Call of Kuyr

by J C Gilbert

  "What makes you say the god of death?" I asked.

  "Oh, something Lilly said. Speaking of her, we need to find her before she's the one waltzing with the beast."

  We ran along the ramparts and towards the second guard tower. We were about to enter and begin our scene when we heard a noise. It was strange and sounded like someone saying "ohshitohshitohshitohshit."

  A shadow swooped overhead. "Lilly?" I asked.

  "Whoah - ohshit!" said Lilly.

  Lilly swooped down toward the city and then back into the sky. "Ohshitohshitohshitohshit," she repeated.

  "Why do you have wings?" I asked.

  "Never mind that, land before that thing sees you!" said Trist.

  I looked about to see where Kuyr was, but he was somewhere out of sight. I heard another screen as a figure plummeted toward the ground. I snapped my head upwards to see Kuyr searching about for his next victim. Was he looking this way?

  "Lilly!" I bellowed. The winged figure of Lilly rose gracefully up toward us. She flapped her wings, hovering in place.

  "Just casually," said Lilly.

  "Land, would you?" said Trist. "We need to get inside."

  "Maybe you need to -"

  "Kuyr is going to eat you!"

  "Fine," said Lilly, rolling her eyes. She wobbled, flapped, and then fell flat on her face on the stone bricks.

  Trist pulled her inside the guard tower. Two raven warriors passed us as they scampered down the stairs.

  "Why do you have wings, Lilly?" I asked.

  "I don't know, I put on this armor and they sort of sprouted," she said. "Am I still pretty?

  "It's this," said Trist, examining the chest plate.

  "Eyes front," said Lilly.

  There was a purple gem glowing softly at the center of the chest plate. It was small and would have been easy to miss.

  "The same purple as the Rose they are using to make the gargoyles," I said.

  "They are making more gargoyles?" asked Trist. "That's not good."

  "You don't know the half of it," I said. "Can you take the armor off, Lilly?"

  "Haven't tried," she said. She unclipped a buckle on her left shoulder, and her wings began to shrink. "Darn," she said.

  "Its for the best," I said, placing a hand on hers.

  "Well obviously," she said, "but a part of me wanted to be forced to live with wings. Would have been pretty dramatic."

  "We are still in danger," said Trist. "What is this about a rose on a dais?"

  "It's up by the gargoyle keep. But it's not what we are looking for."

  "Are you sure?" asked Trist.

  "We have it on good authority that Kuyr was bound to a challis," said Lilly.

  "A cup?"

  "Like a cup," I said softly. Where had I seen a cup?

  "Well, it's not here," said Trist. "Kuyr does not seem to be in charge here. He seems to be a lot more like an apocalypse."

  "Lilly," I said carefully. "I know where the chalice is."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I knew what we had to do. For the first time in the whole adventure, I felt at peace. All we needed to do was find the chalice and take it back with us. We may not be able to stop all the fighting, but we could stop the end of the world.

  Lilly arrived at my house the next day in the late afternoon. I was tired but determined we could finish this today.

  "Are you ready?" Lilly asked steadily.

  "As ready as I'm ever going to be," I replied, being careful to control my breathing.

  "They are going to meet us at the bus station, and we will go from there."

  "What?" I asked, confused.

  "Daniel and Carl," said Lilly. "Don't tell me you were thinking of ditching."

  "But Lilly! Kuyr -"

  "Hush," said Lilly, looking over my shoulder. Dad was singing Guns and Roses and vacuuming the lounge. There was no way he was going to hear us. "Look, Alex, we know where to find the chalice. One day isn't going to make much of a difference. Besides, you promised."

  Hank didn't know whether to attack me for needing to going into The Library and ending this or attack me for going on a date. He decided to just attack me, regardless.

  "I did promise," I said solemnly.

  Lilly laughed. "I'm just shitting you, I text them earlier to say that we aren't coming."

  I wanted to hit her but gave her a smiling scowl instead. Part of me felt quite bad for Daniel and Carl, but I would have felt even worse if we failed to stop Kuyr.

  "Come one, let's find a chalice," said Lilly.

  ***

  "I waited as long as I would," said Trist when we reached the inn. He was wearing his full Ram armor and leaning forward on the bar, standing when we entered. There were far fewer people there than usual.

  "Why, what's happened?"" I asked.

  "They are meeting at the old Nadre Baths," said Trist.

  "Who is meeting?"

  "The Rams and the Ravens," said Trist.

  "When you say meeting are you meaning the hacky stabby kind of meeting?" asked Lilly.

  "No, the other kind. I know, I'm as shocked as anyone. It seems that they are starting to wake up to the fact that there is another threat in the city that both sides need to take care of. Even that big guy, Darion, is down there."

  "Nothing like the lord of darkness to bring folk together," said Lilly. "Well, good on them."

  "So why aren't you with them?" I asked.

  "Yeah? You gotta be pretty important to be still wearing your super suit."

  "My what? Oh, I was sent to look for you, Alex."

  "Oh," I said, unsure of what that could mean.

  "You do remember the part when they said you were part of the prophecy of end times, right?"

  "Well, yes. But why do they want to talk to me?"

  "Because it's the end times, maybe?" asked Trist.

  "Oh," I said.

  "Look, time is sort of an important factor here. We better get moving," he said.

  "I can't," I said.

  "What do you mean you can't?" asked Trist. He looked angry.

  "I have something that I need to do."

  "Yes, you have something that you need to do. You need to come with me. I've been waiting here for hours. They will tear my head open if I don't return with you now."

  "Your deal, not ours," said Lilly. She pinched his cheek. "So furious!" she said.

  Lilly and I walked through the now mostly empty streets. It seemed that those who were not banding together to save the city had decided that today was an inside day. We retraced our steps along where we had walked on our first day in Kanboor. At length we reached the canal we were looking for.

  "Her boat isn't here," I said.

  "That's a good thing, right?" asked Lilly. "We can take this one."

  "Stealing peoples boats now, are we?"

  "Come off it, Alex. We are literally saving the world right now," said Lilly. Still, it made me feel uncomfortable.

  We climbed down into the boat, and Lilly began untying, where it was attached to the edge of the canal. She pushed off, and we started to drift towards the houseboat. There it was as if nothing had changed, swaying gently on the soft waves.

  Lilly took the oars and started to row. It was slow going. Despite her enthusiasm for being right, Lilly had never rowed a boat before, and only really had her assumptions to go on. Fortunately for me, she was persistent. Even though I really had no clue, if I were alone, I doubted I could have done half so well.

  We collided with the houseboat with a crash and a thud. I looked about cautiously, not sure what I was to expect from this adventure. Initially, the boat bounced off of the houseboat. Lilly seized the oars and pulled us in again. On the second go, she managed to grab on to a wooden post and fastened the boat there.

  We clambered onboard. The place had that deserted feeling. It made me nervous to be trespassing on someone's property, especially when they knew who I was. Lilly was right, it was ridiculous for me to be nervous about being caught
when thousands, perhaps millions of lives were at stake.

  "Hello?" I ventured. There was no answer.

  "I don't think she is home," said Lilly.

  "Probably a good thing," I said. I took a deep breath and pushed inside the house. All was silent but for the soft creak of the wood on the waves. Dust danced on the soft sunlight which glided in through the ornate round windows.

  Lilly quickly checked the bedrooms and then returned. "It's a mess in there," she said. "It looks like the old guy was pulled out through the window."

  I winced as I imagined his terror and sadness. I shook my head and tried to pull my attention back to the present.

  I scanned the shelves for what my memories knew had been there but to no avail. "It's gone," I said.

  "Maybe it was moved," suggested Lilly.

  "Maybe," I said, but was growing less sure by the minute. I knew I had seen the cup there on the shelf. At least this probably meant that I was right about what it was. "I was hoping we could just get in and out and finish this thing," I said.

  "Don't be like that," said Lilly. "Let's just keep searching."

  "It's not here, Lilly!" I snapped.

  "Well not with that attitude it's not! Look, I know that it is probably not here, sure. But if there is even like a 10% chance, then we might as well keep looking. I mean, imagine how much it would suck if we leave, and it was here all the time? You would have to endure my rowing unnecessarily, and that's just not OK."

  "I suppose that's true," I conceded.

  "Besides, me hands are all blisters. Look," she shoved her palms into my face and squished my nose.

  "Get out of it," I said, grinning in spite of myself.

  We looked about for another half hour powered only by the perpetual enthusiasm of Lilly, but it was no use. We couldn't will the challis to be there.

  It was getting late when we climbed into the boat to head back to the canal. The moon was hanging low in the sky, waiting as it was for the oncoming night.

  As we rowed, my mind wandered. I gazed over the city and wondered what was going to become of all these people. Even if I stopped Kuyr, they still had some pretty severe problems. Could I stop them as well?

  Then my eyes fell on a figure and my heart skipped a beat. For a fleeting moment I thought that it was Elaine again. I looked at Lilly. It didn't seem like she had seen anything. I looked back, half expecting the figure to have disappeared, but no. They were still there. I pointed.

  "Aye, captain?" said Lilly in a pirate voice, "just a few more leagues now."

  "Just look," I said.

  "That be a mysterious figure on a wharf," said Lilly. "Ya-arr!"

  "I think it might be Mary," I said.

  Lilly rowed in silence for a moment. "Mary or Kuyr?" she asked in more serious tones.

  "I don't know."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  We tied up the boat, and cautiously walked through the streets towards the pier where we had seen the figure. The sun was setting now, casting all the stone buildings of Kanboor in a deep orange. As we walked, the city opened up into the docklands. I had seen this area before from the Raven Keep and from Mary's boat, but never up close. It was a maze of boats and piers.

  I saw Mary at the end of one of the piers. She appeared to be watching the moon as it rose in the sky. Her apples were set lazily aside.

  "Maybe you should wait here," I said to Lilly, pulling her back behind a dock building.

  "Are you sure?" asked Lilly, "We don't know who will be waiting for you at the end of the wharf."

  "I know. But if it is Mary, then I think it will be better if it were just me."

  "And if it is Kuyr?"

  "Then I suppose it's still better if it is just me. No sense in us both dying."

  "That's BS, Alex. You know that if you are gone, then this world will soon be to follow. But I think you are right, Mary never warmed to my charms for some reason."

  "You called her creepy when her dad died."

  "Not to her face! But I won't argue with you. Only the intellectually lost ever argue. I'll just watch the birds or something."

  I tried to walk casually but was painfully aware of every step I made. My feet seemed to make an unnecessary degree of noise as I walked along the weathered pier.

  "I didn't mean for any of this to happen," said Mary when I was close. "I just, I just wanted my dad back."

  "I know," I said.

  "I don't think he has been talking to me true," said Mary through sobs.

  "Who?"

  "You know who," spat Mary.

  "It's not your fault, Mary," I said.

  "Isn't it? I wanted vengeance for my father's death. I wanted that! And who should answer my calls but the God of Death? I can still hear their screams, Alex. I close my eyes, and I see what I did to them."

  She turned to face me now. "And the worst thing is that he makes me enjoy it. He makes me want it. When I learned of my mistake, when you said that it was a creature with wings that killed my dad and not the Rams, my first thought was not of regret for what I had done to those poor, poor people. It was joy that I could do it to more."

  "That's not you, Mary."

  "How would you know? I think he has always been with me. This is not the first time that I have wished harm on others."

  "You know what that makes you?" I asked.

  "What?" asked Mary with tear stained eyes.

  "That makes you a human being."

  Mary had turned to face me more fully now. She was holding the chalice in one hand.

  "What does it matter," said Mary. "If I was a human being, then I am not now." She laughed a chilling laugh.

  "What?" I asked.

  "You want to know what he is saying now?"

  "I can't hear him-"

  "He is telling me to lift you up, Alex. He wants me to lift you high above the harbor and let you fall."

  I held my breath as we locked eyes. The sun was halfway down hidden by the horizon now. It's brilliant rays cast Mary in orange. The moon hung behind her, watching silently.

  "Please make him stop," she said in a hurried whisper.

  I smiled, "we can do that," I said.

  "You? What can you do?" spat Mary, her mood changing again and darkness writhing over her features.

  "Just give me the chalice," I said, carefully.

  Mary looked down at the object in her hand as if only just noticing that it was there. She pulled back.

  "I can make him go away, but you have to give me the chalice."

  "I don't have to do anything," spat Mary. she was eyeing me suspiciously. "Why do you want it anyway?"

  "I want to take it away," I said. It didn't seem like the right time to talk about The Library.

  "You want to keep it?" she asked.

  "No, I want to make sure that he, that Kuyr, can't hurt anyone."

  For an instant, Mary's features changed and I could see echoes of Kuyr's face. "How does it know my name?" he said. And then Mary's face was her own again. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she said, shaking her head.

  "Mary, I want to stop it."

  "You want it for yourself!" she cried. "You want to kill me. You want to punish me for what I have done. Well, I won't let you."

  "Mary, please," I said, tears of fear and pain were welling up in my eyes now as I pleaded. It felt ridiculous that all my life could come down to this. I didn't want to die.

  "Now he is saying that if I kill you, then he will set me free," said Mary. "I don't want to do it!" she yelled.

  "That's exactly what makes it fun!" said Kuyr, his face rippling over hers.

  "I'm sorry," said Mary. She began to transform.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  I took a step back and watched in horror as Mary's features fell away. She started to grow, her arms elongating into claws, her hair falling away from her head and going black, her face contorting into that hideous grin.

  "Showtime!" said Kuyr as he lunged forward and swiped at me with a great talon. I ju
mped backward, almost falling into the mirror-still water below. Kuyr wasted no time. He was in the air in a flash and coming down hard upon me. I dodged the blow again but fell to my side.

  "Come on, let's have a little fun," said Kuyr. "You aren't even screaming."

  "Mary, you don't have to do this," I pleaded.

  "Mary knows what she has to do and doesn't have to do," Kuyr grabbed at me by the waist and hoisted me off the ground. I tried to struggle, but he was too strong. He held me over the water. "And right now I can assure you that Mary really really wants to hear you scream. Oblige!" Kuyr yelled and started to shake me.

  His claws were pressing into my side now. I focused all of my attention into my hands and grabbed at his wrist. Fire erupted from my palms, and he dropped me.

  "Interesting," he said, his grin growing wider still and his eyes bulging in his skull.

  I hit the water with a soft splash. Distantly I noticed that it was cold and that the sun was reflecting orange light in a way which I may have thought was beautiful. Kuyr calmly patted out the fire which had caught in his pale, papery skin.

  My heart was racing, and I didn't know what to do. I searched about for somewhere to hide beneath the piers. My attention was off Kuyr for an instant, and in that instant, he was on me again. He plucked me from the water again and flung me back onto the dock. I hit the sun-hardened wood with a thud and felt my skin tear as I skidded.

  I let out a cry.

  "Alex!" I heard from somewhere in the distance. It was Lilly.

  "No," I said, but my voice was stuck in my throat. I got to my feet and searched my surroundings, feeling warm blood trickle down my leg. In that moment there was no pain.

  Kuyr was walking towards me now. "So you brought your friend along with you? I wonder if I could convince you to kill her. This Mary has been a lot of fun, but she didn't have many friends.

  Lilly was running towards me now. What did she expect she could do? She would die here. I would die here.

  "Go find help!" I called to her. She ignored me and kept coming this way. Lilly needed to see that I was going to be fine.