by Eddie Patin
The creature sprang up into the air, making Morgana's heart and stomach leap, then she was being carried, screaming, away into the night...
Chapter 25
Jason sighed and stretched.
The wind was cool flowing down from Mount Ellis. It was a relief to his tired skin and muscles. He took a long sip of water from his CamelBak bite valve. His pack was heavy—they had collected sixteen golem hearts in all today—and it felt great to finally rest and take a load off. Sitting on the big, fallen log and looking down on the valley from up in the mountains really reminded Jason of home.
"Pretty sunset," Riley said.
"Yeah," Jason replied, looking at the sliver of sun still remaining to the west past the huge valley that once held the city of Bozeman, MT. Far in the distance, Jason could see the hazy rugged horizon of another mountain range way over where the sun was going down.
The sky was gold and pink. There was a full moon rising, already low in the sky not-quite east of them. The sky was already darkening over there and stars were starting to peek through the indigo eastern atmosphere.
A small scrabbling sound from downhill drew Jason's eyes to movement. He reached down to turn on his image intensifier, clicking on the switch under the skin in his left hand. A moment later, his right eye could see through the long shadows of the trees just fine and he saw a ground squirrel running around making noises.
Jason smiled and turned his night vision off.
"This world is just like mine," he said, "though it's far in the future and there are monsters everywhere. And weird mist."
"None here right now," Riley replied.
Jason grinned and looked up at the soldier, who stood with one boot elevated on the log like a pirate. Jason dramatically tugged at one strap of his pack, making their collection of golem hearts jostle inside.
"Not anymore, anyway."
Riley smirked and stared across the clearing to Gliath, who stood tall and dark like an ink blot against the shadowy trees in the distance.
"Oh, there are still some out here," Riley said. "I'd bet on that. Probably a lot."
"That's good. We can come back tomorrow." Jason yawned. He couldn't help himself. When had they slept last? They took a three-hour nap at home ... during the day before last night? What a long freaking day.
"Well, Jason 934," Riley said, clapping Jason on the shoulder, "there's another bounty down. Your second job."
"Yeah. And we've definitely got more than thirty."
"Should we take a break from bounties for a little while?" Riley said. "Or jump right back into the heavy shet again?"
Jason was staring at the setting sun then looked over at Riley again. The soldier was scratching his beard as he also peered out over the land. "Well, we're not done yet," Jason said. "We're still coming back tomorrow, right? And we have to check out what's going on with Morgana."
"Do we?" Riley asked with a smirk. "Yeah, fruk yeah we'll come back. These gargoyles are sitting turtles out here during the day. But ... do you really want to keep playing with the native girl?"
"Why not?"
"Eh ... we shouldn't get involved, man!" Riley said, looking down at him. "Every world we go to where we deal with sentient life is gonna have some stupid shet going on with politics and people in need. Best not to think about it."
"Yeah, you keep saying that."
"What—do you wanna play hero or something?" Riley asked, climbing over the log to sit next to Jason. He ruffled his hellhound-hide duster tails out behind him. "We're mercenaries, Jason. Monster hunters. We do this for profit." He chuckled. "And for fun. But don't get all caught up in local troubles. There are infinite versions of this same world. Seriously—none of this matters! All that matters are the golem hearts and the gold."
"I really want to help her," Jason said. The words made him feel like an immature geek. "There's something about her, don't you think?"
Riley smirked, then laughed, clapping Jason's shoulder again. "Yeah, she's a sexy bitch, sure. But she's really fruking damaged, dude. If you like Morgana so much, let's go find a version of her that hasn't been so fruking traumatized and stressed out for the last few years. She's got the crazy eyes, Jason..."
"It's not her fault that she's been through so much. I like her. She deserves better. Maybe ... I dunno ... we can bring her with us. She's smart and strong-willed, and good with that magic sword..."
As soon as he'd said it, Jason felt like his face was made of clay and he was afraid to look at Riley again. The soldier probably thought that he was just being a stupid romantic. Riley probably just—
The cyborg laughed and slapped Jason's back. "Holy shet, Jason!" he exclaimed. "I get that you were lonely before Gliath and I came along, but are you gonna be bringing home all of the pretty girls from every universe we go to?"
Jason felt stupid and forced himself to stare at the distant village of New Bozeman and its walls. Morgana was down there somewhere. What sort of trouble was she getting into?
"I don't know," he mumbled. "Maybe."
"Well let's spend another night here," Riley said. "You seduce the girl, get it out of your system, then, let's go make some more money, alright?"
"No, I ... I want to help her."
Riley looked at him. Jason couldn't help but meet his gaze. The soldier smirked.
"Well, you're the boss, Jason. Let's go dump these hearts off at home. The mist is coming."
Jason looked up and noticed that the sky was twilight now; all a gradual shift from bluish-grey where the sun had disappeared across the huge valley, to indigo above their heads, to pitch black in the east. The stars were shining and Jason gasped when he saw a crawling blanket of fog appear far below them at the foothills' tree line, stretching and rolling across the grass toward the village like a reaching, misty hand...
An instant later, the mist appeared in the trees around them, too, surrounding them and heading down the hill.
"Gliath!" Riley called.
Jason reached up into his shirt collar and felt for his home key. As the leopardwere appeared like an imposing bestial shadow from the mist, Jason opened a roaring, flaring rift back to his garage. Once it stabilized, the three of them stepped through.
With the familiar cement floor under his boots, Jason let out a long, exhausted sigh and turned around to release the portal. As he did, just before the vision into the mountains of u936 collapsed, Jason saw a strange shadow passing through where they were, heading toward the village.
It was smaller than a gargoyle, and flew more smoothly.
When the rift disappeared with a pop, Jason stood staring at the spot for a second.
"What?" Riley asked, his voice clear in the quiet garage.
Jason met the soldier's gaze then shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "A shadow passed. It must have been a gargoyle."
Riley smirked. "Yeah, I bet there are a lot more of those frukers still out there. It'll be easy harvesting tomorrow. Let's get some rest."
Jason slipped out of his backpack and hefted it onto the stainless steel table. He unzipped its main compartment and started pulling out the sixteen hearts, one after another, wiping them down with the towel that he'd left there from last time. The golem hearts' warm, yellow glow lit up his backpack and face.
"No rest yet, Riley," Jason replied. "Before we turn in, let's go check on Morgana."
The soldier sighed, instantly annoyed. "Alright. Well, I'm gonna get a quick beer first. Come on, Gliath."
The two of them went into the house.
Jason stacked all of the golem hearts they'd acquired over the day with the others, counting the haul they'd made so far. They had thirty-six. Awesome. That was—Jason did quick math in his head—a hundred and forty-four ounces of gold!
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed with a grin. That would be worth well over a hundred grand in American dollars! And if they went back out in the morning for ten more, that'd be another forty ounces...
This was great! Jason's mind raced with all of the thing
s he could do with that kind of money—or at least a third of it. Hell—he could build an addition onto the house to give Gliath and Riley their own space. Maybe they could build some kind of armory, or a place to properly store loot and magical items and trophies and stuff. Fantastic!
Of course, if they built an addition onto the house for this business, Riley and Gliath would have to contribute to it too. That'd be fair. But holy shit—what a fortune! Jason started thinking about what kind of weird shit he could buy at the market. What kind of tech would he be able to find there at Dave's shop or other places run by weird creatures selling stuff from other universes? Maybe he should buy a future gun; learn how to use a Gauss rifle like Riley, or maybe some kind of blaster...
Jason neatened his backpack while smiling like a kid in a video game shop. He shrugged back into his straps—it was much lighter now—checked his gun and ammo, and found that he hadn't really fired his weapon at all over the course of the day. Right, he thought. They didn't fight anything after returning from resupplying after their naps. He even had plenty of water left.
Stepping into the living room, Jason saw Riley sprawled and watching TV, beer in hand with his boots crossed up on the coffee table. The soldier looked as tired as Jason felt. Gliath was in his panther form curled up on the couch next to Riley. His armor harness was in a pile in the corner of the living room like usual.
"I don't think we need to resupply," Jason said. "Let's get back there before we all just want to fall asleep."
Riley groaned then lowered his legs.
"Alright, fine."
Gliath lifted his head staring at Jason lazily from his large, black cat face. His yellowish-green eyes were barely cracked open. Then, the Krulax stood onto his four legs and languidly descended to the floor, heading back to his armor to shift back into his warrior form. The leopardwere stood up onto his hind legs as his entire body grew with great speed and stretched out to the tall, bipedal form more than a head taller than Jason. Gliath's cat-like torso stretched and reshaped into a muscular chest and trim waist and his front paws transitioned to large, black-furred hands with powerful fingers and claws. In just a moment, the Krulax was in his 'hybrid' form again and reaching down for his armor to put it on.
After Jason used the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, he went back to the garage where Riley and Gliath were waiting, ready to rock, holding their weapons and checking their chambers and magazines (or mag-tube, in Gliath's case).
"Ready?" Jason asked.
"Let's get this over with and get back quickly," Riley replied.
Jason felt a flash of anger but let it pass. He pulled up his OCS and the coordinates for the Soloster manor dining hall and opened a rift. The portal opened with a snap and a roar, blazing orange in the garage as sputtering sparks cast all over the concrete floor.
When the window to u936 eventually cleared and Jason was left looking at the dark dining hall, he moved to step through. Without his night vision, he could only see the two chairs near them. Everything else was dark beyond the orange glare.
Riley reached out and grabbed Jason's arm. "Wait!" he shouted over the roar of the whirling rift. "There are soldiers inside!"
"What?!" Jason replied, stopping and peering into the gloom. He was tempted to turn on his night vision to see whatever Riley saw, but he knew that the brilliant, spinning rim of the rift would blind him. He couldn't see anything other than darkness and two chairs. "I don't see anything."
"Get ready to go in shooting," Riley replied with a smirk. "They might be waiting for us."
"Why would they?"
"Just be ready!"
Holding tightly onto the rift in his mind, Jason lowered his OCS and unslung his AK-47. He checked his chamber, reached down and turned the safety off, then nodded at the others.
With his heartbeat rapidly speeding up in his chest and adrenaline bubbling in his joints, Jason waited for Riley's move. The instant the soldier dashed through the surface of the rift, Jason tried his best to keep up and went in after him. Gliath followed.
On the other side, in the dining hall, the three of them appeared in the same place they did before. The brilliant orange fire that appeared in their wake lit up the armored forms and gleaming golden masks of several Chosen soldiers. The eunuch warriors were surprised but reacted quickly, spinning to face the Reality Rifters and raise their weapons without a word or a single utterance.
Jason shouldered his rifle and kept the muzzle low. His finger itched to kill every last damned one of them. He could feel Riley's energy next to him—the cyborg was wound like a powerful spring.
Releasing his hold on the rift behind them, Jason felt a sense of dread wash over him when the roaring portal disappeared with a pop, leaving them all in silence and darkness. Jason frantically grabbed for his left hand—supporting the rifle—and turned on his night vision.
The Chosen soldiers all stood ready to attack, all quiet and staring at the three of them. The tension in the air was thick and palpable. It was as if Estren's men were afraid to make the first move...
Jason counted ten of them, some armed with short swords, some with spears.
"I ... uh ... I feel like I should make some sort of statement here," Jason said. "Like a one-liner."
"What?!" Riley replied, cocking an eyebrow as he stared down his lever action's sights.
"Like from a movie. How about ... um ... it's your move, punk!"
Riley smirked, still dead-set on his sights.
"How about ... I guess you Chosen have chosen the wrong day to fruk with us..."
Jason smiled, raising his muzzle and putting his sights over one of them. "Yeah, not bad. How about ... I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum!"
Riley looked over at that. "Bubble gum? What the fruk? That doesn't make any sense!"
"Eh. Well, that's from—" The Chosen soldiers suddenly charged without so much as a grunt. Their boots clomped on the wood as they all rushed around the table, raising their weapons. "Ah, fuck it!" Jason exclaimed, slowly squeezing the trigger as he followed the center mass of the closest man...
The dining hall exploded into a thunderous din of gunfire. Jason's AK-47, Gliath's shotgun, and Riley's Marlin all boomed over and over again spitting fire and flying brass and slug shells and filling Jason's nose with the heavy smell of gunpowder. They cut the ten soldiers down in moments. Before long, all of the firing stopped.
One of the soldiers struggled on his hands and knees to continue toward them with his midsection bright red with blood and a short sword clenched in one ham fist. Riley cycled the action of his Marlin 1895SBL then blew the man's head off with one last boom. The golden mask made a loud clang as it flew away and collided with a wall, deformed by a big .45-70 Xtreme Penetrator round.
"Damn," Jason said.
"Damn right," Riley replied, then immediately set to refilling his rifle's mag tube with more ammo.
Jason quickly moved through the dining hall around the bodies. The place where Lillian normally sat held the woman's book and candle—now overturned and snuffed out—but where was Lillian? Where was Morgana?
When he reached the other side of the table—where the soldiers had been waiting—he found the sister-in-law.
Lillian lay face down in a pool of blood and messy organs, her body cleaved open from above from her collarbone to her waist. An instant later, Jason noticed the bodies of two more Chosen soldiers nearby, one with his legs cleanly shorn off mid-thigh and the other sprawled in a pool of blood, run-through by the look of the big spot of red on his clothing and armor.
It was a damned bloody mess.
"Holy shet!" Riley exclaimed, not apparently bothered in the slightest as he approached. "Look at Lillian! Looks like Morgana did it with that Dawnbringer of hers."
"You think so?" Jason asked, walking back to Lillian's rent corpse.
Jason turned on his gun-mounted IR Illuminator and shined it down at Lillian's body. Something glimmered in his p
ale, green vision and caught his eye. Careful not to step in the dead woman's entrails, Jason reached down and pried the Soloster necklace out of Lillian's thin, stiff hand.
He held up the gold chain with the sapphire-inlaid teardrop pendant so that the others could see.
"Morgana Soloster's scent has faded," Gliath said suddenly with his rumbly voice. "It has been some time since she was here."
"What the hell happened here?" Jason asked.
Riley looked around, scanning the upper reaches of the room, then peered at the four walls around them. "I'm not picking anything else up," he said.
There was suddenly a loud thump on the roof then scrabbling on roof tiles.
"Gargoyles are out," Jason said, looking up, shining his IR light into the rafters. There was nothing going on up there.
"Now, I reckon," Riley said, "Morgana came back, killed this woman..." He nudged Lillian's destroyed body with his boot. "Then she killed two soldiers."
"Duh," Jason said. "I mean—probably."
"But, there were still soldiers here," Riley added.
"If they were waiting for us, then they might have captured her," Jason said, feeling a cold clenching around his heart. "Could they really have been waiting here for us?"
"Why the shet else would they still be here?"
Jason suddenly remembered the full moon. He felt a jolt of fear and jumped to attention.
"They're doing that ritual thing tonight!" he exclaimed. "What if they caught her and they're sacrificing her right now?!"
Oh God, Jason thought. What if she was dead already?
"Maybe we should search the house first," Riley said flatly.
"No way!" Jason replied. "Come on, let's move! Let's get to that intersection with the crosses, then we can slow down again!"
Riley rolled his eyes but Jason didn't stick around to watch the full extent of his friend's disapproval. He turned and ran for the door...