The Curse Conduit

Simian was resting on his bed hoping against hope that his headache would ease sometime soon. The pain killers that Dr Horton had given him had taken the edge off and he had slept for a little while but he had been so worried about his friends he was once again awake.

He could hear Casta in the next room trying to console Kimberly. Although they had all known what had happened. Well that was not exactly true. They understood little of what had been going on around them and had come to the conclusion that Derek, Uriah and Elizabeth had been spirited away into the past. Casta’s conversation was based on trying to explain to Kimberly that they would all be back because that was how it was before they left. The more he tried to explain this to her, the more confused he got himself. Simian smiled as he walked into the lounge room. “Casta, does you head hurt as much as mine. Uriah was right, there is no logical way to explain this and if our Swiss friend says there is no logic in it then there is no logic.”

Simian deflected his look to Kimberly before Casta could get another word in. “Cherie, Your friend, our friends they are well, they will return.”

Kimberly smiled weakly. “I hope so Simian but I feel so useless. How long do we have to wait before we know? How long before they come back. Days, weeks, years?”

Casta and Simian looked at each other at her last words. Both knowing that they could hold off any questions from the outside for days, weeks was a possibility. After that people would became curious, suspicious. What did they do then?

Casta frowned at the thoughts running through his mind. “Will they come back to the place they left from? I mean if they are gone for a while what do we do? Do we keep the hotel room? Should we stay?”

Kimberly started to get anxious again. “I’m not going anywhere without Lizzie.”

Casta pulled her into his arms. “Shhh Bella. Simian is right, they will return and we will be waiting for them.”

Both men looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. How they would do this was yet to be discovered.

Casta was just about to ask Simian how his head was when they were all once again thrown to different parts of the room by an explosion of light and thunder. Simian clung to his head and swore. Casta had landed a little awkward as he had tried not to hurt Kimberly and shouted out in pain as his shoulder dislocated.

Kimberly was thrown against the wall but managed to escape relatively unscathed and it was Kimberly that recovered first. Her shouts alerting the others. “Lizzie, my god Lizzie!”

Kimberly scrambled across the floor to where her friend was lying unconscious.

Casta tried to move but succumbed to the pain in his shoulder. “Simian. Look. Derek and Uriah. See, if they are alright.”

It took a few seconds for the sight before him to register and Simian moved. Kneeling between the two men he shook them both. “They breathe but Casta. Derek does not look well. He is very beaten.”

Once more Casta tried to move and once more he cried in pain clinging to his arm. It was then that Simian realised her was hurt. “Casta. You need help.”

As Simian made a move to help him Casta stopped him. “No! I can wait you help them. How is Uriah?”

Simian checked his friend. “He is also bad but no so bad as Derek I think.” He looked to Kimberly who had been stroking Elizabeth’s brow. “Elizabeth, she is alright?”

Kimberly nodded. “She just looks like she is sleeping.”

Casta had rested his head against the wall and had his eyes closed trying to ignore the pain throbbing down his arm. “Simian call Doctor Horton. I think we may need his help.”

Simian squinted as he stood and the pain in his own head surged, pulling his mobile phone from his pocket the beeping as he punched in the number seemed to arouse Elizabeth. She groaned.

Kimberly gasped. “ Lizzie.”

“Bethie….” Elizabeth’s voice was weak.

“It’s Kimber. Lizzie, open your eyes.”

Slowly Elizabeth opened her eyes and focused on Kimberly’s face. “The others?”

Kimberly smiled. “Derek and Uriah are here.”

Elizabeth tried to turn her head but Simian knelt beside her blocking the view. He smiled sweetly at her. “Welcome home Cherie. How do you feel?”

Elizabeth began to sit up so both Kimberly and Simian helped her. “We got back. We really got back.”

Kimberly hugged her friend. “Sure you did Lizzie but what happened to your clothes?”

Elizabeth looked down at her dress, looked back at Kimberly and then burst into tears. “Oh god Kimber we couldn’t save him, He died, Declan still died.” Elizabeth sobbed as Kimberly held her tight and the others looked on helpless.

Casta had been looking with intent to the clothes that Derek and Uriah had been wearing and with Elizabeth’s words he thought he knew where they had been. He cleared his throat. “Bella, you have been with Declan and Uri?”

Elizabeth only nodded not willing to talk for fear of breaking down again.

Casta continues. “You arrived too late to save Declan?”

This time Elizabeth shook her head. Simian had gone back to Uriah and Derek and was trying to make them more comfortable by placing several cushions under their heads. He stopped when he heard Elizabeth’s frail voice. “No. We arrived in plenty of time. They still had to go into battle. I thought we had lost Derek and Danny as well.”

Kimberly looked at her stunned. “Lizzie how long do you think you have been gone?”

Elizabeth looked from Kimberly to Casta to Simian. “How long do you think we have been gone?”

It was Casta who answered. “Six hours, maybe seven.”

They all saw the shocked look on Elizabeth’s face and her tears started again. Simian came back to her side and pulled her to her feet, hugging her. “You have been gone so much longer have you not Cherie? Come I think you should rest.”

As Simian started to guide her to the bedroom she stopped and knelt down between Derek and Uriah. First she kissed Derek. “Wake up Derek we are home.”

Looking over to Uriah, Elizabeth did not say anything, just kissed him on the forehead, letting a tear fall on his face.

Kimberly came to stand next to her. “I’ll look after them Lizzie. They will be okay.”

Elizabeth hugged her friend one more time. “Look after Uriah Kimber. He’s so hurt.”

“I will.”

Simian silently led Elizabeth to the bedroom while Kimberly went to kneel between the two unconscious men. She looked to Casta. “What did she mean Casta? Uriah doesn’t look as bad as Derek?”