A Hole in the World (19 page)

‘No way,’ Scotty says. ‘You’re completely defenceless in there. You can’t get out but everything can get in.’

‘Just
go
,’ Daisy insists. ‘I told you, didn’t I?’ She looks at Bianca. ‘Remember what I said?’

‘Remember what
I
said?’ Bianca retorts.

‘I said mine first.’ Daisy smiles at her.

Bianca steps forward and puts her hand out. Daisy links their fingers and smiles. ‘We’ll come back for you,’ Bianca promises.

‘I know.’

‘Come on.’ Bianca turns to Scotty, who nods, and the two of them take off at a run, only pausing when they realise Cory isn’t there.  They look back and instantly know he’s not coming.

‘Someone’s got to protect Daisy,’ he says.

Bianca runs forward and hugs him. ‘We’ll be back for both of you,’ she whispers into his ear.

‘I know,’ he replies.

*

The rest of the journey Bianca and Scotty make on foot, tents and half the food abandoned back by Cory and Daisy. They still have their weapons – both makeshift and otherwise – but they’re less weighed down.

‘Do you think we’ll be able to get Daisy out?’ Scotty says, breaking the silence.

‘Yes,’ Bianca says, firmly. ‘Even if we have to beg Nissa to do it.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘I love you, you know,’ Bianca says, quietly.

Scotty smiles at her. ‘I love you too.’

‘Just thought I’d tell you.’

‘I already knew.’ He bumps against her shoulder and she smiles.

‘I’m going to miss you. All of you.’

Scotty doesn’t reply.

*

‘This is too easy.’

They’re at the edge of a precipice; the tower is up ahead, about a hundred feet in the distance. It plummets down into the fog far below it and Bianca honestly doesn’t want to know what’s down there. There’s a bridge made of brick about a foot wide – supported by what, Bianca doesn’t know – leading from the edge to the window of the tower.

‘You call that easy?’ Scotty says, peering over the edge. ‘I can’t even see the bottom.’

‘I don’t think there is a bottom.’ Bianca swallows. ‘I think it just goes on forever.’

‘Well, that’s just nutty,’ Scotty replies.

‘I have to go across.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘It’s the only way.’ She moves to step onto the bridge but he stops her.

‘Are you crazy?’ he says. ‘You have no
idea
what might happen! The bridge could be an illusion or anything!’

She drops to a crouch and pokes at the brick. ‘Nope, definitely real,’ she says.  She turns to him. ‘I guess this is goodbye.’

‘What?!’ he exclaims. ‘I’m coming with you!’

‘I think this is my part,’ she replies, with a smile. ‘You never have Prince Charming
and his best friend
coming to put a shoe on Cinderella or kiss Snow White awake.’

‘Well, had he had the chance, I’m pretty sure he, too, would have a dashing blonde man by his side!’

‘Scotty.’ She puts her hands on his shoulders. ‘This is mine to do. You need to go back to Cory and Daisy.’

‘No.’ He shakes his head. ‘Look; I’ll at least come with you into the tower. You can do whatever you want after that. But we don’t know what you might be facing in there. Just... let me help protect you a little longer, okay?’

She smiles at him. ‘Okay,’ she says. ‘Agreed.’

She moves to step onto the bridge again but before she has chance a strong arm grabs her by the back of her shirt, dragging her back. It’s not Scotty.  She squeaks and reaches for her sword, but an even stronger arm stops her with a hand clasped around her wrist and pulling her backwards.

‘Scotty!’ she screams as she’s dragged kicking and screaming into a large group of trolls.

Before she knows where she is, there’s a hand on her ankle and another on her wrist, a hand still grasping her shoulder, painfully while another grasps her elbow.  They seem to be trying to decide what to do with her as they drag her ever further into their group.  There’s at least thirty of them, each as big as the one in the original cave. 

She’s never been as terrified as she is right now as she struggles in their grasp, trying to grab her sword, lighter, hairspray...
anything
!

Hands push at her, pull at her, big mitts the size of dinner plates, fingers digging into her skin and causing her to howl in pain. ‘Scotty!’ she shouts again.

And then, out of nowhere, he comes running in.  Trolls fall down as he slashes them with his sword and the ones holding Bianca look around in confusion, unable to comprehend what’s happening. Before she knows what’s happening, the ground is coming up at her and her back slams down onto it with a painful crack sound when they release her. She gasps in pain as the trolls storm past, one barely missing stepping on her chest.

She curls into the foetal position, staring up at the battlefield in pain and horror as Scotty faces down all of the trolls by himself. ‘Scotty,’ she gasps out. She shoves down on the ground and somehow pushes herself into a standing position, wavering unsteadily on her feet. 

Bianca draws her sword again once she’s regained her balance, gripping it steadily in her hands and looks up, squinting in the direct light of the sun setting over the hills, in time to see a troll about to stab Scotty in the back of the neck.

Her sword slides into the troll’s chest like butter and then she rips it out, letting the creature sink to the floor.

‘Thanks,’ Scotty says, turning around.

‘Thank
you
,’ Bianca corrects, in time for another troll to attack.

She spins around and slashes a troll, who falls backwards onto the brick bridge.  As soon as its weight is dispersed across the brick, the bridge crumbles and the troll – and the bridge – plummet down to the fog below.

‘I’m
so
glad you didn’t try that bridge!’ Scotty shouts, fighting off his own troll.

Bianca pulls a smoke bomb from her belt, lights it with her lighter, and throws it into the throngs of trolls in time to see a horse approaching from ahead with the prince on its back.

‘Scotty!’ she shouts, pointing towards the horse.

‘Damn it!’ Scotty yells back as the smoke begins to disperse, confusing the trolls.  They back towards the precipice, standing side-by-side as they fight, the horse getting closer.

A troll goes flying over them and lands on an invisible platform.  Bianca stares at it in shock and Scotty stops a troll before it can hit her with a club.

‘You should go,’ Scotty shouts over the din of troll-noise.

‘No!’ she exclaims. ‘I can’t leave you here!’

Scotty gives her an exasperated look and they fight for another few minutes, trolls falling into the precipice and howling in rage.  They don’t seem to be confused by the smoke anymore, which is a disadvantage.

The prince gallops by on his horse, leaps over the two humans and lands on the invisible platforms, hoofs hitting the emptiness in all the right places, crossing a hidden bridge. Bianca turns and watches him as she fights. ‘No!’

‘Go!’ Scotty shouts. He grabs her by the arms and shoves her towards the edge of the precipice. ‘I’ll hold them off! Just go!’

‘But...’

‘Go!’

She turns again in time to see the horse and rider plummet downwards towards the base of the cliff having missed one of the invisible stones.  She takes a breath and leaps onto the first one, landing firmly in the centre.  Then she reaches out with her sword to find the next one.  Two invisible bricks later, she turns back in time to see Scotty being carried into the throngs of trolls.

Knowing she can’t go back, she takes a deep breath and carries on.

She manages to leap across ten invisible stones before she notices the prince climbing up the outside of the tower.  That’s when she starts moving faster. She can see the barest of outlines of the platforms where the smoke from the edge of the precipice, having seeped across to the bridge, bends around them and she uses that to her advantage.

She leaps gracefully to the next one and manages to balance.  The next one is higher up, so she jumps to grab the edge and somehow clambers up.  She can see the prince below. He’s seen her too and speeds up his ascent.

‘Damn it,’ she mutters. She leaps for the next block and misses.

The result is her clinging to it by her fingertips, legs swinging freely as she struggles to hold on with one hand.  Her arms
burn
and she knows she’s going to feel this tomorrow. She’s going to feel
all
of it; her back, her legs, her shoulder, her arms... everything is going to ache and she can’t bring herself to care.

With a feat of undeniable determination, she pulls up onto the platform and scrabbles towards the next one up ahead. The window is getting closer; so close she can reach out with a sore arm and her fingertips almost grace the sill.

‘Alexandra!’ she shouts. 

She scrambles up the last two platforms and jumps towards the window, grabbing the opening and dragging herself in.

She lands in a circular room and takes a moment of lying on the floor to appraise it. The carpet is plush and light blue; there are silken curtains on the windows – two windows at opposite sides of the room – and there’s an open trapdoor up ahead that, on first glance, Bianca would guess leads to a bathroom or a kitchen.  The main part of the room, however, catches her unawares.

She expected Alexandra to be trapped in a horrible dingy room in the middle of nowhere, but instead the whole thing is
luxurious
. She could happily climb into the bed and live there for the next week; the duvet is thick and looks
so
soft and the mattress looks
so
comfortable. 

But, instead of retreating into a world of soft pillows and warm quilts, Bianca stands up and walks across to the trapdoor. ‘Alexandra!’ she calls out.

A blonde head appears out of the hole and her eyes widen when she sees Bianca.  Her hair is cascading down her back, wavy and loose with two small plaits around from her ears to the back of her head and she’s dressed in a beautiful, flowing apricot gown.

‘Bianca?’ she whispers, stunned.

‘Yeah.’ Bianca holds out her hand and helps Alexandra step off the steps and up into the room.

‘What are you doing here? The prince will be here any second to kiss me and take me to the kingdom to wed!’ Alexandra exclaims.

‘I’m here to save you! He isn’t a prince; he’s the enchantress’ son. He’s going to marry you; have you have his
kid
and then
kill
you.’

‘
What
?’ Alexandra looks sickened. ‘Oh my god!’

‘
I’m
your Prince Charming. I’m the one you’re meant to be with, not him.’

‘What do you care?’ Alexandra says. ‘Why do you want to be with me?’

‘Because... because those weeks you were in my life were the best
of
my life.’

After a moment of silence, Alexandra reaches out and touches Bianca’s face. ‘You’re older,’ she whispers.

‘Eighteen,’ she confirms.

‘Me too.’ Alexandra smiles, softly. ‘It was my birthday a few days ago.’

Bianca smiles back. ‘Happy birthday,’ she says.

‘Thanks.’ Alexandra smiles shyly, but then her face hardens, as though she suddenly remembers the circumstances. ‘But you still shouldn’t be here. If it’s my destiny to marry and be killed then so be it. I just won’t have his children.’

‘You have a large supply of invisible condoms then, do you?’ Bianca snaps.

‘What do you care?’ Alexandra repeats. ‘I don’t even know why you’re here.’ She turns away. ‘Just leave me to my fate.’

Bianca catches her arm and turns her back around. ‘What have I done wrong?’ she splutters. ‘What the hell did I do that deserves
this
?’

‘Nothing.’ Alexandra shakes her head. ‘Let go of my arm.’

Bianca removes her hand and looks at her imploringly. ‘Alexandra; I want to be with you. I’ve given up everything to be here with you right now. Nissa came to me; she told me what’s going on. She told me I’m the one you’re meant to be with. I’m the one who dreamt of that hole. I’m the one who came to rescue you!’ She pauses. ‘Don’t you want to be with
me
?’

Alexandra watches her, cautiously. ‘Why did you come here? Why are you so desperate for me to come back to you?’

Bianca’s next words are quiet, barely audible. ‘Because everything’s so empty.’

‘What?’ Alexandra breathes.

‘It’s like there’s a hole in my world when you’re not in it.’ She’s reaching out now, hands touching hair and face and neck, as though trying to remember, memorise and hold onto in case she gets ripped away again. ‘It’s like there’s a gaping chasm in my life and I just
can’t
... I can’t go on without you here with me. You might as well just push me out of that window if you won’t be with me.’

‘You let me go.’

‘What?’

‘You made it clear you didn’t want me. And then you let me go. Without a fight. Why didn’t you fight?’