Shatterskin

by Beca Lewis

  “We had no idea we would find so many beings there. They were from all different villages. But they were barely alive and couldn’t help us rescue them. We figured out how to unhook them from the machines, and once we did that we took the ones that were still living and brought them outside to the dragons.

  “Niko had alerted Professor Link as soon as we had stepped into the building and he had sent more dragons to transport the bodies.”

  Beru’s face brightened at the memory. “You wouldn’t have believed it, Kara. There were hundreds of them waiting there, watching the way that they do, cocking their heads back and forth. We had no idea that there were that many pileated dragons in Erda. At the most, we thought maybe besides Lady there were ten more like her, but not hundreds. It was beautiful to see. So much life. So different from what we saw all around us and inside that building.

  “We found rope in the factory and did our best to tie one person on each dragon. As they flew away, we could see their wings flashing white and black, and the red on their heads was like a living beacon. The dragons were flying low as they could so that they wouldn’t freeze their passengers. We prayed we were doing a good enough job roping their passengers on. ”

  Beru got up and went to the table and picked up one of the drinks the metal toadstools had left. She took a big swallow, paused, and slowly returned to the chair by the bed. I knew that whatever she was going to tell me next was not going to be good, and I steeled myself for the news. So far everything she had told me sounded like a horrible memory, but here she was. I reasoned that they must have succeeded. But when Beru looked at me with the saddest eyes I had ever seen, I was terrified all over again. Something terrible had happened. What was it?

  “Something terrible did happen, Kara. We have been living with terrible things for so long I thought I could handle anything. However, the news we would hear was from far away. People in villages were dying. The land was being destroyed. Trees were shattered everywhere. Abbadon was living up to his name as the destroyer.

  “We were used to that news. And even though some of us lost relatives who had lived nearer to Shatterskin’s Riff, we hadn’t seen it. However, at the plant, we were surrounded by shattered brown earth. There was no visible life anywhere except for us, the dragons, and the half-dead beings we were trying to rescue.

  It was hard work, but we were getting it done. What we had forgotten was the room full of Shrieks. We could have dealt with them as soon as we got there. We could have taken the salt and water we had brought with us and sprinkled it over every one of them while they stood there immobile. But we didn’t.

  “The sight of those beings hooked up to the machines took all rational thought away. All we could think about was saving them, and we forgot the Shrieks.”

  I waited, holding my breath.

  “They woke up and started Shrieking. Most of us had laid our shields down to make it easier to move people. Some of us had slipped the earmuffs off and had them hung around our necks, or had put them by the door to pick up on our way out. Niko and Aki were the only ones who had kept their shields on their back and their earmuffs on. It was a good thing because if they hadn’t, we all would have died.”

  Beru ignored my gasp as I fell back against my pillow. She must mean some of them died. Who?

  “At the first blast of the Shrieks, those of us who had our earmuffs around our necks got them on before it did too much damage.

  “James was one of them. He grabbed all the earmuffs by the door and got one on his brother. But in the short time it took for him to get them on all the men, the damage had been done. Niko and Aki rushed the Shrieks and threw salt and water on them.

  “They managed to stop the shrieking, but not before all the remaining beings we had not gotten onto the dragons yet had died. Even if we had earmuffs for them, the shrieking was too much in their weakened state.

  “Most of the dragons had taken off with their passengers, and only a few were left on the ground when the shrieking started.

  “All but one managed to lift off before they were too stunned to move. Once Niko and Aki stopped the Shrieks, the dragons returned, and we helped them tie the wounded dragon onto her sisters. I hope she survived.”

  “And the rest of the team?” Beru knew what I was asking. Did they live? Where were they? Did Ruta save them?”

  This was the secret. Ruta was a healer. Ruta had asked me to keep it a secret after the Oracle had told me. I had agreed because we were afraid that there was a traitor in our midst, and Ruta would be targeted because of his healing abilities.

  But now, it had to be known. Ruta would have arranged for the dragons to bring the wounded to him. We would deal with finding the traitor later.

  Beru looked away, perhaps arranging her face. I prepared to hear the worst.

  “Many of the people from the factory didn’t make it. They were almost dead when we found them. Even Ruta couldn’t save them.”

  I waited.

  Beru gulped and whispered, “One of the men from my village didn’t make it.”

  I couldn’t ask, so I waited again.

  “It was Kit.”

  “And that’s it?”

  Beru knew what I was asking. I felt grief for Kit, but also an overwhelming sense of relief flooded over me thinking of the people that were safe. As I started crying, I asked a question I had been reserving for last.

  “And the Priscillas?”

  “They have been helping Ruta. Everyone has been helping Ruta or resting from their injuries. You will see them tomorrow.”

  Seeing that I had dissolved into a hopeless pile of weeping, Beru rose to go. I wanted to shout with joy, but I had to ask the question that had been eating at me since I had woken up.

  “One more question, Beru. Would the button have worked for all of us?”

  “No. Only the person who was wearing it. You did the right thing, Kara Beth. You saved Pris and Cil.

  “Now rest. It’s a big day tomorrow.”

  Sixty

  A week later, all of us were having dinner together in the Castle’s atrium. I thought back to the first time I had dinner in the Castle with Beru, Ruta, Suzanne, and Earl. I had been so clueless. No wonder they called me “little one.” I was a child. A child who had no memory of ever living in Erda.

  Now I had memories I wished I could forget, and I was no longer a child. I couldn’t afford to be anymore. Knowing where my thoughts were taking me, Suzanne reached over and squeezed my hand. I looked at her gratefully. Without her, I wouldn’t have any connection to my past life in Earth. Even though I would probably never be able to return, I knew she would let them know how much I missed them and had treasured my time with my Earth family.

  Just thinking about them brought tears to my eyes, especially thinking about Johnny. Suzanne and I had met privately before the dinner. She told me the portal was to be opened briefly and she was going to make a quick visit to the Earth dimension. Was there anything I needed her to say to my Earth family and friends while she was there?

  Trying to be as brave as possible, I slipped my friendship bracelet off my wrist leaving only the bracelet from Professor Link. I had to return the one from Earth and set Johnny free. Johnny needed to move on and not wait for me. What might have been would never be. Even if we destroyed Abbadon and I was able to visit the Earth Realm again, I could never live there, and Johnny could not live in Erda. He was needed in Earth, even more than he knew.

  And then there was Zeid. Even though I hadn’t seen him yet, I knew who he was now. Beru told me Zeid was taking care of some business with his family, but I knew he was waiting. Waiting until I had taken care of what I had to do. My arm felt empty without my friendship bracelet from Johnny, but it had to be done, for Johnny, for me, and for Zeid.

  I brought my attention back to the room and the crowded ta
ble. Except for Zeid, everyone was there including Pita and his brothers, and Teddy. James and the remaining men from the village were there too, although now that they were rested they were returning to their village in the morning.

  Even with all the joyful laughing and talking that was circling the table, there was an undercurrent of sadness. Kit had died. Everyone had scars. Lady’s friend had also died. However, if it hadn’t been for Ruta, there would have been so many more deaths.

  “They would have wanted you to feel joyful, Kara Beth,” Professor Link said.

  This time Link was not in my head but sat on the other side of me. “You did well, young lady,” he whispered, and I bowed my head so he wouldn’t see how much his praise meant to me.

  I knew he was right. We had to live and not slide into depression. No one who had lost their lives would want that for any of us. They had fought so all of us could be safe.

  The Shrieks and Shatterskin were gone. Earl and Ariel had leveled the plant with the last remaining Shrieks inside. But Abbadon still lived. Until he was stopped we were still in danger. We knew Abbadon must be planning something even if we didn’t know what it was. He was not going to give up his desire to destroy just because we had killed his machines.

  Looking around the table, I couldn’t believe that one of the people sitting there could be a traitor. I prayed that it was a mistake. I knew everyone on our team, and until I knew otherwise, I would treat them as the treasures that I knew they were. If there was a traitor, they weren’t sitting at the table. I was sure of it.

  Earl held up his glass and yelled, “How about a toast?”

  “Yeah!” we all yelled back and held up our glasses too. Even the metal toadstools raised their trays into the air.

  “To this faithful, loyal, and brave community,” Earl said, smiling at me. I smiled back and said, “So say we all.” I loved this saying from one my favorite TV shows back in Earth. It was a response that I had taught everyone, so I wasn’t surprised when they all responded, “So say we all.”

  Putting my glass down, I asked, “So, I know that most of you were brought to Ruta’s Healing Center by the dragons. But how did the Priscillas and I get back here?”

  The three fairies were taking turns sitting on my head, or at the table staring back up at me, and when all three of them turned to hear the answer, I knew they didn’t know how we got home either.

  Beru started to laugh and was joined by Suzanne.

  “What’s so funny?” I demanded.

  “It was the Sound Bubble. After you helped La escape, she was able to contact Link who sent the bubble. I couldn’t get you on my back since you were unconscious, so we all rode back in the bubble.”

  “I missed the bubble ride?” I said in a huff. “So that’s what it takes to get in that thing. Almost die?”

  “Not always, Princess.”

  We all turned to see Zeid standing in the doorway. My heart leaped, and I wanted to run to him, but it wasn’t time.

  A great “hurrah” rang out across the table as everyone jumped up to slap Zeid on the back or shake his hand.

  There had to be a story here that no one had told me yet. But there was time for me to learn it. I had returned to Erda to stay.

  Epilogue

  A few weeks later…

  Zeid and I stood with Niko, Aki, Beru, and Ruta on the hill looking down on a meadow that led into the village of Eiddwen. It was the meadow where I had played as a child, and the home our family would come back to when we were not at the Castle. It would be the first time I would see my father Darius since I had returned to Erda.

  I knew he was ill. I had been told that was why he had not traveled to the Castle to greet me. I knew there were more reasons than that, but no one would tell me what they were. I knew that as always, they wanted me to discover it for myself.

  Zeid and I were waiting for two old friends before heading down into the village to spend a few days to rest, and see my father before heading out on our next mission to stop Abbadon.

  “I’m nervous,” I said grabbing Zeid’s hand. “I haven’t seen them since we were all in Earth, and while we were there, I didn’t know who we were.”

  “As you know, Kara, they didn’t remember it either except as a dream. It took Leif almost a year of Earth time to regain all his memories.”

  “And that’s when he stopped traveling to the Earth dimension?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

  The people of Erda hadn’t known that the three of us would not completely remember who we were as soon as we returned. Except for Sarah.

  “Sarah remembered before she stepped into the portal, didn’t she?”

  “She did. That’s why she didn’t come with you. She was afraid she would hinder the return of your memory.”

  “I didn’t even know she was in Erda until that day they sent me to the Oracle. Even though all I saw was the blue light, it felt like the woman I knew as Sarah.”

  Zeid laughed. “Yes, she wondered how quickly you would realize she was the Oracle in the tree.”

  “I still don’t understand it though. Is Sarah an Oracle or not? And if she is an Oracle of some kind, then Leif is probably something more than just the man I remember from Earth.”

  When Zeid simply smiled at me, I knew he wasn’t going to tell me. It was another thing for me to discover. But I could wait because right now I was getting a gift from my life in Earth.

  I watched as the Sound Bubble descended a few yards away and the two people I knew as Leif and Sarah stepped out. Within seconds, I was running to greet them, ready to be gathered into their open arms. Whoever they were in Erda would wait. I had never been so happy to see anyone.

  I trusted what I didn’t know would be revealed and together we would fight Abbadon’s new weapon.

  For now, I planned to rejoice in being reunited with my friends. With the Priscillas riding in my pocket, we made our way down into the village and our next adventure together.

  Love and magic made us strong. Above us, the sun shone through a crystal blue sky, and the trees bent in greeting as we passed. Life was beautiful, and we were going to keep it that way.

  Author’s Note

  As I was writing the Karass Chronicles, I kept wondering what the other dimension was like that Suzanne, Leif, Sarah, Ariel and Eric had gone to. What did they do there? What made it different from the Earth dimension?

  Finding out about Erda was both exhilarating and slightly terrifying. I loved it when I would start writing and a world flowed out from my fingers that I had never seen or heard of before. But it was also scary because what if no one liked this world but me? What if it didn’t make sense?

  During our morning talks, I would ask Del things like, “How do you think I could kill a green blob or a big metal machine?” Just asking the questions usually prompted an idea, but unless I started writing about it, I remained stuck.

  But that is what writing, or any creative project, is all about anyway, isn’t it? We step out of the way, and magic happens. But we have to do the physical act of writing, or painting, or dancing, or planting a garden to experience it.

  Halfway through Shatterskin, something wonderful happened. I started seeing myself in Erda. It became almost as real to me as the Earth dimension.

  It is the planet Earth, or Gaia, after all. The same one we live on right now. But the people, the towns, the countryside, the choices, the fairies, dwarfs, Whistle Pigs—well, they look just a bit different here than there don’t they?

  Some little tidbits you might like:

  When I was about three years old, I woke up one night and saw a gray wolf sitting by the bedroom door. He was sitting there as quiet as could be, but I thought it strange that a wolf was in my room. I remember tiptoeing into my parent’s bedroom and telling them there was a wolf
in my room. They said something like, “It’s only a dream, honey, go back to sleep.”

  I returned to my bedroom, said goodnight to the wolf, and went back to sleep. Although I don’t remember if I ever physically saw him after that (had I seen him?) I have often felt him near me. So I had to bring Cahir, my wolf, with me on this journey.

  Beru and Ruta came from reading Beryl Markham’s book, West With The Night. The names fit into the story perfectly, even though, of course, they are not elves or stump like creatures in her book. I just loved the names. West With The Night is fantastic by the way!

  Lady is patterned after the pileated woodpecker that visits me—yes for real—at the feeder on my deck. There are two or three that visit, but Lady is the one that comes the most often. I watched her and wondered if in another dimension she might be a dragon. And so she is in Erda!

  The trees. What can I say about trees. Trees have always spoken to me, and now I am married to a tree person, so tree books are loaded into both our Kindles. After reading Richard Powers’ book, The Overstory, I was even more inspired to make trees, and nature, the key to the harmony of Erda, because we know that this is the truth after all.

  And of course, you recognize the Cain and Abel story. As for the snake spaceship with the brothers that caused it all, well, who says they didn’t. It’s all a story, isn’t it?

  In the next book, Deadsweep, Leif and Sarah from the Karass Chronicles play a more prominent role. Can you guess what Leif is in Erda

  If you would like to read a short prequel to both these series I’ll send it to you for free.

  It answers a few questions about the brothers who seeded Earth and Erda, and a little bit about where Suzanne really came from.