by Mark Boliek
Chapter 20
After my listeners, still huddled on the mahogany colored rug in the confines of Warhead Dale heard the words, “kill them all,” they all gasped and I felt every molecule of air suddenly sucked out of the great hall.
My little blonde-haired friend, sitting with me in my big black leather chair, chimed out with fright and then buried her face in my chest.
With a loud crack and snap, the overhead lights flickered on and illuminated the room. The children gasped once again and covered their heads at the sudden rush of light, but just as soon as the surprise penetrated their little bodies, the lights blacked out again. The only light left as they raised their eyes was from the same fire that continued casting and dancing long shadows on the walls around us.
Without muttering a single word, the children scooted closer together, and I continued my story.
“JT had almost forgotten the throbbing pain he had to cope with in his bum knee while he was on the Shorts’ farm, but the feeling of the sting that shot through his limbs when his knees first crashed on the hard, jagged, cold floor of the cell brought that memory back without mercy. In his relief as time passed, the pain dulled. JT knelt as lightly as he could.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and to his delight, a small slit of a window was to his left near the top of the ceiling of his cell. He realized they weren’t completely underground. He could just make out the pinholes of light that were the Bruinduer stars splashing over the late evening sky. Their presence was comforting and brought a brief sense of peace to an otherwise terrible situation. Hours crawled like snails, but the black darkness turned into a tint of blue, hinting at early morning. JT heard Kali crying again; this time louder and heartbreaking.
‘I told you this was real.’ Kali tried to get the words through her trembling voice. Her senses were shot and her emotions a wreck. ‘I thought you said you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.’
With those words JT felt a tear dribble down his cheek. He didn’t understand why he was in this situation. He couldn’t believe that Michael wanted them dead, (not to mention Charlie was going to oblige him) and now the one promise he had made to Kali, the beautiful girl he saw walk through Linda’s diner, seemed to fade like the pain in his knees.
‘I promise nothing is going to happen to you. We’re not dead yet.’ JT tried to keep a positive attitude. He did not want the new temper he had found since he met Willy in the horse barn to rear its ugly head. It was still a mystery to him why it distressed him. He felt the burning in his stomach.
‘A little late for that, right?’ Kali whispered, her voice still trembling with fright and sorrow.
JT held his breath and his head became hot. His temper was boiling. He couldn’t control his rage after hearing the pain and fear in Kali’s voice. JT, and his child hands, thrashed back and forth with a desire he had never felt before. His heart raced and his breath heaved.
JT suddenly released his fear and accepted his temper. He now knew why it rose; he had something to fight for and it was Kali.
The skin on his face shined as red and hot as the surface of the sun. He boiled with anger. His muscles tightened and his veins burst out of his neck and arms like raging rivers, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not break free from the hook. After a few more futile moments and succumbing to exhaustion, he slammed back down to the stone floor on his knees. The pain that had once become numb exploded every nerve in his body.
JT began to cry. He had never felt the gorging of sorrow as he had at that moment. Every cell in his body blistered with sadness. He screamed out to expunge his grief. He was lost; there was nothing he could do. No one came to help him, or, was there?
As soon as he flushed himself of emotion, a complete feeling of relaxation flooded the void and covered him like a blanket. He then heard a familiar whisper,
‘He must fulfill his destiny, and everyone who enters Bruinduer must leave Bruinduer. Remember the rules.’ The sound was light as a feather and it danced through the cold, dark cell.
JT was comforted. For some reason, one he couldn’t explain, he had hoped for that voice to pierce through the air and catch him once again. The mere presence of the voice filled his heart with a sense of happiness. Someone or something was reaching out to him, wanting to help and sooth his soul. He just needed to allow it. He knew who it was.
He didn’t want to admit who it was at first, because being around that entity when he was first introduced only filled him with a quick and angered temper. He felt a little bit out of control then, standing out in the cool air of Athens Eden by the beach, but now he had none. The feeling was not anger; it was relief. He knew that Billy was trying to reach him.
With one large gulp, JT swallowed his pride, and as he sat upon his knees, hanging from a hook, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. He said the poem:
Slip the soul between space and time
Where up is down and five is nine.
Place the palm upon the door
Enter the universe upon its shore.
In a village or on a beach
Nothing there is out of reach.
JT’s voice was shallow, wispy, but sincere. He couldn’t believe what he was doing. He had no idea whether his plea would even work. Would the monster that taunted him actually hear and help him even though the Essence repeatedly told him that he, Michael, and Kali had forgotten him? Or, was he scheming, tricking, and conniving just to gain his power back over Bruinduer? Was this Vryheid world not really collapsing like Charlie had warned?
From where he knelt, however, he felt he had no choice. The comfort he felt should not be in vain. Maybe the monster forgave them regardless of their past transgressions:
Take me where I cannot go
Make me a king or let it snow.
Billy, please hear our beckoning
For in Bruinduer, you are The Reckoning.
After he finished the poem he had learned in front of Warhead Dale, there was no magic. There were no banging, protruding footsteps thundering beneath the ground. No doors exploded and the musky, cold, stench-filled air stood still. A blanket of silence covered JT and Kali.”
“Minutes felt like hours as the time passed. JT and Kali still dangled like sides of beef in a meat cooler. The air turned bitterly cold and the pain in JT’s knees became common. Charlie had asked him in the great Pyramid if he had ever been alone. If it wasn’t true before, it was definitely true now. He felt utterly alone. He again shut his eyes. Billy had abandoned them just as they had abandoned him. He thought powerlessly that the monster was somewhere enjoying his spite.
JT practically accepted the fact that he and Kali were going to die. He would never see the farm, Gregory, or Louise ever again. He would never taste another piece of Linda’s famous pie.
Just as he bathed in his self pity, out of the blue, there was a rattling above his head, and after a second or so, he felt a small flake of a rock pop him on the head followed by a steady stream of dust.
‘What’s that?’ JT thought. ‘Billy? Had he finally answered?’ He looked up.
There was a small circular hole in the ceiling beside where the wire that held the hook he hung from disappeared and attached to a beam.
JT squinted his eyes and with a bit of luck and a quick glance noticed a long whisker, then two, then three pop out of the opening. After another second a tiny, pink nose with the remaining whiskers attached to it appeared through the hole sniffing the stale air for something. Soon, a small, furry brown head squeezed through the little hole and JT noticed two large, beaming black eyes stare down at him.
JT then dropped his chin to his chest in disappointment and rejection. He mumbled to himself sorrowfully, ‘Stupid rat.’
The rat was not fazed by JT’s irreverence and went about his work. It somewhat struggled, but pulled its front little feet through the hole and then eventually poked out its entire plum
p, brown body. It was surprised as it popped through the opening and just about lost its footing and fell, but somehow gripped tightly to the wire with immense strength. After the small visitor had gained its balance, it very quietly and gently climbed down the long string of metal. Its head on a swivel, scanned the room back and forth appearing to be searching, and every once in a while it jabbed its nose in the air and sniffed.
A few more moments passed, and the rat made its way to the hook where JT’s hands, tightly bound with rope, hung. It nipped JT on his thumb with its large, white teeth.
‘Ouch!’ yelped JT painfully and jerked his head upward to see what had bit him.
He saw the little, brown fuzzy rat and tried to shake the hook and knock it off, but the rat dug its claws into JT’s hand and held on tightly. ‘Get out of here you stupid little rat! Just go away!’ The more JT shook and struggled to shoo the rat away to get rid of it, the deeper the brown rat buried its claws in the soft skin of his hand. JT thrashed and yelled trying to shake the rat off of the hook, but his new fluffy brown friend would not be denied. JT relented.
‘Fine, chew my fingers to the bone. I don’t care anymore.’ JT pouted and then dropped his head to his chest. He didn’t understand why bad things were happening to him. He had never had to deal with anything like life and death on the farm. Everything he did there was easy, and if he couldn’t do it right the first time, Gregory or Louise were there to fix it.
The little brown rat released its clawing grip on JT’s flesh and glanced down at the depressed boy with disappointment and shame. The small rodent shook its head. Without warning, it then opened its mouth as wide as it could ready to chomp down on its prey, its fangs sparkling in the inky black cell. With one mighty swipe, it sank its teeth into the thick rope that confined JT. It chewed, gnawed, and even growled as it fought and murdered its way through the rope. With every hammering mouthful of fiber, the rope became thinner and thinner.
JT lazily gazed upward to see if his annoying little companion had finally left, but he felt a shock of adrenaline and happiness shoot through his body as he noticed the rodent working. The little rat was saving him.
‘Keep chewing, little guy!’ said JT excitedly. ‘That a boy!’ His fortune had turned.
Kali raised her head from her somberness and heard JT’s elatedness. ‘Have you gone crazy?’ asked Kali with a pathetic, exasperated tone.
‘No, up at my hands!’ JT stated with a very loud whisper. His eyes bulged at Kali motioning to the busy, chewing rat.
Kali peered toward JT’s hands but could not see the little rat making its way, without haste, through the rope with its razor teeth. She sighed, ‘You are crazy.’
Right after the words left Kali’s mouth, there was a zipping sound and then a small, ‘rip!’ JT’s hands were free. He plopped to the ground and rolled over on his back to give his knees the relief they desperately needed. He straightened out, breathed deeply, and let out a huge groan.
The little rat gripped the now swinging hook and scurried up the wire and plowed its way through the small hole it had made in the ceiling. Just as it was about to disappear, it poked its brown, fuzzy head back through the ceiling hole and nodded toward JT. It then vanished and scurried away.
JT, still on his back, stomped his hands and feet into the murky puddles of the cell with excitement, forgetting for a second his predicament. The only thing that shot through his brain was that Billy was there, and had acted.
‘It would be nice if you would get me down from here,’ Kali said with an exhausted tone interrupting JT’s euphoria.
‘Yeah, right, sorry.’ JT wasn’t fazed by the large, wet, cold stain on the back of his silk jacket. He struggled just a little climbing to his feet, but shuffled over to Kali. He then untied her.
‘You know he’s been lying, right?’ Kali asked as JT yanked at her ropes.
JT’s thoughts scurried about his mind as he pondered the question. At first he didn’t know who she was talking about, but after a quick access of his thoughts, he knew obviously that she was talking about Michael.
‘Yes, I figured he’s been lying. I didn’t quite know for sure until you pulled the little trick in the royal carriage traveling to Triton; then there was the little show at dinner - now that sealed the deal for me.’ Kali looked at JT as though she wanted confirmation on how he figured out that Michael was lying. ‘I first noticed his right arm shaking in his car riding from Athens Eden,’ JT started. ‘During that time, he told me the story that it was he that took me under his wing and that the kids at school didn’t like me because of the way I talked. I thought it was a nervous tick at first. Not a telltale sign.’
Kali smiled.
JT continued, ‘You then told me outside the gate of Warhead Dale that it was really me that kept Michael from being beat up by the kids at school. Then - back in the little room in his castle off the side of the stage, and then the carriage ride, really proved to me he was lying; not to mention, that little lisp he has. I guess those kids at school were really mean. You see I’m not so stupid. I can notice and remember some things.’ JT then dressed his face with a serious focused expression and then pulled his arms as hard as he could. ‘There, I think I got you free.’
Kali fell to the ground and rubbed her knees frantically to get the circulation flowing back through them. She then quickly jumped to her feet and hugged JT. ‘I wanted to tell you that when Michael’s right arm shook he was lying, but I couldn’t be for certain, and the memory took a while to come back. After all, it has been a while since I’ve seen him.’
For a brief moment, JT forgot about all of his troubles. Though he knew their situation was dire, Kali’s body felt warm and safe next to his, and he liked the feeling. He knew he could continue on his mission to save Bruinduer. He had his reasons, and now they were clear; he promised he would protect the beautiful girl with the auburn hair and emerald green eyes; and he also knew that in his vision, his grandfather was not lying. Bruinduer was collapsing.
His tender moment shattered, and his thoughts turned to how they could get out of the cell.
‘Is he always this late?’ JT asked as he walked toward the cell door.
‘Who?’ Kali asked curiously.
‘Billy,’ JT answered, grabbing the bars of the door with both hands, and lifting his mouth to the opening. ‘You know he’s here, right - helping like you said he’s supposed to? He sent that rat to chew through my ropes. I called for him.’
Kali returned not a sound and stayed close behind JT. She then wondered about JT’s plan of escape. ‘What are you going to do? How…?’
‘Hey guards!!’ screamed JT at the top of his lungs ignoring Kali.
‘Are you crazy?’ Kali demanded and made her way to the other side of the cell as far away from JT as possible.
‘Hey guards!!’ JT barked again disregarding Kali’s remark. ‘She escaped! That girl I was with, she’s gone; she’s escaped!!’
‘You little egotistical - (Again, Kali said some words I don’t think you should have to hear.)’
Suddenly, JT heard large boots splashing and scuffling down the long, dark hallway outside of the cell and the rattling of keys. JT let go of the bars and backed away from the door.
‘What’s going on in there?’ a dark, deep, bellowing voice boomed through the open bars of the cell door.
‘It’s the girl. She… she got her way off the hook and is trying to get through the little window in here,’ JT tried to explain without stuttering. He then felt a smart pop on the back of his head. Kali was not at all pleased with JT’s plan.
‘Yeah – well, the boy,’ Kali started in retaliation to JT’s story, ‘he says the guards in Triton are nothing but big dumb - dumb - idiots.’
JT turned and stung Kali with his eyes as though he had no idea what she thought she was doing, but it did not matter because the Triton guard had already started unlocking the cell door.
JT pushed Kali back, braced himself in an athletic stance, and held up h
is fists. The feelings and skill of the ancient warrior he felt wash over him while wandering in the desert became prominent at the surface. ‘Come and get me,’ he mumbled.
JT’s thoughts went black. There was nothing running through his brain; not one single thought. His only purpose at that moment was to stop the guard that was just about to barrel his way through the dark doorway.
The cell door flung open and the Triton guard burst inside. He drew his long, curved silver blade that shimmered in the starlight and charged toward JT.
JT’s thought process remained limited. As the guard dropped his sword toward JT, JT grabbed the guard’s wrist holding the blade, and with one mighty punch, leveled the burly, muscular man. After the guard hit the hard, cold stones of the cell’s floor with the back of his head, he moaned and in an instant, lay motionless.
JT peered down at the limp body and couldn’t believe that he just leveled a Triton guard.
Kali rushed to JT’s side and stared straight into his face, but JT was still dazed and didn’t move. He was petrified in a moment of adrenaline filled victory.
‘I hate to spoil your mood,’ Kali grabbed JT’s arm and pulled him toward the door, ‘but we need to get out of here. We need to get out of here in a hurry.’
JT snapped from his trance and pulled away from Kali. Weighing his thoughts, he hurriedly picked up the guard’s keys and sword. He then grabbed Kali’s hand taking control, and tugged her through the door. They quickly, but quietly made their way through the seemingly endless mazes of hallways of the Triton castle.
At the end of the first narrow passage, they were baffled by the forked pathway. JT had no idea which way to go. His recent feeling of good luck and fortune turned to fear. He egged on suggestions from Kali, but she shook her head. She had no idea either. JT then felt something wonderful and familiar; a very innocent happening, but one of those little things that happen to us that we should notice. There was a breeze.
It was of the same type of breeze he felt as he and Kali wandered in the Bruinduer desert and it whiffed his cheek, turning it right. JT knew it was Billy. He was there helping. He had been with him all along. He smiled just a bit and grabbed Kali’s hand once again and headed down the left hallway.
A few more tense moments evading the Triton guards who were posted in several tight spots around the castle were necessary, but with the help of tiny wisps of air guided by Billy and a determination to gain their freedom, JT and Kali escaped from the pyramid castle of Triton. They then ran out into the early morn in Bruinduer
