The Raven Mocker (38 page)

No relief …at least not soon enough. Long before he died, Evelyn passed out from the horror, and Miriam came closer to Hanna’s comatose state. A feeling of weakness swept through David, his last memory of the event, spurred on by revulsion and the sense of kinship with someone whose fate he would soon share. Then everything faded to black, where the cacophony of Teutates’ hearty laughter and the deputy’s final cries could no longer reach him.

Chapter Thirty-eight

The flying serpent looked like it might take yet another pass. It miraculously missed John the first time, it’s hot, foul breath grazing his snowsuit as he fell on his back. The colorful creature’s jaws snapped loudly, closing on empty air.

I must get up! Where did Grandfather’s spirit go?

John looked anxiously around him, knowing in a matter of seconds the soaring menace would plunge again, this time correcting its earlier misjudgment. In his mind’s eye, the images divided. One showed him escaping certain death, reunited with Two Eagles Cry morphed as a wolf. The other an omen of serrated separation …bitten in half with his lower torso and legs falling sideways to the ground, the upper half providing nourishment to the giant reptile.

In the dimness behind him, near the edge of the corridor, two glowing eyes peered from behind a pillar, no more than twenty feet away. A terrible cramp in his left thigh, he ignored it and limped over to whatever waited for him there, the echo from his boot heels resounding in the air above him. They not only revealed his location at present, but also his intended destination.

Stay low, Running Deer…Dive!!

The serpent’s talons ripped his hood away, tearing it away from the rest of his snowsuit. He rolled away from his attacker, scurrying around the column’s base. The creature’s tall shadow hovered nearby, its owner’s claws scraping across the floor’s marble squares, retracing John’s prior movements as it tracked his scent.

Quietly, he removed his boots, his socked feet chilled by the marble floor. He turned to check on his pursuer’s latest location.

“
Asdawadvda Ayv Gani!”
Follow my lead!

The voice from earlier again, this time whispered from the shadows roughly thirty feet away. Two columns away, the wolf’s glowing eyes appeared, accompanied by its panting. Meanwhile, snorts from the serpent distracted him, from the other side of the column he presently hid behind.

It’s
about to find me…I smell its seared breath!!

“
Edoa Asdudi,
Adatlisvi Awi inage ehi!!”

His grandfather’s voice, more urgent this time, it commanded him to stay close. The glowing eyes vanished. Rather than wait for them to show up in a new locale, John scurried over to where he last saw them. But the wolf had moved on, its eyes peering around another column, though just a dozen feet away. John removed his boots after the serpent’s wings brushed against the columns where he stood a moment ago.

He hurried over to where the eyes waited. This time they didn’t disappear until he almost reached them, in time to see the faint outline of a gray furry tail move away. He glanced behind him. The dragon remained a good thirty feet away, its mist-filled snorts drifting through the air, hanging as a cloud until the moisture fell to the floor. To his left, the corridor’s path approached the base of the other tall marble staircase.

The man’s screams were getting worse… begging for his life. Definitely louder now, the screams resounded from atop the tall staircase.

The doorway where the blue glow came from…They’re all up there…I can feel their life force…not dead yet.

“
Galutsv!”
Come!

Despite the nearness of the menace, the wolf moved out into the corridor. It quietly trotted over to the staircase and began ascending the stairs. John didn’t need further encouragement to follow, stepping light on his feet to avoid detection. The wolf waited for him to catch up, and then they hurried together up the staircase.

It surprised John that an attack didn’t happen sooner, casting frequent glances over his shoulder to where he last saw the colorful dragon, moving amid the tall columns where he left his boots. Suddenly, however, a loud screech filled the air above where he stood, a few steps below the staircase’s pinnacle.

Run!!

Flapping wings and an enormous shadow announced its descent. The wolf leapt over the last few stairs, snarling as it turned to face the aggressor fifty times its size. John scrambled up the stairs, wheezing as his heart thudded madly within his chest. Strong and virile at his late age, the stress and physical challenge of making it this far had caught up with him. Once past the wolf, he started to collapse, even as the hungry dragon bore down.

Just another ten to fifteen feet and I’ll be there… I can see the walls inside. Hanna’s in there…Evelyn, too!

It landed right behind him with a heavy thud, drawing one last weary glance from John over his shoulder. Resigned to the likelihood he wouldn’t succeed in saving anyone he collapsed to the ground, cowering from an immense mouthful of sharp pointed teeth.

It could’ve been where his life ended—
should’ve
ended. But the wolf that he believed to be his grandfather, Two Eagles Cry, wouldn’t allow it.

Before the dragon could take the bite to end John’s life, the wolf bit the thing on its right leg. It shrieked more in irritation than pain, swinging its wings around, and catching the wolf under its chin. It landed hard on the stairs, yelping as it tumbled back down to the corridor. John moved to rescue the wolf, but his grandfather’s voice inside his head urged him to move forward instead…to get through the doorway.

Lacking strength to run, John leaned forward, stumbling the rest of the way. The smell of seared breath followed him, and the angry serpent almost won.

But something else took him instead. Something with powerful, boney hands yanked him through the doorway. That was the last thing he remembered before passing out.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Searing pain sliced through the sleeves of John’s coat…both arms were held fast.

“
Ulihelisdi Awiadisi!”

The voice unnaturally deep, the resonance caused a slight tremor in the circular rooms’ walls. Not since he was a young boy had anyone used the shorter Cherokee version of his name—one that his grandfather shunned.

Welcome Running Deer!

The figure before him was much taller than any man he’d ever seen. It stood before an altar, white marble, garish in its finely carved images coated in blood. The room was immersed in a bluish glow, created by a roaring cobalt fire fed only by a pile of human bones.

This is where they died…the ones he killed. Sacrificed for amusement. Eight heads in a neat row behind the altar—like the wolf’s head and paws left for me at the edge of my property.

The figure smiled, and John knew immediately it read his thoughts. Human in some ways, with handsome features mixed with hideous attributes, the coldness of its cat-like eyes made him the most uneasy. They seemed to bore through him, singeing his sentient awareness as if carelessly sifting through his rampant thoughts.

“
Teutates?”

John felt ashamed by his nervousness, since he hoped to exhibit strength in front of Evelyn, who looked terrified. An auburn-haired girl lying next to her trembled in filth….
Hanna!
Alarmed at her condition and near-nakedness, he lurched forward, instinctive in his urge to rescue them both at all costs.

But then twin hisses filled his ears…. Until now, his captors stayed hidden behind thick veils of darkness, holding him fast with invisible iron-clad grips upon each arm. Their faces materialized, one on either side. The faint odor of ginger overwhelmed that of death. Grimaced malice, vacant eyes and paper-like flesh that peeled away from their foreheads. What surprised him most were black crow feathers in their hair. Though similar feathers adorned Teutates’ hair, hanging from ornamental beads in his long raven mane, the simpler manner in which these two wore theirs angered him.

Danuwa analihi! Warriors, both of them…disgraced!!

“
No more than you, Running Dear,” said Teutates, his voice now far more mellow while moving over to Evelyn.

Yanked up by her hair with his right hand, in a swift move that escaped John’s eyes, the rolled fingernails in his left hand fully unfurled to slice through her bonds. He brought her close to his chest, pulling her hair back to expose her throat.

“
You’ve deserted the calling of your people, leaving it to a woman. Neither you nor her are worthy!”

Evelyn gasped in pain as he wrapped his long fingers through her hair, like rollers, and pulled tighter.

“
Don’t hurt her, please, I beg you!” John pleaded, falling to his knees on the dirt floor.

A better view than he would’ve liked of the row of severed heads, the last one belonged to Deputy Charley Peacock. An expression of terrible pain and horror when he died, it looked like he’d been scalped first, savage force tearing past skin through the outer rim of his skullcap. Charley must’ve been the man he heard crying and screaming, offering a plea eerily similar to his own just now.

Another woman lay trembling next to Deputy Peacock’s severed head, which John guessed to be Miriam. That’s when he noticed David hanging from a pole.

He’s still alive!

Blood poured down his wrists as he desperately fought to free himself. John looked away, trying not to think about it…how close David was to freeing himself.

He might be our last hope!

“
Why should I listen to you, cowardly man?”

Teutates voice gleeful as he addressed John again, he brought his index razor just below Evelyn’s chin. John didn’t know what to say. If possible to save her—or any of them for that matter—he had just one shot. One shot to get it right.

Agatoli Uktena!

His grandfather’s voice pierced his mind.

Ududu? Are you in here with us under the guise of a new spirit form?
Along with his grandfather’s voice came an image of the ruby.
Where is it?
John remembered last seeing it back at the cabin.
It’s in the box on the mantle… what good would it do anyway? Why are you showing me this, Grandfather??

Teutates paused, acute interest replacing the smug look.

He still might kill her, but maybe….

The monster withdrew his saber-tipped fingers from her throat, reaching within his cloak and producing his gilded scepter. John recognized it, having seen it up close when it was removed from the ravine in November. He hadn’t seen it since, except in visions.

Something about the way it glistens…spectacular but incomplete.

Teutates smiled, revealing Piscean rows of sharp teeth. He seemed to take more pleasure from John’s latest grimace. Even the ghouls on either side of John chuckled, though as ancient beings, drawing raspy hollow breaths.

“
So, the holiest stone is somewhere near?” asked Teutates, turning the scepter to where John could see the lone empty groove within the ornate handle. Home to the ruby that David brought with him, long ago removed from the ravine by his infamous ancestor, Billy Ray Hobson. “The ‘Eye of Uktena’ rests in your living room?”

Tla!

The voice of Two Eagles Cry, his grandfather, even louder this time. No, the ruby wasn’t there.

Did someone already take it? Maybe Teutates or the dishonored ones took it, and he’s just toying with us…intent on delivering prolonged agony through our emotions.

“
We no longer need you,” said Teutates. A very bad development.

No, Running Deer. No one else took it. You have it…you brought it with you when you picked up the flashlight from the mantle. Don’t you remember? It’s in your coat.

“
I was wrong—it’s somewhere else!” blurted John. Coyness could either save him or hasten his death. “You’ll be wasting your time if you go back there….and if you hurt any of us, you may never find it.”

A gamble and a stupid move if his thoughts gave him away. Teutates gave no indication one way or another, though his expression seemed to soften.

“
Uwoyeni nasgi gawohilvdodi.naquu.”
Hand it over now.

Back to my native tongue? He’s desperate to make sure he gets it back. Why??

“
Nasgi nigesvna nihi tsateli!”
It’s not yours!

“
Tla! Nasgi Aquateseli!!”
No! It IS mine!!

Teutates’ voice grew deep again, threatening. He pulled Evelyn closer, bringing the scepter’s ivory tip beneath her chin. She screamed and a small river of blood appeared. John cried out for him to stop, his remorse immediate and profound.

“
Don’t do it, Grandpa!” Evelyn pleaded bravely. “He’ll kill us all if you tell him!”