The Omega Children - The Return of the Marauders - Book 1

by Shane A. Mason

  He thought about what Quesob had told him, of the possibility of children, and, of course, Captain HeGood’s news of strange children in the forbidden forest. He could see the connection. Children trained to exact revenge on him for the murder. But they could not have been trained within a few months. No. Whoever, or whatever had the bracelets, must have had them a long time.

  Curses that Quesob had left this night. He would have to send a rider after him. Quesob was essential to this plan. He would stop at nothing to get the bracelets, even if it meant betraying his friends.

  Yes, thought Daquan, yes the cowboy is the major clue. An evil glow of smug satisfaction enveloped him. He chuckled to himself how easy it had been last time to get rid of the cowboy. He had simply taken the cowboy suit off.

  ***

  Yanked from his sleep by the image of a something crashing into him, Ari rolled over ready to fight. Pensive, he looked across his sleeping cousins huddled in the makeshift bivouac. Morning light filtered in and he peered outside and could see no sign of anyone. Muddled, he relaxed, trying to recall how he got back. The image of Lexington draped across the figure filled his mind. He prodded her. She stirred, opened her eyes, and looking refreshed from her sleep, smiled at him.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘How did you get back?’

  ‘Back? What?’ She pushed herself up from snuggling between Quixote and Melaleuca. ‘It’s a bit fuzzy. But that thing, whatever it was bought us back here.’ Lexington looked up and around, searching her memory. ‘You took quite a hard knock.’

  ‘It’s the last thing I recall,’ Ari said puzzled. ‘Not clear after that.’

  ‘I could see, though not clearly. It held on to you and me.’

  ‘Were you conscious? You looked asleep or something.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said without thinking, then realised what she had said. ‘I mean no, um, I must have come to or something.’

  Melaleuca sat up, and asked in a sleepy voice, ‘Who was unconscious?’

  Ari explained what he remembered and prompted Lexington to tell what she had seen.

  Melaleuca shook her head. ‘I only remember falling asleep. Quixote?’

  Quixote shook his head. ‘Probably got brought here by the eagle, or some silverquick, or a stream of magic powder.’

  Lexington looked at him unamused. ‘The sooner we get back the sooner I will pick costumes to solve this as well as the other mysteries.’

  A gust of wind swirled outside sending a hint of chill into the bivouac.

  ‘Why wait?’ said an unknown voice from outside. It sounded like a human’s voice crossed with some sort of animal.

  Silenced, they remained still, a learned caution from all the events so far falling over them, except Quixote. With a flurry, he hurtled outside slipping on his bracelet and hurling the detective-costume on. The hillside looked the same as the day before, though some extra bushes appeared to have sprung up over night.

  ‘There’s nothing here.’

  Bracelets on, the others followed behind him. Quixote sniffed the air. A stinky odour teased his nostrils.

  ‘Phew. What is that smell?’ Ari asked as the others started to smell it.

  The voice spoke again. ‘ME!’

  Ari jumped up and faced off in the direction of the voice. ‘Look here, whoever or whatever you are, reveal yourself.’

  ‘Blind, blind, cannot see before your face,’ the voice said again.

  To the cousin’s surprise a small portion of the side of the hill, covered in bushes, tussock, rocks and plants, started to rise up before them, until, six feet high, stood a humanoid shape.

  Lexington’s jaw drooped.

  ‘What are you?’

  Not liking it Ari looked to Melaleuca for an order. With her sharp eyes she studied it trying to get a feeling off it. Her gut told her it might be trusted. She opened her mouth to tell Ari, but last night’s argument with Lexington shot into her mind. She turned to Lexington, saying, ‘I feel it is harmless. What do you think?’

  Lexington hesitated.

  ‘To confirm my feeling,’ Melaleuca added.

  ‘Little children play dressing up,’ it said.

  Lexington quickly swapped outfits with Quixote, once again becoming the detective.

  ‘What are you?’ Lexington asked again, searching it for clues. ‘You don’t make sense.’

  ‘I am Iam, the Listener of the land,’ it said, sounding happy and male.

  ‘Yes but what are you? Animal, vegetable, mineral?’

  ‘All of that. You are lost.’

  ‘We know exactly where we are,’ Ari said.

  ‘But not what you are.’ Iam giggled.

  ‘We know what we are,’ Quixote said. ‘Do you know what you are? You really smell bad.’

  ‘I am all,’ it said.

  ‘What do you listen for?’ Lexington asked.

  ‘You tell me.’ It pointed at Lexington’s detective cloak. ‘What is the basis of all observation?’

  Even before she started to think about it, she felt her mind run through several logical possibilities, and the answer came to her.

  ‘Change.’

  ‘Delightful!’ Iam squealed. ‘The wind blew differently, the animals moved differently, even the blades of grass sensed you were being revealed.’

  ‘Can you really read the animals and plants?’ Quixote asked, approaching Iam.

  ‘Yes, like the Indian.’ It pointed at Ari. ‘Must sit and listen, spend many months, sitting, listening, and watching.’

  The smell settled and the same sensation that Ari had dubbed the “Ethmare,” emanated from Iam, and though it acted childish, an ancient air hovered around it.

  Quixote reached out. ‘Can I touch you?’

  Iam squealed in delight. ‘Ah, little dreamers-heart. Most certainly.’

  Quixote placed his hands on it.

  ‘I bet you wear a bracelet too and this is another cool costume.’

  Ari placed his hands on Quixote’s arms.

  ‘Be careful Quixote.’

  ‘Warrior-heart speaks good words. No harm shall I do you though.’

  ‘Harm?’ Ari said. ‘Was that you that knocked us over?’

  ‘Heh heh. Yes. Oops. Sorry. Knew you would be fine.’

  Melaleuca stepped forward but the smell of it pushed her back. ‘Quixote what do you see?’

  Quixote dug his fingers into the back of Iam.

  ‘Oh,’ Iam said, ‘curious little boy. What find you?’

  ‘Dirt and plants?’

  Iam laughed hyena like.

  Not to be outdone, Lexington walked up to Iam and sunk her fingers in.

  ‘Ew. Dirt. You’re some form of sentient plant life,’ she said surprised, and turned to Melaleuca. ‘I need the outfit of a scientist.’

  ‘I think I will trust you for the time being, whatever you are. You seem harmless. Crazy but harmless,’ Melaleuca said.

  ‘Crooked stick straightener. By you all things shall be made right,’ Iam said.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Lexington asked.

  ‘She-who-would-know asks that which she can work out.’

  ‘Is there actually something you want to tell us that will help us?’ Ari said.

  Iam laughed some more and ran around, leaping and whooping like a child gone mad on sugar.

  ‘Could tell you. Better to show you how to know.’ Iam’s face blared wide open, showing that at least it had a mouth with teeth and a tongue, and its eyes looked human.

  ‘I will say this.

  “Life linked forged from beginning of time

  Hand, paw, plant and dirt.

  Though one has forgot the others remember.

  Servants we all of the higher realm,

  The invisible visible through forgotten lines of old.

  Will the earth move or stay the same.” ’

  Melaleuca offered Iam a blank stare. ‘That’s it? Our big clue?’
/>   ‘Karena would have worked it out,’ Iam said

  ‘Who’s Karena?’ Lexington asked. ‘Uncle said it before.’

  ‘Work that out, and many pieces fall into place.’

  Melaleuca grew irate. ‘What a pesky thing you are. A simple straight answer would mightily help us about now.’

  ‘This is just the beginning,’ Iam said in a taunt, and though no clouds crossed the sky, all around them the light dimmed. ‘At the end no one will give you answers. You all will stand alone, very alone indeed.’

  A chilled silence intensified its words.

  ‘End? What end? End of what?’ Lexington asked. ‘What are you? What do you mean? So far all I have is doubts that anything makes sense.’

  ‘No no no no no. No doubt. Trust…..’

  ‘Ohh, trust what exactly?’

  ‘Feelings! Yours, his, hers, his.’

  ‘Feelings! Blow feelings. I want information. I want facts. I want to work out what is going on? Where are our parents? How can a giant eagle still exist? The dinosaurs died out millions of years ago? The British colonised this land 200 years ago, but this is much older. Why? What is silverquick? Where did all the costumes come from? What happened to Antavahni?’

  Iam jabbed his leafy arm at Melaleuca. ‘She is right, the crooked-stick-straightener girl. Follow her instructions.’

  The detective costume took Lexington over. She whipped out notebook after notebook and started jotting notes down and screaming out the word, ‘WHY?’ at Iam.

  Ari grabbed the bracelet off her and she tottered about for a few seconds before regaining herself. An unimpressed Melaleuca presented herself in front of Lexington.

  ‘I am not the smart one. But I now know this much for sure. The costumes work best when having fun. We shall return, learn to use the costumes and do so by playing and imagining.’

  Lexington composed herself, and softened her eyes to meet Melaleuca’s sharp eyes. ‘If you stay that serious then your bracelet won’t work.’

  A delighted Iam banged its arms together making a leafy clapping noise. ‘Excellent, it’s settled then,’ and started prancing around like a gleeful child.

  ‘And you!’ Melaleuca said, turning on Iam. ‘Have you any more to add, or like the rest of the people in this land, have only silence and cryptic messages to give us.’

  ‘You know what you have to do.’ Iam laughed.

  Melaleuca stared with intent into Iam trying to fathom out what was inside its thoughts. But nothing came forth except a faint feeling.

  ‘Not on this one,’ Iam said to her. ‘I am beyond human ken.’

  ‘And time,’ she said puzzled, almost glimpsing where she went in her private dream world.

  ‘Not yet, too early,’ Iam said. ‘Too early to be there.’

  Iam giggled, scooped up some dirt and threw it at them, and then skipped off, yelling over its shoulder, ‘Good bye Warrior-Way, goodbye Dreamer-heart, goodbye Straightener, goodbye Knows-it. When it is time, come ask me.’

  It rushed into the forest blending with the trees and disappearing, leaving the cousins speechless.

  Lexington felt another piece of the puzzle had been presented to them, but she could not see where it would fit. She desperately needed to start making sense of all this.

  ‘When we get back,’ Melaleuca said. ‘We will do as already said. Pick costumes and go and have fun while exploring the different things of this land.’

  ‘What about Iam?’ Lexington asked. ‘A being made entirely of plants and dirt, yet intelligent. The strangest find so far. It warrants exploration.’

  ‘You can pick a costume when we get back and return if you please and solve it. Let us go.’

  They followed Ari home as he traced their steps back again. As they walked past the two giant statues, the hollow eye of one of them seemed to come alive. Someone from the other side pressed themselves up against it. The eyeball moved around following the cousins until they were out of view.

  Chapter 19 - Aunt’s Wrath

  With their skirts hiked up, the maids clattered toward the large drawing room off the Grand Ascension-Stairs Hall. Aunty Gertrude munched her breakfast while Uncle Bear-Nard slurped his tea. Astonished, they glared up at the un-rung for maids.

  Uncle Bear-Nard’s face dropped.

  Oh no, not the children again.

  Aunty Gertrude’s face appeared unimpressed at their rushed entrance.

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s the children,’ Pemily said.

  ‘They are gone,’ Petruce added.

  ‘GONE! Gone where?’

  Petruce stilled her timid face.

  ‘We went to wake them and their beds were empty.’

  ‘Unslept in,’ Pemily said.

  ‘There there dear,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said, trying to make good of it. He stood up, flustered, knocking his tea over.

  Aunty Gertrude whacked him.

  ‘Clumsy oaf.’

  He carried on talking to the maids as he floundered around the slopped tea, dabbing everywhere other than the fast staining liquid. ‘Prob...probably they popped out early for some f..f..f..fresh air..’

  Aunty Gertrude pushed her chair back and rose up, taut and straight.

  ‘Oooh!’

  Like a general adjusting their helmet, she pulled on the pins in her hair-bun to make it tighter.

  ‘Get all the staff and find them.’

  The maids dashed off like frightened puppies.

  Uncle Bear-Nard wobbled over to Aunty Gertrude. ‘Now, now. I’ll go find them. I think they must just be p..p..p..playing.’

  Aunty Gertrude whacked him again with her open hand.

  ‘You know better than to utter that word. You disgust me!’ She kicked her chair sending it sprawling backwards.

  ‘Those children will learn discipline. Dead parents or not, I will send them to the Southern Wasteland.’

  She huffed back and forth.

  ‘And you still haven’t told me exactly how they got here or how you found out their parents died.’ She stopped pacing, and pushed her face into his. ‘Your sister was never to communicate with anyone in this land, ever again.’

  Uncle Bear-Nard froze. Even for her, this rage-filled display had an intensity he did not know how to handle.

  ‘But dear, It was the only thing I ever asked of you. You knew it before we married.’

  ‘Bear-Nard! We are harbouring outside children! What if we are found out? Eh? Did you think of that? And what exactly did you think you would do with them once they got here?’ She screeched. ‘I don’t like this at all.’

  She whimpered and feigned a mock cry, falling forwards as if to faint, clutching the table to support her weakened legs. Uncle Bear-Nard caught her, feeling sick inside.

  ‘It is not good they are here.’ She fake-cried, trying to generate tears. ‘They bring with them bad omens. The Kockoroc has been seen, and worse the Marauders appeared again yesterday. The whispers brought news of it last night.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The Marauders. Yes.’

  ‘Marauders? Impossible.’ Uncle Bear-Nard let her go and she fell against the table. ‘They were defeated years ago.’ His eyes filled with past emotions. ‘How can this be?’

  He jerked his head toward Aunty Gertrude, feeling angry. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course I am sure. You stupid man! They have caused the spirits of the Marauders to return. It forebodes bad!’

  Without announcing why he hastened toward the door.

  ‘Where do you think you are going?’ Asked Aunty Gertrude.

  He swiveled on the spot, his face full of anger. His normally calm features became strong and sure, though as he spoke, they returned to his every-day dottery, aged face.

  ‘To help find them dear.’

  ‘I see.’ She composed herself and sat back down. ‘You must know that I took the liberty of informing the council that we have taken in outside children.’ She did not meet his eyes but took a sip o
f her tea.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Exactly what I said. I shall not repeat myself.’

  His head spun and his mind whirled with the implications of what she said.

  ‘B..b..b.but, they were supposed to be h..h.h.hidden.’

  Aunty Gertrude’s cold, lead eyes met his. A faint smile straightened out her normally down-turned mouth.

  ‘Fool. Did you really think you could hide children here, especially those children?’ She motioned for him to sit down. ‘I have only told them that I am considering selecting a handful of outside children to train in our ways. I have allowed time for you to instill our ways into them, or....I could send them somewhere to be trained.’

  ‘But how?’

  ‘You forget that I am a Past Matron of Histories. I still have some clout. I should thank me if I were you. I bought you some insurance.’ She smiled baring her teeth in a grimace. ‘Judging by those kids I was wise to do so. If they are discovered, we can simply say they escaped.’ On the word, “escaped,” she chuckled.

  Nervousness flooded over him.

  ‘I will go help find them.’

  He shuffled to the door, turning as he got there and said, ‘I promised my sister I would protect them.’

  She chuckled again and then shouted at him.

  ‘Then you should not have brought them here. This house is the last of the great houses. I will not have the name of the Throughnight Cathedral-Mansion tarnished by those little muck-rakers you have sullied us with.’

 

  ***

  As they crossed the field behind the Cathedral-Mansion, the cousins heard their Aunt screeching, and hurried voices replying.

  ‘Do you think they know we attacked that place,’ Quixote asked.

  ‘Highly unlikely,’ Lexington said, ‘though maybe…maybe…we have alerted them to something.’

  ‘Like Marauders,’ Ari added.

  Lexington tapped Melaleuca’s shoulder.

  ‘See, I said. Charging around. Not a good idea.’

  Quixote tapped Lexington on her shoulder.

  ‘Our parents and the notes said ─ ’

  ‘Enough. Both of you. Crouch down,’ Melaleuca said. She pointed ahead and said to Ari, ‘Go. See what is going on.’