The Twins of Noremway Parish (16 page)

***

Teret Finley took the twins home that night, and Decon Mangler followed her. Teret unrolled a blanket on the floor of her house. The lanterns that lit the living area burned with a dim light, but it was enough to see by. The twins weren’t crying. In fact, both seemed very content with a thumb to suck.

“
Do you have any ideas for names?” Decon asked. He smiled as he did so, and he tickled the belly of the “whole” twin, watching both of them giggle.

He was still unsure about this—about him and Teret raising the twins together. He knew that it was something that she wanted above anything else…his mind was in a cloud, his heart raising. The touch of the lovely women beside him penetrated deeply into his soul, absorbing all the convictions to tradition that he kept housed there.

“
Wait a second, Decon, I have a surprise for you,” she said and walked into another room, emerging with a baby’s crib. It was extra wide to accommodate the twins’ unusual form. “I thought we could set up a nursery in here.” The open expanse of oak flooring in the house left a lot of room to build a full-fledged nursery. Windows were small and few, so incoming light throughout the day would be minimal. The crib was made of a red wood that was quite rare outside of the desert lands. But it was the wood of the best quality known in Noremway Parish.

“
This is amazing,” he said. “Where did you ever get this wood?”

“
A parochial vicar has her ways,” she said with a smile. In fact, it was something she had picked up from the chancellor. He had some stashed away in one of the extra rooms in the house. When she had gone home the night after the twins appeared, she started putting the pieces together. The intricate details, which would have taken any master wood smith weeks to furnish, were done in a single night. Woodworking was kind of a hobby of hers; something she had picked up from her father Terry Finley in the days before he passed on.

“
I really want you to be their father, Decon,” she said and took his hand in hers. He was nervous, shaking. “What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing’s wrong,” he said with a forced smile.

“
Whatever arrangement we make would be for the sole benefit of the children,” she said.

“
But…tradition—”

“
Be damned!”

“
Teret—”

“
Don’t. Do you love me?”

Silence.

“
I said do you love me?”

More silence as Decon attempted to formulate a response. Of course he loved her, and he meant to tell her so, but, “I just don’t know.”

“
You don’t know if you love me?”

“
No, that’s not what I meant.”

“
But that’s what you said.”

“
We are above this, Teret. You are above this.”

Teret withdrew her hand from Decon’s and stood. She walked to the door as if to leave but then stopped, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, Decon—”

“
No, Teret, you don’t have to say it. You’re right.” He walked over to her and held her by the shoulders, rubbing them.

“
No, you are. If we were to do this—raise the twins as mother and father—we would have to marry; I would want that.”

“
I would too.”

“
But that isn’t an option for us. Will it ever be? I don’t know. God, I hate this!”

Decon held Teret in a firm embraced and kissed her lips. “You’re right. Tradition
be damned!
”

***

“
What do you think about surgery?” Teret asked. Surgery was inevitable. They stood over the crib watching the shadows crawl over the twins’ faces. They were wrapped in their golden and red blanket. They looked so peaceful.

“
What do you mean?”

“
What do you mean ‘what do I mean?’ Do you think we should go through with separating them or is it too risky?”

“
Bart promised he would plan this out meticulously; and you know he’s always good at his word. He has never before let anyone in the parish down on anything.”

“
But this is a bit different, and you know it.”

“
Yes, and that’s why it scares me.”

The twins stirred in the crib. One of them let out a little cry and then fell silent again. Her heart went out to them. “One is a bit fussier than the other. I think he might be in some pain.”

Decon put his hand on that one’s forehead. “Yes, he is. They can’t go on like this. I know it. I have all the faith that Bart can do this right, but if he can’t figure out a way to do it, they will probably grow up and decide they want the surgery no matter what the risks.” Teret could see the beginnings of tears forming in his eyes, which made her love him even more than she already did.

Decon moved in close to her, inhaling deeply, taking in her sweet aroma. The red of her eyes glowed with a longing passion as he drew closer, embracing her warmth. His arms wrapped around her thin frame as their lips touched.

Teret couldn’t believe this was finally happening as he stripped off his cloak and she could see the defined muscles in his arms and chest. “Decon,” she said. He kissed her again and she returned the kiss and then pushed him away. “Decon…I can’t.
We
can’t. I’m sorry, you have to go.”

“
No, I’m sorry. Please,” he pleaded. He put his cloak back on and headed to the door; she followed. He turned to her. “Please, let me stay. If for no other reason, the twins are here, and we can talk about this.”

She thought for several seconds before responding. But looking into his blue eyes, she couldn’t refuse him. “Alright,” she said, and fell into his warm embrace.

He held her, and kissed her face, and then gazed upon the beautiful woman in his arms. He wished for once that he could admire her beauty in the full light of day. The only time he had a chance to stare at her this long, his eyes following her heavenly beauty, he had to contend with poor lighting and shadows.

The twins seemed to be enjoying the crib. They were now both giggling, even the one that was a bit fussier.

As the twins giggled in the crib between them, Teret leaned over and kissed him on the lips–kissed him hard. He kissed her back, opening his mouth as he did so. Being a friar, he had never experienced this level of intimate passion, but he liked it, and he wanted more.

Her fingers traced his sculpted body until her hand reached his penis and gave it a firm squeeze. Excitement like he’d never imagined shot through him. His heart raced, and his member stiffened so suddenly that Teret jumped a little.

Then he was lying her down on the floor and passing his hands over the skintight gown, his fingers searching for a means to remove it. She helped him out on that account by revealing the hidden zipper. He continued kissing her, and she him. Her initial inhibitions were gone as she realized that denying this passion was futile.

Within a minute, both their clothes were off, while the twins were oblivious to the act of passion taking place beside them.

As Decon Mangler prepared to enter her, a wave of dizziness that seemed so familiar washed over him.

***

Again—although he couldn’t remember this happening before—he heard loud, omnipresent voices booming through his head. He was disoriented as he looked upon the dark basement scene. He tried to look around for Teret, but she was not there.

The voices said:
Decon Mangler, listen and hear. Be wary of Zuriz Falcon. He has come to Noremway Parish. He is pure evil.

“
Who is Zuriz Falcon?” Decon asked this disembodied voice.

“
Falcon is the epitome of evil,”
the voice said.
“He is a demon from a long ago time, from the Creation–or so the Darkness has told me. You see, he preceded the Darkness. So like those of Noremway Parish who worship Ragas, the creatures of the Darkness worship Falcon, but they know little of the person or entity in whom they put their everlasting faith. They believe that Zuriz Falcon is the Father of the Darkness, the Lord of Chaos. And as Father of the Darkness, he will rule over them in the lands of the dead if the parishes of the Inner-Crescent finally fall.”

“
Is it really true?” Decon asked. “Is it true that this creature is in Noremway Parish right now?”

“
All the evil deeds in the world, all the injustice, anything that battles with the good nature of the world, are caused by the Darkness. Falcon was a creature of the chaos that existed before the creation; the chaos from which none can escape. And then something happened–the Creation.”

“
The Creation,” the friar said.

“
Aye, the creation came to pass. The very creation we see around us: Creation. Creation is a misnomer. A world existed before this one, as I am sure you know. It wasn’t a literal creation, but an event in which nothing after it was like anything that came before it. The Darkness ruled the chaos without any rules, and when the rules were created, the Darkness was eliminated—all except for one creature, Zuriz Falcon.”

“
Did anything else survive this creation?”

“
Some say God didn’t even survive the Creation, but aye, there were others.”

“
And all the creatures of the dark that have haunted us for all these centuries are the creation of this Zuriz Falcon?”

“
Aye. Now, Decon Mangler, our time has grown very short. You must remember what I have told you. You must not forget. REMEMBER.”

***

Decon jerked awake. A naked Teret Finley stood over him, frantic, holding her clothing to her chest as if trying to decide whether calling for the doctor or getting dressed should be her first priority. Luckily he wasn’t out for very long.

His eyes opened wide and he saw the orange lantern light. The twins were still giggling contently, but Teret had a horrified look on her face. “Decon, what happened? Are you alright?”

“
I don’t know; the vision, it was so
vivid
.” Then it struck him, and all the other visions he’d had previously concerning this unknown entity in a dark basement came back to him. He understood who this being was. It was a story teller, one of an ancient breed of entities. But weren’t story tellers nothing but mere legend?

Apparently not
, he thought. He knew of their ability to corrupt memories, and now that he could remember, he knew that his memory had been corrupted every time he was exposed to it. It had been attempting to call out to him, to warn him about the coming of the Darkness, and now more specifically, the coming of Zuriz Falcon, the Father of the Darkness, the Lord of Chaos. But this induced amnesia was inadvertent. Like the myths of Dark beings who can turn one to stone upon a gaze into their awful eyes, a gaze upon the story teller erases one’s memory of the encounter within minutes.

The Book of Ragas
contained allusions to story tellers, but Mangler had never taken the business seriously. Story tellers were not supposed to be the drivers of events in this world, but the chroniclers. They didn’t create events, but merely related them, and it was said that if one were to see the story teller that was telling your story (or in the case of the story teller under the Waterman House,
supposed
to tell your story), you would forget that you ever saw it. Story tellers are not allowed to interfere in any way with the story they are telling.

What did that mean for this story teller, the one who had repeatedly tried to warn Decon about the impending crisis facing the parish? His memory of his contact with it had been erased, but somehow the being had managed to override this fact. What must it have sacrificed to do such a thing?

***

“
Decon, talk to me,” Teret said in a worried voice. She was pacing the room, but now holding the twins. He looked upon her naked form with lust despite the possible danger the parish was in. Her eyes flashed a bright red, even brighter than their usual hue, and suddenly he forgot all about her nudity.

“
Teret, I think the parish is in grave danger. An entity known as Zuriz Falcon, the Lord of Chaos, has come, and only we can stop him.” Silence passed between them as she digested the information and tried to understand it. The Lord of Chaos? Here in Noremway Parish? The demon that Ragas had defeated all those years ago? It was a lot to take in.

Both twins began crying. It started as a mild whimper but quickly turned into a torrential sob. “Here, let me take them,” Decon said, holding out his arms. “You need to get dressed.”

“
No, Decon. What I need is for you to come to me.” He did as she ordered, tentatively at first, but then with a little more confidence. As he drew nearer, the twins quieted down. “I need you.” They kissed again with the twins now whimpering softly between them.

“
Having children makes it kind of difficult to do this,” he said between kisses.

“
I can lay them back down.” She put them on the red and golden blanket in the crib.

She took him in her arms, and walked him toward the bedroom. “They going to be alright out here by themselves?” he asked.

“
Of course. We’ll be able to hear if they need anything.”

As they entered the dark of the room, his heart began an incredible flutter in anticipation. This was something he’d never experienced before and thought he never would. Now that he was committed to commencing this act with the woman he loved, he could feel the excitement rise from his groin and through his stomach to meet the anticipation in his heart.