10/25/14

Another Halloween season treat for you all.

Chapter 25

The Wager

A bit of light illuminated the dim tunnel beyond the reach of the light of the energy in Querl's hand as the little door ahead of him opened. He could see a bit of the wallpaper in the other living room but soon enough it was blocked by the familiar outline of Imra, bits of snow melting into her hair and clothing as she knelt down, as if to go into the tunnel herself but stopped when she saw him and smiled warmly at him; relief in her voice as she called:

"Queraline, you came back for us!"

With a sigh, Quel sat down in the tunnel and watched her silently. He watched as her smile slowly faded and she clutched the doorway.

"Queraline, are you hurt?"

"Only my pride," Querl said evenly. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"I would never-"

"Then come into the tunnel, if you can," Querl challenged her. "I'm curious as to how far you'll take this charade."

Silence was the girl's answer; then she smiled crookedly. Her skin peeled away into a sickly green, eyes shrinking in as her hair disintegrated into a shorter length and her clothes ripped away without ever leaving her bare. With a blink buttons glimmered over empty eye sockets and her ripped clothing hardened into what looked like Coluan battle armor even while her body still looked like simple flesh.

"That's my clever girl," the Other Mother all but cooed in an endearing fashion that now made Querl feel nauseous. "You still need to come to me though; you have no choice if you want your old parents back."

"You know very little," Querl looked at the dust on the tunnel wall, wondering if it had been there all along when he saw it shimmering with warmth and light not too long ago. "I don't need to do anything."

The Other Mother clenched the doorway and Querl could hear the wood start to crack under her claws, "I will kill them if you don't come!"

"Unlikely," Querl looked at her again. "I don't know how you lured them to you but you're holding them someplace where they can't touch you. I very highly doubt if you took them out to attempt such a thing you would have any time before Garth would strike you down if Imra didn't melt your brain first. Maybe they'd do both; they are rather protective of me for some reason or another."

A scratching sound told Querl that the Other Mother was running her nails along the side of the door frame, scratching hard enough to dig in and cause splinters to fall but Querl kept his face neutral. Unlike the Other Mother, Querl could pretend that he had all the time in the world.

"You think we are at an impasse," the Other Mother finally spoke, losing their battle of wills. "But I have your parents; the thing you want most."

"And I have me; the thing you want most," Querl challenged, smiling softly as the Other Mother glowered. "You can't get me as long as I stay in the tunnel and I can't retrieve Garth and Imra as long as I stay here. We are, indeed, at an impasse."

The scratching returned but then it stopped. The Other Mother smiled sickeningly sweet at the Coluan boy.

"You're a genius, what do you suggest?"

On the one metaphorical hand, Querl wanted nothing more than to turn his hand into a canon and blast the Other Mother's head off. That hand didn't have much to stand on though seeing as Querl had no understanding of how the other world worked. For all he knew if he destroyed the Other Mother the other world would go with her and he would lose Imra and Garth entirely.

Then there was the factor that Querl had no idea how long Garth and Imra would survive in their current situation. He didn't even know how long they had been there, how cold it actually was in their prison, how warm their clothing was or any other factors that indicated how much time he had to work with. To be safe, "sooner rather than later" seemed like the best time frame but "only fools rush in" lay heavily upon his mind.

One could not simply walked into the other world and expect anything his world's logic would dictate. He had seen a circus in a small one bedroom apartment upstairs and a theater in the basement, showcasing a dead woman.

And, as much as he hated to think it, it was very unlikely Querl could expect any help from Other Clark or Other Lyle. He doubted the Other Mother showed any mercy after they had helped him escape. More than likely he would never see them again and he could only hope he could see the original Lyle and tell him how brave and selfless his other world counterpart was. He could almost imagine Lyle bragging on his counterpart's behalf to anyone that would listen. And though he was still angry at original Clark for dismissing this world all as a bad dream of Querl's; Querl desperately wanted to see Clark again as well.

It was then that Querl remembered what Tinya had suggested.

"Why don't we play a game," Querl suggested, pleased when he saw the Other Mother's buttons take a shining to that. "I know you like them."

"Everyone likes games," the Other Mother said slowly before her voice regained her certainty, "What kind of game would it be?"

"A finding things game," Querl stated as it was not a suggestion.

"And what would you be finding?" the Other Mother asked.

"Imra and Garth," Querl stated again.

"Too easy," the Other Mother looked ready to reject the game.

"And," Querl said a bit too quickly, "and the eyes of the ghost children."

The Other Mother looked intrigued, "And what if you don't find them."

With every wager there was a risk and this was the third to last thing Querl wanted to risk but he had little choice in the manner.

"If I lose I will let you sew the buttons into my eyes."

Now the Other Mother smiled as she asked, "And if you somehow win this game?"

"You let me go," said Querl, then clarified, "You let everyone go; Imra and Garth, the dead children, everyone you have trapped here."

The Other Mother took a moment to consider this before she smiled and offered her hand, keeping it out of the tunnel, "Deal."

Querl looked at the hand and then back at her face, not moving, "Not until you give me a clue."

"Oh right," the Other Mother retracted her hand, humming a moment before she smiled again. "In each of three wonders that I made just for you, a ghost eye is lost in plain sight."

Again Querl didn't move, "And for Imra and Garth?"

Instead of answering, the Other Mother just smiled.

Still not moving, Querl looked down and wondered if he could wait her out again, force her to give another clue but he had already waited for so long.

"Fine, you have a deal," Querl looked up but the Other Mother was gone, leaving behind a small pile of sawdust.