by Matt King
“Hey, uh... I think I have to go to the bathroom,” August said.
“Hold it. We’re almost there.”
Bear stepped through the trees and held the branches back to make a path. He looked at August like he was ready to grab him if he tried to run. I'm going to regret this. August stepped through expecting to feel a gun barrel jabbed between his shoulder blades any second. Once he came out the other side, he was quick to face Bear again. They stood at the end of a patch of tilled land the size of a football field. It was striped with raised lines of dirt that had hundreds of little tufts of leaves sticking out of them. Probably some vegetable he was bound to hate. An orange tractor flecked with rust sat next to them, its front wheels barely visible beneath heavy weeds.
“Okay, we’re…wherever this is,” August said. “Now what?”
Bear looked back through the pines before answering. “Give me your arm.”
“Say again?”
“Your arm. Give it to me.”
“What for?”
Bear didn't wait for him to give it up. He took August's right arm and pushed him to the ground when he tried to pull away. August fell on his back, flattened like a penny on a railroad track, and Bear kept him that way by pressing a boot against his chest.
“Bear, let's talk about this,” he said through gritted teeth. “What are you—whoa! Hold on a sec!”
Bear took a green-handled pocketknife out of his jeans and pressed a button, releasing the blade. He bent August's fingers back to expose the palm.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“I have to see it!” Bear shot back. His voice was thunderous. He slid the edge of the knife across the meaty base of August's thumb, sending a heavy flow of blood streaming down his wrist. Bear held him pinned to the ground while he watched, his eyes focused on the wound.
August stopped his struggle when he realized what Bear was after. After a few seconds, the blood from the wound slowed to a trickle. Although he couldn't see it from the ground, he felt the energy inside him at work as it began to seal his wound together, tugging at his muscle as it knit the fibers back in place. If Bear had done it in the darkness of the barn's apartment instead of dragging him out to a field, he might've seen a quick flash of blue light as the laceration healed.
Bear held August's arm in place until the wound vanished. He interrupted the last trickle of blood with his thumb and smeared it back over the spot where the cut had been. Finally, he let the arm drop and removed his foot from August's chest. He took a few slow steps toward the trees, turning his back to August as he rested his hands on his hips.
“You said you'd tell my father the reason you came here once two days were up,” he said, facing August again. “Suppose you give me a preview.”
“Yeah, okay,” August replied, “but no more surprise attacks. You're making me look bad.”
Bear nodded. He leaned against the grill of the tractor while he waited. It groaned beneath his weight.
August got up, brushing the grass from his hair. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“I watched you leave last night,” Bear answered, “so I stayed up until you came back. Only took a few minutes with a flashlight to find out where you'd been. The only reason you're not in jail right now is that the stuff you left behind in the fields wasn't blood. Not human, anyway.”
“Covering tracks was never my strong suit.”
“So what were they?”
“Scouts,” August said. “Ugly bastards. If I don't see another eight-foot snake monster again for a thousand years, it'll be too soon.”
Bear looked at him, confused.
“Never mind.”
“Why is someone sending scouts after you?”
August tried to think of a good way to wrap up the whole story in a sentence or two. There wasn’t much hope. “This is probably going to sound nuts and I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but… there’s a war coming. A big one. Those scouts were sent by someone on the other side, someone you and I were chosen to fight against.”
“Whose war are we talking about?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute. The important part is that we can stop it before it begins. It's like I told you last night: I came here to find you. We’re supposed to work together. If we can find the guy I'm looking for, maybe this war never happens.”
The sun emerged from a cloud, washing the field in hazy yellow light. Bear squinted one eye. “What makes this guy so special?”
“I’m not entirely sure.”
“You're not much on details.”
“Story of my life.”
Bear studied the ground at his feet. “Does all this mean that I’m like you?”
The thought occurred to August that he had no idea what Bear was capable of, other than scowling. He wondered if Bear even knew. “I guess we're alike. I know I called us immortal last night, but we're not really immortal. More like quasi-immortal. We can be killed under the right circumstances, although they’d have to be pretty extreme circumstances.”
“Like what?”
“Well, we can’t survive anything that rips off an important body part, like a chest. That’s pretty important. Or a head.”
“I just watched your cut heal, though.”
“Yeah, but…okay, it’s like this,” August answered. “You and I have something inside us that binds everything together. It's like our whole body is a magnet and if one part gets hurt, it pulls itself back together again and heals everything up like it never happened. But if something gets lopped off, there’s nothing to put back together. The good news is the people we’ll fight have the same problem, so I hope you’ve been doing your limb-ripping exercises.”
The joke didn’t even raise a smile. “This stuff inside us,” Bear said. “Who put it there?”
“A woman named Meryn. She’s our boss. Kind of.”
Bear crossed his arms, waiting for more.
“You know all that stuff you learned in church about there only being one god? As it turns out, there's about ten of them. Well, there were ten. One of them figured out a way to kill another one and that’s what the war’s about.”
“Who told you this?”
“Meryn. According to her, whenever these gods square off, they have champions that lead their armies for them. That’s where you and I come in. We’re her champions.”
August let the words linger, expecting Bear to laugh or storm off or maybe snap him in two just to put him out of his insane misery, but the man simply stood in place, looking around the field with a stony expression.
“Why choose me?” he asked. “I’m no fighter.”
“I’m sure she had her reasons. Maybe it's because you're seven feet tall and can lift a house. You’re a lot stronger than she made me.” And that’s something I plan on asking her about, he added mentally. “I got the job because I find people. When I find them, I usually kill them too, which was a quality she was looking for, I guess.”
“How did she find you?”
“I didn’t ask. When a woman materializes in front of your face out of thin air, you just kind of assume she has the means.”
A simple nod ushered in a thoughtful silence on Bear’s part.
He’s taking this too well, August thought. I’m talking about gods and healing powers and he’s sitting there like none of this is new. He looked down at the blood still crusted on his palm. Maybe none of it was.
“Bear, why did you cut my hand when we got out here?” he asked.
“I told you. I wanted to see it.”
“You wanted to see me heal or you wanted to see if I healed like you?”
Bear’s jaw tightened.
“How long have you known?”
A loud chirping noise rang from Bear’s jeans pocket, followed by the muffled sounds of someone talking through a speaker. He pulled out a small hand-held radio and pressed the side button to talk. “Say again, Daddy. Couldn't hear you.”
“I asked where you boys were. I can't see
you from the porch.”
Bear paused before answering. “We're over in the soybean field. I was just showing August around.”
“All right, then,” Ray answered. “Lunch'll be ready about eleven.”
“We'll be there.” Bear turned off the radio and tucked it in his pocket.
“What are you gonna tell him?” August asked. “Or does he already know, too?”
“He doesn’t know. I’m not going to tell him anything for now. Can’t be sure how he'll take it. Hell, I'm not sure how I'm taking it.”
“Well it's not like you just found out this stuff today, right? What did you think it was all for?”
“I didn't know,” he replied with a shrug. “And I didn't want to. Tried my best to forget. Daddy’s gotten along in years and he needs looking after. Especially now.”
“You're worried about leaving him.”
“He needs me.”
“I don't know. He seems to do all right for an old guy.”
Bear looked at him.
“Okay, so maybe he could use a hand here and there, but he's not helpless. He’s just gonna have to take care of himself for a while. The longer we stay here, the more the other side gets to prepare, and trust me, if everything Meryn told me is true, missing a few doses of medication is gonna be the least of his worries.”
“You don’t understand,” Bear said. “He has COPD. He could have an attack at any moment and I’d need to get him to the hospital.”
“We can't take him with us either, unless you plan on strapping him to your back.”
“We've got a truck.”
“No way,” August replied, shaking his head. “Driving is out.”
“Why is driving out?”
“Because people have accidents when they drive. Sometimes bad ones. And hospitals are always curious when their patients get up and walk out like nothing ever happened.” A terrible excuse, but he didn't feel like getting into the details of his Coburn problem. Not yet.
“You've had some experience with this, I gather?”
“Call it an educated guess.”
“And that's why you're riding the trains.”
“Bingo.” August swatted away a mosquito.
“There has to be some way. What about this woman you're talking about? Can’t she help?”
“You can ask her yourself soon,” he said. He glanced to the clouds. “I hope.”
The news didn’t appear to give Bear much comfort. He rubbed his brow. “We should get back. We can talk more tomorrow.”
“That’s it?”
“Lunch’ll be ready soon, and… I need to work.”
“So I guess we’ll just wing it when the time comes? Fine by me. It’s your dad.”
He was in August’s face in two broad strides. “I said I need to work.”
“Okay. Whatever.” August took a step back. “Work’s good, too.”
Bear relaxed his tensed jaw. He buried his hands in his pockets. “We’ll tell him,” he said. “After church. Let him have that at least.”
“Sure.”
He started to walk away and then paused. He looked back at August. “When this woman came to you, did you accept right away?”
August thought back to New York. He tried to remember if he’d waited a whole second to tell her yes after he saw what she could do. “I gave it its due consideration, sure.”
The answer brought a nod from Bear. “What was it like?”
“To accept?”
“No. To be asked.”
Bear turned for the house without an answer, leaving August alone in the field. He stood there for a moment, surrounded by crops that would likely never make it to their first harvest. “Meryn, you picked a shitty time to leave,” he said as he watched Bear disappear through the trees. “He’s never going to leave this place.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
After a dinner of turkey drumsticks, green beans, and gravy-soaked mashed potatoes, it took August’s tired eyes a moment to decipher the time from the clock on the apartment wall. He’d been up for nearly four straight hours after the Lawsons went to bed, waiting, pacing by the door, listening for the return of his reptilian scout troop, or worse. So far, the night had been quiet other than his repeated trips to the bathroom. For someone who hated sweet tea, he’d sure downed his fair share at dinner.
The storm that had threatened earlier in the evening hadn't come after all, but it left behind a wind that whipped through the trees, creating an ocean of white noise outside the barn. Every rustle was a potential monster walking through the fields. Once he mistook a firefly for one of the beast's orange eyes and whipped his hand toward the sword he kept beneath the window sill. Eventually, he stopped pacing and stood beside the screen door to watch the edge of the corn rows. He let his eyes close for a long pause as he toyed with the idea of going to sleep. Teetering on the edge of consciousness, a sound coming from inside the apartment jerked him awake. It was close, but faint, almost like metal brushing against...
He took hold of his sword and brought it over his head as he swung around, slashing down with both hands. The sword met its twin midway through the arc.
“This is your idea of a weapon?” a man said, his face hidden by darkness.
August drew back again and aimed at his legs. The blade found its mark, only to pass through the other side like nothing was there.
“I think we can do away with these now.”
“Who the hell are you?” August asked, grabbing his other sword as soon as the man dropped it on the bed.
Moonlight spread over the visitor as he walked around the room, studying the surroundings. August may not have recognized his face, but he’d seen his silhouette before. He was older-looking, maybe in his early sixties. Over a white dress shirt, he wore a long tweed jacket with a matching hat. His pants were ironed to a razor crease. It was an outfit that belonged in a film noir crime drama.
The man took a long drag on a polished wooden pipe, leaving it hanging from the corner of his mouth as he spoke. Smoke curled around his exhale. “I'm surprised you don't know. Meryn didn't tell you to expect a visit from her ally?”
“She and I haven’t had much time to talk lately.”
“Now is the time you should be talking the most.” He sized up August with a single, unimpressed scan. “I am Paralos of Ardanylae.”
The snotty tone of his delivery made it seem like he expected August to kneel. Fat chance. “What brings you around?” August asked. “If I had known someone from Meryn's Sneak Up and Scare People Club was coming, I would've cleaned up the place.”
“I hope a sharp tongue is not the extent of your abilities.”
“You should know. You've seen them first-hand.” August placed the swords on either side of him as he sat on the edge of the bed. “What, you didn't think I'd remember you? It's not every day you see a guy walking around a corn field in a ’50s grandpa costume.”
“Childish humor. It makes for a poor shield, no matter how practiced you are at using it.”
He hadn’t known the man for more than a minute and already August was sure he hated him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I wouldn’t take too much pride in your victory if I were you. Those were only a few of my lesser creations. Any common man could defeat them.”
“Those were yours?” When Meryn said there’d be scouts, he never figured it would be from someone on their side.
Paralos smiled. “What did you think of them?”
“I think I’ve fought tougher snakes.”
His grin settled slowly back into a thin frown. A spark danced across the surface of his eye. “The Oneads are only effective in large groups. I barely put a handful in front of you.”
“Seems to me you shouldn’t be sending anything after me at all.”
“I had to see for myself what sort of champion Meryn would choose.” Paralos took the pipe from his mouth. “And after seeing you in action, I can see no good reason why she would select someone like you.”
&
nbsp; “You saw one fight. How could you know anything?”
“I wasn’t watching you fight.”
The man’s stare was piercing. August suddenly felt naked. “Meryn knew what she was doing. She needed someone found, and that’s what I do. I find people.”
“You find people.”
“That’s right.”
“How impressive.” Paralos made no attempt to hide his disgust. “Meryn's as naive as she is useless.”
“And you're an arrogant ass.”
The god snorted and shook his head. He looked through the apartment window to the Lawson house. “Your friend in there seems to be moderately useful. At least he has some measure of size and strength to survive what’s ahead.”
August took a quick glance toward the Lawsons’. “I can do okay by myself.”
“It seems Meryn thought otherwise.”
“Hey, are you on our side or not? Instead of coming in here and telling me what a shitty fighter I am, maybe you could lend a hand instead. Make yourself useful.”
“We're not allowed to interfere,” Paralos replied, and then added, “physically. It's against the rules.”
“What rules?”
“The rules we have lived by for lifetimes, before this unkempt world ever fell under Meryn’s watch. The gods of the Circle are too powerful to fight for ourselves. If we interfere, the punishment is execution, carried out by Amara. Meryn should have told you this already.”
“All right, fine. Send in your little snake army then.”
“Meryn saw to it that I couldn’t do that when she volunteered to fight. She’s bound by law to fight alone.”
August scoffed. “All these rules are ridiculous. I can’t believe you guys actually follow them.”
“What good are rules if they are not to be followed?”