by M. Garnet
He pushed his wet hair away from his face and frowned. Turning he nodded. "We are done here." These were his only words as he grabbed Margo's hand and they were gone, back to his dark home.
She had no idea who the people in the battle were and could only wonder why he had helped one side with the advantage of dryer ground. He never answered any of her questions after this strange battle, he just grabbed her wrist, and they were standing at his front door of the dark house.
Margo had a lot of doubts as to whether this was really his home. She thought from being with the Storm Tamer that there were different dimensions and that he crossed over from one to another. She had a feeling that he was going to the history of the real Earth and influencing the battles to make an outcome that he felt was important. Why?
There never was any transition, no feeling of movement, there was just the fact of they were in one place in the rain and the next instant they were in his dark entrance, dripping water on the floor of smooth black marble.
He stalked off leaving her with nothing but anger. This had to stop, or he was going to leave her a raving lunatic on his fine black marble floor.
She shook herself as if that would jiggle some action in her. It did as she took off after him. Of course, he had disappeared by the time she made up her mind to chase and catch him for answers. She didn't care because there were only a couple of places he would be at the top of those stairs.
Her heavy boots did not allow her any stealth as she tromped down the hall and stomped up the stairs. At the top, she turned and was amazed to see his bedroom door open. Across the balcony, the double doors of the office were also open. There were no lights on in either room. That left the bathroom. Well, she would just wait because she decided enough was enough.
Going over to the bathroom door she sat down and began to take off the big floppy boots. She scooted over and hung her wet jacket over the railing of the balcony along with her wet socks. She hesitated only a moment and then pulled off her wet pants and hung them up next to the jacket.
She was now down to her two shirts and one pair of men's underwear, none of which were too damp. Her hair was wet and hanging down her back. Maybe she should have cut it the last time the local salon offered a sale. Margo wondered how long he was going to stay in that shower. She would like a nice hot bath. Of course, he looked smooth when they had been nose to nose before the transition to the battle scene, so maybe he was taking time to shave again.
Thinking about that made Margo run her hands over her legs and decide she needed to do some personal house cleaning herself. She didn't remember seeing a razor when she went through the drawers in the bathroom, but this time she would take a closer look.
Margo got up and leaned over the railing, fluffing her hair over to help it dry. Standing up she walked back and forth the length of this section of the balcony, constantly looking at the bathroom door.
Finally, she sat back down and decided this guy must be drowning in that shower. There wouldn't be any hot water left for her.
Chapter Ten
No one was in the bathroom. Just like the instantaneous jump from his front door to the old battlefield of knights, he had completely disappeared without a trace.
After she got tired of waiting, she burst into an empty dry bathroom and let out a hiss of frustration. She ran back down the stairs, through the dining room, and ended in the warm kitchen.
The chubby smiling cook did not seem put off to see her barefoot and half-dressed.
"Excuse me, but I am looking for Master Maaker."
"And why would you look here?" The cook waved her big spoon around at the entire kitchen.
"Because he didn't go out the front door and I have checked upstairs. I saw him come in the house so where else would he go?"
The cook nodded her head. "Silly girl. Master Maaker would never stoop so low as to come to the kitchen. He just sends us his needs. Now you should go and get dressed like a decent female."
Margo was all the way up the stairs and gathering her clothes when she wondered how the cooks got a message sent from the Master about his needs. There were names for these places back home. At one time they were called Insane Asylums. Now they were called Psychiatric Floors in regular hospitals. No one was in these floors for long terms, only until the right meds could get them released. Ah, the wonder of meds. Margo felt she could use some right now.
She returned to the bathroom, and after her hot shower, she got a good night’s sleep. Her bright gleam alarm clock woke her, and she started over again.
Shrugging her shoulders and deciding to attack another day she got some water and food and went down to the strange village. Her intent was to try to cut her way through the forest. There had to be a way out of this valley. She refused to give up and let this good-looking dangerous man drive her completely psychotic with his tricks.
Going down the mountain was the easy part. As Margo got close to the bottom, she was determined she would not make the hard climb back up this time.
There were more people out on the street and in front of buildings. Still, when they saw her, they hurried to move inside to avoid contact. She had to wonder if it was because she was new here or that she came from Rahm's house. The cattle people on the mountain did not avoid her, they welcomed her to their table for a meal, and it was their people that cooked and probably cleaned his manor.
What was the difference? Now she wished she had read more of that book written by the guy who had theories on dimensions. Determination told her she wasn't going back just for that book as she ignored the people looking out of windows.
Making a quick decision, she turned down a narrow alley between two buildings heading toward the forest that blocked the end right up to both constructions.
When she was right up against the leaves and limbs, she discovered that although they were thick and intermingled, they were supple and without briars or stickers. She actually found she could push through the bushes and within a few steps requiring a lot of effort she was up against a large tree trunk. Beyond the tree was an open area, underbrush unable to grow as the large tree took up all the life-giving sunshine.
There were ferns and moss and a rabbit that took off in a self-preservation run. Unfortunately, beyond this small glade the thick bushes grew in heavy abundance once again. Did she have the strength to push on again through that barrier?
Determined, since she had come this far, she went across the shadowed flat area and began to push through the tangles of limbs and brush.
Hours later she had blisters on her hands from swinging her long knife and scratches on every exposed skin that was hit by limbs. Margo actually took a bathroom break among the heavy brush, needing the relief.
Her water was disappearing fast, and she hadn't crossed a stream or brook. At least it was cool, deep in this forest. She didn't feel like eating anything, so she just kept pushing along, each time she saw the sun, keeping it behind her shoulder.
There had not been another glade even though she had found some more large trees. Leaning against one tree, she ate part of the sandwich she had brought but was worried about how low the water level showed in her jar.
She hadn't passed a tree for a while, but the bushes were taller than her, and they had so much growth as to block out any sky. Swinging the blade, she felt a sting all the way up through her arm as the blade hit something solid. She stopped and took a deep breath and then reached forward to spread the limbs and leaves to see what she had struck. It seemed to be the edge of a building.
Margo started cutting away the limbs carefully to find she was at the corner of a plastered building, similar to the ones built in Florida. Could she be home? Finally getting a hole big enough to crawl through, she found herself in a dim alley between two buildings.
Deciding she had found another village, she slowly walked out to the front of the buildings to have all her hopes shattered. Looking to the right, down a couple of doors was the building that looked like an old western sal
oon. She spent the day hacking in a circle and had scratches and blisters to show for her efforts.
Leaning a hip against one of the corners, she looked up over the trees to the distant dark cliff where Rahm's house was located. Deciding she just wasn't going back up that mountain tonight, she took a deep breath and walked down the street to the saloon.
If she remembered from the movies, the old saloons had bedrooms upstairs for their ladies of the nights and for cowboys to stay when they were in town.
The saloon was empty, no bartender, no fancy ladies, and even the mouthy guy was missing. She called out several times, peeked into the empty back room, and then walked up the creaky stairs to the second floor. That was a useless effort as the five doors were all locked.
Back downstairs she sat at one of the tables. She decided to wait in case someone came into the saloon. After another long period, with the sun setting towards the mountains, she gave up and went out and started back up the path. At least up there was food and a hot shower. God, she hated Rahm Maaker.
Hating Rahm Maaker were the words that resonated in her brain as in an exhausted mode she slowly worked her way up the path. She chose to ignore the darkness that was closing in with the sun dropping behind the peaks. Margo really hoped she didn't see the Master of the house because even though she was tired, she was sure she would kick the shit out of his tall body.
It was pitch dark with no stars overhead by the time she reached the doorway. Everything was dark except for a distant reflection coming from around the stairway. It must be from the kitchen, and she was hungry.
The kitchen was also empty, and everything was clean, and all food and dishes had been put away. A deep sigh was the best she could handle as she turned and slowly went up the stairs, using the banister to help get to the top.
Going to her bedroom first to get off the dirty clothes, she lit a candle right inside the door to find a covered tray on the same table. She lifted the cloth covering the tray to find fresh cut vegetables, slices of meat and cheese and a bowl of fresh berries. There was even a glass of milk, and she wanted to kiss the cook, but it would wait for the morning. Now was the time for a hot shower.
Later, sitting in a clean T-shirt and men's underwear, after a hot shower and a full stomach she pulled out her notebook and added Number 4 Armies Fighting maybe Knights. She looked at her notes and laid the notebook and pen down.
Next, she picked up Dr. Kahn's book and tried to get past all the heavy technical stuff in the first chapter, hoping she would find something about his theories on dimensions and if they involved different worlds.
Not thinking that she believed the fact that different worlds were available side by side, there was something about the idea that was interesting.
She was halfway through the book, skipping big sections with technical jargon that was way above her head before she got to his theory in words that she could understand.
He was trying to prove, using the CERN accelerator that at certain points that were critical and important to the whole world, the present world split into two dimensions, one staying on the same track and one taking a new track with the unusual decision.
Based on this he postulated there were untold numbers of Earths out there traveling side by side with changes happening due to decisions or resolutions. Their tracks were changed and then they might split again.
Slamming the book shut, she threw it across the bed. This was such bullshit. Multiple worlds too numerous to count. What good was that and what purpose did all those worlds have for any one person stuck on one individual Earth?
This strange Dr. Kahn was saying it was the activity of an individual event that caused the split of the dimensions. It was something strong and effective to the world. It would be something like a World War or an unusually large volcano eruption. She sat back and thought about a big wave wiping out her home.
No, she wasn't ready to get on Dr. Kahn's train. Besides, she had only read part of his book. Where the hell was Google? Where the hell was a normal light in this damn dark house?
That night Margo got very little sleep. Her attempts to escape this mountain and the valley had done nothing but cause her frustration level to reach the top of the scale.
The next morning she went down to the kitchen and just sat quietly with the thin cook pulling hot bread from one of the side ovens.
"Your usual rolls and coffee, Miss?"
"How about of a slice of one of those hot loaves of bread along with my coffee today?"
This morning Margo took her time and just ate slowly at the counter, swinging one leg from the tall stool. The strong coffee was good with the thick, rich milk, and the fresh bread was slathered with farm butter and berry jam.
There was no hurry as she had nowhere to go, but she also had lost her appetite and only ate half of the warm, sweet breakfast bread. Margo did loiter over her cup, letting the cook fill it a couple of times to keep it warm.
Finally, she got the message from the Cook moving things around on the cabinet that it was time that she moved out the cook's work area.
She thought about her notebook and went to retrieve it. As she started towards the stairs, her eyes went to the open doors in his dark office. Okay, how about another trip through scrolls and old books in languages nobody spoke anymore.
Going in, Margo went right over to his desk and turned on the lamp that put light over everything on the desk but not much into the room. It did make her wonder how the cleaning people got rid of all the dust without being able to see it.
Looking at the edges of the very large desk that were not covered by books and papers and scrolls, it was spotless. Margo didn't want to look at what he had on his work area. She wanted to look for something else that might prove as interesting as Dr. Kahn's book.
She picked up a candle in one of the reflective holders and lit it so that she could walk around with her own light source. She went over to where more normal size books were located. It was the area she had found the strange book on Dimensions and started looking above and below on the shelves.
Just because her mind had been on the subject, she did notice that everything on these bookshelves was clean and with no dust. Boy, she had to get the name of this cleaning service.
Looking at the titles on the spines of the books she knew she could skip a lot of these hardbound reading materials. She was not good at languages, knew a few works in Spanish and could recognize Italian and Russian's strange writing.
Still, there were words in languages on some of these old enigmatic ledgers that were beyond her understanding or even a guess.
There on a shelf that was lower so that she had to kneel down she found two books next to each other that drew her attention. One looked like a technical book entitled Where Are We In The Universe.
When she pulled it out and opened it, it didn't have any one author; it just had a long list of references. As that book came out, another one fell over, and its spine was also in English.
The title was A Brief History Of All The Worlds. The author was Mathew Anthony DuPont. That author's name was on the first inside page along with the dedication. It was dedicated to the research of Dr. Michael Edward Kahn.
Blowing out her candle, she took her two books all the way out of the house to the front step and the rock warmed by the sun. Here she could sit and read for a couple of hours. She wasn't sure there would be a solution to help her escape from this dark house in these books, but it would pass the time until her frustration calmed down.
Late in the afternoon, she wandered back into the kitchen to get a light meal to carry to her bedroom. His office was still dark, so it looked like the Master was not home.
She read the technical journal until she fell asleep in her clothes to be woken by the sun on the gold threads on the black marble floor.
There were three more days of this boredom with the two cooks chasing her from the kitchen and her borrowing books that really gave her no clues of how to get off this mountain.
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Chapter Eleven
The fourth morning, groaning, she finished her shower and dressed in the bathroom. Coming out she saw the dim light on in his office. Deciding she had nothing on her schedule for today except cutting circles through a forest or eating with cattle farmers, she changed her program and went over to the double doors.
She walked in and watched him make notes, as he leafed through a large book and ignored her. Looking around she pulled a chair from the side table and with a lot of loud scraping, she pushed it over in front of his desk.
He frowned at her as she sat down. "I don't have time for you."
Looking at the top of his head, she leaned in and smiled. "No problem. I find I have a lot of time on my hands. I will just hang around until you have the time to answer some of my questions."
Rahm turned pages in the book and checked off lines on a list on the pad on the desk. Looking at the book, even upside down, she could tell she didn't know the language.
"How many languages do you understand, Rahm?"
Rahm turned a couple more pages and tried to hold onto a page and write something as the long notepad moved. Margo reached over and held the pad so that he could finish his note.
He wrote and then rudely brushed her hand away. He stepped back and at last he was looking at her. His eyes were normal for a change if you could call that crystal blue as being normal. At least there were normal pupils with whites under the shadows of those slanted eyebrows.
Without a frown, no wrinkle on the forehead or even around that mouth with a fuller lower lip, he gave her a look that could freeze a volcano. He might be angry with her presence, but she was far beyond reacting to his exasperation. She was desperate.
Margo picked up the pencil he had laid down. "I could help by taking notes as you go through those strange books."
