Reset: The Gray-Matter Chronilcs Book 2 (The Matter Chronicles 5)

by P. G. Thomas

  Nur checked to make sure the street was absent of any neighbors, placed her hands on her hips, and in a stern voice called out, “You two, inside now. Make yourselves presentable because we have company.” Then the two large wolves ran into the house with their heads low, and their tails tucked between their legs. Nur turned to Zack, “You have to talk to them!”

  “Again, I mean yes, yes I will.”

  Ryan bent down, picked up a couple of large stones from the dirt road, and passed them to Zack. “Here, I think these might be yours.”

  “Bastard!”

  “No, please, please.” Logan began to plead, “No more, I can’t take it.”

  Nur turned to the elf Earth Guards, “These are Earth Mothers—protectors? They are like a dwarven Earth Guard, I guess,” and then they went inside. Outside, the elves and dwarves acknowledged each other, as the wolves all introduced themselves, nose to tail.

  Once inside the house, Nur called up the stairs, “Are you presentable yet?” Being answered with an ‘almost.’ Then she went to the kitchen, followed by Gingaar, and started pulling out pans, vegetables, and other foods. Lauren offered to help, so she handed her a bottle and corkscrew, pointed to a cupboard, “Glasses are up there.”

  “No, please let me help.”

  “Earth Mother, sit down and relax, as you are our guest.”

  She popped the cork, “For this night only, can we forget we’re Earth Mothers. I just want to be Lauren for a while.”

  “It is an idd request but for one night?” asked Gingaar.

  From behind the counter, Nur replied, “Sure, hand me that pan.”

  Lauren smiled, “Thank you Nur, Gingaar.” After a few minutes, she repeated her last statement, “Thank you Nur and Gingaar.”

  Nur lifted her head from behind the cabinets, “Sorry, you might get a quicker response if you called me Mom.”

  The expression on Lauren’s face changed instantly with tears welling up in her eyes.

  Nur pushed her glass to the side, “Lauren, I am so sorry. I did not—that is not—”

  “It’s not you. My daughters haven’t called me Mom yet,” and more tears came forward, “Maybe I should go.”

  Nur with Gingaar went over to Lauren and hugged her.

  Between sobs, Nur replied, “No, you need to be with friends right now.”

  “My friend, Lauren, lean on us this night, and let us lessen your burden.”

  Then two young children entered the kitchen and coughed, “We can come back later.”

  The group hug ended, as Nur wiped away her tears, “You might not remember them, but this is my son Sam and his sister Hope.”

  Lauren looked at the two children, who had green eyes, deer ears, and stood four feet tall. She turned to Nur, “What’re you feeding them?”

  “Blame it on Zack. Sam, Hope, this is your Aunt Lauren.”

  Their eyes lit up as they ran forward, hugged her, and tears started to form in Lauren’s eyes.

  Hope looked up, “What is wrong?”

  “Of all the names I was called here, I think that’s the one I’ll always treasure the most,” and she started to cry again.

  Sam gave his head a shake, “Dad is right, and I will never understand girls.”

  “No, you never will,” replied Lauren, “but one day you will find one, love her, and do whatever she asks even if you don’t understand,” and then kissed his forehead.

  Sam wiped off his Aunt’s saliva, “Ewww.”

  Hope smacked his shoulder, “I told you. One day you’re going to fall in love and kiss a girl.”

  Sam smacked his sister back, “Am not.”

  “ZACK! Get in here, and tell your kids to behave.”

  Lauren started to laugh, picking up her glass of wine, “Thank you, all of you.”

  “What did I do now…love of my life?” asked Zack.

  “If your children do not start behaving—”

  Zack kneeled, “If I give you permission, will you behave for the rest of your lives?”

  Both of the children put their fists on their hips.

  “If I give you permission, will you behave for the rest of the night?”

  Both answered gleefully, “Yes.”

  “Okay, then run upstairs and get the big towels and the cord.” Zack looked at Lauren, “Why’re you crying?”

  “Just happy.”

  He smiled, “If this is all that it takes, you’ll be ecstatic by the end of the night.”

  Nur stomped her foot, “ZACK!”

  Entering the kitchen, Ryan looked over to Lauren, “Is this what we’ll be like in a few years?”

  “No, it’ll be worse,” replied a laughing Lauren. “We have three, and I already know they’ll all be like Logan.”

  From the other room, he replied, “I heard that.”

  Lauren shouted back, “Bastard.”

  “Not taking the bait fish.”

  “Stupid Bastard,” Ryan hollered back, and everybody started laughing.

  Logan stuck his head in the doorway, “What?”

  Then more laughter and tears of joy followed.

  From the other room, they heard, “We are ready, Dad.”

  Gingaar looked at the group, “Nur, I shall prepare our meal. Please go be with your children.”

  Then Logan, Lauren, Ryan, Zack, and Nur all found seats in the front room. Sam and Hope stepped out from behind the towels they had strung up across the hall. Hope was bouncing up and down, holding her shaking hands in front of her face, “Now, can we now, Daddy?”

  Zack smiled, “Yes.”

  Both Sam and Hope went out of focus. There was something there but not.

  As Lauren’s jaw slowly dropped, she turned to Nur.

  She took a drink, rubbed Zack’s head, “When we got together, I knew there was a chance that it would happen, but the way I see it, I was lucky.”

  “How?”

  “Their talent did not show until a few years ago, and they were no longer breastfeeding. Can you imagine what that would have been like?”

  Then two large otters jumped up onto Lauren’s lap, and she started to rub their bellies while they purred. Then the two jumped off, and one changed into a wolf while the other changed into a small polar bear.

  “I guess it was a good thing it showed up late because I can’t imagine changing those diapers,” added Ryan.

  Then, for another twenty minutes, the two young children transformed into a variety of animals until Gingaar called from the kitchen.

  Zack clapped his hands, “Okay, you’ve had your fun, now get changed.”

  The two morphed into wolves, pushed their clothes behind the towel, as they began to dress in preparation for the meal.

  “How old are they?” asked Lauren.

  “We really don’t know,” replied Nur. “As midlanders, they would be nine and eight, but Zack explained how some animals age seven years compared to us. Then add in the fact that I am half-elf, well, the best we could determine is that they are both old and young. I homeschool them, but they learn quickly.”

  “That part came from my wife,” Zack added, “Now let’s go eat.”

  After the meal, with the elves and dwarves also being fed, Zack walked his children upstairs, tucked them into the same bed, and kissed them goodnight on their foreheads. Returning to the kitchen, Nur handed him a cask of dwarven beer, and chased him outside with Ryan and Logan following. Once on the front porch, they noticed that the six dwarves had not moved from their original locations. Handing his friends a mug of beer, Zack sat down, “I heard about your friends in town today, pretty impressive.” Then he turned to Ryan, “So what do you think of your new name?”

  “I liked the ones the dwarves gave me better than yours, what was it, Raw Farts?”

  Zack smiled, “I think the dwarves finally understood you, but I think they missed. I remember the way you looked at Lauren, and I always thought they should have called you Raging Hard—”

  “Dude, that’s my sister you’re talki
ng about!”

  “Dude, that’s my line,” replied Zack, “So, did your parents ever have the sex talk with you? You do know how your sister became pregnant?”

  Logan covered his ears with his hands, “Dude, my sister.”

  “Dude, your reaction is funny.”

  “Shut up, Toto,” and then Logan took a drink.

  “Seriously, Ryan, what happened?”

  He repeated the story of the abduction, the arrest, talking with Lauren at John’s office, the lightning, and arriving in Calicon. After explaining what he could, he went quiet.

  Logan looked at all of the wolves sleeping on the porch, poured himself a fresh drink, “Zack, these aren’t your—they’re not—”

  “No, they aren’t related to me. Don’t even think that.”

  “Just wondering, as you seem to treat them like family.”

  “Logan, I love Nur and would never cheat on her, especially like that!”

  “Well, the way you are talking about my family, rubbing me the wrong way, it seemed like a fair question to ask.”

  “Dude, truce. I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, good comeback, but it would’ve been better if you thought of it sooner. No, their pack was attacked in the next valley. The few that lived ended up sniffing around my place one night, so I went out to chase them off but ended up fighting the alpha wolf, so now they think I’m their leader. A few weeks later, the other pack came hunting them down. I was with them when a huge wolf attacked me, and it nearly had the best of me, but then I turned into a polar bear. They were a tough bunch, and the whole pack attacked. Eighteen wolves against one bear, bear loses, so I changed into my last resort. Last time I heard them, they were four valleys over and still running. Now these guys won’t leave my side, and it’s a good thing.”

  “Why?” asked Ryan.

  “A few years ago, Nur, Gingaar, and I were out in the woods exploring. This was years after you had left. Brook and Arora had gone to the other towns in the west, and most of the Bastards had headed to the Bright Coast. Things were quiet, and we only had one Earth Guard squad with us. I don’t know if they were forest people, robbers, or what, but they attacked us. Took out two Earth Guards immediately, and they killed two more before the fight was over. There were originally eight wolves in the pack, but I lost two that day. While these wolves probably saved our lives, they ripped the six that attacked us to shreds. Even though I checked with the guilds, no robbery was sanctioned, and we could never identify the bodies. I forced Gingaar to move in with us so that both could share the remaining Earth Guards. Six months later, one night the wolves were quiet, and I thought maybe the other pack had returned. I changed, found them, but I wasn’t sure what they were hunting. Even though there was no scent in the air, everything was too quiet. The strange part, the wolves were heading away from our house in the woods. Thinking it may be a diversion, I raced home and was right. The Earth Guards had killed two attackers, and I morphed into a bear, taking out two more, but we lost two more Earth Guards. I packed everybody up the next day, and we moved here.”

  “Why would somebody attack you and your family? Especially Earth Mothers?” asked Ryan.

  “Dude, no idea. Maybe they thought we had gold, or they were desperate, but we never figured it out.”

  “Should Lauren know about this?” asked Ryan.

  “I’ll check with Nur to see if she told her. After it had happened, I had Pintar send letters to the north pass and south port towns, warning Brook and Arora, but they never replied. We had men search the towns, and sent Earth Scouts out to check the roads, but we never found any signs of them, so now I always make sure these guys remain close to my loved ones.” Zack set down his mug, quietly walked out onto the street, and stood behind one of the Granite Guardians. Then he turned to Ryan, whispered, “Your guards are asleep.” Feeling the cold steel on his throat, he carefully turned around and looked into the angry eyes of the dwarf. As he backed up, rubbing his neck, he looked at Ryan, “You could’ve told me.”

  Ryan raised his hands, “I didn’t know they could do that.”

  Zack turned back to the silent dwarves, “If you want, we prepared sleeping quarters for you in the basement.”

  The dwarf turned around and faced the street.

  Zack walked up to Logan, slapped his leg, “You’re in luck, buddy. Just had a cancellation, so you can sleep here tonight.”

  *******

  John followed his instincts the next morning with Gayne and Mirtza in pursuit finding his old house. It was not hard to miss, as Gayne had to excavate the front to gain access to the machine in the basement. Even though it had six dwarves and twelve wolves standing silently in front, he still remembered it. John smiled at the two Earth Guards that were still scratching their deer ears, trying to understand the extra crowds in front of the house, and just as he asked one to get Zack, the front door opened.

  “Dude, bean juice is on. Come on in.”

  John cast his eyes to the ground, covered in wolves.

  Zack nudged a few with his feet, “Come on guys. Make a path,” and then one snarled back at him. “Sorry, you’re not one of mine, so you can stay there.” It took a few minutes for him to clear a pathway, but eventually John, Mirtza, and Gayne entered the house.

  “I don’t remember it being this small.”

  “I blame Nur, always adding furniture.”

  Lauren walked out of the kitchen, holding a tray of hot drinks, “Welcome home, Earth Mother.”

  “I’m only here to collect the back rent, and I can assure you, I will not be returning your security deposit, which you still owe me.” John then headed to the stairs, “I’ll be right back,” Moving assorted items that blocked a secret door, which the dwarves had made, he eventually stared at a blank wall. Then, after pressing a stone block, the secret door opened. Inside the room, the cloak with the gold magic looked intact, and as he pulled it down, he was pleased to see that there was no damage. Although the kites had accepted a different fate when moisture from outside had wicked into them, and rot had eaten away the wood, the large coil of the gold chains was still present. Before storing the cloak away, he had recharged it, but that being eight years ago here, he was uncertain if the magic had remained. Pushing his arms through the sleeves, he felt the weight of the gold, but as before, was unable to sense anything. Then he made a mental note to get a coin, ensuring that no other gold was close so that he could test the magic. He walked up the stairs wearing the heavy black cloak, entered the dining room where the others sat, grabbing a mug of hot bean juice, and then sat down to lessen the weight. If Lauren thought her mantle weighed heavy, she should try on this. “It’s undamaged, but I don’t know if it held its charge this long, and I’ll need to get the chains to Ironhouse.”

  Lauren nodded, “Then can we go back to the Bright Coast?”

  “I guess so, but I would like to visit Mothers forest outside of town, but after seeing that trollmare attack yesterday, I’ve no idea on how to get there and back.”

  “Why do you want to visit her forest?” asked Gingaar.

  “After we had left Ironhouse,” John began, “we visited the forest where Lauren found her staff, and Logan received his tattoos, but it was interrupted by trollmares. What I couldn’t understand was why that forest was dead. With all of the rain, it should’ve been thriving. Has it rained out here at all?”

  “Nothing beyond the normal, Dude.”

  “That’s weird. How long did you say it was raining, Gayne?”

  “Almost a year, nonstop.”

  “Somebody at Ironhouse said the same,” advised John, “but on this side of the central spine, it’s all blue skies.”

  Zack looked at the front door, “Ramy’s here.”

  Before any could ask how he knew, one of the elfin Earth Guards walked in, “Ramy is here to see both the Unchosen and Zack.”

  As they walked to the front porch, John asked, “Why didn’t you ever get a title?”

  “I never asked or cared. I already
had what I wanted, so what was a title or another name going to do for me?”

  Outside Ramy was pacing with a look of angst on his face. After threading their way through all of the wolves, he held up a piece of bloody clothing. “Something happened on the south wall last night, and dammit, they killed Vink and Ecoz. Nothing but damn kids. Zack, I was wondering if you could find a scent, and help me figure out what happened.”

  Zack picked up the bloodied fabric, “Ecoz? What was he doing on the wall at night?”

  “He drew a short straw and would not trade; true Bastard to the end, but I need to find out who is responsible,” and Ramy took the blood-soaked evidence back.

  Zack set down his mug in front of a wolf, which started to lap up the treat, “Let me go tell Nur, and I’ll be back out in a minute.”

  Before he took a step, three elves came running down the street. Ramy, shaking his head, waited for them to arrive, “What is it and how bad?”

  The first elf spoke, “Distant bells I heard to the east.”

  Ramy turned to the others, “You heard the same?”

  The second shook his head, “No, to the south I heard the same.”

  “North as well,” added the third.

  “Could it be deer or other wildlife?” Ramy asked, hoping for a positive reply.

  After all three shook their heads, the first one spoke, “Deer are too small to reach alarms high.”

  Then they all heard a loud metal chime. “Dammit, I forgot. Get Earth Mother, we have dwarves heading in, and the fast horses are pulling them. We need her to call off her Blood Thorns.”

  Gingaar, just inside the door, heard the same, and she stepped out of the house with her green Nurture wood staff in hand. As she did, the wolves all moved out of the way to make a path for her. She turned to the two Earth Guards on the front porch, “Fetch one more and follow. Leave the rest here to protect Earth Mother.”

  Ramy turned to the three elves, “Go raise everybody, and I mean everybody. This is not going to be good.”

  “What is it?” asked John.

  “Attacks on three sides. Korg’s throwing a party,” and as Ramy ran down the street, he yelled back, “ZACK, LET ME KNOW WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW MANY.”