Shantago's Revenge

by Nicholas Penn

  Nice Kiddy

  “Here ye, Here ye, the great king Shantago proclaims that It is time to march on our enemies.”

  Shantago stood in front of his subjects with his sword in hand. “Today we march. It is time to pillage and destroy all of our adversaries.” Thousands of toggles rejoiced in Shantago’s plea. Many were chanting his name: Shantago. “General Krylon, I need for you to lead the charge.”

  Krylon looked a bit agitated as he spoke. “My Lord, if I may. There are a few things that we need to get in order before we push forward.”

  Shantago rolled his eyes and said with hatred, “What’s the problem? There’s no time left; we need to strike now.”

  Embarrassed a little, General Krylon said, “The fire breathing stroggles haven’t lit their fire yet in their guts. How are they going to create any havoc without fire?”

  Angered by Krylon’s stupidity, Shantago lifted his sword and struck General Krylon hard with the handle, right in the back of his head. “Next time you can have the blade; now let’s get on the road.”

  “Well, my lord, there is one more problem I need to tell you about.”

  Shantago’s anger was almost consuming him as he spoke, “WHAT is it now?”

  “Well, it’s the prisoners, especially the little girl. It appears that they are making pets out of the oogle ogles and snarks. The little girl has taught a snark how to sit and lie down like a dog.”

  “I don’t have time for this nonsense. Toggles are supposed to be savages. Put the children in chains and let’s go. Get with Rusty Shackles, the prison guard. Use force if needed. I don’t want anything else to get in the way of our march; today is just too important, now move.

  Krylon quickly let out a charge to put the children in chains as the rest of the toggles, stroggles, boggles and the like headed towards Willoughby Woods.

  Aleise Justice and her snark were loaded onto a wagon with the rest of the kids. “You are a happy little snark.” Loving her new best friend, Aleise squeezed the snark hard. “I think I will name you Squishy.”

  The snark snapped at her finger as Aleise gently massaged his head. “Now Squishy, let’s be nice. I overheard one of the guards say they are taking us to Willoughby Woods; that’s where I live. Soon we will be home and then we can play every day. Wait until you see my spider collection; you will love it.” Squishy looked unsure about the spiders as she rubbed his head some more. He was also unsure why the little girl kept squeezing him so tight. “Oh Squishy, I’ll never let you go.” Once he heard that, squishy tried to catch his breath. He managed to wiggle out of her arms just a bit. “No you don’t. You are going to stay right here with me, in my arms forever.” Squishy’s eyes were bulging out as the caravan headed east towards Willoughby Woods.

  Terrible Night Ahead

  With a sudden feeling of deja vu hitting me, the heavens opened wide as a relentless rain came barreling down. Beads of terror began to form on the brim of my baseball cap as I made my way back towards the inevitable. I felt a slight pain in my lower right leg, perhaps a strained muscle, as I pushed on to the ravine. I said to myself, Come on Jordan, get it together. My adrenaline was pumping too fast now to worry about it. The pain would have to wait. While water danced on my rain-moistened lips, I sat there in awe and disbelief at what lay in front of me. A deluge of rushing water stood in between of me and my final destination. Due to the enormous downpour, all the creeks and streams had swollen beyond imagination, overflowing their banks. I’d not seen a drencher like this in quite some time. While watching the swift rapids gushing down the way just inches in front of me, I knew I must find another way to cross or give up on my pursuit.

  I didn’t have any time for this roadblock. In my mind, I needed to get back to the cabin first, so as to prepare. Suddenly, something made me stop dead in my tracks. I took a second to gather myself while gently massaging the freshly made marks around my neckline. Here I am standing alone in the pouring rain, and for what? I started walking along the overflowing stream while taking it all in. Even if I do make it back to the cabin–then what? Will I have the strength to carry out what needs to be done? These questions flowed like wine in my increasingly clouded mind.

  Off in the far distance I saw a spotlight followed by two headlights. I could easily tell that it was a vehicle approaching because driving on such rocky terrain made the headlights dance wildly in the darkened night. The spotlight was shining to and fro, backwards and forwards, while bouncing on jagged rocks, just ahead of the beaten path. Someone was looking for me.

  A yellow Humvee pulled up within inches of my feet, still shining its spotlight in my face. There was something very familiar about all of this. I heard the mechanical sound of a power window rolling down just as lightning struck a nearby tree. Between the lightning strike and the spotlight, it was hard for my eyes to focus on the person in the vehicle. “Get in.” I heard a familiar voice coming from the Humvee. This time she was a little more stern as she firmly said, “Get in now; we don’t have a second to lose.” As I made my way to the other side, I thought to myself, I wonder if I’m making a huge mistake. I climbed into the HumVee, with my eyes still adjusting to the dim light, when I saw something unusual moving in the backseat. “So that’s how it’s going to be.”

  Jenna removed the blanket that Ralph was covered up with. “It’s me it’s me, your friend till the end.”

  I looked at Ralph, and while laughing, I said, “Yes it is yes it is, and the end just might be tonight for all of us. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone at the police station that would listen to me, so I guess we are on our own.”

  Jenna expressed concern on her face as we headed up the hill but didn’t say anything. “Jenna, why don’t you just drop Ralph and me off at the cabin and you can just go on home. There’s really nothing that you can do anyways.” I was trying to hide the obvious–that I didn’t want Jenna to get hurt; instead she took offense to this and remained quiet the rest of the way to the cabin. I supposed she was thinking that I didn’t want her around; in reality I was just trying to watch out after her.

  ************************************

  Oh how I yearned for the peaceful and tranquil setting of the tiny cabin out in the woods. Driving down the rocky road I asked Jenna to crack the windows so I could listen to the cricket choir in the background, singing to the pitter patter of the falling rain. Breathing the rich mountain air always seemed to clear my troubled mind. Yes, I dearly missed those days when life was a little less out of control.

  Once we pulled up to the front of the cabin, I noticed an unfamiliar vehicle camouflaged by the trees. It was parked where there wasn’t a lot of light. There were no muddy tire tracks leading up to the truck, so it’d probably been sitting there for a while. “Jenna be careful, I think we already have company.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jenna didn’t see the small truck parked in the shadows. “Well, look over by those trees there in the dark. It looks to be someone’s vehicle inconspicuously parked in the shrubs.”

  “Do you recognize it?”

  “No, I don’t. It’s probably some poacher up here hunting. We used to have a big problem with that a few years ago.”

  The more I studied the little truck the more it made me think. Perhaps I did recognize it after all, but from where? My mind began to race, trying to recollect where I’d seen that truck before. I wasn’t making any connection when Jenna spoke up, “Look there at the bumper. Does that sticker mean anything to you?” the sticker said “Willoughby County F.O.P.”

  I remembered seeing a pickup like this one at the police barracks the other day. Parked at the precinct were several unmarked cars and trucks–I’d say police issued. I studied a sticker on the rear window that read, “In loving memory Enya 1994-2010.”

  Enya was John’s daughter. I instantly knew who that truck belonged to. When John rushed me to the hospital on the night Piper was mortally wounded, he told me the story about how his daughter was killed by a drunk driver
. I signaled to Jenna that I’d figured it out. “That truck is Officer John’s, I’d bet my life on it, but why would he be up here tonight?” My mind started zooming faster as we rushed to the cabin, hoping to find John Jamison. Thoughts were forming rapidly as I made it up the cabin’s stairs; He picked a real bad night to come visiting.

  Oh Snap!

  I turned the key in the cylinder as the front door creaked open. It dawned on me once I flipped the light switch and nothing happened that the generator needed to be turned on. “Guys I’ll be right back. I must go start up the generator.”

  I felt a little braver now that I had some company here at the cabin. As I made my way to the back, I thought, Perhaps Jenna could be the one. I know Piper was my soul mate. Jenna, on the other hand, makes me feel things that I haven’t felt since Piper left me so suddenly.

  These new feelings that were stirring inside of me were confusing, sweet, and bitter all at the same time. Am I supposed to live the rest of my life all alone? I wouldn’t think that Piper would want me to. Besides, I don’t even know if Jenna likes me.

  I pushed the button to turn on the generator and made my way back to the front porch. Thinking about the whole situation some more I came to a conclusion. The apparition I saw at the graveyard, which resembled Piper, was toggle influenced.

  I started to walk inside and I noticed ole Charlie staring at me. I knelt down to talk for a moment. While petting his head I confessed to my porcelain buddy, “What should I do, Charlie? I love Piper, but Piper’s gone.” Charlie gave me those big puppy dog eyes like always as I suddenly remembered something. I paused for a moment and then smiled. “Thanks Charlie. Sometimes I think I would lose my mind if it wasn’t for you. I know I just miss Piper; that’s got to be it. Maybe if I have in my possession the Toggle Handbook, I can bring Piper back. I know it sounds silly, but it’s really the only thing that keeps me going. Thanks for helping me remember, old pal.” Charlie just stood there with those big eyes and a concerned brow as I walked on inside.

  When I opened the screen door, Jenna was already picking up the mess and debris from the last encounter Shantago and I had. “I’m sorry that I didn’t make it up here to clean things up before now. Time just got away from me I guess.”

  “That’s okay. I know how it is.” I quickly asked Jenna, “Any signs of Officer John?” she shrugged her shoulders, “No. I checked every room too. No sign of anyone except for Ralph and myself.”

  I started to sweep the floor when I made an exciting discovery. “Jenna, look at this costume lying on the floor. The last time that my friends were supposed to come over, we were going to dress up in our toggle costumes and reenact some of the things we’d done when we were kids.

  My outfit was not very flattering. Let’s face it, most of us designed our costumes when we were kids and kept adding onto them as we grew older. “Here is my costume.” Jenna didn’t look impressed at first but quickly changed her mind once she saw a scary red mask and cloak lying on the table. “Who is this supposed to be?”

  “Well that was my friend Wyatt’s outfit. It looks like he was going to dress up as the evil one.” I looked Jenna square in the eye and said, “You know the rest of the story about that night.” Jenna put on the Shantago mask and turned to Ralph. “Boo.” She caught Ralph off guard as he ran down the hallway. I laughed a little at Jenna. “Oh snap. I wish it was that easy to scare a toggle.” Jenna started to laugh too. She looked at me with the mask still on and said, “Boo.” I will admit she was a little scary, and I could see why Ralph ran. We both were laughing when I started to tickle Jenna as we fell onto the couch together. When our eyes locked, Jenna quickly stood up, adjusting her shirt and bra, which was pushed all out of shape. She cleared her throat, being just a tad bit embarrassed.

  Getting back on my feet, I went to find Ralph. I shouted towards the hallway, “Ralph, Jenna’s sorry. It’s just a mask, that’s all. I found Ralph shaking, hiding there in the closet behind some winter coats.

  “It’s not nice to scare me. When toggles get really scared they pee.” I looked down at Ralph’s feet and saw a puddle there in the closet. “Sorry about that Ralph, we didn’t know. From now on we will do better.” I picked up Ralph and wiped his feet down with a paper towel.

  Walking back into the living room, Jenna had a book and she was looking through it. “What are you reading?”

  Jenna laughed and said, “It’s a book called The Good, The Bad, and the Big Ugly. It’s got some funny stuff in it.”

  “Yeah, my gramps wrote that one.”

  “He seemed like he had a great personality, at least in his writing.”

  “Gramps was funny when he wanted to be. There was also a serious side of him too, especially when he told us about toggles. He started out every story the same. ‘Never trust a toggle.’ I looked over at Ralph who was munching on a drink coaster. With a guilty look on his face, he stopped dead in his tracks and said, “What?”

  Gnash of the Champions Part 1

  Jenna looked puzzled for a moment as she said, “Hey Jordan. Did you see this inscription on the inside of the front cover? It’s from your gramps and it’s written to you.”

  “I hadn’t noticed a caption from gramps and I’ve read that book a hundred times.”

  Jenna handed the book to me so I could take a look, “Well unless he knew a lot of Jordan’s, I’d say it’s written to you.”

  When I opened the book, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There it was, a note from gramps that read:

  Dear Jordan,

  I’ve been watching you grow up these last few years and I’d have to say that I am pleased with how you are handling things thus far. The coming days will be your greatest challenge yet. It is your duty as a protector to warn the people. Let them know doom is near, knocking at their doors.

  Take heed to these next words; they might just save you. When life gives you lemons, grab the bull by the horn, take the road less traveled, and wisely turn the other cheek. Lastly, don’t forget to take possession of the manual. It will guide you into the future.

  Whenever you need me, I am here for you.

  Grandpa Nick-

  “Gramps always had a way with words, but how did he know? Are you playing games with me? You had to just write that inscription while I was getting Ralph cleaned up.”

  Jenna acted kind of ticked off that I suspected her. “I promise you that I didn’t. Besides I’ve got better things to do than that.”

  I quickly changed the subject. “Well I guess the police department decided not to call. I specifically told Jessica to have the lieutenant call me at eleven sharp. I’d better call him now.” I picked up the phone and started dialing but there was no dial tone. “The phone is dead, Jenna.”

  Still upset that I accused her of plagiarism, she snapped at me, “Well, you probably didn’t pay the bill. They tend to cut off the phone when that happens.”

  Now a little perturbed I told her, “I paid the bill. I’m going to go outside and check the cables.” I really needed to get some fresh air and a break from our little love spat. “Perhaps something came loose. By the way what time is it getting anyways?”

  Jenna looked at her watch, “Its a quarter till you’d better hurry.”

  I quickly went outside in the pouring rain to check on things when all of a sudden I saw, off in the distance, a lantern dancing on the hillside. My eyes were focused in on the single light when I spotted another and another pop up, moving at a fast pace right towards the cabin. Torches by the hundreds lit up the night sky. I knew doom was headed our way.

  I also heard what sounded like hundreds of little voices shouting in harmony, “Tagel Tagel Tagel, followed by Tagel Impetum.” Over and over again they chanted their battle cry, and I knew that my time had just run out. The toggles brought the battle to me. It was now time to get inside. The war is here. The war is now.

  Gnash of the Champions Part 2

  I came barreling inside the cabin and shut the door. I was winded, but I did man
age to get the words out, “Jenna, they’re here. Take Ralph and go into the other room.” She quickly picked Ralph up and moved to the bedroom. I armed myself with a fire poker and prepared for the worst.

  After a few moments I heard their chants, so I poked my head out the window to see what was happening. Hundreds of toggles were all lined up in formation and standing in the pouring rain. One of the toggle generals was shouting commands at the platoon. I was too far away to hear what was being said, but I did hear a lot of grunting once the command was given. I also noticed two gigantic–no wait, colossal–fire- breathing stroggles walking behind the battalion. With their bellies full of fire, the stroggles were trying to bring about an inferno. I closed the window and thought, I need a bigger weapon.

  All of a sudden I heard the chanting stop. Soon after, there was a sudden knock on the door. There was no way in the world that I was going to invite the toggles inside. After a few minutes of knocking, it stopped. I almost had time to breathe a sigh of relief when the whole door came barreling down at my feet. A thick cloud of dust stirred as I began to cough. Once the dust cleared, there stood the evil one.

  Chuckling in a sinister way, he declared, “It’s so good to see you again, Son of Nick. Some would say that it’s been too long.” Put away in a knapsack, I could see the Toggle Handbook clipped to his side. All adorned in red, silver, and gold battle gear, Shantago smirked as if he were in control of the situation. With a sly voice he spoke, “Jordan, my friend, let’s be civil about our exchange. Tell me, where is the rogue toggle?”

  “I have him; don’t you worry. What I want to know from you is why I shouldn’t just kill you right now?”

  General Krylon took offense to this and took a step towards me. “Easy Krylon, don’t do anything to mess this up. We are just doing a little song and dance before the grand finale.” Krylon backed away once he saw that everything was under control.