Out of Time the Grand Quest

by Christopher Douglass

  “Than you should have killed her! No one deserves to live like that!”

  “Why waste time and energy killing her? She will die on her own without my help. While I’m hungry, I’m not so hungry yet to need such a big meal, so I don’t need to kill in order to eat. And she poses no threat to me so I don’t need to kill her to survive.”

  “But that is just cruel!”

  “Life is cruel. If you are so worried about it, use your magic to end her suffering. But don’t expect me to do it.”

  “I don’t know how Frank can stand you!”

  “Lucky for me you don’t need to know or understand than isn’t it? Frank is my partner not you. He puts up with me, that’s all you need to know or care about.”

  The woman’s mind was a chaotic mess of half formed thoughts and retorts, all laced with anger and indignation over Milly’s uncaring attitude. It wasn’t like Milly didn’t have emotions, they just didn’t dominate her being. As a primordial beast before getting pulled through the rift, she hadn’t needed emotions. She simply ran on instinct. Being brought to Atlantis through the time tear didn’t change who she was, it had just added to what was already there.

  Despite what was in her mind, Bree didn’t say a word. Instead, she flung out her arm, sending a blade of wind behind them to decapitate the woman. Milly shook her head, such a waste of power. What if she needed that magical energy to survive one moment longer later? She would regret using it now. Turning towards a small path heading into the woods on the other end of town, Milly looked over at Bree.

  “So, now that your conscience is clear and you feel like you’ve done a good deed, do you want to know what I found out from the woman’s mind?”

  “I’m finding it really hard to like you.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not here to be liked. I am here to be Francis’ partner and succeed on quests. Francis is the only one I need. Now that we have that out of the way, do you want to know or not? Kimberly said we should work together, and that idea has merit. I am still only a mediator, and having a mage will make things easier. But I don’t really need you if you are so against working with me. I will figure out a way to do this on my own while you go cower in the corner of that barn hoping someone will comfort you through disembodied words written in dirt. If you didn’t have the heart to go on quest, you should have never left the safety of the village and waited for other people to save you. If all you can do is look to others for support and guidance while looking down on them for how they act, you are worse than Maria despite all your power.”

  Anger flared in her mind again, dozens of retorts and denials flowing through her head, though she didn’t voice one of them. Perhaps Milly had been a bit too harsh on her. Francis always said she went a bit too far sometimes. But her words were still the truth. Bree could not think of these people in the rifts as people. While they were real people, at the same time they were just fragments of the true history. Perhaps some echo of what they did in these rifts carried over into the true history, like dreams or ghost visions, but in the end they were still things. You did not grow attached to things.

  “Fine. Tell me. I’ll show you I’m not useless.”

  Milly felt the edges of her lips curl upwards in a grin. There was that primal urge for popularity again. Humans really were such simple creatures to figure out.

  “The Emishi are people. Just ordinary people who inhabit the northern reaches of Japan. They are a hunter-gatherer culture who have learned the art of ranged combat on horseback. They don’t refer to themselves as the Emishi, that is a name given to them by others. Also know as Ebisu, it roughly translates to “the hairy people”. There is a divide among the people from what I understand. Half of them wish to resist the rule of Emperor Kammu, while the other half wish for peace. Her husband is one who wished for war and so they were in hiding from both the Japanese government and their own people who are even now in peace talks with someone she just knew as “the shogun”.

  “It seems the Japanese government does not truly accept them as native’s, though from what was in the woman’s mind, they believe they are descended from the Ainu, or “original” people. The government does not accept this, though from what I understand of the woman’s memories, her husband is a direct descendant of the Emishi who developed the Jomon culture. Now don’t ask me what exactly all that means, since I really don’t know. The information was fragmented and colored by her view of the world.

  “What I do know though, is that she believed these things as truth. I think it might be somewhere in between personally. What it boils down to is the Emishi are like Japan’s version of gypsies. The government doesn’t really accept them as people, and so feel justified in killing them and taking their lands. This is why many resent the rule of the Emperor and the shoguns, and why they began warring to begin with-- in an attempt to protect their lands. The governing body is now in peace negotiations with the Emishi to end the war. Judging by the conditions for success though, this is not supposed to happen.”

  Milly kept walking down the winding path that she knew would take her to the dark area to the east. She wondered if it was appropriate to speak of these things in the present tense. While it was true these things were happening now, they were also part of the past. So should she speak in the past tense and not the present? Milly gave a mental shrug. In the end, she supposed it really didn’t matter.

  “Do you think the others are doing all right?”

  “I don’t know. It does no good to mull over information we don’t have.”

  “But Kimi said Isabelle has the Black Death right? What if she dies?”

  “Then she dies. Nothing we can do will change things. I don’t have any knowledge of this plague so I am of no help. We can’t go over to the other echoes either. You waste time and energy on worry, put that to better use elsewhere.”

  “But aren’t you afraid Frank might come down with it as well?”

  “Of course I am worried he might, but again, I can’t do anything about it now can I?”

  “I hope she makes it. I don’t think Jasmine could stand losing someone else. If she did, Jas’ might just go off the deep end.

  Bree fell silent as she continued to follow Milly. Milly didn’t care, death was just part of the eternal cycle all creatures went through. But one thing she had learned over the last five years, and even more so in the last three that she had been Francis’ partner, humans were fragile creatures. They needed constant reassurance over things they had no control of. Yet they seemed to think by having that assurance, they could somehow control the outcome. Milly just couldn’t figure out how it was she had such a hard time understanding humans when they were such simple minded animals. She knew what drove them, yet they applied these facets in such strange ways. The desire to mate and reproduce getting connected to seemingly unrelated thought processes. The desire for popularity coloring actions that had no bearing on anything as far as she could tell.

  Maybe it was simply because she was too young. She had only been two when the rift took her. Seven years of age did not seem like a great age to most, but to a raptor it was ancient. Of her twelve brothers and sisters, only three of them made it to their first year. She knew of only one or two raptors that had made it to their tenth year. She didn’t know if her lifespan had been increased along with her intelligence, but she liked to think it would be longer simply because she was not fighting to survive the jungles every day. Milly just had to continue observing these humans. Perhaps one day she would finally understand what it was she was missing. Perhaps one day she would find that special something Frank always spoke about. That something that would make her life feel complete and fulfilling. She thought it already was, but he assured her it wasn’t. Perhaps he was right, she had after all seen glimpses of something more when she looked into his eyes. An indefinable something she just couldn’t comprehend.

  Milly’s eyes roved the thick forest, her mind ranging out seeking signs of life. For the most part it was eeril
y quiet, lacking the cacophony she was used to. Once or twice she heard the fleeting thoughts of a rabbit or the chattering of far off squirrels, but those were few and far between. Milly wasn’t used to such silence. Ever since she had come here, she had learned to tune out all those thousand voices. Yet she always knew they were there, like an incessant buzzing just outside of her mental barriers. Now, in the silence of her mind, every whispered thought was like a shout. She wasn’t sure how to handle it, another reason she was probably a little more snappy than usual.

  Then, between one footstep and the next, her mind was assaulted by hundreds of voices. The sudden onslaught of voices dropped her to the ground, ripping through her barriers like they weren’t there. Her claws dug into the packed soil as she focused on getting the thoughts under control before they made her go crazy. She didn’t have Francis here to keep her in check if that happened.

  “Milly! Milly! Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  A voice. So distant, yet that wasn’t right. It was a real voice, not a thought. So it should sound closer. Female, higher pitched, she knew that voice, but what was the name attached to it? Not Maria, Maria was a bit shriller.

  “Milly? Speak to me, please!”

  So annoying. It made her want to bite her neck. That was a good idea, a nice juicy hunk of flesh between her teeth was just what she needed right now. The taste of hot blood squirting into her mouth, coating her throat and making the steaming meat easier to ingest.

  “Milly? Why’d you drop your disguise? You’re scaring me. Come on, tell me what I can do to help.”

  Milly lunged at the woman who was squatting close by. Her eyes went wide in surprise as she fell backwards. Milly’s jaws snapped on empty air, but her right claw was already swiping at the prone form. The woman did something strange with her hand, shooting backwards like something was dragging her. Milly ran at the woman, wanting nothing but her flesh in her teeth. The woman got to her feet, flinging out her hand. Milly felt like someone had punched her in the snout. Another blow from the side sent her to the ground. She tried getting up, but an invisible monster was sitting on top of her. She struggled to stand, to get at the walking pile of meat that was moving towards her. But with every step the meat took, the weight got heavier until she wasn’t even able to lift a claw. She snapped uselessly at the creature who squatted so close.

  The creature cocked her head to the side reaching out towards her slowly. She snapped her teeth, causing her prey to jerk back. Meat. she needed to kill. Needed to eat.

  “Milly?”

  Again she snapped. What was a Milly? Was it food? Was it prey? Was it this creature? It didn’t matter. Only the hunt mattered. The creature sat on the ground and crossed its legs. So close and yet so far. She continued to snap, just in case her teeth caught something. If this weight let up she would be ready. She would kill and eat the flesh of this animal.

  She grew tired. The invisible weight made it hard to breath. She settled down, prepared to conserve her energy. As she calmed, the bloodlust receded. Her mind came back as her primal nature was subdued. She was Marilla, known as Milly by all. The woman in front of her was Bree, a wind mage.

  “You can let me up now. I am sane again.”

  “How can I be so sure?”

  “I’m speaking am I not? And I’m not trying to rip your throat out anymore. That has to count for something.”

  The weight lifted, allowing Milly to scramble to her feet and take an unimpeded breath.

  “So how long was I not myself this time?”

  “This time? This has happened before?” Bree shook her head, her mind saying it wasn’t important right now. “Ten minutes.”

  “Two more than last time and three more than the time before that. Yes, there is some sort of correlation. The sages warned me, but now I know it is more than just guesswork.”

  “What?”

  Milly shook her head at Bree’s questioning look. “Never mind. It is not important right now. It is my problem to deal with. Come, let us continue. Time is still ticking.”

  Milly put her mental disguise back up as she headed back toward the wall of voices. This time putting up extra shielding to keep it from consuming her. The two walked in silence for a few feet before Milly felt the need to speak once more.

  “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “Never mind. Just-- thanks.”

  Milly caught the puzzlement in Bree’s thoughts, but didn’t say anything else. The woman didn’t need to be weighed down by Milly’s problems. Though Milly did feel more of a connection with the mage, now that Bree had kept Milly’s primal nature in check. Until now, only Francis had been able to do so. She hoped he was all right, Milly didn’t want to lose him yet.

  Chapter 20: A Troll’s Heart

  “Can you cover the entrances just in case? I don’t know if we need to worry about much resistance, but I would rather she not get away.”

  “Easy. Just who do you take me for? Some low level grub of a mage who just entered training and doesn’t know the first side of the wand to wave?”

  “I didn’t mean that.”

  “Then what did you mean?”

  “Forget it. Lets just get to work.”

  Francis let out a small sigh. He had never been that good dealing with people. Every time he opened his mouth, he felt he was sticking his foot in it. Milly always knew what he meant though. Francis missed her. He even missed her sharp tongue. Few people understood her, just like few people understood him. But the two of them never had a problem understanding each other. Outsiders wouldn’t understand their relationship past the mage-mediator bond they shared. But that was fine, they didn’t need to understand. The only ones that needed to know in the end were him and Marilla.

  Frank glanced over at Amy who was twirling a ring around on her pinky finger with furrowed brows. Three earth golems rose from the ground to march towards the back of the house along with the diminutive woman while two more stood right behind him. She was the kind of woman he hated dealing with the most. Bossy, head-strong, overbearing, and smugly sure of her own superiority. She was a strong mage, Francis could admit that. Earth golems were at least a third tier spell, and the levitation act she did at the parade was a level four. It was rare to find a mage able to control high tiers of multiple elements. Once they reached the second tier, most had to dedicate their time to one tree just to become good. Only after years of work could a mage afford to study a second branch. It was a testament to her skills that she had mastered so much at such a young age.

  Frank shook his head as he stared at the front door. He didn’t have time to mull over her skills. He had his own job to do. Reaching down to his belt, he fingered the chameleon lizard carved from the bone of the same lizard. Perhaps it was because he missed Milly that he felt a connection to this particular bone. Squeezing the carving, he gave the small mental twist to activate his magic, feeling his body contort as bones shifted. As he walked into the house, his flesh shimmered, making him seen invisible to the naked eye. Anyone paying attention would notice his outline of course, all he had really done was take on the abilities of a chameleon.

  Inside was a simple dwelling. He found the family in the dining room, a man, a woman, and a little girl of around eight or nine. The adults were unimportant. It was the girl he was here for. Sliding around the wall slowly, he got into position behind the man. Francis held his breath when the woman looked directly at him for a moment, then turned away without raising an alarm. Gritting his teeth on what he was going to do, Francis lunged forward, grabbed the man by the head and slammed it onto the table as his camouflage dropped.

  As his wife turned and opened her mouth, Francis let the unconscious form fall from his grip, whipping his tail around to strangle the woman’s screams. He flexed, tightening his muscles until she too passed out. When he turned to grab the girl, he found she had already run away. Sparing one last look at the two unconscious victims, Frank went searching the house.

  He was not a
violent man by nature. But he knew violence was a needed thing if he wished to survive. He did not revel in the kill as Milly did, nor seek it as a sport like others he knew. Preferring instead to incapacitate his opponents if he could. His teacher said doing so took more skill, and so he had trained harder than the rest to obtain that level of skill.

  His side ached and his muscles protested his new form. Shifting while his body was so beat up was definitely not one of his best ideas. But he needed to prove he could keep up. That he wasn’t a liability. He was sure Amy could have done this herself, but he was also sure she would have probably killed the parents. As he came around to a set of stairs leading upwards, his form shifted once more. Bones grated back into place as he lost the transformation. The burns on his head ignited, pain lanced through ribs and arm. Frank thought someone was shoving a poker into his eye until it all subsided. So about seven minutes was the limit of his magic right now, that was good to know.

  “Let me go!”

  Frank followed the shrill voice of the girl into the backyard, finding her encased in the body of one of Amy’s golem’s. Only her face was unencumbered by the hard substance. That didn’t last long though as a strap of dirt covered her mouth, preventing her from screaming any longer. Amy’s four and a half foot frame seemed extra small standing next to the seven foot mud men while she craned her neck up to look at the girl.

  “Joan D’arc. Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. You will just be our guest for the rest of the day. Though if you don’t behave, I might just have to cut up that pretty little flesh of yours. We just need you alive, nothing about unharmed.”

  The smile Amy gave the girl sent chills up Frank’s spine and caused Joan’s eyes to widen in fear. Amy was bluffing of course, she wouldn’t really harm the girl. At least, Frank hoped she was bluffing. As long as she was contained, Joan D’arc posed no threat.

  “Well, now that we got her, how exactly are we going to get her back without anyone seeing? I didn’t think about that part too well, Milly usually comes up with the plans. Unless you think a seven foot tall golem with a human girls face in its chest isn’t going to raise any eyebrows.”