Four Leaf Clover- Kaela Wilson

They Came Tumbling After Chapter One

They couldn't see her body but they were sure, wherever she was, she would be lying motionless on the ground. She'd used her wings but all too late. The deafening sound of her body hitting the ground rose up from the space between them. They watched in a horrified silence, the scream still echoing in their ears. She must be dead, they kept thinking. But she wasn't. They gazed in pure amazement as a brilliant red flare shot into the sky from where she had landed.

"She's alive." Whispered one of the onlookers.

"Not for much longer" said another. Klatch hit them in the stomach and told them to shut up. It's a miracle. Not many people remember their wings, after 100m they lose consciousness so if they don't do it before then, they're lost. After all, over 900m is a long way to fall.

As the red flare soared past their heads, they heard it call out as if it had a voice, it was as if it was crying for help. But what could they do? Usually if someone fell down into the unknown then they weren't very likely to come up again.

Too many lives were at stake to send a retrieval team down for one person, especially if they were unimportant. The Hawks and the Caduceus were even worse than usual lately and no one was willing to go down to see why even if it were for an extremely good cause. If they were dead, no matter. If they were alive then they'd be dead in a few days, so, no matter.

But this time it was different. Keiza had fallen down the Crevice. Not off one of the separate Platforms, not by one of her own but on the Runway. The meeting point between tribes and cultures. Where funerals for officials were held, were kings and queens were crowned. She'd only been trying to help her friend. She hadn't done much harm.

"Well come on then!" cried a small boy of about sixteen. "Get your wings out Klatch, you're as much to blame as any of us so you have to come." He spoke gravely to a youth about his own age dressed in black, with chains hanging from his clothes. He had many a metal piercing, in his lip, his eyebrows, his nose and his wings not to mention all the other places. It was easy to spot from where he came from. West Woods.

Those from there had always been nice and polite, that's all of them except the teenagers, which Klatch was currently being, until they became an adult and became nice and polite again. Klatch was hard to imagine ever being nice and polite. It was his fault that Keiza had fallen, well partly.

"I'm not going!" he yelled at Aaeron. "That's suicide you idiot! I'd rather have my wings ripped off!" He didn't mean it of course but he knew very well what would happen to him if he didn't go. Even though his parents practically owned it the council of towns would have no problem taking away his privileges, making sure he'd never get paid work. They'd make him become an Outcast living on the Crevice edge and his wings would literally, in his own words, be ripped off. Not being able to fly would be suicide.

But still less suicidal than going to the Darkest Tremor. The Darkest Tremor was a land of the dead, where all the evil things lurked waiting to take your body as it's own leaving your soul to wonder free, free but still trapped in the never ending search for a body of your own. You can't eat, you can't drink, you can't feel, all you can do is search, losing all memory you have except your biggest fear, your biggest regret and the biggest ache that your heart ever felt. This left you immortalised in a cruel twisted way of fate.

This is the fate which befell the many Phaery which then became the Caduceus (which will be explained later). Even being pecked at by the Duskharvest Hawks seemed a happy ending. But for all Klatch was worth, all the times he'd hurt someone or been dangerous, he was a coward and feared death. Who didn't?

"Klatch it's more your fault that she's down there almost dead! You saw the flare. No one has ever tried it since Freda was lost but that doesn't mean that she died. Well, if you're not coming then I'll go on my own."

'For a small guy he's quite determined' Klatch thought quietly to himself. Anyway, what could be down there? It was desolate and remote, with nothing to except miles upon miles of lifeless beings.

The term that was used for them was Caduceus. Once when the Platforms were joined together, the beings had, had life of their own and would fly from below the giant stone homes and bring messages from those who'd fallen or had emigrated, to the loved ones and friends. But as time went on the Caduceus became mischievous and would play tricks, until one day they were all captured and their privileges were taken from them.

As a result of this they refused to bring news from below. Once their loved ones had fallen, the towns people had no idea whether they were alive or not, so someone thought about flare guns.

When a child is born they are christened and are given a two flare guns with their name inscribed on it. One from one set of grandparents, one from the other set of grandparents. This could be modified in certain situations but whatever happened, the flare guns were carried at whatever time they were awake and whatever the place they were visiting. But flares were used so irregularly that not many people had to do the unthinkable and go for a retrieval. Folk were just too careful about the Crevice whichever side they're on.

Aaeron drew out one of his flare guns and shot it down to the darkest tremor's earth making sure not to aim at Keiza. This was to signal that someone would be down there to help her back up. As the gun echoed into the cold black sky, a girl of about the same age as the two boys stumbled up. She was bleeding slightly from the mouth . She was holding her stomach and rubbing it as if it didn't hurt as much as it did.

"Wait for me!" she called out after him. She walked to the place were her friend had fallen. She was quite pale but looked quite strong and had dark hair that twisted itself into tight ringlets. She had a few necklaces hanging round her neck and was wearing typical eastern clothes (very much in the gypsy style because of their beliefs in meditation). She threw one last loathsome look back at Klatch and said,

"If she's dead by the time we get down there and you haven't lifted a finger, I swear in Depatha's name I will kill you" Unfortunately for Klatch she said this with total sincerity. Klatch weighed up his options. He could stay but be prosecuted by the council and have his livelihood torn from him never to be seen or heard of again or he could go and commit suicide with the two foreigners and miss getting his ass kicked by his mates for being a coward (and the council but in a much less literal way). Aaeron had his bright blue wings at the ready and Phyroe (the young girl) had her clear ones primed for take off.

"Fine! I'll come. Just don't tell anyone okay?" He said as his wings cracked out of his shoulder blades. That's the place that the wings are kept when not in use which doesn't come until about dusk. He shook them clear of the messy juice-like liquid that covered them and also got ready to die. His wings where a dark cloudy grey and had several pierced holes around the edge out them.

"Are you both ready? We'll go down the Crevice, it'll be easier and that way we don't need to go to the council and explain" Aaeron said, a slight shake in his voice. The other two nodded solemnly. "Ok. After three. One. Two. Three!" and with a last desperate cry they flung themselves with their wings outstretched swirling towards the ground.

Flying for a Phaery was the ultimate high. It was what they were born to do naturally. 'A Phaery without wings is like their life without the Platforms' as an old saying went. As they regained control of their falling/flight Klatch cried out,

"Wow! It's better than anything!" he was an adrenaline junkie and the flight that he'd just plunged into was more than he'd ever had. This was like magic. Not the common stuff that all Phaery people have naturally but a different kind that you could get from doing nothing else. It was amazing.

He felt the wind rushing beneath his wings and against his face. He was enjoying it but then thought, 'Keiza did this, but she didn't have her wings ready.' That put a stop to his humour and so he concentrated on controlling his flight.

He looked over to Phyroe, her wings had turned a magnificent green/jade. Her face was screwed up tightly and she looked like she was going to be sick. Aaeron's wings had turned spiky likes a cats back. He looked at his own and they looked decidedly normal. Thank Depatha.

Your wings, you see, have a consciousness of their own. They don't care whether you want to look cool, or you don't want to seem pathetic. They show how you're feeling and what you would and wouldn't like. Phyroe's for example meant that she didn't feel well, but you could've told that from the colour of her face. Aaeron's meant that he's not going to back off in a hurry. Girls wings changed colour while boys change shape, so once a boys colour stays with them when they're born it's stuck with them for life and can often help you tell what will happen in the future. Many fortune tellers earned a disturbingly good income.