by M C Rooney
“I don’t know the mayor’s every move,” he replied, trying not to blush. Everybody seemed to know about him and Lily; well, except for her nephew, who seemed very innocent in regards to things like that.
He then heard some loud yelling coming from the hall, and judging by the tone, it seemed like it was coming from women. He gave a confused look to the guard.
“Where are all the girls?” he asked, looking around the street and seeing only male rangers on their rounds.
Cavarretta just nodded at the sports hall. “They all went in there about ten minutes ago,” he said. “All of them.”
Locke was stunned for a moment. What were they up to?
“Right,” he said as he dismounted his horse and tied the reins to the metal post, which had some numbers on it for some reason that was long lost. “Enough of this sexual discrimination. I’m going in for a gander.”
“Me too,” said Cavarretta and was soon joined by about twenty other male rangers as Locke peeked inside the gymnasium door.
What he saw shocked him, as about fifty women sat on the sidelines, watching in awe as Lily and her nephew Tom moved about the gym floor at an amazing speed, with practice swords clashing again and again. In fact, to Locke’s surprise, Tom seemed to be holding one sword in each hand.
“C’mon.” He nodded to the men behind him, who had now numbered over fifty and crept quietly into the hall. It seemed that word had spread fast, and every ranger in town was now watching the duel that would be talked about for some time.
Lily was panting fast as Tom attacked her again and again. Whilst she was pleased that the strength of Tom’s strokes had diminished due to the fact that he was holding the sword with one hand only, the fact that he had two swords meant that she had to move twice as quick to stop from being hit. Where had he learned the footwork for this? Lily had trained him from the beginning, and she had secretly delighted in the fact that when he learned all he could in one style, she would then switch to another, and once again, he would become the apprentice. Now, to Lily’s surprise, she was the apprentice, and Tom was the master.
Lily felt a moment of pride that Tom had learned a martial art in his own time and, like her, had kept that art a secret to be used for only a special reason. The reason of defeating his aunt, she thought with a rueful grin.
She could hear in the background the sound of the women in the hall calling out encouragement as they both spun around, and from the corner of her eye, she noticed that a large number of people had gathered at the hall door. She thought she could see Locke, judging by the Akubra hat he always wore.
“The men are here,” she said, panting, to Tom, and felt guilty that she was trying to put him off his rhythm. But then again, one day he would fight a real battle, and whatever advantage you took to survive was to be taken, no matter what.
Tom didn’t flinch, just kept on relentlessly attacking her. Lily then realised that she had not made one attacking move in the last ten minutes. She wondered how long this could go on when her blade hit Tom’s short sword too slowly, and he twisted his blade up and over her forearm, rendering her defenceless for a moment. The katana in his right hand whipped over to her neck, before he slowed the blade down and placed it gently on her shoulder. He had won.
The crowd burst out into applause and cheering, but Tom only looked at his aunt with a questioning expression on his face. Was he looking for her approval?
“You’ve done well,” was all she said and was rewarded with a big relieved smile in return.
He did only want her approval, she thought with a shock, and was surprised that tears were appearing in her eyes. As she was wiping at her eyes, she noticed Tom glance towards the still-cheering crowd and blush as he gave a shy bow. He was a Dayton, all right. He may be a giant with blond hair like the Beasleys, but he was a Dayton through and through.
It was time to give him a green jacket.
Three days later Tom strode through the library corridors with Renee at his side.
“You know, if you keep grinning like that, I’m going to start calling you The Cheshire,” Tom said.
“Oh, c’mon, Tom,” Renee replied. “Look at these jackets; aren’t they the best?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Tom replied, thinking that he had spent about an hour looking at himself in the mirror when he first put the green jacket on, in private.
“Anyway, if you call me Cheshire, I will call you the Sword Master Extraordinaire,” she said, still grinning.
“Hmm, all right, no Cheshire jokes, then,” he grumbled.
People were still looking at him in a funny way ever since he had defeated his aunt in their sparring session. But they must realise that he had only defeated her through the element of surprise. No doubt his aunt had been practicing with two swords now, just waiting for a chance at a rematch.
“I wonder what she wants us for?” said Renee.
“I’m not sure, but the messenger said it was urgent.”
“Could be our first mission,” Renee said excitedly.
Tom looked at her, and his pace quickened; by the time they reached the mayor’s office, they were almost running.
Lily looked up at Locke in dismay.
“How many?” she asked, patting her dog, who sat by her chair.
“Three dead in one family, and the neighbours are now sick as well,” he replied, standing next to her desk.
Lily looked down at her desk in distress. That made twenty in total. All of them showing the same symptoms and dying within a month. It was an epidemic, and they didn’t know what the cause was or how to cure it.
“We have to get the equipment in the hospital working somehow,” she said in a half-panicked voice.
“I know,” Locke said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “We will go see it and report back as soon as we can. We will find a way, somehow,” he said tenderly.
He removed his hand when he heard the running footsteps of what were no doubt Tom and Renee.
“Here they come,” he said.
Lily looked up when they knocked on the door and put on her mayor’s face. “Come in,” she said in her most authoritative voice.
She almost smiled when she saw the two youngsters walk in. They still seemed over the moon that they had both been granted the full rank of a ranger and were both obviously thrilled with their new jackets. As per usual, Tom’s eyes strayed immediately to the black hat behind her.
Is he ever going to ask? she wondered. Does he even know who it belonged to?
“Breaker,” Tom said, smiling at Locke.
“Tom.” Locke smiled back.
Lily wondered if Tom knew about her and Locke. He never mentioned anything. Surely, one of the rangers would have said something by now?
“I would imagine you both have guessed by now why I have asked you here,” Lily said.
“No, Mayor,” they both lied in unison.
Lily just smiled.
“Well, I have your first mission for you,” she said.
Tom and Renee smiled.
“And it will be a mission that could lead to you being killed.”
Tom and Renee stopped smiling.
“What do you mean, Mayor?” asked Tom.
Lily decided to tell her nephew the whole truth. He needed to be aware of the dangers they faced.
“We may have a deadly disease epidemic in Hobart. In fact, I’m certain that is what we are facing.”
Tom and Renee looked at each other in shock.
“You’re not just sending me away to protect me?” asked Tom, as observant as ever.
Lily had to admit that the thought of sending him back home to his mother had crossed her mind. She felt a rare moment of uncontrolled fear at the thought of him dying.
Was this how you felt, Father? she wondered. She had heard many stories from her sister as to how worried he would get at the thought of her or her sister being hurt in any way. Panic attacks, her sister said it was. Lily had read up on the subject and believed he suffe
red from what was called post traumatic stress disorder from the day of the Collapse to the day he died.
Ash said he suffered an attack in front of all his friends at the thought of leaving them behind when he went back to Hobart. Jesse said he suffered one when he rode out of Hobart, leaving behind twenty young lives. They both also said he suffered constant nightmares at having to give her mother the ‘final cut’ when she died after giving birth to Lily. The love he had for her mother seemed to be the kind you only read about in romance novels. But through all that, he still managed to get things done; he still did his duty.
She felt a strong urge to look at his hat behind her. Lily would never admit it to herself, but she always wanted to learn more and more about her father.
“No,” she replied. “I’m sending you to the Midlands.”
Tom and Renee shared a confused look.
“I don’t understand,” Tom said.
“Locke,” Lily prompted.
The Breaker took a step forward and told them what he knew.
“A ranger’s job involves the protection of its citizens from outside dangers, as well as from within,” he said. “But though we are well prepared as to what troubles may occur in the south through information from our friends, we know almost nothing about events to the north. That was, until we started sending rangers on … shall we call it ‘fact-finding’ missions.”
Tom and Renee knew that Rangers travelled to the north sometimes, but they never knew the reason until now.
“The rumours we have heard,” Locke continued, “are that a large tribe of maybe five thousand had disappeared from the west, and it is believed they relocated in the Midlands.”
“Are they friendly?” Renee asked.
“No,” Locke replied. “Every rumour we have come across suggests they are violent and selfish, and oddly, they seem to wear war paint and very little clothes.”
“In the Tasmanian weather?” Tom said in amazement. Whilst not as cold as other countries he had read about, the Tasmanian winter could be very cold when it wanted to be; plus, it seemed to rain every second day.
“But the strangest rumour we heard,” Locke continued,” was that there was a constant battle taking place there between people called the Lightning Lords.”
“Say what?” Renee replied.
“Lightning Lords,” Locke repeated.
“Lightning Lords?” said Tom.
“Yes, Lightning Lords.”
“Say what?” said Renee again.
Tom looked at his aunt, who looked back at him and sighed.
“I know that rumours can be just that, rumours only,” she said, “but all travellers we have come across say the same thing. There is a tower in the Midlands that sends lightning into the clouds.”
She looked at her nephew, hoping that he would take all of this in and understand what she was alluding to.
“It is said that the lightning that hits the Tower is the normal kind we see in our everyday lives.” She tried to resist the urge to lean forward to emphasize the next point, but she did so anyway. “When the lightning is returned into the clouds, it is in a different form. Travelers have described it as more potent.” She looked down at the descriptions in her reports. “It crackled, it sizzled, it hummed, the lightning was thinner and more numerous, the very air was more alive, the static lasted longer, and some said they could feel the buzz in the air even when they moved fifty kilometres south.” She finished and looked up at her nephew.
Tom processed this information for a moment with a frown so reminiscent of his father. “This is going to sound a stupid question,” he said, “but how do these Lightning Lords fight each other?”
“It is said they wear silver clothing of some sort,” Lily replied, “and when they battle, lightning is projected from their arms in a relatively straight line.”
“So they must get their power from the tower,” said Tom.
“Yes,” Lily replied.
Tom looked over at the lamp that had sat, unusable, in this room for decades; he then walked over and removed the lightbulb and placed it carefully in his pocket.
“We will learn what we can. When do we leave?” he said.
Lily smiled at him with pride.
“As soon as you’re ready,” she replied “but I want you all to read up about electricity before you go. There are numerous books in this library.”
“All of us?” Renee replied.
“Yes, Locke is going as well,” Lily said and felt another rise of panic at the thought that she was sending the two people she loved the most into a life-threatening situation. But what choice did she have if an epidemic was about to envelop Hobart? “I have a few presents for you, Tom, before you go,” she continued, and as she walked over to the cabinet where she kept her father’s sword, she noticed that Tom’s eyes went immediately to the black hat.
She first took out a small brass telescope.
“This is a present your Aunt Ash gave my father on that fateful day,” she said as she handed the spyglass over to him.
“Thank you,” he said as he smiled back at her. “I will be able to see the enemy coming before they see me, I hope.”
“Yes, you will,” she replied, “and you will also be able to defend yourself with this.” She removed her father’s sword and placed it in his hands. “You deserve this,” she said with unshed tears in her eyes. “And your grandfather would be very pleased to know this was left in capable hands.”
Tom looked in awe as he handled the katana sword. His grandfather’s sword! The one that had been given to him as a present by Tom’s maternal great-grandfather!
“This is too precious a gift, Aunt Lily,” he said as he tried to hand the sword back.
“No, Tom,” Lily said firmly, moving it back towards him. “I have trained you for this moment for three years. Your father wanted you to have it when he first gave you to my care.”
“It really is a precious gift,” he said as tears of gratitude built in his eyes. So that was what his father had handed his aunt on the first day of his arrival. He thought the sword was still with his father, and surely Raymond or Jon should have received it?
“Yes, it is,” she replied. “But it is a gift from your father, who inherited it from your grandfather. I have a gift of my own for you.” She walked over to the shelf and removed the black hat. “This is my father’s hat,” she said, surprised as tears suddenly fell from her eyes. “He gave it to me to mind when he went back to Hobart. He said he would collect it when he returned. But … he never came back,” she finished with a sob.
How embarrassing, she thought, as she started to cry. I thought my memories of my father were all gone. But this hat, which she had kept so close to her all these years, was a reminder of him and how he loved her, a reminder of a father’s love. She only then realised that she was being held in someone’s arms, and judging by the size of the man holding her, it was her nephew not Locke. She took a step back and wiped at her eyes with the palms of her hands.
“I can’t take this,” Tom said quietly.
“Nonsense,” she replied briskly. “I’ve seen you looking at that hat for years now.”
“But I didn’t know whose it was. Or what it meant to you,” he replied with shame.
She looked up at him and took a deep breath.
“It is only a symbol,” she replied. “He was just … letting me know that he loved me. I know that now.” She reached up and put the hat on his head. It suited him. “An Eastwood hat, I believe it is called,” she said.
“Are you sure, Aunt?” he asked, still sounding slightly uneasy as he adjusted the hat. The tall young man now looked like a giant.
“Yes, Tom,” she replied. “A mayor can’t be seen to be crying all the time, can she?”
“Only by the people who love her,” he replied, which was probably the sweetest thing she had ever heard.
“Indeed,” Locke agreed, tears also standing in his eyes, and Tom finally clicked as to how his aunt and Loc
ke’s ‘friendship’ worked. He was pleased at this, as he had a high regard for The Breaker; everybody did.
“Well, you all have your preparations to make,” the mayor said, regaining at least some of her old composure and sitting back down at her desk and patting the huge dog, who was now whimpering at her tears.
“Yes, Mayor,” Tom and Renee said together and walked towards the door.
“Oh, and one last thing, Tom,” his aunt said. “There are zombies up there waiting patiently to wake up. Pale and red zombies, so be extra careful.”
“But I’m a Dayton,” Tom replied with a big smile “we kill zombies for a living.”
His aunt’s laugh warmed him for many a day as he journeyed north.
The Tasmanian Midlands
“Ah, there is nothing as refreshing as starting the morning with a cold shower,” the professor said.
Hockey looked back at him in amazement. It wasn’t that he was standing on a coiled metal plate stark naked, or the fact that he wasn’t using any water that boggled his mind. It was the fact that he had a million volts of electricity pouring through his body. He said it was good for the skin and the internal organs.
“Cold fire, Hockey. Cold fire,” he cried out as he laughed and long streams of sparks came out of his nose and his hair stood straight up.
“You’re insane,” Hockey said with a grunt and went back to scanning the hills, but he noticed that the professor did seem more invigorated after he had his so-called shower.
A large lightning explosion miles to the east put thoughts of the professor out of his mind for the moment. He hoped that his sons had finally killed the bitch after three years of getting their arses kicked.
Well, he hoped Buzz had killed the girl, not Rodent, as he was next to useless. Why he had decided to give a suit to his eldest son was beyond him. A father’s hope, he supposed. But one more slip-up and he would have to take the weapon away from Rodent and give it to someone else, after giving him another bloody beating, of course.
That bloody girl has shamed me, he thought in pure anger as he clenched his huge fists.
