Chapter 19

19.

         This would be a good time for someone to rescue me, Kara thought, just as the ground exploded beneath her.
         Her yell of surprise was aborted as her mouth was filled with dirt and leaves. The muffled boom was a punch to her gut, lifting Kara off her feet. The world wobbled and roared around her as she briefly achieved flight. Instinctively, she covered her head as the world tilted and upended itself, air whistling like a siren in her ears, screaming and collapsing, the pitch descending even as she plummeted, a body falling from a disintegrated orbit, with gravity wresting final control, and only one direction available.
         Wait, maybe I can-
         She hit the ground hard, wrenching the same shoulder that had been wounded before, sending new spider-lines of pain skittering across her side. Momentum caused her to roll several feet, rocks and branches scratching and gouging her body, before she finally came to a halt by slamming into a tree, nearly wrapping herself around it.
         “Ah . . . oh God ,” she panted, nearly out of breath, rolling painfully away from the trunk, rising to her knees even as her newly bruised ribs protested. Her brain felt shrunken, rattling around her head uselessly, ravaging her sense of balance. The world was spotted with flecks of red. Standing still, it refused to stop moving.
         A pair of light thumps in quick succession were heard close by, signaling a presence.
         “Did that hurt?” a voice asked soothingly, right in her ear.
         Inwardly, she began to gather her strength, preparing to spearhead a point of attack. “As a matter of fact-“ Kara whispered, surprised at how cracked her voice sounded.
         An invisible force grabbed her with icy hands and slammed up her against the tree before she could do anything. She screamed as her face was sliced up on the jagged bark and instantly she tasted blood. A million howling words crowded around her, flies waiting for the corpse. Angrily she cut through them, fighting for the unseen hands that were tightening on her shoulders. Her feet pedaled empty air as she was lifted from the ground, taken ten feet up and then dropped again.
         This time she was readier, and managed to soften the blow by rolling and landing on her knees, which took most of the impact. The jolt ran all the way up her spine, ending somewhere in the back of her throat. Everything was happening too fast, one action following another without pause, without recompense. She needed a second to get a grip, to focus on what was going on. Seconds weren’t coming, but slipping through fingers as fast as she could identify them. No sooner were her legs planted than a wall of hardened air struck her in the face, causing the world to split in two and fall, streaked with red and black, forcing her backwards, her leg twisting under her as she tumbled back, landing on her other shoulder, swearing it nearly popped out of the socket. Again she tasted dirt. Above her, through blood and soil, she could see the sky lazily wheeling overhead, with the branches acting as gnarled fingers to seal it away. If I could only just-
          But she had nothing. Her limbs had taken a vacation and were unable to respond. Lying uncomfortably on her side, it was an effort merely to catch her breath. She licked her lips, tasted blood and salt, suppressed the desire to gag. Even that sent a wave of pain and dizziness parading through her head, a sign revealing the results of a poll involving her entire body, where everything had just decided unanimously to simply take the day off. Thanks guys , she thought wearily, addressing her seemingly absent motor functions, you’re a real help.
         “Well you’re certainly easier to subdue than you are to find, I’ll give you that,” the voice said again, the voice she recognized. You killed her! a part of her growled, thinking of the poor woman lying dead not far away. You killed her and you hurt me! But for all her aggression, it couldn’t escape the tired boundaries of her body. “But don’t feel too bad, I’ve probably had a little more experience at this sort of stuff than you have.”
         Murderer murderer murderer her thoughts raged. His shadow draped over her, grey and tattered and full of holes, while rough hands grasped at her, forcing her onto her back. What is he doing? she thought, weakly trying to push him away. A mild shock coursed through her arms, causing her to arch her back in wordless pain as both her arms hit the ground limply, tingling strangely. I can’t let him do this. I have to-
         The man’s hands clutched at her shoulder, fingers coldly scraping away the dried blood and probing at the joint. The fabric of her shirt ripped as he widened the already existing hole. “Son of a . . .” the man murmured, in apparent wonderment. His hands pressed harshly into her skin, icicles digging at her shoulder. She swallowed and tried not to look into his face, even though she could sense him hovering directly overhead. “So it’s true. That’s a bit of a relief,” he said, and Kara wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or not. Warmth and feeling surged back into her arms and an idea came to her. Bracing herself, she silently counted off the seconds, lying as still as possible. “To be honest,” he said, louder this time, “that’s really good to see . . .”
         His hand retreated from her shoulder.
         With a unintelligible yell Kara leapt up from the ground, her hands reaching for his throat, quickly shaping a needle to drive right into the center of his mind. I’ll get you I’ll-
         Her fingers grasped only empty air as the man slid back a step, grabbing her wrists and wrenching her forward. The needle shattered against a hastily erected shield, the tip sliced off just inside, disintegrating, the resulting feedback sending exploding stars ricocheting across her the walls of her mind. His knee caught her just under the chin, and she bit the tip of her tongue, flooding her mouth with a nasty coppery taste even as a blow to the back of her neck sent her crashing to the ground, her nostrils filling with soil, creating a series of fireworks in the base of her brain that left her disoriented and groaning, desperate to regain her bearings, wiping blood from her lips and doing her best not to start crying again.
         “Because it means I don’t have to hold back . . .” the man finished, chuckling to himself and pressing three fingers into her spine. Her limbs tensed and then relaxed again, as if asleep. With a flutter in her heart, Kara realized she was paralyzed. Her mind racing, she tried to think of a way to attack him, to escape. “It’s true then, whatever I do to you, you’ll heal.” His voice discovered a harder edge, became more menacing. “And there’s a lot I can do, kid. I can make the next few hours very unpleasant if you want to keep fighting. I suggest you just go quietly. I really don’t want to hurt you unless you force me to.”
         Looking up, Kara could see the woman’s crumpled form through the limp tendrils of her hair, the body lying twisted in the disturbed earth. I’m sorry. I want to avenge you, but I can’t. A soft wind caressed her face, drying some of the sweat. Even the dirt felt cool and comfortable. It was all deception. Nothing here was on her side. She had to get out. Escape. “You . . . you killed her ,” Kara gasped, struggling to face the man, fighting her own unresponsive body. “She didn’t force you . . . she was just standing there. And you killed her anyway. Why should I . . . trust you?”
         “Hey, I said nothing about trusting me,” the man said defensively, drumming his fingers along her back. It felt like maggots burrowing their way into her skin. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. “I just told you what you have to do to avoid any more suffering. Whether you trust me or not really isn’t my concern. However . . .” and his nails dug into her skin, sending white hot tentacles of pain arcing along her ribs, forcing Kara to gasp and bury her face in the dirt to keep from screaming. Closing her eyes tightly, she felt tears threatening to peek out, the world vanishing behind a water soaked lens. “. . . you really should mind your own business. That woman and me, we had some history, and that’s between the two of us.”
         “But, ah . . .” Kara said, coughing out the words, wondering what madness kept her talking. “She was . . . she was your wife.” She had no idea how she knew that. Sometimes, when you’re not paying attention, the pieces slide into place uninvited.
         “My wife?” the man asked, sounding quietly amused. “Oh no, not her. I’m afraid my heart belongs to another these days.” Invisible claws dug into her side again. “But again, not really your business either. I really think you have better things to worry about right now.”
         “Why . . . why are you doing this?” Kara asked roughly, spitting out bits of dirt and blood. There had to be something she could do here. Her body was useless but her mind was still active. God, Ranos, you better have taught me something useful. “What do you want with me?”
         “Me? Nothing, honestly,” the man said offhandedly, wiping his hands on his tunic and stepping over her, so that now she could see his face. It was definitely the man from before, the one she had dropped the tree on. The one who had hurt her badly. Her heart pounded a frantic rhythm in her chest, every nerve screaming to run and her anxiety only heightened by her inability to move. “They told me to bring you in and that’s what I’m doing. As far as I’m concerned I paid you back for that little stunt with the tree.” He laughed sardonically. “Not that the effects will last all that long . . . what’s that like, by the way? Healing, so fast, I mean. I wouldn’t mind being able to do that. It strikes me as damn useful, actually.”
         “It . . . comes in handy,” Kara said, grimacing as she tried to lift her body off the ground, barely able to raise her chest off the forest floor. A kind of insect wandered close to the tip of her nose, tickling it and forcing her to suppress the sudden urge to sneeze. “But I try to not get hurt in the first place. It makes life . . . easier.” Certainly easier than now. Still, Kara was sure that she had already stopped bleeding and definitely the aches in her stomach and legs were fading. “It’s not that fast, though.” I’m not letting him know I’m feeling better. The last time he saw me was yesterday, he doesn’t know how long it takes.
         “That so, huh?” the man said, absently cleaning a fingernail, then leaning down and scratching some of the blood from her face. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Kara winced at his touch and did her best not to shudder. “You seem awful young to be hanging around with the Time Patrol. When did they start using kids?” His voice sounded almost regretful. Great, now he decides to feel bad about it. “This stuff isn’t something you want to get mixed up in, you know? Not at your age.”
         Mister, I sure as heck didn’t ask you to beat me up, Kara thought archly. He appeared to have bought the first lie, maybe it was time to try another. “Who?” she asked, injecting as much confusion into her voice as possible. “The Time Patrol? Who are they? Those guys . . . they were just asking me for directions, I was showing them where the village was. That’s all. I don’t know what they were doing. Were they soldiers?”
         But the man only laughed again, a low sound. “Yeah, sure. If you say so. You know what, though, I really don’t care. I’m going to get you back to Valreck and he can decide if you’re telling the truth or not.” He placed both hands on her back again, fingertips lightly spread out over her shoulder blades. “This way you’re out of my hair and I can get back to my life and not be bothered by any of this garbage.”
         The air quickened around them and the breath was sucked out of her lungs, moving backwards, being forced into a space that didn’t exist. The sensation was familiar. He’s teleporting us. Probably to whoever this “Valreck” person was. Kara didn’t know who he was, but she had no intention of meeting him. The world became fuzzy, alternating between grey and color, with spots of it fizzing out and replaced by another scene entirely, two puzzles being blended together in an unwieldy fashion. Her brain was squeezed and twisted, even as her thoughts were racing, trying to figure a way out of this. Oh God, I can’t stop a teleport.
         Lights were dancing back and forth, black holes punched out of the canvas, yarn unraveling backwards, spinning off into a horizon she couldn’t see. Space groaned and slowed down, grinding as it was stretched, her body pulled with it, touching both parts, crawling from one end to the other. It had to stop. No process was unmovable. She had to stop it. I won’t go. Desperately she dug in her heels, grabbing the ground that existed only in theoretical figments, jabbing her fingers so hard into it that the nails cracked and bled. Her breath spilled from deflated lungs to form amorphous patterns before her fragmenting vision. Strings hummed in time to a symphony not meant for ears, both ends tapping the same space at the same time. What was teleporting? her panicked mind whispered, not realizing there was no time for questions. Moving from one place to another instantaneously. How could she halt it? By refusing to move?
         A scene that wasn’t where she was loomed ahead, a step and a mile away from where she existed. The lines from beyond were fading, the forest already descending back to where it belonged. Throwing out arms she couldn’t see, Kara grabbed the ends of the strings that were whipping around madly before her eyes, feeling the strands cutting deeply into her palms, stealing the scream from her throat and nearly making her let go. This has to work. It has to!
         In a place with no ground, with a body she didn’t have, holding strings that were nowhere, Kara wrapped the lines around her wrists and yanked herself as hard as she could, a fish reeling itself into dry land.
         pop
         With a sound not unlike a paper bag imploding slowly, Kara yanked herself out of the teleport, gritting her teeth as she was painfully wrenched back into a normal space. She hit the ground as if she had fallen from a great height, tucking her head into her chest and rolling with the motion, ignoring all the protesting muscles, whirling around and coming up balanced on the balls of her feet, hands lightly touching the ground for support.
         I don’t believe that actually worked, she marveled, staring at one hand and running her fingers over a rapidly disappearing crease that hadn’t been there before. I wonder what I just did.
         Across the clearing the man lay with his back up against a tree, eyes closed and body sprawled loosely. His clothing now sported black charred marks and a few wisps of smoke hovered around his body for a few moments before fading away completely. For a second Kara thought he was dead, then she saw his chest heave and his eyes flutter open.
         “What the hell . . .” he grunted, pushing himself partway to his feet, looking over his body as if he expected some of it not to be there. “That’s never happened before-“ he stopped suddenly as his eyes fell on her.
         “You interrupted a teleport,” the man said, in veiled amazement and perhaps with the tiniest hint of escaped fear. “That’s not possible . . . that’s not . . .” he shook his head, muttered something about a child that Kara didn’t catch, then stared soberly at her again.
         “Okay, then,” he said clearly, jumping with practiced ease to his feet. “Okay. I see, now. The hard way it is.” His eyes narrowed and the air became thicker, seemingly gelatinous in its composition. “The hard way,” he said again, sounding strangely unconvinced.
         And struck.
         Around her feet a column of soil erupted, spiraling into a conical cage while above her the air shimmered and the temperature dropped drastically, causing a crowd of fist size blocks of ice to tumble from the sky. A vicious screeching tore the silence, feedback played through a short circuit, operating on a frequency the nervous system could only have nightmares about.
         All of this was meant to disable and disrupt and disarm. All of it was centered right on Kara.
         But Kara wasn’t there.
         One of the chunks of ice paused in mid-descent, hovered as if confused before rotation slowly and rocketing toward the man, leaving a shower of droplets in its wake. Two others followed it shortly after, leaving blue-white streaks in the air.
         “Stupid,” the man muttered, diving to the side, not at all surprised when the fragments followed him, drawing closer with each second. The nearest one aimed straight for his face, only to encounter a wall of heated air and it dissolved into a spray of fist, sizzling as it melted.
         The other two, however, split up and angled around the man, reversing direction once behind him, one heading for the back of his head, the other for his back.
         Seeing the two projectiles out of the corner of his eye, he turned just in time to start to throw up another shield. But at the last second the ice chunks themselves dissolved, breaking into thousands of fine frozen needles, enveloping him in a cloud of chilled air, slicing into him with an eerie whispering noise, repeated over and over again.
         The man yelled as dozens of needles ripped into his chest, opening hordes of tiny bleeding holes, tearing at his clothes, leaving his sleeves and tunic in tatters, scratching at his face with invisible claws. Water got in his eyes and he staggered, spinning away, leaning against a tree to prevent himself from falling, trying to regain his equilibrium.
         Branches leapt from the ground, fashioning themselves into an intricate series of bars in mid-flight, crashing into the man and catching him hard in the back, pushing him up against the tree, forcing him to turn his head to the side in order to continue breathing. He snarled, straining against the wooden cage binding him to the tree, the ground around his feet rumbling and bursting into dozens of small holes, the air coming alive with clumps of flying dirt, an acrid stench pervading the area.
         “Not so pleasant when it’s you, is it now?” Kara asked sweetly, stepping from behind the tree and smiling innocently at the man.
         “You’re just making this harder than it should be,” the man gasped, muscles in his neck bulging as he tried to gain some leverage against the branches pinning him to the tree, throwing himself back and forth to no avail. “This is . . . pointless.”
         Kara appeared to consider this. “You know what?” she said, tapping the tree with one finger. “It is. It really is.” Crossing her arms and resting her back against the trunk, she added casually, “So how about we put a stop to it, huh?” Her voice turned sharp and she twisted her neck to stare the man right in the face. “Why did you attack those soldiers? Why are you looking for me? Who are you people?”
         “Listen, we’re just . . . we’re looking out for ourselves, that’s all . . .” the man replied, a tad nervously, licking dry lips. His eyes searched her face, looking for a hint of what was going to happen. Like an itch on a distant portion of her body, Kara felt the man probing at her mind, seeking any kind of opening. There wasn’t.
         With a swift motion, Kara turned to face him completely. “Who’s we?” she demanded. “How many of you are there?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Did Mandras put you here to ambush us? Is that it?”
         The man flinched at the mention of the name. “Mandras . . . how do you . . .” His voice dropped, became almost inaudible. “You’re her, aren’t you? It was true. He didn’t lie.” His eyes flicked away from her, trying to stare at anything else.
         Kara was taken aback by the shift in tone. “I . . . uh, I . . .” tried to hide her sudden discomfort behind anger, “Where are the rest of you? What did you do with the soldiers?” She was starting to become nervous with the man’s lack of a response, he was supposed to have started talking by now. How long could she drag this out before he got brave and tried to attack her again? She didn’t know what else she could do to him. Now that he wasn’t fighting her anymore, she had no desire to torture him. But she had to do something.
         She was about to ask him another question when his gaze fell on her again. Surprise flickered across his face, as if he had forgotten she was there. In a quiet voice, he said, “What happened to them? You’re here and they’re not. Where did they all go?” There was a bizarre intensity to his voice.
         Kara blinked. “I’ll ask the questions here,” she said roughly, stepping away from the tree.
         “They did it for you,” he said evenly, not even struggling against the tree anymore. “All of them, us, we all got together because . . . because we were promised. And he broke the promise. But you’re still here. What happened to everyone else?” he asked, hammering out every word. “Where did they go?” his voice was shaken, almost quavering. “What happened?” he asked again, harsher.
         “Listen, just tell me what I want to-“ Kara insisted Angrily, debating whether to poke into his mind or not. She had enough brute force in her to overcome any defenses but it might do something permanent to him. She had no intent to cripple him. Why couldn’t he just tell her? How hard was this?
         “What the hell happened to them?” the man shouted at her and a branch wrapped around his ribs suddenly cracked, the stark sound undercutting his words.
         “I don’t know,” Kara shouted back, her voice frayed at the edges, now at a complete loss on how to handle this. “I don’t know and honestly I don’t care,” she added, doing her best to sound brutal. What is he talking about? But she thought she knew. Which was even more frightening. Grasping for any kind of plan, she nodded at the tree and a flame erupted with lazy vigor, forming an outline around his head. The man blinked and swallowed, sweat already forming on his face, the outlying strands of his hair blackening from the heat. Kara took a deep breath and did her best to be steady. “I just want to know . . . who you people are and what you want with me . . .” She formed a wafer thin probe, sliding it between the gaps in his mind, finding a neuron that she hoped would go to the center, hitching a ride and following it as far as it would go. “And I hope you’ll get smart and just tell me because I don’t want to hurt you . . .” Too much, she added silently. “Okay? Is that so hard? Okay? Can you do that? Just tell me?”
         The reflection of the flames off the sheen of sweat coating his face gave the man a sickly look. “If I told you, it wouldn’t make any sense,” he whispered, his voice cracked and hoarse. Flickers of red and orange hovered in his eyes. “It’s all very . . . very complex.”
         The heck with this, Kara thought, poking around in his head with what she felt was far too much ease. Why is there nothing here? A knotted ball in the center of his mind seemed to hold all his thoughts, compressed almost beyond recognition. I’ll just take a look. Not taking her eyes off him, she turned sideways and slipped in. Just a quick-
         folding destiny women everywhere don’t find I can’t see the sun flutters and flits there is no all I want is a no not me I’m sorry I’m sorry it’s just not I’m sorry women where is I’m sorry you bastards all of you I’m not sorry I’m not sorry I’MNOTSORRY-
         “Ah!” Kara suddenly yelled, covering her face against something that couldn’t touch her. In stereo the other man screamed as well, his jaw locking as he strained with renewed strength against his bonds. From nowhere and everywhere came a hideous cracking noise, the sound of the world breaking. Kara switched off contact with him, covering her ears to block out his howling, taking a step back to get away from him, even though there was nowhere to go.
         In the midst of all of this, the tree exploded.
         Kara yelped and ducked as wooden shards sprayed the area like shrapnel, the sonic force of the blast striking her like a physical blow, flattening the grass and leaves and sending her tumbling fact, unable to maintain her balance. Flaming slivers of wood pounded into her before she could throw up any kind of shield, searing her skin, drawing angry red lines in her flesh, bursts of pain exploding like obscene flowers in her mind.
         Her vision darkened, splintered, threatened to vanish completely. Wiping at her face, Kara cleared her sight just in time to see the man launch himself at her, his face a mask of blood and soot streaked rage. Something heavy bludgeoned at her mind, fists acting without any pretense of subtlety, now only seeking to madly bash its way through.
         There was no time to dodge. The two of them collided, momentum carrying them several feet before Kara tripped backwards and started to go down. Her stomach protested as the world shifted and turned again, the man’s hot breath washing over her, mixing with the scent of burning air and smoking wood, obliterating the ancient sap choked smell of the forest itself.
         “Don’t-“ someone said, just as Kara hit the ground, her head smacking into something hard, breaking the air into tiny pieces, sapping the strength from her body as everything she knew pivoted and started to slide away.
         No, she thought weakly, finding the presence of mind to fling the man off her, his hands taking bits of her shirt with him as he went sailing overhead. Move it, move it! she screamed to her unresponsive body, flipping over and spinning around just in time to see the man land heavily, bouncing slightly, his arms and legs flailing as he frantically tried to regain his feet.
         Just as he did, Kara sent a tree branch thudding into the back of his head, driving him to his knees. Within seconds he began to stand up again, never taking his eyes off her. Blood was running down his face again and his skin had a sunburned look. What she saw in his gaze threatened to pin her in place. It wasn’t hatred or pain or pity or even describable, but it was relentless nonetheless. And it was focused on her.
         Stay down, she begged, despairing, battering him with the heavy branch from afar, forcing him to try to block the blows with his arms, even as he made his way toward her, step by stumbling step. Finally he fell to his knees again, only a few feet from Kara, his head bowing limply, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. Kara tensed, and then slowly raised the branch to strike him in the head again. Just one more . . .
         And then with slippery ease his hand snaked out and caught the branch in mid-air, inches from his head. In a smooth motion, he dropped back to one knee and whipped the object at her with one hand, so that it came toward her rapidly, cutting the air like a spear. The man followed directly after it, as if in a race to see who could intercept her first.
         Not again, she thought with a strange, sick, panicked calm, watching it approach her almost in slow motion, a ship about to dock at the wrong port. No no no!
         Without thinking, she reached out, clapped mental hands around the branch, not knowing what she was doing, just possessed with the mad need to get rid of it.
         Inches from her, the branch exploded.
         The thunderclap caught both of them in its grasp, a giant hand reaching out to slap them apart, showering them with tiny fragments like confetti, sending Kara and the man falling in opposite directions, tumbling bonelessly to the forest floor.
         The trees rustled, shook their leaves at the blast, but made no other comment.
         The air became still, hushed. A bird called to no one at all, an unseen echo.
         A few minutes later, Kara shook her head, her ears still ringing, and picked herself up off the ground, her limbs shaking, her gait unsteady. Swaying on her feet, she rubbed her head, trying to get her bearings, trying to remember what had happened.
         When she saw the prone form of the man lying still on the ground, her memory abruptly recovered.
         Her eyes widened and she took a step away from him, then one toward him, her fists clenching and unclenching rapidly. Her face paled, she stared at him as if willing him to vanish. Her eyes darted around the small clearing, at the burned and shattered stump of the exploded tree, at the debris scattered around like so many broken toys. Exhaling slowly, she shuddered and pushed her stringy hair out of her face, her breath rattling in her chest.
         Then, without another word, Kara turned and ran in the other direction. Her footsteps cracked and snapped randomly, rapidly fading before finally falling completely silent.
         Some time later, Tolin held his head and raised himself to his knees, wiping dried blood from his face and peering around. His eyes widened slightly when he saw that Kara was missing, but a grim smile came to his lips when he spied the broken and trampled undergrowth that suggested what direction she had run in.
         Grunting, he painfully got to his feet, taking a moment to make sure nothing was broken. Casually he wiped splinters and sawdust from his shirt, pulling the rips together as best he could.
         He had taken two steps in pursuit of Kara when he abruptly stopped. His eyes became glassy, distant and he stared at nothing at all. Then, swallowing slowly, he looked to his right, deeper into the forest, at something that couldn’t be seen.
         “Oh no,” he whispered, his breathing suddenly rapid. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, rubbing his fingers together and feeling the grainy texture of wooden fragments in his palm. “Oh damn,” he said, taking a step backwards. “No . . . dammit, no!” The last was a distorted shout that barely escaped the gravity of the clearing, warping, but going nowhere.
         “No,” he said again, to himself, to a faceless presence, perhaps to no one at all. “Not now, dammit, no.”
         And then, with a pulse of imploded air, Tolin was gone.