by C. F. Cooper
Unbelievers. There are unbelievers amongst us. Corrupted by a son of Adam no less. Now do you see. Do you see the danger the sons of Adam bring to the garden? Intruders bring violence and destruction and illness with them. The illness of division and discord. They must be destroyed before they destroy us. Death to the unbelievers.
The crowd was now completely surrounding them, chanting and stamping their feet to create a thumping beat that matched the chant.
Death to the unbelievers, death to the unbelievers.
Gary stood up and pulled Sasha and the others to their feet. “Link arms,” he said. They did as he said forming an outward looking circle as the crowd slowly tightened the circle around them.
“What now?” asked Calico.
“We try and break out. If we all run at the same spot maybe, just maybe, we can break through.”
“That’s the plan?” said Calico, shaking his head. “Ah well, at least we took out the elixir. That will give others the chance to defeat them.” And with that that he ran at the crowd screaming, “Death the Ice King”. He was a few rows deep before he disappeared under a hail of blows.
“So that’s the spot we run at,” said Gary. “Two out of three isn’t bad. Death the Ice King.” He ran towards where Calico had fallen. Fists connected with his jaw as he reached the encircling crowd, but he was too pumped up, too angry to feel any pain. He punched back and pushed his way through to a crumpled figure on the ground. A small clearing formed around Gary and he looked round to find Sasha and her guard on either side of them, claws extended swiping back and forwards, the crowd moving back to avoid contact. Gary pulled Calico to his feet. “You didn’t wait for the signal.”
“Never been very patient,” Calico replied.
“If we go down, we go down together,” said Sasha.
A deafening crack of thunder sounded across the sky above them. Gary, his companions and the crowd of doomwalkers were stopped momentarily in their tracks. They looked up to see forked lightening smashing into the red cloud. The face of the Ice King for the first time looked surprised and nervous. Rain began to fall and with it the red cloud began to slowly disintegrate.
Death to the unbelievers
This time the voice from above was not booming and commanding but higher pitched and sounding slightly desperate, trying to issue its command before it was gone.
Death to the unbelievers
Quieter than before, as if it was shouting from a great distance rather than being an immanent presence.
Gary looked down from the sky. The crowd was confused and disorientated, unable to look away from the spectacle in the sky.
“Everyone, let’s go,” he said, pushing his way through the crowd while holding on to Calico. “Let’s go.” Gary pushed through the crowed waiting for them to turn on him, but they were completely mesmerised by the Ice King.
If the garden cannot be saved from the son of Adam it must be destroyed. We will not hand it over to outsiders. If you abandon me, I will destroy it. The river of life is an ally, or it is an enemy.
The voice was now shrill and barely audible. Gary reached the edge of the village and looked back. They were all still staring upwards at their master fading from view.
“Gary,” shouted a voice. He looked to the distance and saw Smallgrass, Daisy, Octavia and the others running towards them, weapons raised.
Gary waved and ran towards them. “No need to fight,” he said. Let’s get out of here.”
“Damn, missed the action,” said Smallgrass. “I knew I should have gone with you. But what about her,” he said pointed with his sword at Sasha.
“She’s good. Mean but good.”
Daisy ran up to Gary and gave him a hug. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see you again.”
“I’m glad you care. You do care, didn’t you?”
Daisy pulled Gary close and kissed him briefly. They separated and began to climb the hill out of the village to the safety of their lookout. Gary looked at Daisy and at Sasha and at Octavia. He felt confused but happy. Happier than he’d ever remembered.
Chapter 19
The companions sat on the brow of the hill watching the events below unfold. They were no longer worried about hiding or giving away their position. The rain and the thunder had subsided, washing away most of the smoke that hung over the encampment. It still lingered however, looking more like a faint red mist. The image of the Ice King still there but twisted and contorted. The rain had melted his features as if they were heated wax. He still tried to speak to his followers below but all that came out was a garbled slow-motion version of his voice which seemed more anguished than threatening. After the Ice King began to fade the inhabitants of the encampment seemed to lose their drive. There was no attempt to put out the fire in the stockade.
As the night wore on small fires appeared all over the village followed by the sound of shouting and fighting. The army of doomwalkers were falling apart, splitting into factions and fighting each other.
“I wish we could help them,” said Gary.
“We can’t,” replied Sasha. “As the elixir wears off, doubts and fears crowd your mind, fill you full of fear and anger. I experienced myself. That’s why people willingly take the elixir. The pain is too great to push through it and get back to normality. If you hadn’t helped me, I couldn’t have recovered so quickly.”
“They are not cured yet, but they will be,” said Calico. “But regardless, they are no longer a fighting force. We have won.”
“It’s not that simple,” said Sasha. “Until we take the Crystal City the threat could return at any moment. That is where the Kingsblood comes from and he has true believers there. As long as he rules, there will be no peace in the four lands.”
“She’s right,” said Daisy. “You heard the Ice King, if he can’t rule the four lands, he’d rather destroy them”
“It seems to me that he was trying to do both,” said Gary. “The question is why?” The others looked at him quizzically. “Think about it. What is left to rule? He is destroying as he conquers. Look at the forests in Springrise and look around you here in Autumnfall. The village below is already destroyed. There is something more that we don’t understand.”
“Gary’s instincts have seldom been wrong,” said Smallgrass. “Apart from that time he tried to rescue Daisy by fighting the doomwalkers singlehanded.”
“And the time he ran away from the first doomwalker he encountered,” chipped in the other Smallgrass.
“But apart from that, he’s seldom wrong,” said Daisy laughing.
“Even when possessed there was some niggling doubt about what the purpose of our conquest was,” said Sasha. “Something that always seemed, somehow, out of reach.”
“Okay,” said Hannibal. “So, we wait for the elixir to wear off and we then unite the three lands against Winterhaven and march on the Ice King.”
“No,” said Gary. “We head for the Crystal City tomorrow at the break of dawn. The Ice King has had a setback, but he will move quickly. I don’t know how, but he will. We must travel there as fast as we can.”
***
Gary walked with Daisy away from the camp, holding her hand.
“There is something I need to tell you,” he said.
“You made love with Octavia,” she said.
“She told you?”
“She didn’t have to.” Daisy stopped Gary and hugged him. “Things must be very complicated in your world when everyone pretends to only love one person.”
“I was thinking the same about this place,” said Gary.
“But you like it here, don’t you?”
Gary nodded. “More than anything. I don’t want to go back to my old life, and I don’t want to mess things up with you.”
Daisy shrugged, “By making love with someone else. Why would that matter. Besides, you made love to Sasha too, so…”
“No, no I didn’t,” Gary insisted. So, she is jealous after all, he thought. She is imaging things. Gary felt the world r
eturning to something close to normal with Daisy’s display of jealousy.
“But you did Gary,” she replied. “You don’t realise, do you?”
He shook his head in denial.
Daisy stood in front of Gary and held him by both arms. She gazed into his eyes. Gary stared back looking at the beautiful rabbit woman before him, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and her deep blue eyes. He lost himself in her gaze, feeling as if he was falling into her. Then he saw her eyes transform just as they had the first time they made love, swirling into a blue green orb. He saw her, felt her standing at the top of a cliff looking down on Gary in the water below. She turned and ran. He felt her pounding heart and her muscular legs pushing her in large bounds through the forest and away from the doomwalkers. Then he was in the village below staring into Sasha’s eyes, seeing the world as she saw it. He came back into focus and was once again standing in front of Daisy watching her eyes flush white as she pulled him closer. Gary held her tight and nodded his understanding.
“You opened yourself to her and she opened herself to you. Your lifeforces touched each other and in doing so pulled more lifeforce into both of you. That’s how it works Gary. Don’t you see that?”
“I didn’t realise,” he said.
“The physical is just a part of it, a small part of it,” she said breathing deeply. “You see?”
Gary nodded. “But the physical part is good though. You must admit that. It is, isn’t it?”
Daisy pushed Gary in the chest and laughed. “Yes, it’s not bad.”
Part Four – Winterhaven
Chapter 20
“And that my friends, is the Crystal City.”
Gary looked back at the land stretching out behind them. There was no obvious line between Autumnfull and Winterhaven in the way there was between the other lands. The snow lay thick on the ground and the land swept upwards, always upward. The horizon was dominated by a castle sitting at the peak of the highest mountain. The castle was white and glistened in the morning sun. The light reflecting off the icicles that had formed around the ramparts.
“The Crystal City,” said Gary. “Sometimes I didn’t think we’d ever see it.”
“It is beautiful,” said Daisy.
“Huh,” said Smallgrass. “It’s brought nothing but misery to the four lands.”
“It’s still beautiful.”
“Does everyone in Winterhaven live in the city?” asked Gary.
“They do,” said Sasha. “The city is Winterhaven. Our journey to the castle will be easy but getting in is a different matter.”
“We have time. We can wait them out with a siege once reinforcements arrive,” said Octavia. “We just need to make sure he does not send out any new elixir. The doomwalkers are awakening from their enchantment by the day.”
“But we push on anyway,” said Gary.
“Agreed,” said Sasha. “We should not congratulate ourselves too much. He took control once and can do it again. We don’t know what other magic he may have. I will not rest until I know he is gone.”
Daisy put an arm around Sasha and hugged her tight. Sasha hugged Daisy back and kissed her cheek. Gary looked at the two women and wondered to himself where it would all end for him. Smallgrass nudged him, “You not going to join in the hugging?” Gary reddened and looked away much to the amusement of the other Smallgrass.
“Let’s go,” he said walking ahead of the group. There was now eight of them. The five original companions who had left Summervale, Octavia’s husband, Sasha and Calico. They marched in single file, the person in the front creating a path in the deep snow for the others to follow. Every half hour the person at the back would come forward and take the lead. When Octavia or Hannibal led the group, the path to follow was easy for the others. Their size meant that they pushed aside a vast quantity of snow and created a wide clearing. When Smallgrass or Smallgrass led the group, it didn’t help quite as much. They would have been better staying at the rear, but no-one liked to tell them that. Their pride was as large as they were small. Besides, they had proved their worth many times on this quest and Gary was not going to belittle them in any way even if sometimes created a little extra work for the others.
The march was slow and steady and when night fell the castle was still no more than a small dot on the horizon. They cleared a circle and created a small fire from some wood they had collected along the way. Sitting in the dark staring into the fire Gary thought about the professor.
“Smallgrass, you remember the professor, don’t you?”
Smallgrass nodded.
“I wonder if he ever made it to the four lands. He said he was going to try another portal. There must be many of them.
“Who is this professor?” asked Sasha.
Gary explained how he had come to be in the four lands. How the professor was trying to pass through himself and his final words to Gary, defeat the Ice King.
“But how did he know about the Ice King?” asked Daisy.
Gary shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve been so busy surviving I never gave it any thought. He knew the four lands existed and he knew the Ice King was a threat.”
“Then surely he must have and some contact with the four lands?”
“He couldn’t enter the garden. He wanted to but he couldn’t. And he guessed I was a virgin when I could pass through the portal.” Gary shook his head again at the memory of it.
“He knew many things about our land,” said Smallgrass. “But if he had never visited, then there must be some kind of contact between our worlds.”
“Yes,” agreed Gary. “It was not theoretical knowledge or a myth like the ones you shared with me Smallgrass. He knew the Ice King was a danger now and had to be stopped.”
Daisy pointed to the castle in the distance. Lights flickered and illuminated the walls. Torches were placed around the battlements. “That is where the answer lies. The Ice King talks about the threat to the four lands. He has knowledge of your world Gary.”
“You’re right.” Gary leaned back and looked at the night sky above. The sky was clear and was full of stars. “The plough,” he said pointing upwards.
“What?”
Gary pointed and explained to the others the stars making up the plough. He then pointed out other constellations. They were fascinated. They told Gary their names for the stars and pointed out different groups of stars that had names in their world.
“We are looking at the same sky,” he said. “We’re on the same world. We just see things differently. Different patterns in the sky and different names. Why wouldn’t there be connections between the worlds?” A green wave of iridescent light passed overhead as they spoke. “Aurora Borealis.”
“The sky river,” said Smallgrasss. “That’s what we call it. Keep watching.”
Gary sat up and turned around, following the wave of light as it crossed the sky. It passed directly over the crystal city and caused the white walls of the city to turn green as the light reflected on the snow below. The green wave then dipped down and touched the highest tower in the castle.
Gary remembered back to the professor’s office and jumped to his feet staring at the castle.
“That’s it. That is exactly what the light looked like in the professor’s office when he created the portal. The professor said I needed to travel to the Crystal City to get home. The Aurora Borealis creates a portal to my world and it’s in the City. The Ice King has visited my world.”
***
As the friends made their way up the slopes of the hill towards the castle, they saw no other living soul. Octavia and her husband fanned out to either side of the group and marched ahead, looking for scouts or potential ambushes but there was nothing. Not a living soul disturbed them. Looking up towards the castle that lay before them they could see an occasional glint of light on the ramparts as if they were being viewed from afar by spyglasses.
“Why don’t they attack?” asked Gary as they paused for a rest.
“Why do they need to. The castle is virtually impenetrable,” said Sasha. “They could sit in there for years. We may defeat them in the other lands but taking over the Crystal City is a different matter.”
“Perhaps we don’t need to enter the city. Whatever the King was trying to achieve by taking over the four lands, he has failed,” said Daisy.
The friends stood up, dusted the snow from their clothing and began the trek towards the castle once again.
As dusk fell, they reached the final peak and the castle could be seen in all its glory. The foundation upon which the castle stood was sheer rock face cliffs with a bottomless chasm surrounding it. In one location only there was a large bridge, twenty feet wide and made of rock and paved with polished granite. On either side of the bridge was a sheer vertical drop. There were no walls on either side and the bridge had a camber that sloped away from the centre. The bridge had a straight line running along the centre. The line was made of deep red stone unlike the grey glistening granite that surrounded it.
“The one straight line,” said Smallgrass. “It runs from the City to Warrensgate, following the path of the river of life.”
Gary stood at the edge of the bridge and looked up. Faces could be seen looking down from the ramparts. Eyes staring out from metal helmets.
“Our journey has ended,” said Gary pulling a bundle of wood he had been carrying off his back.
“Do we really want to set up camp right here?” said Calico. “Before reinforcements arrive?”
Gary scratched his chin as he looked up at the castle. “Yes, we can’t get in, but they can’t get out if we guard the bridge”
“The bridge is designed to be defended by as few people as possible,” said Hannibal. “That is why it slopes away from the middle. Octavia and I could hold an army on this structure.”
“Then we do it,” said Sasha. She crouched down and began to help Gary make the fire.
The sun dropped below the horizon and torches on the ramparts came to life again. The fire of the travellers licked the night air.