“Come on,” Arnie said. He took Skylark’s hand and they descended to the amphitheatre floor. Treading carefully, they made their way toward the central tower. The closer they got, the higher and larger it became. The light played and shimmered around it, on it and through it.
Suddenly the tower blazed and, in a chiaroscuro of brilliance, Skylark saw that at its base was a carving in the shape of a giant bird with wings outstretched, beak open in challenge and claws splayed ready for attack. It was as tall as she was.
As soon as she saw the symbol, Skylark knew what she had to do. For a moment she hesitated, both scared and shocked to know that she’d actually made it this far — and that this was only the beginning of her journey. “Oh Mum,” she whimpered. Then she took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and placed the feather which Birdy had given her on the left wing of the symbol. The beak from Joe, she put on the beak of the carved bird. She decided to leave the claw given to her by Hoki around her neck.
There was just one task left to do. Gently Skylark pushed Arnie away from the carving. “I think this is where I go on alone,” Skylark said.
“What?” Arnie asked. “No. I won’t let you.” He took a few steps back towards the carving.
“No, Arnie,” Skylark said. “There’s only room for one of us. Can’t you see?”
“Give a guy a break! How can you do what you have to do without me? We’ve come all this way together. I’ve grown used to you, can’t you see that? We’re a good team.” Arnie’s face was pale with anxiety. “I don’t care what you say,” he continued, compressing his lips. “I’m coming along as your co-pilot and that’s that. Just let anybody try to stop me.”
He came towards her but she pushed him hard and he fell back on the floor. “No, Arnie. Thank you for bringing me this far. But from here I’m flying solo.”
With that, Skylark stepped into the shape of the bird. At that moment torchlight flashed through the amphitheatre. “You aren’t going anywhere, Missy,” a voice said.
Up on the rock jutting out and overlooking the amphitheatre were the two rangers. They began to clamber down the stairway, making their way towards the base of the tower.
“That settles it,” Arnie said. He jumped into the bird shape, put his feather and beak alongside Skylark’s, stepped behind her and put his arms around her.
“What are you doing!” Skylark yelled. “Let me go!”
“I’ve got two choices. Either I stay here and get arrested or I go with you and take my chances wherever we end up. We’ve been tandem once. It can work again.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Skylark roared. “Once is enough.” She was trying everything to wriggle out of Arnie’s arms. Every time she wriggled his grip got tighter. “Wait up, Arnie, hang on a minute, let go of me —”
It was too late. Skylark felt dizzy. Her eyesight blurred. Her voice caught in her throat. For some strange reason the room seemed to be growing larger. And what was this? She seemed to be growing smaller. She tried to protest again but all that came out was a slight chirrup and flutter. The air shifted and next moment, Skylark found herself looking out of the rim of her right shoe. She let out a guffaw of laughter.
“Is that you, Arnie?”
Arnie’s overalls lay in a crumpled heap. There was a pecking movement from within. Then a face appeared — the face of a falcon. One eye was green, the other brown. Payback time.
“You should laugh,” Arnie said. “Look in a mirror.”
Skylark had a short crest and her coat was streaked brown and dark brown. Her underparts were buffy white, her breast was streaked brown, and her outer feathers were conspicuously white. She gave a short scream and discovered that her voice had changed into continuous liquid trills and runs. She had turned into a — well, a skylark.
The transformation had Arnie in fits of hysteria. He hopped out of his clothes and he just loved the way he looked. Hooked bill and grasping talons. Long and narrow wings. Overall plumage brown. He flexed his muscles and was thrilled to feel the powah. “Uh oh, trouble,” Arnie whistled.
The two rangers had arrived at the tower. When they spoke, their voices sounded huge. “Where the hell did they go?”
And there were other sounds too. New ones. Skylark’s new perceptions caught another presence coming into the caverns. Kawanatanga had finally caught up, and he was leading his seashag squad thundering into the amphitheatre.
“Arnie, quick, do something!” Skylark trilled.
Kawanatanga glided through the amphitheatre flicking at the fragile bones with contempt. The rangers watched, stunned. Kawanatanga saw Skylark and Arnie. He stalled and stretched out his neck.
Stop them! Kill the chick! Kill them both before they go through the Time Portal.
As for Arnie, what was he doing? He saw his cellphone, flew to it, and hopped out the number for Hoki and Bella.
“Mother Ship, I think we have lift-off.”
With a scream, Kawanatanga dived.
“Arnie!” Skylark yelled.
Arnie flapped his wings and enfolded Skylark in them. Just as Kawanatanga opened his beak to strike, the cathedral opened like a door. Something big and black, made up of trillions of whirling bones, came at Skylark and Arnie like a huge mouth, and swallowed them.
Kawanatanga howled his rage to the universe.
No. No. No.
In Manu Valley, Hoki ran to answer the telephone.
“Hello? Hello?”
All she could hear was a series of harsh squawks and whistles.
“Is anybody there?”
The telephone went dead. For a while, Hoki stood there, puzzled. Then she gasped, put the receiver down and took herself up to Bella, Mitch and Francis as fast as her walking sticks would let her.
“Bella! Arnie’s just called. I think he’s gone with Skylark.”
“How can Arnie go with her!”
“I don’t know,” Hoki answered. She gave an incredulous laugh. “But I think they’ve both gone through the Time Portal.”
Hoki stayed on the clifftop. She knew she was right about Arnie calling her. Just before dusk, she looked west and saw a black convoy coming across the twin mountains. It brought thoughts to her of Armageddon, of something apocalyptic, of a world that was about to descend into chaos. Hoki stepped forward:
“So, Kawanatanga, you’re back.”
With an angry scream, Kawanatanga circled the ripped sky.
We may not have been able to stop the chick on this side of the sky. But we will meet her on the other side. When we do, we promise you we shall spear her like a fish and shred her to pieces.
Hoki grabbed her shotgun and aimed for Kawanatanga. With contemptuous ease he twisted, stilled, dived and was in.
The sun fell into the sea. There was a sudden silver flash along the line where sky met ocean.
Part Three
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Bella left Hoki, Mitch and Francis guarding the ripped sky and went into Tuapa to stock up on food and drink from the local supermarket. With Mitch as a drinking partner, Bella’s booze cupboard was already low, and that boy of his could sure eat.
Bella’s second call was to Harry Summers at the farming supplies store for another two cases of ammunition.
“Out already?” Harry asked.
“I’m teaching Hoki how to fire a shotgun,” Bella said. “Now I can’t stop her from taking potshots at anything.”
“In that case, I’m staying clear of Manu Valley,” Harry quipped.