, only three of us can go. The transporter won’t support any more.”
“I’m going,” she said, even more forcefully this time. “Stephanie is my best friend. You might need me. I can ride. I’m going, and that’s final.”
They talked for a few more minutes, and Orie went back up and rejoined Mark and Ryan. He went straight to the refrigerator and put the watermelon in. Minos was still a no-show, so the boys went over all of their weapons and survival gear.
“Hey, look at this,” said Ryan, discovering a pouch in his pack, “I have an extra bowstring.”
Minos suddenly appeared again out of nowhere. Mark and Ryan noticeably started. This time, however, Orie was unflappable. He felt like he did when he was on the sidelines and the kickoff receiving team was doing its thing. Then, he would don his helmet, get final instructions from the coach, and go out to do battle as the quarterback. Since he was a little boy, his ability to maintain his presence in difficult circumstances had always served him well. He had always been captain-cool when everybody else was too emotional.
“What do you want from us?” Orie asked.
“I will need you to change-shift me, and then you will change-shift yourselves to Inam'Ra. I will go over how to repeat the process to return when you have rescued Stephanie and your parents. Remember the limitations of the device. No more than two adults and one child at a time. That will mean three separate change-shifts and, unfortunately, there are only certain times when a shift is possible. This means that there will be a wait of up to weeks, maybe months, between. You will need to make yourselves safe while you wait. The device will illuminate green when a shift is possible.”
Orie went to the refrigerator and removed the watermelon. From it, he extracted the device. Minos reached for it, and Orie withdrew it out of his reach.
“Explain to me how it works,” he said.
For the next half hour, Minos explained how to operate this otherworld device. Orie never once let go of it. When he was satisfied that he understood how to operate it, he turned to Mark and Ryan.
“Gracie,” he called out.
Gracie entered through the back door.
“I’ve made a decision,” he said. “Ryan, you and I and Gracie will be going. Mark, you will be staying. Your mission will be to protect Jacqueline. You need to go get her as soon as possible and take her to my Grandmother’s house. Do you remember how to get there?”
“Yeah,” said Mark. He looked none too pleased that he had been bumped, but Stephanie and Gracie were best friends, and he had to respect Orie’s decision.
“What do I tell Eddie and Kendra?” he asked.
“Don’t tell them anything,” said Orie. “If they don’t know where she is, they can’t tell anybody who might want to know. All that matters is that you guys are safe. Don’t say anything to anybody.”
Minos Arterios waited patiently until Orie had finished giving his final instructions, at which point he asked, “Are we ready?”
“Wait,” said Orie. He went upstairs and returned with several hundred dollars, which he handed to Mark. “You’ll need this,” he said, “For gas and food and stuff.”
Orie then nodded to Minos.
He entered the codes that Minos had told him to enter. He vanished.
He looked at Ryan and Gracie.
“Ready?”
They both nodded. He looked at Mark.
“Protect Jacqueline.”
Mark gave him the thumbs-up.
He entered the second set of codes. They disappeared.
Mark walked slowly down the back stairs and climbed into Blake’s truck to drive home. Not having a driver’s license just didn’t seem to matter right now. All the way, he wondered how on earth this was all possible.
Chapter 11
He cast out his line and settled back for the inevitable strike that would hopefully garner him another fish. He smiled contentedly. It had been a good day of fishing up to this point. Five fat trout now hung from a forked stick drying in the sun, and it was still midmorning. It had taken him years to discover that hanging them to dry within moments after landing them helped enormously in the smoking process, and he needed plenty of smoked fish to help get him through the tough winters. He liked fishing. It was less work than hunting, and he would rather eat fish than pretty much any of the game he hunted. Rabbits were good too, he thought, milder than all of the larger game. He made a mental note to be sure to check his snares on the way back to his cabin. Oh, and yes, he needed to fix a leak on the water system he had installed this summer. He was quite proud of the fact that he now had continuous running water flowing to his cabin, piped in under gravity feed from a spring that was about a quarter mile from his simple home. He had hewn the pipes by hand from rock-maple logs, burning them hollow by standing them on end and using hot coals for the coring, a project that had taken the last four years. His next desire was to figure out a way to heat the water en route to the house. He was always experimenting, drawing nearly all of his ideas from the books he had in the cabin.
He loved his books. He cherished them as he cherished no other thing in Ravenwild. He had learned of these miraculous things from his father, the only other person he had ever known who had knowledge of books. He had often thought this strange, and even more so that his father had forbidden him at an early age to ever speak of them to anyone. His father had taught him to read and understand the ancient words.
He had perhaps a hundred; Books on History, Geography, Science, Mathematics, Magic, Prophecy, and more, and he was captivated enough by them that he practically had them all memorized. Many he could recite almost word for word, despite the fact that they might be hundreds of pages long. Other than plainly surviving, books were the essence of his life in the woods.
Childhood pox had left him terribly scarred, and somewhat disfigured, and he had been shunned by the beautiful citizenry of Belcourt for the entirety of his youth. Hence, after both of his parents had passed on, he had packed up the two mules with the family axes, knives, flints, and steels, along with a few cooking utensils. These few things, his beloved books, and the clothes on his back were all he had set out with, traveling northeast for weeks into the great forest of the Colchester Highlands where he had settled.
He had chosen his spot wisely, building his cabin on a bluff overlooking a crystal clear lake that was of sufficient size to support enough fish to feed him for a lifetime, but not so large as to expose him to big winds, his valley being otherwise surrounded by hills of roughly four hundred feet on all four sides.
For years he had hunted, fished, foraged for berries, nuts, edible roots and the like, and read. He had had no Human contact since leaving some ten years before, and was just as happy for it. He would always think of himself as repulsive. But as he aged, the scarring and deformities had largely faded, leaving him a pretty normal looking, if not handsome, man.
When he had caught an even dozen, he packed up his simple fishing gear, picked up the stick holding his prizes, and began the short walk to the cabin.
He sniffed the air. It didn’t smell right. No, it definitely didn’t, most definitely didn’t, smell right. There it was again. He wondered where Silver, his Wo
lf, was. She had shown up several years back as a pup, starving and near-dead. Jared had taken her in. More than once he had thought that he was going to lose her, but his ministrations had proven successful, and he had restored her to full health. More than a pet, they had formed a friendship, a bond, that was as immutable as the forest in which they lived. Since they had lived together, she had always warned him of danger that was about, and he was surprised that she had not already given him such a warning. He hoped that she was all right, but surely he would have heard something if she had tangled with whatever it was that was out there. He crouched low and noiselessly set his fish and tackle down. He drew his knife, a wicked looking thing about 14 inches in length. Nervously, he proceeded slowly, silent as a ghost, down the trail. The branches closed in on him, affording him practically no view of his surroundings. He sniffed again. There it was. It baffled him that he couldn’t place the smell. It was definitely an animal scent, but none that he recognized. Ten years of living alone in the woods had honed his sense of smell to a degree that the city dwellers would never have, yet he still couldn’t get a handle on its source.
On he crept, one foot placed carefully in front of the other, ever mindful that a snapping twig, or even a gentle rustling of the leaves, might betray his position to whatever it was.
He sniffed again. The smell was definitely stronger, and now he could smell Silver as well. That was it. Silver was stalking whatever it was that was stalking him. Them.
He entered a small clearing, and what he saw almost caused him to fall over.
Right in front of him, sitting on the stump of one of the trees that he had felled to build his cabin, was a girl, no, a young woman, patting his beloved Wolf. He sniffed the air quickly. Yes. She was the source of the smell. No wonder he couldn’t place it. It was Human!
He crossed the clearing slowly. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was as beautiful as he could ever imagine a young woman to be. Her hair was thick, jet-black, and fell off her shoulders in a cascade of waves. Her face was thin; with lines that suggested that she had not eaten well of late. She had a modest nose and full lips, despite being a little pale.
