Bridge Between the Worlds Read online

  “Let us get to work!”

  His voice was much deeper than usual.

  “We do not rest until the girl is forced to jump worlds!”

  They made their way to the orb room.

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  The sun shone brightly in a crystal-clear sky above the city as Vencel made his way steadily towards the Duke’s office. The weather was particularly uplifting to his spirits. After all, today he needed to convince the Duke to ratify a number of new laws which would centralize more control into Vencel’s hands, and people were just so much less suspicious on days like this. It was almost like they thought that plotting and scheming could only take place on gloomy nights, or during dark, cold storms.

  The Duke’s door was open but Vencel stopped and knocked politely. Even a straightforward man would be suspicious of a brash, self-sure adviser if things went wrong. Especially straightforward men in fact! This was why Vencel always assumed the guise of a polite, timid civil servant.

  “Your lordship,” he bowed nervously, “would now be a good time to disturb you? I can come back later of course.”

  “No, no, do come in Vencel. Take a seat man.”

  The Duke waved meaningfully at the plain chair across from him.

  Vencel entered and took the indicated seat. He selected a weak smile and wore it like a mask. The office was tastefully decorated with finished oak furniture and some select, richly framed artworks. It was also located right next to the old throne room, a room which had been empty for many years now.

  Vencel waited patiently. He knew the Duke would address him first before asking what Vencel wanted. The man was almost boringly predictable. However, today he took a little longer than usual before he spoke. In fact, he had expended a number of sighs, stood up and paced about for a bit before stopping in front of the open window and beginning.

  “Vencel, you are a perceptive young man. You may not have had much worldly experience but you still notice things that other men your age would miss.”

  “You think so my lord?”

  He let just enough of a quaver into his voice. The Duke turned to face him.

  “Certainly. Few men would have seen through Samuka’s deception and yet you did. Even at the last I was doubtful myself that he was truly to blame. And yet, since his disappearance the attacks have stopped. I call that conclusive.”

  The look the Duke was giving Vencel was almost fatherly.

  “I like you Vencel. In fact, I can even say that I trust you!”

  “Oh, well, my lord…” Vencel stammered, “I am honored.”

  Inside, Vencel was laughing maniacally. His work had been so thorough that the old fool saw him as some kind of favorite student. God he was good!

  “The fact of the matter is, young man, that not everyone agrees with our position. I understand their doubt. Samuka was a very charismatic man. But we cannot allow that doubt to divide the nation. The attacks may have stopped but we have not found their source and we have not found the people taken. The problem is still out there somewhere.”

  Vencel grinned on the inside and nodded with a face of deepest concern on the outside. He had expected that a little further pushing would be necessary but the Duke had already led himself most of the way.

  “I have received reports which point to a far eastern place, settled by other humans which might just be the source of our problems.”

  And there it was. Vencel felt deep satisfaction as his plan played out perfectly in front of him. He knew all about the reports. He had fabricated them precisely to make the Duke fearful of a full-scale war on the Kingdom. Now it would be easy to convince him of the need for the laws he had drafted.

  “Most intriguing my lord! You would like me to investigate this eastern settlement I assume?”

  “Yes, I would like that indeed but right now we cannot afford such an expedition. First we need to assure some unity between the provinces.”

  “Ah, yes of course my Lord, you are right as usual. Now would not be a good time to send forces abroad, especially with some of the provincial lords questioning your position.”

  “Questioning my position!?!” the Duke thundered. “What are you talking about man, what have you heard?”

  Vencel had perfected the fake stammer.

  “W…w…well my lord, o…only r…rumors. They say Lord K…K…Kestel held a council because he disagrees with Samuka’s d…d…denouncing.”

  “Ha!” expelled the Duke and started to pace about the office again. “Yes, he would disagree. He was always close to Samuka. So! The old fool can’t accept the facts. Or maybe he was involved somehow… Yes, concerning though the reports are of an external threat, we must deal with internal threats first. Order an inquiry on Kestel.”

  “B…B…B…But, my lord… that’s i…i…illegal. Only a King can -”

  “Then I will amend the law! That’s my job in the absence of a King! Draft a law to allow it, Vencel, and I will ratify it. Today man.”

  Vencel jumped out of his chair and bowed low.

  “Of course, my lord. I…I...I…I’ll see to it immediately.”

  Only once he was back in his office did Vencel allow himself to grin. He carefully extracted the drafted law from a locked draw, wondering how much time he should wait before taking it to the Duke. It was so easy to be a fast and efficient worker when you arranged what your work would be in advance.

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  Chapter 16

  The nurse was crying. She had sunk to the floor in terror and horror at what had just happened. Aside from her sobs and her rapid but broken words the room was silent and still. Everybody present was frozen in place, all rooted to the spot as they took in what had just happened and what it meant for each of them. The moment was brief in reality but seemed like an age. Then suddenly time came back, hurrying to make up for the lengthy pause. They stirred. The doctor ran first to Martay. Martay groaned loudly as he was rolled over.

  The scene looked grim. The polished hospital floor below Martay was no longer pristine and reflective, it was smeared with his blood. His shirt had already started to soak in the red liquid, and as it did so, his face became increasingly pale.

  Thankfully, the policeman had not been so terrified as to shoot to kill. He had carefully aimed at Martay's right shoulder on the opposite side of the body to his heart. The intention had simply been to stop him and it had worked. The bullet had hit Martay's right side as intended but slightly too low. It had hit the side of his rib, leaving a large gash through the thin skin on his side as well as the meatier flesh of the teres major muscle in his back.

  The doctor rushed over to check the policeman but wasted little time. It only took a few seconds to confirm that he was dead. The doctor had no idea what had happened to knock the policeman back like that but there was no evidence to suggest that it was the boy. Besides, the doctor’s job was to help and to heal, not to deal out judgment on others. He hurried to a supply room to fetch bandages, anaesthetic and stitching equipment. While he was doing this the others were also moving. Amy was breathing heavily. She leapt out of the bed and with Snipping at her side, approached Martay to check on him. Snipping did not yet ask any questions, moving quickly to inspect the policeman for himself.

  The nurse remained on the ground beside the bed crying but the woman who had entered with the policeman had already rushed out to call for another one urgently. It would not take long before they responded.

  The rest of the hospital was stirring as well, though the other staff were yet to find the actual source of the gunshot and the scream. Not surprisingly they were reluctant to move from their locations and risk meeting the shooter. The lack of activity in the room where the three companions were situated wouldn’t last long and Snipping knew it. He was checking what was happening outside in the hall as Amy tended to Martay. She was slowly helping him to his feet when Snipping returned hurriedly through the door and grabbed the two of them.

  “We need to get movin’, right now!” he excla
imed, pulling them along earnestly.

  “Are you crazy?!?” Amy shouted in horror. “We can’t go anywhere! Martay's been shot!”

  “The wound doesn’t look any more dangerous than bein’ caught by the Italian police then locked in jail for murder where there’ll be no escape from the enemy.”

  He continued to pull them forward but Amy was starting to resist. Martay was staggering, delirious from the pain but still functioning. He tried to speak and found that doing so increased the pain in his side somewhat. Nevertheless, he persevered, thinking not of himself but the situation Amy would be in if they stayed.

  “I’m ok,” he managed, trying not to breath too heavily, “just shock and pain but… I don’t think it’s too serious.”

  His face suggested otherwise. It was now ashen grey.

  They had not even reached the door when the doctor came flying back in and immediately stopped them dead.

  “You need to lie down while I tend to that wound or you’re going to bleed dangerously. You don’t want it to get infected either.”

  Snipping looked terrified but could not stop Amy and the doctor from guiding Martay back to the bed. Using an odd looking pair of scissors, the doctor quickly cut through Martay's clothes around the wound and had Amy hold pressure on it while he prepared a dressing. He raised his voice firmly but not angrily in Italian at the nurse, who got to her feet and started to help. She looked fearfully and the three companions, unsure what to make of the whole situation. She was convinced that they must have been either criminals or drug addicts. The boy’s behaviour had been ludicrous but in the face of her medical duty, the nurse calmed down a little as she slipped into her work procedure.

  Martay winced as the doctor injected local anaesthetic around the wound. Shortly afterwards the pain in Martay’s side eased a little and he barely winced as the doctor carefully inspected the injury.

  “Well, you are extremely lucky. Your rib is chipped but not broken and your muscles will heal with time. For now, we just need to clean and stitch the wound but we should take a close look at your back muscles to see what else must be done.”

  “What about the policeman?” Amy asked with genuine innocence and concern in her voice.

  The doctor looked up for a moment with a judging look, as if trying to work out how a teenager would cope with the knowledge that they had just witnessed a death.

  “I am afraid that the force, whatever it was, has killed him. There is nothing more we can do.”

  Amy’s eyes filled with heavy tears. She had no idea what she had done but she knew that the explosion of energy had come from her. She had killed a man accidentally. This information nearly left her incapacitated. She only retained clarity and function through her drive to help her friend.

  The doctor was fairly quick with his hands and soon Martay's wound was stitched, firmly dressed and bandaged. He sat up and smiled a little at Amy and thanked the doctor and nurse. He still felt extremely light headed and his side throbbed strongly but it had been eased by the support of the bandages. While the doctor and the nurse went out again he got to his feet for a second time.

  “Alright, I think that should be good enough. We have to get you out of here Amy!”

  Martay put on a brave face as he said this and started towards the door but Amy was still putting up a fight.

  “No way! Martay this is crazy! We aren’t leaving until you’ve been properly looked after!”

  “And then we’ll never be able to leave freely again! More police will come and even if the enemy can’t take control of anyone here just yet, how easy will it be for him to get to you if you’re locked up in a cell. We have to escape and do it now! I can find another hospital later in another country while you and Snipping wait in hiding or something, or better, keep searching for your parents. Now let’s go.”

  Snipping supported the move and Amy was forced to follow them out of the room. As they passed the body of the policeman, the tears overwhelmed her. She was filled with a rising sense of horror and despair. Every inch of her mind was burning with a longing to undo what she had done, to go back in time, or something. Anything but this! His face still held an expression of shock and surprise but his eyes were empty. The image was going to haunt Amy for the rest of her life, she knew it.

  They hurried down the hallway, looking for the front entrance of the building. They knew they couldn’t return to the car now. The police clearly knew about it and Snipping had already realised that it must have been tracked here somehow. How they could get out he wasn’t sure but the first stage was definitely getting out of this room.

  They had not walked very far when ahead of them they saw the reception area with a policeman speaking to the receptionist in rapid Italian.

  Snipping grabbed Martay and Amy without hesitation and pulled them forcefully through the next available side door. It was a divider to another corridor which clearly led to more wards but mercifully happened to be empty. They didn’t proceed down its length but waited behind the heavy swinging double doors. The built in windows, round and solid were too high up for Snipping to see through. He bobbed up and down anxious and impatient as Amy stood watch, waiting for the policeman to come by. Martay focused on his breathing, keeping it steady as he tried to ignore the pain in his side.

  They didn’t have to wait all too long. Mere moments after they had taken cover the policeman proceeded up the main corridor at a brisk pace. Amy could clearly see his grave face focused attentively straight ahead toward the room they had just come from but she still ducked, pulling Martay down with her as the policeman neared their hiding place and passed the doors.

  “Just a little further…” Amy thought, watching the disappearing figure. Once she felt that he was far enough down the corridor she hurriedly pushed open the door and the three of them exited, running immediately into a new problem. They had only gone a few extra steps towards the reception when Snipping stopped dead. He was thinking rapidly in silence and the other two companions looked at each other with fearful expressions. Snipping knew that if they stormed out in front of the receptionist their escape would be hopeless. She knew exactly what had happened and would definitely raise the alarm if she saw the three of them running out of the hospital like criminals from a crime scene.

  Snipping rephrased this thought in his head. So far as the humans were concerned, they really were criminals, and they were genuinely running from a crime scene. They would need to distract her. The question was, how?

  No obvious solution presented itself. The reception desk stood at the very end of the entry way and the wall on Snipping’s left hand side formed the back end of the overall reception area. There was no way to get around the receptionist without being seen and it would be crazy to try and cause a distraction on this side of the hallway where they were all standing.

  Snipping had nearly come to the conclusion that they would just have to risk leaving in full view when sheer luck suddenly saved them.

  A couple bustled in through the front doors and proceeded to enquire about some relative or other they had come to see. The woman behind the counter bowed her head as she checked through the list to find out where the patient was staying and the three companions seized their chance.

  They didn’t break into a run. That would have attracted immediate attention. Instead they walked as casually as they could down past the counter, turning their backs to it as quickly as they could and made for the door. They could hear the voices behind them chattering but they didn’t dare to turn around and check if the receptionist had noticed them. A sense of extreme foreboding and tension oppressed them until they reached the door.

  They were outside.

  They all took a number of deep, relieved breathes but knew they had by no means escaped just yet. Their plight was grim. Only Amy knew at this point, or rather felt, that there was no immediate threat from their real enemy but all of them were aware that they were now fugitives on the run from the local law as well, a fact which right now, in
the middle of a busy Italian city, was every bit as disconcerting as being pursued by the phantom shadow of the dreamworld and his human puppets.

  Amy made the first suggestion.

  “I think we should make for the nearest train station.”

  “Are ya mad?” Snipping replied. “After our last disaster in Switzerland?”

  This threw Amy a little. This was the first time since the train accident that she had an opportunity to check her surroundings.

  “Where exactly are we?” she asked in a melancholy way, trying not to think about what had happened since she was knocked out. More memories from her dreams were starting to creep into her head. She shivered as the feeling of being followed swept back over her, not that the feeling belonged to the present.

  “Let’s get movin’ in any direction.” Snipping said quietly and they headed off with no particular plan or destination in mind.

  “We’re in Italy by the way,” Snipping began to explain as they walked. “A bit of a way south east of the Swiss border.”

  Amy had only barely opened her mouth to ask her next question when Snipping answered it prematurely.

  “The car’s parked at the ‘ospital but we can’t use it anymore. I’m sure it’s how the police tracked us down.”

  The memory of creating the car again for Martay and Snipping had already surfaced in Amy’s mind and she was disheartened to hear that it could not help them anymore. As a result, she returned to her original thought about the train station.

  “If the police are looking for us then we need to get as far away from the hospital as fast as we can. We can’t get anywhere walking, we can’t use the car and I wouldn’t dare fly so the only other choice is the trains.”

  Snipping however retorted in his usual grumpy and condescending way.

  “Ohhh good thinkin’! With the exception o’ one, very minor flaw. The last time we used the train, the enemy not only found us but nearly killed ya and when ‘e didn’t, even worse, nearly broke into ya mind!”