by P. G. Thomas
“She’s doing a lot better. Compared to yesterday, the difference can be measured in years. John, thanks, I don’t know what we would do without you.”
“You would just find somebody else to pick on. Get your sister better for me.”
As John sat down at the table in the backyard, Panry walked into the house. “All Earth Mothers now heal. It seems they do not have to make the trip to the south port town after all.”
“How was the trip yesterday?”
“To Ironhouse, fast, like my trip back. To the healing well, I still pick bugs from my teeth. I shall pass on my word that Impure Trickster we shall no longer call them. I do not know what we should call them, but today, I will suggest hero. I am in Gayne and Mirtza’s debt until my last breath leaves my body and that goes for you also.”
“Before you go all soft on me, we still have a problem in town, and its name is Korg.”
“I think Korg has a problem, and its name is Eric.”
“The bigger problem is that we don’t have any evidence to prove that the plague is a hoax. The clinic is gone, and the townspeople are pissed. Korg is probably blaming everything on us, telling the people that they are all going to die a horrible death.”
“Then what other actions can we take?”
“Keep filling the Earth Mothers full of the healing water. When they know the plague is a hoax, we have them issue an Earth Bond. That way the Royal House can lie all they want, and it won’t mean a thing. As for Korg, he can’t get to us because he only has two guards left. By now, the mob should be hounding him for his promised support of aid. So, when the Earth Mothers are healed, they issue an Earth Bond, and we arrest Korg. That’s all I have.”
“John, I think it is enough.”
“I’m not sure. I think we should keep sending Eric out on the fast horses, ensuring that the south road is free from reinforcements.”
Chapter 16
With lowered heads and shuffling feet, Aaro and Bor entered the backyard. Aaro looked up, “Hopes were high, but Eric quashed them.”
“They were innocent midlanders. Their fuel was Royal House lies. You would not have attacked, would you?” asked Panry.
Bor nodded, “Battle clubs, not axes. Hurt not kill, but fight, fight we would. Jest and fight are not words spoken in the same sentence by dwarf.”
Walking into the backyard, Zack smiled, “Nur is smiling and feeling a lot better, still weak, but better. Great job, Dudes.”
Ryan shortly joined them, “Eric is still standing at the cross streets. Residents give him a wide berth walking around him, but he’ll not move from that spot.”
John sat down his cup of hot bean juice, “Korg might be down, but I doubt if he is out. He’ll be like a wild animal backed into a corner. Zack, can you go keep an eye on him? Ryan, can you also blend in? Without any troops, all he has is that mob. They should be turning on him, but he still might be able to con them. Panry, have someone send for Gingaar, so she can look after Lauren. Logan needs some rest because we might need him. I would imagine that all of the Earth Mothers will be on their feet by tomorrow. I’m hoping they’ll be strong enough and have clear heads so they can use an Earth Bond.”
Walking to a corner of the backyard, Zack transformed into the large eagle, and with a few powerful flaps of his wings, was in flight.
“I’ll go over and send Gingaar back,” advised Ryan
John looked at Aaro, Bor, and Panry, “We wait.”
Before Zack circled high over the town, he did a quick flight out to the north-south roads to make sure it was free of threats. Landing on the roof across from Pintar’s inn, he saw the town watch blockading it, trying to keep order while the large crowd screamed for Korg.
Walking past Eric, Ryan turned east, heading into the town. [Threats: Negative. Mission: Investigate. Options: Cloak. Select. Implement.] Striding down the street, Ryan slowly became transparent, fading away into nothing. With the streets being empty, nobody noticed the odd boot prints that appeared in the dry dirt road. Approaching the inn, the noise from the mob began to grow, so he cautiously worked his way around the outer edge. Once on the other side, he continued down to the next street, and turning north, he stopped at a building that was behind Pintar’s inn. [Engage climbing mode.] Jumping up, he landed on the overhanging porch roof, and crossing it, he saw the yard behind the inn. Seeing the kitchen door open, he jumped off, landing with cat-like grace. Finding the kitchen empty, he advanced into the dining room, and there he found the sub commander pacing. The citizens that Korg had courted had turned into an angry mob, as their screams for plague cures and promised aid were so loud, it was hard for Korg to think. Realizing the crowd needed to disperse, before they ripped the town apart, Ryan silently slipped out onto the front porch. The only two present were the last Royal House guards, who were wearing masks that covered their lower faces. The angered noise from the crowd was intensifying. The only thing they fear is the plague. [Modify appendages. Select. Implement.] Working his way behind one of the Royal House guards, Ryan’s left hand morphed so that it was only two dimensions, being thin like a sheet of paper. Wrapping it around the guard’s mouth and nose, he instantly began flailing, clawing at his face. Then Ryan’s right arm changed into a long sharp pin twelve inches long, which he started to jab into the guard.
Focusing their gaze on the guard, the crowd became quiet. With his face turning blue, he started to bleed from dozens of small wounds in his abdomen. Pandemonium discharged from the crowd with shouts, ‘Plague! He has the plague!’ The new excitement captured Korg’s interest, who walked out onto the porch, pulling his mask over his face. Seeing the twitching guard, he went over to investigate, and tripping over Ryan’s invisible foot, he slid into the pool of blood.
The crowd shouted, “Korg has the plague!”
Scanning the monster mob, he realized he would be unable to turn them. However, they did block his exit. Stepping forward, he fell again, causing the crowd to back up. Then the other guard grabbed his face, struggled, started bleeding, and fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
Korg screamed, “BE QUIET. CALM DOWN.” It was too late. The crowd was now making a hasty retreat from the inn, including the town watch.
Returning to the dining room, he pulled off the mask, muttered under his breath, “If that is all it would take to make them leave, I would have killed them myself.” He looked at the healer, “Do you not have anything in your bag we can use?”
“I do all of my work up close. Maybe we should leave?”
“I cannot leave. Beaten by a damn girl and a bunch of kids. They won’t even let me clean the washrooms at the Royal House, at least not with a brush. They will skin me alive, and use me as a welcome mat.” Korg kicked over a table, “The chest! Now!”
Ryan was uncertain what he should do. [Breathing: silent mode.] Moving closer to Korg, being eager to kill him, he also wanted to neutralize the threat of the chest, hoping it would provide the evidence that they needed.
When the healer came down the stairs, his hands were empty, “They have been dispersed, Sub Commander.”
“Good, let us get out of this crap town.”
The recent sequence of events had Ryan confused. Needing to know what threat they had dispersed, he ran up the stairs to the healer’s room but was unable to locate any chest. Going into Korg’s room, below the open window, he saw the chest. It measured twelve inches high and wide, being two feet long, and from inside it, smoke drifted up. Approaching it, he saw metal lined sides glowing with heat. Inside was a smoldering branch that looked like charcoal, which filled the length of the chest. Being unsure if the smoke was a toxin, he closed the warm lid, replacing and crushing the lock. Seeing a thin wisp of smoke on the window ledge, he spotted a large red-winged insect three inches long. Where it stepped, small wisps of smoke formed under its tiny feet, but before Ryan could kill it, it took to the air. Fire flies, you have to be kidding me. Bastards are going to torch the town. With the window opening being too small for
Ryan to jump through, he dove through the entire window, and landing in the yard, glass rained down on him. The invisibility, no longer required, vanished, bringing Ryan back into sight. Running to the street, he heard the eagle squawk. Looking up, he called out to Zack, “Get everybody, now!” Then he ran to the front, wondering where Korg would appear. Several minutes later, Eric arrived. “Korg is going to try to leave so don’t let him.” Running up the street, Ryan saw Panry, John, Mirtza, Logan, and the Ironhouse brothers heading towards him
“What happens?”
“Eric is making sure Korg doesn’t leave town. Panry, Korg brought a chest of…of…fireflies, I guess. I don’t know what you call them. I saw one on the window ledge, and wherever it stepped, it started a small fire.”
“Were they long, bright red?” asked Panry.
“Yes!”
“They are firebugs. How many did he release?”
“I don’t know. The chest was two feet long so there could be dozens. What do they do?”
“They eat charcoal, but first, they make it. We need to evacuate Alron.”
“Logan, they fly, like fire. Can you or Sister do anything?” asked John.
“If they start a fire, I can put it out, but I’m pretty sure Sister doesn’t like bugs. She’s more into birds. Panry, will birds eat them?”
“No, they are too hot.”
“Well, what kills them?” asked Logan.
“Only cold will.”
“Cold I can do.” As Logan rolled up his left sleeve, he began rubbing his hairless left forearm, asking Sister for cold winds.
Scanning the buildings, John was looking for signs of fire, “Panry, how long before they need to feed?”
“I only know of them, but I do not know anything about them.”
“You said they eat charcoal, right?” asked John.
Panry nodded.
John’s eyes went large, “The clinic, there’s a huge feast there for them. They won’t waste their energy to make food if they have food.”
Being the first time there, the five were surprised at the damage. The clinic roof had shattered from the power of the lightning bolt, collapsing into itself. Even though the charred walls still stood, their support was minimal. The black floor sagged in the middle, weakened from the fire that had attacked it from beneath. The contrasts of red on black made the insects stand out, which crawled over their blackened meal.
“Damn it,” exclaimed John. “It’s not safe enough to go in there, and if this thing collapses, they’ll all fly away. Logan, how’s the weather?”
“We’re really far south, maybe too far.”
Seeing a firebug crawling out from a piece of burnt timber, John bent down, and pulling a nail from a burnt board, he stuck it into the bug. When he reached out to touch it with his finger, he quickly pulled it back, “Hot little buggers.”
Ryan picked up a partially burnt piece of wood, “Logan, can you light this?”
Reaching over, he touched the wood, which caught fire. Placing the impaled firebug over the open flame, they heard its micro screams when its wings and legs singed, turning black as it was cooked by the heat.
“Okay, Logan, they might start fires, but they aren’t immune to them,” advised John. “We need an intense and instant fire, I mean like a blast furnace. You can’t give them a chance to take flight. Hot and fast to destroy them all. Can you do it?”
“Well, it’ll be easier than bringing an iceberg here. You may all want to stand back.” After Logan had rolled up his right sleeve, he started to rub the red tattoo. All of the other fires, with the exception of the forest, had been small, and the clinic in comparison was huge. Logan thought of the special effects he had seen in movies and television; huge fireballs from exploding jet fuel, natural gas explosions, and more. Hoping that Sister could understand his thoughts, he concentrated on fires for ten minutes, superimposing his thoughts onto the clinic. Closing his eyes, he shouted, “Now!” The blast shattered the windows on the street across from the clinic. The heat rolled out into the street, melting paint and crystallizing sand. The elves, dwarves, and others quickly turned when the heat rolled over them, which popped thin bowstrings, dried out buckskin clothing, sizzling small hairs. Logan came walking out of the blast, hacking, wiping the soot from his face, and fell to his knees, coughing up thick black balls of mucus. “Did I get them all?” His eyebrows, much like the firebugs, were nowhere to be seen.
*******
On the tower of the town watch, Ramy had been enjoying a perfect cup of bean juice. When a loud sound made him stumble, he watched his favorite mug slide off the roof, hearing it smash on the ground. Looking up, he saw a giant fireball roll towards the clouds, “Self, we need to find a new quiet town,” and then he ran down the stairs.
*******
Ramy was not surprised to find John, Panry, and the rest of his odd companions in front of the clinic. He looked at them: a couple of kids, handful of elves and dwarves. How so few, could create so much chaos, it was beyond him. “Great balls of fire, I like this town. People came here because it was quiet. What the heck is going on?”
John was still spitting out ash, “Korg tried to set the town on fire using firebugs.”
“So, is it a competition?” Ramy was staring at the melted paint and broken windows on the far side of the street, and the aggravation in his voice was quite noticeable, “Did you win?”
“Korg started it,” began John. “We just finished it. We were protecting the town.”
“Protect it anymore, and there will not be anything left standing.”
When people walked out onto the street, their oohs and awes were heard from behind the group. John saw Ramy looking at the damage, “We’ll pay for that, but you need to do arrest Korg.”
Ryan stepped forward, “Search the inn. They brought the firebugs in a wooden chest that was two feet long, lined with metal, and it had a burnt branch in it. The Earth Mothers will be able to prove to you that it carried firebugs.”
“Go home, all of you. I will go talk with Korg and stop destroying my town.” As they passed the street with Pintar’s inn, Ramy looked down at Eric standing in front of it, “He is not going to give me any problems is he?” Then Ramy saw the wolf come around from the end of the inn, “Or him?”
John looked at the ground, “I don’t think…so…”
As some of the watch began to escort the group to the far end of the town, Ramy had the rest stay with him, feeling confident that the small group was done for the day, or least hoped. Ramy was issuing orders when one of the watch stepped forward, telling him about the two guards dying of the plague, and the rest voiced concerns about going back to the inn. He shook his head, “I have seen disease take people, and it does not come on that fast. Now I have no idea of what they died from, but it was not plague. Since you are the town watch, you will do as commanded or quit.” He then advised of who would search, and who would guard.
*******
When they were back at the house, Gingaar was sitting with Lauren in the backyard, who was pecking at a light meal. They also received word the other Earth Mothers were doing much better. As they updated Lauren, she listened but said nothing. Physically, she looked better, but emotionally, that was a different story.
Ryan watched the empty shell of Lauren listen to the updates, but when she looked up, the fire in her eyes was gone. He knew that Korg against Ramy never stood a chance. That he would probably end up providing more information to Korg, and they still lacked any evidence that the plague was a hoax. In fact, when he killed the two soldiers on the inn porch, he did more to validate the reality of it. Ramy would end up kicking Korg out of town, but Eric would just be waiting for him, and the whole mess would leave the citizens even more confused. There were no reasons to arrest Korg, and in fact, everybody associated with Lauren had more damning unproven charges than could be associated with Korg.
Wandering up to his room, Ryan looked out his window down at Lauren. She looked so small and brok
en. Needing Korg to screw up, he knew the sub commander’s discipline would never allow him to lose his composure, especially when witnesses were around. Going over to the dresser, he pulled out his high school hoodie and then went up to the top floor. Needing that which was not of this world for his plan to work, he hoped John would not be upset. As he passed Lauren’s room, he saw her staff. It was the first time he could recall seeing it when she was not holding it. He had wondered about it, as every time she set it down it always seemed to go out of focus. He had watched her a dozen times reach out to an empty table, a blank wall, or the ground. There would be nothing there, and then the staff was in her hands. When he comforted Lauren after Alron had died, he had learned how to spot it out of the corner of his eye, but this was the first time he had ever seen it in plain sight when she was absent. Walking in, after wrapping his hoodie around it, he picked it up, taking it downstairs. Going to Lauren, he put his oversized hoodie on her, leaning the staff against the table, and placed her hand on it. When that happened, roots from the base extended into the ground, drinking in refreshment and power. Being weak, she simply failed to care. Heading out the front door, he felt like he was playing poker, and all he had was a pair, which he hoped was big enough. Having no idea how it was going to end, he knew it had to. John had called it a puzzle, and he thought of Lauren’s staff showing itself to him, hoping that it was one of those pieces. There were only two, too close, and their reactions could spoil it all. They would be the only ones he would advise.
Chapter 17
“Panry, we searched the inn,” Ramy was trying to hold his voice down. “We were unable to find the chest. We found a broken window, but Korg offered to pay for it. He just wants to leave town, so you need to call Eric off.”
“There has to be evidence there. You did not search enough. Let me take my Earth Guard and search. We shall find the necessary evidence.”
“Evidence in this town, it does not exist. He lost six guards, two in broad daylight, surrounded by a crowd of hundreds. You would have better luck of finding a tree in a desert. He wants to leave, so let him leave.”
