Whistlestop (34 page)

“
Asmodeus, don’t be stupid.
Normally, we could fold back to the Lower Realm, or send legions of
beasts to do our bidding. Have we been able to anything but walk
since we arrived?”

Asmodeus sighed and said, “You’re
correct, but I for one am not going to start fearing shadows just
because of one anomaly. If there’s light, perhaps there is shelter
and food, and I am going to find out.” He began to walk toward the
light on the horizon and the others joined him.

After stumbling through the dark for
some time, they came upon a wooden rail fence. After climbing over
it, they found themselves in a farmer’s field. The plants seemed
similar to corn stalks, but held large flowers. They followed the
rows toward the growing light. They could hear barnyard animals to
their left but continued forward. Soon a number of low buildings
could be seen in the dim light. They climbed over another fence and
found themselves on a grass lawn leading up to a small farmhouse. A
thin trail of smoke rose from a chimney and light shone through
several windows. With no other options, they walked up on the wide
porch and knocked on the wooden door.

The porch light came on, bathing them
in its warm glow. The door opened and a muscular man stood before
them, holding pistols in each hand. “What do you want?”

“
Friend, where are
we?”

“
My front porch without an
invitation, I would say,” he replied. He appeared to be a normal
human, although he was quite tall with clear eyes. “What a minute,
you all look familiar to me. Oh no!” He fainted dead away and
collapsed at their feet.

A woman appeared in the doorway and
got on her knees to help her husband. “Evidence, are you okay?” She
raised her head and noticed the tattoos on their legs, and fainted
as well.

“
What is going on here?”
Asmodeus sighed.

“
Look at the man’s face,
Brother,” Mithra said.

“
I don’t believe it,” he
replied. “This is the monster that ate us? How can this
be?”

Hundreds of couples swirled and danced
across the massive dancefloor in the palace of the Emperor of the
Universe. The ceiling was fifty feet over their heads where dozens
of crystal chandeliers lit the heavily decorated room. Karl August
Galantine Armstrong was waltzing with one of his many concubines
while dozens more danced with each other around them. A full
orchestra sat on a balcony filling one wall of the room playing
their hearts out to please the emperor. “Are you having a good
time, Isabella?” Karl whispered into her ear.

“
Majesty, this is the most
wonderful party, and my sincere congratulations on your ten
thousandth anniversary as our lord,” she smiled and nuzzled his
neck.

Karl pressed his lips to hers and
whispered, “You have always been my favorite, my dear.” She almost
swooned, making him laugh and spin her even more. As he turned,
something caught his eye on the dais. Linger Bartholomew Breakneck
was sitting on Karl’s throne, staring at him. “Oh shit!” he moaned
and released her. Immediately, another woman took his hands and
tried to dance with him. “Not now!” he scowled as he started
working his way across the dance floor. As he passed, other
revelers patted his back and offered their congratulations as well.
Karl half-smiled at them and continued. Linger was holding a flute
of champagne. Karl climbed up the two steps onto the raised
platform and bowed deeply in front of the demon. “It is my honor to
welcome you to our little celebration, milord.” Linger stood and
offered his hand to the emperor who shook it reluctantly. Searing
pain shot through Karl and he pulled his hand free to see two new
tattoos on his palm. “Was that really necessary?” he whined while
rubbing his burning hand. Instantly, the two men were now standing
on a rocky outcropping high on a frigid mountain. Karl began to
shiver. A heavy fur coat formed on his back out of thin air. “Thank
you, master.”

“
Don’t worry about your
party, Emperor,” Linger smiled. “You will be back there soon
enough.”

“
Why are we here, master?”
Linger pointed toward the side of the mountain on the opposite side
of a wide glacier. Halfway up the mountainside, they could see two
elves walking into the opening of a cave. “Those bastard
Mosscatcher twins are up to no good again, eh? Where is this
place?”

“
Paranaxis. I’m sure you
know what that means.”

“
They are trying to end the
Schism?”

“
Yes. Of course you know we
cannot allow that to happen, right?”

“
I can send some troops
here as soon as we return, milord.”

The two men were back in the banquet
hall, but were seated on a small balcony overlooking the
festivities. There was a glass of whisky in front of each. “You
need to wait a day or two to attack, Karl. Our enemies have built a
large army to defeat you. How does that make you feel?”

Karl choked on his whisky and coughed
for several seconds. When he regained his composure, he looked at
the demon and said, “Why are we waiting then, milord?”

“
The forces are not
gathered together. If you attack the yetis, the rest will survive.
They also have dragons, sprites, seers, ogres and even fairies to
protect them. You need to wait until their force is combined and
ready to fold. Then we will strike them with nuclears!”

“
I am not certain we have
enough for all the realms and the army, master?”

“
That is irrelevant at this
point. Once the last of the Knights of Winterpast and their army
are dead, the rest of the realms will sue for peace. We can wait a
thousand years or more to destroy them if we must. They will be too
frightened to face us again and time will be on our side once
again.”

“
Your plan is brilliant as
always, Lord Linger,” Karl smiled. “Finally we have
won!”

Linger smiled and sipped his whisky.
While he could never tell Karl, he knew his plan was almost
complete. Once the knights were gone, the realms would lose hope
and perhaps the nuclear devastation would not be necessary. All the
realms of the universe would worship him, and the pretense of Karl
August Galantine Armstrong as emperor could end. Linger could then
sit on the throne and rule. He tried to imagine the most satisfying
method of killing Karl, who smiled unknowingly back at him. A
flicker of doubt crossed his mind and he looked up to see Lilian
Iron-heart sitting in Karl’s place. He pushed her image out of his
mind. Killing her parents would solve that problem, he was certain
of that. Without her dear family, she would cry away her life in
the Upper Realm, helpless to stop him. “Yes, Karl, in two days we
go to Paranaxis to defeat Jeremy Iron-heart and the elves.” He
swallowed his whisky and thought of the future.

Duncan Albright opened his eyes. He
was lying on a bed and covered with blankets. A woman was seated
next to him with her hands held out over his body. The last thing
he remembered was the tattooed demon beating him while dozens of
horrible monsters looked on and laughed. The woman was quite
beautiful and her hands glowed with inner light. “I must be dead?”
he sighed. He turned his head to see several of his soldiers
standing all around the bed leaning on their swords. The woman
moved her hands to him and checked his pulse. “Who are you and
where are we?”

“
Trehbor, I am Lynn
Iron-heart and we are on the planet Paranaxis,” she replied calmly.
“How do you feel?”

“
Madam, please call me
Duncan. I am most certainly no longer the Trehbor of Thrace. I
count myself fortunate to be breathing at all. How did I heal? How
long have we been here?”

“
Please don’t say such
things, Trehbor?” several of the soldiers implored. “We still serve
you!”

“
Duncan, you have been here
just a few hours. Jedidiah Beetleweed Mosscatcher and Lydia
Amaranths Iron-heart rescued you from the emperor. I have some
talent as a healer, so I can take credit for that.”

One of the soldiers approached the bed
and kneeled down. “My lord, all of your soldiers are here with the
army of Jeremy Davis Iron-heart. We are preparing to attack the
emperor.”

“
Thank you for your loyalty
Geoff,” Duncan smiled. “Did you say Jeremy Davis Iron-heart is
here?”

“
Both of them,
milord.”

“
Both? There are
two?”

Lynn put her hand on top of Duncan’s
and replied, “There are three actually. My father-in-law is the
Jeremy Davis Iron-heart you recall. His son is my husband, who
prefers to be called Jerry. Our son has the same name, but he is
not here.”

“
Geoff said you have an
army here. You know we cannot face the empire without overwhelming
force? How many men do you have?” His men began to chuckle. “What
did I say?”

“
Duncan, you should be well
enough to stand and walk,” Lynn noted. “Please come outside the
tent and you will find out.” She stood and walked over to the tent
flap and waited. Two soldiers helped Duncan to his feet and led him
over to her. “You’re going to love this!” she laughed and then
walked out.

The soldiers pulled open the tent flap
and allowed Duncan to step outside where he immediately froze.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” he exclaimed.

The broad valley between the hills and
the Woods of Elin was filled with bonfires and hundreds of tents.
To his left, a group of ogres sat around another who was reciting
an epic poem while hundreds of fairies glowed and flittered over
his head, offering their own song as background music. Beyond them,
a large group of dragons had gathered around a large black and
small white dragon, listening intently. To his right, several
hundred elves and sprites danced and sang around a large fire. The
ground was littered with empty liquor bottles. In front of him,
near the center of the valley, his soldiers sat around another
fire, listening to an elf and a small group of humans talking
strategy. Far beyond that group, near the trees, at least a hundred
trolls sat quietly, watching the festivities and amazed by the
gathering. Lynn took Duncan’s hand and led him toward the group of
his soldiers. As they walked, a second group of trolls appeared
between the others and the humans, led by two elves. “Lynn, aren’t
you afraid of the trolls?” She only smiled at him and continued
forward. When they were near the gathering, the soldiers turned to
face him and began to applaud and cheer. The elf and one of the men
hurried to greet him.

“
My God, Duncan, it is good
to see you again,” Jeremy gushed as he hugged the other man. He
turned and waved for Jerry to join them.

“
Well met, General,” Duncan
said to Aida Emmanuelle Constantine, who smiled and offered her
hand. “It seems we are meant to fight together again.”

“
So it would seem,
Trehbor,” she replied, kissing both of his cheeks.

“
That title no longer
applies, General. I am only Duncan now.”

“
Your absence from
Winterpast is temporary, I assure you,” she smiled.

Jeremy said, “Duncan, this is my son,
Jerry. He is our leader here.”

“
Well met, Jerry
Iron-heart,” he replied, shaking his hand. “How may I serve you,
General?”

“
My father is too generous,
Duncan,” Jerry noted. “This army is a coalition of those who tire
of the emperor and his demon master, but it is true enough that we
need military commanders for the battle to come. I would like to
request that you and Aida fill that role. You can decide how to
share responsibility between you.”

The Mosscatcher brothers joined the
group and Jeremiah interrupted, “That is a capital idea, Jerry,
however, the plan will be more complicated than that.”

“
Where the hell have you
been, Jeremiah?” Jerry complained.

There was a brilliant flash of light
and dozens more trolls appeared near the rest. A second bright
light shone over Jerry’s head and he looked up to see an angel
floating down to the ground. Everyone except the Iron-hearts and
Arthur Truth knelt in her presence. “It’s about time you came back,
dear,” the Foreboding said as the angel changed into Sadie
Truth.

She kissed her husband’s cheek and
replied, “It couldn’t be helped sweetheart. I wanted to help
Jeremiah explain that yetis do not exist.”

“
I don’t
understand.”

“
It’s a long story and we
have much planning to do,” she continued. “Plus, I have brought
another warrior to join our little army.”

“
Hi?” squeaked a voice
behind them. Jerry spun around to see a teenaged soldier. He had a
few whiskers for a beard along with bulging muscles and gleaming
silver armor. “I’m back.”

Jerry could see something familiar
about this young man, but he could not put his finger on it. He
looked to Lynn for help, but found her crying and smiling. Then it
struck him and he gasped audibly as tears began to well in his
eyes. He grabbed the young man in his arms and squeezed him
tightly. “Jeremy, is it really you?”

“
This calls for a drink, or
several!” Duncan grinned.

Evidence Drake awoke from his restless
nightmare to the sun shining through his bedroom window and into
his tired eyes. He tried to roll over to avoid its glare but found
himself tied down. He opened his eyes to see his wife sitting next
to him staring straight ahead. “Why did you tie me down, Martha?”
She did not reply but slowly shook her head from side to side. “I
don’t understand why you did this to me, dearest?”