The Harry Ferguson Chronicles Box Set

by William David Ellis

  “Belle Rodum, wake up, witch. You can’t be sleeping now! We’ve work to do. Come on now, wake. Give her another lick or two, Raleigh. Maybe between the two of us we can rouse her.”

  Belle felt the warm, scratchy lick and this time realized it was the great white dog. Groaning, she roused enough to push his big head back, avoiding another drool-filled doggy kiss.

  Brady reached down and lifted Belle to her feet. “Oh, oh no, girl, don’t be wobbling around, hey there! Stand up.” The large man caught Belle as she started to collapse into his arms. “You’re a bad drunk, Belle Rodum. It was my hands you burnt with your high-falutin’ spell, and you’re the one staggering around like you can’t hold your liquor.” Brady was grumbling to keep from chuckling. He still didn’t totally trust Belle, but she was growing on him.

  “Ohhh. Harry… nooo, noo…” Belle groaned.

  Raleigh whimpered, “Belle visit Harry in dark place. She talk with him. See bad bad snake thing, Harry growl. Big snake much scared of Harry, her run away. But Harry bad sick… really bad sick.”

  Brady’s heart raced. Worried for his friend, he shook Belle. “Belle, you have to wake up, please talk to us. What happened?”

  Belle struggled to consciousness. It was hard, like swimming up from the bottom of a deep dive into an ocean that pressed against her, pushing her back. Finally, she broke through the dark holding her back. “Ah!” she screamed. Gasping for breath, she shoved backward against Brady, desperately trying to break free from his hold. Her eyes were wide and her body trembled.

  “Belle, Belle! It’s me, Brady Huslu. You’re back, girl, you’re back.” Raleigh pushed his massive body into her shivering frame. He ducked his head and whimpered. She grabbed his neck and slid to her knees. Brady continued, only this time softer. “Belle, it’s Brady and Raleigh. It’s us, you’re with us now… don’t you remember?”

  She shook her head violently, fighting the dark tentacles still grappling for her. As each second ticked by, her mind became clearer. Holding on to Raleigh grounded her for some reason and gave her strength. She loosened her grip on the poor dog, but only slightly before resting her head against his.

  She tried to talk but stuttered instead, stumbling over her words, still fighting the last remnants of the retreating darkness. “I saw… Harry… Harry. I saw Harry, they are torturing him.” She took a deep breath. Not exactly the best idea considering the small cell and large poop pile environment.

  “They’re hurting him and want to break him. He’s hiding in his mind. Waaay back in his soul, he has found refuge.”

  Brady swallowed, slowly shaking his head as he listened to the hard words that were pouring from Belle.

  “I talked to him. Then the strongman came, she spoke with him… lied to him. She almost broke him.” Belle paused.

  Brady watched Belle’s struggle. “What happened, Belle? Something or someone intervened, didn’t they?”

  “Yeah, something did. I don’t know how to say it.” She narrowed her eyes. “I saw lights, hundreds of lights… and then they sang to me…” She was whispering by the time she finished.

  Brady listened intently, barely moving a muscle.

  Raleigh’s tongue hung out in a doggy laugh. “Belle see little light people. Raleigh know them. He sings with them sometimes. They good singers… love the big pointy light in north sky.”

  Brady started to say, “Well, I’ll be da…mm…” then realized, considering the subject matter, that was not something to be declaring and bit his tongue.

  Belle sat next to Raleigh, pushing her fingers into his thick mane. The dog calmed her nerves. “The lights encouraged me to help Harry. He was nearly catatonic. The strongman pretended to be…” Belle pinched her lips together, seething at the memory. “Her lies pierced him!”

  “Who?” Brady prodded, shaking Belle. “Spit it out already.”

  “Sarah.” The name dripped off her lips. “You know… the dragon shifter who can’t seem to make up her mind.”

  “I know who she is, Belle. She has broken Harry’s heart so many times it’s held together with bullshi…oot, bullshoot.” Brady was a vowel short of cussing and was doing his best and not quite getting there.

  Belle rolled her eyes and laughed at him. She pushed herself off the cold stone floor and dusted off the seat of her pants. “Brady, don’t mind cussing around me. I have heard worse from demons themselves!”

  Brady’s blush was hidden by the cell’s gloom. “I’m sure that’s true, but you didn’t hear it from me, and it’s like the good book says, ‘out of the heart the mouth speaks,’ and just so you know my heart ain’t full of bovine fecal matter!”

  Belle snorted. “Couldn’t tell by listening.”

  Brady laughed and pushed Belle so hard she almost fell, but then grew serious. “Okay, I’m purposely delaying. Scared to hear it, but what happened next?”

  Belle’s face fell as she grew quiet and stared at the floor.

  Raleigh and Brady tilted their heads. Brady’s eyes narrowed as he looked suspiciously down on the woman. “What?” he prodded.

  “I slapped him… didn’t know what else to do, so I reared back. Reared back? I cannot believe I said that. I have definitely been around Harry Ferguson way too long. Anyway, I slapped him hard. I think it was inspired, actually, because he grabbed my hand before I could hit more than twice and thanked me. Then he stood up, walked right over to the demon in dragon form, and dismissed it! He didn’t raise his voice, he just wagged his finger at it, and it tucked its tail and ran.”

  “And then what?”

  Belle stared into the past. “He collapsed. I grabbed him and then I was pulled away…” She looked at Brady and Raleigh. “He is dying… Harry is dying… the energy it took to beat the demon in the refuge of his mind was his last reserve. He does not have much time left.”

  Brady was about to respond when a loud knock on the cell door and a shout warned him.

  “Move away from the door!”

  With a loud shriek the rusty door swung open. Laden Long walked in.

  “Ah, Belle, I am glad you’re still alive! A little surprised I have to admit, but also, I’m afraid your little visit is over. Dr. Oberheust has some things to,” Long’s brow furrowed slightly as if searching for just the right word, “discussss with you.” He held on to the “s” sound way too long, as if she didn’t already know he was a snake.

  The Nazi guards grabbed Belle. While one held his MP 40 on Brady, the other slapped a pair of silver cuffs on Belle. She bit her lip, determined not to cry out as the silver barbs pierced her wrists. Raleigh began to growl, sending chills up Long’s and the guards’ spines. Brady started to lunge.

  “No, Brady!” Belle commanded using her witchy voice to stop the giant man in his tracks. She looked at him, pleading, then whispered, “Not now, not the time…” She shook her head sadly. Brady growled, earning a wag from Raleigh, and stepped back from the prying light and into the darkest corner of the cell.

  The guard with the submachine gun a few feet from Raleigh’s exposed teeth and vicious growling had his finger on the trigger, a twitch away from pulling it. Belle turned from Brady to the faithful dog, shook her head again, and mouthed, “No, Raleigh… soon but not now… soon…” The giant dog whimpered and stepped back, his whole body sagging in concern.

  “Very good idea, Belle,” Long whispered. “You saved their lives.” He nodded to Brady and stepped back through the door.

  The half man half beast trembled as the guards and Long backed out of the cell, taking Belle Rodum with them.

  The door slammed behind them with a loud clang of metal against stone.

  “Just when I was starting to like her,” Brady moaned.

  Raleigh whimpered, adding, “Belle good girl. She like Raleigh, her help Brady break bad collars on hands, why her not let Raleigh bite bad mens?”

  Brady gave Raleigh the best smile he could manage. It wasn’t much but would have to do. “Her not want—” He froze. “What the heck,
you’ve got me talking like you. Ya big dummy!”

  Raleigh harrumphed and crossed his paws.

  “She didn’t want either of us to get hurt, Raleigh. She likes us too.” Brady frowned and then knelt down to sniff his makeshift bomb. “Hmm, you know what? A couple more hours at most and this filthy brew is going to blow that door off its hinges and be the nastiest explosive…” He paused for a moment, searching for a vowel. “Well hell, Raleigh, it’s only you and me. We are making shit bombs and Lord help the people it lands on. Going to blow the crap out of ’em! Get it, blow the crap…”

  Raleigh tucked his head and whimpered.

  “Fine, you big oaf, I thought it was funny… Just a little longer and we are busting out of here. And hopefully, if the initial explosion doesn’t kill us, we are going to find Harry and rescue him… and then, my friend, we are getting out of this whole country!”

  Raleigh’s tail beat against the medieval stone walls, causing Brady to wonder if they were going to need a bomb to break out.

  Chapter 44

  Laden Long should have been happy. Everything was coming together. Ferguson was breaking, Belle had surrendered the thorn, the veil was growing thinner, everything was as it should be. So, what was the nagging unease? Had he forgotten something? No, he had made a list and of course checked and double-checked. He had conferred with Cadmus and Oberheust and all was well with them. What was it that lay just outside his consciousness, hiding like a grain of sand in the oyster shell, irritating his soul?

  It reminded him of ancient dreams or another time traveling incarnation when he had first manifested as Romlott Hus… Yes! Yes! It was so familiar… just like then, but what was it? Then it struck him. During that time, Harry Ferguson had appeared first lost in the tunnels, then somehow, he had trespassed in the spirit; he had traversed his victim’s dreams, and his own. What was it Belle had said? He’s not dead, he’s waiting! The thought slammed into the dark clergy’s heart like lightning across a desert plain, miles away but heading toward him.

  The thought troubled Long but it did not paralyze him. His angry mind pushed through the despair. Long was a master of despair; he used it as a weapon and had pierced many hearts with it. He knew how to flow with it, form it, force it down channels away from himself and onto others. As he embraced the torturous despair in masochistic pleasure, ideas formed, agony whirled around him, stinging him and revealing an alternate route. He had feared Ferguson would die before breaking and willingly submitting to the sacrifice that was needed to free the strongman. What if he did die? What if he would not break? Who could replace him? It didn’t have to be Ferguson. It could be someone else, but who?

  Long’s body trembled as he embraced the dark spirits that counseled him. They extracted a price for their revelations, but it was always worth it. Who would the strongman accept if Ferguson did not break? Every nerve in Long’s body was now stinging. He felt like a thousand cuts had been made and alcohol poured on each of them. His body had actually begun to bleed, ungodly stigmatas, offering blood for the ravenous darkness that coiled serpent like around him, one moment enthralling him in orgasmic pleasure, the next burning him with flame. And then the image formed… a woman with red hair and feral eyes, nailed on a broken cross. Belle Rodum! Yes, she would do. If he could not have Ferguson, then he would offer the witch. She was no good to him now anyway, and she most certainly could be broken to Long’s will… most certainly.

  Chapter 45

  Sarah sat up on her grandparents’ couch and expelled a slow lungful of frustration and fear. By the end of her breath she had made her decision. “I have to go back. The elders of Kusaila can lead his people but only I can save Harry. I mean I can, can’t I?”

  Sarah’s grandfather looked at his wife and frowned. Sarah caught the look and frowned back at her grandmother. “I can, can’t I?”

  “Well, Sarah, that depends… on a lot of things that even we don’t know. But mostly it depends on whether Harry lets you.”

  “What does that even mean? Why wouldn’t he let me?”

  Her grandfather answered, “Harry is wounded, almost to death. He is hanging on by the thinnest of threads. His body has been mutilated, his soul almost so. You have to heal it before he will let you get close enough to touch him. Traveling through time streams is nothing compared to touching a human heart that has been broken… that you have broken, Sarah.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and sucked in a breath of broken glass. Her chest ached like some dark creature was trying to crush her in its embrace. She bit her quivering lip to keep from sobbing.

  Her grandmother knelt before her and placed both hands on her face. “You did nothing wrong… You actually did the best of rights. Harry also had to choose. Life is choice. But those choices have consequences and Harry may not choose to trust you again. You have to go to him in the farthest reaches of his mind, the place he has been clinging to, hiding from the physical pain. He has been attacked there and is going to be wary. The beast who attacked him claimed to be you.”

  Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth, covering her gasp. “Oh dear God!” The idea of Harry dying thinking she’d taken part in his torture infuriated her. Dark wisps edged out her nose.

  Her grandmother continued, “If you want to help him, before you can rescue his body and mind, you have to rescue his heart, his soul.”

  Sarah nodded her understanding and looked at her grandmother and then back to her grandfather. “Absolutely, I am in. Yes and amen.” Her grandfather laughed as he heard his old expression escape her lips.

  “Wait, Sarah, that’s not all. There is something else I have to tell you.”

  Sarah’s shoulders drooped. “Go on.”

  “In the place where Harry is, he can still be hurt…”

  “I will be careful.”

  “You could too, honey. You could die there. Or worse, be trapped for a long, long time in the cave. Just like before.”

  Sarah pulled back into the couch, staring at her grandmother. Her breaths caught in her throat. “Like before? In the cave when I was chained by Romlott Hus?”

  “Yes… It is a spiritual place that could easily be turned into a prison.”

  Sarah closed her eyes again and cupped her face with her hands. She remembered the cave, its smells, the chains that bound her, the dragon’s filthy breath, the darkness and the loneliness, and then she remembered something else. She remembered a peasant boy who stole into that very same darkness, who risked his life to set her free, and who paid a horrible price to do it.

  Guilt pricked her for giving in to her fear. Why was battling in dragon form so much easier to her? Why would she even hesitate? One small prayer later she looked at her grandparents and said, “How can I run away from the cave that Harry ran into to set me free?”

  Chapter 46

  The guards released the breaths they were holding and turned down the hall, pushing Belle before them. Blood ran from the cuts the cuffs had made in her wrists and dripped onto the floor as they walked down the corridor. Finally, they came to an oak door that opened into the older part of the cathedral. The door was dark, held together by bolted iron straps. Rust marked it like ancient bloodstains. One of the guards brushed aside decades of dust and cobwebs and placed a large metal key in the lock. He had to jiggle it back and forth for a moment before it clicked. He yanked on the handle and was surprised that it opened smoothly; there wasn’t even a squeal from the door hasps as they slid open.

  The guards were troubled by the chill that set upon them as soon as the door opened. Long lit the lantern that hung on the wall in front of the timeworn door. A bitter smile touched his lips. “Shall we?” he asked, motioning toward Belle as he crossed the threshold into the cold chamber. Belle and the guards followed the dim light of the antique kerosene lamp. As Long walked into the darkness, he lifted the lamp. Its light reached high, revealing the cathedral ceiling. As he kept walking Belle noticed old pews, cracked and broken. Some had been cleared back and appeared to have been burne
d. Candle holders, bent and dusty, lay on the floor.

  After a few steps Long halted. In front of him was an altar, carved from marble and covered in dust. Long looked over his shoulder at her and answered her unspoken question. “This is the sanctuary of the ancient church that first stood here. It was supposed to be a site of communion with God because of a sacrifice of blood. But in an incident called the Goslar Precedence, monks fought monks in a bestial display of treachery and gore. They actually went so far as to sacrifice the wounded of their enemies on this very altar, and in so doing they stretched the veil between worlds. The veil is very vulnerable here. So, here is where Harry Ferguson’s sacrifice will rip the veil apart. This is where the strongman will be set free.”

  Then he turned to face Belle and said, “And this is where you will ensure Harry willingly sacrifices himself.”

  Belle cursed, “Never!” as she shoved one soldier to the ground and raised her foot to stomp him. She heard a gun cock. Cold steel pressed against her temple.

  Long raised his index finger to his lips. “Now, now, mustn’t put up a fuss.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the small wooden box that held the thorn, and showed it to her. When she ceased struggling, he opened the box and very carefully unwrapped the thorn. Gingerly he picked it up and held it by its base, the tip pointed toward her. Her eyes widened as he moved to prick her with it. She pulled away like he had a branding iron in his hand. “So, you read the inscription and you know that if the tip of this thorn touches you, you will be cast into utter darkness. That’s immediately, Belle!” Laden growled, smoke curling up from his nostrils. Belle had almost forgotten he was a dragon at heart. “You are a servant of evil, Belle. You were born into it, saturated with it, and enjoyed it!” He laughed as he raised the lantern to get a better look at the thorn. “This little object, a relic of a season long past, still has power. And if I were simply to scratch you… Like this.” He turned to the guard holding her arm and pricked him before he could react.