Liquid Diamond (12 page)

“
The Clique doesn’t seem to be too worried about his mother,” said Miss Turr.

“
I think they are. After all, none of them stayed to rid themselves of these two. They had to find the most desperate, greedy thing they could to do that, such as the Elf,” replied Domnyar.

#

Scraping his wrists against a rock and bleeding copiously, the Elf freed himself. He headed back to his lair, beaten, sore and embarrassed by his loss. He knew he would need time to heal. He knew he would be down for more than a day.

Come the morning, Catalyst was up before Natalia once again. Looking at her sleeping, Catalyst couldn’t help but laugh.

“
You Humans, you need so much sleep. It’s a wonder you ever had time to go to war with us at all,” said Catalyst.

“
I‘m not sleeping. I’m just resting before I get up, that’s all. I have never gone to war with anyone,” replied Natalia in a tone of voice that said she was happy again.

“
See what I mean
–
you Humans need to rest so much that you even have to rest from resting just to get out of bed and all you did was sleep for ten hours.”

“
Well I have to agree with you there. My Mom and Dad do the same thing all the time, so you win,” giggled Natalia.
“I’m so hungry,” continued Natalia.

“
Well come on. Breakfast has been on the table for an hour now,” replied Catalyst as he headed across the room for seconds.

Natalia sat down at the table. She couldn’t help but notice that somehow Catalyst had managed to turn breakfast into a competition. It was a competition she was smart enough not to join in, knowing full well that a stuffed belly and exercise are not friends.

“
I guess we should be on our way now, Natalia,” said Catalyst with breakfast barely over.

“
Okay, let’s leave. Do you know where we’re going?” asked Natalia as she waited for Catalyst to stand up, or at least try.

“
Well I thought since one of the Clique is from Kyopelivuori, we might head back to the castle and see what we can find out there. Then we’ll take it from there,” replied Catalyst.

“
Ah, a boy without a plan. If it were me, I would not be at the castle, not when there are so many to hide until I could put my plan into action. And I think I would choose the most dangerous place of all. Then no one would even want to come looking for me, not there anyway. I could be left all alone. And since there are many places like that in this world, I would rethink where I would look if I needed to look for some one that would want to hide,” said Miss Turr as though she was speaking to the dishes she was doing and not trying to help.

“
I agree with Miss Turr,” said Natalia.

“
As do I,” said Domnyar.

“
Where’s the worst place around here – the most dangerous?” asked Natalia.

“
I would think that was Ghost Mountain,” said Domnyar.

“
I agree. And not easy to get to either,“ chipped in Miss Turr.

“
Looks as though we’re going to Ghost Mountain, Natalia,” said Catalyst.

“
Let’s hope we know what we’re doing,” replied Natalia, raising her glass as she smiled a smile of
“Oh no!”

Thanking Domnyar and Miss Turr, Natalia and Catalyst started out. Miss Turr and Domnyar waved goodbye from the porch.

“
How long do you think it will take them them to figure it out, Domnyar?” asked Miss Turr.

“
Figure out what, exactly?” asked Domnyar.

“
You mean you don’t know? You didn’t hear it?” asked Miss Turr, smiling at Domnyar’s innocence.

“
No,” replied Domnyar with squinty eyes.

“
You’ll see, you’ll see,” said Miss Turr, patting her naïve little Basajaunak on the back.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE CHOICE

Walking along the path leading away from Domnyar's village, Catalyst realized Natalia was lost in one of her daydreams again. He gave her a nudge to snap her out of it.

“
What is it that you keep dreaming about, Natalia?” asked Catalyst.

“
Well it may sound silly to you but if you really want to know I’ll tell you,” replied Natalia, looking at Catalyst and hoping he would decline.

“
Yes, I really want to know,” replied Catalyst, who was hoping for something fun and exciting.

“
I dream about my Mom, Dad and me having enough of the little things in life so we could enjoy it more. Not big things, just the little things, like enough money to go out for an ice cream for no other reason than just to go and have one; a dinner out every now and again; new shoes every six months or so; maybe a big grocery shop from time to time
–
just things like that. My Mom and Dad work hard, but most of the time there’s only enough money to pay the rent and buy a few groceries. When they do have more money it seems to be very little, so my dreams are my escape from poverty,” replied Natalia.

By the look in her eyes Catalyst could see Natalia was equally embarrassed as he was sad for her.

“
Well I don’t understand everything you said – I’ve never heard of ice cream – but I do understand want and if I had the things you dream of, I would give them to you,” said Catalyst.

“
Would you?” asked Natalia as though she had heard that a thousand times before.

“
Of course I would. But what’s ice cream?” asked Catalyst.

Natalia burst out laughing. She wiped a tear from her eye and they walked on in silence, as Natalia lost herself in another dream so the next few hours would pass by without noticing.

But for Catalyst the hours felt like a week and the silence was boring. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and couldn’t be sure what it was. Was it because he liked Natalia or was it his intuition that something was wrong? Either way, he was happy enough to see the split path that lay in front of them.

“
Which way?” asked Catalyst, elbowing Natalia to snap her out of her daydream.

With her dream broken and the split in front of them, Natalia waited to see which path Catalyst would choose.

“
Natalia, which way?” asked Catalyst again.

“
I don’t even know where I am, never mind where I’m going. You decide,” replied Natalia.

“
Mmmm, if we go to the left there’s a swamp. If we go to the right there’s a forest with an abandoned town beyond it, but that’s off limits by order of the King,” replied Catalyst while he thought about the choice.

“
If the town’s off limits, then the swamp it is
–
so not much of a choice is it?” said Natalia.

“
We can go through anyway. I hardly ever listen to rules like that and besides, the reason it’s off limits only the King knows. You want to go and find out?” asked Catalyst.

You know, Catalyst is the perfect name for you. I’ve only known you for a few days and I’ve never been in so much trouble in my whole life, so no, Catalyst, I don’t want to go and find out,” replied Natalia smiling.

“
It’s still your choice,” pointed out Catalyst as he stood waiting for Natalia to make up her mind.

“
I’ll settle for wet feet instead of more trouble,” said Natalia, pulling Catalyst to the left and towards the swamp.

“
Good choice, boring, but good,” replied Catalyst.

They walked around a bend in the path and Catalyst pointed to what lay ahead of them.

“
How long will it take to walk through that?” asked Natalia as she looked out over the massive swamp.

“
I don’t know. It depends on you really, but from what I’ve seen of your walking speed, maybe twenty-four hours more or less,” replied Catalyst.

“
Oh great! We have to walk for twenty-four hours, and with soaking feet!” groaned Natalia.

“
We’re not walking for twenty-four hours straight, Natalia, and we’ll dry our shoes by the fire at night,” replied Catalyst.

“
Really, now you know how to build a fire in a swamp with all that wet wood? This I’d like to see. And speaking of night, Catalyst, where is it exactly that we’re supposed to sleep?” asked Natalia.

“
Believe it or not, there are shacks in this place. I don’t know who built them and I’ve never seen anyone using them, but they’re there. Do you really think I would take you somewhere so awful you wouldn’t be able to rest? As for wood, we can use some of the shack itself if we have to,” replied Catalyst.

“
Remember Natalia, this was your choice. I was willing to go through the forest and the old town,” continued Catalyst.

“
What if the people are there now and refuse us?” asked Natalia.

“
I’m pretty sure they’re all deserted. Just look at this place. Would you want to live here? I wouldn’t, not now anyway. Before, this place was beautiful but since the flood, this place went from nice to...well...this. Look, let’s say they are there and we’ll deal with that when we get there,” replied Catalyst.

“
Ah, a boy with no plan! Well let’s hope they’re not home whoever they are. And by the way, Catalyst, we’re not moving, so let’s get going,” said Natalia, not wanting to take that first wet step.

Natalia stepped in and then out again just as fast.

“
What’s wrong?” asked Catalyst, almost knee deep in the muddy water.

“
I’ve taken one step and already I could feel something move under my foot,” replied Natalia as she looked down into the murky water.

“
Well it is a swamp, Natalia! We’re bound to step on something every now and again,” said Catalyst.

“
Where I come from, Catalyst, a man would offer to carry a woman through something like this,” said Natalia looking Catalyst right in his red eyes and speaking in a tone of voice that was so demanding it was more of an order rather than a request.

“
That may very well be, but we’re not where you’re from. I’m not a man, I’m a boy and you’re not a woman, you’re a girl,” replied Catalyst, knowing right away that the words that left his mouth were nothing but trouble.

“
When men speak to a woman like that in Russia, you know what we do?” asked Natalia.

“
No,” replied Catalyst as the trouble began.

“
We just stop talking to them and that’s that. Do you want me to stop talking to you, Catalyst?” asked Natalia feeling foolish and hurt for thinking she might be more than that to him.

“
No, I don’t want you to stop talking to me. I was just trying to be funny, that’s all. We’re only kids, Natalia. You know I’m no more a man than you are a woman,” replied Catalyst feeling that his explanation was as much a mistake as his joke.

“
Just the same though, Natalia, climb on my back and I’ll carry you,” offered Catalyst because he could see no other way out.

Without a word and with a shrug of her shoulders, Natalia climbed on Catalyst’s back, shoving the fitsall out of her way and into his face just to make the walk more awkward and pay him back for his mouth.

Leaving the fitsall where Natalia had shoved it, Catalyst moved through the water of the swamp, being extra careful not to get Natalia wet, hoping the effort would be enough to appease her. In the silence, Catalyst remembered what his Father had once told him as he tried to prepare him for manhood.

“
Son, it’s a man’s job and his right to carry his wife through life when things get too hard for her and if you remember that you’ll be just fine when you’re married.”

With Natalia’s weight on his back and the fitsall choking him and the struggle with the water, Catalyst wondered why a man would want to marry when it’s so much work.

“
Catalyst, where are these shacks you said were out here? I’m hungry and I want to get off your back for a while,” said Natalia.

“
Good! I need a break,” mumbled Catalyst.

“
What? What was that?” asked Natalia who had heard exactly what he said.

“
Nothing. I was just saying I need a break and there’s a shack up ahead, so we can stop there and eat,” replied Catalyst.

They came upon a shack so run down and dilapidated that it couldn’t have been fixed in a month of Sundays.

“
We can rest here for a while and I’ll climb a tree and see where we are and make sure we’re heading in the right direction. Do you want to make lunch?” offered Catalyst as he handed Natalia the fitsall.

Natalia just nodded, took the fitsall from him and walked to the door of the shack.

“
I suppose I’m the one who has to check this place and make sure it’s safe,” said Natalia with her hand on the doorknob, waiting for Catalyst to show some chivalry.

With a deep breath, Catalyst ran in and through the three-room shack checking for anything he thought might bother Natalia. Almost as fast as he ran in he was back.