AFTERMATH (Descendants Saga)

by James Somers

  I took human form again as I came down to the street. I noticed a number of skeletons, picked clean, lying out in the street. Upon closer examination, we realized they were goblins. Strange that they should be here. However, I remembered Redclaw mentioning a trap he had left, in expectation of goblin raiders, upon his leaving with the other trolls in Grim Hope.

  Apparently, the goblins had taken the bait. There were half a dozen skeletons in the road with the bones of a possible few more scattered about. I could only guess at what might have eaten them, or killed them in the first place.

  “Let’s use Redclaw’s house,” I said, spotting the stone dwelling just down the street. I had visited Grim Hope on a few occasions, accompanying my troll friend as he made visits home. For the most part, he had remained in Tidus, serving as Master at Arms to Queen Sophia.

  “Best be prepared for anything in this place,” I said, calling a sword from my dimensional pocket. The sword appeared in my hand as I led the way toward Redclaw’s former dwelling. Adolf came behind, wielding a heavier sword than my own.

  There was only the occasional bird call, or frog croak in the wood around us. The animals, at least, had not been driven completely away in the conflagration that had occurred. Once that damage had been done, they had taken up habitation wherever it could be found.

  We came cautiously to the front of the house. The wooden door was standing open. It had black singe marks upon it, as though a torch had been held against the wood for a moment. Still, it was intact.

  I proceeded inside, wary that one of the abominations might leap out at us at any moment. However, none did. I had supposed that the ice bunnies would have been easy to see coming because of the frozen conditions they left in their wake. But there was none of that here in Grim Hope at the moment, and the horses of fire were many miles away from what we had seen from the air.

  Investigating the rest of the house beyond the main living room, we found it completely empty. Settling back in before the hearth, Adolf went about making a fire from the timber that had been cut previously and stacked against the wall. It was still dry, and we soon had a healthy blaze going that immediately warmed the room to a comfortable temperature.

  We closed and barred the door, as well as the windows. There was no use taking chances. Something might try to sneak up on us, and, at the very least, we would be warned by it attempting to break through.

  “We could cook something, if we had it,” Adolf said. “I don’t suppose you could create something, like Brody did at the castle.”

  I grinned. “How about a bit of roast turkey, some fresh bread, whipped potatoes and gravy?”

  “Sounds delicious. I’m starving.”

  I turned my attention to the table. It, like all of Redclaw’s furniture, was oversized in order to accommodate trolls rather than humans. The table was chest high as we stood next to it. A spelled gesture focused my power upon the table first, recreating the structure into a smaller version—not exactly shrinking it so much as reworking the matter.

  My next gesture wrought the menu I had offered, creating the dishes in ample supply spread out upon the table, complete with plates and utensils. Adolf immediately set about eating. I paused, giving thanks for what the Lord had provided us. I opened my eyes from prayer, finding Adolf giving me an odd look.

  “You thank Him for what you made?” he asked.

  “I thank the Lord for my ability to create it in the first place,” I replied, and then set into portioning out a plate for myself.

  The food was delicious, as good as I imagined it to be. In every way, it had been made to order. We stuffed ourselves, enjoying the fire. I vaguely wondered what time of day it was, since all we had here now was this omnipresent twilight sky.

  “That was very good,” Adolf said, patting his belly in a satisfied manner. “Thank you.”

  I smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  Adolf leaned forward. “Cole, I wanted to ask you more about this mission we’re on.”

  “Of course. What would you like to know?”

  “I wonder if you know more about this angel, Black, who’s trying to attack us.”

  “Unfortunately, I know quite a bit about him,” I said. “For most of my life, I knew him as Ishbe, a Lycan soldier, who served as Master at Arms for my mother and father in Greystone. He trained me. And, strangely, he seemed to care a great deal about me. I considered him beyond reproach, my master and my friend. But it was all a lie, preparing me to unlock the Underworld and make the release of the cherubim possible.”

  Adolf sat still, listening, taking it all in.

  “More recently, when my grandfather was passing away, he showed me more than I ever would have thought possible. Donatus was in possession of a memory left to him by his father, an angel called Samiel. He was, of course, there when angels rebelled against the Almighty and participated.”

  Now, Adolf leaned in with even more interest. “What happened?”

  “The memory told that it was Black who envied the position of Lucifer as the Covering Cherub. He incited Lucifer against the creation of man and the dominion that the Almighty gave to Adam. By suggesting that Lucifer had been slighted, he passively opened the means for his downfall.”

  “So, it wasn’t Lucifer’s fault then?” Adolf asked. “After all, Black instigated the matter.”

  “Ah, but just because someone suggests rebellion to you, doesn’t make you less guilty when you commit it,” I replied. “Lucifer is responsible for his own actions. Just because he felt that angels should have dominion over the Earth, did not mean he was right.”

  “Why not give angels dominion, though?” Adolf asked. “Look what man has done with the world. They kill one another, and persecute us. We’ve been afforded nothing that I can see.”

  I felt very uncomfortable now, having this conversation with the boy who was supposed to be my help on this mission. Adolf was playing Devil’s advocate. He seemed to sympathize.

  “The angels that rebelled were very wicked,” I said.

  “And humans are not?”

  “Yes, they are,” I replied. “However, according to the memory of Samiel, even when faced with the opportunity to stand before the divine throne and repent, he and his fellows continued to rebel against God’s authority.”

  Adolf brooded for a moment. “Doesn’t seem fair to me,” he said finally, getting up from the table.

  “I’m afraid that’s not our decision to make,” I offered. “The Lord is our judge. We are not his.”

  He paused, glaring at me momentarily, before turning to the door. “I think we should get on with our mission, Cole.” He lifted the wooden beam barring the door and set it aside.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you,” I said, standing from the table. “You wanted to know what happened.”

  He gave me a half smile as he opened the door. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m fine. All of that happened a long time ago.”

  He turned toward the street outside. I spotted the arrow shaft in flight a fraction of a second before it slammed into Adolf’s body. He stumbled backward, as I leaped over the furniture, crossing the room.

  I kicked the door closed as several more shafts tried to come into the house. They impacted with the wooden door, instead with a loud rat-a-tat sound. I caught Adolf as he started to fall backward. The arrow had driven into his left shoulder. He clutched at the area, gritting his teeth in pain.

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “Only a glimpse,” he hissed. “Horse with a man’s body.”

  “Centaur,” I whispered. I had not seen these personally before. Brody had told the story of his journey through the Underworld following a different path than Sadie and myself. He had encountered creatures that we had not and vice versa.

  “I’m dizzy, room spinning,” Adolf said.

  Brody had mentioned being poisoned, something to make him unconscious. Almost certainly this was the same thing. Rather than pulling the arrow out by hand. I made a gesture that
simply dissolved the arrow from the wound. It evaporated, but then the bleeding was loosed.

  I held pressure. Meanwhile, outside, I heard multiple sets of hoof beats circling the house. I reached out to the beam that Adolf had set beside the door. Telekinetically, I grabbed the beam, hefting it back into position. A second later, something beat against the door. I imagined one of them stamping their hooves against it in an effort to kick the door in.

  Adolf was already unconscious now in my arms lying on the floor. If I left him in order to fight, he might bleed to death before I could help his wounds. If I remained with him, the centaurs might get through before I could do anything to stop the bleeding and prepare a defense.

  For a brief moment, I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t leave Adolf to die here on the floor. As much as I wanted to draw my weapon and fight, he was too fragile.

  Much to my dismay, I didn’t really have a choice. Smoke filtering in from various places answered the question for me. The centaurs had set fire to certain parts of the structure. Most of it was stone and would not burn. However, throwing burning materials inside would be enough to smoke us out before long.

  I had to act now. I wished for Sadie to be there at that moment. She knew some of the healing art. All I knew was what I had experienced entering into the process as an observer while my grandfather lay dying in the palace infirmary at Rockunder.

  Not knowing the chant used by healers, I instead fell into the rhythm of it reaching toward Adolf’s unconscious body with my mind, searching out the wound in his shoulder. Due to my training under Ishbe, I had a good knowledge of anatomy. The arrow had lacerated the subclavian artery. Even this steady pressure was scarcely enough. He was bleeding still.

  Smoke continued to fill the house around me. I pushed out against it with a bubble like extension shield that Brody had taught both Sadie and myself to use. I did not possess the kind of offensive abilities with the extension that he did, but it was still a very useful defense. For the moment, smoke was kept at bay. However, it wouldn’t last. The drain on my strength would prove considerable, especially trying to also heal Adolf’s wound.

  I quickly decided that I would have to settle for a repair of the artery itself and leave the rest for proper healers to deal with when we made it back to Rockunder—if we made it back. I was doing my best to block out the increasing commotion outside the house. The stamping of hoofs, apparently in triumph, continued. This raucous chorus was accompanied by whinny-like calls between the centaurs.

  With my eyes closed, I focused upon Adolf only. The light of life emanating from his prone form came into view in my mind’s eye. I could now see the entire house around me, as well as the numerous centaurs encircling the dwelling. The light emanating from them outlined their forms. I was only slightly alarmed to find that we were completely surrounded. No less than twenty centaurs had arrived to join in the hunt.

  Despite our situation, my calm remained. Such was the state of mind necessary in order to delve into the way of the healers. My attention remained on Adolf. I applied my light to his, focusing as completely as possible on repairing the artery, aiding his own body as it supplied the necessary biological material to seal the laceration. I had become the mind behind the matter, guiding the process to completion.

  As a result, my extension bubble began to diminish. The smell of smoke once again filtered in to me. Nevertheless, I disregarded this, remaining in the healing state. I had no doubt that a trained healer, even Sadie, could have dealt with the entire wound at once. I was only grateful that I had any manageable ability at all, and thanked the Lord silently for it.

  The bleeding finally stopped, though I kept pressure on the wound still. My extension came down before I exhausted myself in the attempt to maintain it, and smoke enveloped us. There was clearly fire burning somewhere inside. We had no choice but to leave.

  However, the centaurs were still outside, and Adolf was till unconscious from whatever concoction the beasts used upon their arrows. I could not risk leaving him here to fight. In this, our situation had not changed much for the better. I would be forced to emerge from the smoke-filled house with Adolf in tow and hope for the best.

  Resigned to this last resort, I hoisted my unconscious friend up to my shoulder, slinging him over unceremoniously. Despite still being a young age, as a vampire, I found his weight entirely manageable even light. After all, Adolf was still a young boy and could not have weighed more than one hundred and fifty pounds. I could lift far more.

  I had started toward the door, leaving my sword stowed away in the dimensional pocket. Best not to appear hostile, if I could avoid it. That lack of posturing might prove to be the one thing that saved our lives in this dire situation.

  Suddenly, there came the sounds of battle beyond the walls of the house. The cries of centaurs dying made my flesh crawl. Something terrible was happening to them, and I wondered if some other type of abominable creature from the Underworld had attacked them.

  My vampire ears caught the multiplied loosing of arrows, the sounds of swords and other melee weapons cutting the air and the unmistakable rending of flesh. However, I could not discern the noise of whatever enemy had arrived on the scene. It was like the centaurs had been set upon by shadows.

  All at once, the battle subsided. As many as twenty centaurs had encircled Redclaw’s former stone dwelling. Yet, the rage of battle had ended in as many seconds. I heard no centaurs moving outside now. Unfortunately the fire and smoke remained in the house. I had no choice but to open the door and face whatever awaited us outside.

  My gaze landed on the door, my mind pulling it open ahead of us. Seeing nothing immediately beyond, I walked through quickly in order to get Adolf out of the smoke before he suffered for it. I could find no enemy in sight.

  However, the savagely torn corpses of the centaurs were strewn up and down the street. Some had even been hurled upon the roofs of neighboring dwellings, their lifeblood cascading down the walls to puddle upon the ground. I could not imagine the power that had been necessary to accomplish this brutality and so very quickly. As many full grown vampires, or Lycans, would have been required to do something so savage, but there were none. No one at all.

  Lucifer watched the young vampire as he emerged from the stone house, smoke billowing out around him. Adolf had been slung over the boy’s left shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He had already seen what had transpired inside the house. The centaurs would not have allowed these two to live. At the very least, they would have hindered the mission which Lucifer now considered of the utmost importance. How else would he have the pleasure of both ruining Black’s plans and developing young Adolf as his protégé?

  The vampire appeared to be quite stunned with the scene outside. Undoubtedly, he had known of the centaurs massing beyond the walls of the house, but now had no idea what evil had befallen them. Bodies lay everywhere, slaughtered in gruesome fashion.

  Lucifer smiled. He had been the one to kill the centaurs. He would not allow Adolf to be destroyed. The boy was too valuable to the angel’s future plans.

  At once, he was standing behind the boy vampire, looking at Adolf lying over his shoulder. Lucifer reached out to him, touching his head, touching his mind. The boy awoke immediately, searching. Realizing Adolf was awake, Cole set the older boy back on his feet.

  Adolf’s gaze was fixed upon his angelic benefactor. Lucifer allowed him to perceive his presence for only a moment—long enough to leave an impression that he was still with him as promised. He required the boy’s trust if he was ever going to be able to mold him properly.

  Disappearing from Adolf’s view, Lucifer remained watching the two. Adolf blinked several times before fixing his attention on Cole who was asking after his well being. As expected, Adolf did not relay what he had seen of the angel to his friend.

  Lucifer ignored the conversation, for the most part. There was nothing of importance being said. Instead, he investigated the wound in Adolf’s shoulder. For years now, he had be
en actively suppressing many of the boy’s abilities. However, he now felt that it was time for another trait of his father’s to be unleashed within him.

  Since the power was already present within Adolf, all that was required was for Lucifer to cease inhibiting its function. He did so now. What Adolf did not immediately notice, was the repair beginning in earnest in his shoulder. However, within moments, he realized that his pain was quickly subsiding.

  Probing the area, he found the skin already sealed where the wound had just been. Cole’s eyes grew wide with surprise as he also noticed what had happened. Adolf turned to his friend not comprehending.

  “Did you—?” he started to ask.

  Cole shook his head. “I did my best to heal the tear in the artery, but nothing more.”

  Adolf began to work the shoulder, moving his arm around. “It’s feeling better and better.”

  Cole smiled. “It must be you then,” he surmised. “Perhaps you have some latent healing ability. Vampires can heal faster than humans by far. You might have inherited something even faster from your parents.”

  Lucifer walked behind the vampire boy, allowing his form to be seen a moment longer by Adolf. Looking at him, he had clearly noticed the angel. Still, he did not make these sightings known to Cole.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Adolf replied, seeming a little distracted. He looked around at the carnage in the street. “What happened? Did you kill them?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea,” Cole said. “I was trying to get you out of the house. I only heard what was happening out here with the centaurs. Someone, or something, killed them before I opened the door. Yet, there is no evidence of anyone having been here.”

  Adolf nodded absently as Cole finished his explanation. Lucifer noticed that the boy was searching for him to appear again. He did not. He had given him a sufficient glimpse. Adolf’s expression clearly portrayed a suspicion that it had been Lucifer who had saved them from the centaurs. The angel did not feel that he must provide any further proof.