Rolling Thunder

by A. R. LEOPARD

  “I take that as, ‘maybe a little.’?” he said this as he plopped down on the grass beside his cousin and looked out over the lake.

  “No, that was, ‘I don't shout things because more often than not when I do, my voice cracks’.”

  Crispin looked at his cousin incredulously, “Yeah right, whatever. But honestly, did it scare you, even just a little bit?”

  “No.” short and emphatic.

  Crispin sighed, “Well, another day perhaps. What a perfect afternoon for a fly though! Would you like to go up?”

  Blacky slowly got up off his stomach. “I don't think so.” and shut his book, throwing it to the side, “Sea Grape would be jealous.”

  Crispin laughed and looked over to the lovely black unicorn grazing in the shade of a scraggly tree, “What a fine creature he is. Too bad he doesn't have wings. What a riot we would have then.”

  “I think he might feel a tad ridiculous if he had wings.” said Blacky, lazily plucking out grass shoots, “Did you see anything of interest up there?”

  “No. Everything seems quite normal. I saw Reese and Keif on the road to Lockton and old Drent and his tin cart going wherever he goes to sell his wares, but nothing else really.” Crispin tossed a pebbled into the lake, disturbing the immaculate surface.

  “Very good. Shall we go now?”

  Crispin stretched his small lean body full out on the grass, “What for?”

  Blacky stood up and called his unicorn over, “Well I suppose I did forget to tell you, but the captain wants us to scout out the gorge before the end of the week. Says it's been a few months.”

  Crispin sat up suddenly, “Why didn’t you say so earlier in the week? We could have had it over with by now and could just enjoy a lazy day for once. I just got comfortable too.”

  He put up a great show of annoyance before randomly breaking out in a laugh, “Oh well,” and he stood up and smoothed out his wings good-naturedly, “I suppose I prefer action anyway.”

  Blacky swung up on the beautiful Sea Grape and turned eastward, toward the river Ruid, “Sometimes I envy your complying nature.”

  Crispin laughed again and alighted on Iron Wing's back. “Only sometimes?” and with that he took off, letting his gleeful laugh fill the late afternoon sky.

  Blacky rolled his eyes and prodded Sea Grape into a steady gallop, chasing the dragon's shadow.

  —————

  The gorge was a tributary to the Ruid, or rather the stream at the bottom of the gorge was a tributary. From above the gorge look exactly like a great ragged cut across the golden table of savannah grasses. It stretched for miles, gradually growing wider and wider as it neared the river. Down at the bottom the stream continued to eat its way through the earth. It had carved out numerous caves and caverns over the years, pockets of damp darkness. The stone floor and walls were all worn smooth. And it was almost always dark down there. At high noon the sun's rays might touched the stream and make it sparkle for a couple of hours, but then it would disappear again behind the tall cliff edge above and the cool and dark dampness would close in again.

  This darkness, added to the winding nature of the gorge, made it a perfect place for evil to take up residence. It was miles long, had hundreds of caves, and was far out of the way of any prying eyes.

  Thus the task to which the cousins had been assigned. As members of the Western Guard, it was their job to maintain the safety of these dangerous plains, and that meant a search of the gorge every several months or so for any signs of trouble. It hadn’t happened often, but one of the times it had, there had been great tragedy. It was after that, that these searches became a regular part of their job, in the hope of stemming any trouble before it became too serious.

  The two fairies rode out to where the stream met the Ruid. Far below them the waters melded as the river flowed southward, peaceful and calm. The entrance to the gorge looked foreboding and ominous, the high cliffs on either side sharply cut against the darkness like a warning. The cousins thought little of such a warning thought and Crispin quickly flew down into the semi-darkness, Blacky riding along the ridge looking for a good place to descend the cliffside with Sea Grape.

  Once they were both down in the belly of the gorge, they slowly began to make their way upstream, through the winding canyon. They looked for anything that seemed out of place or suspicious. Crispin in the air, Blacky on the ground. They were unable to search every cave and crevice, but the steep sides of the cliff and the slippery stones, even the water itself, could tell a story they knew well how to read. They searched silently, always listening for any sound that was out of place, and so not to alert possible enemies of their arrival.

  The two continued thus for many hours, wandering up through the narrowing crack, high stone walls rising sharply on either side of them as the quiet stream flowed away from them. They moved quickly and quietly along, alert for anything. So far they had seen nothing to alarm them or that seemed off. The gorge had a very uninhabited feel to it and they had no reason to think it otherwise. They were just finishing up the last few miles, right where the gorge began to be too narrow for Iron Wing to easily fly, when they heard a call coming down from the edge of the gorge from far above them. They looked up and saw the silhouette of someone on horseback looking down at them. They both recognized him as a friend and Crispin called out very loudly, obviously not at all sharing his cousin’s hesitance about this type of communication.

  The man said whatever it was again, but neither heard what it was, so Crispin flew up through the growing darkness to find out and Blacky began the slow process of charting his way up the cliffside. By the time Blacky was finally up, the man on horseback was already riding away.

  “What did he say?” Blacky asked as he rode over to where Crispin stood.

  “He said he wished that he could've found us sooner.” said Crispin, with about the most serious face his cheerful countenance could produce, “Keif is missing. You know I told you earlier today that I saw them on the road to Lockton? Well they were attacked. Reese was found bound and gagged and Keif is gone.”

  Blacky's brow furrowed. “Do we know why they were going to Lockton?”

  “Their mother said she sent them out to get a pound of sugar.”

  “Did they have much money with them?”

  “Some, but she said not much. And what they did have was still with Reese.”

  Blacky ran his hand through his inky hair, “What does the captain say?”

  “He wants us to go check out the scene for any clue as to what happened. After that he will probably send out a few search parties.” and Crispin couldn’t help but look a bit excited at the prospect.

  Blacky nodded his head and turned Sea Grape towards the road to Lockton, “Looks like we have a busy night ahead of us.” He looked down into the gorge. He couldn't see the bottom it was so black down there, “It's unfortunate we got such a late start on this. If only we had been around closer to when it happened, all the evidence would be a lot fresher.”

  Crispin leapt back up on his dragon, “No use bemoaning it now. Let's just get moving and see what we do have to work with.”

  Blacky nodded and with that, the two took off towards the crime scene.

  It was not a very long way, but as they progressed north, the landscape around them gradually changed. More and more of those scraggly trees popped up and the plain became spotted everywhere with boulders of various sizes and shapes. There was a stretch of land that bordered on a stagnant marshland, making for more precarious travel as the earth turned soft. It was a desolate place, especially in the growing dusk. Blacky and Crispin didn't give it much thought though. They'd been through here dozens of times and right now their thoughts were on the missing victims, and for what purpose they might have been taken for, and if their gloomy surroundings caught their attention at all, it was to wonder where Keif was now, alive or dead. The road to which they were traveling was a packed dirt road that stretched between the two biggest towns in the area, Loc
kton and Burr. It was an often-used road and was thought to be quite a safe and easy way to travel. Not anymore apparently.

  By the time they reached the road, darkness had settled in for the night. They could see lanterns where the site of the accident must be, but outside those small circles of yellow light all was dark shadows. Blacky and Crispin dismounted and walked over to get updated on the state of things. Their friends of the Western Guard had already been over the whole place and apparently, there was very little evidence left by the enemy. The hard ground yielded no footprints. It was eerie, almost like Keif had just been swallowed up by the earth. But now that Crispin had come, they had hope of covering quite a bit more ground in the search. They split up after a quick talk, each man going a different direction, though each was to stay within calling distance of a least one of the others.

  “Do you know if the captain is going to come?” Crispin asked as he sheathed a dagger.

  Endarc, the man who had come to fetch them from the gorge, answered, “He said he'll come if we need him, but he trusts us to handle this. Plus, he is intrigued by the nature of the ropes used to bind and gag Reese.”

  Blacky, who was nearby, paused, “Oh? Was there something unusual about them?”

  Endarc shrugged, “Apparently, though he didn’t tell us what.” and with that he rode off into the darkness.

  Blacky looked over to his cousin and raised his eyebrows with significance before he also rode off into the blackness. Crispin shrugged his shoulders and flew off in another direction not particularly getting the significance of the eyebrow raise. As if he knew what was unusual about the ropes.

  Naturally Crispin and Iron Wing did cover a lot more ground than most of his companions, and as a result, was the one to find what they were looking for. Down on the border of the stagnant marsh, in a hollow neatly hidden by two large boulders, he found evidence of Keif’s kidnapping. He yelled out good and loud to his companions and soon they were all gathered around, peering into the darkness of the hollow.

  “What is it?” said a young fairy scout who was trying (and not succeeding) to get to the front where he could see.

  “It would appear to be a cloak and pack.” Crispin said when no one answered.

  “Yes, but are they Keif’s?” Blacky murmured as he backed away and looked out across the flatland.

  “I'm sure they are.” the Endarc said as he too, backed away from the hollow, “Who else’s would they be? And they look similar to what Reese had on.”

  “Are there footprints?” Blacky asked Crispin, knowing that his cousin would've checked.

  “Yes. They move south until the ground becomes too hard to bear marks. Two distinct sets of tracks. Keif’s and another's, probably not a fairy, though.”

  “What then?” Endarc asked.

  “Come and see for yourself.” and Crispin led the way to the other side of the boulder and a bit beyond, where the ground became soft, easily leaving prints.

  It probably would have disturbed you a good bit to see those prints. One set was very obviously those of a fairy, but the other were prints made by something big that didn't wear shoes and had four toes on each foot, toes that were all the same size, not at all like a human’s. They were also very curiously placed prints. Not in the kind of steady stride you would expect, but rather in a kind of random, stuttered pattern across the mud. Crispin led the group over to the place where the prints wore away, noting to them that fairy prints had vanished at that point.

  A younger and less experienced fellow asked, “Where'd they go?”

  Crispin, being a much more competent fellow, answered in teaching tones, “Perhaps you didn't notice back a few paces that there was a slight scuffle of prints in the mud. Well, I would say Keif, wearied and worn, fell and could or would not rise and so, his noble captor slung him up and carried him himself or itself, whichever it may be. That is how I explain it. Does anybody have a better explanation?”

  Everyone had to agree with Crispin’s assessment. What they could not agree upon however, was what sort of creature had so ruthlessly kidnapped an innocent fairy. A barefooted big man? A goblin glut? An enemy with special shoes meant to confuse any pursuers? This last idea was that of the inexperienced young man and got such a response that he dared not venture any more suggestions.

  Blacky and Crispin did not join in the debate. Instead, they went back over to the prints, closely examining each one, trying to piece together what story they told. They traced back and forth over the imprinted ground studying and talking together in an undertone. They retreated to the hollow again and reexamined everything there. Endarc was the first to realize their absence from the group and quietly slipped away to see what they were up to.

  “Any idea as to what happened here yet?” he asked quietly as he watched them trace the outline of a print.

  “Besides the obvious?” Crispin said as he turned to face Endarc.

  “Yes, I mean besides the obvious.”

  “Well,” here Crispin turned to Blacky who was scrambling out of the hollow, “We actually did make one interesting find and we have agreed upon a certain conclusion about these tracks.” here he turned back to his cousin, “Notice anything?”

  Blacky shook his head, “They just threw his things there, they didn't actually go down. Something wrong, Endarc?”

  “I was just asking Crispin if you’d found anything.” he answered, “He says you have.”

  Blacky beckoned Endarc over to the spot where, to Crispin's supposing, Keif had fallen and where his footprints disappeared. It was a very trampled mess there, and very hard to tell the various marks apart, but Blacky was able to point out one mark that was pretty clean cut. Endarc hesitated, not wanting to trample the ground, but also not able to see the print from where he stood and what the big deal about it was.

  “Don't bother about the other tracks. We've looked at them enough, just come over here and look at this one.” Blacky said as he himself landed by it, smearing away some of the other tracks.

  Endarc carefully walked over and observed a rather normal looking footprint. “What am I not seeing? It looks like any other footprint to me,” he asked quietly.

  “Don't you see?” Crispin interposed as he walked over the sludgy ground and pointed at the print fiercely, “Whose footprint is that? And how come there are no more?”

  Endarc looked more closely at the track. It was a boot print and it was larger than a fairy boot to be sure. Indeed, it looked nothing like any of the other tracks around it. He looked up at the cousins. “Do you have the answers to those questions?”

  “The answers are tied to an explanation of the strange footprints and off stride of those other tracks, the four-toed ones.” Crispin flew over to where the ground was firmer. The other two followed him.

  “These prints are made by a creature on three legs, not by a creature with two legs hobbling about. We have carefully studied these prints and have found, that though alike on first glance, each foot has a slightly different form. There are three separate forms of the print, so three legs, and since there aren’t that many three-legged creatures, we can assume that it is a creature with a limp or a stump leg. That would explain the strange gait. From those observations we can also draw that this thing is more like an animal than an intentional, intellectual kidnapper. I believe that Keif was led this far bound and gagged, until he dropped, either in exhaustion or in an attempt to escape. But this is where that one mysterious footprint comes in. There is a fellow riding the three-legged beast and he reaches down to yank Keif up on his animal. He puts one foot down on the ground for support. They then go on until the ground gets hard again and the footprints fade away. We assume they continued going south, though we cannot be certain of that. One other thing is sure. These are the only marks they left in this whole area. Our man made his mistake once and never made it again.” Crispin finished with a sigh of contentment, probably at his own sharp genius.

  “Well observed, my friends.” Endarc commended, “It is
strange to think I didn't see it all before.”

  Crispin shrugged, “It’s not so strange. It takes an extremely quick-eyed individual to note such things. But I suppose we shall have to go and update the others now.” and he walked over to the group that was still conjecturing about what made the big prints.

  “He's quite the character, that one.” Endarc said as he watched Crispin attempt to get everyone’s attention.

  “That he is.” Blacky agreed, smiling at the thought, “And if anyone could find Keif, it would probably be him.”

  7

  James Moves On

  We return to James. Naturally the news about Cliff stunned him a bit, not that the thought hadn’t occurred to him earlier, but it’d really been more of a joke then. After choking on whatever it was he had been chewing, he just sat and stared off into the distance, trying to put the pieces together. To think that this ancient stranger they had been talking of was the same man of fiction James so greatly admired was truly wonderful. And to think, Cliff must have gotten back to earth somehow, because who else could have written those books which described his adventures here? The only thing that didn't match up was that James knew that the author of those books was not Cliff anything. But right now he couldn't remember the author's name anyway. Perhaps Cliff had written under a pseudonym. Or maybe he had told his stories to other people and someone had written them for him. Whatever it was, James now very much wished to see the places Cliff had been and to meet whoever remained of those who had known his hero personally. Eventually it was this desire that got him to break his rather long silence.

  “Helix, is there anyway I could go and see those places where Cliff lived? And meet those who survived the wars and maybe knew Cliff? This might sound odd to you, but I think I've heard of him before, and now that I think on it, I know many of the details of his stay here. I even have reason to think that he somehow did return to my world when he disappeared from this.”

  Helix looked in curiosity at his elderly friend, “Why do you think that?”