Case gave his algebra exercises to the teacher and returned to his school desk. He pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and began to write. "Dear Mom," he began. "I had a really weird dream last night about these kids who were trapped inside a castle by this evil king. Then they were sent out into the forest by the king and this little blonde girl accidentally shot one of the others with an arrow. Strange thing was, I only really recognised two- this little girl who looks like your sister Max, and this older girl named Tinga, who sort of looked like you...? That's really odd. I don't KNOW anyone called Tinga. But the weirdest thing was that for one second, I thought the blonde girl could see me, or hear me. I don't know. Otherwise, I'm good. There's a school dance coming up and Jodie Sampson has been asking all my friends what the odds are that I'm taking her. She even called up the house last night. The first time she hung up, and I could hear lots of giggling in the background. Then the second time she blurted out, 'Someone likes you!' and hung up. No shit.
Sorry- I know you're not supposed to swear in front of dead parents. I just wish she'd leave me alone. Did you act this weird around boys when you were young? Can you please send me some sort of sign as to what to do? Thanks. I love you. Case M. Smith."
The bell rang and Case gratefully scooped up his books. He staked out the lockers for Jodie or her posse before running in, grabbing his backpack and books and leaving.
The bus was swarming with teenagers. He groaned as he saw Jodie in the very back row of seats. She grinned and waved at him, and Case weakly returned the wave. Unfortunately, his usual seat with Jared, who was absent that day, happened to be only a row or two in front of the girls. He was too tired to put up with Jodie's difficulty... much too tired.
He sat down, wanting to read the new science fiction novel he'd gotten out of the school library, but instead he found his eyes sliding shut and himself slipping away... away from the banal world of the schoolbus.
And Case found himself in a dirt field, on a hot and muggy day. Although he was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he spotted some young people a way away who were dressed quite differently.
He remembered them. There was the Princess Tinga, and Princess Jondy. He only vaguely recalled the other two children- both girls. One was a thin dark girl with a fierce sort of look on her face, the other was blonde, blue-eyed and serene-looking, with a gentle determination on her face.
All of them had tools in their hands and were breaking up the black soil. What seemed like a million miles away, Case could just see the tiny forms of other groups of children, also working furiously.
Princess Jondy had a livid look on her face as she hit at the earth again and again. With grimy hands, she swept her long hair, which she'd plaited away from her face, from one shoulder to the other. Case walked behind her almost instinctively and was unnerved by the fact that there was something black on the back of her neck.
It was a brand, a little lopsided and surrounded by small scars, as though there had been a struggle when they were branding her. It was the number 210.
"I HATE THIS!" she bellowed, to everyone's surprise, and threw her hoe a very long way. "WHY- DO- WE- HAVE- TO- DO- THIS-?!" Jondy yelled.
"Jondy-" began the blonde girl, but Jondy seemed to have snapped.
"THIS- IS- COMPLETELY- POINTLESS-! Nothing ever GROWS here, anyhow!"
"We have to," said the dark girl, her voice set. "We have to because the king says we have to."
"Shut up, Jace!" snapped Jondy, and gave Princess Jace a shove.
"Make me. You've been whining and complaining all day and it's really getting on my nerves!"
Princess Tinga intervened. "Ladies do not whine or complain. They make observations."
"Well, thank the Blue Faerie SOMEONE'S finally gotten through to you!" argued Jondy.
"Care to explain?" The two girls were circling each other now, like animals ready to fight.
"You- you-" Jondy jumped at Jace and the children began to fight, yelling so loudly that children in the other labour groups frowned and looked up, shading their eyes against the fierce sun.
"Jace!" shrieked the blonde girl. "Jace, stop it!" Princess Tinga nodded at her and both waded in to pull them apart. Consequently, they took quite a few blows themselves.
Suddenly, Princess Jondy began violently twitching and convulsing. She went limp in Tinga's arms. Tinga struggled to hold her up.
"Oh, no-" moaned Princess Tinga. "Not again!"
"She wasn't DOING anything," said the blonde girl vehemently.
Jace stood up out of her sister's arms abruptly, looking wounded, betrayed. "She hit me, Eva!"
Princess Eva patted Jace's arm shyly, like Jace didn't like being touched. "I know she did, Jace, but she's smaller than you."
"Not THAT much smaller," muttered Princess Jace mutinously, casting a jealous look at Princess Jondy, whose eyes had rolled back into her head.
Three other children, the Princess Max and two older boys, came hurtling over. "Jondy!" wailed Max forlornly, and went to help Tinga hold her up.
A tough-looking boy folded his arms across his front. "I'll go and tell them to make it stop. It's the third one this week with the shaking sickness. All of you have got to behave better!"
"We DO behave!" protested Princess Tinga. "And we can't go and ask the king's sorcerers to make it stop. Let's take her up to the tower, then she can rest. It'll stop... it always does."
"During WORK?" asked Princess Jace scandalously. "Do you want to get us KILLED?"
"M-Make it... stop," Jondy managed to stutter.
"Hold on, Jondy," said the other boy resolutely. "That's a good idea, Tinga. I'll help."
Tinga gave the boy a happy little smile that somehow made Case very uneasy. He went to help her with Jondy.
"Thank you, Ben, and I'll need a few more."
"I'm in," volunteered Princess Eva. "Come on, Jace. Please? We need you."
Jace muttered some more and scuffed a bare foot in the dirt, but agreed.
"All right!" said Princess Tinga.
"Me too," said Princess Max stubbornly.
"No, not you."
"Yes, me. Jondy wants me, don't you, Jondy?"
Jondy gave the slightest jerk of the head that could be interpreted as a nod.
"See!"
The oldest boy rolled his eyes behind her back. Case spotted a brand on his neck, too- revealed by what looked like recently cut hair. A faded 599 bloomed against his skin.
Princess Tinga and Prince Ben held their ailing sister up. Princess Max walked alongside them while Jace and Eva ran ahead through the ankle-deep dirt, checking that the coast was clear. The older boy stood behind, shaking his head before running back to his group. Case silently followed.
The huge castle door was unguarded, and so the six children entered unnoticed. Eva crossed the hall to a tapestry showing a hunt, and held it up for the others to reveal a door into a winding staircase. They stepped through
Enthralled, Case looked all around. This castle had to be the biggest place he'd ever seen. It made the Taj Mahal look like a cupboard.
He walked almost too closely behind Princess Max, who now stood at the back with Princess Jace. Both were watching for attacks from behind.
Max looked around suddenly and gasped. Case realised in shock that she could see him. Princess Max screamed.
Everyone jumped and looked at her accusingly. "Max, you simpleton! We'll be heard! Even the Blue Faerie will be powerless to help us!" hissed Ben.
"But- But there's someone there-" she stammered, and looked behind. She looked confused and Case no longer saw himself reflected in her eyes.
Eva, who was at the front, peered around the bend and looked around at them. She mouthed something.
"What?" asked Jace, Tinga, Ben and Max.
NOMALY, she mouthed.
And all in a second, a hulking guard with a deformed face and sharp teeth crashed through the stone wall. He gave an animal-like roar at the sight of them, yellow eyes blinking in rage. He seemed to be deciding who to attack first.
"Let go of Jondy," instructed Princess Tinga, and with a shrug both she and Ben simultaneously let go of Jondy. She fell backwards down three steps, and Max grabbed her, nearly falling down after being hit with an entire nine-year-old. Jace took up her other arm.
"Tin-GA!" yelled Princess Jace. "You could have hurt her!"
Princess Tinga's mind was not on her sisters. She gazed up at the Nomaly fearfully. "RUN!" she screamed. Eva bolted down the stairs almost inhumanly fast, following the already-gone Jace and Max, who were now holding Jondy up.
The Nomaly bellowed and swiped at Tinga with long arms. The two children hopped down two steps and ducked in unison.
"Tinga?" asked Ben. Princess Tinga was quickly counting bricks. Her hand suddenly shot out and she yanked a loose brick straight from the wall, letting it fall to the steps and shatter, narrowly missing her foot. Out of the gap in the stone she pulled two swords.
"Catch!" she yelled, and tossed him a sword, which he grabbed easily.
Both struck fighting stances, readying themselves to battle the fearsome Nomaly. It let out a scream and dived at them, but they jumped to the side, pressing themselves up against opposing sides of the wall.
Ben swung his sword up at the Nomaly's chest. It grabbed the blade and lifted him right off his feet, staggering back to the gaping hole in the wall, ready to climb back through and take him away forever.
Tinga gasped. "BEN!" she screamed in anguish, and her face was marred with anger and fear. She leapt up a few steps and scrambled to her feet when she tripped to aid the yelling Prince Ben.
"Tinga- HELP!" he called to her, for now the Nomaly was holding him at arm's length, and if he let go he would go falling into the depths of the castle, where in addition to becoming their prisoner he'd most likely break both legs after such a fall.
"I'm trying!" she answered, and looked around quickly. With one strong, true swipe of her sword she slashed the Nomaly's leg.
With a yowl of agony, the Nomaly tripped, its leg profusely bleeding, and tumbled back down the shaft. Prince Ben jumped. His hands desperately scrabbled at the jagged stone ledge of the Nomaly tunnel, and he slid along a few seconds.
Princess Tinga threw herself down on her stomach, reached as far as she could and still couldn't get to her brother without lying on the flimsy ledge... and possibly sending both of them to their doom.
Then, she had a brainwave. She held the flat edge of the sword out to Prince Ben, and pulled him out that way. Both knelt on the stairs, breathing hard.
"Tinga- you... you saved me."
"Yes." Case could see that the girl named Tinga felt embarrassed.
"That was brave, Tinga."
She turned her face away, and Case could see her blushing a little. "We'd better go. The tunnel has been broken open; more will come when they hear of their brother's battle."
"Who could care about the plight of a Nomaly?" shuddered Prince Ben. He pulled her up and they continued up the stairs.
Case silently tailed them up endless stairs- at one point the two ducked behind yet another tapestry that brought them to a vertical shaft with a climbing rope.
At the top of the shaft, a panting Case climbed through the unlit fireplace (this was apparently a secret passage) and found himself in a circular room with one biggish window. There were cloths and tapestries hanging off the walls, a great few beds- one of which had a doll on it. There was a huge open chest full of child-sized weapons- axes, swords, daggers, maces, bows and arrows.
The far end of the room had a wide doorway with a shut, locked wooden door. Although there was a lot of dust, this place definitely had a feel of home, family and safety.
Lying on a pile of cushions was a weak, but recovering Princess Jondy. Jace was loitering by the door and leaning on a spear, Max lay next to Jondy and Princess Eva was practicing with her own sword, swinging and chopping at a piece of broken furniture from a pile in the corner. She grunted and then looked up, giving a sweet, shy smile to the returned heroes. Jondy waved, her hand slumping to the pillows almost immediately. Jace nodded from her place by the door.
Max saw Ben and Tinga were all right and ran over to Ben, hugging him. "You escaped!"
Princess Tinga stood back as Max hugged Ben tightly. Prince Ben seemed to sense her feeling of being ignored. "'Twas Tinga who saved me. Tinga, tell them how you fought the Nomaly."
Even Princess Jace gasped. "You FOUGHT a NOMALY?" asked Max, gazing at her big sister with renewed respect. "Tell us!"
"Is it safe?" asked Tinga, as Princess Max dragged her over to where she and Jondy lay. Princess Eva threw her sword into the weapons chest and ran to join them.
Jondy rolled her eyes. "You... you know that they can't hurt us up in our tower. No magic spell can hurt us; no Nomaly can drag us away. This is our sanctuary."
As Tinga began to relate her story, Jace tentatively inched forward until Princess Eva saw her. "Cease a moment, Tinga- Jace, come sit with us. Don't stand over there by yourself."
Jace suddenly didn't look so fierce any more. "Really?" she asked softly.
"Come on, come and sit next to me," implored Eva.
She jumped almost too far to be a coincidence and landed next to Eva, who put her arm around her casually. Princess Jace looked surprised, but relaxed and listened to the story.
"... this whole ugly incident could have been avoided if Max hadn't screamed. What was the MATTER, Maxie?" asked Tinga.
"I..." said Max, and a dreamy, thoughtful look came over her young face. "There was a boy..." she murmured, and Case could have sworn she looked at him as she said this...
"CASE!"
Case jolted awake to the laughter of the other kids on the bus. "He's just so CUTE when he's asleep!" said Jodie rapturously. Case blushed.
He waited until the laughter had died down before delving into his backpack for some paper. This merited yet another letter to his mother...
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: I kind of like writing this story... I didn't have a clue as to how to get the barcodes in, so I changed them to brands. There will be more on those in later chapters. It's my school holidays now, so I have LOTS of time to write!
Sorry- I know you're not supposed to swear in front of dead parents. I just wish she'd leave me alone. Did you act this weird around boys when you were young? Can you please send me some sort of sign as to what to do? Thanks. I love you. Case M. Smith."
The bell rang and Case gratefully scooped up his books. He staked out the lockers for Jodie or her posse before running in, grabbing his backpack and books and leaving.
The bus was swarming with teenagers. He groaned as he saw Jodie in the very back row of seats. She grinned and waved at him, and Case weakly returned the wave. Unfortunately, his usual seat with Jared, who was absent that day, happened to be only a row or two in front of the girls. He was too tired to put up with Jodie's difficulty... much too tired.
He sat down, wanting to read the new science fiction novel he'd gotten out of the school library, but instead he found his eyes sliding shut and himself slipping away... away from the banal world of the schoolbus.
And Case found himself in a dirt field, on a hot and muggy day. Although he was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he spotted some young people a way away who were dressed quite differently.
He remembered them. There was the Princess Tinga, and Princess Jondy. He only vaguely recalled the other two children- both girls. One was a thin dark girl with a fierce sort of look on her face, the other was blonde, blue-eyed and serene-looking, with a gentle determination on her face.
All of them had tools in their hands and were breaking up the black soil. What seemed like a million miles away, Case could just see the tiny forms of other groups of children, also working furiously.
Princess Jondy had a livid look on her face as she hit at the earth again and again. With grimy hands, she swept her long hair, which she'd plaited away from her face, from one shoulder to the other. Case walked behind her almost instinctively and was unnerved by the fact that there was something black on the back of her neck.
It was a brand, a little lopsided and surrounded by small scars, as though there had been a struggle when they were branding her. It was the number 210.
"I HATE THIS!" she bellowed, to everyone's surprise, and threw her hoe a very long way. "WHY- DO- WE- HAVE- TO- DO- THIS-?!" Jondy yelled.
"Jondy-" began the blonde girl, but Jondy seemed to have snapped.
"THIS- IS- COMPLETELY- POINTLESS-! Nothing ever GROWS here, anyhow!"
"We have to," said the dark girl, her voice set. "We have to because the king says we have to."
"Shut up, Jace!" snapped Jondy, and gave Princess Jace a shove.
"Make me. You've been whining and complaining all day and it's really getting on my nerves!"
Princess Tinga intervened. "Ladies do not whine or complain. They make observations."
"Well, thank the Blue Faerie SOMEONE'S finally gotten through to you!" argued Jondy.
"Care to explain?" The two girls were circling each other now, like animals ready to fight.
"You- you-" Jondy jumped at Jace and the children began to fight, yelling so loudly that children in the other labour groups frowned and looked up, shading their eyes against the fierce sun.
"Jace!" shrieked the blonde girl. "Jace, stop it!" Princess Tinga nodded at her and both waded in to pull them apart. Consequently, they took quite a few blows themselves.
Suddenly, Princess Jondy began violently twitching and convulsing. She went limp in Tinga's arms. Tinga struggled to hold her up.
"Oh, no-" moaned Princess Tinga. "Not again!"
"She wasn't DOING anything," said the blonde girl vehemently.
Jace stood up out of her sister's arms abruptly, looking wounded, betrayed. "She hit me, Eva!"
Princess Eva patted Jace's arm shyly, like Jace didn't like being touched. "I know she did, Jace, but she's smaller than you."
"Not THAT much smaller," muttered Princess Jace mutinously, casting a jealous look at Princess Jondy, whose eyes had rolled back into her head.
Three other children, the Princess Max and two older boys, came hurtling over. "Jondy!" wailed Max forlornly, and went to help Tinga hold her up.
A tough-looking boy folded his arms across his front. "I'll go and tell them to make it stop. It's the third one this week with the shaking sickness. All of you have got to behave better!"
"We DO behave!" protested Princess Tinga. "And we can't go and ask the king's sorcerers to make it stop. Let's take her up to the tower, then she can rest. It'll stop... it always does."
"During WORK?" asked Princess Jace scandalously. "Do you want to get us KILLED?"
"M-Make it... stop," Jondy managed to stutter.
"Hold on, Jondy," said the other boy resolutely. "That's a good idea, Tinga. I'll help."
Tinga gave the boy a happy little smile that somehow made Case very uneasy. He went to help her with Jondy.
"Thank you, Ben, and I'll need a few more."
"I'm in," volunteered Princess Eva. "Come on, Jace. Please? We need you."
Jace muttered some more and scuffed a bare foot in the dirt, but agreed.
"All right!" said Princess Tinga.
"Me too," said Princess Max stubbornly.
"No, not you."
"Yes, me. Jondy wants me, don't you, Jondy?"
Jondy gave the slightest jerk of the head that could be interpreted as a nod.
"See!"
The oldest boy rolled his eyes behind her back. Case spotted a brand on his neck, too- revealed by what looked like recently cut hair. A faded 599 bloomed against his skin.
Princess Tinga and Prince Ben held their ailing sister up. Princess Max walked alongside them while Jace and Eva ran ahead through the ankle-deep dirt, checking that the coast was clear. The older boy stood behind, shaking his head before running back to his group. Case silently followed.
The huge castle door was unguarded, and so the six children entered unnoticed. Eva crossed the hall to a tapestry showing a hunt, and held it up for the others to reveal a door into a winding staircase. They stepped through
Enthralled, Case looked all around. This castle had to be the biggest place he'd ever seen. It made the Taj Mahal look like a cupboard.
He walked almost too closely behind Princess Max, who now stood at the back with Princess Jace. Both were watching for attacks from behind.
Max looked around suddenly and gasped. Case realised in shock that she could see him. Princess Max screamed.
Everyone jumped and looked at her accusingly. "Max, you simpleton! We'll be heard! Even the Blue Faerie will be powerless to help us!" hissed Ben.
"But- But there's someone there-" she stammered, and looked behind. She looked confused and Case no longer saw himself reflected in her eyes.
Eva, who was at the front, peered around the bend and looked around at them. She mouthed something.
"What?" asked Jace, Tinga, Ben and Max.
NOMALY, she mouthed.
And all in a second, a hulking guard with a deformed face and sharp teeth crashed through the stone wall. He gave an animal-like roar at the sight of them, yellow eyes blinking in rage. He seemed to be deciding who to attack first.
"Let go of Jondy," instructed Princess Tinga, and with a shrug both she and Ben simultaneously let go of Jondy. She fell backwards down three steps, and Max grabbed her, nearly falling down after being hit with an entire nine-year-old. Jace took up her other arm.
"Tin-GA!" yelled Princess Jace. "You could have hurt her!"
Princess Tinga's mind was not on her sisters. She gazed up at the Nomaly fearfully. "RUN!" she screamed. Eva bolted down the stairs almost inhumanly fast, following the already-gone Jace and Max, who were now holding Jondy up.
The Nomaly bellowed and swiped at Tinga with long arms. The two children hopped down two steps and ducked in unison.
"Tinga?" asked Ben. Princess Tinga was quickly counting bricks. Her hand suddenly shot out and she yanked a loose brick straight from the wall, letting it fall to the steps and shatter, narrowly missing her foot. Out of the gap in the stone she pulled two swords.
"Catch!" she yelled, and tossed him a sword, which he grabbed easily.
Both struck fighting stances, readying themselves to battle the fearsome Nomaly. It let out a scream and dived at them, but they jumped to the side, pressing themselves up against opposing sides of the wall.
Ben swung his sword up at the Nomaly's chest. It grabbed the blade and lifted him right off his feet, staggering back to the gaping hole in the wall, ready to climb back through and take him away forever.
Tinga gasped. "BEN!" she screamed in anguish, and her face was marred with anger and fear. She leapt up a few steps and scrambled to her feet when she tripped to aid the yelling Prince Ben.
"Tinga- HELP!" he called to her, for now the Nomaly was holding him at arm's length, and if he let go he would go falling into the depths of the castle, where in addition to becoming their prisoner he'd most likely break both legs after such a fall.
"I'm trying!" she answered, and looked around quickly. With one strong, true swipe of her sword she slashed the Nomaly's leg.
With a yowl of agony, the Nomaly tripped, its leg profusely bleeding, and tumbled back down the shaft. Prince Ben jumped. His hands desperately scrabbled at the jagged stone ledge of the Nomaly tunnel, and he slid along a few seconds.
Princess Tinga threw herself down on her stomach, reached as far as she could and still couldn't get to her brother without lying on the flimsy ledge... and possibly sending both of them to their doom.
Then, she had a brainwave. She held the flat edge of the sword out to Prince Ben, and pulled him out that way. Both knelt on the stairs, breathing hard.
"Tinga- you... you saved me."
"Yes." Case could see that the girl named Tinga felt embarrassed.
"That was brave, Tinga."
She turned her face away, and Case could see her blushing a little. "We'd better go. The tunnel has been broken open; more will come when they hear of their brother's battle."
"Who could care about the plight of a Nomaly?" shuddered Prince Ben. He pulled her up and they continued up the stairs.
Case silently tailed them up endless stairs- at one point the two ducked behind yet another tapestry that brought them to a vertical shaft with a climbing rope.
At the top of the shaft, a panting Case climbed through the unlit fireplace (this was apparently a secret passage) and found himself in a circular room with one biggish window. There were cloths and tapestries hanging off the walls, a great few beds- one of which had a doll on it. There was a huge open chest full of child-sized weapons- axes, swords, daggers, maces, bows and arrows.
The far end of the room had a wide doorway with a shut, locked wooden door. Although there was a lot of dust, this place definitely had a feel of home, family and safety.
Lying on a pile of cushions was a weak, but recovering Princess Jondy. Jace was loitering by the door and leaning on a spear, Max lay next to Jondy and Princess Eva was practicing with her own sword, swinging and chopping at a piece of broken furniture from a pile in the corner. She grunted and then looked up, giving a sweet, shy smile to the returned heroes. Jondy waved, her hand slumping to the pillows almost immediately. Jace nodded from her place by the door.
Max saw Ben and Tinga were all right and ran over to Ben, hugging him. "You escaped!"
Princess Tinga stood back as Max hugged Ben tightly. Prince Ben seemed to sense her feeling of being ignored. "'Twas Tinga who saved me. Tinga, tell them how you fought the Nomaly."
Even Princess Jace gasped. "You FOUGHT a NOMALY?" asked Max, gazing at her big sister with renewed respect. "Tell us!"
"Is it safe?" asked Tinga, as Princess Max dragged her over to where she and Jondy lay. Princess Eva threw her sword into the weapons chest and ran to join them.
Jondy rolled her eyes. "You... you know that they can't hurt us up in our tower. No magic spell can hurt us; no Nomaly can drag us away. This is our sanctuary."
As Tinga began to relate her story, Jace tentatively inched forward until Princess Eva saw her. "Cease a moment, Tinga- Jace, come sit with us. Don't stand over there by yourself."
Jace suddenly didn't look so fierce any more. "Really?" she asked softly.
"Come on, come and sit next to me," implored Eva.
She jumped almost too far to be a coincidence and landed next to Eva, who put her arm around her casually. Princess Jace looked surprised, but relaxed and listened to the story.
"... this whole ugly incident could have been avoided if Max hadn't screamed. What was the MATTER, Maxie?" asked Tinga.
"I..." said Max, and a dreamy, thoughtful look came over her young face. "There was a boy..." she murmured, and Case could have sworn she looked at him as she said this...
"CASE!"
Case jolted awake to the laughter of the other kids on the bus. "He's just so CUTE when he's asleep!" said Jodie rapturously. Case blushed.
He waited until the laughter had died down before delving into his backpack for some paper. This merited yet another letter to his mother...
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: I kind of like writing this story... I didn't have a clue as to how to get the barcodes in, so I changed them to brands. There will be more on those in later chapters. It's my school holidays now, so I have LOTS of time to write!