“I’m listening.”
“The soldiers were trying to catch a beast in the south, and it killed all but one member of the patrol. The king sent General Black and more soldiers after it. It killed half of them, but they finally caught it. Black is on his way back with it. Your father is to be the first to face it.”
“When?”
“Soon!”
“What is it?”
“A giant spider. King Seth says it is not a beast, but a god.”
“How many gods are there in this kingdom?” Mara asked.
I laughed. “Mara, there is but one God. The rest are false. We should get back to camp and tell Father.”
“Let’s see the angel first,” Mara pleaded.
“Do you know what today’s match is, Lock?”
“A man and his angel will fight a saber-toothed tiger.”
Just then, the king stood and said, “Who is the only god?”
“You are!” the people replied.
Lock ran into the ring with Priest while he summoned the angel.
“How did he get that angel out?” Mara asked. “Can you do it, Noah?”
“No. I wish I could.”
As the barrier between the man and the giant tiger dropped, the man ran, leaving his angel behind. The angel watch his man tried to escape by climbing the cage.
The tiger leapt at the angel and bit him in half. The man screamed and fell to the ground shaking. The tiger walked over to the shaking man very slowly then bit his head off.
Mara cried on my shoulder. “How could a god do this?”
I sighed. “He’s not a God. He is just a killer.”
She cried louder. Then she stopped crying. Her pink eyes turned coal black, and her voice deepened. “I will rule this world because I am God.” Her breath was cold. She blinked, and her eyes were pink again. “Why are you looking at me like that Noah?”
“Your eyes went black and your voice got deep. You said you were God,” I said, shaking.
“Quit joking, Noah.” She laughed. Her eyes flashed black. “Bow to me, and I will let you live.” Her eyes went pink.
“Something strange is going on,” I said. “Let’s head back to camp.”
“My birthday is in two weeks,” Mara announced as we were walking.
“Mine is, too,” I said.
We discovered we were born on the same day.
She smiled. “When you meet someone, sometimes it is just destiny.”
“Sometimes it’s just gas to” I said. Mara just looked at me.
I said “let’s run.”
When I found Father, I could hardly get my words out fast enough. Calm down Noah and take a breath. I took a deep breath and said “A spider that killed half of the king’s men is coming here. King Seth is going to make you fight it!”
“Once again Noah calm down it will be all right. Don’t worry. Someone wants to see you.” Father pointed at our room, and out walked the warrior woman.
She walked up to me and said “I am alive because of you, Noah. I thank you, and you can call me Journey.” She kissed my cheek. Mara didn’t look happy about that.
“It wasn’t just me. Everyone helped, especially Doc.”
My father rubbed his head and said “ouch.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“When Journey woke, she didn’t know where she was or what had happened. She tried to fight her way out of camp. She is strong and hit me pretty good. We calmed her down and explained everything.”
“They didn’t brand you, Journey?” I asked, staring at her wrist.
“No,” Father said. “They thought she was dying, and we haven’t told them different yet. We learned something else today.”
“What?”
“Angels will not harm mankind.”
“Your sure?”
“When they came to Journey’s village, the villagers fought back, and the angels would not help the soldiers.”
“That is interesting.”
“Also, Steven came to my dreams last night and told me the words Priest spoke. I know how to summon the angels. We should try it on each other first.”
“Definitely,” I said. “Let’s do it now.”
“Who is first?” Father asked. “Who wants to see their angel?”
“I do,” Mara said.
“You’re too young,” replied Father.
“Me, then,” Journey offered.
Father nodded. “From deep within this human shell of mortal flesh and bone, I call to you, angel, to let your presence be known. With the power of my all-living God, I summon you, angel, from Journey’s body.”
Nothing happened.
“There must be something missing,” my father said, defeated.
“We’ll figure it out, Father,” I said. “I know we will.”
“What’s this about a giant spider?” Father asked.
I repeated everything Lock had said.
“Did he say which village?” asked Journey.
“No.”
“North or south?”
“Why?” I asked.
“My village is in the south.” She looked worried.
“I’m sorry. He said in the south.”
CHAPTER 17
A Way Out
“We need a way out of here,” Father decided. “Doc and I will walk around the camp to the training area. Spread out. Look for anything that could help us escape. We will meet back here in an hour.”
We walked, but there were soldiers in every corner, and nothing really revealed itself as an aid. Mara and I just paid attention to our surroundings and noted guard positions. After an hour, we met back at the gate.
The soldiers had set up a cage near our camp. Its occupant was a big, hairy man-shaped creature, it sounded as if he was crying.
“Did you find anything, Father?” I asked.
“No. How about you?”
“There are five soldiers at every exit to the cavern.”
Journey returned.
“Any luck?” Father asked.
“No, but my ass is sore,” she said irritably.
“Did you fall?” he asked.
“No. Men kept hitting it.”
We all laughed.
Doc was watching the birds that flew around the cavern. “Holes,” he said.
“What’s he talking about, Mara?” my father asked.
“He’s talking about the holes in the cavern ceiling. They let light in and birds out.” Mara pointed.
Father looked up and said “We need to become birds.”
“How about along rope and shoot it up there” I said.
He looked me and said “Look for anything we can use as a rope.”
We split up and returned a short time later.
“Any luck?” Father asked.
“We only found five pieces of rope,” I answered. “I stole it off a wagon, but it’s not enough to reach the holes.”
“I only found five pieces, as well,” Father said. “Even if we tie them together, it’s not even close.”
Journey returned with nothing.
“Did you even try?” asked Father, frowning.
“Hey, boys!” Journey called. “Bring that over here and lay it here in two piles.”
Two old soldiers scurried over with armloads of rope.
“Thank you, boys,” Journey said. “And thanks for the crossbow. I will take care of you boys tomorrow night.” They smiled at her and left.
“They don’t look like boys to me,” Father said.
“Everyone likes to feel young.”
“How did you get that much rope?”
“I told them I like to be tied up,” she winked at my father.
Journey glanced at my father’s rope. “Wow,” she
said sorrowfully. “That’s awful small for such a big man.”
“Why not just do them tonight?” Father said. “We could wait.”
“I told them I would be too busy tonight doing you,” she said. “I told them I like it rough, and I like to be shot at.”
“Really?” said Father.
“Anything else, old man?”
“Yeah. Where’s the arrow?”
“They said they would bring it with them tomorrow night.”
“I am not that old,” Father added.
“Do you want me to call you boy, too?” she asked.
“No. Bardon will do. What should I call you?”
“Journey will be just fine.”
“That’s enough,” I said. “Do you two want to argue or figure a way out of here? It’s going to take all of us to escape.”
They agreed and exchanged apologies. Father left to try to find or steal an arrow, while I worked with Doc to tie the rope ends together. We stretched the rope out. Doc held out his hand, and the rope floated to him.
“How did you do that?” I asked, astonished.
He pointed at his head.
“You’re going to have to teach me that.”
He smiled.
“Doc, did you see that strange man in the cage?”
“Yes. Where we come from, it is called a yeti. It means ‘hairy man.’ They are very smart. I worked with one named Pap. They keep to themselves, but they don’t fight. He will die here. Some of our people think they came from monkeys, so they are treated badly.”
“Men from monkeys? That’s funny, Doc,” I said. We worked in silence for a few minutes. “What did you do back home?”
“I am a doctor, a preacher, and a scientist.”
“You must know a lot. Do you know what I can do to grow taller? I hate being small.”
“Sometimes being little isn’t bad. A little spider bite can kill a grown man.” Doc smiled. Father returned bleeding, an arrow in his arm.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“Tell us,” said Journey. “It’s not like you have a lot of place to go or things to do with that arrow sticking out of you. Let us patch you up while you talk.”
“Ok, some of soldiers were target shooting. I bet them I could catch an arrow. If I did, I got their belts. If they won, they got a night with a woman from our camp. But they said they didn’t wanted a women they wanted me. I agreed. Well, you can see it’s in my arm. I bragged that it didn’t matter how I caught it. They laughed and gave me their belts.”
Doc started to break the arrow off, but Father wouldn’t let him. “You have to pull it out whole,” he said. “It’s no use to us broken.”
Doc handed Father a stick to bite on, then yanked the arrow out. Father screamed. Doc recited a few words in his language, and the bleeding stopped. He bandaged my father’s wound.
“Are you trying to kill yourself?” Journey asked Father.
“I got three belts and an arrow,” he laughed. “It was worth it.”
Doc washed his hands. I asked how he stopped the bleeding.
“I didn’t stop it. God stopped it. I just know his words of wisdom. Before I die, I will pass those words on to another.”
“Do you know how to summon angels?” I asked.
“I wish I did.”
“Doc, could you make a potion to put the soldiers to sleep?” Father asked.
Doc nodded. “Do you have any wine?”
Father gave him a bottle of wine he had saved. Doc added some herbs to it, and I took the wine to the gate.
“What do you have there, Noah?” asked a guard.
“It’s a bottle of special wine,” I said.
“What are you planning to do with it?” the other guard said.
“I want to trade it for a knife. I want to make Father a pipe for his birthday.”
The two guards looked at each other.
“I got a knife. We’ll trade you,” one said.
I made the trade and returned to camp.
“Where did you get that knife?” Doc asked.
“I traded the wine to the soldiers for it.” I tossed the knife to Father. “Here, it could save your life one day.”
We waited until the guards were sleeping. Then Father and Journey started arguing over who would shoot the crossbow
“Father, we don’t have all night,” I said. “The soldiers could wake at any moment.”
“Okay,” he conceded. “Journey will take the first shot, but if she misses, she kisses my feet.”
“What if I don’t miss?” she asked.
“Then I kiss your feet.”
Journey pulled back the string with all of her might, aimed at the hole, and released the arrow. It bounced off the ceiling and killed a beast in its pen on the ground.
Father said, “Were you aiming for the beast or the hole? Kiss my feet and get the arrow.”
She shot my father an angry look then retrieved the arrow from the beast’s lifeless body and rubbed the feathers in shit. Then made her way back. She handed the bow and the arrow to my father.
“Real mature,” he said. “I will show you how it’s done.” He pulled back the string, kissed the arrow, and put it on the crossbow. He looked at Journey and smiled.
“Remember that arrow was in a pile of shit,” she said. “I bet it tasted pretty good.”
Father spit and looked at her. He aimed and shot. Again, the arrow bounced off the roof and hit the same beast.
“So were you shooting at the hole or at the dead beast?” Journey joked.
I ran to get the arrow. When I brought it back to my father, he saw the welts on my hands. Father turned them over and saw the wounds inflicted by Skull. “What happened to you, son?”
“It’s nothing, Father.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Captain Skull beat me because I was late turning the count in. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid that you would attack him and the soldiers would kill you.”
Father was furious and sent me for a writing instrument and a hide on which to write.
I was on my way back when I saw Doc pick up the bow, load the arrow, and shoot. It was a perfect shot. Doc pulled on the rope, tugged it, and then hung from it. The arrow had evidently lodged in something strong. He handed the rope to my father.
I came back and gave Father a lump of coal and a piece of a hide. He used the coal to write a message then folded the hide over and handed it to me.
“May I read it?” I asked.
“No. Take it back to camp and hide it among our blankets.”
I wrapped the red scarf around the skin and threw it in our corner then ran back to Father. He was arguing with Journey again. I looked at Doc. He shrugged.
“I will go up first,” announced Journey, holding the end of the rope.
“No. I will,” Father insisted.
“What if it is unsafe? What if you fall to your death? Who will take care of Noah?”
“You will,” Father said with no hesitation.
Journey let go of the rope, blinked and said, “go for it!”
“I’ll climb to the top. I’ll pull up and down on the rope when it’s clear,” he said.
“What upset your father earlier?” asked Journey.
I showed her my hands and explained that Skull beat them till they bled.
Her face darkened. She looked as angry as Father. “I’ll kill him myself where is he sleeping.” “It’s alright we have to get out of here” I said.
I looked up, and Father was almost to the top. “I hope my dream comes true.”
“What dream did you have?” asked Journey.
“I dreamed about us going home, he was fighting a guard that was tied in a rope” I said.
Fire Of Freedom
Father climbed up through the stone hole and onto the roof. He saw the guard standing between two big rocks. Father went after the guard and saw the guard was dead. He wrapped the guard and the rope around a boulder, and then yanked it a few times to let us know he was clear.
Journey grabbed the rope and climbed as fast as she could.
Above, Father heard a soldier coming and hid behind the rock, but the soldier saw him.
“Get up, you fool!” the soldier demanded, in the dark mistaking Father for the guard. “You cannot sleep on your post.” Then he saw the rope. He followed it to the hole and looked down.
“Look what I found! A pretty woman,” he said, seeing Journey near the top. “Hey…” He looked back at my father, suspicion dawning.
“Help me up, big boy, and I will treat you like a god,” cooed Journey.
“If you were a young boy, I just might. How about I cut the rope and see how high you can bounce? Then I’ll take care of your friend, here.” He pulled out a knife.
Father ran up and plunged the knife I gave him into the soldier’s back. The soldier turned, and Father stabbed him in the neck. The soldier spit up blood, stumbled back, and fell, gasping for air. Father stuck his hand down through the hole to Journey to help pull her up.
“You saved me,” she said. “I owe you my life.”
My father hugged Journey tightly.
“I’ve never killed a man before. Not even in the ring.”
Down below, where I was, Doc put a belt around Mara’s waist and tied the rope tight, then Father and Journey pulled her up. I went next.
Father hugged me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Father.”
The sky was clear, and a half-moon glowed. It was so beautiful. I hadn’t seen it in a long time.
We sent the rope back down to Doc, but he didn’t pull on it. I looked down for him. He wasn’t there. Then, after what felt like forever, we felt a tug on the rope.
Father and Journey struggled to pull him up. It took all of us to pull, I was hoping the rope would hold him. But finally, we got Doc up through the hole.
“What took you so long down there, Doc?” I asked.
“I had to help a friend,” he replied.
“Nice shot Doc,” said Journey as she pulled the arrow out of the guard’s chest. “Heart anybody.” Everyone shook their head no.
Angels of the Second Earth Age Page 9
