The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four)

by Ivory Autumn

  “Talic!” Andrew shouted, running after him. “Come back!”

  “Get away from me,” Talic growled, darting away from Andrew, slipping into a vacant house that looked like the only house in the village that was not on fire.

  Andrew quickly followed Talic into the house. The house was made of brick and stone, and looked very solid, but very old. The room's only light was from a small window that let in the dismal orange glow of the burning town. Underneath the window was a small table heaped with buttery rolls, and a bowl of steaming stew.

  Talic jumped onto the table, his eyes wild. He looked at the food spread on the table. “Food,” he breathed, forgetting that he was afraid. He reached for the food, and stuffed his mouth full of rolls, and gulped down the stew. He ate the food in savage hunger, groaning in delight, letting crumbs and soup spill everywhere. When he saw Andrew, he stopped suddenly. He grinned, as if almost embarrassed. He licked his messy face and wiped the crumbs off his chin. “This is really good food,” he said, stuffing another roll into his mouth, while offering one to Andrew. “Really, oh yum. Good, Yum. Good. Food. Go ahead, Andrew, try some.”

  Andrew watched Talic, with folded arms. “Talic!” he commanded.

  Talic glowered at him but did not look up.

  “Talic!”

  “Why are you shouting at me?” Talic yelped, wiping up a long string of slobber. He held out a half eaten roll for Andrew to take. “Oh dear, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eat so much of it. I’m sorry. I was saving this for you.” His eyes filled with tears, and he began to cry over the roll. “I’m sorry. I knew you wanted a piece. But I ate most of it. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!”

  Andrew shook Talic by the shoulders. “Talic, get a hold of yourself. It’s just a roll.”

  Talic stared at Andrew with his abnormally large eyes. “Only a roll?”

  “Yes, a bit of food. Not worth tearing up over.”

  Talic poked the piece of roll, his eyes gleaming. “Only a roll. Yes. It is only a roll. But why am I crying? It’s so sad, I ate your roll.”

  “Talic, look at me! I don’t care! It’s fine. You can eat all of it, if you like.”

  Talic’s face filled with relief. He smiled, and wiped his tears. “You don’t mind then?”

  Andrew shook his head. “No. It’s fine. Talic what’s the matter with you?”

  “Oh! You’re such a good friend!” Talic’s face lit up and he popped the last bit of roll into his mouth and chewed happily. “Oh,” he moaned, “I don’t know what’s come over me. At times I almost feel like my old self, and then something happens and I just get these urges, very strong urges, to eat, or to run, or to hide, or to laugh. And I can’t help myself. It’s terrible. I know. But I don’t know what to do. My old self scolds me, but then I just…” his voice trembled and he started to cry again.

  Andrew shook his head, and patted Talic on the shoulder. “Talic, it’s okay. Really.”

  Talic sniffed, and wiped his drippy nose on his sleeve. “No. It’s not okay. It’ll never be okay.” He picked up the empty bowl of soup and began licking the dish.

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!” a voice bellowed.

  Talic stopped mid bite and pointed behind Andrew at a man standing in a far corner of the room. He was tall, and thick, with hair that hung in greasy knots around his shoulders. His clothes looked soiled and his face was twisted into an ugly scowl. “Get out!” The man thundered, rushing towards them with a thick club. He swung at the table, smashing it in half with a loud crash. “Get out!”

  Talic cried out in fear, and ran from the room as the man swung the club again.

  “Stay back,” Andrew warned, drawing his sword in a brilliant flash of light.

  The man jumped back. “Who…are you?” the man trembled, his voice stricken with fear.

  Andrew gazed at the dark outline of the man’s face. His eyes were bright and filled with terror. His face was sooty-black. His hair was sprinkled with thick layers of dirt and soot. Seeds surely could have grown there.

  “I’m Andrew,” he said, stepping nearer.

  “Please,” the man whimpered. “Don’t hurt me.”

  Andrew put away his sword, and offered the man a friendly hand. “I won’t hurt you. I’m sorry, my friend ate your food. But we mean no harm.”

  The man shook his head and pressed himself against the wall, cowering in the corner like a frightened creature. “Please, just go. Go!”

  “Alright,” Andrew said. “I will leave if that is your wish.”

  “Yes,” the man said, ever so slowly moving out of the shadows. His eyes were wild and red. His face looked crazed and pitiful. “Yes, you should leave. Leave at once! No one should stay too long in this place. Go, go, GO!”

  Andrew backed away from the man, feeling very uneasy. Something about the man’s desperate voice caused fear to creep over him.

  “LEAVE AT ONCE!” the man howled, staring at Andrew, with widening eyes. The whites of the man’s eyes looked striking against the backdrop of his soot-covered skin. “Ah, you’re afraid. And you should be, too,” the man went on. “One thinks that this village is vacant at first glance. But at first glance, you can never tell. This is an accursed village. You should take your friends and leave. Leave before it is too late.”

  Andrew stifled a cough, breathing in a whiff of smoke that had seeped in from the outside. “What do you mean? Before it’s too late?”

  The man loomed over Andrew, now fully unafraid, and menacing. “Isn’t it enough that I said to go? Ah, no. I can see that you won’t go unless I tell you all why. You see, many years ago, when The Fallen first fell to earth, he sent his men here, demanding our city’s allegiance, and half of our increase of everything we had, of both man, woman, children, farms, lands, food, everything. If we complied, our lives would be spared. Those were the conditions for our freedom. A grand council was called. We debated for many hours. For many days, and nights, until one evening, The Fallen himself came for our answer. But we could not give it. We could not come to a decision; there were too many things to consider. Our council went on for many months, but we still could not decide.

  The Fallen grew angry with waiting, and commanded his men to set fire to our village and then cursed our lands to burn forever, and the smoke would feed his shadows. He not only cursed our lands, but cursed all within the city. Because we could not decide which side we were on, all would be doomed to stay forever as we were, betwixed and between. The curse was a strong one. If any of us had the gumption to make a decision, or if we tried to leave the village and head towards The Fallen’s lands, to make war on him, the curse was that we would grow old and turn into dust and ash. Or if we were to try to escape our village from the south, we would grow young, so young with each step, we would become young as babes, and then cease to be. That is our curse. To be in-between, forever and always. To be stagnant as a pool of filthy water. Or choose, and die as babes or die as aged dust.”

  Andrew looked at the man in pity. “Surely, you can leave. The curse cannot work forever, once you make up your mind. Has no one tried to leave?”

  The man raised his hands and sighed. “I’m sure of it. Then again, I’m not quite sure. I don’t think anyone in this city, including myself has ever decided to try. It’s too risky. Ah, but to make up one’s mind after being betwixt and between for so long, is not something many of us can do.”

  “Then perhaps today is the day to make up your mind.”

  The man sighed, and shook his head. “No. I cannot. It’s too hard. When one sits in the same place too long he becomes rusty, and stuck. I can never make up my mind, just as the fire in our city can never stop burning. All I am is smoke. Smoke that drifts and has no purpose but to create pollution. I am stuck---forever in a state of standing between two roads, looking both ways, unsure, unreliable, and unsteady.”

  “But, to make up your mind would be better than lingering here forever, would it not?”

  “I believe so. But then again, I’
m not sure.”

  Andrew held out his hand for the man to take. “You must decide. You and your people. Today. Decide today. Try to leave this place, and see if the curse is real. Perhaps it is only something meant to keep you where you are. Come with me. The day of decision is at hand. You can’t linger here in the smoke and shadows any longer. Come with us and we will destroy this Fallen being together.”

  The man shook his head. “Oh no. No. I could never do that. But then… maybe…oh I don’t know. What if…”

  “Yes,” Andrew said, turning away from the man, and marching outside. “What if…”

  “Wait!” the man cried, following after Andrew. “You must understand…” his voice trailed off as he spied Andrew’s friends and the wagon with the chest of unsaid words. The chest thumped and creaked and groaned when Andrew and the man neared it.

  “Oh, what is that?” the man asked staring at the chest, with fearful eyes.

  “A chest of unsaid words,” Andrew replied. “I’m sure many of your words are locked in there.”

  The man’s face drained of color. “Oh dear. I hope you’re not planning on releasing them here. Cities like mine have filled such chests to bursting with unsaid, undone things. But it won’t do any good, you know, to release them here. The curse is far too strong. Those words will only torment us more---drive us mad. Yes, those words must be released somewhere else.”

  “Yes,” Andrew said. “I know.”

  “Andrew, who’s that?” Ivory whispered, bravely stepping close to Andrew. Her eyes were filled with concern, and curiously. Flicker, and the others just stood a ways off, watching.

  “I’m not sure,” Andrew murmured casting the man a sad glance.

  “Tavron,” the man said. “Yes, that’s my name.”

  “Where are the others in your village?” Andrew asked.

  “Somewhere, probably in-between whatever it is they are doing. Probably between sleep, and waking, between work and play. Wherever they are, I’m sure they are between something. Probably trying to decide to come out, or to stay indoors and watch you safely from within their houses.”

  Flicker suddenly swooped down in front of Tavron, cooing loudly. “Didn’t I say, Andrew, didn’t I tell you this city was of no use. Let us leave!”

  “Yes,” Tavron murmured. “It is forever cursed to be the way it is. We are forever the Inbetweeners. Forced to stay for fear that if we go we will turn to dust, or grow backwards in age, then vanish.”

  “Has no one tried to leave?” Freddie asked, nearing Tavron.

  Tavron shook his head. “As I told Andrew. No. We have remained as we are for so long, we don’t dare change now.”

  “Why not try, today?” Andrew said, his voice loud. “What have you got to lose?”

  “Our lives,” Tavron murmured.

  “But what kind of lives?” Andrew motioned to the dismal city.

  Tavron looked around him as if seeing the place in which he lived, for the first time in his life. The half-burnt buildings, the layers of ash and soot covering the ground, the smoke-filled sky, his dirty clothes, his filthy, black skin, the charcoal-stained roads and streets---all the ugliness, all the misery of living in such an unlivable place. Everything was covered with smoke and ash.

  “Yes…” Tavron murmured, his face gleaming as if a beam of light had suddenly struck him. “Why not leave this place? Why not try?” His dirty face lit up with a big grin. The smile came on gradually, but when it reached its peak, his smile seemed like it would break his face because he hadn’t smiled in so long. “Yes, YES, YES! I will come with you!”

  “Good!” Andrew cried, waving his hands in excitement. “Come, come with us then!”

  Tavron’s bright eyes filled with wonder as he spied the strange silver marking in Andrew’s hand. “Open your palms boy,” he said, growing every minute more excited. “Quickly, open them!”

  Andrew slowly opened his palms. Tavron’s eyes grew wider. A single tear cut a clear path through his soot-covered face. “Yes, yes,” he murmured, his voice rising. “You are the one. The one that will set us free.”

  Tavron turned around and faced the crowd of curious villagers who had silently emerged through the smoke, and were now watching in utter silence. “Look! Look my people. This boy is the one sent to destroy The Fallen. Hold out your hands, boy. Let them see the marks! Maybe that will help them to decide. My people, yes, I have decided, Now you must decide as well!”

  Those words rippled through the village as if hit by a wind. The words stirred through the houses, causing the flames consuming the wood to flicker and spurt sparks. Open doors slammed shut, windows that had opened, were instantly closed. A swirling silence slipped through the smoke-filled streets, hinting of a choice that might be made that day. A deciding that hadn’t been made since the day The Fallen had cursed the city.

  Stirred by Tavron’s revolutionary words, more people crept from their houses, peering at the strangers through the smoke. Their eyes looked wild and frightened. They stood a safe distance away, looking neither angry, or happy, but dull, lifeless, like they were stuck in a never-ending blah state.

  Andrew couldn’t help but contrast their look to the look on Tavron’s happy face. Once he grinned it almost took up his entire face.

  Tavron jumped and skipped, running to his friends and shaking their emotionless faces. “Come with me, my friends. I have finally decided to try to leave this place. I have decided to go with these people. I have decided to go with them. To fight The Fallen! I have finally made a decision. And it feels so good! WONDERFUL! I don’t know why I didn’t choose before. It is such a relief.”

  The people’s faces filled with fear at Tavron’s words. They shrunk away from him. “No,” they cried. “You must stay!”

  “Yes, stay with us, Tavron,” a woman cried out. “You don’t know what will happen if you go with them.”

  “Yes,” Tavron breathed. “And that’s the beauty of it. I don’t know. Isn’t that exciting? Here everything stays as it is. I go to a better life. Come with me, please.”

  “Yes,” Andrew cried out with Tavron. “Come with us. Here you are doomed anyway. Why not come with us?”

  The people cowered further into the shadows, slinking slowly back into their houses as if they dared not hear Andrew’s words. “Please,” Andrew shouted as they fled. “Come with us.”

  “It is no good,” Tavron said. “They will not listen.”

  “But you did,” Andrew said.”

  “Yes,” Tavron murmured. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Please,” Andrew tried, holding his sword aloft to get the attention of departing villagers. “Come with us. Here, you are prisoners. Come with us and you will be free! Please listen…”

  His voice trailed off as the last villager slipped from view and slammed his door.

  “You tried,” Tavron murmured. “It cannot be helped.”

  Andrew stared at deserted street, wondering how the people could live in such smoke and torment. Why wouldn’t they listen? His heart filled with heaviness. The throbbing from the chest of unsaid words had gently calmed to a hushed sob, as if the words had also given up---lost in despair.

  “Do not look so downcast,” Tavron consoled. “You have woken me. And is that not something worth rejoicing over? No one in this village has ever decided upon anything in over a hundred years. And now, today, that has all changed. Today, I have decided. And if you are willing, my village has stores of weapons that we have never used, lying idle. Perhaps, if it is your desire, we may put them to better use than they have been here.”

  Andrew’s eyes grew wide. “You have weapons?”

  Tavron nodded. “Yes, we have kept them inside a shed, unused, new as they day they were made. Come, I will show you.”

  Soon they found themselves inside a large smoke-filled cave near the edge of town. It was a gaping cave, filled with weapons of all kinds, unused and new, just as Tavron had said. They filled a spare wagon that Tavron had provided, to overflowing,
with the weapons, until it could hold no more. Then, hitching the wagon to Freddie’s horse, they slowly exited the cave.

  “Okay,” Andrew called, “Flicker, everyone, let’s be going. I don’t want the smoke of indecision to cloud your head, as it did mine.” He peered around the cave seeing everyone except Talic. “Wait. Where’s Talic…?” He turned, and smiled, spotting Talic. The boy was hunched over a large rock he had propped up. He was rummaging underneath it, until he came up looking very pleased with himself. He opened his hand and stuffed what looked like a large, gooey slug into his mouth.

  “Let’s go Talic,” Andrew called.

  Talic grinned and nodded, revealing several white wormy-looking things lodged between this teeth.

  “Ugh,” Ivory squealed. “Make him stop, Andrew.”

  Andrew gently grabbed Talic by the arm, and moved him away from his spot of grubs. “Let’s go. We’ll have time to eat later.”

  “What will we eat later?” Talic asked, pulling his arm away from Andrew, and glaring at him through gloomy brows.

  “I don’t know, maybe some dried meat.”

  “Who wants dried up hard stuff when you can have soft gooshy, good stuff.” He opened his palm, revealing a large white maggot. “I’ve been saving this one for you, Andrew.”

  “Yug,” Andrew stepped away from Talic, repulsed. “No thank you.”

  “Oh, well. If you’re sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Okay. I’ll eat it then.” He laughed and plopped the big goober into his mouth. A disgusting, gushing pop was heard as he slobbered and chewed.

  Andrew shivered when he heard the sound. He walked away from Talic, feeling very disturbed.

  “Your friend…” Tavron mused, pointing to Talic as they walked away from the city, “he seems rather odd.”

  “Yeah,” Andrew said, casting Talic a sideways glance. “That’s Talic. He’s a bit disturbed right now. Don’t mind him. He comes in handy if a spider lands in your hair. Likes to eat bugs…among other things.”

  “Ah,” Tavron nodded. “I see. That is why I found him on my table.”

  “Yes,” Andrew said. “That is why.”