“Why don’t we keep going till we get there then sleep in the foothills,” Rob suggested, as though he knew the area better than I did. This grated on my nerves. If he continued with that sort of attitude the journey was not going to be fun. I managed to keep my anger under control as I replied.
“Trust me. We don’t want to be too close to the mountains at night. Ogres live there.”
Rachel suddenly looked scared once more and I instantly regretted my words. I should have worded it differently. I wanted to give Rob cause to be concerned, but had not meant to scare Rachel in the process.
“You’re winding us up, right?” she asked. I shook my head. “Here seems a nice place to camp,” she announced.
I could not stop myself smirking at her. From what I had seen so far, having her around was definitely going to make up for any unpleasantness that Rob might cause. “Either of you know how to put up a tent?”
Rob said he had been camping a number of times in his youth and was pretty adapt at erecting tents. I held back from commenting, wanting him to prove his words. I went into my bag and withdrew tent poles, closely followed by the ground sheet and canvas. Rob and Rachel both stared as I ended up pulling three complete tents out of my backpack. When Rachel asked me if my bag was magic I had to laugh. I didn’t, however, provide any other explanation. At least they didn’t yet think it was me that was magical.
Once the tents were set up and contained sleeping bags and pillows (I made sure I gave extra thick ones to Rachel), I sent them in search of wood for a fire. There were no trees nearby, so they must have been surprised to find a large pile of logs not far away, especially if they noticed the logs looked as if they had been cut by an axe. They picked up a couple each and returned to the campsite, only to find that I already had a good fire going.
“What is going on?” Rachel asked as she dropped the logs beside me.
“Gods live here, remember,” I said, neglecting to mention that demi-gods also live here. “This entire realm has been designed to provide you with what you need, when you need it.” I was lying, of course, but it was only a little white lie so I didn’t feel guilty.
Rachel smiled. “So if I wished for a bubble bath, one would appear in front of me?” she asked.
“No. I said what you ‘need’ not what you ‘want’. There is a big difference.” If I hadn’t been keeping my identity a secret I would have been tempted to create one for her, just to see what she looked like under her jeans and jumper. The thought made me smile and I was glad that she was not looking in my direction so she did not notice.
“Any good at hunting?” I asked Rob as Rachel went to her tent.
“Not really,” he admitted, much to my surprise. “But I am happy to join you if you don’t mind the company.”
Taking a bow and arrow from my bag, I led Rob away from the campsite and toward a lake.
“Animals come here to drink at nightfall,” I said and, sure enough, as we got closer I could make out the forms of deer, wild boar and other animals. There were only three of us, so I did not want to kill anything big. Instead, I patiently waited for a mara to arrive.
When one did I took carful aim and fired, instantly killing it. I walked over to it and picked it up.
“What the hell is that?” Rob asked. I glared at him. Had he really not taken my request seriously? “Sorry,” he said hastily. “It’s a common expression where I come from, so it is going to take a while for me to get out of the habit.”
“Learn fast,” I warned, “or you will not enjoy having me as your guide.”
Rob said nothing, but the expression on his face told me the warning was being heeded.
“It’s a mara,” I said. “A large relative of the guineapig. They can be found in South America.” I passed it to Rob as I continued. “They taste good when cooked right.”
Rob looked at the corpse uncertainly. “If you say so.” It was about half a metre tall and looked like a cross between a hare and a kangaroo.
When we got back to the campsite I had Rob gut it while I tied sticks together to make a spit-roast. It did not take long for the mara to start to cook and we both sat by the fire, turning it occasionally while drinking beer.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said, in what I hoped was a casual way.
“Sure,” Rob replied and took another swig from his bottle.
“Is Rachel going to be able to cope with this journey?”
He smiled. “I can understand your concern. She is very shaken up by what she has seen so far. But you have to understand, she never imaged this placed existed, nor anyone in it. It’s a lot to take in.”
“So why are you handling it better?”
“Because I never had any doubt that I would reach the underworld. Admittedly, I was only expecting to see Death and I had not anticipated going on a journey to reach him, but rest assured, I am prepared to face whatever I have to to get Tammara back and Rachel is more than capable of assisting me.”
“Good,” I said and turned the mara once more. “This is almost done. You had better go and get her.”
It was a pleasant meal and as soon as it was over Rob and Rachel retired to their tents. It had been a very tiring day for both of them and they were exhausted. I was not tired, so stayed up, looking into the fire and wondering if I had made a mistake in agreeing to help out my uncle.
Ogre
In the early hours of the morning I saw Rachel leave her tent and sit by the fire. I had just returned from giving an update to Death and she had not noticed me materialise beside my tent. She was staring into the flames and almost screamed when I asked if she was alright. She obviously hadn’t heard me approach.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I just can’t get to sleep, that’s all.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“Hot chocolate would be great.” From the tone of her voice I could tell she wasn’t expecting me to comply and I couldn’t resist the temptation to do something nice for her. She didn’t seem to smile much, but when she did she went from being very pretty to beautiful and I hoped something as simple as providing her with the drink she wanted would give me the opportunity to see her smile once more.
I removed a mug from my bag, along with a container of milk and a bar of chocolate. I placed the mug in the fire, filled it with milk then dropped in some chocolate. It was soon boiling and, without thinking, I removed it and handed it to her. Realising what I had done, I quickly made the mug cool to the touch while leaving the contents hot so that she would not notice that I had just managed to remove a hot mug from the fire without burning my hands. I would have to start being more careful. If I continued to make silly mistakes like that she would not believe I was normal for long.
“This is great,” Rachel said when it was cool enough for her to take a sip.
“I’m glad I could be of some use.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you really and how come you live in Hell?” As soon as the word was out of her mouth Rachel realised what she said and apologised.
“Actually, I do mind you asking,” I said, but not angrily. I could understand her asking the question, but it was the one topic of conversation I wanted to avoid. “If you expect me to answer personal questions, you will have to answer some first.”
I was expecting her to say no and was quite pleased when she agreed.
“So what’s the story with you and Rob? How come you are helping him rescue his girlfriend if you two are actually an item?”
Rachel burst out laughing. “Robert and I an item? You must be joking. We are very good friends, nothing more. There never has been and never will be anything romantic between us.” I struggled to keep the smile from my face. It was wiped off when she continued though. “Robert has Tammara and I have Bill.”
“Who is Bill?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
Rachel proceeded to tell me all about her boyfriend, how they got together and how things were going really well until he got the opportunity
to go to a university in Japan for a year. She explained that it was the chance of a lifetime and Bill would have been a complete moron not to go, but I didn’t understand. What sort of idiot was this Bill person to leave Rachel and expect her to wait for him to return?
“Sorry Rachel, but I really don’t get it,” I said when she had finished. “If I cared about someone as much as you claim he cares about you, I wouldn’t leave them for some selfish pursuit.”
“It’s not like that. When you get an opportunity like he did you can’t turn it down just because it will make you leave your girlfriend for a while.”
“Why not? If you ask me he’s not much of a boyfriend. You deserve better.”
Had I gone too far? Probably, but the words were out of my mouth before I realised what I had said.
Thankfully, she didn’t take offence. “You have to be in a situation to really understand it,” she said. “Thanks for the hot chocolate, and the chat, but I think I should get some sleep now.”
I watched her enter her tent, then turned my gaze back to the fire. I stayed up for a while longer, trying to work out why someone would be alright with their boyfriend moving to another country, but eventually gave up and went to my own tent.
Despite being the last one to turn in for the night I was the first one up and set about making breakfast. As soon as the smell of the frying bacon worked its way through the tents’ canvas, Rob and Rachel surfaced.
Once breakfast was finished Rob and I packed up the tents and headed toward the mountains. It did not take long to get there and Rachel was not impressed.
“You call these mountains?” she asked disdainfully. “More like large hills. They are not even big enough to have snow on the top.”
“They serve their purpose,” I said. I was not sure how I felt about her criticizing any part of the realm I live in. “What would be the point in making them bigger? No-one would ever be able to climb to the top.”
Rachel opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when a noise echoed around us.
“Does anyone else hear that?” she asked in a shaky voice.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I had a good idea what she was thinking. Ogre. “It’s just the wind,” I lied, knowing full well it was Perceval letting me know he was there. “This part of the mountain is full of caves and the air rushing past their entrances causes them to emit those sounds.”
She didn’t look convinced. “Besides,” I continued. “Ogres do not usually come out during the day.” She looked scared. So did Rob. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. If these two were going to be frightened by every little noise they heard they were never going to be able to face their first challenge. Maybe this journey would be over before it really began. I thought about this and wasn’t sure if that would make me happy or not.
“We need to circle round for a while before continuing north,” I said, then headed off without waiting to see if they were following. Rob ran to catch up with me and took the lead. He had no idea where he was going and his attitude was really beginning to annoy me. I grabbed his arm to get his attention, but instead of telling him off I decided to use him.
“We need to get past these mountains as quickly as possible,” I lied.
“No problem,” Rob said and increased his pace. I smiled at his departing back. I needed to put some distance between us and Rachel and with Rob leading the way he would get the blame when she fell behind.
As the day wore on Rachel began to tire and I could see that she was struggling to keep up. Not that I mentioned that to Rob. I was actually surprised that he hadn’t noticed. I glanced behind and spotted an ogre creeping up behind her. It was Perceval and I nodded my head at him, hoping that Rachel did not notice, then turned away once more.
Perceval is big, but not especially ugly and he definitely does not look like the vicious monster Rachel and Rob would assume him to be. He is roughly twice the height of an average man, well-built and very muscular. His skin is like that of an elephant, except it is brown not grey. All of his facial features seem too big for his face; the ears, nose, mouth, eyes, even the chin. He is also completely hairless. For a moment I wondered how Rachel would react when she saw him.
Perceval had been given instructions as to what to do and ducked behind a large rock before growling loudly. I heard it, but Rob was too far ahead. Perceval had timed it well.
Rachel froze. I felt a pang of guilt about the terror she was about to go through, but I was following Death’s instructions so there was nothing I could do about it.
I heard her scream out and turned to see that Perceval had grabbed her around the waist and thrown her over his shoulder. The ogre turned around and started walking away, allowing Rachel to see that I had noticed her predicament. The look in her eyes was pleading for me to help her as she continued to scream. How Rob couldn’t hear I have no idea.
Unable to cope with how scared she looked, I turned away and called to Rob. “Come back. We have a big problem.”
He stopped and turned around, but made no attempt to move toward me. “What?” he asked.
I braced myself, unsure as to how he would react. “An ogre just grabbed Rachel.”
“We have to help her,” he said as he ran back. I had to grab him as he ran past, intent on pursuing the monster and its victim.
“Wait,” I advised the panicking man. “Going after her now would not be a good idea. Our best bet is to track it while we still have light and try to rescue her just before first light tomorrow.”
“She could be dead by then,” Rob yelled at me.
“Trust me on this,” I said, keeping my voice soft and calm.
“Do you really expect me to just sit here while that monster is doing who knows what to Rachel?” He was obviously very scared for her safety.
“I expect you to do whatever is best for her,” I said. I needed to give Perceval time to convince Rachel that he was friendly and to explain what was going on. Silently praying that she would be alright, I continued. “Rushing straight in when we do not know what the situation or the terrain is will get us all killed. We need to find out where she has been taken and how many ogres are around.”
Rob saw the logic in that and calmed down a little. “Can you track them?”
I nodded. I couldn’t, but I didn’t need to; I knew exactly where Perceval was heading. I made a big show of carefully looking at the ground and slowly heading in the direction the ogre had gone.
“We’ll need a plan,” I said as I ‘followed the ogre’s trail’. “And weapons.”
“The plan can wait until we know where Rachel is,” Rob said. I was impressed; Rob was using his brain. Maybe he wasn’t really as rash as he appeared to be. “As for weapons, a machine gun would be good.”
I looked at him in surprise. “You know how to fire a machine gun?”
“No,” he admitted. “But how hard can it be? Just point and fire.”
“And kill Rachel in the process.”
Rob thought about that. “Maybe a machine gun isn’t such a good idea.”
“Guns won’t work down here anyway,” I said. It was another lie, but I needed a reason not to arm Rob with anything too deadly. I didn’t want him to accidentally hurt anyone, himself included. “You can borrow my sword.”
Rob looked at me warily, obviously wondering why I would have a sword. “I’ve never actually held a sword. Can one really kill an ogre?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” This time I was telling the truth.
I managed to ‘track’ Perceval to his cave, arriving there just as the sun was setting. “I can’t find evidence of more than one ogre, but that doesn’t mean that there are not more in the cave. I suggest we head back a ways and find somewhere to get a few hours sleep. We can return before the sun rises. That is when ogres are most vulnerable.”
Rob did not argue, so we crept away. I found a large cave that was unoccupied and helped to set up two of the tents. We ate a cold meal, not wishing to light a fire in case
it attracted unwelcome guests, and discussed tactics.
I pointed out that there was not a lot we could really do until we knew that Rachel was alright, so it would be best if we split up once in the cave and search. Rob did not object. I said that I hoped that the ogre would be sleeping, but could not guarantee it. Rob went to his tent early and as soon as I was sure he was asleep I went to visit Death.
“How’s it going?” Death asked when I appeared in his study.
“Perceval has Rachel and Rob is determined to rescue her.”
“Good. Their first test was set by your grandfather, so you had better let him know what is happening. It might also be a good idea to visit Perceval and see how Rachel is coping.”
I promised I would, then vanished.
“Hi Kris,” my grandmother said when I appeared in front of her. “Would you like some wine?”
“I’d love some. I think I need it.”
She smiled. “So how are our guests?”
“Irritating. But the good news is, from what I have seen so far, they are not going to make it much further, so I’ll be free of them sooner than expected.”
Grandfather had a roaring fire going in the fireplace and I collapsed into a chair in front of it.
“What’s the situation?” he asked me as he passed me a glass of wine.
“Perceval has Rachel. I’ll check in on him before heading back to Rob.”
“Will he rescue her?”
I nodded. “He seems determined to.”
“Good,” he said.
“So do they know who you really are yet?” my grandmother asked.
I shook my head. “Rachel has been asking a few personal questions, but I have managed to avoid answering them so far. They think it is the realm that is providing all we need, not me.”
“They won’t believe that forever, you know.”
I sighed. “I know, but I plan on keeping up the charade as long as I can.” I drained my glass and placed it on a nearby table. “I should go. I’m giving Rob my sword so I should really get some sleep before letting him lose with it. I don’t want him hurting anyone just because I was not awake enough to keep a proper eye on him.”
Kris's Story Page 3
