Planets Falling (39 page)

The squirrel and I proceed through the passageway into a large room.  Gorian’s sitting there panting.  Iggy stands next to small box, not unlike Troll's brain.  "I'm so glad you found us.  The squirrel brought us here.  We thought it was you possessing another animal," Iggy exclaims.  "From the look of surprise on your face, the squirrel is not your idea.  Welcome to Sam's central processing unit."

“Hi Amy,” Sam says.

I examine the squirrel closely, detecting a wisp of intelligence in its eyes.  Fromer's staring back at me.  The squirrel scampers back up the stairs and is gone.

We tap into Sam's surveillance system.  The lodge is filled with creatures both dead and alive looking for us.  We've seen no sign of Theo and Bets and hope that they’re hiding safely, like us.  Thresh is angry, throwing furniture and cursing.  Jonah sits at the kitchen table enjoying a mug of our delicious ale.  He looks serenely happy.  Thresh orders the grubs outside to search the perimeter and prevent us from escaping, although all the windows and doors are still shuttered.

“Sam, do you know where Theo and Bets are?” I ask.

“I allowed them to exit through one of the back service entrances and then resealed the door.  They have gone into the woods and are past my detection.”  Relief surges through me –they have a chance.

Iggy hops up and down, producing an odd wheeze that must be a nauron cheer.  Gorian groans.  I gently touch her taught belly – false labor pains.

“Gorian, breathe calmly and the pain will subside.  The stress set you into false labor. You’ll be fine soon.  No baby yet.”

“Well, Amy, I don’t feel fine.”  She grunts.

I lean back on the cool wall.  “Well, we’re safe for now.  But, at some point, we’re going to have to emerge for water and food.  They’ll wait us out.”

Gorian pants.  “What do you think are the chances Bets and Theo will return with help?”

“From where?”  I ask.  “We’re on the side of a mountain.”

“Excuse me,” Sam interrupts.  “You may want to see this.”

The grubs circle the building while thunder rumbles.

Iggy tilts his head.  "Isn't it a bit early in spring for a rain storm?"

Sam zooms his screen at the eastern perimeter. The buck's back and not alone.  Hundreds of woodland creatures, deer, caribou, elk, black bears, and magpies burst through the treeline.  The grubs turn, seemingly startled.  As the animals rush forward, ribbons of rain fall from the sky, transforming the snow on the ground to mush.  The grubs, once weightless on the snow, are now mired in the muck.  As the rain beats on the creatures, they begin to melt, ooze dripping from their backs.  They shrink helplessly. The woodland animals pass the brown hulks and trample the few soldiers still standing their ground.  Sam shifts the image to the front door, which is now a gaping hole.  The animals rush in and we hear Thresh and Jonah yelling.  They run out of the lodge into the melting snow, hacking fruitlessly with their blades at the rearing animals.  They jump on the horses and ride away.  It's a shame that Silius and Phineus did not respond magically to whatever spell has been cast on the woodland creatures, throwing Thresh and Jonah and trampling them to death.  I try to reach out to my beloved horses, but they can’t hear me.

The rain lessens and Gorian seems better.  Sam announces, "Four humans and one large humanoid are approaching from the east."  We look at his screen and I gasp.  Theo, Bets, Wenn, and father are walking through the mud to the lodge.  Fromer follows behind them.

Iggy mutters, "Fromer?"

"You've met him then?" I ask.

Gorian says, "What?  Do you know him?  Nevermind.  He was our security officer on the planet C9.  He passed out of our universe through the portal there - we think- and became a superhero of sorts."  She pauses thoughtfully.  "That sounds really weird.  Regardless, I'd never have expected to see him here."

"I did.  Let's head up and greet them.  You also might like to meet my father and husband."

Gorian struggles to her feet.  "Holy cow."

Chapter 58 - Unification

"Is there any ale left?" Wenn's arm is wrapped around Theo's neck.  They're quite tittered.

"No, my boy, we've finished it."

"Dammit."

Bets sips the last of the honey wine, looking relieved.  I'm unsure whether she's happy to have defeated Thresh or that Wenn's come back to me, making Theo unattainable.  Perhaps a little of both.

I'm in shock.  We're all dealing with the aftermath of the attack differently.  Instead of drinking, Gorian's sleeping soundly and Iggy's trying to repair Sam's damaged systems.  Fromer's sent the wild animals back to their business in the forest and lumbers in the frozen mud piling bodies onto a huge fire.  Father helps him.  For me, the alcohol's a tempting path, but I'm wondering why we're letting Thresh and Jonah go.

After contemplating the acrid, black soot billowing from the carnal pyre, I decide to act, my face burning.  Wenn and Theo are lolling about, while Bets looks on in amusement.

I pour the ale on Wenn’s head.  "Wenn, after all this time, you decide to drink yourself into a stupor rather than pursue the bitch that stole your daughter and killed our kin?  Look at the three of you- pitiful.  The least you could do is to help father and Fromer’ cleanse this place."

Wenn's dripping and suddenly sober, a hardness I've never seen on him scored across his clenched jawline.  He grabs a cloth and wipes his face.  "What the hell is wrong with you woman?  Take a moment to think.  If you had an inkling of what Ansam and I went through for the sake of you girls - all of you - you'd think more about jumping down my yapper.  We'll pursue at dawn, although our pace will be slow.  We can only hope that Thresh's horses are slowed by the conditions as well.  We have no horses left.  They perished in the mountains."

"Where did you go?  Why did you abandon us?  Fromer can be convincing but I'd never leave Eliza.  Yet you did."

Wenn's glass of ale flies across the room, shattering on the stone floor.  "The beast, god, Fromer, whatever he is appeared one night while you were in the garden.  He showed us images - the fate of you and the baby - Eliza - if we'd stayed."  His eyes are dark and distant.   "Fromer can see the future and knows the paths.  I had to leave you to save you, which was the most horrible and unfair thing that could fall on a man."

"Did you consider that Fromer was lying?"

"Gods, woman, he can travel in animals, place thoughts in your mind, make pictures from darkness.  Just look at him.  There's no denying.  I had to leave my unborn child for him.  That's sacrifice."

I'm unconvinced.  I think he never had the chance to bond with the child.  She's abstract to him.  He's trying to mask his guilt.

Theo stands, unsteady.  "Amy, easy on us.  It's dark and dangerous.  We need to gather provisions and weapons before going after Thresh.  No telling if she's got troops downhill.  For all we know, she's coming back."

"Theo, I have a link to that woman.  I can tell she's not coming back, especially if Fromer's with us.  She's outmatched by the natural world.  If I could only do a little bit of what he did to those animals -"

"Oh, Amy.  You can and you will."  Fromer stands in the doorway scratching his patch of hair.

I run to the beast and punch his chest.  He's real, cool to the touch.  His enormous heart pounds, just like mine.  How can he be alive if he left this world?  "Why are you doing this to us?" I yell.

"If they'd stayed in the village, events would have been very different.  You'd be dead and Eliza would be lost.  I can only ask that you trust me.  Ansam and Wenn have played their role very well.  When Thresh arrives at the portal, she'll find a measure of resistance that she never would've expected."

My father appears, wiping his hands his coat.  "What a damned mess out there.  Amy, Fromer's right you know.  We had no choice.  We followed him across the mountains to a village.  The people had been watching the fog seep out of the lake - the portal as you call it - for years.  They were terrified.  Horrid things they saw, dead walking, creatures like the grubs -but bigger, nastier – and weird storms.  People were disappearing.  But the worse for them was the voices of their kin and friends, long in their graves but risen again.  Was like the veil between our world and that of the dead was ripping.  People weren't just fearing for their lives, they was lamenting the fate of their souls."

Wenn gazes into the distance.  "With Fromer's urging, we built a foundry in the town. Fromer brought strange metals to use which we forged into blades and other weapons.  The villagers discovered these tools were effective against the creatures crawling out of that mist.  They got their lives back."  He pulls his sword from its scabbard, the blade gleaming white in the darkness.  "The name of the town is Yellow Stone.  It's the best hope we have to stop the things from completely passing over here to earth."

Theo takes another gulp.  “We all need to rest before we decide what to do next.”

We all retreat to sleep, while Fromer resumes clearing the grounds and stoking the fire.  I’m trying to settle my mind when Wenn settles next to me and grabs my breast, his hot breath on my neck.  I pull away, drawing my body into a tight ball.  "Wenn, I know.  I know.  But under different circumstances.  I can hardly lift my head."

He turns away with a boozy huff.

Morning arrives too quickly.  Fromer's vanished again, as if he can't abide by the daylight.  Bets, Theo, Wenn, and I start down the mountain.  Thresh left a huge swath of mayhem, with trees broken, bodies strewn, and debris littered.  It's not difficult to find our way to her camp, which is mostly intact. The sight of the tents and fire smoke from a distance lifts my hopes.  Perhaps they haven't left and we have a chance to confront her and Jonah.  I'd relish the opportunity to blast Thresh in the stomach with my rifle.  When we reach the grounds, it's clear that they've recently left.  A few bodies and a thin, slimy residue of fog remain.  Most of the soldiers' supplies still sit in sacks in the tents.  From the tracks, we surmise all of Thresh's surviving army departed quickly and on horseback.  I run to the tent where Eliza and Margarat stayed, holding onto a whisper of desperation that they were considered liabilities and left behind.  No one's there.

I look behind me to see Wenn.  He says quietly, "This is where she was."

"Yes, Wenn, how'd you know?"

"Saw it in my dreams."  He walks to Eliza's cot and finds a worn ragdoll on the floor.  He shakes.  "This is so, so wrong.  I've got no idea what she looks like."

I laugh hoarsely.  "I only get to see her through that madwoman's eyes.  Makes me want to tear her eyes out when I find her.  She doesn't deserve our daughter."

Wenn kicks the cot.

"Shit," Theo exclaims.  We both emerge from the tent to see that the divine rain from the previous night has now become our own version of hell.  Sleet falls, encasing everything in slick ice.  "We need to return to the lodge fast."

"Not under these conditions," Bets says.  "We need to stay put until this works itself out."

We retreat to a large tent with the remnants of a cooking fire.  We stoke the flames and raid the abandoned supplies.  The soldiers ate surprisingly well, allowing us to assemble a nice meal.  The other tents accumulate ice and begin collapsing.  Our tent remains warm and comfortable, although none of us want to be there.  During the entire night, trees snap under the weight of ice as dollops of slush hit our roof and melt away.

The following day, the storm passes and the weather turns cool.  We pack our things and begin struggling up the mountain.  We debate whether we should follow Thresh's trail but eventually agree that we need to wait and engage her at the portal. Surprisingly, the one dissenter in our group is Wenn, who wants to pursue Thresh directly through the treacherous forest.  Even I realize this is hopeless with the horrible conditions and no horses.

We return to the lodge cold, caked in mud, and exhausted to our core.  Father greets us at the front door, which he's sealed with small logs.  "Thank gods, you've returned.  We was worried sick.  No telling what could've happened in this wicked weather."  He rushes to me and wraps a blanket around my shivering shoulders.

"Fromer?" I ask.  He shakes his head no.

We crouch through a makeshift door.  Sam says, "Welcome back.  I am sorry you did not catch Thresh.  I will fashion some hot chocolate for you."  Gorian and Iggy have been busy bringing Sam's systems back from the brink of disaster.  Father also has kept occupied.  The main room of the lodge is clean, although scratches on the walls, burn marks, and a huge gouge in the stone floor betray the mayhem that occurred a couple of days ago.  Most of the furniture's gone - the shattered wood used to help broil the bodies outside.

As we warm ourselves, Wenn announces, "I'm leaving for Yellow Stone at morning's light.  We need to warn them that Thresh is coming."

Father sighs. "It were one thing to have Fromer with us.  Be suicide to try it alone until the spring thaw.  Those wild animals helped us survive the bad times.  Poor horses didn't make it.  I fear we'd see the same fate.  We ain't wild enough for the woods."

"Amy, Theo.  You've got to come."  Wenn's pleading.  My insides twist.  Two days I'd have left with him immediately.  After finding the empty camp and battling the mountainside to get back, I'm fairly sure I'd do Eliza no good as a corpse wandering the wilderness for Thresh.

Theo hugs Wenn.  "Mate, you've got to stay with us.  Be patient.  Maybe Fromer will come return and lead us all back."

"Ansam and I both know - Fromer doesn't work that way.  We're treading our own water for now."

Theo sits.  "Just can't risk it right now my friend.  Weather's too touchy."

Wenn doesn't look at me and barges into the back room.  He doesn't re-emerge.

By dawn, Wenn's gone.  He's taken minimal supplies and the snow's falling again.  None of us speaks of him again.

A couple of weeks pass.  During that time, more than two feet of snow's fallen and melted.  During each thaw, mud flows freely down the slopes.  The erratic weather finally settles.  A warm breeze saunters in from the ocean and the first wildflowers peek up from the sloppy soil.  I'm thinking of spring planting - something I'd be doing in my past life - and wondering when we might get moving again.

Gorian gives birth to a perfect girl, with pink hands and a shock of white hair.  I expect to see the kid holding a computer instead of her birth cord.  Gorian's relieved, exhausted, and jubilant.  She's also mighty annoyed that Grey's not here to help her out.

We decide to journey to Yellow Stone within a week.  Bets, father, Theo, and I will travel.  I've called my trusty caribou buck to our side.  I've been trying to conjure more animals, seeing through their eyes collectively.  Fromer was right.  I can sense them, but I'm not ready yet.  The buck will help me get there.

Gorian and her child, Ferris, will remain at the lodge with Iggy. With Sam's assistance, they should be comfortable and safe.  We hold hope that the Fuerst will arrive soon.  I risk opening my mind each night, hoping to see Etch in my dreams.  But only the same musty, disturbing dreams assault me.

I wonder why Fromer didn't stay with us.  He could have helped us convince Wenn to remain at the lodge.  With the help of his animals, we might have been able to pursue Thresh and save Eliza.  Fromer told me that he can't interfere in the course of things, but he's done plenty so far.  I wonder whether he's guiding events to some critical point.  The idea that he's controlling our fate - my destiny - is infuriating. 

On the eve of our journey north and east over the mountains, we're enjoying some wintergreen tea under the tender green leaves of a willow when the rush of the ocean shakes us.  Gorian pats baby Ferris, "Well, I'll be.  They've found us."

The Fuerst pokes out of the low clouds, gleaming silver and grey in the speckled sunlight.  The ship lands on the pile of ashes left by the remains of Thresh's army and the hatch drops. Grey leaps out of the door before it's completely open, falling on his side.  Gorian laughs and they embrace, squeezing the baby between them.  I feel happy for them, but a twinge of envy belches from deep inside my gut.  Wenn, Eliza, and I should have – deserve - such a wonderful homecoming.

Samuel and Minns tumble out next.  Samuel's beard is longer and glows ivory in the shimmering daylight.  He looks wiser.  Minns runs to Bets, hugging her.  Bets looks confused and strangely happy at the attention. Iggy's children, nearly fully grown, scurry out and jump on their father or mother or whatever he's considered by them.  They're nearly identical to him and now wear uniforms similar to the others.  We wait, but Etch doesn't emerge.

"Where's the pilot?"  I ask.

Minns replies, "He'll be out soon, after he's done battening down the vessel.  Where's English?"  She can tell from our faces that the news is grim.  She takes a long look around and shakes her head.  "What the hell happened around here?"

Etch steps out, stretching his long, grey arms.  "Hello my friends.  It appears that we missed a little excitement.  We have much to talk about."

"We got to see space. Ah, it were magnificent."  Samuel slaps his forehead. "Amy, you'd never believe how pretty earth is.  Like a big ball of blue and white.  The stars – they was so bright and so many."

We settle down to tell our stories.  Etch rubs his hard chin.  "Hmmm.  You were lucky that Fromer stormed Thresh.  He can communicate with animals?  Very interesting.  Thresh is a coward and would be a terrible pilot."