The Battle of Iron Gulch

by R. G. Thomas

  Thaddeus nodded and looked over his shoulder into the pitch-black mine. A goblin or a troll or something just as frightening could be sitting just feet away, watching them, and he wouldn’t be able to see it. He made himself turn away and watch Teofil ease the gate down. They lifted it again, and Teofil ducked beneath, then helped Thaddeus lower it once more. Turning, they peered into the pitch-black darkness.

  “It is pretty dark in there,” Teofil whispered.

  Thaddeus nodded and shivered in the cool, damp air blowing past them. It felt like the exhalation of some giant creature made of ice and stone. He pushed down the image as fast as he could.

  They moved carefully forward, and Thaddeus mentally cursed himself for not bringing a flashlight. About a hundred feet from the gate, they stopped as if on an unspoken cue. Thaddeus tried to conjure up a ball of light or a flickering flame, but wasn’t able to generate even a spark.

  “I don’t know if we should go any farther without light,” Thaddeus whispered. “We could just walk off a ledge or something.”

  They laughed nervously and stood side by side as they stared blindly ahead. Thaddeus’s sight-starved mind started to play tricks on him. He thought he saw figures standing deep in the gloom, lingering near the rock walls and staring back at them. He imagined zombies and goblins and other monsters. The air coming out of the depths of the mine smelled musty, with a slightly rank tinge to it. He was about to ask Teofil whether he thought the air smelled off as well when a very soft scuffing sound echoed out of the darkness.

  “What was that?” Thaddeus whispered, fear keeping his feet rooted in place.

  “I don’t know,” Teofil whispered back. “I was hoping I was hearing things, but if you heard it too….”

  Thaddeus squinted to try to see better. Teofil’s hand brushed his and Thaddeus jumped, then grabbed it and held on tight. His heart pounded, and his breathing quickened with each passing moment. Another scuff sounded even closer and broke their fear-induced paralysis. They turned as one and ran back to the gate. Thaddeus hooked his fingers through the mesh and put all his strength into trying to lift it, but the rollers refused to budge.

  “It won’t move,” Teofil said as he strained beside Thaddeus.

  With no possible escape, they picked up heavy rocks and turned to face whoever, or whatever, approached.

  “Goblins?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Most likely,” Teofil replied. “Or worse.”

  A footstep sounded just a few feet away. Before either of them could throw their weapons, however, it felt as if someone was grabbing Thaddeus’s wrists and forcing his arms down at his sides. He saw Teofil’s arms drop as well, and the stones they held tumbled from their hands.

  A figure materialized out of the heavy shadows and approached them. The weak glow from the parking lot lights shimmered in long white whiskers and flashed off a pair of glasses. It gleamed along the slick material of a yellow tracksuit. Happiness swelled inside Thaddeus and the pressure on his arms suddenly vanished. Teofil leaped forward and grabbed the new arrival in a hug.

  “Leopold,” Teofil said, his voice choked with emotion. “We’ve been so worried.”

  Leopold spared a moment to hug Teofil, then pushed him back and put a hand on both of their shoulders. He looked between them with an angry expression.

  “You fools,” Leopold whispered. “You are all in grave danger!”

  Chapter ELEVEN

  THADDEUS STOOD alongside Teofil and stared at Leopold, still not quite believing the old wizard was actually there with them, and stunned at how he had greeted them.

  “What kind of danger are we in?” Teofil asked.

  “A most insidious and sly danger,” Leopold replied. “We must leave this place at once and make haste back to your shelter. There’s no time to waste.”

  “How did you get inside the mine?” Thaddeus asked.

  “All in good time, Thaddeus,” Leopold replied. “Come along.”

  “But the gate is stuck,” Teofil said.

  “It is, is it?” Standing a few inches back, Leopold simply lifted his hand in the air and the gate rattled up and out of the way.

  Thaddeus exchanged a look with Teofil before they followed Leopold out of the mine. They paused at the edge of the parking lot and Leopold looked around. Thaddeus saw one corner of his mouth draw down when Leopold saw the nacht macabre around the mine entrance. After a long look at the plants, Leopold turned to stride across the lot.

  “Where did you enter this area?” Leopold asked.

  “Here,” Thaddeus replied.

  He led the way to the spot where the fence had been pulled away from the post, and they all ducked through. Leopold conjured a tiny flame in his palm to light their way as they followed the rocky path toward the road.

  “Where have you and my father been?” Teofil asked. “We haven’t heard from anyone back home. Is my father okay?”

  “Rudyard is fine, just fine,” Leopold replied.

  Thaddeus followed the turn in the path that led them away from the mountain and toward the road. He could hear Leopold walking right behind him, and Teofil bringing up the rear.

  “Vivienne, your father, and myself have all been busy rooting out Isadora’s supporters, though we have yet to find the witch herself.”

  “We’re ahead of you in that regard,” Teofil said. “We found her.”

  Thaddeus heard Leopold stop and turned to see him staring down at Teofil, a hand held aloft with a small flame dancing on his palm to be able to see Teofil’s expression. “She revealed herself? To all of you?”

  Teofil gestured toward Thaddeus. “To Thaddeus, Astrid, Dulindir, and myself.”

  “Dulindir?” Leopold asked, looking between them. “How do you know him?”

  “He’s an elf we met in the Lost Forest,” Thaddeus replied. “How do you know him?”

  Leopold nodded and looked back to Teofil, ignoring Thaddeus’s question. “How did she reveal herself?”

  Teofil started to speak, then stopped. He looked at Thaddeus and smiled sadly with tears in his eyes. Thaddeus stepped up and took Teofil’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. With a nod of thanks, Teofil looked back at Leopold, took a breath, and then told him how Isadora had been disguising herself as Fetter ever since the attack on the village. As Teofil explained Isadora’s treachery, Thaddeus watched Leopold’s eyes widen and his expression go slack. When Teofil finished, Leopold surprised Thaddeus by stepping in and gathering Teofil to him in a strong, one-armed hug, keeping the hand with the flame held up high.

  “My dear Teofil, I am so very sorry,” Leopold said. “Isadora’s treachery knows no bounds.”

  Tears stung Thaddeus’s eyes as he watched Leopold comfort Teofil. It reminded him that Leopold and Teofil had lived on their own together for many years. They had a relationship that was in many ways closer than the relationship Teofil had with his own family. And Thaddeus had no idea if Leopold had any living relatives himself, so Teofil very well might have become the child he had raised as his own.

  When they stepped apart, Leopold kept his hand on Teofil’s shoulder and smiled gently as Teofil wiped away tears.

  “How is your mother doing?” Leopold asked.

  “As well as can be expected,” Teofil replied.

  His expression grew stony, and he looked up at Leopold with fierce determination.

  “I want to stop her,” Teofil said. “Isadora must pay once and for all for everything she’s done. She’s harmed too many people.”

  Leopold nodded and gave Teofil’s shoulder a squeeze before releasing him. “And so she has.” He extinguished the flame in his hand and turned toward the road. “Come, let’s get ourselves back with the rest of the group. We have much to discuss.”

  “We’ve seen goblins around town,” Thaddeus said as they set off again. “Is that what you meant by us being in grave danger?”

  “Goblins are a part of it,” Leopold replied. “But not the worst by far.”

  “We thought the n
acht macabre plants had summoned them,” Thaddeus said.

  “It’s possible,” Leopold said. “But I don’t believe it’s the entire reason.”

  “They’re here for some other reason, then?” Teofil asked.

  “Most likely,” Leopold replied. “And it does not bode well.”

  “Why?” Thaddeus asked.

  At that moment they reached the road and turned toward Iron Gulch. Before they could proceed much farther, however, Leopold stopped and looked around.

  “The very air stinks of them,” he whispered.

  “Who?” Thaddeus asked, lowering his voice as well.

  But Leopold did not respond. Instead he jerked his head forward and continued walking at a brisk pace. They hurried through the part of town with the shotgun houses and across the river. In the business district, the shops were closed for the night, and even the windows of the Gulch Gulp coffee shop were dark.

  “Everything closes early here,” Thaddeus said.

  “Small town,” Leopold said. “Limited exposure to the outside world. That’s how they like it.”

  “Who?” Teofil asked.

  “In time, in time,” Leopold replied. “Where do we go from here?”

  “We turn right here,” Thaddeus replied.

  “Is my father going to join us?” Teofil asked.

  “Yes, yes, soon,” Leopold replied in a distracted tone.

  “Good,” Teofil said. “We’ve all been worried.”

  Once they turned the corner, Thaddeus took the lead, hurrying to stay ahead of Leopold’s longer strides. With the fast pace Leopold had set, they reached the inn quickly. Leopold did not pause to look the house over, but followed Thaddeus through the gate and up the steps to the front door, grunting with disapproval when Thaddeus opened the unlocked door and stepped inside.

  “Thaddeus?” his father called from the sitting room. “Is that you?”

  “It is,” Thaddeus replied.

  He stepped forward and found his father, Miriam, Astrid, and Dulindir all gathered in the sitting room.

  “Look who we ran into,” Thaddeus said.

  Leopold stepped into the room and Nathan, Miriam, and Astrid all gave shouts of surprise. Dulindir looked surprised as well, but remained in his chair as the others jumped up and hurried to greet Leopold, all of them shouting questions.

  “Where have you been?”

  “How’s my dad?”

  “What news from home?”

  Leopold smiled and nodded through the greetings and questions, then raised his hands and everyone fell silent.

  “I met up with Thaddeus and Teofil in the mine outside town,” Leopold explained. “They were investigating.”

  “Investigating?” Nathan frowned as he looked at Thaddeus. “For what reason?”

  “For a very good reason, it turns out,” Leopold said. “Do you know what’s going on within this town?”

  “We know about the nacht macabre,” Thaddeus’s father said. “And the mine collapse and the goblins around the outskirts of town. Is that what you’re referring to?”

  “No,” Leopold said, and paused to look at each of them in turn. “You’ve all stumbled into a nest of ghouls, and your lives are in the utmost danger.”

  “Ghouls?” Nathan had lowered his voice and looked around Leopold, checking, Thaddeus assumed, that Hannah was not near and able to overhear.

  “I….” Miriam stopped herself and looked from Nathan to Leopold. “Are you sure?”

  “I have only felt a stronger presence of evil once before,” Leopold replied. “And that was on the day Isadora attacked the village.”

  “What are ghouls?” Thaddeus asked.

  The others all looked at him, and his father nodded. “I’m sorry, Thaddeus. I forget sometimes that you’re not familiar with all of this.”

  “Is it safe to discuss here in this room?” Leopold asked. “Or should we retreat to your quarters?”

  “We should go upstairs,” Nathan said. “And I’ll ask Hannah if she has a roll-away bed or something for you.”

  “My back is of an age that, regretfully, cannot handle anything you might call a ‘roll-away,’” Leopold said.

  Thaddeus already knew how this would end, so he spoke up before his father could even look at him. “I’ll sleep on it.”

  “Thank you, Thaddeus,” his father said with a smile, then led the way upstairs.

  The entire group crowded into Miriam and Astrid’s room, it being the largest, and sat on the edges of the beds or the few chairs scattered around. Nathan closed the door firmly behind him and waited for everyone to get settled before taking a seat next to Thaddeus on one of the beds. Leopold stood in the middle of the room, looking around with a small smile on his face.

  “I must say, this is a pleasant room,” Leopold said. “I can see why you all have lingered.”

  “Leopold?” Nathan prodded. “The ghouls?”

  “Ah, yes, of course.” Leopold pushed his hands into the pockets of his track pants and fixed his gray eyes on Thaddeus. “Ghouls are one of the most sly and savage species I know of. They have lived on the fringes of the magical community for centuries, and within the last few decades have begun to work their way into the nonmagical population.”

  Thaddeus’s heart pounded. If a species of magical creature was infiltrating the general population, that could cause some serious problems for all of them.

  “What do they look like?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Very few have seen them in their natural form,” Leopold replied. “You see, they are something of a shape-shifter.”

  “Like the Bearagon?” Thaddeus asked. “So they can look like a person but then shift back to their natural appearance at will?”

  Leopold shook his head. “Not quite.” He stroked his beard and looked at Nathan and Miriam, then back at Thaddeus. “Ghouls are flesh eaters, but they don’t consume their meal quickly. They incapacitate their prey, paralyze them, and then peel away the skin. The ghoul will then wear the skin and impersonate the victim, luring friends and family members in to be taken by others in its pack.”

  “Oh my God,” Thaddeus whispered. His hands and feet were cold, and he felt slightly nauseous as he tried to stop imagining his skin slowly being peeled from his body. He swallowed hard and asked, “Then what do they do?”

  “The ghoul consumes the body over time,” Leopold replied. “Their mouths are large and round with many small pointed teeth along the inside, which they use to strip away flesh and muscle. During that time, they take over the victim’s life. They are excellent imitators, and can mimic speech and mannerisms. Ghouls secrete a sticky residue all over their bodies that helps adhere the victim’s skin and also acts as a preservative. But the front cannot last indefinitely, for after a time, the victim’s skin will begin to decay, and so the ghoul must assume a new identity. The remains, of course, decay as well, and that’s where the goblins come in.”

  Thaddeus’s eyes went wide. “The goblins travel with the ghouls?”

  “Not in an agreed-upon manner, no,” Leopold explained. “They are scavengers and so follow the ghouls around to feed off the leftovers of the bodies, as well as the skin shed by the ghoul once the decay has advanced too far for them to be of use any longer.”

  “That’s horrible,” Astrid said.

  “It is indeed,” Leopold said. “And it’s how a pack of ghouls can destroy a small town without anyone on the outside, or even its residents, realizing just what happened.”

  “Like Iron Gulch,” Thaddeus said. His mind was spinning as he tried to come to grips with everything he was learning. He had another thought and looked up at Leopold. “Where do ghouls live? When they haven’t taken over a person’s identity, that is?”

  “Dark places, mostly,” Leopold replied. “They prefer the dark and damp.”

  Thaddeus looked at his father. “The mine. I bet the cave-in was when it started.”

  Nathan nodded. “That could very well be. Maybe the mining team dug into a cave
rn where the ghouls lived and released them. Or maybe the ghouls caused the cave-in to trap the miners for food.”

  “How awful,” Thaddeus said. “And when that food supply ran out, they started coming into town.” He knew the identity of at least one of the ghouls, and he met his father’s gaze, seeing the understanding in his eyes as well. He and his father said at the same time, “Ruby.”

  “Ruby?” Leopold asked.

  “By the grace of Flora,” Miriam whispered. “Ruby is a ghoul.”

  “Her and others,” Thaddeus said. “She told us that she and the other women who became widows after the mine collapse had taken over the roles on the city council left vacant by their husbands. I bet they’re all ghouls.”

  “There’s a town meeting tomorrow,” Teofil said. “That could be when they’re planning to take the remaining town residents.”

  “That is a very real possibility,” Leopold said. He looked at each of them until he came to Miriam, where he let his gaze rest. “You started off weeks ago on a single mission, if you recall. To track the Bearagon and find Claire in her dragon form before Isadora reached her. And on that quest you have made little progress.”

  Hot anger sizzled through Thaddeus, fed in part by a sense of guilt because what Leopold had said was true. They had started on their journey with the intention to find his mother and somehow change her back to human. But when his father had been poisoned by the troll, it had been Thaddeus who’d decided they should try to find the Well of Tears, albeit with more than a little encouragement from Isadora, still disguised as Fetter. And now here they were, settled into rooms in a small town at the foot of Wraith Mountain where they believed his mother was hiding. He supposed, taken out of context and after the fact, it did appear as if they had failed. When looked at in that way, much of the blame rested squarely on his shoulders.

  Before Thaddeus could speak up in his defense, however, his father pushed to his feet and stepped up close to Leopold.

  “Now see here, Leopold. You have no right to talk to us like that. We’ve all been through quite a bit in a short amount of time. And Miriam, Astrid, and Teofil are still mourning what is essentially a loss.”