by Dave Lemel
“Ah. How do we get up there? I’d rather get the equipment squared away first.”
“Follow me.”
An Earth hour later, they emerged from the large store. Each marshal had what looked like a second pack strapped onto their original. “Where do all the trails start?” Todd asked, adjusting the awkward new mass on his back .
Benjo headed up the last bit of street, waving the marshals with him. “Here. In this park, see there? They are marked by those posts. You want that middle one.”
“Thanks for everything, Benjo.” Simon nodded toward him. “We’ll do everything we can to clear your name.”
“No rush.” Benjo turned and stared down Prisco’s main street. “It’s good to be home. I suppose I will stay a while.”
“Still,” said Todd, “we said we’d try, so we will.” The two marshals walked up to the post Benjo had indicated.
“Hey,” Benjo called from behind them, “if you do succeed, find a way to let me know. When the wander bug bites again, it would be nice to make my decision about what to do with the knowledge of whether I am a wanted fugitive.”
“You got it,” replied Todd.
Todd and Simon turned and headed up the trampled green soil trail. Soon they were absorbed into the towering trunks and canopy of leaves above the little mountain town that vanished from view below them.
Chapter 19
Simon pulled his right sleeve up and left it at the elbow. “Looks like we’ve gone a quarter mile so far.”
“Is that it? Man, is this crap heavy.” Todd adjusted his load in a futile attempt to shift it into a position that magically cut the weight in half. “So you wanna tell me more about this pregnancy shocker?”
“Pretty crazy, huh? Yeah, that was not planned. I mean, we wanted at least two, but I thought we’d be waiting a little longer.”
Todd glanced sideways. “You do know how they’re made, right?”
“Ha! Yes, dummy, I know how they’re made. Just meant we certainly were not trying yet.”
“Well, I want a boy. Unky Todd likes Penny just fine, but a little boy to corrupt sounds fun.”
“You know, I thought I did, too, but now that it’s real, I’m not sure. When we talked abstractly before she was even pregnant with Penny, we said one of each would be great. Now, though…” Simon re-adjusted his pack. “I mean, look, as long as they’re healthy, boy or girl, I don’t care that much. I was thinking last night and when we were shopping; I think I want it to be another girl. They’re going to be about the same age difference as me and Jasper. It was awesome growing up with a same gender sibling that close. Sure, we butted heads plenty, but we shared a room, ha d common friends; it’s a unique bond. It’d be cool for Penny to have that with a sister so close in age.”
Todd stopped suddenly. “Shhhh.”
“What you—”
Todd cut Simon off with a firm thump to the chest. “I hear something,” he whispered.
Todd scanned the canopy above, and Simon followed suit. There was a rustling high above and behind them. They both spun quickly and instinctively backpeddled up the trail. The rustling started again and picked up in intensity as a pair of wakes in the red, orange, and yellow leaves became visible in the tree tops. Both were headed dead at Todd and Simon’s location.
“Wand!” Todd shouted as he spun and sprinted up the trail. Simon hit the manual wand release on his link as they both reached a crest in the trail that dropped to a long dip in the path. Branches cracked and snapped above, and the beasts were now grunting loudly in their enthusiastic pursuit of their prey.
The two marshals took off down the slope, struggling to maintain balance from the added weight on their backs. Simon stumbled, took a leap-step trying to catch himself, lost control, and tumbled down the hill. His wand flew out of his hand as he rolled, and the two massive grey monsters dropped like boulders from above, landing on either side of Simon as he rolled to a stop.
TZZZ, TZZZ…TZZZ, TZZZ. Todd nailed one orange-eyed, snorting behemoth and then the other with four well-aimed pulses from his outstretched wand. The first to be struck fell ac ross Simon’s legs, pinning him. The other collapsed alongside him, his face coming to rest inches from Simon’s.
Todd ran up, and both of them struggled to speak as they caught their breath in the thin mountain air. “When…you…can manage…” Simon squirmed a little and craned his head away from the beast in front of him. “Help me get this one off me before I vomit from the smell coming out of the other one’s mouth.”
Todd squatted down and lifted. Simon slithered the rest of the way out and crawled a few feet away before taking his pack off and rolling to his back. “Well, that was invigorating.”
Todd backtracked down the trail. “I get the feeling they’re not afraid of humans.” He kicked around in the brush and branches at the side of the trail where Simon had flailed down the path moments before.
“No, they most certainly do not seem the least bit afraid of us. You didn’t happen to see where my wand went, did you?”
“It’s somewhere over here.” Something caught Todd’s eye, and he bent down to pick it up. “This looks familiar.” He walked back to Simon and handed it to him before slipping off his own pack and sitting next to his partner.
Simon sat up and pulled his pack back on. “We should probably get moving. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be anywhere near these two when they wake up.”
“Good call.” Todd stood back up and slung his pack on.
“Hey, look at that.” Simon pointed just above the lowest branch of a tree just off the side of the trail where they were facing. “You see it? It came out of that little flap in the trunk. Its body is green, and the wings look like the leaves on the tree.”
Todd squinted, trying to locate what Simon was pointing at. He finally found it as the creature lifted off the branch and flew down to land on Simon’s leg. “It’s like a snake with four sets of little wings,” observed Simon, curiously looking it over as it studied him right back.
The red, yellow, and orange wings began flapping again, and it flew off Simon and onto Todd’s shoulder. He promptly and completely freaked out and swatted at it as he squealed, “Get it off!” The creature reared back and bit him right at the base of the neck before flying away and back to his tree. “Holy crap, I’m gonna die!” Todd shrieked as he wildly patted at the area on his neck that had just received the bite. “No! Why?”
“Calm down, you baby.” Simon stood up and moved closer to get a better look at the wound. “Hopefully there was something in our vac-pen for flying snake bite.”
“I’m calling Foggen right now. Maybe he knows the antidote.”
Simon’s link vibrated. “Hang on. Ben’s calling me.” Simon accepted the transmission. “What’s up, Ben?”
“Got your wife on the line again. She said she just needs a minute. I’ll patch ya right through.”
“Wait,” Todd said, leaning in over Simon’s shoulder, “is Foggen with you?”
“Sure is.” Ben called over his shoulder. “Foggen, Todd has a question.”
Foggen strolled up and peered around Ben’s side. “How can I be of assistance, Todd?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be familiar with the flying snakes that live in the mountains here, would you? ’Cause one just bit me in the neck, and I’m currently wondering exactly how long I have to live.”
“You will be all right. They are called ozina. They are not venomous, but the bite will leave a mark along with some aches and pains.”
“There,” said Simon as he flicked Todd right in the bite, “you’ll be fine. Now go cry over there while I talk to Sasha.”
Todd punched Simon in the arm and sulked away, rubbing his tender new Gleeban souvenir.
“Go ahead and patch the wife through, Ben.”
“You got it, kid.”
Sasha’s face appeared where Ben and Foggen’s had
just been. She pulled a freshly gnawed finger tip from her mouth. “Hey.”
“Uh-oh. I saw you chewing on that cuticle. What’s going on?”
“Look, I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but I can’t live with myself if something happens and I don’t.”
Simon’s heart skipped a beat then sped up noticeably in his chest. “Sasha, what the heck is going on?”
“Lombargnor came into the briefing room a little while ago and asked me if our parents were all still in the area. I said yes. He told me to go get all of them, as well as Todd’s mom and Penny, and then bring them back to H.Q. He said if anyone asks anything as I bring them in to tell them they were granted permission for a special tour. Then I’m supposed to get them all to the briefing room and lock us all inside.”
Simon turned to Todd. “You hear all that?”
“Yeah, man. That’s really alarming. And he told you not to tell us?” Todd leaned over Simon’s shoulder.
“Yep. Said I needn’t worry about it. Just him being overly cautious and not to tell you guys ’cause he didn’t want to distract at all from the task at hand.”
Simon grinned slightly. “I see the rebel in you is still not above disobeying a direct order from time to time if she sees fit.”
“Well, here’s why I did it. The only logical conclusion I can come to is he’s afraid of some kind of attack or event or something devastating happening here.”
“Makes sense.”
“Right, well what about our sibs?”
“Honey, they’re all out in Denver. You don’t think it’s something that big, do you?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances. I called mine right before calling you and told them to head up to Breck for a few days.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Simon rubbed his cheeks and mouth as he exhaled slowly through his nose. “Call Jasper. Tell him Simon says ‘the weather in Aspen is looking perfect this weekend.’ He’ll know what to do.”
“You guys have a code phrase in place just for this type of situation?”
“We were watching a movie a couple of years ago when he was visiting, and there was a scene where a scenario kinda like this happened, and we started talking, and…well, yes, we do.”
“Okay then. I guess it wasn’t such a crazy idea ’cause I’m hanging up now to use it. Good luck, guys, and I’ll be checking in again soon.” The screen on Simon’s link returned to the distance tracking setting he had initiated at the start of the trail.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” said Todd. “Like she said, just Lombargnor being over cautious.”
“She didn’t say that. She said he said that. She’s worried, I can tell.”
Todd rubbed the sore spot on his neck. “Nothing we can do about it from here, man.”
Simon’s mind vividly recalled the augmented reality hologram of the galaxy they had started their briefing with almost two weeks prior. The reality of the inconceivably vast distance between himself and his home planet came crashing down on him. “No. I suppose not.”
Chapter 20
The trail had just wound its way through a gulley dense with aged trees. The pair of marshals labored their way up an incline toward a thinning of the tree trunks where sunlight shone through, noticeably brighter. Todd pushed his hands down on his thighs, forcing them to keep climbing the little hill. “Tell me when we hit this hilltop; we’re at a mile and a half. My legs are on fire, and so’s my flying snake bite.”
“Actually,” Simon double-checked his link, “one point four now. So, yes. Whatever is on the other side of this, we’re stopping.”
They crested the hill, and through the green trunks a field of cream and brown almond grass stretched out before them. It waved ever so slightly in a gentle breeze that once again carried with it the smell of freshly baked bread. On either side of the wide field the ground rose somewhat sharply with glinting black rock outcroppings gashing the landscape every so often. In the distance sat a small green lake. It was perched on the edge, just before the field fell off a cliff to a valley far below that separated this mountainside from the surrounding peaks capped with mint green snow. It looked like the largest emerald in the galaxy had been dropped there and was now teetering precariously, mere moments from falling over and down into the valley below.
“This place truly is amazing.” Todd shook his head. “Imagine some of the other planets that Lombargnor and Foggen have seen that they don’t even warn you about the stunning beauty of this place.”
“Seriously, man.” Simon slowly shook his head.
They stood quietly in awe, taking in the majestic view. “Okay,” Simon said, turning to Todd, “now what? Unfortunately, he’s not just sitting in a chair waiting for us, so where do we start searching from here?”
“Maybe we don’t yet. We can make camp by that lake first. At least then we’ll have safe shelter squared away comfortably in the daylight while we still have the energy to set up.”
“I like that. Speaking of energy, we could eat something too. I am starving.”
An hour and a half later, Simon placed a large rock as the final piece of a rock circle surrounding a pile of sticks and brush. Two small lavender tents, each looking barely large enough to hold an adult human, stood on a flat patch to one side of the circle Simon had just completed. On the other the surface of the emerald green lake rippled and glistened in the afternoon sunlight.
Todd strolled up, arms cradled, breathing heavily, and dropped a load of logs onto a pile by the lake’s edge. “I think that should get us through tonight.” He plopped down in the grass and looked up and down one of the hillsides. “Not sure what you’re thinkin’, but it looks to me like some of those rock outcroppings could have caves. Maybe we should have a closer look at those.”
“I noticed that too. When I was collecting rocks for the ring, I was trying to make mental notes of the ones I spotted. I eventually just stopped because there’s so many.”
“We gotta start somewhere.”
“No, no, I agree. I think it’s the most logical starting point for sure. If he was just watching this area waiting for the first signs of life, he’d have revealed himself already. Maybe he’s off hunting or gathering or he heads into Prisco occasionally for supplies or something, but we can’t just sit here waiting for him to walk out with his hands up.”
“Agreed.” Todd pointed at a spot over Simon’s right shoulder. “How ’bout that one? We could start there and systematically work our way through all the ones we find on that side. Then if need be we hit the other side.”
Simon stepped over and reached a hand down to help Todd up. “C’mon, not sure how much daylight we got, so let’s giddyup.”
Chapter 21
Todd shined the cheap flashlight they had picked up in Prisco into the darkness ahead. It revealed a shallow, empty interior void of anything but more rock. “How many does that make?” he said, desperation creeping into his voice as he slowly scanned the walls with the weak light, hoping for something, anything, resembling a clue that his father had possibly been somewhere on this mountainside.
“I haven’t been keeping track.” Simon walked back to the mouth and looked back out over the field. “However many it’s been, though, I’d vote it was last one for today. I think it’s time we head down and start a fire.”
“All right.” Todd clicked the flashlight off and joined Simon at the edge. “Let’s throw a couple of those weird unrefrigerated sausage things we got on that fire as well. All this climbing around has me famished.”
“I gotta be honest,” Simon grimaced as they started back down the hillside, “I’m a tad hesitant to eat those.”
“What?” Todd gasped. “You’re like the most adventurous eater I know. Plus, Benjo said they’re great.”
“That’s all well and good, but I didn’t notice a bathroom out here. It’s a lot easier to be adve
nturous with a comfortable, modern facility nearby.”
Todd chuckled before the smile quickly vanished from his face. “Dude, now I’m not sure I want ’em either.”
Twenty minutes later, Simon fashioned three medium-sized logs into a triangle over the glowing brush and twigs. The sun slowly slid its way behind a peak in the distance as the horizon turned into what looked like a viscous purple, green, and gold river separating the mountains from sky.
Todd dug through his pack, considering alternate dinner options. “These bags of jellybean-lookin’ snacks are a leading candidate right now. This package of berries too.”
“We have to eat something more substantial than just that. We’ve been hiking up and around a mountainside all day.”
“What about these things?” Todd pulled out two red cups with brown lids. He looked them over and yanked out a small pan. “Says we just boil a little water, pour some in, shake ’em up, and voila, dinner.”
“Fine, those’ll do, but pull out the sausage things too. I’ve reconsidered. I’m absolutely starving.”
“You got it. Get a couple of sticks out of the pile to stick ’em on. I’m not eating those things straight from the package after your spot-on analysis earlier.”
The logs began to pop and crackle, and an acrid smell like burning toast filled their nostrils. The intensity of heat coming off the glowing pile at the center of the rock circle increased as the air surrounding them from all other directions chilled.
Simon maneuvered a rust-colored sausage onto the end of one stick, handed it to Todd, and got to work impaling the second. Todd extended his closer to the base of the fire, and within seconds the burnt toast smell was joined by that of fat roasting along with exotic spices. Simon reached his out, and the fire roared as a stiff breeze blew through.
Todd rotated his dinner a few times and then examined it. “Seems good enough to me.” He blew firmly on one end a couple of times and then nibbled off a small bite. Simon watched him chew slowly before he stopped suddenly, swallowed hard, and his eyes shot open. He laid the stick over one of the rocks, grabbed his pack, and began frantically searching through it as his face turned scarlet and sweat beaded on his forehead.