by Jared Ravens
"I didn't know my wife was pregnant."
"Its not her that is pregnant."
Bern thought about that, if he would want a child that was to be the next friend or lover of such a figure. But as he looked to his wife he realize that his chance to be with her was being offered by the same being. It was a generous offer, and he was asking for the same thing that Bern wanted: companionship. It was an easy answer.
“You can’t tell it,” Waring continued, “But you draw her back to the living. You remind her of it. She’s a little on the fence too.”
“So you would restore both of us?”
“No.”
“So, what is the plan?"
"Many will die today. They already have. When I say so, you two will be the replacements for those lost souls. It has to happen quickly; I can't wait for them to wander down the stair. It will be a shock, I'm warning you. I'll have to heal you as fast as I can with my limited ability.”
“This is possible?”
“It is… Not easy. But more likely to be sucessful with two like you. I don’t do this ever, really. But there’s a crisis and I’m breaking my own rules.”
"Who are we replacing?"
"I don't know yet. I know a lot of the ones that are willing to die today. I can feel that. Like a farmer knows her crops. But it depends on who I can reach in time."
"What do I have to do?"
"When the time comes you have to walk into the lake and let go of yourself. All these others have an easy time with it. They've left their real bodies. Yours, its different. Unusual. You have to make that decision consciously."
Bern nodded. He didn't think it would so hard a decision if he went with Shayne.
"There will be two,” Waring continued. "This is excellent. It means that you will be able to defend the other if one is weak."
"I will have to defend the baby,” Bern said.
"Yes. You'll remember that, but it will be an impulse. The rest of your memories, they will be vague or nonexistent. Like something you dreamed.”
Bern wasn't sure if he could physically defend anyone. He was a writer not a fighter. But he could run, and if it came to defending Shayne he knew he would do everything in his power to prevent that from happening again. And if she was to have a baby... What a wonderful thought.
"Shit," Waring said, walking back to the cave. "I'm behind."
Rain in the Desert
The wagon bounced along across the desert, each rock rattling Fairfax’s spine. The bone white and hairless animal that pulled them seemed unaffected by the rapid pace. It was night and the temperature had lowered but Fairfax wondered how long that would last. There was only so much that an animal and a piece of wood could take. After the scream had come a series of booms and earthquakes, and now silence. At night it would be difficult to find them but come day everything would change. He had to make it to the hills before then.
They were hours in, Sophi gripping his chest to keep from falling out of the cart. He kept looking behind him, expecting to see something appear out of the darkness. It was only them and the clanking of the wagon in the hot night air, still as death. Eventualy they had to stop to feed and water the animal. Sophi and Dani stood beside him, nervous as they stretched their bodies. Sophi looked up at him, her blank eyes half shut.
"She’s coming,” she told him.
He already knew that but it enlightening and frightening to hear Vivian tell him. Eryck had said he would try and follow at a distance, keeping watch until they made it into the hills. Fairfax appreciated this but he didn’t know how much help Eryck and a few of his people could make. It made him feel less alone, though all the people in Sigma standing between and Celia couldn’t make him feel any safer.
He could hear the footsteps distantly, like small earthquakes from another world. It sounded as if she was wandering in the wrong direction. She was too far north. By now she had certainly made it back to the camp and had tried to figure out the tracks in the dark. She might be able to hear Fairfax through Sophi but she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Not until morning.
"We need to go,” Sophi said. Fairfax agreed.
“Which direction?”
“Keep moving towards the hills, she says. Vivian will find you and hide you.”
He asked Dani how he felt. They were a good distance into the second leg of their trip and he had been quiet up until then. He looked up from the back of the wagon. He looked bewildered.
"Well,” he said. “Its so dark out it still seems like I’m in the cell. It feels like I haven’t moved anywhere.”
He smiled at Fairfax.
"I haven’t felt wind in a long time.”
"We’re going to get somewhere and hide,” Fairfax said. “And then you can make your way back after a while. You don’t have to stay with me.”
"I don’t know where else I would go,” Dani said. Fairfax had only the vaguest memory of this person but Dani trusted him with his life. It made Fairfax wonder if he was anywhere near as good a person as Felix had been.
"I will keep you as safe as I can,” Fairfax told him. They both knew the carefulness of those words, of the warning in them. No one was safe around Fairfax. Dani looked ahead into the blackness and kept silent.
A long flash of light from the east. Then another. Lightening. Fairfax looked at Dani.
"It must be Staley. Genesee is trying to slow her down.”
Rain came down in large drops. The ground softened and the wheels began to have trouble.
"He’s slowing us down, too.”
"Yes,” Sophi said.
"I guess that’s part of the plan.”
’Probably.”
"It seems to defeat their first purpose,” Fairfax said, gritting his teeth.
"Not really,” Dani replied. "They want all of us.”
The wagon tilted up all of a sudden, a wheel catching a deep section fo mud. It came slamming back down on the right two wheels. Fairfax herd a clanging noise. The cart went several more minutes before the wheel fell off and the front right corner came slamming down into he ground.
The animal driving the cart was released. It barked at them and ran in a circle. Newly freed, it was unable to decide what to do. Fairfax jumped, grabbed its rope and pulled the animal towards them. While he held it, Dani retrieved the axe and a sack of supplies. Fairfax loaded the axe on his back and each of them crawled over his shoulder to mount the large animal. It was large, with a long boney back that just held the three of them. Gripping the animal’s sides tightly, they took off for the hills.
It was uncomfortable but each held on for dear life. The thunder and lightening kept rolling across the sky in waves. The water poured down on them, soaking them and making it difficult. Numerous time Fairfax had to stop and make sure all of them were safe. The thick mud was making thing difficult.
Through the clouds a glimmer of light peaked through. The rough, sleepless night was coming to an end. He could make out the mountains ahead of him, his safety, his only hope. They were stillno where near them.
The animal was getting tired. Its movements slowed to a light run, then a walk. Fairfax pushed it, kicked it, but it stopped barking at his commands and simply became quiet. Then, at last, it collapsed. It lay on its front legs licking the water around it and baying for food.
The thunder and the footsteps boomed, making them inseparable from one another. By the flashing of lightening the group collected their tings and began to run. Fairfax took the girl’s hand to guide her. The mud inhibited them, clogging their feet with the weight of it. They were soon slogging through, barely walking. The light was rising. When Fairfax looked back he gasped and then turned his eyes forward again. The mountains were too far. It was hopeless.
“Is she close?” Sophi asked.
“Soon.." Fairfax huffed. Celia was behind them, not running, but stomping towards them. The slickness of the mud had indeed slowed her, but she knew where they were.
"What do we do?” Dani said, panicked.
"Keep.. running…” Fairfax said. But he was already pulling the bag off his back and handing it to Dani. He reached for the Axe but hesitated. If he did this, he wouldn’t have anywhere to hide. If he did this, he gave up on her. Sophi squeezed his hand and then reached out to grab Dani’s hand.
"Fairfax…” She said through gritted teeth.
Fairfax released her hand and turned around. She reared back to reach out for him.
"Take her, Dani,” he said. Dani grabbed the girl up in his arms but she continues flailing out fro him.
"You have to go Sophi,” Fairfax called as she yelled to him. "Dani, don’t let her come back here.”
Dani looked at him with frightened eyes as he gripped the girl in his arms and pulled her away, telling her they had to go.
Fairfax looked away from them, at the ground where water droplets pounded into puddles. The calls of the girl faded below a rumble of thunder. Fairfax fell to a knee and puled the axe from his back. It felt heavier than usual. Maybe it was because he hadn’t used it in a while. Maybe he was weaker.
He turned in the direction of the sound. He could see her body, a black outline in the mist of the rain, thumping towards him. The details remained blurred but as she drew closer he could see that she was wearing chain mail and light armor, rust and silver that shimmered in the light that leaked through. Her face was uncovered, a shade darker than he had seen earlier and her hair was long and black with a ratted braid that slung down to her waist. She walked through the rain, become larger in his eyes, until she stood before him at about five times his height. He gripped the axe in his hand, silently flexing the muscles that he would need to use to fight. The rain was letting up though the rumble of thunder was still growling at them.
“You run very effectively,” she said, her jaw tense. “For such a small person.”
“You give me much to run away from.”
She pulled her sword into her chest as if waiting for something to happen. It seemed to him that she was on momentary defense, as if he thought there was something that could do to knock her off balance. She was smarter than she acted.
“What I ask,” he said. “Is that you cut me down, quickly. And you let my companions go in peace.”
“I will make no promises to you!” she said viciously. “You’ve done nothing but terrorize me and my people. You’ve given them nothing but fear and you don’t deserve the decency of a compromise.”
“Its a small thing,” he said, exasperated. “Very small, just let them go.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You still think I’m an idiot.”
“It seems so rational. Don’t put anyone through another fight.”
She slammed the sword into the ground, causing it to rumble.
“She’s got your child in her!” She yelled. “You think I, the mother of mothers, can’t know that? Isn’t that what you wanted? Isn’t that what all of you wanted? A new thing, a new breed that didn’t come from me. Some thing I wasn’t involved with at all.”
“Celia, please listen.”
“You were my child. You are a man, but you are still a relative of mine. And you betrayed my decency. You and my daughter. Do you know what treason that is?”
His eye fell downward from her face. The vail rain was letting in the distance. The horizon was becoming grey with figures. If he could only hold her here for a moment.
“Celia, have mercy for this one thing.”
She bent her head towards him, leaning on the sword.
“I have no mercy for you.”
She pulled the sword from the ground. As she lifted it up he drove the axe into the ground. The force rippled out, cutting the ground below her. She wobbled. He did it again, this time more forcefully. She cried out and fell off. He tried to run up on her as he done to her kin when he fought at The Hill but as soon as he was on her leg she was rising, kicking him off and onto the ground.
He lifted his axe and tried again but before he could bring it down she was thrusting the sword down into the ground. He had to dodge it, dropping the axe. The force of the blow knocked him down. He was up but two more thrusts followed. He rolled to each side to avoid them.
He gained his feet again and found the axe. He lifted it again but this time, instead of hitting the ground, he thrust it at the sword that was cutting across and towards him. The two clanged together and the reverberation of the sword caused her to step back. He fell over but recovered quickly. She tried again to cut at him and he repeated the defense, this time timing it better. The vibration of the sword was even greater and she had to take several steps to regain her balance.
He fell to the ground, dropping the axe again. He looked up at Celia, recovering and gaining her foothold again. She drew the sword back, expecting him to pick up the axe again, but he heisted for a moment. Then he stood up and ran towards her, unarmed. She watched him, confused. She turned her head to see two dozen pins floating down out of the sky.
The spears, small as they may be to her, cut into every limb of her body. She cried out and fell to her knees. Fairfax, in the shadow of her body, was protected from the spears. When she opened her eyes Spaulding and Curson were over her, pushing her to the ground with their shoulders. They held her there, calling on her to hold still.
One solider at a time came to her feet and began to surround her. She kicked her legs into the air, knocking one into Spaulding head. After the second hit he loosened his grip on her arm. She reached out with the right arm, pushing tiny men and women over as she felt for the sword she had dropped. Atrios, just a step too far behind his father and uncle, received a thrust from his own sword and stepped back.
She swung the sword towards Curson who fell to avoid it and let up on her other arm. Suddenly freed, she jumped up. She thrust the sword at Spaulding, cutting his shoulder. She swung at Atrios who blocked it several times with her spear. Curson grabbed her from behind, pulling her backwards. She pushed back with her feet, dropping her and Spaulding to the ground. She rolled back over him and stood up on the other side of him, driving the sword downward into the ground. Curson tried to move but it caught him in the side of the rib and pinned him down.
Another volley of spears came at her as Atrios charged her. She let out a yell and suddenly grew higher. She kicked at Atrios, her leg now longer than the spear that he held out before him, and knocked him back with a foot to the chest. She stomped on the soldiers, smashing any she could find as flat as insects. When Spaulding tried to engage her again she punched out at him and throttled him, then threw him to the ground. Pulling her sword from Curson’s chest, she pointed the end at him, and then at his son.
“Stay down!” She commanded.
Atrios paused, stopping his planned attack. Spaulding held back. Curson lay on the ground.
“No, Celia,” said a voice from the ground. She looked down, knowing who it was even from this far in the air. She was now nearly eight times as high as any person on the ground and a good deal larger than any of her giant opponents. She could see Genesee, head gleaming in the sun, even from this high up.
“I thought you knew better than to fight me,” she said.
“No, Celia,” he called. “I refuse to engage you like this. This is not the way things are done. This is not who you are.”
“You,” she replied, “don’t know who I am.”
“You’re right about that,” he said, nodding. “I really don’t know.”
She thinking, trying to make a decision of who to go after next when she felt a prick at her back, a stab into her lower back. Then another. She turned. The choice had come to her.
The Time Has Come
Waring stopped moving. The work stopped suddenly. All the the beings stopped at once. Bern looked back at him from his perch on the rock by the lake. He expected the work to start again just like it had every time Waring had a break. But the pause was too long.
The curved cave was now so deep that Bern had to walk for some time to get to the end of it. Dust hun
g in the air like mist and he coughed a little to announce his arrive. All the minions were paused, mid work, quiet and motionless. Waring was digging upwards with just his two hands as he sniffed the air. When he heard Bern he stopped and turned to him.
“Get ready,” he said.
“Oh, now?” Bern said. He had been anticipating this but now that the time had come he suddenly felt apprehensive. Was he really sure?
“What do I do?” He asked, knowing the answer.
“Go into the lake,” he told him. “Forget who you are.”
“All right, sir,” Bern said, unable to think of a way to say anything that represented how he felt in that moment. He wasn’t sure if what Waring was asking was even possible.
“Waring,” Bern said. There was so much he wanted to say and ask, and so much thanks he wanted to give but wasn’t sure it was appropriate. Was he thankful? Nervous? He felt his insides emptying and filling up with something else.
“What is it?” Waring asked blankly, seemingly unaware that anything important happening to Bern.
“You’ve been very… kind to me. You fed me and all. Kept me here. Gave me options.”
“You’re late,” Waring said, interrupting him, seeing that he was stalling.
“Thank you,” Bern said, then turned back to walk out of the cave. He began to weep, what for he wasn’t sure. It was for his wif, but it was also for himself, for the person he was leaving behind. He was leaving a relationship, or changing it, with Shayne. He couldn’t imagine what was to come. There was a huge, vacant space in front of him that was preparing to step into.
When he arrived back at the lake she was standing there, smiling, her face as blank as it had been before, but she seemed happy. She was waiting for him.
He took her hands and felt them. He breathed so heavily that he could barely stand.
“I have one thing to do, dear,” he said.
Bern ran back into the cave. Waring was deep into his digging, sticking his hand upwards into the top of the cave as he climbed to get a better angle. Bern had to yell several times to get his attention.