by Gary Foshee
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Dr. Gary Warren Foshee
struck by courage, courage unknown to Slithler’s forces, as ser-
vants clashed with the enemy rushing through the breached wal .
Vines weaved through the battle and wrapped around their
legs, pulling them into The Redmadafa, as Bugler fish and other
river creatures torpedoed out of the water slamming them from
every direction.
“Traegor, the line is giving way. There’s too many of them,”
yelled Oka, the Plant King.
“Hold the line Oka, we must hold the line.”
Mushrooms piled into baskets and catapulted over the wal .
They sacrificed themselves by releasing a toxic cloud of poison in the air, inflaming throats and choking others.
Viper broke through the wal , crushing both armies merci-
lessly under his feet. He crossed the courtyards and punched the temple over and over, breaking off numerous towers.
Urium flew into the temple, through the chapel, down the
hal way, and up the stairs searching for Caboose. Rounding the
corner he found him standing in Onuka’s chamber, helping him
gathering the rest of his things. The room shook violently each
time Viper struck the temple.
“Caboose, you must get in the tunnels now.” Traegor can’t
hold them back much longer. The line is falling.”
Caboose reached into his pocket and fished around for some-
thing. He searched all over…
“What are you looking for,” asked Urium?
“The dragon claws. They’ll help Traegor and the others,” he
said, still searching his pockets. “I can’t find them Urium, do you have them?”
With a puzzled look on his face, Urium replied, “Dragon
claws? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about?
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The dragon claws you gave me. You know, ‘ pull them out, cast them about!’”
“Caboose, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never
gave you any dragon claws.”
Confused Caboose grabbed him, “Of course you did. You
gave me dragon scales to heal my wounds. You gave me dragon
intestines to scale down Dead Man’s Drop. You gave me dragon’s
blood to renew my strength and Seven gave me dragon claws to
help fight for my friends.”
Urium looked at Caboose and shook his head, “Caboose, I
never gave you any of those things.”
“But… I used them in the colosseum. What’s going on?
Urium, what’s going on?”
Urium, realizing what had happened, smiled and affirmed,
“What you experienced was not of this world. It was not by
might, nor by power that The Augur helped you in the valley, it
was by His Great Spirit. It was His power that delivered you from death. It was His power that renewed your strength. It was His
power that gave you the courage to scale down the cliff at Dead
Man’s Drop. And it was His mighty hands that fought for you in
the colosseum.”
“His Spirit? I don’t understand?”
“You wil ,” said Urium. “After all of this is over and The Augur pours Him out, you wil .”
The ceiling above them cracked and buckled in the middle.
Onuka and Caboose ran out of the room as it caved-in and they
raced down the hal way, dodging falling debris. Stairs crumbled
beneath their feet as they headed for the tunnels, causing Onuka to fall to the ground, pinning him underneath a wood beam.
“Keep going,” said Onuka, “You have to make it.”
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Caboose, didn’t listen. He grabbed the beam and lifted with
all his might but it was too heavy. He looked for something to
give him leverage, but found nothing.
Rinox appeared at the top of the stairs, which was col aps-
ing, and jumped. He landed on the stairs, which had partial y
col apsed behind Caboose, and swayed back, about to fall into
the gap that had opened up. Rinox teetered back just as Caboose
grabbed his arm pulling him to safety.
“You must get into the tunnels. The wall has fallen and crawl-
ers and trol s have already entered the sanctuary.”
Rinox and Caboose lifted the beam off of Onuka and turned
to run, just as a troll dropped down on Rinox thrusting him to
the ground. Rinox’ stood up and stabbed it in the side with his
horn. The troll jumped back on Rinox and pinned him to the
ground again. Caboose jumped on its back rolling it off Rinox
and down the stairs—Caboose rolled out of the way just as the
troll slammed against the door, blocking their route. Rinox fol-
lowed suit and rammed it again before it could get up, stabbing it in the stomach. He moved the large troll out of the way with his powerful neck muscles leaving a crack large enough for them to
squeeze through.
Crawlers oozed down the sides, scampering to join the fight.
They spewed webs from their mouths but missed, as Rinox,
Caboose, and Onuka squeezed through the crack and ran down
the hal way to the hidden door leading to the tunnels. Onuka
counted the torches on the wall as he ran by and then reached up and pulled a torch holder that looked like the talons of an eagle.
He twisted it around to the right once and then to the left twice.
“Were not going to make it!” yelled Caboose, waiting for the
door to open.
“Go,” said Rinox, “I’ll hold them off.” He wheeled around and
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charged the crawlers ramming them against the wal . Their hairy
legs beat against his back as they spit webbing all over him trying to free themselves. Trapped, he looked back at Caboose and
yelled, “Close the door! Close the door now!”
Caboose hesitated at the door. “You can make it Rinox. You
can make it.” Onuka pulled him in and closed the door as Rinox
said, “You’re the one Caboose— until the last breath.”
The door closed. Rinox backed up, roared, and slammed
the sides of the wal s as hard as he could. The crawlers turned to escape his fury, but it was too late. The ceiling caved crushing all of them beneath the rubble.
Outside, Viper blasted the temple. He hit it over and over,
spewing lava from his mouth, melting the wal s, caving-in the
sides. The temple crumbled under his blows and struggled to
maintain its foundations.
Over the horizon, the earth delegations approached the outer
wal s of Thunder Juice Town. Rocks, trees, plants, beasts, crea-
tures and humans marched through the holes in the wal s and
raced through the Eastern streets to the temple valiantly fighting along the way. Arsonon broke from the fight and found Legion
standing outside the temple wal , observing the destruction
inside.
“Reinforcements have arrived from the East. What should
we do?”
“Take the second battalion and strike them head-on. Divide
the third, and flank them from both sides. Don’t let them reach
the temple.”
Atrokus and the rest of the Northern celestial guard remained
hidden over the temple, covered in a protective invisible shield keeping their presence unknown. Atrokus left the shield and flew ove
r to Miaphas who was in the middle of the garden protecting
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key individuals His Majesty had ordered to stay alive. “Miaphas, they’ve arrived,” said Atrokus. “Look, Zoma is leading the charge.”
Stumpy, perched high in a tree given orders to those on the
ground, yelled down at Traegor, “Traegor, look; our friends, they fight for us. They fight for us!”
“It’s too late. They’ll never make it to us in time. Have every-
one climb the trees.”
Stumpy looked at him awkwardly.
“Just do it, and hurry Stumpy. We’re running out of time.”
Traegor broke from the fight and ran through the outer
courts. He jumped over dead bodies and ran up and over a
magondrea and then under a crawler slicing its bel y with his
claws. He jumped on top of a gog and broke its neck with his
paws. Dozens of howlers pursued him trying to reclaim his life.
Traegor ran into the middle of The Redmadafa, spun around and
called out:
“Mighty river
Cumber and red,
Rise from your slumber,
Protect us from the dead!”
Spikes rippled across the water. Rumbles filled the air, shak-
ing the temple mount and all of Thunder Juice Town, as The
Redmadafa erupted high into the sky. A tidal wave ripped into
the outer courts flooding it, drowning Slithler’s army instantly.
Others struggled to stay afloat as wave after wave pummeled them.
Leviathan lunged around the bend and entered the outer
courts plucking beasts out of the water like mushy marts being
gobbled up by younglings.
A large column of water, shaped like a hand, thrust from the
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river and punched Viper knocking him off his feet and into the
temple. Viper stood up and spewed lava but The Redmadafa was
too powerful. It punched him again, sending Viper crashing back
into the temple mount—or what was left of it.
In the middle of the river, a whirlpool opened. Viper fought
violently, punching at the water and clawing at the temple, but
the more he struggled the further he sank beneath its torrent.
Viper disappeared beneath the majestic, red waters, extinguish-
ing his flames, quenching his fury.
The water receded from the outer courts, revealing the aftermath.
Traegor and the remaining temple servants looked around in dis-
believe. Slithler’s army had been swept away by Leviathan and the waters of The Redmadafa, but the war was far from over. The temple lay in shambles—its massive wal s left unsecure and gapped.
The beautiful botanical gardens, sculptures, porticos and cisterns all destroyed, ruined by the pride and disobedience of man.
Stumpy and the remaining army climbed down from the
trees.
“Secure the wal . Hurry before they attack again,” ordered
Traegor.
The courtyard came to life again with trees, plants, and rocks
using their bodies for supports to close and seal up the gaps in the wal s. The remaining delegates from earth assembled inside
the wal s and laid out new battle plans.
Legion, turned to Slithler and snarled, “What now Master?”
“Unleash the Shadow of Death. They have foolishly played all
their cards. Finish them off; don’t leave any survivors.”
Legion pulled out a dragon’s horn and blew. His army gath-
ered around the temple wal s and waited.
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* * * * * * *
Inside the tunnels, the people were puzzled. They did not know
what had happened outside. The sudden quietness, which should
have brought a sense of calm and subtle peace, turned deathly
peculiar. The noise outside had stopped. Ears twitched and lis-
tened, wondering if it was over. Speculation filtered through the tunnel, was it over? Were they safe? Conclusions were dim, dangling faith by a thread.
Caboose walked down the tunnels, attending the sick, look-
ing for his mother and sister.
“Young grunter, did you just come from outside?” asked an
old frail voice sheeplessly tucked away in a corner.
Caboose stopped and acknowledged the elderly woman,
comforting her, reassuring her everything would be alright.
By the time he had finished talking, another voice reached out
to him.
“Koby?” This time a young human girl addressed him. “Is
that you?”
He focused on her face—her voice unfamiliar.
“It’s me, Brook.”
Her face looked different—better—alive. “Wow, you look dif-
ferent. Good. I mean, you look real y good.” I didn’t think she knew me especial y my real name, he thought.
Brook began to cry. She stood up and wrapped her arms
around him. “It is you. It’s so good to see you.” She stepped back from him for a moment and looked him over and then hugged
him again. “You’re alive. You’re alive.”
Caboose was at a loss for words. He hugged her back and
smiled. “Are you ok? I mean, is everything alright?”
“It is now. Your Papa, have you seen your Papa?”
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Caboose drew his face, puzzled that she was asking such a
strange question. “Yes, I have seen him. How…”
She interrupted him, “How is he? Is he ok?”
Puzzled he asked, “You know my Papa?”
Brook dropped her eyes and straightened her shirt. “I…left
home several months ago and found this gate.”
His chest heaved.
“I was in the middle of this tree about to drop my last silver
coin into a stone when your Papa came busting through the door,
knocking the coin out of my hand, yelling at me to never touch it again. At first, I thought he was crazy. He explained to me that he had been there before, and how it was all a lie. Anyway, long story short, He saved my life. How is he?”
Caboose stood in shock. He didn’t know how to tell her his
father was dead. He searched his thoughts and rubbed his hands.
“Brook, my Papa is…dead. He gave his life, protecting me in
the pit.”
She froze. Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her
rosy red cheeks, full of color and life. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She thought for a moment and then replied, “A rainbow. Your Papa
was a rainbow of many colors.”
Caboose never expected to hear his Papa described so,
colorfully.
“He was a great man. He changed my life and the life of my
family forever.”
Brook, remembering what Chesty said about a song coming
from the heart, stood up and to ease the tension in the tunnels, sang:
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Dr. Gary Warren Foshee
Yel ow is a golden crown
Of precious jewels placed all around,
That someday I will lay at his feet.
Green is the breath of life
Carried by the wind,
Whispering his name for all the earth to hear.
Purple adorns His Majesty
The proof that he made all things,
I am now a child of the King of Kings.
I thank you Lord, for blessing me abundantly;
I can see the many colors
The colors of the rainbow
Shining brightly way u
p in the sky.
Red, blue, yel ow, purple and green
A promise made for eternity,
A promise that we can all be free
A promise that, I was made to do Great Things.
Blue is an ocean
Waving in the distance,
Guiding me through the storms of life.
Red is the crimson flow
That reminds me of my savior,
And the blood that he shed for you and me.
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I thank you Lord, for blessing me abundantly;
I can see the many colors
The colors of the rainbow
Shining brightly way up in the sky
Red, blue, yel ow, purple and green
A promise made for eternity,
A promise that we can all be free,
A promise that, I was made to do Great Things.
Outside, atop one of the broken statues, a small mushroom
began to drum vigorously. He jumped down and ran through
the ranks, pushing his way to Traegor. Climbing up his leg and
across his spiky back, he whispered in his ear. Traegor whirled
around and climbed back up a tree. His formidable eyes scanned
the eastern mouth of the mountains. His heart bubbled and his
tongue rejoiced, his body tingling with joy. With a strength that transcends understanding he shouted:
“Behold, The White Wooly! The precious Lamb of God!”
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The Shadow of Death
Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where
is thy victory?
AURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! The Redmadafa
vibrated, its waters rippled with thousands of Bugler Fish
sounding their trumpets, rupturing the eardrums of Slithler’s
cryptic army. Trees snapped, water clapped and rocks tapped.
Mushrooms drummed, flowers hummed and grasses strummed.
Glory shone, praise rejoiced, jubilee danced, and victory shouted!
The Southern Celestial guard stood at attention, their hearts
and minds backwashing with memories of times past, waiting
for justice to smite its evil enemy. Miaphas’ eyes glossed with the sight of White; he had waited faithful y for the signal. With victory in his voice and triumph filling the air, he towered into the 330
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sky, and as the invisible shield fell revealing the Southern celestial guard, he prophetical y proclaimed:
“A trick for the trickster,
A cross for the dross.
His death has brought life,