The Battle of Iron Gulch

by R. G. Thomas

  “Did you see where they went?” Nathan asked.

  Leopold entered the gym, followed by Vivienne. “No, but the goblins have followed them.”

  “Well, that’s lucky at least,” Teofil said.

  Astrid frowned as she looked at him. “What happened to your shirt?”

  “Nothing, I’m fine,” Teofil replied quickly.

  “There’s a hole in it,” Astrid said.

  Teofil glared at her. “Later, Astrid. Priorities.”

  Miriam approached, a long knife in each bloodied hand. “I’ve found a bit of reinforcement.”

  A short, stocky man followed Miriam. He had long, thick hair with a beard to match, a big nose, and his already-large smile broadened even more when he caught sight of Teofil.

  “Dad!” Teofil shouted, and ran to embrace his father.

  “Rudyard showed up outside the school and helped us clear a path through the goblins,” Leopold said. “We were about to come back for you when we saw the ghouls taking people out the doors at this end of the building.”

  “In which direction were they headed?” Dulindir asked.

  “It wasn’t clear,” Leopold replied. “But my guess would be that the ghouls established within the town are most likely taking these new victims to more of their pack.”

  “They’ve revealed themselves here,” Nathan said. “Could they be planning to move on to a new town?”

  “It’s possible.” Leopold looked at Teofil. “Is there any of that potion left?”

  Teofil shook his head. “I used it all. The tank is empty.”

  “So be it,” Leopold said. “We’re on our own.”

  “Let’s go and try to find them,” Vivienne said, heading for the door. “They could be splitting up as we speak and going into different houses, or even into one large gathering place.”

  Thaddeus smiled when Teofil grabbed his hand as they followed the others down the hall and out the nearest door. The fresh, cool air smelled good after the bloody scene in the gym, and Thaddeus took a deep breath.

  Dulindir climbed a nearby tree and looked all around. The light from his hair made the surrounding leaves glow.

  “I see a long vehicle moving away from here,” Dulindir said. “It is yellow and just crossed the river into the other part of the town.”

  “Sounds like a school bus,” Vivienne said. “They must have loaded the victims inside and are driving them off.”

  “Oh no, are they going directly to another town?” Miriam asked.

  Teofil thought of it the same time as Thaddeus, and they said together, “The mine!”

  “What was that?” Rudyard asked. “There’s a mine?”

  Thaddeus nodded. “Yeah, the mine on the other side of town where most of the men in town worked. Sometime last year there was a cave-in and most of them died.”

  “Ghouls thrive inside caves,” Rudyard said. “The deeper the better.” He stroked his beard and squinted one eye shut as he thought. “Do you know where this mine is?”

  Thaddeus pointed. “A few miles away, in the direction they’re heading.”

  “Too long to walk,” Nathan said.

  “We can drive,” Thaddeus suggested. “Probably a lot of cars out in the parking lot.”

  His father winced, but nodded. “Good idea. Let’s go.”

  After checking several cars in the lot, they found a large SUV with the doors unlocked and the keys hidden behind the sun visor.

  “Thank God for small-town trust,” Nathan said as he got behind the wheel.

  They all piled in with Vivienne in front and Miriam, Rudyard, and Leopold crowded into the backseat, while Thaddeus, Teofil, Astrid, and Dulindir were all crammed into the narrow third-row seat. Nathan was forced to move the seat back and spent several precious seconds looking for the controls. In that time, Thaddeus noticed Astrid, Miriam, Rudyard, and Dulindir looking around with wide eyes as they ran hands over the leather seats and touched the various buttons within reach. Thaddeus hadn’t even thought they might never have seen a car before. He looked to Teofil, who seemed unimpressed.

  “You’ve been in a car, I take it?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Leopold has one,” Teofil replied.

  Thaddeus looked at the others. “Hang on. My dad’s a fast driver.”

  “I haven’t had a ticket in years,” his father said, finally figuring out how to move the seat back far enough. Tires squealed as he pulled out of the parking lot and jumped the curb, making all of them shout.

  As the SUV raced along Main Street, Teofil took Thaddeus’s hand and squeezed it, drawing his attention.

  “Thank you,” Teofil said. “I know it was a difficult decision.”

  Thaddeus smiled and returned the squeeze. “It wasn’t difficult at all.”

  “Well, I’m sorry you had to use more of the water on me.”

  Thaddeus leaned in to give him a quick kiss. “I’m not.”

  “Turn here!” Vivienne shouted.

  They all cried out as the SUV veered sharply to the left. The new road was made of dirt and pitted with potholes that bounced them around.

  “Let’s try to keep the last-minute directions to a minimum, shall we?” Nathan said.

  “Sorry,” Vivienne snapped back. “I thought you saw the giant sign back there that called out Iron Gulch Mine with a huge arrow pointing to the left.”

  Thaddeus chuckled, then tightened his grip on the seat back in front of him to keep from being tossed around too much. He grunted as the jolts intensified.

  “It’s like they packed this road with land mines or something,” Nathan said.

  “The ghouls most likely dug these holes to keep people away,” Leopold suggested.

  Through the window Thaddeus glimpsed barren and blackened trees in the field between the road and mountain. Because he and Teofil had approached the mine from the path around the base of the mountain, they hadn’t seen this part of the property. He wondered whether the trees had been burned or if the ghouls and goblins had affected the vegetation in the area. An especially hard lurch pushed the thought out of his mind.

  The road ended at the employee parking lot, strewn with leaves and fallen branches. A chain-link gate stood open, and his father drove through it, across the parking lot, and right up onto the sidewalk. The solar-powered lights were on, and when Thaddeus climbed out of the back of the car, he saw a yellow school bus idling with the doors open near the administrative building. From where he stood, the bus looked empty. He followed as Leopold led them all past the school bus—indeed, empty—and up to the entrance of the mine. The security gate had been lifted, the mine entrance a pitch-black hole in the side of the mountain, like the eye socket of a skull.

  “They’ve taken them all inside,” his father said, voice almost a whisper.

  “We must be cautious,” Leopold said. “The ghouls are in their natural habitat now.”

  “Maybe the kids should stay out here with someone?” his father suggested. “For safety, and to make sure none of them come back out?”

  “I want to go in,” Thaddeus said. “I don’t think we should be separated.”

  His father looked at him, and Thaddeus could see the deep concern in his expression.

  “I don’t want to lose you,” his father said.

  “And I don’t want to lose you,” Thaddeus responded.

  “Way too much talking,” Rudyard said with a grunt and stomped past them into the mine, his ax held ready. “Let’s get to slaughtering ghouls.”

  “Young ones in the middle of the group,” Miriam said, and from the tone of her voice, Thaddeus knew there would be no arguing the point.

  He accepted a knife from Teofil, and they shared shaky smiles before following Rudyard and Miriam into the dark maw of the Iron Gulch Mine.

  Chapter SIXTEEN

  LEOPOLD, VIVIENNE, and Nathan all produced sources of light as they entered. Thaddeus tried, but his mind felt too cluttered with all he had seen and been through to be able to do it. Leopold and Vivien
ne both held tiny dancing flames in one hand, and his father had created a kind of levitating torch flame. Dulindir closed his eyes, and a moment later his long blond hair glowed with starlight.

  They followed the twin metal rails on the ground deeper and deeper into the mine. Not far beyond the entrance, they passed a rail car with open seating that had once carried workers into and out of the mine. It was coated heavily with dust and had come off the rails.

  For a few minutes, they walked in silence, their footsteps the only sound. The entrance dropped away behind them, and a bend in the tunnel finally blocked Thaddeus’s view of it altogether. His heart pounded as they moved deeper into the darkness. He was not claustrophobic, but the thought of the entire mountain standing above them made him feel small and squeamish.

  A scream floated to them out of the darkness, and Leopold hesitated a moment, then started to jog. They all hurried to catch up, and Thaddeus adjusted his grip on the hilt of his knife. The light coming from the flames his father had conjured gleamed off the blade of Dulindir’s sword, and the elf’s glowing blond hair rippled as he ran.

  Leopold was a few steps ahead and had just rounded a bend when he gave a cry of surprise.

  “They’re here!” Leopold shouted.

  They hurried around the bend and directly into chaos. Ghouls charged toward them, some armed with rocks, others with knives or clubs. Some of the ghouls still wore the skins of their victims, but there was no question as to their true identity as they rushed to attack. Thaddeus followed his father into the fight, stabbing with his knife and ducking away from thrown rocks, clutching fingers, and thrusting blades.

  The majority of the ghouls were undisguised, and Thaddeus glimpsed hairless bodies with a grayish green mottled skin covered in a substance sticky to the touch. Their eyes were large, their noses sunken in, and their mouths round and pulsing.

  Thaddeus saw his father use magic to push back a number of ghouls at once, and he joined in, flinging ghouls into walls or back into the dark depths of the cave. The fallen ghouls were quickly replaced by others, however, and Thaddeus realized they would very soon be overwhelmed.

  “Goblins coming up behind us,” Astrid said.

  Thaddeus looked over his shoulder and found a pack of goblins creeping closer out of the darkness.

  “We’re surrounded,” Leopold said and then looked at Thaddeus. “Think you could conjure up another of your special blasts like you did at the springs?”

  “I’ll need some time,” Thaddeus said.

  Leopold nodded as he thrust his sword into a ghoul’s midsection. “We’ll protect you. We just need some space to retreat.”

  “Retreat? But what about the townspeople?” Thaddeus shouted. “Aisha and her mother, all the others. What about them?”

  “We’re no good to them dead,” Leopold shouted back. “We can buy ourselves and them some time with your thunderclap.”

  Thaddeus jumped as Dulindir cut down an especially brave goblin that had crept up close enough to be in biting range, then nodded to Leopold. He moved to the side and put his back against a stone wall. His foot slid off something and he adjusted his stance, then held his hands out palms up and focused his attention. Just as he was growing concerned he wouldn’t be able to do it, he felt the familiar warmth flow up his legs, through his body and along his arms. Tiny flames popped into flickering life just above his palms.

  Thaddeus raised his voice and said, “Everyone against the wall!”

  His father approached and looked at the flames in his hands. “Think you can control the blast?”

  “I’m going to try,” Thaddeus said. “Ready…. Now!”

  The others crouched down against the wall and Thaddeus took a step forward, his foot once again skidding over something hard and slick. He found his footing, dropped to one knee, and then lowered his head and closed his eyes. He felt the warm, flicking flames that hovered above his palms, focused his thoughts on what he wanted to accomplish, and brought his hands together as hard as he could. The blast knocked him back against the wall and caused Teofil and Astrid to shout in alarm. He saw the horde of ghouls fly off their feet and the goblins tumble after them. A few rocks dropped from the roof of the mine, and he had enough time to hope he hadn’t overdone it before he blacked out.

  THE VISION was clearer this time. Firelight flickered against stone walls, but now he could see the entire space around him. It was, indeed, a cave. A sign was posted on a far wall, something about an exit to the surface, and he wondered about it until the sound of a woman’s angry voice stole his attention.

  “I will break you,” the woman—Isadora, it had to be her—shouted. “Have no doubt about that. I will bend you to my will.”

  Thaddeus felt a searing pain and screamed, surprising himself when it came out as a roar and a blast of fire.

  “There’s my good girl,” Isadora said, her tone a bit softer now. “That’s all I wanted. Doesn’t it feel good to make me happy?”

  She stepped into view and smiled. “All these weeks we’ve been here, and now we’re getting somewhere.”

  Behind Isadora, Thaddeus could see Logan Augustine, his former coworker from the sporting goods store, the person who was able to shift into the Bearagon. Logan’s expression was tight with concern, and he kept glancing to his right. Thaddeus wished he could see where Logan was looking, but he wasn’t able to turn his head far enough in that direction.

  “They’re inside now,” Logan said. “All of them.”

  Isadora continued to smile but did not look around at him. “Good. Let them come and find us. They’ll be the first to experience the power of my ultimate weapon.”

  “But all of them are out there,” Logan said. “Ghouls, goblins, the kid and his gnome. All of them, just down the passage.”

  Isadora finally looked at Logan. “And you have the ability to change into something even more terrifying than a common ghoul or a lowly goblin. Why don’t you end that ridiculous skirmish they’re all involved in, and lead them back here?”

  “There are a lot of ghouls out there,” Logan said. “A lot. It’s a nest. I told you this place was dangerous.”

  Isadora laughed and turned back in Thaddeus’s direction. “That didn’t stop our prize, did it? She just climbed right on inside this mine and found herself a deep niche in which to hide.” She returned her attention to Logan and her tone sharpened. “Now shift into your better, more courageous form, and lead them here.”

  “THADDEUS?” IT was his father’s voice, coming to him as someone gently shook him and patted his cheek. “Thaddeus? Come on, wake up.”

  Thaddeus came around to the sound of voices. He heard the scuff and shuffle of people walking past him over dirt and rock. Where was he? The vision lingered, though the details were quickly fading, and he opened his eyes and looked up at his father. Nathan blew out a relieved breath and smiled.

  “Welcome back,” his father said.

  Thaddeus sat up and looked around. “What happened?”

  “You blew the ghouls and goblins back,” his father replied. “Knocked them silly, actually. That’s quite a skill. Maybe you can teach me how to do it.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Thaddeus turned his head side to side, stretching his neck. “Really packs a punch. How long was I out this time?”

  “Not too long,” Nathan replied. “Less than thirty minutes. The others have chased the ghouls deeper into the mine. They’ve sent some of the townspeople back already. See?”

  Thaddeus looked to where his father pointed and saw a few people stagger past. Some held hands and others stared straight ahead with wide eyes.

  “I saw something,” Thaddeus said and frowned up at his father. “Another vision.”

  “What was it?”

  “It’s hazy now, but I saw Isadora and Logan. They’re with Mom, I think, and they’re close.” He put a hand down to steady himself and touched something smooth. His hand went out from under him and his father grabbed him.

  “Easy there, son,”
Nathan said.

  “I’ve stepped on this thing a couple of times now, what is it?” Thaddeus asked, and fumbled it up off the mine floor.

  It was thin but strong, one side smooth and slick, the other slightly scuffed. He held it up toward the ball of light his father had conjured and squinted at it.

  “That’s a dragon scale,” Nathan said, taking it from him and turning it toward the light.

  “A dragon scale?” Thaddeus asked. Then his eyes went wide and he sat up straight. “It was Mom! I was there, I saw it. She’s here inside the mine somewhere.”

  “Your mother is down here?” Nathan asked. “Not up on the mountain?”

  Thaddeus nodded. “She’s close. And Logan and Isadora are there with her. They’re torturing her and trying to turn her evil and use her power. We have to save her. We have to—” He dropped a hand to his hip and let out a relieved breath when he touched the canteen.

  His father got up and reached down to pull him to his feet. “Then save her we will. Come on, let’s go find your mother.”

  “What about the goblins and ghouls?” Thaddeus asked.

  “We killed the goblins that were behind us after you knocked them all out,” his father replied. “And the ghouls retreated, so the others pursued them.”

  Thaddeus followed his father deeper into the mine. They startled a few townspeople trying to find their way out and paused to help some of them over a few of the larger rocks before continuing in the opposite direction.

  “Logan is going to change into the Bearagon and try to lure us back to Mom and Isadora,” Thaddeus said.

  “Well, that would be very helpful, wouldn’t it?” Nathan said.

  The sounds of a battle echoed around them, prompting them to break into a run. The ball of flame his father had conjured kept pace above them, illuminating rocks and holes. They rounded a bend and stopped when the tunnel opened into a wider space. The others were grouped in the center of the space, fighting against a group of ghouls, some still wearing their human skins and others in their hideous natural form. A few goblins lurked in the dark corners, frightened by the battle and commotion and waiting, probably, to rush in and scavenge any fallen fighters.