Fire Defender

by Rodney Hartman

  The sound of grumbling filled the room.

  “Quiet, please,” said Mr. Jenkins. “I’ll email you the project specs later today. This team assignment will be worth twenty-five percent of your semester grade, so I highly recommend you take it seriously.”

  Tess looked at the paper again. Good. I don’t have a teammate. That suits me just fine.

  “In the meantime,” said Mr. Jenkins, “I want you to pass in the flash drive with your assignments. I hope they’re finished, because unlike last time, I won’t be giving any extensions. Too many of you seem to think a deadline is anything but. Maybe this will be a learning opportunity for you.”

  Tess started to raise her hand, but one of the jocks, a big blond oaf named Scott Thomas, beat her to the punch. “I don’t have my flash drive with me, Mr. Jenkins. I, uh…accidentally left it in a friend’s bag last night.”

  “Ah, I see,” smiled Mr. Jenkins. “Then I’ll just have to accidentally give you a fail on the assignment.” Looking around the room, he said, “Anyone else have any excuses?”

  Before Tess could say anything, the door burst open. In walked a dripping Alec Johnson. After nodding his head at Mr. Jenkins, the boy headed for his seat at the back of the room. As he passed her desk, Alec tossed a flash drive at her. She caught it. A sticky note attached to the drive had the name of a directory on it. It was the name of the directory where she’d put her backup project files on the library’s network drive.

  Turning in her seat, Tess noticed Alec pass another flash drive to Scott before sitting in his seat.

  “Uh, never mind, Mr. Jenkins,” said Scott. “I found my assignment.”

  The science teacher stared at Scott and then at Alec sitting next to him. “So I see,” he said before turning to the sheet of paper on the wall behind him and writing Alec’s name next to Tess’s. “Very well, then. Let’s get started.”

  * * *

  “Hey,” Tess said as she made her way over to the jock table in the noisy cafeteria.

  Most of the boys at the table looked up. A couple of them whispered not so quiet comments in another jock’s ear.

  “Alec, my man,” said Scott slapping the back of the boy sitting next to him. “I think your teammate wants a word with you.”

  Alec looked up from his tray of food. “No thanks necessary.”

  The boy’s answer caught Tess by surprise. “What?”

  “You came to thank me for getting your files, right?” said Alec. “It was no big deal. Of course, it took me a while to find them, so I got docked ten percent on my grade for being late, but no thanks necessary.”

  “Uh, thanks.”

  “Oh,” added Alec, “and you owe me ten bucks for the flash drive.”

  “Ten bucks? I can get one for six in the store.”

  “Not the kind I use,” said Alec. “They’re ten bucks. I don’t use the cheap junk.”

  Biting her tongue with difficulty, Tess counted to five before answering, “You’ll get your ten dollars. I haven’t got it on me right now.”

  “No big deal,” said Alec. “I can wait.” Looking back down at his tray, he began playing with what looked like orange strings but was what the cafeteria passed off as spaghetti.

  “I wasn’t done,” Tess said starting to lose her temper. Why do all jocks have to be such jerks?

  “Hey, Alec,” laughed Scott. “She’s not done with you yet, buddy.”

  Several others at the table laughed as well.

  Tess felt her face growing warm as she noticed several of the boys whispering again.

  Pushing his tray away, Alec looked up. “I haven’t had a chance to look at our assignment sheet. Maybe we can get together tomorrow after school to go over it. I’ve got ball practice tonight.”

  “Hey, girl,” said Scott. “If Alec here doesn’t want to get with you, I’d be more than happy to take his place. We share everything.” Nudging Alec in the side with his elbow, he laughed, “Isn’t that right, old buddy?”

  Tess felt her face growing even warmer. She balled her fists and mentally recited another of her sensei’s calming mantras. The mantra was only partially successful. Just as she started to tell Scott what he could do with his offer, Alec spoke up.

  “Why do you always have to be such a jerk, Scott?” Looking away from his friend and up at Tess, Alec said, “Ignore him. He’s been dropped on his head once too often. I’ll get with you tomorrow.”

  Shaking her head, Tess surprised herself by speaking in a reasonably calm voice. “Don’t bother. I’ll do the project myself. That way I know I’ll get an A. You just go play with your friends and your little balls and take your A when I turn the project in.”

  Alec’s face seemed to grow a little red, but its color went back to normal quickly enough. “I do my own work, thank you very much.” He drummed his fingers on the top of the table. “You work at Jack’s, right?”

  Nodding her head, Tess tried to figure out where the boy was heading.

  “Fine,” said Alec. “I can tell you’re anxious to get started on the project. If you’re working tonight, I’ll stop by after practice. We can settle things then. Does that work for you?”

  Tess glanced at her watch. I don’t have time for this, she thought. “Suit yourself,” she told Alec. Turning, she weaving her way back to her table all the while thinking, Just my luck to get stuck with a jock. What else can possibly go wrong?

  Chapter 3 – Interrogation

  _____________________

  The basement of the old farmhouse was large and dimly lit. An old man sat in an office chair near a cluttered desk while a male in a hooded gray robe rifled through the desk drawers. A tall woman wearing a red robe stood behind the old man. Her unnaturally pale face was barely visible through the opening of her hood. A dark-haired, handsome man wearing a black robe with the hood pulled back sat in a chair facing the old man. The black-robed man stared deep into the old man’s eyes.

  “I am going to ask you one more time, old man, and then I’m going to turn you over to our friend in the corner. Do you understand?”

  The old man took his gaze off the black-robed man long enough to glance at the monstrosity lurking on the far side of the basement. The area was dark enough that all he could make out clearly was a set of yellow eyes and an indistinct, shadowy form half again as large as a man. He caught a glimpse of horns and leathery wings. It was all he wanted to make out, and quickly switched his gaze back to his interrogator. The old man nodded his head, sending drops of sweat into his eyes. He instinctively tried to raise a hand to wipe the stinging liquid away, but the duct tape holding both wrists to the chair’s armrests prevented even that little bit of relief.

  “I’m sure you do,” said the black-clad man. “Now, where is the Ring Defender?”

  “I don’t know,” pleaded the old man, his breath turning to fog in the strangely cold air. “I told you I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m old. Why are you doing this to me?”

  As soon as the old man said the words, the black-clad man smiled. It was not a friendly smile. Flames of yellow appeared in his dark eyes. “Why? Because you have knowledge we need.” His smile disappeared. “And if you do not know anything as you claim...well then, things are not going to turn out well for you, my friend.”

  A high-pitched hiss drew the old man’s attention to the desk. A foot-high, orange-skinned creature with bat wings and a narrow demon-like head with horns hopped onto a stack of books. It hissed again, revealing pointed teeth.

  “He knows,” squeaked the imp.

  Flapping its wings, the imp flew from the desk and landed on the old man’s left shoulder. Opening its mouth, the imp bit the man’s ear. The old man screamed as blood spurted onto his shoulder. The black-robed man reached out and knocked the imp into the air. The miniature demon flapped its wings and hissed before perching on an overhead rafter. The imp gazed at the old man with its beady-red eyes while licking blood off its lips.

  “Keep it away from me,” pleaded the old
man. “Please. I tell you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The female in the red robe behind the old man’s chair looked at the black-robed man. She snarled revealing two long fangs in place of her eyeteeth. “I told you he was a waste of time. The records from the orphanage said there were two sisters and a brother. The Fire Ring is on the verge of activation. I can feel it. It’s somewhere on the west coast. I’ve had a vision of a mountain. The Ring Defender will soon be urging its wearer to head in that direction if it hasn’t taken its owner there already. We’re wasting our time in this prairie land.”

  The gray-robed man stopped rifling through the desk long enough to look up. He pulled back his hood to reveal a brown, hairless, reptilian-skin head and stared at the woman with his yellow eyes. Speaking in perfect, accent-free English he said, “The humans call this place Nebraska. After two hundred years on this world, Ms. Red, I would think you’d have learned more about its geography.”

  Ms. Red scowled at the man in gray robes. A strand of green hair fell out of her hood, settling across her pretty face. The woman raised a pale-white hand with pointed claws in lieu of fingernails and pushed the stray hair back under the hood. “Really? Only two hundred years, Mr. Gray? It seems much longer. I am ready to complete our mission and return to our own plane.”

  The black-robed man waved his right hand in the air while reciting a word of power. His hand took on a greenish glow. Reaching out, he raised the old man’s chin and looked deep into the elderly man’s eyes. The green glow covered the old man’s face as he struggled to look away, but the dark-robed man tightened his grip, holding him fast. Making a series of intricate designs with his free hand, the black-robed man whispered more words of power. The old man gritted his teeth and groaned. After several seconds, the dark-robed man released his grip. The old man dropped his head to his chest and began to cry as the green glow disappeared.

  Looking at the red-robed female, the black-robed man said, “Ms. Red, I do believe you’re right. He knows nothing. We’ve wasted our time once again.”

  “Perhaps not, Mr. Black,” said the gray-robed man holding up a postcard in his brown, reptilian-skinned hand. The postcard had a picturesque mountain on the front with the word ‘COVINGTON’ emblazoned in bright red below the mountain. “I found this in his desk. There’s no name or return address, but the writing on the card says, ‘Wish you were here.’”

  “Is there a date on the postmark?” asked the woman.

  The gray-robed man nodded his head. “Five years ago. It is marked Covington, Washington. I believe that is on the west coast, is it not?”

  “Indeed it is,” said Mr. Black. “Mr. Gray, contact the Council and request they send some of our human associates to see what they can discover. Tell them we’ll be there with the asset as soon as we can. The orphanage’s records said the man’s sisters were named Mamie and Myiata. That should give our operatives a starting point for their search.”

  “They could have changed their names,” said Ms. Red.

  “Perhaps,” agreed Mr. Gray. “Perhaps not. After two hundred years, I’ve learned humans can be sentimental fools. Like this old man, they may have kept their first names.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Mr. Black. “If the Fire Ring is indeed stirring, the Ring Defender will not be far behind. Each time the owner uses the Fire Ring, we will get a more precise location. Only the Ring Defender is undetectable. When we find the Fire Ring, we can kill the bearer and use it to lure the one who possesses the Ring Defender.”

  “As you point out, the Ring Defender is not traceable,” said the red-robed woman. “We can only trace the seven elemental rings when they are used, and only after they activate.”

  “That will be good enough for our purposes, Ms. Red,” said the black-robed man. “Until the Fire Ring fully activates and you can get a location more precise than the entire west coast, we will go to this Covington and seek out the sisters if they are there. If we find them, and if they have the Ring Defender, we will get it. Once that ring is in our possession, the remaining elemental rings will be located easily enough.”

  Ms. Red scoffed. “Ha. Nothing about this mission has been easy, Mr. Black. The bearers of the rings have been abnormally lucky over the years. What if the Ring Defender gets to the Fire Ring first? They may team up and elude us once again. You know as well as I that they grow stronger when they are near each other.”

  “No matter,” said Mr. Black. “The seven elemental rings were designed to activate in sequence. The Fire Ring is first. Even if the possessor of the Fire Ring somehow slips through our grasp this time, we will have six more chances. Besides, we may get lucky. The Ring Defender may be in this Covington, Washington. If so, then we will get it sooner than later. Our time of waiting will soon end. We will have all the rings before we are done. Then the humans on this world will have the hell they deserve.”

  Mr. Gray raised his hood, covering the brown scales that seemed to take the place of his hair. “Should one of us go ahead to this Covington and take charge of the operation? You know how unreliable humans are.”

  Mr. Black raised an immaculately manicured hand to his chin. He tapped his lips with a long finger before lowering his hand. “No. Not yet. Not unless we know for certain the Ring Defender is there. If Ms. Red is able to pinpoint the Fire Ring’s location, we will need to go there instead. In the meantime, we will proceed to Covington with the asset just in case. There is plenty of time. If the Ring Defender is there, we or our human operatives will find it.”

  The gray-robed man pointed a brown, reptilian-skinned finger at the old man still taped to the chair. “What about him?”

  “Him?” said the black-robed man. “What do you think will happen, Mr. Gray? His usefulness is over.” Turning to the presence in the far corner of the basement, the black-robed man said, “Feast.”

  A great wave of evil and a bone-chilling cold enveloped the room.

  * * *

  A rabbit outside the farmhouse nibbled on a tender shoot in the morning light. A terror-filled scream erupted from the house before cutting off abruptly. The rabbit froze in place. When no further noise came from the house, the rabbit went back to its meal. Everything was at peace. All was well in its world.

  Chapter 4 – Alec

  ____________________

  “Where’s your head at, Johnson?” yelled Coach Davison. “If your kick was any shorter, it would be behind you.”

  Alec heard laughter from the sidelines, and had no trouble recognizing Scott as the culprit.

  “He can’t help it, Coach,” shouted Scott. “He’s got his mind on a hot date tonight.”

  Several of Alec’s other friends sitting near Scott laughed. Alec gave Scott a ‘see what I say about you when you drop a pass’ look.

  “Sorry, Coach,” Alec said. “It won’t happen again.”

  Apparently his apology satisfied the coach because he turned without replying and began chewing out another player who’d missed a block.

  Fortunately for Alec, he succeeded in kicking well enough during the remainder of practice to keep from getting another snide comment from his coach. The same couldn’t be said for Scott, who dropped three passes in a row.

  “That does it,” yelled Coach Davison. “Haul your butt around the track ten times, Mr. Thomas. We’ll see if that helps you remember to hold onto the ball next time. The rest of you hit the showers.”

  As practice broke up, Alec saw Scott take to the track. When the big halfback passed by, he trotted out beside him.

  “You don’t have to run with me,” said Scott. “You’re not the one who dropped the passes.”

  Alec laughed. “No, but I was the one who bribed the quarterback with twenty dollars to throw them harder than usual.”

  Scott turned his head, giving a glare that would’ve stopped a ball in mid-flight. “Why you little—” Scott started laughing. “I guess I deserved it for the date comment. But you’ve got to admit that girl’s hot.”

&
nbsp; Shaking his head, Alec said, “Are you ever going to grow up? There’s more to people than looks.”

  “Maybe so,” laughed Scott, “but I still say she’s hot.”

  Smiling, Alec looked at his friend. “Yeah, in an ‘if you talk to me, I will slit your throat’ kind of way.”

  “See. She’s just my type. I like them with a little bad-girl attitude.”

  Alec shook his head at his buddy. He had a feeling his friend and next-door neighbor would never grow up. “Never mind her. What do you think our chances are for the game against Kernersville Friday?”

  The big halfback stopped laughing. “Slim to none. Their linemen average thirty pounds heavier than our guys. I’ve got a feeling our quarterback’s gonna get creamed.” Looking at Alec out the corner of his eye, Scott added, “So is our kicker, little buddy. You’d better get those kicks off fast, or you’ll be eating dirt all evening.”

  His friend’s analysis only confirmed Alec’s own suspicions. “I hear you. Nothing I can do about it though. Speaking of getting creamed, is your dad still planning on taking us to the martial arts tournament in Kernersville Saturday afternoon? Maybe he’ll give us a break since we’ve got the game the night before.”

  Alec hoped against hope his friend would say no. He wasn’t looking forward to competing in a tournament after the beating he suspected Covington’s football team was going to get the night before.

  “Ha,” said Scott. “You wish. Dad hasn’t cancelled a trip to a tournament in the last twelve years. You know that.”

  Alec replied, “Yeah, but it’s always nice to hope.”

  Scott laughed and picked up the pace. “Then hope you can beat me around the next lap. The loser has to buy pizza at Big Jack’s tonight.”

  * * *

  After a quick shower, Alec walked with Scott out to the parking lot. At the truck, Alec opened the back passenger door and carefully set his equipment bag on the seat. Scott jerked open the opposite door and tossed in his bag. His cleats and helmet spilled out leaving a dirt stain on the back of the front seat.