“Riel, Riel, where are you? I need you!” Bodolf’s pleas were a moaning whisper. He didn’t see Riel or hear her but the smell that had been wearing away at him was an indication that Riel was close, either dead or rotting away. Bodolf again pulled on his bonds, hoping, by sheer luck alone, that the bonds would snap. After several tries and calls to Riel, Bodolf faced the undeniable fact that something was out there in the thickness of the fog. It was only a matter of time before what was in the fog would kill him. Bodolf bowed his head and closed his eyes as the sound of the gargled screams grew louder.
Before Bodolf could close his eyes, he fell forward, he caught his balance, and looked at himself twice over when he realized that he was free from the bonds. Still feeling the effects of the beating he took from King Fenris, Bodolf got to his feet – wobbly but focused. He turned to the tree, his imprisonment.
Out of habit, Bodolf reached for a weapon, a spear or a knife perhaps that would have been there before his imprisonment, when he gazed up at what was looking down at him. Before his eyes were arms, and attached to them, were elderly hands that stretched out to him, palms open. Inside the palms of those hands were grotesque faces with gray, triangular teeth.
One of those hands, the one that was skinless and sketched with muscles, ligaments and tendons held Riel up in the air by her head. She moved a little as if a part of her wanted and would shake herself free. Her mouth opened as she screamed a voiceless plea. It wasn’t heard or heeded. Her life was soon extracted slowly from her head until her final breath was exhaled from her sickening body. The hand then released her and she plummeted to the ground.
That hand faced Bodolf, palm opened, revealing teeth and Riel’s blood dripping out and down the skinless arm. “No!” Bodolf yelled, his hands quickly searching for anything on the ground to attack the hand.
The fog thickened, the smell of decomposition now at its highest, suffocation stalked Bodolf with every breath he took. His hand found something but would it be enough to stop the cursed hand from grabbing him? Even in his weakness, Bodolf was stronger than most. He lifted the rock and flung it through the fog in the area of the hand.
A yowling followed. I must have hit it, Bodolf thought, but I can’t wait around to find out. I have to get out of here now!
He turned to run, but he stopped, looked up, and for a second time he saw another hand. It clutched a person, but this person he didn’t know personally but he knew its kind. It held a Canine person. “Hold on!” Bodolf yelled.
For less than a brief moment, Bodolf thought about the bad blood between his people and the Canine people and how that bad blood had kept them living separate lives, in separate lands, and how if either of them ever made an attempt to make contact on either of their lands the consequence would have been harsh.
Then in that moment his thoughts turned to another Canine-person that he had recently encountered. He knew her by name. He thought of how he had her in his clutches, but had spared her life. Thinking of Whisk-pey, he wondered if he would do the same for the Canine-boy whose life hung in the balance of his thoughts and desires.
This humanoid hand that held the Canine-boy not only contained a face in its palm but it also had keen understanding. It was smart. Slowly it pulled the Canine-boy deeper and deeper into the thickest part of the fog. Bodolf knew that, if he was going to save the young Canine-boy, he would have to do it before the hand got him farther in the fog.
“Help, help me, Dad, help me,” the boy yelled. Not only was his yelling alluring but so was those other screams; the ones that sounded like eerie shrieks.
“I can’t help you!”
“No, no…. Get away from me!”
“Our people have no dealings with your people….”
“Leave me alone,” the boy yelled from the clutches of the hand.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Bodolf told the boy. “But that hand that has you is going to kill you. If you listen to me I will be able to help you!”
The boy said nothing but fought to get out of the hand’s grip.
As Bodolf got closer to the Canine boy the eerie howl drew closer. Bodolf, instinctively, turned toward that sound. Leaping out of the fog a black face hand charged Bodolf. He was quick and desperate. He grabbed the hand and forearm by the wrist. It was much taller than he was but height didn’t matter nor did the hand’s yowling screeches.
Bodolf was surprised how much life he was choking out of the face hand. He squeezed and squeezed before he took his clawed hands and sliced away the five charcoal fingers. Blood spewed out and so did its howls.
“There you are! Not so scary with a few missing fingers, are you?”
Bodolf heard the boy’s cries of desperation. He was falling from high in the sky. The boy and his metal spear, and the hand that held him so tightly were coming after him. The boy landed on his feet lopsided but Bodolf prevented him from falling all the way to the ground, while catching his spear and jamming it into the mouth of the hand.
At seeing the killing of two hands, the Canine-boy was sure he was next, even though Bodolf had saved his life.
“This place isn’t safe; we have to get out of here,” Bodolf told him.
If the Canine kid wasn’t persuaded yet that it hadn’t crossed Bodolf’s mind to kill him, it did when Bodolf took out as many of those killer hands that came at them with the kid’s spear.
“Let’s go! We have no time to waste. This place is cursed with evil!”
Together Bodolf and the canine kid got out of the Dark Forest safely at last. They now stood on solid ground south of Canine-land.
“Are you okay, kid?” Bodolf asked.
The kid looked at him, but his focus was on those hundreds of hands that couldn’t go past the Dark Forest’s boundaries without dying. “Yes, I am fine, thank you for helping me,” the kid said, while they both stared at the evil that glared at them with snarling yells from within the fog of the Dark Forest.
Chapter 18
“Come on, kid, I think we have admired evil long enough. We must move on,” Bodolf said.
As the two of them faced the Dark Forest, the fog and the face hands soon retreated into the deeper part of the forest.
“You are not moving anywhere but to the hell in which you belong, Wolf-fella.”
Bodolf and the canine kid turned from the Dark Forest to the voice at the back of them.
“Mom!” the Canine kid yelled, as he ran to embrace his mother. Bodolf felt out of place and defenseless when he beheld before him a crew of Canine-people led by the Canine woman armed with a metal spear.
“It’s your people who have taken over our land and killed our men who fought strenuously to protect it. You are the reason why those men died and the women have been turned into handmaids. And the men who haven’t fallen victim to the sword are now slaves in their own land. What do you have to say for yourself before I take your life from you, just as your people have done to my people?” the leader of this group of Canine-people asked.
Bodolf dropped to his knees and peered up at this ruthless female leader.
“Mom, no! He saved me from the killer hands!” the boy yelled.
“He is an enemy, son. He is part of the Wolf clan that has enslaved our people.”
“It’s alright kid, your mother is right. I am part of the Wolf-clan and although I didn’t personally enslave your people, the blood of the dead, there in your land, is upon my soul. If killing me brings any sort of resolution for the death of your people, and the one that are enslaved, by all means, take my life from me this day.”
Bodolf figured from the Canine woman’s beaming blue eyes, and her dark gray lips that were up turned in a scowl, pleading for his life (if that is what he wanted to do) wasn’t an option. She held the spear back ready to throw it.
“He didn’t harm Auden, nor did it look like he was going to, Scionna. Look, I know you are angry and all of us are, but right now we do not need anymore bloodshed. Besides, this isn’t how we Canine-people do things. All
that we’ve been through today, being out here in the middle of nowhere outside of our land, we need things to be different. We need things to be better if we are going to survive and move on from Canine-land.”
Bodolf slowly pulled his head up to see who showed him this sudden favor. He was one who didn’t resemble any of the Canine-people. His teeth, which were sharp looking, were square and shined with the edge of the teeth that Bodolf could see were a mirror gray.
His abundant bushy hair was white and thick, covering most of his face and head. The crevices under his eyes and down on his cheeks told Bodolf two things. First, he had lived a lot of years and two, over those many years he had accumulated a lot of wisdom.
Scionna placed her spear into a narrow slot that held other spears then reached her four-finger hand out to Bodolf.
“This place isn’t safe. Looks like you’re going to be coming with us. I won’t get to kill you today after all,” Scionna said.
“Thank you for sparing my life!” Bodolf replied, taking her hand in assisting him up.
“Thank you for saving my son, he was one of the first one to escape. Once he escaped, he ran there for shelter,” Scionna said, pointing to the Dark Forest. There are many mountains within the trees several miles from here. I think we will find a new shelter there.”
The old Canine man smiled as the group, along with Bodolf, journeyed south, away from the Dark Forest and Canine land.
Sapphire watched from her world above, as Gilma told Whisk-pey of the news that her people had suffered at the hands of the Wolf-people. She became burdened and felt the same thing as Whisk-pey felt on Earth.
“We are just wish granters, Sapphire,” Golden said. “The dog-girl is strong and she is more powerful than she knows. She will figure things out down there, but if the committee finds out that we are interfering with their destiny, we will be in a lot of trouble. You’ve seen the fairies who have done this, have been stripped of their wings, haven’t you! Do you want the same to happen to you?”
“Of course I don’t want that, Golden. Why would you ask such a dumb question?”
“The same reason why you would do such a dumb thing as interfering with humanity down there. Now come on, we have more wishes to grant.”
Sapphire didn’t follow Golden right away. She stood there on the same steps that she and Whisk-pey stood and looked at them from behind the clouds. She saw the hurt and the dispensation in Whisk-pey eyes when Gilma told her of the critical situation in which her people fell.
I wish there was something I could do, Whisk-pey, but I am restricted by our laws here, Sapphire thought.
Golden stood ways away from Sapphire. She saw that the blue tears from her eyes were falling slowly but they were falling. She didn’t want to feel too insensitive, so she walked back to the edge of the steps where Sapphire stood looking down into the clouds at Whisk-pey.
“If I said something that offended you I’m sorry. I love you and I don’t want to see you get in any sort of trouble. If you get in trouble, I will get in trouble too.”
“What’s getting in trouble for helping someone who needs help, Golden? If that is what getting into trouble is all about, then we have already gotten in trouble, Golden,” Sapphire said, walking away from Golden.
Whisk-pey had so many questions, so many thought ran through her head, but all she did first was to cry.
Olen went to embrace Whisk-pey. She held him tight. He felt her body just as much as she felt his. This was Olen’s first time receiving a hug from a female outside of his mother. He didn’t know what to say, and she looked for him to say something when she pulled back. She didn’t press him nor did she inquire what to do. It was like she sensed there was an answer somewhere out there and it would turn up. Whisk-pey was trying to find it.
“I think the first thing that needs to be done is taking care of Gilma. After that we have to find a way to get to your world and see what we could do to help them,” Olen blurted out.
“You would come to my world, Olen?” Whisk-pey asked.
“Yes, yes of course, I would.”
“And don’t count me out, I would go too. I would be like Olen’s side-kick. He needs a side kick. He wouldn’t make it without me,” Camden interposed.
Whisk-pey smiled and cried at the same time. “I love you guys!” She kissed Camden on his cheek.
When Gilma grunted and everyone’s attention returned to her, Whisk-pey kissed Olen on his lips. “I am thankful for what you’ve done for me and for wanting to travel home with me.”
Olen’s faced turned red.
“I guess you haven’t had a kiss from a girl before.”
Before Olen could answer Gilma spoke suddenly. “If there is a way back to Make Believe then you and Ento go back to Make Believe. You know as well as I know, Whisk-pey, that it is much too dangerous for them. The responsibility to protect them is much too great; far greater than you can handle. You and Ento go back to Make Believe, but don’t put these humans’ lives at stake!” Gilma’s voice was strong and bold.
“But, Gilma, I…”
“It’s not a good idea, they belong here. We don’t know how the atmosphere will affect them, they have families too, Whisk-pey, and we don’t want them to be without their families because something happens to them. Please honor my wishes.”
Whisk-pey liked Olen a lot and thought Camden was not only cute but he was her friend just as much as Olen was. Gilma was going to die. Whisk-pey was sure of that. Her people were slaves now, from what Gilma said. Whisk-pey had no other friends and possibly no family anymore. The burden to get back to Make Believe was weighing heavily on her.
I don’t want to go back by myself. I want my new friends to go with me. I will wait until Gilma dies and then they can go. Olen and Camden will help me.
She then gazed at a sad Olen and a Camden who looked like as though they lost their best friend. Whisk-pey was about to defile Gilma’s request when she saw what looked like big, light-blue rain drops fall from the bright skies. They came down fast, a few at a time some of them connecting and becoming bigger.
“Wow! That is so cool! Blue rain drops!” Camden said. “What do you think, Olen?”
“I’m not sure, buddy. I am still trying to figure it out!” Olen replied.
As the big, blue rain drops came down they hit all of them and the ground. Gilma, whose eyes had been drifting into a world from which she would never return, were now illuminated with a radiant blue.
She felt a rush of strength, and an exuberant energy. “I feel my leg, Whisk-pey. I can feel my leg!” she yelled.
The four of them watched as the blue rain – the watery liquid – was acting as a healing agent for Gilma’s leg. Before the last drop fell to the earth, Gilma was on her feet, strong, bright and lovely. She took flight to test her new leg.
Olen and Camden watched in amazement as Whisk-pey took to the trees. When she reached Gilma’s height, she launched herself from one of the branches onto Gilma’s back. “How do you feel, Gilma?”
“I feel good. This place is different. The moving metal boxes, the…”
“They are called cars, Gilma,” Whisk-pey interrupted.
“Cars or metal boxes; this place is weird, but I like it,” Gilma said.
Then it dawned on the both of them what the voice of reality was saying.
“We have to find a way back, Whisk-pey. From the looks of what happened just now, someone has been watching over us, whoever healed me can probably get us back to Make Believe.”
Whisk-pey thought of the time when she was hurt and in dying need of help in front of the abandoned house. She gazed down when she heard someone yell. She saw Olen and Camden wave at her. She waved back with a huge smile. When Whisk-pey saw that Gilma got carried away with her flying she spoke out.
“I think we need to fly down, Gilma, so we can figure out how we are going to get home,” Whisk-pey said.
“And if we are going home anytime soon, then spending our last days with Olen and his fr
iend Camden would be the logical thing, to do,” Ento added.
“Yes, I agree,” Gilma said.
Before Gilma got too far out of range, she turned around. A few of the people down below saw Gilma and pointed upward to her. Before anyone of them could react, Gilma and her Land of Make Believe friends were gone. She turned down into the forest when she felt a hard pull from behind her.
“What’s going on, Gilma?” Whisk-pey asked when she heard the loud strain of her wings flap against the wind. Whisk-pey gripped Gilma’s shoulders, trying to hold on as tight as possible; realizing that the pull she felt was a very strong vacuous wind.
“It’s the wind. It’s pulling us back!”
“I know, Whisk-pey. I’m not going to be able to fight it. It’s, it’s, it’s too strong,” Gilma said, giving in to its authoritative pull.
Whisk-pey saw Olen and Camden on the ground and reached her hand out toward them, but the force of the vortex got stronger.
“I can’t stop the pull, Whisk-pey; it’s going to take us,” Gilma warned.
She reached out her hand in the direction of Olen and Camden. Olen stretched his arm out as he ran after Gilma and Whisk-pey. There was nothing Olen could do, the wind was too strong and they were about 50 feet in the air.
“Olen!” Whisk-pey called out.
He held his focus and his hand outstretched. “Whisk-pey, Whisk-pey, come back,” he yelled but his yelling soon went unanswered. He stopped running. Olen and Camden stood there looking up at the sky. Olen saw the coated blue whirlwind take his new alien friend.
“We can’t stay here forever, Olen. We have to get home. Your mom and my mom will be worried about us. They are gone anyway, maybe they will be back, and Whisk-pey may know how to get back to your house,” Camden said.
“Yea, I think you’re right, partly right. They’re gone and she won’t be coming back, so there will be no need for her to find my house or me to come here.”
The Land of Make Believe Page 19