Gemini Warrior

by J D Cowan

  Jason broke his silence. “You choose it?”

  “Yes, young man. It strengthens one’s resolve to live surrounded by darkness without bathing in it. Your guard can never falter, and your trust in God must remain absolute. It’s not simple, or altogether pleasant, but it is our village.”

  A gruff cough broke their conversation. A tall man entered the church and introduced himself as Kydil. The leader let them know that it was their turn for the bath. They said their goodbyes to the priest and followed Kydil out of the rear of the church.

  Zelana passed them on the way in. She wore a simple white gown and nodded towards them. Jason waved back, but Matthew kept his focus on what awaited outside.

  Kydil led them to a small pool of water surrounded by a tall fence. Steam wafted from the open-air bath and brushed against the overhanging branches of the trees. Matthew found himself oddly anticipating it. It wasn’t a hot tub, but it would do. The two stripped away their sweat-drenched clothes and climbed inside.

  The water soothed his aches. His muscles instantly clenched and released as if a steam valve had been turned in his bones. The steam lifted his cares and allowed him to lay back against the carved edges of the pool as his nerves relaxed. The priest’s earlier words still rang through him as he splashed his face. This was no normal water, though it very much looked and otherwise felt like it. The intangible knot in his stomach loosened and he breathed comfortably again. His rage melted into the night.

  Jason sat across from him at the other end of the pool. His attention focused on the steeple of the small church.

  But Matthew didn’t worry about him. It had been too long since he had the opportunity to get clean, and he would enjoy every moment. His throbbing head settled, and he slid into slumber.

  “If I killed a villain in Serenity City, what would have happened?”

  Matthew jumped and rubbed his eyes awake. He coughed his surprise away. “You would be arrested. You’re a hero freak, so you should remember what happened with Achilles. He was a good guy for years and loved by everyone. Then he changed. Now he’s in solitary. Big difference between him and you: he lost his mind, and you didn’t.”

  “I know. But it came so easy. If Mom and Dad could see me now, they’d—”

  “They’d what?”

  The boy clammed up. Matthew expected a flash of rage that never arrived. The bath was apparently working. If Jason still didn’t trust him after all this, then there was nothing to be done.

  “You can keep your secrets. It’s hard to give advice if you can’t tell me anything.”

  “That’s not it,” Jason said with a sigh. “It’s hard to explain. Forget about that. Even if we get to the place they’re holding Ordopha, how are we supposed to get her out and go through the Mirror Gate at the same time? She’ll die on the way through. Will we leave her stranded here?”

  “We’re just going to have to worry about the bridge when we cross it and blow it up behind us. The important part is getting her out.”

  “She’s changed a lot since she left the mountains. So has Alain. Does Intactilis have anything to do with it or is that whole story the Abbot told us a load of manure?”

  Matthew chuckled. The boy really didn’t have a head for people. “I remember that presence when we escaped on the airship more than any other magic we’ve faced so far. That was him. I know you felt it too. But we know Nieto isn’t invincible. Things can change in our favor. Shaula is still the key. If we can crack her, their whole operation gets crippled.”

  “That’s right!” Jason exclaimed. “They were her children, and she just tossed them aside like they were nothing. I bet she doesn’t even care that they’re dead.”

  “She left one of them imprisoned in that tree. And, if I remember right, that’s the one she’s actually proud of.”

  “Damn witch.”

  Matthew dropped the subject. Shaula didn’t care about anything but the artifacts to help revive her husband. They needed to get off Tyndarus, and stop Shaula. But first came Ord before anything else.

  They left the bath and changed into the simple blue tunics and pants left for them. It was hard to not feel refreshed outside of the armor after that long night.

  The pair returned to the church where they were directed to a back room behind the altar. There a large table had been set up with six men sitting around it. Zelana sat facing them in a lone chair. Her hair had been done up, and she now wore a fresh blue dress. Jason pulled a chair beside her and Matthew stayed by the doorframe, leaning.

  Kydil sat at the head and called for silence to the meeting. The mustached man greeted Castor and Pollux and introduced them to the village council. After quick introductions, they got to business. These elders were gathered together to discuss everything from hunting schedules to managing court hearings and dealt with problems caused by Nieto’s magic flooding the woods. The meeting eventually got to discussing Zelana.

  “Frankly, this girl is more of a concern for us than you two are. While it is good to see capable young men wielding the legendary Gemini Bracelets, it is not enough to assuage our fears that the blackwood tree is dead after this one walked out of it. What was she doing in it to begin with? The Deeper Woods are filled with enough monstrous creatures to make us think twice about what her appearance portends.”

  “I told you,” Zelana said. “I was put in the tree long ago. I do not know what my purpose was.”

  One of the older men cleared his throat. “Be that as it may, girl, it does not explain how you are capable of using the Kharis Seed? Most who use relics die to them. What are you, exactly?”

  “Calm yourself,” Kydil warned. “She is still a child.”

  Zelana winced at the word. “The Kharis Seed brought me out of the blackwood tree. It infused me with new life. But it wasn’t until I left the tree that I learned the truth. You see, the seed transferred knowledge from its previous host into my mind. I live because of Jason.”

  Despite her impressive story, she still wouldn’t look the boy in the eye. She was probably telling most of the truth, at least what she knew. Matthew did believe her. Were he trapped for years and emerged with brand new memories he would express just as much confusion.

  “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Jason said. “When you touched me it recharged Pollux, and there was a flash of strange memories that went through my head—they were things I hadn’t thought of in years. I thought I finally recognized that woman, too. Did you do something to me?”

  “That was the seed telling me what you needed. But I did not affect your memories.” She still refused to look him in the face. “I promise you.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I saw them.”

  He laughed to himself. “No, you didn’t. That’s not possible.”

  She nodded to herself. “Not here then.”

  Matthew blinked. Jason’s cryptic nature aside, they were getting off track. “Can we get a move on here? We have things to do.”

  “I agree,” Kydil said.”

  One of the other men broke in. “This still does not explain who you really are, girl.”

  “That,” she said, “is not a question I can answer. You may imprison or cast me out if you wish, but you will not call me a liar. Jason can prove I am not one.”

  “We’ll take responsibility for her,” Matthew said. He would not reveal her parentage. It would only cause chaos. “If she causes any problems, it’s on us. She won’t though because she helped save us. Now I’m sorry to ask you all this favor, but we’re going to need you to take her in when we leave. We can’t bring a girl to a battlefield.”

  “I am not a girl!” she shouted with a stomp of her foot. “My age might have slowed while in that tree, but I am as old as Jason. He knows it’s true, too! Do I look like just a girl to you, Jason?”

  Jason shook his head, still in thought. “You don’t look like a kid to me.”

  “See?”

  Matthew laughed to himself. Kids had
a way of getting bothered by the dumbest of things.

  “We’re not getting anyone else involved in this. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you have nothing to do with our mission. Jason and I will handle this one alone.”

  More back and forth occurred, but Matthew would not budge on the issue, and the old men agreed. Jason even piped in to confirm his feelings. Eventually, that was enough to shoot Zelana down and allowed them to move on to other topics like what Castor and Pollux were doing in Tyndarus to begin with. However, Matthew couldn’t tell them much.

  He still didn’t know anything about Castor or Pollux or why the bracelets chose them. The men soon clued him in on more legends. Earthwalkers had never been able to use the bracelets. That would explain why Shaula brought them to Earth. It was as if they were made for human biological systems.

  Though Matthew desired to go after Ordopha as soon as possible, he still couldn’t quite walk straight. Apparently, a short rest would finally clear out the remaining effects of fog. He finally assented to taking a small nap before setting out.

  Eventually, the meeting ended, and the pair departed the church. Cheers erupted from townspeople loitering about outside. They chanted for Castor and Pollux and patted the two of them on their backs. Questions about their identities and powers washed over the pair.

  Their chipper attitude was entirely unlike anything Matthew had encountered in this forest. There was no fog in this village, but the distraction in his head remained. Until his sixth sense stopped spinning in his mind there was little he could do.

  Kydil pointed them to the tavern across the way, parting the encroaching group.

  The owner of the place allowed the three to stay in two rooms on the second floor. The girl vanished inside the room next to theirs, unwilling to talk. Matthew tried to avoid having any flashbacks to the last time he had been in a place like this and passed into his bed without a second thought. Jason sat on Matthew’s bed a little longer, staring out into the night.

  They would have to leave this place early in the morning before the sun hit the sky—even though it was rather difficult to see sky in this place—and they would have to make it quick. The two were still on a time limit before Shaula made good on her threat to attack the abbey, and Ordopha remained out there. Any rest he could get would be absolutely necessary to survive.

  Before sleep overtook him, he heard Jason lie back in the bed and reform into Matthew’s head. The last thing Matthew heard was the boy whispering into his thoughts.

  “I’m sorry I got you into this, Matthew.”

  “Shut up and go to sleep,” he mumbled.

  “It won’t ever happen again.”

  An edge stuck to that statement, but Matthew didn’t have the chance to question it. Slumber smothered him into a deep sleep. A few hours were all he needed. The boy could wait that long.

  Jason tried sleeping, but his nerves repeatedly shook him awake. Time passed, and he could only stare at the moonlight’s shadow dancing on the wall.

  The door knocked, and Jason almost jumped out of his skin. Matthew remained in his unconscious slumber, oblivious. Before he could be awakened, Jason flung himself up and made a line for the door, leaving Matthew’s head behind.

  “Who is it?” Jason whispered.

  “Me,” Zelana answered.

  Jason flung open the door and followed her out into the hall. Her platinum hair had been ruffled, but she otherwise looked just fine. She had to have been having a bad sleep, as well.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  “I apologize for almost sharing your secret.”

  Now she no longer glanced away. Even though the girl blushed like mad, Zelana stared Jason right in the face. Her fierceness reminded him of Alain.

  “So you know. That’s not a big deal.”

  “But does Matthew know?”

  “No.”

  The girl put her hands on her hips and let a hard breath out through her nostrils. “I do wish I could say I understand what it is like to have gone through what you have, Jason. But Matthew is the first friend you have made since that time. You might not like each other, but he has been by your side since you have come here. Why don’t you tell him?”

  “I didn’t think I would have to,” he whispered. “But I’ll tell him. When we get back. He has enough to worry about right now. Your mother has someone important to him, and she’s threatening to attack others. His chest is also a literal ticking clock. My problems are nothing compared to that. For now, we have to keep focused.”

  “My mother,” she said, staring at the floor. “I don’t remember her, even though I’ve seen her through your eyes.”

  “She’s not worth thinking about. Just like my past.” He’d never even told Shaula about his old life when they met. He was Pollux now, and that made a world of difference. “You can tell that much by what she did to us.”

  “Well, if you say so,” she said with a hint of indignation. “I don’t know what to think of her. I was just used to help fertilize that tree. I was of no concern to her.”

  “You were left there for a reason, and I’d like to know why. After all, you know everything about me.”

  “That is not by my choice. I don’t have anyone to return to, or anywhere to go. You are the only one I know anything about which is why I desire to stay with you. Can you not understand that?”

  Her voice had heightened and strained with each passing sentence. By the time she finished talking, she had nearly shouted. However long she was in that tree was far too long. Jason put a hand to his lips and another to her shoulder to calm her down.

  “I do understand what that’s like,” he said. “You very well know I do. But you also know why I can’t take you with me. You saw Mageuopolis in my head. You saw Shaula hunting us for these bracelets and that seed. You’ll be a target coming with us. You should stay here where it’s safe.”

  “But that’s . . .” she trailed off trying to get her bearings straight.

  Jason used this pause as a moment to break in. “We don’t really know each other yet, but I’d like to get the chance. Once we rescue Ordopha, we’ll come back here again, and we can talk. Just give me some time. Please.”

  He was not just puffing up his chest. There was a place for her in Tyndarus, just as there was a place for him on Earth. He’d wasted so much time hiding from the world and waiting for someone else to save him that he never did anything for himself. Now Pollux was his, and he could do anything.

  She nodded. “You have to find them, don’t you? The ones who killed your parents.”

  He froze. “I do.”

  “I’m not certain how to access the seed’s power fully, but I think I can give you a bit of it for the journey ahead. Can you give me your armor and weapons?”

  Jason disappeared into his room. He retrieved the armor, sword and shield sitting by the window and brought them into the hall. They weighed next to nothing with Pollux, so he also brought Matthew’s as well. He placed them before Zelana, and she crouched down.

  She outstretched both arms and showed her bare hands, revealing a fine purple mist floating from them. She scrunched her fists and groaned, muttering for under her breath. The purple then warped into a dark blue before lightening to a white tint. Zelana presented her palms once more, her lips mashed by her clenched teeth. She shook as the energy flashed in her open fingers.

  “It hurts,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can purify the magic inside me, but I can’t hold it for long. This is all I can do for the two of you.”

  Zelana placed her hands on each of the chest pieces. Energy flowed off of her fingertips and into the armor, bathing it in a warm white glow. Jason felt the heat from where he stood. The light spread down to the rest of the armor and into the new swords and shields Kydil had given them. Within a minute the glow faded, but the warmth remained. She let out a breath and removed her shaking hands.

  “Your armor is infused with my magic. It should protect you as long as the power lasts. I a
pologize that I could not do the same with your bodies. Magic shouldn’t be used on living beings for corruption is always possible—you might not be the same man you were before.

  He opened his mouth to reply, to say anything, but the words would not come.

  But he didn’t have to. The screech of a hawk cut the night air outside the tavern. It started low and slowly rose higher than a harsh whistle. Volcanoes erupted in Jason’s skull.

  Jason and Zelana fell against the wall, clutching their ears. Inside the room behind them, Matthew swore. He barrelled out of the room.

  “What’s this armor doing here?”

  Before he could continue, the sound suddenly cut out. The ringing in Jason’s ears ceased.

  A voice sliced through the air outside the tavern.

  “Castor and Pollux!” Shaula screamed through the night. “Come out, you cowards!”

  Matthew and Jason ran down the stairs and into the night. Out on the streets, the townspeople milled about, clearly dressed for bed and stunned. But Shaula was nowhere to be seen.

  The voice cut in once more and the town fell quiet. They all looked to the sky where the harsh sound blasted in from. She must not have known their location to communicate this way.

  “First you spurn my generous invitation. Then you steal our property. Then you take my treasure. Finally, you dare to attack my men and steal my prize! Who do you think you are? I am the Queen of Mageuopolis, wife of Great Sorcerer King Nieto. You are nothing.”

  Jason’s breaths stiffened. She knew they had left the abbey. Should she do anything, they could do little to stop her.

  “I not only have the girl, but I have caught more flies in our web. I believe this one is named Alain. The fool stumbled into our hands.”

  “He went off on his own,” Matthew muttered. “The idiot.”

  “The deal is simple, fools. Bring me both Castor and Pollux and the Kharis Seed, and I will let the prisoners go. Bring them to the tree. You have until sunrise. I will tolerate no more games.”

  The voice echoed away into the night and died. The peace was short lived. The people began to argue with each other, and the subject of their discussion was obvious.