by C. W. Trisef
“That’s where we live,” Leo added.
“Right,” said Nika. “Can you help my brother do that while I take Mr. Coy to Ret?”
Ana and Leo looked to Mr. Coy.
“As soon as I get the Oracle to Ret,” Coy told them, “he could collect the element at any time, which means this whole place will be caput.” Nika looked away, stung. “Your safest bet is to do what Ret said and get to the trilithon.”
“What about you?” Leo asked.
“As long as I find Ret, I should be okay,” Coy replied.
Ana looked at Leo and took a deep breath before saying, “Alright.”
With gun in hand, Serge peeked out of their hiding place and looked around, then said a moment later, “The coast is clear.” He stepped out.
Before joining Serge, Ana grabbed Mr. Coy’s hand and said soberly, “Just please find Paige.”
“If I can’t find her, then Ret will,” Coy assured her.
Leo pulled Ana along, leaving Mr. Coy with Nika.
“Which way did Ret go?” Mr. Coy asked.
“That way,” Nika pointed, “but let’s go this way.” She started in the opposite direction.
“Why?” Coy asked with concern.
Nika said, “It’s a shortcut.”
CHAPTER 17
THE REVENANTS
Nika led Mr. Coy down a series of alleys, around a couple of farmhouses, and then safely out of town. She was heading for a little-known passageway through the towering mesas that encircled the valley—not the cavern through which she had brought Ret just days ago, but instead a narrow cleft between the cliff sides. Carved out of the rock by running water, this ancient stream had long since dried up, leaving behind a bed of smooth stones and soft sand. It was a straight shot to the desert on the other side—truly a shortcut, as Nika had promised.
Picking up on Mr. Coy’s sense of urgency, Nika kept her pace fast and words short as they traversed the dried riverbed. Still, Mr. Coy frequently gazed upwards to admire the incredible shapes and varied colors of the gorge, stretching several hundred feet above them. Clearly, this land was not only lost in time but had been made by it, too.
When they reached the end of the cleft, Nika leaned against the canyon wall and poked her head out. The vast desert lay before them, quiet and still. She looked to the right and then to the left, scanning the vicinity like a mouse preparing to venture from the safety of its hole in the wall. The late afternoon heat was obscuring her vision as it rose in waves from the ground, swaying like cobras under a snake charmers’ hypnosis.
“What do we need to watch out for?” Mr. Coy whispered.
“Everything,” she replied soberly. “The desert is a mysterious place. You never know what you’ll find here—or worse: what will find you.”
“Where do we go from here?” Coy questioned.
Nika pointed to the massive root bulb of the great tree, resting on the desert floor like a prehistoric squid, its giant arms extending out of sight in all directions.
Coy stared at the bulb curiously and then realized, “You mean we’re upside-down?”
“Our world may be upside-down,” Nika remarked, “but our society is right-side-up.” She resumed their journey, though Mr. Coy stayed back for a moment, pondering her words.
They blazed a trail through the desert brush, dodging ant hills and snake burrows. In the distance, Coy could see plateaus and buttes dotting the level landscape like islands in a sea of sand, their tops so flat and sides so chiseled that they seemed to have been constructed from Legos. Overhead, he watched in wonder as this land’s sun grew dimmer and dimmer until it became the moon.
Nika paused at the edge of the expansive plain that surrounded the root bulb. The vegetation was sparse in this beach of rock where the great tree’s main roots slithered football-fields apart before meeting at the bulb. In the twilight, Mr. Coy searched for any sign of Ret.
“There!” Coy said softly. Not far from the base of the bulb, there was a small cloud of dust, as if someone was disturbing the soil. “Come on!”
Coy was leading Nika now as they hurried across the plain. As they drew nigh, they could see the figure of a person within the haze, moving great amounts of earth away from the roots with nothing more than a wave of the hand. Mr. Coy knew only one person who could move dirt like that.
“Ret!” Coy called out. “I’m so glad we found you.”
The individual immediately stopped and turned to face Mr. Coy.
“I’ve come to give you the Oracle,” Coy added, still striding forward.
A moment later, however, the dust in the air began to settle, revealing a hooded individual. Mr. Coy came to an uneasy halt.
“I don’t think that’s Ret,” Nika pointed out.
“Are you the Guardian?” Coy asked.
“Give us the Oracle,” the cloaked man answered, his voice eerie and monotone.
“Us?” Coy queried. Suddenly, two more hooded figures emerged from behind. Taking a step back, Coy demanded, “Who are you?”
“Give us the Oracle,” the spokesman calmly replied, “and no one gets hurt.” Ready to accept the sphere, he held out his right hand, the palm of which had three glowing scars that were identical to Ret’s.
“Scars,” Coy said to himself, alarmed. “You have scars.” He glanced at the three antagonists slowly stepping towards him. “Show yourselves!”
“First, the Oracle,” the man reaffirmed.
“Over my dead body,” Coy defiantly told him.
“How about hers?” the man put forth, motioning to his left. Coy and Nika looked to find two more hooded individuals who were tightly gripping a squirming Paige, who was tied up and gagged.
“Paige!” Mr. Coy shouted. “Let her go!”
“Give us the Oracle,” the stubborn man restated.
Mr. Coy clenched his teeth and sighed with displeasure. Whoever these hoodlums were, they reeked of Lye. He could see his noble daughter shaking her head as he contemplated the terms of the exchange. It was clear these marauders were not leaving without the Oracle, and if they could, in fact, wield the elements, then Coy figured it was wisest to free his daughter while he still had the option to do so.
Nika’s heart sank when she saw Mr. Coy, with great heaviness, reach into his front pocket and retrieve a curious and colorful sphere. She was willing to bet these mysterious thugs were much more bent on collecting the element than Ret was and that they cared little for her people or their town. It was all she could do not to intervene.
“Here,” Coy said with disgust as he tossed the ball to the man. “Now let her go!” The pair forsook their ransom, and Paige fell to the floor.
Coy ran to his daughter and asked, “Are you okay?” Nika used her pocketknife to cut the girl’s bands.
“Oh Dad,” Paige cried with great sadness, “why did you give it to them?”
Mr. Coy was about to explain his actions when he saw a flicker of light from across the desert, followed by the faint sound of cackling thunder. The small light was coming towards them, zooming across the sand at great speed.
“What is that?” Nika wondered.
They watched as it drew closer. Very soon, the bright moonlight revealed a man in black flowing robes, riding a white cane like a witch’s broomstick, propelled by an electric current.
“Lye,” Mr. Coy said with a mix of irritation and worry.
The dark lord slowed as he approached the scene, then leapt from his cane and continued on foot in one fluid motion.
“We have it, my lord,” the hooded man nearest to him reported.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Lye growled. “Earth,” he called out to the man who had received the Oracle from Mr. Coy. “Dispose of these vermin.” Lye motioned to Nika and the Coys. “They are no longer of any use to me—for now.”
“As you wish,” the man replied. He flicked his hand, creating a large ripple in the sand.
“Surf’s up,” Lye told the trio with a sinister grin as the wave picked them up and transpor
ted them all the way back to the cleft in the mesas.
When the wave finally died, Paige immediately got up and started heading back to the root bulb.
“Hang on there, young lady,” Mr. Coy stopped her, grabbing her by the arm.
“We have to go back,” Paige protested. “They have the Oracle.”
“Actually, they don’t,” Coy informed her.
Confused, Paige asked, “What?”
“They think they have the Oracle,” Coy explained, “but what they really have is a fake.” Relief washed over Nika.
“But—how?” Paige wondered.
“I had a replica of the Oracle made after we got back from Sunken Earth, way back when,” Coy retold, “not quite as expertly crafted as the original, of course, but close enough to at least buy us some time if we were ever in a pinch. I’ve carried it with me on all of our adventures since—figured it might come in handy someday. And I’d say it did just that today, wouldn’t you, darling?”
“You’re one of a kind, Dad,” Paige couldn’t suppress a smile.
“Just living up to the family name,” he proudly replied. “I learned a long time ago to always make a duplicate of the thing your enemy desires most.”
“Thank you for rescuing me,” Paige said.
“So do you have the real Oracle?” Nika asked.
“Indeed,” Coy told her, pulling it from his back pocket. “Now all we need to do is find Ret and give it to him.”
“Actually,” Nika interjected, “Ret told me he has no intention of collecting the element.”
“What?” Paige gasped.
“Why not?” Coy asked.
“Because he doesn’t want to destroy this place like all the others,” Nika relayed, earning hard stares from the Coys. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Excuse my effrontery,” Coy said after a moment of careful thought, “but how do we know you’re telling the truth?” The souring situation was bringing out Nika’s mutation. Her walls were going up.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Nika stated with a bit of attitude.
“What do you mean?” Paige asked, suspicious of this mistress.
“Ret could have left this place days ago,” Nika said, trying to sound resolute despite her petty reasoning. “I showed him how to do it. But he stayed—for my people, for me.”
“For you?” Paige gulped.
“He belongs here,” Nika continued. “This is his home now.”
As the Coys contemplated Nika’s words, Paige’s memory was jogged. She had seen this woman before. Sensing Paige’s glare, Nika covered her face and looked away.
“You’re the woman I saw sitting with Ret on the bench in the town square, aren’t you?” Paige asked. “The one who kissed him?”
“Yes,” Nika admitted. “What’s it to you?”
“Because you’re not the only one with feelings for Ret,” Paige said, more crestfallen than threatening. Nika’s defensiveness suddenly melted.
“You…you also have—” Nika asked, her former firmness fading.
“Yes, very much so,” Paige disclosed, “but this isn’t about you and me—it’s about Ret. So let me ask you something: when Ret told you he wasn’t going to collect the element—if that’s really what he said—did he look happy about it?”
Nika remembered how downcast Ret had been earlier that day when she came to him in the barn. She shook her head, “No.”
Paige stepped towards Nika and, looking her in the eye, said with a hint of heartbreak, “If you really care for Ret, you’ll help him collect the elements. He doesn’t want to, but he knows he has to. Don’t make it any harder.”
Just then, a deafening roar rattled their ears. About a mile up the mesa, something had blasted through the base of the vertical cliff side, sending out a great spray of rocks.
“That’s the entrance to the cavern,” Nika observed. She and the Coys saw someone step out of the mouth and then take off running at the speed of wind.
“Ret!” Paige cheered.
“What is he doing?” Nika wondered.
“Pursuing Lye, I bet,” Coy said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He made for the cleft.
“But Dad,” Paige refused, “we can’t just leave. Ret needs our help.”
“I know, child,” Coy told her, “but I’d say the three of us are pretty ill-equipped at the moment to face Lye and five of his minions who apparently can also yield the elements. I think our best bet is to meet back up with Serge and his men and then devise a plan.” Mr. Coy’s realism seemed to squash Paige’s romanticism. “Besides,” Coy added, “if it’s true that Ret does not want the element to be collected,” he glanced at Nika, “then we need to get the real Oracle as far away from the tree as possible.” He returned the sphere to his back pocket.
Paige looked back at the root bulb, longing to be there to help Ret. But she knew her father spoke the truth. She took his hand and followed him into the cleft, her head down.
“You coming, Nika?” Coy called back to her.
Nika hadn’t moved. She was still thinking about what Paige had told her—that if she truly cared for Ret, she would help him collect the element. She was caught in a dilemma, convicted by her own conscience.
“Yes,” she replied, disappointed in herself. She entered the riverbed, dragging herself a few steps behind the Coys and wondering if there was yet a way to make things right.
“Once we get to the trilithon,” Coy strategized aloud, his voice echoing off the steep canyon walls, “we’ll confer with Serge and get his input. Then, on our way back to the tree, we’ll stop in town and search for any survivors.”
“How can I help?” Paige asked.
“You can help Ana and Leo get all of Nika’s people through the trilithon at first light,” Coy explained. “It’ll be no easy task getting that many people through in such a short window of time. We’re sending everyone to the Keep until we clean up this mess. Isn’t that right, Nika?” There was no response. “Nika?” Mr. Coy and Paige spun around. Nika was gone.
“Where’d she go?” Paige questioned. “She was right behind us a minute ago.”
Mr. Coy checked his back pocket. It was empty.
“She took the Oracle,” Coy announced, not altogether displeased. “Looks like your words convinced her to change her mind.” He put his arm around Paige, then noticed her frown. “What’s wrong?”
“I should be the one helping Ret,” Paige confessed.
“I’d say you already did,” Coy reassured her. “If that woman gets the Oracle to Ret and he collects the element, then it’ll be thanks to you.” Paige smiled. “Come on, sweetheart.” They continued to head for the trilithon.
* * * * *
Ret slowed his whirlwind and alighted on the sand in front of the six cloaked individuals gathered at the root bulb.
“Where’s Lionel?” Ret asked, arriving with a gust of wind.
“It’s good to see you, too,” Lye playfully hissed, his robes blowing in the breeze.
“What did you do to him?” Ret demanded to know.
“You mean the man who blackmailed you in front of all your mutant friends?” Lye laughed.
“He was only trying to help me,” Ret defended his friend.
“And then caused the cavern to cave in on you?” Lye added.
“You can’t fool me,” Ret snapped back. “You did that—I saw your lightning bolt strike the ceiling, even from the other end of the cavern.”
Lye shrugged and acknowledged with satisfaction, “Guilty as charged.”
“Now tell me what you did with Lionel.” Ret was inching closer to Lye’s hideous face.
“He is none of your concern.”
“Tell me!” Ret yelled. In his anger, he summoned a fireball and hurled it at Lye. But, to Ret’s great surprise, it was met by an equally powerful flame, the two ricocheting into the night. Ret shrunk back in shock as a hooded person emerged from the shadows behind Lye. Ret could see scars on the person’s hands, one of which was s
till smoking.
“What’s this?” Ret asked. “Another one of your clones?”
“Actually no,” Lye stated. “Something better: one of your relatives.” Ret’s eyes widened. “You see, after my clone failed, I got to thinking—why go to the trouble of cloning you when my prison is full of members from your family line? They’re just like you but so much more agreeable.”
“You’re lying,” Ret said.
“For once, I’m not,” Lye guffawed. “And then I thought, why stop there? Everyone knows five is better than one.” Four more hooded figures emerged from the shadows, scars in hand. “And instead of training them to become like you—jack of all trades, master of none—I commissioned each to become an expert in one of the five elements that you’ve collected for me so far.” The five each produced a symbol to show which element they had mastered.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Ret said smugly, “but I’m not here to collect the element. I don’t even have the Oracle.”
“Of course you don’t,” Lye grinned. “I do.” He held up the sphere that Mr. Coy had surrendered.
“How—how did you get that?” Ret asked in amazement.
Lye explained, “Your Coy friend gave it to me—”
“Mr. Coy would never…”
“—In exchange for his daughter,” Lye finished. “Love—such a weakness.”
“What did you do to Paige?!” Ret bellowed.
“Relax, Romeo, she’s fine,” Lye said before adding, “this time, at least.”
“The Oracle doesn’t belong to you,” Ret snarled.
“You know, you’re right,” Lye amused himself. “Here.” He lobbed it to the hooded man who had mastered the wood element. “It should stay in the family.”
“They are not my family,” Ret asserted.
“Sounds like you’ve got some catching up to do,” Lye wheezed. The quintet shed their cloaks, revealing three men and two women with hair, skin, and eyes as bright as Ret’s, though of various colors. “Call them what you will, but I call them revenants.” They began to walk towards Ret. “Enjoy your reunion.” Lye turned to the revenant with the Oracle and bade, “Come on, Wood.” The two of them made for the root bulb. “We’ve got an element to collect.”
