by Ben Cass
“Ma’am...we’ve done all we can. It’s the poison...whatever it is, we’ve never seen it before. We’ve tried antivenin and antibiotics, but nothing has even touched the stuff! There’s nothing else I know to try! If this fever doesn’t break soon...”
“Ellie,” another voice said. “Turn the fire off.” He knew this deep, smooth voice, but had never liked the person, for some reason he couldn’t recall right now. “Torching things isn’t going to help. Turn it off, honey.” The voice was calm and soothing.
“I...I don’t know how,” she said, her voice trembling. “I don’t even know how it started!”
The bliss of the darkness began to recede. She needed him. He couldn’t fully remember her right now, couldn’t even remember himself, but he knew she needed him. He could help her, and then come back here. Easy enough.
With a mighty effort, he forced himself up and out of the darkness. He tried to groan and found he could at least make a sound of some kind. Heat ran across his face, and sweat poured down his cheeks. Pain coursed through every part of his body.
Why had he come back to this again? Why had he left the comfort of the darkness?
That’s right. Her. The girl. She was special. She was more. She needed him.
He tried to speak, to form words, but it was nearly impossible.
He managed to say, “Order it”.
Gasps came from the people around him, and he felt hands touching him, opening his eyelids. “Sir! Sir, can you hear me?”
This person was annoying him. They were taking his attention from the girl. They needed to go away. He focused his mind, fighting through the agony, and called upon the wind to obey him, to heed his command. He felt a gust of air sweep over his fevered body, and then the hands moving off his body. There was a crashing sound, and the person was gone. Much better.
“Doyle?” It was her voice. The girl. She needed his help. He thought about it and remembered how to speak again.
“Order...it,” he said. “You...command. Not...it.” The effort of speaking taxed his system, and he felt hotter, sicker. He needed to return to the darkness. He wanted to rest.
“Um...okay,” she said. There was a pause, and then, tentatively, “Stop burning, dammit!” The crackling sound stopped and the heat vanished, and he knew he had helped her, knew she could take it from here. It was time to go back to the cradle of darkness, to rest.
“Good,” he said, sighing.
“Doyle! NO!” He felt her touch his face, but he was already leaving. Time to go back to peace. Time to finally rest.
Chapter Thirty
Jen lay on a couch in the hallway, her head resting on Kira’s lap. Kira gently stroked Jen’s hair, humming a song Jen vaguely recognized. Kira had finally pulled her away from Doyle, telling her she needed to rest, that she wouldn’t be any help to him if she didn’t let herself sleep. It had been five days now, almost a week of seizures and fevers and comatose inactivity. Kira had possessed the foresight to bring the rumagna salve with her when they left to help at the park, and she and Jen had taken their time applying it to all his wounds.
As it had before, the salve had healed all the wounds, leaving only scars behind, but it had taken a little longer this time to heal him up. Jen assumed that was due to his body fighting the poison still attacking from within. The fact he was still alive was a miracle, Theonus had said.
Ellie burst out of Doyle’s room, Jerry right behind her, and ran to Jen and Kira. “He was awake!” she yelled, waving her arms. “For a second or two, he was awake!”
Jen came off the couch, erupting into motion, Kira right behind her. Jerry quickly opened the door and held it for the women. Jen stepped inside and raised an eyebrow. The scent of smoke hung faintly in the air, and one of the monitoring machines sat on the floor, broken and bent. A doctor sat on the floor by the wall, looking dazed, a nurse kneeling next to him, talking softly. Dr. Thomas, she remembered. He was a nice man, friendly and caring. Jen wondered why he was sitting on the floor, and looked at Ellie, who shrugged.
“Big gust of wind threw him aside like a tumbleweed,” she said. “The doc was trying to check on Doyle after he woke up and spoke to me.”
“Oh, Alistair,” Kira sighed. “That poor man was trying to help you.”
Thomas got to his feet and straightened his scrubs, running his hands through his hair. The nurse stood up and quietly left the room. Thomas came over to them, giving Doyle’s bed a wide berth. “Are you okay?” Jen asked him. He nodded.
“Just a little surprised. I still don’t know what happened,” the doctor replied, glancing at Doyle.
“If I had to guess, Alistair called on the wind and used it to brush you away,” Kira said lightly. Thomas stared at her for a moment, before his eyes flicked over to Ellie, who gave a sheepish grin.
“Ah...sorry about the whole fire thing,” she said. “I haven’t learned how to stop stuff like that from happening.”
Thomas smiled faintly. “I still haven’t decided whether I want to be scared of you or if I want to study you.”
“Scared, definitely,” Jerry said. “A hormonal teenager who can call upon the forces of Nature itself? Yeah...scared makes more sense, doc.” Ellie punched his shoulder, and Jerry winced.
“So noted,” Thomas replied, his soft southern accent tickling Jen’s ear. “I’ll leave you folks alone now. If there’s anything you need, just have me paged.” He gave a nod and stepped out of the room.
Jen reached and lightly touched Doyle’s hand. There was nothing to indicate he had been awake, no response from him, nothing. Jen felt a sob trying to build in her throat, and sternly forced it down.
“What happened?” she asked, her eyes closed to deal with the emotions threatening to overwhelm her again.
“I’d...um...burst into flames, I guess? He woke up, told me how to turn it off, and then he was gone again.”
Learning her sister was Tayamu had been a bit of a shock for Jen. Ellie’s powers had been manifesting themselves randomly since the night in the park. Theonus assured them it was normal, particularly for a new Tayamu under a great deal of emotional stress. Jerry had been the only person able to keep Ellie at an even keel this week. Whenever she made something happen, he’d been there to calm her down, get her emotions under control.
She’d never burst into flames before, though. That was new.
“So he is aware,” Kira mused softly, tapping her long fingers on her thigh. “He is still fighting.”
Jen didn’t think she could handle much more. She turned and went to the couch along the far wall, where she’d spent the last several nights fitfully sleeping. Jen sat down and buried her face in her hands, trying to clear her mind. She felt Ellie sit next to her and wrap an arm around her, and from the other side, Kira do the same.
Jen took a deep breath, forcing her feelings down. Emotions wouldn’t help him right now. She needed to be clear-headed, as unemotional as possible. There was a tentative knock on the door, and Jen looked up to see the sheriff entering the room, a large potted plant in his hands. Jen didn’t know what kind of plant it was, since she’d never had much interest in gardening. It was pretty, though. A long, green stem, topped with some kind of pink and purple flower.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Bellsley said. “I was coming in to check on you, and the pastor’s mother insisted I bring this to Doyle. She said it would make him happier.”
Jen forced a smile. “She’s so sweet.”
Jerry took the plant from the sheriff. “Here, let me get that, Sheriff,” he said. The sheriff took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Jerry. A small plastic bag was wrapped inside of the paper.
“She wrote down the directions for its care,” Bellsley said. “She was very specific, too. We’re supposed to water it right now, mix in some of this plant food, and make sure it gets plenty of sunlight.” Jerry nodded and carried the plant to the sink. The sheriff sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hands. “No change?” he asked, nodding toward the be
d.
Jen shook her head. “He woke up briefly, but then was gone again. I don’t know if...if...” She couldn’t finish her sentence, and fell silent.
The sheriff smiled sadly and placed his hands on her shoulders. Jen looked up at him. “You have to have faith, Jen,” he said gently. “Half the town is outside the hospital right now, holding a vigil for him.”
“They are?”
Without a word, Bellsley led her over to the window and pulled the curtains open, making Jen blink and cover her eyes with a hand for a moment. She hadn’t seen the sun in five days. They’d kept the curtains closed, although she couldn’t really remember why. They were on the third floor, giving them a beautiful view of downtown Groverton. The last of the setting sun painted the sky with pinks and yellows, but the encroaching darkness slowly erased the pretty colors. The sheriff pointed down, and Jen pressed against the glass to look. She felt Kira’s hands press lightly on her shoulders, and Ellie’s body slide in to stand right next to her, an arm around Jen’s waist.
Out on the lawn, hundreds and hundreds of people were standing, as far as she could see. She’d figured “half the town” was simply hyperbole, but it looked like the sheriff hadn’t been exaggerating. Groverton was small, only a few thousand people living in it, but it sure looked like at least half the community was out there, standing vigil for the man who’d saved them.
Most of the people held small candles, the tiny flames pinpricks of light in the quickly-falling darkness. She could see signs, although she couldn’t read what was on them. There were so many things happening Jen couldn’t take it all in at once. The crowd seemed to be split up into several small groups, each doing their own thing.
Bellsley pointed to his left. “Pastor Arnold is leading a big prayer group over there,” he said, “right by the entrance. Off to the right here,” he pointed the other direction, “a bunch of kids from the high school are strumming guitars and singing. They’re alternating between hymns and rock. There are other things going on down there, but I haven’t had the chance to visit everybody, so I don’t know what all is happening.”
Behind the crowd, a large, dark shape was moving, walking in what looked like a guarding pattern. Jen smiled, recognizing Theonus. He didn’t stop, didn’t pay attention to the people gathered. He just continued moving, head held high.
“That...dog,” Bellsley said, “has been circling the hospital non-stop, sniffing the air from time to time. My boys are also out there with him. We’re making sure there are plenty of eyes keeping watch.”
Jen pressed her hand against the glass, trying to ignore the choking sensation in her throat. “This is...incredible,” she said softly.
Bellsley nodded. “He saved hundreds of lives, and that’s not something folks in Groverton are likely to forget.” He smiled. “And as far as I know, they’ve all agreed nobody outside this town needs to know about him or that incredible dog of his. The only video evidence I know of was in the dashcam of the fire truck, and I personally erased it. Seems like everybody else’s phones got wiped by whatever killed the engines and the lights in the park.”
“The hell?” came Jerry’s surprised voice. Jen turned around to see him staring at the plant in his hands.
“What is it?” Kira asked her husband.
He pointed at Doyle. “This plant...I started to set it on the table next to his bed, and it reached for him. It actually reached out and tried to touch his hand!”
The sheriff rubbed his neck. “God almighty,” he muttered.
Ellie stepped over beside Jerry and took the plant in her hands. Jen watched as the long green stem bent towards her sister. Ellie held a hand out, and the flower gently rested against her palm, slowly moving back and forth on her skin.
Jerry shook his head. “It’s like a damn cat rubbing its head against your leg!”
The sheriff raised an eyebrow. “Wait. Is Ellie like...him?” He pointed over at Doyle.
“Long story, but yes,” Jerry said, barely turning his head.
Jen almost smiled at the look on Bellsley’s face. The poor man had seen his entire worldview get destroyed this week, and the hits just kept coming.
Ellie handed the plant back to Jerry, who took it and held it over Doyle again. Jen watched as the plant moved itself down to rest against his arm, much as it just had with Ellie. “One with Nature and all that jazz,” Jen murmured, remembering Doyle’s words in the barn the night her memory had returned.
It hit her a second later, and she gasped. “One with Nature!” she exclaimed. “He’s one with Nature! That’s what we’re missing!”
Jerry whistled, a low sound. “Damn. How did we not think of that sooner?” He set the plant onto the bed, the green stem staying on top of Doyle’s arm.
The sheriff raised his hand. “Sorry, folks, but I’m a little slow right now. What are you talking about?”
“Doyle is a Tayamu warrior,” Jen said. “He’s one with Nature.” The sheriff nodded, but still looked confused.
“I recollect you saying that. He can command the forces of nature, right?”
Jerry shook his head. “That’s the point, sheriff. He doesn’t just command them. He is them. He is Tayamu. They are basically the living avatars of Nature itself, existing to keep things in balance and harmony.”
“That is why the plant was trying to touch him,” Kira said, hope springing into her voice. “He is out of harmony.”
Jen nodded. “Sheriff?”
“Ma’am?”
Jen pointed at Doyle’s door. “We need to take Doyle home, right now. And we need to dig him a bed in the earth, and fill it with as many plants and flowers as we can find. Do you think you can help with that?”
Bellsley smiled. “Oh, I think my friends outside and I can handle that part. Do you need help getting him home?”
Jen smiled, her heart feeling hopeful for the first time in days. “Just with getting him onto Theonus.”
“Wouldn’t an ambulance be easier?” Bellsley asked.
Kira pointed out the window. “Would you like to tell Theonus he is not good enough to transport Alistair?”
“Uhh...no, ma’am,” Bellsley said, his eyes wide.
Jerry clapped his hands loudly, startling Jen. “Let’s move, people! He’s been saving lives for years. It’s time to return the favor!”
JEN watched as Jerry and a group of men carried Doyle to the hole they’d hastily dug on his property. On Kira’s suggestion, they had chosen a spot just outside the forest.
She stood there, next to the hole, as Daniel Morris, who owned a nursery in Groverton, backed up one of his big pickup trucks, stopping a few feet away. Daniel hopped out, closely followed by his son, Mike, one of Ellie’s classmates. They’d gone on a date or two, Jen thought, but couldn’t remember right now.
Daniel opened up the tailgate of the truck, revealing dozens of potted plants and small trees. He spoke a few words to Mike, who nodded and began hauling pots out of the truck, setting them down alongside the hole in the ground. Some other boys ran up and formed a line from the truck to Mike, passing the plants along, helping him work quicker.
Jen nearly smiled when Ellie joined them, causing all of the boys to stop and stare at her in disbelief. When Mike’s eyes traveled up and down Ellie’s body, she snapped her fingers in his face, flame erupting from them before disappearing. Mike jumped, said something, and returned to moving the plants. Ellie began helping him, accepting pots as they were handed to her, a small, satisfied smirk on her face. Every plant she held bent down and tried to caress her arm, making her brush them aside. Mike again stared at her, but this time his expression was utter confusion. Ellie raised an eyebrow and pointed at the ground, and Mike suddenly shook his head and returned to his work.
Jerry and the men carrying Doyle had reached the hole, and were now carefully making their way down a long board which had been placed inside, forming a ramp. The hole was five feet deep, and wide and long enough to hold Doyle’s body, with plenty of space all
around to set the potted plants. It must have been a dozen feet long, Jen thought.
The group of men had gotten Doyle settled onto the ground, positioning him so his arms were stretched out by his sides. Three of them scrambled out of the hole, leaving Jerry and another man still inside. They reached up and began grabbing the plants, pulling them out of the pots and gently burying them into the soft earth right next to Doyle’s body. Ellie had finished helping with the unloading, and she hopped down into the space as well, grabbing pots quickly.
With the three of them working, all the plants were installed in about ten minutes, and Jerry and the other man made their way up the makeshift ramp. Ellie looked at Jen, cocked an eyebrow, and jumped straight up into the air, easily leaping out of the hole, landing softly onto the ground. Jerry pulled the ramp up, and the people who had dug the hole began filling it with dirt again, tossing the soft earth onto Doyle’s body, covering him with a light coating.
The sight broke something inside of Jen. This wasn’t just a hole. It was, potentially, a grave, and they were burying Doyle in it as she watched.
I can’t do this, she thought, and hurried off, trying to shove down the pain that threatened to overwhelm her, trying to ignore the heavy weight inside her chest.
JERRY swiped his hands on his pants, hoping to get the dirt off. He looked down at his palms and frowned; better, but still not clean.
“Here you go,” a soft voice said. He turned to see a woman, a small baby boy peacefully sleeping against her neck, holding out a package of baby wipes and a plastic bag to him. “Never leave home without them.”
Jerry smiled and took the package. “Thanks,” he said, pulling several out. He spent some time wiping his hands and, finally satisfied they were clean, handed the package back to her, tossing the used wipes into the bag. “Appreciate it.”
“No problem,” the mother said. The baby boy stirred and moved, but didn’t wake up. Jerry smiled and gently traced the baby’s hand with his finger.
