Tag Archive: Polydora

Feb 26

In the Company of Angels: Episode 7.1 – The Attic

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 7.1 – The Attic

 

Once Jill had waved to Polydora through the portal, the Ferrumari’s head disappeared back into the painting. The painting itself, still glowing brightly, depicted the very plaza that she, Sam, and Polly had been standing upon just a moment before. The scene looked nearly identical to the current state of the plaza, and seen now housed within a plain bronze frame, the painting appeared frighteningly apocalyptic — much more so than the one in Mr. Luke’s Gallery that had first brought them to Polly’s home world.

 But Jill had little time to think about Orbaratus now. She turned around her and surveyed the space within which she and Sam were standing. It was a bit stuffy, and she loosened her cloak and pushed it back from around her shoulders. Then she noticed the smells: of old wood, of dust, and of something else, something quite sweet.

 “Are those flowers?” she wondered. But just at that moment, very clearly in her head, she heard the word “Roses!” She turned and looked at Sam. He smiled at her and said, in a whisper, “I think I smell roses blooming! They must be outside. It must be summertime here!”

 It was a disconcerting moment for Jill, because, for the first time ever, other than with Polydora, she realized that she had caught a whiff, if you will, of someone else’s thoughts. She didn’t know if she was going to like what struck her as eavesdropping on other people; she wondered then if being an empath would prove to be something she could turn on or off, like the volume control of a radio, or whether it would just be a new form of background noise that she would have to get accustomed to. She didn’t know what the answer would be, but thought perhaps she should ask Polly, or Mr. Luke, once they returned to Orbaratus. For now though, she had other business to attend to.

 Sam gestured around them, and Jill could see that he was pointing out the many other paintings that were stacked haphazardly about within the crawlspace. These were scattered along with old pieces of furniture, lamps, wooden chests, and even the headboard and footboard of a bed frame in one corner. All of these  were covered with varying layers of dust, but the paintings were stacked vertically so that, for many of them, you could still see the images clearly within their frames. These images were all glowing with that otherworldly light that Jill had come to recognize. She unclenched her hand and turned her ring around, and only then did the lights fade.

 “I don’t see any sign of the raven,” she whispered.

 “No, me neither,” said Sam, “but let’s look around and see if maybe it’s built a nest in one of the nooks and crannies of this place.”

 “That’s going to be hard in all of this murk,” said Jill.

 The crawl space was high enough to stand near one wall, but the beams of the roof, with wood slats nailed across them, tapered down from the top of the wall to the floor. In the very farthest corner of the angle made by the roof beams and the floor, there were cracks of light that came from the eaves, and these provided the only illumination with which to see in the cramped space. There were shadowy corners into which the raven could easily have flown and they would never have been the wiser.

 But Sam grinned broadly and pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket. “Never worry! I was a Boy Scout once,” he whispered, “‘Be prepared’ shouldn’t just be their motto. We should adopt it for The Framerunners as well!  Ever since I was able to find an LED flashlight that would run for days on one set of batteries, I’ve never been without one. You’d be amazed at how many dark places you find yourself in when you’re jumping from world to world!”

 He switched on the flashlight and they were able to clearly see the crawlspace in all its musty, dust-filled glory. But Jill noticed that the dust on the floor was largely undisturbed; apparently the attic wasn’t very often used. That would be good for them, as it meant they would be less likely to be discovered.

 They worked their way from the Orbaratus painting to one end of the long crawl space. There they found first one, then a second small doorway that they guessed must open onto rooms of the house at that end. Then they doubled back, passed their painting again, and continued to the other end of the attic. There they found an additional door. The crawl space appeared, then, to run the whole length of the house.

 “I wonder if this is something like a row-house, with openings into different people’s homes?” whispered Jill.

 “I don’t know,” said Sam, “and I hope we don’t have to find out. But can you see over there in the far corner? There’s a lot of light coming in near the floor: a bright spot. I’m betting there’s a hole there, and maybe that’s where the raven has gotten to.”

 “But what if the raven just flew into a different painting? There have to be at least a half dozen we’ve seen that it could have gotten into. That is, if it’s still carrying one of the crystals.”

 “Well, we don’t even know if it has a crystal, but I see what you’re saying, and that would be mighty bad news if you’re right,” said Sam. “On the other hand, there’s one thing we haven’t tried yet. Remember Mr. Luke said to let you have a go at finding the bird; that maybe you could sense where it was even if we couldn’t discover it outright. Want to give that a try?”

 Jill nodded. “I’m new at this, but here goes….” She shut her eyes and did her best to sense what was around her. She knew Sam was there, but what about past him, past the confines of the crawlspace? She listened and tried to see if she could feel the presence of anyone other than Sam.

 At first she could detect nothing at all. But then she began to have the growing sense that there was a person nearby. She imagined it must be a woman; she wasn’t sure why. But this woman, whoever she might be, appeared in her mind to be busy with something. Jill listened. She “heard” snippets that might have been coming from the woman’s head.

 “All this dust…must get the tea on soon…wherever did I put the dustbin?…Professor will be having company later…” Jill experienced these as fleeting images more than as words, but they struck her as the sort of things someone would be muttering to herself while bustling around inside of a house.

 “I think there must be a housekeeper, or someone like that, nearby. Maybe in the room on the other side of this door,” she whispered to Sam.

 “OK. Anything else?” he asked.

 Jill concentrated once more. There was another presence, she thought, but not as busy as this first person. Someone concentrating his attention inwardly. “So it’s a ‘he’ rather than a ‘she’,” Jill thought. But he was not close at hand. Rather, he seemed to be down toward the other end of the house.

 But just then Jill’s attention was taken away from listening, for she detected, or thought she detected, something like  rapid movement, and the feeling of being watched. She opened her eyes and gazed in the direction she had felt the movement come from.

 “Sam, look over toward that bright spot you mentioned.”

 Sam turned and they both watched the patch of light in the corner. After a moment, they saw movement, and something that made the light blink out, and then back on again. Sam turned his flashlight toward the patch of light, and it glinted off of the beady eyes of the raven, which had apparently just flown back into the crawlspace.

 “There he is!” Sam exclaimed, forgetting to whisper. The raven froze in the light for a moment, but then turned around and dove back through the hole in the eaves.

 “Oh, blast it all!” said Sam, and stamped his foot.

 “Shush!!!” whispered Jill, but it was too late. She could hear footsteps just outside the door beside them, and then, a moment later, the handle turned and light streamed in from the room beyond. A middle-aged woman, slightly plump, was standing in the open doorway peering intently in at them.

 “Oh!” she said. “You two gave me such a start! The Professor didn’t say anything about any children in the house. But where have you stowed your things? And what on earth are you doing in this musty old attic?!”

 “Well, we, uh…” said Jill.

 “Americans no less!” said the woman. “Well, come along out of there, dearies. I’ll need to be setting up places for you both to sleep, I suppose. The Professor is so busy with his own work; keeps me on my toes, he does, never letting on who is coming for supper or…. But, that’s not your problem, dearies. Come on out and I’ll check with the Professor to find where I should put you, though I expect it will be in the children’s room, I shouldn’t wonder. Do you know how long you’ll be staying with us?”

 Sam and Jill had no option but to accompany the bustling woman from without the attic space and into the adjoining room. It was a large room, brightly lit. They followed the housekeeper (for so she appeared to be) into a hallway just outside, and then into another room past the head of the staircase that led to the ground floor below.

 The woman knocked on the door. “Professor, I’m here with the two children. Shall I set them up in the children’s room, as usual?”

 Sam and Jill heard nothing for a moment, but then the door to the room opened and a tall, middle-aged man with a receding hairline opened the door. Past him, they could both see that the room beyond must be a sort of a study and library.

 “Mrs. Mills, do be so kind as to explain yourself. There are no children in the house to my knowledge. That all ended months ago.”

 “Well then, how do you account for these ‘uns?” asked Mrs. Mills.

The Professor looked past Mrs. Mills at Jill and Sam, and was clearly startled. “My goodness! I’ve never seen them before in my life!

              [ To read Episode 7.2, click here…. ]

Feb 20

In the Company of Angels: Episode 6.2 – Parting Company (cont.)

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 6.2 – Parting Company (cont.)

 

“I can see that there are wooden beams that come down to the floor”, said Luke, “and they meet somewhere above the portal: atop a wall, probably, or perhaps at the peak of the roof. I can also see other shapes scattered about: maybe they’re odds and ends, like you’d find in a  storage space…? Some of them do, in fact, appear to be covered with cloth, and everything has a thick layer of dust on it.”

Sam beamed at Jill and nudged her. “Mr. Luke can see stuff better than anybody. I think it comes from his being a Renderer. I remember one time my trying to draw a frog, and he was coaching me. He kept shaking his head and saying ‘You’re not looking properly, Samuel!’” Sam had altered his voice to mimic Mr. Luke’s.

Jill giggled. “You do that very well!” she said under her breath.

Sam grinned. “Yeah, but I never could get the frog to look right, Honestly, I couldn’t draw my way out of a paper bag! But I’ll bet if you showed Mr. Luke anything, he could draw it, and so life-like it’d scare the heck out of you!”

“So, is that the main thing Renderers can do? Draw?” asked Jill.

“It’s a lot more than that. They can sketch the simplest thing and framerun it…even better than I can, because they’re the ones that drew it! You’ll see for yourself if Mr. Luke goes to find Azarias. You would already have seen it if there’d been a surface for him to draw on down in the street; up here, it would be easy, ‘cause he could use any of these stones as a canvas.”

“Alright,” said Mr. Luke, “If you two will be so kind as to stop chattering, I think I have a plan. I can see nothing immediately dangerous through this portal, and I would definitely like to know what we can learn about that bird. It was a raven, by the way; did any of you notice?”

Sam winked at Jill but said nothing. Polly remained silent.

Luke looked around at everyone. “Here’s how I suspect we ought to proceed, but I’m open to suggestions. I believe that I ought to consult with Azarias, provided I can find him. So, I will attempt to framerun back to London. I’ll explain the situation to him and see if he can shed any light on what might be happening here. If he deems it necessary, I’ll bring him back to help us.

“Sam, if you and Jill are willing, I’d like for you both to explore this frame and learn what you can about what’s on the other side. Most importantly, I’d like you to see where the raven came from. There’s something very peculiar about a bird that can framerun! My suspicion is that the creature may have stolen the third crystal, but perhaps you’ll find that out once you’ve caught up with it.”

“How much exploring do you want us to do, Mr. Luke?” asked Sam. “I mean, yeah, we may find ourselves in an attic or a crawlspace or something, but if we see no signs of the raven, what then? Do you want us to snoop around a bit?”

“Only if it seems safe. We have no idea which of the Iconic Realms may be on the other side of that frame, so there may be dangers that we’re not expecting,” said Mr. Luke.

“You mean like wild boars in Narnai?” Sam was grinning.

“Ahem! That, Samuel, was not my fault. And, for our purposes here, it is ancient history! No, I mean that we don’t even know if what looks like an attic means that there will be human beings there that built it! Aside from that, remember that the portal could also lead you back to earth, but at a different time than our own. If that appears to be the case, you need to touch nothing and return immediately; we can’t risk meddling in a time-tethered realm.”

“A what?” asked Jill.

“Sam will explain it to you. But, Sam, remember: prudence first! And although she’s just learning to use her abilities, have Jill help you to find the bird; she may be able to track it down even if you can’t. For that matter, she may be able to alert you to the presence of people or dangerous creatures before you would even know they’re there.”

Sam nodded. “We’ll be careful.” Jill looked at Sam and swallowed.

“Polly,” said Mr. Luke. “If you don’t mind, I’d like for you to remain here so that you can keep an eye on this new frame and on the stone gateway and its crystals. I don’t know if you could get through the portal to help Sam and Jill if they needed it in any event, but you can watch their progress as long as they are within sight. And you can also help them sense what’s in the space before they jump in blindly…you may be able to tell them who or what is near the picture on the other side before they framerun it. Also, if anything happens to them or to the doorway, you should try to follow me back to London through the sketch I’m going to draw.”

Polly nodded. “I shall stay here. This is still my home, and I fear nothing on Orbaratus, even if some danger lurks behind the doorway.”

“So, does this plan suit everyone?”

“Works for me,” said Sam.

“Me too,” said Jill, “although I still think that portal’s kinda small….”

Polydora simply nodded.

“Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll be off first…” Mr. Luke walked toward one of the monoliths that littered the plaza, drew a piece of chalk from a pocket in his drover coat, and then quickly and expertly sketched a rectangular doorway through which could be seen a sofa and a window beyond it. It was a very simple sketch, and one that only took him a minute or two to draw onto the stone surface. But, once he was satisfied, he bowed to the others.

“I shall return as soon as possible. If anything goes seriously amiss, Polly, please come after me. And you two,” he said, turning to Sam and Jill, “remember: caution! No heroics! Jill, do your best to rein Sam in if he threatens to do anything rash!”

With that, Mr. Luke turned his ring around on his finger and stepped into his drawing.

Despite Sam’s comment about Renderers, Jill was still astonished and gasped when he disappeared. She had seen the bluish glow on the sketch even as it was being created, but this was the simplest of images: nothing like the painting that they had traveled through to reach Orbaratus, nor any of the pictures in her library that she now knew had been framerun by Mr. Luke and Sam…and Rusty.

“Wow!” she said. “That’s really amazing! So, can he do that to go anywhere? At any time?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Sam. “‘Course, he can’t Mazerun, so I guess that’s something I can do that he can’t. But who wouldn’t like to be able to step through their own drawing and go to the North Pole, or to Wonderland, or to Lothlorien?

“That said, I never got around to asking you,” said Sam. “Can you draw anything yourself? Ever taken any of Ms. Craig’s art classes at school?“

“Yes, once, and it was a total disaster,” said Jill. “I was lucky to get a ‘B’, which she gave me just because she felt sorry for me. It’s definitely not my thing. I doubt if I did any better than you did with your frog sketch for Mr. Luke. I mean, I can draw really simple things, like stick figures or smiley faces, but nothing like Mr. Luke.”

“Yeah, Mr. Luke’s pretty spectacular. I think Azarias can draw, too, but I’ve never seen him do it. But, enough talking: we have a job to do!”

“Yes, we do!” said Jill. “So just how should we proceed with this?”

“I should look first,” said Polly aloud. “I wish to make sure that all appears safe on the other side of the raven’s frame.”

From within her head, just after Polly had finished speaking aloud, Jill heard Polly speak to her separately. “Go slowly with Sam, little one. He doesn’t sense things well, nor the way we do. You should trust what your feelings tell you is happening, and slow him down if the need arises.”

“But how can I slow him down?” thought Jill back to Polly.

“Just tell him what you feel, and remind him that Mr. Luke told him to trust you. He will listen to you; perhaps even more so than to Mr. Luke.”

“Why would he listen to me?!” asked Jill.

In her head, she “heard” Polly laughing softly at the question. “He will listen. Trust me, little one,” came the response. Jill looked up at Polly questioningly, but the Ferrumari betrayed no emotion on her serene, metallic countenance. Instead, she stepped toward the raven’s frame. Grasping her crystal tightly in hand, she stooped and thrust her head into the dark portal. She stood there, as still as a statue, peering into the darkness.

Nearly a minute passed before Polly pulled her head back out of the frame. “I cannot tell for certain, but I believe that the world on the other side of this frame may be your planet, the Earth. I cannot say if it is your own time or some other. But, there are at least two people in the house, for that is what the structure appears to be. I think that this portal, in fact, leads into a crawlspace or side attic of the house. I can detect no sign of the raven, but perhaps he has simply flown from the attic space; that you will have to determine for yourselves.”

“Can you tell us any more about the people that are in the house?” asked Sam.

“Very little. They are both on the same floor as the attic space, and in fact appear to be quite near to the portal, just on the other side of a wall.”

“So this space is on an upper story of the house?”

“I believe so,” said Polly. “I cannot tell you much about the floor below, but there are living things surrounding it; plants, birds, trees. The attic is most likely on the first floor of the house, and the main part of the house is below.”

“You mean it’s on the second floor of the house then, not the first….”

Jill thought for a moment. “No, Sam, I think she means the first floor in the British sense. That is, the floor above ground level. Is that what you mean, Polly?”

Polly nodded.

“OK, then. We’re going into a crawlspace with folks around, So, let’s be as quiet as mice!” said Sam.

Jill had never experienced such a thing before, but she received the psychic equivalent of a nudge from Polly, and looking up at her, she saw that the Ferrumari was smiling. “Yes, be as quiet as can be,” Polly said to Sam.

The bottom of the frame was just about at waist height, or a little above. Grasping the sapphire on the pendant around his neck tightly, Sam bent down and squeezed through the opening.

Jill watched him disappear, gave Polly one last glance, and then followed him into the darkness.

Polydora watched them both enter the portal, and then bent down and looked through it to make sure that she could see them on the other side. She saw Jill stand upright, dust herself off, and then turn back and wave.

Polly waved back. Then she stood back up straight and looked around at her home — at Orbaratus. The wind was still whistling around the empty stone monuments. Otherwise, it was quiet; as quiet as she always remembered it. She was once again alone in her world; in a world filled with ghosts and even perhaps with dangers that she had never known before. But it was still her home.

Polly breathed deeply of the air of Cenurbus. It smelled as it always had: flinty. It was a smell that she only noticed consciously when she returned with Luke, Jill and Sam. When she had lived here for those many hundreds of earth years, it was just part of the background — she had had no other world with which to compare it. But now she recognized the smell of her home. She could detect nothing obviously amiss now, either in the smells or the sights of Cenurbus.

That was when the rumblings began again, and Polydora knew that another earthquake was coming. But there was something else, past the seismic sounds, that she sensed. For the first time ever, Polly thought she could detect the slightest presence of other living creatures: creatures that belonged to this world, just like her. And Polly sensed that these beings must be awakening somewhere deep, deep beneath her: under the very stones at her feet….

                [ To read Episode 7.1, click here…. ]

 

 

Feb 13

In the Company of Angels: Episode 6.1 – Parting Company

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 6.1 – Parting Company

Polydora grabbed Jill by the hand and pulled her away from the doorway just as a large stone from the cliff face above it broke off and splintered onto the pavement. It landed where Jill had been standing. Luke took Jill’s other hand and the three of them followed Sam out onto the open plaza.

The earth heaved around them and they heard cracking sounds as planters and stone pillars splintered. Looking past the edges of the plaza, they saw dust and debris falling from the buildings below them and on either side. Then the motion of the earth, which was beginning to make Jill a bit dizzy, ceased. The rumbling continued for some time, punctuated with the sounds of additional objects falling and crashing below them. Then there was silence.

“Jill, are you alright?” asked  Luke.

“Yes, I’m fine, but I wouldn’t have been without Polly….”

“Is everyone else OK? Sam?”

“Sure, I’m fine, said Sam. “But what happened? Polly, do you get a lot of earthquakes on Orbaratus?”

Polydora shook her head. “This is the first I have ever experienced here.”

“I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the missing stone,” said  Luke. “It can’t be just a coincidence that it would be gone, Polly would sense someone or something else here, and then we’d have an earthquake, all at nearly the same time. There is more going on here than we know. Something isn’t right, and we may need help to figure out just what.”

“Help? What sort of help?” asked Jill.

“We need to get Azarias involved. Polly, do you know if he has ever come to Orbaratus?”

“Of course he has! He was among the first to visit my home,” said the Ferrumari. “In truth, he was the first human being I ever saw; nay, even the first living creature I ever encountered other than myself.”

“Then he is certain to know more about Orbaratus than we do; he may even know things you are unaware of, Polly. I’ll see if I can find him and at least talk with him. If need be, he may want to join us here.” Luke tugged at his beard for a moment.

“Mr. Luke, you said, just before the earthquake, that you thought we were in great danger. What made you say that?” asked Jill.

“If my understanding of the verses Polly translated is correct, then the three crystals that were placed around the stone doorway were put there for a reason: to prevent someone or something from escaping from whatever lies beyond the doorway. I don’t know why the crystals we use would be capable of such a thing, but perhaps these are not the same stones; perhaps they do something entirely different.

“Polly, you mentioned the Masters, and the fact that they have been gone for many thousands of years….”

“Yes,” said Polly, “the histories are not clear; they had become the stuff of legend by the time the wars broke out among my own people.”

“But do the histories say what happened to them or where they went? Was there a plague? Or a war?”

“Perhaps. The histories mention wars and madness, but it is not clear what was their cause. It seems that as the madness, whatever it might have been, spread, the Ferrumari began to fight against the Masters; not for independence, but to bring a halt to the bloodshed and the violence.”

“So, is it possible the Ferrumari may have had to imprison the Masters? Is that what you’re thinking, Mr. Luke?” asked Sam. “In that case, that doorway may lead into some sort of a dungeon, or maybe the Masters are cryogenically frozen, like Khan was in Star Trek!”

“Khan?” asked Jill, “You mean Genghis Khan was in Star Trek?!”

“No, no. A different Khan. And it was in the movie, not the TV show,” said Sam.

“Well, I never saw either. I told you I didn’t  watch much in the way of space stories….”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Still — whatcha think, Mr. Luke?”

“About the Masters being locked behind that door? It’s a possibility; that’s why I want to ask Azarias. He may have spent some time in the archives here and may know better why the stones were placed there and what they were trying to protect against, if anything.”

Jill had been listening to Luke, but suddenly, she didn’t know why precisely, her attention was drawn away. She had had a sudden sense of movement, and of being watched. She glanced up to see what might have attracted her attention, and just then a black form flew right past her toward the stone doorway. It fluttered there for a moment, and then wheeled around and came back, flying right past all of them. Jill noticed that Polly, too, was watching this creature, and both of them instinctively tried to follow it.

“What’s happening?” asked Sam. “Where are you both going?”

“They’re chasing a bird, Sam,” said Luke, also turning to watch the creature.

The bird, for that is clearly what it was, emitted a harsh croak as it fled. It was large and black, and it flapped wildly toward to the plaza’s edge; then, suddenly, it was gone! Jill and Polly, who had been running just behind it, looked over the edge of the chasm to the street below, and then back at each other.

“It disappeared!” Jill shouted back at Sam and Luke.

“What do you mean, ‘disappeared’? You mean it flew down into the street?” Sam asked as he came panting up to the plaza’s edge.

“No, I mean it’s gone! Like, gone from this world, gone!” said Jill. “I…I can’t sense it anymore. Can you, Polly?”

“No, it is no longer on Orbaratus. It is not hiding, nor so far away that I would be unable to sense it” said Polly.

Luke smiled. “You’re right of course, both of you, but you weren’t paying close attention. It didn’t just vanish; it flew through a frame. Turn your rings back around again and you’ll see for yourselves.”

Jill turned her ring around and clenched her fist. Suddenly, right before her eyes, she could see a window open up in the air, ringed in a bluish light. It was a patch of darkness just in front of her, but much smaller than the portal they had used to come to Orbaratus.

“Huh!” said Sam as he came up to the frame. “Doggone bird must have had a crystal attached to it, or maybe it’s got one in its talons?”

“That, Samuel, is a very interesting observation,” said Luke. “What would a bird be doing with a sappire?”

“Maybe it picked it up. Maybe it stole the one from the doorway!” said Jill.

“We don’t yet know if the crystals on either side of the doorway are actually the same as the sapphires we use to framerun,” said Luke, “but if they are, and if, in fact, the bird has taken that stone, then we’d have answered at least one of our questions. But we still have too many remaining ones!” Luke sat down on a bench near them and rubbed his eyes for a few moments.

“Mr. Luke, we could always follow the bird and see where that portal leads us,” said Sam. “That might tell us more about what’s going on here.”

Jill looked at Sam, and then at the portal. It was perhaps a foot and a half wide, and nearly two feet tall. “It would be a tight squeeze!” she said.

“Naw, I’ve gotten through smaller,” said Sam, “But, let’s see what we can see without even going through….” Sam stepped toward the portal and moved back and forth, then up and down, trying to see what he could observe in the darkness beyond. Luke stood up and joined him.

“OK, it’s dark, so it’s tough to make out much, but it seems like maybe it’s a cave or an attic or a crawlspace of some sort? I can kind of make out wooden beams. What can you see, Mr. Luke?”

Luke repeated Sam’s motions, peering intently into the dark rectangle hanging in space. “Yes, I think you’re right, Sam. It definitely looks like it might be an attic, but where, exactly? And why in the world would someone, somewhere, have a painting or a sketch of the Plaza of the Masters that we know nothing about?!”

                [ To read Episode 6.2, click here…. ]

 

 

Feb 05

In the Company of Angels: Episode 5.2 – Orbaratus (cont.)

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 5.2 – Orbaratus (cont.)

 

“That doesn’t sound good,” said Jill, “That doesn’t sound good at all! I mean, this place is already spooky enough as it is….”

“Sam, what color were the gems?” asked Mr. Luke.

“Hard to tell because the light was bad, but they looked dark: blue, maybe?”

“Do you think, by any chance, that they might have been sapphires?”

Sam whistled “Holy smoke! I didn’t even think about that! I can go check if you’d like.”

“I’m not sure how we would determine that, to be truthful,” said Mr. Luke. “But, while we think about it, if Polly no longer senses anyone else up there, perhaps we should all go and see the place for ourselves.”

Polly stood poised, listening for a moment. “No, no one remains,” she said.

“Then, would it be possible for you to take Jill up to the cliff top? I know I’m too heavy for you to carry, but Sam can get us both up there together through the Maze. Sam, what do you think?”

Sam grinned. “I’ll be able to, but you sure won’t feel very good when we come back out.”

“Kindly don’t remind me,” said Mr. Luke, looking pained, “But, it is a risk I am prepared to take. Jill, Polly, we’ll meet you up there.”

Sam clutched his crystal in one hand, and Mr. Luke’s wrist in the other, and the two of them stepped through the adjacent wall.

Polly picked up Jill in her arms. “Are you ready to fly, little one?” she thought to Jill.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!” Jill thought back to her.

Then they were off.

Jill would remember that flight for the rest of her life. She had been in airplanes before, of course, and knew that takeoffs were noisy and sometimes frightening affairs, so she closed her eyes and braced herself for the jolt of the launch. But Polly’s wings lifted them both effortlessly into the Orbaratan sky, and their rise was so gentle that Polly might not have noticed that they were airborne except for the change in the breezes surrounding them. She cautiously opened one eye and saw that they were already five or six stories above street level and rising slowly, banking back and forth over the deepening chasm below them.

Far from being frightened now, Jill looked eagerly out at the ever-expanding horizon. She saw that the city of Cenurbus was built, as Polly had said, on steep mountain ridges with nearly vertical canyons between them. The city reminded her of photographs she had once seen of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and, as in Rio, there were long graceful arches bridging the canyons; but there were no trees or vegetation of any kind.  She also saw many balconies and plazas that led from the structures built into the cliff walls. But she rarely saw staircases, and it occurred to her that, of course, the Ferrumari would not need them, since they could fly!

Polydora reached the uppermost levels of the cliffs but remained close to the walls lest their flight be noticed by unfriendly eyes. Nevertheless, Sam had been correct; it was both brighter and more blustery in the upper reaches of the city, and even Polydora could not prevent the occasional stomach-wrenching gust of wind from altering their flight. Jill clasped her cloak tightly around her to keep warm. But she was soon able to distinguish the rooftops and the plaza that Sam had described. The mountain rose higher just at the plaza’s far edge, and there were benches and the remains of pots or planters scattered throughout the space in addition to the stone pillars.

“So it was almost like a garden,” Jill thought to herself.

“Yes, it was,” Polly thought back to her, “but that was many centuries ago, long before I came out into the world from the place where my parent had hidden me. But I have seen pictures of how it was, once upon a time….”

To Jill’s astonishment, she now saw faint images flashing through her mind’s eye. The planters were filled with shrubs of every hue of the rainbow. Some had great circular leaves and others reminded her of weeping willows, or of weeping cherry trees. There were tall palm-like plants and low trailing vines. Yet, despite the vivid colours, the overall effect was pleasing, and Jill thought that the Ferrumari must have had great skill in the artistic uses of colour, texture, and shape.

“There were, in fact, many great artists among my people,” Polly thought back to Jill. “And I can show you some of their works in the galleries and museums that were spared during the dark times….

“…that is, once we have solved the mystery of who else may have come here.”

Jill felt a slight wave of dread coming from the Ferrumari, and she realized then how disturbed Polly must be that her home world had, somehow, been violated.

But now Jill saw Sam and Mr. Luke on the plaza. Sam was standing next to the shimmering wall that enclosed the plaza. He was watching them fly in while Mr. Luke was seated on one of the stone benches. Polly lightly touched down next to them, and then she set Jill down upon her own two feet.

Mr. Luke was once again munching on a chocolate bar. “I think next time I’ll take the stairs,” he said between bites.

“That would have taken you weeks,” said Sam. “Besides, I never even saw any leading up here.”

“Of course not, Samuel. It was a feeble attempt at making a joke. The Ferrumari didn’t bother much with stairs.” said Mr. Luke. “But, I’m better now. Going back down, I may opt for a sketch…running one of them, especially one of my own, doesn’t make my stomach do belly-flops the way the Maze does.”

The four of them turned their attention to the plaza. It was fairly large, and despite the crumbling stonework and the wear and erosion of many centuries, it still held a haunting beauty. There were paths worked into the multi-toned flagstones, and these threaded through the planters and stone monoliths that punctuated the space. Jill noticed that there was writing on many of the stone structures. “What do they say?” she asked aloud.

“They are short histories,” said Polly. “This path is itself like a walk backward through time. It begins with events near the time of the Apocalypse, and then traces Orbaratan history back through the ages until the time of the disappearance of the Masters. A visitor, or a pilgrim as they were called, did not need to read the writing on stones at all if he didn’t wish to; all of the Ferrumari had telepathic powers, and these stones have crystals embedded within them that retained images, songs, and performances from other times. A pilgrim could actually experience history in addition to simply reading about it. But now the crystals are mostly silent. I can sense very little of their original contents.”

“I’ll bet there needs to be some power source to make them work,” said Sam. “And I’ll bet that energy source has long since stopped working. Whatcha think, Mr. Luke?”

“Possibly. But, Polly, does anything look different to you now compared to your earlier visits?”

“No,” said Polly, “it is just as I remember it.”

By this time they had followed one of the winding paths past the empty planters and benches and were approaching the cliff wall at the back of the plaza. Jill could see a huge cutting in the cliff base and an immense doorway. A slab of stone filled the space, and its surface was covered with writing.

“More history, I suppose,” Jill thought. “Then she noticed the blue gems that Sam had mentioned. They were large — nearly the size of a half dollar — and were embedded in more of the mirrored glass-like material that seemed so prevalent throughout Cenurbus. They were round in shape, but were nearly the same colour as the sapphire Jill was wearing on her finger, and they were on either side of the stone door, roughly at Polly’s eye level.

“There are the two stones,” said Sam.

“Yes, but there should be a third,” answered Polly. “Look at the top of the door.”

They all looked at the lintel above the door. It was not as obvious to Mr. Luke, Sam, and Jill because they were not as tall as Polydora, but they could see, in the dim light that filtered down from the overhanging rock, a round setting of the mirrored glass. But it held no stone.

“The third gem is gone!” exclaimed Polly. “And now I remember why that is important! In addition to the writing on the stone door itself, there is a rhyme written upon the lintel. It speaks of the three stones that were originally set here.”

“What does the rhyme say? Can you translate it for us?” asked Mr. Luke.

Jill sensed rather than heard Polly’s thoughts as she tried to recast the rhyme into English.

The original Orbaratan language must, Jill thought, have been quite beautiful to hear spoken aloud. But the tone of these verses was dark and ominous.

“Here is what it says,” said Polly, “although this is but a rough translation. The original verse in my own language conveys great authority; they are words of warning and command, but they read something like this:

 

‘The three blessed stones that seal the thrones on high,

defended by the Ferrumari troth,

restrain the Masters, who, suspended lie,

chained and wrapped in cold funereal cloth.

Yet they will wake and wend a woeful doom,

should none of that great Warden Race endure,

fell acts of terror then they shall resume,

unless the sealing stones remain secure.'”

 

“But what does that even mean?!” asked Sam.

“It means,” said Mr. Luke after pondering for a few moments, “that we are likely in very grave danger.”

The words were scarcely out of Mr. Luke’s mouth when they all heard a sound like distant thunder that grew and grew. Even as it roared about them, they felt the stones beneath their feet heave and buckle.

“Earthquake!” yelled Mr. Luke. “Quickly, get away from the door and out onto the open plaza!”

                [ To read Episode 6.1, click here…. ]

Feb 04

The Framerunners come to Orbaratus

15_01_4388s_On_orbaratus_combined_sketches_800

 

“The Framerunners come to Orbaratus

Graphite, 11″x7″ wide.

Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE

To purchase a print of this item, please click here.

Feb 04

The Painting of Orbaratus

Orbaratus02_cutout5_800_w_mono

 

“The Painting of Orbaratus

Digital, 11″x7″ wide.

Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE

To purchase a print of this item, please click here.

Feb 04

Polydora and Jill

14_05_4321s_Polydora_and_jill001_BW_enh_800

“Polydora and Jill

Graphite, 10″x7″ wide.

10.0″x7.0″ original graphite sketch – AVAILABLE

Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE

To purchase this original sketch, please contact Jef by clicking here.

To purchase a print of this item, please click here.

 

Jan 30

In the Company of Angels: Episode 5.1 – Orbaratus

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 5.1 – Orbaratus

 

Mr. Luke, Sam, and Jill all gazed intently skyward, squinting in the silvery light to see if they could make anything out.

“I can’t see a thing,” said Mr. Luke. “Polly, did you truly see something, or mainly sense it?”

“Both,” said Polly, “although the movement has now ceased. I knew something was wrong as soon as we stepped through.” The Ferrumari turned to look at all of them. “This is my home. I know how it ought to feel, for I lived here for nearly a thousand of your earth years….”

Jill involuntarily thought to herself “A thousand years all alone…what a horrible thing!”

Polly thought back to her “It was not so difficult; it was all that I knew at first. You only miss a thing that is taken away from you, not something that you never had at the start.” Polly squeezed Jill’s hand.

Aloud, Polly continued: “I know how Orbaratus feels, and this was different. There has been a shift in the taste of the air and in the movements of thought here. The ones who came before, my ancestors, are still here in spirit. They, too, are whispering to me of changes.”

“What sort of changes, Polly?” asked Mr. Luke.

“I do not yet know; that may take some time to understand. But I could fly up to the place where I saw the movements and see what there is to be seen there.”

Mr. Luke thought for a moment, stroking his thin beard. “I wish we could find out without drawing attention to ourselves. If you fly up there, anyone or anything might see you coming.

“I could sketch a view from the cliffs back toward us and Sam and I could certainly framerun it, but that would take time.” Mr. Luke looked around at the structures near them and slapped his forehead with his hand. “Of course!” Polly, are all of the buildings on Orbaratus reflective…like these?” He pointed to the nearest structure, which mirrored them nearly perfectly.

“Yes, most are, although not all,” said Polly. “Those sheets are pressed from a mineral that is mined heavily in the northern parts of this land. It is not metal. Rather, it is more like your glass, or rather, closer to what you might call a one-way mirror on earth. It lets some light through, and some it reflects. But it is much stronger than steel, so it is used throughout most structures in Orbaratus. Why? Is that important?”

“Oh, I see!” said Sam. “If it’s like a mirror, then maybe I can mazerun up to the top of the cliff!”

“It may truly be a Navigator’s dream come true,” said Mr. Luke, nodding. “A whole world built of nothing but mirrors! I suppose it never dawned on me before because I’ve come here so seldom, and I’ve never explored over any great distances.

“But I suppose the first thing to do is to have you attempt it, Sam. Could you just try to pop through this wall near us and return?”

Mr. Luke had hardly finished speaking before Sam had pulled the crystal on its chain from beneath his shirt, clenched it in his hand, and disappeared into the wall beside them. A few moments later, he reappeared, but not in the same spot he had left. He was standing on a ledge about fifteen feet above their heads.

“It all seems pretty normal to me,” he said from above them. “Want me to go up to the spot Polly pointed out?”

“Yes, if you can” said Mr. Luke, “but be careful! And if anything seems odd — in the Maze, I mean — don’t take chances: just come back here. But if you can find your way up to the place Polly pointed out, look out and see if you can see anything. Don’t leave the Maze unless all is quiet. We don’t want anyone to see you.”

“OK,” said Sam. He turned and disappeared back into the wall.

“Mr. Luke,” said Jill, “he was inside the wall for just a moment. How can he have climbed up there that quickly?” She pointed to the ledge above them.

“Space and time don’t work the same way when you’re mazerunning,” said Mr. Luke. “I know, I’ve tried it, several times.” He shuddered involuntarily. “I might never have gotten back out but for the fact that I always had someone like Sam with me to pull me through.”

“Polly,” he said, turning toward the Ferrumari, “do you know what’s up there? It looks from here just like the top of a building, or the top of a cliff. I’ve not spent enough time here to know exactly how the city was built, nor even where we are.”

Polly pondered for a moment. “We are standing in what is, or was, the capital city of all of the world of Orbaratus. During the time of my people, there were no separate nations or states. But this place was called Cenurbus. It was the cultural hub of Orbaratus, and the home of most of its places of learning and governance. Near here, my parents prepared a place for me when I was first born, and when I was old enough to safely leave that place, what I found around me was what you see now: the ruins of a once-great city.”

“So, are all of these…,” Mr. Luke waved at the steep cliff-like walls surrounding them, “are all of these structures? Skyscrapers? Or are they actually cliffs that have been built upon?”

“A bit of both,” answered Polly. “This place was carved out of a range of mountains, the stone of which is like granite on earth. Some of the cliff tops are truly the peaks of that virgin rock; others are homes and halls that have been planted upon the rocky bones of the mountains.”

“And do you know what that specific building was?” Mr. Luke pointed to the one they had sent Sam to explore.

“It was a place of veneration, I believe, as well as an archive. It was there that all of the lore of the Masters was kept by my people.”

“The Masters? Who were they?” asked Jill.

“They were the ones who came before the Ferrumari. Some of the sages wrote that they created us, and that the Ferrumari were either bred or built by them to be their servants. Others claimed that they were a competing race that died out just before speech came to us and we began to populate Orbaratus.

“All that I know comes from the archives, and I was unable to distinguish truth from legend, for I had no one to guide me in my studies. But there are rhymes and songs written about the elder days, from long before the time when the Masters vanished, and many of these are beautiful and speak of a wondrous age of joy and prosperity. But there are also other songs that speak of the final days of the Masters, and these are not so beautiful. They are filled with grief and with dire prophesies.”

“Prophesies? Prophesies about what?” asked Mr. Luke.

“About the end of days, about evil times to come,” said Polly. “And, you can see, much of what was written has come to pass, in a way.”

Jill felt a wave of sorrow and anxiety wash over her, and she realized that it had come from Polly. She looked around at the ruined buildings and, for the first time, began to feel uneasy.

“But, Polly,” said Mr. Luke, “if someone — someone not of the Ferrumari — came to Orbaratus, would there be anything about that building particularly that might attract them? You said it was a place of veneration as well as an archive. Was it a temple?”

“Not as you think of it,” said Polly. “But there is a garden of meditation at its summit, a place of remembrance.”

“You mean, like the tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Or an historical memorial of some kind?”

“Yes, something somewhat like that. At the top of the cliff is a hallowed door, or gateway, into the mountain, through which the Masters were said to have departed from our world. Or, at least, so it appears. But there is nothing behind that door, and I do not believe that it can be opened. Writings are engraved upon it: verses from the last days of the Masters, written in an ancient mode of speech.”

“But, is there anything that anyone might want there?”

“Not that I recall, but perhaps Sam can tell us what he has found, and whether the place is as I remember it.”

Sam had just popped back out of the wall behind Mr. Luke.

“Well?” asked Mr. Luke, “did you see anything?”

“No, not really,” said Sam, “There was no movement at all, except for what was caused by the wind. It’s pretty blustery up there!”

“Did you look around?”

“Yeah. Since I didn’t see anyone there, I popped out of the Maze and explored a bit. I don’t know if you saw me; I couldn’t make you out down here because of the angle of the buildings and the shadows at the bottoms of the cliffs. It’s a lot lighter up there!”

“I felt that you were there,” said Polly, “Although I didn’t see you. But what I sensed before seems to have departed. I was aware only of you this time.”

“Was there anything up there that seemed…well…disturbed?” asked Mr. Luke.

“The place is pretty old and deserted. There’s something like a plaza made of stone, with stone pillars scattered around on it, and benches, and things that look like planters. A cliff wall rises on the side away from us. It looks like that’s where the building stops; beyond it is just rock.”

“Did you notice a doorway built into the side of the mountain?”

“I saw something that looks like a doorway. Just a slab with writing on it and two gems set into the walls: one on either side.”

Two gems?” asked Polly.

“Yeah. One on each side of the door.”

“Why, Polly? Is that important?” asked Mr. Luke.

“I am unsure. It has been such a very long time since I was in that place, but there was something about the stones: some dark legend, or perhaps it was an evil prophesy.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” said Jill, “That doesn’t sound good at all!”

                [ To read Episode 5.2, click here…. ]

Jan 23

In the Company of Angels: Episode 4.2 – The Empath (cont.)

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 4.2 – The Empath (cont.)

 

“Take it off! Take the ring off!” she heard Mr. Luke say to her, as if from a great distance, but Jill could not move. Then strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders, and she realized that Polydora was holding her up. Immediately she felt calmed, and she heard the most beautiful singing, high and sweet, that seemed to be coming from the rafters above them. Polly had turned Jill around, had kneeled before her, and was holding her up and peering into her eyes.

Jill looked into the Ferrumari’s face and heard a voice in her head say “Those are the ones that were lost, but they are not sad voices. They are voices of joy; echoes from the times long before I was born. Do you understand?”

Jill shook her head. “Not really. But…I’ll be OK. I just need a moment….”

“Sorry,” she said, looking up at Mr. Luke and Sam. “It was just getting used to the ring, I think.”

“No, it was a lot more than that. Polly, do you think she’ll be alright in Orbaratus?”

“Yes, if I am with her. As I said, she sees very far, and she may soon come to sense the presence and emotions of those around her as well as can I.”

“You mean,” asked Jill, “you mean you’re an Empath too?”

“Of course,” said the voice in her head. “That is how I sensed what you were thinking and feeling.” Polly smiled.

“But I can’t do that,” said Jill.

“Can’t do what?” asked Sam.

“Hush, Sam,” said Mr. Luke.

“But, you already are!” thought Polly. “You’re doing it now!”

Jill looked at Polly, wide-eyed. “OK, let me try this…” said Jill.

“Try what?” asked Sam.

“Hush, Sam!” said Mr. Luke.

“Can you hear me?” thought Jill, looking directly at Polly.

Polly nodded and smiled, “Of course!” she thought back.

“Well, that’s a first!” she said aloud.

“What’s a first?” asked Sam. Mr. Luke clapped his hand over Sam’s mouth.

“But, Polly,” thought Jill, “if I can understand what you’re thinking, why can’t I understand what anyone else is thinking?”

Jill heard a tinkling sound in her head that she recognized as Polly’s laughter. “Because, little one, you’ve not tried to! And because it is always easier to read the thoughts of another Empath than of anyone else, provided, of course, that the Empath is allowing you to do so.”

“Oh!” said Jill aloud. She closed her eyes and rubbed them.

“What’s going on, Mr. Luke?” asked Sam, clearly confused.

“Something you’ve never seen before, Samuel, nor I, and something you should remember and cherish; you may never live to see it again! Jill is learning a new thing about herself, a wonderful thing. You remember when you first discovered that you were a Navigator?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, this is like that, only more so.”

“Oh!”

While Sam and Mr. Luke were talking, Polly and Jill had been silent, gazing at each other.

“Polly?” said Mr. Luke after a few moments, “I know I’ve asked already, but are you sure Jill will be alright in Orbaratus?”

There was a long pause while Jill and Polly appeared to be chatting with each other, then Jill said “Yes, Mr. Luke. Polly was already telling me about her world, and I would really like to see it for myself.”

Sam shook his head. “So now you can read minds?!”

“No,” said Jill, “not yours. But Polly says that will likely come in time.”

“Sheesh! Bad enough having to watch my mouth, now I’m going to have to watch my thoughts too?!”

“You’ve not done so around me thus far,” said Polly, smiling. “Why should you have to do so with your friend?”

“It’s…it’s different with Jill…” Sam said, sulkily.

“Well, we can sort such things out later,” said Mr. Luke. “But now, if we’re all agreed, let’s go explore another world….”

Mr. Luke went behind a curtain nearby and emerged wearing the duster coat that he had been sporting when Jill first discovered him in her library. He also had brought two short, grey, hooded cloaks with him. “It’s not really that cold on Orbaratus,” he said as he handed one cloak to Sam and the other to Jill, “but it can be a bit damp and windy. These will serve to keep you warmer and drier while we’re there.”

The four of them then gathered before the painting. “Everyone please make sure your skin is in contact with your crystal,” said Mr. Luke.

Jill clenched her fist and felt the sting of electricity. Then came the wash of emotions and the sound of singing from the painting once more. But whether it was because she was prepared for it this time or because Polly had her hand on her shoulder, Polly found that she was now able to bear it.

“Is everyone ready?” Mr. Luke asked, looking pointedly at Jill.

Jill nodded.

“Then hold onto you hats!” said Sam. With that, he jumped, with both feet, straight at the painting. Jill saw him one moment, and in the next he was gone. She gasped involuntarily.

“You two next, Polly,” said Mr. Luke.

Polly stepped forward without hesitation and strode into the painting, stooping to fit her head and wings through it. She kept Jill’s hand grasped firmly in her own. Jill followed her, hesitating only for a moment. Once through, her feet crunched on something like gravel and she felt a cool, wet breeze blowing through her hair.

Jill looked around her. The silver skies above were racing with clouds, and the cliff-like buildings towered on all sides. Polydora was still holding her hand, but the Ferrumari stood just ahead of her, gazing at a particular spot high atop of one of the buildings.

Sam stood before them both grinning. “Whatcha think?” he said.

Jill felt quite disoriented — dizzy, and even slightly sick to her stomach. She turned around just in time to glimpse Mr. Luke stepping up behind her. Just past where he stood she could still see the lights and the desk of the Gallery. Jill leaned to one side of Mr. Luke to see it better and realized that the window, if one could call it that, was simply hanging in space. She let go of Polly’s hand and stepped back toward it. She opened her hand and reached out to touch the edges of the bright frame, but as soon as she did so, it vanished, and she was staring at the empty landscape of Orbaratus. She pulled back her hand, startled.

“It’s still there, you know,” said Mr. Luke. “Close your hand upon the crystal again.”

Jill clenched her fist, and immediately the frame reopened in space before her.

“It will remain here for us to use when we return,” said Mr. Luke, “but no one can see it or use it without one of the sapphires.”

Jill continued to look throughthe portal for a moment, and then she relaxed her hold on the sapphire. The view from her own distant world dissolved away, but not before she thought she caught a glimpse of something, or someone, moving in the background of the vanishing image. She was about to mention this to Mr. Luke, but in the Orbaratan light, she saw that he was very pale. “You don’t look so good, Mr. Luke. Are you alright?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, he’s always that way after a run,” said Sam, stepping up beside her. “But, how are you feeling…OK?”

“I think, so. A bit woozy, I guess.”

“Yeah, just like Mr. Luke. Here, have some chocolate.” Sam gave her a chocolate bar, and after eating a few bites, Jill began to feel better.

“I thought that only worked in Harry Potter books,” she said.

“Naw. I think J.K. Rowling must have known someone in the Order and stolen the idea. Chocolate seems to help if framerunning an image ever makes you feel woozy. I hardly ever do, but I keep some with me just in case, and you should too.”

“Well, we’re not all Navigators, Samuel,” said Mr. Luke, who was likewise now munching on a chocolate bar.

“Why do you call Sam a ‘Navigator’, Mr. Luke?” asked Jill.

“Because that’s his special talent, just as yours appears to be that of an Empath.”

“But what does it mean to be a Navigator?”

“It means that Sam is very adept at framerunning. He can do it all day long without getting tired or disoriented, and in fact, he has a special ability to sense the existence of frames, or portals, even without the aid of a crystal. Also, he can use mirrors to move from one place to another, something that we call “mazerunning”, without ever losing his sense of direction. That is an ability that you and I do not possess; we would likely find it nearly impossible to mazerun on our own without becoming hopelessly confused, and perhaps even end up getting lost in the Maze for good.”

“So that’s how Sam got out of our house last night? Through the mirror?”

“Yes, apparently, although I’ve not heard all the details yet. He found his way back to his own house without ever going outdoors. I quite envy him the time he can save instantly getting from one place to another when the need arises….”

“So you aren’t a Navigator yourself, Mr. Luke?”

Sam snickered.

“Ahem!” said Mr. Luke, scowling at Sam. “No, Jill. Nor am I am Empath like you and Polly. I’m a Renderer.”

“That’s a fancy name for an artist,” said Sam.

“There’s a lot more to it than that, but the description is certainly close enough for our purposes,” said Mr. Luke. “That said, right now….”

Mr. Luke looked past Jill.

“…right now, we need to find out what Polly is so fixated on….”

Jill turned around. Polly had not joined in their conversation; she had remained looking fixedly up at the top of one of the cliff-like buildings. She was completely still and silent, and once more Jill thought she could easily have been mistaken for a statue. But Jill could almost feel Polly listening; listening intently not only with her ears, but with all of her empathic senses.

“What is it, Polly?” Jill asked, stepping forward and putting her hand in that of the Ferrumari.

“Can’t you feel it?” Polly spoke to Jill in her mind.

“What, Polly?” Jill thought back.

“Someone else is here. Here, on Orbaratus.”

“But, I thought you said your home was deserted; that no one else lived here but you…?”

“That was true, little one,” thought Polly, “but it is so no more. Someone is up there.”  Polly swept her long arm upward and pointed at the cliff tops. “Someone, or something….”

                 [ To read Episode 5.1, click here…. ]

 

 

Jan 16

In the Company of Angels: Episode 4.1 – The Empath

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In the Company of Angels, Episode 4.1 – The Empath

 

Jill stood up and turned fully around so that she could see Polydora more clearly. But what a being! The graceful-looking woman stood nearly seven feet tall and appeared to be made entirely of silver. There was no fixed color to her other than the reflections she cast, but her shape was clearly feminine. She appeared to be wearing a tunic or robe, richly engraved with strange symbols. But the wings! These Jill could only see partially, as their tops framed Polydora’s head, almost halo-like. They, too, were bright, shining silver.

Polydora stood entirely still; Jill could scarcely believe, at first, that she was a living creature at all.

“P-pleased to meet you Ms…uh…Ms. Polydora,” said Jill.

The statue’s lips moved, and Jill heard a tinkling sound that she recognized quickly as a sweet laughter. “I am delighted to meet you, Miss Jill,” said the statue.

Polydora nodded her head graciously and then stretched out a long arm toward Jill. Jill reached out to shake hands, but was quickly unsettled; Polydora had six delicate, slender fingers, the outer two of which were thumbs, so that their first handshake was one of those moments that most brought home to Jill the fact that she was not in the presence of a human being.

“Polly,” said Mr. Luke, “is the keeper of the Gallery, our secretary, our computer, our filing system, and, especially, our hostess, all rolled into one,” said Mr. Luke. “If there is anything of grace and beauty here in the Gallery, it is entirely due to her.”

Polly turned toward Mr. Luke, placed her palms together, and bowed.

“But, Ms. Polydora…?” asked Jill

“Yes, Miss Jill?”

“If it’s not impolite to ask, what are you? I’ve never met anyone like you before, nor even read of anyone like you. Are you an angel?”

Polly laughed in her chime-like tones. “Dear child! It is true that I resemble what you might call an angel, but I am of the Ferrumari, and I come from a world called Orbaratus.”

“I don’t understand,” said Jill.

“Perhaps I can explain it to Jill, Polly. And while I do so, would you be so kind as to retrieve the landscape of your world so that we can share it with her?” asked Mr. Luke.

Polly bowed, and then, to Jill’s great delight, she spread her silver wings and rose glittering into the air above them. Then she banked steeply and swept into the darkness beyond the railings. The gale from her departure blew through Jill’s hair, and she finally understood the source of the fluttering sounds that she had heard since arriving at the Gallery; they had been Polly’s wings.

Mr. Luke ushered Jill back to the table. As she and Sam sat, Mr. Luke began pacing back and forth before them.

“Polly,” he began, “is the last of her kind. Her home world, Orbaratus, is deserted. All of her people, save her, were destroyed in great wars thousands of years ago, and she lives here and helps us in our work because she has no other family.”

“How sad!” said Jill, “But what were the wars about? And how did she survive them?”

“I’m not sure of all the details, and Polly does not like to dwell on a past that is so painful. But we do know that a race of creatures instigated the wars on her planet; creatures that invaded it from another world.

“I’ve said, Jill, that we, as Framerunners, can visit other realms, both in space and in time. But so, apparently, can others, although their manner of travel is not entirely understood by us. But, many thousands of years ago, an army whose members are sometimes called the Amenta appear to have made their way to Orbaratus. There they found the Ferrumari, a sentient species of servant beings whose creators had long since become extinct. The Amenta have no fixed form; they are what we might call ‘spirits’.”

“’Spooks’ is what I call ‘em,” said Sam.

“Yes, that is Samuel’s preferred term,” said Mr. Luke, “but whatever you might call them, they are dangerous creatures. They persuade and bully others, binding them into a form of slavery. Thus they goaded some of the weaker of the Ferrumari people into instigating wars of power and domination, and these grew in intensity as each of the Ferrumari chose either to uphold peace and harmony, or to ally themselves with those who sought power.

“In the end, much of Orbaratus was laid waste, and all of the Ferrumari destroyed. The Amenta victory was complete, save for Polydora. She was a newborn at the time of the Orbaratan apocalypse and was secreted away by her parents. When she was old enough to leave the haven they had provided for her, all she found left of Orbaratus was a desolate planet devoid of all life.

“But, such are the Ferrumari that even then, Polly did not despair, but rather learned all that she could about her people from those resources available to her: ancient histories and legends, tales of other worlds, poetry, and art left behind not only by the Ferrumari, but also by the race that had brought the Ferrumari into being, about whom we know little. Many of these treasures had survived, you see, in the rubble of the libraries, galleries, and museums. But Polydora’s parents had also provided her with books and paintings of her own so that she could learn as she grew.”

“Almost like my library!” said Jill.

“Precisely!” said Mr. Luke. “And as Polly read the stories of her people, she nurtured her own belief that no creature could ever be truly alone forever in the universe. And her hopes of meeting other intelligent beings were fulfilled at last when some of our own forebears visited Orbaratus. They did this by framerunning a landscape painting of her home; the very one that Polly is bringing to show us. That was her first physical contact with any other living creature.

“But…now you can see for yourself what Polly’s home looks like; here she comes with the painting….”

Polydora fluttered delicately to the floor of the platform. In her arms she held an image painted on a wood-like panel that stood nearly six feet tall. Mr. Luke mounted it upon an easel and Sam focused a floodlight upon it so that it was fully illuminated. Jill saw an alien landscape in silvers, purples and greens. Beautiful metallic structures were built into the sides of cliffs, or perhaps, Jill thought, the cliffs themselves might actually be buildings; it was impossible to say for sure.

There were signs of great violence and decay in the painting, despite its beauty: rubble in the streets; damaged windows; gaping holes in walls; dead vines creeping into cracks in the buildings. But the overall impression remained ethereal and, oddly, lyrical. The landscape and structures, like Polydora herself, were largely made of shining, metallic materials that caught the light and reflected it in graceful curves. Despite the metal, the impression was not of a cold and impersonal place, but of a great but ruined civilization. Even without any living creature depicted, there was something organic and achingly beautiful about the world.

But Jill also felt an emptiness, a loss, and the long flow of time that must have passed since this city had fallen into ruin. She no longer had Sam’s crystal in hand, but she could almost hear the wind sighing through the city streets and feel how hard it must have been for anyone to have survived there – alone. All that beauty, all that history, but none to share it with. Jill felt a lump rise in her throat.

“I believe you like my home,” said Polly to Jill. Jill jumped slightly. She had been so captivated by the painting that she had not noticed Polly step up beside her. Polly gently grasped Jill’s hand and squeezed it.

Jill looked up to answer her and noticed tears in the eyes of the Ferrumari.

“Yes, I like it very much,” she said, “very much indeed….”

Polly squeezed Jill’s hand again, but then turned her head toward Mr. Luke. “This one sees far.”

“Really? How far, Polly?”

“Farther than any I’ve met other than Azarias.”

“Is she a Renderer, then?”

“No, an Empath.”

“An Empath?!!! Holy smoke!!!” Sam blurted out.

“Are you sure, Polly?” asked Mr. Luke.

Polly nodded.

Jill looked up at her, and then at Mr. Luke. “What does that mean, Mr. Luke? I know what ’empathy’ means – it’s kind of like the ability to share someone else’s experiences and emotions – but that’s not what you’re talking about here, is it?”

“No, Jill, it’s not. It’s a term we use to describe a particular talent – a very rare talent – that some very few of our Order have possessed over the years. If Polly is correct – and I can say in all honesty that I have never known her to be otherwise – you may have a skill that we have needed for some time, one that could help us in our work should you wish to join us.

“But, we can discuss all of this later. Polly says you like the look of her world. How would you like to visit it?”

“You mean, right now?!”

“Certainly! Polly, might I persuade you to come with us? I know it may be difficult for you, but there is so much that you can explain better to Jill than can Sam or I.”

Polydora looked longingly at the painting, and then back toward Jill. “I will come.”

“Thank you. I know what returning to Orbaratus may cost you….” said Mr. Luke.

“Two firsts in one day,” mumbled Sam.

“Hush, Sam. Now, let me retrieve two extra crystals, and we’ll be off.” Mr. Luke returned to the desk Jill had seen when she first entered the Gallery, and stepped to the wall on one side of the door. He pushed aside the curtain, and Jill saw a flash of gold as he opened a cabinet door. He returned with two rings; a small one for Jill, and a larger one for Polly.

“Now, these can be kept on your finger at all times, because the crystal is not usually in direct contact with your skin. But, when we framerun, you can turn the jewel around and close your hand shut; then you’ll feel the crystal’s surface against your skin. Try it now.”

Jill put on the ring and felt nothing. But then she did as Mr. Luke said: she turned it around on her finger so that the plain silver band was facing outward, and clenched her hand shut.

She immediately felt the electrical tingling, but then an enormous flood of emotion filled her, almost knocking her to the ground. She turned and stared at the painting of Orbaratus, which was now glowing in a truly unearthly light. The feelings she had had before; of beauty and harmony, but also of loss, of heartbreak, and of pain, were amplified a thousandfold. Motes of light swam before her eyes and she hardly noticed that she was in danger of falling.

Take it off! Take the ring off!” she heard Mr. Luke say to her, as if from a great distance….

              [ To read Episode 4.2, click here…. ]

 

 

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