by R. G. Thomas
Thaddeus swallowed hard as he remembered the ferocious reaper grub they’d saved Dulindir from in the Lost Forest. The thing had looked like a giant slug, but it had moved fast through the trees and had a terrifying roar.
“We should retrieve our weapons,” Teofil said.
Thaddeus looked around to make sure no one else was around, then lowered his voice. “We can’t just walk through town with swords and daggers.”
“Maybe at night?” Astrid suggested.
“Let’s wait and ask my dad and your mom,” Thaddeus suggested. He had a thought and looked at Dulindir. “What about my mom? Do you think she’d be drawn to the nacht macabre?”
Dulindir stopped in his tracks, and the rest of them followed suit. He was staring at Thaddeus so intently it made him a little concerned.
“What is it?” Thaddeus asked. “Are you all right?”
“Maybe that’s why these plants are showing up,” Dulindir said. “Maybe the townspeople, or a few of them at least, know about the dragon and are trying to coax her down from the mountain.”
A shiver of fear went through Thaddeus. “To kill her?”
“Or contain her,” Teofil suggested. “Try to harness her power.”
“Seems like a bit of a stretch if they want to do that,” Thaddeus said.
“It’s what Isadora wants,” Astrid pointed out.
They stood looking at each other in silence for a time. As if on some unspoken cue, they resumed walking. Thaddeus didn’t know what any of it meant—not yet—but he had a bad feeling about it.
Chapter EIGHT
WITH ALL of them working, the chores and repairs on Hannah’s list were quickly being crossed off, leaving them with more and more free time. Because Hannah didn’t have Internet access or cable TV or satellite, there were only three channels available, and two of those came through more than a little fuzzy. There was no library for books—it had closed months ago due to lack of funding—so Thaddeus practiced his magic, mostly on his own as his father was putting in as many hours as possible at Heap’s General Store. Thaddeus was now able to move items across a tabletop, as long as he had already touched them. The piece of asphalt was easy to summon now, but he still had trouble flinging it away from him.
Teofil’s work in the yard had thickened the lawn and brought the plants and shrubs back to full health. Hannah had stood in the middle of the backyard with her arms crossed tight, a gentle smile on her face as she inspected his work.
“It’s beautiful,” she had whispered.
In the evenings Thaddeus and Teofil lay on the grass, holding hands as they looked up at the stars. Thaddeus asked Teofil to name the constellations for him, enjoying that others called star formations he’d come to know as one name something entirely different. Teofil pointed out patterns in the night sky as he told Thaddeus stories.
“That group of stars that look like they form two small circles touching, see them?” Teofil asked.
“I do,” Thaddeus replied.
“That’s Piggle.”
Thaddeus laughed. “Piggle?”
Teofil laughed as well. “That’s what I said: Piggle. He was a pig who was owned by a lonely farmer. Piggle was all the farmer had in his life, and he loved Piggle so much he fed him all sorts of delicious foods. Leftovers of savory puddings and meats, whipped potatoes with cream, and bread baked in a stone oven. Piggle ate so much he grew and grew and grew. He got so fat he couldn’t walk or move, but he could still eat, and that he did. He was so heavy he sank into the ground. Deeper he sank and still he ate and ate until his belly could hold no more. Then the farmer came back from hunting one day with a glorious find: a truffle. Well, he fed Piggle the truffle and that was all it took. Piggle threw up everything he had eaten in a splashing mess. His weight loss was so immediate and so pronounced the ground sprang back into place so fast and so hard it flung Piggle into the stars where he remains to this day, waiting to be fed.”
Thaddeus laughed long and loud when Teofil finished his story. He lay on his back rolling side to side with his hands over his belly as he laughed until tears filled his eyes.
When he finally had himself under control, Thaddeus kissed Teofil and whispered, “I love you.”
One evening as they lay side by side looking up at the stars, Teofil asked in a quiet voice, “Are you scared?”
Thaddeus turned his head to look at him. “Right now? No, why?” He lifted his head to look around the empty yard. “Did you hear something move?”
“No, not right now. Just about everything we have yet to do.”
Thaddeus put his head down and looked at him again. “Oh, yeah, for sure.”
Teofil looked at him, starlight shining in tears in his eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.” Thaddeus squeezed his hand. “But having you and my dad and everyone else with me makes me feel a lot better. Doesn’t it feel that way to you?”
Teofil nodded and looked back to the stars again. “Yeah, it does. But it’s all so… big out here. There are a lot of different people and animals. It’s been exciting to be out of Leopold’s yard finally, and to be spending time with you. But sometimes I feel like I need to be on my own for a bit, you know? Just to sit and think about everything we’ve seen and done.”
“I understand,” Thaddeus said. “I really do.”
Teofil looked at him again, and this time his eyes were free of tears. “Yeah?”
Thaddeus smiled. “Yeah.”
Teofil slid closer and kissed him. “I’m glad I came along with you. I would have really missed you if I’d had to stay back in Superstition.”
“I would have missed you too.”
They kissed again, longer this time, and then Teofil rested his head against Thaddeus’s shoulder and they looked up at the stars once again.
“I’m scared most of the time,” Teofil whispered.
Thaddeus kissed Teofil’s temple. “You’re the bravest person I know.”
One afternoon almost two weeks after their arrival in Iron Gulch, Thaddeus and Teofil found themselves with time on their hands. Teofil suggested they visit the hot springs, and Thaddeus readily agreed. His ankle was completely healed, and he was anxious to give it a good workout. They found clumps of nacht macabre growing around the foot of the trail and exchanged nervous looks before starting up the gentle slope. Thaddeus was able to keep pace with Teofil, and it made him feel much better.
Forty-five minutes later, the trail leveled out. Thaddeus paused to catch his breath and looked around. A three-foot shoulder led to the edge of a cliff, and Iron Gulch lay spread out below them like a model town. Thaddeus looked around until he spotted the Iron Gulch Inn, and was glad to see that from this distance the lawn looked more green and lush than the lawns of the other houses on the block. The fresh coat of red paint on the house glowed in the sun and the weather vane sparkled.
“The inn looks really good from here,” Thaddeus said. “The best house on the block.”
“It does,” Teofil said, moving up close beside him. “I’ve missed sleeping beside you.”
Thaddeus smiled. “Me too.”
They kissed, and the sweet, unhurried feel of it sent a tingle through Thaddeus. When Teofil pulled back, he smiled and took Thaddeus’s hand.
“It’s not much farther,” Teofil said. “Just up ahead.”
Now that the trail had widened, they were able to walk side by side and hold hands. Neither of them said a word, and Thaddeus enjoyed just spending time alone with Teofil.
After rounding a bend, Thaddeus stopped and stared with a smile on his face. A wide, open space spread out from the trail, carved out of the side of the mountain. It looked like a natural creation, not man made, which was even more amazing to him. On the other side of the trail, another three-foot shoulder led to the sheer drop-off, and a wooden railing had been installed here as well. Several pools of water had been fitted with flat stones around their sides. Steam rose from the surface of each pool, and posts had been added nearby with hoo
ks to hold clothing. The smell of sulfur was strong and Thaddeus wrinkled his nose.
“Stinks,” he said.
“You get used to it,” Teofil replied. “What do you think?”
“It’s amazing,” Thaddeus said. “Did you and Astrid soak in one?”
Teofil nodded. “For a little while. I checked the temperature of all six pools, and the one farthest from the trail seems to be the warmest.”
“Oh? How warm is it?”
Teofil grinned. “You scared?”
“No!” Thaddeus said, but his tone easily gave him away.
Teofil led him by the hand around the steaming pools to the one farthest from the trail. Thaddeus crouched on a flat stone and dipped his fingers into the water. It felt like a very warm bath, and he smiled. “It feels so good.”
“Just wait until you soak in it,” Teofil said, and started to unbutton his shirt.
Thaddeus was suddenly nervous, and he stood up and looked around to make sure they were alone. “You mean you’re going to go in naked?” He wasn’t sure he was comfortable being naked around Teofil. Not yet, at least. Maybe further down the road in their relationship.
“No, I was going to keep on my underwear,” Teofil said, then stopped unbuttoning his shirt to stare at Teofil. “Were you going to get in naked?”
Thaddeus shook his head rapidly. “No! I was just making sure you weren’t expecting us both to be… you know… naked.”
Teofil smiled and shrugged out of his shirt, exposing his broad chest, covered with hair. “You’re funny when you’re nervous.”
Thaddeus rolled his eyes and turned away to unbutton his own shirt. He had washed clothes for everyone in their group, so he was familiar with the undergarments each of them wore, and he knew Teofil wore white cotton briefs just like Thaddeus did himself. Therefore, he reasoned with himself, he shouldn’t be at all surprised by or interested in Teofil in his underwear. That theory, however, was proven wrong when he turned around and had to work very hard to keep his gaze from straying lower than Teofil’s chest.
“I knew you’d look cute in just your underwear,” Teofil said with a grin.
A blush burned across Thaddeus’s face. He had never thought he was much to look at: about ten pounds underweight, with pale skin and no chest hair to speak of, he was always self-conscious when he had to change in gym class. Now, becoming more flustered the longer Teofil stared, he sat on one of the stones and slid probably a bit too quickly into the steaming water, gasping and hissing at the heat. Larger stones had been added underwater around the sides of the pool to act as steps and provide places for people to sit, and they slowly lowered themselves until they sat across from each other. The heat and sulfur soaked into Thaddeus’s muscles, sore from not just the hike but all the work he’d been doing around the inn. He’d read someplace that a person can get used to an odor in about five minutes, and he had apparently just proven it because the sulfur smell didn’t seem so bad anymore.
“How’s it feel?” Teofil asked.
Thaddeus smiled. “Really good.”
“It’s very relaxing, isn’t it?” Teofil sighed and leaned his head back against the side. “I could sit in here all day.”
“I know what you mean,” Thaddeus said, and put his head back as well, then closed his eyes.
They talked about mundane things as they soaked: what chores they disliked most, what plants Teofil was considering instead of the nacht macabre, and how Thaddeus’s ankle had healed so quickly. Their conversation lulled as the sun warmed their heads and the water bubbled and fizzed around them, and Thaddeus soon found his mind drifting, and right into a dream.
Firelight danced across stone walls that surrounded him with damp and cold. Nearby a woman was shouting, her tone bitter and angry, although Thaddeus could not make out the words. Pain shot through him, hot and sudden, and he jerked away from it, then lashed out, wanting to chase off his attacker, to escape from this place.
“Thaddeus!”
He opened his eyes and stared into someone’s confused and concerned face, unable to place a name with the handsome vision and not sure whether he could trust this stranger. For a few panicked breaths he hung between dream and reality, feeling the damp of the stone walls fade into the heat of the sulfur spring in which he still soaked. Memory returned seconds later, bringing with it recognition and solace, and he said, “Teofil,” in a relieved whisper.
“It’s me,” Teofil said. He sat beside Thaddeus on the stone bench and put an arm around him. “You scared me for a minute there.”
“Sorry,” Thaddeus said, and stared up at the sky, surprised to see that the sun had shifted position quite a bit while he’d been dreaming and was now hidden by the mountain. “It was a dream. A lot like what happened to me on the ladder.”
“What was it like?” Teofil asked.
“Strange, and scary. I was in a cave and it was cold and damp, the kind you feel deep in your bones, you know? I could feel how cold it was even though we’re in the spring. A woman was shouting somewhere out of sight and then I felt pain.” He stopped and shook his head. “All I knew after that was I wanted—needed—to get away.”
“Well, you were trying,” Teofil said. “You were kicking your legs and flailing your arms. You almost caught me on the chin with your foot.”
Thaddeus made a face. “Did I hurt you? I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault, don’t worry. I’m just glad you came around.” Teofil ran a finger down his cheek. “You had me worried, that’s all.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Teofil leaned in for a soft, slow kiss. “I know. No harm done.”
Thaddeus felt awkward and nervous and excited and scared all at once. The dream had left him feeling unsettled and the heat of the spring was making him feel light-headed. Right now he wanted to be back in familiar surroundings and think about these visions.
“The sun’s gone behind the mountain,” he stated.
Teofil grinned. “Do I make you that nervous?”
He shrugged and looked away. “No, it’s not you. The dream made me feel, I dunno….” Thaddeus stopped speaking, unsure how to explain his feelings.
“Anxious?” Teofil offered.
“Yeah, anxious,” Thaddeus replied. He was really feeling unsteady now and knew he needed to get out of the spring. “I think we should probably head back to the inn, don’t you?”
Teofil smirked but nodded. “Probably. It’s starting to get dark anyhow.”
They climbed out on opposite sides of the spring and Thaddeus quickly pulled his pants on over his wet briefs, keeping his gaze averted from Teofil. Now that he was out of the water his head felt clearer.
Soon they were both dressed and started back along the trail. The light was fading fast, however, and the edge of the cliff seemed much closer than the trip up. One bad step and either of them could fall hundreds of feet to the rocks below.
“Wow, it’s getting kind of hard to see the trail,” Thaddeus said.
“Here, take my hand,” Teofil offered, and held his arm out behind him.
His warm, firm grip helped ease Thaddeus’s mind. Until a rattle of stones from behind brought both of them to a stop.
“What was that?” Thaddeus asked.
“Just loose stones,” Teofil said, but Thaddeus could tell by his tone he wasn’t sure.
They walked hand in hand in silence a little farther. Then Thaddeus stopped abruptly when he heard what sounded like the scuff of someone’s foot against the dirt.
“Someone’s back there,” he whispered.
“I think you’re right,” Teofil whispered back. In a loud voice he called, “Who’s there?”
There was only silence for a long moment as Thaddeus’s heart pounded. Then they heard a low, rumbling growl. Chills went through Thaddeus from head to foot and his scalp prickled with fear. Without another word they hurried down the trail, no longer holding hands as they fled in single file, Thaddeus in front, Teofil just steps behi
nd. Thaddeus wished he knew how to conjure up a ball of light like he had before to expose whoever was behind them.
“They’re getting closer,” Teofil said.
“I can’t run any faster or I’ll fall,” Thaddeus gasped between breaths.
“Really close now.” Teofil’s voice was laced with fear.
Thaddeus figured they had to be close to the bottom of the trail by now, but it was tough to tell in the twilight. Just as he was about to say the trail looked like it was evening out, something small and quick darted past on their right.
“What was that?” Thaddeus asked.
“What? I didn’t see anything.”
No sooner had Teofil said that than Thaddeus tripped over something. He stumbled for several steps, struggling to keep his balance and aware of the cliff just inches away. With a shout, Teofil hit the same thing and collided with Thaddeus, the impact sending both of them to the ground.
They sat with their backs pressed against the side of the mountain, catching their breath. Thaddeus strained to hear anything moving over their panting.
“You hurt?” Teofil asked.
“No. Are you?”
Something heavy landed on Thaddeus’s lap, startling him. At first he thought it was a large cat or a small dog; it was about that size and walked on four feet. But as it stalked up his chest, Thaddeus could tell that whatever this thing was, it was no dog or cat. Teofil cried out as Thaddeus wriggled beneath the animal in an effort to shake it off him, but the thing held on with sharp claws that poked Thaddeus through his shirt. He cursed and grabbed hold of the creature, feeling scaly skin and remembering the sensation from when he’d pulled the goblin off his dad.
“Goblins,” Thaddeus shouted, and pulled it off himself, its claws tearing his shirt. He pushed it away from him and scrambled to his feet.
“Teofil?” he called.
“Here,” Teofil replied from just behind him. “There’s more of them.”
“More?” Thaddeus asked. “How many?”
“Don’t know,” Teofil replied. “We have to go. Now!”
They ran as fast as they could safely manage down the trail. When he finally reached the bottom, Thaddeus sighed with relief and stopped to catch his breath, leaning against one of the posts for the hot springs sign.