Gatekeepers

by Sam Ferguson

  Hank dismissed Mack with a wave and then got up and closed the door to the library. “Given the special circumstances, I will let this one slide, but if you ever speak to me like that in front of my men again, I’ll pull your tongue out with a pair of pliers and use it as chum the next time I go fishing, you understand?”

  I ignored the threat. “Four harbinger wolves and an alp came to me in my dream and said they would attack and kill my wife and son unless I wipe my memory and stay out of the dream world.”

  “Ex-wife,” Hank corrected.

  “Bite me, Hank,” I spat.

  Hank bristled and then nodded his head. “All right, I can see this has you shaken up. I can call Indyrith if you like, but wiping your memory isn’t the right thing to do.”

  “Tommy isn’t even old enough to go to school yet,” I said hotly. “If the choice is between fighting to save the world and saving my son, then the whole world can burn for all I care.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” Hank said as he patted the air.

  “Call Indyrith!” I shouted.

  Hank took in a breath and then turned on his heels and left the room. The slamming door echoed several times in the library. I turned and looked at the books Hank was reading. Each of them were old books on legends and scary stories. Two of the books focused on Native American legends, while most of the others centered on German lore. I looked at the page Hank was reading. I was slightly impressed to see that the passage was actually written in German. I knew a few languages, but German was not one of them. I closed the book and shoved it aside so I could set my elbows on the table and rest my head in my hands.

  It was a long time before Indyrith and his daughters came into the library.

  “Joshua Mills, we must discuss this,” Indyrith said.

  “Just answer one question,” I said quickly as I stood up to show the elf respect as he entered. “If I refuse to do as they say, will they kill my son?”

  Indyrith nodded. “I will never lie to you, my friend. If you defy them, they will hunt your son and your ex-wife as they said.”

  “Then I have no choice. They will get to them faster than I can. There is only one way to protect them.”

  “Just hold on a moment,” Hank said as he closed the door again. “Don’t you realize how special you are? A dream walker is what we need to close the rifts. A dream walker can end the invasions forever. That’s why they’re after you. They want to scare you away. That means you have real power!”

  “It worked,” I said quickly. “They have my attention.”

  Hank began to speak, but Indyrith put a hand out in front of the man. The tall elf then stepped closer to me and placed a hand on each shoulder. “This choice is one that only you can make,” Indyrith said. “However, you should know that if you do as they have demanded, they will still come after you. You will be defenseless. They will kill you.”

  “And they’ll still go after your family, you dense little –-”

  “That’s enough,” Indyrith said with surprising force. “This choice belongs to Joshua Mills.”

  “Will they leave my family alone if I do what they ask?” I implored.

  Indyrith shrugged. “Tell me of the dream, leave no detail out.”

  I recited everything I could remember. Unlike most dreams that vanish once you wake, each and every detail was still fresh and clear in my mind. I told the elf everything.

  “The sword was red, you’re sure?” Indyrith asked.

  I nodded.

  Indyrith took in a deep breath and then turned to the others. “Hank, I need to be alone with Joshua now.”

  “Nope, I’m staying. I want to know what this little twerp stepped in and how bad the stench is going to dirty the rest of us.”

  Indyrith shook his head and motioned to his daughters. “I need to be alone with Mr. Mills.”

  The two daughters turned around and escorted Hank out of the library. He resisted at first, but once they touched his hands, he cooperated and seemed to forget where he was.

  “You wiped his memory, didn’t you?” I asked.

  “Only for the last two hours,” Indyrith said. “My daughters will give him the memory of falling asleep in the library while conducting research. He will then believe that he went back to his room to lie down. No harm done.”

  “Have you erased my mind before?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “But if you didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t know the difference would I?” I pressed. “You just walk around putting spells on people as easily as the MIB use their little flashy-stick things.”

  “I am not aware of the MIB,” Indyrith said.

  I rubbed my forehead and groaned. “Never mind. Just, tell me, will the harbinger wolves leave my family alone if I do what they want?”

  Indyrith nodded. “Under normal circumstances, I would say no. They can be treacherous, as any race can. However, with the presence of a red sword in the dream, I am confident that they will not attack them.”

  “What’s special about the red sword?” I asked.

  “It is made with the blood of a harbinger patriarch. It is not used often in battle, except when a harbinger wolf wishes to call upon its ancestral line for additional strength. However, it is used as a powerful symbol in oath making. Should the harbinger wolves that made the oath seek to attack your son and ex-wife after you do as they have demanded, then the sword would require their deaths. Their dishonor would be cleansed from their world, and they would be no more, as if they had never been born. More than that, it will extend to their descendants. It is, as you would say, a cleansing of the blood.”

  “So they can’t lie?” I asked, not quite grasping the concept Indyrith was trying to get across.

  “No, it isn’t that. It is that the blood sword requires promises to be fulfilled. Usually they are used to broker peace between rival clans. It is a safety feature. The fact that they used it with you, means that they expect you to have already understood its meaning.”

  “Why would they assume that?”

  “Because your powers in the dream world are beyond anything they have seen for centuries. They fear you. You are the last of a powerful warrior type that has the power to destroy them. For example, it took four of them working together with an alp to find you in your sleep and come to you. Even then, they dared not attack you while in the dream world. Instead, they made a bargain. They will let your family live, if you stop fighting.”

  “You make it sound as though I am some sort of cosmic assassin,” I said with a scoff. “I’m just me. I sell memberships for a local gym, or, at least I did, before Dallas.”

  Indyrith nodded. “It isn’t about what you see yourself as. This is about the threat they see in you.”

  “But you’re sure that if I do as they say, my family will be safe?”

  Indyrith nodded. “They will come for you, and so will the drakkul, but your family will be safe.”

  “The drakkul,” I said softly. “I forgot about them. They want my blood for killing the other one.” I tossed my head back toward the ceiling. “They won’t honor the harbinger promise will they?”

  Indyrith shook his head. “If they feel your family is guilty as you are, then they will come for them, but they are more honorable than the harbinger wolves. The drakkul will usually come through the portals first. Rolf will not let them get to you or your family.”

  “But the one in Dallas didn’t come through Rolf,” I interjected. “He tracked us down and came for us.”

  “He was after your father,” Indyrith said. “If you knew what it was your father stole, then perhaps we could help come to an arrangement with the drakkul.”

  “I don’t know what it was,” I said. “Just some engine thing. That’s all he said before the portals opened.” I sighed. “What if we wipe my memory, and then send me through a portal to the drakkul? Then, they can kill me and be satisfied, and the harbinger wolves will be happy that I forgot.”

  Indyrith shook hi
s head. “If you were to see a portal again, it would likely bring your memories back. The mind, even a human one, can be quite resilient. If your memories returned, then the harbinger wolves would be free of their oath. They would come for your family.”

  “So we wipe my memory and then hope that I die before I see a portal again, is that it?”

  “Or, perhaps you can hide long enough to create a new life,” Indyrith said. “I could erase years of your life. I could go back four or five years. If I did that, and Hank took you somewhere far away, then it could work.”

  “No,” I said. “Take away my memories of this place, and the thing that happened in Dallas, but don’t take away the memory of my family. I can’t live without that.”

  “If I did as you ask, then you would not remember that you are divorced. You would go looking for them again. I have to send you farther back in time. Or, you can choose to stay and fight.”

  I thought for a moment. “If I stay and fight, will I be able to reach my family in time to save them?”

  Indyrith shook his head.

  “What about Section Four?” I asked.

  Again, the elf shook his head. “The harbinger wolves will strike soon. They will beat us unless you do as they say. My guess is that they already have assassins in place, and that is why they gave you the time limit of one hour.”

  “So I have to forget all about them in order to save them, and even then I will likely be hunted down and killed by the harbinger wolf that has haunted me since I was a child?”

  Indyrith nodded. “Also, I will need to know when you met your ex-wife. I will have to go far enough back to ensure you don’t remember anything about her.”

  I nodded sullenly. What choice did I have? “The harbinger wolves gave me an hour, can I have a phone?”

  Indyrith smiled. “You won’t remember saying good-bye,” he said.

  “I can’t do it without at least trying,” I replied.

  Indyrith left the room and came back with Hank’s cell phone.

  I picked it up and dialed my wife’s number. Ex-wife, that is, but even now it was hard to get used to the new title. I felt the same sort of jittery butterflies in my stomach as I had the first time I had called this number to ask her out to dinner. Now I was dialing to say good-bye forever to her, and to my little boy. What would he think of me? What would she think?

  One ring.

  I thought of Tommy’s birth and the first few months we had him in our little apartment. Watching him learn to crawl. Looking back on it now, I should have changed more diapers. I should have read more bedtime stories.

  Two rings.

  My mind went back to a few days after the wedding. We had been so happy. Two young adults out to conquer the world together. Our whole lives had been ahead of us. Even going out into the town we hardly noticed anyone else even existed those first few months. It was all about having fun and enjoying being around each other. We liked to say that our honeymoon phase never ended. It just changed to include another person once Tommy was born.

  Three rings.

  Maybe she wasn’t there. What if she was in the shower, or asleep? It was still early morning in Utah. This might be the only chance I had to speak with them again, and she might not even have her phone turned on.

  Four rings.

  Someone picked up.

  “Hello?” a woman said on the other end. It was Jill, Susan’s older sister. I had never gotten along with Jill even in the best of times. It had only gotten worse after Dallas.

  “Hi Jill, listen, I need to speak with Susan,” I said in as polite a tone as I could muster. I even tried smiling on my end. I had heard during my job training for selling gym memberships that customers could hear a difference if you smiled on the phone. I hoped the fake cheese I put on for Jill would work.

  “You have some brass ones calling here,” Jill said.

  My smile faded. “Jill, please, it’s important.”

  “Yeah, well, right now she’s asleep, and you don’t need to be calling around here anymore.”

  “No, Jill, please. I need to speak with her, just for a minute. I promise, I’ll be quick.”

  “Don’t care,” Jill replied. “I knew you were no good the moment I met you. You have hurt her enough. You can just go to—”

  A young voice called out in the background and I ignored Jill for a moment to focus in on it. “Is that Tommy?” I asked. “Put him on, please.”

  “You can’t talk to him,” Jill said flatly.

  “Phone!” Tommy’s little voice shouted. I could picture him reaching for the cell phone as he always used to do whenever Susan or I were on the phone around him.

  “Jill, listen,” I began.

  “No, you listen,” Jill said. “According to the court, you can’t even see Tommy, so why would I give him the phone. Go take a long walk off a short pier somewhere. Don’t bother calling again.”

  She hung up.

  I hit redial, but all I got was a busy signal. She had shut off the phone.

  “Time is short,” Indyrith said.

  I nodded. At least I had gotten to hear Tommy one more time. He would never know that I had tried to reach out one last time, heck, I wouldn’t even remember, but at least I knew it for now. I looked to Indyrith and slid Hank’s phone across the table. “Can you watch over them?” I asked. “Just in case?”

  Indyrith nodded. “We have several weeks yet before the drakkul are allowed to return. We will do what we can to protect your family in the meantime. I’m sure Hank will be eager to search for the engine your father stole as well.” he said.

  “Maybe Mack could dig it up,” I offered. “I mean, you all know about my entire life, so why not dig up my father’s skeletons?”

  Indyrith offered a soft smile. “We have been investigating your father. We have not turned up any useful evidence as of yet. Come on, we only have a few minutes left to give the harbinger wolves what they wanted.”

  Flashes of memories with my family flooded my mind. It felt as though I was betraying them somehow. That, even in saving them, I was failing them.

  “Close your eyes,” Indyrith said.

  I complied as the memories kept rushing through my mind’s eye.

  “Clear your thoughts as best you can,” Indyrith said.

  Fat chance of that.

  “I will enter your mind and see how far back we need to go,” the elf said.

  The door opened and closed. I opened my eyes for a second to see his daughters. They locked the door and came to stand on either side of me. They placed their hands on the top of my head. I could feel a warm power pouring into me.

  “It will start soon,” Indyrith said.

  That was when I heard the drums again. They started as a faint beating in the back of my mind. They grew louder and louder. The stranger from before was singing again. Suddenly I found myself inside my mind. It was like being in the dream world, but instead of dreams I saw memories floating around me. I peered through them to see a tall, muscular man sprinting toward me as the drums grew louder and louder.

  “Wait, boy, you must wait!” he shouted. “There is another way!”

  I stepped toward him, fascinated by the clothing he wore of animal skins and beads. Who was he?

  “Wait!” he shouted again.

  I could hardly hear him over the drums.

  “All right, Joshua,” Indyrith said in a voice that sounded like thunder around me. I looked up, as if expecting to see a giant elf head inside my mind, but nothing was there except for a bright light. The feeling of vibrating warmth permeated the whole of my being. “I know where to begin now,” Indyrith said. “This time, it will not hurt. Allow yourself to relax, and all will be well.”

  “No boy!” the sprinting stranger said. “Wait for ME!”

  A flash of white light ripped through my mind, and everything was gone.

  CHAPTER 10

  I woke in a park. Newspaper covered my lower legs. A dog was curled up beneath the bench I was on. I pu
shed up and rubbed the lines out of my cheek that had been pressed into my skin from the metal on the bench and yawned. I put my feet on the ground and felt the cool dirt on my toes.

  That’s right. I slept here last night.

  I looked around and saw a mostly empty park. There was one lady jogging by. She was nice looking, fit and kind of cute. She made sure to stay as far away on the other side of the walkway from me as possible when she jogged by. I looked down at myself and agreed with the woman. I looked a little worse for wear. My clothes were torn in several places.

  I stretched my arms and recoiled sharply as pain shot through my left shoulder.

  Must have slept on it wrong. I thought.

  I got up and the dog obediently went with me as I walked in the opposite direction from the jogging woman. Heaven knows how badly I would have scared her if I walked the same direction. I went to a nearby garbage can and robotically bent down to pull a piece of cardboard out from underneath. I unfolded it. It was a good sign. I always hid it under the garbage so none of the others would take it from me. I walked out of the park and onto the nearest street corner. I sat at the light and held out my sign.

  It was rush hour, so if today was a good day, I could pull in maybe one or two hundred dollars. I decided that if I did, I was going to sleep in a motel for once. I was getting tired of the park bench.

  A black beamer pulled up to the light. Tinted windows, chrome rims, classical music wafting out the slightly cracked driver’s side window. I walked past that one without even another thought when the light turned red. Drivers in beamers never helped out. However, when I saw the ford escort pull up with a slightly dented door and paint missing from the bumper, I made sure to make eye contact.

  She gave me a twenty.

  Boom! There’s food for today and tomorrow. Things were looking up.

  I spent three hours waiting for red lights and then walking alongside the cars that stopped. Then my shift was over. Two other panhandlers came to the corner. I never did catch their names, but I remembered the beating they had given the other guy who used to be allowed to walk the street in the morning before them when he ran over his allowed shift. I was a big guy. Too big for most people to realize that I really was homeless and needed the money, but not big enough to take these two clowns. Rumor was they carried heat. Either way, I thought little of them. Fighting over turf to panhandle was a low thing to do. More than that, the two panhandlers working the light now were better off than I was. One of them even drove a BMW. Like I said, BMW drivers never help out. They all think the world owes them.