by Phil Stern
“Anson!” he bellowed. “Get out!” And so saying, Tenen raised his hand, an initial lick of flame sparking out from his pinkie finger.
But Lydia was quicker. Raising her own fist, she zonked Tenen with a savage burst of energy before he could fry a still-prostrate Anson on the floor.
For a split-second the haughty royal stood there, staring at his own inert hand in amazement. Raising his other fist he tried anew, yet his power had been fully negated.
“By the King!” Stunned, he turned to Lydia. “What have you done?”
Rising to his feet, Anson rubbed his forehead. Clearly, even though using his power to crash through the door, he’d taken a blow on the way through.
“I’m not afraid of you, Tenen!” Lydia yelled. “Now leave!”
“You bitch!” Advancing a step, Tenen raised his fist.
With a mere mental flick, however, Anson sent his superior crashing against the far wall, holding him there by the neck. Helplessly, Tenen’s fingers scratched against the invisible bonds at his throat, gasping for air.
“Are you ready?” Anson asked. “We must leave, at once.”
“Yes!” Grabbing a travel bag in one hand, the princess then scooped up a box with several air holes punched in the side. “My cats,” she explained.
“Let’s go.” Ushering her through the shattered door, Anson then turned back to Tenen. “I would not follow us, my Lord.”
Unable to reply, Tenen still feebly fought Anson’s mental grip. Hesitating only a moment, Anson tossed him into the back of the apartment, the prince crashing into a heavy table and then laying still.
Out in the hallway Lydia was hugging a distraught Belle, whispering her goodbyes. For his part, Anson coolly ordered several responding Royal Guardsman up to the castle’s ramparts, where even now Lord Tenen was fighting a group of assassins. The unsuspecting men clattered off without a word.
Five minutes later Anson, Lydia, and her cats were atop Xander, thundering out of the castle courtyard.
***
By morning’s first light they cantered into Hylen, pulling up before Anson’s childhood home.
While he’d already arranged a safe hiding place for his mother with Princess Aprina, she’d not intended to leave Hylen until the following week, right before Anson and Lydia’s planned escape. But now, with Tenen’s interference having forced a new timetable, she needed to depart immediately.
“Are you sure?” she asked, glancing up at the young princess, still atop the great Stallion.
“Mom, there’s no other way,” Anson insisted. “They may be following us on Stallions, or using pigeons to alert closer troops. This is the first place they’ll come! You must go. Now!”
“And what of you?” Now starting to take it all in, she put a hand to her son’s cheek.
“We must flee as well. To another world, beyond the Outlands.”
“Is there no other way?” she whispered.
“None,” he replied, hugging her close.
Ten minutes later, after their final goodbye, Anson and Lydia turned to the west and the nearest Outlands border. His mother rode off in the opposite direction, taking the back roads to Yarlee and Princess Aprina.
***
Late that afternoon, still atop Xander after a hard run across the western Kingdom, Anson and Lydia exited a light wood. Before them was a beautiful field flowing down to a shallow stream. Crawling up the far bank, however, were thick, gnarled roots leading to a foreboding forest. Above were dark clouds, interspersed with flecks of lightning.
“The Outlands,” Anson breathed. “Are you ready?”
“I am,” Lydia said, hugging his chest. “As long as we’re together, I can face anything.”
Crossing the field and dismounting, the princess pulled the cat container down from Xander’s back. Opening the top, her three felines cautiously peered out.
“They can keep up with us on foot.” Taking down her travel bag, Lydia then tossed it aside. “I can do without that, though. I don’t even know why I brought it.”
“Yes, we need to travel light.” Taking what little food and water they possessed, along with two sleeping rolls, Anson pulled the saddle from Xander’s back. “He can find his own way back.”
“Yes. But wait!” Lydia reached underneath the saddle, now sitting on the grass, pulling out a small red bag.
“What are those?” he asked.
“Gems. Money.” She shrugged. “You never know.”
He smiled. “I guess you don’t.”
On the far side of the field a few men now appeared, brandishing swords and shouting.
“The Royal Guard,” Anson observed. “Hot on our trail.”
“Will they follow us into the Outlands?” Apprehensively, Lydia placed a hand on his arm.
“We’ll soon find out. Come on.” Grabbing Lydia’s hand, Anson used his power to convey them all over the stream. Plunging into the Outlands, they all disappeared into the thick forest.
***
For a few hours they made good time, the two renegades following the trail Anson had charted from various old maps. But the land was muddy and slick from recent rain. Combined with the stress of their escape from the castle, progress soon slowed to a crawl.
At one point they tried flying, but the cats thrashed and screamed mid-air, almost causing Anson to drop them all into a murky lake. While landing they attracted a brace of Karden arrows, forcing them all into a desperate run.
That night Anson kept watch, the weather unseasonably cold and damp. At several points he had to wake Lydia so she could ask marauding predators to pass them by, leaving neither with any real rest.
By mid-morning the next day Anson realized they were hopelessly lost. Using the sun as a vague guide, however, they pressed on, forcing their way ever deeper into the Outlands. By evening they had made their way into a mountainous area.
“I’m not sorry, you know.” Trudging along a narrow cleft, a sharp ravine falling away to their left, Lydia spoke from behind him.
Stopping, Anson turned back to her. “You’re not?”
“No.” Wet and bedraggled, shivering within a light shawl, Lydia nevertheless smiled up at him. “We’re together, my love. And safe, at least at the moment. That’s all that matters.”
Sighing, Anson nodded at the three sorry-looking felines bringing up the rear. “Your cats might feel differently right now.”
“They’ll live.”
“My love,” he repeated, savoring the words. “I like the sound of that.”
Laughing, she pushed him forward. “And I like the sound of finding a campsite for tonight! Come on.”
An hour later they laid down within their sleeping rolls, beneath the stars, atop a small plateau. Steep, sliding mountainside led downward in most directions. Snuggling close, their cats curled around them, they both fell into a desperate sleep.
Sometime later, Anson drifted awake. Was that...
“Kardens!” he yelled. Three of the little men had crawled up onto the plateau with them, armed with sharp knives. Instinctively, Anson flicked them high into the night sky to crash down into the rocky ravines surrounding them. If he’d been a second later, the native warriors would have slain them both.
Rocketing to his feet, Anson was able to dispatch another ten of the maniacal natives rushing the plateau en masse. But while flying off into oblivion, the last Karden was able to loose a single arrow, the weapon plunging deep into Anson’s upper chest.
A tremendous crack of thunder erupted just above, the entire area instantly soaked in pounding rain.
Without hesitation, Lydia reached down to the now prostrate Anson, yanking the arrow from him. Blood poured forth. “Come on!” she yelled. “We’ve got to keep moving!”
Causing the arrow to shine like a beacon, Lydia led a wounded, weakened Anson further up the steep mountain trail, the cats scurrying after them as best they could. Not far behind they could hear more Kardens closing in for the kill.
A bolt of lightni
ng streaked into the rugged trail ahead, detonating in heat and fire. Both of them were knocked flat, Lydia grabbing Anson before he rolled off the trail entirely.
Taking a moment to let her eyes recover, Lydia then peered through the heavy sheets of pounding rain in dismay. The entire pathway before them had been obliterated, ending in jagged rock and dirt. There was nowhere else to go.
Anxiously peering back the way they’d come, Lydia watched the lead Karden warrior stalk into view. Seeing their prey wounded and trapped, he let out a tremendous whoop, pounding his chest in the slashing rain.
But his elation was short-lived. A second round of blistering light and thunder seared down onto the Karden band, devastating the mountainside track behind them. A fresh wave of heat swept across the narrow trail, blowing hot rain in Lydia’s eyes.
Once again, it took several seconds for Lydia’s vision to return. When it did, their stunning plight was laid out in chilling detail.
Anson, Lydia, and the three soggy cats were now completely trapped, both the pathway ahead and behind entirely gone. Precariously situated atop a tiny sanctuary of crumbling dirt and rock, slashing rain and howling wind threatened to rip them away.
But even this brief respite from active danger was to be short-lived. Before she could even think of what to do next, Lydia felt the remaining mountainside trail settle and slide, obviously crumbling away. Without question they had very little time before tumbling down to their deaths.
Desperately taking Anson in her arms, Lydia inspected his grievous wound. Obviously he’d lost a great deal of blood, and was now very weak.
“Anson! Stay with me!” Yet even as she watched her love’s eyes drifted closed, the empowered commoner youth falling unconscious.
“Anson! Come back!” she screamed, holding him close. “Damn it, we’ve come so far!”
But her only reply was the wind and rain, manically washing out their tiny refuge. Beneath them, she could feel the entire pathway continue to collapse. Clearly, they had very little time.
“I love you,” she breathed, mouth pressed to his ear. “At least we are together, Anson of Hylen.”
Bending her head to his chest, barely feeling the pulsating rain, Lydia waited for the end.
But just as the pathway began a final slide away into the gorge below, a new eruption of light and heat blazed down from the sky, engulfing them completely. The last thing Lydia remembered was a tremendous roar of energy, seemingly within her body itself, and then nothing.
EPILOGUE
SLOWLY, LYDIA’S EYES DRIFTED OPEN. Laying flat on her back, a bright light shone down from above. Terrified, she cried out and rolled to one side, shielding her head from more lightening.
“Hey there! Relax, it’s okay.” A light hand touched her shoulder. “You’re safe now.”
Breathing heavily, Lydia forced herself to remain calm. The wind and rain were gone, the bed hard and still. “Where am I?” Her head throbbing, it was difficult to even think.
“A hospital,” replied the female voice. “I’m a doctor.”
Carefully propping herself up on an elbow, Lydia looked around. Everything appeared shiny and clean, with sharp, modern lines and softly glowing lights. Beeps and buzzing emanated from some of the devices. Odd wires snaked about. She had never seen anything like it. Deliberately, Lydia took several moments to acclimate herself.
Only then did she notice, to her right, another patient on an identical bed, still asleep.
“Anson!” she called out, trying to get up. “My love!”
“Relax.” the doctor commanded, firmly guiding her back down. “You’re in no condition to get up yet. But know your companion is safe. He’ll recover fully, though the wound was severe.”
Head still swirling, Lydia thought back over the final moments on the mountainside, before the last lightning strike. “And my cats?” she hesitantly asked, fearing the worst.
The doctor smiled. “They’re fine too.” A pleasant woman in her mid-30's, she pulled up a chair, sitting beside the bed. “Actually, I have them in my apartment, just waiting for you to get better.”
“But where are we?” Once more, Lydia glanced around. “What is this place? How did we get here?”
“This may be difficult to explain.” Gathering herself, the doctor continued. “You’re in a special facility constructed around the terminus of a cross-dimensional portal.”
Confused, Lydia laid back down. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“That’s all right,” the doctor laughed. “Neither do our scientists. Not completely, anyway.”
In short order, the doctor told her that she was on the planet Mander, settled long ago by colonists from Earth. Not even understanding what that meant, Lydia nodded mutely.
Some century before, a geneticist had made a wild breakthrough in manipulating the human genome. Rather than publicizing his findings, the scientist had simply used his position at a fertility clinic to implant several dozen altered embryos in unsuspecting women.
“These children,” the doctor continued, “grew up to have amazing powers, things no other people could dream of! Each ability seemed to be unique, or nearly so. Can you imagine?”
Lydia mutely nodded, glancing once more at Anson in the next bed.
In any event, things began to unravel once the children reached their late teens. Though secret up to that point, a series of incidents involving empowered youths blew the whole scandal wide open.
“One killed his girlfriend on a whim. Another knocked down an entire building. There was even one who used some kind of mind control to rob banks.” Sighing, the doctor shook her head. “Since they all could sense one another in some fashion, these rogues were pairing up as couples. When the public realized what was going on, it caused a panic. It was almost like a new breed of super-humans were developing, people the government might not be able to control at all.”
“What happened then?” Lydia quietly asked.
“Well, they were all rounded up and given a choice. Spend the rest of their lives in prison, or become the greatest pioneers of all time.” The doctor briefly inspected a readout. “After all, with the discovery of the inter-dimensional fissures somebody had to go exploring, and these people seemed ideally suited for whatever dangers they might encounter.”
“So they all went?” Grimacing, Lydia endured another surge of pain.
“Well, most of them, anyway.” Nervously, the young woman glanced about. “It’s always been rumored some simply melted into the population. To this day, all government and medical professionals are required to report unusual behaviors or abilities to the authorities. There’s even a special agency for investigating these things, the Bureau For Special Persons.”
“I see.” Lydia tried to smile. “So what does this have to do with Anson and me and how we got here?”
“You, Lydia, have possibly come to our world from one of these alternate universes. Maybe even hundreds of years from our relative past or future. Do you know what I mean?”
“No.”
The doctor smiled. “Well, do you at least have any idea how this happened?”
Again, Lydia thought of the searing lightning, followed by utter calm. “I’m not sure.”
“Lydia, this is very important.” Nervously, the doctor touched her arm. “All the inter-dimensional fissures became unstable long ago. Actually, this is the last one, and can only be used one way. To come here.”
“So...are we in trouble?”
“No.” Yet the young doctor sounded unsure. “But no one had come through in years. Our scientists think this last portal may be closing off for good very soon.”
“So what does that mean?”
“You can’t go back,” she gently informed Lydia, as if that would be a great disappointment. “So you’ll have to acclimate yourselves to being here, though that bag full of precious jewels we found in your pocket should make things much easier.”
“Oh.” Lydia had forgotten about the treasure taken from
Xander’s saddle.
“Do you think that will be a problem?” Hesitantly, the doctor paused. “Never seeing home again?”
“Never see home again?” Frowning, Lydia tried to look suitably disturbed. “That’s hard to accept.”
“I’m sorry.” Briskly, the doctor continued. “You’ll have to answer questions from two BSP agents and undergo an exam. Just standard stuff. But officially the Bureau needs to make sure you aren’t any of those mental renegades I just told you about, or their descendants.”
“I see.” Nervously, she thought of the Karden warriors, also being swallowed up by lightning. “Have any non-humans ever come back through this portal?”
“Your house cats, which may be a first.” Once more, the doctor smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. There aren’t any monsters on the loose.”
Possibly the fissure only conveyed species back to this world that originally came from it, Lydia thought. Clearly, there was much even these people didn’t know about the process.
Delicately, the princess posed a final question. “Have they ever found any more...” Pausing, Lydia acted as if she were dealing with an unfamiliar concept. “...any more of these super people, in your world? The one’s who can do stuff with their minds?”
“Officially, no. But I’m sure they have. It’s all hush-hush,” the doctor said. “After all, why would the Bureau for Special Persons still even exist after all these years, if they weren’t still finding people? See what I mean?”
“Yeah.” Lydia tried to smile. “Of course.
***
A year later Anson stood on a street corner, in a modern-suit, reading a holo-paper. Aircars swooped down to street level from high above, carefully weaving among the sleek, soaring skyscrapers. People bustled about, talking on tiny devices, their bags and briefcases obediently drifting behind them.
A gentle tickle brushed the edge of his mental perception. Glancing up, he saw Lydia striding toward him in a short skirt, snug blouse, and high heels. Several men glanced appreciatively in her direction, but Lydia’s gaze was only for her young love.
