The Time of the Titans

Chapter 29: The Homecoming

When we approached the campsite of the boys, Marek, who led us, made a hoot like an owl, and I heard a response from a short distance. Mist floated in dim moonlight over the tussock grass meadow. Here and there, the dark shapes of juniper-like trees resembled ancient trolls. Marek beckoned us to follow him and we proceeded.

On the second exchange of hoots the sound seemed to come from a large tree, entangled around a rock escarpment which it seemed to hold in its grip with robust, lumpy roots. A brown-skinned boy appeared on the rock and greeted us in the diminishing light of the moon. It was Master Amir.

Rob and Ze tied up Giovanna for the rest of the night, which was understandable. I had seen Giovanna fight. I knew if she was in our position and we were her prisoners, she wouldn't have taken risks. Otherwise the boys treated her with much respect. She seemed to understand. Her fierce resistance had melted away anyway, and she had settled in the role of a royal captive. She kept her head high, maintained proud gestures, and communicated with us at the sheer minimum. I was satisfied with that, especially since I did not wish to go through everything that had happened between us in the presence of the boys. I hoped she would think the same.

Giovanna was experienced enough as a warrior to know when she was overpowered. There were five boys now, ranging in age from the mere thirteen of Rob and Ze to the about sixteen of Amir and Pedro. Marek was between them. In addition, there were two grown-up men – the giant and I – but practically, Tuck was the sixth boy. The best Giovanna could do would be to use a surprise to flee, but she would be alone and unarmed, on an island where she was running short of friends. From her gestures and moves I could read her willingness to come with us to the Base. Whether she would ever willingly admit surrender was an entirely different matter.

We did not talk much more that night. Everyone was exhausted. The one question I managed to pose was how they had found us. It was Robin who triumphantly explained it to me: Giovanna's team had kept making campfires, and as soon as the weather had cleared, smoke could be detected on the open mountain slopes. It was still a coincidence and a stroke of luck that this particular search expedition had happened to spot the smoke soon after we had come out of the caves, and consequently found us. It turned out there had been many teams out around the island these days. I felt guilty for all this effort, just because I had let myself be caught on the wall. Yet secretly, I felt happy about it, because I had at times feared they might not really care about me.

Amir gave me a warm blanket, and before I got to telling them everything about my adventures, exhaustion got the better of me and I fell asleep. My rest would be guarded by a bunch of itinerant theatre djinns. The ancient monster Suur-Muino was split in two when Ze leaped off his giant and took a rest next to me. He seemed very sure of his place next to me, as if I was his long-lost big brother. My eyes closed by now, I heard mysterious tunes from Pedro's pipe. They were just a bunch of boys with masks, but a feeling of safety and homeliness filled my sleep.

*   *   *

I had heard Helena's voice calling my name twice or thrice before I got my tired eyes opened and stared into the shadows of the darkened room. Where was she?

"Finally, you're coming back", her loving voice told, and slowly, I started making out her fair oval face and shining hair in the shadows. "You're finally coming home, Mikael."

I tried to extend my hand towards her, but I could not move it. I seemed to be sitting in an armchair that was not really an armchair. Was this a dream? It had to be – another dream. But the place seemed real, like my old world. "Coming home."

It was not the small apartment I had shared with Helena in our university town, but a large dark room. Yet there was something familiar there. The smell of books. And another scent – very faint, yet something weak in my memory was triggered by it. Incenses, perhaps.