The Glooming (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 1)

by John Triptych

  The being laughed. “We already have that.”

  “What then?”

  “More souls, more essences.”

  “I have given you five souls over my lifetime,” Solomon said. “Isn’t that enough for five lives?”

  “The five requires one more, I like even numerologies.”

  Solomon thought about it for a second. “Very well, I shall give you a sixth life.”

  “Then with the sixth life paid, you shall be lent six more years,” the spirit said.

  “Fine,” Solomon said. “Now I will also need protection, I need to get out of here.”

  “You ask an additional bargain.”

  “Yes, of course!” Solomon hissed. “What is the point of giving me six more years if the creatures out there will end up destroying me anyway? I need you to protect me from those things.”

  “An additional bargain requires an additional payment.”

  “What more do you want, another soul?”

  “The ones outside require a service of a different kind, for they are of a different pantheon.”

  Solomon arched his silver eyebrows. “Those creatures outside, they are not with you?”

  “There are many factions in this war. If you want my protection, then I must bargain with them not to harm you.”

  Solomon pursed his lips. “From what I heard on the radio, the creatures out there are of the Aztec pantheon then? Are they minions of Xipe Totec, the Flayed God?”

  The spirit simply smiled. “Tricksters take many forms.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I shall say no more,” the man said. “Lest I anger him, and the Hidden One makes war upon me.”

  Solomon narrowed his eyes. There was more to this than he was being led to believe. “Very well then, what is the price for the other bargain?”

  “There is … a relic that you must retrieve and bring to the sacred place.”

  “What kind of relic?”

  “The god inside the tree.”

  “What?”

  The being began to fidget. “Go to the ancient collection and retrieve the god inside the tree. Bring it to the sacrifice, and commit it to the altar. Once that is done, the Hidden One will grant you safe passage out of the city.”

  Solomon took mental notes of what the being said. “Very well, I shall do this. Once the task is done and I give you the sixth life, I would like to make another bargain, this time for power. I want to rule a part of this world as a king.”

  The figure began to fade into the hazy mist. “One bargain is agreed upon by me and another agreed upon the Hidden One. Fulfill these bargains firstly and then we shall see….”

  Solomon held out a restraining hand. “Wait, I still have more questions!”

  “Remember … both bargains.” With that, the being faded into nothingness as the alcove stood empty once more.

  Solomon slumped onto the floor. He was exhausted, weak, and hungry, but his mind was racing. He needed to solve the riddles spoken by the demon and he needed to do it now. There was no time for rest. After spending a few minutes catching his breath, Solomon willed himself to stand up and barely succeeded, his knees were wobbling and nearly buckled as he leaned on the side of the wall for support. Limping into the bathroom, he threw off his soiled robes and began to wash himself using the pail of tepid water that had been left there by his manservant since the water mains had stopped working days ago.

  A few minutes later, there was a shout that came from the anteroom. “Elliot, get in here!”

  Elliot had actually been listening by the door when he heard the master begin to shout, but he wondered who he was talking to since Solomon was obviously all alone in his inner chambers. Quickly getting up from his chair by the door, Elliot immediately straightened his tie to make sure he was presentable, and then he gently turned the lock and peered in.

  The master was dressed in a black suit. Although it was clear he was emaciated, Solomon sat down and began to swallow mouthfuls of the cold soup that was sitting on the table. He was hungry and needed fuel. “Move the dresser out of the way from the front door, we’re going out,” he said.

  “Yes, master,” Elliot said as he turned around and walked up to the dresser and started to pull it backwards.

  “Get me some more food first, I’m famished,” Solomon shouted from the anteroom. “And clean my bathroom before we go out, it’s filthy!”

  21. The Thousand Steps

  New Mexico

  They had made it as far as the small, deserted town of Wagon Mound using Interstate-25. That was when Josh Haggard saw the highway underpass had collapsed on itself. The nearby stream had turned into a raging river of mud, which meant that they would have to find an alternate route to get to Kansas. The former Arizona police detective silently cursed as he turned the van eastwards towards the Las Mesas de Conjelon, a small mountain overlooking the town. They headed towards the Kiowa National Grassland, a huge expanse of prairie once protected by the US Government. Josh hated this van since it belonged to Larry Hanley, the ex-convict he killed the night before. But then again, he didn’t really have much choice since his own car had broken down, and he was holding up in the very motel that Larry and this runaway girl had decided to stay at for the night. It was only when the lights came on that Josh had realized that someone else was in the motel. Whoever it was knew how to start up the emergency generator, so he sneaked around and bided his time to find out. By God’s grace he was able to intervene in time to prevent a crime in progress. Larry had wanted to rape this girl he found, but Josh had put a stop to it, then he dispensed his own brand of justice to make sure the perpetrator would never stray from the law again.

  Tara Weiss sat at her customary place on the front passenger seat with the little Chihuahua curled up in her lap. She barely slept that night after seeing Josh beat Larry to death. When she asked the former cop if she could just please leave, he said go right ahead, but the dog was his to keep. Since she had grown to love the little animal and she knew its secret, Tara felt a sense of obligation to protect it. So she went ahead and climbed aboard the van after Josh woke her up. He told her she could go with him to Kansas to join up with the Rock of God Church, or just stay behind. The dog seemed to shake its head slightly when she told Josh she might as well tag along. She wasn’t sure whether it was approving her choice or warning her to get away before it was too late. As Tara looked out of the side window of the van and stared at the blunt peak of the mountain they passed by, she realized it was her only choice.

  They had spent all afternoon trying to maneuver along the Canadian river, it had once been a small desert stream running across the road through the grassland, but now they saw that it had flooded the small road in front of them. Josh couldn’t tell how deep it was, but if he pushed on, the van would have to go through about forty yards of flooded road before it could get to the dry part of the highway on the other side. The only other alternative was to go off road, north through the prairie, but without any road to guide them, or make another long detour southwards to Santa Rosa and hope that the swollen river ended there. But to go southwards would mean a detour of at least fifty miles, and Josh doubted the van would have any fuel left for it so he bit his lip, turned the steering wheel left and proceeded to go off road through the prairie grasslands.

  After a couple of hours, night had fallen. Tara was bouncing up and down on the front seat as the van continued to barrel through the plains. The evening sky was clear and she saw the full moon shining brightly overhead. Josh was going parallel along the river’s edge, hoping he could find a shallow section of the waterway so he could turn the van eastwards and drive through, but so far all he could see was the flooded banks along its side. As her hand grabbed onto the handlebar on top of the side window to keep herself steady, Tara noticed an orange glint to the west, turning that way she noticed that it looked like somebody had made a small bonfire a few hundred yards away from them.

  “Look, there’s some people over
there,” Tara said as she thrust out her left arm and pointed.

  “Huh?” Josh said as he turned and looked to his left as he kept his foot on the accelerator.

  At that moment the van’s right front wheel hit a small depression that was hidden in the tall grass of the prairie. The sudden bump and Josh’s overcompensation of the steering wheel instantly tipped the van over on its side, as its forward momentum made it slide down into the edges of the muddy riverbank. Josh let out a curse while Tara screamed as everything in the cabin tilted ninety degrees to the right. By the time it was over, the driver’s side door had opened where the vehicle roof was supposed to be and Josh climbed out. Tara called for help, but he ignored her as he jumped down into the ground and took a look around.

  Tara unbuckled her seatbelt and saw the dog running around the side of the van that was now the bottom. She scooped it up with one arm and then climbed out through the driver’s side. “You could have helped me, you know,” she said to Josh as she got down beside him.

  His one-handed backslap to her face sent her reeling into the ground. The dog started barking at him but soon quieted down when Josh half turned and placed his hand on the holstered pistol on the side of his belt.

  Tara let out a few tears as she wiped the blood from her lower lip with her right wrist, but she stayed down. “What’d you do that for?”

  “That’s for distracting me while I was driving. See what you made me do? Now the van’s tipped over.”

  Tara tried to blink the tears away. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

  “Just shut up and let me think,” Josh said as he walked away.

  Tara sat up and looked down at the twilit grass. The little Chihuahua ran over and curled itself on her lap while licking her hand.

  Josh could see the moisture in his breath as he sighed loudly with his mouth. Great, now they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. Even with the little bimbo’s help, he doubted he could right the vehicle with just the two of them. As he stared out into the night, he noticed the bonfire a few hundred yards away. There must be people over there, but what kind? he thought. Would they be able to help or were they bandits who would try to steal their supplies? Either way he needed to find out.

  After a few minutes, Tara noticed Josh walking back towards her. Expecting another slap, she tensed her shoulders and avoided eye contact, but the former police detective just walked right past her and got to the rear door of the van. As he opened it, she noticed he took out his Remington 870 pump-action shotgun, the one with the flashlight attached, and then closed the van up again.

  As Josh walked up alongside of her, he also did a brass check on his Glock pistol to make sure there was a round in the chamber. “Come on,” he said as he passed her by.

  Tara got up, picked up the dog and cradled it in her arms and followed. She walked silently behind him as they both made a beeline for the bonfire. When they got closer they both saw that it was a group of American Indians huddled by the fire. They looked like an extended family with about a half-dozen male adults, three old women, and a child that looked to be about eight. The men were mostly old, their silvery hair glittered in the moonlight. What looked like a grandmother was stirring a small pot by the fire. They had dark wool blankets wrapped around themselves as they sat and stared at the flames. When Josh came into view they hardly noticed him.

  “Howdy,” Josh said as he stood a few feet away from the bonfire and faced them. “What are you people doing over here?”

  None of them made eye contact. Tara walked up until she was a few feet beside Josh. She could see their wrinkled brown faces were given an orange hue by the reflection of the firelight. Either they ignored him or they didn’t speak any English, but she couldn’t believe the latter since this was America.

  “Hey,” Josh said, his voice rising. “I’m talking to you folks. No habla English?”

  “Maybe we ought to just leave them alone, Detective?” Tara said.

  Josh glared at her. “Shut up, I’ll do the talking around here.”

  Tara looked away from him. She didn’t want any more trouble.

  Josh turned and looked at them again. “Now, I’m gonna say this once more. What are you people doing over here? This is Federal land.”

  The youngest man in the group, he looked to be about thirty, Josh reckoned, spoke up but didn’t make eye contact as he kept poking the crackling bonfire with a stick. “Mister, why don’t you just go and leave us alone.”

  “First of all, I’m a cop and you all look like illegal squatters here,” Josh said as he cradled the shotgun so it pointed sideways, out into the night, even though his finger was close to the trigger. Within a split-second he could get into a firing position if any of them gave him any trouble. “Second of all, I’m gonna need your help as my van got overturned down by the river a few hundred yards away. Now, what tribe are you folks?”

  “Navajo,” an old man said as he adjusted his blanket and kept close to the fire.

  Josh nodded sarcastically. “Navajo. That’s great. Okay then, here’s my deal, I will overlook your squatting and vagrancy in this here park, as long as you boys help me out and get my van upturned. Deal?”

  Nobody answered. From the corner of her eye, Tara noticed the small child huddled behind one of the women and they looked at each other as the little boy smiled at her. Tara wasn’t sure if it was the bonfire or the moonlight, but it looked like the boy’s eyes were glowing in the dark when they made eye contact. Even though she was confused by what that meant, she instinctively smiled back.

  Josh’s patience had run out. He quickly spread his legs so he was properly balanced as he began to point the shotgun in their direction, but not to anyone in particular. “Okay, now I’m ordering you all to get up. You’re all going with me and you’ll do your share to right my car. Is that clear?”

  Nobody moved. Tara held her breath because she knew what he was capable of.

  Josh’s left hand racked the slide pump as he chambered a 12-gauge shell into the Remington shotgun, then he pointed it towards the men. “Get up, all of you. And put your hands in the air. Now!”

  At that moment Josh sensed something to his left, at the far end of his field of vision. It was a blur of movement in the darkness that had seemed to be far off when he first sensed it. But now, just a split-second later, it felt so close that he could touch it. As he turned to his left, a large, white-furred wolf leapt up at him as its jaws clamped down on his throat. Josh screamed as he let go of the shotgun to try and grab at the beast before it could get to his neck, but it was too late as the wolf’s jaws ripped his jugular open and his blood began to spurt on the grass where he fell, as the beast continued its relentless attack. Tara’s mouth was wide open as she noticed the Navajo men and their glowing eyes as they finally looked at her. She had stayed rooted to the spot as she saw how their forms began to shimmer as if it weren’t their bodies at all. Within a blink of an eye, there were now a pack of wolves, grey and white furred and as large as one of the big show dogs she once saw when visiting the state fair with her brother last year. They had all somehow transformed into animals as the entire pack soon pounced on what was left of Josh. It was then that all the stress and the shock of what had happened finally took its toll on her. She closed her eyes and fainted while hearing the growls and sensed the smell of blood in the night air.

  When she finally awoke it was late morning. As Tara sat up, she noticed that the dog was sitting nearby as it scratched the back of its ear with it hind leg. The bonfire was now a smoking pile of ash and the Navajo were gone. After getting up, Tara walked over to where Josh was attacked. All she saw was some bloodstains on the faded grass and his shotgun lying nearby. The dog made its way over to her as she sat down and partially unzipped her dirty jacket.

  “I thought they were going to kill me next,” Tara half-whispered. The last two nights she had seen someone die before her eyes. When it had happened the first time in the motel, she was hysterical and had to cry herse
lf to sleep, but now she just felt numb.

  The dog sat down in front of her. “There was no reason to kill someone that wasn’t a threat to them,” it said.

  “It seemed that they all changed into wolves just like that. I saw the kid’s eyes … they were like glowing in the dark, like the eyes of a cat at night.”

  “The eyes are the hallmarks of the yee naaldlooshii. The practitioners of the Way always begin to exhibit tell-tale signs of their power,” the dog said.

  Tara turned towards the Chihuahua. “The yee what?”

  “They are known as skin-walkers,” the dog said. “They are witches that have attained the power to change their shape. When the man intruded upon them and threatened them, they assumed the form of wolves to defend themselves.”

  “So they’re like werewolves then?”

  “Similarities perhaps, but the skin-walkers are more like sorcerers that use magic to change their forms because of their mastery over the dark arts.”

  Tara furrowed her brow. “How do you know all of this?”

  The dog had a very strange accent. It had trouble speaking consonants like “V” and “M” because of its snout. “I have been around.”

  “Okay, I give up,” Tara said. “You’ve been speaking in riddles to me ever since I met you, and it seems you can foretell the future—you keep telling me about these paths. I’m pretty sure you look like a dog, but I think you really aren’t one. Just who or what exactly are you?”

  “The ancient peoples in these lands worshipped many gods before the various empires from across the sea conquered them.”

  “I read about this in school,” Tara said. “They worshipped animals or something like that?”

  “The peoples of this land believed that animals were as intelligent as humans and anything that moves is alive. They believe that spirits and beings reside in all things, and the land and everything in it must be given respect. Animals are regarded as both gods and spirit guides for the people. Even when the beasts were hunted, the people always gave their respect to the animal after it was killed and eaten,” the dog said