He didn’t want anything to go wrong this time.
He retrieved the pouch with the necklace and set the beetle bead on the small silver anvil that sat in the exact center of the ward. He bent down and picked up the ancient hammer and held it over the amber.
Marks closed his eyes and lifted his face toward the setting sun. The world stilled with the utterance of the first word, “Tsa-tsi-yo-hi-s-di.” Marks’ head rocked in the slow rhythm of the strange language. “A-tsi-nu-go-wa-s-di-a-ye-li.” A small whirlwind picked up dust and leaves and created a dark barrier around the outside border of the salted trench. His eyes opened as the ancient hammer raised higher, “Sa-quu.” He brought it down fast onto the amber bead. The world exploded outward from the anvil in a massive burst of power. It scattered the dust and leaves and pushed the Rover up onto two wheels where it almost toppled.
He wasn’t sure how long or how far the burst would travel but he held tight to the hammer, knowing it would rush back in with even more force as everything was sucked inside the outer ward into the past.
He clutched the hammer to his chest and hunched over the anvil to keep himself safely inside the ward. It would take a moment for the rift to stabilize; he didn’t dare even look around to see where the banished one materialized, or even what it was.
Keezie slammed sideways as the truck was thrown from Kaga’s long driveway by an unseen surge, or wave, of energy. Her head bounced off the steering wheel. Stars and sparks spun through a haze of black and red in her vision.
When the vehicle stopped, the rear tire on the passenger’s side hung in the air over the ditch that ran alongside the gravel drive.
Her eyes cleared just in time for the second wave to smash the truck back the other way. Her head cracked against the glass of the side window causing the bright stars to flare again.
She stepped on the gas. The truck lurched but the rear tires just spun. It wasn’t going anywhere.
She opened the door and fell on her knees in the gravel. She braced herself against the front fender and waited for the blackness to clear and the ringing in her ears to subside.
The head rush went on and on. She wasn’t sure it was going to stop, but then, the edges began to recede.
When it cleared, Keezie could see the peeling white of the house not too far in front of her. She knew she couldn’t get Eli or Usok to the house by herself. She hoped Joseph was there to help.
She pushed up and off the truck, then took a few tentative steps up the road.
Sounds were muffled and distant.
A strange pressure built behind her eyes and filled her skull. It grew until her thoughts were shrouded in fog and her eye sockets ached, and then it disappeared.
She yelled for Kaga and Joseph, but the air swallowed the sound of her voice. Her heart jumped into frenzied action and pounded her head painfully with every terrified beat.
Kaga stepped onto the porch and pulled something from his belt.
Keezie cried out and stumbled forward, but the pressure returned and pushed hard against the back of her eyes and eardrums, as if it were trying to expand from the inside. She wondered if her head would explode. Thinking was impossible. Whatever it was that pushed also compacted her brain, cutting it off from nerves and blood.
The sensation took even longer to dissipate the second time, and when it trickled away there was an earthy taste in her mouth. Keezie blinked, slowly begging the world to come into focus. Her cheek hurt.
Her sight expanded revealing the gravel and dirt to her left. She tried to shake her head, but a wall of some sort kept her head from moving. She took in an expansive breath that made her cough when her lungs filled with grit.
The cough kicked up a dust storm. She was baffled for a moment until the rest of her body jerked and awoke her deadened nerves. She was laying in the road, cut by the sharp gravel that made her impromptu bed, and she was bleeding.
The pain and pressure in Keezie’s head was gone when she peeled her eyes fully open. She pushed against the road trying hard to ignore the gravel that cut into her skin as she forced herself up.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but she was certain they all were running short of it.
She peered through tight lids toward the house.
Kaga stepped confidently from the stairs to the grass, his milky eyes fixed on the forest in front of him.
Slowly she turned her head to follow his stare. She’d barely registered the monster when Kaga charged.
It was an owl, snowy white with brown patches, but its giant body towered over the charging shaman.
It swiveled its head from side to side and hopped from one great taloned foot to the other.
Her mouth gapped as the horrid beast turned her way and opened its sharp-toothed maw. Its face was human, except for the pointed teeth.
She squeezed her hands to her ears as the pressure again built to a skull-splitting level.
She couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She tried, anyway. She screamed and begged her body to comply.
Her feet were slow to respond, but she coaxed them into a shuffling jog.
Her vision was mostly clear, and the pressure was gone by the time she reached the yard. She was just in time to see Joseph burst from the front door.
Her body sagged in relief to see a familiar and friendly face. “Joseph!” she called and waved. He didn’t acknowledge her but rushed to the high grass just inside the trees. She followed until he stopped.
He sank to his knees and Keezie put a hand on his shoulder. She felt his shaking through her arm.
She stepped around him and sank to her knees. Kaga’s badly eviscerated body lay on the ground in front of them.
Somehow the monster was gone.
“With great power comes great responsibility. The Great Spirit has him now.” said a soft voice she recognized. Joseph nodded but didn’t look up. Ammonih draped his arm around his large friend’s shoulders and knelt beside him in the blood-soaked grass.
The car was silent. Joseph’s mind reeled as he tried to comprehend the death of the only father figure he’d ever know. His whole world spun.
Ammonih sat beside him on the bench seat of the ’72 Delta 88 and Keezie slumped in the back between Eli and Usok. She had one hand on each of their bodies, but her eyes were closed, and he wasn’t sure if she was awake.
Joseph rested the stump of his left arm on the door just inside the window. Sometimes he still tried to pick something up or scratch himself. It was always a shock when he remembered his hand and forearm were gone.
The road up the mountain flattened and straightened and, if he remembered correctly, the pullout for Mather Lodge would be up on the right. It was dark now and they would have to hike to the falls by moonlight because he had forgotten to pack flashlights.
He glanced at Keezie in the rearview mirror. She was beautiful.
She terrified him. He would never be able to unsee her killing Peter Hurech. Crouched over him, the man’s blood pouring from her distended jaw.
He slowed as the pullout came into view. “We’re here,” he mumbled. “We will have to walk to the falls in the dark.” He thought she nodded.
“Dammit, Jim,” Ammonih mumbled.
“I had a lot on my mind,” Joseph replied. He guided the Oldsmobile into a front spot.
Joseph pushed himself from the car and popped the gargantuan trunk. He retrieved his backpack and avoided looking at Keezie when she slipped past Eli on the seat and rounded the back of the car.
“I’ll carry Eli and Ammonih can take Usok.” His voice barely carried past his lips. He dug in his bag. “You just watch your step,” he told Keezie.
She nodded and chewed on the side of her bottom lip. It was distracting. He flung the backpack on and slipped his hands under Eli. He worked his arms elbow deep beneath then man before lifting his friend from the back seat.
He placed the unconscious man across his shoulders and looked to Ammonih to see if he was ready. The Nvnehi had done the same wit
h the dog and nodded when the big man caught his eye.
“Okay then, let’s get going,” he muttered and set off through the covered entryway and down behind the lodge to the path.
Joseph adjusted Mal’Ak on his shoulders and drew the Earth’s power through his feet and into his eager body. He felt his skin harden, his muscles expand. His body cast off the weariness and embraced the quickening of Mother Earth’s energy.
Despite everything, he smiled. Now, if I only had something to smash.
He peered into the tree filtered moonlight for the path and set a steady pace when he saw the first switchback that would take them down into the valley where the falls tumbled into a dark pool and crashed over the rocks of the creek.
He lost himself in the movement and let it cancel out all his thoughts and memories of the day. He wanted to honor Kaga’s memory, and Kaga would have put Mal’Ak’s life above everything else. So, he jogged and forgot. He didn’t even look back to see if the others were behind him.
Keezie tried hard not to fall behind the men, but Joseph’s pace and Ammonih’s unnatural grace left her behind, panting and stumbling over rocks and roots that were hidden in shadow or obscured by dappled moonlight.
She bit her tongue and hoped the pain would pull her from the well of crushing sadness. She was a coward. She wallowed in pain and told herself she wished it would go away. It was a lie. She blamed Eli and Mampa, but knew it was her fault. She always tried to force the world to bend to her will and was surprised and hurt when the consequences weren’t what she expected. It was the same when someone did something counter to her desires. She’d guilted Eli into taking her to the Way Hut after he’d told her it wasn’t safe, after all. He’d begged her to stay. Well, what qualified as begging for Eli, at least.
She rounded a bend and for a moment could see the boys in front of her. Eli was completely devoid of muscle control or awareness. She watched his unconscious body shift with each step Joseph took. She hoped she’d have the chance to tell Eli how she felt. How she really felt.
She took a deep breath as she rounded the last of the switchbacks where the path leveled out a bit. She blew it out as the boys disappeared behind one of the huge boulders lining the trail.
She felt her way over the rocks that crossed the trail. She hoped the seasonal streams that fed Cedar Creek were dry. There was nothing worse than hiking in wet shoes.
Keezie had no idea why they were here, what they were after, or what help they could possibly find. There was nothing at the end of the trail except for the falls. She had been here a hundred times and couldn’t think of anything even remotely magical about the place, except for the ambiance.
The air was still and moist. She could hear the creek rushing just out of sight to the right. The smell of warm hot rocks and rotting wood was thick and relaxing. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and squinted into the shadows that shrouded the trail.
A snap drew her attention to the forest on her left. A cold tingle crept over her skin and prickled at the base of her skull. Something slithered into the cover of the trees.
She picked up her pace, doing her best to scan the forest and keep herself upright at the same time. The boulder Joseph and Ammonih had disappeared behind loomed in front of her.
A hot strong hand snatched her from her feet.
She spasmed and shrieked. She kicked back at her assailant.
Her scream was muffled by a large hand that clamped over her mouth, followed by a steel arm that wrapped quickly around her. “Shhh,” Ammonih whispered and pointed into the trees. “In brightest day, and blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.” She nodded, and he released his grip. She briefly worried about her own sanity because she understood what her companion was trying to tell her. He guided her in front of him and nudged her forward.
She jumped when Joseph peeled himself away from the surface of the boulder and resumed walking down the path in front of her. His pace was slower than before, but just as determined.
“Sorry,” the big man mumbled.
The rest of the hike to the falls was tense and slow. Two miles had never seemed so long.
The trio was on edge and drenched in nervous sweat by the time the heavy torrent of Cedar Falls came into view.
They clambered onto the rocks and stared at the moonlit pool and waterfall.
Keezie had never been here at night. She’d seen it once when the falls were completely frozen, but never at night. It was magical. The moonlight shone through the water making it glow. The roar as it tumbled over the edge was deafening and the moist smell of the forest was replaced with the cool scent of clean fresh water.
“I’m gonna need you to climb on my back.” Joseph said, his voice raised just enough to cut through the roar.
“I can make it. I’ve been around before.” She replied.
He looked at Ammonih and back at her. “We aren’t going around. We are going down and I need you to help me keep Eli on my back.” He pointed.
She followed the line of his arm past where it ended and down into the warm water of the pool beneath Cedar Falls.
The Nvnehi warrior just nodded his head as if it made all the sense in the world. Keezie shook her head, and made her way over to Joseph. She slipped her arms around him when he offered his back. It was odd and uncomfortable. Her left arm was under his and her right was over Eli. Joseph was solid, and she wondered how she would be able to keep hold of him once his body was wet.
“Your legs, too,” he urged. Keezie complied by wrapping her legs around his unforgiving body.
He shivered, but otherwise stood as if she wasn’t there at all, much less Eli, and walked swiftly into the water.
She thought she could hear Ammonih splashing behind them as the water inched its way up their bodies until it was almost at her head.
“Take as big a breath as possible. I’ll go as fast as I can,” he warned her.
She drew a deep breath, let it out, and drew an even deeper one. She tapped his chest to let him know she was ready just before she sealed off her lungs and closed her eyes.
The water rushed over her head, faster than she thought possible considering how water pulls and slows most people.
She held tight, straining to keep hold of Joseph’s wet skin. Eli pushed against her, his weight threatened to dislodge her with every step.
Keezie’s lungs burned, her eyes tingled, and her ears ached with the pressure of water on top of them. Red spots blossomed in her vision behind her eyelids. Her chest ached and threatened to push the air out of her throat with a violent cough at each heavy pound of her panicked heart.
She was going to die here. She was going to pass out and drown; water would fill her lungs as she struggled to reach the surface. She would cough and breathe in more and more water until her body was starved of oxygen and she died. The pounding in her ears grew unbearable, her chest was ready to explode. She faded away from the edges of consciousness until nothing was left to keep her from drawing that liquid breath of death.
Her eyes flew open as she realized she had passed out and her body was overriding her command to not breathe. It was too late. Her lungs were empty, and she gulped raggedly and filled her lungs with horrible fetid air.
She gagged at the wretchedness of the taste and smell, but she was alive and, somehow, not dead or underwater.
Water dripped onto a cold hard surface. She felt it spread around her.
She blinked and tried to focus, but quality of blackness defied her eyes ability to gather light.
A whispered hiss slithered out of the darkness, “Wadathe, Itonkae.”
A light bloomed beside her, painful in intensity. Keezie threw her arm over her eyes and begged them to adjust.
“No, Inda Nyoho, we are not food.” Ammonih corrected. Keezie’s stomach lurched. She peered out from under the cover of her arm afraid of what she would see.
Ammonih and the light were to her right, so she tipped her head left and let her eyes adjust to its farthest rea
ches as it fought back the edges of sinister dark.
When she felt confident in her vision she turned her head enough to see the pool of light that surrounded them.
She was laying on the smooth stone floor of a cavern. It was tall enough that she couldn’t make out the top. Joseph sat cross-legged near her feet, Eli lay still in front of him.
She couldn’t see the other occupants of the hidden cavern. She tilted her head back and to the left to where she judged the voice to have come from.
Keezie thought for a moment her eyes still had not adjusted to the contrast of light and dark, but as her gaze lingered on the line between light and dark she realized she was seeing just fine.
Two women, young, naked and dirty, swayed entwining their bodies in a wholly intimate way. Their hair was matted with mud and twigs, a tangle that left little doubt there was more detritus there than she could see. Her eyes locked on their bodies. Unable to help herself, they drifted down the women’s torsos. Just below where belly buttons should have been, they fused thick, long, and sleek into the bodies of gigantic coiled snakes.
She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
Marks wiped away the small stream of blood that trickled from his ears. Even behind his wards, the Iskitini’s screech affected him.
He knew that the banished were powerful, but Kish had not been truthful with the extent of that power. There was a reason they had all been locked away from the world. They weren’t just dangerous. They were vicious.
He would have to be extra careful from now on. Especially since he really had no idea of what else he would be letting loose.
He was certain that Kish knew, but he guessed that the little man wouldn’t be inclined to tell him, and he had no leverage to make him divulge the information.
To be truthful, this was all for himself. The promise of power was an itch in his skull that he couldn’t control. It was a need and it drew him into this recklessness without hesitation.
Marks’ was frustrated with the results of his efforts, he expected the destruction and mayhem to be widespread and uncontainable, but, so far, he had only managed to hurt the dog and kill the old man.
Shackles of Light (The Mal'Ak Cycle Book 2) Page 3
