by Mark Tufo
“Azile…” she said after she climbed back into the relative safety of the pocket.
“Yes, little one?” Azile asked without looking her way.
“Something is wrong. You are not nearly as high up as you were.”
Azile had to refocus after she pulled back from her tracking spell. She nearly stumbled as the toe of her boot kicked up dirt.
“I thought you could do this indefinitely?” Linnick was beginning to panic. “I cannot be in a hole again, Azile. It is a terrifying way to await your death.”
“We are not going to die here,” Azile said, though the words seemed forced. “Some…something is wrong.” Azile’s left foot touched down briefly before regaining flight.
“You did not need to orate for me to figure that out.”
“The spell is somehow unravelling.”
“Retie it! Retie it, quickly!”
“I cannot; the edges of the spell are being broken up. I cannot explain it; I have never encountered anything like this. My magic is not only being undone, it is as if it never existed.”
“I should have stayed with, Tallboat,” Linnick lamented.
“All is not lost. How far is it until we are out of here?”
“Twenty, maybe as many as thirty pedronts.”
“I don’t know what a pedront is.”
“Much too far! If you go to the ground now, the hole will be above your head in less than five.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have an idea,” Linnick said as she climbed down Azile’s leg and onto her boot. With one leg on the lip of the boot sole and her arms clutching the lace, she dragged a foot onto the ground.
“I don’t see how this will help.”
“You don’t worry about this, you worry about whatever magic is working to counter your own.”
Every so often Azile’s foot came down, this was happening with more and more frequency until finally, she was standing on the shifting ground. Linnick bounded down and stood a few feet away.
“We need to go,” Azile said as she worriedly looked at the ground moving away from her feet. She thought it was very much like what happened when she was a child and her mother brought her to the beach. She stood right at the shoreline as the waves rolled in, and as they pulled away they took the sand out from under her. It always gave her the feeling she was moving and she liked the tickling sensation it caused. The only tickling this ground caused was the tug of worry in her belly.
“You will not make it.”
“We have to try.”
“We are trying.”
“You’re just standing there! That’s not helping.”
“This is how Michael and I escaped. He traveled in my hole.”
Azile got down to get a closer look at the ground under Linnick. “It is not moving.”
“Not yet. I already have a hole assigned to me, and I cannot believe I am saying this, but I am hopeful it is even now racing to capture me again.”
“How can that help us?”
“The holes are lazy; they only do as much as is necessary to trap the host within.”
“Linnick, I will need more than that if I am going to trust you enough to stay here.”
“You will have to do as Tallboat did and travel within my hole.”
“That worked?”
“It did; though he complained the entire time. That made his features even more difficult to look upon.”
Azile did not like this plan, not in the least, and she was having great difficulty finding out how to weave her magic back so that they could once again hover over this accursed ground.
“It’s coming!” Linnick shouted excitedly. “Wait, something is not quite right.” She was squinting, doing her best to see far off into the distance. “You should perhaps begin running.”
“What?”
“Run!” she shouted.
Azile needed no further warning as she bent over, grabbed Linnick, and took off. Linnick climbed up Azile’s arm so she could look over her shoulder.
“There is a massive hole coming for us.”
“Massive to you or to me?” Azile asked through breathes.
“To a gargantoid it would be massive.”
Azile didn’t need to ask. With a name like that, she correctly assumed it was enormous. She dared a look over her shoulder; her fears were confirmed when she saw great plumes of dirt as the hole roared forward.
“I will not be able to outrun it.” She slowed and then stopped. “Our only chance is levitation.”
Linnick began her death chant as Azile began her incantation. Linnick had climbed back down into Azile’s pocket just as the bits of dirt being forced up from the leading edge began to strike them. At first, Linnick was elated when she felt them rise up, thinking that Azile must have been successful in her spell. A short moment later her stomachs rose up into her throat as they found themselves in a sort of flight, though not the way they desired. They were falling deep into the depths. Linnick looked up to watch as the sky diminished. She possessed some happiness that the suffering would be brief as they struck the bottom at deadly speeds. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Azile’s body to cushion the fall for her or to be completely compressed under the human.
“You are not screaming,” Linnick said, more as an observation.
“I need to concentrate, but we’re going to be alright. This isn’t a trap, it’s a doorway.”
“Yes, but are we welcome?”
It was some minutes later when Azile’s feet gently touched down, as easily as if she had jumped off a small chair. She looked up; she could no longer see the sky. The chamber they found themselves in was easily over sixty feet in diameter.
“I do not wish to sound ignorant, Azile, but I do not see a doorway.”
“Nor I.” Azile had done a small spin to see if anything looked different in the mountainous walls that encircled them.
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be.” Azile took a step; the wall moved with her. She stopped, so did the wall. Whichever direction she walked in, the wall moved away from her. “Perhaps we are not there yet.”
“And which direction do you believe that we need to go? There are no signs.”
Azile walked a few more steps; the small smile she was wearing grew as she knelt down. “Here are our signs,” she said as she brushed lightly at markings on the ground.
“Runes,” Linnick said with amazement.
“Gaelic runes, as a matter of fact.”
“Do you know what they mean?”
“I would be asked to turn in my witch-card if I didn’t.”
Linnick said nothing.
“Really? That wasn’t funny to you? Michael is constantly talking about losing his man-card, yet I say something about a witch-card and I get nothing but crickets chirping.
“Ah, crickets chirping! Now that’s funny!”
Azile looked at her. You don’t even know what crickets are, do you?”
“It is just good that you know the way out,” Linnick frowned at Azile.
“It is rather a way in.”
“To?”
“The upper-world.”
Linnick swallowed hard. “Out of the wastelands, past the underworld, and into the upper-world? A passageway we just happened to stumble upon? I would like to say this is fortuitous, but right now I feel this is an invitation we should refuse.”
“What about this invitation infers we have the ability to refuse it?”
“Just a suggestion.”
“It will be alright. I have my magic back. The one wielding his spell is powerful, but not without flaws. They tried to conceal the source, make it appear as though it no longer existed. And, in truth, they have blinded me to it. But I do not need to see it to know it is there and to use it.”
“Use it now. Fly us out of this.”
“That would not be wise; the element of surprise falls to us if they believe we are helpless.”
“You are playing a dangerous game
in which you could easily be outmatched.”
“Perhaps that is the case, Linnick, but the answers we need lie there. Any chance you have of redeeming your life lies there as well.”
“There are worse fates than the one we exist in now.”
“There are also much, much better. Are you so willing to throw that chance away?”
Linnick bowed her head and then lifted it as she spoke. “Breatines understand the consequences of their actions in life will send them to this place, yet we do some of these things for the greater good of our primary existence. I think that finally, I would like to do something that was good for all my existences.”
“Does that mean you wish to continue?”
“I am not seeing the alternative just yet.”
“But if one appears, you may wish to use it?”
“If something better comes along, I would not be opposed to considering it.”
“Smart girl.”
Azile continued on, occasionally stopping to read the runes they encountered and alternating course when necessary.
“I am going to need to rest at some point, Linnick. I grow weary.”
“I sure do wish we could make it out of here first.” Linnick looked up nervously.
“I have a feeling, my little friend, that this may be the safest place in this entire realm.”
“If that was supposed to make me feel better, it did not.”
“I understand. If you wish to stand guard, please wake me up in a couple of hours.” Azile got as comfortable as she could, and within minutes was breathing softly.
“I am having great difficulty believing I am traveling with the powerful and terrible Red Witch,” Linnick whispered. “She doesn’t seem particularly wicked.” Linnick ducked back into her pocket, curled up and was immediately snoring.
Azile’s dreams were plagued with images of Mike in all manner of life-threatening situations, the least of which had him running from a pride of lions into an ocean full of sharks. She awoke with a start right before her husband could be bitten.
“You can’t even stay out of trouble in dream realms, Michael.” Azile sat up. “Linnick, you should wake up.” She gently shook her pocket.
Linnick poked her head out. “Is it brighter?” She had placed an arm up to shield the light.
“I guess that answers that question. The runes are different as well.”
“What does that mean?”
“We are still traveling in the right direction, but someone thought we were moving too slowly and has ushered us along.”
“I don’t like that.”
“Nor do I, and without us knowing…that is cause for alarm.”
Azile pondered on how their escort could be anywhere, with any possible agenda. Other than this constant caution, Michael and her children dominated her thoughts. That was of course, until they came to a door.
“Azile?”
“I see it.” She had stopped. The great wall of material in front of them had stopped moving forward. A large, arched, unadorned oak door was now neatly outlined.
“What if we were to go back?” Linnick asked.
“I do not believe that would be advisable. Someone has invited us here and they might construe our turning around now as a rude gesture. And considering exactly where we are,” Azile looked and pointed up, “with a mile or more of ground above us, I think that might be our only choice.”
“Not much of an invitation if you have no choice but to accept it.”
Azile walked over to the door. “There is no handle.”
“Is it not customary to knock?”
“I swear, I had manners once upon a time.” Azile made a fist and knocked lightly on the door. She’d hardly made a sound, between the stoutness of the door and the sound dampening effects of the wall she’d doubted anyone could have heard her rapping. Even so, the door began to swing slowly inward.
“You ready for this?”
“If I said no?”
Azile stepped through. Blinding white light replaced the drab of the Dendrun hole. She stepped upon a white marble floor. Marble columns marched off into the distance of an unimaginably long corridor. “I’m guessing we’re not quite there yet.”
“This does not sadden me,” Linnick replied.
They walked in an uneasy silence, Azile’s footfalls echoing in the mighty chamber. It was not overly long before she could just make out something in the distance. “Is that a dais?”
“Someone or something is upon it,” Linnick added.
They’d gone another hundred yards when Linnick spoke. “We should turn around if it is at all possible.”
“What do you know that I don’t?”
“That is Lamashtu.”
“Are you sure?”
“Head of a lion, ears of a donkey, hairy body…suckling a pig and a snake. There is little doubt in my mind. She is evil.”
“I know this, little one. She may be the well-spring from which evil manifests. She answers to no one–Man, God or Demon. You are right in your desire to leave, though I fear that is not an option we have.”
Linnick ducked back into the pocket.
“Azile, the Red Witch,” boomed from the entity on her throne. She stood as Azile approached. “It is good of you to come.”
“Had I a choice?”
“No. It was determined the moment Gabriel was discovered.”
“And the reason for this determination?”
“Your husband, Michael Talbot.”
Azile could honestly say that wasn’t a surprise to her.
“Have I been summoned here to pay for his transgressions?”
“Quite the opposite. You have been sent here to stop him.”
“Stop him from what?”
“There is a delicate balance between life and death, good, and evil, yin and yang; you know this. Those are the terms your kind are most familiar and comfortable with. Though it is a much more ancient and powerful force, it is something akin to that which you call magic. Even with all your talent and might, you have no idea of the source power you tap into. It is responsible for the heavens, the hells, the stars, the planets…for every bit of life on all of it. The creators of this are beyond even my understanding, and I have been in existence for time untold.”
“How do my husband and I affect this mighty balance? We are aware of our place in the worlds.”
“SILENCE!” Lamashtu yelled. The walls shook, Azile took an involuntary step back. “You are as aware of this balance as a stone is to love. Your mate, perhaps ignorantly, perhaps knowingly, is on a very dangerous path, one that could upset this balance forever. The consequences he tempts would be most grave.”
“You wish me to stop him? I know of Michael’s conversations with Jehovah. Why would I go into league with you, while he has been empowered to battle evil in the worlds?”
“You are a fool. I thought perhaps bringing you here would bring you more understanding. It is not for the side of good which your husband fights.”
Internally, Azile was rocked, though she stood her ground and concealed her thoughts.
“You cannot hide your shock from me. Michael is with Eliza and they are close to tearing down everything that has stood since the creators. Eliza has killed the one assigned to keep her, and Michael has destroyed Tomas.”
“Lies! All of it lies! You brought me here to deceive me in person! I will not submit so meekly!” Azile pulled hard of her magic, creating a vortex of purple arcs of lightning.
Lamashtu stood and waved her hand; a shimmering image of Michael walking side by side with Eliza was displayed in front of her.
“That is indeed him,” Linnick was looking as well. “She speaks the truth.”
“This…this cannot be.” The lightning slowed and began to dissipate.
“You will need to stop them both.”
“They are but two beings in a universe of trillions. How is it that they would be able to accomplish a deed of such magnitude?”
“They have
help.”
“Your kind! It’s always ‘help.’ You puppet us lesser beings here and there to do your bidding, to kill, to spare…maybe if you just left us the fuck alone, the universe wouldn’t always be on the brink. How’s that for an idea? You want him stopped? I suggest you personally do something about it. Just know I will be doing all I can to protect him.”
“As easily as you can crush that Breatine in your pocket, I can do to you. You exist still because I allow it. You will do this, Red Witch. The alternative for you, at least, is unimaginable.” Lamashtu once again waved her hand; the image changed to Lana and Mathieu riding through the woods, the children in the back of a small cart. Mathieu was looking around as if he sensed something was not quite right.
“You will not harm them!” Azile shook with rage.
“Harm them? Oh no, I wouldn’t dream of that. They are unique and powerful. A vampire demon that has bred successfully is relatively unheard of. A demon that has bred with a witch? Something like that has never happened. I will bring them to me, suckle and raise them as my own. They will be powerful agents, eternally fighting to accomplish my goals.”
“You cannot!”
“Because you say so?” She laughed. “To your primitive mind, there is very little I cannot do.”
“Except stop Michael,” Azile said through tears.
Lamashtu thought on this for a few seconds, then smiled. “This is correct. Let us try a different tactic. If your husband is to succeed on his quest, it would be preferable for your children to be here with me. Realities will begin to unravel, worlds that should not meet will collide and forever be united. The end of humanity will be long and violent. Finally, there will be nothing left, anywhere.”
“I just have to stop him?”
“Ah, even you cannot be that naïve. Michael is too large a threat to continue. He is unique in that both sides have touched and have laid valid claims to him. He walks that line dangerously; no matter which side he chooses, he is ultimately an influence for revolutionary change. He must die while he is separated from his soul.”
