by Joey Ruff
Kol stopped, wide-eyed. It was apparently a level of crazy he’d yet to experience, and he took a step back, then another. Boaz turned his body to face Kol and began matching steps and pace with him.
Omri was only a few feet away, still shaking and twitching in the grass, and I moved to his side while London popped his spent magazine and loaded another. I managed to get my hands under Omri, lifting his shoulders to get him into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” I asked.
His eyes found me, then shifted behind me to where the neak was otherwise occupied with the Tikbalang, then flitted over to Boaz, but I’m not sure how much they registered. “I…,” he said.
“How is he?” London asked.
“He’s alive,” I said, turning to London. “What do we have that can take this guy down?”
“I lost my fucking bag in all the shit.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Levi had rebounded to his feet and joined Kol. Both of them had their blades out in front of them, aimed directly at Boaz, but neither seemed to want to strike.
“Better question is,” London said, “what the fuck is wrong with that hairy cocksucker?”
“The neak’s eyes,” I said. “Boaz’s eyes have the same glow.”
“Fucking great. Shame Swyftt’s ass is missing this.”
I looked at Omri. “The necklace he’s wearing…tell me that’s not a family heirloom.”
“He had it after he and Josiah met with the benefactor,” he said.
As if on cue, there was a bright flash of green light from the locket that Boaz wore. Kol and Levi both shielded their eyes from it, lowering their weapons just a little. Unable to see, they weren’t prepared for the lightning that struck them, knocking them to the ground.
“Back me up,” I said to London.
“Fucking A.”
I strode forward, hobbling only slightly against the cane. “Hey!” I called.
Boaz stopped, turning to me. When he saw me, a Cheshire grin swept from ear to ear. There was a glint of recognition in the emerald glow behind his eyes. “The caretaker,” he said.
I didn’t know Boaz. I’d seen him briefly outside the house, and then again in the kitchen. Maybe I’d heard him speak, but the voice that came out of his body now was certainly not his. While Boaz was older than the other Edomites, the voice that came through him was older by far. It belonged to something ancient. And as soon as I realized how ancient, it sent cold shivers through my extremities.
What’s more, I had no idea what he meant by the word “caretaker.”
“We meet again,” the voice said. Gradually, the eyes grew more focused, more aware.
“Aegir,” I said. “I was beginning to suspect you were behind this, though I’m not sure exactly how…”
He laughed. “My power is as vast as the sea. Did you really think I would miss this opportunity?”
“Tell me when,” London said, but my heart was beating in my throat.
“There are no guardians to stand between us this day,” Aegir’s voice said through Boaz’s body. “I have waited seven hundred years for this moment. Should you bring the entire force of creation against me, you will have little hope of winning.” He seemed to look through me to the Tikbalang. “Though I must admit, the Korrigan was an unexpected twist.”
“What do you want?” I managed to say.
“What I’ve always wanted. An end to the rivalry. To go forth, unimpeded from this place. To know that the skies are safe once again.” He stopped, his head twitching to the side. His eyes went vacant for just a fraction of a second, and he froze in place. The green glow of the locket waned, and then flared bright again. The cognizance came back into his gaze, and he straightened his head and regarded me as though nothing had happened. “I was a bit remiss that my bound was not present to assist me in this, but the mercenaries have proven quite the effective little tools. Now, I will see the look in Perun’s eyes as I run the blade through his heart myself. I will watch the life bleed away from him, never again to return. There is something to be said for doing your own dirty work.”
I drew the sword from the cane.
“You cannot hope to defeat me, caretaker. Such a thing is beyond your feeble might. Even possessing the might of Moloch, as you do.”
I watched the ragged bullet wounds in his chest, the black ninja-like costume of the Edomites growing even darker from the seeping wetness, the crimson blood that trailed along the underside of his left arm and dripped like a leaky faucet onto the ground. All that damage, and Aegir seemed completely unaffected by it. I felt a moment’s panic that there was nothing I could do. I took a deep breath. With the damage Boaz’s body had sustained already and the amount of blood lost, the only thing that was keeping his form together was Aegir. Aegir was a spirit and couldn’t last in the physical realm without a physical body. The only hope I had was to decimate the body, make it useless.
“Now, London!” I yelled.
As I charged forward, the report of London’s semi-automatic rifle echoed through the little clearing. Boaz shook as he accepted every bullet in the magazine. There was no way he could prepare for my strike, and I drew the blade down, aiming my slash across his chest from shoulder to hip. But I missed.
Somehow, he had managed to side-step the attack, and countered with a backhanded blow, hitting me across the face. I spun, dropping the sword.
I heard London swear and laugh. Then I felt the heat.
When I looked up, London had charged forward with the flamethrower, bathing Boaz’s body, head-to-toe, in liquid fire.
Behind me, Omri was screaming something, and – out of the corner of my eye – I saw him stand. I turned quickly to see Omri lifting his shirt and fiddling with the hose I’d disconnected earlier.
Boaz stalked toward London. The stump of his arm was brought up to shield his eyes, which were all that was visible, as Boaz had replaced his mask over his head. His good hand was kept close to his chest, where he clutched tightly to an ornamental dagger.
He’d closed the original distance to London in only a few quick steps, but London had backed up, keeping pace with Aegir. Once he realized the flames didn’t seem to do anything, he let off the trigger, dropped the wand of the flamethrower, and pulled out the Judge, aiming it directly at Aegir, who was only feet away.
Omri was at my side saying, “The garb we wear is made from the fibers of the Dusares tree. They are completely resistant to flame.”
“Then we need to take it off of him,” I said.
London pulled the trigger at the same time Aegir swung the blade. The tip of the dagger caught London in the forearm, sending the blast into Boaz’s shoulder. Aegir shook the dagger, wagging London’s arm until he dropped the Judge, then withdrew the dagger and stabbed again, catching London in the open palm.
London, not being immune to pain, screamed, doubled over, and collapsed. I was already running forward before London hit the ground, and as Aegir descended, I tackled him to the side.
As we rolled on the ground, I got a few punches in, but Aegir was stronger, managing to overpower me. “You can end this now, caretaker,” Aegir said. “Tell me where to find Perun, and I will ensure your death is painless.”
Perun was the Slavic god of the winds and thunder. It was also the name Aegir used to refer to Crestmohr, my groundskeeper. And Crestmohr hadn’t been around for a few months. After saving us from Aegir in the form of a dragon, Crestmohr had been pretty injured and taken some time off to recover.
I was on my back, pinned down by an immense strength, and managed to block his arm as he attempted to stab me in the eye. When I had seen the dagger before, it was in the glow of London’s fire and I didn’t think anything about it, but now that I was seeing it again, I was sure. The blade was black. Made of some kind of obsidian, maybe. It didn’t look like an Edomite weapon.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Omri approach. A hand reached up, grabbing the mask that Aegir wore, and tore it up and away, exposing his head. As soon as the
mask came off, Aegir’s attention was off of me, as he turned his head to see who had pulled the mask. The front of the ninja outfit Boaz had worn was ragged and eaten through, riddled with London’s bullet holes. I reached up, grabbed the shirt around the neck, and yanked down as hard as I could.
The entire front of the shirt pulled away, sticky and stringing with thick blood, exposing his chest down to his waist. With Aegir turned toward Omri, his strength waned just enough for me to push him back, and as he fell, I struggled out from beneath him, and Omri snapped his fingers.
As the golden fire engulfed Boaz’s body, Aegir reached for the locket, clutching it, along with his black dagger, in his free hand. I staggered to my feet, and as he lifted his hand from his chest, I swung my sword as hard as I could, severing the hand at the wrist, and sending the hand – necklace, dagger and all – airborne.
Behind me, London laughed between gasping and wincing. “That was fucking awesome.”
When the flames subsided, all that was left of Boaz was a crispy, blackened shell. There was no more fight, no more glowing green light in his eyes.
Omri rubbed his head in one hand. He looked toward me and nodded. I nodded back and then realized that he wasn’t thanking me, he was signaling me. I turned to see the neak. The Tikbalang had managed to lead it toward the perimeter of the clearing, toward the ring of gopher trees. It was only twenty feet from the nearest tree, and already, half of the heads were dragging along the ground. At first, I feared they would reproduce two-fold, but then it occurred to me that the heads hadn’t been severed, but had fallen asleep. The Tikbalang continued to move away from the neak, and the creature followed after it, one heavy, labored step after another. It was sluggish, and not just because of its massive weight. With ever step closer to the gopher trees, several more heads fell limp at its side until the entire creature toppled over completely.
The Tikbalang, cut all over and bloody, stood to its full height and winked at me. At least, I think that’s what happened. Then it vanished, too. All that remained was a single body lying in the grass. One of the missing Edomites: Avim or Silvan.
Omri moved over to Kol and Levi, helping each one to their feet. As Levi stretched and worked his arm, Kol stooped and plucked something from the grass. I moved to London. Using my sword, I cut a couple strips from Boaz’s pant leg and used one to wrap London’s hand, the other his arm. He was bleeding heavily.
“Thank you,” I said.
He nodded, started to talk, but stopped. He nodded again.
“I’m serious. For all of this. It would have played differently had you not been here.”
He smiled. “You know how to throw a fucking party, brother.” He laughed weakly. “Now stop whimpering like a fucking woman and help me up.”
I nodded and held out my hand. He took it with his good arm, and I pulled him to his feet. I helped him slip out of the flamethrower, and I handed him the Judge, which he put back on his belt.
We walked over to Omri and the others. “I’m sorry about your men,” I said.
Omri turned to me and nodded. “Boaz and Erez were good men. We need to find the others.”
“There is one,” Kol said, pointing to where the Kittim had been.
“Does not look good,” Levi said.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Kol nodded. I noticed he had the obsidian dagger tucked into his belt. A warrior like him, a weapon would be a fitting souvenir.
“I don’t know your customs,” I told Omri, “and I certainly mean no disrespect, but if you would like to bury the dead, you are welcome. Either here by the lake, or we have a family graveyard on the property.”
Omri’s eyes got hard as he said, “But we are not family.”
London stepped forward. “Where I come from, if you fight together and fucking bleed together, that makes you fucking family, brother.”
Omri ignored him, turning away. He looked at Kol and Levi and said, motioning to the body by the lake, “Bring our brother to lie with the others.”
They nodded and walked off. Once they were out of earshot, Omri turned to me and said, “This changes nothing. You are an abomination. You are not my family. You are not my kin. You have proven yourself as a warrior, and that is the only reason I do not kill you where you stand.”
London started to say something, but I held up my hand. “It’s okay,” I said. “Just give me a minute?”
He mumbled something that sounded like, “Motherfuckingcocksuckercan’ttalkto…” I put my hand on his shoulder, and he nodded. He gave Omri an evil look as he stumbled past him, thrusting his shoulder hard against Omri’s as he passed.
“Forgive him,” I said.
Omri glared after London, but London didn’t look back. He walked toward the lake and the spot where Erez was lying. After a second, Omri turned to look at me and I said, “I don’t want to be your aluf.”
From the look he gave, you would have thought I’d spoken in Chinese, and I gave thought to check the Babel stone in my pocket. Maybe it had rolled onto the other side, but as I began to reach for it, Omri said, “You challenged me against my honor. Why would you do that?”
“Sometimes you fight to end war.” I looked over to see Kol heading back toward London. “Your men need a strong leader, and that’s you. I’m not looking to be that. You said that Boaz came back from your benefactor with that necklace. I’m guessing he was also given that dagger and the neak’s egg, also.” I looked Omri in the eyes, trying to make him understand my sincerity. “That’s over now. Aegir hired you guys to come here and kill a friend of mine, but Crestmohr isn’t here n…” Recognition flooded through me, and my eyes drifted up the cave mouth at the base of the stony crag.
Behind me, London made a noise. It was sharp and quick, ending too abruptly. Omri’s face went suddenly white, and I spun to look, only to find that Kol had not only ambushed London from behind, but he was wearing the locket that Boaz had worn, and it was glowing, along with Kol’s eyes, an ominous shade of green. Kol stood just behind London, holding the gunsmith’s shoulder in his left hand. In his right hand, he held the ornamental black dagger.
London’s eyes were wide as they stared at us. There was a wound in his side that hadn’t been there a moment ago, and as we watched, Kol drew the blade of the dagger across London’s throat.
38
Swyftt
Nadia smiled when she saw me and ran up to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Thank God,” she said. “We’ve been hearing the gunfire. I was so worried.”
“Nadia!” I couldn’t breathe. “You’re… Are you hurt?”
“No,” she said. She looked around at the skunk apes and said, “They’re sweet. They wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“You would say something like that. What are you doing here?”
“They were following the elves. I figured if I followed them, I would find you and Jamie.” She looked around, noticing Brisbane and Baylor for the first time. Judging by the face she made, she didn’t approve, but she didn’t say anything. “Where is he?”
“With your da…” I stopped myself, not wanting to open that can of worms just yet. “He’s off looking for Ezra. He has a Seeker sack for her.”
She nodded. “Jono… I’m not sure what’s going on around here, but something happened about an hour or two ago. The apes had been kind of…robotic. No, pacified. Then, somehow, they just all…” She sighed. “I guess you could say they…woke up. We started seeing the elves coming through the trees and…”
I thought back. That was about the time I went to St. Clair’s and… His death must have ended the Ballad’s hold on the apes, just like Huxley had predicted. I must’ve had a bloody look on my face because she said, “Jono, what’s really going on?”
“It’s a long story, love. The short version is those elves, they’re after you’re step-mum, but there’s too many of them. We’ll…”
“No,” Nadia said. She put two fingers between her lips and w
histled. There was motion in the trees, and in the next heartbeat, the entire forest for as far as I could see was filled with skunk apes of all shapes and sizes and colors.
“Well, that certainly evens the odds.” I pulled out my phone to dial DeNobb, and found a bullet hole lodged in the center of the screen. “Bollocks.”
“Lucky shot?” Nadia offered with a trace smile.
I didn’t say anything.
“So where do we go? If Jamie has the sack, he’ll find Ezra. We find him by finding her.”
“Well, if I’m Ezra and I know the fucking elves are coming for me…”
“How would she know about the elves?”
“Fine. If I knew the apes were coming for me, since they came for me at my house, I would go for St. Clair. She’s feuding with him. It’s the most likely.”
“We go to the church?” Nadia offered.
“You’re already a better apprentice than your boyfriend.”
She gave me a look and said, “That’s why you should train me.”
I ignored her and motioned to the army of Saksanai. “Will they follow us?”
Nadia looked at the nearest Skunk ape, the orange one. She smiled at him. He…err, it?... smiled back at her, and she stepped forward, taking his hand in hers. I watched with a curious expression as she took my hand in her other. She squeezed my hand and said, “Take off your glove.” I did. She took my hand again, and I felt her skin. It was warm, clammy. She stood there, linking the two of us for a brief moment, and then she brought our hands together and stepped away.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Just trust me,” she said.
I looked at the ape in front of me. Its knowing eyes stared back, searching me, and there was something I saw there, something that suggested the creature was older than it looked. It didn’t take long for me to feel extremely awkward and self-conscious. “This is ridiculous,” I said.
“I agree,” came another voice. It was much deeper than Nadia’s. “His hands are very smooth. It isn’t pleasant.”
