by J G Jerome
He tells me, “Bloody Azeem! Always has to be a tough guy. I thought I might have to kill him.” He tears off the roll of tape and tosses it to me. “Tape him first. Hands and feet.”
I point at ‘choke hold guy,’ and Ismael nods. I roll Azeem over and tape his wrists behind his back and his ankles and knees together. Ismael walks toward the back of the house, and I tape up the remaining guy. I get about one wrap around his wrist when I hear a moan of despair from Ismael. I finish my taping job and follow Ismael.
I find him by the back door kneeling over the figure of an exceptionally beautiful Sidhe with bloody bandages wrapped around her torso. She has a watch band wrapped around each wrist and each ankle. ‘SHIT!’ I think to myself. I run outside and retrieve the fourth member. He is struggling, so I put him to sleep and tape him up. I cut off his communicator bracelet. The Troll picks him up and places him over my shoulder. I beckon them to follow. One of them follows inside, stopping just inside the door. The large Troll barely fits inside the kitchen. She hoots quietly as she watches over Ismael and Dalia. The other takes up a watch facing away from the back door.
I drop the last Sidhe with the other three and return to the kitchen.
“Ismael?” I inquire in Arabic. “I’m assuming I can’t just take those bracelets off.”
He shakes his head, and the woman responds quietly in the same language. “The Lord said that if any are removed, all four will blow up.”
Ismael looks up at me with tears in his eyes. “Jack, he cut out all her reproductive organs and then used his shadows to cauterize the wounds. She will be horribly scarred if she survives.”
I kneel down next to him and hug him to me as I address the woman. “Peace upon you, Dalia. My name is Jack.”
She responds, “Upon you peace, Jack. I asked Ismael to end my suffering. He can’t do it because he loves me too much. Will you?”
I nod and reach out to deaden all her pain receptors. She sighs in relief. I ask, “Is that better?”
“Yes. It’s not the permanent solution I was hoping for, but it is much better. I feel no pain now,” she responds with a weak smile.
Ismael slips out of my hug and kisses her. When he sits back on his heels, Dalia continues. “The Lord said that all the bracelets would explode if I moved my arms or legs. He put one on the man and woman of the house. They are in their bedroom.”
“Can they move?” I ask.
Dalia answers, “I think so.”
I share my plan. “Dalia, I don’t think my healing abilities will work with the bracelets on, so I’m going to need to keep all of your pain receptors off and cut off your arms and legs. My large friend will toss the bracelets into the valley and we’ll pray no one is there when they blow up. Then I will heal the wounds and regrow your limbs. Can you tolerate that?”
Tears flow down her face. “Jack, he left a dread cloud where my womb should be. If you try to heal me, they will attack. I’m surprised they didn’t when you numbed my wounds.”
I sit back on my ass and lay my hands on Dalia’s eviscerated torso. I reach with my mind, looking for living organisms that are ‘not Dalia.’ There is a dark presence there. Not many different ones - just one, though it feels like it is flowing. It’s like hive mind. I breathe deeply to center my mind and then direct warm, loving energy into the presence.
I sense a response. It’s not like E’liana or Durec. It’s more like what I get from the other relics. A sense of awareness, emotion, and hunger. It’s similar to what I recall from the Living Shadows when Jena Elm showed them to me. Thinking back to the story from Xerxes, I try an experiment. I take off my coat and push up the sleeve of my left arm. I call the presence to me and offer to let them feed from my arm.
Slowly at first they peek out of Dalia’s bandages, and then they flow out of her in a rush. I push them to feed above Yoren, and they accept my offer. I feel a sharp burning in my flesh as I continue to send them the warm loving energy. They move all around the section of my arm that I offered, but eventually their movement and the burning both subside. They arrange themselves into a band around my upper forearm that resolves into geometric shapes interlinked. Then the burning stops altogether. I feel them move a little bit, but it’s more like a gentle twitch. I now have a tattoo of Living Shadows.
I think to myself, ‘Well that solves the mystery of where Living Shadows come from.”
Dalia and Ismael look at me as though I had grown another head.
Dalia exclaims, “Your eyes! They burned with green fire.”
I wave at her with my right hand. “Green Lord,” I say with a wink. Then I pull my coat back on.
I pat Ismael on the shoulder and tell him, “Please explain the plan to our large friends. I’m going to release our hosts and get a pillow case from them.”
I walk around the house until I find the bedroom. An old man and women are wrapped in duct tape and cuddled into each as best they can on the bed.
“Peace be upon you. My name is Jack, and I have come to release you.” I thought I had that right. Maybe my Turkish is worse than I think because they look at me funny. I ‘remove’ the tape from their faces and cut the tape around their wrists and ankles. I remove the tape from their wrists.
They both say, “Unto you peace. Thank you.”
I hold up the man’s wrist to look at the bracelet. I ask my new little friends if they can do anything about the bracelets. I feel them spin around my arm, and then I sense a negative response.
I ask, “Can you move your arms?” Both indicate they can as they hold up their bracelets. I see no lights or other change to the bracelets.
I put the old Turkish couple to sleep. Starting with the man, I cause the bones and tissues to thin where I plan to cut and pull the Elven blade. I cut through the arm at that spot and set the severed hand, wrist, and bracelet on the bed as I staunch the bleeding and give his body the command to rebuild his damaged arm and hand. Then I do the same to his wife. The old man’s arm has regrown to the wrist by the time the blood flow has stopped on his wife. I grab a pillow from the bed and remove the pillow case. I drop my two grisly trophies into the pillow case and check to ensure the wife’s hand is regrowing. It looks good. I send them a gentle ‘wake up’ command and then hurry out of the room. I detour to the living room to retrieve Yeshua’s hand and his teams’ bracelets, and then I hustle back to the kitchen.
I lay the pillow case on the floor next to Dalia. Then I dig out my ‘coin purse,’ and I dig my rolled up portfolio from it. I open that and pull out Gisela with Morningstar attached. I hang her over my neck and shoulder as a baldric with Morningstar’s hilt rising between my shoulder blades. I wipe the Elven blade on the pillow case as the old man and woman come to the kitchen. I hand the blade to Ismael, and then I tuck Eventide into the scabbard on my shoulder rig. I roll the portfolio and tuck it into the inside pocket of my coat.
I look around and find a large cutting board on the counter, so I retrieve it and gently slide it under Dalia’s legs. Luckily, there are no signs that we’ve moved her enough to cause an explosion. I numb all of Dalia’s body, but I don’t put her to sleep - I remember what happened when Jessica tranq’d the pilots. I raise a circular bruise on each wrist.
“Okay, Ismael. I will cut off her ankles with my sword as you cut off her arm at the wrist. Put the blade on the circle and press down on it with all your weight. As soon as I finish the ankles, I’ll take off the far wrist while you put all the bracelets into the bag. Hand it to our Troll friend, and let them dispose of it. I’ll immediately heal the stumps, then work on cleaning and repairing her abdomen. I’ll get her to the point where nascent organs are growing, and then she will grow them over time. I need to ensure there is no damage to her intestines. Once we have everything closed up and any infection excised, I’ll get her limbs to start regenerating. Again, I will start them, and then her body will build them over time. Ready?” I ask as I pull Morningstar.
I ask Morningstar to reconfigure to a three-foot long bu
tcher knife. Ismael calls out to the Troll. I hear ‘mom and pop’ from the bedroom gasp as they walk into the kitchen.
I turn and wink to them. Then I look Ismael in the eye. He places the blade on the circle on Dalia’s right arm. Dalia closes her eyes. I nod and swing Morningstar. Her ankles separate cleanly. I quickly lift her left arm as I thread Morningstar under my left arm and cut through her left arm. Ismael has the other three in the bag, and the one I’m holding starts to glow. He ties a quick knot in the pillowcase and hands it to the waiting Troll.
Per the plan, I start shutting down the blood flow of Dalia’s stumps. I tell her in Arabic, “They are gone.” As the last of her arterial blood flow stops I hear a loud explosion. Windows shatter, but I manage to get over Dalia’s open wounds to protect her from the flying debris. Shortly thereafter, I hear a long mournful hoot from one of the Trolls. Ismael sticks his head back into the kitchen.
He says, “It blew up in the air about two seconds after it left his hand. He’s hurt.”
“Shit!” I exclaim. I finally get the rest of the blood flow stemmed and push some general healing energy into Dalia’s abdomen. She is looking at me.
“Go, Jack. I’ll live,” she pleads.
“Thanks, Dalia.” I bolt out the door.
The Troll on watch is bouncing up and down by the body of her comrade as I race over to them. Apparently they handed the bundle off as it’s the male that is wounded. I cradle the wounded Troll’s head in my lap and assess him. He is barely alive. His soul has a tenuous connection to his body. I start by pushing healing energy into his head, lungs, and heart as I assess the rest of his wounds. A broken rib punctured his heart. I push the rib back to where it belongs and focus on healing the heart. Both lungs are punctured, but the wounds are not particularly deep. I find a bleeder in the brain, which I stop and ‘remove’ the blood to keep the pressure down. Then I work on healing the blunt trauma to the brain. Then I pull all the ribs back into place and tack them together. Then I heal the punctures in the lungs. Ah! A broken collarbone! I align it with my hands and tack it together. His internal organs also took a beating. The spleen is okay, but the liver is pulp. Pancreas, gallbladder, and all of his gastrointestinal system are bruised, but they don’t appear to be in danger of bleeding out. His kidneys are fine, but his bladder is bruised. All of the flesh on the front of his body is bruised. I wash him in healing energy, and then I wake him up. That’s when I notice he has a ruptured eye and the other one is a bruised mess. I heal the bruised one first, and then I focus on rebuilding the ruptured one. It’s a white orb in the socket when I finish, but I can feel it evolving in the required direction.
I call Ismael over to translate. He runs out of the kitchen and joins us. I talk to the injured Troll. “You will be fine in time. I have healed all the damage that would kill you and any damaged organs. They will need some time to get stronger. Eat lots of meat and drink lots of water. Do not move faster than a walk. Stay awake until the sun comes up tomorrow. After that sleep, eat, and drink water as much as you can for at least three days. After that you will get stronger quickly.” Ismael wraps up the translation and the huge man grins up at me from my lap.
The injured Troll quietly says, “Yessh, shah.” I wink at him and then help him sit up. He says, “Me. Gresh.”
Ismael says, “His name is Gresh.”
I tell him, “Gresh, I owe you a debt. Your bravery and quick action saved many souls today. I thank you.” Ismael translates and Gresh’s eyes grow as round as dinner plates. I grin. I know that he just gained a favor from his king. I pat his shoulder and wink again.
Then I trot back to treat Dalia.
I start with checking inside her for infection and bleeding. Apparently I have all the bleeding stopped, but I sense infection in her.
Ismael talks to our hosts and brings over a glass of water for Dalia while I consult my new tattoo. *Can you guys hunt down infection? Viruses and bacteria?* I get an affirmative response. *You’ll have to stay with her until I can collect you back. Is that okay?* Again I get an affirmative response.
“Dalia, I’m going to ask the Living Shadows to go back inside you and eat any bacteria and viruses to eliminate infection. I think they will be inside you for a while, but they will eventually come up to the surface of your skin when their work is done. Once they surface, we’ll need to feed you a lot of yogurt and fermented vegetables to build up your stomach flora. Okay?”
She nods weakly. I release the Living Shadows into her abdomen. They swarm down my arm and into the still open wounds in her abdomen. I check to see how much I need to do to her small intestines. Those were a huge pain in the ass when I saved my general in the Goblin court. Fortunately, Farouk managed to only sever the intestines in about four spots. I am able to encourage them to connect and heal them. I look lower into her abdomen, and there is an empty cavity where her uterus, ovaries, and bladder rested before. I don’t know enough about how those are arranged without pulling up an anatomy book, so I just close the abdomen wall. Then I focus on extending the severed tubes from the kidneys until they join and create a new bladder. Then I connect that to the remaining bit of her urethra. After that, I push a ton of healing energy into her vulva with instructions to rebuild per her original blueprint in the same manner as I did from her kidneys. I just don’t know if it’s enough. Then I close the wounds in her abdomen.
I update Dalia as I help her sit up, and Ismael helps her drink from the glass. “That’s all I can do for now. Your gastrointestinal tract is healed. We just need the Living Shadows to purge any infection they find. I built you a new urinary bladder and it’s connected appropriately, so you can drink and pee, etcetera without any issue. Your reproductive system is another matter. He left your external opening without any damage, but you have no ovaries or uterus. I poured a ton of healing energy into that area and gave your body instructions to ‘regrow per the original blueprint.’ That’s the best I can do for now. It may be enough. I will check with you later after I’ve consulted an anatomy book to ensure that if I have to create each organ individually I get it right. We’ll get it all figured out over the next month or two, and then you will be able to have children again. Okay?”
She hugs me with her stumps.
I touch each stump and tell them to start rebuilding. Then I address Dalia and Ismael together. “Same instructions as for Gresh. Lots of meat. Lots of water. Lots of rest. Don’t exert yourself. Ideally you stay here in bed for a couple of days. I can probably get back here pretty easily once I’m done with Farouk. Then I will arrange transport out of here. If our hosts are not open to taking care of you, then go with the Trolls. It won’t be luxurious, but it will be healthy.”
I ask our hostess for a glass of water. She hands it to me as she waves her nearly re-grown hand at me. I smile and drain the water.
I think, ‘Oh! That might work.’ I tell Dalia and Ismael, “I just had another idea. Stand by.”
I have one more feat to do, then I will need to take a rest. I hand the glass back to my hostess and walk out to the living room.
Yeshua is sitting there looking down at his stump. He shakes his head vigorously as he murmurs, “No! No! Get out of my head! No!”
I reach for him and feel the connection to Farouk. I ‘remove’ the connection and all of the hooks in Jeshua’s mind. That was easier than I expected. I give his arm instructions to regrow his hand.
I squat in front of him. “Peace be upon you, Yeshua. My name is Jack. I am the Green Lord. You have much to atone for.”
He responds, “Upon you peace, Green Lord. I know I do. I think you removed the Lord from my head. I am forever grateful.” I cut the tape from his arms and legs.
“Good,” I tell him. “I am going to send you to stay with my Mother-in-Law for a time. You will ensure that they treat her with respect and courtesy. Clear?”
He responds, “Yes, Lord.”
“Good. Get your fellows ready to travel,” I instruct him.
I return to th
e kitchen. Dalia is sitting in a chair as Ismael cleans the blood from the floor.
I tell them, “I am going to see if my Mother-in-Law will host you all until this is done.”
Ismael looks up. “I’m going with you, Jack.” His expression brooks no argument.
“Okay.” I nod and step outside. It’s bright daylight outside. Not an ideal place for what I have in mind.
I send a thought to L’liana. *Lili, my Love? How are things going?*
I hear back in my mind, *Jack! We’re doing okay. We’re on approach to Kuwait City. We should be on the ground in about thirty minutes.*
*Okay, my Love. I missed Farouk here, but I know where he is going. I’m going to take a short break, and then rejoin the hunt. I had to rescue his Sidhe.*
*Okay, Lord Husband. I’ll ping you when we go in.*
*Thanks, Darling Wife. I can’t wait to see you. Bye for now!*
*Bye, Jack. I love you!* Then I feel her leave my mind.
I go back inside the kitchen to find my water glass refilled and a pitcher of water and a pitcher of grape juice on the table next to it.
I drain the glass again. Then I ask our hostess, “Where is the darkest corner of your house?”
She looks at me with curiosity. “If you open the closet in the hall, it will cast a shadow. That is the best choice I think.”
I thank her and walk towards the bedroom. I see the closet she’s talking about, so I open the door. Behind the open door, there is a very dark shadow cast toward the bedroom. This should work.
I call out in a clear voice, “Ariana! Queen of Winter, Queen of Air and Darkness, MILF-in-Law, may I have an audience?” The shadows begin to swirl into a spiraling portal. Suddenly, I get a glimpse into Ariana’s bedroom to see Lorraine reclining in bed while Ariana stands naked before me as she pulls on her robe.
