Cloud Riders (12 page)

Paul turned and ran toward the door, but froze in mid-step by the same force that had earlier tried to sit him on the disappearing wooden chair.

"Most curious,” Judge Irewrath said. “He has decided not to attend his own trial."

Paul wondered if Reshape understood how easily his cockroach shape could be squished as his mammoth voice filled the room. “Quote me a law forbidding Paul, Will and I from going into the next room."

"Through the door?” Juror Twelve asked, seeming to forget many of Reshape's words. “You two want to go through the door? But that leaves the animal. We don't want the animal. If we vote you permission to leave, will you take the animal with you?"

"I believe if you check the records, Twelve, you will find both Will and Isno are assumed to be included in my request for a law search prohibiting us from leaving,” Reshape the cockroach corrected.

"And don't break any of Calamity Horrid's rules,” Judge Irewrath declared. “Break her rules and she'll break you."

"Where's the fire?” Forceya added. “Slow down before you break the speed limit and have to put it in a cast."

"Will, Isno, me and Paul, all assure you of our compliance,” Reshape informed. “We will obey every rule the moment we find out what they are. As guardians of the gateway into the next Horrid Ice Castle room, you may be confident of our complete obedience,” Reshape assured.

Why Reshape remained a cockroach mystified Paul, but the giant voice seemed perfect for the occasion.

"By the way,” the cockroach said in a puzzled voice, “who is this Calamity Horrid person anyway? You wish us to follow her rules without any hint as to what they are and who she is? Do I understand you correctly?"

"Oh, you'll find out!” Judge Irewrath said. She cackled with the amusement of a witch. “Then you will know how friendly we have been. You will wish long for our company in her place."

"Willis, you won't last another five years, or my name isn't Lester Punjester,” the Joker said in glee. “Lights out and you disappear, I predict."

"We only have your word about you being Punjester,” Paul said as he backed his way to the ice door. “How about it, Judge Irewrath. Is number Thirteen's name Punjester?” He turned to Reshape the cockroach. “You really don't know who Calamity Horrid is?"

"What makes you think that,” the cockroach said. In a blink, Reshape became a purple ant and squeezed his tiny form through the door crack.

Paul turned and rushed for the door.

Will followed Paul like his shadow.

Paul pushed on the door and imagined himself on the other side of the ice barrier. The door didn't move.

[Back to Table of Contents]

"Order in the court!” Judge Irewrath screamed, banging her gavel on the table until its legs started to buckle and bounce. “I sentence you to the next room.” Her voice lowered and became soft. “Good luck to you all."

Paul pushed on the door and it swung open. The light blinded him for a moment. The door started to close as his eyes adjusted to the new brightness.

"Paulie! Help me!"

High above Paul's head, Vicki pushed against the grip of his nightmare gorilla nemesis, Claude Nab. Paul sucked in a quick breath and held it as Vicki kicked, flailed and tried to twist out of the gigantic hand. Paul's mind embarked on a tug-of-war between rejoicing over finally finding her, and helplessness over what he could do about it.

"Vicki, I'm...” Paul announced, “here?"

"Paulie! Make him let me go!"

His mind suggested he say something intelligent so the four thousand pound gorilla in the room would politely set his sister on the floor and allow her to escape. What words could he use to convince the super-sized hairy brute? ‘Excuse me, sir, my sister seems to be stuck between your fingers and palm’ uselessly came to mind. A strong self-survival instinct advised not to get too close. Perhaps he still dreamed, and he shut his eyes, and then opened them. Before him his nightmare, the immense hairy gorilla, black as the inside of a grave.

"Paulie?"

The monster held his sister with an animal dinnertime look on his face. His expression dared Paul to stop him. One hand rose into the air, gigantic fingers the bars to Vicki's jail. His other fist pushed into the air in victory.

"Reshape, where are you?” Paul whispered. Some form colorfully illogical had to be hiding somewhere just waiting to be asked to help rescue his sister.

"Don't go anywhere,” Paul wisecracked in a quavering voice, stalling for time. He backed against the doorway, covertly leaned against the ice slab and felt for a door crack. His fingernails dug into a tiny gap where door met wall and tried to pry it open, hoping for Will's help from the other side. Will's skin and Claude Nab's fur were of identical color, and somehow this might be of assistance, he thought in desperation. The door opened a slit, but his fingers started to slip. Isno squeezed through the narrow ice opening and leaped into the room. Paul lost his grip and the door crunched shut.

The closing door acted upon another door. In the center of the room a circular trapdoor at the feet of Claude Nab opened. The lid unsealed a hole Paul couldn't see into from his position.

"Paulie, please."

In a strong voice, Paul demanded, “King Kong, put down my sister!"

"
Claude Nab!
” The guttural noise slammed into Paul's ears like a blend of all the growls he'd ever heard; dog fights and movie monster snarls intertwined with zoo captives howling at dinnertime. “My name is
Claude Nab!
"

"Oh, Paulie, don't make him angry.” Vicki kicked and pushed against the gorilla's hand. Claude reached over with his other hand and grabbed Vicki between two fingers, lifted her out of her prison and dangled her over the four-foot wide floor hole.

Paul couldn't help her if he panicked or the hairy nightmare squeezed her. Too late on the panic thing. His fright didn't allow him to know if he thought the words or said them aloud. “I've come to save Vicki. She's my sister, so you can put her down now."

A roar of laughter came from the gorilla. “Don't hurt me, stupid lad. Save this girl? You and how many more?” His flat nose twitched. “I got your ant under my foot!” His eyes gleamed with enjoyment. “Your stupid Willis human is in the other room trying to find a way to get away from those stupid judges and open the door.” He laughed. “Oh, yes. Calamity Horrid told me all about them, you stupid lad! Go ahead, save her. Maybe you could hit me on a knee. Step on a toe, if you can lift your leg high enough. You stupid, stupid lad!” He stopped, appeared to be thinking, and finally said, “Besides, you're stupid!"

Paul didn't know what to say. He tried to glare at the ape with his most menacing face; a hopeless task being as he never mastered the art of looking fierce. “How'd you like a cat in your face?"

"Cat me, big not,” Isno hissed from a far corner. “Fight me?” Isno sounded like an alley cat facing a hungry lion. “You first go.” Isno's long fangs bared, he spit and clawed at the air, a fierce feline perhaps ready to attack the room-filling monstrous freak of nature—or not.

"Paulie!” Vicki reached toward her older brother, begging to be saved, her hands grasping air. She turned her head toward her kidnapper. “
He's
my king, not you!” She twisted and pounded her fists against the gorilla's two fingers. “You're supposed to let me go now."

Paul couldn't believe what he heard. You're supposed to let me go now? He didn't get it.

"Mister Nab, maybe we could talk this over?” Paul said, taking a cautious step toward the beast, hoping his subconscious mind would flash him some kind of a plan. “I want my sister really, really bad. What do you want with her anyway? Really. I may be dumb, but I know she needs to finish school and help mom cook cookies."

Isno hunched low, his belly almost touching the ice floor. Ever so silently, he stalked behind the huge creature, his bushy tail sweeping the ice behind him.

Paul caught sight of Isno's stalking the beast and knew better than to turn his head to watch. Isno against Claude Nab made about as much sense as trying to chop down a tree with a toothpick.

If ever he could use Will, it would be at this moment. His talkative new friend could draw the gorilla's attention with a few well-placed ‘blimey's’ and ‘don't you know's'. Probably puzzle him enough so he'd set Vicki down so he could scratch his head with two hands. Maybe an Isno diversion would give him the chance to reach Vicki—but then what?

Reshape!
Claude said his ant shape was under his foot. If he could get him to lift a foot, maybe Reshape could turn into the bull shape he used earlier to get into the Horrid Ice Castle. He could use his horns to shut the trap door. Better yet, Reshape could turn into fire and give the hairy beast a hotfoot.

Claude Nab's voice taunted, “This little thing your sister, stupid lad?” He glared at Paul with enormous red eyes. A smirk curled his massive lips, his flat nose twitched again. “Hurt me and sister falls back to your Earth. Does stupid lad think he can catch her?"

"Paul isn't stupid!” Vicki said.

In panic, Paul realized he couldn't reach Vicki without falling through the ice hole himself, and he had no idea what lay waiting in the depths of the opening. Earth? Why couldn't he send an arm to see down the hole? Maybe send a leg to pry his sister out of... But if Claude Nab could see what he could do, wouldn't it give away his element of surprise? What if the beast grabbed whatever limb he sent? He'd have to think this over.

In the end only one course of action made any sense. He had to talk Claude Nab out of his amusement. The words barely squeezed out of his choked throat. “Claude's a nice name,” he said with the sweetness one would use to talk to a child. “Nab, I think you—"

"You stupid fool, lad!” He shook Vicki viciously and her squirming immediately halted. “So stupid lad, do I have to tell you again?” he growled. He bared his giant dull-white teeth and pushed out words which bounced off the ice walls and exploded into Paul's ears. “
Claude Nab!"
His voice dropped to a warning whisper. “I don't want to tell you again. Being stupid is no excuse. Oh, I know, Paul Winsome. I know. You think I am stupid, too. But let me ask you this. If I was as stupid as you think, how could I communicate with such clarity and preciseness? Oh yes. A growl here and there, but mostly I'm extremely articulate. If I'm so stupid, how come I have your sister? Now understand, my Claude Nab name is a set, and no stupid lad shall separate Claude from Nab, nor Nab from Claude! You got that? Now who is stupid? The gorilla or the little lad uselessly begging for his little sister?"

"If you'll give back my sister, I promise to call you Mister Claude Nab... forever... admire you... with great fear in my heart. I will honor and praise your greatness. Your smartness. All this can be yours for my sister, Vicki. Surely someone of your great intelligence understands—"

The curled lips on Claude Nab's face demonstrated his love for the game. “So you will make nice with my name? Or shall I shake little Vicki again, dumb lad."

"Paulie,” Vicki begged. Her body hung limp, her eyes pleading. “It hurts when he shakes me."

"Claude Nab forever,” Paul said like a car salesman closing a sale. He risked capture and forced his feet to step closer to the creature to gaze into the hole. His eyes opened wide. It tunneled through the castle and the golden cloud below. Through smaller clouds he saw the fuzzy blue and green surface of Earth. In panic, he jumped back out of the ape's reach. “Why? What's this all about, Claude Nab?” His mind raced. There had to be something to convince the great ape into giving up his human prize. Only one thing came to mind. “I'm guessing you like your life. I'm supposed to save the solar system. This solar system. The Earth solar system. If you don't put down Vicki, you leave me no choice. I shall not save the solar system."

"Stupid lad! Calamity Horrid has told me your orders!” He pointed at his head with his free hand with a finger almost as large as Paul himself. “You have to save the solar system all by yourself. You do not need Vicki. It is I who needs Vicki. She's mine! Her room is ready, her time set and this shall not be interfered with by any stupid brother lad.” The gorilla laughed. “How do you like my meanness? Kind of my specialty."

"You're an amateur compared to Vile Extinction. Kid Badd's mom is meaner sounding, Claude Nab. Okay? So you can put Vicki down now. Contest over."

"Now go we!” Isno hissed and made a mighty leap, gliding higher and higher, until four sets of claws stabbed through the deep mat of black shoulder hair. His sword-like twin teeth sank into an earlobe, his cat fighting voice screeching into the bitten ear. “Down Vicki put!"

"Ooohweeouch!” Claude Nab growled and swung his free arm in a fierce slap to his shoulder, missed and smacked his head.

Isno leaped through the air and bounced against the far ice wall. The agile cat somersaulted and twisted to land on his feet as Claude Nab's eyes crossed and glazed over. He fell to the floor, the ice quivering, the room shaking. He had given himself a knockout blow.

A purple ant scurried to the wall opposite of where Isno crouched.

Knocked-out Claude Nab's hand relaxed and Vicki fell from his grasp into the hole.

"Cat whoops!” Isno screeched.

Paul lunged forward and desperately tried to catch Vicki's hand without taking the plunge with her. He watched helplessly, her eyes wide, her face bleached and transfixed in horror. Her blonde hair flew up resembling a reversed waterfall. One hand reached desperately toward Paul as she plunged into the depths.

"No! Vicki!” Without thinking, Paul took a deep breath, pressed his legs together and jumped into the hole. He dropped through the castle floor and layers of sun-reflected clouds. The speed of the fall caused his clothes to flap and threaten to peel away from his body. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Paul thought it odd Reshape hadn't helped or given advice. Of course! This was HIS parallel-imagined-life! Claude Nab was in his, Will in his, Isno in his, Reshape in... his?

The voice of Maken Fairchild haunted his memory. Understand that there is another reality, one parallel to your Earth perception. You reach it through imagination.