Earth

Alex

‘So who was it that warned us, do you have any idea, Jalholm?’ I asked. ‘The voice on the phone was Sarah's, but yet I know that it could not have been, so who was it?’

Jalholm had said that a dream had saved him from capture, a dream where I warned him of his danger. None of it made any sense. ‘Well?’ I pressed.

‘Alex, the woman spoke only a few words. Yes, she sounded a little like you. But from those two things alone I cannot deduce who it was that warned us, nor how they could know that we were in danger.’

‘Do you think that it's the same people that warned David… the ones that sent him the messages?’

‘Alex,’ Pauline said, ‘is there any point to this? Jalholm doesn't know… none of us do. So what's the point in constantly going over it, as we have been? You say that it was your sister… or at least that it sounded like her. But you know that it's not her; it can’t be no matter how much you want it to be.’

‘I know,’ I said, with a heavy heart. ‘But what about what you said? You said that you saw David… You were positive that you did. And—’

‘So you believe me now, do you?’ Pauline interrupted, her voice filled with sarcasm.

I blushed. ‘I wanted to then, Pauline. Truly I did. But even with Jamie and that blasted telephone, I found it hard to believe… and then, before we knew it, we were on the run. Now, well… I just wonder, that's all. What if David didn't go to Ellas after all, what if he's been here all along… and that his disappearance was a sham of some kind, a deception?’ I was clutching at straws, I knew. But I didn’t know what else to think.

‘That still doesn't explain the woman on the phone,’ Pauline said, gently.

‘I am sorry to say this, Alex, but David did travel to Ellas. We have not talked of what I saw when I scried in that alley as yet, but it was Ellas. Despite what Jamie believes, the man he talked with cannot be David. I do not understand it myself, but—’

‘How do know it was Ellas? What did you see?’ I asked, as tears once more clouded my vision. I'd completely forgotten about why we were in the alleyway and what it was that Jalholm was trying to do. Sarah, her voice, and the terror that came immediately after, had driven all thought of it from my mind.

Jalholm took my hand, and even through my tears, I could see the scowl on Jamie's face.

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‘He travelled to a room. A small room, almost a prison cell, even. It—’

‘That could have been anywhere,’ I interrupted, as I again grasped at straws.

‘It was Ellas, Alex. I'm sorry, but it was. I could feel it, taste it almost. The very air of the room told of the world that I left so very long ago. It was Ellas, believe me. David travelled to Ellas.’

‘So what about the phone call? Jamie swears he spoke to David, and…’ I trailed off, my voice choking on the words I would have said next.

‘We can follow David, Alex,’ Jalholm said. ‘I will need to experiment a little more first. But I am sure we can.’ He squeezed my hand gently. ‘I cannot explain all that is happening here… none of it, actually. But all is not lost, I assure you. We can follow David, and then perhaps he can help to make sense of all of this.’

Strangely, Jalholm sounded confident, more so than he had since he'd appeared at my door. And it helped, it really did. I sniffed and wiped my face, and then looked up to meet his eyes. ‘Can you really take us there, to Ellas, I mean? You're not just saying that, are you?’

'Truly I can, Alex. I can… but,’ looking around, Jalholm looked at Jamie, Pauline and Tony, before looking back to me, ‘I do not believe that I can take all of us. The two of us… but I think to attempt more would be dangerous… possibly fatal.’

‘No way!’ Jamie said. ‘You better experiment more, then, because I'm coming. There's no way that Alex goes anywhere without me!’

‘Button it, Jamie,’ I said, as I glared at him. He blushed slightly but matched my glare, until finally, I turned away.

‘Are you sure, Jalholm, just us two? Isn't there anything you can do… more experimentation as Jamie suggests?’

‘No, Alex. Absolutely not… it is a risk to extend its use to two, given that time is also involved.’

‘Why does it involve time, Jal?’ Jamie asked.

'It’s as Jalholm explained earlier, Jamie. He travelled from the past, from Ellas's distant past, to our time, and… but hang on a minute… Jamie's right. Why time? David went to Ellas, and then returned a year later. Okay, so he was there ten years or so he said, and only a year past here on earth, but that implies that there is little or no time difference. So why—’

‘David travelled a great distance through time, Alex. He did not travel through space alone… time was involved, centuries at least.’

‘How the hell do you know that, Jal? This your scrying thing again, is it? All seems a little too far-fetched for me.’

‘Shut it, Jamie. Are you sure, Jalholm?’ I asked, now completely flummoxed as to what was going on.

David had no control over where he was sent, I was sure of that – whoever sent the messages had a hand in it; they controlled or at least manipulated just about everything David had done since his return. But I had assumed that he'd returned to the Ellas he'd been sent back from, to the same time. That's what he'd wanted – to avenge his friends’ deaths, and to fight Dar’cen.

‘Positive, Alex. And if we care to follow, we too must negotiate the tides of time.’

‘Tides, you're talking total bollocks now,’ Jamie snapped.

After that all hell broke out with everyone trying to get their point across.

I looked at each of them in turn - Jamie shouting at Jalholm; Pauline pulling Jamie’s arm and telling him to calm down, Tony looking exasperated and calling for them all to stop, and poor Jalholm doing his best to explain to A Jamie that had no interest in listening.

‘Enough!’ I shouted above the clamour.

‘Sit down and shut up. I don’t want to hear another word from any of you. Yes, Jamie, that most certainly means you. And from you, Jalholm, I just want answers to my questions. I speak, and you answer, Jalholm. Got it? And everyone else keeps it zipped.’

For a wonder they all fell silent and sat.

I looked at Jalholm, and said, ‘Now explain it all to me. Leave nothing out. I want to know where we’re going, how you know… and what we can expect when we get there.’