A Change In The Weather

Chapter 49: A Change In The Weather

16 March, 2008 – 10:39 pm

Tobias looked on, numb with disbelief.

‘Oh my god,’ he gasped, and then rolled his eyes upwards and slid down the rock in a faint.

‘Over my dead body.’ spat Hillary, and grabbed his staff.

Clambering over Tobias, he rushed after the giant, following as it lumbered off, splintering trees and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake as it headed back to the dreaded hoard of skulls.

Thomas kept pace from the air, diving and swooping at the giant in an attempt to distract it. It swatted at him like he was a tiny fly - as if he was an annoyance rather than an adversary - narrowly missing him a couple of times. Any of the blows would have killed him instantly, but this didn’t seem to bother him, as he could still see that Scarlet was unconscious, and she was all that was occupying his thoughts for the time being.

What was he going to do now? He honestly had no idea. All he knew was that he had to do something – anything - to recover his sister. This wasn’t at all like Thomas of old, and he knew it. A fierce protective urge welled up from deep within and he turned around once more for another attack.

To hell with the consequences, he thought. I want my sister back!

And so he swooped down, landed and tried to wrench a large rock from the ground.

But it just sat there, immobile.

He tried again, thinking about the terrible fate that lay in wait for Scarlet if he failed. It was something that he couldn’t let happen. She was relying on him, and the thought hung heavy with him. Now it was his turn to thank her for all the times that he’d relied on her, and he felt a rush of adrenaline course through his veins.

‘Come on!’ he shouted in frustration, kicking at the rock. ‘Move, damn you!’

This time, the ground gave way, and the rock came free. He held it tight to his chest and rose again into the air. The influence of the levitonite in the rings had the uncanny ability to make objects seem almost weightless, and he clung to the rock in the hope that this plan would work.

He came down low behind the giant, hoping that it wouldn’t see him in its blind spot, at least not before it was too late anyway. As he crept up, he could just make out Scarlet, who looked very still, and he felt instantly sick. Either she was asleep, or… he dared not imagine the alternative.

With gritted teeth he climbed so that he was directly above the giant as it strode on, carefully matching its speed as he climbed even higher into the air. As he looked down to position himself, he noticed Scarlet looking up at him.

Relieved, he allowed himself a little smile, but inside he knew that this was going to be his first and only chance to be successful. Taking careful aim, he let the boulder go, and waited there motionless in the air as he watched it fall towards the giant, picking up speed with every second.

It was followed by a hollow thudding sound as the falling rock struck the top of the giant’s head, which took most of the force, and collapsed inward on itself.

It stood there silent and still, as if dazed as the rock fell in two halves pathetically to the ground.

Scarlet managed to scramble away and jump to the floor, running back towards Hillary who had just arrived.

Thomas slowly descended, keeping a watchful eye on the now immobile giant as smoke started issuing from its now smashed and useless head.

‘Quick! Get out of the way!’ shouted Hillary.

The giant rocked slowly forwards and then backwards, before crashing to the scrub in a cloud of dust and debris.

Thomas ran over to Scarlet and hugged her.

‘Thanks,’ she said, closing her eyes. ‘You almost killed me though,’ she whispered, jokingly. ‘When I saw that great big stone falling, I just closed me eyes and hoped that it wouldn’t hit me.’

‘I didn’t think. I just did it.’ said Thomas. ‘At least you’re alive though. That’s the main thing.’

‘It is indeed.’ said Hillary. ‘Are you alright though?’

‘Yeah, I think so,’ said Scarlet, rubbing her head. ‘Is that it then? The giant I mean, is it dead?’

Hillary laughed. ‘I would say so. Yes.’

He walked over to the corpse of the guardian that lay crumpled in a heap not ten feet away - its workings shattered into a thousand pieces, with fragments of wheels, springs and gears strewn all around - and stared sifting through the wreckage.

Scarlet frowned.

‘What are you looking for?’ she asked.

He picked up something and walked back to her.

‘Ah, there it is…’ he said.

‘What?’ she said.

Hillary held out his hand. ‘It’s the clockwork brain.’ he said.

Scarlet looked at the small cage of clockwork, which was still in remarkably good condition. It housed a collection of tiny cogs, springs, gears and other things which were too minute to study without the aid of a magnifying glass. It resembled the workings of the levitonite rings, but was, of-course, constructed on a far bigger scale.

‘What the hell do you want that thing for?’ she said, wrinkling her nose up in disgust.

‘Look at it again…’

Scarlet did as she was told and looked back down at it, but this time something caught her eye; a small batch of dried grass and twigs had embedded itself into some of the minute workings.

‘It’s a bird’s nest,’ said Hillary.

‘And, your point is?’

‘Well, my point is this: maybe the giant wasn’t really crazy after all.’

‘No, it was crazy, Hillary.’ she said, reassuring him, knowingly. And she looked up at him, as he was the crazy one now.
‘No, let me finish. This nest could be over two hundred years old. Maybe, because it was fouling up tiny workings, it couldn’t think straight, and consequently its logic became a bit fuzzy?’

She nodded.

‘And?’

He popped the filigree cage over, blew the twigs and dust out of it and wound one of the wheels up a few times and released it. As it unwound, it made a tiny buzzing sound.

‘zzzzz… bzzzz.. my that’s better.’ said the box with a crackly voice. ‘zzz.. but where am I?’

And then Hillary noticed the drop in temperature. It was perhaps only a couple of degrees, but noticeable nonetheless.

Heavy grey clouds had begun to gather, and a flock of seagulls wheeled madly in the air overhead.

Something floated past his nose and he looked up; the first few flakes of snow had begun to fall.

Scarlet looked at it incredulously. ‘What? It’s snowing!’

Hillary nodded. ‘I told you,’ he said with dismay. ‘The weather has followed us.’

‘zzz… will someone please tell me what’s happening? zzzz’

Hillary shook his head.

‘It’s time we moved through the gateway.’

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