The Battle of Iron Gulch

by R. G. Thomas

  Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

  OVER THE next two days, they answered even more questions from the police and fire department and helped Hannah around the inn as much as possible. She asked no questions about Thaddeus’s mother showing up out of the blue with no clothing or personal items. She just offered some old house dresses for Claire to wear, which Thaddeus thought was very kind of her.

  When Thaddeus walked through town, the scope of the destruction he saw was amazing and guilt inducing, but he told himself it would have been much, much worse if Isadora had managed to fly the dragon away from Iron Gulch. There was no telling what she had planned after destroying Superstition and the gnome village. The thought made him feel slightly better about how things had turned out as he made his way to Aisha’s neighborhood. He was glad to see that only a few of the houses had sustained any damage, and those appeared to have been vacant.

  When he knocked on her front door, Aisha opened it and grabbed him in a strong hug.

  “You’re alive!” she said.

  Thaddeus laughed as he hugged her back. “And you are too!”

  She offered him something to drink, and apologized that the sodas were warm because the power had yet to be restored to her part of town. Thaddeus declined but sat for a time to talk and found out her mother was due to be released from the hospital the next day.

  “That’s really good to hear. Any idea where you’re going to go to school now that yours is a massive crime scene?”

  “Don’t know when I’ll go back to school or where,” Aisha said. “We just might end up with you all in Superstition.”

  “That would be great,” Thaddeus said, and he meant it. He liked Aisha and hoped to stay in touch.

  Before he left to return to the inn, he gave her his cell number. “Just so you know, I need a new phone because I lost mine in a river along the way, so don’t expect a response for a while. The number will be the same, but we’ll need to save up enough money to get the phone.”

  “I get it. So if I don’t hear back from you today, I should think you’re ignoring me.”

  “What? No! That’s not what I said!” Thaddeus saw her grin and shook his head. “That’s not funny.”

  “Yeah, it kind of is.” Aisha smiled at him, then sighed and hugged him again. “I’m glad I met you, Thaddeus Cane. But you and your family sure kicked the crap out of my town.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” she said and stepped back. “If it hadn’t been you and your dragon mom, it would have been those things from the mine.”

  “Ghouls,” Thaddeus said. “And there may be more around here, so be careful.”

  She nodded. “You too.”

  WHEN THEIR group was finally ready to leave, Vivienne was the only one who had experience opening a magic portal to another place. Unfortunately, her power could only reach so far, and because of this they were forced to make three stops. The first was in the smelly back room of a bar, where Vivienne had to rest a bit before she was able to conjure the next portal. Luckily it was early in the morning and the bar was not yet open. Thaddeus wondered how Vivienne knew of the place, specifically the back room, but she was catching her breath, and he didn’t want to interrupt her concentration with questions. There would be time for that once they were back in Superstition. While they waited, he became nervous about the possibility of motion sensor alarms, but after inspecting the upper walls and corners, he was reassured the place did not have that high-tech of a security system.

  Once the second portal opened up, they all hurried through and found themselves in the basement of a school. A massive old furnace took up much of the space, vents jutting from the top and making Thaddeus think of the snakes on Medusa’s head. Dozens of desks covered in dust stood against a wall, and the sound of a radio talk show echoed from somewhere down a hallway. Vivienne held her finger to her lips for them all to be quiet, and they nodded.

  Vivienne held up a finger indicating she needed a minute and sat in one of the desks to rest. The rest of them stood in a tight group, looking around and keeping silent. Thaddeus smiled at his parents before taking hold of Teofil’s hand and running his thumb over the back. He met Astrid’s gaze and on impulse stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes.

  Astrid laughed, then slapped a hand over her mouth as she stared at him with wide eyes.

  The volume on the radio talk show was turned down and a man called out, “Someone there?”

  Vivienne jumped to her feet and focused on the cinderblock wall. The door slowly shimmered into focus, and Nathan grabbed the knob as soon as it became solid. He opened the door to step through and the rest of them quickly followed.

  The third place they transported to was some kind of book storage room. Metal shelves lined the cinderblock room, and a single metal door with no window was set into the far wall.

  “Astrid Hydrangea Rhododendron,” Miriam said in a fierce whisper as she scowled at Astrid with her hands on her hips.

  “I’m sorry!” Astrid said, her voice so loud all of them shushed her at once.

  “It was my fault,” Thaddeus offered. “I made her laugh.”

  Astrid looked at Miriam with wide eyes as she pointed to Thaddeus. “See?”

  “You settle down, young miss,” Miriam said. “Or you’ll have your father to answer to.”

  “Hm? What?” Rudyard looked around from where he stood studying a row of books.

  Miriam rolled her eyes. She gave Astrid a final, fierce look and shook a finger at her before turning away to join Rudyard at the books.

  “You did laugh rather loudly,” Dulindir whispered.

  Astrid glared at him. “You too?”

  “Both of you be quiet and let Vivienne concentrate on getting her energy back,” Teofil said. He looked at Thaddeus and shook his head. “This is why elves and gnomes should not spend too much time together.”

  “It was Thaddeus’s fault,” Astrid whispered. “You heard him admit it.”

  “I did admit it,” Thaddeus said.

  “I’m sure Dulindir convinced you to do it somehow,” Teofil said with a smirk.

  “Quiet, all of you,” Claire snapped, and the angry gaze she turned on them made Thaddeus catch his breath.

  A tense silence filled the room. They didn’t look at each other. Instead they studied the floor or the books on the shelves. Vivienne leaned against a wall with her hands on her knees and her head down. From the corner of his eye, Thaddeus saw his father put an arm around his mother’s shoulders and pull her close to his side.

  “Are you all right, Vivienne?” Nathan asked, his tone soft.

  Vivienne nodded. “Yes. It was just a bigger hop that time and sooner than I would have liked. It will take a few minutes for me to get ready for the final jump.”

  “Is this a library?” Thaddeus’s father asked.

  “It is,” Vivienne replied. “I worked here for a time before I moved to Superstition. I worked in all of the places we stopped in, actually.”

  Thaddeus remembered his father telling him that the majority of witches and wizards could only transport to a familiar place. He was glad to realize most of the tension had left the room, though the rest of the group still kept their attention averted. He looked at his parents and felt a twinge of sadness at the uneasiness he could see in his mother’s expression. He wished there was some way he could assure her that no one would hold what she’d said against her, but then decided if he mentioned it in front of the others it would most likely embarrass her even more. And if he were honest with himself, he still felt a little unnerved by it.

  Then a question came to him. “Had Leopold been to Iron Gulch before?”

  His father shook his head. “I don’t know, Thaddeus, why?”

  “He appeared in front of Teofil and me inside the mine,” Thaddeus replied. “He had to have been inside the mine before if he was able to just zap himself there, right?”

  “That’s for most wizards and witches,” Nathan replied. “Le
opold was a very strong wizard, so he could send himself and other people to places he’d never been.”

  “That’s why I arrived so far up the mountain trail,” Vivienne said. “He tried to give me directions to get to Iron Gulch, but I ended up in a small cave just up from there instead. First time I’d transported to a place I’d never been, and most likely the last.” She took a deep breath and looked around at them all. “Next stop is the basement at Nathan and Thaddeus’s house.” She looked at Thaddeus’s mother. “Sorry, and your house now too, Claire.”

  “Oh, yes, I suppose so,” Claire said with a nervous smile. “Thanks.” She dropped her gaze to the floor and shifted a bit closer to Nathan.

  Vivienne took a deep breath and extended her hands toward the wall. A wooden door slowly faded into view, and his father once again turned the knob and pulled it open. Just beyond the threshold, Thaddeus recognized the old washer and dryer that had come with the house his father had rented. His bike leaned against the steps that went up to the landing that accessed the kitchen and the side door. It looked familiar and yet very strange, like a picture from a long time ago. So much had happened since he’d stood in that basement, afraid to step through Leopold’s magic doorway.

  His father entered the portal, followed by his mother, and Thaddeus saw them appear in the basement, then turn to look back. He let Astrid, Dulindir, Miriam, and Rudyard go through as well, then gestured for Teofil to go ahead of him.

  “Go on, Thaddeus,” Vivienne said, and he saw beads of sweat on her forehead. “I can’t keep it open forever.”

  “You’re coming right after me?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I promise. Now go!”

  He closed his eyes and took the final step back into his old life.

  AFTER SEVERAL strong farewell hugs, Vivienne returned to her apartment near Superstition’s business district. Dulindir followed Miriam, Rudyard, and Astrid off into the woods to stay at their house. Rudyard and Miriam seemed happy to be back, but she worried about the condition of their home since Rudyard’s sister and brother-in-law, Laurel and Caltor, had been watching the rest of their children. Thaddeus knew they were also not looking forward to explaining Fetter’s absence. Dulindir was all smiles, excited to see where Astrid lived and experience gnome life.

  Teofil lingered for a time after his family and Dulindir had departed. Thaddeus walked with him around the tall wooden privacy fence and stood looking at the ruins of Leopold’s backyard.

  “I’m going to miss having you next door,” Thaddeus said, a burning sensation sitting high in the back of his throat.

  “I’m going to miss falling asleep with you close by,” Teofil said.

  They kissed for a time, and then Teofil left to go to his family. Thaddeus watched until Teofil vanished from sight into the woods.

  Thaddeus knew it would take his mother some time to get used to living with them. His father seemed to have anticipated this and made up the bed in the spare room down the hall for her. Thaddeus helped her get settled as best he could, then left his parents on their own.

  Now that he finally had a moment to himself, Thaddeus opened his bedroom door and stepped inside. He had closed the windows before he left, and the room was stuffy. Before he opened the windows, however, he closed his eyes and reached his arms up over his head, fingers spread wide. The stretch felt good in his muscles, and a deep inhalation brought to him the familiar scents of the room: old wood, moth balls he still hadn’t found that had been left behind by a previous renter, and the dry paper from his books on the shelf.

  “Still smell the same?” his father asked from the doorway.

  Thaddeus lowered his arms and smiled. “It does. How’s Mom doing?”

  “She’s adjusting,” his father said with a nod. He walked to the west-facing window and lifted it, then leaned on the windowsill to stick his head out. Thaddeus joined him, crowding into the window beside his father. He looked down into the ruins of Leopold’s once-magnificent backyard and a longing ache formed in his chest. He would truly miss falling asleep to Teofil’s humming as he tended to the gardens at night.

  “You’re going to miss having Teofil next door,” his father said, as if reading his mind.

  “I will,” Thaddeus replied, and pulled back into the room. “But he’ll come by often, I’m sure.”

  Nathan turned from the window as well. “There’s two weeks until your school starts, and I need to get you registered and then look for a job. I’m pretty sure Edgar is out of business now.”

  Thaddeus shuddered at the memory of the owner of the sporting goods store locking the door and staring through the glass at him as the Bearagon stalked closer.

  “Maybe someone new took it over?” Thaddeus offered.

  “Maybe. We’ll see. I just know I have a pile of mail to go through, and we still need new cell phones too.” He smiled and shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. We always have before. Anyway, it’s good to be home. I’ll let you get settled back in your room.”

  “Dad,” Thaddeus called, and his father stopped halfway to the door. “How are you and Mom? Do you think she’ll be…. Do you think you’ll be okay? Together, I mean?”

  His father took a breath, then turned to gently close the bedroom door. He took Thaddeus by the shoulders and led him to the bed, where they sat on the edge of the mattress.

  “She’s been through a lot,” his father said. “More than we can imagine, I’m sure. It will take her time to get used to us again, and we just need to be patient with her.”

  Thaddeus nodded. “I will be. Are you worried about your brother, Lucian?”

  “Lucian,” his father repeated, then opened his hands up in a shrug. “I suppose we should be concerned, but what good will that do us? We need to be alert and cautious, but live our lives as well.”

  “Just like before,” Thaddeus said with a tired smile.

  His father gave him a similar smile in return. “Just like before. Only this time I have you to help me keep an eye out for trouble.”

  “Yeah, you do.” Thaddeus hesitated before asking, “What was he like? Your brother, I mean.”

  With a heavy sigh his father leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. He was quiet a moment before starting to speak. “Lucian is the oldest of us, ten years older than me and three years older than Isadora. All his life he’s had a chip on his shoulder. He felt the world owed him something, and if it didn’t deliver what he expected, he took it. He and Isadora tormented me constantly, and I have to admit the day he left home to live on his own was the happiest of my young life. The two of them seemed to think the magical community needed to be better managed, but they never really had a plan for how to do it.”

  “He sounds like a real jerk,” Thaddeus said. “How did he end up marrying Mom?”

  “He could be charming, when he wanted to be. And he was very skilled at magic. He challenged Leopold constantly while we were going to magic classes.”

  Thaddeus chuckled and shook his head. “I can’t even imagine being able to go to magic classes.”

  Nathan bumped his shoulder with affection. “Hopefully we’ll be able to make that happen someday soon. Anyway, your mother was from a different community and didn’t know us all. They met during classes, and Lucian was quite taken with her and treated her very well. He courted her for a time, and then they married. It wasn’t until after they lost the first baby that his demeanor changed and he began to treat her badly. With each miscarriage after that his treatment of her grew worse.”

  His father stood up to pace the room, his gaze averted from Thaddeus. “I’m not proud of it, but I did what I did back then, and I do take responsibility for my actions. I became Claire’s confidant during that time. She assured me Lucian never struck her, but mental and emotional abuse can be just as devastating. After a time, we became lovers, and when she discovered she was pregnant, we decided to keep everything secret. She wanted a baby, but she wanted to get away from my brother too. She was h
oping to leave him right after you were born, because she didn’t want to take any chances with the pregnancy. She wasn’t sure if she could carry a child to term, you see, so she didn’t want to upset herself or those around her by going through a separation. Well, when she gave birth, it was just…. It was the best day of my life. And the most painful. I had a son, but I couldn’t tell anyone about it.”

  “That would have been really difficult,” Thaddeus said.

  Nathan nodded. “It was. And for eight months we kept up the lie. But then Isadora caught us together, and she added it all up and told Lucian. It was the two of them that organized the attack on the village, and the attack on your mother and me.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said. “None of this is your fault. You are the one positive thing to have come out of all of this.”

  “No wonder you kept moving us around.”

  “After what happened to your mother, I couldn’t risk losing you too.”

  “I understand a lot more now,” Thaddeus said. “I’m sorry about any trouble I gave you with each move.”

  Nathan laughed. “You were never any trouble, Thaddeus. You were, and still are, the perfect son.” He pulled Thaddeus off the bed and squeezed him tight. When he stepped back, he inspected him with narrowed eyes. “Seriously, how much have you grown while we’ve been gone?”

  “A lot,” he replied and grinned. “Or you shrank.”

  “Smart aleck. Hey, how about pizza? I’ve got a bit of cash stuffed under the mattress.”

  “Yeah? That would be great! Oh, has Mom ever had pizza before?”

  “Oh yeah, we weren’t totally shut off from the ungifteds. Come on.”

  “I’ll be right down,” Thaddeus replied, and watched his father leave the room.

  He returned to the open window and looked at the dark windows in Leopold’s house just beyond the tall wooden fence and smiled sadly. Things were different, and sad things had happened, but it would all work out. He had to believe it would all work out.