Firestone Key

by Caroline Noe

  “Not their fault,” Harlin told her. “No reason trust me for anything…” His voice trailed off, leaving them in an awkward silence.

  Elaine waited, instinctively knowing that he would continue, now that they were alone. She didn’t have long to wait.

  “Not knowing what to do,” he admitted. “Be wanting to help, but not able on me own.”

  Elaine rested her forehead against his. “I know. Sleep. Lying down. We’ll figure it out in the morning, when I’ve got you both back.” She lowered him in her arms until he was resting next to Drevel. She covered him with her blanket. “Go to sleep, Twassock.”

  He chuckled once and closed his weary eyes, abandoning himself to her watchful gaze. After a while, when his restful breathing formed a melodic counterpoint to Drevel’s snores, Elaine lay down next to him and gave herself to sleep.

  * * *

  Asher and Bert stumbled and staggered through the forest; two ageing, wounded old soldiers, together in the darkness.

  “This goodly idea?” Bert asked. “Gwyneth be only one never losing herself.”

  “Ye not have to come,” Asher snapped, entirely out of character. “Sorry. She be so like her mother and just as annoying.”

  “She loving Myrrdinus like Melith loving ye,” Bert observed. “Doubt we able stop her, even if find her, and not be render bait in meantime.”

  Asher snorted and glanced at his friend. “Ye be happy soul, Bert. Anybone ever tell ye that?”

  On they stumbled into the night.

  * * *

  Something ugly and tortured slinked in the shadows. A mud brown snake slowly slithered through fallen leaves, barely moving them, camouflaged from Grey Squirrel, standing sentry above. The door to the cabin twitched just an inch, causing Grey Squirrel to catch the movement out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped round and he stared into shadow, but saw nothing.

  The slithering spy entered the cabin and surveyed the slumbering trio. Sliding under Elaine’s blanket, the snake coiled around her throat with an almost soundless hiss. His forked tongue flicked out, sweeping across her closed eyes and waking her. Before she could cry out, the brown snake tightened the coil, choking off her words. Elaine grasped at the snake with both hands, pulling and tearing, but she couldn’t break the vice-like grip. The snake rose up and regurgitated its written message onto her chest, loosening the coil just enough for her to breathe.

  Using only her fingernails, Elaine unwrapped the slimy ball of paper and read its contents. She glared at the snake with utter hatred, but nodded her agreement. The brown snake uncoiled from around her throat and slithered to the door. Elaine took a lingering look back at her sleeping friends and followed. The screwed up piece of paper fell from her fingers.

  When Elaine tiptoed out of the cabin, drawing the attention of Grey Squirrel, the brown snake slithered into the undergrowth, unseen.

  “SShhh. Don’t wake them. Just going to pee,” Elaine lied to her tiny guard. He returned to scanning the forest as she disappeared into the trees.

  Not long after, Harlin awoke to a squeaking Grey Squirrel cracking a nut on his forehead.

  “Stop that, horrible little…”

  The tiny squirrel shoved his face right up close to Harlin’s eye.

  “What?”

  By now, the noise had also disturbed Drevel, who woke to find Harlin staring at a miniature mime show.

  Grey Squirrel had his stick thin arms in the air, representing a taller person. He turned and waddled away. Catching on quickly, principally because he had been down this road before, Harlin frantically scanned the room for Elaine.

  “She goed? Where?”

  Squirrel shrugged.

  “Who with?”

  Squirrel shrugged and covered his eyes with tiny paws.

  “Not see. When?”

  Squirrel moved his paws close together.

  “Not long. Why she go? Why ask ye? Like ye know.”

  Squirrel handed Harlin the slimy, screwed up piece of paper, dropped by Elaine. Drevel struggled to sit on his haunches to listen while Harlin read,

  “Give up Firestone and both ye and Melith be going free. If ye not come, Melith be sacrificed on altar, slowly sliced from head to tail. Then send every render and soldier to hunt down Harlin and feed him to Baal. Follow snake to temple.”

  Harlin screwed the paper into a ball and threw it across the cabin. He wiped the slime from his hand as he raged, “How she be so dimly? Harpy kill her and Melith, if she not died already. Not going after her again. Not.”

  Drevel delivered a painful bark and hauled himself to his feet.

  “No. Not going,” Harlin stubbornly continued. “She leaved me.”

  Drevel padded over to the ball of paper, took a deep sniff to register the scent of the brown snake and headed straight out of the door on wobbly legs, leaving Harlin to fume.

  A lone ‘woof’ came from outside.

  “Coming,” was Harlin’s immediate response. He limped out with his usual step, scrape. “This time be killing her, stone died,” he grumbled, as they headed into the forest.

  A moment later, a flash of grey fur bounded out of the cabin and up into the trees.

  * * *

  Gwyneth peeped through foliage at the torchlit temple, her heart pounding. The last time she was here was when she ‘married’ Myrrdinus. Now, her only companion was a frog and Myrrdinus was a prisoner. To make matters worse, two chained renders were on patrol. Frog, still perched on her shoulder, shivered at the sight of the temple.

  “Hoped never coming back here?” Gwyneth whispered. Frog nodded. “Me too. Be looking for Myrrdinus quietly. If not here, then be at castle.”

  “Rivet,” said Frog so quietly it was practically a mime.

  “No idea what we doing then, or how we get past renders,” Gwyneth admitted. “Maybes as useless as Myrrdinus think I be.”

  Frog sighed.

  * * *

  The Harpy awoke with a grunt and a cringe of pain. She struggled to rise, shivering in a chill that the fire didn’t seem to be counteracting. Limping over to a giant mirror, she peered at herself. For a brief moment, sadness passed across her ravaged face, and was gone. In the mirror, she caught the reflection of the hanging cage. The bolt was still in place, but it was empty. The Harpy yanked the cage off its hanging and threw it across the room. It landed directly beneath a small window – a small, open window. She flung open the lid to the wooden chest and rummaged inside, discovering precisely what she had suspected: the Key was gone. The shriek she unleashed was truly horrifying.

  * * *

  Gwyneth and Frog were ruminating on how to deal with the patrolling renders when the door to the temple crashed open and the Queen launched forth, followed by Gergan, a squad of soldiers and a bird. The entire party, renders in tow, then disappeared into the forest. Gwyneth and Frog exchanged a look, thinking the same thought: Myrrdinus was not with the Queen and the temple door was still open.

  * * *

  The homicidal Harpy stormed through the forest, ignoring the shrieking pain in her thigh. Thrusting a branch out of her way, she stepped straight on the brown snake and almost collided with Elaine. The two women stopped dead in their tracks, stunned at being face to face.

  * * *

  Not far away, a tired and nauseated Melith Snake slithered through the undergrowth, the Key still lodged in her throat. Hearing a scraping footstep coming her way, she slithered up the nearest tree and coiled. Poised in a branch, directly above, Grey Squirrel peered down at her, intrigued. Below both, the limping Harlin and bravely struggling Drevel came into view. Drevel’s nose was firmly on the ground when he caught a whiff of something and growled.

  Harlin’s crushed hand moved to draw his sword, only to grab a handful of filthy, torn shift. “I hate her,” he mumbled, as an aside to adjusting his meagre clothing.

  Unfortunately, Melith Snake chose this very moment to uncoil and drop, wrapping herself around Harlin’s head. Having been in pursuit of another snake, H
arlin understandably threw her away from him and was about to stomp on her, when Drevel barked and clamped his teeth on what was left of Harlin’s sleeve.

  “What? Be snake,” Harlin growled at him. The penny dropped. “Oh, be snake. Where be Elaine?” he asked, looming at up the reptile, only to find Drevel there before him, executing a long sniff.

  Dog and snake were eyeball to eyeball, when Drevel’s leathery tongue licked her snaky face.

  “That better be Melith,” commented Harlin, catching on.

  Melith Snake gave him a truly Melith glare.

  “Aye, that be her.”

  With a delirious squeak, Grey Squirrel bounded down the tree and threw his tiny arms around Melith Snake’s throat. She coughed and pointed at the lodged Key with her tail end. Harlin leaned closer, peering at the shape of the bulge.

  “Be that Key of Old?” he asked, staggered by the turn of events. They could not possibly be that lucky, could they?

  Melith nodded, opened her mouth extra wide (as only snakes can do) and pointed down her throat with her tail.

  “Ye be kidding?” mumbled Harlin.

  Melith pointed harder.

  Harlin pointed at Grey Squirrel. “He doing it. He love ye so muchly.”

  Said squirrel vigorously shook his head.

  With her patience having been worn thin by recent events, Melith Snake slithered right up to Harlin’s toes and glared up at him. He stared down at her and gave in.

  “Wonderly. Open widely.”

  Melith Snake’s mouth opened even wider, almost folding back on itself. Drevel and Grey Squirrel stared in the opposite direction whilst a cringing Harlin slid his hand down her throat.

  “Not care if I be Gawain’s son,” he moaned. “This too muchly.”

  Harlin’s fingers probed for the Key and pulled. Melith Snake helpfully regurgitated with a foul UURGGGGHHHH. Harlin’s hand emerged with the Key, dripping in yellow slime.

  “Ye need do that?” he groaned and vomited the evening’s stew.

  * * *

  The stunned Harpy was still standing on the brown snake, staring at Elaine, when she suddenly burst into life, shrieking, “Give me the Firestone!”

  Using every ounce of bravery she could muster, Elaine ignored the waves of malevolence breaking over her and calmly asked, “Where’s Melith?”

  “Close,” the Queen lied. “Give it to me now or she’ll be skinned.”

  “You really had a bad childhood, didn’t you?” Elaine quipped.

  The Harpy lashed out, raking her claws across Elaine’s cheek, leaving a row of gashes.

  “Just what I need,” Elaine retorted, “another scar.”

  “I don’t want to hear a word,” the Queen spat. “Just give me the Firestone and live.”

  Elaine stared at the monstrosity and realised that there was no hiding from the truth. “Look, I’d give it to you, if I had it. Believe me.”

  “You’ve always had it, since you were a baby,” was the Harpy’s astonishing response. “Your mother gave it to you for luck and you wear it round your neck on a steel chain, ‘cause you can’t bear the ostentation of gold or silver. I think that’s a reaction to your scarred face, but what do I know? Now give it to me.”

  Elaine was stunned by the dawning of comprehension. She reached beneath her shift and pulled on the chain that had been around her neck for years. On the end dangled a shiny black pebble with red spiral markings. Harpy’s eyes widened. She snatched it from Elaine’s neck, snapping the chain.

  “It’s just a rock,” Elaine mumbled, confusion and fear racking her brain in equal measure.

  The Harpy emitted a cry of obsession and longing, cradling the pebble as though it were a long lost child. Holding it high, she conjured, “Bescat, amorate, mohalia, diabole!” Her entire body trembled with the effort. Around her, Gergan and the soldiers shook with fear. Even the renders whimpered.

  Although an enveloping cloak hid her changing features, the Queen’s bent and twisted frame began to straighten. Tremors passed through her body, keeping time with her heartbeat. The Firestone, clasped to her bosom, emitted a sound almost like a groan. When the spasms finally ceased, the Queen seemed to be standing much taller. As she turned and approached Elaine, grace and elegance were returning with every step. Coming to a halt directly in front of her captive, the Queen threw off her cloak.

  The initial shock of the revelation almost caused Elaine to faint. As she swayed, a newly softened, smooth skinned hand grasped her shoulder.

  “So, Elaine,” purred a silky voice. “Where have you been all this time?”

  Elaine stared into the eyes of a beautiful woman; a woman she had known since she was twelve years old; a woman she had called her friend.

  “Leila? How did you get here? What’s going on?”

  This Leila appeared younger than the friend she had left behind. This Leila looked barely out of her teenage years and she was far from friendly.

  “You betrayed me!” this Queen spat. “You killed Caleb and my brother.”

  “Neil?” Elaine stammered. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who’s been trying to hurt me. How could you do this? Melith’s a good woman.”

  “Oh, I think I know Melith a little better than you,” Leila sneered.

  Elaine couldn’t believe that her friend, her sister in all but blood, had become such a thing. “What happened to you?”

  “You, my friend,” Leila snarled. “You happened to me. You took everything from me.”

  “Leila, I don’t underst…”

  “Shut up. I don’t care,” Leila snarled in her face. “Tell me how to use it.”

  “Tell you what?” Elaine backed away. Malevolence was pouring from her lifelong friend.

  “How did you travel with the Firestone?” Leila shrieked. “Make it take me back!”

  “Back? How?” Elaine’s confusion deepened with every passing second. “Leila, I don’t know what you want.”

  “The Firestone brought you here,” Leila shouted. “How do I use it to get back to Caleb?”

  Elaine was stunned. Leila seemed to believe that her necklace was the catalyst for time travel. Yet she, or one version of her, had been at the Project when Elaine went into the vortex. How could she not know that the Project had worked? And how were they going to return to their own time? This pebble certainly wouldn’t achieve it.

  “Alright,” Elaine began, her mind concocting a dangerous bluff. “I’ll tell you how it works. It’s easy. I’m surprised you never managed to work it out. So, it’s left to me to get us both home. But, first, you must change all the animals back into people. And heal your own son’s wounds while you’re at it. He’s horrible to look at.”

  “And why would I do that?” Leila countered.

  “Because I don’t believe you can,” Elaine told her, counting on her friend’s arrogance. “You were always less talented than me, if you want the truth.”

  “Kieve respotea specifica!” shouted Leila, lifting the Firestone high above her head. “Demosh Harlin quante physital!”

  The words had hardly left Leila’s mouth when chaos erupted. Hollering all the way, a stark naked man fell from the sky, bounced through the branches of a tree and just missed landing on Elaine’s head.

  Throughout the forest, stunned villagers found themselves naked in the undergrowth and human again.

  * * *

  Frog, still perched on Gwyneth’s shoulder, suddenly gyrated as though plugged into an electrical socket. As she transformed back into an adult woman, the sudden extra weight toppled her carrier backwards into the mud. When Gwyneth wiped the slime out of her eyes, she realised that she was witnessing a miracle for, standing before her, was a naked, shocked and staggeringly beautiful young woman; a woman Gwyneth had not seen for ten years.

  “Serena?”

  * * *

  The hog in the gold chain ran for his life, just as he had been accustomed to doing since the Harpy’s foul touch, a decade ago. The soldiers had hunted him for
fun, every one of them desiring to be the servant that caught and tortured the Queen’s old enemy. His sudden reappearance as the tribal leader, Adam, was a shock to the lone hunter who was pursuing him.

  Adam had always been savage and cold, but ten years of relentless suffering had transformed hatred into psychotic rage. Turning on the unfortunate soldier, he strangled the man with his bare hands and dropped the lifeless body in the dirt. Rifling through his clothes, he found a large dagger and arose. One desire occupied his thoughts: revenge.

  * * *

  Drevel had his nose to the ground, tracking the elusive Elaine and her slithering guide. Following his mangy backside were Harlin, Melith Snake and Grey Squirrel. The relentless canine suddenly stalled, causing Harlin to get far too close to his business end. The more dexterous Grey Squirrel executed a neat side step, leaving Harlin to ask, “What? Ye find something?”

  When Drevel began shuddering and quaking, Harlin reached out to him, but the dog’s fur-covered body was red hot. Harlin turned to Melith Snake and Grey Squirrel, but they were both undergoing similar traumas. He had no idea what to do for any of them.

  Drevel was racked by one final, mighty spasm and the dog was gone. In his place knelt a very hairy man, his human nose stuck in the mud and his extremely naked posterior on display to the world. The man Drevel felt his fleshly side, where a deep wound was stitched, only hours before. He was experiencing no more pain because there was no more wound. He was healed and, more to the point, for the first time in a decade, he was human. He was doing some variation on a tribal victory dance, when he noticed Harlin’s wide-eyed stare and realised that he was stark naked. Both hands were swiftly redeployed in covering his genitals.

  Having been given scarcely a moment to recover from that revealing sight, Harlin was next treated to the fleshly apparition of Melith, bearing down on him.

  “Harlin!” she called, shivering with the cold.

  “Oh goodly hell,” mumbled Harlin, averting his gaze, only to find himself staring at a really, really sour faced and naked elderly man. Many years had passed since he last saw that expression, but Harlin recognised it instantly; this was Gawain’s longsuffering servant, Grain, and no fan of his son. “Nuts,” said Harlin, ironically. “Grain. Should have guessed. Ye nicer as squirrel.”