The Curse Conduit
Chapter 29

Pert Two - Galvanised

Derek let loose with a flurry of swear words that had yet to make it into the vocabulary of Urian’s time as he tried to comprehend what had happened and where he was. The noise was deafening, the vibration rippled through his body making his teeth chatter so much he had to keep his mouth open for fear that he would chip them. It was all he could do to stop the contents of his stomach escaping. Instinctively he had taken hold of the controls and it was Urian’s shouting that brought Derek out of his shocked state. “Derek! Let go of the stick damn it. Let me fly the plane! Derek!”

Still holding the controls Derek looked to Urian as he shouted and pointed to his hands. “The stick! Let go!”

Derek looked at his hands immediately jerking them away from the controls holding them out in front of him. Straight away he felt the plane lurch unexpectedly as Urian gained control. It was then that Derek realised that all the noise he could hear was not just the plane but sounds from outside. They were being buffeted by anti-aircraft artillery and Derek was more than a little scared, he was terrified, shouting at Urian. “Urian get us the hell out of here!”

Urian struggled with the plane “What do you think I am trying to do.”

All at once the plane was buffeted again; Derek yelled and put his hands to his face as the canopy around them was breached by enemy fire and shards of breaking, flying glass cut into him. Urian had no time to worry about Derek or think of his own injuries. He had also been hit in the face with the flying debris of the cockpit window but was struggling to turn the plane around and fly them out of trouble. His arms ached as he struggled with the injured plane only hoping that they could limp all the way back to the base. It felt like it took a lifetime to turn the plane, Urian was just about to relax when they were hit again. Once more Derek yelled this time grabbing onto his leg.

The plane began to dive fast and erratically, all the while Urian fought with it. He fought and he prayed knowing that there was no way they would make it back to England in the condition they were in. Making it down in one piece was going to be a miracle in itself.

While Urian struggled Derek tried to calm himself. He had yelled and swore, feeling the pain and intense heat as the shrapnel had bitten into his leg just above his knee, tearing flesh as it did. His hands were covered in blood as he held his leg, as blood still ran from the wound. The sting in his face had eased. Or perhaps it had eased because the pain in his leg was so much worse. He had no chance to try and stem the flow of blood as the plane plunged to the ground. His thoughts seemed ridiculous. Here he was thinking he could stop his leg from bleeding when they were heading to the ground at a million miles an hour surely to die a crumpled heap of metal and body parts. Derek looked over at Urian. The man had a severe, intense look about him. His breathing was controlled, his body tense yet strangely enough it gave Derek a feeling that maybe they would get out of their situation alive.

Urian did gain some control over the plane. It slowed but they were still going to crash. He looked over at Derek. “Hold on, this is going to get rough.”

Derek pushed himself back into his seat and closed his eyes. “Rough, what was it now?” He waited, listened and waited. Then felt it when they hit the ground, heard the screeching of metal as it broke off the plane. The last thing he remembered was something hitting him in the chest making it impossible for him to breath.

Urian had no idea how long he had been unconscious but his face still throbbed and blood trickled from a fresh cut on his arm. Looking over he saw that Derek’s seat was empty and swore, he struggled to get out of his own seat and out of the plane. As he walked around the front he could see Derek’s legs and one of his arms protruding from part of the plane that had broken off. He must have been flung through the broken window and the plane part fallen on top of him. Kneeling next to it he checked Derek’s pulse first. He was still alive. Urian winced with his own pain as he heaved the metal off Derek. His trousers were soaked in blood from the leg wound and Urian knew he would need to tend to this first before anything else if he expected Derek to survive. At least it had not broken any bones, mostly soft tissue and muscle damage. Once he was satisfied that he had done all he could, he set about making a rudimentary sled. They needed to get to cover away from the plane and he could not carry an unconscious Derek. Nor could they wait until he did wake up. If the enemy had seen the plane go down and were close enough they would come looking. Urian did not plan to be around when they did.

It was dark, Urian was exhausted when Derek made signs he was waking. He woke with a start, tried to sit up but yelled in pain grabbing his leg, swearing and pulling his body into a foetal position.

“You have an interesting choice of words there my friend.”

Derek grimaced. “Oh god what the hell happened?”

“We got shot down.”

Derek opened his eyes slowly and looked at Urian. “Damn it. I was hoping it was all another dream.” He sucked in air and groaned as the pain in his leg registered again. “Where are we?”

“Looks like an abandoned shed on and empty farm. We should be safe for the night then we can make our way at first light.”

Controlling his urge to yell at the pain Derek got to a sitting position with his back against the shed wall. “Make our way where?”

“By my reckoning Switzerland is maybe a week’s walk in that direction.” Urian pointed across the shed. “But with your leg the way it is I think it will take us a little longer.”

“Nobody knows what happened to us do they?”

“The other boys will have reported that they saw us go down, if they saw us go down. But they will most likely write us off as dead. Well me and Danny.”

Derek glared at him.

“It is Danny they would expect. You do not exist for them. Yet in your dreams you say that it is only I that survived and make it back to England. But now there are two.”

Urian was quiet for a while and seeing the look on his face Derek left him to his thoughts. It was the same look that Uriah got when he was processing something, trying to work something out. If Urian was anything like Uriah and Derek guessed he was, he would tell him when he was ready.

“Maybe this has broken the curse. Danny did not die. You did not die.”

Derek had been doing a bit of his own processing. “We don’t know that Danny did not die. We just know he did not die like he was supposed to. What happened to the others Urian? Did they get left behind? Did they get thrown somewhere else in time? Did we all get thrown to different places? Are we the only two that travelled together? Why did the two of us get here and the rest did not?”

Urian remained silent, he had no answer for Derek but he had to believe there was a reason for them being together and that reason was so that Danny survived. It had to be.

Derek sighed. “Urian, if we are to stop the curse why didn’t we just go all the way back so we could stop Beth-Elena? That would make sense.”

It took Urian and Derek just over two weeks to make it to Switzerland. By the time they got there Derek was near death. His leg was infected, he had a fever, slipping in and out of consciousness, even when they had found food or been given food by friendly farmers and villagers he had refused to eat. Urian was worried for his new friend. Worried that if he died the curse would not have been broken, worried that if he returned without him that his other friends, Uriah and Elizabeth would not be able to make it back to their own time. Over the past few weeks Urian had spent many hours to ponder over their dilemma and he was convinced that the connection between them all was the reason for their situation. He was also convinced that the physical touch between them all was of equal importance. Maybe there was a set combination that triggered certain events. He and Derek had been in close contact since the plane crash and nothing had been triggered. Did that mean their part in this unnatural phenomenon was over? Or was it just not yet the right time?

Urian had made it to the farm of his aunt and uncle and they took them both in, ordering Urian to take a bath and eat while they tended to Derek. Their own son was off fighting in the war and these lovely people hoped that if he needed help someone would do the same for him.

Once he had done as he was told and feeling better for it Urian checked on Derek, How did he tell them who he was if they asked? He thought it best to keep it simple and hoped that when; if Derek woke he would understand.

He looked so pale lying in the bed under fresh clean sheets.

The lady of the house smiled at Urian and squeezed his hand. “Your mother would have been so proud of you Urian; you are a strong fine man. Your friend Danny is alive because of you. He is very sick but he is alive.”

Urian pulled the elderly woman into a hug. “Thank you Aunt Helga. I did not know where else to go. You have always been here for me.”

Helga hugged him around the middle. “Soon this nightmare will be over and the world will be a good place again and families can be families again, you will see. Now off you go. You know where your old room is. Sleep. Your friend will not be going anywhere for a while. Go, Sleep.” She practically pushed him out the door.

Urian turned to her. “I need to contact my commander.”

Helga pushed him gently in the stomach backing him out of the room. “It is all in hand my sweet. Your uncle has taken care of it. You sleep. We will talk more of this later.”

Urian knew his Aunt well enough to know he was not going to win this argument so again like a dutiful child he did what he was told. He slept.

Aunt Helga made it her mission to see the two men brought back to good health. It took several days for Derek’s fever to break and a few more weeks to gain his strength but under her care both men were almost as fit as they had been before the crash. Helga worried about Derek, he would cry out in his sleep most nights. He was tormented by the demons of the night. Helga thinking it was the plane crash. One afternoon as she and Urian had time to themselves she voiced her concerns.

“He struggles with such a burden Aunt, I fear that it wears at him more than the physical wounds you healed him of.”

Helga touched his arm gently. “And you must travel with him for some reason.”

Urian looked into her eyes. She was a wise woman. Again she smiled at him. “Tomorrow I think would be a good time for you and your friend to return home.”

Urian was perplexed. “I need to make arrangements Aunt.” As she stared, Urian sighed. “But then you know that?”

“There is passage for you both to England. A few friends of your uncle’s will travel with you as far as the coast. From there you will set sail and God be with you.”

Urian hugged her.