The Tapestry

by Wigmore, Paul

  Before the Dragon could gather itself, Saul tried again to crush the Guardian, only to be thwarted once more. He bashed at the ground around her but nothing could break through. His anger was uncontrollable, it was obvious now that the other little ant wasn’t the one helping her, he cried out in frustration. How could one little ant hold so much power?

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  ‘I saw you, inside my mind... I watched you at that door’ Gavin held his sisters hand as they walked the dark hallways of his mind together. When Saul had no further use for Gavin, he had locked him back inside his own mind to wander for eternity. But Gavin saw Clara as she wept at what Saul had done to him, he had loved Lala as much as he had loved Michelle but in a brotherly way. He felt ashamed at the atrocities he had committed in Michelles name. He should have known that he would be discarded when Saul had no further use for him, just like he had left beetle man to rot when he’d had his fun.

  ‘We can make all of this right’ he said, ‘us two...together’

  ‘I knew it wasn’t you Gavvo’ she kissed him sweetly on his cheek and looked down the hallway to the dark passageway that she had stood at before.

  ‘When Saul left me, I thought I was lost inside here forever, lost in my own thoughts and memories. Do you know what that would do to a man? Not that I don’t deserve it.’ she put a finger to his lips.

  ‘Hush with that talk, you were not yourself, that demon took advantage of you and now...’

  ‘I walked and walked these corridors, wanting to open doors but scared at what I might find. I wandered for what seemed like hours until I heard a voice calling me. I thought I was going mad, maybe I already have... I’m already dead’ he chuckled at the lunacy of it all

  ‘When I got to the room that the voice was coming from, I found the door open and inside there was a man, not a very scary looking man by no means but I presume he was wanting to appear friendly to me’ he trailed off seemingly lost in his own thoughts (which is a bit of a paradox if you think about it)

  ‘Go on’ she urged

  ‘Well he showed me how I had been used and showed me how I could help you, he also told me his name, do you want to know what it was?’

  Clara wasn’t sure if she wanted to know or not, but urged him on.

  ‘His name was Legion can you believe that’ he said with a rather deadpan face.

  ‘I spoke with the devil and he showed me what was behind that door that you stood at, I know now why I was guarding it so fiercely, I was an Ill man and.... and’ he began to weep uncontrollably. ‘I’m so sorry Lala for everything I’ve done’

  ‘I know... I know’ Clara didn’t know how to console him; somehow he was now feeling the pain he had brought.

  ‘Let me show you’ he held her hand tighter and led her to the dark passageway. As they walked down the passage, the creatures that had been there before were now gone but it was still as dark as before. Inside the room was Gavin looking a lot younger, maybe ten or fifteen years younger than he was now or would be.

  ‘You never knew about Michelle did you?’ he asked her not waiting for a reply.

  ‘She was my girlfriend, or at least I thought she was. She cooked fine meals for me, she kept a tidy house and she tended to my every need, she was an amazing lover’ Clara winced at this, a little too much information.

  ‘You never mentioned her... why’

  ‘Like I said, I was a sick, sick man... look, there is my Michelle’ She looked into the room proper and saw Gavin with a box about four or five feet long. The look of glee on his face was all too evident.

  ‘This is the day we first met’ he pulled the object out of the box and carefully unwrapped it out of its Styrofoam packaging.

  ‘I thought we had met in Russia, funny how I never really remembered being in Russia though’

  A look of realisation spread across Claras face.

  ‘Oh my god, you poor soul’

  ‘I can see now on the packaging, she was an import from Russia, my whole life was one big lie to myself. Was I that lonely?’ maybe its better off that I’m dead and bound for hell’

  Clara was at a loss for words, if she understood it correctly then Gavin had thought this...this blow up doll to be his girlfriend, or wife or something, and he thought that she had cooked all of his meals and kept his house clean and tidy and satisfied his every need when in fact it had been him all along. She felt angry at herself that she had not noticed something wrong with her brother. Then again, how many times had she visited him over the years, the guilt then settled heavy on her heart, maybe she could have done something for him if she had been around more.

  ‘I did all this for her you know, can you believe it?’ his laugh was more hysterical now.

  ‘They knew, Pinky and Craig, they knew I was a mad man in love with a doll... how they must have laughed about me. But I got my revenge for them burning my stupid fucking doll’ He held his hands up to cover his face in despair. ‘What have I become, if not a monster’

  Clara had no words to soothe him so brought him into her arms as he wept. She led him out of the room, not wanting to look back.

  Once out of the room Gavin seemed to gather himself a little more.

  ‘I’ve not much time left Lala, but I can help you, right now Saul is trying to crush you underfoot, but you are being protected by dark forces known only to Satan, he has shown me how to defeat him but we...’

  Clara looked aghast at the very thought.

  ‘What? You are surely not being serious, why on earth would Satan be protecting me? I would have thought he would be chomping at the bit for the gates of hell to be opened... why would he help us... and furthermore, why should we trust him, have you gone completely mad?’ she felt a slight blush of embarrassment at her last comment... but still?

  ‘Contrary to what most people believe, Satan doesn’t want to rule over earth, he is quite content to rule over Hades or hell as we know it. The war in the heavens when he last fought God and his archangels proved to him that as mighty as his powers were, he was not a match for the strength of God himself. So he has left us alone, he is quite content with the stories that are spread of him just to keep us believing in him. To take Gods land would be an affront to God himself, he does not want that, but he also does not want Saul to have the glory, even for the short time that it would be, so he has shown me how to defeat him’

  ‘A likely story, I don’t think... so how are you intending to defeat him’

  ‘I think it’s best I show you, I don’t have much time and your dragon is being slowly pulverised’

  Clara came to and took in the scene before her, the dragon and Saul were still ripping chunks out of one another, it was clear they were growing weary, their strength equal to one another. She stood tall and called her Trident to her, she clasped it in one hand and planted it in the ground at her side, Gavin stood with her.

  ‘Whatever it is you’re planning, then do it now brother’ she said.

  ‘I love you sis’ he said and ‘I’m sorry’ Clara’s face was a picture of puzzlement, why was he apologising again... now? But there was no time to ponder such things.

  ‘Demon, come forth to meet your end’ she called defiantly through the storm. He turned to see her and rejoiced that she had finally woke from her slumber.

  ‘Aha, the little would be God is awake once more, how was your sleep, are you ready to make that a more permanent situation’ He held the mighty Dragon in his claws, it had all but given up, Saul was just playing with it now. He finally brought the Dragons neck up to his face and planted his sharp fangs beneath its scales ripping the lifeblood from the Dragon. It slumped in his arms as the blood ran down Sauls chest.

  ‘I have beaten your mighty Dragon, what challenge do you pose me little one?’ Gavin stepped forward.

  ‘She may pose no threat to you, but I will be a more troublesome little ant’

  The Demon laughed at this little show of bravado.

  ‘What? You are nothing more than my l
ittle puppet, there is nothing you can do to harm me, this world is now mine’ Gavin took another step forward and brought the knife from his sock.

  ‘I may have been your puppet, but no more, now you are my little puppet, for your blood runs through my veins now, remember and I have a knife chiselled from the stone of Agartha, kissed by Satan himself. He has bound our blood together, as one... which means. Gavin took the knife and sliced it across his palm and the Demon cried out in pain, as the wound streaked its way across his claw.

  ‘No... no this can not be, how did you come by this’ although the realisation was already settling in. Before Gavin could take another strike Saul was at him with lightning speed and knocked him into the rubble of the pub, the knife flying from his hand. Clara ran for the knife dropping the Trident and gripped it in her hands, Saul turned on her and she threw it past his massive torso, hoping it would land near Gavin before Sauls mighty fist came down on her head. This time she felt real pain, she felt her skull shattering as she fell to the ground, her vision swamped with blood, her last thought was that she should have trusted her instinct, not to make a deal with the prince of lies. He had only protected her until he no longer needed her. Her consciousness was ebbing away from her with her blood as she saw Gavin hold the knife up above his head and sink it deep into his own chest, repeatedly plunging the blade into the bloody mess that his chest had now become.

  As he did, Saul let out an almighty roar that could have been a cry of anguish or a cry of pain, he was defeated, he fell to the ground in a slump and his body burned up in a whirl of flame before her consciousness took her elsewhere.

  It took her above the hills and they smelled sweet, of honeysuckle and lavender once more. She looked across the city and the Dragons showed her that there was no more pain, no more suffering, all was as it should be.

  ‘So, they don’t know what happened then’ she asked

  ‘No, peace has been restored and the battle shall has been wiped from the memory of Man, no lives were lost, thanks to you Guardian’

  ‘And what of Gavin, will he burn?’ The dragon lifted his mighty head and smiled as he looked beyond her.

  ‘No, he is right behind you’ she turned to see her brother looking like the man she had known all those years ago, before the illness, before Saul. She rushed to hug him.

  ‘My god, I thought that you would be... you know, down there’

  ‘It would seem I paid my dues’ he said with the biggest grin he had ever worn. He picked her up and swung her round.

  ‘Go now’ the dragon urged, you have family waiting for you. They saw the golden light and, for the first time in years, she saw Stan, waving them to join him.

  ‘I’m coming my love’

  EPILOGUE

  What had happened over the last few days had been wiped from peoples minds, everything seemed to have been wiped from history, never to be mentioned again. The buildings were no longer rubble and the children were all safe. It was as if nothing had happened at all. That was apart from one man who was rudely awoken by a pub landlord the following morning.

  ‘Oy... oy you, I don’t do bed and board, get the hell out of here’ and he shooed the rather dazed man out of the pub, who staggered to the top of Trident Hill. His senses began to flow back through his new, if temporary body and the man felt a primal surge of excitement take over as he surveyed the land below and all around him knowing, that soon it would be his. The body he wore was repairing itself at an accelerated rate and fortunately, the little ant that had once controlled the body was now trapped inside like a spider under a glass. There was no saviour for this little ant but he was already proving to be useful. Inside his mind were his memories, and those memories were going to lead the way to “The Tapestry”

  I’m going to leave you now although there is still one question I know you feel I must answer. Who am I? Well I was there that day, but I died, only to be awoken by a dark soul in peril. You have probably guessed my name, but would you dare voice it I wonder? And if not then lets just say maybe you will see me in your dreams, or maybe not... would you know the difference?

  With this thought I bid you goodnight, sleep tight.

  THE END