by P. S. Power
Hilda smiled at him and pointed at the bundle under his arm. “Those are yours now. I wrote down the size so we can get you more. You might need them when you work with Master Wu-Li?” The Master nodded serenely at this.
The Trolleikein girl smiled at him, happily.
“We worked out a schedule for you. Two days a week here: though you won't lift weights all the time at first, you need to build up- some light jogging, and maybe other aerobics. Also two days a week learning with Master Wu-Li. He'll be the one to check your health and make certain you're not being over-worked. We'll push you hard, don't worry about that. You'll spend much time being sore and getting strong here.” Hilda and Lars both smiled as if being sore would be a good thing, Lars patted him on the back, powerfully, but not painfully.
They packed him off, Hilda giving him instructions to eat at least 500 calories before he slept so that the work he did could be turned into strength later. Her large inner self told him that he pretty much needed to eat as much as he could keep down for a while, and looked worried now that she'd seen what lay under his clothing.
He stopped at the food court and got some Chinese food to go. Explaining to the man behind the counter that while he didn't eat meat, but his roommate did. Mac smiled and quickly put together a nice array of food for them. It only cost about ten dollars for everything, which was a decent price considering how much food he'd gotten. Zack planned to leave quickly, so that he could get the food home still warm. The small red haired woman walked out from the back, shyly holding a container that she handed to the little man, saying something in a language that Zack didn't understand.
The small man, Mac, looked at her with surprise and added the container to the bag of food.
“My sister would like you to try this dish, with our compliments. It contains no meat.”
Zack smiled at her and bowed. Fighting not to say 'thank you', and figuring that not talking might be the best plan there. The words just wanted to pop out every time he came here, he noticed. He wondered how they handled people that didn't know who or what they were? A regular person would thank them without thinking about it, and so far their reactions seemed... extreme when it came to that subject. Did they have a special dumpster out back for all the people that messed up?
Since Monday meant Troy didn't need to be at work, and likely wouldn't have a date, he found him at home on the sofa, playing a video game when he opened the door. He set the food on the table that still sat in the middle of the living room.
“Oh, something smells good! Is there some there for me too?” He asked, hopefully, but not really expecting anything.
“There is. I even got some things with meat in them – beef and chicken. General Toa's chicken... You like that right? Some spring rolls we can both eat, rice, fried and white. A vegetable dish with noodles which is good. They don't do fortune cookies there though, not that I've noticed at least. The lady at the Chinese place also put this in, I'm not sure what it is.” Troy's eye lit up. He went to the kitchen and grabbed the real plates and forks Valerie had left.
“By the way, I've been meaning to ask, why is the table in here?” He loaded his plate, taking mainly meat dishes and spring rolls.
Zack explained that Valerie, a person from the mall, had come and brought him breakfast the other day.
“Wait, you mean Valerie-Valerie? The blonde from the club that everyone drools over and I think I may love? With the,” he made gestures in the air indicating bust line and hips, “and all? She came over? I mean she talked to me about you, but I didn't think... Wow, man I didn't know you were a player like that! Way to go. I think I'm jealous.”
Zack chuckled.
“Don't be, we just talked. Her boss wanted her to go over some things with me. There was some Candles and More stuff, you know, business. She did bring breakfast, which I thought was nice of her.”
Troy nodded, putting big bites of food in his mouth. While not as thin as Zack, he'd missed more than a few meals the last couple of months, trying to make everything work. They ate for a while, Troy commenting on how it surprised him that a food court would have such quality food.
“Oh hey, The Tarantula is doing a big remodel, you should come see it when it's done. I guess we're going more Gothic now, with a lot of candles and lamps? I get to help light them each night I work...whee... Still, it should look cool when it's done. The regional manager came in the other night and told us about it. Apparently it's a whole upgrade thing. We're expanding the bar and the dance floor is being remodeled, even the bathrooms.”
Putting two and two together took a moment. A sudden upgrade at the club he met the Vampires at, just after they said they'd have candle contracts for five businesses? Okay, that didn't take a genius to figure out, and somehow a dance club had more of a Vampire feel to it than an ice cream parlor. That probably meant that ice cream, or frozen yogurt, made a much better cover business for them.
“Hmm... I wonder if I can get them to think about getting some of their candles from where I work. You know, maybe give them a deal or something?” Zack put forth, just so Troy wouldn't get too suspicious later when the club did business with him, if that was indeed what happened. Not that he cared if Troy knew about Vampires, but if they wanted to stay hidden he couldn't see a reason to out them yet.
Troy just shrugged and said that he didn't know about that kind of thing, but it couldn't hurt to take a card over and introduce the idea. The worst they would do is say no, and they had to get the candles and lamps from somewhere, right? Zack nodded at this. Even if it turned out not to be a Vampire owned business and just a coincidence, that made sense.
After they finished eating, Zack decided to get straight to bed. It neared midnight and the morning would come early. Oh, so early. Ugh. He wasn't a diehard night owl like Troy, but mornings weren't his favorite thing most days. He drifted off easily, sinking into his warm bed, sleep cozying up around him, making everything seem soft for a while in his head.
He woke with a start. A giant Shadow hovered over him, screaming. Help me! Help!
Zack jumped out of bed and hit the light. The Shadow stayed in place, crying. It took him a second, more than that really, but he finally placed it as Hilda. Her Shadow loomed, looking very different than her surface self, which is what threw him off, this version being covered with long hair and standing nearly as high as the ceiling.
My brother is taken....
Throwing on his old clothes, jeans and a t-shirt with his old pair of tennis shoes that needed to be replaced, he headed out, moving as fast as he could. For a bit he felt confused. Her reaction indicating to him that her brother would be younger than her, a child. After a bit, sleep finally getting knocked out of his head he realized that all of her brothers were older than she was.
He didn't know where she'd be at this time of night or what the situation required. If he went to the mall and she couldn't be found, then that lost time might make a difference. Where else would she be? He calmed his mind, which still held a little of Hilda's panic and tried to find her. He focused, trying to remember what her presence felt like, forcing himself to let go of anything but a sense of her. Nothing but his new friend. If her deeper self had sought out Zack, it must think he could help somehow, or maybe just that she was desperate. Either way, he needed to get to her fast.
He started running barely aware of his direction. He hit one shortcut and twisted, heading off at an angle from it on the other side. He did this time after time, without stopping, thinking only of racing to his friend as fast as he could. At some point he may have fallen, as his palm stung a little, he really couldn't tell for sure. Zack focused on his goal and only on that, blocking out the pain of running, of falling, thinking only of her and the line of thought that ran to the giant woman.
The large house he ended at stood well away from any other dwelling. The lights were on, so he ran to the door, hoping that he had the right place and not caring overly if he looked insane to the people inside.
&nbs
p; He pounded on it several times. Zack heard, almost felt, the house move and the door opened after only a few moments.
“Vot?” One of the Trolleinkein he didn't know by name stood there looking at him. Before he could think of anything to say the huge man peered at him more closely. “Misser Hartley? Gut! Hartley!” He yelled and pulled Zack inside, slamming the door behind him.
Hilda ran out of the next room and slammed into him, almost crushing him.
“Oh, Zack! My brother, he's been stolen by bad men near our home. Near our lands. He'll kill himself soon.” She clung to him and started crying loudly, pulling him around bodily each time she shifted even a little.
Merle came in and explained that Hilda's brother, the one just older than her, but that shared both of the same parents, had been taken by men, or possibly Weres, while standing guard with three others at the border of their lands. It took some time, but Zack finally understand that this border seemed a little like one of his shortcuts, but a single point that anyone could walk through if they found it. So it stood guarded at all times. One of the others had fallen in battle and two had escaped and managed to close the border somehow.
Hilda's brother Karl, whose full name Zack knew he couldn't master that night, if ever, had been taken away in a machine that flew, a kind which only Humans and Weres use. The ones with spinning that rise and float, Merle told him.
“They took him away by helicopter? That sounds official; military, or at least a government agency of some kind.” He considered this for a moment. “Do you know where he was taken exactly?”
Merle shook his head. He explained that air travel made it too hard to follow the scent trail, since scents floated upwards for the most part, carried on rising air currents.
“Hilda, do you have something of his, or a picture? Something like that?” She shook her head no.
“We... fought the last time we spoke. He didn't think it would be safe for me here. I was angry, so I gave back everything he'd given me and left. It was petty of me. I wish I had that stuff now. It's at my mother's probably. He didn't think I'd be safe and now he must kill himself to protect the secrets of our lands. It's what the border guardians are taught to do, if they are captured...” Hilda cried again, clutching at him wetly.
He asked Merle if there might be a Nexus line into the Trolleikein lands. It turned out they actually had two full complexes similar to Underwood and several more that stood undeveloped.
He patted Hilda on the back, firmly several times.
“Hilda, friend, snap out of it. I need something of your brother's to trace him, because I don't know him. So we need to go to your mother's to get something of his. We don't have a lot of time for you to recover yourself. I'm sorry, but we need to move now. We don't know what's happening to him.”
Merle looked shocked and barked something to the fellow that had opened the door. He ran and came back a few seconds later with car keys. Merle said to take his truck.
“No, we don't have time... I'll take Hilda to the mall. Can you let your people know we're coming? Five minutes or sooner?” He grabbed Hilda by the arm, turned, and started running toward the door. He pulled up short as Hilda didn't move.
“Hilda, we need to run. Follow me, I can't yank you along. Just go where I go!” He started to run again. She stumbled after him this time, her eyes still dripping tears. Hugely fat things that a Human couldn't have produced at all. She probably couldn't see as she ran, but she followed along now that movement had started.
They had to go to his house and use the shortcut from there, but he managed it in half the twists and turns he'd taken getting to her in the first place. Just knowing the destination helped a lot, saving on the little adjustments that a blind target forced him to make. He got them to the mall and ran to the gym as fast as he could manage. If Hilda held back in speed she did a better job of hiding it than Dan had done, trailing just behind him the whole way.
Inside the gym she led him to the back room where the others waited. He waved at them as they passed, but didn't say anything.
“Hilda. Think of your home... please. Focus on it. Remember your pig Logt... Remember your mother...” He took her by the arm again, merged with her Shadow and surrounded her with his own being. Then he stepped...
And they came out in a small meadow in the sunlight. He pulled her into a run. It took him several minutes, but he followed the path set by her inner self well enough that they arrived at a large, very well made, circular dwelling about ten minutes later. The wooden structure was made of logs in places, but looked clean and tidy. It had a brown coating on the outside, not paint, more like a stain. The roof was round and hung down low over the walls, steep as if to let snow and rain fall off easily.
Hilda started shouting when she saw it, calling out over and over again. A group of very large beings came out of the house. As the Trolleinkein girl ran to the group Zack realized that she really was a lot smaller than the average for her kind. Much so. She looked like a tiny child approaching large adults.
He also noticed that they were all covered with hair, and looked like what he'd always imagined a Bigfoot would look like. Only bigger. In his head a sasquatch would only ever be about as big as Lars back at the gym. These people were... vast. Huge just didn't capture how massive they were. Even knowing they were friendly he felt things inside tighten in fear just a little.
He padded over slowly, not wanting to startle them with his strange appearance or anything. No need to have them all suddenly decide he was the one the stole their Karl away. The idea was ludicrous, but people under stress sometimes believed bizarre and unlikely things. So Zack kept his movements slow, and as calm as possible.
Hilda shouted something as she neared the group. One of them moved forward and embraced her. They talked rapidly back and forth for a half minute. Hilda wailed suddenly and turned.
“The things aren't here! They are in storage... What will we do now?” She began to cry again.
Acting on instinct, he asked Hilda to translate for him. Zack stared for a minute, thinking, then asked if the large female holding Hilda happened to be her mother. When she said yes, he smiled, if a bit grimly. An idea occurred to him, unfortunately he didn't know if it would work or not. Still, trying and failing was better than standing around doing nothing while everyone waited for Karl to die.
“Ask her to think about Karl. He's her son. She has to have a connection to him, right? Can you explain it to her. She needs to focus on him as much as she can. Oh! I'll have to touch her too, ask her if that's okay...”
After Hilda spoke for about thirty seconds, the large woman held out her left arm. It had a thick covering of hair on it, longer than a dog's would be and at least as thick. Even given that difference Zack could meld easily with her memories and the links to her children. She was focused on the problem, and felt worried he'd die soon, so Karl's connection stood out as the strongest. Zack followed this line to where the Trolleinkein man sat in a cage. A box really, so thick and strong that even his great strength hadn't dented it. It had enough room inside it for Zack, easily, if he could figure out how to get there.
Zack ran, yelling at Hilda to stay there for now.
It took about ten minutes to find the closest Nexus line and head through, knowing he'd have to come at this carefully if he wanted to get Karl out of this in one piece.
He could almost feel the giant man's time running out.
Chapter fifteen
It took him nearly two hours to track Hilda's brother down. The area had hundreds of shortcuts, maybe thousands, but only a few went in the right direction. He ended up standing about a mile from the compound, a serious looking military instillation surrounded by armed men. Helicopters coming and going constantly. The fence around it had round strands of wire on the top, and bent inward, trying to keep something in, it felt like to him, rather than to keep other people out.
After about twenty minutes of extreme focus he found the last shortcut he needed, one that would he
hoped twist him into the cell with Karl. Then he could just grab Karl and get out of there. Since they might have cameras in the cell and he didn't know whose military these people might belong to, Zack decided a disguise might be a good idea. The installation felt foreign to him, but that didn't mean they wouldn't hunt him down for stealing their find, right? The whole idea was insane, but better to look like a moron now than to end up in more trouble later.
Backtracking to a small stream a few shortcuts back and many miles from the base, a place he probably wouldn't be noticed while planning, he searched for materials to help hide who he was.
He looked around and found some dirt along the bank that seemed to have a lot of clay in it. Sticky and reddish brown, it looked about right. A handful dug out with his fingers and mixed in a bit of water from the creek made a fairly gooey paste. Smearing this on his face and head as thickly as he could, then repeating the whole thing until he had as good a mask as he could come up with on short notice, left Zack feeling silly.
Then he found some leaves and grass, that, after he collected them, he pressed into the mud on his face to try and distort things even more. He covered his hands with mud too, on the back, which did nothing to disguise him really. This, he figured, would have to do, as every moment could be the one Karl chose to kill himself to protect his friends and family from whoever these people were. Their normal plan to avoid questioning seemed sound, if a little harsh, to Zack. As far as he knew, the dead didn't answer questions well at all, not even under torture.
Heading back to the last point he made the final step and found himself in a dark box of metal, probably thicker than tank armor. Definitely designed to keep things other than just normal people in. The box didn't have any light inside, or windows, which made sense. Why leave a weak point like that, after all. He turned to speak to Karl, when he felt himself hit across the chest and flew into the unyielding wall behind him.
