by P. G. Thomas
Wiping tears from her eyes, Lauren stood up and wrapped her arm around Sam.
He pushed her away, “Why could you not have shown up then? Why now?”
“Sam, I don’t know what to say.” As Lauren spoke, he went out of focus, and his form was replaced by an otter that scurried into the forest. She looked back at John, “I just heard something that ripped the heart out of my chest. The three that told those people to set their houses on fire and to walk back into them. Where they my daughters?”
When Ryan went to her, she pushed him away.
Needing a different answer, John looked down at the ground, trying to find one that was longer than three words. As the disturbing images played out in his mind, silence was his only reply. Instead of finding the desired answers, they had arrived at the gates of Hell. Lauren’s daughters they were no longer, and what evil had corrupted them, turning them into demons, he was unsure. Yes, he had wanted answers, needed them, but his quest for knowledge, its destination attained, he was unable to embrace the information that he now held. He had been looking for a nameless enemy, wanting to put a face to it, but the evil that had invaded the lands did not have a single face—it had three.
Feeling a tap on his shoulder, John turned to face Steve, “When we went into that thief’s trap, I purchased this,” and then he held up the small portrait. “When I politely asked somebody who it was, they told me it was Father Zymse Darpac, Lord of Darkpaye House. Is this the bastard we’re looking for?”
Grabbing the picture of the simple man, who had a black robe across his shoulder and a similar, smaller veil covering his lower face, John burnt the image into his mind so he would never forget it. “It must be, but I don’t know what to do. From the sounds of it, her daughters are older than I am. Their innocence gone, replaced by evil. They told people to set their houses on fire and to enter them. Steve, what kind of monster would do that? Why?”
“Are you sure they’re her daughters?”
“You heard Mirtza. He has never heard of three born, like he called them, and we’re missing a set of triplets, so it can’t be a coincidence.”
Amber walked over, “This place, will we stay here this night or return to Ironhouse.”
With John remaining quiet, Steve replied, “I think we should stay and see if Sam and Hope return.”
She called to Grax and Gor, “This night here we stay. From elements, protection we need. Ax meets wood.”
Eric with Logan wandered over to John after an hour, but he was still deep in thought, so they took the crude backpack from him. They opened up the magic boxes, examined the gold figures, and started to pull out the necessary items to prepare a meal.
Steve stood off to one side looking at Lauren and Ryan. To lose your children under such unusual circumstances is one thing, but for you to find them as monsters, that is something else. He looked at John. Mr. Answers, reaching into an empty fishbowl, trying to figure out what to do. Then he walked over to Logan and Eric as they prepared the meal. Shaking his head, he watched them pull food out of the strange boxes, “Any beer or hard stuff in there?”
Eric examined the golden objects and shook his head.
My substance abuse problem needs some substances to abuse. We need to go back to Ironhouse. Walking over to a deadfall, Steve sat down, uncertain of what he should say or do.
An hour later, Eric and Logan called out that the meal was ready. When none approached, Logan walked plates of food to the various members of the group, but they only picked at them. Amber, Grax, and Gor were different, as their hard work had built up an appetite, and they gladly refilled plates that they quickly consumed.
For half of the day, the group had sat in quiet, but when the suns began to set, Logan pulled out bedrolls and laid them out in the dwarf built structure. As it became darker, Amber walked John to his bedroll, doing the same with Ryan and Lauren. Finding an unoccupied mat, the others entered the shelter, but that was all they found. The sleeping comfort, enchanted from the magic, was unable to transfer its purpose to its guests. As they lay in the dark, fiery images of horror stoked dark nightmares, which waited for tired eyelids to close.
Outside, the deer ears of Amber swiveled back and forth, her eyes jerking open to unseen sounds. Also guarding the camp, Gor and Grax, taking turns staring into the darkness, but with dwarven eyes accustomed to such, they saw all.
*******
Amber’s voice interrupted John’s nightmare, “Present is danger.”
Before he understood, she was waking the others. The fire almost burnt out, nothing but an orange and red glow in the darkness, added to the confusion. John could barely make out Eric and Logan standing outside of the crude shelter with their dwarf-forged swords in hand. Crawling close to the fire, he added wood, hoping the new light would scare off any beasts that stalked more than the dark. Outside, terrifying sounds caused him to wish for an Earth Guard to advise on the situation. From the darkness he heard a whistle, recognizing it as Ironhouse, and then growls, axes biting into bone, anguished animal howls, and more. As the light grew, he saw Ryan holding Lauren, but Steve was nowhere to be seen, nor where the Ironhouse dwarves. Crawling back to his sleeping mat, he found the backpack with the magic, pulling out the bag with the animal figures. Wanting to bring them forth, John was uncertain if they would be able to distinguish between friend and foe.
“INCOMING!”
Glancing at the doorway, he saw Steve running towards them. The fire was larger now, illuminating both the inside and outside of the structure. He saw Steve dive towards the opening, followed by a partial image of a beast behind him. As he slid into the crude hut, John heard an animal howl, and then firelight reflected off of the white bear fur that ripped into the threats. The action was intense, the light too little, but the sounds heard were of undreamt nightmares.
As the fight in the dark continued, Gor, Grax, and Amber returned to the front of the crude hut. She leaned in, “Hope and Sam are engaging blood wolves and winning.”
Several minutes later, all was quiet, when Sam and Hope, both naked, walked up to the group. They heard Hope, “You are lucky you had Ironhouse with you, as they lived up to their legend and killed three. Right now, I think Mom and Dad told us stories of things they imagined. Legends that cower in the dark, they never told us that.”
Logan stepped forward, “It was different back then—”
However, the children of Zack had disappeared into the dark.
John grabbed the bag of magic animals, pulled out the bats, and as he passed his hand over them, repeated the words he had heard from Mirtza so long ago. “Warn of threats,” and then watched them fly out into the night. He called to everybody, “I’m not sure how to do this, so be patient.” Pulling out the guard dog figures, waving his hand over them, the three magical animals appeared. “These are my friends. Do not harm them but protect this camp.” The dogs then headed out the door.
Lauren glared at him, “Next time, post the guards before you go to bed.”
John was angry but not at her. He stood, leaving the crude hut with the bag of magic, which contained the wagon amulet and materialized it. Crawling into the back, he felt around for the cloak with the gold magic and donned it, embracing the heavy weight. As he had been building the machine, he had recharged it, and now he hoped that it still held the last. The gold or heavy magic was different from the mithril or light magic, and he was unable to sense if it was present. In the partial darkness, barely able to make out the two deadfalls, he thought of the magic, remembering the pattern of the atoms with the symbols from the periodic table. The magic present, waiting for a purpose for so long, found the dry wood, engaged it, and brought forth the desired illumination. The darkness of the night fled, exposing five large dead wolves, which had their sides ripped open by massive bear claws or dwarven axes. Walking back to the wagon, he sat on the bench, cursing at himself under his breath.
Steve walked over and sat on the other side, “Pretty impressive, Kid.”
; “Don’t even think of starting something with me.”
“I liked you better as a lawyer, and those are freakishly big wolves.”
“Never seen them before. With the people gone from the west, I guess, they reclaimed their territory. Amber called them blood wolves, but I’m not sure why.”
“These Earth Bonds and Curses that everybody is talking about. What are they?”
“The first is Mother’s ultimate magic, I guess. It’s a gift she created so that Earth Mothers could make events or people do what they wanted. Sort of like when your mom asked you if you did something wrong, and you told her the truth, or—”
“She would hit you?”
“No, she would be disappointed in you, or at least mine was. An Earth Bond is a way to compel somebody to do or say something.”
“Like walking into a burning house?”
“Bad example but yes. Lauren used one to make the traitors in Alron come forth. She used the magic the way it was supposed to be used. The magic here, it’s weird, as it has some sort of intelligence from what I’ve seen. Somehow, it knows what it’s supposed to do. Though, I’m a little foggy on Curses.”
“Yeah, I should have seen that one coming.”
“Okay, something happened last time that involved them, but I don’t recall all of the facts. From what I was told, the magic understands the need, which it tries to satisfy. If an Earth Mother calls out in anger, the magic will comply with the request. I think that’s why Mother never created any male-born gifted ones, well, that and Father. She was probably afraid if an Earth Father, for lack of a better term, was ever created that he might use her magic to kill.”
Steve pointed to the burning log, “So, that’s the magic you said you could do?”
“I discovered two types of magic. Gold was the first, but I think it is the weaker of the two. It was the mithril magic that was awesome. I could’ve crushed that army on my own, maybe I should have. Logan, if he could find Sister, crap, could he do wild stuff. Right now, I’m just glad this cloak still had a charge in it. With that gold chain, all I need is a kite, a mountain eagle, and then it can be recharged.”
“I would think you would be more pleased. What’s the problem?” asked Steve.
“I don’t have a mountain eagle.”
“Not sure if I know what that means or if I want to. What’s next?”
“Not only are my unofficial God children are older than I am, they are mass murderers and monsters. What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
“Kill Hitler.”
John turned to him, “What?”
“You built that funky machine of yours that took you home the first time. From what I understand, you spent four years here last time, yet all of you showed up eight hours after the accident. So the magic that powers it can nullify time and distance. Repair it, zone in on this world, and then go back to when the problem started. Find this Zymse character before he sees your machine and kill him. I’m not sure what he did or why, but if he dies before he finds it, he never kidnaps the triplets or corrupts them. They don’t burn that town to the ground, and Mirtza doesn’t try to fix it, which brings us all here, so I never arrest Lauren. Hell, I probably never run into you. Problem solved.”
John sat on the wagon bench for a few minutes, motionless and silent, and then blurted out, “Can I tell you something in confidence?” However, he never waited for an answer, “I don’t know why that machine worked. I do, but I don’t. It’s complicated. I understand what I did and why, but it seemed to find the diner on its own—It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was in the end, but I don’t know if it was me, science, luck, or the magic that actually made it work.”
“Why’re you telling me?”
“I needed to get it off my chest. When I made it and it worked, there was no reason to tell anybody else. As well, I never thought, well, that we would be back here.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Kid, as there are already enough here that want to do that for you. You did it. Maybe it’s like you said, and it was the magic, but it was still your machine.”
“Can I do it again,” and then John looked into the dark sky. Kill Hitler? Then went quiet as he considered any time conflicts. There was only one way, as they would somehow have to orchestrate the assassination in a non-evasive method. They would have to be present but unseen, being unable to take any direct action. If the intrusion into the past were too brutal, when time reset, it would nullify all of their actions, including killing Zymse. Which might create a time loop or paradox, and the events would start all over. It may have already begun. “Kill Hitler. It might work, but…”
“You don’t have to solve the problem right now. I’m just making a suggestion.”
*******
When the first sun began to rise, John was still sitting on the wagon bench. Through the morning mist that hugged the ground, he saw the two wolves in the distance and whistled. The bats and guard dogs obediently returned to his side, and when he waved his hand, they reverted to gold figures, which he picked up and tucked into his pocket. As the two wolves approached the camp, they went out of focus, and then Sam and Hope stood.
She walked up to John, “We are sorry for how we acted, but for so long, it has just been the two of us.”
“Actually, the three of us,” Sam added, “The anger from that day, it never left. It is just so—”
“You don’t have to say it since we all understand.” Reaching into his pocket, John retrieved the picture of Zymse Darpac, “Was this the man you saw?”
“We never had a good look at him,but he did wear a black—something across his body,” advised Hope. “Another piece across his face, covering his mouth and nose. It could be him.”
“Steve showed it to somebody on the Bright Coast, and they said it was Zymse Darpac. Called him the Lord of Darkpaye House.”
Sam’s voice seemed to growl, “But we remember that name!”
Walking over to the unburnt deadfall, John sat down. While part of him wanted to tell Sam and Hope that he knew who had killed their parents, another part was unable to name the monsters, which a few weeks ago, he had cradled in his arms.
Sam also sat down, “I forgot one part of the story last night. The following day we saw smoke from the south port town, and the next, from the north pass settlement. We visited both over the following months, and they shared the same fate as Alron. So what are you going to do now?”
“We have one plan to fix the machine to see if we can find this Zymse character before he destroys everything, but I’m uncertain how long that’ll take, maybe a year. Then hopefully none of this ever happens, but I don’t know if it’ll work. I want to stop at a few of Mothers’ forests, and see if I can figure out what happened to her. Rain for so long, it’s not natural.” Then he added, “You’re welcome to stay for breakfast.”
Hope smiled, “Do you have any bean juice?”
Nodding, John went to wake Logan and Eric. He brought out the magic boxes and started to produce plates, mugs, and the food. Then stopped when he saw the look on Sam and Hope’s face, “Your Dad must have told you about the magic chests?”
She walked over and looked inside one of the empty shallow boxes, “We always thought he was pulling our legs.”
Eric and Logan came out shortly, taking over the meal preparations, and Steve with Ryan greeted the day next.
Ryan walked over to John, asking to talk in private. “Lauren’s in bad shape from tossing and turning all night trying to hold back her tears, and she’s pretty messed up. If she had any sleep at all last night, nightmares filled it.”
“I heard,” John nodded, “How’re you doing?”
“I’m trying to be strong for her, but after what we heard yesterday, I don’t know what I should think or do. I want my family back, but right now, I don’t know if that is even possible. There’s a feeling deep down inside of me. It’s saying that I’ve lost my daughters forever, and there’s a quiet voice behind it, warning me I will also lo
se Lauren.”
“I was talking to Steve last night, and we might have a plan, but it’ll take time. Take Lauren her breakfast, but keep her away from Sam and Hope. After they leave, I’ll tell everyone about it. Before we go back, I want to visit the forest where Gingaar healed Lauren and Logan, as something doesn’t make sense here. Well, nothing here makes sense, but this decade of rain reeks of divine intervention.”
Ryan went over to the fire, picked up two mugs of hot bean juice, a plate of food, and then went back inside the hut. As the rest gathered around the fireplace, they ate a silent meal, and when done, they bid farewell to Sam and Hope, who turned into wolves before running into the forest.
John called to Amber, Steve, and Eric. “We need to go to the forest before we leave.” He undid the bag of magic, bringing out four of the winged horses, and set them on the ground. When he waved his hand over them, the magical beasts materialized.
Amber took a step back, “Fly?”
“It’ll be faster than riding,” John said, “and safer than being on the ground.”
Amber pointed to the sky, “Fly?”
“If you don’t want to go…”
“I will go, but like it, I may not.”
Pulling out the guard dog amulets, he materialized them, “Protect the camp.”
Chapter 11
Then the four raised themselves into the saddles, coaxed the magical animals ahead, and as they picked up speed, the wings stretched out. In less than a minute, John was watching the road that led to the old Darkpaye fort beneath them, and when he saw the path to the forest, changed direction to make the winged horse descend. At the edge of it, they dismounted, turning the steeds back into metal figures, as there was no place to tie them off with everything being dead.
Walking into the forest, John caressed the dry leaves on the dead branches, snapping off the tops of small lifeless trees. He turned to the rest, “This forest is like the other two, but all around us there are trees and plants that are still green and full of life. Only Mother’s forests are affected, which means there was an unnatural influence on them. If it was a disease, it would damage all of the plants, and even though it rained for ten years or more, the other vegetation doesn’t seem to have been negatively affected.”