The Space Between (10 page)

Keeble had already moved on and was working
at the knee and shoulder of one of the creatures like a madman,
swinging his axe as if he could do it all day. Kim hefted her mace
with a grunt and went to help.

Warriors swarmed around her, mainly carrying
a mixture of swords and maces. One man had a huge war hammer, and
there were two others with flails. Suddenly in a real battle, the
men fought with none of the melodrama of earlier in the day. They
swung their weapons with grim, wide-eyed determination or a
half-wild frenzy. They died in a number of realistic ways.

Kim gritted her teeth and tried to ignore
what was happening around her. The men probably would've lived if
she hadn't insulted them. They would have run into the trees to
hide like sensible people. But others would have died — women,
children, damsels. She stopped thinking about it and concentrated
on the one creature in front of her, with its slow movements and
deadly arm. Just one creature. Just one alien. She almost laughed
at the absurdity of it.

As she rushed in, Keeble shifted his attack
to the creature's faceplate. He swung with a grunt of effort then
quickly moved out of the way so Kim could attack the same place.
Her mace broke through and Keeble was already swinging, finishing
the creature off.

“
[We can't win,]” he said,
leaning his axe against his side for a moment while he wiped sweat
from his face.

"What?"

He shrugged, picked up his weapon again, and
moved quickly towards the edge of the field where the crowd had
once been. Kim followed at a slower pace. The little man looked
like he had the energy of a four year old, but Kim was struggling.
She didn't know if she'd be any help at all.

As she approached the remains of the
grandstand, Kim saw the Wicked Witch's granddaughter, Jessie,
standing next to the fallen figure of her mother. Her fairy wings
were hanging crookedly, and her curly hair was black with soot. She
was wailing and sobbing as she stood and looked around for someone
to help. Anyone.

Kim studied the crowd as she ran, looking
for the witch. There, under the trees. Kim spied the old woman at
almost the same moment she spotted her granddaughter. A look of
horror crossed her face and she headed out into the open as fast as
she could, which was barely above walking speed.

There was an alien not ten meters from the
girl. It finished off a man who, face bloody, was struggling to get
to his feet. Then it started to turn. Kim headed towards it. She
wasn't going to make it though. Her legs were aching. She was
almost dragging the mace behind her as she leapt fallen people.

She watched in horror as the creature
brought its bulging arm to bear on the girl. It paused, adjusted
aim.

The witch was there, hobbling terribly,
wheezing from exertion and smoke. She grabbed the girl and
crouched, putting herself between her and the weapon.

And the creature paused. It was completely
still for one second, two seconds, then it started to move again,
swinging its weapon around as it tracked a small man in a monk's
habit. Summoning up the last of her energy, Kim swung her mace just
as the monk let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground. Tears
blurred her vision but she swung again and again, yelling with
frustration, with fear and anger.

The creature died where it stood. Kim swung
two more times before she took control of herself. Even then, she
might have kept going had not a noise impinged on her
consciousness. It took her a moment to work out what it was and a
moment more to realize it was a good thing. Heaving smoke filled
breaths into her lungs, wiping the tears from her face, she turned
and examined the sky. Three helicopters, barely audible over the
sounds of battle, were dipping down towards the far side of the
cricket field.

Before they had even settled, men were
streaming out. Soldiers. Red Berets. They assessed the situation
quickly and set to work with spectacular results.

Gunshots rang out, adding to the general
clamor. Suits of armor started to explode. Kim crouched down,
leaning on her mace, and watched. Breathing was still hard, and her
chest was tight with tension, but she gave a small smile. Some of
the knights gave a ragged cheer. Kim saw Sir Douglas turn to look
for a moment. He glanced at Kim, too, and she gave him a nod. But
he'd already moved on to blunt his sword on the face of an alien
who was still trudging among the bodies.

It was too late for some, and there would be
more deaths before the battle was over, but now the professionals
were here. The experts.

"Kim?"

Nearby, the old woman was leading Jessie
away from her mother's body, gently tugging her hand and saying
something. It wasn't a happy ending. It probably wasn't really an
ending at all. Just the beginning of something much stranger.

"Kim?"

Kim turned to see Meledrin stepping
carefully across the field behind her. The woman's red hair was
still immaculate. Her dress was marked with soot and grime, but,
with her calm assurance, it hardly seemed to matter.

"What do you want now?"

"Can assist me now? Can assist my
people?"

"What?"

Meledrin sighed, the first real sign of any
emotion Kim had seen from her. "My people being attacked by these
same creatures. Need help."

Kim looked around. British soldiers were
advancing across the field. Some were already setting up defensive
positions as more bats circled overhead. If the strange creatures
really were aliens, then they seemed to be paying a lot of
attention to an insignificant place like Sherwood Forest. Unless it
was actually an important location. Unless.

Kim couldn't dismiss what Meledrin was
saying out of hand. The armored alien had been in the tree long
before any of the others had turned up. Meledrin had asked for help
before they had turned up. How could Kim question anything without
checking the facts when she had just finished killing aliens with a
mace?

"Okay. All right."

There was a group of soldiers not far away
checking on injured people while they continued to scan their
surroundings. One of them was an officer.

"Captain," Kim called.

The man turned to look.

"Can I have a lend of ten men?"

"What? No."

"Are you in charge?"

"No."

"Then who is?"

He looked around. "The major is busy at the
moment."

A group of men on the other side of the
field were setting up a mortar.

"Kim, we do not have time," Meledrin
said.

"How about one guy? He can come back in a
couple of minutes and tell you I'm an idiot, or he can come back
and get help."

"Help?"

"There may be more aliens in the
forest."

"Aliens? Who says their aliens?"

"Have you seen them?"

"Nothing has landed in there." But the
captain chewed on his lip for a moment. "Manning, go see what the
hell she's talking about."

A private rose quickly to his feet and
followed Kim as she, in turn, followed Meledrin.

“
[Wait for me, woman.]”
Keeble was racing across the field, short legs pumping.

"What's this all about?" Manning asked as
they hurried along the path. He was watching the woods, rifle held
ready.

Kim shook her head, and then decided to
answer. "These two claim to be an elf and a dwarf. They claim they
didn't speak English an hour ago." She shrugged. "All I know is
they seemed to appear in the Major Oak as if by magic, and one of
the armored alien guys was following them. And this was well before
the bats arrived."

"And that means?"

Kim shrugged again. "Beats me. But I think
we should find out."

Meledrin was leaning against the fence when
they started across the clearing towards the Major Oak.

"Us wait for Keeble." Meledrin said when Kim
had joined her. "My people know defend selves, Kim, but not
warlike. Can get more warriors? Might be needed, still."

"I can't get anyone else but Manning can if
he thinks it necessary."

Meledrin glanced at the soldier, dismissed
him. "He just a man. You Warder. Have authority. "

"A Warder?" Kim couldn't think straight. It
seemed to be contagious. "I'm not a Warder. I don't even know what
one is."

"You only person when we arrived. You
tending to tree."

"I wasn't tending to anything. I was
resting. Tending to be bored, maybe."

"Yes, but..."

Keeble came across the clearing, muttering
all the way. He reached the fence and clambered over. Meledrin
followed.

"Are you come? Time is..." Meledrin searched
for a word, then shrugged. “[Short.]”

Of course it was. People were dying. Strange
creatures and even stranger creatures were attacking Sherwood
Forest. "Sure it is." Kim climbed over the fence, but only went
half of the distance to the tree. She could see inside more clearly
now. Keeble had entered a moment ago, struggling through the gap,
but was nowhere to be seen.

Manning stood beside her and looked nervous
for the first time. "Ah, where is he?"

Meledrin looked over her shoulder. "Keeble
to Grovely. Come, we must go low."

"Crawl?"

"Yes. Crawl, I think. Go hands and..." She
tapped at her knee.

"Knees."

"Yes." The tall woman made her way into the
hollow tree, hitched up her dress, lowered herself to her hands and
knees, and crawled out of sight.

Kim tried to see where she was, squinting
into the darkness, leaning forward to see if there was anything to
see.

"All right," Manning said, "what the hell is
going on?"

When the woman stepped into the light once
more Kim jumped, and the soldier's rifle snapped around to point at
her.

"Are you come?"

Kim shook her head. Manning licked his
lips.

"Not danger now, I think. Warriors from sky
moved on." The woman's voice was calm, but Kim could see the
tension in her jaw and neck. She saw a flash of horror in her eyes,
but an instant later that was gone as well. "Come. There is no
longer need to crawl. The hole has been enlarged."

And then she was gone. One
moment the woman had been there, tall and striking like nobody Kim
had ever seen, and the next she was gone. And this time Kim knew
she really had
vanished
, not just stepped into the darkness.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Kim stayed where she was. Away through the
trees she could still hear battle. The sun was dipping down behind
the trees. Finally, she moved the rest of the way to the tree and
peered inside. As expected, there was nothing there to see.

And isn't it strange that
I expected to see nothing?
"Are you
coming?" Kim swallowed and climbed through the gap into the
tree.

Manning came behind.

Inside, darkness was almost complete, so she
felt around.

At first she felt wood, rough and old and
dry, and felt like a fool. Then her hand slipped into nothing where
there should've been something. She walked forward slowly.

After less than a meter she stepped out into
a clearing that most definitely hadn't been on the far side of the
Major Oak.

She was beneath the largest tree she'd ever
seen. It shaded acres but huge branches, as big as normal trees,
had recently broken off, creating gaps overhead. Two moons were
visible. Huge black bats were circling. Fires blazed in numerous
areas, and the smell of low-grade explosives permeated the air.

Closer by, a scatter of bodies lay amongst
the wreckage of the tree. Most appeared very similar to Meledrin,
tall and thin, but there were also some in armor.

Kim quickly went back the way she'd come
pushing past Private Manning as he stood and stared. She climbed
back over the fence and sank to the ground, leaning back against a
rough timber pole and staring out at the forest. She was shaking
all over. She couldn't stop.

For a long time she stayed that way, legs
stretched out before her, until she heard sounds coming from inside
the tree once more.

Manning was there a moment later. He vaulted
over the fence, slung his rifle over his back and ran. "Be
careful," he shouted over his shoulder, "the aliens are still
there."

A couple of minutes later, Kim heard noises
behind her and scrambled to her feet, looking for a place to hide.
After a second she recognized Meledrin's voice and turned to
look.

“
[Careful with him, Keeble.
His head is not as hard as yours.]”

“
[If he lives with you,
it'd have to be.]”

Keeble was slowly emerging from inside the
tree, dragging an unconscious 'elf' out into the open. Meledrin did
what she could to help from inside, but the gap was too narrow to
make the task easy.

"Who's this?" Kim asked. She shook her head
in disbelief. Here she was, looking at someone in serious trouble,
and she was worried about his name.

"This is Palsamon." Meledrin waved her
fingers around.

The stranger had an ugly gash across his leg
that was bleeding heavily, and his arm was broken. Burns marked his
chest and neck. A lump the size of an egg lifted the waves of his
silvery hair near his left ear. Biting her lip, Kim tried to think.
She quickly removed her jumper. It was a woolen affair that would
be no good as a bandage. Then she removed her T-shirt and tied it
tightly around the man's injured leg.

“
[What do you think you're
doing? That's the most disgusting display of...]”

"What?" Kim looked up to see both Keeble and
Meledrin staring at her with expressions of shock stamped on their
faces.

"What you do?" Meledrin gestured. "It is not
proper."

"What?" Kim was wearing jeans and a bra. It
wasn't as if she'd stripped naked. And it wasn't as if she'd done
it for fun. Reminded of her T-shirt, she took a moment to make sure
it was doing its new job successfully. It seemed to be, so she
returned her attention to the elf and dwarf. "What?"