The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves

by Richard Heredia

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  ~ 39 ~

  Shock!

  Day One, Thursday, 6:21 am…

  “So, do you guys have any idea of what’s going on?” asked Andrew, after the thick fur of the animal skin had taken some of the chill from him. At least, he could speak coherently.

  Anthony looked at his friend and sighed. His hand ran through his tangled, matted hair. “Well, Drew, all I know for certain is these jerk-offs have somehow snatched us out of our world, using something they called the Rending, and placed us here in… whatever place this is. I think I could be going crazy, but I could have sworn Fenris used some sort of spell to make that happen. I saw some very crazy shit at my grandmother’s house let me tell you! They all seem pretty bent on getting us to this place called the Throne.”

  “Yeah, that’s what that Inghëldir chick said to me last night. She said we were to be taken to this throne thing where the first battle or war will be waged, or some horseshit like that. I can’t remember actually,” replied Andrew, looking tired and worn from his ordeal. He was trying to be brave with tough words, but he still shook visibly at the mention of the little girl they had known as Nixy.

  “Who’s Ing-heldur?” asked Mikalah, looking from boy to boy with big eyes, trying to be brave.

  “I think it is said Inghëldir, Mikalah,” answered her brother with a reassuring smile, very aware his baby sister was scared and nervous. She was trying her hardest to hide it, and it illicited a smile from him. “That’s her real name, I guess.”

  “But, I thought her name was Nixy?” Now it was Elena’s turn to pipe in with questions.

  Anthony sighed again, adamant he wouldn’t lose his patience. This wasn’t the time or the place to act like a child. “I think she is a Nixy like we are Human Beings and I think her name is Inghëldir like your name is Bonehead.” Anthony smiled big. The girls both seemed to relax a bit more as they shook their heads at his bad joke, which had been his intention. “She probably doesn’t give out her real name to many people,” he added more to himself than those around him. He drifted into a deeper level of thought.

  “So,” began Andrew hunching his shoulders, dropping his voice, so only they could hear him, “what are we going to do next? I mean, we just got here, so we should just sit here for a while and think things through. You know, until we know more about what’s happening. Am I wrong?”

  That shook Anthony out of his reverie. He stared directly at his friend and recognized his body language. It was the same sort of thing he used to do as a young child when he wanted to convince him to not do something he was either afraid of or might get into trouble over. He did have a point, though. Anthony was amazed he could still read Andrew after all of these years. Some people never change, he guessed.

  “I agree, man, there’s not much we can do at the moment,” Anthony said, unable to get his mind around any course of action at this point. They didn’t know enough to make any serious moves. “There seems to be a lot more going on with these guys then they are letting on.”

  “What do you mean?” inquired Andrew, very interested now.

  “Well, they aren’t all powerful no matter how huge and scary they may look.”

  Andrew frowned, but motioned for Anthony to continue.

  The girls just stared and listened, unmoving.

  “I overheard them. Well actually, I heard Fenris say they had to be careful of whatever the Lord of the Light might have in store for them. You know, something to disrupt with their plans, whatever that means.” Anthony shrugged, knowing his hypothesis was thin.

  Andrew shook his head in confusion.

  “He also spoke of there being twelve children being brought here. He called us all, Guardians. But what we’re supposed to guard exactly, I have no idea. He didn’t explain. All I can say is, I think it means there are eight more kids out there like us, kids that he still has to find.

  “The more I think about it, I believe he still has to round them up as well. He has to get us all together and have us all before this ‘throne’ thing when… as you put it, Drew…‘where the first battle will begin’.

  “Again, whatever that means, I don’t know, because I’m just mostly guessing at this point.”

  “It does, sort of, make sense, but where is this Throne? And where is this place where the shit’s gonna break loose?” questioned Andrew. His was voice just above a whisper, but filled with as much emotion as he could muster without being too loud.

  “I don’t know, dude. I’m as lost on that as you are right now.”

  “Shit man, this sucks! I mean, I agree, we should just sit tight for the time being. Still though, there’s gonna be a time when we can’t just sit here and let them do to us whatever the hell they want!” Andrew said vehemently, the thought overcoming his fear. “They’ve got your sisters, bro! We have to protect them, you know, at all costs. We’re gonna have to get are shit together and figure this out, because I’m not going to let those nasty assholes mess with your sisters, man. I don’t care how big or strong these dudes are. We can’t let that happen!”

  At the mouth of the cave, Jätung growled deeply at Andrew’s raised voice.

  “Ssssshhh, man, you don’t think I know that?” began Anthony, gesturing for Andrew to keep it down. “And that is exactly the reason I will NOT do anything rash that might endanger them any more than I have to. Do you understand that, bro?” Anthony arched his eyebrows to emphasize his point.

  Andrew nodded, but stayed silent.

  “Our parents are gone, Drew, I am in charge of them now. They are my responsibility. I won’t let them down.” He looked at his sisters intently.

  They both had tears in their eyes. He could see the realization they were no longer under the protection of their parents was dawning on them for the first time.

  “I know, I know,” retorted a chided Andrew. “I just know, man, the time is going to come, though. We are going to have to be ready.”

  “But, didn’t that old, wrinkly guy say that Andrew’s father had come through the… the change in the world with us? Didn’t he say that he was here?” offered Elena as usual, never missing a single detail. Her voice was small, meek, and she steeled herself against it breaking altogether, but the question had to be asked.

  “Yeah he did say that, but who says he was telling the truth, Elena. There was something else going on between him and Fenris. It had nothing to do with Drew’s dad or us.

  “That’s another reason why I think there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Maybe they aren’t this great, united force. Maybe there are factions among them. Maybe there are things between them that are still… I don’t know… undecided? Who knows? But, I think for now, we should keep our eyes and ears open. Maybe we can learn something that we can use to our advantage.” Anthony looked at each one of them for some sort of confirmation. To him, his reasoning was sound, hopefully the others would feel the same way.

  Andrew nodded then. “Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I know you are right, Ant. He said my father had started yelling right away, but I never heard him. I mean, I did have to spend the night in that doghouse with those two freak-shows, but I didn’t my hear my dad call for me a single time… and you know, Ant,” Andrew leaned toward his friend, “he can be as loud as hell when he wants to be, especially when he goes all ghetto and starts acting like a drunken Cholo and shit.”

  Anthony nodded as well, because the other had spoken the truth. Andrew’s dad had some kind of lungs on him. And, he knew Juan Ibarra had this strange way of forgetting he could speak good English when he got agitated. He always resorted to talking like a first year immigrant.

  Then Mikalah ventured, “Maybe it means they aren’t 100 percent sure about us, then? Maybe there’s something about all of us they fear? Fenris did say they had to gather us up real fast and make sure we didn’t learn anything, right? I don’t know what it means, but it sure sounds important.”

  “Mikalah, sometime
s you are brilliant!” gasped Anthony as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place and he suddenly understood what was going on during that particular conversation. He was about to tell the others when there was some sort of commotion outside the cave they couldn’t see.

  Jätung lunged to his feet, his hackles raised. A tremendous snarl ripped from his throat. Immediately, Anthony could tell the beast was torn between staying put or going investigate what it was seeing outside, beyond the veil of the snowfall and the wind.

  “What’s happening, Tony?” quivered Elena her fear back with a vengeance, tears streaking down her face.

  “I don’t know,” whispered her brother as he came to his feet awkwardly. His bindings impeded a more smooth transition from the floor to his full upright stance. At his sides, the rest of the children stood as well. Andrew helped Mikalah, who was struggling the most against the ropes holding her.

  Then, one moment he was there at the mouth of the cave and the next, he wasn’t. Jätung burst into the snowstorm with an incredible howl, swallowed by the elements - gone.

  Instinctively, the children crept closer toward the opening of the cave when came sounds they’d all heard before in movies and in video games, but had actually never heard in person - the vibrating clang of metal on metal, the animalistic groans and protestations of men fighting for survival, to the death.

  “Holy crap, you guys, there’s a battle going on out there!” erupted Anthony when he realized what he was hearing.

  “Yeah, Ant, but who’s fighting who?”

  “I have no idea,” was Anthony’s even reply. Their situation had just turned infinitely more complicated. He felt as though he was grabbing at straws. They kept slipping through his fingers every time gained a small degree of purchase.

  “What the hell is that?” cracked Andrew through a clenched throat, pointing at an indistinct shadow galloping toward them, through the snow, incredibly fast.

  Anthony’s eye widened. Whatever it was, it was bigger than Jätung and came on four legs. It was almost as big as a small pony! Cautiously, he backed up, his arms outstretched to either side of him, forcing the others away from the entrance to the cave. He moved them toward the wall on their right hand side. All the while, the shape continued to grow as it came nearer. Soon, its heavy footfalls began to vibrate the ground beneath their feet.

  “What is it?” croaked Andrew again, unable to take his eyes from it as his backside hit the rock wall of the cave.

  “It is a bear?” blurted Elena between a pair of whimpers. Both of her hands in a vice-like grip upon Anthony’s arm, where he’d inadvertently placed it across her mid-section.

  Mikalah shifted to stand beside her sister, the physical contact somehow reassuring.

  “I hope not,” was all Anthony was able to say.

  The beast blasted through the last of the obscuring snow and plunged headlong into the cave.

  It skidded to a halt on paws easily over a foot wide, maybe two. They ended in broad claws capable of decapitating a grown man in a single swipe. The brute of a beast regained its balance within fractions of a second and turned its gargantuan head toward the children.

  They all stood transfixed.

  It was huge and looked like a bear overall. As it approached, as they plastering themselves up against the wall of the cave, they knew it wasn’t. It didn’t have short, tufted ears. Instead it had long, triangular ears standing upright upon its head, turning this way and that, listening. The color of its’ fur would’ve been extremely rare on a bear as well – a tan so washed out it looked yellowish, lacking true distinction. There were splotches here and there, irregular ovals of black. Its’ fur was much shorter than the sort belonging to an ursine. The coat was thick, effective enough to ward off the cold. It just wasn’t a bears’. No, its’ fur more aptly resembled that of a German Sheppard, than a bear. Its snout was wrong too. It was long and canine in appearance, complete with a set of bright, white teeth, and a large, very dog-like nose – glistening, black. The beast displayed a musculature unlike anything the children had ever seen before. Its’ muscles were bulging and flexing, rippling and hardening, incredible strength obvious within.

  Yet, as the hulking form turned and stared at them, its eyes captivated the children. They were the softest brown possible on an impossible creature of its’ ilk. They were intelligent too.

  To their complete astonishment, they were familiar as well.

  The Herrera kids stared, bewildered, and certain – as one - gazing at those caring, concerned eyes they were sure they’d seen before. They weren’t sure how or when it could be possible, since these orbs were are large as saucers. Similar eyes would’ve belonged to a horse and they hadn’t been around a horse on a constant basis, ever.

  “Come, my dears, we do not have much time,” belabored the creature in a deep, resonating voice, sounding like thunder, only slower, more measured.

  Collectively, the four jaws of the children dropped. If they could’ve, each of those jaws would’ve smacked onto the floor. Their incredulity was that pure.

  “Hurry, Anthony, place your bindings in my mouth so I may bite through them; thus, you can free yourself and the others once the bounds have fallen away. Hurry! Do this and place your sisters upon my back, for we must be away from this place posthaste!” implored the beast. Her rumbling voice dripped with urgency.

  “But, but how do you know my name?” cried the boy stupidly, his brain misfiring. He couldn’t reconcile what he was seeing or process what the huge beast had just asked of him.

  It had spoken to him! It could talk!

  “How could I not know your name, you silly boy, when I have heard it over and over again for nearly ten years? Now, please, move!”

  Yet, Anthony stood there perplexed and unmoving.

  His sisters cringed at the site of the huge animal before them. Its’ jaws were so big; it could easily bite them in half.

  Andrew came out from behind Anthony’s arm in defense of the girls, placing himself between them and the beast.

  The giant creature let out a very human-like sigh of exasperation.

  Still, Anthony didn’t move.

  Pressed for time, the beast continued hurriedly, “You do recall I am, was, your grandmama’s long time pet, correct? But, I assure you, it is I, only… I have been changed and altered by the magic’s creating and mixing this world.”

  Anthony’s his gaze met the creature’s before him. His eyes narrowed as comprehension began to settle upon his shoulders. That’s why its’ eyes looked so familiar! He had looked into them countless times already! How could he not see it was her? He had scratched her and pet her more times than he could count. Her eyes! Though, they were three times their usual size, it didn’t alter what was behind them. They were the same. He couldn’t deny it.

  They were indeed the eyes of his grandmother’s German Sheppard – Kodiak!

  “But, how –,” he began, but was cut off immediately by Kodiak.

  “I will explain later. Of this I promise, but for now please let me sunder your bindings, so you can free the others! We need to get out of here, soon. The rouse we have played against the enemy will not last much longer. It won’t be long before the fell beasts of Storm will be upon us in force.”

  The strength of the pleading voice, combined with the understanding of who she was, made up his mind for him. A heartbeat later, he was moving. Anthony lifted his arms slightly above his head. The massive creature turned to face and slipped the roughly bound ropes between her gigantic jaws. He was of half a mind to close his eye and look away, but at the last second decided not to.

  The half-bear, half-dog seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at his abrupt willingness to trust her. She bit down quickly, snapping the rope as though it was no more than a piece of string.

  Anthony stared into those warm, misty eyes for a second longer. No, he couldn’t deny who was before him. It was Kodiak. Only now, she was a bear-dog, a beast of incredible strength.

  Then
, something else came to mind. She was their first ally in this new place.

  In a flurry, he broke contact, quickly untied himself and began working the knots in the other’s bindings. Within half a minute, they were all free. Anthony placed sisters upon the gigantic back of what used to be a dog, but was now, something much more - both in size and intellect.

  The very instant they were settled on the beasts’ back, Kodiak explained softly to the girls, “You may grab my fur as tight as you need to in order to hang on and not fall. Do not worry, it will not hurt me.”

  The girls looked at one another. Both of them grabbed huge tufts of Kodiak’s fur with all of their might.

  “Anthony,” the boys’ head whipped around to look into her large, wonderful eyes once more, “you and your colleague stay close to me. Run with all the strength in your bodies, we are going to smash through the lines of the evil beasts of Storm. FOLLOW!”

  With that, she burst from the cave in an amazing leap, fast. She caught Andrew and Anthony completely by surprise.

  The boys chanced a quick glance at one another, nodding, and bolted into the snow, after Kodiak, and into… whatever fate was awaiting them.

  ~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

  ~ 40 ~

  Rescue

  Day One, Thursday, 6:27 am…

  She was confused, holding on for dear life, to what yesterday had been a large, fun loving dog, but was now a hulking, hybrid canine/bear. In all honestly, what Mikalah saw once she, Elena and Kodiak emerged from the confines of the cave, was so intense and widespread, her mind could only conjure up two words - utter chaos.

  Across a wide arch, before the entrance of the cave, there was some sort of fighting between Swüreg, the Jötuns, Jätung, Vallüm, even Inghëldir and a smaller group of very agile, very strong and very fast opponents. The struggled would begin in one area and then somehow dissolve into nothing, only to begin in another. Even to her untrained eye, Mikalah could tell, whatever the evil creatures were fighting - they were highly skilled. Though they numbered less than Fenris’ group, these newcomers were coordinating their efforts with such speed and efficiency; they had their vile foes on the brink of defeat. The rest was incomprehensible to her, because she couldn’t keep up – they were too fast.