Chapter 14

I was lost, and I heard sobbing.

I met the surface of the planet Sevir as I had what seemed a lifetime ago; feet first and jolted into brief pain as I tumbled over, rolling on the soil of the planet I had become to regard as home. I was bruised and battered by being whirled though space, a journey from Earth that understandably left me dizzy and briefly disorientated. A short journey, thankfully, and at least I knew what to expect this time, even if in a way I had more to fear on arrival this time.

The good news was I had fallen on to land as promised but not into an Uymal’s nest; I had no desire to be devoured by even a small version of those hideous creatures. The bad news was I had lost hold of Everiya, Great Queen of the Seed who wore the collar that would take her directly to confront Mage Ruben. Take me with her to save Cerys, had I held on more tightly to her. She was the one thing I had to cling to but she had slithered from my grasp.

Perhaps I wouldn’t have lost hold of the Queen if I hadn’t felt a curious blow to my back, just as we spun away from Natalie’s apartment in London. It was an impact into me and as if someone was hanging on to me, which was ridiculous.

I got to my feet and stared around, praying that I was in sight of mage Ruben’s place but aware that this wasn’t his home. I was standing on a treeless plain with no landmarks that I recognised, no buildings I could make out. In the distance were some mountains but that is a common view on Sevir as far as I was concerned. I couldn’t shake a sense of foreboding because I was a long way from cover.

That was when I was aware of the sobbing, and that alarmed me for a second or two as I wondered if it was me sobbing in grief for not being able to hold on to Everiya. It wasn’t. I touched my face but there were no wet tears running down my cheeks. I might have been annoyed, even angry, with myself but I had no time to be consumed by self-pity. If nothing else Sevir had taught me there was no room for feeling sorry for myself.

So there I was exposed and naked, quite alone and hearing the sound of crying. Well, alone apart from the crouching girl who was crying a dozen or so yards away behind me.

At this point you may wonder as I did what the hell was happening. I stared at the girl—-a Human girl, definitely neither Egri or Tankic and I doubted one of the Inoci—-and wondered what was going on.

“Who are you? Where am I?” wailed the girl looking up at me. She must have seen my shadow on the ground in front of her. She was dark-skinned, naked and with a ball of generous afro-style hair, open faced with full lips and large eyes. Nice eyes, though for now flooded with tears. She wiped them on the back of her hand and looked imploringly at me as if I could help her. “I don’t know what happened ... this isn’t London, is it? Help me!”

“Please be calm. My name is Isabella. I am—-” I stopped myself saying I was a Humanhorse. If she hadn’t been on the planet before then she would learn of those soon enough. “You are no longer in London, I regret. You are not on Earth. This is the planet Sevir.”

The girl sat up, though still on her knees. She instinctively covered her large breasts with one arm and put her other hand flat over her lower belly. She blinked at me, not so much that I was naked like her but perhaps unable to take in that I was making no effort to cover myself. She was also trying to process what I had just said about where she was.

“Sev ... Seva?” She mumbled, not grasping the whole name. “Is this ... A film set?” she asked. “It isn’t a park, is it? This isn’t Wimbledon Common.”

“No. We are on some plain on this planet. The planet Sevir. Not Earth. I don’t know which plain this is. I haven’t been here before.”

“No,” said the girl as if that helped. Then she said: “I don’t understand.”

“Listen, this is hard to take in but try to listen. I will do what I can to help you.” I squatted down in front of the girl and she stared at me, for as much as she was in a place she didn’t know or for that matter even conceive of, she never expected to see a naked female in front of her either. “First though, tell me your name, please.”

“Did I take some drug?” The black girl asked, shaking her head. “My boyfriend said he could get some good stuff.”

“Please, you have to focus on the here and now. Your name please and then I will explain what I can.”

“Taiwo,” she said. “Taiwo Gloria Powell. I live in Clapham.”

“I know this must seem very scary, Taiwo, but for some reason you are here on Sevir. A very long way from Clapham or any part of London. The good news is you are alive, you can breathe and there is food and water,” I balked little bit because there was no immediate sign of any of it on this barren plain. “You won’t perish.” I didn’t add that she might well perish by sword in a war, or descended on by creatures of which she would have no concept. There was no point in adding her fright to my sense of impending doom.

“But ... my home! My mum! Danny, my boyfriend...” Taiwo started crying again, moving her hands from covering herself to bury her face in them. “I have to go home. I can’t stay here.”

“For now you have to—”

“I don’t have to do anything! I don’t know what game you are playing! You can’t keep me here.” At that the girl jumped to her feet and began running, desperately looking around for some sign there was a way out of this madness. There wasn’t, but it didn’t stop her running.

I ran after the fleeing girl calling for her to stop. “Taiwo, stop! I can’t help you if you run away,” I gasped. I was already out of breath and while my years as Humanhorse had given me strength and stamina I was never a very fast runner at school. But despite her large, pendulous breasts it was obvious Taiwo was a good athlete. She had good legs and was outdistancing me fast. I gradually slowed to a jog. We were on a plain and while I could see her running off I knew she had nowhere to hide. I might eventually catch up with her if I kept on going, but what was the point? I had my own battles to fight, and she wouldn’t be the first human to land here and find out the brutal reality for herself.

Taiwo was a just a small figure, already a couple of hundred of yards ahead of me when she simply disappeared from view. I thought I heard a cry. I ran as fast as I could to where I had last seen her. As I got close I could see it was a chasm, a sort of ravine cut neatly into the plain. “Taiwo!” I called out as I arrived at the edge, fearing she had fallen to her death.

The girl was alive, clinging with both hands to the root of some bush that was growing out of the side of the chasm. She was on her belly but the bush root was strong enough to stop her sliding further down into what was a dry river bed, littered with pebbles and rocks. With care I was able to slide down to the bush, which took my weight, and got hold of Taiwo’s outstretched hand. With a lot of effort I was able to get her up and next to me with our bare feet resting on a knot of strong roots. She was breathing heavily but gasped she was sorry.

“It’s okay, Taiwo,” I consoled her. “You don’t know the land.”

The girl shook her head and said, “Seems I don’t know anything.” She was a lot calmer than before, which was good. I got the impression she knew that panic wasn’t the answer to anything. I watched her examine her belly and breasts and the front of her thighs, for where she had slid down there were several shallow cuts and scrapes. Nothing serious, but needing attention. “There’s a few puddles of water down there,” I said, indicating the pools among the stones. “If we take care we can get down there and wash your cuts. I haven’t got any bandages though.”

“I’d be surprised if you did,” she said. For the first time there was the glimmer of a smile on her full lips.

“When you are ready we can get down there. The slope isn’t too steep near here, if we work our way over to it.”

“You lead. I’ll follow,” she said, so that was what we did.

The water in the pools wasn’t the cleanest I had ever seen but Taiwo was glad to be able to wash away some of the blood, wincing a little as she did so. I watched her and understood that having overcome her first horror at being here, the girl was in control of herself. She met my eyes and smiled. “This isn’t what I expected when I went to Danny’s flat.”