Adventure VII – Episode 3


Downstairs, the front door opened.

They glanced at one another, Sapphire following Silver quickly out of the room and down the first set of stairs, peering over into the hall. 

The door closed and an elderly lady called out, “Good morning, Mr Holmes!”

They watched her as she placed her bags onto the ornately tiled floor, removed her hat and scarf to hang them on a stand close to the door, and shrug off her coat.

//Silver?//

//I see her.//

Picking up her bags, the portly woman started toward the bottom of the stairs, looking up, straight through Sapphire and Silver before she vanished in front of their eyes.

“Don’t tell me, she doesn’t exist either.”

She flashed a smile at him.  “No.”

“But why can we see her and not the two men?”

Her smile faded.  “I don’t know.” 

Gracefully, Sapphire descended the stairs to the hall, walking to the front door.  She felt nothing out of the ordinary.

She reached out, touched the lock of the door and turned it.  Nothing.  The door wouldn’t open.

“Go to the window in the living room,” she instructed Silver, “tell me what’s outside.”

“A road and houses,” he responded without moving.

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s what I saw when we were first in there.  I remember quite clearly.”

“Check again, please?”

He sighed.  She sounded more and more like Steel each time they met, he thought to himself.  At least she said ‘please’.

Walking back up the stairs, he crossed the landing and the living room to lean on the windowsill. 

At first glance he’d been right. 

Below him was a busy street.  A couple walked arm in arm along the pavement.  A man with a dog bade the couple good morning.  Two horse-drawn carriages passed one another in the road.

Across from them was a similar row of four storey terrace houses, a mirror image of the row they were in.

Silver groaned to himself. 

A mirror image.  Literally.

In the window directly opposite him, he could see himself leaning on the windowsill staring out at the street.

“Sapphire?”

He felt someone behind him and turned, surprised to see Steel standing at his shoulder.  He jumped a little but recovered quickly and pointed outside.

“Look.”

“I’ve seen it.  Nothing’s real out there.”

“So were are we?”  But he wasn’t looking for an answer.  He knew it already.  “This place doesn’t exist.  Got it.”


//I’m worried, Steel.//  Sapphire slid a hand over his shoulder but broadcast her mind voice to Silver as well.  //I don’t know what’s outside if what we’re seeing isn’t there.//

//Can you get out?//

//No.  The door won’t open.//

//Let me try.//

He moved out from between Sapphire and Silver, heading out of the room.

//Steel, wait!//

He was already on the stairs, taking them with his usual bouncing step.

//What is it?//

//A woman.  Down there.  There’s a woman.  I think she belongs….//  Her words were cut off. 

For a moment her mental link to Steel was thrown wide open and she saw the raw state of his mind.

And the third attack as it was launched upon him.


The surging pain caused her to break her connection with him in self-preservation.

Furious with herself, she screamed his name mentally but she knew he wouldn’t hear her.

Dashing down the stairs she met him halfway.  His back was against the wall, head dropped forward.  His body was trembling subtly but he wasn’t making a sound and that scared her more than his screams had the previous time.

She carefully put her hands on his shoulders, not wanting to break his concentration if he was fighting this thing she couldn’t see.

“Silver!”  She called up to him but got no response.  //Silver!//


Next to the window in the living room, Silver stared out over the street that wasn’t there.  Neither was he seeing it.

At the moment of the attack, Silver had clung to the connection that Sapphire had broken away from.

His first thought on the spur of the moment had been to help Steel fight off his unseen attackers.

But too late he realised that he didn't stand a chance.  He didn't have the skills of an operator.  Basic communication by their own brand of telepathy was the limit of his psychic abilities.

When the cold fire swept through his mind, he knew he'd made a terrible mistake.

He didn't feel Sapphire's hands either side of his head.  Didn't notice her fingers combing through his hair with infinite gentleness.

Standing behind him she closed her eyes and stepped into the turmoil of his mind.

His link to Steel was wide open and raw.  She followed it easily, gathering her own defences around her as she entered the burning chaos of Steel's mind.

This time, she didn't try to fight.  She could feel her partner all around her, his own mental shields up as he drew on the skills he'd fathomed over millennia to battle the enemy attempting to tear him apart from the inside out.

For now, he was succeeding in keeping the attack from the core of his self.

Instead of fighting, Sapphire tried to communicate.


Through the blinding pain, Steel reached desperately for coherence, for understanding.  But he was failing and he was weakening.

Whatever was here, in this place, knew somehow that he would be the one to destroy it.  In turn, it was attempting to destroy him and in this battle, it was winning.


Nothing so subtle as an image this time, no swans, no fear even.

//Who are you?// she spoke directly to the presence in Steel's mind, the part that wasn't him.

She heard the echo of his silent, mental scream as her voice added to the pain but it couldn't be helped.

//What do you want?//

Another scream, this time overwhelmed by a whisper.

//we want to live//

//Why are you doing this?//

As she spoke she heard her name, Steel's plea for her to stop.  But she couldn't.

//this one means to kill us//

//We were all sent here.  Why him?//

//he has the method of our deaths he must die//

She paused before asking, //Where are you?//

//we are here//

Here.

Saaphire reached for her partner.  He knew as she did.

Sacrifices had to be made.

The thought, the idea flashed through her mind.  Linked through Silver, he caught it, saw it.  And panicked.

//NO!!!//


Using a strength he didn't know he possessed, Silver broke the link with Steel, at the same time casting Sapphire out of both their minds.

She staggered back, reeling from the unexpected force of his actions, grabbing at the table next to them to steady herself.

Steel slid down the wall.  His legs giving out from under him, he landed hard on the bare stair.  He lowered his head into his hands but remained silent.

At the window in the living room, Silver took several deep, long breaths.  Then he turned.

Cold blue eyes were staring at him.  She was furious; he didn't need her to speak to know that.

She didn't speak.

After a few seconds, she smiled, her eyes warming a little.  She nodded once, as if something had just made itself known to her.

Then she turned and went to check on her partner.


Crouching next to Steel, she stroked her hands over his shoulders, down his arms. 

Leaning close, she pressed her cheek against his, her lips touching his smooth face.

“It’s all right,” she whispered softy.  “It’s all right.”

Under her hands she could feel him shaking.


“You were going to kill him!”

Sapphire looked up at Silver where he stood at the top of the stairs.  Never before, on any of their kind, had she seen the expression she saw then on his face.

"He knew, Silver," she told him gently, "he agreed."

Turning back to Steel, she threaded her fingers into his fine hair.


"I'm all right," he told her after a few moments.  Lifting his head with some effort, he gazed up at Silver.  "We're all dispensable."

"You want to die?"  Silver couldn't keep the inexplicable anger from his voice.

"Of course not.  But if I must, I must.  There would be another.  I'd be replaced."


Shaking his head, Silver turned from them and headed back to the second floor, needing to be away from them.

He stepped into the bedroom and looked around at the journals.  Then he sat himself down on the floor, facing the bed, and started to read all the passages available to him.


"Why did he stop you?"

Sapphire sat back, smiling at Steel, sad at the pain and confusion in his eyes.

"He cares about you."

He frowned.  "What?"

"It's hard to describe.  He wants to use you."

"For what?"

She glanced away, a smile playing on her lips.  "He should be the one to tell you."

"Sapphire...." 

His low warning tone had never had any effect on her before and it didn't sway her now. 

"It's not important."  She studied his face for a moment; the blood shot eyes, the strain showing around his eyes and mouth.  "You won't survive another attack."

"If I can get them back into my mind, you can destroy them."

"I'd have to destroy you too."

"I know.  But if it's the only way, you have to do it."

Reaching out, Sapphire stroked his arm, "Silver's not the only one who doesn't want you to die."

Her confession brought a smile to his lips.  "Thank you."


‘A remarkable man.  He twines the threads of truth with the skills of a seamstress.  No crime, however mysterious, remains a mystery for long.  And while some may accuse him of removing all magic from life, I know the reality to be quite different.

Living with him is an experience I could not have hoped for in my wildest fantasies.  Knowing him makes my life all the richer.  And I hope I contribute to his existence in some small way. 

I wish to be more than just his Boswell.’


'Today must be recorded here, for nowhere else in history will it be celebrated.  My friend, the man who had come to rule my every waking hour and haunt me in my dreams, has become so much more.  Even here, I dare not detail what we have done.  Save to say we love one another, as a man may love a woman who shares the desires of his heart.'


Silver stretched one tingling leg out in front of him, muttering under his breath about the fragility of 'these damnedable human forms'.

Leaning forward, twisting his neck, he found another open page.


‘To be angry or sad, relieved, baffled?   I do not know what to feel.  Anger would have been healthy I think.  He left me believing him dead to me for three years.  So much pain, so much bitterness.

And now a part of me wants to protect itself and be rid of him, satisfied to know simply that he lives.

But in my heart I know that will never be enough.  It never was enough.  I need now what I needed then.

Had he known, would he have left me?

The memories of Reichenbach still haunt me.’


He found them where he’d left them, talking quietly.

Leaning on the banister, he crossed one shin behind the other and folded his arms. 

For a moment or two he watched them.

Of all the elements, they were the two the others were jealous of.  They had been assigned to Earth because there was life.  They were the safe ones.  If a little unconventional at times.  They had each other when the rest of them wondered and worked – for the most part – alone.

A very long time ago, before this assignment, before Steel, Silver had worked closely with Sapphire.  They’d been friends, companions.  More, sometimes.

On their plane, everything was different.


On the stairs below, Sapphire was wiping the dried blood from Steel’s face with his handkerchief. 

Silver smiled to himself.  She still looked at him with the memory of the pleasure they had given one another.  But now it was different.  Now Steel came first.

Was this jealousy?

Would Steel ever consent to him?

Silver sighed softly.  He seriously doubted it.

“I know what’s happening here,” he declared finally.  “I know who they are.  And I know why they’re here.”


~ ~ ~

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