A Hole in the World (16 page)

‘I hear ya.’

She hefts herself up and launches through the hole in the wall, coming out into the cave inside. The tent poles on her backpack dig painfully into her shoulder when she lands and she groans as she clambers to her feet and follows the passageway along to the circular cave.  The many possible alternatives greet her once more, but she knows which one to choose: the one straight ahead.  As she steps carefully into the cave she notices what she hasn’t noticed before: the hat she owned when she was all but five years old is sitting in the doorway ahead of her, still white and untouched by the years. She bends down and reaches out, letting her fingers play over the cloth; an unspoken sign that her life was always leading her here.

Then she takes a deep breath and enters the dungeon.

The troll is on guard, carrying a bludgeon bigger than Bianca’s head but it doesn’t deter her. As she creeps into the cave at a crouch she ignores the heavy weight in her gut that says she didn’t even say goodbye to Scotty and moves to drop down behind a large rock.

The dungeon is how she remembers it; it reminds her of the inside of a volcano and, she ventures, is probably just as hot, causing sweat to bead on her forehead and to drip down her back. The walls are made of rock, large sections of the ground missing, lava showing through, with cages on the remaining floor. There are skeletons in a few of them and Bianca shudders when she considers that may have been Alexandra’s fate had she not rescued her.

Her eyes scan around the cave, watching the troll’s movements and patiently waiting for the creature to turn its back.  She’s been watching for five minutes by the time she realises the jewelled door is, apparently, on the north wall and she doesn’t have a compass.

‘Crap,’ she mutters. ‘Clever, Bianca. Remember everything except a compass.’ She idly wonders if Cory picked one up, but then remembers he’s back behind the hole with the rest of them.

The troll moves away after another five minutes of crouching, painfully, behind a rock, and Bianca watches him.  If he turns back while she’s moving for the other rock, she’s screwed.  She takes a deep breath, keeps her hand on the sheath of her sword as she moves to stand up.

A hand grabs her by the elbow and drags her back down. ‘Are you
suicidal
?’ Daisy. Daisy followed her in and is now sat next to her looking ever so proud of herself. Bianca gives her a small smile and Daisy grins at her, holding out a hand. ‘Give me your phone. It’s not like you’ll be needing it
apparently
.’

Bianca gives her a blank look and hands her the phone from her pocket.  ‘No signal,’ she comments as Daisy checks the screen and the other girl nods.

‘I know.’ She flicks through the menus until she finds what she’s after and hits a button.  Then, without a word, she lobs it through the air, towards the turned back of the troll and past, into the corridor beyond.

For a moment, there’s silence, the troll looking confused as he tries to work out where the weird flying thing came from. Then, from the corridor, music starts to play. John Barrowman, Bianca can’t help but notice, with a smirk.  The troll chases after the sound and disappears back the way they came.

‘Go, go, go!’ Daisy shoves Bianca and the two of them launch towards the wall and the small corridor running around it.  Once hidden, Bianca hugs the redhead.

‘I’m glad you’re here,’ she says.  Daisy grins at her. ‘What
are
you doing here?’

‘Well, those two were being total idiots, so I decided screw ‘em. You’re my best friend and I know my parents are gonna worry and I won’t see them again but... it’s my life. Alexandra’s life.
Our
life. My choice and I’m not letting you go without at least a goodbye. Plus...’ She holds up her bow. ‘Gotta give this a spin.’

Bianca smiles fondly at her. She looks terrified, but Bianca feels the same way. They’re giving up everything and they know it. ‘Have I ever mentioned how glad I am to have met you?’

‘Nuh uh! Don’t you go falling in love with me,’ Daisy jokes, ‘you have a princess waiting for you to rescue her from a tower.’

Bianca grins at her. ‘Come on then,’ she says.

They turn back to the corridor and follow the rock walls along until they reach a large archway, a wooden door set into it. The archway is decorated with large jewels in all the colours of the rainbow. ‘Here,’ she says. ‘This is the door.’

‘How do you know?’ Daisy questions. ‘We don’t have a compass...’

‘Well, there’s no way to be sure but...’ Bianca shrugs.  ‘What’ve we got to lose?’

‘Limbs. Organs. That kind of thing,’ Daisy says, but she’s not leaving. Instead, she’s reaching out for the door handle, pushing it down and pulling.

The door opens slowly until Bianca helps her, pulling too, and once it’s open the two girls step into the cave beyond.

‘More caves. Lovely,’ Daisy says, grumpily.

‘You can go back if you want, Dais,’ Bianca says, quietly. ‘I can go it alone.’

‘Nah. You couldn’t navigate
Blackpool
alone, let alone some strange other world.’ Daisy nudges her shoulder with her own and grins. ‘You’re stuck with me.’

Bianca laughs and the two girls continue their journey giggling, until they reach the mouth of the cave.  The opening is wide, leading out into grassland. It’s bright outside, the sun shining down from the sky and illuminating the landscape ahead.  They step out onto the rocks of the cave mouth and look around. There’s no lake.

‘This is the wrong opening,’ Daisy says, voicing Bianca’s thoughts.

‘Damn it,’ Bianca mutters. She points up ahead at the tower in the distance. ‘It’s going to take days to get there.’

‘Look at it this way,’ Daisy says. ‘They think we’ve come out in a different place. They won’t expect us from here. They also won’t expect
us
. Just you. So, we have the advantage. And Nissa is holding the prince back, who, by the way, is an ugly bugger and I really don’t see why anyone would think Alexandra – who is very obviously a
raging
homosexual – would choose him over you.’ Daisy makes a huffy sound. ‘Whoever thought she would is
crazy
.’

‘I don’t think she really has a choice. It’s whoever gets there first...’

 ‘Doesn’t matter.’ Daisy gives Bianca a determined glare. ‘She has a choice and she’ll choose you. Now, come on, we should get hiking.’

*

Half a day later the two girls are yet to meet anything that makes them think ‘trial’. Except, maybe, the mud Daisy stepped on that splattered up her dress.

‘I had a deposit down on this,’ Daisy mutters.

‘I doubt you’ll be able to get the deposit back after months,’ Bianca points out. She doesn’t think the word ‘years’, although that’s probably more appropriate to the situation.

‘Good point.’ Daisy points up ahead. ‘There’s a town,’ she says. ‘We should check it out; get supplies or something.’

‘With what?’ Bianca says. ‘We don’t have any money.’

‘I brought this.’ Daisy holds out her hand, on which a gold chain is displayed. ‘Might be worth a bit.’

‘Dais, I can’t let you do that...’ Bianca says, helplessly.

‘Shut up, it’s my choice. Cory and Scotty have the fire building supplies... Maybe we can get some wood and kindling. We’ll have to set up camp eventually and eat something, not just nap against logs in shifts.’

‘Okay...’ Bianca pauses and stretches, before they continue their walk down the hill towards the town up ahead.

It only takes them ten minutes more to reach the town and when they get there no one really reacts to their strange appearances or the fact Bianca is in trousers unlike everyone else.

It’s more of a village than a town, really, with a few little houses made of wood and a shop or two scattered around in a circle.

In the centre of the village is a fountain, which Daisy and Bianca pause next to, putting their bags down on the floor at their feet and turning towards the water.

Villagers are milling around, a couple washing their hands and faces in the fountain. Deciding this is an okay thing to do, Daisy and Bianca follow suit, washing mud and grime off their skins.

‘Okay,’ Bianca says, taking a breath.  ‘You go find somewhere to get some clothing and fire stuff from... and I’ll... mind our stuff.’ She gestures at the two bags by her feet.

‘All right.’ Daisy moves out into the crowd as Bianca settles down onto the fountain.

It takes Daisy about ten minutes to return, and when she does she looks angry.

‘Apparently gold means nothing to these people,’ she says, with a huff, settling down on the fountain beside Bianca. ‘We should probably head off... make more headway before it gets dark.’

Bianca nods. ‘Yeah, probably.’ She pauses as a screech pierces the air. ‘Do you hear that?’

People around them start running for cover, aiming for the inside of their wooden houses and shops as other people start to shout in fear.  The two girls get to their feet, looking around in confusion and fear as everyone disperses.

‘What’re you just standing there for?!’ a man bellows in their direction.  ‘Are you suicidal?’

‘What is it?’ Bianca shouts.

‘It’s Baivis!’ he yells. ‘Run and hide! Get away before they get you!’

The sky darkens above them and, as they look up, they realise why; the air is filled with reptilian creatures, as large as elephants with appropriate wing spans, their beaks extended downwards as they fly towards the village.

‘They’re here for
us
,’ Bianca breathes.

‘Jesus.’ The word escapes Daisy’s lips before she can catch it and then she’s reacting; one hand pulling her bow from her back and the other reaching for an arrow. The creatures are huge and descending fast. ‘Bianca, do something,’ she commands. She’s calm now; no longer scared, instead determined. She knows what to do and how to do it. She’ll freak out later.

Bianca, meanwhile, is freaking out now. ‘Why the hell are we here?’ Bianca squeaks. ‘Are we crazy? We don’t know anything about this world or what to do now we’re here! We’re going to die and our families, our
friends
, are never going to even know what happened to us!’

Daisy turns on her, rips a can of hairspray from the ammo belt she set up for her friend and thrusts it into Bianca’s hand. ‘Get your lighter out, aim and fire. Seriously,’ she tells her, firmly. ‘Or we really
are
going to die.’

The creatures descend and Daisy loads her bow, drawing it back and firing it at the first one. The Baivi screeches, a terrifying, pained, high pitched sound, as the arrow gets buried in its eyeball.  The others swarm around it, protecting it from Daisy’s aim as she loads her bow again, pulls it back and fires.  The arrow pierces one of the creatures’ wings, splitting it in two. The creature slams into the body of the one behind it and more screeching ensues.

‘Do something!’ Daisy yells, as the half-blinded creature launches itself at her, talons first.  She hasn’t got time to load her bow before claws are buried in her shoulder and she screams in pain.

There’s a blast of orange light and heat as Bianca sprays hairspray through the lighter at the Baivi. The creature’s wings ignite and it falls backwards, flapping up into the sky as it tries to escape the heat and pain.  Another explosion of fire courses through the air as Bianca aims again, this time at the one with the severed wing desperately trying to stay in the air. 

Daisy claps a hand to her shoulder, the strap of her dress hanging limply down over her chest, the back of it having snapped, and winces in pain.

‘Li’l help?’ Bianca says, as the first can of hairspray runs out and she discards it at her feet, reaching for her sword.

‘You’re doing fine alone,’ Daisy says, through clenched teeth, as Bianca spins around, slamming the blade of her sword into the talons of a third Baivi, severing them from its body.

People are coming out of their houses now, standing just outside of their safe haven and watching what’s going on. Daisy recognises the one woman as the one who rejected her gold and refused to give her water and some clothing.

She loads another arrow into her bow, rips the strap off her dress and wraps it around the arrowhead before retrieving the lighter from her pocket and setting it on fire.

As quickly as her injured shoulder will let her, she loads the flaming arrow onto the bow, draws it back and fires it into the sky. It slams into the body of one of the Baivis, piercing its flesh and setting it on fire. The other creatures – the ones not attempting to kill Bianca – flock around it, setting themselves on fire in the process of trying to protect it.

One of the creatures plummets, flaming, from the sky, into the fountain and causes a splash, warm water drenching Daisy from head to toe even as she loads another arrow and lights it on fire, aiming it up at the wings of one of the few remaining creatures.

Bianca, meanwhile, is fighting four off.  She stabs one in the stomach, kicks another in the talon and jumps backwards onto the fountain, bringing the tip of her sword down on the head of the nearest Baivi. It howls in pain for the moment it has left alive before it tumbles downwards onto one of the other creatures, snapping its neck against the edge of the fountain.