Holding On
Even as she was dreaming it, Holly knew the details weren't right.
The sky disappeared and the cockpit windshield was filled with sight of the Manor grounds rushing towards them. Holly felt the impact shudder through her bones as the plane hit, ploughing through the garden and showering her and Artemis with strange flowers. Their stems were thorny and left slashes on her cheeks and hands. Their burnished orange petals tore off and swirled in the air between them like confetti, growing thicker and thicker until she could no longer see Artemis at all. She tried to open her mouth to call his name but she choked on the petals.
With a gasp, Holly's eyes sprang open... only to be greeted by the familiar sight of her bedroom ceiling. After a few breaths, Holly squeezed her eyes shut again and called to mind the image of Artemis's face. Hold on, Artemis.
It was too early to get up, but there no getting back to sleep, so Holly busied herself with her morning routine. Showering, she washed her hair twice without noticing, and then ate her breakfast without tasting it. Finally, she sat at her desk to check her mail and stared for several minutes at the screen. Artemis's old messages filled her inbox, colour coded blue for business and green for social. There was a lot of green.
Holly started when her inbox disappeared and her view screen was filled instead with the plated grey face of a young demon warlock.
"No1?"
"Holly! Oh good you can see me. Can you hear me too? I've bee trying to get a message through for weeks but the signal hasn't been strong enough and they insisted I contact Qwan first and then Police Plaza and then I had to restart the whole system because it overloaded when Commander Kelp tried to put me through to the Council. Not my fault incidentally. Have you ever tried to build your own satellite from scratch?"
"No," Holly said. "I mean yes, I can hear you but no to the satellite."
"It's not as easy as it sounds."
Holly smiled. The little demon seemed none the worse for wear. That was one weight off her shoulders. "It's good to hear from you. We were starting to think the worst." After the disaster in Haven three months ago, they'd lost contact with the Lunar Base. Foaly had had his hands full trying to restore Haven's and Atlantis's communication networks without worrying about the small group on the moon.
No1's expression darkened and he bit his lip for a moment. "About that... I heard that Artemis was..."
She blinked away tears, not ready to hear the end of that sentence, to hear that word. Dead. To remember again how pale he'd been, lying in Butler's arms, how still. To know she'd never see those mismatched eyes again.
"So it's true then," No1 whispered, tears already pooling in his orange eyes. "He's really–"
"No. Not yet." There was steel in her voice now, the tears gone. "It's not over yet." Hold on, Artemis.
No1 tilted his head to peer at her for a moment. "Is this one of those plans that I probably shouldn't ask questions about because it might get me arrested?"
A faint smile tugged at Holly's lips. "It's one of Artemis's plans."
And No1 asked no more questions.
ooo
Holly kept her hand on the hilt of her buzz baton as she prowled the abandoned warehouse sector. Due to all the tech stored in this area, it had been one of the hardest hit when Opal's technology had exploded. Sections of it had collapsed entirely and those that were intact had been abandoned while repairs were made to more vital parts of the city. Patrols were sent in regularly to try to root out B'wa Kell activity and Holly had volunteered for this duty as soon as she'd returned to Haven.
After three months, Holly could navigate the back alleys and piles of debris without the help of her nav map and she easily picked her way over heaps of broken appliances, engines, monitors, and other unrecognisable flotsam and jetsam. She checked that doors–where there still were doors–remained sealed and kept an eye out for anything that looked like new damage to the surviving buildings. She paused in front of one of the more intact buildings (it still had a roof and four walls, even if they were pitted with crunchball-sized craters) and keyed in a series of numbers on the digipad by the door. It slid open. Holly activated the headlamps on her helmet and stepped inside.
"D'Arvit!"
Holly nearly jumped out of her skin and uttered a D'Arvit of her own as she spotted the source of the voice. A swear toad off in one corner of the room. "D'Arvit!" it croaked again and, heart hammering against her ribs, Holly was sorely tempted to give the creature a good whack with her buzz baton. She resisted. Frond only knew what language she'd be subjected to if she upset the creature.
Steeling herself, Holly made her way down a corridor and then through two more rooms that each required new access codes. The final door slid open and the light from her headlamp glinted off a tall cylinder, propped up at a forty-five degree angle on the far side of the room. On the display next to it, several green lights blinked in a steady rhythm along with a series of numbers whose significance she didn't understand.
"Foaly," she said, activating her com channel, "I'm at the Chrysalis."
Her ears were met by a very loud, very long yawn. "First thing in the morning again? Can't we do this at the end of your shift, Holly?"
"No. We are doing this now. End of discussion."
Foaly snorted into the mic. "Have it your way, Captain." He drew her rank out in such a way that reminded her that if they were ever caught, she probably would cease to be a Captain faster than Mulch could make a chicken dinner disappear. "Read me the numbers." She did. "And the lights?"
"All on. All green."
"Perfect. That's it then. Done for the day. And now I need to–"
"How much longer?" Holly asked before he could cut her off. He was always anxious to avoid discussing Artemis's plan at any length–largely due to the fact that cloning was completely and totally illegal.
"Another three months. Four months tops."
Holly groaned. "Can't you speed it up, Foaly? What if Artemis can't hold on that long?"
She winced as Foaly huffed into the mic again. "Mud Boy's going to have to if he wants his second chance. It's not something you can just speed up–not unless you want him to end up with two heads and three arms."
"One head gave us enough trouble as it is." She tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it.
"Right then. Get back to your patrol before someone notices you're off course."
"There's no one else patrolling the sector this morning," she said. Foaly only whinnied and ended the call, though she could have sworn she heard him muttering something about stubborn elves under his breath.
Holly's eyes returned to the metal cylinder. It was hard to believe that it contained Artemis's new body when it looked more like...
Like a coffin. It looks like Artemis's coffin.
She knew there had been a funeral, an interment. There was a body buried now in the meadow they'd raced across to reach the solar plane.
Her chest clenched and she pressed her hand against the cool surface of the Chrysalis. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pictured him, tall and pale and whole, alive again in this new body. She felt the closeness of this new form of his, just inches below her palm and imagined the meadow where his soul might still be lingering.
Hold on, Artemis.
ooo
Holly made her way out of the building, glowering at the swear toad when it shared a few choice epithets as she passed. The door had just slid shut behind her when the sound of ringing metal cut through the still air. Holly spun, buzz baton at the ready, her other hand on the grip of her Neutrino.
From around the corner appeared a figure in a green jumpsuit with a single acorn on each lapel.
Holly sagged and suppressed a groan. "What are you doing here, Frond?"
Corporal Lili Frond gave a sloppy salute and flashed a smile of pearly white teeth. "I'm on patrol, just like you."
"Uh-huh." She crossed her arms and scowled at the Corporal. "You're from Traffic. Since when do you do patrols?"
"Since there stopped being traffic?" she said innocently.
"On whose orders?" Holly asked, though she had a pretty good idea already.
"The Commander's of course. You don't mind the company, do you? It's so creepy out here," she said with a shudder.
"I haven't had any trouble so far." Holly tried to step away from the door with a casual air. Only she and Foaly knew the Chrysalis was hidden here. This was Artemis's last chance and she'd stuff the corporal in a cryo unit and let her spend the next three months as a popsicle before she let Lili ruin it. Artemis deserved better than that.
Lili sidled up to her with a huge smile plastered on her face that made Holly want to whack her even more than the swear toad. "You know, Trubsie told me that you'd been cleared to go back to Recon."
"Trubsie?" Holly repeated, incredulous.
"But if you don't want your slot back, I'd be happy to–
"No. Absolutely not."
Lili's face contorted into a pout that Holly knew from experience made the male elves go all gooey. "But they need Recon officers right now with all the shields having been damaged and you're not–"
"No, Corporal," Holly snarled in her best imitation of Julius Root. "I promise you, I'll be going back to Recon. I just need a little more time."
And in spite of herself, Holly's eyes darted to the door of the warehouse where they'd hidden the Chrysalis.
Lili's face fell. "Oh. I guess we should just get on with the patrol then. Should we check this building first? Look at that! The digipad's still working."
Holly's hand spasmed around the grip of her Neutrino, but fortunately her brain came up with a plan B before she drew her weapon on a fellow officer. She pressed her fingers to her ear as if she were receiving an incoming message and, on the sly, activated her com link, careful to keep it in her ear piece rather than on speaker. "Yes, what is it Foaly?"
"What is it? Did you hit your head, Holly?"
"I'm here with Corporal Frond. Where do you need us?"
There was a pause as Foaly put the pieces together. "That's not good."
"Yes."
"In fact that's very bad."
"Agreed," Holly said, and tried not to look at Lili who was watching her like a dwarf might a very shiny pile of loot.
"Distraction, distraction," Foaly muttered and she could hear his fingers clacking away at his old-fashioned keyboard. "Got it. Someone reported a suspicious dwarf hole a few blocks down."
"Copy that." She turned back Lili. "Come on. We've got work to do. Keep an eye out for looters along the way. There may be a dwarf in the area," Holly added, though she suspected that the dwarf who'd dug the hole would be long gone by now.
ooo
When they reached it, the dwarf hole wasn't nearly as far from the Chrysalis as Holly would have liked, but even so, it was a relief to have something to draw Lili's attention. It was only visible from around the corner of a pile of scrap metal and debris, against the topple down remains of yet another warehouse. Holly moved in to get a better look. There was a drop of about eight feet and then the tunnel levelled out and ran back in the direction of central Haven.
Standing at the edge, Lili peered into the hole, wrinkling her nose. "It sure smells bad enough to be a dwarf hole."
Holly approached and sniffed. Sure enough, even through her helmet's filters, she could pick up a fetid stench. Her brow crinkled. She'd spent enough time in fresh dwarf holes to know what the business end of a dwarf smelled like and that wasn't it. It was a thick, musty smell, and far too fresh for a hole that looked to have been dug weeks ago. No, she knew that smell.
"Oh no," Holly groaned, drawing her Neutrino.
Lili looked at her with alarm. "What are you doing?"
Holly didn't bother to answer and instead activated her mic. "Foaly, we need a fully armed Retrieval team here ASAP."
Foaly whinnied. "Retrieval team? What did you find down there?"
"I'm pretty sure there's a–"
"Troll!" Lili shrieked, pointing.
Holly spun. Ambling down the block, easily leaping over crashed hover trolleys and exploded crates of electronics, a large, shaggy figure approached them. It was easily five feet tall with curved tusks and scythe-like claws, but its frame was very lean compared to its long limbs, giving it a slightly gawky appearance.
Why is it always trolls?
"Foaly, I've got confirmation of an adolescent male troll down here. Send Retrieval now."
"They're on the way."
The colour had drained from Lili's cheeks and her eyes had gone wide, fixed on the approaching creature. After a couple of tries she managed to unholster her Neutrino with shaking hands.
Holly's eyes flicked to Lili. "You know how to use that thing, don't you?"
Lili huffed. "Of course I do. Traffic Division is a lot more dangerous than you think."
"Uh-huh. Your safety's still on."
Nostrils flaring, the troll paused, still a block away. For a minute it stared at them with glowing red eyes and Holly could just imagine Artemis making a comment about the statistical improbability of their repeated encounters with trolls. Her chest constricted and for a moment she couldn't breathe, so fiercely did she miss him.
The troll snorted once and then, much to Holly's surprise, loped down a side street.
"Trail it!" Holly started off at a run but then stopped when she realized Lili wasn't following. "That's an order, Corporal," she shouted over her shoulder.
That shook Lili out of her stupor and then they were both chasing after the creature. At first, Holly was disoriented as they followed the troll down the street, into a back alley, over a fence, and through a courtyard, but as they emerged back onto one of the main roads, Holly recognised her surroundings. They were on the street directly behind the building that housed the Chrysalis.
The troll had paused in the middle of the street, atop a heap of discarded shuttle parts, nostrils flaring as it scented the air. Its head turned this way and that until finally it stared at the one intact building on the entire block.
D'Arvit! It must be able to smell the clone.
In an instant, fear was replaced by steely determination. Holly wouldn't allow the troll to lay so much as a claw on the Chrysalis. Artemis's future lay in that crater-pitted building, and Holly knew in that moment that she would do anything to preserve it.
Holly raised her Neutrino and aimed it at the troll.
"What are you doing?" Lili hissed. "You'll draw its attention!"
"That's the idea," Holly replied without taking her eyes from the troll.
"But–"
"Some of these buildings still have live tech in them and I'd rather not have it setting off anything really dangerous."
Lili's voice was about an octave higher than normal. "Dangerous?" A laugh that bordered on hysterical tinkled from her lips.
"More dangerous," Holly said. "As in boom we all explode?" Fighting trolls was more fun with Artemis; she didn't have to do so much explaining with him.
Without waiting for a response, Holly squeezed the trigger and sent a beam of concentrated ions pulsing into the troll's shaggy hide. It yowled and spun, saliva dripping from its serrated tusks, claws extending with a schiiick.
Holly nodded. "That did it." She'd made it mad enough to distract it from the clone's scent. Perfect.
"What now?" Lili squeaked.
Holly sighed. Artemis would've had a plan or barring that at least some witty banter. "We improvise."
Anti-grav darts would've been handy right about now, but the surviving LEP stock had run out last month and the supplier's facilities had been levelled by the catastrophe. She had some tranquillizer pads but those would require getting within skewering distance. Wonderful.
"On my go, turn on your helmet's tunnel lights–high beams. Once the troll's stunned we'll move in and use the tranq pads."
"Move in?" Lili repeated, looking several shades paler than normal even through her visor.
The troll's muscles bunched and it sprang forward, its staggering run deceptively awkward. Holly knew trolls; they were a lot faster than they looked. Three, two, one...
"Now!"
The lights on Holly's helmet sprang to life, as did those on Lili's a heartbeat later. Four headlamps, eight hundred watts each, blasted the troll's sensitive retinas. The troll screeched, reaching a note so high it could be heard only by dogs–had there been in a dogs in Haven. Instead, the sound sent swear toads hopping from their perches, croaking invectives that could have curdled milk.
Tiny brain overloaded by the pain and excess visual stimuli, the troll collapsed into a shaggy heap.
Relief swelled through Holly. Artemis was safe. Or the clone way anyway. Artemis's only hope was safe. There was still the matter of his soul needing to hang around until the clone was fully grown. Months still. Hold on, Artemis, Holly thought fiercely, and then returned her attention to the current dilemma.
She reached into her belt pouch and extracted her supply of tranquillizer pads. "Let's go, Corporal. We need to make sure the troll's nap lasts until Retrieval gets here." And considering the mess the city was in and the lack of transportation, it might be a few minutes.
Lili fumbled with her belt pouch. "I guess capturing a troll will look good on our records." She giggled nervously. "And don't worry about the Recon thing, Captain. Trubsie said that the Council will finally clear you for a promotion now that that Mud Man won't be causing you problems every other month."
Holly rounded on Lili, eyes blazing. "That Mud Man sacrificed himself to save us." Her fists were balled at her sides, shaking with the restraint it took to keep them there rather than hurtling towards Lili's face. "If it weren't for that Mud Man you'd be calling Opal Koboi your queen right about now. Is that what you want?"
"No, I–I didn't–"
"You should be thankful. That Mud Man saved us. All of us."
Lili's mouth was open but no sound came out. Grinding her teeth, Holly turned back to the troll.
"Let's get this over with," she snarled and moved towards the troll, the now crumpled tranquillizer pads still in her fist.
"Yes, Captain." It was barely more than a squeak.
Together, they approached the troll, which remained unmoving, its dread locks falling around its face like a black curtain. Holly had one of the tranquillizer pads in hand and was just reaching for the troll when Lili spoke again. Much like the swear toads, she seemed unable to hold her tongue.
"I didn't mean to upset you, Captain. I wasn't a member of the Opal Koboi fan page, you know."
"I think you missed the point, Corporal," Holly replied without turning to face her.
"But you won't have to work with that Mud Man anymore. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Artemis. His name is Artemis. And he was my friend, Corporal." She leaned in to press the tranquillizer into the troll's matted fur, but before she got there a shudder ran through its body. Holly leaped back.
Just in time, for the troll's claws lashed outward in wide arc, scraping across her helmet and sending Holly flying. She heard a crack and a scream, but there was no pain as she scrambled back up to her feet. The scream, she realized, had come from Lili who had also been knocked down by the troll and lay very still, blue sparks of magic fizzing around her, repairing damage. The crack turned out to have been from Holly's helmet, as evidenced by the fizzing sound coming from the now non-functional headlamps.
The troll clambered to its feet, looking a bit dazed still. Its nostrils scented the air and it spun around. Towards the building that housed the Chrysalis.
Holly groaned. Now I know why we keep running into trolls. Artemis is some sort of troll delicacy.
And since Artemis wasn't there to make a smart retort, Holly charged ahead without a word.
The troll was already at the entrance. When it found that a swipe of its claws had no effect, it balled up its fist and slammed it into the door. A fist-sized dent appeared in the metal surface. As the troll drew back again, Holly raised her Neutrino and aimed at the nerve cluster at the base of the troll's skull, letting loose a pulse of ions. The beast roared and spun towards her, its face scrunched up in a way that said, "There's something really tasty past this door, but I'll eat you first if I absolutely have to."
The troll lunged and Holly leaped out of its path. She managed to get off another couple of shots from her Neutrino as she danced around, keeping well out of the troll's reach, until finally she had positioned herself between the creature and the door.
By this time the troll was panting, its green tongue lolling out next to its left tusk. Artemis must be awfully tasty if it was willing to go all this trouble. Holly used the brief respite to contact Foaly. "Where're that Retrieval team?"
He whinnied into the mic. "They're on the way. They should be there any second now."
"They're not here." The troll was gathering itself for another charge. "Foaly, where's the nearest water main?"
She could hear the clacking of keys. "One metre to your right but–"
One quick flick and she turned up the setting on her Neutrino and fired a blast into the ground just as the troll charged toward her, knocking her back against the door.
The Neutrino blast sent debris flying, bits of rubble pelting her helmet and the already irate troll, quickly followed by a jet of water. The water, warm from the earth's heat, surged high into the air in a thick column, spraying both Holly and the troll. They were instantly soaked. The troll's fur, heavy with water, hung around it in long, thick strands, giving it the appearance of lumpy shag rug. A gurgle of displeasure rolled from its throat.
Holly's already damaged helmet was shorting out now from the water. She tore it off her head and tossed it away before it could electrocute her. That was the last thing she needed right now. The troll snorted water from its nose and then snarled at Holly.
Holly snarled right back and unslung her buzz baton. "You are not getting past this door."
A massive clawed hand slashed towards her. She was ready for it and rapped the creature across the knuckles with her buzz baton. It yelped and drew back its hand, watching Holly through narrowed eyes. The water main was still gushing, keeping up a constant spray on the combatants. Trolls hated water. They loathed it. She could only imagine how tasty Artemis's clone must smell to make the troll overcome its natural aversion to water and keep trying to get into that building.
Holly ducked beneath a swipe and followed up the next by another swat from her buzz baton. When the troll leaped at her, jaws open and snapping, she raised the buzz baton to block–only too late realizing her mistake. Its jaws closed on the weapon and tore it out of her grasp, even as it sent a shuddering electric shock through the troll's entire skull. It spit the buzz baton out but the air smelled of singed fur and flesh. The troll's eyes had gone wide with angry shock and white froth dripped from its jowls.
One clawed hand darted out and closed around Holly before she could dodge, and picked her up off the ground. Its fingers squeezed her rib cage, expelling the air frm her lungs. She had only seconds before she passed out or was simply crushed like an aluminum can.
Her hand inched down and managed to slither into her belt pouch. Good, she still had some. With one smooth motion, she slapped a handful of tranquillizer pads onto the troll's arm. For a few seconds there was no effect. White spots danced before Holly's eyes and she thought she felt a rib pop. And then, just like that, the troll's grip went slack and she dropped to the ground. A moment later, so did the troll.
For a minute, Holly lay there, letting her magic work on her rib. Water was pooling around her and she got up when it started sloshing into her ear. When she looked around, she saw one unconscious troll, one equally unconscious LEP Corporal, and a lot of swear toads congregating around the pools created by the broken water main.
Soaked and shivering, Holly got to her feet, and waited for the Retrieval team while the swear toads showered her with a chorus of biting epithets.
ooo
Still dripping, Holly stomped into Trouble Kelp's office and stood in front of his desk. "Reporting as ordered, sir," she said with the sort of formality she saved for when she was especially irked.
Commander Kelp didn't waste any time. "You could have waited for the Retrieval team."
Holly snorted. "And I could have let the troll eat Lili, but I didn't think that would look good on my file."
"Holly, Internal Affairs doesn't just have a file on you; they have an entire block of their storage centre dedicated to your antics."
"Is this about the water main?"
"Our cleanup crews are busy enough without you putting even more holes in the city."
Holly stared the commander straight in the eye. "I really didn't have many options once Lili got herself knocked out." His mouth clamped shut on whatever reply he'd intended. "Next time you send someone to check up on me, don't send your girlfriend." Holly paused for a moment and then, "Or your brother."
For a minute they stared each other down. It had been so much easier to work with Trouble when he hadn't been her boss. He was slowly morphing into Julius Root, and Frond only knew she'd butted heads with Julius often enough.
Finally, Trouble huffed and shook his head. "When are you going to get back to Recon? We're better off if you blow things up on the surface instead of down here."
Holly's heart sank. "Soon," she said. Three to four months.
Trouble frowned at her for another moment and then barked out a, "Dismissed," but as she turned to leave, he spoke again. "Fowl was just another Mud Man and lots of them died. Time to let it go, Holly."
Holly didn't turn. "With all due respect, Commander, you're wrong." And then she marched out of his office without another word.
Hold on, Artemis. Just hold on a little longer.
ooo
Before heading to the locker room to dry off and change, Holly stopped by Foaly's ops booth. As soon as he saw her, he switched on all his anti-surveillance gadgets. "You look like something the dwarf dragged in," he quipped, but Holly was having none of it.
"Will the water main affect the Chrysalis?"
"It might cause reduced water pressure. We can increase the clone's water quotient tomorrow to make sure it stays hydrated."
"He," Holly corrected. "This is Artemis we're talking about."
A hoof clattered against the floor. "Not yet. Right now it's just a semi-developed clone. Until you convince his soul to take up residence in the body, it's just a husk." Holly said nothing to this. "You know this a longshot, Holly. There's almost no chance this will work."
"It will work."
Foaly grumbled something under his breath and Holly caught only the words "elf" and "irrational."
She turned to leave but froze when he spoke again. "When Opal sent the goblins after Caballine, I didn't have a plan, you know."
"You, Mr. Consultant?" Holly said. "You didn't have a plan?"
"I did by the end!" Foaly said, sounding rather miffed. He flicked his tail and then straightened. "But when I left I didn't. I just wanted to get to Caballine. And I realized something. Love makes everything else seem inconsequential." Her brow crinkled. Foaly looked at her pointedly. "You wrestled a troll, Holly."
Her look was about as friendly as the troll's. "Your point?"
Foaly shrugged and hurriedly turned back to his keyboard. "Oh, no point," he said breezily. "Just..."
"Just what?" Holly snapped.
"Just that you never did tell me about that 'moment of passion' you shared with Artemis."
Holly's face turned a purplish hue with her blush. "And I never will," she said and stormed out of the ops booth. But as she left, the only thought ringing through her mind was, Hold on, Artemis.
ooo
Artemis's soul hovered, somewhere between the green meadow of his family's ancestral grounds where he'd built the solar plane, and the cloudy sky he and Holly had flown it through. Being a ghost was more challenging than he'd anticipated and sometimes he felt very much like that plane, gliding above the earth. And sometimes he felt like he would simply float away into the clouds.
But then he remembered the crash.
Holly had wrestled with the controls, but the plane had not stayed airborne long. He knew that in preparation for the crash she'd told him to "shankle his bootbraces." His memory was intact and he knew that was what she'd said moments before the ground had risen up to meet them. But instead, in his mind's eye–which, indeed, was the only sort of eye he had anymore–he saw her turn to him, smiling, and say, "Hold on, Artemis."
And then the ground seemed closer and his soul substantial again, only gliding, not flying, just waiting for its chance to crash to earth once more.
The End
A/N: Just for the record, it's spelled "Lily Frond" in books seven and eight, but "Lili Frond" in book two. I went with the initial spelling.