by Wendy Owens
“Gabe, the Bible isn’t just a story book; it’s a record of ancient history. But why coat the daggers in that silver?” Sophie pondered. “Oh my God,” Sophie muttered, her face lighting up as if a light bulb had gone off. “Of course, that’s brilliant!” she exclaimed jumping to her feet.
“Wait, what’s brilliant?” Gabe asked, also rising, but completely confused as to why they were excited.
“Don’t you get it?” she asked, looking as if she were ready to leap from her skin. “Mammon is a Prince of Hell, what’s his power?” Sophie quizzed.
Gabe thought about their evening with the crystals, but seemed to only recall their first kiss. Seeing Gabe was struggling with the answer she chimed in, “Greed!”
“Okay … ” Gabe said still not getting the brilliance of it.
“The Denarians represent mankind’s greatest example of greed, Judas betrayed the Son of God for those coins. By dipping those daggers in the silver from the Denarians, Michael is in a sense using Mammon’s own weapon against himself. If what the Oracle told Michael is correct, Mammon will actually be vulnerable to the daggers then,” Sophie explained.
“But I heard Simon say if it doesn’t work it would be suicide,” Gabe added with great concern.
“It would be!” Sophie exclaimed running for the door. “That’s why we can’t let him go alone. We have to tell the others,” she stopped at the door and looked back at Gabe. “You coming?”
He couldn’t believe his own words, “Let’s go.” A second later he was running with Sophie on a mission to gather their friends, ready to sacrifice everything to save Michael.
The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when the group gathered together in the courtyard. Sophie looked over at Uri. “So Michael hasn’t said anything to you about when he plans to attack Mammon.”
“No,” Uri insisted. “I assumed he would tell me when the time had come. You know he still might be planning on telling us, maybe we’re overreacting.”
“Did he tell you he had prepared the daggers?” Sophie shot the question hastily at Uri.
“No,” Uri responded as he looked to the ground, desperation covering his face.
Sophie looked at Uri and explained, “What I caught a glimpse of in his office was a battle plan, I’m sure of it. You know Michael; if he thought there were a chance he were wrong he would never let us help.”
Uri nodded and looked at the group. “You’re right,” he said, clearly frustrated. “I say we confront him, insist he’s not going without us.” The six took off running and as the manor began to awaken to the morning light, they came barreling down the massive halls.
The group came to a loud and clunky stop outside of Michael’s office. “Michael,” Uri shouted banging on the door. “Please, we have to talk to you.” A moment later the door creaked open and the small man Gabe had seen down in the tunnels the previous night poked his head out.
“Simon,” Uri bellowed. “We need to see Michael, it’s urgent.”
“You can’t,” Simon replied in a small nervous voice.
“What do you mean? Of course we can,” Uri said pushing past him, the door flying open. Uri marched into the room. “Michael!” he shouted. He looked around the cold, dark empty room. Realizing it was empty he became frustrated. “Where is he Simon?” Uri demanded.
“He wouldn’t say,” Simon insisted. “He didn’t want you to know. He knew if he told anyone you would find out. He said he already put enough people in harm’s way and he had to do this himself. I’m supposed to tell you in case he fails, you have to make sure Operation Phoenix is a success.”
“What?” Uri cried, “That’s not acceptable!” He looked around the office frantically for any evidence of where Michael might have gone. Uri desperately sunk to his knees, covering his head. “You fool,” he muttered, as if talking to a man that wasn’t there.
A few moments of silence passed before Dina stepped forward. “Gabe can find him,” she said in a calm and still voice.
“I don’t know where he is.” Gabe protested.
“Gabe, you can do this!” Dina insisted. “I promise.”
Gabe looked at her, feeling completely overwhelmed by her words. “Dina, really, I promise, I have no clue where he’s at. He didn’t say anything that would help,” Gabe argued.
“No, the stone,” Dina explained. “Do you have it? Magic leaves an imprint. He rescued you with that stone; you two are connected through it. If you have the stone you could sense his imprint and use that to track him.”
Uri jumped to his feet and rushed over to Gabe, “Well do you have it?” he asked in a panicked voice.
“Michael took it from me,” Gabe replied. Uri moaned in anger and frustration as he kicked a nearby trashcan over on its side.
“He must have known he was going to go alone, that’s why he took it back,” Sophie added.
“Wait!” Gabe exclaimed. He rushed over to Michael’s desk and frantically searched the draws for the small box he had originally seen the stone in. In the side drawer he found the box hiding, but as he tried to pry it open he yelped. “It’s locked!”
Uri walked over to the box and grabbed it in his hands. He raised it over his head and with all his might cast it to the floor. The hinges busted and as the lid flipped open the stone slid across the floor, coming to rest at Gabe’s feet.
Gabe looked around the room, everyone staring at him intensely. He bent over to pick up the stone, as he touched it he felt a surge of energy race up his arm and a second later his vision went completely white. He felt his legs fail him as he collapsed to the floor. Clenching his eyes tight in an effort to regain his vision, he opened them once again, but when he did, he was no longer in Michael’s office. He had been transported to a forest. It was gray and foggy all around him. No birds were singing; there wasn’t a single noise of any kind. He rose to his feet and took a few steps forward, wondering where he was and how he had gotten there.
Looking around wildly, he realized he was alone; apparently none of his companions had made the journey with him. Gabe felt a chill run down his spine and a paralyzing fear crept in.
“Tell us now,” a venomous voice cut through the silence. Gabe looked all around him, but saw nothing. He ran to a nearby tree and crept slowly and cautiously to the next one, trying to ensure he remained concealed. Taking a deep breath and mustering all of his courage he glanced around the edge of the tree. Gabe gasped as he caught sight of a hideous beast standing only about twenty yards away.
Gabe was about to turn and run when he heard Michael’s voice. “You might as well kill me because I’ll never tell you.” Gabe froze where he was. He wanted to cast invisibility, but he couldn’t remember how to in his panicked state. He felt defenseless.
Compelled to ensure Michael was all right, he peeked out from around the tree again. Michael’s hands and feet were bound and he was strapped to a tree. Gabe noticed the tree looked like a crooked old lady towering above him, arms outstretched, ready to swoop in and capture the poor man. He had a huge gash on his forehead that seemed to be steadily letting blood flow into his swollen eye. His nose was crooked and glowed black and blue; Gabe put his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from making a noise.
“Oh you will,” the creature hissed at him, “You will tell us everything.” Gabe shivered as he stared at the being. He thought how it reminded him of a spider, multiple legs, hairy, but it seemed to have the torso and head of a human. The monster waved its clawed finger in Michael’s face. As it spoke, Gabe caught a glimpse of its face, though its head looked human from the back it was far from that from the front. Gabe counted at least eight eyes, large, black, and glassy. Its skin looked like hardened gray leather and two shiny fangs jutted out from its mouth. A thick and mucus-like venom hung from them in long and gruesome strands.
“I’ll give you one last chance to tell me where the manor is. Where are you hiding the boy? If you tell us, we’ll end your life quickly. I doubt you would care for the alternat
ive,” the creature threatened.
Gabe looked around the clearing and noticed there were at least one to two dozen similar creatures. He didn’t know how he alone was going to help Michael; perhaps if he could calm down and try to use invisibility. Surely they would notice though if he untied Michael. It wasn’t as if they could just walk away.
He took a deep breath; he needed a plan. As he ran through the options and played out one dangerous scenario after another in his mind, he felt an overwhelming sense of dizziness. Just as sudden as he had arrived there, in this place all alone, his entire vision again went white.
“Gabe,” a voice called to him from the oblivion.
“Gabe, are you okay?” he heard Sophie’s voice cut through the white cloud in his head. Opening his eye, he felt himself being pulled into an upright position. His head ached and he reached around to touch the source. He pulled his hand back and his fingertips were covered in deep red blood.
“You hit your head when you fell,” Dina explained. Gabe looked around and realized he was once again in Michael’s office.
“I don’t understand,” Gabe muttered sitting there, confused by what was happening.
“When you touched the stone you passed out,” Haim said. “You hit the floor like a ton of bricks!”
“Michael!” Gabe shouted, remembering what he had seen. “It seemed so real,” he added.
“Gabe,” Dina insisted, “did you see something?”
“I thought I did,” he said, shaking his head as if trying to shake away the blurriness. “I must have been dreaming or something when I passed out.”
“This is important,” Dina said grabbing Gabe’s hands. “What did you see?”
“What?” he asked, still confused, his head beginning to throb from the gash on the back of his scalp.
“We need to know exactly what you saw, Gabe,” Sophie added. She then placed her hands over the wound on his head and under her breath began muttering a healing spell. Gabe instantly began to feel better as he felt his skin tighten and pull together.
“Did you see Michael!” Uri exclaimed rushing to his side.
Gabe concentrated and remembered the vision. He told them of the forest and Michael. As he told the tale of what he saw, Dina gasped and began to cry, burying her head into Raimie’s chest. The group continued with their probing questions. Gabe answered with as much detail as he could remember, telling them how Michael had been badly beaten. He described the creatures he had seen. Sophie seemed to know of them, he assumed from her crystals.
“There has to be something else,” Uri insisted, unable to hide his fear or frustration, “something that will tell us where he is.”
Sophie reached over and touched Uri’s arm gently, as if trying to calm him, but it didn’t work. “Gabe, think about the place you were. Was there something unique about it? Something distinct?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “It was daytime, but it felt gray and dreary; there was fog rolling around us. I mean, it was just a forest, that’s all I know. Michael was in the middle of this clearing and he was tied to this huge scary tree.”
“Wait, go back,” Sophie directed, “scary tree? Can you describe it?”
Gabe remembered how in the vision it had made him shudder. He told them how it appeared to be a crooked old woman, crouched over Michael, almost like she was going to swallow him up.
“The ‘wailing woman!’” Uri cried, recognizing Gabe’s description immediately. “Let’s go.”
“What?” Gabe asked. “Go where?”
Sophie looked at him and tried to calmly explain what was happening. “When you touched that stone you connected with Michael, you were able to see him and where he was. We can find him now thanks to you.”
Haim and Sophie helped Gabe to his feet; Uri was already half way to the armory. Gabe was about to see combat whether he was ready for it or not. Michael had saved him and now Michael needed help. Gabe couldn’t imagine facing those creatures, but he knew he could not let Michael down, not after Anthony.
Sophie pulled Gabe’s hands into her chest to gain his attention. They locked eyes and she told him, “Go to the armory, help Uri. Time is of the essence, Dina and I are going to go to the clerics and gather some healing potions and holy relics. Haim and Raimie are going to see if any alicorns are willing to aid us. Do you understand?” Sophie said.
Gabe nodded, words escaping him. “Go now,” Sophie commanded pushing Gabe away.
He felt a rush of adrenaline flow through his body like a wave. He watched for a moment while Sophie and Dina turned toward the potions chamber. As they faded out of sight, he took off with great speed toward the armory.
He couldn’t believe what he was doing, he was no hero, yet here he was, preparing to rush into battle with demons to save a man he had met a week ago. Gabe thought of Michael, even though he had hidden a truth from him about his destiny he had come to mean so much to him in such a short amount of time. Michael had risked his own life to save him; he had come to feel almost like the father that Gabe had ached so long for.
Gabe ran up the old crooked stone stairs that led into the armory. “Uri?” he called out.
“Over here Gabe,” Uri replied. Gabe looked around the corner where he saw Uri throwing things into a heaping pile. The mountain of shields, armor, and weapons Uri had built was more than a dozen men could carry. Gabe quickly realized Uri was not in his right mind.
“Uri!” Gabe called out. He didn’t reply this time. Gabe took a step closer and raised his voice, “Uri!” he repeated, but still nothing. Uri simply continued piling more on top of the mountain.
Gabe rushed up and grabbing hold of his friend’s arms, shook him violently. “Uri,” Gabe yelled. “Snap out of it!”
Uri pulled away, collapsing on the floor in front of him. He tucked his head between his knees and encased the back of his skull with his fingers, as if protecting himself from the outside world.
“What is going on with you?” Gabe lowered himself to sit next to him. “Remember man, you have no weaknesses,” he added, trying to lighten the moment with humor.
With Gabe’s words Uri looked up into his eyes and actually smiled for a split second. Fear returned to his face as he moaned, “I can’t believe he went without me.”
“What?” Gabe asked, placing a comforting hand on Uri’s back.
“Michael,” Uri continued. “I can’t lose him.” Gabe wasn’t sure how to handle his fearless friend in his current state.
“You won’t,” Gabe attempted to reassure him. “We’re going to get him back.”
“You know, when I came here I was scared of everything,” Uri explained. Gabe just listened. Uri’s voice cracked as he explained. “I had seen so many terrible things. You know how it is. So much evil out there, and we’re like moths to a flame when it comes to that stuff.”
Gabe thought it was as if Uri had been telling Gabe’s own story. Uri continued, “I felt so alone, so desperate. The night I met Michael, I was in a hospital bed.” Gabe looked at Uri, shocked and confused by the confession.
“I’d tried to kill myself,” Uri continued. As the words escaped Uri’s lips they were dripping with desperation. Gabe could do nothing but listen. “I didn’t want to live in a world where a junkie killed a kid’s dad right in front of him, where a woman was raped as a quiet crowd stood around and did nothing, where a woman threw her baby from a moving car. I’d seen it all, man, all the horrors the world had to offer. I just wanted to check out. You know? I tried to lie down, to give up; I’d reached my end. I couldn’t imagine anything ever changing to the point where I would want to live in this world.”
Uri looked at the mountain of armor and wiped away a tear from his cheek. His breath hitched as he tried to continue, “When the doctors saved me I thought it was just one more tragedy. I mean what a joke, right? So many people who wanted to live having their lives snuffed out right in front of me. I wanted to die and somehow I survived.”
The two sat
quietly for a moment, Gabe not moving his hand from his friend’s back. At last Uri continued, “That’s when Michael came, he took me away, brought me here. He loved me and healed me in a way I didn’t know was possible. Gabe, I hated the world and he fixed that. I was so broken. I can’t lose him.”
Gabe stood to his feet and pulled Uri up to meet his gaze. “Then let’s go get him.” He didn’t say it, but he was already beginning to feel the same way about Michael. He knew he had a long road to travel in front of him and to head down it without his new mentor seemed unimaginable. Gabe needed Michael back as much as Uri. The two embraced for a moment, no more words being shared, just an unspoken understanding.
The two dressed themselves in armor that had carvings of Rampart Manor’s emblem on the breastplate. Gabe slid his sacred sword into the sheath on his hip. They both took an armful of gear and made haste to the main courtyard to meet the others.
As they approached, Gabe caught sight of several incredible beasts. At first he thought what he was seeing were merely oversized horses, but as they came closer he realized the brilliant white animals each had a massive set of wings on their back. He saw that they not only were covered in lush thick hair, but they also had pearl colored scales that climbed up their legs and shimmered in the light.
Gabe stared in awe. They walked around the mighty creatures, one of them turning to look directly at Gabe. It carried a massive horn in the middle of its head. Gabe marveled at the twisted horn, it was riddled with holes and reminded him of what fragile coral looked like.
“Gabe,” Uri said as they came to a stop. “Meet the Alicorns. This is Celetius,” Uri said patting the neck of one of the mighty beasts. “And this fella here, his name is Midas and of course this lovely lady is Gretchen,” Uri added motioning to the other two magnificent animals.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Gabe said, laughing a little at himself for talking to them.
“They want to know why you’re laughing,” Uri said after a moment.
“What?” Gabe asked puzzled.
