Fire Defender

by Rodney Hartman

  The screams of the demon stopped. The flames surrounding Tess threatened to expand as the demonic fire hungered for the entire forest and everything within it. An image of Alec lying helpless on the ground only yards away gave Tess the strength of will to force the fire back upon itself. The demon fire tried to resist, but ever so slowly, she gained the upper hand until only smoldering coals of red lay around her. Even the flames in the tops of the trees were extinguished, leaving smoking branches of blackened wood.

  A wave of weakness came over Tess, driving her to her knees. The warmth of her ring disappeared as if cut off like a light switch. A feeling of intense cold penetrated her very soul. She looked at the demon, suspecting an attack, but it lay unmoving on the ground to her front and already decomposing into an orange sludge before her very eyes. She glanced to her right. Alec was lying among blackened pine straw and smoldering ashes. As she looked, his eyes opened. For a split second, he locked eyes with her as if astonished they were both still alive.

  Tess felt the cold within her intensify. White crystals began forming on the ground around her as well as all over her body. She tried to rise, but a thickening layer of ice appeared on her arms and legs, preventing movement of any kind. The ice crawled across her chest and up her neck until it began covering her face. Tess tried to breathe but the ice prevented even that simple act. Just before the ice closed across her eyes, she saw a man in a gray robe hobble into view using a branch as a makeshift crutch.

  “I’m impressed,” came the voice of the man, barely discernible through the ever-thickening ice. “You’ve done something those much more experienced than you have failed to do. You have destroyed one of our assets. No matter. We have many more at our disposal.”

  Struggling to draw a breath, Tess tried to pull warmth from her ring. The connection she had felt before was gone, or at the very least, blocked. She had a sudden realization that she was totally helpless. Darkness appeared before her eyes interrupted by flashes of red. She knew only too well the symptoms of oxygen deprivation, having nearly drowned when she was young. She had no doubt her time on Earth was almost gone. Tess thought of Alec. Too late, she knew for sure she loved him. She tried holding onto his image with the hope of making it her last conscious thought.

  “You were stronger than we expected,” she heard the man say from far away. “My spell has blocked the connection to your ring. If you had been trained, perhaps you could’ve stopped me, but your inexperience is your doom. As my ice spell draws the last spark of life from your body, I want you to know that you are supplying us with the first of the elemental rings. We will have them all before we are through. You can die knowing that the death of your parents and you were all for not. We will win. It is ordained.”

  * * *

  The power of Alec’s ring healed the last of his burns and broken bones. He clutched the handle of the hunting knife in his right hand. With the fires out, the night was once again dark except for the glow from the red coals on the ground. He could just make out the shadow of a robed man taunting Tess, then was astonished to see her covered in a thick layer of ice.

  “You can die knowing that the death of your parents and you were all for not,” said the robed man. “We will win. It is ordained.”

  Red rage took over Alec. He’d never knowingly killed a man before, but his burning hatred wanted to destroy this man who threatened the woman he loved. Jumping to his feet, Alec ran straight for the robed man. At the sound of breaking branches, the man began to turn but was too late. Alec plowed his shoulder into the man’s chest, driving him to the ground. Alec thrust his blade deep into the man’s throat, forcing the tip up into his skull. The look of shock in the man’s eyes faded quickly as the light in his eyes went out. The moment the man’s eyes dulled, Alec sensed his connection to Tess’s ring come back. The connection was very weak, but it was there.

  Wasting no more time on the dead man, Alec jerked his knife free and rushed over to the block of ice that was Tess’s prison. Using the butt end of the knife, he began beating on the ice in an attempt to free her head. Logic told him that he was going to be too late, but he had to try nonetheless. As he raised his hand to strike another blow, he saw something yellow in the ice, then two yellows. At the same moment, he felt the connection between his ring and Tess’s grow stronger. The two yellow somethings became clearer as the ice began to melt. Within seconds, he could see Tess’s eyes blazing with yellow fire through the rapidly thinning ice. Heat drove him back as the ice continued to melt, sending rivulets of water flowing onto the muddy ashes around them. The heat increased even more until every last bit of the ice was gone. Tess closed her eyes and slumped forward onto the ground face first. The heat Alec had been feeling quickly dissipated.

  Rushing to Tess’s side, Alec turned her over. She wasn’t breathing. He forced her mouth open and cleared her airway before pinching her nose shut with his left hand. Placing his mouth over hers, Alec breathed air into her lungs the way he’d been taught during CPR training the previous summer when he’d been a lifeguard at the local gym. After a dozen breaths, Tess coughed and rolled onto her side. She gulped in air, coughing all the more. When the worst of her coughing was over, she tried to sit up but fell back onto her side.

  Supporting Tess with his arms, Alec raised her to a sitting position. “I-I thought I’d lost you. I…”

  Tess glanced at him. There was no longer any hint of yellow in her eyes. Alec followed her gaze as she turned and looked where the man had fallen. The man wasn’t there. All that remained was smoking brown-sludge and an empty gray robe.

  “Where’d he go?” Alec said looking this way and that into the darkness. “I don’t understand. I killed him. I know I did.”

  Appearing to take the disappearance of the man in stride, Tess pointed in the direction of the rapidly decaying demon. From what Alec could tell, the creature was slowly melting into the same sludge he’d seen around the gray robe.

  “I suspect,” said Tess, “that the man is from the same place as that creature over there. He kept talking about spells. And as far as I’m concerned, that monster decomposing over there had to be a demon.”

  Alec nodded, not knowing what to say. He knew as well as Tess that they were up against forces well beyond anything either of them had ever imagined.

  “We’ve got to get moving,” said Tess struggling to her feet. “It’s a long walk back to the cabin.”

  An image of the remaining four-wheeler came to Alec’s mind. He knew she was right. They needed to get transportation before someone else arrived.

  “What we really need,” said Tess as she picked up what remained of Alec’s pack and handed it to him, “is your aunt’s notebook. Whoever those guys are who attacked the house must have gotten the notebook before they killed…”

  “Before they killed my aunt?” finished Alec. “Go ahead, you can say it. I know she’s dead; so is Grandma. Avoiding the subject won’t change the facts. They probably got the notebook and burned the library to destroy any copies. Only…”

  “Only what?” said Tess.

  “Only maybe they didn’t get all the copies,” Alec said, his brain going a hundred miles an hour. “We need to get back to the farmhouse. I’ve got a hunch.”

  Chapter 37 – Major Jager

  ____________________

  The drone continued to circle overhead, following the two targets as they walked down the trail in the direction of the cabin. The red-robed woman looked over the shoulder of the drone’s operator at the computer screen. Mick scrunched down as if trying to protect his neck.

  “Is that thing armed?” asked the red-robed woman.

  “No,” said Mick. “It’s one of our smaller drones. It’s only designed for surveillance.”

  “Do you want me to try and get another team up there?” asked a female voice from the other side of the drone operator.

  Ms. Red looked at the redheaded woman in the black uniform and licked her lips. The woman smelled delicious. Both of the huma
ns in the trailer smelled delicious. The warning from Mr. Black came to mind, shoving her thoughts of a light snack to the side.

  “No,” the red-robed woman said. “The two humans would be long gone. We missed our chance, but there are six more rings. All we need to do is capture one to foil their plans.”

  The woman in the black uniform nodded. “Mr. Gray told me it will be three months before the next ring begins to activate. What should we do in the meantime?”

  Ms. Red looked around the dingy horse-trailer they’d converted into a holding place for the asset. How two teenagers could’ve so easily beaten the demon was beyond her, but they had. There was no longer a need for her to remain with the trailer. “The two of you shall close out the safe house and dispose of the truck and trailer,” she said.

  “And you?” asked the uniformed woman.

  Ms. Red looked closer at the redhead, noting the major’s insignia on the lapel of her uniform. “What is your name again?”

  “Jager,” said the woman. “Major Cynthia Jager.” She jerked a thumb at the drone operator. “This is Mick.”

  Ms. Red had no interest in the large man other than as a potential food source. The major was a different story. “You do not seem frightened in my presence, Major. Why is that?”

  The redhead looked at her for two pulses of her neck artery. “I’m leery, respectful of your err, capabilities, but I’m a soldier, an agent. I plan on making myself useful. I don’t think you’d kill someone who is useful, at least not for the mere sake of hunger.”

  Ms. Red smiled, revealing her long eyeteeth. She was definitely beginning to like the woman. “Once Mr. Gray is returned, we will have to have a long talk, Major. In the meantime, the death of our late Colonel Harrison in the helicopter crash has left an opening for a project leader. Are you interested in the job?”

  Cynthia Jager smiled. “I’m always interested in serving the Council.” She nodded her head toward a foot-high orange imp in a cage near the front of the trailer. “Our friend here has tasted the girl’s blood. He’s got her scent and can find her wherever she goes. Do you want me to assemble a new team and go after them?”

  Ms. Red gauged the woman. This major’s got initiative, she thought. Maybe for once we can work with someone who isn’t a fool. I mustn’t waste her.

  Turning her gaze to the large man still hunkered in front of the drone’s control panel, Ms. Red licked her lips. The warmth flowing through the man’s neck drew her closer before the warning from Mr. Black came back to her. She rose to her full height and turned back to the redheaded woman.

  Pulling the hood of her robe over her head, Ms. Red said, “No. I have no doubt the Alliance will be arriving in force soon. Close down the safe house, gather the remaining imps, and return to base.” She smiled at the major. “As you say, our orange friend has tasted the girl’s blood. He can find her when the time comes. Where the girl is, I have no doubt the boy will also be. We will kill them and capture the rings at our leisure. First, Mr. Black and I must see to the retrieval of our dear Mr. Gray. It will take both of us to summon him back to this plane of existence.”

  Major Cynthia Jager smiled. “I don’t think Mr. Gray is going to be very happy with those two teenagers when he gets back.”

  The red-robed woman returned the major’s smile, exposing her fangs. “No, I do not suppose he will be.”

  Chapter 38 – The Alliance

  ____________________

  The white farmhouse was surrounded by multiple yellow ribbons bearing the words ‘CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS.’ Even the barn had the yellow ribbon around it. Two figures crept forward in the morning light, staying behind bushes as much as possible. When they reached the side of the house, one of them lifted a flower pot and removed a key hidden underneath.

  The first thing Alec noticed when he entered the kitchen was the blood stains on the floor. There were no bodies. He hadn’t expected any since he was pretty sure the police weren’t in the habit of leaving bodies lying around.

  Come to think of it, he thought, Scott said Grandma’s was the only body they saw when they entered. Whoever attacked the house must’ve taken their dead with them.

  “You know this is crazy,” whispered Tess. “We should’ve just ran and figured things out later.”

  “Maybe you should’ve said something before now,” Alec whispered back.

  “I did.”

  Actually, Alec knew she had voiced her opinion loud and often. He also knew the only reason she was there was because he’d insisted on returning for his cellphone.

  Creeping through the doorway to the living room, he noticed the blown-out windows exposing the room to the outdoors. The inside walls were blackened as if by fire, yet the walls and scattered furniture weren’t burned.

  “Be careful,” whispered Tess. “The place is liable to come down around our ears.”

  “The walls are a foot thick. They’ll hold. But I’ll be care—” started Alec before his eyes were drawn to a chalk outline of a body with a large brownish-red stain around it near the stairs. He froze staring at the spot, then felt a hand touch his shoulder.

  “It’s all right,” said Tess. “You can’t help her. She’s at peace now. We need to get upstairs and get your phone before someone shows up.” When he didn’t move, she said, “I put the eighteen hundred dollars I got from Dad’s stuff in a book in my room. I’m anxious to see if it’s still there. We’re going to need all the money we can get if we’re going to get to Texas.”

  Tearing his gaze away from the outline, Alec nodded his head. He forced himself to concentrate on the reason they’d returned to the farmhouse. “I left my cellphone on my nightstand. I believe Aunt Mamie might have texted me pictures of the notebook. She was a lot more high tech than she let on.”

  “Maybe,” replied Tess sounding far from convinced. “Even if she did, I’m betting the police confiscated your phone as evidence.”

  “We’ll know soon enough,” Alec said as he started up the stairs making sure he avoided the two steps that creaked. He pointed them out to Tess so she bypassed them as well. His head had just gotten even with the top step when he heard a deep male voice.

  “The two of you are going to need a lot more than eighteen hundred dollars to do what needs to be done.”

  Alec groaned. Sitting in a chair at the end of the upstairs hall was a pot-bellied man in a sheriff’s deputy uniform. The man had his gun drawn, but the barrel was pointed at the floor.

  “Deputy Stewart,” said Tess stepping up even with Alec. “Uh… We…”

  The sheriff’s deputy raised his left hand, displaying a cellphone. “Is this what you’re looking for, son?”

  “Look,” Alec said finding his voice. “We’re the victims here. Those people tried to kill us. We—”

  “And there’s going to be a lot more of them trying to kill you,” said Deputy Stewart rising out of his chair and walking towards them.

  When the deputy got close, he motioned them up the rest of the stairs and then raised his left hand, seemingly offering the cellphone to Alec. “This is yours. I was the first one on the crime scene the night of the attack. I was able to slip this into my pocket along with your wallet.” He turned to Tess. “Sorry, but the FBI confiscated your money. Trust me. That’s the least of your worries.”

  “I don’t understand,” Alec said accepting the proffered phone. “Why are you giving me this? Why are you even here?”

  The deputy smiled. “I’m here because I figured both of you were naïve enough to think you could come waltzing back into a crime scene without being caught. I’m giving you the phone because your aunt sent pictures of her notebook to you. My compatriots have already made copies of the images. Another team is working to delete the evidence from the phone company’s servers. That’s not going to be an easy task, I can tell you. Once something’s in the cloud, it’s virtually impossible to get rid of.”

  Alec looked at the deputy open-mouthed.

  Fortunately, Tess was a little qu
icker on her feet. “What do you mean your compatriots? Do you mean the FBI?”

  Deputy Stewart laughed. “Not hardly. I don’t mean any other law enforcement agency either. I work for a, uh, different type of organization.”

  “Why are you doing this?” said Tess. “Who are you?”

  The sheriff’s deputy smiled again. “I was assigned here last summer shortly before you arrived. Before that, I was in Texas working with Iva. She sent me here to keep an eye on you.”

  “Iva?” asked Tess. “Are you talking about my Great-Aunt Iva? She’s like a hundred years old.”

  Deputy Stewart winked. “Actually, she’s a hundred and two, but she’s still got more smarts than most people half her age. She’s the one who coordinated for you to come to Covington in the first place. We knew you had the Fire Ring, of course, so we hoped to use it to find the bearer of the Ring Defender in order to make contact. Our diviners suspected the Ring Defender was near Covington, but we didn’t know who had it.”

  “We?” Alec asked growing more confused by the second. “Who is this we you’re talking about?”

  The deputy smiled. “Who are we? That’s difficult to explain. If you need a name, we’re known as the Alliance. We’ve been waiting for two hundred years for the elemental rings to activate. My father was a member before me, as his was before him. The Alliance was created to help the bearers of the rings complete their task.” He pointed at Alec. “You’re the bearer of the Ring Defender now. Only you can find the other six elemental rings before the Council does. The only reason we knew Tess had the Fire Ring was because of Iva. She and Tess’s mother were close.”

  “The Council?” asked Tess. “Mrs. Walker mentioned them. Is that who tried to kill us?”

  “One and the same,” said Deputy Stewart. “They want the rings same as us, but for entirely different reasons. They want to destroy our world as we know it. You’re going to need our help to prevent that from happening.”

  “Uh, wait a minute,” Alec said. “We’re not trying to prevent anything. Tess and I are in high school. We just want our lives back.”