My rising fear made me careless and, in my haste, I brushed against the stone entrance. The sound it made was slight, yet considering the almost tomblike silence of the woods, I imagined it sounded loud enough to be heard for a quarter mile.
Something heard me because I heard a quick shuffling inside the old structure.
A chill ran down my spine, not from the cold, but from the fear that was quite nearly paralyzing me. I tried to call out, in a whisper, the names of the boys. My mouth was so dry, nothing came out. I was halfway through the tunnel, my legs and feet outside and I cleared my throat and tried again. “Toby? Riley?”
And then, the wonderful sound of the boys’ voices. “Amanda? Is that you?”
“Yes,” I said, pulling myself inside. “It’s me. Where’s the lizard?”
“It’s right outside,” said Riley.
“No, it’s not,” I assured them as I found their crouching shapes in infrared and crossed the small room to the corner where they huddled. Both jumped when I touched them. Their initial surprise passed and both boys clung to me for a long moment.
The inside of the old stone building was surprisingly warm. I peeled the boys off me and told them we were leaving. That’s when we heard the sound of steps in the snow outside.
Chapter 30
The footsteps paused outside the tunnel entrance. Toby and Riley clung to me again and this time, I clung to them as well. In the dark, Riley asked if “big blackie” was coming back. I quietly shushed him.
I was keenly aware I had left the Vimbacher outside the entrance to the pyramid. I pictured it leaning against the side of the stone structure, exactly as I’d left it prior to crawling through the tunnel. Right beside my kit.
The creature remained at the entrance and, although we could see nothing, I was certain it was evaluating the situation. It had the three of us trapped, my gear was outside, and it was only a matter of time before it decided to crawl in with us.
Grandpaw had often told us about the kitzloc’s incredible olfactory abilities. If those tales were true, and I had no reason to believe otherwise, then the beast already knew I was there.
I had set the rifle aside so I could crawl through the opening. I guess I got so excited to find the boys, for a moment, I simply stopped paying attention. We were all going to pay for my lapse.
From the sounds coming on the other side of the pyramid, the lizard was pulling itself inside with us.
Suddenly, there was a pop from outside and a second later, light shined from above. I craned my neck to see a small hole in the snowy overhead. That’s where the light shined in. Although it was still dark inside the pyramid, I looked across the dirty floor to the opening, just missing the creature backing out of the tunnel to the outside.
Its steps hurried away and I released the boys and went to the opening. A blast issued forth. I recognized the sound of Grandpaw’s shotgun and figured the kitzloc had turned its attention to Mike after the robot had fired a flare. I squeezed out of the opening just in time to see Michael standing where I had left him and firing two quick shots in succession at the fleeing lizard.
Terrified by what was happening, both Toby and Riley called for me, begging me to return.
My gun and my kit were gone.
I looked to Mike as the flare floated earthward. Holding the shotgun, he took a step in the direction of the fleeing monster, but it moved faster than any animal I had tracked before, jumping over the creek and disappearing over the berm. For good measure, Michael fired a last shot.
I couldn’t have been prouder of my robot had he been human.
Mike looked at me and I waved. He nodded, picked up Grandpaw’s kit-bag, and stepped through the snow to where I waited outside the pyramid. The sky was turning pink in the east. We had made it to dawn.
“Did you find the children?” he asked.
I didn’t need to answer. Toby and Riley’s heads popped out of the tunnel opening. “Michael!”
They scrambled out and hugged him as I watched the far bank. “We need to get back inside,” I suggested.
The boys looked at me like I was crazy.
I took both the blaster and the shotgun from Mike, explaining “We can protect ourselves inside the ruin.”
Riley shook his head. “I don’t want to go back in there,” he said.
“I know you don’t,” I said, handing the boys a protein bar. “I don’t either, but I don’t see where we have much of a choice. The lizard will come back.”
Toby gulped from my canteen and I cautioned him not to drink it all. He handed it to Riley and looked around. “Where’s your Vimbacher?”
“The lizard took it. My kit too.”
“Oh great,” he replied.
“We’ve still got the blaster and the shotgun.”
“Pardon me,” Michael suddenly said, “but we still have the brace; if it’s in working order.”
“I’m sure it’s in working order,” I told him. “But this isn’t the sort of situation where we could safely use it.” Uncle Pat had drilled me about deploying the bomb and I didn’t want to kill us all while trying to kill the lizard.
“I have a suggestion,” said Michael.
Michael wasn’t supposed to have “ideas.” His programming didn’t allow for it, or so I thought. I wanted to ask him about it, but a chilling noise off in the woods on the other side of the creek interrupted us. It sounded like steam escaping a boiling pot.
“Quick,” I told the boys, “get inside.”
Their disappointment and frustration showed but they obeyed by getting on hands and knees and crawling back through the tunnel. Toby used my flashlight to lead the way.
I stepped away to allow room for Michael to enter the tunnel, but he backed away, pointing at the depression that served as his hiding spot, the same spot from which he had fought the kitzloc. “I forgot something,” he said and quickly scrambled away, looking over his shoulder across the freezing stream water in anticipation of another attack. I called after him, but he either didn’t hear or ignored me.
I couldn’t see it yet, but the creature was returning through the snow-covered foliage. I shot a last look at Michael as he hunkered down in his hiding spot and I re-entered the tunnel.
Once inside, Toby shined the light on me. I responded by giving him a “thumbs-up” and then told him to shut it off. He did so and, blaster in hand and shotgun at my side, I turned toward the tunnel entrance to watch for the creature.
It dawned on me I had left Michael without a means of protection and, practically in panic, I started to crawl back outside.
I stopped, however, when the kitzloc made its appearance on the opposite side of the creek, no more than four or five meters from the pyramid. I wasn’t out of the tunnel yet and I quickly reversed direction, concealing myself in the shadows.
This time, the creature revealed itself with no effort to hide. Although Michael hunkered down at his position – I could not see him at all – the kitzloc looked in his direction. There was no face to the creature like there had been previously. In the morning light, it looked like any other lizard, except it was far bigger with skin that was as black as the midnight sky.
It whipped its barbed tail in anticipation and its snout turned towards Michael’s position, sampling the air. As it stepped into the stream, a muted, whirring sound arose, causing me to re-adjust my position so I could better see.
Michael stood in the makeshift fortress, making no effort to conceal himself either. He held the controller for the brace and the quad flew above him in a lazy circle. I felt as though someone had pulled my footing out from under me. If Michael detonated the brace above where the kitzloc currently stood, the resulting force would not only flatten the beast but the old pyramid as well. None of us would survive.
Still, Michael flew the quad above the creature’s head. It spotted the device and swatted at it, missing. It looked at Michael and, just like it put two and two together, I swear it smiled before it moved towards Mike’s positio
n.
Michael didn’t flinch. He stood his ground and I finally understood what he was doing as he drew the kitzloc away from us, sacrificing himself for us. I wanted to call out, but I had the boys to consider. The lizard was already halfway to him -- neither the shotgun nor the blaster had sufficient range and I could only watch as the scene played out.
Without expression, Michael watched the kitzloc’s approach. When the animal was six meters from him, it stopped and looked to the left and right. I was reminded again how smart the animal was as it paused before its attack. One of the regular lizards would have charged without thought, but this one was wary.
When it was satisfied there was no threat lurking nearby, it raised itself to its full, terrifying height. I could see the muscles in its legs tense up before it sprang. Michael had guided the quad to a place ten meters in the air directly above him – the optimum height for detonation.
The kitzloc left its clawed feet as it jumped toward the robot in a mighty leap. Michael didn’t flinch – didn’t know how to flinch – before he ignited the bomb.
Protected by the stone blocks of the old ruin, I turned away from the blast. Dirt and debris rained down upon the pyramid. Toby and Riley hunkered in the corner and called out to me. I told them I was fine and to remain where they were.
I lifted my head and squinted through the haze. Nothing remained of Michael or the kitzloc other than a smoking hole in the ground. As Grandpaw would say, that was that.
I wriggled from the tunnel to take a closer look and the boys joined me. It was cold, well below freezing and I was suddenly very, very tired. The boys asked how we were going to get home, but I didn’t know. I don’t think I could have walked ten steps in any direction.
We were freezing. As much as we hated to do it, we crawled back inside the pyramid for warmth. With the boys huddled against me, I fell asleep for the first time in days.
*
Riley shook me awake. I opened my eyes and saw that Toby was still asleep. Riley, however, was wide awake with large, fearful eyes. He whispered so low, I could barely understand him. “Something’s outside,” he mouthed.
I caught my breath and listened. Riley was right. Footsteps in the snow approached the pyramid opening. A feeling of dread washed over me.
Little Riley and I watched the tunnel opening as something large began to crawl inside, blocking out the light. I grabbed the shotgun, discovered it was out of ammo, and reached for the blaster. Its battery was depleted.
In resignation, I watched the opening until a face appeared. It was Jonah come to find us all by himself.
Epilogue
Jonah had found Star walking back to the Folly and so had brought Papaw’s horse with him to the creek. That’s how the boys and I returned home. Riley rode with Jonah on his horse and Toby doubled up with me on Star.
Toby and Riley told me about being taken by the big black lizard and how they were sure they would be killed and eaten, but, as I already knew, that’s not what the lizard did. Nobody had ever heard of any beast acting that way; that is, kidnapping someone rather than killing them outright. The only thing I could figure was that the kitzloc had done exactly what it set out to do. And what was that? Why, revenge on Grandpaw and Uncle Pat, and subsequently, me, for killing so many of its brethren over the years.
We all agreed it was the smartest lizard we’d ever run across. Jonah listened to the whole story and admitted he’d never heard anything like it. “But,” he said, “there are more mysteries in the Lord’s universe than we can ever know.”
That pretty much summed it up.
Grandpaw lived through the ordeal, but he lost his leg. Needless to say, it slowed him down considerably. Losing Uncle Pat was probably tougher for him than losing the leg.
Aunt Liza was slow to recover from Pat’s death. If it hadn’t been for the Frisco kids distracting her, she might have given up. Having a house full of children prevented her from sinking into depression and she was soon busy cooking, cleaning, holding, and hugging kids. It was her job and she was good at it.
Jonah didn’t bother her about the children anymore. He saw for himself how they had taken to her and that she was good for them. The littlest started calling her mama after only a month. To Jonah’s delight, Liza started attending church in Summit. Grandpaw refused to go, saying how he couldn’t understand how anyone could believe that “magic act,” but he never chastised Liza for going. Plus, he sort of became friends with Jonah. Sort of.
Just like Grandpaw said, after Phineas’ trial, he had to pay out with some of his diamonds from the Mandalatown job. He said it was worth it to get his worker back. “Nobody does anything around here but Phineas,” Papaw said. “I have to get him back before this place falls apart.”
Phineas was as happy as I’d ever seen him when he got home. He’d met a girl while he was in jail – she was a deputy, if you can believe that – and they started going together. They say they’re going to get married.
Speaking of romance, Neil Diamond came by last week and asked Aunt Liza if he could take her to church. Liza got mad and asked him “What do you think of me? My poor Pat isn’t even cold yet.”
It was pretty funny. Neil stared at her with an open mouth and when she paused to take a breath, he started to sing her a song. “Red, red, wine,” he sang, “go to my head… make me forget that I… still need her so…”[2]
Liza got tongue-tied but Papaw shouted from his porch chair for Neil to shut up.
I think Liza will come around eventually and Neil told me he thought she would too.
Kaliis helps Liza look after Grandpaw and is the tutor for all the kids. We’re adding more rooms to the house (Neil is a great carpenter.) and one of the rooms will be a classroom.
We really haven’t gotten over losing Uncle Pat, but we have gotten used to it.
The good news is, none of us has seen a lizard for a long time. Once in a while, news reaches us that someone, somewhere, has killed one, but those reports are few and far between. An odd thing about it all is that once in a while, I get a feeling that another black one is out there somewhere, hiding, watching. It’s just a feeling.
This would have been the end of my story, but something happened yesterday that changed everything.
Glaucus returned.
*
The ship came down in a field half a kilometer from the house. I was in the barn brushing Star when the kids ran in and told me a spaceship was landing and I needed to come take a look. I thought they were kidding, but they weren’t.
By the time I got there, Glaucus had disembarked and was waiting for us. He looked as handsome and as big as ever. After saying hello to Aunt Liza and soberly receiving the news about Papaw and Uncle Pat, he turned to me and smiled, pointing to the “bauble” hanging about my neck. “You still have it,” he observed.
“I wear it every day,” I admitted.
“It’s how I knew you were still here,” he said mysteriously. I fingered the over-sized ring and looked at my old friend.
Glaucus looked back at me in the way he always did, as if there was too much to put into words. He stepped aside to reveal someone else, someone I’d never seen before.
“This is Adam,” said Glaucus. “He travels with me.”
Adam stepped forward and formally shook my hand. Adam was tall and lean, dark-headed, with magical, dancing blue eyes. I struggled with words, finally telling him I was glad to make his acquaintance.
Glaucus remained with the ship (after all, he was its controlling intelligence) while Adam returned with us to the house. Adam explained he wanted to meet Grandpaw because he’d heard so much about him.
When we got to the house and Adam introduced himself to Papaw, the two sat on the porch for a long time, talking about many things I didn’t understand as the kids played in the front yard.
One thing he said that made some ideas snap together was that the kitzloc were an earlier version of a species that lived on Mirabel, Adam’s home, and the place Papaw ha
d lived long ago. The kitzloc were smart, so said Adam. So smart, in fact, that the entire species had purposely changed their evolutionary path a long, long time ago. “Lately,” said Adam, “they realized they’d made a mistake and so decided to start all over again. On Dreidel.”
I have to admit, I didn’t understand it, but Grandpaw seemed to get it.
We didn’t have many visitors, that is, people who weren’t neighbors, and so it was good to have company – especially someone as handsome as Adam. I did find out Adam was only three years older than me, which, you know, kind of made him available. To my embarrassment, Liza reminded me of that as she and I prepared a home-cooked meal for the space traveler.
Adam stayed with us for a few days, sharing the barn with Phineas and enthralling us with stories of his travels with Glaucus around the galaxy. I had become so involved with my world, I had forgotten there were other places much more interesting.
When the subject of their departure finally came up, Adam tuned to me and said, “You should go with us.”
“Oh no,” I replied, “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, I have to take care of Grandpaw.”
To my surprise, Papaw said, “Kaliis and Liza take care of me.”
Still, I shook my head. I couldn’t imagine leaving everything I had known in order to travel to distant planets.
Papaw twisted in his chair and looked at the sky. “It’s the chance of a lifetime, Mandy.”
I promised I would think about it.
That was yesterday. Today, it sounds like it might be a good idea.
THE END
* * *
[1] Love On The Rocks, written by Neil Diamond and Gilbert Becaud, 1980 Stonebridge Music (ASCAP)
[2] Red, Red Wine, written by Neil Diamond, 1968.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Jennings' Folly Page 27