The Map Maker's Sister

by Matthew Krengel

  “I know that boy, Stan,” Grandpa Able muttered. “He isn’t the type.”

  Stan stood and walked to the door. He closed it and lowered the shade on his window, “Look, Able, I agree with you. There’s something fishy going on here, but I can’t seem to lay my hand on what it is yet. These officers were hired just before I became chief, and the old chief had some strange ideas now and then. Just last year I had to send him to St. Peter. His family had him committed. He kept rambling on about people disappearing and strange lights in the skies. Thing is, these new guys haven’t done anything to warrant my firing them.”

  Jane’s tears slowed as she listened to him.

  “I have watched Jacob grow up, and I’ve known his mother for fifteen years,” Stan muttered quietly. “Neither one of them is into drugs. That much I know for a fact.”

  “But then …” Jane started to say.

  “I had to hold them both at least for the night,” Stan admitted. “Someone alerted the newspapers, and we’ve had reporters all over town because of these freak waves. Now I have people from the drug enforcement agency calling and demanding custody, quoting some law or federal regulation I can’t even find on their website. The feds say if I don’t turn them over to them, they’ll come after me and the department.”

  “But—” Jane started again, and again Stan cut her off.

  “I won’t let them take Jacob,” Stan said. “That one I can fight because he’s underage, but I can do little for his mom if they have the proper paperwork. I can probably delay them a day or two, but that’s it.”

  Jane’s mind swirled around, wondering what to do. “Can we talk to them?”

  Stan frowned, but finally he nodded, “I’ll arrange something. You’ll have to leave your phones and electronic devices here in my office.”

  They waited while he picked up the phone and made a few calls. Then he led them down to the main floor of the station and into a stark interview room. A metal table against one wall was bolted to the floor. Two plastic chairs sat near the table, and a brilliant fluorescent light added just the right amount of sterile light to the area. They stood waiting for nearly twenty minutes before an officer walked Jacob into the room and motioned for him to sit down.

  “Jacob!” Jane burst out as she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. When she finally let go of him, they separated slowly and looked around as if remembering for the first time that others were present.

  “Sir,” Jacob started out as soon as he sat back down. “I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t even home yesterday.”

  “I know, son,” Stan replied as he raised his hands helplessly. “But I have a signed search warrant from Judge Thompson and supply of drugs that matches the packaging and types of items similar to what we took off a dealer less than a week ago.” Suddenly he stopped and listened to his radio for a minute. “Blast it, the federal officers are here already.” He stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving them alone.

  “What’s going on?” Jacob asked. “I sat in a holding cell by myself all night with the lights on, trying to figure out what was happening.”

  “I don’t know,” Grandpa Able said. “They claim they found drugs in your house that match something they found earlier this week.”

  “I never!”

  “I know, son, and so does the chief, so he’s trying to delay the federal officers right now,” Grandpa Able explained.

  Suddenly the door swung open, and Stan stepped back into the room followed by two thin men in dark suits. Jane’s eyes saw the anchors pinned to their chests immediately, and she knew by the intake of breath next to her that Jacob did also. Two more local officers entered the hearing room right after the agents. All of a sudden the interview room was very crowded.

  “We’ll take him with us,” the first agent said with a grim smile. “We know how to deal with his type.”

  “Not so fast. Jacob isn’t going anywhere considering he’s only sixteen,” Stan replied. “I have some paperwork I need filled out and few things I need to check on first. Officers Lee and Marks will make sure everyone stays put until I give the word for you to leave.”

  “You can’t stop …” one of the men started but he stopped as Stan took a step closer and glared at him.

  “This is my department, and I run it,” Stan growled. “Not you. Get that straight.” The two men scowled at each other for what seemed like five minutes before the federal agent stepped back and nodded.

  The two local officers took up a position on either side of the door.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Able, can you come with me? We have a few things to talk about,” Stan said and then he stepped back out of the room. Grandpa Able followed him. Suddenly Jane felt very alone despite the presence of so many people still in the room. The moment the door closed, the thin man turned and smiled at them.

  “He can’t stop us,” the second man stated to Jacob as though everyone else was invisible. “We can take you out any time we want to. You think your family’s safe? Do you think anyone you love is safe? We can reach out to you anywhere you hide.”

  “Adherent!” Jacob hissed, and he was rewarded with a slightly surprised look on the federal agents’ faces. “I know that’s who you are.”

  “Give us the ring, and we’ll make this go away,” the first man replied.

  Jane stared at the man with an open mouth. That was what they wanted, the Runners Ring. She bit down on her lip and slipped her hands into her pocket and ran a finger over the metal loop.

  “Well, I don’t have it now, do I?” Jacob said as he held up his empty fingers and wiggled them in the man’s face. He glanced over at the two uniformed officers and noticed they were watching closely but neither seemed likely to interfere unless they absolutely had to.

  “Great thing about this world boy,” Cain’s runner said with a smile. “The technology they have can be used for so many things. It’s too bad that much of it doesn’t survive the trip back through the Divide.” Suddenly the man pulled a stun gun from his belt. In one fluid motion he aimed it at the officer standing to the left of the door.

  Jacob saw his eyes widen as the metal prongs struck his chest. Then the Adherent triggered the device, and the police officer collapsed to the floor as his body jerked wildly.

  “What the … !” The second officer reached for his gun, but a second set of prongs struck him in the shoulder. He fell to the floor.

  Jane lunged toward Jacob and pulled the ring from her pocket. She threw the metal band and anchor at him, and then crashed into the Adherents. The man stumbled backwards. Then Jane activated her own anchor. The room around her disappeared. Her own map was tucked tightly inside her windbreaker along with the compass and pen. Her anchor was fastened to the inside of her jacket out of sight. Before leaving home she had hurriedly found the place on her map where she wished to exit, and suddenly the wooden walls of the fort on Stockton Island appeared.

  Chapter 3

  Lost Tribes

  Tasker hurried back to the small command post when the goblin appeared nearby and told him one of his humans had arrived. When he stepped into the building, he found a worried Jane looking about wildly. She seemed to have just stepped from the Divide and looked scared.

  “Where’s Jacob?” Tasker asked as he looked about for the boy.

  “I don’t know. He should be close behind me,” Jane said breathlessly. “We ran into some trouble.” She ran outside.

  Suddenly Jacob appeared. “They shot me,” Jacob muttered in surprise. He looked over at them, then down at his stomach where a spreading stain of red had appeared. His hands clutched at the wound, and then he collapsed to the ground with a groan.

  “Jacob!” Jane screamed. She bolted to his side and carefully rolled him to his back. There was a puncture wound in the side of his stomach and a steady stream of blood seeped out of the small hole. The bullet must have passed completely through because there was a bigger wound on his lower back where the blood also flowed
freely.

  “Quickly! Carry him inside!” Tasker shouted at a pair of sailors standing nearby staring wide eyed. They hurried over and gently picked up Jacob as Jane kept his hands pressed firmly to the wounds. They hustled through the front door and laid him gently on the table while Tasker rinsed his hands in clean water and then hurried over. He leaned close and examined the wounds while Jane clung to Jacob’s hand.

  “This is bad,” Tasker said finally, leaning back. He leaned as close to the wound as he could and sniffed deeply.

  “It can’t be that bad,” Jane sobbed. “It looks like the bullet went right through. Won’t it heal?” She was shaking, and tears rolled down her face.

  “It isn’t the wound. That we can heal,” Tasker muttered. “They dipped the projectile in poison, even the slightest contact with the blood and the venom begins to work.”

  “There must be something we can do?” Jane said as she wiped her tears away.

  Jacob groaned where he lay on the table, and a cold sweat broke out across his face. She helped Tasker cleanse the wound. They tore long sections from a clean cloth and folded them over until two thick bandages sat on the table.

  “Put this under him,” Tasker muttered. He removed a clay flask from a nearby shelf and poured a bit of a foul-smelling liquid across the cloth. Carefully he placed the treated bandage under the exit wound and poured the same amount of liquid on the bandage for the second wound. He motioned Jane to hold the thick bandage in place while he carefully slid a long cloth under Jacob’s body and wrapped it around twice. When he had pulled it snug, he tied it together and stepped back.

  “What do we do?” Jane asked again. Her tears had run their course, and she stood stoically waiting for Tasker to answer her. “Do I take him back to my world and find a hospital?”

  “No!” Tasker replied immediately. “He won’t last that long, besides the poison is native to this world. Nothing that works in your world would have any effect on a poison from this side of the Divide.”

  “What kind of poison is it?” Jane asked.

  “It’s made from the leaves of the Bausor tree,” Tasker muttered. “Very rare and shipped from very far away.”

  “So what do we do?” Jane insisted. Her face pale as she pleaded for some way to cure Jacob. “There must be some way to cure it.”

  “I treated the bandage with a potion that’ll slow the spread of the poison but it won’t stop it,” Tasker explained. “We have maybe a day at most to find a cure, and our best efforts should go towards finding the People of the Wood.”

  “Who are they?” Jane asked as she gently ran her finger along Jacob’s fevered brow. His face was hot, and droplets of sweat formed on his skin. They slowly came together and slipped down the table, where they formed a pool on the wood.

  “They came from your world when the Divide was put in place,” Tasker explained. He unrolled his map on the bunk nearby and pointed to an area of land that was blank except for one word. “The Lost Ojibwa, they are called in your world, and their lands once surrounded the Black Leech Lake. The people who live there are firm believers in the great spirits, and they were deemed to be a better fit for our world than yours. They were one of the first peoples that Cain turned his sights against when he gained power here and he hurt them horribly. However, some hidden communities survived. We need to find one of them and gain the aid of their shaman. In fact, I know of one who has the knowledge and power to banish this type of poison from the veins … that is if he survived the purges.”

  “Where can we find them now?” Jane asked.

  “Those who survived retreated deep into the remains of the great underground dwarf mines dug many centuries ago. Cain let them be because he believed he had sealed all ways of entering or exiting the mines, but this isn’t true. I found a single entrance while searching for signs proving that the Lost Ojibwa had survived. At the entrance the eagle of the great band had been etched into the stone, and I knew at least one of their medicine men had survived.”

  “Where?” Jane insisted. “And when can we leave?”

  “We’ll leave immediately,” Tasker replied. “I’ll tell you exactly where when we arrive.”

  Jane leaned over Jacob and touched his fevered forehead one last time. He seemed to be sleeping, but his breath was shallow, and his eyes seemed to be moving rapidly behind the closed lids.

  “Keep him here, Bella, and keep him safe,” Tasker instructed the fairy. “Use your magic to keep him from moving. Movement will only spread the poison more rapidly.”

  Bella fluttered over to Jacob, and, started over his feet, slowly built a glowing net around his body. His troubled sleep quieted. “It works better each time you use it on someone,” Bella explained when she fluttered back over to where they were standing. “If there were more fairies here, we could strengthen the net and keep him perfectly still. There’s strength in numbers where fairy magic is concerned.”

  “Keep him safe for me,” Jane said with a teary smile. She turned and followed Tasker out the door and looked around the fort. It was obvious that the dwarf and his force of rebels had been busy. Even though she had only been away a little more than a day, the walls had been repaired, and the two giants and three trolls were busy hauling timbers from the forest and dropping them near the outer gates. Half a dozen men with axes limbed the trees, and two more with a rough two-sided saw hacked the logs into long sections to be added to the walls.

  “Puck has been at work on a mushroom ring here on Stockton Island,” Tasker explained as he led her down the rough dirt road and to the edge of the forest. “They only grow in the wild, so we need to walk into the forest aways.”

  Jane thought they walked for almost two-hundred yards before the forest opened up, and they found Eriunia and Puck leaning over a circle of mushrooms in the meadow. The tall willowy elf had replace her tattered clothes with a sturdy pair of trousers and a tunic that offered her more modesty than her old prisoner clothes. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail similar to Jane’s, and she smiled brilliantly when she saw Jane.

  “Welcome back,” Eriunia said and hugged Jane warmly. “I think the ring is ready.”

  “Good,” Tasker muttered gruffly. “Jacob was poisoned by an Adherent. If we don’t find a cure quickly he won’t survive.”

  Jane glanced at the dwarf and wondered at the directness suddenly in his voice. She was more used to Tasker beating around what he was trying to say, but with all watchers gone, he seemed to lower his defenses and admit that things were grave.

  “What will you do?”

  “The poison is from a Bausor tree,” Tasker explained. “What would you do?”

  The elf’s hand went to her mouth and shock showed in her eyes.

  “Very rare,” Puck mumbled. “And very expensive. Only a few places can you find anyone who’ll harvest the Bausor tree, let alone find someone who will transport it half way around the world.”

  “I’m well aware of the difficulty of finding the poison itself,” Tasker said. “I’m seeking a cure, one that can be had quickly.”

  “If the way weren’t closed to Tuatha De Danaan, there’s skill and mystic knowledge there to heal such a poison, but here in the mortal realm …” Eriunia shook her head. “What here has the power to heal such a thing?”

  “There’s someone nearby who has the skill and knowledge,” Tasker muttered. “Someone Cain believes to be dead, but finding him won’t easy. I’ll need your help, Eriunia, if you’ll agree.” They all waited for Tasker to continue. “There were those native to this land of forests before the Divide was put in place. There’s a shaman among the ranks of those who came to this side of the Divide who can help us.”

  “You’re speaking of the Lost Ojibwa,” Puck muttered. “My goblins have searched the forests for many years and have seen no signs of their survival. What makes you think you can find them?”

  “You were searching the wrong places,” Tasker said. “Puck, please keep our forces together and ready the ships. Eriun
ia, Jane, and myself will go searching for Walks with Clouds, the last shaman of the Lost Ojibwa. He alone is close enough for us to seek his help. When we return, it’ll be with his aid or not at all. Without Jacob’s aid, the battle for Madeline Island will be much bloodier then it needs to be.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Puck replied. He seemed unnaturally quiet and somber as he walked back into the woods and in the direction of the fort.

  “We are going to come out in the mushroom ring alongside Serpent Lake,” Tasker said as they looked down at the mushroom circle. “It’s called Serpent Lake for a reason. Whatever you do, stick close to me. We’ll head north to the Ports Mouth Mine where my ancestors opened up the first tunnels to the surface so many thousands of years ago.”

  “Snakes,” Jane muttered as her face paled. “I hate snakes.” They all stepped into the mushroom circle and were soon flashing along the magical passages under Tasker’s direction.

  It took a few minutes of travel. When they finally stepped out of the flashing circle Jane looked around nervously, hoping no snakes were close by. It was mid-morning, and the sun reflected off the surface of the water about two-hundred feet from where a small circle of oak trees watched over the mushroom circle. Suddenly Jane saw a ripple pass across the surface of the water. Moments later it seemed like the water boiled upwards. Then a massive head broke the surface and rose high into the air and looked down at them with glittering eyes. What made her heart pound even faster was that the gigantic snake’s body was topped with a human looking head and a mouth wide open and full of long fangs. She stared at the creature in amazement as it moved slowly towards the shore and hissed loudly at them.

  “Now is a good time to run,” Tasker said. He grabbed both of the women by the arms and pulled them away from the lake.