Crown of Vengeance

by Stephen Zimmer

  “There are some open grasslands, back in the direction from which we just came, and it isn’t too far away,” Logan said. “We decided that we definitely didn’t want to stay out in the open, until we learned more about where we are. There are a lot more places to hide in a forest, and there are more possibilities for shelter. It didn’t take us very long to decide to get out of the open and take our chances in here.”

  “The open grassland would be something different from what we’ve seen. We’ve just been walking through miles of forest and hills,” Mershad added, gesturing behind and around him.

  “As I assume we’ll be staying together, what direction do you think we should try?” asked Logan.

  “Maybe follow that. It might lead to a bigger body of water,” Erika said, pointing over towards the nearby creek.

  “Or it might go underground, with our luck,” Mershad said dourly. “But it might be worth a try.”

  “I think it is worth a try, and we were about to follow its course for awhile. We also need to plan for food, shelter, and everything else. We don’t even know if the water is safe to drink. I really hope one of you two is a woodland expert,” Logan queried. “I hope your degrees were in forestry, and that at least one of you is an aspiring forest ranger.”

  “At the moment, I wish that were so, but I’m afraid that neither of us is. But there are more minds working together now. Maybe that can offset our lack of knowledge regarding all of this,” Erika replied.

  “Maybe it can,” Logan said. He stepped forward and extended his hand, his somewhat stern countenance allowing a modest grin to emerge. “It is good to meet the two of you, and I’m glad that our paths crossed pretty quickly. It looks like we are going to be in this thing together.”

  Erika responded congenially, with a firm handshake, the others following suit.

  “I’m not happy that you had to go through all of this, but we are very glad to find you as well,” she said, the relief very evident in her expressive smile.

  “Likewise,” Logan replied, holding her deep gaze for a moment.

  It took him a second to draw back from her warm, striking eyes. In the wake of his edgy nerves, he was starting to take more note of her considerable attractiveness.

  With refreshed spirits and higher hopes, the foursome started along one side of the narrow brook, heading downstream. They compared their experiences and observations. From their collective best guess, the course of the creek meandered near to the outer border of the forest.

  About an hour later, near to a cluster of oak trees, they stopped for a short respite. Taking their cue from Erika and Mershad, Logan and Antonio fashioned their own stout walking sticks out of branches during the break.

  The quartet then resumed their travel at an easy pace, indulging in some light conversation as they began to relate more of their backgrounds and insights to each other.

  The temperate flow of the creek next to them established a continual, relaxing backdrop, which further soothed Logan’s wearied and harried mind. Yet despite the tranquil environs, they did not ignore caution. All continued to keep their eyes open for any signs of danger, and their voices remained subdued.

  When the creek continued out beyond the edge of the forest, it was decided that they would keep within the cover of the trees. Turning to the left, they altered their path to shadow the forest’s edge.

  LEE

  “Exactly what I was expecting on a Saturday night,” Ryan said in frustration, taking a half-hearted stab at the ground with his crude spear. His voice was thick with sarcasm as he continued, “A nice, long nature hike, under a pretty aqua sky. Just what I was wanting.”

  The young man sat down heavily upon the trunk of a fallen tree, as Lee sat down close to him. Lee extended his legs out, to rest them and perhaps recoup some energy after several hours of what felt like aimless wandering. His stomach felt as if it were about to cramp, and a faint dizziness brought on by hunger and fatigue was just beginning to creep in.

  “Not what you were expecting when you left the restaurant?” queried Lee ruefully.

  “Didn’t expect to go hiking, that’s for sure,” Ryan replied, with a bittersweet grin.

  The youth slumped to the ground, leaning backwards against the prone trunk and letting out a fatigued groan. They sat together in silence for several minutes, as they both took in the serenity of their immediate surroundings. Breathing in the fresh air, they gradually allowed the aches and tingles in their muscles to settle down.

  At long last, Ryan glanced up at Lee. “What’s next?”

  “There’s the obvious. I know we’re both getting hungry. And we should assume we’re going to be here for awhile, so we’d better start thinking about things like that,” Lee responded evenly.

  “We barely know what is out there, and what we’ve already seen is not that encouraging,” Ryan said.

  “No, it’s not,” Lee said, thinking of the flying creature that had startled Ryan when he had climbed the high tree to espy their surroundings.

  The broad forest, contoured by low hills and blanketed by teeming masses of trees, seemed to go on forever in all directions around them. As much as the forest seemed peaceable enough, that discovery was deeply troubling and weighed heavier with each passing hour upon Lee’s mind.

  “Should we stop and try to make some sort of camp then?” Ryan asked him.

  “Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. And we will have to hunt soon, or take a chance on some berries, roots, or plants,” Lee said. “I’m not familiar with a lot of things about this area, so we’ll have to hope that we find some things that we are familiar with. Luckily, I know a little about mushrooms, herbs, and some things like that. We should …”

  “Hey! Lee!” Ryan exclaimed curtly, in a hushed voice, jolting his hand up abruptly in a gesture that demanded silence.

  “What is it?” Lee asked in a whisper.

  Ryan slowly got up to his feet, tilting his head slightly to the side, appearing to be listening to something.

  Ryan finally whispered, “Something is coming … this way.”

  Turning, he pointed emphatically over the tree trunk, in the direction to Lee’s back. Lee quietly slid off of the tree trunk, and placed one knee on the ground as he rotated to face the woods alongside Ryan.

  The fallen tree served as a capable barrier in front of them, easily large enough to hide behind. They remained as still as the thick length of dead wood lying right before them.

  At first, Lee heard the unmistakable crunch of leaves and breaking twigs. Something larger, and not altogether stealthy, was indeed moving resolutely towards them through the woods. At a fair distance, Lee then caught sight of two human figures through breaks in the trees.

  As they drew closer, Lee saw that the figures were two younger females. His hopes rose sharply with the recognition, instantly relieved to see the presence of other people within the strange woodlands.

  Even so, he was not about to counsel recklessness, and wanted to make sure that Ryan retained some caution as well. He turned to Ryan before the other did something that might give away their hiding place.

  “Let’s go over there, a little more out of the way,” Lee said, indicating the end of the fallen section of tree trunk, where it had broken off from its lower, rooted base. A narrow swath of arched wood and bark still attached the fallen section to the jagged lower portion that was still firmly anchored to the ground. “We can watch them coming with even less risk of being seen.”

  A small, triangular opening was formed near the ground, at the juncture between the fallen portion of the tree and the rooted lower trunk. To Lee, it appeared highly advantageous for engaging in concealed observation.

  “Just keep down,” Lee cautioned, as he took the lead.

  Lee and Ryan crawled down towards the end of the tree, keeping to their bellies. Lee took painstaking care, and undertook a little extra exertion, so as not to cause much rustling as they moved across the leaves and brush lying beneath their knees and
stomachs.

  When he reached the small opening, he crouched to one side and left the other free for Ryan. He found that he had guessed correctly. The new vantage point did indeed offer an ideal place from which to watch and await the females without being too exposed.

  Lee noticed right away that the dress of the women was contemporary, which came as further relief given the confounding nature of their experience so far. The recognition of that fueled Lee’s hopes that everything was ultimately going to turn out to be some type of strange aberration, and that soon he and Ryan would be well on their way to forgetting about it all.

  He got a good look at the full-faced young woman to the left, who had dark hair with streaks of deep red dyed into it. Her face and neck were glistening with sweat. As the women neared, he could see that her cheeks were flushed and that her eyes were reddened. Lee guessed this was the result of sustained crying, exhaustion, or a combination of both.

  The young woman accompanying her was slightly taller, with long, straight dark hair. She appeared to be more composed than her companion, her expression taut and wary.

  Their sluggish movements held the air of extreme fatigue, and both were using makeshift walking sticks crafted from stout tree branches. There was no question in Lee’s mind now that they were both utterly tired, and had already been put through a great deal of exertion. Their wariness and fear were also manifestly evident as their eyes were constantly scanning the area around them.

  While they did not talk, they trudged heavily forward. They continued to make more noise than Lee believed that they wished to, their steps crunching upon the forest floor. He also judged that they were not threatening to any degree, as far as he and Ryan were concerned.

  Lee looked over to Ryan, and made a sharp motion for him to stay put, and to remain silent. Setting down his branch on the ground, and slowly straightening up, Lee walked calmly around the end of the broken tree stump to stand in clear, open view of the two women.

  The two females flinched, and the one with the dyed-streaks of hair gasped, both quite startled at his sudden appearance. They reacted swiftly, rapidly collecting themselves and raising up their branches in firm grips, such that Lee could see that they had crudely sharpened the ends of their rough weapons. Lee resented causing them any further fright, but he wanted to make sure that they saw him first from a comfortable distance, both for their sakes as well as for Ryan and himself.

  Lee slowly held both of his hands high, his palms openly exposed and empty. He opted for complete honesty, though he doubted that he would quickly gain any measure of trust from them.

  “I am not a threat,” Lee announced in an even tone of voice. “I wanted you to know I was here before you got any closer. I didn’t mean to startle you, but it would have been more startling if I stood up right next to you.”

  As he spoke, he realized that he had taken it for granted that they all shared the same language. Fortunately, the women showed no confusion at his words.

  The woman with the straight brown hair, a granite look embedded in her eye, asked firmly, “And who are you?”

  Her eyes then flicked to each side, and she stole a quick glance backward. Lee could sense the immediate and sharp distrust that she had, as if his emergence was some part of a larger ruse or ambush.

  As if to confirm his suspicion, she whispered to the other young woman, who kept a watch behind them as the first turned back to face Lee. Her countenance was grim, and Lee could see a little wild frenzy now playing about the edges of her gaze. He was certain that she had been through something quite terrible, and that it would not take all that much to cause her to snap violently.

  Lee responded quickly, and as gently as he could. He decided to hold nothing back, hoping against hope that the other two found something in his words that struck a familiar chord within their own sphere of experience.

  “My name is Lee Chen. I have no idea where I am. I got lost in a fog. And I found myself in this place. And you are the first people that I have seen,” he stated calmly. “I am hoping you know where we are right now, but it looks like you don’t either.”

  There was no mistaking the look of understanding that flashed across the other’s face. She did not drop her guard for long, and her hardened façade returned as the flare of clear surprise at the mention of the word “fog” faded. Yet at the least, Lee had some of his instincts confirmed.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” Lee pressed, deciding to go with the momentum and his gut feeling. “If I were to guess, I would guess that you were doing something quite normal, and then a fog came, and then you found yourselves in the middle of … who knows where we are. Maybe you even saw some strange things, or creatures? Different than anything you’re used to.”

  The tensed, defensive look softened slightly in the eyes of the brown-haired young woman, if again only for a moment.

  “And why should we believe you, that you aren’t a threat to us?” she asked him tersely.

  “I cannot prove to you why you should believe me. I have only my word. And I don’t expect you to believe me. I almost don’t believe myself, with what I’ve gone through,” Lee replied.

  He got the sense that there was something different and much darker about the experience that the other two had faced, as the edge of great fear remained at the fore in the young woman. Her companion had remained very disciplined and vigilant as she kept watch behind her friend, like one would be in the wake of going through something incredibly terrible.

  Lee wished that he could fully reassure them with his words and demeanor, but knew that such a thing was well beyond his art. For a few moments, there was an unpleasant tension hanging in the air as the brown-haired woman carefully considered his words.

  “You may be a danger to us, but I risked it,” Lee then added.

  The continuing level of mistrust, the obvious signs of weariness, and the protective postures of the two young women was evidence enough to Lee that he decided to take one further risk.

  “Okay, I will be fully honest with you, in the hopes that you will trust me, and understand that we have been through something unexplainable ourselves.

  “I have been defensive with you, as you are now being with us … Ryan, come on out,” Lee said gently, turning slightly to face Ryan’s obscured position.

  Ryan hesitated for a moment, a hesitant look on his face.

  “It’s okay, Ryan,” Lee encouraged. “Come out slowly, and stand up.”

  The woman with the dyed streaks turned and raised up her staff reflexively, her grip tightening upon it. The two women quickly backed up a few feet at the emergence of another man before them, casting glances to the back and sides, as if they feared that Lee was somehow triggering a trap. Seeing the gangly youth, they relaxed their rigid postures slightly, and Lee could see that they were beginning to perceive the truth in what he had been telling them.

  “Explain more about how you got here, what you were doing, and where you are from,” the girl with the straight brown hair demanded in a steeled tone, though her eyes gave away the sliver of hope that had now entered her. “Details are fine.”

  “I own Lee’s Wok, down by the University of Lexington. Ryan is a friend of mine who works with me, and had joined me as I was closing the restaurant, earlier tonight … as it was night when all of this happened.

  “We walked outside of the store when a large fog rolled in. It was a fog like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It came in quickly, covering everything, and soon we were in the middle of it. The next thing that I knew, we were here in this hilly forest, in the middle of the day, with a sky completely different to any I’ve ever seen.”

  He shrugged his shoulders, and gave a sigh of resignation.

  “What can I say? It wasn’t our choice to be in the middle of this, and I don’t know how we got here, and I really have no idea where here is, to begin with. Honest, that is all that I know,” Lee stated.

  The brown-haired girl nodded slowly in understanding. The hints of a smil
e slowly crept upon her face, reflecting familiarity as the various places were voiced. The other young woman then turned towards them fully, also exhibiting a relieved look. Both ceased casting furtive glances all about themselves.

  “Then you are from Lexington too. And I know your restaurant. I’ve eaten there before, but not enough for you to know me,” the brown-haired woman said. Her next words were as much for her own benefit, reasoning aloud as much as replying to Lee. “Wherever we are, I don’t think it would be easy to make up a story that matched ours in so many ways.”

  Her companion with the dyed streaks, rigidly silent until then, finally entered into the conversation.

  “You have great food at Lee’s Wok. I’ve gotten deliveries from there more than once. I recognize you a little now. My name is Erin, and this is Lynn,” the woman with the red-streaked hair introduced, stepping forward as a new series of tears began to roll down her face. “Right now, I am very, very happy to meet the man responsible for the food at Lee’s Wok, more than you can ever know.”

  Lee smiled awkwardly, as Erin suddenly threw her arms around him, and proceeded to give him a tight hug.

  “She tends to be emotional,” Lynn remarked curtly, and Lee could see that Lynn was not at all pleased that Erin had completely let down her guard. “But we’ve been through more than a little so far.”

  “Very nice to meet the two of you,” Lee said. “I’m Lee, and this is Ryan. I think that we are going to need each other’s company, once we’ve compared the stories of our last few hours.”

  To Lee’s surprise, Lynn seemed very enthusiastic to the idea. “We’ve already seen more than our share of things around here,” she said, giving a slight shudder as she inwardly made some sort of terrible recollection.

  “We’ve seen some really strange stuff too,” Ryan said pensively, speaking up for the first time.

  “Then you know that all this might be really, really dangerous, and that we need to be very careful,” Lynn replied, looking about her, as if for emphasis. “I don’t want to run into what we ran into just moments after coming here.”