The Wanderers of the Water-Realm (7 page)

Darryl first realized that a force of mounted constables had entered the tunnel, when he looked back over the stern of the boat and caught sight of the flickering tongues of light cast by many lanterns. Soon, the clattering of hooves could be heard above the footfalls of his own barge horse.

The boatmaster shouted a warning to the other members of the crew and he immediately gave control of the tiller to his sister Myra. He then seized hold of a long pole and began thrusting it against the walls of the tunnel in an effort speed up the narrowboat’s passage. Yet, despite his best efforts, the pursuit drew steadily nearer.

Hetty, warned of the oncoming danger, gathered up her last reserve of mental energy and hurled it against the opening curtain. Slowly, the already expanding spot of light upon the dark surface of the bowl began glowing with ever greater intensity until the whole interior of the receptacle was bathed in brilliant light.

The wisewoman, now totally exhausted by her tremendous effort of will, pitched sideways and lay prone upon the floor of the clearing. But she was perfectly happy as a black wall of unconsciousness engulfed her, for she knew the barrier between the two realties now lay wide open and her children’s escape was quite certain.

Myra was the first of the narrowboat’s crew to notice that subtle changes were beginning to occur in the subterranean depths of the tunnel, for she could make out a number of orange spots of light sparkling in the wake of the fleeing boat and ragged sections of bright blue rock were mysteriously appearing amidst dull brickwork of the tunnels vaulted ceiling. The young wisewoman did not require her inner-eye to know that some stupendous event was about to take place. She cried out to George to abandon the barge horse and to jump down into the cockpit of the boat, then she flung open the door of the tiny rear cabin and thrust the two men inside.

“Onto the bunks and beneath the blankets,” she cried. “If you both value your eyesight and maybe your lives, and don’t even dream of emerging until I give you permission.”

The two men followed the young witch’s orders, whilst she cowered upon the floor of the cabin protected by an old feather mattress. The three crewmembers only managed to take cover with seconds to spare, for some incredible force suddenly seized hold of the boat and shook it until it appeared in danger of coming apart at the seams.

At the same moment, a brilliant flare of pure white light engulfed the craft. The strange phenomenon was over in seconds, but only Myra’s timely warning had saved the three travellers from disaster.

Myra waited for several long minutes before allowing the men to climb from their bunks and only then did the travellers emerge, taking in their new surroundings in wonderment.

Gone was the dark brick-lined tunnel. Instead, the ‘Bonny Barbara’ was being carried along by some unseen current, through a huge and partly flooded underground cavern whose walls and ceiling were fashioned out of some luminescent blue quartz of incredible beauty. Ahead of the craft was a semi-circle of light growing ever closer by the second, and doubtless marked the exit from this vast subterranean river system.

Myra pointed ahead of the craft.

“Well gentleman,” she said quietly. “Beyond yonder exit lies the Water-Realm and the beginning of our journey. Doubtless many trials and adventures lie ahead of us before we return to our home in the village of Elfencot!”

T
he current that carried the 'Bonny Barbara' down the subterranean waterway slackened appreciably as the river neared its exit, the craft was barely making headway as it cleared the last jagged outcrop of rock and emerged into the light. It was the strange quality of the light that provided the travellers with their first vivid impression of the new reality. For the sparse rays of sunlight, that penetrated a sky that was composed of wave upon rolling wave of crimson cloud had an orange-red appearance that immediately impeded the vision and baffled the intellect of the three newcomers.

The boatmaster’s grip upon the tiller tightened convulsively as he fought to control the feeling of panic welling up in his breast, whilst George gave vent to his fears by reciting the beginnings of a half forgotten prayer that he had first heard whilst taking temporary shelter in some church hostelry. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” he intoned gravely, before bursting into a flood of tears, as he strove desperately to contain his terror and come to terms with the strangeness of his new surroundings.

But Myra, the young wisewoman, had often been forced to confront the inexplicable during her years of training in the occult and she remained perfectly calm.

“Take it steady lads,” she advised. “Just take your time and let your minds become accustomed to what your eyes are telling you and recall that others have passed this way without harm and they certainly experienced the same kind of doubts and fears you are now feeling.”

The two men followed the witch’s advice and the crippling sensation of panic gradually subsided as their eyes became accustomed to the orange-red light. Soon they were able to begin making sense of their immediate surroundings.

The ‘Bonny Barbara’ was riding gently upon the surface of a large lake, whose waters glowed with an all pervading orange-red hue, an optical effect that was doubtless due to the strangely coloured beams of light constantly penetrating the crimson sky.

The lake, upon which their craft rode, lay at the foot of a huge mountain whose summit was lost in the crimson clouds rolling overhead. At the base of its rocky slopes was the mouth of the river-cavern, thorough which the narrowboat had so recently passed.

Half a mile beyond the bows of their craft, the travellers were clearly able to make out the curving shores of the lake, and they were less than reassured by the realization that the nearby shoreline was occupied by a line of substantial structures, buildings that had obviously been erected by creatures possessing considerable creative ability.

“I wonder who lives in those bloody houses.” George mumbled, openly expressing the same fear that was felt by his two companions. “But at least they don’t seem over-keen on sailing around in boats,” he said, surveying the empty surface of the lake. “Maybe they’ve no use for them?”

“Aye, there’s certainly no craft putting out to meet us,” agreed the boatmaster. “But I wonder what kind folk occupy yonder built-up shoreline and…”

“We must find a way of reaching land and take the risk of an unfriendly reception.” Broke in the wisewoman, “for we need to find the seer of whom our mother spoke.

We must find him as quickly as possible, if we are to stand any chance of surviving in this unfamiliar world!”

George, now fully composed, took up one of the long poles lying upon the narrowboat’s deck and thrust its point downwards into the waters of the lake. To the newcomer’s surprise, the water proved to be little more than two yards deep and the lake also appeared to have a hard unyielding bottom.

The young boat hand forced a laugh and threw his considerable body weight upon the pole. “This is how we’ll shift the old girl,” he said. “Two of us men can stand in the stern and push her over towards yonder shoreline without any trouble, whilst Myra steers.

The boatmaster nodded in agreement and climbed upon the roof of the cabin, studying the shoreline minutely for a good ten minutes. He eventually pointed to a spot where there appeared to be a wide gap in the line of waterfront structures.

“That’s where we’ll make our landfall!” He declared. “The water flowing into the lake from the underground river must make its exit somewhere; I reckon that gap marks the spot where the water overruns into a river or perhaps some kind of navigable waterway. Maybe we can use it as an escape route for the ‘Bonny Barbara,’should we receive an unfriendly reception from the inhabitants, once we come ashore.”

Myra held the tiller, whilst the two men took up their positions high in the stern and began polling the craft towards the gap in the shoreline. Both men were in excellent physical condition, but the work proved to be backbreaking and the narrowboat made only slow progress. They were also forced to take frequent rests due to the oppressive heat. It was during one of these breaks that the travellers witnessed an amazing natural phenomenon.

The crew of the boat were rapidly becoming accustomed to the beams of orange-red light that penetrated the crimson clouds constantly boiling overhead and they unthinkingly assumed that the light was generated by a single unseen heavenly body; doubtless a sun of similar appearance to the one illuminating their native reality. The travellers were therefore extremely surprised when the clouds thinned momentarily, to reveal the orbs of five small suns, spaced in an absolutely straight line overhead. The three were able to view the phenomenon for only a few bare seconds before the rolling cloud-cover thickened once again and obscured the five strange solar bodies.

The young witch at the tiller was the first to recover from this sudden revelation and she laughed out loud. “Not just one sun, but five to ripen the harvest,” she joked.

“I wonder if they also harvest five times the crops in this strange world?” The two crewmen joined in her laughter, but the merriment was short-lived and it had a distinctively nervous edge to it.

The crew returned to the task of poling the craft along, but it required a further four hours of backbreaking labour to bring the ‘Bonny Barbara’ to within a hundred yards of the shore.

Darryl, it transpired, had been correct in assuming that the gap in the line of waterfront buildings marked the beginning of an exit river, for a ribbon of orange-red water broke from the confines of the lake and passed beneath the remnants of a once mighty bridge before disappearing into the far distance. The three companions also noticed that all of the riverside buildings were in an advanced stage of disrepair; for the roofs of almost all of the structures had fallen inwards and many of the buildings were no more than piles of broken stones. Nothing moved in the rubble strewn avenues lying beyond the long waterfront promenade and the absolute silence that lay over the ruined city suggested that it was completely deserted and had probably been abandoned for long centuries.

George shuddered. “Gawd’ what a place.” he muttered. “I wonder if the ghosts of the dead ever return to the ruins and molest the likes of us who come here to trespass.”

“Keep hold of your wits lad!” The young wisewoman answered sternly. “However, my inner-eye suggests that we take care, for I do feel that a number of malevolent influences exist in yonder ruins. Yet I also feel that we are in no immediate danger, whilst we continue to lie out here on the water.”

She paused. “I think that I would know if it were otherwise, for my occult powers seem to have been strangely augmented since we arrived in this reality and …”

The witch fell silent, as did her two companions, for they noticed that the sky had suddenly begun to darken and it was obvious that night was almost upon them. It was also apparent that night fell with great rapidity in this strange new world.

“Quickly George,” shouted the boatmaster. “Lend a hand and we’ll lash two lengths of cable to a couple of the heavy iron bars that are lying amongst our cargo of scrap metal, then we’ll chuck em’ over the side and we can use them to anchor the boat; for I’m damned if I want us to drift close to them ruins during the hours of darkness!”

Half an hour later, with the narrowboat securely anchored, the three crewmembers retired to the crafts tiny cabin and barred the door with balks of timber.

Darryl had also briefly considered setting a watch in the cockpit of the boat, but he had quickly abandoned the idea, for the darkness in this new reality was like a thick black ink.

Aguard would have been completely blind and have added nothing at all to their security.

In addition, he knew that the strenuous physical and mental exertions of the day had brought them all to the point of near exhaustion and it was evident that they needed all of the rest the night would allow. He therefore made a determined effort of will and pushed all of his fears to the back of his mind concentrating upon cooking a pottage of fresh vegetables on top of the little stove standing in the cabin.

Very soon, the tired travellers were well fed, fast asleep and quite oblivious to any possible dangers that might exist within the utter darkness of the Water-Realm night.

The orange-red light of the Water-Realm dawn struck with a sudden intensity through the windows of the narrowboat’s tiny cabin and roused Darryl from his slumbers.

He thrust aside his blankets and checking his old pocket watch, learned that night in the new reality had lasted a mere six and a half Earth hours.

The boatmaster peered cautiously through the windows of the craft for any sign of danger, before removing the protective balks of timber from the door and stepping out into the vessel’s cockpit. Once again, he carefully perused the nearby ruins for any sign of movement before returning to the shelter of the cabin. Both of his companions were still asleep in their bunks and he decided to let them rest for a little while longer, in order to allow them to recover from the terrible stresses of the previous twenty four hours.

He stirred up the embers in the stove and added more fuel before setting a pan of porridge to cook upon the rapidly heating hotplate. Soon, the smell of grilling bacon began to permeate the cabin, the tantalizing fragrance quickly coaxing the two remaining sleepers into full wakefulness, and only a little time elapsed before the company were enjoying a leisurely breakfast at the cabin’s folding table.

Darryl was the last to push away his empty plate and drain his mug of strong tea.

“Now is the time to make decisions!” He said. “Are we to lie here offshore and await the man who mother says will meet us and give assistance? Or do we venture ashore and seek out our guide and mentor?”

Myra topped up her companion’s mugs with fresh hot black tea.

“Our guide is still a good distance from us!” She said quietly. “The man who is to help us is evidently a seer of great ability, for he reached into my mind at the very moment that I awoke from my deep sleep, but our minds were imperfectly linked and we were able to converse for only a short time.”

“Who is he? Where can he be found?” The boatmaster asked anxiously.

“I know very little.” The young wisewoman replied. “For my psychic power still has limits. All that I can tell you is that he is approaching us from the direction of the Exit River and he is moving through the ruins with extreme caution.”

She paused. “Perhaps he needs to take care! Yesterday, my witch’s intuition comforted me and told me to have no fear. Yet I feel that danger now exists, out there, amidst the ruins.”

The boatmaster nodded in agreement. “Well then, sister, it’s quite evident that our best course of action is to meet with our helper as quickly as possible. That Exit River looks navigable. I suggest that we ride down upon its current and hope to make contact with him. We shall be riding upon the water for most of our journey, but we had best arm ourselves as well as possible, in case we have need to sally ashore.”