Rainmaker's Staff

by Tanya Reed

Well, here we are, the chapter before the last (as my beta tells me, "the penultimate chapter"). It's been a long, long ride, don't you think? I've got to tell you that, while I was writing this last November, I didn't realize that I had been quite so evil to Nigel. That apparently continues in this chapter. Poor Nigel! This story has been like the Devil Doll all over again! I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway. (And I'm not quite so mean to him in the last chapter, I promise.)

Also, when I wrote this story, I'd only seen about twenty episodes and "Vanishing Art" wasn't one of them. Any similarities between parts of this section and a certain part of that episode are completely accidental.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. :)

Disclaimer: I've never claimed to own Relic Hunter or Sydney and Nigel...but I'd like to.

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After their meal, using the sun as guidance, the two of them headed out in the direction Karolyne had confirmed for Sydney. The grass crackled under their feet, and the silence made by lack of birds or small animals was almost deafening.

As they moved east, though, Sydney was relieved to see green start to appear among the brown. It was slight at first, but as they went on the green got more and more common. Eventually, they even started to see birds--normal sized ones--in the sky.

"You know," Nigel commented at one point, "If Yorn were here, he'd probably be better able to guess at the location of the ruins. He's lived here all of his life, he knows the Wounded Lands, and he's heard all the stories."

"Well," Sydney answered absently, "It's probably a good thing he's not."

"Why's that?"

"The bedroll would be too crowded."

Nigel unexpectedly laughed at this, lightening the sombre mood that surrounded them. The laugh made Sydney grin at him, delighted that he hadn't lost his sense of humour.

From then on, the days went by slowly. Every day, Sydney and Nigel waited for something strange to happen, but nothing did. As time wore on, it made them edgier and edgier. They found themselves arguing and snapping more than usual. For the first time, Sydney thought it might be easier without Nigel. Immediately, she stomped out the thought, knowing it had been born of frustration.

And still they went on, facing nothing more than sore feet and sharp words. Waiting seemed almost worse than anything that could happen. Four days went by, and then five. It seemed the only time they weren't silent or arguing was when they were lying close together, barely touching, in companionable silence, with the moonlight softly touching their faces.

On the sixth day, she woke feeling cheerful. For the first time in days, she didn't feel like growling at Nigel to finish getting ready and roll up the bedroll. As a matter of fact, while he was gone for his morning communion with a tree, she rolled it up herself.

Sydney was even whistling to herself when she heard Nigel frantically call her name. All hints of a good mood vanished, and Sydney grabbed her sword and knife before running in the direction of the cry.

When she got to the cluster of trees Nigel had disappeared behind, she saw him. He was sitting, huddled, in something that looked like a cross between a prison cell and a giant upright scallop shell. His face was pale, but, other than that, he looked to be in good condition.

"Nigel?"

"I was just standing here," he said, "doing up my pants, when this thing snapped shut around me, like some sort of giant bear trap or something."

"Looks more like some kind of circus jail cell to me," Sydney said thoughtfully, studying the curved, shiny bars. "I wonder what it's made of."

"Can we worry about that after I'm out?"

Sydney ran her hand lightly over the strange material. It felt something like a cross between bone and smooth metal.

"I wonder if these traps were set for people. They're the right size."

"Sydney!"

She looked at him. "Have you tried squeezing through the bars?"

"I may be svelte, but I'm not that svelte."

Sydney eyed the bars, and then eyed Nigel. It would be pretty close. She didn't think she could squeeze through, and Nigel was about her size.

"Why don't you give it a try?"

He sighed and got to his feet. The cage was small and he had to hunch over to stand. If he hadn't been bent over when the trap snapped shut, he might have lost his head.

Nigel turned sideways and wedged himself between the bars, leading with his left arm. He grunted softly and pushed, but he got less than halfway through.

"Hmnn...Maybe if you were smeared in grease."

He breathed in and tried to wriggle out further. It didn't seem to be working. Sydney watched intently, hoping that he didn't break anything.

After a few minutes, he wiggled the other way and back into his cage. Then, he took a big, noisy breath.

"I don't..." he breathed loudly again, "think it's going...to work...Sydney."

"I think you're right." She eyed the bars again. "If we could figure out their purpose, maybe we could figure out how to open them."

"What if their purpose is to hold people here until they die of hunger or exposure?"

Sydney didn't even want to think about the fact that the cage might be magically sealed and impossible to get Nigel out of.

Instead, she said, "If the object was to kill you, you'd probably be dead already. The trap must just be to hold you until someone..."

"Or something."

"...could come and get you out."

"But what if that someone has the only key? Chances are he's been dead for hundreds of years!" His voice started to sound slightly panicked.

Once more, Sydney felt along the bars. "Don't worry, Nigel. I'll find out how to open it."

"Please hurry."

She ignored this as she knelt to study the ground where the bars originated. She wondered if she might be able to dig beneath them and whether they joined at the bottom as they did at the top. Almost immediately, she dismissed the thought of digging. No one who went to the trouble of making a cage like this would make it so easy to escape.

Sydney also wanted to get a good look at the top to see if its joining was seamless. She stood and positioned herself between the tree trunk and the bars. Using the rough surface of the one for leverage, she climbed the smooth surface of the other. At the top, she balanced gracefully, her boots against the bark as an anchor.

Studying how the bars came together, she was relieved to see that they joined with some kind of interlocking technology rather than seamless magic. Handmade puzzle traps she could handle. They always had some kind of release mechanism. She just had to find it.

"Good news, Nigel," she said, sliding to the ground. "It's mechanical, not magical."

"Well, that's something, at least," he sighed, sitting back on the ground.

Sydney got to work looking, and feeling, for anything that could be the trigger to open the cage. She went around it, squeezing through where it almost touched the tree, taking care not to miss an inch of it on her quest.

When she was sure she had covered every possible bit of cage, she growled in frustration. "Nothing."

She glanced at Nigel, then quickly looked away, not wanting to see the disappointment in his face.

"Well," he said with false cheer, "it's got to be nearby. How about the tree?"

Actually, that thought wasn't half bad. Sydney didn't know why she didn't think of it herself. she gave him her best smile, hoping it would be reassuring, before feeling her way across the bark. The front of the tree revealed nothing, not really surprising her because it was within touching distance of the cage. Undeterred, she started on the other side. She was rewarded when her questing fingers discovered a bump that didn't feel like the rest of the bark.

"I think I've found it."

Nigel sat forward, his eyes getting a little brighter. Mentally crossing her fingers, Sydney pushed on the lump. A sigh escaped her as she heard a faint click, and the bars unlocked and started sinking back into the earth.

"See, Nigel? What did I tell you? Nothing to worry about."

Nigel sprang to his feet and out of the retreating cage, giving her a smile of thanks, which she returned.

They walked back to their camp in silence, but once they arrived, Nigel said, "I'm sorry I've been so grumpy the last couple of days. I've just been feeling on edge."

"Don't worry about it. I've been a little cranky myself. I'll be glad to just get the Staff and get out of here."

"If we don't get killed first." His words were an echo of what he'd been saying all along, but this time his voice was cheerful.

"That's what I love about you, Nigel," she said, throwing bow and quiver over her shoulder. "Your optimism."

"Why, thank you, Syd," he said with mock seriousness, and all the unpleasantness of the last few days was forgiven.

Sydney's good mood returned, and she spent most of the day bringing up topics and then listening in amusement as Nigel chattered on, displaying remarkable reserves of knowledge on just about everything.

It was late in the afternoon when Nigel stopped mid-stream and groaned.

"What is it?" she asked, taking her gaze from his face.

"Someone up there is laughing at us." He sounded defeated as he pointed into the distance.

Besides making sure they were headed in the right general direction, Sydney hadn't really been paying attention to the road ahead. What she saw now made her mouth open in shock.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I think so."

Ahead of them was a wide, gaping hole that looked as if some giant hand had scooped a chunk out of the earth. It stretched from horizon to horizon, was at least one hundred feet across, and even from where they were they could see it was a dizzying distance deep.

They approached it cautiously, Nigel asking, "What are we going to do now?"

"There has to be some way to cross it," Sydney replied thoughtfully, getting close enough to look over the edge. She wasn't even afraid of heights, and it made her stomach flip over.

"What if the hole was blown out in the war?" he protested from where he had hung well back.

That was a possibility, but Sydney didn't like the thought of going around the hole. She had no idea how far it stretched or how long the journey around would take. Going down might be a possibility. She got down on her hands and knees and leaned over the side.

"What are you doing?"

Sydney ignored Nigel's alarmed squeak and tested the side to see how stable it was. Dirt crumbled under her hand, and she frowned. Suddenly, something brushed against her back and she started, almost pitching forward into the seemingly endless pit in front of her. The thing touching her grabbed ahold of the back of her shirt tightly and hauled her away from the edge. She sprawled backwards in an uncharacteristically ungraceful heap. Anger lanced through her as she saw the all too characteristic sheepish look on Nigel's face.

"Nigel!"

"I'm sorry; I'm sorry," he hurried to say. "I was afraid you were going to fall."

"I almost did, with your help." She got to her feet, brushing the dirt from her clothes with annoyance.

His face paled, and he whispered again, "I'm sorry."

He looked so scared and sick to his stomach that Sydney's anger drained away. What would she have felt seeing him leaning over a deadly precipice? Given his clumsiness, she'd probably have done the same thing, rushed forward to grab him. And then, if that was the thing that almost tumbled him over the edge...

"It's okay, Nige. No harm done." She even managed to offer him a smile. He didn't smile back.

Sydney went over and put her arm gently around his shoulders. Then, she gave him a firm squeeze.

"I'm sorry I frightened you. I just wanted to know if the sides are stable enough to climb down. They're not."

"I...I almost knocked you over." She could hear the horror in his voice.

"I'm fine," she said firmly. "How many pits have you seen me fall into? It takes more than a little hole in the earth to get the best of Sydney Fox. If that's the way I was going to die, it would have happened long ago."

He still looked so shaken that she gave him another squeeze before releasing him. "Now, come on, we've got to find a way over this thing."

"I don't know if there's a way across," he said, turning his mind to the matter at hand.

"Of course there is. There's always a way across. But I think jumping is out of the question."

"Maybe if I were a ten foot tall kangaroo."

Sydney was pleased to hear his sense of humour was coming back.

She looked out over the huge barrier, studying it intently. There were no visible bridges or narrowings. She knew in her heart that there had to be a way over. If not, Karolyne would have warned her on one of her visits.

She was concentrating hard and was surprised when Nigel put his hand gently on her arm.

"What is it?"

"Look over there."

She looked the way he was pointing but only saw more of the big crater in the earth.

"What am I looking at?"

"See the birds?"

"The birds?"

She looked and did see birds flying just above the top of the chasm. They soared straight and then suddenly veered upwards. Sydney frowned.

"Do you think there's something there?"

"They are acting strangely."

Sydney followed the side of the chasm until she was in line with the place the birds changed their course. Once more, she got on her hands and knees and felt the side. Despite what her eyes were telling her, her fingers touched something solid. She ran her hands along it and discovered it was about four feet wide.

"Well?" Nigel asked, obviously seeing the surprise on her face.

"I think it's a bridge."

"A...what?"

"A bridge. You know, a structure going from one side of something to the other."

"There can't be a bridge. I don't see anything!"

"After all we've encountered here, an invisible bridge is beyond your comprehension?"

Nigel came a little closer to the edge and peeked over. "I don't think I can cross an invisible bridge."

Sydney shrugged this off. "Of course you can. I'll go first."

"Syd..." he sounded breathless.

"We'll be okay."

Without another word, she took a tentative step. When she didn't pitch forward into the chasm, she took another. Since the bridge was narrow and invisible, every step would have to be felt out before committed to. Plus, she wanted to make sure the whole thing didn't just stop short.

After making her way about five feet onto the bridge, carefully not looking down to see herself standing on air, she turned to see if Nigel was following. He hadn't taken a step, but when she stopped, he looked up from her feet to her face. She saw him swallow, then he took a small step forward, and then another.

And then he looked down. Sydney knew his fear of heights and wasn't at all surprised at the look of terror that went over his face.

"Don't look down, Nigel. Look at me," she said calmly.

"I can't...I can't do this."

"Yes, you can."

"No," he said firmly, shaking his head and preparing to step backwards.

"Nigel!" she said sharply, stopping his retreat.

"I can't breathe."

"It's all right. Close your eyes if you have to."

He gave her an incredulous, terror-filled look. Taking pity on him, Sydney went back and took his hand. It trembled in hers, so she gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"Trust me, Nigel." She looked him in the eye. "You trust me, don't you?"

"Yes." Once more, this question was answered without hesitation.

"Good. Close your eyes." To her relief, he did. "Breathe in. Breathe out. Better?"

"A little."

"Okay. Keep your eyes closed and keep hold of my hand. Can you do that?"

"Yes," he whispered.

"All right. I'm going to lead you across. We can do this. Just hold on to me. Don't let go. Forget about everything except for the feel of my hand in yours and the sound of my voice."

She waited for protests, but there were none. His face looked slightly green-tinged, and there were droplets of sweat on his brow.

"Now, the bridge is quite narrow, so stay as close to me as you can. Are you ready?"

He was silent, and for a moment, she was sure he was going to say no. But he didn't. His voice was faint as he said, "Yes."

"Good." She squeezed his hand again before taking a small step forward. Nigel moved with her. "So, Nigel, did I ever tell you about the time Stewie and I were both searching for the Throne of Tears?"

He shook his head, his eyes still tightly closed. Sydney once more felt her way forward, bringing him with her.

"Well, I had been hired by an elderly professor from Montreal. He wanted to hold it once before donating it to the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Stewie, on the other hand, got a tip from someone and decided to pick it up and sell it."

Word by word, step by step, they moved forward at a snail's pace. Sydney babbled on, telling Nigel how she had gotten revenge for Stewie's "Sweet Cheeks" brand by getting him arrested. With the rest of her mind, Sydney concentrated on not putting them over the invisible edge. At one point, she looked down and had to close her eyes at the dizzying view. She suddenly felt like she was falling and her heart flew up into her throat. She swallowed quickly, but didn't let the tone of her voice waver.

After the dizziness passed, Sydney opened her eyes again and stared ahead, still moving and still talking.

"...and the throne was beautiful," she concluded her story. "Of course, like a bad penny, Stewie showed up at that point, but I was able to 'convince' him to let the throne come home with me."

She glanced at Nigel. His hair was damp with sweat, and his hand gripped hers. Still, his breathing was even and he moved with her without protest. They weren't even half way across the chasm. Sydney searched her mind for something else to talk about.

"I'll be glad to get home, though for the life of me, I can't remember what my lecture was on the day we left. I guess I'll have to wing it. Maybe I'll assign an essay."

Nigel groaned, which was her first indication that he was listening to her. He was the one who usually ended up correcting the essays and exams. Sydney smiled slightly as she took another step forward.

As she continued talking, she gently caressed the back of Nigel's hand with her thumb, hoping it was comforting. "I think I'll be so glad to be home, I might just go around hugging everyone in sight. That should shock my students..."

She reached out with her foot and almost stumbled when it came down on nothing but air. Freezing, she tottered and fought to keep her balance. She felt all of the blood draining from her face. Still, she kept on talking, mostly about their students, as she caught herself and moved her foot to search for the next step. She almost breathed a sigh of relief as her foot once more found the bridge, and she realized she had just moved too far to the left.

The trip across the chasm was excruciatingly slow, and Sydney's throat felt raw well before they reached the other side. When they finally reached earth again, Sydney was just finishing the tale of another adventure, this one the funniest she could think of. She even thought she saw Nigel's lip twitch when she looked at him.

As her foot touched solid ground, Sydney was tempted to bend down and kiss it. Instead, she gently led Nigel onto it, while at the same time wondering if their hands were now welded together.

"There you are, Nigel. Safe and sound, just as I promised."

He took a deep breath before blinking his eyes open. He looked at her for a moment, then down at the ground beneath his feet. His gaze travelled back to her face once more before he turned it towards the expanse they had just covered. He swayed and, if Sydney hadn't firmly planted her body against his, she was sure he would have fallen. Tremors of delayed reaction went through him, and she didn't even try to take her hand back.

"It's all right, Nigel. Everything's fine."

She watched as he wrestled with himself, pushing his emotions away. His face cleared and his hand stopped trembling. He gently took it from hers and flexed it.

"All right, then," he said, his eyes meeting hers. "Shall we go?"

There was some residual horror there, but Sydney ignored it. "Sure. This way."