Keepers of the Flame

by McFadden III, Edward J.

  The remains of a stone wall cut across the path, and Tye pulled himself onto a shard of marble, straining to get his leg over. Pain pierced his chest, and he slid down the boulder to the ground. His breath caught in his throat, and a thousand pounds dropped on his chest. He tipped over and rolled in the weeds, struggling to breathe.

  A million pinpricks of light danced, and panic rose in him like the tide. He sat up, and put his back against a tree, ragged breaths escaping his constricting lungs. His vision faded to dark, his hands trembled, and pain shot from his chest to every extremity of his body.

  He looked to the sky, and the clouds parted and a ray of sunlight warmed his face. The ache eased, but his breath didn’t return. He saw Haven, his mother and sister, and they smiled, beckoning him to join them.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Year 2080 – Pacific Ocean

  The sea was calm, the wind gentle but steady, and the Santa Maria II cut through the water with ease. Milly sat on the bow with her feet dangling over the side, enjoying the cool sea spray. Robin sat beside her, a permanent smile affixed to her face. They’d done it. They’d travelled to the new world and now it was time to return home as heroes.

  “It’s like the sacred texts,” Robin said. “Everything ends where it began.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope all the trees aren’t uprooted and everything burned,” Milly said.

  “They planted a new party tree in Hobbiton,” Robin said. Her old friend’s skin sagged, her face covered with liver spots and freckles, but her eyes still burned with life and hope.

  “That they did,” Milly said. She was less optimistic about how the people of Respite would respond to the news they brought, and the offer the knight of Argartha would make. She figured most people would choose to stay on Respite, and that would be her recommendation. Peter and Randy had been right; she never should have left. There was nothing better over the horizon, except the world’s future, which meant nothing if you didn’t experience it with those you loved.

  Her hand dropped to the head of Peter’s axe. Her Glock had also been returned, and she planned to give it to Randy when she got home. The weapon didn’t feel right in her hand anymore. She was done fighting, for good.

  A puppy tore onto the deck, stopped, his head jerking from side to side. Milly and Robin laughed. When the dog saw them, he bolted across the deck, leaping the last few feet and crashing into Milly. The Santa Maria II had been at sea eight days when the captain discovered Axe, one of Pepper’s pups Milly had smuggled onto the ship. It had been the middle of the night when Axe started wailing and chirping, and Milly had been surprised to see the smile on Captain Jerrford’s face when he’d discovered the animal. She imagined things might’ve been different if she and the menagerie weren’t getting off the ship before the real mission began.

  Robin stroked Axe. “Where’s Turnip?” she said.

  “Resting in the hold below with Ratgut,” Milly said. The Argarthian sailors were superstitious and believed every vessel needed a cat aboard. So it was that Turnip met Ratgut, and what Turnip would do when Milly disembarked, she didn’t know.

  The early summer weather was warm and the seas calm. The Santa Maria II’s sails were trimmed tight. It had taken twelve days to sail down the east coast of the old US and around the tip of Florida. They encountered no other vessels, and as they rounded Cuba and cut across the Caribbean Sea, six more days passed before they passed through what was left of the Panama Canal.

  “It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?” Rene said. He’d joined them on the bow as the sun started its descent to the horizon in the west. The knight had been a wealth of information, and Milly knew the people of Respite would love his stories of the old world.

  “What’s hard to imagine?” Robin said.

  “The construction of the great canal. It’s an engineering feat of the old world and the new,” he said. “As you guys know, the two major locks that lift and lower the boats on each end of the waterway no longer function, and large vessels can no longer navigate the forty-eight-mile series of lakes, rivers, and man-made channels that connect the two mighty oceans. Only small vessels like ours can pass thanks to Argarthian engineers who developed a counterweight system utilizing parts from the old locks, and a series of chains and pulleys that lift or lower the vessel instead of displacing or adding water to the locks or adjusting the giant metal gates.”

  “Yeah, those engineers are geniuses,” Milly said. “Them and their chains.”

  Rene laughed.

  There had been a scary moment when the Santa Maria II floated in its harness and a chain and pulley failed, sending the crew scrambling to lower the boat before more chains broke. If they’d lost too many chains, they couldn’t have passed the western lock, and the Santa Maria II would’ve been stuck between the east and west locks.

  The sun set on another day, and the night brought dreams of home.

  The Santa Maria II headed north along the western shore of Mexico when a white one-eyed crow squawked and dove at them. Larry led them to Tester, who waited with the Jolly Roger, which he’d readied for launch.

  “Took me a year just to get to Mexico, and I stayed clear of Stadium,” Tester said. “Hansa found me in the jungle and brought me to the boat. She hung around for a bit, then said you guys would be here soon. Then she left. She said you guys would understand.”

  Milly did.

  Tester didn’t baulk when Rene demanded he leave his weapons behind. If it was up to Rene and Mora, Tester wouldn’t have been permitted to come with them, but it wasn’t up to them. It was up to Milly. It was her boat and she was its captain.

  Their trip back to Respite across the Pacific Ocean was considerably less difficult than when they’d left. The current worked in their favor this time, and the beginning of August found the Jolly Roger cutting through a light chop into the shallows around Respite.

  The beach was packed with people. Spyglass Station saw them coming and sent out word across the island. Milly had never seen anything as beautiful as Respite. She remembered wishing ‘good riddance’ when she’d sailed into the great unknown, but as she looked on her home, joy filled her for the first time in her life. It wasn’t too late. She’d made it back and she would make everything right. Her hand dropped to Peter’s axe. Almost everything.

  Milly remembered little of the landing; the hot sun on her face, the Jolly Roger hitting bottom, and jumping into the water with all the cheering people. Curso hugged her, but didn’t look Milly in the eye, and that more than anything else told her it was over between them. She barely recognized Randy. Time had marked her son, without extinguishing the fire in his eyes. Milly squeezed him as tight as she could.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You were right. You were right.”

  Hazel and Tris waited on the beach.

  Milly wasn’t done. Not by a long road. She had to speak with Hazel and Tris, then Vera and Jerome’s parents. Milly didn’t see Haven. Robin got carried away by the crowd through the blue water, pieces of the Oceanic Eco in the background. Scars covered her face where the pox had almost killed her, but she was laughing. Their eyes met, and Milly nodded. She and Robin would always be friends, but things had already changed.

  Puffy cumulus clouds inched across the sky, one the size and shape of a turtle, its neck pointed toward the horizon. That turtle would be for others to follow.

  She was home.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Year 2086, Respite

  Randy was drinking beer in Old Days Pub when Dr. Ren Pendaltine came to collect him. His mother had taken a turn for the worst, and if he had anything to say to her, now was the time. She’d been fighting illness for months, and her body had withered to skin and bones.

  The night was clear and pleasant, a strong breeze rattled the palm leaves, and the symphony of insects rang in his head. Electric lights perpetually glowed all around Citi. Solar arrays and a geothermal generator provided the magic, and with it had come the end of the Respite he’d k
nown. Sounds of merriment and the scent of food and flowers floated on the wind. Randy shook like a leaf. He was going to see his mother die, and he wasn’t prepared. She was too young. She was supposed to be with him for many years. There were so many questions he’d never asked, so many secrets he knew she held close. He hated seeing her so frail.

  It had been six years since his mother had returned from her quest and with her had come a cyclone of change. The Argarthian emissaries had relayed their message and departed, and Respite communicated regularly with Argartha. A ship would arrive in 2087 to take fifty Respite citizens to Argartha. There were only thirty-four volunteers, but the debate still tore apart families, friendships, and marriages. The unknown verses the known. He understood the arguments well.

  Randy and Ren paused outside his mother’s place. Milly had one of the nicest apartments in Citi. It had a terrace that reached out over the ocean, three bedrooms, and a private path to its entrance. Soon it would be his home, and his stomach knotted at the idea of living in all that space by himself.

  “You ready for this?” Ren said.

  “No.”

  “It won’t be long now. I’ve given her some turmeric and ginger tea to help with the pain and ease her into sleep. I’m going to wait down on the beach. Come get me when… if you need me.” Ren kissed him on the cheek and retreated, leaving Randy standing alone outside his mother’s door.

  He entered the living room. The electric lights were off, and coconut candles cast flickering orange-yellow daggers across the darkened room. His mother didn’t want him to see her, and that was fine with him. Milly lay on her cot, staring up at the ceiling. Her chest rose and fell fast as she fought for breath. Pepper’s son, Axe, lay on the floor beside her, watching Milly with tired eyes. Turnip had stayed with Ratgut on the ship, and his mother had never gotten over it. Gary died soon after her return, followed by Ben, and she’d been devastated. The secrets that had enslaved their families had been laid bare for the people of Respite to see.

  “Come here, Randy. It’s OK,” Milly said. His mother’s voice cracked as she struggled to breathe.

  “I’m here, mom,” Randy said. He knelt beside her. In the dim light only the outline of her sagging face was visible, but her eyes still glowed with defiance.

  “It’s time to speak the truth, you and I,” she said. “Do you love Hazel? Do you want to pair with her?”

  “Yes,” Randy said.

  “Not unexpected. Our families have had strange attractions to each other over the years.”

  Randy leaned back as she recounted her journey to Argartha, most of which he’d heard before or had pieced together on his own.

  “Do you know why I couldn’t kill Axe? Even after all he’d done to us?” she said.

  Randy started. The question touched on an issue she’d refused to talk about. “You couldn’t kill in cold blood? Even if it was justified?” he said.

  She coughed. “I’d like to think that, but the truth is I felt bad for him. He wasn’t a flawed person, he’d been damaged. Like me,” Milly said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because it’s true. I left you when you needed me most, and for that I am very sorry. I’m sorry that how I treated you makes you so afraid to leave the island.”

  “When you were away, I used to sit outside Spyglass Station and listen to the static. I never missed a session. I just wanted to hear your voice. Know you were out there somewhere, hopefully thinking about me. Remembering Respite was here. Why did you leave?”

  “I so wanted to see what was out there. Bring medicine and other magic of the gone world to Respite. To know if the old world had been everything Tye and the others said it was. That’s why I changed the message. But did I really? Yes I lied about the actual destination, but did I lie about the goal of the message? Or the invitation it presented? I just put it in terms the people of Respite could understand.”

  “Tye didn’t think so, did he?” Randy said.

  “No, he didn’t at first, but he came to understand. Poor Tye, without him, who will look out for Respite’s interests in Argartha?” Milly said. Tye had been found alive, leaning against a tree along the path in the Soldier’s Wood. He’d had a heart attack and had lived to tell the story only to die four months later after a second heart attack stopped his clock.

  Silence filled the room, the faint sound of waves breaking on the beach filling the void. “You must go to Argartha, drive policy and protect Respite. If a bad child, an evil child, a flawed or broken child—and they do exist I’m ashamed to say—if such a child is conceived by two highborn, no human will be safe on this planet from the child’s power.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because you’ll have Hazel, and this,” Milly said. She handed him a bundle of rags.

  Randy accepted the package and opened it. Inside was the family Glock 19, the gun that Staff Captain Sarah Hendricks had brought from the Oceanic Eco. The gun was slick with coconut oil, and Randy raised it and aimed at the wall. It didn’t feel right in his hand. He lowered the weapon and walked out onto the balcony. A gust of wind bit at his face, and he threw the gun into the surging ocean below. He heard it splash.

  Randy headed back inside, and Milly said, “What did you do?”

  “Something Grandma Sarah should have done fifty years ago. I rid the world of a useless and dangerous tool. If I go to Argartha, it won’t be carrying a gun.”

  “Since Hazel is smarter than you, please see she gets that there,” his mother said. She lifted her skeletal arm and pointed toward the corner.

  Peter’s axe leaned against the wall, its metal head oiled and clean, the composite fiberglass handle still strong. “I’ll see that she gets it. I promise. Hazel will love having it. You agree with Hazel that I should go to Argartha?” Randy said.

  His mother harrumphed, then coughed hard for several seconds, then blew her nose in a rag. “Hazel is like me, you’re like your father,” Milly said.

  “Is he my father?” Randy said. He was immediately sorry he said it.

  Even in her frail state, Milly reared in her bed, and her hand shot out and grabbed his arm. “Who said he wasn’t? I’m not dead yet and make no mistake I’ll put a knife in the person who said that.”

  His mother’s outbursts had diminished with her illness, but at times like these he thought long and hard about the price she’d paid to go to the old country. If she wasn’t damaged when she left, she sure was when she got back. “Nobody said it. After everything you’ve told me, I had to ask.”

  She sighed, then coughed. “Fair enough.”

  “You followed the turtle. How did you do it? Following drawings on trees? Nothing but a belief to guide you? No proof,” Randy said.

  “Another leap of faith. Like the fire guard test. Was it worth it? I’d say so, though when I reached my goal, I understood how misguided my purpose had been. The turtle is just a symbol, something simple to focus on. The tenets are where the real meaning is found.”

  “So you believe in those things?”

  “I do. I’ve seen the skeletons of the gone world, the world some of the sacred texts speak of. My mother used to tell me the story of The Day, and how the decisions she made saved lives and created Respite. She was so very proud that they’d stood up to death and won.” Milly coughed into a cloth hard for several minutes, and when she took the rag away it was covered in blood.

  “Let me get Ren,” Randy said.

  “No,” Milly said. She grabbed his arm, her bony claw amazingly strong. “There is nothing she can do. My time is almost up and I need to get a few things off my chest. First off, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t my fault Peter died. It’s true I didn’t move fast enough to drop my gun, but Tye challenged Axe, yelled at him in a defiant way. Then Axe shot Peter. My hands aren’t clean—it was my fault he was there—but I wasn’t responsible for his death,” Milly said. “I felt I had to take responsibility. I told Tris, but I don’t think she believed me. She blam
es me for everything, and I guess she’s right.

  “And another thing. My mother didn’t order Jade Robbi to kill Hazel’s grandfather. It’s myth. Folklore. What isn’t folklore is how Hazel’s grandfather used the affair with Sarah to force her into a relationship that made her betray Grandpa Gary and Respite.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Randy said. It was his mother’s death bed, and they had no time for falsehoods or delusionary truths. He only had one more shot with Hazel, and he needed to know everything. “You’re telling me grandma didn’t love Ben Hasten? That she didn’t want to screw him? That the whole “they have secrets on me” wasn’t an excuse?”

  “It was all those things. That makes your grandmother an adulterer, and there’s plenty of blame to go around if we want to cast those stones. What it doesn’t make her is a horrible person and destroyer of families. She didn’t mean Ben harm. Make Hazel accept it as truth, even if you don’t. You’ll never be together if you don’t,” Milly said.

  “I should believe you when you say you didn’t love Peter? And that you loved my father?” Randy said.

  “I loved them both, in different ways. Someday when you’re as old as me you might understand,” she said. “I guess you’re right though, Peter and I used each other like Ben and Sarah.” A gust of wind blew open the shutters, and the old wood slapped against the cracked concrete wall. Milly said, “Do you know when I’ve been most at peace in my life?”

  Randy shook his head no.

  “When I got home from Argartha, and the night I saw the Perpetual Flame come to life. My mother and I were in that Chestnut tree, gazing out over the desolated land, and that flicker of orange light saved me. Reassured me everything would be all right.”

  She went into another coughing fit, and this time she struggled to open her eyes. “Axe,” she said. The dog got up and put its front paws on the bed and licked her face. “I named him Axe so I would always remember where he came from. You must feed him now, let him stay with you. Promise me you’ll take care of him? It’s the only part of Pepper I have left.”