Children of the Silent Season (Heartbeat of the World Book 1)
Page 57
"This thing, you couldn't fight, not by anything I've known. It was like darkness in shape, but it had a form, some sort of physical presence. It had skin, loose and dragging, but it was like a cloud. It was like black cloth falling into the wind, but dragging, wet on the earth. It swallowed me, just like that, and inside it was like a million wasps, stinging with ice. Maggots gnawing at you, but nothing there, completely numb. It was being alone, being lost in the winter."
"It swallowed us all up, all at once, letting us see each other getting eaten." His voice became a horrified whisper. "Inside, after the stinging, it was darkness, couldn't see, couldn't feel, but you knew there were things, just beyond your hands. I don't know how long it was. Days, could've been."
"Then, glory. The darkness tore open, was like being born again only this time I remembered it; this time I was being born back into comfort I'd forgot. It was screaming, and its screams were beauty given life." M'grevor's fearful remembrance faded away, his eyes closed, his face serene.
"Then we were in the in the yard, and there's this boy, boy and this huge wolf. The boy is nice enough, but that wolf, he was something nasty, some vicious cur, but the boy kept him in check. The boy, never gave us his name, he explains we were inside walking fear, something like that. The thing was dead now, and we were free again.”
“There were others inside the thing, they escaped when we did. Many more than were with us before.” The man gave a solemn nod. “All gone now, though. “
“There was a woman too, different from the rest.” He gave an angled look at Amelie, pondering. “She was so much like you, but so pale, like a ghost. She was just sleeping there, and the boy watched over her through the night.”
The man sighed, admitting, “I fell asleep then, and when I woke up the boy was gone, so was the woman, who knows where to. Couldn’t thank him, couldn’t offer him whatever hospitality we could. He didn’t even talk to the others before he left, just…left.” He shrugged.
"Most of the ones from before are gone now. Took a headcount after that thing died, was thirty six of us in all. All but the six with me left. I promised the boy we wouldn’t go to Macca, not right away. I went myself, just yesterday though, reckoned I'd push my way in to find you, make sure you were alright. Thing is they said you'd gone. I figured they were lying, but I didn't want to make a scene." He scratched his head unknowingly. "It really is great to see you up and alright." He beamed.
"You'd think after being in that thing's belly, we'd all be paralyzed, shocked like Liz was. It wasn't like that, though. Seeing that thing die, it was..." He paused, searching his mind for the proper words. "It was almost like seeing my daughter for the first time, when she’d just been born. It's not something I'll ever forget."
Pensive silence caught his breath, and his gaze became distant. “I have to go, I didn’t think I would stay here long, but I’m glad for the delay.” She gave a gentle smile.
M'grevor nodded. She had dreaded him preventing her from leaving, insisting she would stay. She wasn't sure if even now she would have the heart to resist his wishes.
"I didn't believe in much before." He confessed. "Never seen anything more, never seen value in superstition." He paused, looking at his huge hands a moment. "I've seen things, seen enough to know that you're something special, little girl. Whatever you need to do, just promise me you'll be safe, or as safe as you can be." He smiled, putting an arm around her gently.
"I...I have something for you." She wrested away from his arm, standing up. She paced backwards, her face lined up with his, though he was still seated. “I was just going to let them loose, but I can’t think of anyone better to watch over them.”
She opened the pouch, and allowed the two creatures hidden there to scurry up her arms, to her shoulders, as she had instructed them. "This man is strong, and kind. Please serve him as you would me." She pointed her arms, and they launched themselves in unison, landing on his massive shoulders.
He looked surprised, but pleasantly so. He held the wind mice, one in each of his palms, and inspected them.
"Oh, say hello." She commanded, the unexpected exchange faltering her fluency. "This is M'grevor."
"Osmond M'grevor." He smiled.
"
M'grevor only chuckled at their display, the words heard. "Thank you for your gift." He smiled at Amelie. "What do they eat?"
Amelie did her best to explain the rest to the man. She explained of her forest, about the crows, about her plans to travel with Kechua. She told him what had happened at Macca, and about the seven seeds she had planted.
"I think I might do a little wandering myself." He said, finally. "Nothing quite as exciting as you of course." He winked playfully. "Tim, well he wants to go, he wants to move on. Most of the others have decided to go to Macca, to get some bearings on where they want to go, or they've already moved on. Want to see what there is to see, you know?"
Amelie nodded. "Be careful out there, it's dangerous if your eyes aren't open wide." She was sure he would be fine. She knew he would do amazing things, see more than he would have imagined. He would do well in this time.
She allowed a final, lingering hug from the great Osmond. This one was much gentler, wider than the first. There were still two of her little creatures to deliver.
The twin glass towers shone in the lowering light of the afternoon below. She had circled the school building a few times, gaining a unique all-around view of the school's structure from the air, having been unable to do so the day she had faced Crow.
Kokopelli rode upon her back, apparently also interested in surveying the school from the air.
The towers glittered with a rainbow of gems in the light of the day, their quilt painted over the white and grey of the school, but doing little against the greens and browns of the earth beyond. Her tower now lay starkly empty, the machine looking the lonelier for the lack of the alcove. The Professor’s tower allowed her a somewhat voyeuristic peek into what must be his sleeping quarters, upon a second ledge of the tower above.
Shapes below moved in the fields, blank faces braced against the sun peered up at her in a unanimous curiosity or dread. Deciding she would rather face explanations, than add further to their stress, she touched down, at the doors of the school. A mob, one of curious faces rather than angered ones, coalesced on the door, their chores discarded.
"You're Amelie, right?" One of the young men, a crop supervisor by his lapel, pushed his way through the crowd.
"That's me." She nodded, standing at a wary stance, Kokopelli dropped to the ground.
"Professor said to tell her when you got here." He announced, opening the door for her, ushering her in. The crowd chattered with buzzing rumor, but made their way back to tasks behind Amelie's path.
She took a glance at the commons room, and saw three figures inside. She recognized Craig, Wendy, but the third was much taller than Collette's small frame.
"Hey! You're back." Wendy stomped forth, "We were worried about you, Professor Roberts explained, and, well a lot happened since you've been gone." She smiled, stopping short of hugging Amelie in greeting. "What a funny dress you've got on!" She remarked finally, breaking her will to resist.
"You owe me half a week’s bread." Craig hovered behind Wendy.
"I guess I do." She sighed. "He said he recognized you, showed me some pictures and stuff. We had a little bet." She explained.
"It's all better now." Craig smiled, moving forward, a broom by his side, sentry. "Well, mostly it is." He looked back at the figure who was washing the windows.
"Who is that?" Amelie asked. "Where's Collette?"
"Collette's gone." The figure spoke. "She just left, went away with Professor Barret." It was Melissan, who turned around to look at Amelie. The expression was lost, vacant, lonely.
"What happened?" Amelie strode over to Melissan quickly, hoping she could help her, appease her worry in some way.
Melissan pulled away from he
r touch, looking back out of the windows. "Three days ago, in the middle of the night, Professor Barret came, shooed us out of the machine room. He waited there, alone. We thought he'd finally lost his mind, that he was going to do something dangerous. We tried to find Professor Roberts, but then the power came on, all of it." Melissan rubbed her eyes dreamily. "The sound the machine was making, that awful shrieking, screaming...it stopped."
"Professor Barret ordered the few who were still working in the room, into the infirmary, to make sure we were alright. I was resting, and Collette came to visit. She talked to me, saying nonsense things. James had decided to leave us, to go into the wastes, and she was going to go with him. She wouldn’t tell me why, said I wouldn’t understand.”
"I tried to talk to Professor Barret, but he had gone by the time I was well again. Professor Roberts gave me a note from him. A note." Melissan trembled with incredulity.
Amelie sensed a need within Melissan now. Her spirit had weakened being the pillar of strength for others, and had finally shattered. Craig and Wendy had become her watchers, her guardians.
"Melissan, can you do me a big favor?" Amelie smiled, forcing her gaze away from the coloured mosaic glass of the window.
"What is it?" Melissan's face scrunched with annoyance. "I guess." She said, her face softening for a moment.
Amelie opened the protective satchel, scooping out the final two wind mice. They skittered up to her shoulders, and waited instruction.
To Amelie's delight, the sight of her tiny children sparked Melissan's eyes.
"What adorable little things!" She gaped in wonderment, reaching out to touch one of them. "So soft!"
"Would you, take care of these two for me, please?" Amelie smiled.
"Really!?" Melissa's face brightened further. "Where did you find them?"
"Please, look after them well." She smiled, backing away from Melissan. "Give me a moment."
"
Melissan was delighted by the little creatures, even further so by their graceful gliding. She cuddled one of them, nuzzling it against her face.
Craig and Wendy's voices whispered, but their words were positive, elated.
"Oh um, don't be freaked out by this." Amelie said, coming forward, ushering one of them into Melissan's hand. "Okay now look directly at its face, and listen to it."
"Listen to it?" Melissan looked at the little creature cupped in her hands as if it were to explode any moment, a cruel trick of some kind.
"Say hello."
"
Melissan's face dropped in utter shock, yet her hand held the creature aloft with unwavering devotion.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Craig stepped forward. Amelie found his concern, both of their concern about their older charge comforting, and sweet.
They pushed past Amelie, to Melissan's side. "You didn't hear that?" Melissan asked, her eyes confused, teetering on potential madness.
"No. What did you hear?" Craig answered. Wendy offered a quizzical look at Amelie.
"Okay, both of you look at the mouse, look at its face carefully. Whatever you hear, think of it as a language, as words you know." She smiled, then turned to her little creature. "Say hello to Craig here, and Wendy, here." She motioned to each of them in turn.
"
"Heard it that time. Yeah." Craig rubbed his eyes.
"They're funny little critters." Wendy said, stealing a stroke at the soft little creature's fur. "I always thought only birds, fish, stuff like that could have blue colouring."
"They just talked to us Wendy." Craig chuckled. "I don't think blue is a stretch after that.
"I guess they can now. Have blue I mean." Amelie grinned devilishly at them. She hadn't known that little tidbit, and hoped it wouldn't cause problems. “If you end up having the need, they will reproduce and can serve to help pollenate the crops. I don’t think they’ll be too selective about it though.”
"Is Lys…Is Professor Roberts around then?" Amelie asked, seeing the light of the afternoon growing heavy.
"I'm here, child." The woman had been waiting, watching from the threshold.
"I have some things for you, some information, and a gift from a friend." Amelie smiled, holding up a small decanter of crimson. "Someone who knows these things said that this would be what you needed, to help your salve get stronger. It's Kechua's blood." Amelie gave the crude clay thing to Lyssa, who inspected it in her hand, trying to figure out its weight and relevance.
"Come with me, to the clinic. How long has it been sitting in this vial?" She lead Amelie down the hall, to the small room she had first seen upon waking.
It seemed smaller somehow, perhaps because there were three figures in the room now. Eilis sat propped up in the hospital bed, her arm hanging in a sling. Fleshed fingers dangled out, with pale but sickly skin, but at least opaque.
"Hey!" Eilis smiled, motioning to rise to greet her.
Lyssa forced her back down gently. "None of that now." She scolded. Eilis gave an annoyed scowl, but remained in her place.
"Isaac don't be such a damned fool. Get out of here now."
Amelie was delighted to see the boy from the library, his eyes now clean of the strange taint, step out from behind the curtain of the bathtub, and be shooed from the room by the woman.
"I'm sorry Professor, he just..." Eilis began.
"It's fine. He just needs to wait a little longer, then you two can go back to being foolish." The woman's breath belied an understanding, a compassion for the two.
"Yes, amazingly enough it looks like this is what we needed for the salve." The woman had deftly created a slide, and reviewed it under a microscope. She transferred the blood into a syringe, then into another bottle, placing it into a hidden cooling unit. Not an amateur blood extractor, no.
With more subtle urgency than ceremony Lyssa lead Amelie once more to the tower of books, stepping into the small alcove. The office was now neat, completely clean, ready for business and work. Amelie explained to the woman, everything she knew. She thought of getting Kokopelli to make the lines, but felt it would be beyond necessity to do so, and that the woman would have little patience for the superfluous flash given the circumstances.
Amelie finished, the sun hung low, orange through the mosaic glass of the tower of books.
"I have heard your tales, and will heed your warnings." Lyssa declared, Amelie's story finished. "I have a responsibility, one that I take seriously, to keep this place running, to keep it a sanctuary of order, of the world we have known. I will continue doing so, regardless of anything, even if threatened by some further 'Aspect' of some kind. It was my promise to him to do so, and one I intend to keep in full."
"Thank you. For everything." Amelie stood to leave, reaching her hand towards Lyssa's, resting on the desk.
Lyssa made a dismissive gesture, then stole a piece of paper from the innards of the desk, scribbling furiously on it. "Give this to the kitchen staff," she ordered, passing the paper, and then produced a thick pouch. “Take these as well. It is a bag of apple seed. Seeds have become an accepted and portable barter for goods, at least closeby. I, however, expect you to bring back any seeds on this list back to us.” She tapped a tiny booklet. “As prepared as we were, there are certain components that would make things more pleasant.” She nodded. “Additionally, we would be grateful if you spared some time to fill in the circled areas on this map, here.” She passed over another parchment. “As far as we can tell, the placement of things is a little different, but there should be at least some sort of remnants of cities.”
&n
bsp; Lyssa paused, then quickly added: “Finally, if you meet either Emily Clough, our plant expert, or Wil Williamson, our materials theorist, we would be grateful of a report of what they have found. They left for the areas marked on the map in the early days.” Lyssa closed with a crisp nod.
She took the precious gifts, and stowed them carefully in her pockets, sealing them tight. A knock echoed in the tower, and Lyssa erupted in a frustrated and rolling grunted growl.
“Professor Roberts, they told me to ask you about the-” The face of a little girl peered in between the cracks.
“Yes, come in Sydney. Amelie, I hope you find yourself in good health. Come back to us with those things and we will pay you as we can.”
Amelie left, looking over the small slip of paper as she passed the questioning girl, and couldn’t help but smile.
The cafeteria had abandoned its play as an observatory and now bathed itself in a supernova of opulent white, filling it into every corner. The light served mostly to illuminate the utter disrepair of the floors, making Amelie wince, fleetingly feeling the urge to help clean it.
Craig and Wendy erupted into the cafeteria, the cleaning cart in tow.
"Hey, Amelie!" Wendy said with excitement. "Melissan went outside, those little critters really perked her up." She laughed.
"Are you going to stay?" Craig asked, his voice not as optimistic as his words.
"No. I'm sorry." Amelie said, looking away from them. "I just came, because I needed to give the gifts, to put the things into place I needed to. I'm not staying, I'm moving on." She had hoped to avoid this confrontation.
"Not even for dinner?" Craig said, pleading. Wendy's eyes said the same thing, without words.
"Not even that." Amelie said, her voice whisperingly low. "There’s somewhere I have to be before dark, another promise I made. As is I'm pushing it a bit close." She said apologetically.