Maelstrom: Part 5

Here’s the final part to Maelstrom! Come back next week for more of my writing, and if you like it, don’t be afraid to leave a like or a comment or follow me! 

The Adventures of Elizabeth Shelley

When my feet slam down next, puffs of red dust bust up as the dust of Campestris dislodges in our landing.  

 

The white smoke still in my lungs, I start coughing, hacking up a lung. I barely register that Rhett and Calahan are doing the same, lying on the ground next to me.

 

“Where the hell have you been?”

 

Uh oh. Not good.

 

Finn stands in front of me, watching the scene in front of him with his arms crossed and his back against the door to our training building. His voice is deadly serious, and his face looks less than pleased.

 

“Oh.” I say between coughs. “Just, you know, out.”

 

“Out?” Finn snakes toward us, taking in the strange sight the three of us must pose. Rhett gets up, standing at my right, but Calahan stays on the ground, groaning a little and clutching his abdomen. “With this guy?”

 

Finn nudges Calahan with the toe of his boot.

 

Finally able to breathe clear again, I look down at the watch on my wrist. It rests comfortably again, making a light humming noise. Like it’s home.

 

“What the…” Finn sees it too, and he dashes over to me, grabbing and yanking my wrist to him.

 

“Oh, well, and that.” I say, a bit smug. “Got my watch back. Finally. Solved my own problem! Aren’t you glad?”

 

The question under the surface lingers: Aren’t you proud?

 

“What happened?” Finn’s voice is flat and emotionless.

 

Calahan’s voice drifts up from the ground. “Your apprentice here just pissed off the Anarchists, that’s what happened.”

♦

Ten minutes later, Rhett and I sit on one side of a long metal table in a tiny room in the main building on Campestris. On the other side sits Finn and Neva, who is representing the wegferend council. Which I’m still not entirely convinced exists since she’s the only council member I’ve ever seen.

 

But right now, I can’t help but feel like I’m being interrogated.

 

“Look, I was just looking for some fun!” I say as Finn glares at me with his disappointed stare. “Honest! Which, by the way, is kind of Finn’s fault because if he’d have showed up today, I wouldn’t have been bored out of my mind. We didn’t mean to find Calahan or those Anarchist people! I mean, what’s their deal, anyway?”

 

Neva and Finn share a knowing glance. I hate it when they do that.

 

“The Anarchists,” Finn starts hesitantly, “aren’t really our friends.”

 

“Really. I hadn’t guessed.” He gives me a ‘shut-up-and-let-me-tell-my-story’ look.

 

“I’ve run into them a few times myself.” Finn says. “They believe in nothing but keeping the dimensions ‘pure.’ As in, they’re against all interaction and communication between worlds.”

 

“So they’re against wegferends.” I say, coming to a realization. “And the Searu.”

 

Finn nods. “Pretty much anyone who wants open contact between worlds. And they kill to keep it that way.”

 

Suddenly it all makes sense. Before Calahan passed out and was rushed to the infirmary on Campestris, he’d said he had gone to that dimension for a job, that someone had contacted him about something. It’d been a trap.

 

“Castor and his Anarchists have long been a thorn in our side.” Neva cuts in. “Ironically, they flit through dimensions on their ‘holy’ purpose of keeping the Planescape pure.”

“They started as merely some cult, until that Castor got a hold of them.” Finn seethes. “Then they started luring and killing any sort of traveler they can find. That Searu is lucky you got to him when you did. They’re intent on making chaos. The Maelstrom, they call it.”

 

I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms. “The what now?”

 

Neva says, “The Maelstrom. It’s their word for a state of free-reign they are intent on bringing. They think that travelers are inhibiting on the freedom of the people in dimensions, shaping those dimensions and those people into what the traveler wants. But what they don’t understand is that without our interference, so many people would be dead or imprisoned or worse. We’re here to help others, not control them as is Castor’s deluded dream.”

 

At that, the four of us disperse, no one really knowing what else to say. Neva flits off to some other part of the building, and Rhett stalks off to go take a nap somewhere or something. Finn and I leave the building together, neither saying a word.
Finally, I break the silence, like I usually do.

 

“I mean, if I’d have known there was a terrorist organization out to get wegferends, I wouldn’t have gone.” I say.

 

Finn turns to me, stopping in the red Campestris sunlight. “Yes, you would have.”

 

“Yeah, I probably would.” I concede. “But, I would have tried my hardest not to–”

 

“I know what you were doing, Elizabeth.” Finn interrupts. “You were trying to help him. I’m not mad.”

 

He starts walking away again. I bounce up and fall in step.

 

“Oh. Well, if you’re not mad, then I have a question.” I say. “Where were you? Why did you never show up?”

 

Finn just laughs and keeps walking away, ignoring me and all my questions.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! If you want to start from the beginning of this series, click on the Adventures of Elizabeth Shelley tag, scroll to the bottom, and click on The Beginning: Part 1! Any questions? Leave a comment, or follow my Instagram @kpwritingsblog or my Twitter @kpwritings!