by Mark Tufo
I knew this inherently, but she’d left the door open when she’d put an uplilt to the end of her sentence. “I’m staying with the kids,” I told her.
She arched an eyebrow.
“Listen, I know shit is going down, I do, and that somehow, through all this crap, the Lycans need us and we’re going to need them. But it is way too soon to be reaching across that great divide that separates us and start shaking hands and clapping each other on the back. I can’t even pretend to advocate working with them. I’m recusing. I’d be more of a detriment if I went.”
She eyeballed me for a second. “I hate admitting when you’re right; makes me feel like I’m on unstable ground.”
“What?” I asked sitting up in bed.
“You are wrong so many times that it is unnerving to those around you when you finally make a good point.”
Oggie whined as if to say: “Don’t lump me in with him.”
I threw off my covers and stood upon the bed. “Go. Go to your meeting and just look at what you’re missing.” Of course, I was naked; sleeping in clothes was entirely too constrictive.
“Oh thunderation, Talbot! Nobody wants to see that!” Mathieu was at the doorway.
“Maybe knock next time,” I said as I got down.
“The door was open!” He had his hand over his eyes.
“You are witness to our pre-mating ritual, Mathieu. I was about to start dancing, employing a strong hip gyration that shows my prowess.”
“Shut up, just shut up!” he begged. “The meeting is about to start.” He’d already turned away. “I’d suggest clothes if you’re planning on attending.”
“Why? I’m more imposing like this-makes a stronger point,” I said.
“Must be a small point.” Azile smiled.
“Ouch, woman.”
“See you soon.” She came over and kissed me. “I’ll make it up to you later.”
“It’s not me you need to apologize to. You hurt his feelings; I’ll be lucky if he comes out of his shell at all.”
“Oh, I think I’ll be able to coax him out.” She tenderly reached down and gave a gentle squeeze. By the time her curvaceous bottom walked through and closed the door I was staring at a very rigid situation.
“Great. What the hell am I going to do with you?” I asked as I looked upon it. When things calmed down, so to speak, I went into the next room. Gabriel was reading a small picture book to Alianna and MJ, the latter still seemed to be sleeping or was completely rapt in the young boy’s oration.
It was late afternoon by the time the meeting came to a close. In the meantime, me and the kids had built a fort, had a bloodthirsty pillow fight, ate some lunch, and were deep in the midst of a nap from our adventurous day when I received a soft boot to my side.
“Have fun?” Azile asked as she looked down. We were all on the floor, pillows, stuffed animals, wooden toys and maybe some uneaten lunch all around. Looked sort of like three small tornados and one large hurricane had blown through. The children were growing up so much faster than I could account for.
“You have no idea,” I told her. I got up, making sure not to interrupt any of the sleeping babes. “How’d the meeting go?”
“Pretty much how I’d expected it.”
“So, lots of screaming and protests and then you finally bent them to your will?”
“The council said they will think on it and I am not that predictable,” she said.
“Sure you are. I know your thoughts and actions almost before you do.”
“Careful, Talbot,” she laughed.
“Watch. I’m going to lead you into the other room, take off all your clothes, and make you formally apologize for your earlier insult.”
“Let’s get on with it then. Lead away.”
“Wait…that worked? What a grand day.”
Do I need to even continue with what happened? I mean, I will, if it somehow appeases your curiosity. I’ll let you take a nice long look for your voyeuristic self. As the blood flowed from one part to another, I lost my bearing where I was; I stubbed my toe on the dresser, shouted out one lousy curse word. This caused Alianna to awaken with a small cry, which woke her brother, who screamed bloody murder that he had been disturbed from his apparently most awesome cake-eating dream. Only Gabriel woke without a start. It had quickly gone from laying with my wife, in the biblical sense, to the building of a brand-new fort. All in all, still a pretty awesome day. I’m happy to announce that Team Talbot’s Titans were able to take down Azile’s Amazing Wonder Force. Sure, we cheated when I grabbed Azile and tickled her into submission. Alianna and Gabriel, realizing their teammate was down, decided to get in on the butt-kicking end of it and joined me as we made her beg for mercy.
“Scoundrels!” she shrieked. “Betrayed by my own!”
MJ had, at first, joined me in the fray and then, when he realized that it was everyone against his mom, he tried to help her and cried out in frustration.
“Oh, we’re just playing, baby,” Azile said tenderly as she sat up and hugged the boy.
“Good to see a man that will come to my rescue,” she said, though she was smiling at me as she stroked the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.
“I’d come too, honey–I’d be too afraid not to,” I said.
“Spoken like a real gentleman.” After we put the kids down for the evening the night ended on an upward tilt, if you gather my meaning.
Chapter 10
Mikota
“It pains me to ask this,” Huron stated, “but will the humans help us?”
“Even with the witch on our side, they will not at first. They will let us suffer innumerable casualties. That which does not confront them directly will be ignored.”
“That is cowardly!” Huron was angry.
“It is the way of humans, Huron, and we cannot argue against their bias; we have been less than hospitable neighbors in the recent past.”
“You are talking very calmly about the destruction of our people, Mikota.”
“I do not intend that any more of us die needlessly. If the humans won’t help on their own accord, I will drag them into the fight–or rather drag the fight to them.”
“What does that mean?” Huron asked.
“I am going to lead those polions to this place.”
“That is a dangerous ploy, Mikota. The humans will never trust us.”
“We don’t need their trust; we need their entrance into this conflict. If they wait for us to nearly be destroyed it will be too late for them as well. You heard the witch–the only way we can defeat this enemy is by working together. Until they have witnessed this creature first-hand and the destruction it can cause, they will do nothing. None of us can afford for that to happen. Denarth is looked to by the rest of the human villages; what she does the rest will follow.”
“And what if, by bringing the creatures here, Denarth is to fall?”
“That is a chance I am willing to take,” Mikota answered. “Come. We need to get back quickly.”
Chapter 11
Stonemar & Orderg
“Is this normal?” Orderg asked as he peered forth from the edge of the cave. The world looked as if it were ending. Great battles waged in the distance, fires illuminated the entire skyline.
“No,” Stonemar said, never moving to observe.
“We can’t stay here,” Orderg said, coming back inside.
“Can’t go home, either. The moment you pulled me away from that gate we were fugitives.”
“Stop with the pity, Stonemar. You hated the gates more than I did–it was your idea to leave. I thought I was strengthening our friendship by saving you and giving you your freedom; if I’d known just how much thanks I would receive in return, I would have left you there to die.”
Stonemar sighed. “I am sorry, Orderg. We have been stuck in here for far too long; I am hungry for more than grubs. If our lot in life is to die slowly, then maybe we would have been better off…”
“Do not finish that thought! We are a
live. We are going to make a life from what we have.”
Stonemar attempted a smile, though it came across as something one might make as they strained to relieve waste. They would have a difficult time eking out anything, even scrounging off the peripheries. Even the wastelands had rules. Their arms were branded with their station; there would be many that would turn them in for any small favor that could be curried. The penalty for leaving a post was far worse than death, and Stonemar shuddered thinking on the last guard that had left, been caught, then suffered for his transgressions.
“At least there is less of the polions,” Orderg said as he dug in the hard soil. He pulled out a large, fat, wriggly yellow worm, held it up so he could get a better look at it, then popped it into his mouth. Gritty worm juice burst forth from his lips.
“I’ve asked you before, Orderg, to eat with your mouth shut. I do not wish to partake of your meal.”
Orderg made sure to move in closer to Stonemar as he exaggerated the chewing motion, smacking his lips as he did so. Stonemar could see half of the giant worm’s body wriggling around on Orderg’s tongue.
“Even for a gate demon, you are disgusting,” Stonemar said as he smiled.
“Be that as it may,” he was chewing and talking, fat globs of jelly mass falling from his mouth, “the fact remains there are fewer polions out there today than there were last week or even yesterday.”
“You cannot count what you cannot see. And anything above seven I would think difficult for you,” Stonemar said as he shifted his head on the rock he was lying against. He turned and punched it with his fist until it shattered into smaller fragments. “Ah, better.” He lay back down.
“At least come and look with me; you have not done much this past week except roll around.”
“I just got comfortable.”
“I may have seen a lorrat earlier.”
Stonemar perked up. “Are you lying to me to get my attention? I would slow roast that little beast, let the fat sizzle upon the fire before ripping off its hindquarters and stripping the meat to the bone.” Stonemar salivated at the thought. He reluctantly got up. “If this is indeed a ruse, I may skewer you in its place.” He was now looking out upon the landscape; his heart dropped. “Orderg, it looks much like it always has. It is called the ‘wastelands’ for a reason.” He turned to go back.
“Stop for a moment; take a good long look.”
Stonemar did, and at first he was angry for being sucked into Orderg’s delusion, then his face began to brighten. “Alright, it seems their herd has shrunk. But that doesn’t necessarily mean good news for us–could just mean they’ve moved on or that an even more powerful enemy is destroying them.”
“Or they’ve found a way out.”
“That would be the least likely explanation,” Stonemar said.
“You may be right, old friend, but you have said yourself there has been a dramatic increase in energy being pulled from the one source.”
“It is true; I have a sense of when this power is being used.”
“Well, then…why would so much power need to be used?”
“A portal,” they said together.
Once Stonemar saw a glimmer of hope he could not let it go. He moved his small pillow of rocks to the cave entrance and kept a close vigilance on the happenings in the far distance. A week later, Stonemar roused Orderg from a deep slumber.
“I am very angry right now.” Orderg opened one eye.
“We need to go,” Stonemar said.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, standing up quickly and grabbing his weapon.
“Nothing, I think. The polions are completely gone.”
They exited cautiously at first, certain that at any moment they would be caught, but after a few hours they realized that almost every living thing in the area had been killed or was still in hiding. They picked up their pace. By the end of the day, they were once again staring upon a cave entrance.
“Looks a lot like the one we left earlier,” Orderg said hesitantly. “Is this a Dante circle?”
“You realize that human got it all wrong, don’t you?” Stonemar said, although he was concerned; the entrance did look very similar, not identical, but close. He had heard of these types of magic; a person walks for hours, sometimes days, only to find out they had returned, or had never left the spot they’d started from. The Great Deceiver was reportedly a fan of this form of torture and control. But he couldn’t be bothered with two lowly gate demons, could he?
“I don’t like this, Stonemar,” Orderg said, looking around.
“You’ve been pestering me for weeks to get moving and now that we finally have, you want to stop? If it is our cave, I’m going in to get some sleep,” Stonemar said as he moved toward the entrance.
“I don’t like it…not one bit.” Yet, he followed.
Stonemar knew immediately that this was not the same cave. It was smaller and the walls of it glittered faintly with the reflection of a shimmering light at the far end.
“A portal,” he whispered, fearful that if he said it too loudly, it might disappear.
“Where do you think it goes?” Orderg had shouldered his way next to the other.
“I don’t know. Perhaps we should have brought a map.”
“They have such things for these?” Orderg asked in wonder.
“No–this is going to have to be a leap of faith.”
“It could be worse,” Orderg said.
“Worse than living in a cave on a diet of worms which my friend decides to chew loudly and open-mouthed? I think not.” Stonemar stepped through. He stood in a large field, the light so strong he spent many moments blinking rapidly while staring at the ground. When his sight finally adjusted, he realized his friend was not with him yet; he would have gone to get him if there had been a way back. For good, bad, or indifferent, this was now his new home. He liked the smell of it. He could do without the beacon-like light, though.
“I swear, Orderg, if you do not follow me through to here, I will make it my lifelong goal to get back merely so that I can kick you in the ass.”
“Right here,” Orderg said as he approached from behind. “It is good to know you care.” He was shielding his eyes from the glare. “You think that is the worst this realm has to offer?” Orderg asked, referring to the sun.
“If it is, it is a horror I could get used to. We should move away from this place; if we found an unguarded portal, others are sure to also.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What does that mean?”
“I closed it.”
“You closed it? If you had that strength of magic you would not be guarding gates, as I was.”
“It is true I do not have much, but I added a charm to my warhammer to break the ceiling in. At first, I was merely trying to delay any that would follow us, but it appeared that the cave itself was part of the structure and as I destroyed it, the portal began to diminish. I am lucky to have made it through with all my parts intact. There is no possibility of going back, or better still, anyone taking us back.”
“Do you see that magnificent beast off in the distance?” Stonemar was looking at a bison. “I very much wish to eat it.”
“Are you sure? It appears as if it could be related to you.”
“Well, you know what they say. Family always tastes better after a long day of travel.”
“I have not heard that before, but perhaps we should see if it holds true.”
The large herd of bison had not moved any significant distance, yet it took more than two hours for the demons to get close.
“Stonemar, the large bright orb has moved. I think it is getting closer to the ground. Do you think it incinerates this world when it lands on the horizon?”
Stonemar had been wholly fixated on the giant, hairy animals until Orderg voiced his concern. He paused to look at his friend then a moment to glance at the light source, which had indeed, descended. He had not been distressed about it at all, not until Orderg had said so
mething, anyway.
“It cannot be.”
“Why?”
“Because we just got here and I’m not ready to die.”
“Is it possible that higher beings opened this portal so that the polions would come to a dying world and they could thus be rid of them forever?”
“I had not thought that previously, Orderg! If we are to die shortly, I very much plan on going out with a full belly. Are you going to help me catch one?”
Orderg pulled his hammer out, mumbled a few words into the head, and reached far back before throwing with all his might. His weapon traveled farther than it should have, but fell far short of its mark. It crashed into the ground loudly, startling the bison into a short run.
“It is too bad it does not return to you,” Stonemar said as they moved to retrieve the weapon.
“Does any part of my hammer look like Mjolnir?” Orderg asked.
“No, but it does look similar to its wielder,” Stonemar laughed.
“This is true. That blonde locked god is a blockhead!” The two demons guffawed at their joke. “I hope he didn’t hear that, though. He is rather vain and would strike us down for making fun of him,” he whispered.
“Do not concern yourself with the old gods for…well, they have grown old. They very rarely intrude on matters of the living anymore.”
“Still.” Orderg looked around.
“Yes, it is nevertheless unwise to anger any of them. Wouldn’t want them getting off their fat asses to interfere every once in a while. They have let their juveniles rule the roost for so long it would appear that they have no desire to leave their thrones again.”
“It was not much better when they were in power, Stonemar.” Orderg very much wanted his friend to stop speaking about the gods; to continue to do so was foolhardy and would surely garner their attention. Perhaps they were old and fat, but that did not mean they didn’t still possess great power. Power they would be willing to use against those who angered or even mildly irritated them…perhaps even those who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The old gods didn’t really care who got in the way.
