Tapestry of Worlds : Part One - The White Raven Awakens

by Hadley Thorne

  `“Nay brother,” Hermit told him, “the Professor did not have much use for them, and when we were here the night you took Erika, we cleaned out whatever was worthwhile.” He walked over to the bedroom door and came back with a wooden staff. “I got this jo for martial arts, but other than the pistol and shotgun Tanna sent with us, we don’t have anything.”

  Erika picked up the water jugs she had filled up and headed towards the door. “We need to head out guys. We are losing daylight,” she told them with a nod towards the door. Walking down the stairs, she made her way to the padlock. Putting the water jugs down, she got a harness and quickly caught a brown and white paint called Picasso while Millie and the guys joked as they saddled up the others. Felix had saddled one of the mules, saying it was more durable, so they used the other two horses and mules to carry as many jugs of water as possible. She estimated it was around five in the afternoon when they finally got in the saddle, each leading a horse. Hermit had done the math, and they figured if they traveled all night, they should make it to the James ranch around daybreak.

  As the group made it to the bridge over the interstate, they were surprised to see eighteen-wheelers stopped in the middle of the road below and a small group of people walking towards Chimneyville. They heard yelling and saw one individual pointing at them and running. Soon the rest of the mob was running towards them as well. Erika, Hermit, and Millie stood staring as though the zombie apocalypse had finally happened, transfixed and frozen by the sight unfolding in front of them.

  It was only when a gunshot rang out and hit the overpass close to them that Felix swatted Erika’s mount on the rear. “Go!” he yelled at the others, making sure everyone was on the other side of the bridge before following them.

  They ran the horses until they got off the main road deep into the overbrush next to the fire lane. Once they were safely off the path and the horses settled down, Felix explained, “Your world just got a lot more complicated. Now people are going to see something you have and think they can take it. These horses are going to mean transportation and eventually food, and anyone with a gun is going to have a reason to take it from you.”

  Frightened, Millie asked, “Why didn’t you shoot at them?”

  “Doll,” Felix explained, “We have limited ammo and a long night ahead of us. We can’t afford to waste what we got.” He frowned at the pack horses, “We are going to need that water in the days to come, but if things get bad and we have to scatter, drop the lead to your pack animal. Chances are it will follow us - herd instinct and all, but if it comes between the packs and us, leave them.”

  Erika looked to the others, “When darkness falls, I am not so sure about using our headlamps either.”

  Hermit nodded, “Only if necessary.” His eyes were darting around, still uneasy, and shocked by the people running towards them.

  “I am going to ride point here on out. Erika, you will go first behind me armed with the pistol and then Millie between you and Hermit,” Felix told them as they got onto the fire lane.

  “What about you,” Erika asked, “Won’t you need the pistol.”

  “No, Darkling,” he said, and his eyes glowed with the same intense color of his wolf. With that, he kicked his mule over and handed Millie the lead to his packhorse before riding up ahead of them.

  Daylight was quickly fading, but it did not help that the pine thicket on either side of the fire lane was so dense they could not see through it. They had ridden in silence for what seemed like forever before Felix appeared. The smell of something burning struck her senses before the smoke started to infiltrate their trek. In the shadowy landscape, the addition of the smoke and smell of fire made Erika uneasy. She listened carefully for a vehicle coming up on their position, but it was eerily quiet except for the occasional sound of something loud popping. The ordinarily calm man seemed visibly shaken by something when he announced they needed to alter their course but would not explain.

  “There is a brush fire ahead, and we need to take the horses around it. I found a creek we can follow for a ways til we get passed,” he told her, leading them off the road and back further into the woods away from the fire and smoke.

  “It smells like someone is having a barbeque,” Millie piped up as they wandered down the creek bed.

  Hermit looked troubled and offered her a protein bar but said nothing. As the horses picked their way through the brush, it was becoming evident that something big had crashed through the woods, leaving a broken trail of burning trees and branches in its wake. The group fell silent as they started to see the scattered debris of a passenger plane.

  Chapter 37

  It was well beyond the witching hour when Erika, Millie, Hermit, and Felix made it to the last leg of their journey, the sunken trace, a forgotten path on the Devil's Backbone. The Backbone was once an ancient buffalo trail that the first nation's people hunted long before the white man came to the Americas. Since the establishment of Fort Rosalie in the mid-18th century, it had become a trail used for trappers, then tradesmen all the way to Nashville. There were parts of the route so treacherous that when surveyors were designing the roadway to be paved, they decided to avoid it. These places were where the path sunk down with steep inclines on either side. Bandits used these spots to ambush traders. Over the centuries local folk had started to report people going missing, seeing strange creatures, and lights on it. It was believed to be haunted and few people if any traveled it these days.

  Felix was riding up ahead scouting since the pathway had gotten too dark to see. Despite the fact that the moon was full, Hermit had commented that he could not even see his hand in front of his face. The three friends were trusting their horses to find their way on the dark trail since the animals could see better than their human eyes could in the darkness. Unidentifiable sounds were coming from the surrounding forest, and Erika could swear more than once that she saw a white face watching them from the wood line on the ridge above them.

  Out of the darkness, a shadow seemed to emerge from nothingness, "There is a downed tree across the trail up ahead. I think we should turn back towards that fork in the trail. It will add about twenty minutes to our journey, but I believe we can get off the trail there and make the rest of the trip using the moon's light to guide us through some farmland. We might make the time up."

  Millie whispered, "I am game for anything that will get us out of here. This is the most scared I have ever felt, and hands down, this is the creepiest place I have ever been.

  "Legit," Hermit said, suppressing a shudder when chills ran up his spine. The three jumped when an owl hooted in the tree above them.

  Erika felt covered in imaginary spider webs, and it was all she could do not to freak out, "Anything to get out of this place. It's like the dead are everywhere I look."

  She saw Hermit jerk his head up to look at her when she said the words, "You see them too?" She nodded, both relieved and disturbed that he was seeing what she had. A light mist of rain was starting to fall, and the smell of more to come was fragrant on the wind. Peeking through the clouds and the trees, Erika saw a double ring around the full moon.

  Felix clicked his tongue to get the mule to move, "Let's go." Erika saw his eyes glow briefly as he watched the shadows. Her inner voice was screaming at her not to turn her back, but she felt safer with Felix behind her than she had when he was out scouting ahead. In the quiet wood, she felt an ebbing flow up her spine. The shadows were deep and dark. Erika could not see Millie for the dark wood and knew if she turned around, she would not be able to see Felix either.

  Cautiously her little mustang picked his way through the wood, stumbling only once when they heard coyotes starting to howl. Briefly, Erika wondered what the coyotes were alarmed about but tried not to think about Anything other than getting off the Devil's Backbone. As they made it to the fork in the trail, Erika was relieved to see the game trail illuminated by the moon as it peaked out from the cloud cover before the storm clouds covered it again. The rain had sto
pped for the moment, and Erika hoped the storm front was moving through fast. She was so tired of the humidity and rain, but it was hurricane season and the weather was pretty average so far. She turned her mind to something positive and thought about her reunion with Ransom in a few hours. Just the thought of being in his arms warmed the chill from her bones.

  Hermit was going up the embankment faster than she was comfortable within the dark, but they had to trust their mounts. This was one of those moments she had been taught by Becca when a rider had to just let the horse lead and hold on. The horse would sense the rider tense up and act accordingly. "Hermit," she called out before telling Millie just to give her horse it is head. "The pack mule is going to follow. They are pretty nimble."

  The moment Millie went up the embankment, everything happened at once. The shadows seemed to crawl, and Erika found herself surrounded by a group of men. She recognized the face of Tanna's husband, Ray, and knew too late Preach had found them. As they closed in on her and separated her pack mule from her, Erika pulled the 9mm pistol out and shot dead the men who had her horse's bridle. During the skirmish, the mustang reared and kicked the men behind them. This confused the men in the darkness, and they scattered, believing they were fighting more than Erika.

  Giving the horse a swift kick Erika and the horse ran over the remaining men who stood in their way and made haste down the path to another game trail. The mustang did not hesitate and was up and over the game trail into a meadow further down from where Millie and Hermit were now being held. Silently, Erika urged the tired horse into a gallop but knew they could not make it long with fresh horses or ATVs pursuing them. She spotted a large oak tree on a grassy knoll on the far end of the pasture and had an idea. It was starting to rain again, and for once, she was glad to see it. The rain would cover any tracks, and her plan might just work. She headed off towards the end of the pasture and circled back on the backside of the knoll. There she got the horse to lay down and laid across his neck to prevent him from getting up, soothing him with whispers and words of praise and love while they watched the men who had followed them head their way.

  The men stopped and for a moment, Erika was afraid they had seen through her plan and would find her. Holding her breath, she watched as the three spoke to one another before splitting up and pursuing her in different directions. One went back the way they came and the other two split up at the pasture gate, one heading in the direction of the farmhouse and the other towards the highway.

  Erika’s mind was reeling, unsure what to do. She thought about riding for help but knew she had to go back for her friends. If she were not with them, she did not know that Felix would help them. Speaking of, she wondered, where the hell was Felix? He had just disappeared. Everything had happened so fast that she could not remember seeing him or his mount when the men descended upon her. Had he betrayed them? Had the Black Queen found out and made him an offer, he could not turn down?

  The rain started to fall harder, and visibility was low when Erika let the mustang get to its feet. Standing there alone in the rain, she took her clip out of the 9mm and checked her ammo. One bullet left.

  Sighing, she raised her hands to the heavens and prayed. "All-Father hear my prayers, Wise Warrior I walk into this battle with no sword and no blade, only one bullet and the gifts of cunning and blood that you have given me. Gray Wanderer grant me your strength and the strength of those who have walked before and should today be the day I die, grant me a good death."

  Lightning crashed across the sky in a perfect circle, and she knew her prayers had been answered. She took the saddle and blanket off the horse, took his bridle off, and she went to stand before him. Her forehead pressed to his, "You are free my friend. I walk to this battle alone." The mustang's large brown eyes studied her in silent understanding. Nodding his head in protest, he hit her in the chest with his nose. "Go, be free," she whispered again, then she turned her back to walk off in the rain to where she could make out the lights and sounds of several ATVs along the wood line. Looking down at the leather bridle in her hand, she swung it over her shoulder and ran to the wood line. There she crept as quietly as she could, trying to think of what Ransom would do in this situation. She could use the shadows to her advantage, and if she could just get the leather reins around one of the men with Preach, she would have access to his weapons. It was not much of a plan, but it was all she had and all she had to do was meet her objective. Get Hermit and Millie free, one crazed cult member at a time.

  Wow, that was dark, she thought to herself as she realized she had just decided to consciously kill someone. But then she heard Ransom telling her, "There is no such thing as a fair fight in a life or death situation. If you ever get hurt or killed because you didn't want to hurt someone, I am coming after you in the Ever After, and you are going to have to explain it to me." Remembering the big man's vehemence, she smiled, it was not much, but she knew two things. He would be mad as hell she went back for her friends, and two, he would never leave them behind.

  Chapter 38

  As Erika slipped through the woods, she was careful to step slowly and carefully to minimize her noise. She knew that stepping on one branch could give away her whereabouts in seconds. She cast an eye to the sky and prayed the rain kept. It provided her with cover both visually and audibly since wet wood would not make the same loud crack as dry wood. She did not really have a plan other than to get her friends, but she had been thinking about it. Everyone in the state had tales passed down in their family about the Devil's Backbone, and she knew if the place had unnerved her and her friends who loved all things spooky, then these apocalyptic rednecks were probably more scared than they had been. Arming herself with that information, she decided to try and create as much chaos as possible. If she could get the men to leave her friends long enough, she could probably untie Millie and Hermit, then the three of them could escape. Yeah, it sounded weak even to herself, but she had to do something.

  Her vantage point on the Ridge was fantastic. She could see the pasture behind her and the ATVs and men down in the path on the sunken trace. She was puzzled why they would set up in the very spot they had ambushed her, but she reckoned they were not that bright if they chose to follow Preach as their leader. The good news was with their ATV lights on, she really had the upper hand. She knew from experience that light only made things darker outside of its range, and she was staying just past it. She had stopped long enough to coat her hair, face, and hands with thick mud and leaves. The idea was to blend as well as she could into the environment. The green colors she had worn with the camo long sleeve shirt had been perfect. Ransom had explained to her once that it was ok to dress cute when she went hiking or camping with him, but she should always try and wear colors that would blend in with the landscape if she ever needed it to. She did not realize that she had been paying attention until she had belly crawled to where she was overlooking the group, and no one had noticed her. She wasn't one hundred percent confident she could pull this off, but she had to try, especially when she saw Hermit bruised, bloody, and zip-tied to the back of one of the ATVs. She got even more determined when she saw the group of men surrounding Millie. In the light of the ATVs, Erika could see that Millie's shirt had been torn and her breasts exposed. A chill went through Erika as she realized what was about to happen to her friend.

  Getting a pine comb, Erika prayed for her arm to throw it the distance she needed. She was notoriously a poor ball thrower, Hansel could testify. But she swore to the Gods, if she could just throw tonight, she would throw that dog his ball every day until he was old and gray. Tossing the pine comb, it went high, and rather than hit the opposite side of the trail, it hit the overhanging branches and fell limply to the ground beside Hermit.

  "Boy, what are you trying back there," one of the rednecks called out. The man had stepped in front of the four-wheeler, and the light outlined him perfectly, showing his gun. He started to make his way towards Hermit. Oh no, Erika thought, worried he might take
it out on her friend. Feeling around in the brush beside her, she found a rock. Taking a chance, she took a deep breath and tried to hit the redneck threatening Hermit with the rock. It missed him by inches.

  "What the…" the man said, backing up towards his friends. "Which of you fuckers threw that?"

  "You don't think there are boogers, out here, do you Bubba?" another man said, walking to join the first man. Erika found another rock and threw it. It landed a few feet to the right of the man who just walked up. Their ATV light was preventing them from seeing where it had come from, and she knew their imaginations were starting to play tricks on them with the shadows.

  "You boys tie that girl back up," Bubba told them. They brought Millie back to where Hermit was, and Erika could see by the determined set to her jaw that Millie had not shed one tear. She knew Millie was a fighter and would be damned before she let them see her cry.

  "What the hell am I even thinking," Erika almost said aloud as she realized if everything Felix had told her was true, she had real magic. She was so caught up with the stress and strain of the situation she had not even thought to tap into the ley line that ran here.

  Grounding herself, she sent forth her spirit raven Amaya to Millie and Hermit. The bird whispered in their ears, and when Erika tapped into the leyline's energy flow, she began to pick at the zip-ties.

  The roar of an engine shattered the stillness, and the men began to hustle. A sinking feeling hit Erika like a punch in the gut as Preacher Tim arrived in an old Vietnam era jeep.

  The jeep had barely made it to a stop when he jumped out.

  "Come out, come out wherever you are, Erika," he called. "I know you are here. I felt you the minute you tapped into that ley line. But, lover, if you do not want to come to see me, surely you will come to get your lover boy."