by Eddie Patin
"That night, however," Estren went on, "two brave men managed to escape and return, wounded and horseless. Those soldiers told everyone about Owen's betrayal. Shortly behind them came the Darkness, led by the necromancer himself! Grim Roland Soloster—the patriarch of the family—was slain in the attack. While the death of Roland was a blessing for the people, the losses from the attack that night were devastating..." Magister Estren paused on that word, then smiled and went on. Jason felt like the man had told this story many times before. "After another year of poison and trouble from the other Soloster children, I am happy to say that the good people of this village have fully embraced the Golden Lady, and we have suffered to hold out for her salvation."
"Where is Owen now?" Jason asked.
Estren smiled curtly. "No doubt living in a palace in a far-off land as promised by the vile necromancer. Owen had evil in him just like his father, and the elder Soloster son betrayed his family as well as the people of New Bozeman. His other siblings are now all dead and gone as well, except for Morgana. But this is good news!" he exclaimed with a sparkle in his eyes and a broad smile. "This family of villains will soon be nothing more than a painful, sorrowful memory for the good people of this village, come next moon when we offer these criminals to the Golden Lady."
Jason expected to hear a handful of cheers from the people watching from the half-ruined buildings surrounding the Crossroads, but there was no sound. The people of New Bozeman watched like sighing spirits—like silent barnacles clinging to their homes. There was an occasional shuffle of one of the golden-masked soldiers stationed around the intersection and the church.
The Magister spoke up again. "The actions of Owen Soloster doomed the village and condemned his own father and many others to death. Every night, the gargoyles murder the people of this community and it is the fault of the Soloster family. It is not surprising that after being oppressed and betrayed for so long, these good people of New Bozeman have nearly all turned to the Golden Lady's Communion for salvation. Morgana here," he said, sneering up at the woman on the cross, "was the leader of the scant few lost souls that sought to upset the faith of the good people. She has betrayed the people of New Bozeman for the last time."
Jason suddenly realized where he'd heard that name. That Corsair of the Astral Sea had spoken it. Soloster. All of the people were crazy except for the Soloster girl.
A slow, creeping dread grew in Jason as Josiah Estren stared at him with his fluffy-soft face, awaiting his response. The blue-robed figures behind him watched from behind their glossy, black masks.
"So ... uh ... where are we staying?" Jason asked.
Estren smiled broadly and clapped once. "It is funny you should ask after hearing such a dreadful story, Jason! You three will stay in the now-empty manor that previously belonged to the Soloster family. Well, with Morgana gone, it is not completely empty. There is still Lillian Soloster. Do not worry, though; she is not of the Soloster family line. She married into it. Lillian was Owen's wife from before his betrayal and abandonment of the town."
"Okay," Jason said, looking back at Riley and Gliath.
Riley smirked then looked to the south. Jason could practically see dollar-signs in the soldier's eyes. He supposed that Riley didn't give a shit about any of this. Gliath met Jason's gaze impassively. In his human form, even though his eyes were still yellowish-green, his Native-American-looking face showed zero emotion one way or another.
Jason looked up at Morgana again. He caught a glimpse of her eyes once more, then she looked away, staring at the cobblestone street as stoically and defiantly as anyone so vulnerable could be. Jason felt his heart quicken as his eyes flickered over her tanned skin—the soft curves of her sides, her breasts, and the trim swell of her stomach above the crude, medieval loincloth. Morgana's legs were long and lean, and her muscles were toned. He followed the long line of her neck where it went up and met with her grimly-set jaw and he took a moment to admire her pleasant and angry face and long, sweeping dark brown hair. That hair tossed in the wind. The young woman's eyes flicked back to him for an instant—sizzling with rage—then she looked away again, almost pouting.
Morgana smoldered. Those green eyes spoke volumes of pain ... and intelligence.
She was beautiful.
Of course, the fact that she was nearly naked didn't help against the heat invading Jason's cheeks and neck. He felt his cock stir.
When Jason looked back to Estren, he saw the older man watching him, almost leering with a sparkle in his watery eyes and his gentle smile steadily spreading. It seemed as if the Magister was enjoying Morgana's discomfort as Jason looked her over. Jason immediately felt sick for looking over her naked body while that bastard appreciated it. He felt dirty. He also felt a strong hatred for Magister Josiah Estren. There was something seriously wrong with that man—several things most likely—and Jason knew it.
Jason didn't know about the Soloster family, but he had a strong feeling that Morgana up on that cross was not an evil woman. He hoped that was the case anyway, because he then felt very strongly that he had to save her. Something fucked up was going on here in New Bozeman, and Jason didn't want this poor, beautiful girl to hang up there humiliated and waiting for death any longer.
Riley spoke up suddenly. "So, uh ... which way to the Soloster house?"
Estren smiled and opened his mouth to speak.
"Hang on," Jason said, looking back at the soldier then turning to the Magister again. "There's something ... uh..." He took a breath. "Our mission requires the Soloster girl."
Estren's smile dropped. "What?"
"We need Morgana to come with us," Jason said, grasping for words. He felt everyone's eyes on his, especially Riley's. "It is part of our mission to hunt the gargoyles, as declared by the Weave—the Golden Lady, as you put it, Magister."
"Eh ... why?" Estren stammered. "Why would you need her?"
Jason's mind raced. "Because her family was involved with the necromancer. We require someone with the Soloster blood to assist our ... methods for destroying the Darkness."
"But ... the necromancer is dead, is he not?" Estren replied, looking constipated.
"He is!" Jason said. "But ... the gargoyles are connected to the necromancer, and the Solosters are connected to the necromancer ... so ... and Morgana is the only one with the Soloster blood left, isn't she? That other one you said just married into the family, right?"
"Yes, but," Estren said, his face changing shape but drifting toward anger.
"Jason," Riley muttered. "Are you sure that's the Golden Lady guiding your thinking, and not something else?"
Jason shook his head and smiled, then looked levelly at Estren and the seven blue-robed figured becoming agitated behind him.
"Magister Estren," Jason exclaimed, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "We are monster hunters from the stars here to destroy the gargoyles and set your people free from the Darkness. We have been ordered by the Golden Lady to take Morgana Soloster with us as part of our mission. Are you going to defy the Golden Lady and stand in the way of our mission?"
There was a lot of movement from the people all around them. Townsfolk emerged from the shadows to watch, wide-eyed men with starved faces under bushy beards, and fearful women with skinny children. The soldiers stood by solidly, but Jason could hear the metallic sounds of them shrugging uncomfortably under their armor, or perhaps moving their weapons to the ready.
Josiah Estren stood with his watery eyes wide and his soft and smooth face trembling like whale blubber for a moment as his blue-robed backers shifted around behind him.
Then he smiled, gradually contorting his marshmallow face into a mask of friendship again.
"I am but a Magister," Estren said sweetly. "I am a speaker. I like to think that I understand the ways of the Golden Lady as my Virgin Oracles profess to me..." he waved a lily-white hand at the blue-robed women behind him, "but I must sometimes remind myself that I am a humble male. I do not see the full glory of the Lady. I
will not stand in your way, warriors of the stars. We have prayed for salvation from the Golden Lady and she has delivered you unto us. Go forth with Morgana and my blessing." He then looked at some gold-masked soldiers standing nearby. "Cut her down. Give her a robe to hide her shame."
"Thank you, Magister Estren," Jason said with a smile and a nod.
The old man threw one last soft smile Jason's way, then turned and rushed away toward the church with the seven blue-robed figures in tow. Jason watched them go until he heard the sounds of the soldiers working together to pull the cross up from its socket in the gutter. They laid the entire thing down on the street with a clatter, then untied Morgana.
When the young woman stiffly stood from her bindings, she glared in the direction where Estren had left then snatched the robe offered to her by one of the armored men in golden masks. She rapidly clothed herself then stood straight, fastening a tie around her waist.
As the soldiers worked together to erect the cross again, Morgana approached the three Reality Rifters, her bare feet slapping the road, flexing her arms and shoulders as she grimaced and smoldered. She faced the three of them for several seconds, still looking down in anger as if afraid to meet their eyes. Then she finally drew herself up with a deep breath and looked at Jason.
Jason felt sparks fly through his heart when he looked into her green eyes.
She looked at Riley, then at Gliath, then finally said, "Thank you."
It occurred to Jason that he hadn't heard her voice up until then.
"Are you...?" Jason began, willing his heart to slow its frantic beating. "Are you okay?"
Morgana met his gaze again then replied, "Let's not talk here. Come on."
She turned down one of the four streets leading away from the Crossroads and stormed away, her long, dark hair fluttering in the breeze. Jason hefted his AK-47 and followed, as did Riley and Gliath. Then Jason paused, looking up at the other prisoners. There were five men; five other rebels. He wondered if he could do anything to help them. When would they die? There was no way that he could have convinced Estren to give all six rebels to him. That could have never worked.
"Come on, Jason," Riley said.
Jason hustled to catch up.
All four of them walked down the middle of the cobblestone road. Jason stepped around a broken-down wagon then nearly slipped on a slick roofing tile. He followed the swishing robe of Morgana and her furiously swaying hair, watching as the townspeople all sneered and glared at her as they passed.
Weird.
Riley trotted up to walk alongside the woman. He smirked. "So, uh ... the gargoyles come out at night?"
"Yes," she replied coldly. "Estren was not lying about that."
"We'll kill some tonight if we see them."
Morgana didn't respond. She merely led the way at a pretty fast clip, passing by house after ruined house where the people of New Bozeman scowled at her and muttered from the shadows.
"Don't cause any more trouble, Morgana!" a woman yelled from somewhere.
"Curse the Soloster name!" a man spat from somewhere else.
As they hustled toward the Soloster manor, Riley drifted back until he was walking with Jason again. The soldier elbowed Jason and gave him a smirk.
"What?!" Jason asked curtly.
"Ah, nothing," Riley said with another smirk. "Hey, uh, good job with that creepy fruker back there. I wasn't expecting that, Jason. Nice show of power."
"Thanks."
Jason watched Morgana stalk away ahead of them. She was so pissed. Hell—who wouldn't be after that? He was glad to have saved her. Jason wondered if Estren would give him trouble about it later. The Magister clearly hated the Solosters, and Morgana clearly hated him.
He couldn't wait until they reached her family house. He couldn't wait to meet the girl and hear what she had to say whenever she finally slowed down.
Chapter 14
The Soloster Family Manor was a large, gothic-looking building near the end of the main northern road. It was more like a house than a castle or a keep, made from dark stone bricks, three stories high in some places. The surrounding grounds ran right up to the tall perimeter wall of the town. It appeared that the Solosters—at the time of the town's founding—had deliberately built the manor on the opposite end of the village from the single gate on the southern wall, as if for defensive measures.
If the Solosters had been the rulers of New Bozeman before the Golden Lady's Communion took over, such placement in town would have made sense. Jason had seen examples of medieval cities that were designed the same way, although there was usually an extra protective wall between the common folks' areas and lord's keep. Here, as the three Reality Rifters followed Morgana Soloster's angry, determined march to the north, they watched the town transition from the small, cobblestone houses all around to the very sudden old, untended hedge at the south side of the Soloster property. The mansion appeared near the village's outer wall quite suddenly. One moment, Jason was walking through the narrow street surrounded by old, broken houses. The next, they stood before a mansion and its untended hedge-wall. There was a gate, but it was open.
"This must be it," Jason said to himself, looking up at the tall, sweeping roof extending over the higher windows.
The north-bound cobblestone road continued into the manor's front grounds past the hedge and open gate, finally ending in a courtyard below the home's main doors. Morgana immediately stormed through the open front gate and continued to the main doors of the manor, quiet and determined with her dark hair and borrowed robe's tails billowing out behind her.
Jason rushed to catch up to the girl and Riley and Gliath followed. He caught the soldier smirking at the leopardwere, but Gliath showed no expression. Gliath's own straight, black hair flowed in the breeze of his gait.
The young woman stomped up the steps and threw open the tall, double doors. Her robed form disappeared into the murky darkness inside.
Jason moved to follow her, but Riley stopped him with a hand on one shoulder.
"Hang on," Riley said, pulling out his phone. CamComm, Jason thought, correcting himself. It's not a phone. "Let's take a picture. Our first picture with the new Jason." He smiled. Jason felt pressed to follow the girl and he itched to hustle after her, but Riley seemed genuinely happy about the idea of taking a picture, so he hemmed and hawed for just a second then gave in.
Jason and Gliath waited as Riley balanced his phone—his CamComm—on a brick that jutted out from a stone pillar. After gingerly setting it up, Riley dashed over.
"Timer, huh?" Jason asked.
"Picture soon," Riley exclaimed in response. "Come on." The soldier pulled the three of them into a cluster and they stood in front of the Soloster Manor with the doors cracked open, smiling for a few seconds. Well—Jason and Riley smiled, but Gliath didn't.
After a few more seconds, Riley recovered his CamComm, stashed it, then clapped Jason on the shoulder with a smile.
Then, the Reality Rifters followed Morgana into her house.
When Jason stepped through the door, he saw Morgana arguing with a thin blonde woman—older than her—who was sitting at the end of a huge dining table and reading a book by candlelight. The blonde woman looked up at Morgana with a shocked and quivering face, her kinky curls almost as frazzled as she seemed herself. They were all in a large, dark dining hall with stairs leading to the upper levels on one side. Three doorways led away, and the only one showing light of any kind within—the golden glow of firelight—was the doorway directly across the hall from the front door. The dining area was unusually dark. Looking up, Jason saw many high windows near the vaulted ceiling, but they were all boarded up from the inside.
He realized that the two women weren't arguing. They were just speaking with very high energy.
"But I thought you were captured!" the blonde woman said.
"I've been released. How the hell did you get away?"
The blonde woman looked flustered and stammered, putting one hand over her he
art. Her hand was thin and revealed many veins and tight tendons under thin, pale skin. Then her face changed into an expression of outright relief. "Oh, but this is good news, Morgana! Good God, my dear, I thought Magister Estren would surely execute you!"
Morgana sighed and broke eye contact with the blonde. She looked back at the three Reality Rifters standing in the doorway. "He didn't. Not yet, Lillian. He'll probably still try. Look here," she said, then paused, pointing at Jason, Riley, and Gliath. "These are more warriors from the stars. The fair one saved me from that piece of shit Estren. They'll be staying here. Let them do whatever they want to do."
The sitting woman scoffed and regarded the three of them with shock. The candlelight played off of her tight, kinky blonde curls.
"Warriors from the stars? Again?"
"Yes. They're here to kill the gargoyles."
"The Darkness?"
Morgana ignored the blonde's response and looked back to the trio darkly. "Your name is Jason, yes?" she asked.
Jason felt the start of a blush, then took a surprised step forward, shifting the weight of his rifle in his arms. "Yeah."
"Jason, this is Lillian Soloster, my sister-in-law. I'll be back in a little while."
She turned to the stairs and started up with an unintentional flourish of her dark hair.
"Um ... wait!" Jason exclaimed. "What are we ... uh ... where do we...?"
Morgana turned, glared, then stopped. She took a deep breath and her face softened considerably. "I'm sorry, warriors from the stars—sorry to be so abrupt. I have been hanging on that cross since yesterday and many of my people were killed when that fat bastard who brainwashed the whole goddamned town put me up there. I just..." She sighed, trailing off. "I need to get out of these vile fucking cultist robes, clean up, and put some of my own clothes on. Make yourself at home. I'll come down later."