by P. G. Thomas
John shook his head, “What the hell? Do you want me to pull a rabbit out of my ass just like that? I’ve no idea what it is, where it came from, or anything else!”
Looking up at the size-defying swirling cloud, Steve turned back to John. “A rabbit is way too small, so I was thinking something more like a kangaroo. Now jump to it, and tell us about that thing. It didn’t just appear, and you’re always talking about logic. So logically speaking, and for the love of all things holy, use small words, but tell us what you know or think.”
Gayne headed towards the house, “I will get some honey wine from the wine cellar.”
“What do I know? Nothing,” began John. “Tranquil and Fury said Sister was on her way to the Bright Coast, and I would’ve thought she would be here by now. Then Zack said Sister would never let these kinds of storms happen, and I agree with him. Beyond that, nothing.”
Steve nodded, “Okay, then what would the sequence of wet, cold, and heat have in common?”
“What?” asked John.
“We had intense wet, then cold, and finally heat. If you were conducting an experiment that used those three elements, what would you be trying to do?”
“Killing an infection or virus?” suggested John.
“Good,” replied Steve. “Sister is the first half of the riddle, and infection is the second. Could Zymse have made Sister sick, turning her like he turned the Bastards?”
Gayne rushed onto the patio with a bottle of honey wine, “It is the last one, so for the love of Mother, please let it hold the inspiration you need.”
Taking a long drink, John looked up at the black cloud, thinking of the Bastards on the stage with their black fire. “While it’s possible, I’ve no idea on how he could do that.” If he could, what else can he do?
“Then how do we cure Sister?” asked Steve.
“Dude, they don’t have penicillin here. I don’t even know if Nur would have a berry big enough to cure that thing, whatever it is.”
“I’ll take anything,” advised Steve, “If we can’t cure her, can we convince her to leave? Maybe we can go to Alron, bringing back some of the Bastards. She would listen to them.”
“We can’t,” replied John, “the bracelets aren’t working.”
“Okay, that would be new Intel. Why wouldn’t they be working?”
John looked up at the blackness, as the center began to grow longer, “Her magic is screwing up the natural patterns or whatever they are, and it can’t find the destination, maybe?”
“Ryan, can you still—do whatever it is you do?” asked Steve.
He transformed into his Darkpaye image and then back.
“Gayne, can you make one of your horses appear?” asked Steve.
He rummaged through his pockets, pulling one of the requested amulets off, and setting it down, waved his hand over it. When the horse appeared, he quickly turned it back into its golden state.
“Kid, you’re back at bat. If localized magic is still present, what are our options?”
“I don’t know? Maybe Tranquil or Fury would be able to suggest something, but seriously, I’ve no idea on how to cure a god from a virus.”
“Fine, then let’s send her to them,” ordered Steve.
“Dude, the bracelets don’t work. Weren’t you paying attention?”
“You’re wrong,” replied Steve, “they still have magic, but Sister is screwing it up. Well, Unchosen, what do you do when you need more power?”
“Get more power, Dude.”
Steve shook his head, “I was talking to John.”
“He’s right, you amp it up.”
“How?” demanded Steve.
“If your hypothesis is correct, and the bracelets still have magic, then we need more bracelets. If each only has a fraction, by stacking them together, each one should lend its magic to the next, which does the same with the rest. If we can augment their size, we might also be able to pressurize the wormhole. Gayne, how many portal bracelets to you have here?”
“Only those that everybody is wearing.”
“At the school?”
“A couple dozen?”
“We need to go there,” began John, “Ryan, I’m sorry, but you need to go with us.”
*******
As Eric, with Steve sitting beside him, raced the carriage through the winding, slick streets, John, Ryan, Gayne, Zack, and the four Earth Guards were tossed from side to side. During the ride, Ryan had transformed one of his arms into a cone shaped anvil, and with his normal hand and increased magical strength, he had pressed the twenty portal bracelets that Gayne had retrieved so that they were stacked one on top of the other.
Then Ryan looked at John, “What’s next?”
He pulled out the gold and platinum wires that Gayne had also retrieved. “Now I need to wire them together to form one solid structure.”
Concentrating on his cone arm, Ryan made four beads of heat transverse up the length of the bracelets, welding them together, and then he pulled off the singular construction. “Done, so what’s next?”
“When we find Sister, I drop the piece of staff through it, which opens a portal, pulling her through.”
“Is twenty going to be enough?” asked Ryan.
“Will it be too many?” asked Gayne.
Will it rip a hole in the space-time continuum? “I don’t know.”
From the bench, Eric with Steve watched the black spout grow longer. Heading in that direction, when the carriage arrived at the deserted docks, large waves were crashing over the wharfs, and the storm surge was tossing moored ships, like toys in a tub with a splashing toddler. Eric, guided by Steve, had taken the back roads to the docks, minimizing the effects of the growing winds. Parking the carriage in an alley, which allowed them a view of the harbor without being in the open, they both entered the carriage.
“What now, Kid?”
“Seriously,” began John, “you were the conductor back at the house, so I’m just an effing musician in your orchestra.”
“Yeah, maybe, but it’s the musicians who know how to get the right sounds out of their instruments. Well, what now?”
“First, get me a few bricks to put in my pockets.”
“Why?” asked Ryan.
“If I step out there, I’ll get blown away.”
Ryan smiled, “I’ll get you where you need to go.”
“And back?”
“Let’s go,” insisted Steve.
“No,” replied John, and then he pointed to the tail of the large swirling black vortex, which was still in the sky, “that won’t fit into the portal that’s going to open, and we only have one chance.”
“One chance?” asked Gayne.
“I only have one piece of Lauren’s staff,” replied John.
Steve was surprised, “Why?”
“Look, one or one hundred pieces, it’s not going to make a difference,” John advised while holding up the welded bracelets. “If this doesn’t work, were screwed.”
“Okay, first fiddle, then what song would you suggest?” asked Steve.
“If that’s Sister and Zymse did poison her, I think she’s trying to fight it but losing. We need to wait until she touches down, is smaller, and then get her attention.”
“If it isn’t her?” asked Gayne.
“It has to be,” replied Steve.
Eric sighed, “What do we need to do to get her attention?”
“Thanks,” replied John, “I was hoping you would volunteer, but that’s your call.”
Watching the winds rip the docks apart for an hour, the growing vortex began spiraling down to the harbor. When it was a hundred feet above the large crashing waves, John nodded to Ryan.
Calling to the magic, when he stepped outside, his body transformed into rock, including pincers extending from his feet that bit into the wet boards. Reaching into the carriage, he picked up John, forming rock wings to shield him, and preceded towards the black tornado of death. As they did, Eric worked his way from building to
building, and with his god gifted strength, battled the winds to get to the last. When he saw the long black spiral about to touch down, he reached to his back, lowering the sheath so that he could extract the demi-mortal sword. Shoving the sheath into the planks, he waited for the gigantic waterspout to form, and then he issued a prayer in the wind-driven, cold rain, “Sister, forgive me, but you’re not acting like yourself.” Unleashing lightning bolts at the watery death spiraling above the harbor, it headed in the direction of the threat.
“SHE’S TOO BIG,” John shouted at Ryan, but his stone guardian never answered. When the black waterspout had traveled half the distance to the docks, John extracted the cloth that held the piece of the staff with one hand and the welded bracelets with the other. Being ever so careful, he dropped the piece of wood into the strange metal formation, and when it did not fall onto the docks, he raised the amped bracelets towards the waterspout. Gayne with Steve both smiled when they saw the portal form.
John realized that something horrible had gone wrong, as the magnified effects of the magic were causing the winds to both change direction and increase in speed. As he watched, he saw large objects pulled off the far docks that were unaffected by Sister’s strong winds, watched them disappear into the portal, including numerous coils of heavy rope that slithered through the air, like somebody slurping spaghetti. With the welded bracelets shaking in his hands, he realized the portal was staying open too long. “Ryan, tell Eric to drain his sword into her.” He heard Rage Heart bellow above the howling winds so loud that it hurt his ears. Watching, he saw a titanic bolt of lightning smash into the black waterspout. After staggering backwards, it rushed forward only to be pulled into the magical vortex. “CRUSH THE BRACELETS NOW, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!” As Ryan’s stone hands crumpled the device, they saw the portal wink out.
*******
Fury was walking in the field of the First Forest, thinking of the dwarf war, when he saw the portal open and cursed. On the far side of it, he saw the great trees begin to move violently, as their unmovable branches were blown in every direction. Then all manner of strange objects vomited into the field, and some having such great speed that they hurtled across the open expanse, embedding themselves into the first trees they engaged. As he looked back to the portal, an immense black swirling vortex exited it. “TRANQUIL, SISTER HAS GONE MAD!”
*******
The next day all was quiet at the house since nobody was sure of what to do. Steve was watching the mirrors, and Gayne, Eric, Panry, Jasmine, Jaykil, and John tried to brainstorm ideas to both defeat Zymse and to find the triplets. Towards the end of the day, Lauren with Ryan walked out to the patio and joined them.
She took a deep breath, “I used the staff to create a berry for myself to suppress my pain and loss. Where’s Zack?”
“He’s scouting something for Steve. Why?” asked Eric.
“When he returns, I need him to make arrangements to intern Logan’s body somewhere until we return home. Ryan has explained to me what happened over the last few days, what he knows, but what I want to know is simple: what do we do next.”
John had concerns about Lauren’s solution, questioning if this staff would have any long-term effects. Especially since using the last one caused her to give birth to, what he could only assume were three very powerful Earth Mothers. Wondering if the new one would have any similar residual effects, he decided on a course of observation instead of confrontation.
It was shortly after this that Zack landed on the patio. Grabbing a towel to cover himself, he called out to Steve.
“What’s happening, Kid?”
“It looks like he’s moving out. Those wagons you saw leaving his complex were loaded onto a ship in the harbor.”
“Sons of a bitch! Mother is starting to stir so why now?” asked Lauren.
“Maybe, if he can sense her, he knows his welcome is over,” replied Steve.
Panry could see the frustration on Lauren and Ryan’s faces, “I shall leave now to go search the property foul again, but Zymse hides secrets where elf cannot go.”
Wanting to ask how, Steve knew he would not get a truthful answer.
Ryan squeezed his wife’s hand in support, “If he leaves, will Mother be able to sense our daughters?”
“I do not know your answer,” replied Panry, and then he headed to the backyard.
Lauren called out to him, “Wait!” She then ran up to her room, returning a few minutes later with one of the homing beacons that Gayne had designed for the Earth Daughters. “Bury this near his fortress, so if we need to get there fast, we can.” Then she turned to the group, “What the hell do we do now?”
It was Steve who broached the subject. “We need to face the facts. Only two people know where the triplets are: Zymse and Mother, and he’s the only one we can talk to.”
Lauren drained her glass of wine, “What, we go and ask him?”
“Look, we can’t call him out and can’t buy him off,” replied Steve. “If there was somebody here he loved, we could kidnap them, arranging a trade.”
“Like he cares about anybody,” replied John.
“You’re wrong, Kid. He cares about three special little girls because without them he knows he’s a dead man. We can’t let him leave, and if we do anything to that ship, he’ll become more desperate. I think it’s time we gave him what he wants.”
“What’s that?” asked John.
“We just need a way to get you in,” Steve began, “find out what we want to know, and then get you out.”
Ryan had a puzzled look on his face, “Get us in, to where?”
“Face to face with Zymse, so he’ll tell you where your daughters are.”
Chapter 21
The next day John, Eric, Lauren, Ryan, and the various protectors stepped through a portal, and they gazed upon the First Forest from the expansive clearing.
“Where are they?” asked Lauren.
“How would I know?” replied John.
“TRANQUIL, FURY, PRESENT YOURSELVES!” Lauren realized the command was actually an Earth Bond.
“Summon us, you cannot!” exclaimed the irritated image of the dark male god.
“I’ll do more than summon you!” replied Lauren.
Tranquil also appeared, “Earth Mother, what is wrong?”
“Zymse is preparing to leave Calicon, and if he does, I don’t think that Mother will be able to sense my daughters. Am I correct?”
Tranquil looked down to the ground. “Should their presence leave these lands…”
“That’s what I thought,” sighed Lauren.
“We are both sorry for your loss,” Fury began. “Why are you not grieving?”
“I made a berry so that I could concentrate on saving my children.”
“Just one,” replied the angry Fury, “or do strange bushes to ease suffering now blossom in the Bright Coast?”
Lauren smiled, “Just one, but if you’re going to be a pain in the ass, I can make a fire ant suppository for you!”
Before Fury could reply, Ryan stepped forward, “Look, Steve had an idea, and we don’t think we have a choice.”
Tranquil scanned the four. “That is not a plan!” Her eyes focused on Lauren. “Do you not remember what happened the last time? When guest of Darkpaye you were? Unchosen, Champion, I can see the fear in your minds, yet in your hearts the willingness to embrace this insanity.”
“Last time your suffering was so great,” began Fury, “I felt compelled to commandeer your shell so that similar mistakes you would not recommit.”
He let out a weak smile, “I would rather die trying this, as I could never live with myself if he took those three girls away, and we never found them.”
When a chair formed behind Tranquil, she fell into it, “Madness, wait until Mother wakes.”
“When will that be?” asked Lauren, “I can feel her stir, but her sleep is still deep. Deep like the pain I’ll feel if Zymse leaves with my daughters!”
“Now you come to
ask us for help again?” inquired Fury.
Resentment smoldered in Lauren’s eyes, “Your Mother stirs, yet my children are still missing. I didn’t come to ask for help, I CAME HERE TO DEMAND IT!”
“Earth Mother,” Tranquil began to plead. “While your frustration I understand, your path, there must be others you can select?”
John glanced at Lauren, thinking he would see steam rising from her, as she replied to the female god.
“Then tell me where to find that path or any other for that matter. I need Zymse to tell me where my daughters are, and I WILL WALK THROUGH THE GATES OF HELL TO FIND THEM!”
Fury looked at his sister, “The staff you gave her has corrupted her thoughts.”
“You arrogant son of a prick!” Lauren’s hot stare was like a laser beam on Fury. “Your thoughts are in the clouds, like Father’s Rage, while my thoughts are of my daughters. My thoughts corrupted? For over a month, I focused on healing your Mother instead of looking for my own children so maybe it did. Maybe I should have thrown it away, and found a way to rescue my daughters, letting you worry about your Mother. I played your game, doing what you wanted, but guess what? My arms are empty like your promises. As your Mother stirs from her gentle sleep, we’ve no idea what that monster does when he watches my children nap. We tried it your way, but it didn’t work, and now Zymse is attempting to leave. That means you two are coming off the bench, and DAMMIT, YOU ARE GOING TO HELP ME!”
The explosive, passionate Earth Bond made both take a step back. When they had regained their composure, the soft voice of Tranquil asked, “How?”
Lauren took a deep breath, “Since you said you could see our plan, please don’t make me speak those words. If you did, you not only saw how it begins but how it supposed to end. We need help with that part.”
Fury shook his head. “Plan? When I commandeered the Champion’s shell, I saw the workings of your minds in flawless detail. In all truth, I was amazed at the diverse complexity that each exhibited, but with this vision so far from those images, I am perplexed to comprehend how you can even consider this to be a plan. In your minds combined, I see not one ending but two, and should the one that none wish to speak of be realized, the consequences are grav...great.”
