Reuben Cabot: 4/13/97, Part I
Eric said, "So what you're saying is that we need some kind of flying machine."
"Pretty much," I replied.
I didn't like the thought of trying to follow the tendril with an airplane, and getting all of us in a helicopter was unlikely. Then Renee piped up, "Lord Balthazar, do you have a balloon?"
Balthazar paused for a minute, then brightened. "You know, I think that I just might. JEEVES!" he shouted, even though the butler was standing right next to us.
"Yes sir?"
"Oh, there you are. I have a balloon, don't I?"
"Yes sir, I believe you do. In the garage."
"Wonderful!"
With that, Balthazar was off a at brisk pace through the house, out the back, and into an adjacent building. I suppose it was a garage - the huge space contained twelve different cars, from a Model T to a Delorean, a biplane, a helicopter of the type Da Vinci originally sketched, and, in the very back, a large basket with a fully-inflated balloon. We walked back to the balloon and it was plain that there was room for all of us, and more.
Walks All Paths asked Balthazar, "Good sir, do you know how to fly this?"
Balthazar looked doubtful. "Mmmmm - no. No, I can't say that I do. But Jeeves does!"
Renee asked the butler, "Could you show us how to pilot the balloon?"
Jeeves shook his head. "That wouldn't be wise. I do not trust it."
That was odd. The basket looked sound, and when I ducked my head over the edge, I saw that the propane tanks were full.
Kasee suggested hooking the balloon basket to the carabiner, an idea that Balthazar liked. I didn't, having seen Balthazar shoot off through the wall the last time he used the carabiner. Finally, Kevin asked, "Lord Balthazar, may we borrow your balloon?"
Balthazar started to reply, but Jeeves stepped between him and us. "Lord Balthazar would be willing to lend you his balloon, but he asks a boon of you in return. At some time in the future, Lord Balthazar may require your assistance. Do you swear here and now that you will provide that assistance?"
I didn't like that thought at all. I looked at Dog, who sent a mental shrug. Eric said quietly, "This may be our only way out of this place."
I was anxious to move on, and I think everyone else was, too. In the end, we all agreed. Jeeves produced a small brown crystal and asked each of us to touch it to seal the bargain. As I touched it, I flinched - it pulled quintessence from me, and not in a gentle manner. It hurt!
After the formalities were over with, Jeeves ushered Kevin and Eric to the balloon basket and started showing them how to control the balloon. The rest of us watched for a while, then wandered around the garage while we waited. Balthazar jumped into the Model T and started making motor sounds, even though the car didn't move. Man, this guy was a nut case.
After about twenty minutes, Eric called us back over to the balloon. We all got into the basket, and Eric gunned the flame. Jeeves walked around the balloon untying the anchor ropes, and we slowly started to rise. I looked over the side of the balloon and chuckled to myself.
*What are you laughing about?* came a thought from behind me.
*I was just looking for the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.*
*Ha ha.*
*What's the matter with you?* I asked. As I turned around, I saw the Dog was lying on the floor of the basket, his head down, and looking miserable.
*I really hate flying, OK?*
I reached down and stroked his back. *There, there. Hopefully, we'll be out of this thing pretty quickly.*
I returned to looking over the side. As we rose above the City of Stygia, the tendril rose with us, about fifty feet away. Down in the city, I saw that a large scaffolding had been erected outside the city walls. Looking closely, I saw that they were building an amphitheater. Out in the desert, where we had walked, I startled to see motion. The desert sand seemed to move in waves, like the ocean, with the disturbances calming as they approached Stygia. The paths through the desert stayed in place, though, as the waves moved around them. Off in the distance, I saw other cities, and caravans working their way along the paths. Soon, we reached the clouds, and then abruptly broke through the cloud cover.
Below us was an unbroken layer of clouds. All around us was the blackness of night, a welcome change from the perpetual twilight of the Shadowlands. In fact, the oppressiveness that I had felt in the Shadowlands, that I had even gotten used to, was gone like a weight off my shoulders.
Kasee gave a small "eep!" and two glowing lights jumped from her and shot upwards.
"What was that?" Renee asked.
"I let go of my paradox, and that's what happened!" Kasee said, staring upwards where the lights had gone.
Sounded like a good idea to me. I let go of the paradox I had been holding and was shocked to feel a weight on my leg. I looked down, and a two-foot long iguana was clinging to my leg. I reached down and gently lifted it up.
Renee stared at it for a moment, then said, "Well, it's alive, for sure."
Lovely. I set it down on the floor of the balloon, then nearly fell as the balloon stopped its steady rise. Eric looked up and said, "I've stopped the balloon so we can see what's around here."
The tendril continued to rise about thirty feet away, now. The garou shrugged out of his shirt and flexed his wings, then climbed over the side. A few awkward flaps and he was even with us, then continued upwards. He stopped and stared at something, then said, "What's this? It seems to…" He broke off as he seemed to touch some sort of surface and was sucked upwards into it, disappearing.
We looked at each other, and Eric shrugged. "Nothing ventured…"
The balloon started to rise again, then was jerked quickly upwards. I had a moment of blackness, then fell with a thump, as if I had been thrown upwards and landed.
I opened my eyes to find that we were no longer in the balloon. In fact, the balloon had disappeared. We were lying scattered on the dense carpet of what appeared to be a library. Books in various languages lined the shelves. A huge fireplace at one end of the room crackled merrily, lighting the room.
I stood up and brushed myself off. Everyone seemed to be present, though Mary was looking around her as if she had lost something. I looked at Dog, who was walking over to the fireplace. *Hey Dog, what do you think?*
There was no response.
Dog reached the fireplace, turned around three times, and lay down, sighing.
*Dog, are you OK? Dog? Dog!?* There was no response to my increasingly frantic probes. I rushed over to the fireplace and knelt next to him. "Dog? Dog? Talk to me, man!"
He looked up and licked my face, and I realized that Dog wasn't there.