by Tim Akers
“Folks! Your attention, if you don’t mind. We need to give the patient some room, so we can...we can...”
“Damn it, Rast,” Chesa muttered. She stood next to me and raised her arms to the sky. “Eldoreath!”
The small patch of grass surrounding us started to squirm and grow. Green leaves twisted up out of the earth, slowly wriggling into the air. A low murmur went through the crowd. They slowly pressed back, just as vines shot out of the earth. The vines grew and grew until they formed a gazebo around us, weaving rapidly together into a canopy that shut out the sun. Dim light leaked between the roots, casting our little party in shades of green and gold. Chesa gestured, and glowing bulbs curled out of the canopy, filling the damp space with soft, pulsing light.
I stared at her. Chesa shrugged.
“She said she didn’t care how we did it,” she said.
“Get to work, Tem,” Esther said. The mage rummaged through his robes.
“This is going to take ritual. I don’t have enough mana left to do it off the cuff.”
“So, we’re forming a portal? Do we need to join hands? Chant? Is that how this works?” I asked. “Are we going to teleport straight to MA?”
“Unfortunately, no. We’ll need to take a detour through Tembo’s domain,” she said. “Portals are complicated.”
“And terribly dangerous to go through without proper preparation,” Tembo said. He was leaning heavily on his staff. “And there is no chance of preparation here.”
“Well, I think we’re in pretty desperate territory,” Chesa said. “So what do we do?”
“Every domain is anchored in that room in Mundane Actual. Some heroes are able to open gates in other places, depending on their mythic identity. Tembo is one of those elites. If he can get us to his domain—” she glanced in his direction.
“I can,” he said grudgingly. “There’s enough unreal craziness dripping off of us to muster that much power. But it will be a rough landing.”
“Right. So we go through Tembo’s domain,” Esther said. “There will still be some travel involved to get to the normal entrance from his domain to MA, but we should be able to do it.”
“And from there, we stick Matthew directly into his domain,” Tembo said. “And hope the angels are willing to do their job.”
“Lotta maybes,” I said.
“That’s the way it is sometimes. You try your best. Sometimes it’s enough. Sometimes it isn’t.” Esther finished arranging Matthew on the ground. “Come on, Tem. He’s losing a lot of blood.”
“This cannot be rushed,” Tembo said. He was walking in a circle around us, scraping his staff along the ground. Outside our weird bower, I could hear loud voices. Someone started chopping on the root walls.
“We’re going to have guests pretty soon,” I said.
“They’re not taking their exposure to the unreal as well as I was hoping,” Esther said. “Get moving, Tembo.”
“If this goes badly, we lose more than a saint. Domains start collapsing.”
Esther hesitated, then nodded. “You’re right, of course. You know I wouldn’t ask this if Matthew’s life didn’t depend on it.”
“I know what’s at stake,” Tembo said. He finished drawing in the grass with the butt of his staff. He gestured, and a rapid flame seared the ground into ash. Sharp shadows jumped across the gnarled walls of our shelter. He fixed Esther in his gaze. “I’m just not sure you do.”
A thick cloud of smoke erupted from the ground. It surrounded us, filling the narrow confines of our little bower, turning the air bitter. I knelt close to Matthew, to be sure I didn’t lose track of him during whatever was coming next. The smoke grew darker and darker, until I couldn’t see anything at all.
And then there was no smoke. It was night above and below. In the far distance I could see the horizon. It was a bright spear of light, every color of dawn concentrated down into a single line, fading from black to purple to red and startling orange. A cloud of stars hovered over our heads, so close I felt like I could touch them, so far that looking up made me dizzy. I could hear Matthew’s halting breath. Esther moved at my side, adjusting her harness as she stood up. Chesa and Bethany crouched nearby, the shifting purple tones of Chesa’s eyes limning their faces in shades of amethyst. Tembo loomed over us.
I mean, seriously, he loomed. He stood twenty feet tall, and though his features were at first hidden in shadow, I could tell that the mage had gained a good deal of bulk. His shape was different, too, as though he had grown rounder and more muscular. His massive head swung from horizon to horizon, looking for something in the distance. I heard a flapping sound, like a leathery banner slapping against a wall, and a warm wind buffeted me. I stood up and stared at him.
“We have to go,” Tembo rumbled. “Something has changed. Night has fallen in the land of eternal sun. The herd is restless in this new darkness. If they find us, I will not be able to hold them back.”
“Tem? What happened to you?” I asked.
“I am what I am, little man. I am what I have become.” He took a step forward, and a long, sinuous appendage brushed the top of my head. The ground shook under his gait. And I could just make out two curling tusks sprouting from his mouth.
“You’re an...you’re...”
“Furaha na Nguvu ya Tembo,” Esther said quietly. “Very roughly, The Joy and Strength of Elephants. And he’s right. I have only been here once, and it was nothing like this. We need to keep moving.”
“It’s the same sky,” Chesa said quietly. I looked over to where she was only now getting to her feet. Her head was craned up at the stars. “The clouds of stars, unnumbered. But I would recognize it anywhere.”
“Myths share things. Skies, monsters, catastrophes...” Bethany’s voice trailed off. She, too, was captivated by the constellations. “We are not so different.”
“We don’t have time to compare mythologies,” Tembo said impatiently. “Quickly now. We go, or we die.”
Tembo’s heavy bulk leaned down close to us. Now that he was so close, I could see better what he was. An elephant, yes, but still a man. Thick, muscular arms, banded with copper and leather, ending in hands with three blunt fingers. He wore his robes, though now they took on the weight of ceremony. His head and tusks were intricately tattooed, and his wrinkled eyes were all too human, looking at me out of that massive head. Tembo gathered Matthew gingerly up in his arms, tucking him against his chest like a baby. Then he picked up his staff, now the size of a tree, and stood up.
“If the herd comes, stay close to me, and do not run unless I tell you to run. If it comes to that, know that it has been a privilege serving at your side, Esther MacRae.”
“The pleasure has been mine, Tem,” Esther said. There was a softness in her voice that I had never heard. I was so surprised by it that I was still standing there when the others started to run; Tembo in a rolling lope, the others jogging to keep up. My armor jangled as I ran, each step coming down hard on the dusty earth. I was already beaten down from the fight, and the heavy crunch of steel plate against my shoulders was almost too much to bear. I ran my hand across my forehead to wipe away sweat and ended up scraping steel gauntlets across the narrow opening in my helm, accidently dropping the visor. I thrust it back up with a curse.
“Are we going to be running long? Because this armor—”
“Stuff it, Rast,” Esther snapped. “This is hero shit we’re doing. Complain when you’re dead.” I shut up.
As we ran, I heard Esther rummaging in her bag, and then there was a sharp crack, followed by a sudden, brilliant light. She held a flare aloft.
Tembo’s reaction was startlingly fast. He whirled around and slapped the flare out of Esther’s hand with his trunk, drawing a cry of pain from her, then stomped on the flare until it was extinguished. I was momentarily blinded by the change in light, but I didn’t need to see Tembo’s face to hear the anger in his voice.
“Fire brings the hunters, child. Fire draws the shadows! We have enough pro
blems without your foolish light!”
Esther didn’t answer, and a short while later I heard Tembo walk away, his gait rumbling through the ground. We followed in silence. We must have entered Tembo’s domain in a clearing of some sort, because shortly after we started walking, I felt the dry scratch of tall grass on my legs. It grew and grew with each step, until we were pushing through a trackless sea of grass that reached up to our chests.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Toward the hearth,” Tembo said. “If the way is open.”
“Three things,” I said, remembering Clarence’s description from what seemed like an age ago. “Door, road, hearth. So that’s where we’ll find the door out?”
“Death is the door out,” Tembo answered. “Pray we can find another.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, looking at Esther.
“Don’t worry, there’s a door,” she answered. “I think.”
“You’ve been here before, right?” I asked. She shook her head.
“Gravehome is a dangerous place. We will not be welcome there, the four of us. Matthew they might accept, if only to bury. We’ll have to be careful. Tembo knows this, but he doesn’t. Once he starts rolling toward Gravehome, he’s difficult to shift. Like a very heavy stone rolling down a steep hill. And if the herd—”
Though I think she meant to speak only to me, Tembo answered her.
“If the herd finds us, I will have little choice where I go. And if the hunters find us, none of us will be going anywhere.”
“What are these hunters? I thought the domains are supposed to be safe, at least for their residents.” I turned to Esther. “You told me I was perfectly safe in my domain, that I shouldn’t worry. So what’s the big deal?”
“Gravehome is unique. Tembo’s power comes from death,” she said. “Death lives here, stalking the veldt, manifest in the very air. Anything can die here. Even us.”
“And you brought us here on purpose?” I yelped. “Are you out of—”
“Quiet!” Tembo said impatiently. “This is a silent place. Your words are fire for the shadows.”
I clapped my mouth shut and glanced over at Esther. My eyesight was finally adjusting to the darkness once again, and I could just make out the gray-haired woman’s face, drawn tight with effort and concern. Bethany and Chesa ran side by side. Esther caught my eye, shaking her head.
For the first time, I recognized the truth of Tembo’s words. This was a quiet place. At night, in so much grass, I expected to hear a concert of insects, chirping, clacking, whistling, humming...but there was nothing. A sky like this should host flights of singing birds, but the cold stars burned down at us in silence, alone. Other than our labored breathing, the rustle of dry grass against our legs, and the muffled thump of Tembo’s ponderous gait, we moved through utter quiet.
Except for that shuffling sound. Off to our right, or maybe our left, a soft slither of noise, and then an anxious whimper. It almost sounded like—
I ran face-first into Tembo’s leg. He stood stock still in the grass, his whole body quivering with concentration. I caught myself from crying out in shock, sensing somehow that he was trying to hear something. Esther sucked in her breath, realizing what was going on long before it penetrated my dull brain.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Bethany asked. Beside her, Chesa was staring into the darkness, her eyes narrowed in concentration.
“There’s something there. Something dark,” Chesa said.
“They have found us,” Tembo answered. “Quickly.”
He rumbled off, and I realized how much Tembo had been slowing his gait to let us keep up. He covered the grassy earth in bounding strides, each one swallowing yards and yards at a time. We followed not a second later, but quickly lost ground to the hulking mage’s hungry stride.
“Faster, faster,” Tembo urged. “They are working around us. If we don’t hurry, they will cut us off!”
“I’ll hold them,” Esther said. She started to slow, swinging her shield down into her arms. “One last stand for the old lady. You go on.”
“No! They will lap around and take us all. There is no use in sacrifice. Run!”
Reluctantly, Esther reseated her shield and continued to run. My armor wasn’t made for this. Hell, I wasn’t made for this. But I ran, and despite my ragged breath and the lumbering awkwardness of my boots, we stayed together. Chesa kept glancing back at us. She and Bethany both must be restraining themselves to keep us in sight.
I was just beginning to run out of breath when I saw them. Dogs, I thought at first, or hyenas. But the rippling quivers of their backs, the sawtooth ridges of their spines, with mouths that ran from snout to shoulder, tier after tier of slavering teeth, and a lolling four-tipped tongue that scented the air like a snake and writhed like a squid in water...these were not dogs. These were nightmares come to life.
“I need to start having better dreams,” I said. “This started so well. It started so well!” I turned to Esther. She was looking straight forward, her focus on Tembo’s back, and the way out. “I killed a dragon, you know!”
“Join the club, kid! Now shut up and run!”
Chesa and Bethany split apart, each one taking a flank. It was obvious that they were holding back, merely jogging when they could be flying. Chesa let fly a trio of arrows, but if they found their mark, there was no sound, no cry, no shriek of pain.
They were on either side of us, sliding through the grass like sharks, drifting closer and then away, harassing us like a pack of wolves harasses the stragglers. I would catch sight of one to my left, its leering eyes appearing over Esther’s shoulder only to disappear into the thatch. While I was straining my eyes to see where it had gone, I would hear a rattling croak to my right, and whirl to see another of the monsters veering close to my side, almost laughing as I lashed out with my blade, only to fall short as they skipped away into the darkness. I tried to run faster, but there was no faster. My strength was fading, the weight of my armor was too much. My reserves were nearly tapped. Esther was slowly pulling away. Bethany kept pace with her, but Chesa lingered. She looked at me with pleading eyes.
“John, you need to run! You need to keep moving!”
I nodded, too gassed for words. Tembo was a rumbling shadow in front of me, nearly lost among the grasses.
The elevation of the ground suddenly changed, and I stumbled, nearly falling. We were going up a hill, gentle at first, but quickly steep. I went down on all fours, scrambling forward, desperate. Hot breath blasted across my back, and I whirled around, trying to bring my sword up, only to see one of the beasts bounding back into the grass. I turned back to my flight, reaching a plateau. Tembo was already there, standing solidly in the middle, with Matthew huddled at his feet. Esther knelt panting beside him. Bethany and Chesa walked slow circuits around the plateau, looking for attackers. Tembo held his staff across his chest, watching the edge of the low hill we had climbed.
Just as I crested the hill, he swung at me. I held out my hands, tried to yell something along the lines of “It’s me, you buffoon!” but only got “Eeets!” before I was forced to dive to the ground. Tembo’s staff whistled inches over my head. There was a meaty thump, a yelp, and one of the beasts rolled whimpering down the hill. I got to my feet.
“What the hell are these things?” I gasped.
“The hunters. The cull. That which lurks at the edge of the campfire, luring out the weak, consuming the sick, the foolish, the old.” Tembo took a step forward and swept his staff through the grasses again. He didn’t connect with anything, but a swishing of grass and that choking, laughing cry told me he hadn’t missed by much. Tembo turned slowly in the center of the narrow plateau, watching all sides. “They are the shadow.”
“Yes, I...I get that part. The shadow, and...” gasp, swallow bile, deep breath “...the killing. I probably didn’t need that part explained, though it does say a lot about your views on, say, social services. But do they have a name?”
I struggled to my feet and held my sword and shield at the guard, then decided it was too much effort, and simply rested my hands on my knees, gasping for breath. Plenty of time to draw later. “I need to call them something. I don’t want to keep saying ‘The Shadow that Lurks at the Edge of the Campfire’ every time I refer to them. Makes for an awkward warning.”
“Might be a chimisit,” Esther said calmly. She was also preparing herself, drawing sword and shield, unbuckling the awkward harness of her satchel and throwing it to the ground. We wouldn’t be running from this place, clearly. “Or some variety of the dingonek, though those are supposed to have poisonous tails, and that thing looked too much like a hyena. Or it might be unique to this place. A product of Tembo’s domain, and nothing else.”
“Call it what you will,” Tembo said, his voice rumbling like thunder. “They will kill you just as easily.”
“Cheery thought,” I mumbled. But it was true enough that I unbuckled my helm and lay it on the ground. If I was going to die here, I didn’t want my last breath to be drawn through the stinking smell of sweat and dried bile that seemed to haunt my visor. I spared a glance for Matthew. He seemed no worse for wear, despite the difficulties of our journey. “Do you think he’ll make it?”
“Right now, I’d lay even odds on all of us joining Tembo’s sun-bleached hearth,” Esther said. “Nice enough place. And you’ve got to be buried somewhere.”
“If I fall, the hunters will tear all of this down. Even Gravehome,” Tembo said. “Our bones will lie in splinters in their shit.”
“And that tops the number one spot on today’s list of cheeriest thoughts,” I said. “Come back next week for a new countdown to the apocalypse!”
“You’re funny when you’re scared,” Chesa said.
“I’m funny all the time,” I answered. “Then again, I’m scared all the time, too. Maybe that’s my superpower. Sheer terror and mindless babbling. Now if I could just find some way to harness—”