by Jeff Gunhus
“It’s not much, but you’re looking at the communications center for the entire war,” the Colonel said.
“The war?” I asked, confused. “Against Ren Lucre? It’s started?”
The Colonel leaned in close and whispered, “It never stopped.”
“Jack!”
I recognized Master Aquinas’s voice from across the room. She was holding onto the arm of a tall, young hunter I didn’t recognize, and leaning heavily on her cane. I jogged across the room, dodging the hunters running messages from those on the radios. As I got closer, my heart sank.
Master Aquinas had been ancient the first day I’d met her at the Monster Hunter Academy, but somehow she’d never seemed old. Even with deep wrinkles on her face, curled, arthritic hands and a ragged, creaking voice, she’d always seemed to exist outside of time. Like an old tree that still sprouted new leaves every year, she’d always had a gleam in her eye and a mischievous grin as though she had us all fooled, and that she’d jump up on a table and dance at any second just to surprise us.
But I saw none of that in her now. Her back was hunched, her thinning grey hair slicked back so that it didn’t hang over her eyes. She had bandages on her arms and on her side. But the worst thing was her eyes. The Master Aquinas I knew had eyes that blazed with confidence and power. Now they held only sadness. She looked small and frail, as if the battle that had brought her to seek the Colonel’s protection might have been her last.
I crouched, wondered if I’d always been that tall next to her, and gripped her hands. I wanted to ask how bad her wounds were. Or how she’d come to be under the protection of someone like the Colonel. Or where the fire that’d once burned in her eyes had gone. But I didn’t say any of that, I just stared at her, my eyes filling with tears.
She reached up and patted me on the cheek as if I were a little kid. “Oh dear, seeing the Lord of the Demons didn’t turn you into an idiot, did it, boy? You can still speak, can’t you?”
I forced a grin. “According to Eva, I’m as much of an idiot as I was before we went to the Underworld, so I guess that’s good.”
Master Aquinas laughed softly, but it turned into a hacking, phlegm-filled cough. I took her arm from the hunter that had been helping her and patted her on the back. I winced as I felt her spine pushing against her clothes. Slowly, she brought her coughing under control. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the Colonel talking to one of the older hunters.
“What are we doing here?” I asked her. “I don’t have a good feeling about this place.”
Master Aquinas nodded. She lifted her cane from the floor and pointed to the busy room. “Listen to that. The sound of hunters around the world reporting the final preparations of Ren Lucre’s forces to launch open war against humanity.” She pulled me close. “After so many years, it may be that Colonel Lockhart and his kind are the only answer. Unless you have a way to end it before it starts. There has never been more of a need for you than right now. Did you get it? Did you get the Jerusalem Stone from the Lord of the Demons?”
Before I could answer, the Colonel stepped to us.
“The others are waiting inside,” he said. “I’m sure all of them will want to hear Jack’s report. I know I’m especially interested. Shall we?”
He waved his hand toward a door with three guards standing in front of it.
I wanted to have more time to talk to Master Aquinas, but I could tell by the look on the Colonel’s face that all of that would have to wait.
“Come on, Jack,” Master Aquinas said. “It’s time you joined the War Council of the Black Guard.”
“He is reporting to the War Council, not joining it,” the Colonel snapped. “You have no power to appoint someone. Best you remember that.”
I felt Master Aquinas grip my forearm. As frail as she was, I still winced in pain from her fingers digging into my skin.
“Talk to me like that again, Trevor, and I’ll start sharing stories about how you used to wet the bed during your first year at the Academy.”
The Colonel turned red and I stifled a laugh. I was happy to see that no matter how weak Master Aquinas’s body looked, her mind was still sharp. I just needed to find a way to get her alone so I could ask her my questions.
“We can give the boy a full debrief later,” the Colonel said. “I think we should hear his story first. Get a full understanding of where we stand.”
“I know full well where I stand,” Master Aquinas said.
“Good, then you’ll agree we can wait until after we hear his report to the committee.”
Master Aquinas bowed her head, a show of deference I could hardly believe. The woman I knew would have smacked the man upside the head with her walking stick by now, and likely delivered a blow to the back of his knees to send him sprawling on the ground. This was a new Master Aquinas, and I didn’t like the change.
But the Colonel did. He smiled at her small act of subservience, then waved the guards away and opened the door himself. Beyond it, I saw a large round table with men and women sitting around it. The wall behind the table was covered with a map of Europe. Angry voices carried out of the room. As we walked in, Master Aquinas pulled me close to her, whispering so that the Colonel couldn’t hear.
“Remember Hester?” she asked. “All the way back at the beginning of your journey?”
The question jarred me. Of course I knew who Hester was. She was the hunter who’d pretended to be the school secretary back in Sunnyvale Middle School, back before I knew I was a hunter. I found out later that she’d been sent there by Master Aquinas herself to watch over me. Once the monsters descended on the town, she’d made the ultimate sacrifice to protect me. Hester had believed I was “the One,” in a prophecy about a hunter who would rise and put an end to the Creach war. The image of Hester falling from a roof into a feeding frenzy of zombies had never stopped haunting me.
“Of course I do,” I said.
“Ren Lucre has her,” Master Aquinas said. “In his dungeon, we think.”
I felt my stomach clench. T-Rex’s grandma back in Sunnyvale had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and I’d been there when she’d start talking about long dead relatives as if they were in the next room getting a cup of coffee. It was devastating to think Master Aquinas was losing touch with reality. I shifted my hand behind her back to catch her if she fell.
“You must be tired,” I said. “That’s all. Let’s get you a seat.”
She raised her cane and slammed it down onto my foot.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“For treating me like an old woman who’s lost her mind,” she said. “This body may be weak, but don’t doubt my mind is as sharp as ever.”
I noticed the Colonel had turned back to face us, his eyes narrowed as if he suspected we were up to no good. But with one arm wrapped around her, I was able to place my head next to hers as she shuffled into the room.
“How can Hester be alive?” I said. “That’s not possible. I saw her die. Eaten by…eaten…oh no…”
Master Aquinas nodded. “Yes, you see it now.” Then she said the words that made the room spin around me. “Hester’s a zombie. And we think she’s now fighting for Ren Lucre.”
7
I was too stunned to react to Master Aquinas, but it turned out I didn’t have a chance anyway. One of the Black Death hunters came over and took my spot to help Master Aquinas to her chair as the Colonel draped an arm over my shoulder and walked me to the table.
My heart pounded loudly in my ears, and my entire body vibrated at the idea that Hester was somehow still alive (if being a zombie was at all alive). All I could think about was that night on the roof in Sunnyvale, and look on her face that last time I’d seen her. The cry she’d made as she slipped from my grasp and fell into the snarling herd of zombies below.
Someone slammed the door to the room and shocked me out of my thoughts.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Jack Templar,” the Colonel said. “Guardian of th
e Templar Ring and Seeker of the Jerusalem Stones.”
Five faces stared back at me from places at the round table, including Master Aquinas. She looked curious as to how I would react. That was her nature, always testing, always teaching. Including her, there were two women and three men. All of them were hunters; I could tell by how they carried themselves and the intense way they sized me up as if they were evaluating how they might best me in a fight. Funny, I was doing the same thing to them.
Next to Master Aquinas, stood a beast of a man, with a wild beard and wearing heavy animal pelts, right out of the Bronze Age. He was huge, but I expected he was slow moving. Still, one hit from him would likely end any fight.
The Colonel noticed my stare. “That is Ritgo Hewar, head of a group of hunters who adhere to the old ways. No guns, no explosives, no modern weapons. Much like Master Aquinas.” He pointed to the woman next to him. “This is Ariel Nonas, leader of a group of master thieves.”
The woman cocked her head and looked me over. She was slouched in her chair, one leg draped over the armrest. Her long legs and arms gave her a lanky appearance. She was so thin that she reminded me of grass swaying in the breeze. I guessed her place at the table meant she did more than sway to outside forces, but instead used her willowy build to move quickly and surprise her opponents. She appeared unimpressed with me.
“Next is Stad Kahn,” the Colonel said. While the others at the table wore some form of the hunter’s uniform, this man wore a dress shirt with an open collar and gold cufflinks. His black hair was slicked back, and had just enough grey at the sides to make him look distinguished. “He’s American, something the two of you have in common. He manages the considerable wealth of the Black Guard, hiding it within the labyrinth of the Old World banking system.” Three knives lay on the table in front of him in addition to the one he flipped in the air with one hand, catching it expertly by the handle each time. I didn’t believe for a second that Kahn was nothing but a banker.
“And finally, this is Michael the Scribe. Official historian of the Black Watch.”
It was hard to know whether the old man or Master Aquinas had a face carved with deeper lines by age and worry. But there was nothing frail about the man. He sat up straight in his chair with perfect posture, hands on the table, one resting on top of the other. His white, shoulder-length hair was in stark contrast to his black uniform. His piercing blue eyes seemed to look right through me.
“Hello,” I said, immediately feeling lame.
“We don’t have time for this, Travis,” Ritgo grumbled, his deep voice matching his gruff appearance. “We must attack Ren Lucre and we must attack him now!”
“Slow down, Ritgo,” Ariel said. “Use that little man-brain of yours for once and gather information before you just say what you always say.” She lowered her voice, doing a pretty good impression of the big man. “Attack! Attack! Attack!”
“You want to listen to him?” Ritgo said, pointing at me. “A boy?”
“Order,” the Colonel said as if he were a judge trying to bring an unruly courtroom under control. “We’ll have order now that I’m here.”
Kahn flipped his knife smoothly, ignoring the Colonel. “What are you, Ritgo, but a boy in a man’s body? And we’ve been forced to listen to you all day.”
Ritgo slammed the table. “We can’t buy our way out of this, Kahn. All you know is money. There’s a time when money fails to make a difference.”
“Money always makes a difference,” Kahn said. “Always.”
Michael cleared his throat softly and the others fell silent. I took note at the deference the others showed him. Only Master Aquinas wasn’t impacted. As if the others weren’t there, she busied herself with a loose string dangling from her sweater.
“I for one,” Michael said, “would like to hear what the boy has to say.” He turned to me, his deep blue eyes making my skin turn to gooseflesh. “Were you successful? Did you gather the Jerusalem Stone from Shaitan?”
“Look at him,” Ritgo bellowed. “He’s just a boy. Of course he didn’t go to the Underworld and––”
I removed the two Jerusalem Stones from my pocket, put one in each hand, and extended my open palms. The others leaned forward and I enjoyed their looks of amazement. I glanced over at Master Aquinas, expecting her to show some pride in my accomplishment, or at least some pleasure in the theatrics. But none of that was on her face. Instead, she looked sadly at the Stones, shaking her head and muttering to herself.
“Those could be just rocks,” Ritgo said, but his voice was soft now, all the bluster gone.
Master Aquinas pulled the third Stone from the folds of her robe. I could only see a small patch of the stone because she clenched it tight, her knuckles white.
The two Stones in my hand grew warm. Then they vibrated, barely at first, almost so that I didn’t notice, but soon unmistakably.
“Look at the ring,” Ariel said. “On his finger.”
I turned my hand slightly and saw that the Templar ring glowed a deep orange, as if I’d pulled it out of an iron worker’s forge. But, strangely enough, it didn’t burn. In fact, it felt cold. My entire arm did. It seemed as if the ring was pulling heat from my body.
“You have the third Stone, Aquinas,” Michael the Scribe said. “Why don’t you give it to the boy?”
Master Aquinas raised her head to look across the table at Michael; her face was unrecognizable. Her lips curled in a snarl and her nostrils flared. Her eyes were wide, darting all around the room as if looking for an escape. There was a desperate insanity in her eyes that reminded me of Bella of the Woods.
“No!” she screamed, piercing the air. “I shall not give it. It’s mine.”
The Stones in my hands shook harder and harder as if they might soar into the air at any second.
“Master Aquinas,” I said. “It’s the Jerusalem Stone. It’s doing something to you. Let go of it.”
“NO!” she shouted. “NEVER!”
“Let go of it, Aquinas,” Michael intoned, rising from his chair. “Let go of it now!”
A low sound started deep in Master Aquinas’s throat, rising and rising, until it became an ear-piercing scream.
I watched the fingers on her clenched hand peel back, one at a time, as if she were fighting against some hidden force trying to make her cling to the Stone.
Finally, with a pop that sounded like a cork coming out of a bottle, the Stone flew sideways from her grasp. It fell to the table, hitting it hard enough to make the entire thing tip. Then it bounced into the air as if were made of rubber instead of dense rock, and flew over the center of the table.
Reacting by instinct, I released the two Stones in my hand, and they flew out to join their counterpart.
When the three met, it felt like an explosion going off in the room. A blast wave of wind slammed into everyone. .
Master Aquinas fell as her chair blew backward. The others all had hunter reflexes, so they ended up on their feet, crouched in fighting stances that showed their most instinctive combat style.
Only Michael seemed undisturbed. His chair hadn’t moved and he remained seated, perfectly erect. With shoulders back and chin thrust out, he stared at the Stones hovering in midair.
They circled one another like planets around an imaginary sun.
“Hey, Ritgo,” Ariel said, holding her fighting stance.
“Yeah?”
“Still think they’re just rocks?”
8
“Master Aquinas!” I shouted, making a move to help her.
“No!” Michael shouted. “Collect the Stones first. Do it before I do it for you.”
I looked at him like he was crazy. Did he think I could whistle at them like a trio of dogs who’d wandered away and would return? Michael stood and stared at the Stones, lost in their movement.
“Do as he says,” the Colonel said. “Quickly.”
I watched in horror as Michael walked to the edge of the table, moving almost mechanically. He lifted a leg to c
limb onto it, but the Colonel ran over to grab him.
Michael whipped his arm around, and the Colonel flew backward across the room, hitting the rock wall.
The act didn’t slow Michael down in the slightest. He climbed up onto the table, reaching toward the Stones.
As he did, he turned his head toward me. His expression was slack, but I noticed his skin glistened with sweat as if he were under incredible strain. I had the unsettling feeling that he wasn’t really in control of his own body. The body that was now standing on the table, walking across to the Stones. “Now!” Michael shouted. “Collect them. Do it before it’s too late.”
Not knowing what else to do, I held out my hand and shouted, “Come!”
Immediately, the Stones whipped through the air like they’d been shot at me. I winced, and turned my head, thinking I was about to get beaned. Instead, I felt the Stones settle into my hand, touching down light as a feather. I slowly opened my eyes and saw they were once again just plain rocks.
“Now put them away,” Michael said, his voice trembling. “Out of my sight.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I stuffed the Stones into my two front pockets and then ran over to Master Aquinas who was slowly pushing herself up off the floor. When she turned her face toward me, I nearly sobbed with joy.
The darkness that had clouded her eyes was gone. The old sparkle was back in them, equal parts wild and mischievous. She took my offered hand to pull herself the rest of the way up from the floor, but then let go once she was on her feet. Holding her cane over her head, she stretched as if she had just woken from a long sleep. Her back cracked in a few places, and she sighed contentedly. After she’d stretched, she walked upright and the terrible slouch was gone.
“You have no idea how much better that feels,” Master Aquinas said.
“The Stone,” I said. “It was hurting you.”
Master Aquinas nodded. “The Stone is power, and power wants to be used. Not always for good, as you know.”
The Colonel was back on his feet; he seemed more embarrassed than anything else. The others were helping Michael off the table.