Wings

by Sandra R Neeley

  Clarence smiled. “So you girls are going to save them.”

  “Yes!” they both said at once.

  “I’m in! What are we doing?” Clarence said excitedly, getting to his feet.

  “We don’t know yet. But we’re going out there. We’re going to find the entrance and somehow sneak inside. We’ll be there if they need backup,” Ruby said.

  “Backup my ass, I got my billy club out in the car. I plan to tear some people up,” Pearl said, not a single teasing tone in her voice.

  Francis looked back and forth between the girls, then Clarence. “I like this one!” he declared, pointing an aged finger at Pearl.

  “I’ll help, too. But I’m not much for walking anymore. Shooting I can do. I’ll sit on the hood of my truck and pick ‘em off as they fly away,” Francis said.

  “Uhh, Francis, we aren’t killing everybody. Just the ones who are loyal to the Most High Prime,” Clarence explained.

  “I know that!” Francis snapped.

  “Well, how you gonna know which is which?” Clarence asked, irritated.

  Francis shrugged. “Prima will tell me.”

  Clarence was surprised. It hadn’t occurred to him to include the Prima. “She might. You think she will?”

  “Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Francis shuffled out of the booth. “I’m going to ask her. You put my damn bishop back where it was when you moved it. I’ll meet ya’ll out there. Better to hit them while they sleeping.”

  “Alright, we’ll see you out there. Don’t tell nobody else what we doing other than the Prima!” Clarence warned as Francis left the diner, the front door banging behind him.

  “Who’s the Prima?” Ruby asked, her brow furrowed as her mind ran through the people she’d met since she’d been here.

  “You met her already. Didn’t you know?” Clarence asked.

  “I did? No! I didn’t know. Nobody told me there was a Prima! How is she a Prima and not living with the Prime?”

  “Prime has never been a good male. Always selfish, always taking, taking, taking, and never giving. She was raised to be his mate. Raised to be eloquent, graceful and reserved. Raised to be his equal, and some say she’s even more powerful than he is. But she detested him. She turned a blind eye to his dalliances and stayed with the colony for the sake of the people. Then one day, Prime made his mandate — stay here and be a member of our colony, or go live with the humans — you will not do both. He forbid any association with us ever again. Most of the colony stayed where it was. Very few left to become part of our town. Prima couldn’t believe it. She’d stayed all those years to try to protect them, and they didn’t even have the sense to leave on their own when given the chance. She walked away. Left the colony and quietly started her life here, among us. Most don’t even know she’s one of them. Only me, and a few of the old-timers who remember her from our days in the colony.”

  Ruby listened intently. “I can’t remember meeting anyone who has a bat like appearance. I don’t think I’ve met her.”

  “’Course you did. She just don’t look like a bat, least not all the time. She looks like any other human going through their day, just living their lives and doing the best they can.”

  “Who is she?” Ruby asked, very intrigued now.

  “Ms. Patty,” Clarence said, grinning.

  “The pie lady?” Ruby said, her voice high-pitched.

  “Yup. The pie lady. And ain’t she something?” Clarence asked, his eyes focusing on a point off in the distance, a silly smile on his face as he saw her in his mind’s eye.

  “But… wouldn’t that make her Jaime’s grandmother?” Ruby asked.

  “Naw. Prime had many wives. But she always had a soft spot for Jaime. Watched over him since he was a young-un. Even saved him from the Prime himself one day.”

  “At school? Was she a teacher?” Ruby asked, putting the pieces together.

  “She was. All the kids loved her,” Clarence said, nodding his head.

  “Jaime thinks he was the one to repel his grandfather when he came after him,” Ruby explained.

  Clarence shrugged. “I don’t know for sure how much was him and how much was the Prima. But I’m sure she had a hand in it.”

  “How do you know?” Ruby asked.

  “She came by Mildred’s that evening to check on him after he’d gone to bed. She told Mildred what had happened. Told her if the Prime showed up again to call her and she’d come quick. But he never did.”

  “If Jaime wasn’t responsible for burning his grandfather’s hands when he reached for him, he may be in more danger than we think. We have to go, and we have to go now,” Ruby insisted.

  “What do we need?” Pearl asked.

  Clarence thought about it for a minute. Then he grinned. “Baseball bats! And some fishing nets or soccer nets or somethin’.”

  “Yes! If they try to fly at us, we throw the nets at them, their wings will get tangled,” Ruby said excitedly.

  “Exactly! Now come on, ladies. We got preparations to make!”

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Jaime jogged silently along the highway he’d parked his truck beside, in the heavy, sauna like heat of the early evening. The sky was beginning to darken, and the shadows were beginning to play about the hills in the distance as the sun descended. Those hills — they were his target. He kept his eyes pinned to them and jogged off the shoulder of the road and down into the desert and scrub dotting it here and there. His mind flashed the memory of himself and Ruby parked in the very spot he was now crossing, while they waited for the smaller bats to leave their hidden nesting grounds deep within the hills he was headed toward and fly out in search of their evening meal.

  Jaime’s eyes wandered back to that spire, just on top of the closest hilltop, and he continued on his way. Nope — no bats exiting yet. It would be a few hours yet before they started leaving in search of food.

  He jerked his attention back to his path. That path would lead him past this outcropping of hills and to the hidden colony where his brother was most likely already battling for supremacy against his grandfather and the forces that held his people in their grip. “I’m coming, Ty,” he said aloud. “Save a piece of that old bastard for me.”

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Francis hurried up the front steps leading to the tidy little house Ms. Patty called home. Her front porch was raised and made of cement, just like the stairs leading up to it. Her porch was screened in, and the screen door, which would have granted entry was locked.

  Francis grasped the screen door handle in his gnarled fingers and tugged on it a time or two. “Dangit!” he grumbled. He leaned back a little, looking for a knocker, or a bell, something to let Ms. Patty know he was there. Then he spied it. A little button, orange-lit, just to the side of the screen door, mounted in the door frame. He pressed it and it made a pleasant little ringing sound.

  He waited for a moment, but didn’t hear any footsteps, so he pressed it again, a lot. He could hear Ms. Patty’s footsteps inside the home. Her home was raised, and her floors were wooden, so every step she made he was aware of. But he kept ringing the bell anyway.

  Patty hurried to the front of her home. Someone was going to get a talking to about ringing her bell that way. She unlocked her door and swung it open, stepping out onto her porch. “Now, Francis! What is wrong with you? Why are you causing such a ruckus out on my porch?”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Patty. But I don’t have no time to spare. We got ourselves a situation. And we need your help, if you'd be so inclined.”

  “What kind of situation, Francis? I can’t imagine I’d be of much help to anyone nowadays.”

  “It’s about Jaime, Ms. Patty. And his brother. And, Prima? I think you may be the only one who can help.”

  At the mention of Jaime and Tyrisey and her official title, the title she left behind many, many years ago. She straightened, taking on the look of a very regal lady. “Are they battling each other?” she asked in hushed tones.

  “No, ma’am.
They're going after their grandfather. Tyrisey is going to be Most High Prime if they succeed.”

  Ms. Patty wasted no more time. “Let me get my things, Francis. You go start up your car — I’ll be right there.”

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Jaime walked back and forth across the desert floor, kicking the loose sand this way and that. “I know the damned thing is here somewhere!” he insisted. He was certain the entrance was here, somewhere between the two smallest hillsides in this small group of hills tucked away behind the two larges spires that drew all the tourists. He stalked to one side, kicking brush aside, sweeping at the loose dirt with his boot. He knew the opening was here. He just had to find it.

  His ears picked up the sound of heavy breathing, then the sound of a stone sliding against stone. He spun in his tracks, his eyes picking out the place he heard the sounds coming from. No sooner had he focused on it, then two females grasping children to their chests seemed to erupt from the ground, exiting the underground colony so quickly they didn’t even notice him.

  Jaime smiled to himself, and hurried to the opening their escape had revealed to him. He peered down into the eerie glow of wall-mounted torches lighting the way as corridors could be seen leading off in several directions beneath the surface. He cracked his neck, first to one side, then the other, before dropping down into the shadowy chasm below him.

  Before his feet even hit the floor of the caves, he could hear the sounds of battle echoing all around him. Women were scurrying this way and that, trying to find a place to hide themselves and their children away. Males ran back and forth, crudely fashioned weapons in hand. There was unbridled confusion all around him. So much so that no one paid any attention to him. There were several corridors leading off in different directions, he didn’t know which would lead him to Tyrisey. Just then a young male ran by, wielding what looked like a kitchen knife strapped to a broken broomstick.

  Jaime reached out and grabbed the young male. “Where is Tyrisey?” he demanded.

  The young male, no more than about sixteen years of age, startled at being stopped unexpectedly, but recovered quickly. “Why should I tell you?” he snapped.

  “Because he’s my brother. I’m here to help him take the throne,” Jaime said, daring the kid to swear allegiance to his grandfather.

  The boy’s eyes raised in surprise, a grin turned the corners of his lips up. He took note of the small fangs easily seen in Jaime’s mouth, his dilated eyes which made it easier to see in the dark, and the claws tearing through his shirt as Jaime held him steady. “I’m helping him, too. Come on, I’ll show you the way!”

  Jaime nodded. “If you betray me, I’ll kill you where you stand.”

  “No chance of that. I know who you are. I’ll take you to Tyrisey.” The young male shoved at Jaime’s hand to get Jaime to release his hold on him.

  Jaime held fast. “How do you know me?”

  “Most of us do. We’ve heard rumors that you escaped death. We’ve held out hope that you would come to rescue us when you were able.” The boy smiled brightly. “We were right. You’re here.”

  Jaime was stunned. He let go of the boy’s shirt and stood there, his face a mask of confusion.

  The boy ran down one corridor and paused just before he went out of sight. “Come on! What are you waiting for?”

  Jaime snapped out of his foggy state of mind and reminded himself that he was here to help Tyrisey. He started off at a full run following the boy wherever he led.

  Chapter 22

  “You cannot join us, Ruby. You must stay outside. It is much too dangerous for you to enter the colony below. You’d be a weakness we cannot afford if you were captured.”

  “But, Ms. Patty! You can’t expect me to just wait while Jaime’s inside. He might need me!”

  “He needs you where you are safe, and he doesn’t need to be distracted with worry over your safety,” Ms. Patty answered.

  “Yeah, she’s right. You stay here. I’ll protect both of them,” Pearl said, and started toward the opening Ms. Patty was poised to enter.

  “You stay here, too, Pearl,” Ms. Patty commanded.

  “What? You gotta be kidding. I got my billy-club and everything!”

  “Do you, or do you not, belong to Tyrisey?” Ms. Patty asked, sniffing the air, definitely picking up Pearl’s scent, and it was a mixture of her own and Tyrisey’s. Whether she admitted it or not, she’d mated Tyrisey.

  “I belong to me!” Pearl insisted.

  “Do you care about his welfare?” Ms. Patty asked.

  Pearl raised her chin, daring the woman to command her to stay behind.

  Ms. Patty clapped her hands. “I have no time for this, ladies. Answer me, Pearl!” she snapped.

  “Yes. I care.”

  “And he cares for you as well, I have no doubt. You will stay here with Clarence and Francis. Stand guard at the spire. If the Most High Prime tries to flee, that is where he’ll exit.”

  “But…” Pearl objected.

  “Enough! Do not question me. I have others in far more danger. They need me. Do your part with pride,” she commanded, then she was gone, having dropped down inside the opening in the ground.

  “You heard her. Come on, let’s hightail it to the spire,” Clarence said, hefting his bag over his shoulder and hurrying back the way they’d come in the darkness.

  Patty's eyes adjusted to a sight she never again thought she’d see. The orange glow of torches in iron fittings lined the walls of the cave and the corridors leading away from it. She could hear whimpering, crying. She could smell the fear of the females that she’d long ago left behind. She’d not been heartless in doing so, she’d merely had to do what was best for herself, or wither and fade away. She couldn’t exist as she had been any longer. So when Rufussian had given his demand to choose, either life above or below ground, but no longer a combination. She’d realized most of the people she’d sacrificed for were not even interested in saving themselves. So she’d chosen life above, with the humans, and left to pursue the same. Now, being here among them again, she was more sure than ever that she’d made the correct choice.

  A soft voice, shaken with fear spoke behind her. “Prima? Surely I am dreaming! Is that you?”

  Patty turned to see who spoke. It was a female, one who was a child at the time she’d left the colony to make her own way with the humans. “Yes, Irina. It is I. I’ve come to help you all during this transition. Where are the others?”

  “The males have joined the fight. Of the females, some have fled, others have hidden themselves away with their children. No matter who wins this battle, we are all doomed. The grandson is as bad as the grandfather,” Irina confided.

  “You are mistaken, Irina. Things are not always as they seem. Come, take me to their hiding places. I must speak with them.”

  “Yes, Prima. This way,” Irina indicated a small series of openings that had been hewn out of the rock. “They’re in the storage tunnels.”

  Not five minutes later, Irina ducked through a low opening and entered a large storage room. She immediately stepped aside, leaving room for their Prima to enter behind her.

  At the sight of their Prima entering their hiding place, a collective gasp and murmuring went up around the room from the forty or so females, and at least double that number of children who were hiding there.

  “Prima! You’ve come back for us!” several cried.

  “We thought you’d been killed,” another confided.

  Patty smiled, doing her best to appear calm and collected. “I’m very well. And as you can see, I’ve not been killed. I’m here to let you know that all is well. All will be well.”

  “How?! Prime Tyrisey is even worse than Most High Prime Rufussian! We are doomed no matter the victor!” one female called out, setting her child aside and getting to her feet.

  “You are mistaken. Jamisey has joined Tyrisey. He has taken his place beside him, and together they battle for the survival of this colony. You have nothing to fear
.”

  “The prophecy!” several murmured, speaking in hushed hopeful tones amongst themselves.

  “But if he stands with Prime Tyrisey, surely he is of like manner,” the doubting female challenged.

  “He is not. I’ve watched him grow since the time he was an infant. I’ve seen him become a strong, capable young male. He is much to behold. And Tyrisey has played the part he was given, all the while harboring his secret self inside, waiting for the right time to strike. That time is tonight. The morning will bring a much brighter future.”

  The doubting female looked down at her feet, then up at their Prima. “We should have followed, when you left here.”

  “Perhaps. But all happens for a reason. You cannot undo the past, but you can change the future,” Patty said, softly.

  “How?” the female asked.

  “Have faith. Believe that the changes coming will be good for you and your children. Stand firm with the side that needs your support, rather than hiding away in the shadows when they ask for your support.”

  The woman looked around. “We can do that,” she said. Gradually the other women nodded, and even voiced their agreement.

  “Good. Now, I need someone to take me to where the males fight. I must be on hand to help them vanquish Rufussian if needed.”

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Tyrisey stood in the huge cavernous cathedral they used for worship — of his grandfather. Around him the battle raged, but his males, those faithful to him and to the freedom of their colony, held back his grandfather’s forces. The clanging of blades against metal, blades against wood, against any kind of homemade weapon his faithful could find rang out at each contact made. Some of both sides had fallen. And still, he’d been unable to locate his grandfather. For a time Ruffusian stood above the battle, shouting commands to his forces below just as he’d shouted accusations of treason down at Tyrisey and those who fought at his side. But in the midst of battle, Tyrisey had bested his opponent and looked up, searching for his grandfather so that he could work his way toward him, but he was no longer there.