Connor Clover and the Lost Children (Book 1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The World of Dramian

  ‘Great!’ glared Tookar, frowning heavily towards the smoke and steam, which continued to rise from the engine along with sizzling sounds.

  ‘I’ll go outside and check the damage,’ Sparkie growled, annoyed. Reaching towards the door, a strong pressure held him back, preventing him from leaving.

  ‘No, you won’t!’ Tookar yanked him on to the seat with a thud. ‘You’re staying put!’

  Kia panicked. ‘The Armatripes have surrounded us! Let’s go!’

  Kia possessed powerful vision and could see further than any of them. The Armatripes circled them, advancing slowly towards them. Their marching footsteps vibrated the floor of the van. Great hulking bodies moved stiffly through the darkness with glinting swords elevated in mid air. They were trapped. Connor trembled, reliving each moment leading to this predicament they were now in. No one escaped the intense gloom of despair, mounting from this dangerous situation.

  Sparkie panicked, swinging his arms, missing Tookar’s face by an inch. Jabbering, he continued pressing buttons and jiggling stubborn levers. But no matter how desperate he wanted his van to respond, it remained still.

  Meanwhile, Tookar scrambled into the back of the van, hastily rummaging in one of the cardboard boxes when Sparkie collapsed on the seat exhausted.

  ‘Oh, dearie me!’ croaked Sparkie, his glasses falling lopsided on his face. ‘Whatever have I done?’

  ‘If we’re in trouble grab a weapon! Dad says, one mustn’t quit until the battle is won.’

  ‘Your dad is perfectly right, of course. Great minds think alike.’ Tookar had already armed himself with a massive gun, which needed to be supported on the shoulder. ‘You two grab the smaller ones. While you’re still alive, you might as well help.’

  The Armatripe were closing in. Sparkie, sensing the change of mood, pulled a black umbrella from the glove compartment. ‘At least I have this!’

  ‘We’re facing war… and you’re concerned about… rain?’ Tookar growled, shaking his head.

  Sparkie gaped. ‘What? Who said anything about rain? This, my friend, is a weapon!’

  A weapon? It didn’t resemble a weapon from any angle.

  ‘Another one of your amazing creations, no doubt,’ muttered Tookar.

  Sparkie hastily pressed a small button on the roof. It slid open with ease. ‘At least this still works!’

  A soft gush of air rushed into the van, before an invisible dome-shaped shield sealed shut across it. Connor welcomed the burst of fresh air, since the atmosphere in the van had become stale. The refreshing air appeared to be harmless – perhaps oxygen or something similar.

  Standing on the back seat and wearing his shaggy mammoth coat, Sparkie peered through the invisible shield, exposed above the waist.

  ‘If you open the roof again, I’ll shoot them from above.’ Kia’s eyes blazed with fire as she held two small black guns.

  ‘Are you sure you want to do this, Kia?’ Tookar held her arm.

  ‘Yes. I want to help you.’

  ‘It’ll be dangerous.’ Sparkie gave her a brief hug. ‘Keep safe!’

  ‘This material above prevents anything entering. But you can fly without a problem.’ Sparkie poked his finger through the strange matter to demonstrate his point.

  With lightning speed, Kia flew into the night sky.

  Sparkie shifted his position. ‘Tookar, come and stand on this seat and protect my back!’

  The Armatripe were less than ten feet away. Every second crucial.

  ‘Be sure to point the weapon outside the bubble when you use it!’ Sparkie warned.

  Tookar positioned his heavy-duty weapon on to his shoulder. With a slurping sound he exposed the end of his weapon through the protective matter. Both the men could be seen above the roof but protected within the shield.

  Connor crouched into a tight ball with his weapon held tightly, until his palms became sweaty and his knuckles whitened.

  ‘Don’t aim high!’ shouted Sparkie. ‘I don’t want Kia being hit.’

  They fired the moment the first Armatripe made contact with the van. Huge pinchers slammed heavily against the van from every direction. The black armoured Armatripes glimmered in the light of the moon. Surly faces watched Connor, cold black eyes made him shiver. They reminded Connor of massive beetles. He huddled in the back and closed his eyes, shuddering. The van rocked back and forth, yet luckily for them it remained intact. He covered his ears to block the awful sounds. But eventually curiosity overcame his fear.

  Sparkie’s unique umbrella repeatedly blasted powerful lights and when it fired, it cracked loudly. One by one the Armatripe fell.

  Tookar’s weapon fired as fast as a machine gun and appeared to do little damage. Connor realised each pellet acted like a small explosive device. Once it became embedded inside the enemy, it blew them to pieces seconds later.

  ‘Gottcha!’ yelled Sparkie.

  The Armatripes were relentless and their motions slow. They appeared strong and undefeatable, not to mention noisy with their boisterous war cries and marching steps stampeding on the land.

  Tookar handled his weapon adeptly as if it were part of him. In truth he’d killed twice as many Armatripe than Sparkie. At one point, Tookar ceased firing and looked across at Connor.

  ‘Quickly, pass me one of those small cardboard boxes!’

  Connor passed the closest one to Tookar, whose forehead dripped with sweat. He tugged the lid open, taking a small cartridge of ammunition from the box and placed it into a compartment at the side of the weapon.

  The thick wall of Armatripe cleared. Although losing, the last remaining Armatripes still approached relentlessly.

  ‘Why aren’t they running away?’ whispered Connor.

  But the war wasn’t finished yet, no matter how much Connor wished it to be. The Armatripes continued to tread clumsily on the great wall of their dead comrades, with faces of fury and little black eyes full of menace.

  Relieved, the enemy were losing and large, obvious gaps appeared between their ranks as the last line of attack became defeated. Not one Armatripe remained standing. Seconds later, Kia entered the van, tired. The battle ended in a matter of minutes, though Connor’s heart continued pounding for minutes afterwards.

  An odd silence had descended after the tremendous war cries and crackling gunfire. A dreamlike quality followed the aftermath of the battle. Needless to say, dead bodies covered the ground.

  Voices celebrated above him. Tookar and Sparkie stood on the seats, while Kia stood on the van roof throwing her head back and laughing. Connor tucked his weapon inside the waist of his jeans and zipped his jacket to conceal it. Although he hadn’t used it, he believed it might come in useful later.

  ‘Kia, good tactic!’ Sparkie cried excitedly. ‘You took them by surprise, didn’t you – fantastic work, young lady!’

  ‘Come on,’ Tookar smirked. ‘Miniaturise this van.’

  They departed the van by the doors instead of the roof as Kia had done. Once outside, Connor had another surprise. Sparkie instructed him to press the stone in the centre of his bracelet and when he did a blue tinted bubble surrounded him. Slowly, with a plop, the bubble bounced from the step of the van to the ground. Gravity didn’t exist in the bubble and Connor had no control. No matter what he did his feet wouldn’t go where he wanted them to go. So he floated weightlessly inside the transparent bubble, which stuck fast to the ground. His legs insisted on floating apart in two separate directions – north and south. Levitating clumsily like a circus clown, he endured Kia laughing at him, until she struggled to fly due to the cramp in her stomach.

  ‘You’re so funny!’ she squealed in delight.

  Connor ignored her. Although he’d experienced a bad start, it didn’t take long to get the hang of it. He experimented with somersaults.

  Meanwhile, Sparkie floated like Superman with his arms outstretched. He’d miniaturised his van to matchbox size and carefully ro
lled his bubble towards the dinky vehicle. Once positioned on top, he gently, so as not to burst the bubble, reached through the protective surface to collect the van. Once he secured the van safely inside his pocket he signalled the others to follow him.

  Kia flew with her wings gently humming and her hair trailing long as if immersed in water. Connor envied her being so at ease with her legs neatly together and her arms relaxed by her sides.

  Although having improved slightly, Connor clumsily moved his arms and legs. He floated facing forwards, sometimes somersaulting. Tookar adopted a more practical position; he levitated cross-legged like a genie on a magic carpet.

  ‘Okay, time to go!’ Sparkie indicated. ‘Touch your bracelets and move forward!’

  And thus, their journey began.

  ‘Urgh!’ Connor groaned, queasy after seeing the dead bodies of the Armatripe.

  But to their surprise, the dead bodies shrivelled and vanished, leaving the ground bare with no trace of a battle having happened. Perplexed, Sparkie scratched his head and muttered, ‘But Armatripes don’t disappear when they die.’

  They cautiously progressed a short distance along a smooth matt path, which shone vividly in the light of the moon. Wild, jagged, unpredictable country lay on each side of the path. However, tempting to continue their journey along the level path to the massive stronghold in the distance, given the other choice of the wilderness. But to take the path would be equivalent to waving a neon flag and telling Definastine they were coming.

  ‘Urgh!’ Connor pouted, when he touched the boundary of the invisible shield, it felt as gooey as bucketful of cold slugs. He sharply withdrew his hand where it made a squelchy sound on removal.

  They gingerly made their way through a rough path, barely wide enough for each of the bubbles to pass through. Kia navigated them through the winding routes, since she had the advantage of foreseeing their direction. She flew a short distance in front making sure she kept her friends within vision. To avoid the various obstacles, including dense skeletal plants and huge boulders of rock, they were forced to travel twice as far. Their movements were dramatically delayed, as the path they proceeded along proved hazardous. The spiky fingers of the branches, grey and pale in the light of the moon, proved most difficult to pass.

  The novelty of flying inside a bubble wore off and the journey grew wearisome. At first the air seemed fresh but Connor worried of suffocating in the shield meant to keep him alive. Confined in such a small space, he hoped to be free of it soon. And if it wasn’t bad enough, his ears blocked.

  A range of mountains shadowed the land to the west, varying in height. The dark ground below, indicated a vast pit. They’d learnt the world of Dramian had a mixture of different temperatures varying from freezing to boiling point due to the presence of underground boiling larva. Boiling liquid at various points beneath the surface flowed continually. Bubbling eruptions spurted unexpectedly from the ground, taking them by surprise. In other shaded places, the crust had frozen hard in ice.

  At various intervals through the rugged rocks, the smooth wide path could be spotted. But they avoided the path as if it were a poisonous snake and opted reluctantly for the jagged land. It would take them longer but they had little choice. The huge boulders, often blocking their path, were a hindrance, but they also provided shelter from various groups of Armatripe, who marched along the wide strip towards the dimensional gateway. Thankfully, Kia warned them of any fiends as they remained hidden until the enemy passed.

  Occasionally a shy lizard wandered across their path, scuttling into the undergrowth with its bottom wobbling furiously. To the east bubbling brooks spurted red-hot liquid high into the sky, varying in height. The piercing heat would be enough to destroy their bubbles and them. Connor shuddered.

  ‘That’s where we’re heading!’ Kia shouted, pointing ahead.

  After making their way through a network of large stones they stood at the edge of a large pit, fifty feet deep. It appeared to be a large defensive ditch of some sort. The way forward involved crossing a small path two feet wide, and Kia had led them directly to the small crossing.

  Tookar raised his eyebrows. ‘What now?’

  ‘We don’t have a choice.’ Sparkie took the lead once more. ‘We must go on.’

  ‘Follow me, Connor,’ indicated Tookar.

  I don’t want to go anywhere, Connor wanted to scream. Leave me alone. Come back for me later! But being a coward wasn’t an option, because being left didn’t appeal to him either.

  They slowly progressed in single file along the narrow track above the gorge.

  ‘Must be at least fifty yards.’ Connor tried to judge the distance left to travel before they were safe.

  Sparkie skilfully maintained their previous pace, whereas Connor and Tookar had difficulty keeping pace. To make matters worse, this narrow section was visible from the main path.

  Suddenly, Kia screamed. Sparkie had disappeared. Kia continued to scream. Tookar appeared to be struggling with something. His body was jerking. He was bellowing. Without any warning, Tookar vanished in front of him. In disbelief the path disappeared. He tried to move backwards, but not quickly enough. The path beneath him vanished too and he plummeted into the great ditch.

  ‘Nooo!’ yelled Connor, tumbling. Beyond the sound of his own terror erupting from his throat, he heard Kia calling their names.