Chapter 22: Kushal
“Andrew!” Richard cried again, as if he couldn’t believe it. “Hold on, I’ll get you down from there.”
“Yeah, would you?” Andrew said impatiently, but he was smiling. Richard paused and looked him in the eye, then sighed and began unsnapping the metal restraints from Andrew’s limbs.
“So, uh, what are you guys doing here?” asked Gordon.
“I could ask you the same question,” Kellie tossed back.
Kushal had felt bewildered for the last…well, the last few chapters, to be sure. “There’s no time for this,” he put in, trying to steer the conversation in a useful direction. “They could find us at any minute.”
“He’s right,” Ivy agreed. Kushal stared at her in surprise. “What?” she said.
Kushal shook his head but didn’t say anything. Richard unsnapped the last of his brother’s restraints and Andrew slid to the ground with a thud. “Ow!”
“Ow yourself,” Richard shot back. “We just put all this effort into rescuing you.” But Kushal could tell he was still glad his brother was OK.
“He’s awake, he’s awake!” cried Persia. Confused, Kushal edged around the metal rack to her side—and froze. There was a man there, a little older than they were. Brown hair, sneakers…he almost could have been one of them.
The man yawned and blinked. “Hey, Andrew…what’s going on?” he said, not bothering to turn his head to the side.
“Oh yeah,” said Andrew from the other side of the metal rack. “Guys, this is Jordy. They’ve been keeping him here for…is it months now? Something like that.”
“Oh, hey, are we being rescued?” said Jordy, looking down and apparently noticing them for the first time.
Kushal looked uncertainly at the others before realizing that most of them were looking uncertainly at him. Shrugging inwardly, he made a decision. “Yeah. That’s us!”
“So tell me,” Jordy said conversationally as Kushal and Persia worked to get his restraints off, “Whereabouts do you all hail from?”
“Little Port Coo,” Kushal replied. “Why?”
“Seriously?” Jordy reached over and undid the last restraint himself, then dropped to the ground and immediately collapsed. He grinned ruefully. “Like Andrew said, I’ve been up there for weeks.”
“Weeks?” Persia said incredulously.
“You don’t want to know,” Jordy said dryly. Cautiously he stood up, one hand on the rack for support. “Anyway, Little Port Coo! I used to live there myself!”
“Really!” said Kellie, “Did you know—”
“Uh, guys?” Vani said, speaking up for the first time this chapter. She didn’t have to say anything else; her expression said it all.
“Oh, hey, Vani!” Kushal said, a little surprised. “Didn’t know you were going to end up tagging along with us.”
“Yeah, well,” she said, a little embarassed to be the subject of conversation.
Richard quickly went through introductions around the room. “So,” he said when he had finished, directing the question to the room at large. “What do we do now?”
Get out of the collapsing castle.
For a moment there was silence. Then Gordon spoke. “What the heck was that?”
“Did you guys hear it too?” Richard confirmed, and got nods all around. Except Jordy, who sighed.
“Do you know something about this?” Vani asked Jordy suspiciously. He hesitated, then nodded.
“It’s why they’ve kept me here so long.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Apparently, if you ask me a “What”, “Where”, or “How” question, I give you the answer. Or at least an answer.”
“‘Apparently’?” said Kushal, confused.
Jordy gave a small rueful grin. “I can’t hear my own answers, only what people ask. And no profanity or variants, either,” he added, looking at Gordon.
“Shucks.” Gordon snapped his fingers and grinned.
“Uh, guys?” Vani said again, “Shouldn’t we pay more attention to the answer he gave?”
“Which was?” Richard said.
In unison, Persia, Kellie, and Vani repeated it. “Get out of the collapsing castle!”
It was just about then that a large chunk of the ceiling fell and, careening off the metal rack, smashed into the window. Inexplicably the air in the corridor seemed to get drawn out, whistling and howling in Kushal’s ears. “Run!”
The nine of them headed for the stairwell that Richard’s group had emerged from, but just as they were about to reach it Kellie skidded to a stop. The others plowed into her, and she barely managed to keep from falling into what she had just barely noticed in time: an empty stairwell, with no stairs left intact.
“Back the other way!” Richard called, and the party turned around and headed back across the dancing, shaking, collapsing platform towards castle walls.
“Which way do we go!” Gordon shouted, struggling to be heard over the din.
But Andrew was smarter. “Where is the best way to go?” he called.
Left, left, left!
“Come on, guys!” Andrew said again, and dashed down the left passageway. The others followed him as they emerged onto a narrow collapsing ramp down the outside of the castle.
“This all seems very Ocarina of Time…” Richard complained. Kellie shot him a look and he shut his mouth.
Suddenly Kushal heard a cry, twisted his head to look back. Vani had tripped and had fallen into a hole. A boulder had then rolled onto her leg, pinning it. All in the course of seconds.
“You guys go on ahead!” he shouted, and headed back up the ramp to help Vani.
“Are you…crazy‽” she gasped as he knelt next to her and tugged at the stone.
“Maybe,” he muttered back, and pulled the stone away. Hurriedly he helped her to her feet, and the two of them ran forwards—
—only to stop short as the ramp in front of them opened up into a gaping chasm. Weren’t we only two or three stories up? Kushal wondered, the thought flashing across his mind. The gap below them seemed to dwindle away a dizzying distance.
There was no way they could make it down the ramp now. Kushal gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and grabbed Vani’s hand, and together they leapt from the castle wall—
There was a whistling noise, and when Kushal opened his eyes he found himself plummeting through space. He looked over and saw Vani still beside him, then looked down and saw only muddy ground to break their fall. There was no way they would survive—
There was no way they could make it down the ramp now. Kushal gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and grabbed Vani’s hand, and together they leapt from the castle wall—
There was a whistling noise, and when Kushal opened his eyes he found himself plummeting through space. He looked over and saw Vani still beside him, then looked down and saw only grassy patches to break their fall. There was no way they would survive—
There was no way they could make it down the ramp now. Kushal gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and grabbed Vani’s hand, and together they leapt from the castle wall—
There was a whistling noise, and when Kushal opened his eyes he found himself plummeting through space. He looked over and saw Vani still beside him, then looked down and saw only a single overgrown rosebush to break their fall. There was no way they would survive.
Mentally, Kushal gasped. Apart from the shock of jumping from a castle to an uncertain fate, he had begun to recognize the actions of his talent. Not only is it resetting my fate, it’s actually changing the terrain below. Almost as if it wasn’t written yet—
There was a whistling noise, and when Kushal opened his eyes he found himself plummeting through space. He looked over and saw Vani still beside him, then looked down and saw only a dried-up moat to break their fall. There was no way they would survive.
Mentally, Kushal gasped. Apart from the shock of jumping from a castle to an uncertain fate, he had begun to recognize the actions of his talent. Not only is it resetting my fate, it’s actually changing the terrain below. Almost as if it wasn’t written yet—
There was a whistling noise, and when Kushal opened his eyes he found himself plummeting through space. He looked over and saw Vani still beside him, then looked down and saw only a single haycart, pulled by a horse, to break their fall. There was no way they would survive.
Mentally, Kushal gasped. Apart from the shock of jumping from a castle to an uncertain fate, he had begun to recognize the actions of his talent. Not only is it resetting my fate, it’s actually changing the terrain below. Almost as if it wasn’t written yet.
“And I’ve been through this, before, too,” he said aloud, and the words were whipped away from him by the wind. But his talent had given out on him now; there were no more flashes, nothing left to save him and Vani. He looked down again, the cart was much larger, but there was still no way they would land in it, no way they could—
At the last moment Kushal looked up instead of down, and saw “1000 points” flash over their heads. Then there was a flump! and everything went black.