The Jewel of Nirune (The Sword of Time Book 1)

by William Smart

  "Well, little one here is what will happen." He said, plucking up his courage as he saw no sign of the old wizard. "We will eat this barbeque and you can tell your old master it was the brigade. And we had a right to it. That will teach you to be wandering around at night without proper authorization."

  Laughter rang out as the gruff men sat down and one pulled the carcass partway out of the fire and began ripping pieces of meat off the bone

  “Odd lookin’ beast, ain't it?” One of them mused as he ripped strips of meat off the bone with his teeth. But no one heard him, the smell seemed to be sending them into a strange frenzy.

  She watched in trepidation as the men ate as if they were starving. Something was terribly wrong. Several of them began to laugh hysterically over nothing at all. After a short while one fell to the ground holding his stomach. The man on the ground started to squeal in pain he lay there for a moment then began to writhe uncontrollably. The others continued to laugh as if they couldn’t stop. And one by one they toppled over in screaming, holding their stomaches. Guo Xiong was closest to her and as he fell he grabbed her by the dress almost pulling her down on top of him. She tried to pull away, but he held on tight his fingernails digging into her flesh.

  “What have you done, you little bitch?” He said, as he moaned in pain, “You’ve poisoned us.”

  “No! I swear!” she gasped, as she tried to pull free “Let me go I didn’t do anything. I told you, don’t eat it!”

  Something was happening to his face. It began to contort in front of her eyes. It was changing, becoming more beastlike. She could hear the bones of his face twisting and changing, like sticks grinding together in some evil forest. His grip felt more like claws than hands. There was a strange familiarity in the strange twisting, face even as she struggled to free herself her struggling to understand.

  Then she realized, he was changing into the Wolver!

  She suddenly pulled herself free, stumbling backward on the ground. Her hand fell on a sword that had been dropped by someone and she jumped in the air without even thinking, brought the sword down on the mutating Guoxiong. Again and again, she swung the sword till he was cut to pieces, unable to stop. She finaly collapsed in exhaustion.

  She sat there in a strange silence. There was no sound. Something rustled and she slowly looked up. Where once there had been five men writhing on the ground now stood five Wolvers, staring at her! She was exhausted from swinging the heavy sword she knew there was no way she could stop them.

  . She stumbled back as they began to advance, dragging the sword with her, feeling with her other hand for something, anything to help. She found a willow stick, it was dry with hardly any life at all but she hoped it would help. She raised the heavy sword in one hand and the willow stick in the other and chanted the small fire spell that she knew. There was a flash of light as she brought the sword and the Willow stick together.

  Magic light reflected off the shining sword and it seemed the blade was amplifying her little spell and a blazing light lanced across the dark meadow. It cut straight through two of the Wolver killing them instantly and wounding another. Then the strangest thing happened. The Wolvers who remained began attacking each other.

  It was a mindless bloody brawl that left all but one dead. It was so badly wounded she had but to cut off its head. An act of mercy.

  Just then a strange wind came up and twigs and stickers were tossed about the meadow. She covered her eyes as there was a strange flash. When she opened them again, nothing was left but bits of bones here and there. A greenish glow was in the air and a smell. Like something foul had been there. There was an oily feel to the air. She felt a presence.

  She turned around and around for a moment, staring at the strange scene looking for the cause of the unholy wind. Then she did the only thing she could do. Zhoulin grabbed up the sword and ran for her life.

  4 Destiny Calling

  T

  he whole neighborhood had come out to look for the now missing Billy. Marcy was sitting alone in her room. She was angry at him for embarrassing her with that nasty comment and upset because he was still missing. It was midnight now and no sign of him; she was also feeling the twinges of guilt seeping into her heart. He hadn't really touched her anywhere inappropriate, it was just one of those things. She was so confused.

  She knew deep down inside that she would have cried her eyes out if one of those sticks she had tossed had actually hurt Billy. But now! What to do. She could hear footsteps on the stairs and she knew she was going to have to admit the truth sooner or later.

  That was just a whole lot more embarrassment that she didn’t want to face. There was a light knock on the door and a voice softly.

  “Are you awake, dear?" her mother’s voice sounded through the door?

  She certainly didn’t want to face her mother right now, or her father. It had been hours since the incident at the river and once she had calmed down, she realized what she had done.

  Billy was out there lost and it was really her fault. If she just hadn’t gotten so angry.

  Why did he always make her so angry? She thought.

  They had known each other since she was six when he had moved to their neighborhood from the city. He had come from somewhere around Toronto and was all city boy. He didn’t seem to know anything that a usual farm boy knew. He was always getting into trouble and his dad seemed always to be angry with him. Her mom had said one time he must be having a terrible time fitting into the little farm community, milking cows and shoveling manure, feeding pigs.

  She had overheard him one time talking about how he and his brothers used to play on the streetcars of Toronto and go down to the city center. He had said there were huge shopping stores there and at Christmas, they had beautiful animated mechanical trains and nativity scenes in the windows of the stores. Names like Eaton's and Simpson-Sears stores.

  The closest she had ever been to any of those stores was the catalog they sent out to the country folk and you could order stuff through the mail. But remembering this, only made it worse. He was a city boy lost somewhere out there. Although they often traded insults it was never as bad as now. It was ever since her twelfth birthday, she had started to really, really hate him.

  The knock on the door was repeated, but this time the door gently opened and her mother stuck her head around.

  “Oh, there you are,” She said. “Are you all right, dear, would you like to talk? Sometimes these things are easier if you just talk it out. What did that nasty boy do to you?”

  “Yeah!" Tell me so I can beat him half to death.” Her father’s angry voice said from just outside the doorway.

  “Now Joshua, you never mind!” Her mom said.

  “You are just going to make things worse and you know his father said he would take care of it when he caught him.”

  “Lord knows, I would not want to be in that boy’s shoes. If Edward catches him we may well go to a funeral. Probably why the boy is the way he is and he will likely rip the hide right off him!”

  “Stop!” Marcy said, almost shouting. “Please stop. I am so, so sorry, don’t let them beat him, please.” Marcy broke down in tears as her parents stepped back in surprise at the passionate plea from their daughter.

  “What’s this?” Mr. Smith said in surprise. Mrs. Smith cocked her head to one side and looked at her daughter for a moment, puzzled.

  “I think you should leave us alone for a moment Joshua,” she said, never taking her eyes off the girl. Her husband looked at her for a moment, looked at his now almost weeping daughter. It infuriated him to see her in such a state. He wanted to say something, do something. Since it was dark the search had wound down, he found himself sitting in frustration. But he grunted and stepped outside obediently where half the neighbors had obviously heard the loud wail and were all staring at him in expectation.

  "Ok!" he said aloud. "Women stuff!" the men all grunted, in that way that meant they knew exactly what that meant, and began to file outside for
a smoke.

  Billy’s father cornered him.

  “What’s going on Josh?” he asked.

  “Don’t really know,” Joshua responded. “But something’s up. Don’t know what happened, but I swear I will kill that boy.”

  “I am so sorry Josh! Don’t you worry; whatever that little brat did, he will pay for it.” Joshua looked at him uncertainly for a moment.

  "Um, thanks, Edward, but maybe we should hold off till we see what really happened. Don't want anybody else getting hurt," He said a little nervously, thinking of what his wife had just said. He wasn't at all sure what to do, but had a sinking feeling this was going to all get a lot worse before it ever got better.

  “Come on Edward,” he said, “how about we go have a smoke and let them women work out all that woman stuff. And then we can decide what to do about your boy”

  Marcy sat under the questioning gaze of her now, curious mother.

  "Ok, Missy. Why do I have a terrible feeling there is more to this than meets the eye," Her mother said quietly. "Now I don't know what happened down at that river, but if you lied to us there is going to be even more trouble. Girl, I raised you better than to lie or hold back the truth so what happened? Did he do more to you? Was there groping? You can tell me. Did he touch your…?"

  “Mom!!” Marcy squealed, before her mother could finish the question. They had had the sex talk, which was so embarrassing. And she knew where the question was going. “What are you saying? He didn’t touch me. Well, he did, but he was scrambling out of the water, all splashing and yelling, something about something in the water and just about knocked me in, and then he said I had no boobies, so I yelled and then I threw a stick at him, well, maybe I threw the stick before, but I was just mad that’s all and, and well it just all happened so fast!”

  Her mother stepped back, stunned at the sudden tirade.

  “But what are you saying? He, he didn’t touch you?” Then... “Oh my god Marcy! What have you done? You evil child! He is out there, lost in the dark, maybe dead! Because he said you are flat? Are you insane? Since when do you even care about such things?” She was almost shrieking now. Everything became silent as Joshua came running into the house.

  Marcy didn’t see the slap coming till she was lying on the floor, face stinging. The door was open and her mother was almost screaming. “Joshua get in here, right now!”

  She had never seen her mother so furious.

  It was going to be a long horrible night. She knew it would probably be the worst day of her life, but what really pained she was that her mother had said. Billy was probably dead!

  Things didn't get any better in the days to come. There was an actual official investigation going on and Marcy was questioned without mercy. She had even had to face Billy's parents. His mother was livid, and his father was strangely silent during the whole thing. She sat there crying till she had no tears, then cried some more.

  It was becoming evident that something had happened near the cave. There was blood and even chunks of some kind of skin and fur. But most of it had been washed away so the police were looking at it as some kind of animal attack or maybe a drowning. Everything seemed to lead to the cave, however. But of course, that path went nowhere as it was a literal dead end. So they searched downstream and even dragged the slow running river and found nothing.

  She overheard the officers talking downstairs along with some of the neighbors. The discovery of the cave had frightened them all. Even though it seemed it couldn’t be connected with Billy’s disappearance, they were talking about blowing the cave up, of course for the sake of the children.

  While all this was going on Marcy was confined to her bedroom most of the time. The bedroom was new as where the barn and out outbuildings. So she should have been enjoying it. But it just reminded her of the reason they had all been there. Finishing off the work and moving in. If it hadn't been for the construction, however, Billy wouldn't have been on the river.

  Now she could look out the window at the lovely bridge, that was about to be blown up along with the cave. All only reminding her of the fact that he was gone and on top of that, few of the adults would even talk to her, unless it was with some disapproval.

  Because of the search, there were more people around the secluded farm than usual and she was sometimes ordered to take food and water to them as punishment. This gave her the opportunity to talk to some of the children. All the children knew about the rumor of fairy lights in the waterfall at night.

  Some had even dared to mention it to the adults who of course laughed it off. But since Billy's disappearance the strange green light was no longer seen and to the children, it seemed an odd coincidence.

  To her relief, the other children didn't seem to hold the same grudge against her that the adults did. On the contrary, even Steve, Billy's older brother said he didn't think it was her fault, just a stupid misunderstanding. While the adults were searching downriver it had given the children ample time to check out the area around the falls and cave.

  The police had diverted the water so the cave was easily accessible and open to the air for the first time. Tommy and Gary and a couple other boys snuck past the police tape one day. The police were busy searching somewhere on an anonymous tip. The boys came back with reports of claw marks in the rock itself and definite blood in the cave.

  It wasn't till several days later that they found an opportunity to all join together to talk while the parents and police were all busy. Steve, who was much older and didn't usually hang with Billy's friends and was there ostensibly to do a little fishing said

  "Well, I think they have decided he is actually dead."

  “Why do you say that?” Marcy said, a little shocked by the matter of fact way he had said it.

  “Well, they are calling off the search, they told my Dad, and he’s taking it really hard.”

  “Really?” Marcy blurted out. “I thought your dad hated Billy.”

  “Naw. The old man is just really rough and he thinks Billy is really weak so I don’t know, oil and water I guess. Billy’s the artistic type.”

  “Really?” Tommy said. “Artistic? That’s hard to believe.”

  “Yeah, he sings and draws and all that girly stuff, but anyway, we don’t have much time before the adults get back. I think they are planning to blow up the cave real soon.”

  Marcy sat there a moment. They were all quiet. Finally, she said what was on her mind, but she was sure they would all think she was crazy.

  “I think the cave has something to do with his disappearance.” she finally blurted out.

  They all stared at her. Steve said, "Yeah, that's what we all figure."

  “Yeah!” Tommy said. “we all saw that weird light there was all those missing animals, right Gary? And Gary’s dog is missing too.”

  “Why is that weird?” Steve said.

  “Well, they found the body of the old Duke buried in a shallow grave just inside the woods”

  “OK,” Marcy said. “Why is that weird?”

  "Well, they figured he had been buried there for some time."

  “And?” Marcy coaxed.

  “Don’t you see?” Gary said. “Duke was with us all last week. He was with us when we were swimming.”

  “Well, I didn’t see him,” she said.

  “Well, I did,” Tommy said. “I even petted him a few times. Tried to scratch his belly, but he growled at me.”

  “Yeah, me too!” Steve said.

  “I still don’t get it,” Marcy said. “Whas that to do with anything.”

  “Oh for’ crying out loud,” Steve looked at her in frustration.

  “They found the dog dead in a shallow grave. Get it? And he had been dead for a couple weeks. Get it? If he was dead in a grave, then how was he playing with us just a couple of days ago?”

  ”Ok, Ok, I get it!” Marcy sat perplexed for a moment. “Wow that is weird.”

  "But who buried him?" Tommy asked. Then after a moment's silence. "Hey, Gary, r
emember Billy saying' he was attacked a couple weeks ago? You remember the whole monkey story."

  "Oh yeah!" Gary said. "It was kind of strange because around that time Duke started hanging around Billy. Wouldn't even come when I called, just followed him everywhere.

  "Yeah, well, that's not so weird because he has been up hangin' around our house for about a month, even saved Billy from getting killed by a bull."

  “What are you talking about?” Gary said. “Duke hadn’t been at your house, he has been at our place right up until the day that Billy got chased. Me and Sam went hunting with him just the day before Billy came to visit me. We were trying’ to figure out what was taking’ our sheep”

  “No way!” Steve said. “He was at our , he even protected Billy from one of the Williams's bulls."

  “That’s Impossible!” Gary asserted. “You can go ask Sam. Duke was with us.”

  “Actually,” Tommy said, breaking into the argument. “I saw a dog that looked a lot like Duke with Billy. Before he went to see you.”

  "If he had a new dog, wouldn't you know about it?" Marcy asked Steve.

  "Of course!" Steve said, "but he kept calling the dog Duke and telling him to go home to

  Gary, so if it wasn’t Duke, he didn’t know it either.”

  “So what then? What we have is a dog imposter?” Tommy said.

  "That's just weird," Gary said. "Where would he get a dog like that?"

  "It makes no sense at all," Tommy said.

  “Yeah, why would some strange dog protect Billy anyway?”

  “And who buried the real Duke?” Gary asked no one in particular.

  “It has something to do with the cave, and those weird lights and the disappearing cattle,” Marcy said.

  “Do you think it’s possible that, Well…” Gary hesitated a moment, not sure if he should say something totally crazy.

  “Come on out with it,” Tommy said. “Whatever you’ve got to say can’t be any weirder than I've been thinking.”