by Mark Tufo
It was an errant thought that lasted less than a second. Make no mistake, I was straining with all I had to break through what she had done to me in an effort to prevent or, at least, be by her side, when she attempted to gain entry into Landia.
“It’s temporary. Stop fighting it,” she told me. She wasn’t even looking my way as she began to chant a spell.
“You have power, Mike,” I was repeating over and over. Her foot pulled up short and she’d turned just as I flexed my arms to my side and broke through. I won’t swear to it, but it sure did sound like chains breaking and falling to the ground. “Don’t you ever do that again!”
She was looking at me with a bemused smile. “That was a powerful spell, yet you broke through it with relative ease. Well done.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I thought I might have burst twelve blood vessels in my head doing it. My first step toward her I stumbled. I’m real smooth like that.
“I go first, okay?”
“Together,” I struggled to get out. Felt like the bind she had on my body had moved to my mind. “Linnick, you need to stay here,” I said as I took the extra moonstone from Azile.
“I’ll watch over her,” Kalandar replied. “Hurry and get us our own way across.”
I nodded to him. “You’ll be all right,” I said to the breatine.
“It is not me that I am concerned about, Tallboat.”
Azile reached out and took my hand; we crossed over into hell together. There was a jolt from the ground, like I’d been stung by a scorpion or maybe a black mamba. I could feel the poison flowing up the veins in my legs, seeking the fastest way to my brain where it could release its deadly energy. Once the lethal current reached my moonstone holding hand, it began to leech off and into the rock. I was fearful that there would be some vestigial trace left that would meander its way on up and finish off what years of drug use had started.
“I’m not dead, am I?” I had to ask after what I figured Florissa had gone through.
“Interesting,” Azile said as she looked at the moonstone. I was in absolute astonishment when she flipped it to Kalandar.
“What the hell are you doing?” I was pulling her back toward where it was safe.
“It’s alright. My trap has been sprung. The only way to reset it is to leave again.”
“You sure?” I asked, even though the proof was in her still standing there.
“No, I’m not sure.” This was sarcasm in its purest form. “Give Kalandar your stone so we can get out of here.”
I was worried for Linnick; she had to hold the rock in both of her small hands. I held my breath when they crossed.
“I hardly felt anything,” Linnick said.
“It is weakening,” Kalandar noted.
“The polions?” I asked.
“Yes, they seem to be draining it away.”
“Good thing, too. I have a feeling there was a little added in there for the likes of you and me,” Azile said, looking my way.
“I remember when the biggest thing I had to worry about was whether or not Mr. Simmons was going to once again try to dodge me on his weekly newspaper tab. Bastard had a Mercedes Benz in the driveway, but he always found a reason to not be around come his five dollar and seventy-two cent delivery fee came due. Never tipped, either, miserable prick. I always made sure he got the top paper, which was the one that was the most damaged from handling and the plastic bands that held the stacks together. Man, that paper was usually a mess–dirty, wet, ripped. Funny thing was, they always gave me an extra paper for just this reason. Didn’t matter, he got the shit one, even when he kept calling the newspaper, complaining.”
“Mike?” Azile asked.
“I’m just saying that now, instead of a few bucks, which seemed like a big deal back then, I have to worry about the fourteen dozen ways the reaper can come to collect on his past due debt. Although, I bet I won’t have to worry about him tossing bags of dog shit into my yard.”
“I don’t want to know,” Azile said. “Can we go?”
We had to stop a couple of times as we headed to Talboton. Scores of runners were heading away from us and toward where the polions had breached the lines. I would have loved to tell them to join us, that they’d been fooled. The enemy they were fighting was there thanks to their shiny new ally. Wouldn’t have worked. They were zealots now, worked up into a frenzy by the tampered, heavy narcotic-laced words Halifax had been spoon feeding to them.
It hadn't dawned on me as we were moving, but during our first rest, it hit me.
“Is Talboton all right?” It was a valid question. Halifax was getting rid of all the threats to her power. If she’d got rid of Inuktuk, was there any reason to think she hadn’t leveled Talboton?
“I don’t think so. She’s smart enough to realize it’s bait for us, that we’ll be drawn to it. She takes that away…” She trailed off.
“Good reasoning, but far from a comforting or solid conclusion.”
“You could keep continually worrying about it, if that works better for you,” she answered.
“If this witch thing doesn’t work out, I think you could find great success as a psychiatrist,” I told her.
I noticed we had picked up the pace after I laid out my concerns. We could reason all we wanted, but there was no predicting what an unreasonable person would do. When we finally came out to the cleared field that looked upon Talboton and all seemed well, I was happy for it.
“Do you wish for me to stay behind or change?” Kalandar asked.
“Not this time. Got a feeling they already spotted you. Plus, we’re running out of time. Might as well have the natives get used to you in this form.”
It was an out-of-breath Benjamin and a contingent of five others that came out to meet us halfway across the clearing. I more than expected for him to tell us we weren’t welcome and to leave.
“Is everything all right?” he asked, looking to Kalandar.
“Don’t worry about him; he’s my valet. You have no idea how many bags this one can pack when we travel,” I stage-whispered to Ben while pointing to Azile. “It’s a nightmare trying to wrestle all of that around, but this one can handle it all. Worth every penny I pay for his services.”
“We’re fine, Benjamin, thank you for asking,” Azile said. “What is wrong with you?” she asked me. As usual, all I could do was shrug.
“Ummm…okay. It is so good to see you!” He was beaming. “The mad queen came here about a week ago, told us that we could no longer leave the fields–nobody in nor out.”
“You believed her?” Azile asked.
“Yes; she brought two of her own as a live demonstration.”
“She killed two of her own people?” I asked incredulously.
“She didn’t seem too concerned. Said they were loyal to Inuktuk, whom I have been told suffered a horrible death. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but she was a good leader, trustworthy, and only ever wanted what was best for her people. We are mostly convinced Halifax has lost her mind. I knew both of those she killed; it was quick, but painful.”
“We could probably get everyone out of here,” I said to him.
“Probably?” he asked back.
“It’ll be time-consuming and the enemy is coming.”
Gave him a quick rundown of who was on their way and who was sure to follow.
“I don’t see any reason to leave,” he said as we wrapped up.
“All of it is your reason,” I told him.
“If these archangels are hell bent–sorry–phrasing,” he apologized to Kalandar.
“Accepted,” Kalandar said, graciously.
“If their goal is to take all humans off the planet to recreate their perfect garden, then does it matter where we are? I would prefer, if I am to die, that it is at home, surrounded by those I love. Just so we are completely clear, I would be much happier were I and everyone else to survive.”
“Definitely some Talbot in you.” I smiled and clapped his shoulder.
“Seems the all-powerful god isn’t living up to her subjects’ expectations,” I said.
“Seems spot on to me,” Azile said sourly.
“The fighting grows close.” Kalandar was shielding the sun from his eyes and looking off into the distance. “These Landians are trying to hold the Lycan and polions at bay with fire.”
We could see the result of this tactic in the thick roiling smoke off to our east.
“One small town…how could this possibly be where the fate of mankind resides?” I asked.
“I’d say it makes perfect sense,” Azile said, smiling.
I was not feeling overly optimistic. If she knew something I didn’t, I wouldn’t complain if she shared. For a few more hours, the wounded showed. We did what we could for those that could be helped; we said our goodbyes to those that were beyond. Landian tradition dictated that the vessels of their people be bathed in a special sauce before it made its journey into the afterlife. But it didn’t look like there was going to be anyone left healthy enough to mix the concoction and soon we would be too busy defending our lives that we would not even be able to bury or burn them. The thought of the polions plowing through and eating all of those corpses was much more disconcerting than if they had just killed a person and moved on. They had already done so much damage; defiling the dead was more than should be allowed.
We’d gone more than five hours since the last wounded had made it to our doorstep. The fire was close enough now that the entire area was in danger of being covered in a thick blanket of smoke.
“This is going to be a big advantage to the polions,” Kalandar said.
He was referring to their natural state of blindness; they wouldn’t know either way whether it was pitch black or a beautiful, sunshiny spring day. But we would.
“Never trust a cult that bases their entire religion on a fast food joint. I’ve got your Happy Meal right here, with some extra pickles,” I grumbled, grabbing my crotch for effect.
We had been up by the perimeter Halifax laid, but as the wounded dwindled off and the fires crept closer, we had moved back to the edges of town. It was more than a little shock when across the field a dozen Lycan burst forth from the tree line. They looked pretty surprised themselves, maybe not realizing just how close to Talboton they were, or that there was a firing line waiting for them. Either way, they got precisely what they had coming, as they were fired upon. I noted that not a one of them took off back into the woods, but rather stayed parallel to them. That could only mean that the polions were abundantly close.
“Yay,” I said weakly, raising my fist. After five of the Lycan dropped down riddled by lethal wounds, the rest turned our way, preferring to face us rather than die so meekly. They were fast, but not that fast. One remained and he was heading for me; as of yet I had not got in on the bloodbath. I’d felt as if this battle had been well in-hand. But now, it was my turn. I placed the rifle up against my shoulder. I lined up my sights mid-chest. For whatever reason, all those around me had stopped shooting; maybe instinctively they knew this one was for me. I wasn’t thinking of any of that. His chest was so broad it would have been difficult to miss, but I wanted to make a statement as I raised my rifle higher. This was personal; the Lycan had been threatening to take everything away from us all for so long; I could only hope that somewhere out on the periphery of the woods other Lycan were watching as I placed a shot into my target's forehead. There was a yelp as his head canted to the side; his legs collapsed and he skidded to a stop on his muzzle some fifty yards from me.
“Fuck you,” I told the corpse softly as I brought my rifle down. “And fuck all of your friends.” There were no cheers for our small victory; anyone that had thoughts of celebrating was quickly cut off when we began to feel the tremors under our feet. If we didn’t already know the enemy was coming, would have been difficult to miss the swaying trees as their colossal bodies ran into and sideswiped the overgrown vegetation.
The buildings in town were built sturdy, but not strong enough to withstand the onslaught that was bursting through the woods taking trees down with it. Our firing line started meting out justice, but it was like one lone judge and an old Marshall in the Wild West: it wasn’t going to be enough.
Benjamin was next to me. “I…I had no idea.”
“How could you?” I stopped to answer him as I released my spent magazine and placed a fresh one in. So sure was I that we weren’t going to make it through the day, that I let the empty fall to the ground.
Kalandar was bending over, his hand upon the ground. “There is a ley line here.”
I had a rudimentary understanding of them; I’d been sucked down the YouTube rabbit hole many a year ago, and that’s how I’d received my basic, and most likely very heavily skewed, conspiracy theorist version of what they were. Something about straight lines, mythic, embedded with profound power…possibly spiritual or maybe alien…couldn’t remember for sure. I think I’d started the night looking for a new Widespread Panic music video and ended up learning that it was the great Yetis that had built Atlantis or some shit, and you could find it via ley lines, with help from unicorn-like fairies.
“That helps us?” I asked, taking a few shots.
“Yes and no; it is a source from which to tap more power.”
“That’s good, right?” I was busy pulling out a hot piece of brass that had picked this inopportune moment to stove pipe on me.
“Yes, but both sides can use this power.”
“Polions know magic?” I blew on my burning fingers before firing again.
“Not them.”
“Son of a bitch.” Hard to miss the streaking in the sky and the bubbling of the ground. The final stand had made its location known. Seemed it was always going to be this place, and it was just me that came late to the understanding of that. Had even BT known? Could that explain why Talboton was built where it was?
I could feel Gabriel’s gaze upon me, yet he made no move. It seemed that the fiends and the angels were content to see how this played out before they committed. Even if the odds of being harmed are one in a million, why risk it at all if you don’t need to?
It was Halifax who became an unwitting ally. I can’t say I know for sure what spurred her on, but it was easy enough to take a guess. The polions had run roughshod through her world and had most likely killed dozens, if not hundreds, of Landians. Vengeance would have been at the top of my list as well. The way she was going about it was both spectacular and terrifying. Fifty-foot trees were being ripped whole from the ground, roots and all, and hurled into the lines of polions. She was tossing two tons of wood like I might have a stick for Oggie during a game of fetch. The ground was jumping from the splintering impacts. The devastation each tree wrought was something I’m not sure I’ll ever forget. The sheer scale of what I was witnessing was beyond comprehension. Hundreds of polions were being pulverized with each strike; branches the size of telephone poles would sheer off and roll through the beasts, crushing bodies into the ground. Great divots were left by the tree razing, greater ones formed from the impacts of them. The ground itself was becoming an alien landscape devoid of all life.
“Her draw of power will consume her.” Azile was beside me. I nodded in acknowledgment of her words, but I knew my mouth was agape at what I was beholding.
“The ley line.” Kalandar pointed; we could see a red streak that bisected Talboton and ran right past us, pulsing an angry color.
Shooting a rifle now seemed a wasted action. Nobody on this side was doing anything. The archangels had other notions, tho
ugh, as they watched their tools being smashed. Gabriel streaked through the sky with two of his brothers. Not to be outdone, three fiends went to intercept them.
Lightning rained down from Gabriel, obliterating trees before they could strike his weapons. We had to shield our eyes from the arcing intensity. It didn’t take long for Halifax to realize what was happening. Would have liked to have been there to see the surprise on her face. You know what? Scratch that. I was already too close to what was happening. In fact, England was too close. Had a feeling Stonehenge right now was lit up like a car dealership having a massive blowout sale with all their spotlights searching the sky. Never really understood that; not sure if anyone followed that light to the local Subaru dealership and then was like, “I don’t need one but now that I’m here, I might as well get one.”
“Whoa,” I managed to get out when Halifax sent an entire oak up into the air like a spear. It got much closer to hitting its target than I would have imagined. Maybe Gabriel’s attention was on the fiends; maybe Halifax was that powerful. One of the other angels diverted the missile before it could strike his brother.
“It is nice to see them all engaged for the moment,” Kalandar said.
“Tallboat!” Linnick was shouting not more than a foot from my ear, and I could barely hear her over the din.
As I was looking down at her, I saw why she was trying to get my attention. The Lycan, seeing an opening in the hostilities, took this opportune time to sneak a strike. We were so fixated on the other-worldly battle going on, they had nearly reached us undetected. That would have been bad.
I let my rifle do the talking. As soon as I began to fire, more saw what I was doing and added their shots to mine. But the Lycan were too close and moving too fast. I moved to the right just as a massive paw swept past me; I felt a stinging sensation in my side–not the burning of a deep tear, but enough to know I was now bleeding. I spun just in time to see the Lycan rip through the flesh of an unprepared Talboton soldier. The man’s surprise was carved on his face as his head fell to the ground. I put two rounds in the Lycan’s spine; he killed three more in similar fashion before he fell to the ground, the bottom half of his body no longer receiving orders. He was still a snapping, snarling, arm-reaching, dangerous enemy. It took two more to the head before he came to a complete rest.