*In our world*
When Tom arrived, he knew immediately that something was wrong. The front door to his sister's house lay open, but none of the lights were on inside. He hurried up the porch and through the door, closing it softly behind him, "Phi! Alex? Where are you?"
He heard Alex's voice floating down the hallway, sounding like it had come from their kids' room. Tom walked in and found Phi leaning on Alex's shoulder as the two sat quietly against the wall. Tom gazed around in shock at the chaotic state the room was in, and turned to face them, "What happened? Where are the kids?"
Phi seemed to choke at his question and new tears slid down her cheeks from her blood-shot eyes. Alex squeezed her hand and gazed tiredly up at his brother-in-law, "They're gone..."
Tom stared at him, not quite understanding, when he suddenly felt a prick come from the back of his mind. He scowled, thinking that it was the start of a migraine, but it began to spread and became a dull thumping in his head. He turned around and faced the wall with the window in it. When he looked there, the thumping grew stronger, like the beat of a drum. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and Alex looked at him curiously, "What's going on?"
Tom frowned and kneeled down next to them, "I don't know...I just...have this feeling that...I don't know, I've felt this before...Do either of you feel a thumping sensation in your head?"
"Yes, but I doubt it's the one you're talking about."
Tom rose to his feet again and Phi wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown and looked up at him, "Tom...I—Can you tell what happened to them?"
He glanced at her, rather distressed. He had never seen his baby sister like this before, not even when their dog ran away or their grandma died. She looked miserable, broken. And that frightened him. "I don't know yet Phi, but I promise I'll do my best to find out."
She nodded and buried her face into Alex's shoulder again, sighing deeply. Alex leaned his head onto hers, glad that she had stopped crying. He himself had run out of tears for one night a long time ago.
He nodded towards Tom, who turned back to the window wall to study it. It looked exactly as it had the day before, and yet something felt different about it. Almost as instantly as the drumming sensation had hit him, the answer suddenly came to him. He whipped around and crouched down next to Alex and Phi, "I just remembered where I recognized this feeling from!"
Phi glanced up at him, "Where's that?"
"In Tortall! I think that the kids were taken back to Tortall!"
*(speaking of which...) In Tortall*
Devic's troops had just arrived at the start of the marshes. The marshes were a rather small and desolate area surrounded by the shadowed trees of the northern forest. They followed a slow-moving river and would eventually guide the Tortallan forces to a strategically located point in the forest where they would be able to launch a surprise attack on the Scans.
Well, that is what Devic told them anyway.
Will scowled as the awful stench of the bogs filled his nose and he swatted some mosquitoes away from his face, annoyed. The air was thick and muggy around the marshland, and the going was tough for the horses, which kept tripping on half-submerged logs and riverweeds. But as usual, Devic seemed completely unaware of the troubles and was entirely focused on moving quickly and arriving at the end of the swamps by nightfall. The men had been complaining for a few hours now, but they all knew better than to take it up with him, because Devic would have just sent them home, and that's not what they had come out to do.
Suddenly, Will pitched backwards as his horse reared up, and he fell on his rear into the muck. As he scrambled to his feet, trying to calm his mare, he caught sight of a water snake slithering away. He swore and mounted up, his lower half dripping with swamp slime, and almost slipped off of the other side of his saddle in his hurry to climb up. The procession had stopped because of the commotion, and other knights were trying desperately to get out of the snake's way as it slithered down the lines, causing the horses to shy away and rear up. By the time the thing had left, two others had been knocked off their steeds, and everyone was in an uproar. Devic calmly rode over and gazed at Will as he shook his head like a dog to try and dry it, "Come now, it was just a snake, nothing to get worked up about."
Will scowled and wiped a stubborn mud spot away from his eyes, "Try telling my horse that sir. It is she that needs to hear it..."
A small laugh ran through the knights, and Devic just grinned, "Just remember, the faster we ride, the faster we will get out of here."
Will nodded, "I will try to keep that in mind sir."
***
By the time they got out of the marshes, it was well past nightfall, and most of the knights and pages had fallen asleep still in their saddles. Spotting a half-decent place to set up a temporary camp, Devic motioned for Will to dismount, along with the others who were still awake, "We will set up camp here, and pack up early tomorrow morning. Help me wake these fellows up so that they can help pitch the tents and start the fires. Will, take a small group out once you get unloaded and fill up some buckets with fresh water."
Devic dismounted, landing in a small puddle. He glanced down with a surprised look on his face, as if realizing for the first time that they were actually in a bog. After tying his horse up to a tree branch, he began to wake the rest of his men, who apologized profusely at having dosed off.
In about an hour, camp had been put up, and almost everyone had gone immediately into their tents to try and get some sleep before they had to wake early the next morning. Will walked over to where Devic was sitting, perched on a log, once again pouring over his maps and journals, "Careful cousin, you may burn a hole in your papers if you stare at them so."
Devic glanced up, his face catching the light from the campfire. The scar on his left cheek was especially noticeable in this light and made his eyes dance, "Why are you not in bed yet young William?"
"I was just about to ask you the same thing, Sir Devic."
"I have a good reason, but you would do me more use on your bed mat, getting some rest for tomorrow."
"Mayhaps, but I will not do any such thing until you promise me in Mithros' name that you will get some sleep tonight."
Devic hesitated, turning a page in a worn journal, then finally nodded, "Very well, I swear upon Mithros that I will get some sleep tonight, now go to bed."
"If you insist."
"Indeed, I do."
Will gave Devic a lopsided grin and trudged slowly back to his tent, his feet seeming to drag. It would feel good to lie down. He crawled inside and quickly yanked off his vest and his boots before crawling underneath a blanket, using his sack as a pillow. His body ached and willed him to fall asleep, but his mind was racing. He could still see Devic's shadow on the side of his tent, hunched over his papers and wondered if his older cousin would keep his promise and go to sleep. He never took care of himself...Of course, it was not completely his fault that he acted this way. Will frowned, his thoughts darkening. No, Devic had never quite been the same person after he had had his experience with Trycos. He lost something there; perhaps a small part of his sanity, maybe just some of his faith, or perhaps his willingness to live. Will never had figured out what had happened those long days when his cousin had disappeared, no one had ever told him exactly what had been going on. With that last thought, he drifted off into his subconscious, blissfully forgetting about all of the troubles he had had before on his mind, and fell asleep.
***
Devic (the younger one) crawled out over a small hillock, and was quickly joined by Luke as they peered over the small grassy mound and into some kind of camp. Luke began to say something, but Devic clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him down against the earth as a large man emerged from one of the tents and stretched. As he walked over to a smoldering fire- pit, Devic noticed that he was wearing strange clothes, or different than the outfits that he had expected to find people in. The burly man was dressed in some assorted furs and a leather tunic fastened by a large leather belt. The man was huge, muscularly, and had a black beard and a short ponytail. Devic scrunched up his nose; he looked like he would smell really bad too.
Devic slid down the slightly muddy mound, pulling Luke down with him. Once they had reached the bottom, he moved his hand from his little brother's mouth and whispered, "Don't talk too loud, I don't want that guy to hear us..."
"Why not? Maybe he can help us."
"Maybe, but he didn't look like it."
Luke glanced down at his feet and then patted his stomach, "But Devic, my feet hurt, an' I'm hungry! "As if to prove his point, his tummy let out a dull rumble.
Devic sighed, rolling his eyes, "All right, here's what we're gonna do. After that guy goes back into his tent thingy, we'll sneak into their camp an' take some of their food. But we gotta keep walking, 'cause there might be a city nearby or somethin'..."
Luke nodded, the plan making perfect sense to him since it was his older brother who said it, and the two boys crawled back up the embankment and peered once again over the top of the hill. The man in the furs had disappeared.
Devic nodded to Luke, and the two slid down the knoll and clamored easily to their feet. Devic started to go through a bag that had been left out on a log by the fire, trying frantically to be as silent as he possibly could so as not to wake anyone. He gingerly undid the drawstring and pulled out a loaf of stale bread, a small dagger, and a small rag that had some black powder wrapped up inside it. He frowned, handed the bread to Luke and stuck the small knife into his pants' pocket. They were just about to leave when they heard a man's voice call out to them. They didn't understand him, but it didn't sound very friendly.
The burly man, the one who they had seen before, leapt out of his tent and came charging at them, rage clearly written on his face. Luke screamed and Devic grabbed his hand and began to sprint away from the clearing, into the trees. Panting, the boy glanced behind him to see if they were still being followed, and sure enough the huge man was right on their tail, snarling and screaming out at them. Luke continued to scream, letting Devic practically drag him along, clutching the bread to his chest as if it were his teddy bear.
Suddenly, the ground grew slippery and wet. Devic lost his footing and the two boys began to tumble down a soggy embankment, landing in a small puddle of foul smelling muck. Devic, who had face-planted right into the stuff, sat up and tried to rub it out of his eyes as Luke sat up, triumphantly holding the bread above the water. They heard the man's shouts coming closer again and Devic once again grabbed hold of Luke's sleeve and began to tug him out of the slime and onto a muddy shore, gasping for breath. There, he collapsed, plopping down onto the ground and they watched relieved as the man cursed them, then stalked off; not wanting to follow them anymore for some reason.
Luke grinned, tore off half the bread and handed it to Devic, "Here ya go."
Devic stared at it, and finally took a bite, scrunching up his face as if it were difficult to even chew. Luke however, had already eaten his and was on his feet, "What're we gonna do now?"
"I dunno...Look for a city or something I guess..."
"That guy looked funny...Who was he? Are you gonna finish that?" Luke looked expectantly at Devic's bread, who handed it over with a sigh and watched disgustedly as Luke wolfed it down.
"How can you eat that?"
"I'm hungry..."
"Ya, well my feet hurt, so let's stay here until the sun comes up..."
Luke pulled his legs up close to his chest, "I don't wanna..."
"Well I do."
"But it smells icky!"
"Then don't breath through your nose!"
"Can't we at least go into the forest an' look around? I'm not even tired! Come on, please?"
Devic scowled, "Fine! We'll go, just stop whinin'..."
Luke smiled happily at his small victory and leapt to his feet as Devic stood up and trudged into the trees.
When Tom arrived, he knew immediately that something was wrong. The front door to his sister's house lay open, but none of the lights were on inside. He hurried up the porch and through the door, closing it softly behind him, "Phi! Alex? Where are you?"
He heard Alex's voice floating down the hallway, sounding like it had come from their kids' room. Tom walked in and found Phi leaning on Alex's shoulder as the two sat quietly against the wall. Tom gazed around in shock at the chaotic state the room was in, and turned to face them, "What happened? Where are the kids?"
Phi seemed to choke at his question and new tears slid down her cheeks from her blood-shot eyes. Alex squeezed her hand and gazed tiredly up at his brother-in-law, "They're gone..."
Tom stared at him, not quite understanding, when he suddenly felt a prick come from the back of his mind. He scowled, thinking that it was the start of a migraine, but it began to spread and became a dull thumping in his head. He turned around and faced the wall with the window in it. When he looked there, the thumping grew stronger, like the beat of a drum. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and Alex looked at him curiously, "What's going on?"
Tom frowned and kneeled down next to them, "I don't know...I just...have this feeling that...I don't know, I've felt this before...Do either of you feel a thumping sensation in your head?"
"Yes, but I doubt it's the one you're talking about."
Tom rose to his feet again and Phi wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown and looked up at him, "Tom...I—Can you tell what happened to them?"
He glanced at her, rather distressed. He had never seen his baby sister like this before, not even when their dog ran away or their grandma died. She looked miserable, broken. And that frightened him. "I don't know yet Phi, but I promise I'll do my best to find out."
She nodded and buried her face into Alex's shoulder again, sighing deeply. Alex leaned his head onto hers, glad that she had stopped crying. He himself had run out of tears for one night a long time ago.
He nodded towards Tom, who turned back to the window wall to study it. It looked exactly as it had the day before, and yet something felt different about it. Almost as instantly as the drumming sensation had hit him, the answer suddenly came to him. He whipped around and crouched down next to Alex and Phi, "I just remembered where I recognized this feeling from!"
Phi glanced up at him, "Where's that?"
"In Tortall! I think that the kids were taken back to Tortall!"
*(speaking of which...) In Tortall*
Devic's troops had just arrived at the start of the marshes. The marshes were a rather small and desolate area surrounded by the shadowed trees of the northern forest. They followed a slow-moving river and would eventually guide the Tortallan forces to a strategically located point in the forest where they would be able to launch a surprise attack on the Scans.
Well, that is what Devic told them anyway.
Will scowled as the awful stench of the bogs filled his nose and he swatted some mosquitoes away from his face, annoyed. The air was thick and muggy around the marshland, and the going was tough for the horses, which kept tripping on half-submerged logs and riverweeds. But as usual, Devic seemed completely unaware of the troubles and was entirely focused on moving quickly and arriving at the end of the swamps by nightfall. The men had been complaining for a few hours now, but they all knew better than to take it up with him, because Devic would have just sent them home, and that's not what they had come out to do.
Suddenly, Will pitched backwards as his horse reared up, and he fell on his rear into the muck. As he scrambled to his feet, trying to calm his mare, he caught sight of a water snake slithering away. He swore and mounted up, his lower half dripping with swamp slime, and almost slipped off of the other side of his saddle in his hurry to climb up. The procession had stopped because of the commotion, and other knights were trying desperately to get out of the snake's way as it slithered down the lines, causing the horses to shy away and rear up. By the time the thing had left, two others had been knocked off their steeds, and everyone was in an uproar. Devic calmly rode over and gazed at Will as he shook his head like a dog to try and dry it, "Come now, it was just a snake, nothing to get worked up about."
Will scowled and wiped a stubborn mud spot away from his eyes, "Try telling my horse that sir. It is she that needs to hear it..."
A small laugh ran through the knights, and Devic just grinned, "Just remember, the faster we ride, the faster we will get out of here."
Will nodded, "I will try to keep that in mind sir."
***
By the time they got out of the marshes, it was well past nightfall, and most of the knights and pages had fallen asleep still in their saddles. Spotting a half-decent place to set up a temporary camp, Devic motioned for Will to dismount, along with the others who were still awake, "We will set up camp here, and pack up early tomorrow morning. Help me wake these fellows up so that they can help pitch the tents and start the fires. Will, take a small group out once you get unloaded and fill up some buckets with fresh water."
Devic dismounted, landing in a small puddle. He glanced down with a surprised look on his face, as if realizing for the first time that they were actually in a bog. After tying his horse up to a tree branch, he began to wake the rest of his men, who apologized profusely at having dosed off.
In about an hour, camp had been put up, and almost everyone had gone immediately into their tents to try and get some sleep before they had to wake early the next morning. Will walked over to where Devic was sitting, perched on a log, once again pouring over his maps and journals, "Careful cousin, you may burn a hole in your papers if you stare at them so."
Devic glanced up, his face catching the light from the campfire. The scar on his left cheek was especially noticeable in this light and made his eyes dance, "Why are you not in bed yet young William?"
"I was just about to ask you the same thing, Sir Devic."
"I have a good reason, but you would do me more use on your bed mat, getting some rest for tomorrow."
"Mayhaps, but I will not do any such thing until you promise me in Mithros' name that you will get some sleep tonight."
Devic hesitated, turning a page in a worn journal, then finally nodded, "Very well, I swear upon Mithros that I will get some sleep tonight, now go to bed."
"If you insist."
"Indeed, I do."
Will gave Devic a lopsided grin and trudged slowly back to his tent, his feet seeming to drag. It would feel good to lie down. He crawled inside and quickly yanked off his vest and his boots before crawling underneath a blanket, using his sack as a pillow. His body ached and willed him to fall asleep, but his mind was racing. He could still see Devic's shadow on the side of his tent, hunched over his papers and wondered if his older cousin would keep his promise and go to sleep. He never took care of himself...Of course, it was not completely his fault that he acted this way. Will frowned, his thoughts darkening. No, Devic had never quite been the same person after he had had his experience with Trycos. He lost something there; perhaps a small part of his sanity, maybe just some of his faith, or perhaps his willingness to live. Will never had figured out what had happened those long days when his cousin had disappeared, no one had ever told him exactly what had been going on. With that last thought, he drifted off into his subconscious, blissfully forgetting about all of the troubles he had had before on his mind, and fell asleep.
***
Devic (the younger one) crawled out over a small hillock, and was quickly joined by Luke as they peered over the small grassy mound and into some kind of camp. Luke began to say something, but Devic clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him down against the earth as a large man emerged from one of the tents and stretched. As he walked over to a smoldering fire- pit, Devic noticed that he was wearing strange clothes, or different than the outfits that he had expected to find people in. The burly man was dressed in some assorted furs and a leather tunic fastened by a large leather belt. The man was huge, muscularly, and had a black beard and a short ponytail. Devic scrunched up his nose; he looked like he would smell really bad too.
Devic slid down the slightly muddy mound, pulling Luke down with him. Once they had reached the bottom, he moved his hand from his little brother's mouth and whispered, "Don't talk too loud, I don't want that guy to hear us..."
"Why not? Maybe he can help us."
"Maybe, but he didn't look like it."
Luke glanced down at his feet and then patted his stomach, "But Devic, my feet hurt, an' I'm hungry! "As if to prove his point, his tummy let out a dull rumble.
Devic sighed, rolling his eyes, "All right, here's what we're gonna do. After that guy goes back into his tent thingy, we'll sneak into their camp an' take some of their food. But we gotta keep walking, 'cause there might be a city nearby or somethin'..."
Luke nodded, the plan making perfect sense to him since it was his older brother who said it, and the two boys crawled back up the embankment and peered once again over the top of the hill. The man in the furs had disappeared.
Devic nodded to Luke, and the two slid down the knoll and clamored easily to their feet. Devic started to go through a bag that had been left out on a log by the fire, trying frantically to be as silent as he possibly could so as not to wake anyone. He gingerly undid the drawstring and pulled out a loaf of stale bread, a small dagger, and a small rag that had some black powder wrapped up inside it. He frowned, handed the bread to Luke and stuck the small knife into his pants' pocket. They were just about to leave when they heard a man's voice call out to them. They didn't understand him, but it didn't sound very friendly.
The burly man, the one who they had seen before, leapt out of his tent and came charging at them, rage clearly written on his face. Luke screamed and Devic grabbed his hand and began to sprint away from the clearing, into the trees. Panting, the boy glanced behind him to see if they were still being followed, and sure enough the huge man was right on their tail, snarling and screaming out at them. Luke continued to scream, letting Devic practically drag him along, clutching the bread to his chest as if it were his teddy bear.
Suddenly, the ground grew slippery and wet. Devic lost his footing and the two boys began to tumble down a soggy embankment, landing in a small puddle of foul smelling muck. Devic, who had face-planted right into the stuff, sat up and tried to rub it out of his eyes as Luke sat up, triumphantly holding the bread above the water. They heard the man's shouts coming closer again and Devic once again grabbed hold of Luke's sleeve and began to tug him out of the slime and onto a muddy shore, gasping for breath. There, he collapsed, plopping down onto the ground and they watched relieved as the man cursed them, then stalked off; not wanting to follow them anymore for some reason.
Luke grinned, tore off half the bread and handed it to Devic, "Here ya go."
Devic stared at it, and finally took a bite, scrunching up his face as if it were difficult to even chew. Luke however, had already eaten his and was on his feet, "What're we gonna do now?"
"I dunno...Look for a city or something I guess..."
"That guy looked funny...Who was he? Are you gonna finish that?" Luke looked expectantly at Devic's bread, who handed it over with a sigh and watched disgustedly as Luke wolfed it down.
"How can you eat that?"
"I'm hungry..."
"Ya, well my feet hurt, so let's stay here until the sun comes up..."
Luke pulled his legs up close to his chest, "I don't wanna..."
"Well I do."
"But it smells icky!"
"Then don't breath through your nose!"
"Can't we at least go into the forest an' look around? I'm not even tired! Come on, please?"
Devic scowled, "Fine! We'll go, just stop whinin'..."
Luke smiled happily at his small victory and leapt to his feet as Devic stood up and trudged into the trees.