Land of Verne (4 page)

Sam shrugged his shoulders. “They’re Grim’s stones.”

“Grimwald,” said Aunt Patrice in an amused voice, “How long have you known about the stones? Do you know where we are?”

Grim’s face flushed. “We’re in the Forest of Nothingness.”

Aunt Patrice’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “A girl called Treena told me. I was here earlier. I don’t think this is Earth.”

She looked around. “We must leave posthaste. The Syndrone may be lurking nearby.”

“You know the Syndrone?” Grim asked. “Treena warned me about it.”

“And so she should. We must leave immediately.”

Rudy’s hands were on her hips and she stood her ground. “Wait, what is this Syndrone? What is that clarinet-thing you’re carrying? Why are you dressed like that? What were those creatures? What is this place?”

Before anyone could answer, leaves rustled behind them and a twig snapped. They all turned and found a cluster of men and women standing among the trees. They were all armed with mechanical crossbows, bulky hissing swords, glowing daggers, pipe-ridden trumpet-like rifles, and goggles.

Treena stood with them, pointing. “That’s the boy I told you about, Father!”

The man who was Treena’s father was tall and fair-skinned; quite different from Treena’s tanned skin. He wore a fur pelt around his shoulders.

The small band stepped from the woods, eyeing Grim’s parents and Aunt Patrice. The man in the pelt took about five additional steps and offered a bow to Poppa.

“My Lord,” he said. “You have returned.”

Rudy continued to fist her hands on her hips. “What is going on?”

Aunt Patrice made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

She winked at Grim, smiled, and said, “Welcome home, children.”

Chapter 4

Head cupped in hands, and a squirming Barnsworth poking his twin next to him, Grimwald Doyle gazed around the camp. It was as if Poppa’s workshop had just become an entire world. Everything hissed, hooted, whirred, glowed, or whistled — some did all of the above. And anything that didn’t look like it was naturally living seemed to move on its own.

Similar to his dads, everyone here dressed as if they were part of some other time, one where they wore vests, breeches, choking collars, ties, top hats, frilly shirts, or ghastly dresses like Aunt Patrice.

Ugh. Please no frilly blue suits.

Dad, Poppa, and Aunt Patrice stood off to the side talking with Treena’s father, who apparently was Count Something-Or-Other. In addition to the pelt around his shoulders, he also wore a long jacket and a thick belt with all sorts of pouches and holsters attached to it. His hat, like everyone else’s, was adorned with goggles.

Grim was suddenly shoved off the log by Barny.

“Ben, you cad!” Barny shouted. He picked up the closest stick. “En garde!”

Ben wasted no time finding a stick of his own. Then the two chased and whacked each other around the camp. Sam, strangely, took Ellen by the hand and followed a couple of cats. That left…

Rudy.

Grim clambered back onto the log with some modicum of grace and glanced at Rudy. He grappled for words, feeling rather awkward.

He sniffed the air. “It smells different here, but it’s okay.”

She looked at him like he was insane. “What are you talking about? It smells like oil, sweaty horse, and dog breath.”

Grim wanted to point out that Toby was sitting behind her, panting, but their dads rejoined them.

“We’re ready to tell you what’s going on now, but this could take a while,” Dad said.

His parents summoned the others and took them through the forest. Flanking them were five armed men and women, one of which had the appearance of a man, but not quite. There was something different about his looks, like his features were deformed. His ears were rounded, his nose blended with his face, and he had no eyebrows. A huge triple-barreled, trombone-like shotgun was slung over his shoulder, which really looked more like a bazooka than anything else, and a humungous top hat was perched upon his flat forehead. His eyes were red, and one was covered by an extending telescope.

He winked at Grim as he caught him staring. Grim turned away in embarrassment.

He followed his parents through the trees and along a stream of black water that bubbled while it sped past them. For some time they kept a slow pace, careful to step over fallen logs full of decay and hissing beetles, some mechanized ones among them.

Even out in the wild
.

It was a little creepy, but kind of cool at the same time.

Their parents led them to a clearing where they settled upon the ground and Dad hemmed and hawed for a time, as if not sure where to commence.

“I’m going to tell you everything now, but wait until I’m finished before you ask any questions.” He held one admonishing finger up that Grim knew meant to remain quiet.

They all nodded.

“This world, Verne, is a sister world to Earth,” he said. “All of us are from this world. Two days after Ben and Barny came to live with us we were forced to flee. And on that same night, we took in Rudy and Sam.”

Rudy’s eyebrows were furrowed. Grim wondered how much she remembered.

He remembered some, more than he wanted. Mostly it was the fires. And the screaming. And Rudy and Sam being shoved into some kind of carriage in which they fled. Fled from what though, Grim couldn’t remember. But there had been fear. And his parents’ tears because Dad and Poppa wanted to save more children, but they couldn’t. Grim had held his siblings close to him as they had fled that night; fled from some unknown horror that he had felt in his bones. It still gave him nightmares.

Grim swallowed the knot in his throat as Dad continued.

His face saddened briefly. “Treena’s father recognized us when we came through the portal. We hadn’t counted on coming across old friends here. You saw when he bowed. That’s because Poppa is the Lord of Harland Manor, a Dominion here in this world. The Manor was taken by an evil man just after we took in the twins.”

Ben and Barny shoved each other.

Poppa reached over to grab Dad’s hand as he continued.

“His name is Lord Victor and he appears to be good and kind to all, but he is really a corrupt man who will use any means to gain power. He has many friends, including the Lord of Simeon Manor.” Through a break in the trees he pointed towards the mountains where the great, hulking stone manor stood at its peak with the city entwining it. More dirigibles sailed about it. And there weren’t just airships floating around the mountain, but large pieces of rock and land, upon which were perched other manors and towns.

Floating cities. Curious.

“Your Aunt Patrice is from this world as well,” continued Dad. “It was she who told us about the other world ― about Earth. She helped us escape that night. No one knew where we had gone. No one in this world knows of Earth. We fled there to be safe, until you were all old enough that we could return. Unfortunately, Lord Victor’s men finally found us. He’s been searching for us for years.”

Grim sucked in his breath.

Was it his fault? Had he led those creatures to their house?

It had happened just after he’d been through the circle of stones.

Grim opened his mouth and then closed it as Dad held up a finger.

 “So that’s who we are. Rudy, you are the heir to Harland Manor. If anything should happen to Poppa and I, the Manor is always passed to the eldest child.”

Grim blinked a couple of times.

Wait a minute! He
had been the oldest before Rudy showed up.

Rudy opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, trying to say something. She looked as surprised as Grim.

Sam and Ellen giggled beside her and the twins both rose with their sticks, bowed, and stood as if protecting her. “En garde!” they shouted.

“Now that we’ve returned,” Poppa continued, “we must try to gather support, but we cannot risk having you with us, so we are sending you to a place you’ll be safe.”

“Where?” Grim asked.

Poppa hesitated. “…To the City of Harkness. There is an orphanage there. It’s where Dad grew up. He had no parents and lived there until he was old enough to be on his own. We figured no one will know you’re there.”

Grim squinted. “An orphanage?”

“It’s the only place that’s safe. Much has changed in this world since we left and we don’t know who remains loyal to us. It’s just temporary.”

None of them said a word.

“They take in a lot of orphans so there will be plenty of children there. No one will notice you.”

Grim and Rudy looked at each other. Neither of them had a word to say and Grim knew that the look of concern that weaved into Rudy’s eyebrows was mirrored in his own.

At that point, Dad took the younger children back to the camp while Poppa motioned for Rudy and Grim to remain seated.

“I’m relying on you two to watch over the others. You must not reveal who you are. You will act as though you have no parents. You will pretend to be orphans and you should try to keep a low profile. Treena will accompany you.”

Grim was relieved to know they wouldn’t be completely alone.

“I cannot tell you how important it is you keep your identity a secret. You must not tell anyone who you really are and make sure the younger ones don’t slip up. The twins, especially, can be far too honest.”

“What will we say?” Grim asked, unsure of how he was going to pretend to be someone else.

“You may refer to your deceased parents as the Duke and Duchess of Doyle Manor. We adopted that name when we fled to Earth. No one here will recognize it. And pretend one of us was your mother. Having two dads in this world, although not uncommon, might give you away.”

The two of them sat quietly. Even the wind seemed to pause.

“I know this is a lot. We meant to tell you all of this in our own time, but we’re here now and we must make the best of it. All kinds of things have changed, but what has not is that we are your parents and we love you. Nothing will change that.”

“Will we ever go back?” Grim asked. Everything he knew and owned was on Earth.

Poppa shook his head. “No. And when you see our Manor, I hope you will learn to love this world, like Dad and I do.”

“Is Aunt Patrice coming with us?” Grim asked. He hoped not.

 “Yes,” said the woman’s voice behind him. Grim almost groaned out loud. He hadn’t heard her approach. All of the old woman’s joints creaked and crackled as she settled onto the ground.

“I am curious about a few things,” she said, eyeing Rudy and Grim. “How did the two of you see the stones? Those glasses of yours were specially tinted to hide objects from this world.”

Rudy looked at Grim.

He shrugged. “I took them off in the attic.”

“And you made a trip here without my knowledge?” That skeptical-looking eyeball was all over the two of them.

“Not me,” Rudy said, pointing at Grim. “Just him.”

Grim scowled at her and then offered Aunt Patrice a charming grin and shrugged.

Aunt Patrice patted him on the head and then looked at Rudy. “And you said nothing, Rudolpha? That makes you just as guilty.”

Grim’s mouth dropped open. For once it wasn’t just Grim facing Aunt Patrice’s judgmental gaze.

Rudy tried to offer the same charming grin. It didn’t work.

“Foolish,” Aunt Patrice said, arching her eyebrow. “And what about Samsonite, how did he know to set up the stones?”

Grim shrugged again.

“Hmm,” she said in response. She looked towards the setting sun and the streaks of orange clouds in the distance. The dirigibles were setting out from the mountain and some of the floating cities were drifting away.

“It’s getting late. It’s been quite a day for us all.”

They rose from the grass and back to the fireside. The smell of cooked pheasant made Grim’s stomach growl. They sat by the fire and a young man offered to serve Rudy.

“If it pleases my Lady, let me serve you,” he said.

Grim snickered under his breath until a young woman offered the same to him.

Grim wasn’t sure what to do. Other than in a restaurant, he had never been waited on before. He was more than capable to serve himself.

“Can you show me what to do?” Grim asked. Various pheasants turned on the spit and he wasn’t exactly sure how to get them off.

The girl looked dumb-founded at his response. “I vow to serve the young Lord of Harland Manor. It is my solemn duty.”

“But I can do it myself if you just show me how.”

“Please, allow me to serve you. It would be an honor.”

“But you don’t understand, I can do it myself.”

“Please, my duty is to serve.”

Grim pondered how he should get out of this.

“You can serve me best by showing me how to do it for myself,” he said with a grin.

Dad and Poppa chuckled behind him and the young woman sighed. She resigned herself to showing Grim how she cut her own off with a pocket knife. He followed suit, if somewhat awkwardly, but in the end mangled only parts of it.

Grim bit into it and the juices spilled all down his clothes. He wondered how he was going to wash it. Or how he would have a bath? Or what clothes he would wear in the morning? Would he have to wear one of those hideous suits like what Aunt Patrice used to make him wear?