The Homeward Bounders (27 page)

“You are,” he said. He looked very troubled. “What else do you see?”

“I don't want to think about it yet,” I said. “Come on. What are we waiting for? Let's go and finish
Them
off, before
They
think of something
They
can do about it.”

He laughed. “We're waiting to rest and wash. There's nothing
They
can do.
They
can only hope you won't understand.”

But of course I did understand—nearly as well as I do now. I sat and had some more of the drink and thought about it, while he went away into the back room to wash. I gave
Them
credit for quick thinking. When we invaded the Real Place,
They
had to get rid of us, and
They
couldn't kill any of us because of all the protection we carried, and three of us were Homeward Bounders anyway. So
They
slung Adam and Vanessa and Joris and Konstam on the Bounds, knowing that Joris and Konstam, being demon hunters, could get Home quite easily.
They
slung Helen too, because, with her Hand of Uquar, she was a real menace to
Them
. But
They
had to send me Home, because, even when Joris and Konstam got Home, I would overload the Bounds.
They
thought I was the most harmless one. But then I went and chose to go on being a Homeward Bounder, and that made me Real. It made me like the joker in a pack of cards. No wonder
They
were scared of me!

About this time, he came out of the back room clean and shaved and wearing clothes that put me in mind of Joris's uniform. “Your turn to wash,” he said.

“Do you come from the demon hunter's world?” I said.

“No,” he said. “I come from yours. I'm the last of a race called Titans.”

“And where do
They
come from?” I said.

“You find
Them
on every world,” he said. “But the chief among
Them
came from the world of demons.”

“That fits,” I said. I got up to wash. “I'd better make an early call there then.” I didn't look at him as I went. I knew he understood, and I think it upset him.

We set off to the proper battle as soon as I was ready.

He didn't bother with Boundaries. He was demon-kin that way. And anyone with him didn't need Boundaries either. We were off at the edge of things where his Home was, and at first the worlds were pretty scattered. It was like walking on stepping-stones—if you can imagine nothingness between each stone, and the stepping-stones themselves being all round you, instead of just under your feet. Then, when the worlds were closer together, it was more like walking down a corridor, lined with different skies overhead; and for walls, cities, fields, mountains and oceans, all flicking by as we walked.

I still don't know what called the Homeward Bounders. He may have done. But I think it was more likely that we had made a move in
Their
games, walking as we did, that canceled all the other moves and called the Homeward Bounders to us. Anyway, they kept appearing, more and more of them, and came with us in a crowd as we went. I didn't see anyone I knew. There were so many.

I suppose making
Their
kind of move meant that we were keeping
Their
time. Maybe we were up to a week on the way, but it didn't feel like it. It seemed only like half an hour or so before we got to a part where worlds were so thick about us that they weren't like a corridor any more, but really like reflections all round a place of glass. I kept peering for the Real Place inside and through all the sliding shapes of cities and deserts and skies, but not a sight of it could I get.

“
They
've hidden
Themselves
,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “But not well enough. Someone has marked
Them
out.”

He pointed. And glimmering through the shifting worlds like a small far-off star I saw the sign of Shen.

“Oh,” I said. “That was me. I didn't know it would show up so.”

We sort of clove our way towards that star-sign, bringing the other Homeward Bounders with us, until Shen was hanging just in front of us. All we could see was Shen and our own many selves reflected beside it.

“How are we going to get in at
Them
?” I said.

“You can go in,” he said. “But we need your friend Helen to let in the rest of us.”

I turned to the nearest ones in the crowd. “Give a shout for Helen Haras-uquara, will you?” I said. “She must be here somewhere.” Actually, a lot of us were late, having the usual trouble getting to the Bounds. I was lucky that Helen was there. She was at the back of the crowd. They pushed and jostled her through to us.

She had got a new hairstyle. Most of her hair was pushed back in a ribbon. Just one hank fell down in front, right down the middle of her face. But she even pushed that away when she saw me.

“Jamie!” she shrieked. But then she saw him standing huge beside me, and she knelt down. That astonished me. I never thought to see Helen kneel to anyone. “You are called Uquar,” she said. “We have a statue of you in chains in the House of Uquar. They say your bonds are our Bounds, and you were bound for telling us the ways of the worlds. They say only one without hope can undo them.”

“That's right,” he said. “Jamie undid them. Helen, get up and use the Hand of Uquar for us. We must get in there and destroy as many of
Them
as we can.” And he called to the rest of the crowd, “When we get in, each of you is allowed to destroy one of
Them
. That is
Their
rule.”

“All right,” Helen said, through the cheering this caused. “Only if you make a mess of it too, I'll never forgive you!” She was still Helen, Hand or no Hand.

Helen got up and pulled up her sleeve, and the light of that weird arm shone on the surface of the Real Place. I tried not to look at that other withered little arm inside it. And, in fact, there wasn't time to look, because so many things happened then. The surface of the Place shriveled and cracked and was gone, just like the glass door of the Old Fort. Only this time there was a huge opening. We were all pushing forward to pour in, when there was a lot of shouting and jerking in the front of the crowd, and a figure in white came leaping out into the opening.

“Wait!” he shouted. It was Konstam. He had not managed to work his way Home yet. “Wait!” he shouted. “
They
are demons. You must kill each of
Them
twice!”

It needed saying, but I don't think everyone heard. I was being pushed through the opening, and Konstam was being pushed away backwards as he shouted, as all the other Homeward Bounders pressed forward to get at
Them
. Most of us shouted, war-cries or insults or just shouts. Not all of us had weapons, but
They
ran away from us whether we did or not.

They
took advantage of Konstam's interruption to cheat.
They
always did cheat if
They
could. While he was shouting and we were all pushing in,
They
ran away towards the sides of the Place. As soon as I got in there, it began to get smaller. Its edges weren't out of sight anymore. Pieces sort of dropped off it—and a number of
Them
seized the opportunity to drop off with the pieces.
They
sealed my fate by doing that—but I think it was sealed already.

It was terrible confusion then. We were all trying to organize a line of Homeward Bounders to stop
Them
dropping off. He was towering off one way, and Konstam was at the other side. I shoved Helen off to hold down another end. I could see her arm blazing all through. I tried to organize my end, but most of the Homeward Bounders were so mad to get at
Them
that they wouldn't stay there. I had to do most of it myself. In a way, it was easy. I had only to go near
Them
to have
Them
recoil from me in horror. But I couldn't risk getting too near for fear
They
would get unreal enough to escape into the spirit world or somewhere—anyway, get too unreal to be killed. I think I could have snuffed all
Them
I came to out with just a touch, but that would have been cheating. I was the odd one out and I couldn't even kill one of
Them
. I knew that if I cheated in any way,
They
would take advantage of it in time to come. So all I could do was run up and down my end swearing and shouting, and trying to herd
Them
into the fight in the middle of the Place. And
They
realized.
They
began to come at me in a body.

I was in real trouble, when a boat drove up against the empty edge beside me. It was a black haggard boat with torn sails and flying ropes, and covered with barnacles. Its skinny, hollow-eyed crew looked like a set of monkeys. The one at their head looked more human, because of his coat and his seaboots. He was waving a curved knife—a cutlass maybe—and the monkeys had the same sort of knives in their shaggy mouths.

“Hello!” I shouted, as they all came swarming down into the Real Place. “Flying Dutchman! Help me hold
Them
back!” And I shouted to them what was going on.

The Dutchman grinned at me. “One each is not forbidden, eh? Kill twice? A pleasure.”

After that, they strung out in a line and not one of
Them
got by. I stood with them staring at the terrible muddled battle, in and out and over the tables.
They
cheated all the time. I suppose
They
were desperate, but it didn't make it any better the way
They
rolled machines on Homeward Bounders and squashed them.
They
would attack people who were trying to keep the rule, or push one of
Them
at someone who had already killed one, so that they had to fight back in self-defense. The two monkeys next to me both killed one and a half of
Them
that way. And that meant that
They
could attack the monkeys. After a bit, I don't think anyone knew who had kept the rule and who hadn't. Except me. I dared not cheat. And there were people like Ahasuerus, who didn't care after a bit. Ahasuerus got one of
Them
who was crouching over this machine I'm talking into. I was shouting to him to come over and help the monkeys, when one of
Them
went for somebody small just behind the machine—it looked like Adam—and Ahasuerus got that one too, in the nick of time. Afterwards he held his hands up in the air and shouted in despair, and after that he just didn't care anymore. He ran amok. He was terrifying.

It was over in the end. There were humped people and humped gray shapes all over the Place, and just a huddle of
Them
left alive in the middle.
They
had known there would be. I went to look at what the one talking into the machine had been saying, and it said,

The rules are on our side. There will be enough left of us to
and Ahasuerus got him then.

Konstam rounded up all of
Them
in the middle and respectfully asked him Helen called Uquar what to do with
Them
.

“You'll have to send
Them
over the edge,” he said.

So we did that, shouting and waving, like driving cows, with me in the middle to keep
Them
scared. The edge was a lot nearer by this time.

After that there was a time for meeting before going Home. He—the one I set free—seemed to have no trouble understanding the machines. He found a machine that sent people Home. And he told me how to work this one I'm using. But that was later. At that time, he was away in the middle of the Place helping people get to the right worlds. He said now that
They
were gone, even the oldest of them could go Home and settle down in peace. I found Helen and Joris and Adam rushing up to me. Konstam and Vanessa were on their way over too, but they stopped on the way for a passionate hug. I was right about them.

“Jamie, which world is yours?” said Joris. “Are you going there now?”

“It's the same as Adam's,” I said. “And no, I'm not.”

Of course they all shouted out, “Why
not
?”

“Because I'm a good hundred years too late for it,” I said.

“So that's why you said it was like yours!” said Adam. “I see! But you can come and live with us, Jamie. I know it won't matter.”

“And be like Fred?” I said. “No, it won't do, Adam. You've got too many rules and regulations there now. I should never get used to them. You need to be born to them.”

Vanessa and Konstam had come over by this time. They stood with their arms round one another, looking at me. I was sitting on one of the game tables. A little world was still going on underneath me, but nobody in it knew. “Are you sure, Jamie?” Vanessa said.

“Yup,” I said. “You'll never believe this, Vanessa. I'm your great-great uncle.”

“Good Lord!” she said. She saw things quicker than most people. “Then you won't go Home with Adam.”

Joris said eagerly, “Then you can come with us!”

“I'd like to pay you a visit,” I said. “I want to meet both the Elsa Khans.”

Konstam began to see, I think. “Just for a visit?” he said. “You could stay for good.”

“Just a visit once in a while,” I said.

“Then you'll have to come to the House of Uquar with me,” Helen said, as if it was settled. “You can help me turn my world back into a good place again. It'll be fun.”