by J. P. Rice
I pulled into Black Hoof’s driveway and my heart raced. I pulled out one of my son’s earbuds. “Time to finish up whatever you’re doing, Dante.”
He acted like he hadn’t heard me. As we wound around the gravel driveway, Dante slammed the laptop closed, took out his other earbud and Colossus jumped up into the front seat. We rounded the last bend to get to Black Hoof’s house and I almost threw up.
The only thing left of the house was the foundation and a heap of rubble.
The tornado had gone directly through his house, which maybe went without saying. Distracted by the destruction, I almost didn’t notice the other car in front of me and jammed the brakes. Gritting my teeth and reaching over to protect Dante, we slid to a stop right behind a red Ford F-150.
As my heartbeat slowed back down from the near accident, I put the car in park. Dante opened his door and Colossus sprinted out of the car. I jumped out and didn’t see anyone around.
As I panned the area, I noticed a man kneeling next to a few stones from the outdoor firepit. Dante and Colossus followed me toward the man. As I got closer, I noticed he was praying. Never a good sign.
I spoke in a soft voice, not to startle him, “Excuse me, Terry.”
The man’s head jerked around and made eye contact with me. “You must be Mike.” He stood up and shook my hand.
“I am.” I fished for the news I wanted to hear, “I know it looks horrible, but Black Hoof and his family weren’t here when it happened. Were they?”
Terry took a deep breath and pulled a wooden pipe out of his vest pocket. He dug into his breast pocket with his other hand and pulled out some matches. Terry fired up the pipe of cherry tobacco that reminded me of my grandfather. He took a few puffs and said, “Remember how I told you that the weather experts couldn’t even detect it? Well the people wouldn’t have known until it was probably too late.”
I wanted to hold onto a modicum of hope. “But there’s still a chance. Right? He might be hiding out in the caves back in the woods. He might be all right. Right?”
Terry lowered his head and the lingering smoke hid his visage and danced around his ears. “I checked around. They found the bodies of Black Hoof, his wife and daughters about a half-mile from here.”
“Fuck that.” My eyes welled up with tears and my hands balled into fists. I wanted to hit something right now. “Sorry. I just. I just. I don’t even know what to say.” I looked down at Dante who didn’t seem affected in the slightest. He probably wasn’t paying attention.
“It’s tough for me too.” Terry took a few deep breaths. “I’ve known Black Hoof since we were little kids. He was the best person, other than my mother and grandmother, that I’ve ever known. I’m still in shock about the whole thing. We were like family.” He hit his pipe again, and I thought he could be using it as a coping device.
I nodded in agreeance and said, “That was the same feeling I got from them when he invited me to stay for dinner after I visited him about Cyclone Woman. Bad people killing good people. When will this shit ever stop?”
Terry exhaled a huge cloud of smoke into the moist Tionesta air. “I can’t answer that. Probably never, I would suspect. It is excessively cruel to use Cyclone Woman to do this.”
Colossus barked, and I spun around trying to figure out where he was. I’d let him wander off while I was talking to Terry. He barked again, and I followed the sound. It led me into the woods to my left.
Wondering what he could be going crazy about, I squeezed between two shrubs and into a little clearing.
I almost threw up again. A bloody and battered female body with red hair was sprawled out on the ground. She looked almost identical to Burn, maybe a little older. At least that was what I saw. A harmless young woman had been picked up by the tornado and spit out here.
This entire situation was becoming extremely personal. As I stared at the innocent body, tears welled up in my eyes. I started to rethink my position of hanging back and letting Felix take the lead. I couldn’t wait around to find out about Burn.
I had to save other innocent women like her. The Seven Sorcerers could send the next tornado straight through the city of Pittsburgh or an area with much denser population, causing even more havoc.
“Sharon O’Connell,” Terry said from behind me and I jumped in reaction to his words. Being around dead bodies made me a bit tense. He said, “Her family has been searching for her. I’ll call the authorities to take care of this. People don’t understand how much power the weather has.”
I mumbled, “I do. And I can’t sit back and let this happen again.”
“Excuse me?” asked Terry.
“Sorry, just sort of talking to myself.”
“You all can leave if you wish. Your son doesn’t need to stay for this. It might give him nightmares. I’ll stay here and wait with the body.” He tapped his pipe into his palm and tossed the ashes aside.
“If you don’t mind. I need to figure out how to get Cyclone Woman back.” I didn’t want to leave but I couldn’t do anything here.
He wiped the ashes onto the pantleg covering his thigh and extended that same hand toward me. “Godspeed my friend.”
“Thank you.” We shared a firm handshake, and I said, “It was great meeting you in person, although the circumstances could have been better.”
He nodded and started walking with us back to the car. “I agree. If I hear anything else pertinent to Cyclone Woman, I’ll be sure to get in touch with you.”
“I appreciate that. Thanks again.” I looked behind me to make sure Dante and Colossus were in tow.
“You’re welcome.” He pulled out a cellphone and stopped moving. I gave him a silent wave, knowing he had some difficult calls to make.
Dante, Colossus and I got back on the road. I called Felix on the way home to tell him that I was back in to help with the case. The mage hadn’t left for West Virginia yet, so we made a plan to head down to the mountain the next day. Looking over at Dante, it reminded me I would need to find someone to watch him.
My only option right now was Alayna. Luckily, she had been more than willing to help out so far. I hoped the trip would only take a day. Tomorrow, we were going to dig up the mysterious Blood Goblet. How hard could it be?
Chapter 9
Felix and I hiked up the slope of Cheat Mountain on our way to uncover the Blood Goblet. We were both wearing our rune-covered protection suits underneath sweat pants and hoodies. I had a huge backpack weighing me down a bit. It was packed with bottles of water and some digging tools.
We walked through an area of sad looking evergreens.
“I read something that said the balsam firs are being taken out by an insect from Asia.” The trees were missing most of their needles and the trunks had a thick white substance staining the bark. Any specimen from this forest would have made a sad Christmas tree.
“What are the chances they are from Japan?” Felix mused.
“Probably one hundred percent with our luck.”
He continued, “This all seems to be tying together strangely. How much longer until we reach Thorny Flat?”
I pulled out the piece of paper with the translated directions and took a quick peek. “Not long according to our secret maps. Once we find the branchless spruce with a seven carved into it at the top of the mountain, we start using the other map. This is assuming we can trust these maps.”
“So far, so good, right?” Felix asked, but he was searching for confirmation.
“Yep. I’m more worried about the map of Thorny Flat. It has to be exactly right for us to find this Goblet.”
We trekked for another hour in the unseasonably warm conditions. The past few winters in the northeast had been extremely mild, if not warm. Cheat Mountain was supposed to have snowy ice caps, but we hadn’t run into a flake of snow in the air or on the ground.
The temperature dropped as we ascended, just barely enough that I could see my breath in the air. Our trail to get here had been highlighted with mostly spruce t
rees, salamanders, squirrels and winter wren. With the unexpected warm conditions, the woods were quieter than I had expected, and the buzzing of insects was missing.
I stepped in a loose patch of earth and slid down ten feet. My heart almost exploded until I clawed at the ground and slowed my momentum. Finally, I regained my footing and steadied myself. I took a few deep breaths, stepped to the left on some firmer ground, and climbed the incline.
As we continued our upward path, the sun started to flirt dangerously with the horizon. We needed to move quickly before daylight disappeared. Felix picked up the pace and proved to be a master hiker. He hadn’t slipped once and made for a solid trailblazer. I wouldn’t have expected it with his city lifestyle.
“There it is,” Felix announced like a proud gameshow host, his finger pointing straight ahead.
I pulled the rest of my body up to a plateau and my eyes bulged with excitement. The branchless spruce stood there like a tower or obelisk, proud and tall. Dipping my shoulder, I slipped out of the backpack. I pulled the leather sack around and opened the zipper on the small compartment.
I handed Felix the new map, shoved the old one into the backpack and zipped it shut. Shaking the backpack, I heard the clanging of the small gardening spades and the water whooshing around. I needed the reassurance. It would have sucked to hike all this way to realize we’d forgotten essential equipment.
We followed the directions from the tree with a seven carved into it. We walked one hundred paces north and my pulse quickened as the moss-covered boulder mentioned in the instructions appeared. From there we moved fifty paces west and came to the golden X on the map.
I grabbed the small gardening spades and shovels out of my bag and we got to work. We attacked the soil of Thorny Peak with vigor. Dirt flew everywhere as I burrowed into the ground, wide eyed and ready to claim the Goblet.
As Felix and I dug deeper, nothing appeared except for more dirt and tree roots. I said, “Let’s shift a bit and try again. The paces could be determined by the person’s height who set the map. We should continue in a straight line back toward the boulder.”
“I think that’s our best bet too,” Felix agreed.
We dug four more holes each. My arm muscles burned, and our hopes seemed to be dashed. Unless it was a dwarf who had set the paces, we should have found it by now. Perhaps this was all a decoy to chase us out of Pittsburgh. But why had Kobayashi tried to fight me for the maps?
With daylight fading we continued working our way toward the mossy boulder. I drove the spade into the ground and half of it disappeared into mother earth. Clank. What? I lifted the little shovel and jammed it down again in a stabbing motion. Clank.
My eyes widened as I dug out the surrounding area. Using my left hand, I flung dirt out of the hole and a bright yellow brilliance gleamed in the dying sunlight. As I uncovered more of the Goblet, I found that it was wrapped in tree roots.
I chiseled away at the roots, busting them away from the golden Goblet ornamented with rubies. The forest began to stir and I stopped. Birds that I hadn’t seen flew from the branches of the trees, racing up into the dusky orange sky. Wind rustled through the thick, needle-covered branches on the evergreens. If you listened close enough it was trying to say something. I couldn’t quite make out what it was.
Ignoring the sudden stirring, I went back to the task at hand. Freeing the Goblet. Felix used the pointed edge of his spade to bust some of the roots away.
“Hold up a second. I’m going to see if I can pull it out.” I jammed my fingers into the opening of the Goblet and yanked it up. More birds squawked and beat their wings rising up and flying out of the forest. I pulled up on the Goblet, and a loud yawning sound echoed around the woods.
Slightly spooked, I lifted the Goblet out of the ground and the yawning grew louder. It sounded like a thousand hibernating bears were coming out of a long slumber. Looking around, the trunks of the trees swayed like a limber snake, serpentining in an entrancing way. The branches of the trees shifted up the trunk and beat like the wings of a mighty eagle. Up and down, up and down, up and down.
I’d never seen a tree change its shape like this before. We had to have awakened an ancient spirit or something of that ilk. The trees stopped stretching and moving around, and as I spun around in a circle, the base of the trunks started to become distorted. The bark rippled and swirled around until a small wooden man emerged from the trunk.
Oh shit. I called my magic to come out of the reservoir and prepared for the worst.
The dryad warrior had all the makings of a samurai in traditional armor and helmet, including a curved-blade katana. Granted the sword was wooden, but it still looked bad ass. The Asian warrior appeared in vivid detail, including a bushy mustache and big buck teeth sticking out of his thick lips.
Before I could react, a few more men walked out of the trunks and stroked their swords in preparation.
I took off my hoodie and wrapped the Blood Goblet inside. I tossed it back in the hole and kicked some dirt on it. Turning to Felix, I said, “Let’s go back to back. Get your magic ready to go if you haven’t already.”
“I’m rock and roll ready to go, bro,” he confirmed as blue sparks of electricity danced around his fists.
Standing on one of the highest peaks in the Appalachian Mountains, with only one friend on my side, I was surrounded by a small army of wooden Samurai warriors who seemed like they did not want us to leave with the Goblet.
Time for some action.
A light, cold drizzle started and a sudden breeze picked up.
“I’m going to form a fire sword to deal with these suckers. Let’s burn these mothers down.” I told Felix.
“Sounds good,” he replied.
I called on some fire and as soon as it appeared in my palm, I quickly manipulated it into sword form. I curved the blade to go scimitar-style as my mind focused on the task at hand. The wooden samurais drew back their swords and closed in on us.
I said, “You guys want to talk first? We can get you out of this forest. A nice new life in the city, perhaps?”
One of the men screamed wildly and raced toward me.
I drew my sword back, stared into his beady eyes, and said, “All right. We’ll go with plan B, then.”
He wound up and unleashed a mighty overhand strike that I blocked with my magic sword. It sounded like two pieces of strongly forged metal colliding and the swords rebounded off each other. I’d left a black burn mark on his wooden sword. My eyes danced around, anticipating his next move.
The smaller man took a wild stroke aimed at decapitating me. I ducked and heard the blade buzzing by, then countered with a smooth sidestroke across his midsection. The fiery blade ripped right through the wooden warrior, felling him in two pieces. No blood, just sap oozed from the mortal wound.
More men stepped up to defend their fallen friend. I could hear Felix screaming behind me, but I wasn’t about to turn around with two men closing in on me. Reforming my sword, I crafted it into the shape of a long staff. I took a quick peek behind me to make sure Felix was clear of my killing radius.
The rain picked up, but the fire dancing around my weapon didn’t relent. It was more concerning to me that we were losing daylight by the second.
Dissolving some of the flames on my weapon, I grabbed the middle of the staff and whirled it around. The fire beam crashed into one man’s wooden sword with a clang of metal. I reversed the rotational direction and whipped the staff around. It blazed straight into the warrior’s chest, leaving a molten trail in the gash. The man dropped to his knees and fell on his face into the mud.
I changed the staff back into straight-blade sword form as the second man came at me. A wild stroke of a deadly wooden sword missed to my left and my dodging motion carried me into a three-sixty. As I completed the spin, I ripped a cross-stroke, taking off the man’s sword arm at the elbow and cutting straight into his belly. And another one bit the dust.
This seemed like it would be one helluva workout
, but these men didn’t seem like highly trained swordsmen. I waved my flaming sword in front of me to keep the enemy at bay and peeked over my shoulder. Felix was wrecking shop with his blue fire sword that looked like a light saber, setting the tree men ablaze with a single stroke.
The rain picked up, which was probably good. It was putting out the fires from the dryad warriors. I didn’t want to cause a forest fire, I just wanted to escape with the Goblet. The trees began to sway again, causing darker shadows in the dusk-like atmosphere.
Two more men approached me. The branches of the surrounding trees twisted and turned, casting darkness over the two men and causing them to disappear. I took a few steps back.
The wind rustled, and a voice came from the darkness, “If you take the Goblet, you will be cursed for the rest of your days.”
My head perked up and I asked, “Felix, you hear that shit?”
Out of breath, Felix said, “Yeah, I’m. Already. Cursed. I. Think.”
I agreed, “Fuck it. Me too.” Now if I could only locate my enemy, I’d be doing great.
A crushing blow to my biceps came out of nowhere. Suddenly, a shadow warrior appeared in front of me. Through the openings on his helmet, he appeared straight-faced and emotionless like an assassin. I unleashed a diagonal stroke that tore right through his wooden body and dropped the warrior. As I checked my upper arm for damage, the wooden sword hadn’t broken through my rune suit.
Another invisible stroke clobbered me in the ear with the flat of the sword. My vision blurred and my head went dizzy. My knees bent, ready to give out, when I caught myself, straightened up and took two staggering steps back. The wooden warrior reappeared as he was in mid-stroke. He raked his sword across the part of my body where my midsection met my upper body.
It not only chased the wind out of me, it felt like someone had run me over with a train. My lungs felt like they were going to explode, belly felt ill and my mouth went dry. As if those problems weren’t enough, the ground fissured, tree roots sprang out of the ground and tangled around my ankle.