Feet of Clay_An Urban Fantasy Novel

by J. A. Cipriano

  Our pint-sized rabbi lowered his eyes, more out of respect than guilt. “The Peacekeepers did more than regulate the magical community of Earth, despite what many among the End and White believed. They also maintained a variety of seals and wards on the world itself.” He looked over at me with a bit of a smile. “Think of them like Earth Customs, Frank. They made sure certain things that shouldn’t ever come here never got here and that other things never left.”

  I nodded as Abner picked up his narrative seamlessly. “That is why the Old Ones and other things do not deprecate our Earth, and the true reason why what mortals call ‘gods’ do not freely roam any longer. Even Yahweh must work through miracles and mystery as opposed to shining his light on the faithful.” He pointed a blocky finger at the ordinary-looking hunk of glass. “The two elders, Roland and Marcus, knew this fact. When they destroyed the Peacekeepers, they knew they had to keep at least one alive to maintain the force of those wards because it is tied to the order of Peacekeepers with blood. What more ironic way to do so than with a tool of the very beings the Peacekeepers held at bay?”

  “Wait, hold the fucking phone,” I said, instantly regretting cursing like a sailor in front of a holy man. “Excuse my language, but did you just say that both sides axed the magic cops?”

  Gabriela answered me as she turned down her eyes. “Of course that’s what they’re saying. It makes so much sense. How could I have been so stupid, so blind not to have seen it? How could I have believed Roland and the others?”

  Even Tabitha, who you’d think would be a bit relieved to have some of the guilt off her shoulders, slumped in her chair. “Seven Spirits, we all should have known.”

  They were right, of course. It made perfect sense. Both of the clans were being choke-chained by the Peacekeepers. If they wanted to get on with their magical slapfest and try to destroy the entire planet, they both needed the good guys to take a dive. Enemy of my enemy and all that shit.

  “Well, come on, we can fix this, right?” I licked my lips because another crazy-ass Frank Butcher plan was coming on to rock them like a hurricane. “We know the White need these Great Old Ones or Outer Beings or Space Gods to work their mojo, so they’re coming for the rock. More importantly though, we know there’s a guy or gal in that rock that might be able to help us fix the whole damned show!”

  Joseph smiled broadly at me, positively beaming. It was like he had been expecting that to roll out of my mouth any minute and he pounced on it. “That sounds like the most constructive thing to do. It’s like when you have a really nice pool, good and clean, and the water filter breaks. No matter how much you skim that pool, it won’t do any good without fixing that filter.”

  I thought my figures of speech could get strange and corny, but the rabbi was right, oddball that he was. We could try to get Max back first, which would simply delay the inevitable, or take this moment of safety to get at least one Peacekeeper back and hopefully cut the Whites off from their ritual forever.

  The two sorceresses exchanged meaningful looks for a moment. Gabriela spoke up first, a mixture of distress and hope in her voice, “If there’s one left alive, we’ve got to do what we can to get him out.” I could guess about that hope, but I wasn’t going to say it. Not right then. Not until we knew one way or the other.

  Tabitha rubbed her eyes with her fingers, running her hands down her face. “I can’t disagree. Better a long shot than rolling over for Lambert to slit our throats, right?” She sighed deeply. “The files we have only outline the entrapment rituals and the barest details of the pocket dimension inside the cube, though. I have no clue how to open it or get anyone inside without trapping them.”

  Rabbi Krakowski bowed his head, which made him practically disappear entirely behind the desk. “Fortunately, Director Marlowe, as I said, I’m something of an expert on the tools of the divine. That includes the twisted works of the Old Ones.” He looked up, those eyes still twinkling and his lips curled in a confident smile. “Yahweh granting, I can open the gates for a chosen few to enter, but it has to be a specific couple.”

  I arched an eyebrow, because I sure as hell could guess where this was going. Who were the two people in this room that were unlike all the others? “I guess it’s you and me, huh, Abner?”

  The Big Red Machine nodded his head. “It is indeed, Frank Butcher.”

  20

  As luck would have it, Tabitha did indeed have a Mossberg shotgun for me. Not that it could ever replace my own, hopefully still slumbering peacefully in my gun safe back home, but it still felt good to have it going … wherever it was Abner and I were being bippity-boppity-boo’ed to. As I admired my adopted baby and Joseph prepared the ritual, Gabby had been forced to basically sit on her hands and wait, something I knew was annoying her to no end.

  “Why exactly is it only Frank and Abner can enter the stone, Rabbi?” Gabriela asked, her arms crossed as she paced in the Director’s office. I could tell she wanted to go and who could blame her? Her husband had been a Peacekeeper, after all.

  The young man smiled broadly as he looked up at her from where he had been drawing precise diagrams in chalk on the floor. “Well, the Old Ones, they know magic is the only practical force anyone on Earth has to control their excesses. This prison is antithetical to magical energy, a dimension without the tapestry, you could say. As my father would have said, it’s completely fercockt.” Joseph nodded to Abner and I. “They do what they do without magic. The heart’s power is ancient, something more than magic, and my son draws on strength greater than the masters of this prison.”

  Tabitha, who had been watching the rabbi’s work with interest, glanced up at me. “I wouldn’t even trust your guns in there. There’s no telling how the physical laws work in this place. Besides, if you put much stock in the little information we have about these outer beings and their minions, anything you might consider shooting probably won’t be too put off by bullets.”

  I rolled my eyes as I shoved the now-well-used Beretta in a shiny new holster at my hip and began loading the Mossberg. “Great pep talk, Director. Real leadership there.” I gave her a smile. “But yeah, I’ve read the stories and watched the movies. Good advice, but I still feel better having them. Maybe we’ll get lucky and won’t even need to deal with anything.”

  Abner shook his square head. “A fine wish, but likely a naïve one. What prison has no jailers?”

  “Which is why I should be going with you.” Gabby insisted. “I’m not only a sorceress but a doctor. If you’re hurt in there, you’ll need my help.”

  Joseph pushed up to his full, dwarfish stature. “I know you want to help, Doctor, we all do.” He put on that gleaming, disarming smile. “Heaven knows I’d be right there if I could, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Do you want to put yourself in danger in the Cube, weak and defenseless in comparison to your friends, or stay here using your full power to help prepare these downtrodden people for the storm we all know is coming?”

  Despite the wisdom of the rabbi’s words, I could see Gabriela’s face screwing up in frustration. I decided to cut her off before we had another mini-argument crop up. “It’s okay, Doc.” I put a warm hand on her shoulder and gave a squeeze. “I’ll hide behind the walking wall over here if shit gets bad. We’ll come back, and we’ll get your Peacekeeper buddy out safe too.” I thumbed at the door. “Besides, if Rollie pokes his head up here while I’m gone, I need someone I trust to whack it back down the hole it came from.”

  She pursed her lips as if about to shut me down as well, but only let out a sigh “I suppose you two are both right in your own ways.” She poked her index finger into my chest. “I’m going to hold you to that promise, Frank, so don’t think dying on me will save you.”

  I held up my hands helplessly. I mean, how could I say no to that? “Your wish is my command.”

  Joe clapped his hands with a grin. “Excellent, fantastic, exciting! The circle is finished, so when you and Abner are ready, I’m ready.”

&nb
sp; Tabitha arched an eyebrow as she looked up from the chalk marks. I didn’t know what they meant, but I could easily make out the Hebrew characters worked into the design. “Are you certain you don’t need my or Gabriela’s help with this ritual, Rabbi Krakowski?”

  “Oh no, not at all, Director,” he scoffed as he moved to the top of the circle. “You ladies conserve your strength. We all know this is just the first step down the rabbit hole.”

  Tabitha sighed as Abner silently stepped into the circle. I gave Gabby my patented cocky smile and a nod.

  “Right, you all stay here and guard the Cube. If we’re not back by morning, call the president.” This time, the cockiness was pure bluster. This wasn’t the kind of place to step into full of deadly overconfidence. Still, I had a reputation to uphold, right?

  As I followed Abner in, Gabby shook her head. “Ninth Circle, Frank, don’t be–”

  Whatever Gabby was trying to say was cut off by one thunderous command booming out of the rabbi’s mouth and the brilliant wash of silver light that blinded me to the natural world.

  A moment later, we weren’t in Kansas anymore, let alone the Pendleton Building. Earth was probably a distant pinprick of light in the night sky from here, if we could have seen the sky. What I’m getting at is we were now in a very alien place.

  I don’t mean alien in the sense that Structured was, which is to say bizarre but still grounded somewhat in human experience. The prison universe inside the Cube was a whole other ball of beeswax. Thankfully, my body and eyes and ears still seemed to be functioning.

  The walls, floor, and roof above our heads were there, yes, but staring at any one point too long made my head pound and my stomach roil.

  The matter, if that’s what it was, that made up our surroundings wasn’t quite solid, liquid, or gas. I know that’s hard to wrap your brain around, which probably explains the headaches as it was a real fucker to adjust to. Everything seemed to be in constant flux, undulating under some chaotic wave action. The ground beneath our feet, a sickly red-green-mauve that refused to conform to a static color, churned between impressively solid to gooey to simply gone, making every movement a dangerous challenge.

  There were no clean lines or angles to anything. Organic curves seemed the order of the day, but even those twisted and spun before my eyes. What had been a clear path turned into an endless spiral before vanishing entirely.

  God only knew when the space we occupied would vanish too. It was a world conceived by the perceptions of a madman strung out on acid with no signs of calming down. Figuring out what was real and what was simply a suggestion of reality was nearly impossible.

  My distress had to be obvious because Abner called out, warbling as if the air itself was constantly changing density, “Frank, you must try to focus on me. I am the rock upon which you can find solace in this storm of insanity.”

  As I turned to seek out his big lumpy form, I staggered like a drunkard, trying to keep my feet under me and not throw up at the same time. Huge hands took hold of my head with surprising gentleness and forced my eyes in the proper direction. Unlike everything else in this hell hole, Abner was a constant, unmoving, unchanging, and the mere act of looking at him calmed my wild thoughts and churning stomach.

  “Oh, thank God. That’s a big improvement.” I clapped my free hand on his forearm like a life-preserver and gripped the Mossberg tight with my other. “I never thought you’d be a sight for sore eyes, but you are.”

  One craggy brow arched up a hair before he cracked a grim smile. “Yes, Frank, remember your humor. It may help keep you sane long enough for us to reach our goal.”

  I tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out right. Nothing sounded or felt or looked right outside of Abner’s stupid face. “Right, trust me, I’m not letting you leave my sight until we get out of here.” A stupid idea struck me as the words left my lips. “Shit, I have a really crazy idea, but it might just be what we need to find our Peacekeeper friend.”

  With his redbrick fingers keeping my head properly looking at him, Abner shifted his gaze around slowly. “Insanity in the house of the insane may very well be a stroke of wisdom. As I have no idea how to find our way in this chaos other than to pick a direction and march, I see no downside to trying your idea.” He swiveled his head back to lock eyes with me. “What is it?”

  “Okay, well, Joseph said this place has no tapestry, right? No natural weave of magic?” I kept feeling like I had to shout, but every time I did, my voice came out like thunder. The moment I quieted it, all was silence. I wasn’t even sure Abner heard me properly until he answered.

  “Indeed, Frank Butcher, but I am unsure of how that helps us.”

  “Well, everybody from our world, most worlds, have threads of magic tying us into the universe. You know, what Yoda said, that we’re all ‘luminous beings, not this crude matter’ stuff. With that being the case, it should simply be a matter of looking through the heart for the only other thing in this place that has those threads.”

  “Insanity, truly, but insanity that may very well work.” Abner frowned deeply, which seemed like entirely the wrong reaction. “However, can your mind and senses stand the constant assault of this world without breaking?”

  “Gee, big guy, you’re picking an odd time to give two shits about me. Your dad rubbing off on you?” I started to try to focus deeper, to reach down to the power of la Corazon. “Speaking of the rabbi, how exactly does that work anyway? He’s barely old enough to tip back a beer, and he’s got his very own golem kid.”

  Abner could probably feel me tensing, trying to get my shit together. “If your prattle will help you keep your mind, I will answer your questions.” His hands kept steady, immovable like a statue, keeping me upright and safe. “Father is a good man, a holy man, so yes, I strive harder in his presence to be the life he wishes for me to be. As you said, we are all luminous beings, Frank Butcher, and the being that animates this clay shell craves release, always raging beneath my conscious mind. It is … easy to bend to that spirit’s wishes when Father is not near to help me keep my center.

  “As for Rabbi Krakowski’s stature in the church and breadth of knowledge, all fields have their prodigies, be it Hebrew law or the power of the Kabbalah.” The heart was reaching for me as I reached for it. Power started to thump in my chest despite the chaos raging around us. “Father’s innate talent was nurtured by his father and his father’s father. He passed the rabbinical tests when he was twenty-two and created me soon after. Father foresaw what was coming in the actions of the White and the End. He bid me to act as his eyes, ears, and hands to try to right their courses.” Abner let out an echoing sigh. “I fear I have not been as effective as I should have been.”

  “Don’t kick yourself too hard. That’s a tall order for a two-year-old to tackle.” I tried to show a playful smirk, but who knows how it looked in this crazy town. “Okay, I’m about ready. If my eyes explode, and I bite my tongue off to prevent screaming the secrets of the void, tell Gabriela I really did love her.”

  “Frank …”

  “Here I go!”

  I opened my eyes, now awash with the gold filter of the heart.

  I didn’t scream, and I didn’t go mad. In fact, what had been incomprehensible insanity to my normal eyes turned into pure nothingness. An empty black void stretched to the extent of my vision. I was faintly lined in golden light but otherwise another blank space, Abner, as solidly woven together as ever, and another swirl of tattered threads far off in the distance. Bingo.

  “Okay, buddy!” I shouted. My ears were clear now, but I had no idea how to judge the world around me. “I know where we need to go, but I can’t see shit besides you and our goal. Until we find him, you’re my seeing eye dog.”

  One of those big mitts, big enough to squash my head like a cantaloupe, shifted gently to my shoulder. “Very well, point the way. However, if you call me a dog again, I may not be held responsible for my actions.” As if to remind me of that point, the hand on my should
er tightened a hair.

  “Fair enough, big man!” I pointed in the direction of our goal. “That’s our target!”

  Abner rumbled a grunt of acknowledgment, and we began to make our way through the heart of chaos itself.

  21

  I may not ever know what it means to be blind, but the trek through the Cube’s dimension came as close as I’d ever wish. It wasn’t the pitch darkness so much though that sucked major balls. It was the feeling of utter dependence I had on Abner. In essence, it was a trust fall onto solid concrete embedded with nails and you’ve no doubt discerned that I didn’t exactly trust Abner.

  Maybe, at the end of the day, Joseph was right to trust Claymation because he stuck close by me, a guiding hand on my shoulder as I led us onward toward the slowly growing strings of magic in the distance. More than a few times, Abner pulled me from some unseen danger or raised me up over a turbulent sinkhole that ripped open in this abyssal quagmire. Maybe we’d make it through this little trial as easily as I was wishing we would.

  But as they say, wishes are like fishes, and I am one shitty fisherman.

  After one nasty stretch where Abner and I had been forced to crawl through something Abner decided not to identify (I was thankful for that), I heard a strange sound. That I heard anything was odd on its own. Since I’d tapped into la Corazon, it had been blissful silence outside of its steady beat.

  What I heard was a wet, gurgling breathing, at least that was the closest thing I could approximate it to. If you can somehow imagine a rhino breathing with a big ole plug of Crazy Slime jammed into its nostrils, you would start to get close to it. That lovely noise was accompanied by a nose-curdling scent that defied all reasoning, like the very essence of three-day-old corpses left out in the sun.