Souls of the Never

by CJ Rutherford

  She couldn’t laugh, but she could feel the humour deep in her soul as she soared across the Never, part of her still attached to Perri as she sought the place she needed. She linked to Krista, and used her knowledge of the stars to find a suitable world, and finding one, she reached back and guided her as she created the portal.

  Instantly Krista and Katheryne were surrounded by trees, in a wide clearing with an odd shade of blue sky overhead. There was life everywhere, and Katheryne could sense birds and animals throughout the area as she cast out her awareness. She drank it all in, delighting in the exquisite differences between here and Earth.

  “We’re on Dalryras,” Krista said in wonder, “By the Great Maker, you did it. I can’t believe you actually did it.”

  Katheryne smiled too, “I thought you said you trusted me, why so surprised?”

  “Do you think I’d have even gone along with this quite frankly bonkers idea if I hadn’t?” she said, laughing warmly.

  Katheryne joined in but she started to feel a sense of urgency, as if she needed to be somewhere, fast.

  Krista noticed and began her own preparations for a portal, but Katheryne became concerned. Her knowledge of portals was still incredibly limited.

  “Where will we go? Is there somewhere on Sanctuary you know is safe?” asked Katheryne, “I mean something must have gone wrong if the barrier was still there.”

  “Don’t worry, there’s a place only Derren and I know about. He took me there once, but I always felt as if I was intruding, like it was his place somehow.” Her expression was thoughtful for a second, as if she had almost grasped a stray notion before it escaped unfulfilled, “I can get us there, ready?”

  Katheryne held her hand as they walked through the shimmering air to be transported into a dream.

  Sanctuary—Plan B

  Derren knew something was wrong. The number of guards in the cell block had just been tripled, and though the security systems prevented a clear link to the outside world or his friends, he could sense confusion, and something like a controlled edge of panic.

  He wondered if the attack had begun as planned. He knew the allotted time had passed, and he worried for the safety of Katheryne and the others. They should be on Sanctuary by now, but they had a combined force of twelve Liberi, more than enough to handle what the Corps could throw at them.

  He was taken completely by surprise when Toshi and Laren fell through the portal in the ceiling on top of the group of guards in the room. Pandemonium reigned for a few seconds, as the two of them quickly regained their equilibrium and dispatched the guards within the immediate vicinity. The whole process took about thirty seconds, but Derren heard alarms going off throughout the building.

  Laren went to the security panel to lower the force field, as Toshi stepped forward to embrace his friend.

  “We have a little trouble, my friend,” he stated.

  Derren graced him with one of his crooked grins, “That’s what I always loved about you Toshi, your gift for understatement.” His smile vanished, however, as Toshi and Laren’s expressions conveyed the gravity of the situation.

  “The others?” asked Derren, meaning the other teams.

  “Unknown,” replied Laren. She had avoided contact with them. Two teams hadn’t responded to her last link, which meant at least one member of those teams of two was a traitor. No normal being could have silenced another Liberi so quickly.

  She thought it unlikely all the teams had been compromised, and they had probably gone dark in order to get to safety. So until she had been contacted by at least a group of four she would not respond. She decided if more than three Liberi had been turned, then they were in real trouble.

  “So what went wrong?” asked Derren as they stripped weapons from the guards.

  “Not a what,” said Toshi, “More of a who.”

  Derren look confused.

  “OK, short version,” continued Toshi, and told Derren about the confrontation in the control room.

  Derren’s head was reeling as Toshi finished. “This, Dwenn, was she my height, slim, dark hair?”

  “Sounds about right,” said Toshi, “You know her?”

  “Knew her,” hissed Derren, “She’s dead, or at least she’s supposed to be.”

  “That is...unfortunate.” Toshi was rarely flustered, but this news shook his calm demeanour. “At least that explains the aura she was emanating. She’s no Liberi Derren, but she has power, a lot of it. She’s the one blocking the portal to Earth.”

  “Which is still up I assume?” Toshi nodded.

  “Right,” Derren said, “I take it you have one of your legendary plan B’s in progress?” He smiled and Toshi returned it.

  “Oh how well you know me my friend.” Toshi glanced at Laren who manned the security cameras. “How long?”

  “Two minutes tops,” replied Laren, grimacing. She turned to Toshi, “You were the only one of us with the clear image of the cell, so fortunately none of the others can portal here. But the guards are coming down the riser and the stairs. I’ve closed all the doors I can but it won’t take them long to break through.”

  Toshi paused for a second, going over the plan in his head. He turned to Derren.

  “We have been betrayed, my friend.” The calm composure he outwardly projected was a mirror for what he felt inside. These people had been their friends for years. They were clearly the same persons they always had been, or else they would have been found out over the last few days of planning.

  So what force was out there which could turn them to betray and kill their friends?

  “Our choices are to run, or fight. If we escape, however, we lose the opportunity of taking out the traitors,” said Toshi.

  “And if we leave, we spend the rest of our days looking over our shoulders,” Derren agreed, “We will never know who to trust, no matter how long we’ve known them. But they can’t have turned many, or else we’d be dead by now.”

  “We know they’re here now, so we bring them to us?” asked Laren.

  “Exactly,” said Toshi, “however this is neither the right time nor place. We should depart and create one of our own choosing. And there is also this Dwenn to deal with. She is an unknown.”

  “When the time comes, leave her to me.” Derren’s face was a mask. “That creature, whatever it is, isn’t Dwenn. I’ll be doing her memory a favour. Besides, we still need to deactivate the block she has on Earth. And if I need to kill her to do that, well, its two birds with one pebble isn’t it?” Derren smiled cruelly.

  “We need to go, now!” shouted Laren as an explosion went off outside in the passageway.

  Derren nodded and began to open a portal to a place he hoped only two people knew about. As the shimmer widened, he beckoned the others through and followed. One minute they were in the cell block surrounded by dead or dying bodies, the next they were...not where Derren expected.

  The view was spectacular but familiar, as he took in the wide azure sea, and the white powder beach backed by the thickening trunks of the jungle. It was the island he had visited many times while on Sanctuary, when he had wanted total seclusion to ponder the face in the drawing. Now, as he looked around, it was as if the color had intensified a hundredfold. Everything was sharper, more vivid, and his eyes widened as he understood at last where he was. His heart jumped. This was Katheryne’s Island.

  Why hadn’t he seen it before, when they were together there? True, they had been...distracted, he thought with a smile, but it was unmistakably the same place. The only details missing were the other Powers.

  Another question entered his head. How had Katheryne imagined this place and created it in her dreams? He thought about his months of shielding her from the beast. Perhaps he might have subconsciously revealed this place, but as he followed the thought through, the truth dawned, and his heart swelled.

  Katheryne had been dreaming of this island for years before they had ever met. Derren was overcome as he realized what this meant.

&nb
sp; He had been dreaming of her, searching for her for years. And every time he came to this island, to clear his mind and think of her, she had been here with him, somehow. She knew he was coming, maybe not consciously, but her heart and soul were already bound to his, even as his were to her, from the first thought they shared of each other.

  “Derren!”

  He heard the voice, but he closed his eyes, not wanting to believe the impossible truth. His soul tore his eyes open as he turned to see her running towards him. She flew into his embrace as their essence merged. They were together, and nothing would ever tear them apart.

  The Glade—The Brownies

  “Did you see that?” asked Amilee, pointing off to the side of the path. They were walking to her parent’s cabin, a journey they had undertaken countless times.

  Gwenyth looked to where Amilee indicated, but saw nothing.

  “I don’t see anything,” she said, shielding her eyes from the sun as it speared through a gap in the trees, “What was it?”

  “I’m not sure. I could have sworn for a second I saw a dinor,” said Amilee, “But there’s no way they’d come this deep into the Glade. They know the Faer folk rule the forest.”

  “And I can’t imagine the Faer folk allowing a dinor to get this far in the first place. It’s over one hundred leagues from their lands to here, and why would any dinor want to travel this far to a place where she could get killed on sight anyway?”

  “Hmm, I suppose,” agreed Amilee, “It must have been a trick of...OOF!”

  She was cut off short by the impact of a large green ball hitting her at the base of the back, and as she sprawled forwards onto her hands, she saw a similar ball topple her friend.

  She looked down at her cut hands and knew her knees were bleeding too. This path wasn’t well travelled, so the ground was rough. Gwen was just about upright again when a gravelly voice came from the undergrowth.

  “Not hurt us, please not hurt us!” The voice was obviously terrified, but Amilee was angry.

  “Us, hurt you?” she shouted, indignantly, “You’re not the ones lying on the ground with cuts and bruises.”

  “We sorry,” said the voice, and there did seem to be a feeling of regret in it. “One panicked and another...panicked too.” The voice struggled with its limited vocabulary.

  Gwenyth was upright now and walked warily over to help Amilee to her feet. They stood back to back to guard against further attacks. Amilee could feel Gwen raising protective spells around them both.

  “You can come out now,” she said loudly, “If you promise not to attack again we won’t hurt you.”

  They heard mutterings in a strange language, and after a few moments a solitary figure stepped out onto the path. It was small, about 3 feet tall, very hairy and extremely dirty. It stood stooped over with a rounded back and Gwen realized it had been these beings, bent over and rolled into a ball, who had quite literally bowled them over.

  “You’re a Brownie, aren’t you?” asked Amilee in disbelief. The small person shifted its feet uncomfortably, but nodded quickly.

  “Brownie, what you call us,” it said in stilted English. “We are called, different to ourselves, but Brownie is...fine.”

  “But what are you doing here?” asked Gwenyth. “Don’t your people normally live in the deep forest? I’ve never heard of any of you ever being seen this close to the edge.”

  The muttering increased around the trio and the Brownie said something in their tongue. Seconds later the girls were surrounded by small untidy people, dozens of them.

  “Wow, you guys move quietly,” said Amilee.

  The Brownie smiled. “Sometime we need be quiet. Safer be quiet. Now, good time for quiet.”

  The two girls exchanged a glance, “Why? Why is now a good time to be quiet? Sorry, but what’s your name?” Gwenyth asked.

  The Brownie’s chest swelled as he seemed to raise himself to his tallest posture, almost prideful. The girls waited in anticipation, expecting a long winded announcement.

  “I called, Gak,” said the Brownie as he bowed, almost becoming a ball as his head touched the ground. He was obviously very proud of the name, but the girls had to suppress a giggle.

  “Okay, Gak,” said Gwenyth, her lips twitching, “can you tell us why being quiet is good?”

  Gak’s face shadowed, and as he looked deep into the trees, back to his home, Gwenyth saw a glimpse of moisture in his eyes.

  “Something is bad, back there,” Gak gestured toward the heart of the forest, “Home not safe. We need to run, be quiet, need to....hide.”

  Gak looked up, switching his glance between the girls and the forest, “Will you help us? Please?”

  Gwenyth was stuck half way between pity, and an instinct to pick Gak up and cradle him. He and the rest of his family were lost. These people were the gentlest of creatures, their attack on the two girls evidence of how afraid they were.

  “We could take them to see the Faer folk,” suggested Amilee. “They might agree to help. Let’s face it, it won’t hurt to ask, and by the look of them they’re on their last legs.”

  As Gwenyth looked out among the Brownies, she began to see past the untidiness, realising her first impression of them had been completely wrong.

  These people were not dirty and they were not smelly. They were the forest, and they were a long way from home. But they were tired, and as she looked closer she saw babies among them. Like little bunches of twigs, their mothers held them protectively to their chests.

  Yes, the Faer would look after them. They would, or by the Great One they would have her to answer to.

  The Island--Rebellion

  Their joy at seeing each other again, gaining physical contact when hope was all they’d survived on for days, brought Derren and Katheryne even closer. It was happiness tinged with urgency, however. Events were unfurling, and they had to put their feelings aside and deal with the enemies before them.

  Krista had almost broken apart when it was confirmed it was her old lover who created the block, and tried to kill her and the others back on Earth. She’d buried her grief, however, and emerged with a singular purpose. She vowed that if she couldn’t heal the tortured soul which Dwenn had become, then she would be the one to free it, and end its torment.

  Derren had embraced her in mutual grief and admiration, as his sister’s inner strength held her together, but he knew how close to the edge she was. His twin was the strongest person he had known until he’d met Katheryne, but he recognised the depth of pain which came close to taking her from him.

  Toshi proved to be the greatest boon of all, as he sat with them and constructed a plan that was intricate at the same time as being clear, and providing them all with a purpose and a definite task within it. It went through several evolutions as more Liberi were transported to the Island.

  Katheryne assisted Laren when she vetted the others who attempted to link with her. To the amazement of them all, Katheryne was able to taste the mind behind the link, and this told them who the traitors were.

  There turned out to be three in all, two of whom had been the first to attempt a contact with Laren, who had been designated as their communications hub.

  She had an enhanced talent when it came to manipulating the subtle link between one Liberi and another. While the link was normally only clear enough for communication when directed from one to another, Laren could join them together, almost like a conference call.

  But it was so much more than that, as the link brought with it a background of awareness of how the others felt during the bond, and Laren’s ability to handle so much empathic energy was unique, until Katheryne showed the same skill.

  The traitors had no way of knowing Katheryne and Laren were aware of them, so they had chosen simply to not talk to the first two for the time being. The two lone traitors had been members of the two teams who disappeared first, and no one on the island was in any doubt their partners were murdered at their hands. They could be dealt with later.

/>   The third traitor, however, posed a bit of a dilemma. She had hooked up with another team of two, whom Katheryne confirmed were loyal, but had no way of knowing they were in the company of a murderer. They discussed the best way to eliminate her, and in the end it was decided Toshi and Laren would link with the two loyal Liberi simultaneously and pass on the traitor’s true identity. The resulting fight hadn’t been pretty and both were injured, but the traitor was gone.

  They sat together now around a campfire at the edge of the jungle, a force of nine Liberi, and Katheryne, going over the final plan. In an hour they would depart the island in two groups, with two main targets.

  Derren and Katheryne would go with Laren and one other to find B’ran, and ascertain how deeply the poison had spread throughout Sanctuary.

  Krista, Toshi and the other three Liberi would go after Dwenn. It was thought by now the other two traitors would have realized they’d been discovered, and so would have returned to B’ran or Dwenn. If not they would be dealt with after the more urgent missions were completed.

  Derren took Krista aside, away from the others.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to do this?” he asked his twin, and as his hand held hers he felt a quiver go through her.

  “If you’re asking whether I’ll be able to go through with it,” she paused, as if attempting to convince herself and not Derren, “If it comes down to choosing between killing Dwenn, or letting her escape to try and kill us all again, I will do what’s right Derren.”

  She was in pain but Derren knew what she said was the truth, and he shrugged his shoulders, embracing his sister even as his eyes pricked with moisture. They spent a few moments in silence before returning to the others. Katheryne met them and embraced them, pouring her love and support into both of them.

  Then it was time to leave, and the two teams separated as the portals were opened.