Cursed

by Owens, Wendy

  Somehow, they had made it.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Hi, I’m Patina, of course everyone here calls me Tina,” said a frail woman as she walked forward, moving like a gazelle. She gracefully extended a hand to shake.

  Gabe noticed her eyes were over-sized and sunken. Her nose was extremely thin and her face seemed exaggerated in its length. There was something he found very haunting about her. He noticed her skin almost glowed with a hint of blue. She was so pale. The stormy clouds overhead made her complexion all the more noticeable. Her gray robes draped over her thin and extremely long arms. Gabe couldn’t help but wonder if the rest of her lean, lanky body was as skeleton-like as her hands.

  “I’m the head master here at Iron Gate.” She continued in an eerie tone. Gabe already knew this. Michael had prepared them before they left.

  Gabe couldn’t imagine this woman being a leader. She seemed somewhat young, which Gabe knew truly did not indicate anything real about her age. Michael had insisted they show her the utmost respect. She was one of the eldest and most powerful Guardians in existence.

  Gabe stared at her for a lingering moment. Her dark raven hair that was slicked and pulled back into a tight ponytail indicated no signs of graying. Even with the aging tricks of being a Guardian, he couldn’t imagine her being as old as Michael had suggested.

  “Hello, ma’am. I’m Uri, and this is Gabe.” Uri said, patting Gabe heavily on the back, pushing him forward.

  “I see,” Tina responded. “So you are the protector?” Her words drew out, long and heavy.

  “That’s what they keep telling me.” Gabe said smiling, in an attempt to be charming. After shaking Patina’s hand, he awkwardly slid his hands into his pockets.

  “I see. Well I trust your journey was without incident.” She continued, not waiting for a response.

  “My associate, Alfred, will show you to your rooms so you can rest for a bit.” Patina said, turning and motioning to the short stocky man to her left.

  “If you don’t mind, ma’am. We have sick people at home and we would like to get started right away.” Gabe pleaded.

  “I do mind, young man.” Patina’s kind and welcoming demeanor quickly changed. Her body became rigid as she peered at Gabe.

  “I am very busy. With all the things I have to tend to, your ‘investigation’ is not at the top of my priority list. You will have to excuse me now.” It was clear Patina was irritated by their presence.

  “Of course,” Uri quickly chimed in with damage control. “We are honored to be your guests.”

  Uri walked over to Gabe, taking a tight hold around his elbow and dragging him towards Alfred. He grumbled under his breath, “Come on, Gabe. Let's do as we are told.”

  Gabe stumbled alongside of Uri silently. Still feeling haunted by images from his dreams, he was willing to follow along without much protest.

  “So that didn’t really take too long.” Gabe said.

  “What do you mean? What didn’t take long?” Uri asked, confused.

  “The trip here. I couldn’t have been asleep but for maybe a matter of minutes.” Gabe replied.

  “We were in the air for almost eight hours.”

  “That’s impossible.” Gabe argued. “I remember everything! It wasn’t that long.

  “It felt like less because you were asleep. Everything in your dreams happens much slower, kind of the best way to travel in my opinion. I wish I could have been asleep.”

  “Why? Did something happen?” Gabe asked.

  “No, of course not. I just meant because it was a long and boring trip.” Uri clarified.

  “Yeah. Well I can tell you, I would much rather have been awake than to have a demon in my head. It is not something I would recommend.” Gabe added in anguish.

  “So they found you?” Uri asked, confirming what Michael and he had expected would happen.

  “Baal did.”

  “Wait,” Uri stopped and grabbed hold of Gabe’s arm, turning him to face him directly. “How do you know it was Baal?”

  “I have seen Baal before, Uri. It was him. Not to mention there were a million toads, so that leaves little doubt.”

  “Gabe, this isn’t good.” Uri said almost sounding panicked.

  “Yeah, tell me about it. He is really messed up. He was toying with me. He acted like he was Sophie at first. Some really jacked up stuff, man. He kept saying he owned Sophie now and I might as well give up.”

  “Don’t you get it? They didn’t send trackers looking for you. It was actually Baal who found you. I think maybe he was trying to get you away from Rampart Manor and the protection of it. We need to talk to their clerics. They have to know what we’re up against. Some minor little protection spells are not going to do it. They are going to need a lot more to keep Baal away.” Uri sounded as if he were having the conversation with himself.

  “We should also contact Michael. He really needs to know we arrived safely.” Uri continued.

  “Oh yeah, I saw him, too.” Gabe said as he remembered watching his mentor fall.

  “What? Where? In your dreams?” Uri questioned.

  “Yeah, in the beginning. It was weird. He had these huge white wings. Kind of crazy.”

  “He was in angel form in your dream?” Uri asked.

  “Yeah, I guess. Why?”

  “Did anything else happen in your dream with Michael?”

  “Not really. I guess. He was falling out of the air while screaming. Oh yeah, and one of his wings was bloody.”

  “Damn it!” Uri shouted. “We need to call home right away. Michael could be hurt.”

  “What? No. It was just a dream.” Gabe insisted.

  “You and Michael are connected, Gabe. You have been since the beach.”

  “I don’t understand. What does that mean?” Gabe asked.

  “It means it might not have been just a dream. You could have been seeing a representation of what was actually happening.” Uri explained.

  “So wait, if that is true, then what Baal said about Sophie being his already might be true as well?” Gabe asked in a panic.

  “Don’t worry, Gabe. We’ll get her back.” Uri reaffirmed.

  A short round man stood nearby, patiently waiting while the two boys discussed their urgent business.

  “Excuse me,” Uri said, at last breaking the silence with the strange little man. “Is there somewhere we can go to try and call home? We need to check in.”

  “Of course, sirs.” The man replied. “There will be phones in your rooms.”

  “Oh, alright then.” Uri replied. He wondered why they didn’t have phones in their private rooms at Rampart.

  The two boys eagerly followed the man down an old stone corridor. Gabe was impressed by the ornate architecture of the stone building. Rampart was simple and straightforward in its design. The decorative features at Rampart were highly detailed, but the actual structures themselves lacked the embellishment this place did. Iron Gate is an architectural masterpiece, he thought.

  High ceilings arched up towards the heavens. They were so high it was hard to see the tops of them. The huge stone pillars were covered in carvings. They reminded Gabe a little of the carvings on the wood furniture in his room at home, but these were much more beautiful. The sheer volume of the carvings overwhelmed him. He couldn’t imagine how they ever achieved that detail in stone.

  “This is a beautiful home you have here,” Uri said, trying to win some points with the guide. He simply continued walking without a word, giving only a slight nod of appreciation.

  “So have you guys had any problems with demons actually getting into Iron Gate?” Gabe asked without hesitation.

  Suddenly he felt a swift smack accompanied by a cracking sound on the back of his head.

  “Smooth,” Uri whispered.

  “What? We gotta ask.” Gabe replied in a hushed whisper as well.

  “I am not sure what you mean, sir.” Alfred responded, not looking at the boys.

  “Do any demon
s ever make it past any of your charms? You know, make it in the gates?” Gabe pushed.

  “No, sir, never. We run a tight ship here. No exceptions.” Alfred replied, coming to a stop outside a set of old wooden doors. The doors had to be at least ten feet tall. Gabe wondered what kind of grandness awaited them on the other side. “I will leave you gentlemen so you can rest. Myself or a member of security will come and escort you when the time is appropriate.”

  “Thank you, Alfred.” Uri managed to say just as the man began to walk away. They both waited until Alfred was out of sight before turning towards their room.

  “After you,” Uri said, motioning towards the door.

  “Fine,” Gabe muttered, pushing open the enormous doors.

  As the doors swung in, the torches inside the room automatically lit themselves. The two boys could see the entirety of the massive room. The room was covered in white marble that had black spider like webbing throughout it.

  “Wow,” Uri said, mouth hanging open.

  “I know, right? Makes home look like a shack.” Gabe put in.

  “We should call Michael.” Uri said, remembering the urgency of the moment.

  “So where is this phone we were promised?” Gabe asked, looking around.

  Uri scurried around the room, frantically throwing open drawers and searching for the promised phone line. Looking behind a nearby chest, Uri located a cord and tracked it with his fingertips. He found a plug without a phone at the end of it.

  “Apparently someone doesn’t want us to have a phone!” Uri snapped, enraged at being misled. Throwing the useless cord to the floor, Uri bounded to the exit.

  Throwing open the door in a huff, Uri stumbled back just before he ran into the backside of a house-sized man. Turning around slowly, the guard stared at Uri intensely before growling, “Yes?”

  It was clear Patina expected them to remain in their rooms based on the size of the man.

  “Umm yes, well…” Uri said, trying to regain his composure. “Hello there, good chap,” Uri said before patting the guard’s chest. The guard did not seem pleased as his eyebrows sank and the corners of his mouth curled. Gabe chuckled to himself. He found it funny that the large man unnerved his friend so much that he was resorting to words like ‘chap’.

  “We were promised a phone line, but apparently some mistake has been made. It appears our phone is missing.” Uri explained.

  “Yes,” the large man replied.

  “Well, I need to make a call!” Uri exclaimed. The man continued to stand there looking Uri up and down. “Well? It’s urgent!”

  “Wait here, I will call for an escort.” The man leaned forward and closed the door before Uri could say another word.

  “Wow, really warm reception.” Uri said spinning around, overwhelmed by his frustration.

  Gabe gave a half smile. He wondered how he was ever going to help Sophie if these people were not going to help them.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Well?” Gabe urged as Uri reentered the room.

  “What?” Uri replied in a daze.

  “Did you talk to him? Michael?” Gabe asked, slipping the few items he packed into a nearby drawer as Uri walked across the length of the room in silence.

  With a dazed look on his face, Uri stopped when he reached the bed and rested on the edge of it.

  “Uri?” Gabe said, attempting to snap him out of the trance like condition. “Did you get to talk to Michael? How is everyone? Is Sophie alright?”

  Still Uri said nothing, staring at the empty space in front of him. Gabe walked hurriedly over to him and waved a hand in front of his face, repeatedly snapping his fingers. “Hey, snap out of it!”

  “Huh,” Uri muttered shaking his head as if the coma he was in was something he could physically brush off. “What did you say?”

  “Is everything alright?”

  “Not exactly.” Uri replied.

  “Is it Sophie?” Gabe asked, his voice strained with panic.

  “No, she’s fine.” Uri quickly put Gabe’s fears to rest.

  “Is it someone else?”

  Uri just nodded at first, not wanting to bring the situation into reality by verbalizing it. “Michael.” Uri whispered finally, unable to say the name at a normal volume.

  “What happened? Is he ok?” Gabe asked, turning and resting on the corner of a chest of drawers.

  “The trackers, they were on him as soon as he left…” Uri answered, his words trailing off and he continued to look blankly at the space in front of him.

  “Uri!” Gabe exclaimed. “Is Michael alright?”

  “Oh, yeah, I guess. The clerics have been working pretty hard on him and they say that he’ll pull through. But Haim said he was banged up pretty good.”

  “Well, that’s good news, right? Michael is going to be okay.”

  “Gabe, he could have died! He went out there on his own to protect us,” Uri shook his head, running his hands over his face and through his greasy hair. “I should have never let him do it. I told him not to go alone, but he said he didn’t want to risk the trackers reading anyone else and figuring out the plan.”

  The two sat quiet for a moment; Gabe unsure what to say to comfort his friend and Uri stewing in his own frustration. “Damn it! It was a stupid plan!” Uri swung an arm around behind himself and his bag being the nearest object in reach he swung it across the room with as much force as he could muster.

  “Uri!” Gabe cried, a little shocked by the display. “Look, you need to realize Michael wasn’t just doing it for us. He knew it was to help Dina, Raimie, and Sophie as well. Don’t lose sight of why we’re here. Do you want everything Michael did to be pointless?”

  “Of course not,” Uri’s voice was suddenly free from the anger and now consumed with sadness. “I just wish I had been there to help him.”

  Gabe gave Uri a pat on the shoulder. While he desired greatly to comfort his friend, part of him was also worried if Uri was going to be able to pull it together and do the job they were sent here to do. “He’s in good hands, he’ll be alright.”

  Even though Gabe was also distressed at the situation with Michael, he couldn’t help but be relieved to find out nothing had happened to Sophie. His mind had instantly filled with fear when he saw Uri’s state.

  “The sooner we figure this out and get back, the better.” Gabe added. “I’m sure Michael will rest easier knowing we are home and everyone is safe.”

  Uri nodded, “I’m getting pretty sick of waiting around here for when Madame Patina might be ready to talk to us. I think perhaps it’s time for us to do some investigative work on our own.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, but how?” Gabe questioned. “She has stationed a guard right outside our door. There is no way they will let us just roam freely around Iron Gate. She has made it more than clear she doesn’t like the circumstances under which we are here.”

  “Nothing says we have to use the door.” Uri said, his face shifted from a saddened hollow shell into one that reflected a mischievous grin. Gabe thought, nothing could probably take Uri’s mind off home except for doing something they weren’t supposed to.

  “I’m up for whatever you have in mind.” Gabe shuddered as he watched Uri rush to the windows edge and peer over.

  Gabe approached the window cautiously as Uri stepped aside, allowing his friend to get a good look. Without warning, Uri patted him so vigorously and hard on the back that Gabe lost his footing and tumbled forward, nearly out the window.

  Gabe caught himself on the stone wall just before Uri bellowed, “You first, my friend.”

  “Oh no,” Gabe said with a nervous laughter, backing up carefully. “I insist, it was your idea, you first.”

  Uri leaned over for a second look and estimated they were roughly twenty-five feet up. Uri’s wheels were clearly spinning as he looked back and forth from the bed to the window.

  “Oh no,” Gabe said. “I don’t think I like that look in your eyes.”

  “Oh shut up
and help me.” Uri said, giving Gabe a quick elbow to the ribs and a grin before bounding to the bed, stripping it of its linens. Gabe’s jaw dropped as he watched Uri begin shredding them into strips.

  “Uri!” Gabe exclaimed. “We are going to get in trouble.”

  “Only if they find out.” Uri quickly retorted. “And really Gabe, do you care?”

  “What has gotten into you?” Gabe asked, trying to hide he was somewhat amused by his friends sudden shift in attitude.

  “Look, you’re right, we are here to help our friends and the sooner we figure out who is behind all this, the sooner we can go home. Here,” Uri said, tossing the torn strips to Gabe. “Start twisting these together.”

  Gabe did as he was instructed, handing each strip he braided to Uri who would then tie it to the end of the last. As they came to the end of the strips, they both looked at the tattered pile.

  “Uri, are you sure this is going to work?”

  “One way to find out.” Uri replied, securing one end of the home made rope to a leg of the bed and tossing the other one out the open window.

  Gabe looked over the edge of the open window and seeing that their tattered, homemade rope was a good ten feet shy if the ground, he gave Uri a skeptical glare.

  “We’ll be fine, you’ll see.” Uri insisted, grabbing the rope and giving it a stiff yank to ensure it was securely attached. “Ready?”

  “I guess.”

  “Alright, you wait at the top while I climb down. Keep a look out and signal me if you see anyone coming.” Uri explained.

  “Signal you, how am I supposed to do that?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Uri climbed out of the window, feet pressed against the wall, staring back in the opening at Gabe.

  “Please be careful,” Gabe pleaded.

  “I always am.” Uri replied with his famous sarcastic tone.

  Gabe watched as his friend hoisted himself down the rope. Each foot closer to the ground he got, it seemed as though their knots might give way. Just when Gabe thought the sad equivalent of a rope could hold on no longer, Uri, hanging from the tip at the bottom, released his grip, falling the remaining distance. Though Uri came down with a thud, he quickly hopped to his feet, dusted off his bottom, and motioned a thumbs up in Gabe’s direction. Gabe did not find the action as reassuring as Uri had intended.