Parallel Inversion, page 27
part #1 of The Parellyrian Chronicles Series
Then, quite unexpectedly, the army began to shift their course, turning north, and away from the city. Terimor stepped forward to look over the edge of the wall and confirm what he was seeing. The last of Melamina's soldiers were still scrambling back in through the gate, and Professor Kultizs' device seemed to be in even more pieces than before, but the mechanical army was undeniably turning away from the city.
Everyone on the wall erupted in cheers, and the soldiers below turned to see what was going on. When they saw that they were no longer being pursued, they stopped trying so frantically to get back in through the gate, and joined the archers in a raucous ovation.
Romanbak sifted carefully between the soldiers celebrating atop the wall towards Terimor. He knew that now, since the threat seemed to have been neutralized, his friend would be free to grieve for both his sons. He hoped that the knowledge that Calidus had not been killed, but rather transported to another world, would serve as a comfort.
“Teri!” he called.
Terimor looked up and saw his friend approaching. He made his way to Romanbak, hugged him, and sobbed into his shoulder.
“My sons!”
“Calidus is alive.”
Terimor stepped back and looked Romanbak in the eye. “Are you certain?”
Romanbak nodded. “I recognized the manner in which he disappeared. Those soldiers were made of nelodomite. He has been teleported to Karen's world."
Terimor wiped a tear away and took one more look out over the wall. Romanbak joined him, and saw the confounded look on his face.
“What is it?” he said.
“Levaricent sent an entire army here, only to have them bypass the city. Why?”
Romanbak considered Terimor's question, and he realized that his friend's concern was legitimate. Then a thought struck him. He flew up once again to get a look at the army as they disappeared into the forest. It was then that he realized that Melamina City was never their intended destination.
They were headed to Kulamahar.
Chapter Twenty-Five
As soon as his partner had driven out of sight, Officer Willis scurried back inside the observatory, scooped up the dwarf's battle axe, and stared at it admiringly.
The weight of it impressed him first. It was quite heavy, and he was surprised that so small a man as Niffain managed to carry it so easily. He wondered what kind of wood the handle was made of as he ran his fingers along the edge to the axe-head. He continued tracing the outline with his hand until he reached the blade. He grazed the metal with his finger, which was dull due to the dwarf's efforts to break out of the lab. Willis thoughtlessly pressed his fingertips down onto the blade to see just how dull it was, and he managed to cut through his skin. Droplets of blood fell to the floor.
“Ow!” He dropped the axe in front of him and brought his finger to his mouth. He pulled it out after a moment, and saw the blood begin to gather again and prepare to seep out through the still open wound. He realized that it was not going to heal itself, and he would need to do something about it.
Willis brought his finger back to his mouth and made his way to the living quarters. He ran his finger under cold water from the tap and began simultaneously rummaging through cupboards and drawers with his other hand, searching for something to stop the bleeding. He soon found a small package of bandages, wrapped one around the cleaned cut, and returned to the lab.
Forgetting how he had injured himself, Willis picked up the axe once again and stood in what he imagined was a battle-ready position: his feet together, the weapon draped over his shoulder like a duffel bag. He then stepped forward and swung the axe in front of him, intending to stop it quickly. But his hands were too close together, and too far from the blade, which had more heft to it than Willis had realized. The momentum of the axe kept it swinging downwards and Willis had to move fast to avoid cutting off his own foot. The axe slipped out of his hands, flew backwards through the air, and got stuck in the wall on the opposite side of the lab.
Willis decided he'd had enough and sat down to await the forensics team. He hoped they wouldn't look too closely at the axe embedded in the wall, or the drops of his blood on the floor.
He was nearly asleep when they arrived an hour later, but he forced himself up when he heard the tires rolling on the dirt road outside. The potential danger of falling asleep alone, with the door open, miles from civilization, at the possible scene of a kidnapping, was lost on him.
Willis yawned and walked toward the front door to wave the forensics team inside. They came in carrying a good deal of equipment, which they set up around the room. The woman in charge asked him a few questions about the situation, which he groggily answered to the best of his abilities. Then she walked away to join her team with an exasperated sigh, muttering something about police incompetence. Willis ignored her and made his way into the living quarters, where he promptly fell asleep on the cot.
A few hours later, he was awoken by a member of the forensics team pouring cold water onto his head. He sat up and started waving his arms about to try to limit the volume of cold liquid that hit him.
“Rise and shine, Goldilocks,” said the forensics agent. “We're done here.”
“Thanks, asshole. You didn't need to pour cold water on me to wake me up.”
The forensics agent shrugged his shoulders. “I didn't need to pour water on you in the same way that you didn't need to forget all your crime scene custody, contamination, or preservation of evidence training, and bleed all over the place. But hey, we're all professional here, right? We're nothing without professional courtesy. ” He put the now empty bucket on the floor. “Come on, we'll give you a ride back to the station.”
Willis grumbled as he stood up to follow the man outside, shaking his head like a dog to get the water out of his hair. He walked slowly, and when he stepped out of the building, he saw that the entire forensics team was already waiting for him. He paused to make a quick call to his partner at the station, using the radio attached to his uniform, then he began sauntering over to the crew.
Willis hadn't taken three steps when there was an audible sizzling from behind him followed by a flash of light so bright that it lit up the trees. He could see the faces of the forensics team in the flash and their state of shock was apparent. He held up his hand to tell them to remain in their vehicle, then spun around to see the light fading from inside the observatory. He added to his radio call to his partner, suggesting that he might need backup. Then he drew his pistol and his flashlight, and he stepped back inside.
The sun had set just enough that the majority of the lab was now in shadow. Pairing the flashlight with his pistol, Willis started to clear the room, sweeping for yet to be perceived threats.
For a moment he saw his flashlight glimmer off something shiny, but by the time he noticed he had already passed it by. He moved the light back and it glimmered again, this time off something much closer and approaching rapidly. Willis did not have enough time to react as the glistening object barreled into him with incredible force, pushing him back out of the lab through the open doorway.
Willis lost his grip on his pistol and his flashlight, which went soaring away from him in opposite directions. He landed hard on his back, wincing in pain with his eyes tightly closed. When he opened them he looked up to see the point of a huge sword inches from his face. At its hilt was the hand of a correspondingly huge man who clearly knew how to handle the weapon.
“I am Calidus Thorogren, head of King Aidenroy's Circle of Knights, and I demand to know where I am.”
Willis gulped, fearing for his life, but at the same time wondering if this guy was for real. He decided not to risk angering the fellow, choosing instead to answer his question. It wouldn't be too long before backup arrived, anyway. Or so he hoped.
“You're just outside Professor Romanbak's laboratory.”
“Romanbak?” Calidus said, his eyes growing wide.
“Yes,” Willis said, and decided to explore the thought a bit further. “Do you know where he is?”
“He is in Melamina City with my father, trying to fight off Levaricent's mechanical army. Why do you ask?”
“He is a suspect in the kidnapping of Karen Volar.”
“Hah!” Calidus began pacing around Willis in a mildly threatening circle to demonstrate that the officer was covered from all angles. “Romanbak is no kidnapper. He is a hero to the entire kingdom.”
This was news to Willis. “Well, the fact remains that Karen Volar is missing, and her last known destination was Romanbak's lab.”
Calidus paused mid-step, furrowed his eyebrows, and stared at Willis. “There's something you're not telling me,” he said. “Why would this Karen trek to a laboratory that's been abandoned for twenty years? Was she trying to discover some of Levaricent's secrets for her own purposes?”
“Who is Levaricent?”
Calidus cocked an eyebrow, wondering whether Willis was really ignorant of the existence of the evil elf wizard, or if perhaps it was a tactic for distraction.
“Hey!” a voice called from the distance. Calidus looked up towards the source and saw several people emerging from the belly of a large metallic beast from two openings on either side. Two bright beams of light flashed from the beast's eyes, blinding Calidus, and distracting him enough for Willis to scurry out from underneath him and escape. The officer scrambled back to the car and joined the forensics team, still without a weapon, but glad to be away from the crazed knight.
Finding the situation too unfamiliar, Calidus turned away from the light and began tearing through the forest, his eyes adjusting to the darkness just enough for him to avoid running straight into a tree.
“Benton,” Willis said into his radio once more, “it seems the situation is a little stranger than I thought.”
Detective Benton was pleased, when he arrived at the station with his three detainees in tow, that the ride over was relatively free of drama. Trevor and Elizabeth did not bicker, and in fact said very little to each other the whole way there. The vast majority of talking came from the dwarf, who commented often that the scenery appeared unfamiliar. He was also impressed with the architecture of the University, and wondered aloud how anyone could have constructed such buildings, even theorizing that magic must have played a part.
He quieted down when the three were brought into the station for questioning. With limited resources, and limited time, Benton had little choice but to question the three together, on his own. As they were not yet considered suspects, he was not breaking department policy by doing so, and he was confident that he would be able to see through any lies they might try to tell him.
He led them into a medium sized room containing a single couch at the far end, a table, a small trash bin, a CCTV camera, and a stainless steel toilet in the corner. Trevor paid close attention to the latch mechanism on the door as he stepped inside. Benton turned on the light and sat them down on the couch, then read them their Miranda rights.
Once concluded, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Smoke?”
Trevor and Elizabeth refused. Niffain only looked more confused.
“So,” Benton continued, “do you want to tell me what you were doing in Romanbak's lab?”
Right away Elizabeth delved into her story, giving more detail than necessary at times, and skipping over important details at other times. When she began telling parts that included Trevor, the newspaper editor would often interject in his own defense, either in an attempt to reduce the apparent intensity of his confrontation with the police officer in the hallway, or to justify his glance down Elizabeth's shirt.
Throughout the telling of the story Niffain remained silent. In fact, he did not seem to factor whatsoever into the story whatsoever.
“So what about this guy?” Benton said, gesturing toward Niffain, once Trevor and Elizabeth concluded their tale.
Trevor looked over at the diminutive man. “I have no idea where the hell he came from.”
Benton looked down at Niffain, who in turn looked back up at him in silence. “Well?” said the detective.
Niffain took a breath, and began to speak. “I am Niffain Marduk, son of renowned dwarf scientist Brondin Marduk. I was kidnapped by the evil elf wizard Levaricent, taken to his lair in the Koyin mountains, and then teleported to this world.”
Benton had been almost ready to believe the stories he was being told before Niffain told his. He heard both Elizabeth and Trevor sigh in exasperation. They clearly felt that Niffain's outrageous story was a detriment to their own. But Benton stared into the dwarf's eyes and determined that, at the very least, Niffain believed every word that was coming out of his mouth.
“Well,” said Benton, “that's quite a story.” He paced back and forth in front of the three detainees. “You sure that's what you want to go with?”
“Hey man, that's his story. Not mine. Mine's the same as hers.” Trevor gestured toward Elizabeth.
“Okay,” said Benton. “Sit tight.” He moved to leave the room.
“So we just wait?” Trevor said. “In here?”
“Unless you'd prefer a cell,” Benton said.
“Could we at least get something to eat?” said Elizabeth.
“Mexican?” Trevor suggested, remembering the taco that was taken from him earlier.
“I'll see if I can grab something for you.”
Trevor smiled, Elizabeth leaned back on the couch, and Niffain said, “What's Mexican?”
Benton decided to let Elizabeth and Trevor try to answer the clearly disoriented dwarf. He knocked on the handle-free door of the room, and a fellow officer let him out. The door closed and behind him and he in the locked it, leaving only the door's small, wire reinforced window through which the detainees could look outside.
Benton returned to his desk, sat down, and checked his answering machine for any responses he might have received to possible leads he had explored regarding Karen's disappearance. He was no longer expecting one from the editor of the student newspaper where she worked, as that had turned out to be Trevor. But Benton had managed to learn Karen's destination for her last, unfinished assignment from another employee at the paper who was concerned with the young woman's disappearance. There was one message from Karen's mother, but it was merely to confirm that Karen had not yet come home, and to promise that if she did see Karen, she would call in right away.
Frustrated with his lack of success, Benton decided to search through the phone book for a nearby Mexican restaurant from which he could order food for his detained guests. He found a nearby location in the shopping mall on campus that was willing to deliver. He ordered a few simple items and went back to work.
As the hours passed, Benton managed to eliminate numerous possible causes for Karen's disappearance. Even still, he would much rather have had something more positive come about, so that the three people waiting in the makeshift interrogation room nearby, who he was sure were innocent of any direct involvement in Karen's disappearance, could be allowed to leave, and Karen could be found, and the case could be closed. The highlight of his afternoon was when the Mexican food arrived (some of which he had ordered for himself), and he saw Trevor, Elizabeth, and Niffain's hungry faces light up when he delivered it to them.
After the sun had set, and Benton had completed hours of fruitless research, his radio crackled to life.
“Benton, this is Willis. The forensics crew has finished up here, so we'll be heading back to the station right away. Over.”
“Roger.” Benton leaned back in his chair to take a short break from his work while he waited for his partner to return. He was hopeful that the forensics team had turned up something promising, and he would be able to release Trevor, Elizabeth, and Niffain, and then he could to go home to sleep.
His wait was short lived, though, as his radio broadcast another, more cryptic message.
“Benton, there's something strange going on. Everyone's outside, but there's some lights and noises coming from inside the lab. I'm going to check it out. Stand by in case I need backup. Over.”
Benton leaned closer into his radio, which he had set on his desk, listening closely for Willis's next call. There were a couple minutes of silence, and Benton began to wonder whether his partner was playing a joke on him, intriguing him with a made up story so that he would stay close to his radio before a very loud message came through, startling him.
Benton reached over to turn the volume on his radio down just slightly, but before he reached it, it crackled to life once more. Willis's voice sounded quite serious when he spoke. “Benton, it seems the situation is a little stranger than I thought. You might want to get down here right away. Over.”
“Roger that. I'm on my way.” Benton made sure he had his keys and his pistol, and he headed out to meet his partner, forgetting about Elizabeth, Niffain, and Trevor, who were all still locked in the interrogation room.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The overwhelming darkness gave way to a hint of flickering light in the corner, and Dalius slowly, with much effort, forced his eyes open. He was now lying on his back inside a large cave, protected from the cold wind outside, and only a few feet from a large, crackling fire. He blinked his eyes open and closed a few times to make sure that what he was experiencing was real. As he recalled, his last conscious thought had been that he was near death. But his surroundings did not change, and he reveled in the fact that he was still alive.
Dalius gathered enough strength to lift his head, and eventually his torso, until he reached a near sitting position, resting his elbows on the ground. He looked left and right, searching for someone else within the confines of the cave. He was fairly certain that he had heard Karen's voice and seen her outline in his final moments before losing consciousness. Even if it had not been her, it was clear that someone was the benefactor of his escape from the cold, and he was determined to find out who it was. They must be around somewhere.
