Tapestry of Worlds : Part One - The White Raven Awakens

by Hadley Thorne

  "Sheesh, Erika, don't you think this is a little overkill?" Millie nervously laughed, looking at the pistol in her hands.

  Erika sighed deeply and turned to her friend, "Take it or leave it - but consider this - better to have it and not need it..."

  "then to need it and not have it," they finished together. Millie's eyes widened as she studied the pistol in her hand. Muttering to herself, she checked the safety before tucking the .45 into her jacket pocket.

  Erika flashed her a smile as she reached down to pat the two dogs snuffling around at her feet. She tightened their harnesses and snapped on a camera before handing Millie a handheld device, "This is Hansel's camera monitor. It will allow you to see everything he does. I have Gretel's. They will scout ahead of us, and when we get to the house, they will split up, and so will we. He will ensure your route is safe. Your objective is to make your way to him. He will wait for you at a safe location. He is your eyes and ears. If he growls, get the gun safety off. He will protect you regardless, but you don't take a dog to a gunfight unless you have no alternate option," Erika repeated Ransom's words to her.

  She leaned down and whispered in the male shepherd's ear, he looked at Millie and woofed softly.

  Millie looked at her, incredulously, "He knows what you said."

  Erika laughed, "Of course, how do you think he knows how to do his job? He is a dog, Millie, you always trust the dog." She leaned down and gave Hansel a kiss on the nose, "Ignore your Aunt Millie, she hasn't spent a lot of time with you, buddy." The big shepherd cocked his head to the side, looking at the woman and sneezed before trotting off to find his sister.

  "Goof," Erika laughed, smiling after the dog before turning back to Millie, her expression now all business. "OK, you will follow him to the front of the house, and Gretel and I will go around back. My plan is to clear the house. Our goal is to cover the door, if anyone comes who is not me - it does not matter who it is - you are to stop them. If they insist, Hans will stop them. If they resist - shoot around in the dirt next to them." Looking at the frightened look in her friend's dark gold eyes, Erika added, "Hans will take over if he senses you are threatened. You will be safe."

  Millie took a deep breath, shaking off the sense of doom that was starting to creep up her spine and muttered, "Pitter-patter."

  Chapter 11

  Daylight filtered through the pine thicket. Dust particles clung to the air, making it look like the woods were draped in a gauze-like material. Erika stepped, carefully following the trail that Gretel was cutting through the tall overgrowth. She and Millie had split up with Millie following Hansel, and she after Gretel.

  Watching Gretel now, Erika could not help but admire the payoff of Ransom's training and hard work. It was hard to believe the dog had been rejected by the US Army for being difficult and refusing to work. He had been able to turn all that around. Gretel just required a special bond with her handler. She needed to be loved and appreciated - not treated like equipment. The irony was not lost on Erika, Ransom seemed to have a way with sensitive females in need of a special touch.

  Gretel was the opposite of her goofy brother. She had the drive of a Belgian Malinois - loving and needing work to keep her busy. She needed to work or got destructive. The dog was too smart for her own good and had quickly learned how to open her kennel, open doors, open gates... yes, she was a little escape artist when she was not with her people. Erika enjoyed watching the way the female shepherd loped through the wood with such ease. She cut through the undergrowth with the stealth and silence of a wolf.

  In seconds the dog outpaced her, and Erika was left alone with her thoughts. As she made her way to the house, she wondered once more what had happened that night. It was not like her to forget things like talking with Ransom, not checking in with her mom, forgetting the details of a ritual much less the whole evening. Her breath caught in her throat as the farmhouse came into view. Windows were broken out, and a foggy mist was beginning to seep up from the river. Clouds had gathered around the sun, and darkness settled around the house. As the shadows stretched and yawned, Erika thought that the farmhouse seemed to loom ominously in the fading light of day. In fact, it sat looking abandoned. From where she stood, Erika could make out Wren's beat-up Volvo, the truck that Tim drove, and the little VW bug that Monk got around in. The Professor's Range Rover was gone. "Which would make sense if they had ridden together to plan his wife's' funeral, crazy," she scolded herself.

  "No, that is not right, she told herself. 'Always trust your gut,' she heard Ransom's steady voice tell her. Joining Gretel where she waited, Erika muttered, "Well, here goes nothing." With a hand signal, she sent the dog stealthily towards the farmhouse's back door before taking a deep breath and crouch running to join her.

  Peering into the window, she was surprised to see the farmhouse ransacked. Walls had holes, tables were overturned, and things were just thrown about everywhere. With the quiet ease of someone who used a weapon regularly, Erika pulled the pistol up like she had been taught. She held her breath and slowly turned the doorknob with her free hand and pushed it open. Slamming the door into the wall, if someone was behind it, she and Gretel cleared the room. It might not have been done with the same efficiency as Ransom and his team, but she did follow what he had shown her when he demonstrated some of his ranger skills and was feeling pretty secure in her efforts.

  Making her way to the professor's study, she picked the lock on his filing cabinet--thank you MythBusters--and rifled through looking for the Family Tome his mother had passed down. The book would come in handy as it was full of spells, recipes, rituals, dream symbolism, power animals, and prophetic visions passed down in their tribe. "Interesting," she thought, finding some files tucked in the back as though to hide. She quickly took them out and began to thumb through them. There was a file on herself, one on Wren, one on Millie, Becca, Hermit, Velvet, Roxi. "Wait for a second," she said aloud,

  "Why would he have these?" She[HB1] wondered as she found files on Ransom, Buck, and Z. Finding a bag on the floor she swiftly began to put the file folders in it before heading upstairs. Erika searched the master bedroom for notes on the ritual but all she found was some turned over drawers. The Tome seemed to be missing and so was anything else that could offer her a clue as to what had happened. She was about to give up when some crumpled paper in a trash can next to Jewel’s vanity caught her eye. Squealing, she was shocked to have found some re-writes of the ritual. Reading over it, she visibly paled. "WTF? Soul jars?!?"

  Erika stuffed all the papers she found into the bag and quickly cleared the second floor of the farmhouse. She just made it downstairs when Gretel growled a warning and padded off on silent feet down the hall. There was a blind spot between the corner of the living room wall and where the kitchen's staircase turned. Erika stood at the doorway to the kitchen when a sable fur missile launched itself from the landing into the door directly behind her. Gun at the ready, Erika spun around watching as Gretel crashed into a male figure.

  "What the fuck," the man screamed behind her before pleading, "Erika, get your damned dog off me!"

  "What the hell are you doing here?" She half asked half cried in relief, "Gretel, AUS!"

  Gretel released the blonde giant of a man but stood protectively between Erika and sat splayed out on the floor. "I thought you were gone?"

  Holding his arm, the man gave her a toothy grin as he inspected his arm for wounds. Grinning up at her and Gretel, he said, "Nice bite, Fur Face." Plucking at the leather jacket where Gretel's teeth had torn it, he added. "Glad, I had my jacket on."

  "Erika?!?" Millie's worried voice called from the front door, where Erika could hear Hans scratching trying to get inside.

  Peering behind the man into the kitchen, she wiped the sweat off her brow. "Anyone with you," Erika asked her eyebrows knit together in a frown as she investigated the other room.

  "No - the whole place has been ransacked, though," he told her, taking her outstretched hand to get to his feet. "What h
appened here?"

  "You aren't going to like it," she told him, extending her hand.

  Raising her voice, she called out, "Millie, it is just Hermit, come on in."

  "Well you really aren't going to like what I found in the barn," he told her hollowly, his eyes haunted.

  Erika patted Gretel on the head and unzipped her harness. Pulling out a LED flashlight from it, she told him about her lack of memory, Millie's strange account of what had happened that night by the river, waking up in the woods, and finding the wadded paper upstairs concerning soul jars.

  He gave a low whistle, "I knew something wasn't right, the Professor and I had an argument over Jewel and… well it was bad." As Millie approached, he gave her a soft smile, "Sorry I left you guys like I did."

  Erika was pulling the bag up to show what she had found, but Hermit stopped her. "Trust me - that can wait. I came up here to use the phone to call 911." With that, he told them about the body he found down at the barn. Shaken, Millie handed Hermit the .45 pistol while the two dogs raced ahead. Grimly the three friends walked down the path behind the house to the barn.

  Hermit cleared his voice about the same time the dogs started howling. The humid summer air was thick with the coppery smell of blood. Erika had a gruesome flash of monsters tearing apart Jewel, but nothing could have prepared her for the horrible sight waiting for them in the barn.

  "I reckon I got in sometime around 3 am. The lights weren't on at the farmhouse, so I figured I would get some sleep and catch up with the Professor today." He swallowed, fidgeting as he continued, "I can't smell for shit, so I didn't notice the smell. It was the buzzing sound that kept me awake. The constant humming in my ears wouldn't stop, and when I couldn't take it anymore, I came down to the barn to investigate,” He swallowed before continuing. “As soon as I turned the corner, I knew, " the big man’s voice broke as he continued, "the noise - it was flies. I was up at the house to call the sheriff when Gretel found me."

  He stood at the entryway into the barn. It was empty, the horses gone. But propped against the side of the barn, was a headless body. It had been skinned but had been male - genitalia severed and cast aside.

  The three stood in an awkward, horrified silence. After what seemed like ages, Erika broke the quiet, “Well, this is gruesome." She was unsure of what else to say as the three looked at the headless corpse. Looking around the barn, she added, "And you couldn't find the head?"

  "Nope," Hermit admitted as he swatted the flies that were buzzing around him. "Not that I looked too hard, Erika. I mean, what could have done that? It looks like his head was just twisted and torn right off."

  After retching repeatedly, Millie asked, "How can you two be so nonchalant? This could be one of our friends."

  "But were they," Erika asked, "I mean really?" She squatted to leash the dogs up so as not to contaminate the crime scene.

  "Don't talk like that," Millie admonished her as she handed Hermit her phone. "We need to call the police." Hermit and Erika nodded in agreement.

  Taking the phone Hermit dialed 9-1-1 to report finding the body. “Yes, I would like to report a murder,” he started, walking towards the pasture, away from the sound of the flies. As he moved away the girls could hear him say, “Yes sir, I understand," he said, his voice dropping to where the girls could not hear his side of the conversation.

  After a few minutes, he returned to where the girls were standing, a bleak look on his face.

  "Guys, I got some bad news. The deputy told me all hell has let loose, and I need to get you girls home."

  Incredulously Millie asked, "What about all this,” waving her hands around at the murder scene. Erika just looked at him and waited for him to give her more information.

  "I know, right, but seriously, I spoke with Scott Gibson and he assured me he would drive out when he could. Guys, he told me the county sheriff did not have the manpower to send out more men than that. Apparently, something big is going down. He said folks are rioting throughout the state and things are pretty rough in Chimneyville." Putting a hand on each of their shoulders, "Scott Gibson and I were in Eagle Scouts together. He went against the rules telling me this, but he said for us not to stop for anything or anyone until we got somewhere safe. That if I had to run someone over to do it, they would rather deal with a hit and run than three raped or dead college kids. I believe him. Guy has always been a straight shooter."

  Millie looked at Hermit, disbelief on her face, "Wait… What? That cannot be right. Are you saying things are so bad that we can run over people?"

  Hermit just nodded, looking stunned himself. "I don't guess any of us have been paying too much attention to the news." Looking from Millie to Erika, he added, "According to Scott, the entire state has been a powder keg for the last week and today it just combusted."

  Feeling sick, Erika brought her hand to her temple, "All of this happened in the last week?

  Nodding his head, Hermit continued, "Yes, ma'am. He said that a doomsday cult has placed a bounty on the head of every law enforcement officer in the state."

  Erika staggered as she made the connection. Bringing her hand to her lips, she whispered, "Oh my god, what did we do?"

  Millie looked at her, "Oh come on; you don't really believe the ritual did all of this, do you? We are not that powerful, Erika.”

  "You are right, Millie, we aren’t, but I found some information about the real ritual that took place that night. We were harvested." Erika paused, giving the two time to think on what she said before continuing. "Jewel and her group created Soul Jars for each of us. They took our protection away and with it our soul magic. Mine, yours, Wren's, Becca's, Z's, Velvet's, Roxi's, Buck's, and they would have gotten Hermit and Ransom's too." She pulled the papers out of the bag and showed them, "The person who HAS our magic will be VERY powerful."

  Reading the pages, Millie gasped.

  Hermit reached over and squeezed Erika's shoulder, "Look, we need to get out of here. I got to get you two somewhere safe."

  Erika checked her gun. "Hermit, you take Millie and go somewhere safe. I have to get back to Chimneyville to my mom."

  Millie stopped her, "Not a chance. We are staying together."

  Hermit seconded Millie's feelings, "No way we are letting you go to your mom's alone, E."

  Fifteen minutes later, Hermit dropped Erika, Millie, and the two dogs off at the Tahoe. He was going to follow them in his truck, and once they got to Erika's, they were going to decide what to do. Since Erika could not leave her mother, the options were slim, but they would be together.

  Chapter 12

  Things were tense for the entire drive. She drove back to Chimneyville, navigating roadblocks and fires. Noticing she was holding the wheel so tight her knuckles were white, she took a deep breath and sighed trying to relax. She stole a glance at the dogs in the rearview, worried they were picking up on her anxiety. Seeing the two German shepherds, stoic and watchful, offered her some comfort.

  Daylight faded to dusk as orange glows indicating fires began to show up along their route. Other than checkpoints, the roads had been vacant. Erika tried to text Ransom, but neither she nor Millie could get their phones to work. They had surmised the cell towers must be overloaded, or they had been taken out by rioters. The two women were tense. Chimneyville looked like a ghost town. Scared, Millie whispered, "It looks more like a third world country than the United States."

  Erika noticed that some of the lawns in her neighborhood had broken glass littered across the yards. Hansel and Gretel started whining and pawing at the windows as they turned down her street. Speeding up, Erika floored the SUV. Seconds later, she brought the Tahoe to a stop in front of the house. Backing up, she did her best to get it as close to the front door as she could manage without taking out the brick porch. Hopping out she rushed inside, the dogs fast on her heels. Entering the house, she frantically called out for her mom and Ethel, the nurse. Silence greeted her in return. "Where is mom?" she asked the dogs, and they began sniffing
and searching the small house. There was a bloodstain on the floor by the back door. Seeing it, Erika ran to her mom's room.

  Bursting into the room, Erika was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of sulfur. 'Momma!?" Erika wailed.

  Gretel had started barking when Erika heard, Hermit's loud, "Oh, My God," and Millie's scream. Running to the backyard, Hermit tried to catch her, but it was too late. There hanging from the lone tree in her backyard swung her mother. The older woman's body suspended by ropes, swaying in the breeze. The woman's ribs were cut and broken by the spine, and her lungs had been pulled out of the wounds in her back like bloody wings.

  "A Blood Eagle?" she whispered, tears streaming down her face and a fury building in her chest. Lightening started to crash in the darkening sky as a storm raised out of nowhere.

  "I don't understand," Millie whispered as Hermit cut Erika's mother down. "Odin is your patron. Who would do this? I mean, is it a warning or a sacrifice."

  "Oh, it is a warning," Erika told her in a tight, controlled voice. "And I am going to kill the ones who left it."

  The sound of screams cut through the fading light as the three carried Erika's mother's lifeless form into the house. They placed the dead woman’s body on her bed. Erika was closing her mother’s eyes when Hermit pulled the bedroom curtain back and looked out the window. Tracking the sound, he gave the girls a worried look, “I am going to check it out."

  Erika had not spoken since Hermit had cut her mother’s body down and simply stared at the mangled corpse. As he made his way to the door Millie stopped him, the hard look in her eyes saying everything she needed to say. He gave her a curt nod before she went to put an arm around Erika and give her a comforting hug.

  Feeling her friend’s arms, Erika let go of the wail that had been building as her tears began to fall. Stopping after a few minutes, she dried her eyes, and pulled herself back together. Lips trembling, she excused herself and went to wash her face and blow her nose.