by Erme Lander
I begin see the city as a catastrophe waiting to happen. Everyone relies on the shaky network of factories, fish farms and the energy from the tidal waterwheels. The largess from the nobs in power on the hill is resented. Mutterings of rebellion are constant in the messages Talia gets back. New bodies are left hanging in the gibbets, evidence of the small scale riots testing the boundaries.
Nothing is wasted here. Those richer will pay for goods or services, the poorer work in the factories for food and somewhere to sleep. No sick days, no way out – you work or you die. Talia is good at scavenging for buried treasure from years past, the only reason why she’s not working at the factories like the others. I ask what her parents had done for a living and stop at her scowl. Other people are in cliques outside the factories, staying together for survival and trustworthy companionship.
The constant mist, the dust and the cold shortens lives. Faces are hard and I hear Talia’s cough echoed in other people. The sea, to my surprise, is warm and full of fish. When the tide goes out, the stubs of buildings are revealed, the basis for the fish traps in the bay. There are very few boats to be seen, those I see are guarded well.
We sit and watch, perched on the edge of the square, feet dangling towards the water and chew on the stale biscuits Talia has traded for. My food is being eked out. I’ve let Talia save it for other times and ignore my stomach grumbling. I can go back to my soft world, a few days hunger won’t hurt me.
Shouts of “Shark!” come from the figures wading in the water. The seaweed is harvested from pontoons further out, they also help with cover for the fish. Yet more factories manufacture the fish and seaweed into food to eat. The smell of rotting fish and sewers rise and I no longer notice. My clothes are a mess again.
Narith rises behind us, up into the mist hiding the plateau. Above us like an unseen omen of doom floats the nightmare moon. Smoke adds to my despondent mood. There is a precarious order here which will be extinguished by a final flare of rebellion. I can only hope we find the source of the grey men before it happens.
Chapter 12
Talia took a deep breath and concentrated, feeling for the part of her that knew what to do. She raised her hands and parted them. The seam appeared, a grey line in the air. She turned to Daniel, checking that he was still asleep in the corner. Her eyes wide, she forced herself to keep her breathing steady, it wouldn’t do to let him wake and see this. She had to do this for herself, had to know if she could do this on her own.
The lack of progress was frustrating. She was too used to making her own way in life, leaving the things that didn’t matter for day to day survival. Daniel had changed that the day he’d offered her his help. She couldn’t let him be better than her.
She let go and the line stayed, wavering in the candlelight. Talia placed her fingers within and tugged, pushing her way inside. It was harder this time without the urgency of fighting to survive. She wriggled and cursed in her head. Spots appeared in her vision with the lack of air. She struggled, desperate to get through and she felt the void give way as she blacked out.
Talia woke to the sunlight beating across her face. Leaves crackled underneath her, dry and crinkling with age. She was in a dip, trees high above, a breeze rustling through. Everything was green and blue above and brown below. No dust. She ran her fingers through the leaves and dropped them, watching as they fell.
She was struck again with the cleanliness. No smoke or dust. Daniel’s world. It felt safe here, despite it’s strangeness. Shaking off an unaccustomed guilt at leaving Daniel sleeping in her own world, she got up to walk down the hill. She wasn’t far from the track from Daniel’s house and on impulse she set off down it.
Flashes of light caught Talia’s eye and she watched with her mouth open at the sight of things hurtling along a thin grey ribbon a long way away. The thin trail of sound made a shiver go through her. She rubbed her eyes, unused to looking into the distance.
Ducking under the hedge to avoid the old lady’s house, she walked along the track. She could see the trees, the or-chard he’d called it, over the hedge. She tried the strange words in her mouth as she walked. Despite being helpless and soft, Daniel knew things. He had an air about him – when he wasn’t tripping over his own feet.
She reached the gap in the hedge and peered through to meet the gaze of a small boy. He stood, hands clasped and watched her with a serious face. Small and clean, he regarded her with an air of having known her for years. Talia backed away, frantically trying to figure out how he could be both asleep in her own world and also stood in front of her. The only solution she could think of was that she’d somehow gone back in time to his world. Daniel was a child, too young to protect himself. A moan escaped her and he cocked his head, turning slightly to look over his shoulder.
Another sound caught her ear, not quite a sound, a feeling of ripping. A grey man was coming, she’d brought it to where Daniel was unable to defend himself. Despair hit Talia and unthinkingly, she called his name, knowing he couldn’t reply from her world. She had to keep it away from him, she could feel it pushing through from where she’d entered. Sobbing, she ran towards it.
Talia reached the path with her lungs gasping from the uphill run to find it pouring into the clean world like the contents from a sewer after heavy rain. It forced it’s way through and built itself higher, the dust running upwards and sticking. Boots and legs, she recognised them now, they were Daniel’s. The belt, the odd jumper – hoodie he’d called it and a blanket covering his shoulders making the cloak.
It was immobile for a moment. She swung her head wildly in panic, no streams could be seen here, no water. Terror squeezed her throat shut at what she had to do. She had to stay between it and Daniel, he was a tiny serious boy. Tears made her vision blur and she wiped them away with a jerk. She’d never felt protective about another person before. There had been other children at Dodie’s but she’d always ignored them. Daniel was different, he was clumsy, awkward and yet he knew things she didn’t. She’d scorned him to begin with, now she had to protect him.
Time had run out. The body jerked and the hole snapped shut with a wet sound. The lethargy hit and Talia stumbled while trying to look back at the same time. Her only option was to run downhill until she found another path. She didn’t have the energy to run up, away from Daniel. She skittered downwards on all fours until she could lever herself back onto her feet, breath coming in short gasps, panic wiping her mind. She’d never been this close to a grey man without water before, she’d always run hard and fast at the first sight.
Talia didn’t know where to go, panic made her mind go blank in a way it hadn’t before. All thought of Daniel fled her mind, she had to keep it away from herself. The ground levelled into a dip, the difference making her legs give way. She spotted another track down below and scrambled to her feet. The grey man strode on behind, steady and unforgiving. It never sped up or slowed down, simply turned to face the direction she was running in.
The track led uphill towards the grey man or down. Talia choose down, hoping to find a stream or a pond. Her lungs ached for air, the years of muck stopping her from breathing deeply. The path was full of dips, hidden by the leaves and her legs jarred every time she hit one. She stopped to spit onto the floor, wheezing and looked over her shoulder. She’d lost it behind the twists of the path and the large prickly bushes. She closed her eyes for a brief second, she needed to think, where would water be? She’d have to keep heading downhill and hope to find something large enough to drown it in.
A sixth sense made her turn to look at the bush behind her. Something grey was pushing through, less than three feet away. The shock made her gurgle and she choked. The grey man wasn’t following her along the path, it was hunting her in a straight line. Coughing the saliva from her windpipe, she turned to run, stumbling as she tried to look at the same time. The grey man re-formed itself as it walked through the bushes, the cracks smoothing over and disappearing as she watched.
Talia ran, the tr
ack blurring in her eyes and her feet hit black stone – the lane – she’d gone the wrong way. She was leading it towards Daniel. Tears squeezed out and blurred her vision further. She called out, trying to warn him and choked on her own voice, despairing at the feeble thready sound. She tripped again, skinning her knees and she fell into a ditch beside the path. The green plants covering it weren’t as soft as they looked. The leaves stung her as she fell down the short bank squealing.
A splash, the plant stems broke and she was lying in water. The shadow of the grey man was above her, the figure bending to reach out. A moment was all Talia needed, she scooped up the green stinking liquid she sat in and threw it. A splatter made a hole deep in the body, others followed it. Talia ignored the burning of the nettles and threw water as fast as she could. Craters formed as each droplet hit. No emotion showed around the mouth, no sound came as it retreated. Dribbles ran, pulling details out of place and the man took a step away. Talia redoubled her efforts, tears running and blurring her vision. A pause and it disintegrated, a pile of mud left on the black stone.
Talia panted, her lungs heaving and shaking from the adrenaline rush. She could hear voices in the place where Daniel lived, she had to hide somewhere. A moment’s thought brought the quarry to mind, she’d be safe there. She pulled herself out, shaking her hands and scraping the worst of the green slime from her hair. She remembered the shower Daniel had made her have with clean water and soft fabric to dry herself on. She gave the soggy pile of mud a wide circle and crept up the path, remembering this time to sneak under the hedge at the old woman’s house. The quarry was dry and warm in the sunshine and Talia allowed herself to fall asleep.
She woke with a jerk from a dream. A hazy recollection of sitting on a woman’s knee chanting a counting song, touching fingers in time and laughing. Tears filled her eyes, she hadn’t been able to see the woman’s face – had it been her mother? Dodie filled most of her memories, a larger than life personality, with a meaty fist clouting you around the ear if you didn’t behave. The comfort of someone being on your side in the dangerous streets. The other woman had been tiny like herself. Talia strained her memory to see her face and saw nothing.
A brief flash of anger filled her, Daniel had no right to have her feeling like this, no right to ask about her parents. Those that were too soft didn’t survive in her world. The dead place inside worked, nothing got in the way of it. She firmed her lips, he was weak, a whimpering thing that wouldn’t last five minutes under pressure. She reminded herself of his face at the dead rat, the way he’d shrunk back when she’d thrust it into his face to carry.
Talia decided to walk back to see if the pile of mud was still there, she intended to throw more water over it, just to make sure. She’d dried out while sleeping in the sun, bits fell from her hair and she brushed them off with care. She touched the clothes gently, they were warm and well made, nothing like she could afford in her own world. Talia gazed at the sunset for a moment and shook herself. She needed to move, it would be dark soon and she’d be dead if she didn’t toughen up again. Staring at the thin silvery disc coming over the horizon, she snorted her disgust, even this world’s moon was pathetic.
She found her way back down to the track, past the place where the grey man had found her and Daniel the first time and dissolved in the streamlet. She cursed at not finding the same stream when the second grey man had come through and frowned when she found no traces of mud from the first grey man. She bent to check, the grey mud would be obvious in the brown here. Had she come the wrong way? She walked a little further and came to the lane. Nobody in the garden and she checked the pile of mud – it was lifeless. Talia walked on further to where the track opened out into a wider lane. A strange smell lingered, something about it touched a part deep inside and she found a terror rising that was nothing to do with the grey men.
Talia turned before she could whimper aloud and had another shock when a tall figure sprawled his way over the fence. He was brushing himself off, looking down the lane away from her. She stood half dreaming until the figure turned and Talia had trouble stopping herself from screaming. This wasn’t right, she’d seen him as a young boy only several hours ago. The irrational thought flashed through her mind – how did he have this magic to change his age? He was also asleep in her cellar, her mind twisted into knots trying to work it out.
Forgetting her earlier resolution to be tough, the strange feeling about the lane and coming face to face with Daniel, completely un-nerved Talia. She had to get away, and she couldn’t do that in front of him. She ran for the safety of the woods. She ran, knowing that Daniel would chase her. Awkwardly, as he was in the middle of the path, she pushed past him and despite her determination her eyes flicked up and caught his.
A familiar protest caught her heart as she plunged on. Everything clicked in her mind like the figures dancing on the contraption she’d found. It had happened last time, it would happen again. Large animals loomed over a fence and she flinched away from them. The sound of feet pounding behind her and a swift glance showed that he was closer than she thought. Too tired, a corner in the lane – maybe she could get around it and open a rift before he got to her. She raised her arms frantically, tugging the air open and pulled, unable to turn to look over her shoulder again as she caught herself in the rift. Her foot lashed out as she struggled and she felt it hit something yielding. Maybe this time she could get through…
An arm around her waist made her gasp, forcing the breath from her in the nothingness. She wriggled and the fingers tightened and then slid away. Talia fought to get the easiest way through, thinking about how she’d found him being attacked by Corte. She stumbled out onto the street and into a man’s arms. He bellowed in surprise – Corte!
She groaned, she had to get out of here. Daniel would come through in a minute and she would see herself if she stayed. Memories flickered of that night and the person she had been. Vicious in terror, she gave two fast punches to Corte’s stomach while gasping in the night air and she opened the void again, heading back to the time she’d come from.
Talia staggered in exhaustion and hoped nothing would follow. The fear of Him sending a grey man to follow her twice in an evening might be too much. She didn’t know who “He” was, only that she shouldn’t have gone through the rift and that “He” could follow. The memories crowded behind the shut door in her mind, shouting for attention in a language she couldn’t understand. Damn Daniel for clearing the dead place away, it had kept her away from that door, stopped her from thinking about it
She leant against the wall in the cellar and stuffed her sleeve into her mouth to try and stop the coughing fit she could feel coming. She could barely keep her eyes open and yet she needed to stay awake, to check for pursuit. A bucket sat close by the door and another at the other end of the room, the water covered in a thin layer of dust. Not for drinking, no one would drink that muck. It was enough to disable a grey man, to give time to run.
The break opened close to the wall and she staggered to her feet, grasping for a bucket. It hit the grey man as it came through, rendering it into a pile of mud. So close to her sleeping place, she’d have to move. The dirty water spread over the floor and pooled into the corner. Daniel was still asleep in his corner with no idea of what she’d done. Talia sank to her knees, knuckles stuck hard into her mouth, hoping he wouldn’t see the pile. She’d led him here. She was responsible.
Chapter 13
Another day, another fruitless search. We’re in an area Talia doesn’t know so well and nobody likes talking about the grey men to strangers. Talia is having to do a lot of persuading to get any information. Rumours are starting to spread about us and people drift away the minute we’re spotted. It’s not good. Talia mentioned something about a “Dodie” being dead and that her clique’s broken up. It’s almost as though it’s a personal insult that she can no longer use them as a source of information.
We walk slowly back, tired from more than just the day’s walking.
I mentally run through the last few days. Yesterday was wet, a damp drizzle that Talia refused to do much in. She pointed out, quite fairly, that the grey men won’t be moving in the rain so there’s no point in getting wetter than we have to. She also insisted on moving to a different cellar and her only explanation was a muttered comment about being found if we stayed. We got soaked walking there and I’d wished for my waterproofs. A miserable day was spent huddled close to the brazier. There’s something the matter with Talia, she’s been out somewhere during the night, her clothes are a mess. I ask her once and get snapped at, almost like she did at the beginning.
We’ve decided the source must be fairly close by to her old hidey hole, we’ve heard less and less about them the further we move away or maybe it’s just people don’t want to talk to Talia. I’ve sketched out a charcoal map on the new cellar wall, detailing the streets and the parts we’ve checked, making notes of what we’ve heard. It’s a huge task, so many of the buildings are ruined, some streets are a mass of rubble and others aren’t places to walk down for different reasons.
I rub my eyes, feeling the tiredness slow my pace. I wish we could take a break, go back to my shed in the warm and immediately feel guilty. Talia can’t take me back without a grey man following us through. I mutter a phrase I learnt from my dorm mates and tell myself to deal with the discomfort. Talia stops in front of me and I nearly bump into her, absorbed in my thoughts. My swearing increases as I see at the dread in her face. Bleary, I turn with her and see a figure rising from the rubbish right behind us. One arm is outstretched in our direction, the face covered by a deep hood.
My thoughts go from zero to sixty in less than a second, there’s no space to move, no time to run. It’s within touching distance already. My knees are buckling. It’s one thing to be searching for something like this and another to actually find it.
