A Novel

The Alchemist of Goreau — Chapter 15

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Chapter 15 — Donwillo, Meet Alkinna

Donwillo flinched as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He adjusted his body to see a young woman glaring at him. He thought that he was entering a phase of his life where he was being surprised by strangers way too often.

Her figure seemed to brighten the overcast day as if some earthen God had reached up through the grey clouds and pulled a few rays of sun down.

Her presence reminded him of whipped cream on hot chocolate, dandelion seeds in the wind, and the final piece of a puzzle found after weeks of an incomplete landscape scene.

She demanded his complete attention.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Um, nothing?”

“Uh-huh, well, if you’re finished doing nothing, maybe try going somewhere else. Gunther doesn’t appreciate trespassers.”

Donwillo hesitated.

“Listen,” he said, pulling Beverly from his inner pocket and displaying her prominently.

“Look at her fur. Patchy. A recent development. I think Gunther is responsible for her rapid deterioration.”

“Ridiculous,” came the reply. “What proof do you have?”

“None so far,” he admitted. “But that’s why I’m here. The world is crumbling if you haven’t noticed. Crazy things are happening. Sinkholes, factory accidents, odd weather changes. Something is causing the turmoil.”

The woman sighed.

“You may be right. I was worried about something like this. My name is Alkinna. I’m Gunther’s assistant. Gunther has been trying to open doors through space and time in hopes of making contact with other more advanced life forms. He and I believe humans have been quarantined away from an intergalactic community. Held back, unwelcome perhaps, but cut off from helpful civilization-altering technology. We’ve had some success opening these minuscule, short-lived gateways. It’s possible our work is having negative repercussions.”

Donwillo turned back toward the window to check on Gunther.

“I’ll talk to him,” said Alkinna, going down the snowpack and around to the front of Gunther’s cabin.

“No, wait!” said Donwillo calling after her. But she was a woman on a mission. He watched through the window to see what she would do.

From his position atop the snowbank looking into Gunther’s lab, Donwillo could watch as Alkinna greeted Gunther.

He could hear muffled words and make out their tone of voice. Their conversation sounded cordial at first, but gradually, Alkinna’s tone took on a more questioning tenor. Her sentences went up at the end.

Gunther’s body language changed. He placed his arms in front of his chest as if guarding himself. His face grew darker with shadows as he frowned.

She finished her line of inquiry, and then it was Gunther’s turn to talk. Gunther grew animated.

Alkinna didn’t shuffle or fidget or appear bothered by his demeanor.

Eventually, she walked over to the large portal machine and began inspecting it.

Gunther’s voice grew more guttural, but Alkinna ignored him. She flipped a switch, and the machine rumbled to life. Gunther walked to a cabinet and pulled out a large device with a long silver tube. It was well-machined, solid, and sophisticated in its fabrication. It resembled a gun, except the barrel was much wider than any Donwillo had seen before.

Alkinna raised her hands above her head and froze.

She said something under her breath.

Whatever it was, Gunther didn’t appreciate her comment, and he fired the weapon. The air in the room collapsed into the weapon and then released through the barrel a shockwave of direct force. The compressed air whirred past her head and shattered a window. She ran. The second shot blew the front door off its hinges.

Fortunately for Alkinna, Gunther seemed to still be getting the hang of the aiming of the gun. Alkinna crossed the threshold and leaped into the frosty world where the snow flurried erratically. She took off across the prairie.

Somehow Gunther grew wise to Donwillo’s location and looked up and fired a round towards Donwillo’s hiding place. He rolled away as the window shattered.

He rolled down the hill. The sound of heavy boots coming out onto the front patio spurred Donwillo to movement.

Not sure which way to go, he raced headlong into the snow flurries across the frigid meadow, weaving left and right as waves of compressed air zoomed by.

In moments, he found himself striding side by side with Alkinna. A blast send him crashing into her and suddenly they were pretzeled on the ground.

Donwillo lifted his head to see if he could spot Gunther, but the flurries of snow were too thick. They untangled themselves and then were off again, sprinting through the abusive weather. Soon, they found themselves crossing a small frozen pond. Donwillo’s feet went every which way, and he nearly lost his balance. They made their way across the pond, bracing themselves against the cold wind by covering their faces with their arms.

They passed into a dense arrangement of trees and found on the other side a languid river. The snow flurries were largely blocked by the trees and they could suddenly rest and hear each other speak.

“You might be right,” said Alkinna, hands on her knees, catching her breath.

Donwillo nodded. It didn’t give him much pleasure about being right about the end of the world.

“What happened?” he asked.

“He didn’t like being questioned.”

“Makes sense.”

“He said I had outgrown my use. Threatened to revoke my credits for my schooling. I told him I just wanted to make sure he was following the safety procedures. I saw his notes. He’s been deviating from our plans — ignoring the mathematics, being reckless.”

For once, luck was on Donwillo’s side as a canoe came bumping down along the river and got caught in the reeds.

“I’m not sure, but I think this river will take us far away from here. Perhaps even back into town. Help me secure this canoe.” They hauled it free of the brambles. They scrounged around for fallen branches they could repurpose into paddles that could be used to push off the embankments.

They got in the canoe and settled into a zigzag pattern, slowly following the river. Donwillo mulled over the information Alkinna had shared with him, unsure of what to make of it all. He didn’t fully trust her. After all, she had been working with Gunther.

Still, it would be helpful to have an ally who knew about Gunther. Perhaps they could work together, he thought.