by R H Frye
“Well…okay then, let’s do it. And I’ll pray to God we can find him, because I don’t know what we’ll do if He heals himself before we do.”
Maraydel awakened to pain so severe that his consciousness nearly fled before his iron force of will managed to blunt the sharpest edges and make a place for rational thought in his tortured mind. His thoughts were fuzzy and slow as he sought an answer to how he found himself in his current situation. The pain was so overwhelming that his mind could only conjure bits and pieces of memory, and even though he struggled to touch the power that he had long ago learned to wield, it remained just out of his grasp. He could hear voices talking nearby, but their words were jumbled and meaningless. Still they were a focal point that was separate from the pain, so he struggled to listen to them.
“What do you think happened to this guy?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t know what’s keeping him alive.”
“Well how did he end up like this?”
“I just told you I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. How the hell do you get burned this badly without a source of heat anywhere nearby?”
“What do you mean?”
“It was on the news. They found him in a hotel room when the maid came in to clean up. Not a stitch of clothes on him, nothing burnt in the room, but this guy looks like he’s been roasted on a spit. I tell you, it’s some weird shit.”
“Well what can we do for him?”
“All we can do is feed him morphine, change the dressings, and wait for him to die. No way he pulls through. No way.”
“Okay, well, I’ll start the morphine then.”
The voices trailed away and moments later a cool lack of sensation spread from Maraydel’s arm to radiate out through his body. Just before sleep stole away his consciousness, some of his memories broke through in the wake of the pain’s passing, and cold fury bloomed in his mind. Where were the slaves? And how had he been bested again? Hatred coursed through his mind as he crossed the threshold from awareness to sleep...
Chapter 10
John pulled his truck into a parking place by the old man’s small bookstore in Cherokee. He stepped from the truck and paused to wait for Sarah to take his hand. He was about to enter the store when the phone booth on the sidewalk outside caught his eye.
“Hey, wait a minute,” he told Sarah as he stepped into the booth. She looked questioningly at him but did not interfere as he picked up the receiver and dialed 411 for information. “Asheville…St. Joseph’s Hospital…Admitting.” While he was waiting for the numbers he had requested, Sarah helpfully located a pen and notepad from her purse. He looked gratefully at her as he quickly found a blank page and noted the requested numbers.
“So exactly what are you going to do, John?” It was a fair question, and he was less than certain of what he hoped to accomplish by calling the hospital, but he needed any information he could find about his adversary.
“Well, I’m hoping to call and find out about the guy on the news. You know, whether he’s still alive and whether they expect him to make it. Beyond that, I really don’t know.”
“You don’t think they’re just going to give out information like that over the phone do you?”
“Well, it can’t hurt to try…I hope.” John smiled as he added the last part of the sentence.
Sarah returned the smile and replied with a simple, “Good luck.”
John smiled his thanks and returned his attention to the telephone. He dialed the number for the hospital and entered his credit card information when prompted to make the long-distance call. After several rings a bored woman’s voice answered the phone. “St. Joseph’s. Admitting.”
“Yes, ma’am. My name is Mark Logan. I’m a reporter, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to give me some information regarding a patient you recently admitted.”
“Sir, patient records are confidential. I can’t help you. I’m sorry.” The bored voice sounded quite a bit less than apologetic.
John sensed that the person on the other end of the call was about to hang up. “Wait. Please don’t hang up. Can’t you tell me something? My editor will kill me if I don’t have anything to give him for this week’s Weekly World News.” As he spoke to the lady, he bent all the force of his will to convincing her to help him. His vision blurred slightly, and an image seemed to briefly overlay what he could see from the phone booth. In this image he could dimly see a lady in a nurse’s scrubs sitting at a brightly lit desk. Her hair was a horrible shade of dyed red and was piled in an unruly bun on the top of her head. She was chewing on a pencil that was clasped in one hand. The phone was clenched between her shoulder and ear and her free hand was reaching for the button to disconnect the call. John poured his will into stopping that finger and he felt energy flowing from himself, through the phone line, and into the ear of the nurse he was seeing. Her eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment and her finger stopped moving towards the disconnect button.
A look of indecision crossed the nurse’s face for a moment, and then she sighed and said, “Well…maybe I could make an exception. Who were you calling about?”
John was rendered momentarily speechless in response to the nurse’s quick change of mind, but he recovered himself and managed to reply. “Well, I’m not sure of the guy’s name, but he was found at a hotel near your hospital and admitted for burns. Do you have any clues about the patient’s identity?”
“Oh, you mean the mysterious John Doe. No, we don’t know who he is. It probably won’t matter soon anyway. It says here that his condition is critical. Frankly, from what I’ve heard the doctor’s saying, they don’t know why he’s still alive. He’s got second and third degree burns over his entire body. It’s the weirdest thing we’ve ever seen, and in a hospital, that’s saying something.”
“That is weird. So, can you tell me what room he’s in?” John thought he may be pressing his luck, but he was still operating on the assumption that it could not hurt to try. To his continued surprise, the question paid off.
“He’s in the ICU, room 5. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, thank you so much for your help. Have a good day.” John hung up quickly before the nurse could begin to have second thoughts about how helpful she had been. When he turned from the phone, he found Sarah staring thoughtfully at him.
“You did something to her. She was going to hang up and you changed her mind. I felt it.” Sarah paused to gather her thoughts before continuing. “John, just what can you do? And maybe more importantly, what can’t you do?”
“Sarah, I don’t know. I just don’t know…but I’m hoping the guy in here can help me find out. Come on.” He took her hand as he stepped by her and moved to the door of the small bookstore. The bell on the door rang as he stepped inside, and Sarah followed closely on his heels.
The same old man from the previous day was waiting behind the counter as John and Sarah entered the store. He looked up and smiled when he saw the two approaching. “So, I see you found her. Good.”
Sarah looked at John with a question in her eyes. John considered how best to answer the unspoken question before replying. “I was told that I needed to go to my appointment yesterday. This gentleman, Mr.…I just realized I don’t know your name,” John said as he turned to the old man.
“It’s Adam Standing Bear.”
“Mr. Standing Bear told me that it was important that I go to my appointment with you. I tend to think he was right, don’t you?” He gave Sarah a small smile as he finished the question. She returned the smile as she leaned forward to kiss his cheek gently. She leaned in close to John as they both turned to face the old man.
Adam looked at them both for a long moment. He could feel the closeness between them and considered it a good thing for the times ahead of them. He could not see everything that lay before them, but he could sense enough of it to know that they were on a dark and dangerous path. The strength of the two people before him was a palpable force. He could feel the
energy coming from their union and it was wholesome and good…and completely different from the malevolent energy that had been haunting his dreams of the last few days. Suddenly realizing that the expectant silence was growing long and a bit uncomfortable, Adam roused himself from his thoughts and said, “You have a lot to learn and less time than you’ll want to learn it. Are you ready to get started?”
John took a deep breath before replying. He felt that he was on the edge of beginning down a path that would alter his life forever, but on a deeper level he knew that he had already started down that path on the day that he learned of his grandfather’s death. “Sure. Where do we begin?”
“Hang on for just a second.” Adam stood up and walked to the front door. He turned the deadbolt to secure the door and flipped over the Open sign to read Closed. With the store secured against interruptions from customers, he made his way back to John and Sarah and said, “Follow me.” He led the way through the store to a door that was marked Employees Only. John and Sarah followed Adam through the door and into the back room of the small store.
The back of the store was surprising. It was bigger than they would have imagined from the outside and was actually a small studio apartment. Battered but sturdy furniture decorated the apartment and a twin bed was placed in one corner. A sofa and chair dominated the center of the room and faced a 13” television that was perched on a diminutive stand against one wall.
Adam waved the couple towards the sofa as he said, “Have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?” When Sarah and John both declined his offer, he said, “Well, I’m going to have a Coke.” He made his way over to the refrigerator that was crammed into the apartment’s cramped kitchenette. He opened the door, grabbed a can of Coca-Cola, and made his way over to the apartment’s remaining chair. He sighed wearily as he sank into the cushions, and then he turned his attention to Sarah and John. “So, let’s see, where do I begin?”
“How about the beginning?” John asked. “How did this all get started?”
“Well, to begin at the beginning would probably take more time than you realize but let me just say this. Your grandfather was the guardian of an old secret. He never told me all of it, but he told me enough that I recognized the warning signs when things started to go wrong.”
“How did you know my grandfather?”
“I grew up with Charlie. We played in the woods around here as kids. That was back before the casino came and you kids started to forget our heritage. Your great-grandfather used to take us out and teach us about the old ways. But I always knew there were things that he shared with Charlie that he wouldn’t tell me. Charlie said it had to do with who your family was and a responsibility they accepted a long time ago.”
“Well what did my grandfather tell you about it?”
“Oh, you know this part already. I know you have dreams. And I know some of what you’ve been shown.”
“How would you know that?” John was a little surprised to hear irritation starting to creep into his voice.
“That’s easy enough to answer. Old Charlie came and told me some things in my dreams a couple of nights ago. And I know he came and told you some things too, so don’t act like you don’t believe me. You don’t have time to fall into your old bitter habits. You need to learn things that you should have had a lifetime to learn, and you need to learn them very soon.” As he finished speaking, Adam gazed at John with a determined look in his eye.
John looked slightly embarrassed at the mild reprimand. “I’m sorry. It’s a habit. I promise to open my mind on this, okay?”
“Good. If you open your mind, there should be very little to limit the things you can do John. But I think your grandfather could tell you about this stuff better than I can. Do you want to see him?”
John stifled a look of surprise and said, “How can I see him? I mean, yeah, he did come to me in my sleep, but I’m wide awake now.”
“Sit back against the couch and close your eyes John. I’m going to guide you into a vision. From there, I know old Charlie will do the rest.”
John looked searchingly at Adam for a moment. Seeing only sincerity and kindness in the old man’s face, John leaned back, closed his eyes, and waited. Adam began to speak, calmly and soothingly.
Sarah sat quietly watching the exchange between John and Adam. She knew somehow that she should not intrude, so she continued to remain quiet and listened to the things that Adam was saying.
“Relax and breathe deeply John. Clear your mind of everything. Let all your emotions drain away. See yourself on a hilltop with a grassy field spread around you on all sides. In the distance you can see trees swaying in the breeze. The sky is blue above you and the temperature is perfect. The air is warm and comfortable. Puffy white clouds drift by overhead. Can you see it, John?”
Sarah felt the tension draining from John’s body where it rested beside her. His breathing was slow and relaxed. He answered Adam. “Yes, I see it.”
“Good. Now look for animals. Tell me what the first animal you see is.”
“I see a deer. It’s actually really a fawn, not even full grown yet.”
“And what’s the deer doing?”
“It’s looking at me. It’s turning and walking away towards the woods.”
“Follow the deer, John. Don’t worry you won’t scare it. Just follow the deer. It will take you into the forest to see your Grandfather. We’ll be waiting here at the top of the hill for you. Okay?”
“Okay.” John’s answer was faint, and his breathing was slower still. Sarah could sense without seeing that some part of John was no longer present, in spite of his living body beside her. She looked at Adam with alarm in her eyes, but he only smiled at her, shook his head, and leaned back in the chair to drink his Coke.
As John followed the deer towards the woods, he had the strange sensation of being in two places at once. On one hand, he was following the deer through a grassy field. On the other hand, he could still feel the couch beneath him and smell Sarah’s scent nearby. It was a peculiar sensation, but not alarming or uncomfortable, so John focused his whole attention on the deer and followed it under the branches of the forest ahead.
The deer stepped lightly into the woods and moved inside until the bright sunshine was replaced by the muted glow of light filtered through the leaves and branches overhead. John turned his head to look back towards the meadow, and when he returned his eyes to his direction of travel, he saw that the deer had disappeared. The animal that had taken the deer’s place gave John a reason to stop walking. A wolf stood facing him where the deer should have been. It barked sharply at John, and he felt a momentary alarm, but he relaxed when the wolf sat down, and its mouth opened into a very canine grin. “Okay my old friend, you’ve had your fun.” The voice was familiar, and John understood why when he saw his grandfather step out from behind a large tree and pause briefly the stroke the gray head of the wolf before moving directly towards him.
“Grandfather?” He knew the question was silly, but he was startled and pleased to see the man before him, and he could not think of a more intelligent thing to say.
“Yes, John, it’s me. It’s good to see you, Grandson.” His grandfather was still closing the distance between them, but he stopped when John rushed forward and embraced him.
“Oh, Grandfather, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you.”
“Hush now. There’s no need for apologies, and there’s definitely no time for apologies. There are too many things you need to learn if you’re going to come through this thing alive. And if you fail, the price to the rest of the world will be too high, so no more apologies.” The look that he gave John was the same gentle but stern look that he had used when John was a kid, and it made John smile to see it.
“Okay Grandfather, you win. I’ll say one more thing and then drop it. I love you. I just needed you to know it.”
“I always knew it. Now do you want to know what’s going on…and maybe how to fight it?”
“Hell yes.”
“Hell. It’s funny that you use that word, because the monster you face had to have come from there originally. But let me start at the beginning, or at least the beginning of the story as I know it.
“Thousands of years ago, before people began to keep records there was a group of evil men that ruled over much of the world. These men were the Magi. They each held power over certain areas, and no one of our people knew where they came from or how they came by the power they had. As much as possible, people just stayed away from them, but these Magi seemed to thirst for blood. I don’t mean they drank it, but they would charm people with their powers and kill them in bloody rituals. I think they drew power from the souls of their victims.
“Well, over the years of their power, people across the world learned to focus and use a power that was similar to the power of those men, but it was different in a couple of important ways. Where the power of the Magi was destructive, the new power was healing. The Magi ripped the energy they used from the world around them and bent it to their will. The new power flowed from a natural connection between all things and it was subtle and wholesome.
“As the years passed, the new power rose up, all across the world as nearly as our ancestors could tell, and it challenged these men. Battles like the one you’ve dreamed about for so long would sooner or later erupt where one of the evil men held power and the outcome was always the same. The evil men would be killed, and so would the shamans that fought them. The surviving people, having only a tiny portion of the skills and knowledge of the great shamans, would tear down the unholy altars of the Magi and do what they could to make sure that their knowledge was lost forever.
“Now let me tell you about what happened in our mountains. You’ve seen the battle for yourself, in the dream that you’ve always had. That was the last battle that we know of. No other news ever reached our people of any more of the Magi after the battle was fought and won in our mountains. And after that battle, our own shamans had passed. Over the years, many of our medicine men have tried to reclaim the knowledge and powers that were lost when our shamans were killed, and they’ve learned a lot about healing people but little else. Most of the things that our medicine men could do at the height of their power seemed to be gone forever…until you.”