by James Garvey
“This village was not like the one I’d just been in, which appeared to be abandoned on the peoples’ own accord. Instead, this village experienced the wrath of that demon. She killed everyone in the town and impaled them on sticks.” He grows quiet.
Bets is enthralled and appalled. “Why’d she do something so – unthinkable?”
Wenn gulps his ale. “To scare us, I suppose. Or maybe just because she could. It gets worse. She revived them with that damned fog. They were dead but conscious on the spikes. They pleaded for help from me. There were hundreds of them. Children too. They wanted me to help them down and let them go.”
I realize that Eliza probably witnessed this horror, making me want to gouge me eardrums out. Anything would be better than hearing this story. If I ever do rescue my girl, will I be able to save her soul? I find it strange that Wenn betrays no concern for our daughter in his story. It’s all about Thresh.
Bets squints. “So, what’d you do, Wenn?”
“I spent the day being merciful. That’s all I’ll say. I was too shaken to rest so I continued tracking Thresh. I found them the next day as the snow started turning to rain and mud – again. Excuse me.” He leaves to relieve himself.
Minns holds Bets hand. “Holy shit. Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
I wipe away a tear. “Yes, I do.”
Theo gently puts his hand on my arm. “So, he didn’t find Eliza. What do you think happened?”
“Let’s find out.” I’m shaking.
Wenn steps back into the hall and slumps into his chair, which creaks in protest with his drunken weight. “So, here I am on the outskirts of Thresh’s camp. The mud was doing a number on them. The grubs were nowhere to be seen – I reckon the water washes them away and they can’t reform until the weather dries up. Thresh had a small army of dead men – likely villagers from back there – setting up a couple of canvas tents. She had about ten horses, several cattle, and a few living men with her. The one called Jonah was slogging in the mud barking orders and Thresh was cursing up a storm. She was concerned about making dry space for Eliza.” His voice cracks at our daughter’s name.
“So you saw her?” I ask desperately.
“No, I didn’t.” He takes another large draught from his tankard. “I was discovered. Barely escaped with my life.” And his story ends abruptly.
“How’d you escape?” Bets is disappointed.
“Three of Thresh’s soldiers saw me and pursued. The mud was pretty thick and deep. They fell into a swollen stream and were washed downhill. I managed to shimmy to an outcropping and wait the weather out. Once the rain stopped, I started climbing back up the mountain. I found a path and eventually made it back here.”
“That’s it?” I plead. “You could’ve come back to us at the lodge and told us where Thresh was. We may have been able to track and pursue her once the Fuerst arrived.
“Amy, we know where she is. She arrived here a couple of weeks after me. Since then, she’s been camped out on the west side of the lake and her numbers are growing. Each day, more of that infernal fog seeps out and makes all kinds of beasts. If it weren’t for our weapons and the fence, Yellow Stone would be wiped from the map.”
My latent anger at Wenn solidifies. “You mean to tell me that our daughter is merely on the other side of the lake and you haven’t rescued her? You have Fromer’s weapons here, seasoned troops, even an Institute starship and you haven’t tried to get Eliza? What’s the matter with you?”
Wenn’s incensed. “Amy, who do you think you are? Are you willing to risk the safety of all the people in this town, the last defense against those things in the bottom of lake, for your selfish needs?”
“My needs, Wenn? She’s our daughter. And from what everyone seems to think, she may be the future gatekeeper for this place, whatever that means. The girl’s got my abilities. If Thresh harnesses them, it could be disastrous for all of us, including this precious town and most importantly, you.”
Wenn stands unsteadily, his face fiery red. He throws his chair to the floor and storms out. Theo sighs. “Well, Sprouter, you’ve certainly made him pissy.”
I turn to Theo coldly. “And you Theo. You are Eliza’s godfather. There’s responsibility in that. Why are you standing up for that coward? We need to go now. Thresh must be stopped before it’s too late.”
Etch’s throat rumbles. “Amy Marksman. Do not lose your perspective here. I agree that the man Wenn should have worked with us to rescue your daughter. However, we must not attack Thresh in haste. We have to make preparations to destroy her and to rescue your daughter.”
I’m not happy with Etch either. I leave them at the table, stumbling into the dark town square. Fromer’s cold, lifeless statue stares at me blankly, mocking me. Wenn was right about one thing – the smell of the lake has lessened. I throw a stone at the fake Fromer and walk down one of the shadowy streets. I pass warmly lit windows seeing families do what they’ve been unable to do in so many other places- gather, eat, and laugh. It’s odd that this village is intact so close to danger, while those hundreds of miles away have succumbed to the disease oozing from this forsaken lake water.
I find steps along the wall and climb, discovering that I’ve approached a turret. The night watchman there looks at me curiously. “What’re you doing here stranger?”
“Just getting some fresh air.”
He tells me to walk to the west wall, saying that a constant breeze from a nearby mountain pass is delicious. He swears it picks up all the scents of the spring wildflowers and concentrates them in a sustained blast of fragrance. I walk to the spot and am transported to another place and time. I close my eyes and see the gardens of home. They’re overgrown with weeds and wildflowers and more beautiful than ever. Birds flit through the trees and my trees are full of blossoms.
“The green ones you played with in the garden are an alien species called the xyn.” Fromer’s voice startles me back to reality.
“Fromer. Where the hell did you come from?”
“This lake is my portal, too. Did you think I can just wink in and out of earth at will? Doesn’t work that way. I need a pathway. Portals like these are littered throughout the universe, if you know where to look. People like humans, naurons, and zenatans trampled the natural portals with pollution and wonton destruction. Technology helped them but it doesn’t have to. Earth’s recovered from humanity for now.”
“So, the green beings are real and not in my imagination?”
“Of course, they’re real. The xyn have long known about the relationship between the natural world, living things, and portals. A few of them decided to pay you and your ancestors regular visits. Let’s just say they’re rooting for you.”
“How’d you know I was thinking of the garden?”
“You weren’t just thinking about it. You were there for a moment. You’re able to use the living growing things on this planet like a communications network. This is the reason you’re a natural pilot. You can travel all around. Etch is not nearly as good as you are. But he’s catching on. Melat was a natural like you. But someone beyond the universe exposed a weakness in her and exploited it. Interestingly, Thresh has a similar weakness.” Fromer shrugs.
I want to be angry at Fromer - blame him for this condition. But I can’t seem to keep the flame burning in my gut. It seems I’ve used up all my energy on Wenn and the others. “Fromer, are you going to keep manipulating us?”
He seems genuinely surprised. “What do you mean Amy? I have done no such thing. As I’ve said before, I cannot interfere in your affairs.”
“Are you kidding me, Fromer? Look at this place. It’s fortified with tools that you’ve given them. You brought Wenn and father to them when they needed help.”
Fromer smiles mischievously. “The watchkeeper has to wind the clock occasionally or it will stop. That doesn’t mean he controls the passage of time. Amy, you have and always will have free will. I can’t tell you, of all people, what to do.”
I rush him, my face in his chest. I stand on my toes and stare at his angular face. My anger’s back. “What freedom do I have when you keep manipulating the playing board? I feel like a chess player responding to each of your moves.”
“Well, I must confess. This may be somewhat true. I’m happy to know that you are an accomplished player.”
“Do we kill Thresh and get Eliza back?”
“I can’t tell you that. Honestly, I don’t know. Each time I move into the future, it changes. The past is firm. The path ahead - it wiggles and jumps.”
“If I become the – what do you call it – gatekeeper, will I be able to move through time?”
“No. To do that, you must completely abandon your attachment to this reality. You would lose your ability to be a part of your world – you’d be unattached, like me and the dead.”
“So, you are a ghost.”
“Not yet, thankfully. However, I can only stick around for a short while before I begin to fade away, back into the ether. I belong in there and what lies beyond.” He gestures to the lake.
“Will I be able to see the dead?”
“Yes, Amy. You’re mother is eager to see you.”
I feel cold, thinking of her death.
“I bid you good luck, Amy Marksman. You mother will be very proud of you when you meet.” He turns and bounds along the wall. He jumps over, falling an impossible height. I run, looking over the railing. He’s vanished in the mist hanging from the lake below.
I must have been a little drunk because I have a wicked headache and really want water. I walk cautiously back to my room in the darkness. There are a few lamps in the streets, but they are unable to penetrate the strange absence of light here at night. I wonder whether the lake is sucking the errant evening light into it – a giant vacuum for the energy around us.
I fetch a drink and lay back on my bed. I’m drifting off to sleep when Wenn stumbles in. “Amy, wake up. We’ve got to talk.”
“I’m not sleeping, Wenn. We can talk when you sober up.”
“Now. Not later. How dare you embarrass me in front of everyone? You think I’m a coward. But look at this place. The people here consider me their leader. They need me.”
I’m exhausted and want this stranger to leave. “Wenn, I don’t know who you are anymore. You left the village a sweet man. Now, you are selfish and, worse, self-important. I’m done with you.”
“Wife. You dare not speak to your husband that way.” He walks toward me with his hand raised.
I should feel fear, but nothing but pity and disappointment well up. Wenn strikes me across the face and my mind reaches out finding Etch nearby. He hits me again and again, although I float above the pain. Finally, Etch and Theo bound through the door, knocking Wenn on the floor.
Theo holds my face, “Are you alright?”
Wenn stands, slurring, “I knew it. Theo, you’ve stolen her from me. Amy, he’s wanted you all his life. Once I’ve turned my back, at no fault of mine, you leap.” He lunges at Theo but Etch holds him back effortlessly.
“Wenn, you have made an enemy of me tonight. This is not to be taken lightly. If you touch Amy Marksman again, I will tear you into pieces.”
Etch releases my husband who scurries out the door into the suffocating darkness outside.
“Thanks you two,” I sigh. “I don’t know who he is anymore. What are we going to do? We need him to convince the villagers to help us defeat Thresh and defend this place from the outsiders.”
“I guess we’ll be evicted from Yellow Stone in the morning.” Theo dabs my bloody lip with a cloth. “Any ideas ‘bout what we ought to do?”
Etch rubs his chin. “I think that I should pay Wenn another visit.” He leaves, with Theo and I looking perplexed and a little concerned.
“What do you think Etch’s got in mind?” Theo asks.
“I don’t know, but please lie down with me.”
As we rest listening to our breathing and the gentle lapping of the lake on its shore, we jump slightly at the sound of the Fuerst lifting off. “There goes Etch and Wenn,” I surmise as I drift into slumber.
I shouldn’t be surprised that sleep would be eventful so close to the portal, but I am. Within moments, I’m in the body of something new. It feels like a grub but it’s more intelligent, dangerous, and huge. I turn its head to have a look around and see Yellow Stone shimmering dimly across the lake. I smell decay and sulfur all around the place. Looking down, I see that there’s a huge camp of buildings assembled haphazardly with rough-hewn pine boards. Creatures, both dead and alive, shuffle among the buildings with cautious purpose. A feel a rush and there’s Thresh.
“Well, hello Amy. Trying to highjack my friends again?”
I think to myself, if she only knew what I could do to her mind. “Thresh. You have no chance. Give me back Eliza and you can slink in the lake. Go somewhere far away and disappear. Otherwise, you will die.”
Thresh giggles in the void. “You have no plan, Amy. Give up while you can. Eliza is growing quickly. She’s beginning to talk up a storm. In fact, she called my husband, Jonah, daddy today. We’ve become a very close family. And I’m teaching her so much.”
I try to push away and re-enter the beast. I could inflict considerable damage with that thing. Light bursts forward and I’m free from Thresh, but I’m not in anything. Rather, I’m floating in some strange limbo, not unlike the sensation I had while disembodied in the Raven’s circuitry.
“Hello again Amy, good to see you so soon.” Warm comfort engulfs me. Fromer’s here with me, although I can’t see him.
“Where am I?”
“It’s time for your lesson.”
“What are you going to teach me?”
“How to kick Thresh into hell. You’ve been dabbling with these abilities. But it’s time for you to master them.”
“Where’s Thresh?”
“She’s like you, playing with powers that she hardly understands. In the Institute, children identified with the power to be pilots are recruited early and train for years before being given a ship. Not only do you have to learn how to commune with a ship like the Raven, you need to learn how to control the telepathic pathways this portal is giving you. Even I don’t know the limit to your abilities.”
“I don’t want this, Fromer.”
“You don’t have a choice Amy. Luckily, you have a teacher and that evil woman does not.”
After what seems like days in this weird dream, I awake to Theo’s even breathing. From the look of the sky, I’ve been asleep for no more than an hour.
I wrap myself in Theo’s large shirt and head outside. The constellation of the archer is low in the sky, reminding me of Bets for some reason. I climb the stairs and stare at the lake. After Fromer’s tutelage in my extended dream, the lake is no longer chaotic to me, but organized. I can see pathways swirling in the currents. I can hear voices drifting in the wind.
“There you are. And there’s my shirt.” Theo’s standing next to me, shirtless and looking cold.
“Sorry. I’ve no idea how long I’ve been standing here.”
“It’s nearly dawn.” He peers at my face. “Dear gods. That bastard really went to town on you. If he touches you again, he’s dead.”
“I think Etch has the first rights,” I laugh, hurting my mouth.
As if on cue, the Fuerst appears in the sky, landing in the same spot. Theo clucks. “Etch and Wenn are back. I wonder what they did?”
“It’s probably best not to ask.”
At dawn, a bell rings in the town square. Sleepy villagers assemble in the moist, morning cold. Wenn stands on a platform, dressed in his finest clothes. Etch is absent, but I suspect he’s watching remotely.
Bets and Minns join Theo and I in the back of the crowd. “What’s Wenn up to?” Bets murmurs.
Wenns puffs up. “People of Yellow Stone. As you know, we have important visitors. They are here to purge the evil amassing at the lake’s edge and allow us to take back our land and water.”
The crowd begins chattering. We receive curious glances. An old woman asks, “Where’s the one that looks like Fromer? Is he here to save us?”
Wenn nods. “His name is Etch. He is very old and wise. He’s traveled through the sky and will help us.”
“What happened to the other ship? The one with Captain Leo?”
“The Captain will return with more items to trade. Our relationship with the ones called the Institute remains strong. In a fortnight, we will attack the ones camped on the west shore. We have another guest, who is of great importance. She is the keeper. She’s come to banish the fog and its illness from our world.” He points at me and the entire crowd turns, staring at me and my bruised face. What must they think of the tiny beaten woman wrapped in a worn blanket? “Amy Marksman, please come forward.”
I look at Theo, who’s dumbstruck. He opens his eyes wide, sighs, and motions me forward. I shuffle forward, all faces following me. I find myself standing next to the man who beat me only a few hours earlier.
“Amy, what do you have to say to us?”
I’m back around the fire in the village, with the teacher forcing me to address the crowd about the season’s harvest. My throat seizes and I want to run. How is it that I can stand down a demon from another world but fear a crowd of townspeople?
My voice cracks. “I am Amy, a garden tender. I know who is tormenting you and she seeks to destroy all of us.” I lift my arms. “All of this. Everything we hold dear and love, she reviles. The god Fromer, who you all revere, is my friend and teacher. He tells me that I am the one who will deliver us from this evil thing. I also will keep the lake from ever hurting anyone again. The portal within the deep waters will serve us for peace and prosperity, not harm. I cannot do this alone, however. I ask you to join me – help me – to save this place and our very souls.”
The crowd is silent. One person claps and then another. Within moments, the square fills with clapping, shouts, and laughter. I’m apparently the only one in the group that feels like crying.
Over the next few days, Wenn retreats into the shadows, while Etch, Theo, Minns, Bets, and