The Redmadafa

by Gary Foshee

  Disoriented from the collision, the gog staggered out from

  under the mangled carcass with a silver blade gripped in his

  hand. He jumped on Chesty’s back and stabbed him several

  times before Chesty could shake him loose and trample him

  underneath.

  Caboose threw the dragon claws in the dirt and opened the

  pouch. He poured the water on the claws and blew on them with

  all his might. He glanced toward the sky and then back at his

  Papa and bellowed, “Fire! I need fire!”

  “What are you doing?” cringed Chesty, bleeding badly from

  his side and back.

  Caboose picked up a spear from the dirt and studied the sky?

  “I need one of them to come this way.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “I need fire, Papa.”

  Without hesitation Chesty took the spear from his son,

  pushed him behind the dead thunder beast and threw it into

  the air. He jumped up on the thunder beast, waved his arms and

  shouted, “Over here you ugly bush squealer!”

  Caboose marveled at his Papa’s bravery—he had heard that

  somewhere before.

  The spear joggled back and forth. It grazed a ragoole’s wing

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  causing it to spin around midair and focus on Chesty. It dropped low over the top of the colosseum and opened its mouth streaming a line of fire all the way across the pit floor, burning the dragon claws, and scorching the top of the thunder beast which sheltered Caboose—Chesty waited until the last second and jumped out of

  the way.

  The ground around the claws boiled causing the claws to

  split open, spilling silver all over the ground. The silver formed and grew revealing seven armor-scaled dragons. They joined the

  battle, killing numerous beasts and creatures, while protecting

  anyone that called out The Augur’s Name.

  Mageddon, seeing the commotion happening at the entrance,

  jumped from his seat and scanned the captives. His beastly eyes

  stopped and focused on Caboose. Chesty and Caboose slammed

  a howler, sandwiching it between them. Mageddon pointed at

  Caboose and yelled, “That one! Kill him now!”

  Chesty heard Mageddon’s mystical voice shout out from

  his seat. Mageddon’s servants spun around and locked in on

  Chesty and Caboose. Chesty’s eyes followed an invisible line

  which started at Mageddon’s jagged finger and ended at Caboose.

  Confused and in shock, he spun around to step in front of

  Caboose, and was stuck in the bel y by a grike troll holding a

  short stubby blood-drenched sword.

  Chesty stared straight at his son and uttered, “Caboose.”

  “No!” cried Caboose, as he watched his father fall to the

  ground in a plume of dust.

  A silver dragon grabbed the trol , bit it in two, and moved

  over Caboose to protect him. Caboose fell to his knees and lifted Chesty’s head off the ground. “Papa! Papa! You can’t die in this place. You can’t die here. Your soul! Your soul!”

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  The dragons circled Caboose protecting him and the other

  captives taking refuge by him.

  Mageddon shouted again, “Not that one, that one!” pointing

  again at Caboose.

  “Papa, stay with me. The Augur will come. He will rescue us.”

  Chesty, with his life-blood spilling out onto the pit floor and

  shivering in pain, smiled and grunted, “You believe in him; you

  believe in him now.”

  “Yes Papa. I believe in him. I believe in The Augur.”

  With his last breath and struggling to breathe, Chesty turned

  his head toward the heavens and shouted, “Augur!”

  Lucky, hearing ‘The Name’ jumped from his seat and trans-

  formed into Slithler the great serpent. He slid over the wall onto the floor and headed for the silver dragons. He knocked them out of the way and lunged at Caboose.

  Caboose rolled underneath a fallen column. Slithler struck

  at him but Caboose kept rolling from one side of the column to

  the other. Slithler coiled around and as he did he heard the ruffle of wings. His head cowered right before The Augur grabbed him

  by the head launching him out of the colosseum into the middle

  of the sea. One by one, almighty eagles soared in and snatched,

  from the jaws of death, captives whom had called out his Name.

  The Augur clutched Caboose in his talons and whisked him to

  safety over the colosseum wal s high into the sky.

  “My Papa; we can’t leave without my Papa,” shouted Caboose,

  fighting to return to the battle.

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  C H A P T E R 1 2

  The Augur Returns

  Behold, the precious Lamb of God.

  I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and

  eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it will dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And

  all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have

  brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree,

  have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree

  to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

  (Ezekiel 17:22-24, KJV)

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  The galaxy was quiet…too quiet. Giant dusty cocoons, ilu-

  minated by coppery leg-like filaments, hovered solemnly in

  rotary constel ations. Massive disks with aqua snowball eyes and ruddy outer rims rotated in the center of millions of white dwarf stars. Sparsely populated and floating abroad in the quietness of deep space, billows of cold gas, topped with broad coalsack necks, towered from interstel ar dormitories. Cylindrical shafts of ultra violet bolts jetted from wombs deep within the storehouse of

  lightning while nurseries of light, incubating in enormous spiral arms, revolved cumbersomely within a huge spherical halo.

  Atrokus flew through the outer regions of the Omega galaxy

  on his way to the Holy Mount. He pulled back on the reigns caus-

  ing two beastly creatures harnessed at the front of his chariot to spin around and skid to a stop.

  He paused.

  A Lunar eclipse cast a dark shadow over him, and for

  a moment, he felt the presence of something, something

  unnatural…unwelcome…demonic.

  A golden elliptical bulge pulsed before his eyes. He

  unsheathed his sword and waited.

  Small particles of luminous dust tranquil y streamed by; the

  mottled specks of light caught in his hair softly highlighting the contour of his head.

  His eyes scanned the area.

  The two beastly creatures stomped their feet and slowly

  backed up snorting firebrands from their nostrils.

  Grum, a spy from the Sea Throne, hid in a crater of a dwarf

  star. He had followed Atrokus for weeks taking note of his route trying to discover the plans of the Southern army.

  Atrokus grasped the reigns tight and tilted his head.

  He re-sheathed his sword and continued.

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  He flew over the Holy Mount and landed at the bottom of

  the beautiful y-adorned Steps of Grace. The fiery stones glowed

  red from the cool bree
ze of his chariot brushing across their

  smoldering surface. He wrapped the reigns around a hook on

  the side of the chariot and dismounted. Two guards ran over and

  escorted his beastly team off the mount and down a stone road

  to the stables.

  Atrokus walked up the steps and across the veranda to two

  large emerald doors. The doors opened at his approach ushering

  him down the wide Corridor of Hope. A faint echo from his foot-

  steps carried down the hal way softly announcing his presence.

  He wound his way through the Great Hall of Columns, each

  engraved with the promises of His Majesty and told the story of

  an eternal son begotten.

  He stopped at the King’s Fountain to drink of its life-giving

  waters. The fountain at its base was made from purified gold, as pure as crystal from Sudaveen. Deep sky-blue water rose up a

  middle column of faces, faces of every beast and creature His

  Majesty had made. Mounted on top was an eagle with wings

  spread high and talons raised. Clenched in his talons was a scrol , which no man, celestial being, or beast could open. The water

  mushroomed over the top splashing back into the pool below.

  Leaving the fountain, he approached a Black-Star sapphire

  door. He opened it and walked into The White Stone Library.

  The library was gigantic. Breathtaking!

  A large semi-circular atrium filled with diamond-cut statues

  welcomed him. Long crystal rods of different lengths and diam-

  eter spiraled from the ceiling above. Different shades of color

  trickled down the rods from top to bottom lighting the statues

  in a spectacular array of sparkles. Ten gold plates, engraved with 255

  Dr. Gary Warren Foshee

  His Majesty’s commands, hung on the wal s; five on the left and

  five on the right.

  Thick white marble archways, garland with elaborate designs,

  mirrored down a central aisle with vaulted tubular ceilings.

  Quietly nestled behind each arch were dimly-lit rooms filled

  with tables. Floating above each table where red and white globes burning bright, all fueled by star dust. The globes hovered over angels writing quietly.

  At the end of the central aisle, encompassing several square

  miles was The Grand Hal . It took the eye several minutes just to sweep the vastness of its grandeur and beauty. Thousands of statues and ancient relics stood stationary across its breadth. Floors of trestle archways climbed high around its perimeter. Starry

  Hosts displayed stunning mosaics along cathedral ceilings, and

  triangular crystal panes lit by starlight-beamed, bright crimson rays from a dome towering hundreds of stories above.

  Centrical y aligned on each floor were rows upon rows of

  dark-cherry solid-oak bookcases. They extended down long nar-

  row corridors that seemed to have no end. Bright Blue beams

  ran along grooves under each shelf, locking red books of differ-

  ent sizes in place. The books were shut with white stone clasps

  along their seams and were neatly stacked from floor to ceiling in evenly-sized rectangular compartments. Embossed on the front

  of each book was a white Titan with branches splayed.

  In the middle of the hal , centered under the dome, was a

  smooth white stone chiseled from a large block of Coral Red

  Marble; the stone rested in a hand still connected to the base—

  it was the focal point of the library. The floor around the base was dressed in black with white crawler veins. Sixteen Seraphim’s stood guard around the stone. Each Seraph had six wings and was

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  holding swords of fire. Etched into each blade was the inscription

  “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The blades crossed creating a fiery barrier.

  The library was filled with activity. Gupa Firewalkers, small

  creatures with long lime-green wings, black-striped bodies,

  highly intelligent, and extremely diligent, fluttered up and down the aisles with a book nobly held out in front.

  Against the northern wal , stood a massive dark-stained

  mahogany desk carved in the shape of a crescent moon. Engraved

  into its panels were twelve gold crowns evenly spaced across its front. Sitting on thrones behind each crown were twelve elders

  with velvet red cloaks draped over their heads and long, gentle

  folds streaming down to their feet.

  The firewalkers waited patiently in line next to a long hollow

  tube protruding from the floor underneath a pergola. Every few

  seconds, a blast of air rushed up the tube, rocketing a light brown container to the top. A firewalker grabbed the container, pulled out a scrol , and then according to the number on the scrol , flew in front of an elder and waited.

  When ready, the elder looked down and nodded.

  The firewalker flew forward and laid down the scrol . The

  elder took the scrol , broke the seal and opened it. After vigi-

  lant examination, he reached up and touched buttons on a screen

  floating in front of him. A few seconds later, a small red crystal rose from the top of the desk. The elder resealed the scroll and handed it back to the firewalker along with the crystal.

  The firewalker promptly attached the scroll to a latch on its

  back. Taking hold of the crystal, it proceeded down the corridors searching for the corresponding book. Once found, it inserted

  the crystal into a hole beneath the book turning the blue beam,

  red. It then took the book and the scroll to an angel waiting in one of the many rooms down the central aisle.

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  The angel turned the stone clasp on the seam of the book and

  opened it. He broke the seal on the scroll and copied the information into the book. Once finished, the angel rolled the scroll back up and inserted it into the globe—the scroll fed into the globe

  and disintegrated inside. The firewalker then returned the book

  to its shelf, returned the crystal to a chute in front of the desk, and got back in line by the pergola.

  Atrokus walked down the central aisle and ascended a staircase

  on the West side of the floor. He walked down the hal way past a fountain of four stone horses facing each other. The horses stood on their two hind legs with their front hooves clawing the air.

  Lava jetted from their mouths and boiled in the fountain below.

  He climbed another set of stairs several more levels and then circled back down a skywalk that led to a private chamber.

  Inside the chamber, a gold table with dragon feet legs stood

  prominently at the end of a bookcase. Miaphas, with a scroll lying out across the table, and ful y expecting Atrokus, in a calm soothing welcome stood up and embraced him.

  “Good to see you Atrokus. How are things on earth?”

  “I’m not sure. Strange things are happening.”

  He walked over by three lancet arched windows and looked

  out over the courtyard below. “They’re a lot of new fortifications since the last time I’ve been here,” he said. “Why all the new

  battlements?”

  Miaphas sat back down and finished his last few lines.

  “Preliminary precautions, that’s al .”

  Miaphas twisted his chair and leaned back. “I received Seven’s

  report several days ago. How’s our young grunter doing?”

  “Great. The Augur has him and is on his way to Thunder

  Juice Town. Everything is going as planned.”

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  He walked over and sat down. He folded
his fingers together,

  bounced his leg and looked around the room. “Slithler did

  just what His Majesty said he would do. The Augur’s plans are

  forthcoming.”

  He reached back and pulled out a small blade with a beauti-

  ful y carved black dragon-claw handle. He leaned forward with

  his elbows on his knees and sharpened one and a half inch long,

  ash gray, fingernails.

  “Where do you need me now?”

  “I was just making the last updates. Galamus should be here

  any moment. When he arrives, I need you to accompany him to

  Caelum. The final plans are there.”

  “You know, there is an eerie silence hovering in space. Flying

  here, it felt different.”

  Miaphas tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. It was just different. Like something or some-

  one was stalking me.”

  Galamus walked in a few moments later carrying a small

  golden triangular object in his hand. He walked across the room

  and handed it to Miaphas.

  “Here it is. What do you want me to do with it?”

  Miaphas took the plumb line and held it up. “Do you see

  this? His Majesty is going to bring disaster on Thunder Juice

  Town and the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. He

  will stretch this plumb line out from wall to wal , gate to gate. He will forsake the remnant of his inheritance and hand them over

  to the serpent. They will be looted and plundered because of the evil they have done. But after The Augur’s plans are complete, His Majesty will lay a stone in Thunder Juice Town, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation. All who trusts in it will never be disappointed. He will make justice the measuring

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  line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the

  serpents lies and water will overtake his hiding place. His covenant with death will be disannulled and his agreement with the

  pit will not stand.”

  Atrokus, attentively studying Miaphas’ face, looked at

  Galamus with curiosity and asked, “What’s going on? What is

  The Augur going to do on earth?”

  “We don’t know. But, whatever it is, it’s big, nothing like we’ve seen before. Get ready to leave at once, we must not delay our

  arrival at Caelum,” said Galamus. “When we get there, Zoma will