by Joe Vadalma
* * * *
Olivia rode a large black Clydesdale. Next to her on a red steed larger than her own was Legion in a bright red uniform with general's stars on the labels. His helmet was also red. Slapping against his leg was a sheath that contained an enormous broadsword. They had entered Budapest, Hungary on the Pest side of the Danube. Ahead crowds of people were running for their lives. Some entered buildings, others scattered down side streets. Behind her and Legion, an army of Titans marched in formation. They filled the street from side to side and as far back as she could see. They carried a variety of weapons from Medieval swords and war axes to automatic rifles and grenade launchers.
Victor took out his great sword, raised it into the air and swung it forward. “Charge,” he cried.
The army ran forward, shooting into the crowd and at windows as they went. Tanks and other armored vehicles fired at the crowds and buildings. Men, women and children fell. Platoons split off and chased people down side streets. Some Titans entered buildings, many of which were on fire. People leaped or were thrown out of windows.
The noise was horrific. There were war cries from the giants, screams of the wounded and dying population, explosions and falling debris. Airplanes and helicopters flew low over the city to bomb something in the distance. The roar of the aircraft and pounding of the explosions adding to the tumult.
Legion turned to Olivia with a smile. “Not one human being in this city shall remain alive. I ordered my troops to take no prisoners."
"Isn't that drastic?"
"It's part of my plan to strike terror into the hearts of all those who oppose the new order."
Olivia's Clydesdale trod upon the corpses lying on the asphalt. The streets literally ran with blood. The flames grew higher in the buildings and mingled until most of the city was on fire. More and more debris fell into the street. There were many more explosions. Great clouds of smoke and dust polluted the air. Corpses were piled so thick on the ground that they formed barriers. Titan soldiers poured gasoline on the heaps of bodies and lit them. The stench of burning human flesh added to the odors of gasoline and oil.
CHAPTER 21. LAND OF FAE
Raven found herself on a small plateau overlooking a deep valley. She was standing on the edge of a sheer cliff with a drop-off of several hundred feet. She stepped back, never liking heights. The sun was low on the horizon, about to disappear behind mountains in the distance. She turned around to face a mountainside dotted with caves. Large boulders were scattered around. To her right a winding path sloped downward. She decided that the best thing to do was to follow it. But as she passed near a cave, she heard a sound as though an enormous animal was inside.
She crouched down behind a large nearby boulder that would hide her from view from the animal in the cave, but from which she could still view the cave. She waited there to see what would come out if anything. As she watched, she saw movement. Suddenly it appeared, and she let out a little gasp. She couldn't believe what she saw. “Holy Hecate, a dragon,” she cried. A dragon, a real live, roaring, fire-breathing dragon crawled out of the cave and stretched its long neck, which as it stood on its haunches, caused its head to rise to the height of five-story building. It roared loudly, puffed out its cheeks and sent a sheet of flames upon the ground, raised its enormous wings and leaped into the air. In a few moments it was high above Raven looking like a hawk making lazy circles in the sky.
Quaking and shivering, Raven crouched down and tried not to move a muscle, as the flying monster circled above her head for several minutes. She watched with growing terror as the dragon soared overhead, its circling more and more directly above her. When the monster went into a vertical dive, she was sure that it had spotted her and was about to snatch her up like a hawk would pick up a mouse. She screamed. However, when the serpent was a scant twenty feet above her head, it veered to the right, soared heavenward, and flew toward the high mountains in the west.
By that time, the sun had sank below the mountains. Soon the black dot was lost in the last lingering rays of the glowing red globe which rested in a notch between two peaks.
She trembled for a long while. Finally, when the dragon did not return, she got the courage to continue down the path. After a few hundred feet, it led to a footbridge over a five hundred foot chasm. By this time the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, the sky had turned deep purple and the first stars appeared. Raven took out a flashlight from her knapsack and slowly made her way across the swaying rope bridge, which swayed with each step, threatening to throw her into the abyss. Only the rope that she clung to so tightly her hand cramped kept her from falling. She looked down at the tiny sliver of the river at the bottom of the gorge and trembled, her fear of heights kicking in with a vengeance. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she took small careful steps as she gripped the rope handrail so hard she had rope burns. It seemed as though the far end was getting closer barely an inch at a time.
By the time she stepped onto solid ground, the last lingering rays of sunlight were gone. Except where the light from the flashlight fell, she was surrounded by utter darkness. All around her, she heard the rustling of night creatures. She took out the talisman from between her breasts and placed on her chest so that it lay in plain view. The person who had given it to her claimed that it would protect its bearer from evil spirits, vampires, werewolves and demons. She hoped the claim was true or that she would not meet such creature although she sensed something moving about in the dark. She shivered with fear as she swung the flashlight around. When she reached a place where the path continued through a narrow crevice between two boulders, a figure in a dark cloak whose hood obscured its face blocked her way.
She waved her talesman at it. “Spirit, leave me be. Move out of the way."
The apparition threw its head back and laughed, an evil coarse sound somewhere between a strangled gargle and a hyena sound. As it did this, its hood fell back, revealing its face. Raven screamed. It was the face of a rotting corpse, with one eyeball dangling and the flesh of half the jaw rotted away so that the bone beneath gleamed whitely in her light.
Since she was not sure whether the talisman would protect her from a zombie, she felt a more direct approach was called for. She slipped the tire iron she carried for protection from her knapsack and attacked. She smacked it on the head so hard that it was knocked off its shoulders onto the ground and rolled for several feet. The awful creature fell to its knees to search for its head.
Raven ran through the crevice and kept running for some distance. When her lungs were about to burst, she halted for a few moments. As she stood panting, a well-dressed man with a cape came up the path. He stopped a few paces before her and asked, “Are you all right? You look as though you were being chased."
"It was a zombie,” Raven replied. She glanced around behind. The thing had apparently given up the chase. “Thank Hecate, it's gone."
"How terrible. You shouldn't really be out at night around here. It's dangerous."
"You're telling me. But what about yourself? Aren't you afraid?” She suddenly became suspicious and held up the talisman.
The stranger turned away pulling his cloak to shield its eyes, ran a short way back the way he had come, outstretched his cloak like wings and turned into a vampire bat, which flew away.
She began to trot. Soon she neared a building which she recognized as the one in the painting at the museum. Before she reached it, however, an enormous gray wolf sprang out of the woods. She smacked it with the tire iron and waved the talisman at it, and it fled. She ran for the entrance of the building and burst into the foyer out of breath. She slammed the front doors shut and barred them.
She turned around to face a dwarf dressed in Medieval garb. The small man bowed. “Pardon me, miss, but thou should not be wandering around outside at night."
"You're telling me. There are lots of bad things out there. Say fellow, could you tell me where I am?"
"This is the Fae University of Sorcery in the Land of Fae.
I am Macmulliganicutty, official greeter. And who may thou be, and where do ye hale from? Do you wish to enroll in the university?"
Raven held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Macmulli ... uh."
"Macmulliganicutty. Just call me Mac since you seem to be having difficulty with the pronunciation of my name."
"Okay, Mac. My name is Raven Lenore. I come from the city of New York in the United States of America. It's in another dimension if you know what I mean. And I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here. I'm not even sure whether I'm in the right world. Tell me, do you know of a witch demon called Morgaine?"
"Aye. She lives in the dark castle in the Netherworld."
"Can you tell me how to get there?"
The dwarf nodded. “I shall do better. I will take thee to see Morgaine myself. She has been waiting for thee, Raven Lenore."
"She has?"
"Yes. She's has paid us the honor of a visit from the Netherworld. She knew that thee would arrive and told me to bring thee to her. But, thou must wait until morn. Night is no time for traveling. Come, I will show thee thy room that has been prepared."
He turned and started to walk down the hall. Although he took very small steps, his legs moved quickly so that Raven had to step lively to keep up. She wondered whether it was such a good idea to answer Morgaine's invitation for a meeting. She shrugged. Apparently she had no choice at this point. Perhaps, a face-to-face meeting would reveal what Morgaine was really up to and what she intended to do with Michael. Also, if he was also present, she might find a way to free him.
* * * *
To Raven's surprise, she slept well. The bed in the room Macmulliganicutty had provided her was the softest, most comfortable one she had ever slept in, with its feather mattress and quilt. She awoke to bright sunshine through her window as a knock came to her door. She yawned. Since she had no PJs or nightgown with her, she had slept in the buff. She sat up and pulled the quilt around her. “Who's there?"
A childlike voice replied, “It be thy breakfast, Missy."
"Come in."
A female dwarf serving maid entered with a tray. She left it on the bed, curtsied and left the room. Raven took the cover off the dish. A wonderful breakfast of juice, bacon and eggs, pancakes and coffee had been served to her. Raven dug right in. She was quite hungry since she had missed dinner the previous day. When she was done, she hopped out of bed and quickly dressed, just in time too. A couple minutes later, Macmulliganicutty knocked. “Are thou ready to pay a visit on the sorceress Morgaine?"
"Give me a couple of more minutes.” Raven looked around for a door to a bathroom. Instead she found a chamber pot. She urinated into it, pulled up her panties and jeans, found a mirror to comb her hair, heaved on her backpack and opened the door. “All set, Mac."
The day was warm and bright, the sky blue with puffy clouds. Macmulliganicutty led her back the way she had come the evening before. When they reached the crossroads, however, instead of heading west towards the ridge, they continued down into the valley where the path continued through a lightly wooded area. Nightingales and other birds sang, bushy tailed squirrels scurried up the trunks of trees, and the buzz of bees and other insects filled the air. Although Raven was worried about her meeting with Morgaine, the beautiful day lifted her spirit.
The forest became thicker and more gloomy; the path, narrower and steeper. All around her, Raven heard the movement of animals, some of which must have been large by the growls and rustling they made. At least she hoped they were animals and not anything more sinister. She asked, “Are there bears and wolves in this forest?"
"Aye. And worse creatures, lions, hippogrifs, griffins, jabberwockies, bandersnatches and chimeras. Even the seemingly innocuous unicorn may be dangerous when aroused."
"You're kidding me. Those are imaginary animals, except for the lions."
"Nay. In this world they all be real."
Raven peered around, not sure whether she actual wanted to spot one the exotic creatures or not. “What's a jabberwocky exactly? I thought that it was just a made-up nonsense word."
"I hath nay seen one in person myself, but I be told that they be small winged dragons, about the size of a stallion or elk."
"And a bandersnatch?"
"An even smaller flying dragon, the size of a small dog or large cat."
"Oh."
* * * *
After a long uphill walk, to Raven's relief they emerged from the woods onto a ledge with view of the mountains to the east. The sun was directly overhead now. She glanced at her watch. It was a little past noon. “This seems a pleasant spot."
"Aye.” The dwarf pointed at a low rounded mountain in the distance. “There be the castle where Mistress Morgaine dwells when she visits.” Upon the peak was a dark gloomy Medieval fortress.
Raven noticed something in the sky above them. It was obviously not a bird, as it had four legs in addition to its large eagle-like wings. She pointed at it. “What's that?"
Macmulliganicutty raised his eyes to the sky. A moment later he leaped to his feet and drew his sword, which was not much larger than a long knife. “'Tis a griffin and it be headed this way."
Raven quickly withdrew her tire iron.
The griffin circled them and slowly descended to land on the edge of the ledge twenty feet away. It stared at them, first with one eye, then turning its head, with the other. To Raven's utter surprise, it spoke in Latin. “I see that thee be armed. Put away thy sword and whatever that thing be. My intention is not to harm thee, but to bargain with thee."
"Bargain? What sort of bargain?"
"Thou knowest that I hath a yen for human flesh. I wilt show thee where lies much gold and silver. It wilt maketh thee rich beyond thy wildest dreams. For this boon, I ask only for that skinny woman which accompany thee."
"Begone wretch,” Macmulliganicutty yelled.
The griffin cocked its head to one side. “Very well then. What of thee, female? Wouldst thou trade this foolish dwarf for great wealth?"
Raven laughed. “You'd better leave, griffin, or it'll be you who becomes stew. I wonder whether you'd taste more of fowl or of cat."
The griffin screeched loudly and flew away.
"Let us be off ‘fore that creature return,” Macmulliganicutty said.
He produced a rope that he carried by circling around his middle. He tied one end around Raven's waist and the other around his own with fifteen feet of slack between them. They climbed down the rocky slope of the mountain toward the valley below. At the bottom, the waded through a small stream and headed up the mountain towards the dark castle. There was no real path; they simply followed the way of least resistance. This meant a lot of hiking over rough ground, climbing up steep inclines and slogging through streams and past waterfalls. As they gained in height, they made their way along narrow ledges that overlooked deep chasms and mounted steep cliffs through the use of rock climbing techniques.
While Raven slithered along step-by-step on a six-inch ledge hugging the rocky face of the mountain with a five-hundred foot drop behind her, she past a series of tiny caves with opening ranging from eight to twenty-four inches in diameter. She used their edges as handholds. Suddenly something green the size of a cat with leathery black bat-like wings flew out of the opening she had just grasped. She screamed, withdrew her hand quickly and almost tumbled off the cliff. “What the hell?” she cried.
"Bandersnatches,” shouted Macmulliganicutty from a few feet in front and slightly above her. “Move not. Keep thy face to the wall."
With that, as though by signal, the cliff erupted with the creatures. Although Raven followed Macmulliganicutty's advise and kept her face close to the wall, she sneaked a peek. Hundreds of the monsters flitted around like bats leaving a cave. As Macmulliganicutty had described, they looked like miniature dragons with large leathery wings, pointed tails and sharp teeth protruding from elongate jaws. They swarmed around the cliff like angry bees, screeching their raucous cry until Raven thought her ears would
burst. At first there didn't seem to be any pattern to their flight. Each bandersnatch darted here and there, quickly turning in flight, sometimes snapping its jaws. Raven realized finally that they were chasing a body of small birds in the manner of bats going after insects.
This kept up for several minutes. Suddenly, as though by a prearranged signal, they returned to their caves.
"We must move quickly now,” Macmulliganicutty called.
Raven nodded and clambered swiftly along the narrow ledge. As she past the last of the caves, her foot slipped, and she almost stumbled.
The remainder of their trek to the castle was uneventful. The fortress was built of dark stone and presented an ominous gray facade with few windows and those high up. The entrance consisted of an large oaken door with a spiked iron grate in front of it. It had four great towers, one at each corner. A dusty well-worn dirt path led to it.
As Raven and Macmulliganicutty neared the doorway, the grate raised up, and the door opened. After they entered, the grate closed, and the door slammed shut. Raven gazed around at an enormous hall. Upon the stone walls were mounted Medieval weapons and faded tapestries which depicted scenes of debauchery and sexual abandon in forest glens by fauns, fairies, elves, dwarves, humans, gods, goddesses and mythical beasts. The high windows let in little light. Hence, there were torches mounted on the walls, which hardly pierced the gloom at all. To one side an enormous fireplace crackled with burning logs. At the far end, was a throne upon which . was someone in a long black robe with bowed head. Raven could not tell whether it was a man or a woman.