Dead Time Series

by Jason Wilcox

  “Yes, I was informed you needed me to translate.” She waited for Azgiel to climb up to the house.

  Once they reached the top, Azgiel entered the tree house. Linsc followed, but stayed at the front entryway. Azgiel finally understood why Linsc came and not a male, since they were coming in to wake Maselda.

  Walking into their room, Azgiel saw his wonderful wife asleep on their bed. Her skin was a softer glow during sleep compared to when she was awake.

  “Maselda,” he said while softly running a hand over her cheek. Her eyes opened and the glow on her skin increased to the normal brightness.

  “What’s going on?” she asked while quickly sitting up. “Triaad didn’t try to come through the gate did he?”

  “No,” Azgiel spoke softly. “The preel is back already.”

  “Oh!” She jumped out of bed and put a robe on. They both walked out into the main room where the preel hung to a wall, and Linsc stood at the door. The fur on her head was lighter than most of the anubites that Azgiel had met, and her snout was a tad longer, more sleek.

  “Linsc, come have a seat.” Azgiel motioned for her to come sit on some wooden furniture. She nodded and sat down. “Now then, if you could please translate what the preel says, it would be much appreciated.” Anubites had many skills, one of which was their ability to talk to animals, or in this case, a large beetle.

  “Yes sir,” Linsc said while politely bowing her head. The preel flung off the wall, flew over to an end table, and started a low hum followed by multiple chirps. Some chirps were low toned, and some were high pitched. Others were long and drawn out changing in tone, and others were very short.

  “He says that he was able to listen to a report of what happened. That’s why he’s back so soon,” she explained.

  Azgiel quickly became worried and looked at the preel, who was perched upwards on his front legs. “You weren’t seen going in nor out were you?”

  The preel made a quick chirp.

  “Good.” Azgiel cracked his neck and let out a breath.

  Using his back legs, the preel rubbed them across his wings to clean them. He went on chirping with a couple of hums.

  “He says no one was near the gate when he went in or came out,” the anubite translated. “There was a group of gourds talking about…”

  The preel squealed cutting Linsc off.

  “Excuse me.” Linsc lowered her head in embarrassment. “A group of guards were talking.” Maselda and Azgiel laughed.

  Reaching out and putting a hand on Linsc’s shoulder, Azgiel patted her. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Linsc perked back up with her ears lifted, and went on translating as the preel kept chirping. “He overheard them talking about a group of demons that broke into the city. They weren’t sure how, but they killed the majority, leaving only three that got away and escaped into what the demons referred…” Linsc looked at the preel that had been chirping and clicking away. “Say that again.”

  After a couple of chirps that sounded like the same thing repeated over and over, Linsc looked back up. “They escaped into the dead lands.”

  “The dead lands?” Azgiel remarked. “There’s no such place around my kingdom.” He raised an eyebrow, shook his head once and looked to the preel. “Did you hear who exactly it was that escaped? I mean, did they give any details of what they looked like?”

  The preel began chirping again with some hums, and Linsc began the translation. “Yes. He overheard them making fun of their different colors. A large black one carried a white one and another black one, but there were a couple of others that argued with the first account and said the other one was blue. So, not fully sure.”

  Azgiel looked at the preel and then back to the anubite. “A white demon?”

  “Bridget!” the Witch spoke up. She looked to Azgiel, her eyes a little wider and excited. “She’s still alive. You were right.” Throwing herself on Azgiel, She gave him a couple of kisses, holding him tightly in her arms. “Thank you.”

  He hugged her back but cautiously, because he worried what would happen if Bridget turned up dead.

  Letting go, Maselda turned to Linsc and held her hand out. “Come with me. Let me offer you a warm drink.” The anubite took her hand, showing fingernails long and black like claws. They walked out of the room, leaving Azgiel and the preel.

  Azgiel worried. The preel had mentioned something about a dead lands, but there were no such thing. Did the preel misunderstand? Had they been killed? But if they were still alive, they would’ve followed through with the plan and come back. He looked in the direction his wife had walked. For now, I’ll let her believe what she may, no need to crush her excitement.

  The moon shone through the window and lit the back of the preel who fluttered his hard black shell. Azgiel knew his plans to get the sword back had failed; he needed to move forward with other plans.

  “Preel,” Azgiel said. The preel shifted and looked at him. “Find me Kaz and send him to me.” With a chirp, the preel flew off, heading out the window. Azgiel headed out as well, going to the outer deck. Only five minutes went by before he saw Kaz coming across the bridge to their place.

  “What do you need at such a late hour?” Kaz asked as he finished walking across the bridge.

  “You know you weren’t sleeping.” Azgiel leaned against the railing making it creak.

  “No, I wasn’t sleeping,” he fluttered his wings as he spoke.

  “Good because I have a mission for you.” Azgiel looked back at his home, but no one was around. “Gather demons, enough to travel to all the nations. Send them on the errand of seeing what the state of each human nation is, then inform them of what is going on and see if they will join us. We need to build an army.”

  Kaz snorted. “An army?” He raised an eyebrow. “Of humans? Sir?”

  “Don’t question me.” Azgiel got off the railing. “Humans can be very resourceful. And if we can unite this world, we will be a force that Triaad won’t be ready for or expecting.”

  “But sir, humans?”

  Azgiel looked at his large red friend. “Kaz! Both the Witch and I are human, immortal but human.”

  “Yes sir, but they are just regular humans, uneducated and simple.”

  “Then we educate them and teach those that will join us.” Azgiel almost let out a laugh seeing Kaz’s furrowed brow. “We need them, trust me. And I want you specifically to be the messenger that goes to this country. Convince them to join us, we need them.”

  Kaz let out a louder snort than he had before. “Yes, sir.” He turned to leave, heading for the bridge.

  “Oh, and Kaz,” Azgiel spoke up again. “Before you leave, can you get me a list of those that are more familiar with the ancient arts and spells? We’re going to rebuild the fortifications for this village, to make it a strong hold like you’ve never seen before.”

  Only partially facing Azgiel, Kaz nodded and proceeded on his errands.

  CHAPTER 17

  The hallways were packed with people, unlike during the night when James had taken Caden to the prison cells. He wasn’t sure where they came from, but they were there and busy moving around. Most of them didn’t wear the yellow glasses, so they didn’t notice Tagen following along on the ceiling. For the ones that had the glasses, James, who was leading Caden and Tagen, had to explain every time.

  James had gotten Caden up early, telling him he wanted Caden to join his team, which meant he needed to get his butt out of bed and get ready. There was a planning meeting that morning, and James wanted him there. Of course, Caden loved the idea and quickly got himself ready, only to wait around for an hour before James came back.

  They were now pushing their way through the people in the crowded hallways. Up two floors and over three wings, the building was huge. Caden had no idea that it was this large. At least on the level where they were, which Caden assumed was ground level, there were windows, and he could see the morning sun come through.

  Growing tired of the stares Caden w
as getting, he spoke up, “So, are we almost there?”

  James laughed. “Yes. It’s the last door down this hall.”

  Caden couldn’t tell where the hallway ended because it curved, so he just kept moving, trying to ignore the staring. Before everything had happened, he had always felt comfortable in public or around others, but everything had changed. He couldn’t just disappear into a crowed any longer. Feeling out of place, he was beginning to second-guess his decision to stay and help.

  “Here it is,” James spoke up as he walked through a doorway into a medium sized conference room. A number of people sat around a large table that had maps and papers scattered across it. There were other people standing up, that he assumed were aids or secretaries. They stood along the walls holding books, pamphlets, maps and whatever else might be needed for the meeting.

  Once they entered the room, someone closed the door and everyone quieted, staring at either Caden or Tagen. The General sat at the far end of the table, and had been talking to someone next to him, but now he was staring as well.

  “Why do we have a creature in our meeting?” the General broke the silence while leaning back in his chair. He had on a pair of the colored glasses as well.

  “You said he has to stay with me or he will be killed,” Caden spoke up. James gave him a surprised look with both eyebrows in the air.

  “Let me explain,” James quickly jumped in. “I want Caden to be one of my right hand men. As such, he needs to know what is going on.” He looked up at where others with the yellow glasses were looking at the ceiling. “And, like Caden explained, you’ve told him the creature has to stay with him.”

  “Yes, but I’m not going to permit one into a war meeting,” the General said. “We would be giving them all the tools they need to have the upper hand. It would be suicide.”

  “Then I guess I’ll go,” Caden said calmly and turned around to leave. James caught his arm, and stopped him.

  “Wait, sir,” James began. “I didn’t trust you bringing Caden into our facility, but you did. Now that he is, and I can see that he’s not some demon, I think we need to trust him. When he and I used to run missions together, he was one of the smartest men I knew. He was always strategically minded.” He turned to Caden. “If he thinks we can trust this creature, then I say we trust him.” Pausing, he looked around at everyone staring at them. “Or we could make him wait in the hall under guard.”

  Caden gave a very slight head bob in thanks to James. He felt humbled and grateful to have a friend like that. It was a completely different James than he met last night. James must’ve realized that Caden was just as much a victim of the destruction as he was after mentioning Bridget’s death. However, whether James had forgiven him or not, Caden still couldn’t forgive himself.

  The general let out a long sigh. “I’ll let him in just for your briefing, but none of the other briefings. And no to the hallway, because either he needs to show us he’s trustworthy, or we need to kill him like all the others.” He looked directly at Caden. “I’m sorry, Caden. You’ll have to prove he’s trustworthy before I’ll let him see too much.”

  “Yes, sir,” Caden said, trying to be as respectful as he could be. “I completely understand.” He wasn’t going to say it then, but he didn’t fully trust Tagen either, and he had no idea where they got the idea Caden trusted him. But now wasn’t the time to clarify.

  “Well, come take your place James,” the General spoke. Everyone was still silent, except for a few whispers from those against the walls.

  James walked forward motioning Caden to follow. They walked up the left side of the table. People moved to make room for them to get by. He sat down in his seat next to the General’s. Caden got the idea he was supposed to stand next to the chair, since there wasn’t an empty one for him to sit in.

  “No reason for you to stay hidden,” the General said looking to the side of Caden. “It only makes people suspicious of you.”

  Tagen appeared next to Caden, which startled him. As far as he had known, Tagen was still on the ceiling, a place the dark soul had made very clear was his favorite when around humans. He had expressed that morning that he hated being shoulder to shoulder with them, but there he was, shoulder to shoulder with Caden.

  “Now then.” The General stood up and walked towards a map that took up the entire back wall. A light from behind it flicked on, which helped illuminate the details. There was a large green circle around the base they were in, which was tucked away in the mountains. On the other side of the treacherous mountains was the city Caden knew all too well.

  The base was only a speck on the map, and the city, which was very large, was only the size of a baseball. Caden looked across the map to the other side where the coastline was and where Bridget’s mother’s home had been. Not far from there was the small city where he had his personal office. A small distance north of there was the suburb where his old house could be found as well as Bridget’s, Matt’s, and James’s. That’s where they had the red circle, where the nuclear power plant had been, just below the suburbs.

  “The scouting teams haven’t seen anything in weeks.” The General stood closer to the green circle and the city where the SDS building had been. “Sightings are getting fewer and fewer. And not only are the sightings going down, I received word from some of those spying on their fort. Supposedly, they say it is rather slow around there with little activity, and that they are looking weaker all the time.”

  “Weaker?” Caden couldn’t help himself from speaking up. “I’m sorry for the interruption, but where are you getting information about the fort?”

  Everyone looked at Caden. James even gave him a look of ‘shut up’ but Caden didn’t care. He knew the rules and formalities at meetings like this, but it didn’t matter any longer. After everything he had been through, formalities seemed ridiculous.

  “Excuse me?” The General blinked a couple of times, staring at Caden.

  “Well, I was wondering where you got that information, because it isn’t true.” Caden continued ignoring James. “Tagen and I just came from there.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tagen can say more than I can, but that place is big and full of people and dark souls.” As Caden spoke, Tagen growled at Caden for bringing up his name.

  The General stared at them. Caden was beginning to think it was going to become a common occurrence by the time he left. Whispering was heard in the back, but otherwise everyone was still quiet.

  “Okay. I’ll buy into this.” The General stepped closer to the table, moving away from the large map. “Tagen, since your friend has volunteered you, please enlighten us with your vast knowledge that will show that some of my top trusted men are lying to me.”

  Claws dug into Caden’s shoulder as Tagen put his hand there. “I would rather just observe,” he hissed with the most humble tone Caden had ever heard come out of his mouth.

  “No, Tagen. If Caden thinks so highly of your opinion, you must share it with us, because you know more than any of us.” The General finished closing the space between him and the conference table and leaned down on it. “What you say will have our interest, and must be most important.”

  “Enough!” Caden was getting sick of the General patronizing Tagen. For the first time he felt actual loyalty to the creature that followed him and called him master. Instead of just keeping him around for his own needs, Caden felt sorry for him.

  The General stood up, his top lip curled and eyes ablaze, but Caden didn’t care. He was only sticking around to do them a favor and didn’t owe anyone any pleasantries.

  “General, bring your spies home,” Caden said before the General could get a word in. “I bet you’ll either find they don’t exist and the enemy is sending you messages, or they’re working both sides. But I was there, and the information you have is wrong. Now you can harass my friend if you so choose, but he has valuable information that would benefit you. It’s your choice if you would like to utilize it.” Just
saying the words increased Caden’s heart rate and his words came out sternly.

  Lifting his strange looking glasses and rubbing his eyes, the General let out a big sigh. “Everybody out,” he ordered while waving a hand in the air. People began quickly trying to exit the room. “Except you three.” He pointed at them. James stayed seated, his lips were tight and he wouldn’t look at Caden.

  Not wanting to stand any longer, Caden grabbed a seat next to James. Believing the General might try to strong-arm them, he scooted the empty chair next to him towards Tagen and motioned for him to have a seat, to show he wasn’t being intimidated. After the first gesture, Tagen shook his head no, but Caden grew more insistent, and Tagen finally sat with a growl.

  Once the door was shut, the General took a seat and stared at Caden. “What is going on here?”

  “The only thing I see going on is Tagen and I trying to give you valuable intel, which you are disqualifying because he’s a dark soul.” Caden scratched his neck as he spoke.

  “Caden,” the General sounded like he was going to plead a case. “He’s a creature…a dark soul as you put it. Why would I trust a word he tells me? He’s one of them. Evil at his very core.” He kept his focus on Caden, not willing to look at or acknowledge Tagen. But Caden could hear Tagen shift in his chair as the General spoke.

  “Because I’ll be able to validate some of it,” Caden snapped. “And I can already tell you from what I saw, you are strongly underestimating what you’re up against. Somehow they have you buffaloed, and I think it’s going to be to your ruin, because there’s a battle brewing, and they’re preparing for it.” He looked back to Tagen, who gave him an evil, angry look.

  The General exhaled a deep breath and finally looked at Tagen. “Okay. Fine. Go.” He pointed to the large map on the wall. “Show me what’s actually going on.” His tone showed disbelief.