by Lisa Chitty
The Heart of Trelyssia
Lisa Chitty
Published: 2008
Tag(s): "fantasy" "science fiction" "adventure" "novel"
Chapter 1
Abi stirred restlessly. Bright sunlight was filtering through her eyelids, forcing her out of her deep sleep but she wasn’t ready to wake up yet. She threw an arm across her eyes to block it out and try to go back to sleep. But as she moved her arm, she became aware that she wasn’t lying in bed anymore. Bizarrely, it felt like she was outside, when the last thing she remembered was working on her computer in her study. She sat up hurriedly and opened her eyes, then gasped with shock. She was lying on grass, and as she looked around she realised that she was in a clearing, surrounded by trees. This couldn’t be right. She had definitely been in her own home the previous night, although she couldn’t actually remember going to bed. She hadn’t been out, hadn’t been drinking, so this couldn’t be some prank. It had to be a dream. Realistic, but a dream nonetheless. She decided to go for the old fail safe and pinch herself.
‘Ouch!’ Abi rubbed her arm where she had pinched it to ease the pain and red mark that was left. She was still sitting in the clearing, so it didn’t look like this was a dream. Unless it was an incredibly vivid one.
‘Hello.’ A male voice came from behind her. Abi jumped up and span round to find out who had issued the greeting, hoping they could make sense of where she was. An old man with long white hair and a long white beard was sitting on a log. He was leaning forward and holding a staff between his hands. ‘You took your time waking up’ he remarked. ‘I was beginning to wonder if you intended to sleep all day.’
‘Do I know you?’ Abi asked, fairly certain that she didn’t but it seemed a good place to start.
‘Unlikely’ the strange man replied. ‘As a short while ago you were happily leading a safe, if somewhat boring life, somewhere else. Welcome to Trelyssia.’ He rose as he said this and went over to Abi holding out his hand. ‘I believe it is a custom where you come from to shake hands when you meet someone.’
Abi backed off. Whilst he appeared to be sane, the fact that he seemed to think that she was somewhere that she had never heard of was indicating otherwise. ‘Where do you think that I am?’ she asked, frowning.
‘Trelyssia,’ he repeated. ‘That’s the name of the Kingdom that you are currently in.’
‘Um, no it’s not.’ Abi retorted. ‘This is just called the UK, as in the United Kingdom.’ The old man was clearly not in a correct state of mind.
‘I’m afraid not.’ The old man disagreed. ‘You’re no longer on your home world. You’ve been summoned from where you live to come here and assist the people who in Trelyssia here in our battle against the Baron.’
Knowing now that the old man had either been drinking or was insane, Abi decided that she had better be leaving here and finding her way home. ‘That’s nice,’ she said soothingly. ‘But I’m afraid that I have to be going now as I’ve got lots to do. Have a nice day.’ Abi turned away from him towards a path she had seen earlier but had taken no more than a few strides before the old man suddenly re-appeared in front of her. She stopped in her tracks. ‘How did you do that?’ Abi was amazed as she was fairly certain that he hadn’t been able to run that fast round her and besides, she hadn’t heard any footsteps.
‘I have certain skills,’ he replied, ‘that you are probably unfamiliar with. One of them is to be able to move myself instantaneously from one location to another. Though I can only do it for short distances.’
‘But that’s not possible.’ Abi was shaking her head trying to deny what she had just seen.
‘It might be were you come from, but here, as you just saw, it is very much possible. However, not everyone can do it. It takes certain skills to be able to practice magic.’
‘There’s no such thing as magic. That’s just for stories. I’m a grown woman now and I don’t believe in fairytales.’ Abi tried to go round Theldon, to reach the path but he blocked her way with his staff. ‘What?!’ she exclaimed.
‘I haven’t finished yet.’ The man fixed her with a stern gaze. ‘There are certain things that I must tell you before you go on your way. Firstly, my name is Theldon. My job is to guide you and give you assistance where I can.’
‘Well, Theldon, thanks for the offer, but I’m more than capable of following a path to a road and finding my way back home. So if you could just put your big stick down, I’ll be on my way.’ Abi tried to push past him, but for an old man he was surprisingly strong.
‘I get the point. You’re not prepared to listen to me yet. I’m sure that when you realise you’re not on your own planet anymore you’ll pay attention then. In the meantime I’ll give you one more piece of information. You weren’t the only one to come here from your world. You have companions to assist you. Your first task is to find them.’ With that he lowered his staff.
‘Fine, whatever.’ Abi was really exasperated now and before he could change his mind and prevent her from leaving the clearing, she ran down the path he had been blocking.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a similar clearing in a different part of the forest, three men were having an argument.
‘It’s all you fault!’ Randall, the tallest of the trio, was berating one of the two others he was with. ‘If you hadn’t had us drinking beer until the small hours of the morning I wouldn’t be standing in a forest now, wondering how the hell I got here.’
‘Excuse me’ Steve, who was the youngest of the three men interrupted. ‘You were quite happy to stay in the bar of the hotel drinking, even though you knew that we were meant to be attending a conference today.’
‘Steve's right,’ James, the third man of the group, replied. ‘You were just as happy to be drinking as the rest of us and as much as I’d like to argue with you, this isn’t getting us back to the hotel.’
‘Alright,’ Randall said. ‘How do we get back to the hotel then seeing as how none of the three of us know where we are?’
‘It’s simple. We pick a path, it’ll lead us to the road, and then we’ll flag down a passing car and get a lift.’ James gave a decisive nod of his head, sure that this was the right course of action to take.
‘I hate to burst your bubble,’ Steve interrupted. ‘But have either of you two actually heard the sound of a car recently?’
All three men paused to listen. All any of them could hear was birdsong and the occasional rustle of a bush as some small animal disturbed it.
‘That doesn’t matter,’ Randall broke the silence. ‘Just because we can’t hear any vehicles, doesn’t mean that we aren’t close to a road.’
‘Fair enough.’ James shrugged his shoulders. ‘Let’s take this path over here.’ He gestured to the track closest to him, leading out of the clearing. ‘I’m sure that the hotel is in this direction.’
‘James, don’t be ridiculous. It’s not that way, it’s this way,’ Randall selected a path going in a different direction.
James turned to Steve. ‘Back me up on this, mate. This is the correct path.’ James pointed to the one that he wanted to take.
‘Randall’s more likely to be right,’ Steve replied hesitantly. ‘Your sense of direction is awful, James. Randall is much more likely to find the hotel than you are.’
‘Thank you, Steve,’ Randall exclaimed. ‘That’s two against one James. We’re going this way.’ Randall turned to go down the path he had chosen, but stopped with a startled oath. Suddenly, standing before him where there had just been an empty space, was an old man with long white hair and a long white beard who was holding a staff. ‘How did you get there?’ Randall questioned him. ‘You weren’t there a second ago.’
‘I’m Theldon,’ the man answered Rand
all. ‘I’m here to …’
‘I don’t care who you are or what you’re here to do,’ Randall interrupted. ‘Can you tell us if this path will take us back to the hotel?’
Theldon sighed. These three appeared as though they were going to be just as difficult as the young woman had been. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘This path won’t lead you back to where you came from.’
‘Yes!’ James punched the air with a fist. ‘I’m right, you’re wrong Randall. You won’t be able to taunt me about my sense of direction again!’
‘Yes I will!’ Randall responded. ‘Just because you got it right this time, doesn’t mean you will again.’
James was about to reply when Theldon interrupted. ‘Actually, none of the paths will take you back.’
The three men turned to look at Theldon in amazement. ‘What do you mean?’ Steve asked. ‘Where on Earth are we?’
‘I don’t know about Earth,’ Theldon replied. ‘But you are currently in the Kingdom of Trelyssia.’
‘Excuse me? Where?’ James was frowning. ‘I’ve never heard of wherever it was you said.’
‘Neither have I,’ Randall and Steve said together.
‘That’s because Trelyssia isn’t on the same planet that you three are from.’ Theldon explained patiently. ‘You’ve been summoned here, from your world to mine, to help my people in their time of need.’
‘Right! That’s it,’ declared Randall. ‘I’m not taking directions from someone who lives in a complete fantasy world. I’m taking the path you’re standing on because James is never right, so get out of my way.’ He stared to walk towards Theldon menacingly.
‘I will in a moment.’ Theldon was standing his ground much to Randall’s amazement as he towered over the old man. ‘You need to know your first task. You were not the only ones brought here. You have another travelling companion and you must find her and get her to join you.’
‘Well that depends,’ Randall responded. ‘If she’s tall, blonde and with a great figure of course she can join us. And if she knows the way back to our hotel, that’ll be an added bonus. Now, are you getting out my way?’
Theldon regarded Randall for a moment, shook his head and then abruptly disappeared.
Randall, James and Steve stood there for a moment, too shocked by Theldon’s sudden vanishing act to say anything.
Steve was the first to recover. ‘Did you two see an old man here a minute ago and have a bizarre conversation with him about being on another planet?’
Randall and James turned to Steve and nodded.
‘Great,’ said Steve. ‘So it wasn’t just me then.’
‘Enough of this,’ said Randall. ‘He’s just a crazy old man, who wanders round these woods. I say we just ignore him and carry on with our plan to follow this path and find a road.’ He turned to the others to wait for their reply.
‘Well, as it was my idea to start with, I’m all for it. Steve?’ James turned towards his friend.
‘Yeah, why not,’ Steve replied. ‘Anything’s better than standing here waiting for that man to come back.’
So the three of them set off down Randall’s chosen path trying to forget about the strange old man they had met. All three of them were looking carefully around them as they walked but nothing appeared wrong. All the plants and trees looked familiar, as did the birds and insects they saw.
The path was a winding one and didn’t seem to be taking them in one particular direction. However, as they didn’t have any better ideas and all paths had to lead somewhere, they continued to follow it. It wasn’t doing anything for any of their already frayed tempers though.
‘This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ James eventually said. ‘We’ve been following this path for some time now and there’s no sign of it leading us to anywhere remotely inhabited, or to any sign of civilisation.’
‘Give it a chance,’ Steve told him. ‘There was a large forest not far from our hotel. If it’s that forest that we’re lost in then it’s going to take us some time to get back. Who knows, we could even have been heading away from the hotel.’ Steve shrugged his shoulders.
James gave him a filthy look. ‘Thanks for that mate. I really needed to know right now that we could be heading in the wrong direction and we’re going to have to go back the way we came.’
‘Stop acting like children,’ interrupted Randall. As Steve and James’s boss he was used to stopping arguments between them. ‘Steve’s probably just trying to wind you up James, ignore him. This path will take us somewhere and then we’ll get back. Although I’m not sure getting back is going to be a good idea as I’m sure the conference organisers are going to be mad at us when we eventually return. We’re going to be way behind schedule.’
Steve looked a this watch, and then stopped. ‘What time do you make it?’ he asked curiously. ‘I just checked my watch but it appears to have stopped.’
Randall and James looked at their watches too, but theirs had also stopped. The three of them regarded one another uneasily. For one watch to stop was fine, two coincidence, but three?
‘It’s probably nothing,’ Randall tried to shrug it off. ‘We probably got too close to a strong electrical field or something.’
‘Yeah, that’ll be it!’ James replied sarcastically before walking on again. Randall and Steve exchanged looks, but followed on after James.
They carried on in silence for a while until they noticed that the trees around them were beginning to thin out. The further they went the thinner they got until, eventually, they reached a track that bisected the path that they were on. It wasn’t any wider than a single track lane but it did have wheel ruts running down either side of it.
‘Yes at last!’ exclaimed Steve thankfully. ‘Hotel here we come. Now all we have to decide is which way to go. Left or right?’ He instantly turned to look at Randall.
‘I don’t know,’ was Randall’s response. ‘I can’t see that there’s much either way.’
‘Well,’ said Steve starting to lose his patience. ‘Which way do you think? Since you were one who chose the path that we took to get here!’
‘Fine, I say we go left.’ Randall started heading off in that direction before James called after him.
‘What makes you so sure it’s that way?’
‘I’m using my sense of direction, which is something you don’t have,’ retorted Randall.
‘I just think, you’re making all the decisions at the moment and for all we know you could be wrong. Steve, back me up on this.’ James turned to look at Steve, expecting him to give the support he’d requested.
Steve looked at James. ‘Lets just try Randall’s way and if he’s wrong we get to hold it over him for the rest of his life.’
James was thoughtful. ‘Whilst I like the idea of being able to taunt Randall I don’t want to have to walk all the way back, if he is wrong. Still,’ James shrugged. ‘I guess he’s got a fifty, fifty chance of being right.’ James sighed and then went to join Randall.
Steve, glad that an argument had been diverted followed on after his two friends.
* * *
Abi had been trudging wearily through the forest for some time and was getting thoroughly fed up. The trees were growing so densely that she didn’t know if she was heading away from, or towards, any towns that might be in the area. However, she decided that she would get somewhere eventually and carried on. Thankfully, it seemed that Theldon had decided to leave her alone and she did wonder if he had just been part of her imagination. However, she knew that even her imagination wasn’t that vivid and guessed that he must be a hermit who lived in the forest and being alone all the time had driven him mad. Abi dismissed him from her mind and hurried on, anxious to put some distance between them, just in case he decided to follow her.
After a while, Abi noticed that it appeared to be getting lighter, and there seemed to be a break in the trees ahead. Hopeful that she was approaching a road she broke into a run. When she got there it was faintly disappointing. Whilst the track was
better than the path she had been on it was still no better than a dirt track. It did have wheel tracks along it which meant that it was used, and regularly, so she was more hopeful that she was beginning to get somewhere.
Abi stood looking up and down the track trying to decide which way to go when she noticed a group of three men approaching. She remained where she was and let them come to her. They might be able to help, and there was always safety in numbers. If they seemed at all suspicious, she could always run.
The three men stopped when they saw Abi and seemed to have a discussion. She crossed her arms and waited for them to finish. Eventually they stopped talking and carried on towards her. As they got closer she saw that they appeared to be a better option than the crazy old man that she had run into. They were all well dressed and didn’t appear to be carrying anything with which they could harm her.
‘Hello,’ Abi said as they approached. ‘How’s it going?’ She decided a friendly approach couldn’t hurt.
‘Hi,’ answered James. ‘Look, we’re a little lost. I don’t suppose you could tell us where we are can you?’
Abi groaned. ‘I was hoping you were going to be able to tell me that.’
‘You mean, you don’t know where you are either?’ questioned James.
Abi shook her head. ‘It’s all rather bizarre really. I went to bed last night in my own home and then woke up in a clearing in this forest, with no idea how I got here or where I am.’ Abi stopped, realising that she sounded slightly deranged.
Randall, James and Steve exchanged looks with one another before Randall replied. ‘That is strange, because the same thing happened to us, apart from some weird old man appeared and tried to tell us that we were on another planet!’
Abi could only gaze at Randall in shock, her mouth slightly open.
‘I gather from the look on your face that you ran into this man as well,’ Randall continued. ‘He didn’t say anything about meeting anyone did he?’
Abi nodded. ‘Yes. Theldon, that was his name, said I’d been summoned and was here to help in the fight against the Baron. He also said that my first task was to find the companions I needed to assist me, who had also been brought here.’
