Days of Future Past - Part 2: Present Tense

by John Van Stry

  From it at least.

  I was about halfway to the next opening to the next room when I saw it pop up again and I fired another burst at it.

  It ducked down, behind the next pile of dirt, and I pulled myself through the next archway into the second room.

  I was one room closer to the exit; it was one pile closer to me.

  As I readied myself to move on to the next room, it popped up again, and I shot at it again. It screamed in rage this time. I guess I must have hit it someplace soft! I was too scared to scream at this point, though my left leg was in more pain than I would have imagined possible.

  I caught my breath and sent a few warning shots its way, and then I pulled myself out for the third and last room, and as I did, it made another charge and I emptied the rest of the magazine into it. It dove behind another pile, and I made it to the next room. I was panting hard, and my body was sweating. Whether from the exhaustion or fear, I didn't know, but at least I wasn't shaking too badly yet. I noticed I was leaving a trail of smeared blood behind me. Once I made the exit I'd have to check the crude bandages, or I'd die of blood loss long before I got vaporized.

  I changed magazines again, and this time I changed power cells. I couldn't afford to run out now. The exit was the next opening, and just as I was getting ready to go for it, the dragon charged, apparently realizing that if it didn't get me now, I would get away.

  I rolled out of the archway; it was close, really close, close enough that I could see all of the overlapping scales on its hide. I could also see just how much damage I had done to it. Which was considerable.

  I pulled the trigger and held it down, putting the entire magazine into it, as it came closer and closer, and started falling towards me! I rolled away as the entire mass of it came down in front of me.

  It was groaning, panting before me, as I quickly put in another magazine and emptied it point blank.

  And then another.

  I had loaded a third when I realized it wasn't moving, it wasn't even breathing. I had torn a large and very bloody hole deep into its side. It was dead.

  Catching my breath I suddenly realized that the entry was almost completely blocked by the dragon's carcass. There was only a narrow opening of a couple of feet at the top, about six feet above me.

  I swore again, and I started trying to drag myself up, but there was nothing to grab onto, and the dragon's hide was like a shark's and I was tearing the skin off of my hands just trying.

  With a sob I settled back and pulled out the timer.

  Ten minutes.

  I looked at it again.

  Yup, ten, no nine minutes.

  I looked around the room. There was a pile of dirt in the center of this one. As I looked at it, I realized that it was a bed. For a dragon. I guess it made sense. Lying on a flat stone floor couldn't be comfortable. Especially for something that big. I wondered what the room had been? Back when the dwarves had lived here?

  I looked at the timer again. Five minutes.

  "Looks like I was right," I sighed, "you did get me killed, Coyote."

  I looked around so more feeling dizzy and a little weak, wondering if he'd appear before the bomb went off? Then again, why would he? The job was done. Besides, who knew, maybe it could kill him too?

  I looked at the timer, two minutes. I debated checking my bandages, but what was the point?

  "Hi!"

  I started and looked up. It was Marjeera.

  "What are you doing here?" I gasped and wondered if I was hallucinating from blood loss.

  "Well, some obnoxious little grey dog showed up and told me that if I didn't save you, he'd make sure I was a lot more sorry than I'd been after King Tisinezel had gotten done with me!" She winced at that.

  "Besides, he reminded me that I owe you for saving my life, and well, we djinn do pay our debts."

  I looked at the timer, one minute ten.

  "If you're going to do something, you'd better do it quick!" I warned, "In another minute this place is going to cease to exist."

  "Oh, don't worry none. Here, let me help you up!"

  She grabbed my arm and pulled me up in a surprising display of strength, I screamed at the sudden shock of pain as it jostled my legs.

  "Wow, you're a mess. Here, hold on tight!" she said and grabbed my hand with one of hers. I glanced down at the timer. Thirty seconds.

  "How are we going to get out of here?" I asked.

  "Same way we went up and down the staircase," she grinned and kissed me. Suddenly I didn't hurt at all anymore.

  "That should take your mind off of things," she giggled.

  Everything went black for a moment, and then it all got blurry.

  I looked at the remote, it was blinking, and as my eyes came into focus I realized it was counting down from ten. I noticed I was now lying outside under the clouds in the dark on my back and Marjeera was smiling down at me.

  "Will you be okay?" she asked.

  "Wait a moment, I told her, and keyed the microphone to radio that Sarah and Heather were on.

  "Fire in the hole!" I said. I'd always wanted to say that.

  And then the ground suddenly lurched beneath me, almost like an earthquake and tossed me a foot into the air. Then as quickly as it had happened it was over and I saw a several bright plumes erupt from the ground up into the air.

  "What was that?" Marjeera was looking around, alarmed.

  "Somebody having a bad day," I replied weakly as I passed out.

  - 14 -

  I came too in the boat, and both Heather and Sarah were working on my legs. I could feel the boat bouncing and hear the low whine of the engines.

  "Where are we?" I groaned softly.

  Both girls looked up at me, and smiled happily, then went back to work on my legs. I noticed my pants were gone, and I didn't care.

  "We are heading back to pick up Hakk and his men," Sarah said to me. She was building some kind of splint on my left leg and as I watched, Heather started to work some kind of ratchet at the bottom of it. My right leg looked to be heavily bandaged already.

  "How did I get here?" I mumbled, still feeling dizzy.

  "Marjeera brought you to us."

  I nodded slowly, "That's right, she saved me."

  The engines throttled back and there was a bump. Then eight dwarves came swarming over the side. I started to worry about Grunim and the unnamed dwarf, when I noticed that one of the dwarves was missing a foot.

  "Grunim?" I said softly as two others laid him down on the deck near me.

  "Paul!" He said sounding rather happy, "We all were worried about ye!"

  "You sound pretty chipper for a man who lost a foot," I muttered and then winced as something started to pull on my left leg, causing pain to spike through it.

  "Ah, I've had worse!" he laughed.

  "Liar," I grunted between gritted teeth.

  "What happened to ye?" he asked looking at my bandaged and bloody body.

  "I got attacked as I was leaving. First by whatever those creatures were, and then by a dragon."

  I looked around, either I was seeing things, a distinct possibility as my vision was still rather blurry, or we were missing two.

  "We're missing somebody," I grunted again, the pain was getting worse, not better.

  "Aye, Thordri and Dunmar didn't make it," Grunim sighed, "but they went down like the brave dwarves they were, saving the rest of us and making the enemy pay with their lives!"

  All of the other dwarves went 'Hoo, Ah!' then, as they had before.

  Hakk spoke up coming back to where I was. The boat was running, and from the sound and what I was feeling through the deck, we were going back a lot faster than we had come.

  "Good job, Paul! When you had called me there, I was worried we wouldn't be seeing you again from the sound of your voice."

  "You and me both," I sighed, closing my eyes. I was really having trouble seeing.

  "The mission was a success, and tomorrow we'll be having a big celebration to remembe
r our missing comrades and to celebrate their honor.

  "So just relax and take it easy. We'll be back at the dock in about an hour, and we'll have our healers take care of you."

  "Thanks," I mumbled. For all of the pain I was feeling, I was also incredibly tired.

  "You're one of us now, Paul. Don't you worry about a thing."

  I woke up in a bed; it took me a moment to recognize it as the guest room at Grunim's place inside the mountain. Heather was sitting on my right side, Sarah on my left. My left leg was uncovered and in some sort of traction, and there at the foot of the bed were Hakk, Grunim, a female dwarf I'd never met before and three elves: Tanyl, Neirdre, and Maerdrym.

  "You want me to heal this, human?" Neirdre was saying, looking rather angry.

  "That man there is a dwarf, councilor, ask any one here in the city, and none will say otherwise!" Hakk laughed.

  "He's awfully tall and thin for a dwarf," Tanyl commented.

  "Ya, we come in all shapes and sizes," Grunim laughed as well.

  "And you!" Neirdre said turning on Grunim, who was balancing on a crutch, "You helped them escape!"

  "The issue of who helped who is still one under debate!" Grunim smiled broadly.

  "All the same," the female dwarf spoke up, "because this dwarf's leg bones are thinner and longer, I would feel better if you did the work, healer Neirdre. As we are allies, and you and yours have agreed to help us when we need it," she gestured at my leg.

  "But he's not..." Neirdre started only to be cut off by a wave from Tanyl.

  "Quiet Neirdre, if they say he's a dwarf, he's a dwarf. Heal his leg."

  Tanyl then turned to Hakk, "If you mind my asking, just how did this man become a dwarf?"

  "Oh, well, he helped us with a bit of a problem you might say."

  "Ye could say he removed a most troublesome pest from some of our tunnels," Grunim nodded.

  "Yes," Hakk agreed. Most troublesome. At great risk to himself too, as you see."

  "He hurt himself getting rid of rats?" Neirdre grumbled and as I watched she started unpacking her bag. Apparently fixing my leg was going to be rather complicated.

  "Big rats," Gunim nodded.

  "Nasty rats," Hakk agreed.

  "With bad habits!" Grunim added.

  "And large appetites," Hakk agreed.

  I could see Neirdre was starting to steam, Maerdrym looked confused, and Tanyl had face-palmed, head in hand.

  Dwarves and elves might not hate each other, but apparently dwarves didn't have any problems with teasing them.

  "Oh, and wings, did I mention the wings?" Hakk added.

  Tanyl sighed heavily. "Just tell me what he did, please?"

  "He killed all the dragons!" Hakk said with a laugh.

  "This human, I mean dwarf," Neirdre said, turning to look at the two of them, with a very annoyed expression on her very lovely face. "Killed over a hundred dragons, all by himself?"

  "Well, we did help a little," Hakk said nodding and looking rather serious.

  "Aye, I killed two of them," Grunim nodded with a grin.

  "But he did kill, oh, I'd say at least ninety, maybe a hundred?" Hakk said nodding slowly.

  "And just how did he kill so many of them?" Tanyl asked, looking at me in surprise. Even Neirdre and Maerdrym were staring at me.

  "He had one of the weapons of the old humans with him," Hakk said. "They called them 'Tactical Nuclear weapons' if I'm correct. He set it off deep inside the isle, by the breeding grounds. It was truly a wonder to behold!"

  "You killed them all?" Tanyl asked me looking extremely shocked.

  I gave a slight shrug, "However many were in the butte when it went off."

  "Was that where you were going when we found you?" Neirdre demanded.

  I gave a slight nod.

  "Why didn't you tell us?" she demanded.

  "Because I didn't trust you," I told her simply. "I was entrusted with a weapon of great power and what appeared to be a suicidal task."

  Neirdre sighed, shook her head, and amazingly shut up and went to work on my leg.

  "So you're not scavengers?" Tanyl asked, looking from me to the girls.

  Sarah spoke up, "We are scavengers and expedition partners, like we told you. This was just something special that Paul was tasked to do. As he is our husband, of course we went with him to help him."

  "We wanted to make sure we got him back," Heather added.

  Tanyl slowly nodded. "I guess any and all charges and complaints against the three of you are moot now. I'll make sure that the others on the council, and in town, know that you're to be treated with respect and friendship."

  "Does that mean you'll give us our horses back?" Heather asked.

  "Yes, it does."

  "Thank you," Sarah said with a nod.

  Tanyl, Maerdryn, Hakk and Gunim left then.

  I watched as Neirdre worked on my leg, with the dwarven healer's help. They talked in low voices and not only placed things around my leg on the bed, but drew sigils or diagrams of some kind on the skin.

  Sarah watched them, intensely curious. I had no idea how much, of any of this, she was following. Healing was not the kind of magic she did after all.

  Heather wasn't paying any attention to them at all. She had a small table next to her and was busy breaking down, cleaning, and then reassembling all of our guns. Though when she caught me watching, she smiled and leaned over to give me a kiss.

  After a long while, Neirdre finally stopped and sat back. Looking up at me, she spoke.

  "When the bullet hit your femur, it did more than just smash the bone, it caused the fragments to cut several tendons and muscles as well as nick a major artery. Dwarf's bones are heavier than human ones, and made a little differently. Which is why Gila asked for my help.

  "Now, we're all set to perform the healing, this is going to take a while, and it is going to hurt." She handed me a bite stick. "You will want to use this, so you don't break any teeth."

  Gila, the dwarf, came up to the side of the bed Heather was on, and took my hand in a tight grip. The two of them then started to speak softly in a language that made no sense.

  And I could feel the pieces of bone in my leg start to move, and other things begin to burn or pull.

  They were right. It hurt. A lot.

  I bit down on the stick and squeezed Gila's hand tightly, though her being a dwarf I suspect my grip didn't bother her. Sarah grabbed my arm, and put her hand on my head, and started to whisper comforting words in my ear, as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on that and just hold still and ignore the pain.

  Somewhere during all of that I guess I must have passed out.

  When I woke up, my left leg was in a cast of some sort. The girls were no longer in the room, and neither were either of the healers. But Kilondai was there, sitting in one of the chairs, keeping an eye on me I guess.

  "You're awake," she stated as I opened my eyes.

  I nodded, "Yes."

  "Good, I will tell the others," she stood, but turned and looked at me.

  "I want to thank you, for helping Grunim."

  I shook my head, "I didn't do much, it was the other dwarf who saved him."

  "No, not that. For your taking him into the dragon's den."

  "I don't think I understand," I said, looking at her.

  "Many years ago, when Grunim decided to become a tinker, an artificer and craftsman, he had a big argument with his father, and his brothers. They thought he was shirking his duty. That he should be a warrior like they are."

  "I'm not sure I see," I told her.

  "He went with you, into what many thought was certain death. He killed one dragon before it could breathe on all of you, then got wounded in combat after that, yes?"

  I nodded, "Yes."

  "They got cornered by another dragon on the way out. Grunim, he hobbled out on his one good leg, and he attacked the second dragon by himself, killing it after it had killed Dumar, with the weapon you had given him. It was a very brave t
hing, his father, his brothers, they have forgiven him all."

  "Oh" was all I could say.

  "Your family will always be welcome in our home. You have given my husband back his honor in the eyes of his family. Thank you."

  "You're very welcome. He's a good man."

  Kilondai nodded and smiled. "Yes, I know. That is why I married him."

  She left the room then.

  "Tell me that you didn't have anything to do with that?" I said.

  Sure enough, Coyote was there, sitting in a corner.

  "People only think of me as a trickster, as one who punishes, as one who deceives. They forget that in all things there must be a balance. Grunim needed a chance. A few negotiations with the gods of the dwarves and I got you their help in return for his chance to redeem himself with his family."

  "Do you guys have some kind of trading floor up there?" I asked. "A mystical bartering ground where you trade favors?"

  Coyote gave one of those little bark-like laughs of his. "Not all that far from it, Paul."

  "So, now what?"

  "What makes you think there is something else?" he teased.

  "I know you, Coyote, there is always something else."

  "And here I thought you'd want to thank me for saving your life."

  "Marjeera saved my life, and I already thanked her for that," I said. "At least I think I did. Though thank you for getting her to help me."

  "Actually, I was hoping I'd be able to save her help for another day, but," Coyote shrugged, "we must work with what we have."

  "She called you a grey dog," I snickered.

  "Yes, they don't have coyotes back in the Middle East," he gave a canine shrug.

  "So, now what?" I asked again.

  "For now, rest, heal, and enjoy the fruits of your victory. After you're healed, I want you to head to Reno."

  "Has Riggs liberated it yet?" I asked.

  "No, but he he's about to take Tahoe. You may even be able to help him win Reno when he gets around to it."

  "I don't know about that," I sighed, "I honestly would rather not run into him again. Seems no matter what I do, I always end up getting hurt."

  "It does seem to be what you're good at," Coyote agreed.

  "Gee, thanks," I told him, but he was already gone.