Gatekeepers

by Sam Ferguson

  I was more than a little comforted to find out that Hank’s plan to keep Susan and Tommy safe was working. Too bad the same couldn’t be said for Hank, but there was no time for sadness now. I was about to face off with four creatures who knew the dream world far better than I did. Frankly, the scene reminded me of the showdown in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I was starting to think that I should have wished for a gun.

  The alp clicked and held out its hands. “First you, and then your family.” The creature’s nails grew longer and then a layer of purple and gray smoke covered the desert floor. The sand dropped out from beneath me, and I found myself falling downward as the alp laughed and the harbinger wolves lunged toward me.

  I twisted in the air and slashed through the fleshy shoulder of the closest harbinger wolf. The beast snarled and recoiled as the clouds enveloped us and we crashed downward into a new scene. My body broke through an old barn roof. I landed hard on the aged wooden planks of the upper floor where bales of stale hay were kept. Out the corner of my eye, I saw the wounded harbinger wolf burst through the upper floor and crash down to the dirt below. He howled in pain, and then I heard the claws ripping at the ground and pounding the stairs as he made his way back to me.

  Jumping up to my feet, I took stock of where I was. I knew this place. I had lived here as a boy. This barn was situated deep in the northwestern corner of Montana, smack in the middle of twenty of the most fertile acres on God’s green earth. I smiled. The alp was manipulating the dream, but he had miscalculated. This barn had been my fortress as a boy. I had won many imaginary battles within its walls, and I knew all the secret places to hide, and to escape. I raced over two bales of hay and came down with the point of my blade. I hadn’t needed to look before I struck, I knew that this would put me right over the top of the stairs. The beast unwittingly raced toward his own doom. As I came down, my bodyweight easily sank my sword into the harbinger wolf’s spine. The monster yipped and fell limp. I wrenched the sword free and then came down with a heavy chop to sever the harbinger wolf’s head. For good measure, I kicked the head down the stairs.

  A second wolf was climbing the walls outside the barn, headed for a large gap where age and weather had torn away a section of the upper wall. He charged in as I gave him a wink. I raced up the last couple stairs and slid my sword back into its sheath upon my back. I clambered over a short stack of hay bales and leapt outward. I had done this many times as a boy, much to my mother’s chagrin. If only she had known that this exact move would save my life one day, perhaps she wouldn’t have scolded me for it. My hands found the familiar, strong rope hanging from the top of the barn. In years past, it had been used as part of a pulley to hoist up the hay bales, but I used it the way Robin Hood might have used a similar device to swing from tree to tree, only I was making a wide arc. At the apex, I kicked my legs back toward the barn to pick up momentum. The harbinger wolf had leapt out after me, but he had not known about the rope. The heel of my boot connected with the harbinger wolf’s lower jaw and snapped the creature’s head back as my momentum drove me through the beast. The large monster grunted and flipped over backward, landing hard upon the ground below. No sooner had my feet touched the edge of the barn than I jumped down, pulling my blade and aiming it for my next target. My feet drove into the harbinger wolf and kept it pinned as I pierced its chest with my sword.

  I grinned victoriously. This was going much better than I had thought.

  The next thing I know there was an explosion of gray wood from behind me. Splinters teeth and claws shot out at me back as the third harbinger wolf flew at me. I managed to duck and roll to the side just in time to avoid the beast’s menacing fangs, though the claws did tear a gash in my right shoulder, causing an immense, hot pain to shoot along my arm. I hit the ground hard and watched in horror as the harbinger wolf I had just stabbed through the heart slowly rose to its feet and shook off the debris. It turned and sneered.

  “You heal faster in the dream world…” I huffed. “Fantastic.” I jumped to my feet in time to raise the sword as the wounded wolf lunged for me. His right arm was a blur of gray and brown as the claws came sailing at my face. I pulled back and managed to hit the arm with my sword, but I had made a mistake. I had lost sight of the harbinger wolf that had broken through the wall.

  The creature seemed to come out of nowhere, as if the grass in the dream had grown longer just to hide his movements. He jumped up at my side, his gaping maw filled with yellowed fangs dripping with spittle. I felt the hot breath on my face as the monstrosity came within striking distance, but instead of finishing me, a flash of green zipped in, followed by a crackle of lightning. The harbinger wolf’s head stopped in midair and then fell to the ground, mouth still open wide.

  “Don’t stare, fight!” a stern voice shouted.

  A large foot slammed into my abdomen, claws ripping at the front of my shirt as the force of the blow threw me back through the opening in the barn wall. The wolf howled and turned to fight the newcomer. After I bounced across the dirt floor of the barn and came to a stop, I looked up, expecting to see Flint, or Indyrith, but the man I saw fighting in my stead was neither human, nor elf.

  A drakkul was standing toe-to-toe, working his blades as quickly as the wolf could strike with its massive claws. I could hardly believe my eyes, but growing up a bit on the poorer end of things, I knew better than to reject such a generous gift. I jumped up and rushed in. With the two of us together, the final harbinger wolf didn’t stand a chance. My sword lopped off the wolf’s right hand just below the elbow, which then created an opening for the drakkul. The lizard-man thrusted one sword through the wolf’s heart, and planted his second up higher in the creature’s left shoulder.

  “I have him pinned, take the head!” the drakkul shouted.

  I was already in motion by the time the lizard had spoken. My sword whistled through the air and then took the harbinger wolf’s head with one thwack! A spray of blood hit the ground, and then the monster went limp, easily sliding backward off of the drakkul’s swords.

  A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. Was the drakkul here to kill me himself? Was he related to the others who had died already? Or was he simply here to make sure I didn’t die before he could retrieve the precious engine of theirs?

  I opened my mouth to speak, but the world melted away again. Instead of the ground falling out, as it had in the desert, the horizons seemed to liquefy and flow downward, mixing together as if made of nothing more than wax that had been put into a furnace.

  A great rumbling shook the ground and I fell to my knees. When it stopped, I was in a barren, brown valley filled with rocks and tall, black trees.

  “The alp is taking us to my homeland,” the drakkul said. “He will try to use my memories to disorient you.”

  “Why are you helping me?” I asked.

  The large drakkul turned and offered a toothy grin that revealed his many sharp fangs as he swished his tail back and forth. “Focus on the alp, if we survive, I will tell you.”

  If we survive? We had already killed the harbinger wolves. I had killed an alp already by myself. The rest of this fight was going to be easy.

  The knocking sound of falling rocks rose up from the mountains behind me. I turned and saw several large boulders tumbling downward.

  “Get down!” the drakkul hissed. The creature then flattened himself to the earth. I almost did likewise, but my doubts got the better of me. Why was this drakkul helping me? Or, was it even a drakkul at all? Alps were able to manipulate dreams. What if this was some sort of trap?

  I clutched my sword and scanned the area, keeping a wary eye on the drakkul who was still motioning for me to lie flat on the ground.

  A great screech rent the air. A massive, four-winged creature exploded out from the mountainside and dove toward my position. The largest bird I had seen in real life was a California Condor. It was massive, with a nine foot wingspan. The thing soaring my way now could easily make a snack of a condor with one bi
te of its giant, pterodactyl-like beak.

  I ran and dove behind a large boulder. A wave of air kicked up dust and small bits of sand and gravel as the winged terror sailed just a foot or two over the boulder. Because of its size, the thing couldn’t turn around in a tight corner. It had to sail off toward the other side of the valley and then careen around in a wide arc as it prepared for the next dive.

  “Come on!” the drakkul hissed.

  This time I didn’t question my unlikely partner. We ran. The drakkul led me to a pile of rocks and pointed to a space between them. I scrambled down inside and peeked around to see what the drakkul was doing. The green-skinned creature sheathed his second sword and held up his left hand. A mass of swirling, crackling lightning bolts gathered in his hand. He waited as the winged monster came closer, and then fired his spell a second before diving down into the space between the rocks with me.

  I heard an agonized squawk, and then there was a great crash as the massive thing scraped and scratched across the surface, dragging rocks and dirt with it until its momentum was broken.

  “Come, we must kill it now!” the drakkul said as he clambered out from the rocks.

  I wormed my way up to the surface and rushed after him. This being his native environment, the drakkul was much more adept than I at climbing out of the small space. He was already atop the great beast’s back and stabbing at the creature’s spine by the time I had climbed out and made it to my feet. I ran into the fray, seeing that the winged beast was thrashing about and trying to shake off the spell it had been hit with. Its long neck craned around, bringing the deadly beak directly toward me. Out of reflex rather than experience, I dropped to slide on my knees and bent low to the ground as I thrusted my sword up into the soft spot just at the back of the beak. My blade easily tore into the creature. Before I could pull my weapon out and prepare for another strike, the creature made a hissing sound and flipped its head back the other way, flinging me and my sword several yards away. I tumbled across the hard dirt and slammed into one of those tall, black trees. Stars went around my head as if I was in an old Looney Tunes show, followed by a terrible ringing in my ears that made me clench my eyes shut until it passed.

  Stabbing pain ripped through my left shoulder and something picked me up as easily as if I were a doll. I opened my eyes to see the alp, but it was not the small creature I had seen before. It was twenty feet tall, and easily heavier than several bull elephants. He laughed at me and then threw me to the ground. His claws pulled at my flesh as they were rent from my body, and then there was a terrible crack! I bounced once on the dirt, and then came to a twisted stop. I tried to force myself to remember that this was just a dream, but the wounds were too real. I could barely breathe. My left arm was dead and useless. I was only vaguely aware that my sword was no longer with me.

  Blackness was closing around my vision as the blood poured from my shoulder.

  “I’m not through with you yet,” the alp said.

  A great, pink tongue stretched out and licked at my shoulder, bringing with it a pain that could only be described as fire. The heat rolled into me like a ball, and then expanded through my body in waves. I cried out in agony, and then I nearly lost consciousness. Somehow, the alp was keeping me awake, reveling in my pain. It seized me by my left ankle, twisting the joint as it brought me up into the air. I heard the bones crack, but the pain was nothing compared to the burning in my shoulder.

  “A dream walker,” the alp hissed. “I had forgotten how good the blood of a dream walker tastes.”

  A flash of green ran at the alp from below. I tried to warn the drakkul off, but it was too late. The alp swatted the drakkul away with his free hand, sending my ally flying through the air and away from the battle. The beast then brought me closer to his large, brown eye. I dangled helplessly, racked with pain and void of the will to live or even move. There was nothing I could do. The plate-sized pupil dilated and then narrowed as I came within a few feet of the great eye.

  “I will not eat you quickly,” the alp promised. “Your body will die in only a few hours, but in the dream world it shall feel as years to you. I will relish in this kill.”

  I’m not sure what it was. Fatigue, the brink of consciousness I was at, I can’t say, but for whatever reason, I started laughing. The alp shook my limp body, but still I laughed.

  “What is wrong with you!” the alp shouted so loudly that rocks tumbled from the nearby mountainsides.

  I shook my head and despite the pain, answered the creature. “My name is Joshua Mills. I am nobody. I sell memberships at a local gym, and here I am fighting monsters and waging war against creatures that create nightmares. It’s ridiculous. No one would ever believe me.”

  The alp dropped me and then stabbed a single claw through my right leg. The wound went down into my bone and caused my back to arch with the most intense, massive spasm I could imagine. A moment later the creature pulled me back up to its eyes and licked the blood flowing from the new wound. A fire started in my leg, just as it had when the alp licked my shoulder.

  “There, was that enough to help you believe your eyes?” the alp hissed.

  I clenched my jaw against the pain and focused my eyes on the great orb in front of me. My strength was draining faster than I had ever experienced before in my life, but the anger and indignation rising within my soul gave me a bit of strength. I wasn’t going to win the fight, but I was not about to go down easily either.

  “Go to hell,” I whispered. I jabbed the great eye with my index and middle finger on my right hand, pushing into the soft, wet surface as much as I could before curling my fingers and raking my nails across the orb.

  “GARGH!” the alp shouted as it flung me to the side. I hit the ground and skidded to a halt just before slamming into a large rock. I smiled. That had felt good. I struggled to crane my neck around and watch as the alp was holding its eye and thrashing about angrily.

  “What’s the matter, something in your eye you big oaf!” I shouted.

  Drums sounded in the valley.

  I looked around, expecting to see the drakkul, but he was nowhere to be seen. The drums grew louder.

  “Get up boy,” a man said. “Get up and fight.”

  I laughed the notion off at first, but then a great swell of energy filled my lungs.

  “GET UP!” the man shouted. In that moment, I forgot about the pain in my body. I pushed up to my feet as the drums grew louder and louder. “This is your dream,” the voice said. “Bend it to your will.”

  I looked around, but saw no one except the alp, who was still holding his eye and gnashing his teeth. That was when I realized that there was a tall, brown hat on the ground near me. In all of the alp’s thrashing and jumping around, he had lost his tarnkappe. I bent down and took the hat, remembering that Indyrith had said the hat was the source of the alp’s power. No sooner had I taken it, than a cool breeze wrapped around my body. All of my wounds healed. More than that, I could feel my muscles grow thicker and stronger. My head cleared, and my sword appeared back in my hand. I tucked the hat into the back of my pants and whistled at the alp.

  “Hey there One-Eye-McFatty, I’m not through with you yet!” I shouted.

  The alp turned then and wailed at me, raising its claws angrily and preparing to strike, but when it saw me standing, it stopped and stood still.

  “No, this cannot be!” the alp hissed. It clicked and glanced nervously to the side, and then it tried to run away.

  “No,” I said calmly.

  The alp smacked into an invisible wall.

  “Let me out!” the alp shouted. The creature turned to run another way, but again slammed into an invisible wall. It then wheeled around on me, its one eye bloodshot and red. “I will not let you do this!”

  The ground fell away once more and a cloud of smoke surrounded the alp.

  “No!” I shouted.

  The ground returned.

  The smoke hiding the large alp disappeared. Then the creature shrank back
to its original size.

  “NO!” the alp hissed. “How are you doing this?!”

  I reached back with my left hand and pulled out the tarnkappe. The alp’s eyes went wide and the creature shook with fear.

  “No, no, give it back! Give it back!” It charged toward me, but knowing that I had the power over this nightmare, I had a bit of fun of my own. As the alp dashed in, I imagined a column of rock rising up in front of it. In answer to my imagination, a column sprang up and the alp ran headlong into the stone, knocking itself back onto its rump and nearly losing consciousness.

  I tucked the hat back into my waistband and advanced on the dazed creature, sword at the ready.

  “No!” the drakkul shouted as he came around a group of black trees, limping badly and holding his left arm close to his side. “Keep the hat and the beast will be your slave.”

  I shook my head and walked up to the wide-eyed, three-horned alp. Its lower jaw quivered as it stared at my blade. “I have no need for slaves,” I said decisively. I brought my sword down and took the alp’s head in one fell swoop. As the alp’s head rolled across the ground, I turned back to the drakkul. “The first time I saw one of you, it ruined my life.”

  The drakkul nodded. “I know of Hek’tar Bar’Sule, but I am not one of his kin. I am Drendarin, First Talon of the House of Grena.” The lizard-man puffed out his chest and stood straight. It was obvious that in his home such a title would carry great meaning. In the middle of a nightmare that had almost killed me, I couldn’t care less.

  “Get to the point,” I said impatiently. “Why did you show up and help?” I threw up a finger and pointed at the creature. “And, while you’re at it, go ahead and tell me just how you got into my dream in the first place.”

  Drendarin nodded and his proud shoulders fell. “The house that hunts you is a mighty clan. They have always been quick to fight, but slow to listen to reason. They seek what your father stole from them, but they ignore the consequences of reclaiming such a device.”