The ascent was quiet for the most part. The only sounds came from the echoing scuff of his boots, his labored breathing, and the scrape, clop of the shaman’s gait. It was difficult to ascertain how far they’d gone without any visual queues, but if Edward was to make a guess he would say they were about halfway to the chamber where Zeus lay injured. He was tempted to call out to Katie in hopes he could get a sign to whether she was among the living or not, although he wasn’t sure if he could muster enough vocal strength. The way his breath sounded in the darkness he would have thought he’d been running for miles without a break.
“Can we stop for a few minutes? I need to catch my breath and take my weight off of my legs.”
Edward considered the question briefly. He could certainly use the respite, even though his mind screamed at him to continue. Katie’s life hung in the balance of his decision, but he also knew that taking a few extra minutes was preferable to collapsing on the stairs. It was entirely possible that by taking a short break it might actually speed up the journey. Surely they had slowed considerably since they began the climb.
“Yes, of course. I apologize for pushing you so hard,” Edward wheezed. “I probably should have never attempted to bring you up here, especially in your condition, but when I saw you outside of the tower and you were up and moving around I decided it was likely the only way to save Katie.”
Inside of the shaman, George tried to work out every possible scenario. He had to wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself if he had any hope of succeeding in his plans. At least while they were under the cover of darkness he didn’t have to worry about concentrating on the facial expressions of his fleshy disguise. “Do you really think I can heal a god?”
There was a significant pause after his question, the words lingering in the air as they echoed through the vast openness of the tower. “I pray that you can. It’s very close to my last hope. If you are unable to accomplish the task, the only alternative left is the remote possibility that Zeus’ followers will find Asclepius.”
“Who or what is that?”
“He is supposed to be the God of Medicine. The assemblage of white-robed men and women indicated that he was the only one they believed could heal Zeus’ wounds. It should go without saying, if the god cannot be saved, Katie will surely die. That isn’t something I’m prepared to deal with.”
George allowed the statement to hang in the air for several moments as he searched the shaman’s brain for an appropriate response. “Well, I certainly hope that I don’t let you down. My track record isn’t exactly the greatest when it comes to healing. Just ask your horse.” That last tidbit, plucked from the red-haired man’s mind, was especially comical to George. It took tremendous effort to keep the mirth from his voice as he spoke. It amused him to no end that even when he wasn’t antagonizing the wizard and his friends, things had a way of torturing the man.
For a few seconds, Edward remained silent. He was sure the jibe was not intentional, but it still forced painful memories to the surface of his mind. “While that may be true, you can hardly blame yourself. You were still pretty new to using your healing abilities back then. I’m almost certain you would fare better now that you have more experience.”
The shaman sighed. “You’re probably right.”
Edward had no idea how long they’d been resting, but it felt as if they were wasting too much time. With a soft exhalation of breath, he rose to his feet. “We should get going again,” he remarked, slowly moving his hand in the darkness in search of Brian. His fingertips brushed against the fabric of the shaman’s clothes. He ran his palm over the garment until he encountered the bare flesh of the man’s arm, then grasped the appendage firmly and helped Brian to stand.
The tedious ascent began once more. Apparently the short rest had done both of them good because it seemed as if they were climbing the stairs slightly quicker. After a few minutes, the faint glow of the magically imbued weapons left by Zeus’ would-be assassins became visible. It relieved Edward to know that they were finally close to the end of the upward journey. He resisted the urge to move faster, knowing that it was just as important to keep the shaman by his side as it was to get to the chamber. One wrong decision and the attempt to save Katie would fail.
As they rounded the curve and came into view of the charred section of the passageway, panicked screams from outside drifted through the spire’s entrance below. Edward knew in his heart that the commotion was an omen. Unless Asclepius just happened to appear at the right time because he sensed Zeus’ need, there would be no backup if Brian failed to heal the god. The chaos outside suggested that the white-robed men and women had been overrun by the dark forces arrayed against them, thus preventing them from returning to their world to locate the God of Medicine. In Edward’s opinion, it had been a tall order for them to accomplish anyway. Although he was used to such obstacles, he was worried about the sole responsibility of saving Desolace resting on his weary shoulders. Making sure that Zeus and Katie got healed was the first priority. Without both of their help the cause was lost, and the world as he knew it would cease to exist.
Before Edward took another step, a familiar disembodied wail echoed up from below. He whipped his head around to look and saw Amber’s ghostly glow rapidly approaching. The emotional turmoil that the wizard felt prevented him from detecting the subtle tensing of Brian’s muscles, not that he would have considered it a big deal even if he had noticed. The lamenting spirit had only covered half the distance between them when suddenly she burst into an unnatural flame. The apparition screamed in torment, but only for a matter of seconds. When the shriek subsided, her ghostly presence was gone!
George pretended to rub his face in dismay, using the hand and the surrounding shadows to hide the fact that a wicked grin had bloomed on the shaman’s face. The ghost could have ruined his plans if she’d managed to warn the wizard about him, but now it wasn’t a concern. One less enemy to deal with, and one step closer to accomplishing what he’d set out to do. So far, things seemed to be going perfectly. Not much longer now. Soon, all of his plotting would come to fruition. His biggest concern at the moment was whether or not the shaman would be able to mend the god. Doing so was the most vital part of his plan, but by the same token he had to ensure that Zeus wasn’t fully healed. A furious god at full strength was not what he wanted. George only required the entity to be functional enough to do his bidding. It was going to be a tricky proposition, of that much he was certain.
Chapter 22
For Edward, the remainder of the ascent to the great hall of the gods was filled with worry and doubt. After witnessing Amber’s untimely demise, he couldn’t help but wonder about the manner in which she’d been turned into a ghostly torch. Were the evil forces of Desolace responsible, or had something unspeakable happened to Brian that had in some way crossed the signals in his brain? The latter seemed to be the most likely scenario, although the wizard didn’t want to believe that his red-haired friend had been corrupted. The manner in which Amber went up in flames suggested it was the work of the shaman. She had appeared to be dispatched in a similar fashion to the tactics Brian had employed in the past when confronted with unfavorable odds. That worried him more than anything. If the ghost’s eradication had been the work of his friend, it complicated the situation and raised more questions.
If Brian had indeed been compromised, to what extent could Edward trust him? Would he have to watch over the shaman constantly to ensure the man didn’t have any other nefarious plans in mind? Despite how events had transpired, there was still a chance that Brian had nothing to do with the way things were unfolding. Could it be that the dark entity he’d been battling at every turn was behind Amber’s elimination? After all, Edward had never lain eyes on his elusive adversary. He didn’t have the first clue about what his foe looked like. For all he knew, the being was as insubstantial as the spirit of the dead woman. He resolved to watch over his friend to the best of his ability in hopes that he would d
etect any foul intentions before they got out of his control.
As soon as the wizard stepped foot into the audience chamber he took a quick look around the room to assess the situation. Zeus was still laying on the floor where he’d been when Edward had departed earlier, although he did seem a bit more coherent. A fleeting glance toward Katie told him she was still alive, but from this distance he couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or not, only that her chest rose and fell.
The god raised his head to gaze toward the entrance, knowing that his followers had not been gone long enough to find Asclepius and fearing that his son had come to finish him off. His expression brightened slightly when he saw that Edward had returned. A thin, red-haired man stood beside the sorcerer. “Did my people make it back to Earth without incident?”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” Edward admitted. “There was quite a commotion outside a short time after I exited the tower, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out what was causing it. I was distracted by finding my friend nearby, hobbling toward the entrance.”
The god’s mannerism relayed his disappointment. His sagging features suggested that he was resigned to a fate he had never assumed would be possible. He exhaled loudly, his head sinking back to the stone floor in defeat.
Seeing the hope fade from Zeus’ eyes was depressing, but Edward refused to succumb so easily. After everything he’d been through to get here, there was no way he was giving up. Especially since Katie’s very survival depended on his tenacious, unflappable determination to lift the aging curse that the fairy guardians of the Tree of Life had placed upon her. In a conspiratorial whisper, he gave Brian instructions. He would have to keep part of his attention focused on the shaman, however, because trusting him was now an issue. Edward wasn’t convinced that there wasn’t a malevolent force guiding the hand of his red-haired friend. Until he was absolutely certain, it was imperative that his diligence did not waver.
As the shaman crossed the expansive chamber toward Zeus, Edward walked over to where Katie lay. He knelt down beside her, his long locks brushing across her when he reached out to give her a gentle shake. Her eyelids fluttered open and a weak smile creased her features.
“How are you feeling?” he inquired in a near whisper, softly brushing her cheek with his fingertips.
She opened her mouth to reply, but her voice cracked so badly at first that the only sound she could produce was a cough. Katie swallowed a couple of times to moisten her throat then tried again. “Older than dirt,” she finally managed. “Have you found the gods?”
Apparently she didn’t know where she was, making it obvious that she must have been unconscious for most of the journey up the stairs. Either that or the aging process was affecting her memory.
Edward’s eyebrows crinkled with concern. He glanced toward the shaman to see if he was making any progress and saw him bent over the god in much the same fashion that he was over Katie. Nothing seemed different yet, but he could hear the soft chants of the bizarre language the man used when employing his abilities. “Please hurry, Brian.” Edward spoke in a hushed voice, trying not to break the shaman’s concentration. The last thing he wanted to see was Zeus turning inside out like his horse had. Closing his eyelids, Edward offered up a desperate prayer to anyone who would listen.
To make matters worse, the sounds of battle outside of the tower had ceased. Normally this would be a good thing. However, these noises had been replaced by another … one which Edward had hoped to never hear again. The groans and hisses of the undead were now echoing up from the bottom of the spire! It appeared evident that the dark forces of Desolace had somehow brought the foul abominations here from Earth, and apparently held some amount of sway over their actions. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse, could they?
***
George knelt down beside Zeus and immediately started to access the shaman’s brain, hoping that he would find the information he frantically needed. It didn’t require much searching. Apparently the red-haired man kept the most dire of his knowledge in the forefront of his memory to ensure quick accessibility. Upon locating what he felt to be the proper spell, he began the chant right away. The words were foreign to his ears and even more difficult to pronounce. He deliberately enunciated each syllable in an effort to ensure the chant worked like it was supposed to.
Within a few minutes, George started to notice a difference in the ailing god. Before he’d begun the chant, Zeus had appeared to be a fleshy husk incapable of movement. Now, however, he had raised his shaggy, gray-haired head and was looking at the shaman with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. The shaman continued the incantation until the god sat up. By his reckoning, Zeus was completely alert now, possibly even healed enough to do what George needed him to do.
“How did you do that, young man? Only Asclepius has been successful in healing the wounds of a god prior to your effort.”
A smile blossomed on the red-haired man’s countenance. “I can’t really explain the process. For that matter, I wasn’t even sure when I started the mantra that I would be successful. My prior attempts to heal living things were far from triumphant.”
“Well, I cannot thank you enough.” He patted Brian’s shoulder as if the two of them were best friends, the broad smile on his face, radiant. “If there is anything I can do for you in return for your kindness, just ask and it shall be done.”
Before responding, George glanced toward the wizard and the dying woman. He squinted his eyes as he attempted to ascertain just how much of his conversation with Zeus that the long-haired sorcerer had heard. Edward seemed distracted, gazing nervously toward the entrance to the chamber. It seemed like a safe assumption that he’d heard very little of the dialogue, making it appear as if the perfect opportunity had just reared its head. He turned back to face Zeus. “I would like to petition for two things from you, if it’s not too much to ask.”
“It would be an honor to provide you with any assistance I can,” the god replied.
He accessed the shaman’s mind once more, searching the man’s memory for the malady that the elderly woman was afflicted with. “I would be eternally grateful if you could lift the curse on my friend, which was placed upon her by the guardians of the Tree of Life,” George stated, pointing a finger toward Katie. This request wasn’t because he wished the woman to be restored to her former self, even though it would bring him greater satisfaction to kill her if she was more lively. Instead, he made the appeal to keep his disguise from slipping … just in case the wizard was paying attention.
“I’ll see what I can do. What was the second request you had?”
George leaned in close, cupping his hand over his mouth. “I would like for you to open a portal to Earth. I’m sure you can hear the commotion coming from the stairs. I would be forever thankful if I was not here when whatever is making that sound arrives,” he whispered.
“That would take far less effort than removing the curse from your friend. Although getting you back to your world is not an issue, I do need to know an approximate location and time period that you wish to go to. I would not be doing you a good service if I sent you back to Earth during an age you weren’t familiar with.”
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he mulled over the generous offer. George would have enjoyed returning to Earth during the same era as his previous killing spree, but a persistent, nagging intuition told him otherwise. “How about somewhere in the early part of the twenty-second century? Would that be possible?”
“Of course,” Zeus replied. “Do you have a particular locale in mind?”
“I’ve always been curious about what my hometown would be like in the future. Could you make the portal lead to Misty Hollows, Ohio?” Why am I so insistent about going to the future? Is this wretched shaman somehow behind the notion?
“Consider it done,” the god stated, making a sweeping gesture with one hand. A stream of golden mist began to drift through the air. Within seconds, a swirling portal materialized. The sound
s echoing from the stairwell drowned out any that might have been heard emanating from the yellowish void.
Initially, George had been transfixed by the summoned sphere. For several moments he was oblivious to everything else around him. When he was finally able to pull his eyes away from the portal, he saw that his window of opportunity was closing rapidly. Zeus had already crossed the chamber and was standing near the wizard. George had to execute his plan now or it would be too late. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on forcing the shaman’s mouth open. Once it was accomplished, the trick would be keeping it that way long enough for his essence to escape the red-haired man’s body. Thankfully, his exit from the fleshy disguise wasn’t as prolonged and drawn out as such things were in the movies. In less than a second, he was out of Brian and quickly barreling toward the wizard.
By the time he arrived, Zeus had already bent down and placed a hand on Katie’s chest. Her entire body was suffused in a nearly blinding white light, as if she were a giant, human glow-stick. It was now or never! Fortunately, the brilliant luminescence surrounding the woman masked any residual radiance that his spiritual form might have had. With Edward’s complete focus being on Katie, it was like taking candy from a baby to get inside of him. The wizard’s slack-jawed expression of awe allowed George easy access. By the time the sorcerer realized something was happening, it was too late. The struggle to control Edward’s mind was brief. The wizard’s guard had dropped when his emotional response to the changes in Katie’s appearance surfaced.
The age reversing transformation took only a couple of minutes. George stayed in the forefront of the wizard’s soul, but eased back slightly when Katie’s eyelids fluttered open. He wanted to ensure the proper emotional response would appear on Edward’s face when she gazed up at him. It was just a tiny fraction of control that he gave up to allow this. During this time, he kept a close watch on the rejuvenated woman as well as Zeus, who seemed to be reabsorbing the phosphorescent glow that had lifted the curse from Katie. As the illumination dimmed, the god rose to his feet. The sounds coming from the stairs had drawn his attention.
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