A Change In The Weather

Tobias awoke and yawned and – like a dream suddenly breaking, or a nightmare unfolding - remembered the events of the previous night. He shuddered and then decided that maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to venture into the interior of the island.

‘Erm, did anyone hear anything last night?’ he ventured, pushing a pinch of tobacco into his pipe.

Hillary was squinting up at the mountain, as the sun broke over the peak.

‘No, why? Did you?’

‘Oh I might have,’ he answered, with a quaver.

‘What like?’

‘I heard something like…’

He wanted to say ‘footsteps’, but knew how foolish that sounded in his head.

‘Something rhythmic,’ he said finally, wincing at his choice of words.

Hillary turned about.

‘Really? Where?’

Tobias lit his pipe and took a puff, nodding at the mountain.

‘There,’ he said, exhaling a dense cloud of smoke, ‘definitely something strange. There’s no way on earth that you’ll get me to go into there.’

Hillary chuckled. ‘Ok then. Suit yourself,’ he said. ‘but I wonder what you’ll do when you’re all alone and waiting for that freezing weather front to turn up on the horizon?’

Suddenly Hillary’s expression was serious, and Tobias took the pipe from his mouth.

‘Point taken,’ he conceded.

‘You said rhythmic. What – like drums you mean?’ asked Hillary.

‘Actually, more like footsteps?’ replied Tobias, awkwardly conceding.

Hillary smiled. ‘I see. Well, that sounds a bit different then.’

‘So, what are we going to have for breakfast then?’ said Tobias, trying to cover up his fear and changing the subject. He failed dismally, of-course.

‘We don’t have any. We’ll have to catch or forage our own food.’

‘What? You’re joking! But I’ve never killed anything in my life before!’ he spluttered, with a cough.

‘Hope you’re a quick learner then.’ said Hillary. ‘Or you could have a bit of chocolate.’ he said, reaching into his pocket and handing out a big block of it.

‘Oh ha, ha, very funny.’

‘No, but seriously, this won’t last long, and don’t have much time left, so I suggest we get a move on. But first I’d like to know more about the sound you heard…’

Scarlet took some chocolate and popped it in her mouth.

‘So, what’s the plan then?’ she said, rubbing her hands together.

Hillary placed the rest of the chocolate back into his jacket.

‘We’re looking for a doorway,’ he said finally.

‘Oh? What sort of doorway?’ she said, brightly.

‘Like a stone archway,’ he replied, with a brief hand gesture.

‘Oh, that doesn’t sound very interesting.’

‘It should be cut into the rock face.’

‘You don’t sound very sure,’ she said. ‘Should be?’

‘Well, that’s because I haven’t been here before. I always meant to come, but there was always something else getting in the way.’

‘Oh?’

Hillary carried on looking ahead, but had the strangest feeling that Scarlet’s eyes were boring into the back of his head, and he eventually turned back to face her.

‘The archway is very special and old,’ began Hillary. ‘I know for a fact it was working over three-hundred years ago, but I’ve no idea what state it’s in - or even if it still exists, or for that matter, where it is.’

‘So what’s so special about it then?’ she said.

Hillary sighed, and looked down into Scarlet’s eyes, which sparkled and shone like diamonds. ‘It’s one of the last doorways left to Talistay.’

‘Talistay? I had thought that maybe this was Talistay actually…’ she said, indicating the island.

‘Oh far from it. In fact this place is just a steppingstone. You see, Talistay and the rest of the world of Faerie are hidden from the eyes of the world.’

‘I’ve never been there myself. What little doorways that were left, started disappearing when Man had no need for magic anymore, relying - instead - on physics and mechanics and other diverse arts as we magic folk like to say.’

He laughed.

Scarlet looked puzzled.

Hillary continued. ‘You see, the land lies inverted dimensionally - inside-out of reality if you like.’ He looked at Scarlet for a reaction. ‘Don’t worry – it’s a difficult concept to grasp.’

Hillary reached into his pocket and held out a compass in front of her.

‘That is, if you were there and held out a compass like this one, the cardinal points would be completely reversed. North would be where south was and vice versa, although east would still point east and west would still point west.’

‘Of-course if you were there, it would look completely normal and you’d think nothing of it. But passing through the veil of the spell or nearing it, the compass hand would swing round quickly…’

‘I can’t wait to see it Hillary…’ she said finally, staring at the compass. ‘All the things that you and Torfang told us. I still can’t quite believe that Thomas and me are somehow involved in this place. It’s like all this is a dream and that any minute now I’m going to wake up.’

Hillary snapped the case shut and put the compass away.

Scarlet looked up.

‘I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz…’

Hillary laughed. ‘The Wizard of Oz? Now, now, there’s no need to get quite so excited. I’m afraid the reality is far duller. All that remains of Talistay is a faded grandeur of things long past. It’s now little more than a home to long dead ghosts and things best left unmentioned…’

Hillary stopped as if he’d said too much.

Scarlet looked puzzled.

‘But if that’s all there is, then why are we going there then?’

‘Because – and here I’m just clutching at straws - there may be a means to cure the rift between the two worlds. At least from there, where magic is still very strong, we have a fighting chance of accomplishing something. That is, if Talistay still exists and hasn’t been razed to the ground.’

But Hillary’s words trailed off.

He was staring in disbelief at the way ahead. A landslide had completely covered the path with rubble. There seemed to be no way on.

‘No!’ shouted Hillary, running towards the rocks.

He tried desperately to see a way through, but it was as he feared. The way was blocked. Finally, he turned back looking crestfallen and slumped down onto a rock.

‘It’s no good, there’s no way on.’

‘Aren’t there other ways though?’ asked Scarlet, hopefully.

‘Other ways?’ replied Hillary, raising an eyebrow. ‘Maybe there are somewhere, but none that I know of. Certainly there’s no way we can get over this.’ he said, slapping his hand against one of the boulders in frustration.
‘What about the rings?’ she suggested. She had no idea if they’d work. She’d never carried other people into the air with them.

Hillary’s sullen expression seemed to brighten instantly.

‘Of-course, dear girl. Of-course! Quick, everyone hold hands. Scarlet and Thomas - you stay in the middle and concentrate on keeping us above the mountain path.’

Everyone gathered together, holding each other tightly. Hillary gave a quick look over the edge into the abyss below and shivered.

‘Oh, the disgrace of it…’ muttered Wendle, as he was bundled into Hillary’s arms.

It didn’t take Scarlet and Thomas long to wind the tiny devices, and as soon as they’d reached the stop indicated by a loud clicking sound, they held out their hands. The cases flipped open once more, followed by a droning sound as the mechanisms inside them fiercely unwound. No sooner had this happened than they found themselves lifting off the ground, their hair all wayward and floating. Instantly, they felt the strange sensation of weightlessness once more.

‘Everyone hang on! We’re going up!’ shouted Scarlet.

As they ascended, Hillary noticed the full extent of the rockslide. It was worse than previously feared: it seemed like the whole side of the mountain had come away. Hillary was now worried that there wouldn’t be enough power in the rings to get them over the worst of it. Wendle started shaking with fear, unable to control his quaking legs. ‘Just don’t drop me…’ he wimpered.

‘Don’t worry old friend…’ said Hillary, holding him tightly. ‘We’re over the worst of it.’

After a while, they touched down on the other side of the rockslide.

Tobias, visibly relieved at being on terra firma once more, reached for his trusty pipe in an effort to calm his frayed nerves, and patted down his wayward hairstyle.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,’ he muttered, shaking his head. ‘It just isn’t normal.’

Scarlet walked off ahead with Thomas where the path meandered further on up the mountain. But at least it was a wide path with no obstacles to overcome anymore.

After a few hours of marching, she thought she heard something and had to stop to get an idea of where the sound was coming from. Thomas followed her. Hillary and Tobias were walking along at their own pace, talking to each other, but were some way behind.

And then Scarlet found it.

A mountain stream, cascading as a waterfall, gathered in a little pool before running on down the side of the mountain. She cupped her hands and took a great drink. The ice-cold water was refreshing.

As she looked up, she noticed something on the far side of the path. Something that looked like an archway! She stumbled as she waded through the water to get to the other side, much to Thomas’s amusement.

‘What? What’s the matter?’ he asked, gulping down a handful of the crystal clear water.

‘Hillary! Hillary! I’ve found it!’ she exclaimed, waving him over.

But the archway was strange, and not at all what she expected.

Inside the archway-like alcove, something that could only be described as a wooden peg kept turning. It was connected via a hole through the side of the archway to the pool beyond. As she traced it around the side, she was surprised to find that it was connected to a waterwheel which was hidden by overgrowth. The waterwheel was a considerable size, about the same size as the ones used in old water mills.

Hillary couldn’t fathom the purpose of it either, although it suggested that maybe they were not alone on the island afterall.

‘Is this what we’ve been looking for?’ asked Thomas.

‘I’m afraid not,’ replied Hillary. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before, and believe me, I’ve seen a lot of things.’

He looked up at the alcove and estimated that it must have been over six metres tall.

Finally, he shook his head, and pointed further along the path.

‘Come on, let’s get on.’

The way ahead was getting steeper and steeper, until after a while it started to level out.

What Hillary saw next was a welcome sight.