Part Three

Hidden by the undergrowth, Riik watched from the edge of the clearing while his sister levitated rocks. She had four already floating before her and was lifting a fifth with a simple gesture. The
fifth rock was perhaps half the height of the others before it tottered and fell, followed rapidly by the other four. Arkyna swore. Riik decided this would be a good time to reveal himself and stepped out into the clearing. His sister's head swept around at the rustling of leaves.

'Oh,' she said. 'It's you.'

'Arkyna...'

'Yes?'

'What are you doing?'

'Practicing. What are you doing?'

'I came to find you. There's a storm coming - a big one. They're evacuating everyone they can, all the children and the essential stuff. I heard father say that they didn't think the forest was going to be here anymore after the storm's been through.'

'A storm? That can't be right. We're not supposed to be anywhere near the storm zones.'

'That's what they told us, but I guess they were wrong. They were building shelters in the caves for everyone who couldn't fly out or go up to the Tireless. We have to go back; we might catch the last flyer.'

Arkyna frowned in thought. 'How long until the storm hits?'

Riik checked his watch. 'About quarter of an hour,' he said. Arkyna frowned.

'We'll have to find somewhere to shelter,' she said. 'There's no way they'll cut it that fine just to pick up stragglers and there's no chance we'll manage to find the caves they're using as shelters,
unless you know which ones?' Riik shook his head. 'Well, the flyers won't be much good in a storm. We'll have to find our own shelter. I saw a cave not far from here earlier. It's small, but it might
suffice.'

She rose to her feet and the ball of light followed her as she took Riik's hand and went confidently into the forest.

'But a cave isn't safe. Father was saying that the wind might suck all the air out of it or push too much air into it and we wouldn't be able to breathe. They're using forcefield generators to block off the ones they're using as shelters.'

'I'm sure we can come up with something to block the entrance,' Arkyna said. 'Here it is.'

It was a small cave. They'd have to crawl in and lie down to both fit in it, for it was low and narrow, but if they could obstruct the entrance suitably it would be fairly good shelter. Arkyna was already looking around and her eyes settled on a large fallen tree which was partially overgrown.

'Get in,' she said. 'I'll deal with the entrance.'

'How? You'll need help lifting that.'

'You couldn't lift it,' she said. 'I'm not sure I can either, but I'm going to have to try.'

'But-'

'You saw what I was doing to the rocks. It's the same thing, just heavier.'

'What were you doing to the rocks?'

'Levitating them, of course. I'll explain later. Just suspend your disbelief and get in the cave.'

Riik did as she asked, scrambling into it feet first so he could lie on his front with his head near the entrance. The cave was just long enough for him and he reasoned that, since he was almost as tall as Arkyna now, she should be okay as well. Peering out into the increasingly windy forest he watched his sister as she stared at the fallen tree. After a minute or so she lifted her hands and the bluewhite light which followed her around dimmed considerably. An agonising minute passed, then another, then another.

With sweat running down her face Arkyna groaned and the tree moved. Riik's eyebrows rose as the tree did, tearing free of the undergrowth to about waist height above the ground. Arkyna was panting heavily and sweat poured down her face. She walked to the cave entrance, her eyes almost constantly fixed on the floating tree, and crawled into it next to her brother, one hand still reached out towards the tree which slowly began to float towards them. It settled across the cave mouth, blocking it almost entirely and then everything went dark as Arkyna fainted and the bluewhite ball of light she had created vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riik huddled in the darkness, listening to the rising roar of the wind outside. Arkyna, as far as he could tell in total darkness, was fine. Her breathing sounded like when she was sleeping, but she didn't wake up when he poked her, something which usually prompted an immediate and violent reaction. Whatever she had been doing must have exhausted her, he'd concluded. Hopefully she'd sleep it off and wake up soon.

As the wind rose the noise inside the cave increased. Riik's watch had an illuminated face, not bright enough to cast any light, but bright enough for him to see that it was about an hour after Arkyna had fainted that the first tree fell outside the cave. He heard it creaking and moaning in the wind and branches tearing off it, then with a horrifying crack it split and dragged along the ground, tearing what was left of the undergrowth out of the ground in its passage. Lying there, only being able to listen to it, was the most frightening experience of Riik's life. When the noise of the tree's passage abated, he could hear the sound of rain falling outside the cave.

There was movement next to him, and a groan.

'What happened?' Arkyna mumbled. Riik could barely hear her over the noise of the wind.

'You fainted,' he said, raising his voice to be heard clearly. 'Right after you put that fallen tree across the cave mouth.'

Arkyna considered that for a moment. 'Oh,' she said, also raising her voice over the noise. 'The storm. Right. How long was I unconscious?'

'About an hour.'

'And how long is the storm likely to take to pass over us?'

'I'm not sure. It's big though; if we're near the centre of it, which I think we are, it could take a couple of days. I wasn't really paying that much attention though, I was supposed to go up to the

Tireless.'

'And you came to find me instead?'

'Yes. I saw you leave the house and...'

'Thank you. It was an incredibly stupid thing to do, but I am grateful. I doubt I would have been able to find myself suitable shelter when I realised the storm was coming.' She smiled. 'You saved my life tonight, I think.'

'We still have to survive this.'

'Be optimistic, dear brother.' She yawned widely.

'You need some sleep. Moving that tree tired you out.' Riik decided not to get into how his sister had managed to move the tree until he'd had time for the concept to sink in a bit more - or at least until they were somewhere a bit quieter.

'I know, I'm tired to the bone, but it's far too noisy. I wonder if...' she trailed off, looking at the cave entrance. After a few moments she frowned slightly and silence filled the cave. It was so
startling after the noise of the storm that Riik's ears rang in a way that felt even louder.

'How...' his sister held up a hand.

'Not now,' she said. 'Now I need to sleep. This should hold until I wake up. We can talk about hows and whys later.' She looked at him for a few moments more, as if seeking something in his face, then nodded slightly to herself, put her head upon the dusty rock floor and slept.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashlar guided his flyer over the demolished forest, half his attention on the navigation screen and the other half on the shattered landscape. The storm had passed over the colony in just under two days leaving behind it a wasteland of shattered trees and torn vegetation. The colony itself was heavily damaged; many buildings lay breached by fallen trees and flooded from the heavy rain which had accompanied the wind.

A soft ping came from the navigation screen. Ashlar glanced at it and altered course in response to the display. It pinged again, twice and he slowed the flyer, circling the indicated spot slowly. There was no sign that two Alledar were alive somewhere in the wreckage of trees and undergrowth, but the orbiting survey satellites said they were there, a slight heat trace lingering after two bodies were seen to climb into a small cave just ahead of the approaching storm.

'Set down there,' Zaya said, pointing at a clear area about five hundred metres from where the satellites had spotted the heat trace. Ashlar's wife reached behind her seat for a handheld scanner and spent a few moments programming it to link with the flyer's navigation unit and through that to the survey satellites as Ashlar brought the flyer in to land.

As the engine's soft hum faded they opened the canopy and climbed down to the ground, moving carefully over the litter of fallen trees and destroyed plants towards the hidden cave. It took them nearly an hour to cross the few hundred metres to the cave, which was barely visible underneath several fallen trees. The handheld scanner showed two heat sources inside.

Zaya started poking around, looking for a way into the cave. It quickly became clear that there was no way they could get inside without moving several fallen trees, but Zaya soon found a passage
large enough to shine a torch beam into and look inside.

The first thing they saw was a young woman's hand and then they heard movement from inside the cave, another pair of hands appeared, followed by Riik's head. He squinted up into the torch beam.

'Hello?'

'Riik!'

'Mother!'

'Are you okay?'

'More or less. My legs haven't been speaking to me, but I'll be okay once we get out of here.'

'Is that Arkyna in there with you?'

'Yes,' Riik said. Zaya let out a huge sigh of relief. 'Can you get us out of here?'

'There are several trees across the entrance. We'll have to go back to the flyer and use it to lift them out of the way.'

'Hang on,' Riik said, retreating back into the cave. There was a long pause and some low voices from inside, then Arkyna's face appeared, squinting up at them. She nodded.

'Get clear of the entrance,' she said. 'Stand off to one side as far as you can. I'll give a count of fifty.'

'What are...' Ashlar began.

'You'll see. Just get clear. Fifty. Forty-nine. Forty-eight.'

Arkyna continued to count as her parents clambered away from the cave entrance. Just as Ashlar estimated she would reach zero, he felt a curious sensation, like part of him was being pulled back towards the cave entrance. He staggered, and crouched down, gripping tree branches to stay on his feet as he looked back towards the cave. Beside him, Zaya did the same and so it was that they saw a bluewhite glow ooze through the gaps in the fallen trees over the cave mouth, followed
by a bone-jarring concussion as those trees shattered. The splinters flew directly away from the cave mouth, leaving the entrance clear for Riik and Arkyna to crawl out. Riik helped his sister to her feet, and she leaned heavily on him as they looked towards their parents, who were wide-eyed in shock.

'Fates be kind,' Zaya said, almost under her breath. 'She's a Psidar.'

Unfinished History Archive

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