9. Emptiness Farm

Elize ran away from the spaceship. She was surrounded by animals and aimed for her dad. He only had eyes for his daughter.

“Mercy! Mercy! You would not kill an innocent child, would you?”

He stumbled past the ruins of fences, over the gravel, to Elize. Just before they could embrace, a blue flash exploded between them, and blew them to different corners of the terrain.

They scrambled to their feet and looked at the spaceship, the feeling of inevitable defeat coming over them. What could they do against that? It could blow up the entire farm. It could catch them all easily and force them to do whatever.

Harry thought he was above all animals. That he was at the top of the chain of food. Here was the proof that the chain continued above him.

The humans and animals had locked themselves into a cage—a farm with a needlessly effective fence—and could not even flee this attack.

“Elize!”

He ran for her. She was too tired to walk. The animals crowded around her and formed a shield, which was hesitant to leave a gap for Harry.

Kuku sought her parents and found them, shivering from fear, near the invisible shed.

Was it safe there? It didn’t feel safe anywhere.

The next explosion set the roof of their home on fire. Most shots were aimed at the grain, though, hoping to shake loose the Destinydust.

A buzzing sound. Then it turned into rustling. And eventually the sound of a pump deflating.

The electrical fence had shut down.

No words needed to be spoken. All animals ran to the closest fence like a battering ram. After a few focused hits, the fences fell down and gaping holes appeared.

Kuku wanted to join them, she wanted to leave this place so bad—

But her cow ears only picked up Elize’s terrified screams and Harry’s endless begging for mercy.

She sighed deeply. Then she checked if her paws still worked and ran to the farmers.

Deadly flashes of light fell around her like raindrops. To the unknowing spectator, the farm would look like it was having a party, complete with cozy bonfires.

The truth was that Kuku, Elize, Harry and Hess were soon the only living beings that remained. Near their house, exactly in the center. If they would attempt to reach the holes in the fence, they’d be shot down before they got there.

They looked up. The spaceship had discovered their location. All weapons were pointed at them, accompanied by a chorus of mechanical whirs and whizzes.

“I ask one final time,” said Beatrix.

She didn’t look like an animal anymore. She was a large bird with a long neck. A body that could easily fit—or eat—multiple humans.

“Hand the Destinydust to us and we’ll let you live. Otherwise …”

A weapon fired. The bullet barely missed their heads and, instead, burned a hole into the brick wall behind them.

“Take me,” said Elize. She jumped in front of everyone.

Harry pulled her back and switched places. “Take me!”

“We don’t care about you! We want the DOG and the STONE!”

Her wing twisted. Another type of bullet fired and hit Harry.

His right arm fell limp across his body, instantly unusable. No blood. These creatures were advanced enough to kill others very cleanly.

Harry staggered backward in surprise, but he’d been lucky. It was just his arm, nothing else.

Beatrix made the movement again. Her hungry eyes looked at Elize this time.

Hess dropped his head.

“Forgive me, Feria,” he whispered.

He leapt forward, roaring, feinting an attack at Beatrix. In truth, the little machine with which he was attacked earlier had made him weak. He wasn’t the same as he used to be; he wasn’t strong enough for a real fight.

He merely wanted to frighten her.

Beatrix stopped her movements.

“I will go with you. At the condition that you leave Somnia immediately and never return. This farm is to be left alone in perpetuity.”

The predatory birdform smiled. That just made her look worse.

“Agreed.”

“Hess! Hesry! No!” yelled Elize.

Harry turned around. With his daughter and Kuku both held under his good arm, he ran inside. Most of the upper floors had been destroyed, but the ground floor was fine.

A click. The sound of a million glasses toasting and fire stones looking for sparks. A fountain of mud erupted below the spaceship for several seconds.

The Stone of Destinydust was pried loose.

A thick, white Magnet Beam shot out from underneath the spaceship. It latched onto the stone and refused to let go. Kuku had expected the stone to be bigger. Maybe it was bigger, in the old days, when magic roamed.

A similar Magnet Beam lifted Hess off the ground. Hess, his godly head held high, whose claws made Beatrix nervous even now.

They had the Hespryhound. They had the Destinydust.

Kuku felt defeated: brute violence did win at the end of the day. If you were at the bottom of the food chain, you had no other choice than cooperation or death.

“But they don’t have us, hey, hey,” whispered Harry. “Nor the animals.”

Why weren’t they leaving?

Kuku spied through the stained window. Creatures appeared out of thin air. Creatures who looked like they came from Somnia, but carrying a third eye, or three tails. Like stars being born, they landed on the terrain without clear origin. They had been invisible all that time, but now they—

They came for the home.

“They have Hess,” Elize still lamented.

“They are coming for us,” Harry grunted. His rapid heartbeat was visible through the swollen veins in his neck. “They don’t keep the agreement!”

Kuku could not say she was surprised. Of course they didn’t stick to their promise. Why would they? They were stronger and could take whatever they wanted.

The only problem, to them, was that a group of humans had seen everything that had happened her. Such a secret organization obviously didn’t want to leave those humans alive to tell the tale.

The creatures swarmed the house like moths to a flame. Elize was wounded; Harry was wounded. They looked at Kuku for an answer.

She had one. Two, in fact.

She walked to the refrigerators and threw open the doors. Thrusting her head in and out, she ripped out all the content. Elize and Harry did the same to another refrigerator.

The mess of food could be hidden among the rubble. That was no issue. The home was dark as night and nothing was in its usual place anymore. As they emptied the shelves, gravel fell from the ceiling, usually followed by another collapse.

“Would they really not look inside the refrigerator?” whispered Harry.

“If we play hide and seek,” whispered Eliza, “would you look in the refrigerator?”

They couldn’t discuss the plan any longer.

Kuku jumped inside her refrigerator, joined by Elize. Harry barely fit inside his own refrigerator next to them.

Doors and windows need not be opened anymore, for they were long gone. When footsteps suddenly tiptoed through the home, Kuku almost mooed. The footsteps multiplied. Here or there, a wooden beam or chair was kicked aside.

“Not a trace,” said a squeaky voice.

Even heavier footsteps appeared: Beatrix. Something scraped past the refrigerator doors. Her wings?

“They can’t run away that fast.”

“Maybe they’re underneath the rubble.”

Even heavier footfalls shook the refrigerator. Kuku and Elize were a mess of tangled limbs. They could hear Harry’s heavy breathing, even through the wall. Elize placed her hand against it, hoping it would somehow calm her dad down.

A new squeaky voice. “The humans. They heard the fire and shooting. Police and firemen are on their way!”

“Thousand wingbeats,” screamed Beatrix. “We can not allow two stupid farmers and a cow to give us away!”

“Maybe they’re hidden?”

Beatrix laughed at that. “These creatures are too stupid to hide themselves well.”

She loudly sniffed. “Fine. Burn down the entire house, just in case.”

The footsteps rapidly left. Soon after, the floor shook, the entire house shook, as the spaceship charged itself for departure.

Kuku opened the refrigerator door and jumped out.

“Kuku! What are you doing?”

“Stay! Stay! Second part plan!”

She waved her paws at Elize to get her back into the refrigerator. Then she ran out of the house herself.

The ascending rocket created a sandstorm, or rather a mud and grain storm, which disoriented Kuku. Fortunately, there was always that bright Magnet Beam holding the shiny, magical Destinydust.

She ran at that target, with all she had. The spaceship lifted off the ground now. She had to close her eyes; many grains of sand peppered her face. The gusts of wind pulled her fur taut and backwards, but she had to move forward, had to keep walking, had to touch the stone.

Elize had said it. Their largest problem was a lack of money.

Hess had said it. Visible to invisible. Mud to gold.

The spaceship departed.

Kuku’s front paws briefly touched the Stone of Destinydust.

As the rocket elegantly sought the heavens, the Destinydust transformed all the mud around itself.

Gold coins rained down instead.

Clinking, shining, real pieces of gold. They covered the entire farm in a yellow, heavy snow. A glimmering snow of incomprehensible worth.

The rocket fired a final shot. The house exploded.