by T J Trapp
“You okay?” she asked Celeste, who could only silently nod her assent.
Alec went to each of the bodies and collected their rings and amulets. Then he focused. It took longer than he expected, but each of the bodies turned into a small pile of ashes. The ashes blew and dispersed in the wind.
Celeste hugged them both, and finally found her voice. “I can’t believe it! They’re all dead! They wanted to kill me, and you protected me. You took on four of them, with just one pan and two knives, and you won. You won. You are okay.” She swallowed hard. “I was so worried. I did not want anything to happen to you. It is my fault that I got you involved in this.”
Alec put his arms around her and let her shiver as he held her. “It’s okay,” he said soothingly. “It will be all right. It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”
“It feels so right to be here. Thank you for taking care of me – you feel like family. Like the family that I don’t have.” Celeste pulled away from Alec. “But I guess I should go. I don’t want to cause any more problems. I have caused too many already.”
Erin looked around. “We should all go. People are starting to wake up inside and others – elves – will be here shortly. We don’t want to be associated with the things that just happened here.”
“What should I do? Where should I go?” Celeste asked. “Back to my apartment?”
“Why, you are coming with us,” replied Erin, matter-of-factly. “For better or worse, your future is now linked to ours.”
“Where can we go that will be safe?”
“No place is truly safe while the snakes are on the prowl, but our ranch is isolated from the events of the world and should be as safe as any place,” Erin said. “Come. Alec will drive us to the shop and then we can port from there to the ranch.”
“Well, okay,” Celeste said. “I guess I have nowhere else to go.”
40 – Queen’s Wood
The trip through the portal to the ranch was an overwhelming experience for Celeste. She hadn’t really understood what they were doing, or totally internalized what “porting” meant, until they walked out of the barn and into a balmy Texas evening.
“Welcome to Queen’s Wood,” said Erin.
“Where are we?” she gasped.
“We are at our ranch,” Erin said soothingly. “We ported here from the shop.”
“I’ve heard you talk about ‘porting,’ but I didn’t understand it,” Celeste said. “Now that I’ve done it, I guess I still don’t understand it.”
“Hola,” rang out a cheery voice, as Daniel met them at the barn door.
Erin smiled. “Daniel, this is Celeste. She’s part of our family. She will be staying here at the ranch with us for a while.”
Daniel extended his hand in greeting. “Hi-ya.”
“Celeste, this is Daniel. He came with us from the shop, and is here because he is working with Alec on a special project. He’s staying out in the bunkhouse, but we all get together for dinner every evening.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Celeste, instinctively sizing up the young man. He was older than her but seemed like he was reasonably nice.
“You left early this morning,” Daniel said to Alec excitedly. “Have you seen the news today?”
“We have been occupied bringing Celeste back here. I haven’t seen any news today,” Alec said. Was the elves’ attack at the Institute national news?
“The creature,” Daniel said. “It’s been on the news all day.”
Celeste gave him a puzzled look. “Uh-oh – was what Uncle Al said true?”
“It is on all of the news channels,” Daniel explained. “There is some kind of giant creature in Mumbai, terrorizing everyone. No one can stop it. Here, let me show you!”
They entered the front room of the ranch house and Daniel flipped on his cell holographic projector. Immediately the ‘24/7/AllNews’ channel appeared, with two men sitting behind a desk and talking earnestly, a blurry map of Mumbai behind them.
“What do we know now, Bob?” said one man to the other.
“Well, Riv, we know that the military is still trying to stop the beast, but it seems they can’t do anything with it. They’ve called in reinforcements from the Joint Forces, but it looks like so far they’ve been ineffective. The local government is evacuating people.”
“Can we roll that video again? We’ve been looking at it since this story broke, early this morning our time, but let’s play it again.”
A swirling dust cloud appeared, seeming to roll right into the ranch house as the 3D picture played against the living room wall; then a huge horned head with a hooked snout emerged, with three other heads snaking about, darting, coiling, and uncoiling. The view panned out to show a row of brightly-painted shopfronts with stacks of wares, parked bicycles, and a battered turquoise Vespa out front, giving scale to the size of the beast towering over the squat rooftops. The video cut to a flock of black birds rising and circling the beast, then landing on its leathery knobbed shell. Another quick scene change brought a shot of huge yellow eyes and gaping teeth lunging at the camera.
“We’ve seen this video before, Riv, but I still can’t believe it! I’ve never heard of anything like this.”
“Okay, Bob, and after a word from our sponsors, we’ll bring you the latest shots from the military drones. Looks like a battlefield out there.”
“Can you believe it?” asked Daniel, muting the sound on the holo. “I’ve been watching this all day!”
“What on Earth!” gasped Celeste.
Erin sighed. “I don’t think it is of ‘Earth,’” she said in a quiet voice. “I think it is from somewhere else.” Alec shot her a quizzical look.
What is that? he asked silently.
I think I know, but I must search the memories from my elf rod, she answered.
Daniel turned the sound back on. The hologram screen displayed the view from a drone zooming in for aerial shots of the beast; the great creature lumbered through the buildings like a giant pre-historic turtle. Its thick, brownish-gray hide was studded with bony ridges and knobs and a heavy tail extended behind, balancing the four writhing heads. It pushed cars and trams out of its way as it moved through the streets; a crowd of people and animals obediently followed the creature. A different drone shot showed the creature stop and paw at trees and rubble around it; then it would wait while the following crowd caught up and surrounded the creature, some people trying to reach out and touch its tail. The three snake heads, working together, would occasionally flick an object skyward, then the beast would catch it in the gaping central mouth. And always were the large black birds flying around the beast, flocking, dispersing, then reassembling on the beast’s back.
“What was that? The thing it threw in the air? And ate?” Celeste asked.
“I think it was a person,” Daniel answered uncertainly. “They blurred the picture so you couldn’t see.”
The picture changed to a view from a military vehicle firing rounds of tracer bullets at the beast; the bullets swerved around the leathery chest, never reaching their target. Another drone shot showed a bomb detonating near the beast. Trees shattered from the impact, but the beast never wavered from its path. Several on-camera shots showed people hastily gathering their belongings, stopping for a quick TV interview as they evacuated their homes, English translations flashing across the bottom of the screen. “No warning … never seen anything like this before … venom … no time to pack … quarantine … don’t know when we can return …”
The sound of the ranch dinner bell broke their morbid fascination. Alec touched the screen and disabled the picture.
“We’ll be eating out back,” Alec said to Celeste. “Erin likes to have a peaceful dinner to reflect on the day. But,” he added, “we haven’t even had a chance to show you around the place. Daniel, why don’t you get the housekeeper and have her show Celeste where she will be staying, and you can take a few minutes to show her the way to the patio. We have about twenty minutes befo
re cook expects us. I need to talk to Erin about … a couple of things.”
Daniel walked Celeste out of the room as he gladly took to his role of junior host.
✽✽✽
“What is it?” asked Erin.
“Erin, what is going on? Celeste’s encounter with the elves this morning – her Uncle Al’s message – the elves at the café – and now those big beasts on the news. Is it us? Are the elves following us? But they wouldn’t need those big guys to do that.”
“I’m not sure … I don’t think it’s just us …”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “Come and sit down on the couch, and see if your elf rod will tell you anything. It’s helped you figure out things before – maybe it can help you this time.”
Erin dutifully sat on the couch next to him, leaned back, holding her rod, and closed her eyes. Concentrate. She sifted through a swirl of memories, some as recent as this morning, others ancient as time.
Elves. Hydras. Culls. She sighed.
Grand Culls. The rod glowed slightly, then began to tingle. Slowly an image formed in her mind, and she saw her ancestor striding across an open field on another world. A large leathery animal arose in the dim darkness of the memory, one with four heads and a long tail. ‘We need more, Mother,’ a voice in her memory said. ‘More orbs. A thousand thousand – a million million. We need to complete the Grand Cull. We must be successful. The hydra is not herding the orbs fast enough. We need another hydra. We need a hundred.’
Erin frowned, her eyes still shut. ‘Then make more,’ she heard her ancestor self say to the clutchman. ‘We must have enough to herd the orbs back to our world.’
“A Grand Cull,” she said, opening her eyes and looking at Alec. “I remember one. I mean, my ancestor was there.”
“And what is that?” Alec said. “What are they doing?”
“It is as ‘Uncle Al’ said. The elves have come here – to Earth – from other worlds, to harvest the orbs here – your people, the humans – to take back to their home planets to turn into drones.”
“Not Nevia?”
“No. Their worlds. It could be many worlds, if they want that many drones. They use the hydras to herd the orbs – people – and as a tool to cause panic. Somehow that makes it easier for them to scoop up the people they want.”
“Yes, I can see how it would,” Alec mused. “Sort of like throwing a firecracker at a prairie skarn. Makes it run around in circles until you can hit it with your slingshot.”
Erin closed her eyes again, reconnecting with her ancestors’ past lives through her rod. The hydra. What does it do?
“There’s more to the hydra,” she announced, again opening her eyes and staring at Alec. “It can entrance people, sort of like how a dragon can. Make the people want to come out and be eaten. Or become captured.”
“So that’s why the people on the holo shot were following it,” Alec said thoughtfully. “Sort of like a Pied Piper.”
“Yes, sort of like coming to the smell of pastry,” Erin said, misunderstanding his reference. “And another thing – the hydra can carry a disease. I think they used that to make sure that anybody who is left just dies.”
“Oh great,” said Alec.
She thought another moment. “Or maybe to make sure that no one goes back to the areas they have culled. Keep the orbs running towards the elf captors.”
“What else?”
“And I remember clouds of black birds – big black birds – following along behind the hydra, landing on its back, taking off again. I don’t know what they were doing. But they seem to be part of it.”
“So ‘Uncle Al’ was right about the hydra, and the cull,” Alec said thoughtfully. “But what about Celeste? What was his warning to Celeste? About her being named ‘Alder,’ and her association with the Alder Institute?”
Erin shook her head. “My memories do not help with that, Great Wizard.”
“And just who is her ‘Uncle Al,’ anyway? Sarah didn’t have any brothers – or sisters, either.”
“She said he was a relative on the father’s side.”
“Celeste thinks that Alder was her father, but I don’t remember Professor Alder ever talking about any member of his family – at all. So – maybe a family friend? She says he’s been taking care of her – financially anyway – ever since her grandmother died. And there’s something else that’s odd – how would ‘Uncle Al’ know about all of this? Elf culls, and great beasts? And me? Us?”
“I do not know, Great Wizard. But my intuition tells me something.”
“What?”
“I do not know who – or what – Celeste’s uncle is. You are right – how would he know about the elf cull? He knows too much.” She thought for a moment. “He is not an elf. I can tell that. But – I feel something else about him.” She looked at Alec.
“What?”
“I feel that he is not of this world,” she said softly.
✽✽✽
Alec and Erin joined Celeste and Daniel on the back patio where the cook had set the table for dinner.
“Sit here, Erin said to Celeste, “next to me. We can watch the sun set as we eat.”
Celeste looked at the sun, slowing sinking over the quiet meadow and fringe of woodlands. “This is so serene,” she said. “It is surreal – yet it laughs at us. How can something so beautiful unfold before us, when only hours ago, we were fighting for our lives? And then – the pictures of that monster on the news today?”
Erin slowly answered, “Life is a mix of the wonderful and the terrible. Enjoy the wonderful when you have it, because you never know when the terrible will happen.” She stared at the setting sun. “I knew when I said ‘goodbye’ to my children that it was possible that I might never see them again, but I did not believe it would happen.”
“Hello, I see we have a guest,” called a suntanned young woman, striding across the lawn from the bunkhouse, her hair pulled back behind a bandana headband.
“Greetings, Zalla,” Erin answered. “Yes, we have a guest. This is Celeste. She will be staying with us for a while.
“Celeste, meet Zalla. She is my lead guard. We have trained her to be a user of dark energy, to help out the guard force. Zalla often joins us for dinner, if she is not busy with my guard force and their training.”
“You have a guard force?” Celeste said, astonished.
“Yes, we are training them …” Erin was interrupted by Alec, who stepped forward and clapped Zalla’s shoulder in greeting.
“Hey, Zee!”
“Hey boss,” Zalla said to Alec, with a grin. “Daniel said you ported back to the shop today. How were things there?”
“Ribs tonight,” the cook said, before Alec could answer. “Everybody sit yourself down – this here plate is hot, and it’s heavy!”
Daniel sat on the other side of Celeste, and Zalla sat between Daniel and Alec.
“Sweet tea, hon?” the cook asked, pouring Celeste a big glass of the ice-cold beverage without waiting for an answer, and moving on to Daniel’s glass.
The events of the day had left Celeste shaken and it was difficult to make much conversation, although she tried to politely participate. The ribs were messy, as good ribs always are, and that kept her occupied.
“Hey, boss, let me ask you about something that came up today. I was just thinking about the concentrator, and I was wondering …”
Alec shot him a bemused smile. “Not now,” he said, gesturing toward Erin, who was giving the young man a scalding look.
“Sorry,” Daniel said contritely. “I was just in such a hurry to catch you up on today’s progress that I forgot about the ‘no work at the dinner table’ rule.” Everyone chuckled.
“Wow, I was really hungry,” Celeste said, reaching for more slaw. “I don’t usually eat in the mornings and didn’t get anything to eat today after the events at the café.”
“What happened there?” Daniel asked.
“Well, we were sort of attacked,” Celeste sai
d.
Alec looked at Daniel and Zalla. “Yes, we were attacked this morning.”
“Why would anybody attack Celeste?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know, but they sure did,” Celeste said, and recounted the events that had happened that morning, ending with the scene at the restaurant.
Daniel looked at her with genuine concern. “I am sorry that you had to go through that,” he said, looking at her gently. “My sister was also captured by those fiends. They put one of those neckband things on her. Only the efforts of the boss and the boss-lady saved her. I am glad they saved you.”
Celeste sensed the truth in what Daniel was saying to her. A sense of being safe came over her – she felt safer than she had felt in a long time.
Alec cleared his throat. “I guess it’s time to talk to you two about who these people are – the ones who attacked Celeste today – and what they can do.”
Daniel wiped the rib sauce from his mouth and leaned forward to listen.
“These people are called ‘elves,’” Alec said.
“What!? I thought ‘elves’ were little guys in green suits that live under mushrooms,” said Zalla.
“Not these elves,” Alec said grimly. “They have the ability to control people and force them to do what they want. They use those neckbands to do that. And now they seem to be after us – some of us anyway. First your sister, Daniel. And now Celeste. The only way to keep them from controlling you is by wearing one of our special rings.”
“What do the elves want?” Daniel asked.
“The elves use humans as their slaves to maintain the opulent lifestyle that they are accustomed to. They use special neckbands to subjugate people – break their free will, force them to obey. Just like they were doing with your sister.”
“How can the … ‘elves’ … do this by themselves? Don’t they need an army to subdue people? Weapons?” asked Zalla.
“They do use weapons,” Erin answered softly, “but not the kind of weapons that you are thinking of.”
“Oh?”