The Battle of Iron Gulch

by R. G. Thomas

  Leopold leaned closer to Nathan and lowered his voice, but it was loud enough for Thaddeus to overhear. “Your quick temper strikes again, Nathan.”

  Thaddeus stood up, his face hot and skin prickling. “It’s not his fault, it’s mine!”

  “Thaddeus, not now.”

  His father tried to take him by the shoulders and sit him down, but Thaddeus shrugged out of his grasp and stepped around him. Leopold looked surprised as Thaddeus approached, and the expression on his face only served to fuel Thaddeus’s anger, guilt, and frustration. He jabbed a finger toward Leopold as he spoke, practically spitting out the words.

  “You sent us on this ‘quest.’ You opened a door in a wall and dropped us off in some unknown place. We had no planning, no maps, no GPS, no cell phones, just each other. And for being such an almighty powerful wizard, you didn’t even realize you sent Isadora herself along with us!” Thaddeus paused to take a breath while everyone in the room stared at him. “And the secrets you kept, not just from my father and me, but from Teofil and his family as well. You never told anyone you needed Teofil’s help to keep a dragon asleep, a dragon who was also, in fact, my mother. How long were you going to let that play out? It had been fifteen years by the time we moved in next door, and if that hadn’t happened, would it have been another fifteen? Or thirty? Would you have died and just left Teofil there on his own to tend to the gardens without any idea why he was doing it?”

  “I understand how upset you are, Thaddeus,” Leopold started.

  “No, I don’t think you do,” Thaddeus said. “We’ve all been through a lot, and you just show up and start yelling at us for stumbling into a bunch of ghouls.”

  “Thaddeus!” his father snapped. “That’s enough!”

  Thaddeus took a deep breath and let it out. He looked off into a corner of the room, clenching and releasing his fists as he calmed himself. Leopold put his hands on his hips and hung his head, a tense silence filling the room. After a long moment, he looked back up and Thaddeus was stunned to see how sad Leopold appeared. There were no tears in his eyes, but his face was drawn, and the skin around his eyes looked tight. The sight of Leopold looking that way deflated Thaddeus’s anger, and he took two steps back.

  “You are right, young Thaddeus, on all counts. I sent you off on this journey completely unprepared, and then I have shown up after you’ve all experienced a great emotional upheaval and yelled at you for not being closer to your goal.” He shrugged. “I can do nothing more than say that I’m sorry, and ask how I can help us all to move forward to stop Isadora once and for all and bring your mother back to you and your father.” He directed a look at Nathan, then shifted his gaze back to Thaddeus. “And I see that your father has been training you in the use of magic. It makes me very happy to see that.”

  Thaddeus shook his head. “What? How did you know?”

  “Look up,” Teofil said in a quiet, gentle voice.

  He looked up and gasped at the sight of a ball of flickering flame hovering midway between the top of his head and the ceiling. “Oh… well, that would have been more helpful when we were back in the mine.”

  “Anger and fear are very similar, very powerful emotions,” Leopold said. “And it would appear you wanted to shed some light on all the mysteries within our small group.” He looked at Nathan. “Perhaps it’s time to discuss all those mysteries.”

  Before Thaddeus’s father could reply, there was a knock on the door, and Hannah called, “Mr. Cane? I found your note asking me to stop by to talk about an extra bed?”

  A twinge of fear went through Thaddeus—had Hannah been listening outside the door?—and he was glad to see the tiny ball of flame above his head sputter and go out.

  Nathan looked around at each of them and held up his hands. “Just be calm.”

  “Could she be a ghoul?” Astrid whispered.

  “She could,” Nathan whispered back. “But I don’t believe so.”

  He opened the bedroom door and waved for Hannah to enter the room. “Hello, Hannah. Come on in.”

  Her flat blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and the dark circles under her eyes seemed even more prominent as she peered into the room with her hands clutched together before her. “Oh, no. I don’t mean to intrude at all. I was just coming to see you about your note.”

  “Ah, yes, the note.” Nathan reached over to put a hand on Leopold’s shoulder and bring him forward. “Another member of our party has arrived—this is Leopold Solobiec.”

  “Hello, Mr. Solobiec,” Hannah said.

  “Please, call me Leo,” Leopold said in reply, and Thaddeus shared a smirk with Teofil.

  “We were wondering if you might have a roll-away bed or something?” Nathan asked.

  “Not a roll-away bed,” Hannah replied. “But there’s an old army cot down in the cellar.”

  “Perfect, thank you.” Nathan looked at Thaddeus. “Could you…?”

  Thaddeus nodded. “I’m on it.”

  “I’ll help,” Teofil said, following him past Hannah and out of the bedroom.

  Behind them, Thaddeus heard Hannah say, “I really do appreciate all the work you and your group have been doing on the house. The paint and flowers all look wonderful.”

  “At least she’s happy with the work we’ve done to earn our room and board,” Teofil whispered to Thaddeus as they walked through the kitchen.

  “Yeah, room and board right smack in the middle of a bunch of ghouls and goblins,” Thaddeus said. “Great.”

  He opened the basement door and flicked on the light halfway down the steps. Teofil followed him down into the cold, dank basement, and they stood for a moment at the bottom, staring into the darkness.

  “Where’s the other light switch?” Teofil asked, his voice low.

  “The light is over there,” Thaddeus said and gestured into the dark ahead of them. “Above the washer and dryer. It’s on a motion sensor. It’ll light up when we move toward it.”

  Teofil smiled and nudged him with his elbow. “Well, go on, then, move toward it.”

  Thaddeus swatted at him. “I will, I will, just hold your horses.”

  “You’re scared,” Teofil said.

  “No, I’m not,” Thaddeus shot back. “And I don’t see you rushing out into the dark.”

  “I was waiting for you.” Teofil took his hand and pulled Thaddeus around to face him. “I want to thank you for saying what you did to Leopold. That was very kind and brave of you.”

  Thaddeus shrugged and lowered his gaze. “I don’t know if it was brave. I was just angry.”

  “Well, you said some great things, and you stood up to Leopold, the stubborn and cranky old wizard we all love and fear a little. So….” Teofil leaned in to give him a gentle kiss. “Thank you.”

  Thaddeus smiled back. “You’re welcome.” He tugged Teofil out into the dark of the basement. “Come on, let’s get the cot.”

  After they had taken a few steps, the sensor across the room caught their movement and the light clicked on. The washer and dryer stood on the left near the laundry sink. Straight ahead of them, stone steps ascended to the cellar doors set against the foundation at the rear of the house. Against the stone wall to the right were stacked boxes and plastic bins. They poked around in the boxes and bins for a bit until Thaddeus discovered the aluminum frame wedged against the rock wall. He pulled it out, wincing as the aluminum scraped against the stone, and they examined it. The canvas looked intact and strong, and Thaddeus felt a little relieved that he wouldn’t fall through in the middle of the night.

  “Looks like it will hold me,” Thaddeus said around a sudden yawn. It had been a very long day, and he was looking forward to getting some sleep.

  “You mean Leopold’s not going to sleep on it?” Teofil asked with a grin.

  “Yeah, right. Come on, let’s lug it upstairs.”

  Thaddeus took the front, Teofil the back, and they carried it up the steps and out of the basement.

  Chapter TWELVE

 
THADDEUS FELL asleep almost instantly, but woke up several times, shifting position as he tried to get more comfortable. He finally drifted into a light doze, and before he knew it, he was awakened what felt like only moments later by the sounds of Leopold and his father getting up and using the bathroom. His father was getting dressed to go to work at the store, so Thaddeus remained on the cot to stay out of the way.

  “Come down to breakfast, Thaddeus,” his father said as he stepped around the cot to get to the closet.

  Thaddeus groaned and pulled the covers over his head.

  His father laughed. “Or not. The cot isn’t as comfortable as you thought?”

  “Not really,” Thaddeus grumbled. “I’ll be down in a bit.”

  From beneath the covers, he listened to his father and Leopold finish getting cleaned up and dressed and, finally, leave the room. He struggled out from under the covers and swung his feet over and onto the floor, gasping at the touch of cool aluminum on the backs of his legs. After a couple of tries he was able to push up from the cot to his feet. He used the bathroom, then stood looking at the two beds. Leopold had slept in Thaddeus’s bed, and Thaddeus didn’t relish the thought of sleeping on the same sheets.

  He got into his father’s bed and pulled up the covers. The pillow smelled like his dad and reminded Thaddeus of the times when he’d been little and climbed into bed with his father because he’d had a bad dream or a thunderstorm had woken him. A calm settled through him, smoothing over the rough edges from his fitful night and easing him into a deep sleep.

  The dream came immediately. He was back in the small space with the stone walls lit by flickering firelight. A woman was shouting and pain radiated through him. This time he was able to look around and see an opening at the end of a long, narrow tunnel. He knew he would be able to fit through it because that was the way he’d come in. Darkness gathered at the end of the tunnel, and Thaddeus realized he was inside a cave.

  “Stop looking that way,” the woman shouted, and pain burned through him. “You’ll leave this place when I command you to leave, and not a moment before.”

  He roared in anguish as the pain continued. Fire erupted from his mouth, scorching the walls and floor of the cave.

  “That’s it! Burn everything, burn it all to the ground for me.”

  Thaddeus snapped his jaws shut to end the stream of flame. He swung his head around and glared at the woman standing near him. Then he saw her face.

  Isadora.

  Suddenly he was aware of what was happening. He was inside his mother’s head. She had taken refuge in a cave on the mountain as his father had guessed, and Isadora had gotten to her first. And now the witch was torturing her, bending her to her will to use as a weapon.

  Isadora leaned in closer and glared into his eyes, into his mother’s eyes. Her thick dark hair was pulled back from a narrow, pale face, and malice gleamed within her pitch-black eyes. She furrowed her brow and frowned. Then her frown shifted to a cold, satisfied smile that sent a chill of fear through Thaddeus.

  “Well, we have a special guest, it seems,” Isadora said and pulled back. “Hello, Thaddeus. Good to see you again. How touching, that you’ve come to visit your mother. Did your father die from troll poison yet?”

  She held her hands out, fingers curled into claws, her face twisting into a visage of rage. “Here’s a little taste for you too.”

  Pain seared into him. It felt as if every nerve in his body had been lit on fire. He screamed and thrashed, but the stone walls and strong chains kept the body of the dragon penned in place, keeping him from lashing out at Isadora.

  Run, Thaddeus! a woman whispered in the back of his mind, and though he had never heard her speak, he knew it was the voice of his mother.

  “Thaddeus! Wake up!”

  Go! Get away from here! Now!

  He woke, limbs flailing, sheets tangled around him. He had no idea where he was or who was with him. He managed to get one hand free and held it out. The chunk of asphalt flew across the room from where he had set it on the dresser.

  “Dammit!” The person beside him ducked just in time and the rock smacked into Thaddeus’s palm. “It’s Dad, Thaddeus! It’s me!”

  Understanding dawned, slowly, and Thaddeus lowered the hand holding the rock. He looked around the room and then at his father.

  “I saw her,” Thaddeus said.

  “Who, son?” His father sat on the edge of the bed. “Who did you see?”

  “Mom. She was in a cave, and Isadora was there.” Tears burned in his eyes and a ball of emotions—anger, fear, frustration, sadness—lodged in his throat. He swallowed hard and wiped at his eyes. “Isadora was… hurting her, trying to break her so she would do what she wanted her to. And then she, I don’t know, she recognized me. She looked into the dragon’s eye and she called me by name and then she did something to hurt her, hurt both of us. And then Mom spoke to me, like ‘in my head’ spoke to me.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She told me to get away, to get safe. She was trying to keep me from being hurt.”

  “Oh, Thaddeus.” Nathan pulled him into a hug and held him for a long time. “I’m sorry, son. I know this is hard for you.”

  “We have to save her, Dad,” Thaddeus said. “We can’t just leave her there.”

  “We don’t even know where she is,” his father replied.

  Thaddeus pulled back. “I saw a bit of it. She’s in a cave.”

  His father smiled sadly. “Well, that narrows it down to one of the dozens of caves all over the mountain.”

  “Yeah, I know there are a lot of caves. But what the hell’s been our plan all along?” Thaddeus asked, his frustration and lingering fear from the dream boiling over into anger. “Are you working at the store because you’ve given up on finding Mom instead of trying to get us the right equipment? What can we do to find her? Do we just wait until Isadora finally breaks her and she comes down here and burns us and the town?”

  “I know you’re frustrated and angry, Thaddeus, and I don’t blame you.” His father turned away, shoulders slumped in defeat. “I just don’t know what else we can do. I’m sorry.”

  “We have a more immediate problem to tend to, I’m afraid.”

  Thaddeus and his father both looked toward the door to find Leopold standing there. Today he wore a navy blue tracksuit and gray walking shoes. He had combed his beard, and it lay in a smooth gray wave down his front. A bright red St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap sat on his head. If Thaddeus had passed Leopold on the street, he would most likely have given him a lot of space and a curious look and then thought nothing more about him, certainly not even guessing he was a powerful wizard.

  “The ghouls?” Thaddeus asked.

  Leopold nodded. “It will require our attention before we can truly focus on rescuing your mother. It may be a good idea for us to attend the town meeting tonight—prepared, of course, for anything that might happen. Where are your weapons?”

  Thaddeus exchanged a look with his father, and then Nathan said, “We hid them in a tree outside of town.”

  “Hm, I can understand the reason for it, but it does pose a bit of a problem.” Leopold stroked his beard as he considered the situation. “We shall have to retrieve them once the sun goes down.”

  “It gets dark early,” Thaddeus explained. “The sun goes behind the mountain midafternoon and the light fades earlier than normal sometime after that.”

  “The only trouble with that is the town meeting starts at seven, and even with the sun behind the mountain it won’t be truly dark until eight,” Nathan said.

  “We’ll have to split up,” Thaddeus said.

  “It’s not the most ideal situation,” Leopold said. “But it’s the best way to arm ourselves. If we were to retrieve the weapons during daylight, someone could see and raise an alarm.”

  “And we’ll have to walk past Ruby’s Realty office to get to the weapons,” Thaddeus added.

  Leopold checked the hallway behind him, then s
tepped fully into the room and closed the door. “Perhaps we should discuss this in a more secure spot.”

  “I need to get to the store,” Nathan said and stood up. “Kathryn Heap, the store owner, is on the town council with Ruby and three other women. It’s very likely she’s a part of all of this, and if that’s true, I don’t want to make her suspicious by not showing up on time.” He looked down at Thaddeus. “The store closes at six thirty today to allow all employees to attend the meeting, and to encourage all residents to do so as well.”

  “I’ll take Leopold up to the hot springs today,” Thaddeus said. “We can see a lot of the town from that high up and make some plans in a spot without a lot of people around.”

  “Hot springs?” Leopold smiled. “I could use a good soak in a hot bath. Might be just the thing for my back.”

  Thaddeus suddenly regretted the suggestion. He was definitely going to ask Teofil to join them.

  “Just be careful up there,” his father said. “And go up there soon to give yourselves time to get back and decide who’s going to the meeting and who’s going after the weapons. We’ll also need to figure out a place to meet up in case something happens at the meeting.”

  “A contingency plan,” Thaddeus said with a nod.

  Nathan squeezed Thaddeus’s shoulder, nodded to Leopold, and then left the room.

  Leopold stood with his hands clasped behind his back and smiled down at him. “Your adventures getting to and from the Well of Tears sound very exciting and dangerous. And you still have some of that magical water left, you say?”

  An uneasy feeling started in the back of Thaddeus’s mind. “A bit, yes. I’m not sure it’ll be enough.”

  “I see.” Leopold nodded a few times. “And it’s safe, is it? Hidden away somewhere?”

  “Yes, it’s safe,” Thaddeus replied. “Why?”

  Leopold sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s the stuff of stories, Thaddeus. I’m not looking to drink it or steal it from you. I just want to smell it and hold it in my hands. Do you see?”

  A sudden, terrible thought occurred to Thaddeus and he took a step back from Leopold. “How do I know you’re not some other supporter of Isadora? How can I know you’re really, truly on our side?”