Echoes from the Lost Ones (11 page)

“Come, Wirt, time for blame and guiltiness is past. What is done is done and we must continue on.”

“Aye, ye say right. But I have such a liking for the Ladies that I cannot forgive myself for causing such havoc.”

“You are not alone in that blame. Let us do what we can to help.”

“Aye, we at least can do that.”

He smiled at me and took a sigh to clear his doom-laden thoughts. Audrey emerged with pobbles of stuff attached to her tunic and as she walked towards us, Odelia picked off the prickly seed pods.

“Panic, most severely over my dears. The entrance is intact. They had no clue. They may try our other lairs, but will find them empty and so grow tired of encountering failure, and go home. Look not so sad, dearest Wirt, all is now well and as before.”

“Except that we should go,” I said.

“Ah, yes, you must. Although it grieves me to be parted from you when we have just met. I have a liking for you, ‘bird catcher.’”

I felt a modest lump gather in my throat and pressed the fingers she put into my hand with affection. Odelia linked arms with Wirt and said, “We must gather your belongings and make up a picnic of tasties to fortify your travels.”

“Good, Odelia, take young Wirt with you. I would have one or two more words with Adara.” They left and Audrey took my arm. “We will walk slow to the place I must now show you,” she said and pointed to the far end of the courtyard. “The blue building to the right of the Bathhouse is where we must go.” But go we did not. A look of disquiet spread across her features and she drew me close and whispered, “I will advise you on one thing only, be not trustful of those that seem above trust. Take no one as you find them and listen to your judgement, whether or not it seems appropriate.”

“That was more like three bits of advice,” I said and we smirked.

Much chattering and sadly laughter broke our close musing and I waved to Odelia, Wirt and several of the Ladies as they approached us from the Meetinghouse carrying my Synthbag and another pouch bulging with goodies. I took my special sack from the hand of the childcarrying one and hoisted it over my arm. It felt good and right nestled between my shoulder blades again. Wirt held the kittle that I had fondled the day before and I took it from him. I raised the furry thing to my face and breathed in its perfume smell and listened for the last time to its juddery purr.

“Let the goodbyes be swift lest we are all overcome,” Audrey said and one by one Wirt and myself embraced the Ladies all. I handed the sweet kittle back to Odelia and turned to Audrey.

“Time to go.”

 
“Indeed. Come my dears,” Audrey said and led us to the cabin at the farthest end of the courtyard. The Ladies called after us to have a safe and successful journey and just for a moment, I wished that I did not have to leave.

We stopped at the entrance to the small hut, Audrey opened the door and we went inside. To my amazement, and Wirt’s, it was not a room at all but a communications station. Shelves jutted out of all four walls and upon them were comps and phone portals. In the middle on top of a large metal table stood a huge telescreen with images of an unfamiliar place. Wirt let out a tiny yelp and I confess to a slight gasp myself. I had never seen so much tech before, not even in the great library in Cityplace.

“Ye can see into that territory?”
 

“Yes Wirt, we can.”

“Is that the Beyondness?”

“It is.”

“Can you see more? Can ye see our camps?”

“No Wirt. Just the edge of that forsaken land.”

I leant close to the screen and felt Wirt’s hand on my shoulder as he peered over it to peruse the scene before us. The image was fuzzy and all I could make out was a flat and dusty terrain. Audrey fiddled with a knobby thing at the side, and the picture cleared a bit. There was nowt much there that I could see except for broken and discarded lumps of metal. I turned to face Wirt. He shook his head and stepped back.

“Why can ye not see other places?”

“Secrets, Wirt, our lives depend upon them.”

“How come ye have all of this?”

“This is not the time for explanations. Just know that we Ladies are more than we appear. Males do not look beyond the surface. That is our defence; the onetrackmindness of men. They believe us to be what they want us to be. Not what we truly are. Remember that Adara.”

“I will and assure you that I understand.”

“I believe you do. I believe below your surface many an intrigue and power lurks.”

“Nah, just a need to find my bro.”

“Where are all the trees?” Wirt said and stared deeply into the screen.

“The Beyondness does not have so much in the way of greenery, my dear. You may find it hard to take in at first.”
 

“I do not like it.”

“No, I daresay you do not, however, it is the place you are to go,” Audrey said and tapped some wordly stuff onto a button pad underneath. The image zoomed in to show a host of strange, straggly plants and a relentlessly scarred landscape. Wirt turned to me with a look of disquiet and hung his head. Noticing his sadness, she reached up to a high shelf and pulled something down. She took Wirt’s hand and pressed a red scroll into it.

“Do not look so afraid, dear Wirt. The Beyondness is not to be as feared as you might think. Like our camouflage, it too masks a deeper quality that can be found with the right direction.”
 

Wirt unwound the rolled up paper, and grinned. “A map, Adara.”

“A map to help you through the Beyondness. A place you will have to go to find your brother and the others.”

 
“Do you know where they are held?”

“I have limited info; all I can do is what I am doing. The rest is up to you.”
 

“Right, now I am afraid.”

“Do not be. Know that you will not be alone in your search.”

“Will I glean an answer if I ask what the huff you mean?”

“No.”

We all smiled and Audrey simply said, “Perhaps you will meet some informed hominids on your travels and they may well enlighten you as to your bro-bro’s whereabouts. It could be that a Backpacker may cross your path and have something to disclose.”

“You tell without saying.”

Audrey tapped the side of her delicious nose and drew our attention to the screen. “You see that narrow path?”

We bent closer to observe. I squinted but still could not discern the track. Wirt rubbed his eyes and said, “There. It is to the left of that burnt out vintagecarthingy. Do ye not see, Adara?”

“Readily I do, Wirt. Is that the path we must tread?”

“Indeed so. Goodly fortune. May the Greenman or BabyCheesus, or Onetruegod, or whomever you believe in, guide and protect you on your journey.”

I hugged Audrey and she held me tighter than I thought she was able. Then Wirt, tears a gleaming in both eyes, kissed said Lady on both cheeks. She dabbed away his wetness and led us out and behind the hut to an area of much greenness. Raising her pretty nose, Audrey sniffed the air and took my hand.

“Now, you must go on with your journey.” She directed the statement at Wirt. His face crumpled and he took a deep breath. “Be brave, Wirt, and be as worthy as your name,” Audrey said and embraced him most fondly.

“I shall be all ye expect and more.”

“We shall all partake of grub again. This I know,” I said and took Wirt’s hand. “Your company will be my strength.”

“And ye my inspiration.”

“No more farewells and sad bye-byes. You two have fate to deal with,” Audrey said and pointed towards a gigantic patch of wolf bane.

“Push your way through there and into a low place that will lead you to the path I showed. Now go.”

I swallowed hard, nodded my head and pulled Wirt with me through the dense green leaves.

Chapter Twelv
e

A Strange Encounter In The Beyondness

We emerged into what can only be described as a tunnel made from intertwined twigs and moss. The light faded abrupt-like and we were forced to crawl underneath the low canopy above our heads. Neither of us spoke as we hand-to-kneed it further through the leafy passage. On we went for such a longly time that I became sloppy in my all-four manoeuvrings and felt something snag at my gorgeous skirt. I stopped briefly, tugged the material away from a twiglet and heard it rip.

“Nay, ye have torn yer nice new frock.”

“That I have. I did not think to change my dress from the night before, what with all the bangings and crashings, and the like.”

“Good job Odelia made me wear my outdoor skirt and tunic.”
 

“Yes, good for you. Shall we continue?”

“Aye.”

I put my finger in the ragged hole below my knee and heaved a heavy sigh. Then shook my head in vexation at my foolish girlygigness and moved swiftly on. There did not seem to be an end to this tunnel and all I could see ahead was more of the same.

“Are we there yet?” Wirt called to me.

“No, and do not bother me with the same question again.”

We crawled on and every now and then I heard Wirt cuss as he too came across a spiky thing in the ground that poked and scratched. After more secs than I cared to count, I became aware that the air around us changed. Instead of smells of greenliness, there came a pong of something not quite decomposed. The air felt heavier and so did my mood, which became lighter when the tunnel did too. I was able to see that the end was but a few bits away.

“Wirt, we are all but done with this dreary passageway.”

“Good, for I am done with bits of stuff going who knows where about my person.”

At the edge of the exit, I stopped and knelt. Wirt sat next me and we looked out of the circle of leaves, onto a vastness of bleak. No luscious greenliness, or even a tootle-hoot of owlets to soothe our hungry ears. All around lay rusty clumps of twisted metal and black shredded round wheel-like things. We stepped into the strange landscape and I looked up at the sky to make sure that we hadn’t stumbled into some kind of Quantum flux paradox. But it was the same blue going on black.

The daylight was fading quickly. I turned to Wirt. He had his hand across his mouth and I swear his eyes were bigger than a moocow frightened by a Carnie with a knife. I doubt he’d ever seen anything like the Beyondness before and was feeling all scared and wanting to run back to the Ladies. I confess I was somewhat fearful myself. I’d only seen it on the screen and the bits of junk that appeared random and small looked huge and forbidding in the half-light.

In the gathering gloom, the trashed remains of automobiles and ribboned tyres took on a strange menacing form. I swear when I moved my head I saw a wheel move. I blinked and it became still again. The burnt out shells of what were once some kind of transport vehicles lay piled about, abandoned and rusted.

Some were upside down and some were on their sides, doors hanging open like dislocated jaws dropped in disbelief at the sight of such wreckage. Now that I was standing right in the middle of this out-of-bounds realm, I came to understand how my ma and pa would have succumbed to the fatal disease they caught from their brief visit. Then I remembered what Audrey said; that the tale of their demise could be a fib. I became more a-feared and stood closer to Wirt.

“This is not a goodly place. This is a place of misfortune and grief,” Wirt said and turned to me. I shrugged my shoulders and attempted a smile, but he just shook his head and partook of a fathomless sigh.

“We should search for shelter as quick as quick. Night is approaching and who knows what kind of Clonie beast pid-pads around in the darkness.”

Wirt hugged the scroll to his chest and I put my arm around his slender shoulders. “Unfurl the map. Let us see where we must tramp.”

“The light is too dim, I cannot make anything out.”

I took off my Synthbag and pulled out a small lightbeam.

“I have forgot how resourceful ye are. That pouch of yers is beyond any tech we have in the woods.”

“One of the few things that makes our living that much better.” I switched on the torch and shone it directly onto the map. Which in truth was little more than a sheet of paper with dots and dashes and kiddle-like scrawls upon it, rather than a geographical semblance of the place. I leant closer to the thing and Wirt traced his finger along and down the page.

“I am not S.A.N.T. trained, Adara, and find these swirls and lines nowt more than a jumble. I cannot make them out,” he said and smacked the map with the back of his hand.

I grabbed the thing before it fell to the ground, put it close to my face and moved the light across it. Peering at the symbols and then at the sterile landscape before us, I squinted, turned to Wirt, and held up the chart. He stretched out his neck to better see what I was pointing at.

“The massive X where my digit is shows our present location. The blobs and scribbles, I assume, are the broken cars and stuff we see about us. So, it must be that the straight black lines represent the path, or this stuff made from all things dead that sits beneath our feet.”

Wirt looked down and scraped his foot along the ground. Plumes of ash-like dirt billowed up around us clinging to our faces and hands. It felt all greasy and we cleaned the filthy stuff off on a wipe I pulled from my bag. I glanced once more at the objects on the map and tried my utmost to glean their purpose. At the far end of the thick black line was an exclamation mark. The place we should head to no doubt. However, the scary outlines that dotted either side caused a lump to form in the back of my throat. I coughed and peered into the darkening sky. Wirt licked his finger and held it up.

“Are you trying to discover from whence this sickly wind does come?”

“Aye.”

“For what purpose?”

“To keep in the midst of it so that our scent will be mingled. If any Wolfies or worse are out here, we will need as much protection as we can muster.” The he put his palms against his forehead and closed his eyes. Remaining in said state for longer than was natural.

“Wirt? Are you sleeping?” He said nowt. “Answer forthwith or I shall be forced to prod your bod.”
 

“Sssshhhh.”