Forging Truth (The Truth Saga)

by Raymond Masters

  “Became a prisoner,” I corrected.

  “They know Aesculapus wishes me unharmed.”

  I searched the boy’s face for false bravado. I saw a scared but honest kid. Mao looked to me. It would be my decision. “Death or demons,” I mused. What a choice. “All right. You stay here, but do not leave this cell until I come back or the demon’s return to wherever they sprang from.”

  “Hell,” Mao and Seth answered in unison.

  “You ready,” I asked Mao.

  Her dark eyes twinkled, and I caught a glimpse of the playful girl I had fallen for. “Tell you what, we come out of this unscathed, and I’ll be ready anytime you are.” She gave a wink and headed through our exit, leaving me flustered.

  To cover, I said to Seth, “I’ll get your brother back.”

  “Thank you,” he said, momentarily embracing my waist. “Better not let your girlfriend get too much head start.”

  I ignored the heat filling my cheeks and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “Be safe, be brave, and be well.”

  2

  The portal’s egress was suspended roughly a meter above Liberty Island on what had once been the back of the Statue of Liberty. Now, though, there wasn’t much left to her. For safety’s sake, most of the statue had been removed from her hips up. A scattering of steel constructs had been erected and braced around what remained of the statue and its base. The words NO TRESPASSING were stenciled everywhere. Of course, I wasn’t able to notice all of this at first, what with my falling and all.

  You see, I should’ve taken Aesculapus’ lead and flown through. As it was, I didn’t have my wings out, because of the demon tug-of-war. Instead of floating, I stepped through as Mao had. So, I was walking across stone floor one minute and watching the ground rise to meet me the next. I jerked my arms up to save myself from landing face first in the dirt. Instinct kicked in, however, and triggered a semitransparent cushion of energy around me. My own, personal, airbag, I thought. But with a twist.

  I couldn’t waste time examining this new use of my powers. There’d be time enough for that after finding Caduceus. Hopefully. I turned, taking in my surroundings. No one was around, not even Mao. Where could she have gotten? “Surely she didn’t follow him without me. “That headstrong little –.”

  “Little what,” she asked from somewhere to my right.

  “Invisible sweetheart, of course,” I addressed the ether.

  “Uh huh.” She wasn’t convinced. “While you were busy dawdling, I took the liberty – no pun intended – of scouting ahead. I found them around front, having a firefight, practically on the doormat of the statue itself.”

  “And no one saw you?” I was impressed.

  “Hell-oooo,” she prodded. I could hear the mocking roll of her eyes in her voice.

  “So, what’s the plan,” I asked. I was ready to put this mission to bed and get back to whatever would pass as my life from here on out.

  She faded into view. “Wait, you’re not really asking me, are you? Kade, why do you think I came back for you?”

  “Reinforcements,” I suggested.

  She exhaled, “Let’s evaluate our strengths.”

  “Flight and projectiles,” I offered hesitantly. “Of course, Aesculapus’ has those, plus all his hoodoo spells.”

  “You’ve got the brawn down – if not the brain. Look, we’ve got numbers on our side. Once you swoop in – and I sneak in – we’ll rely on Caduceus for the experience and counter spells. Right?”

  I rekindled my wings and opened my arms to embrace her. She gave me an utterly unreadable look, stepped into my waiting arms, and we were off. Mid-air, she suddenly lit up. “I need to disappear again, Kade, but I want to try something, something that hasn’t occurred to me, until now.” I gave her a raised-eyebrow smirk. She pinched my chest, and said, “I said it was something I hadn’t thought of. I want to turn you invisible, too.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Never tried. Whadda ya say?”

  What could I say? She wouldn’t hurt me, I was certain, and it would definitely help to give us an edge. “Do it.”

  “Done it. Feel different,” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I didn’t feel a thing,” I admitted, watching her dark hair blow in our contrail. “You’re sure we’re invisible? Should I still be able to see you?”

  “I can still see myself, even when no one else can.”

  “Isn’t that odd,” I asked.

  “Not really.”

  They were locked in battle, directly in front of us, just as Mao had said. The removed portions of statue had been placed beside their former base to be hauled away. They were each stationed behind the two largest pieces. As I approached, I had to drop low to dodge a small stream of energy that arched out from behind Caduceus’ stronghold toward his cursed kin. Aesculapus allowed the beam to crackle around him. The effect was minimal.

  “Ever hear the term friendly fire,” Mao whispered. “Notice how weak that was? He needs his staff.”

  “Bishop has it,” I told her.

  “I know,” she said. “He looted it when Van Parson captured Caduceus.”

  “We’ve still got the numbers.” It’d have to be enough.

  As happens so often in these situations, our assertions were about to be ironically disproved. A cacophony of screeches and wails filled the sky around us, emanating from the direction we had come. The noise was abrasive to my senses, even causing my nose and eyes to water. I had to scramble to keep from dropping my passenger, while covering my ears. The sounds were filled with much rage and hellish hate. I knew in an instant what I was hearing.

  The action came to a halt below, as recognition filled the faces of the dueling brothers, as well. “My pets are on their way,” the Dark Monk gloated. “Looks like the game is almost over, brother. Everything will be made right.”

  “I’ve seen your pets, dear brother, and they are even less impressive than you.”

  Ah, Ducie, I marveled. I had missed the man, and it was great to see him back to his old self. I could almost fool myself into thinking we were by the waterfall, engaged in nothing more than a little sparring. Then, the screeches and howls grew louder. A sudden flush of demons rounded both sides of the broken pedestal. At the house, there had been a dozen of the little monsters. They obviously held a recruitment drive after I left.

  “Kade, if the demon’s have escaped, then …” The implications struck her. “Seth!”

  “We can’t worry about that, now,” I said coolly. “We’ve got to keep our heads. Seth is a brave boy and I trust him, when he says they wouldn’t hurt him. Let’s go, while Aesculapus is distracted.” We lit at Caduceus’ side. Even concealed as we were, C still picked up on it. “Hello, Mao.”

  “No fair! How’d you know?”

  “Something very subtle,” He smiled. “Let me see you.”

  “Be patient, C,” I said, “She does her thing too early, and we lose our advantage.”

  “Ha ha! Kade, m’boy, are you ready to win this thing?”

  “Definitely, but don’t forget about all his friends. There must be forty of them, with more on the way.”

  “So, go take care of them,” he scolded.

  Aesculapus had grown tired of waiting. “The truce is null; the fight resumes.” He followed his declaration with a volley of fiery blasts. Rubble and dust rained around us.

  “Caduceus,” Mao pleaded.

  “No, Mao. I’ve got him penned in. We’re in stalemate. I’ll buy you the time you need. Just don’t need too much. And be careful, eh?”

  “I will,” I said, and started off.

  “You mean we will, don’t you,” Mao said as she skipped ahead of me.

  I caught up with her. “Hold on. You can’t go out there.”

  “Can,” she replied.

  I tried to reason. “You don’t have an offensive power.”

  “Thanks, yours isn’t that bad, either.” She batted her eyelashes. “Besides, I don’t need to play o
ffense. That’s all you, sweetie. I’ll be the succulent, irresistible bait. Now, let’s go kick some demon ass.”

  3

  As far as bait goes, she wasn’t half bad, but I was still worried for her. She bulleted out of our hiding spot and right into the middle of the converging hordes, taunting them as she went. They made for her and would’ve devoured her, too, had they caught her. It was my job to see that they didn’t. Circling above her, I blasted away at those within range. After downing several of the creatures, I notice Mao was starting to look a little winded. The gap between her and our pursuers had begun to narrow. “Mao,” I called, “You’ve done well, but you can’t keep this pace much longer. You’re wearing yourself out.”

  “You do care,” she mocked, as she continued to bob and weave over the island. “So I’ll play it smart. I’ve got some moves left before I give up.”

  “Okay,” I conceded, “but you might circle us back to Caduceus,” Maybe splitting up hadn’t been the best idea.

  “Here goes.” She disappeared, leaving the hellspawn disoriented and enraged. It scared the frog piss out of me, too. I couldn’t see her, and had no idea which predator to dispatch first. Moreover, I was worried if I were to fire, I would catch Mao in the crossfire.

  While I looked for a solution, Mao rematerialized back the way we had come. “Oh, boy-ees! Lookin’ for me?” In a cartoonish manner, the demons kicked on their brakes, nearly skidding into one another. Their contempt – if you could measure such emotions on these beasts – had doubled. Didn’t like being fooled. Somehow, they avoided a pileup and arched toward Mao. Before they could catch her, she was gone again. This time she tried a neat strobing trick. One moment she would be there, the dangling carrot; the next, she’d be gone. The way she vanished and reappeared at random gave the appearance of teleportation.

  After a while, I found a pattern in Mao’s magic act, too complex for the lack-witted imps to discern. Once I spotted it, it was easy to follow. I could gauge where Mao would be at eight-second intervals. I used this knowledge to blast holes in as many creatures as I could. Because of their failure with Mao, I was kind of surprised they hadn’t given up the chase and come after me. Luckily, they were a very single-minded bunch.

  Mao steadily rounded her way to where Caduceus and Aesculapus currently squared off. I continued picking them off by ones and twos with each of Mao’s reappearances. Soon, we were back to the brother’s location, and I could see the portions of statue they’d been using for cover had been reduced to rubble. They were exposed. It appeared Ducie, sans staff, yielded Aesculapus the upper hand.

  Noticing our approach, Aesculapus squealed gleefully and sprang into the air. His obsidian robe billowed around his feet. He arched a wave of flames above his head, in celebration. “To me, my babies, to me!”

  Suddenly, Mao and I were of no interest to his nightmare creatures. No matter what came next, I had to admit it felt nice to have a moment’s reprieve.

  “Are you all right,” I asked, hurrying to Caduceus’ side.

  “Aye, son, this ol’ dog still has some fight left in ‘im.” His smile offered only a little reassurance. “I see you didn’t quite get all o’ the little buggers,” he said, indicating the large number of demons, congregating at his brother’s side.

  “Maybe half.” It was a lot for one person – well, two people – to accomplish, but it still wasn’t a drop in the bucket. “Look at them all, guys. I don’t see how we could possibly hope to stop them. There’s still so many. You’re without your herald’s staff, Mao’s pooped.”

  “Speak for yourself,” she protested.

  “And I’ve got no other tricks left,” I finished. “What do we do, C?” That last came out in a reedy whine, surprising me. In ironic answer, the dark sorcerer gave the kill command. As a tide, they came at us, covering the land and blotting out the sky.

  Caduceus flashed his uneasy grin, and said, “Well, son, we pray for a miracle.”

  4

  Growing up in the Truth household, I was exposed to many of my mother’s sayings. One of her favorites was you could “never guess what the Lord might do next.” It was her way of saying God works in mysterious ways. Mom’s saying sprang readily to mind, when I saw the shape of Caduceus’ miracle.

  The three of us took a defensive stance, readying ourselves for whatever our fate may be. Caduceus and I held coiled energy in our fists, and were awaiting the proper time to spring into action. Poor Mao might not have had any aggressive powers, but the one power she did have, she put into effect. Though I couldn’t see her, I knew she, too, was standing at the ready. The beasts were ten yards away. Now eight. Five. Four. “Now,” Caduceus commanded. I took flight and hurtled blast after blast at the onslaught. I could hear his efforts from below. It was working, but we had waited too long before beginning our offensive. We hadn’t given ourselves adequate time to thin their numbers. It would be a matter of mere seconds before we were overtaken.

  Then, the unlikely miracle came.

  All my attention was focused on the creature before me. He was easily twice my height and thickness, with vast, leathery wings – their span had to be fifteen feet. At the tips of those wings – as well as at the tips of his fingers – were razor-sharp talons. I dodged and maneuvered for the best position for protection, while trying to find any weak spot that would bring this big mother down. So far, it wasn’t working at all. I had already blasted it a dozen times in his rose-colored torso. I fired twice more. Nothing. Wishful thinking. He wasn’t going down. Then, an unexpected blast struck the behemoth from behind, and he slammed me hard, riding me unconscious to the ground.

  “What was that,” I asked as I strained to haul his ugly butt off me. I was having as little luck performing with that as I had downing him in the first place. I was worrying it would crush my sternum under its immense weight when, thankfully, I received a second surprise assist as the hulking figure was rolled off me. My mysterious benefactor turned out to be none other than Richard Van Parson, himself. “Seriously,” I shouted.

  “Great to see you again, as well.” He hauled me to my feet, causing the servomotors in his armor to whirr with the effort. “Looks like you could use reinforcements.”

  “You could say that,” I responded, trying not to sound desperate. I despised that I needed anything he had to offer. I already owed him for the crystal that had reunited me with my friends. Overshadowing that was what I owed him for the carnage and death he had engineered.

  “Well, I’ve brought some,” he said, motioning to the fighting that continued behind us. The sky was blanketed with a hundred or more fighters, composed of equal parts VPI soldiers and those hellish hybrids from the laboratory I had crashed in France. “Pretty good timing, yes?”

  It certainly was. As I watched, Van Parson’s men tore through Aesculapus’ forces. Over the slaughter, I could, quite clearly, make out the Dark Monk’s anguished wails and curses. Part of me was, indeed, convinced Richard Van Parson had been the mysterious way in which God moved this day. “But how,” I marveled, “It’s been only a couple hours. You were three thousand miles away.”

  “Mmm, more like 3600 miles; and I owe it all to the advancements made by VPI Technologies.” He flexed the gauntlets left and right for effect. “The very tech we are employing with our Angel Slayer, and our jump bombs, and our Shadow Gauntlets, and …”

  “Whatever,” I dismissed him. Searching for my friends in the melee, I found Caduceus locked in hand-to-hand combat with a nasty, many-horned creature. I broke off from Van Parson and headed to offer my help.

  There was a rush of air, as an invisible figure brushed against me at breakneck speed. I heard Mao cursing him as she ambushed the unexpected CEO and weapons magnate. “You remorseless monster! You killed him!” In the grasp of an unseen foe, Van Parson still managed to hold his composure, until Mao apparently socked him in the chin. His face contorted in disbelieving horror, as the flesh around his right temple began to dimple. “I know you know what this is.
One of your little ray guns, freshly liberated from one of the fallen. Move and you die a death way too merciful for a sadist like you.”

  “Mao,” I tried, but she ignored me.

  “You killed my father,” she accused. “He was a good man – the best man – and you had him killed for uncovering your role in starting the war.”

  Talmage and Bishop noticed their boss in trouble and broke from the attack. As they neared, they fired warning shots to my sides, under the erroneous assumption I somehow was responsible for his hostage state.

  “Imbeciles,” Van Parson chided, “You’ll get me killed! It’s the girl, not him. The freakin’ girl.”

  Realization dawned on the henchmen’s faces. “Let him go, or we end you,” Donald Bishop bluffed.

  “Would you chance it,” Mao asked. It was a good point. I had gone through the same dilemma during our battle with Aesculapus’ play pals. Calling Bishop’s bluff, Mao said, “Okay, I believe you might.” The next instant, Van Parson disappeared as she widened her cloaking field to encompass her captured foe. “So, how about now?”

  Despite the literal life and death nature of the situation, I had to smile at her ballsy move. What an awesome girl. But what would her next move be? Was she really about to kill Richard Van Parson? Had she thought out what would happen, how his men would react, after she did? Unlikely.

  I had gotten so caught up in the drama with Mao, I had forgotten about the beast, which was still attacking Caduceus. I turned to check on my mentor. The particular monster he had been facing was nowhere to be seen, so he had managed to best it without my assistance. That was the extent of the good news, however, for now, a five-some of the evil beasties were squaring off with him. One looked particularly threatening, with a hide covered in bony protrusions and the mass of a tank. Currently, it was burying its fists rapid-fire into the small of Caduceus’ back. “Caduceus,” I breathed. I turned to let Mao know whatever she intended to do, she needed to do it quickly. Instead I froze, catching on the words of the promise that formed on Van Parson’s lips.