Whistlestop (39 page)

All the soldiers on both sides seemed
frozen in space and time as the brilliant light continued to
intensify. Jerry felt warm and somehow at peace in the glow. Some
part of him knew this light had come from the King of the Angels,
and he said a prayer to thank his maternal grandfather. He was
suddenly very tired and weak and fell asleep, standing guard over
his daughter in the midst of battle.

“
Father,” a voice
said.

Linger Bartholomew Breakneck opened
his eyes to see one of his sons kneeling next to him. “What
happened? Did we win?”

“
Father, something happened
to all of us. I just woke up myself.”

Linger sat up slowly as his head
pounded. “Where is your avatar, Baal?” He looked around and saw his
army was back at the edge of the battlefield. All of his sons were
in their more natural humanoid bodies. “What’s going
on?”

“
I was just about to slice
one of the knights in half when a bright light froze us all in
place. Now, we’re back in our original positions, but none of my
brothers can project an avatar anymore. I think we’re all really
here. How could that happen?”

“
Perhaps I underestimated
my father’s abilities. What about the enemy?”

“
They appear to be waking
on their side of the battlefield too. If Grandfather wanted to stop
you, why didn’t he let them kill us?”

“
How am I supposed to know
that?”

“
I know the answer to that
question,” Lilian Iron-heart said as she approached.

“
Who the hell are you?”
Linger laughed. “Child, you should return to your parents. This is
no place for a girl.”

“
Linger, you and I need to
take a short trip. I want you to see something.” He laughed and
waved her off, but instantly, they were standing on a high hill on
the side of the battlefield. They could see the two lines of
soldiers charging forward to start the fight again. Lilian held his
hand tightly in hers.

He tried to pull his hand free, but
her grip was unbreakable. “Let go of me! What kind of demon are you
anyway?”

Finally, she released him. “You’re
calling me a demon because I held your hand? You are about to
destroy all of creation so you can call yourself king. Many
thousands of lives are about to be lost in this battle to bolster
your ego, and you call me a monster?”

“
What do I care about the
mortals, child?” he scoffed. “They live short miserable lives. I am
just accelerating that course. Mortality is about dying, whoever
you are!”

“
My name is Lilian Lynnette
Iron-heart, great granddaughter of the King of Angels and King of
Demons, and yes, I am the last Knight of Winterpast! You are so
pompous and sanctimonious about life and death, but what do you
know about them!”

He struck her with the back of his
hand, knocking her to the ground. “I am beyond life and death. Now
let me get back to my battle so I can kill the rest of your
family.” He began to walk away laughing.

She grabbed his arm, spun him around
and slugged him in the chest. Linger flew several hundred yards,
crashing down in the center of the battle. He jumped to his feet
and noticed he was standing between Jerry Iron-heart and one of his
own sons. Young Pythius was swinging his axe toward Jerry, who was
raising his blade to parry the attack. Instantly, both armies stood
frozen, with the blades of the axe and sword about to slice Linger
to pieces. He noticed Lilian walking toward him, She smiled and
said, “What should I do now, Linger? Shall I start the battle again
and see you cut into chunks, or should we discuss surrender
terms?”

“
You’re bluffing!” Linger
replied while carefully moving to avoid instant decapitation. He
moved toward her quickly and grabbed her by the neck, and began to
squeeze the life out of her. “You stupid humans will never
understand.”

As she was choking, she began to
smile. Suddenly, she raised her arms upward, dislodging his grip.
She then grabbed his arm and flung him up into the air, where he
now floated inches in front of the open mouth of Archimedes. Lilian
was standing beneath him laughing. “Perhaps I shall allow my friend
here to earn his revenge by biting you in half? That seems a fair
solution, doesn’t it?”

“
You will die now,
child.”

Lilian laughed and motioned downward
with her arm. Linger fell from the sky and slammed into the ground
so hard that he bounced twice. He started to rise when she kicked
him in the chest, launching him over the battlefield half a mile
until he crashed into the ground on a distant hillside. Instantly,
she approached and said, “Well, how goes the battle, Linger?” He
only scowled at her and tried to stand. “Is that the best you can
do?”

Linger opened his mouth and a fountain
of fire shot outward, enveloping Lilian in a searing sea of flame.
When he stopped, a massive fire continued to burn. “You stupid
bitch!” he spat. The flames disappeared and she stood looking at
him and smiling. “How?” Before he could continue, she blew a
hurricane of icy air at the demon. Seconds later, he stood there
frozen. She walked over to him and struck his icy form with her
hand. It shattered into thousands of chunks which crumbled to the
ground, and almost immediately melted into a puddle. A shape rose
out of the puddle and condensed into Linger again. He was shivering
when he replied, “None of this is possible, you know?”

“
Sometimes the rules need
to be broken, don’t you think?” Then she pointed behind him, and he
turned around.

Twelve crosses stood at the top of the
hill. His daughter, sister and brothers were nailed to them. All
appeared to have been dead for several days. The color drained from
Linger’s face as he rushed to them. He reached up to touch
Merihem’s legs which were cold and stiff. He fought back tears and
shouted, “Lilian, this isn’t possible! We are immortals! How could
you do this terrible thing?”

“
She didn’t do anything,
you bastard, I did,” growled Evidence Drake as he walked up to
Linger. He pushed Linger down to the ground and stood over him.
“Truth be told, I suppose you did do this. You sent them here to
another universe where their powers don’t exist. They invaded my
home and I killed them and nailed them to these crosses to warn
others to stay away.”

“
You killed my family?”
Linger groaned.

“
You enslaved me and all of
my friends and family,” Evidence spat. “You just couldn’t leave
well enough alone, could you?”

“
But how did we get here?”
Linger wondered. “I didn’t do this.”

“
That part was me,” Lilian
smiled.

“
You are lying! You’re just
a human child. That isn’t possible.”

Lilian stood over Linger and said,
“Well, if it wasn’t you, and my great grandfathers couldn’t do it,
then who? And besides, didn’t I just defeat you and your army? How
is that possible?” He put his hands over his eyes and began to rock
back and forth. Lilian winked at Evidence who smiled and began to
walk back up the hill toward the crosses where his wife Martha
stood waiting. Down in the valley, the two armies were still frozen
in place. Lilian sat next to Linger and put her arm around his
shoulders. “Linger, you and your army can still wage this battle if
you want. You and your children are mortal here and many will
likely die, and I guarantee you will. Of course, there is a chance
that your army will kill the last Knights of Winterpast, but then
again, my father’s army includes trolls and ogres.” She smiled at
him and continued, “I suppose that means you need to think like a
mortal.”

“
What the hell does that
mean?” he scowled.

Lilian put her hand on Linger’s knee
and said, “How many of your children are you willing to see die?
And is this battle worth your own life? It is for those in my
father’s army.”

“
What other options are
there?”

Lilian smiled and hugged him to her.
“If you’re willing to give up your special powers, your father and
uncle are willing to give you another chance.”

“
This is some kind of
trick! None of that is possible! My family is dead by my
hand.”

“
God works in mysterious
ways, Uncle,” she giggled. “Isn’t it true that a demon is defined
by his tattoos?”

“
Yes, and as you can see, I
lost mine quite painfully. But what does that have to do with
anything?”

“
If you give me your unique
powers willingly, I will make everything whole,” Lilian
replied.

“
Why should I believe you?
And what happens if you’re lying? How can I know?”

She put her arms around him and hugged
him tightly as searing pain coursed through his body. He struggled
to free himself, but could not budge. His skin felt on fire and
every nerve in his body was screaming. After a minute, she released
him. He looked at his arms and legs that still felt on fire and saw
his tattoos had returned. “I have restored your honor, Uncle. Now
please, for the love of everything that is holy and that binds us
together as a family, allow this to end now.”

“
Is any of this truly
possible?” She nodded and smiled sweetly. He threw his arms around
her and squeezed tightly, saying, “Lilian Iron-heart, I grant you
all of my powers. Please save my family. I believe in
you.”

Giant black clouds formed over the
area and thousands of lightning bolts shot down and through Lilian
and Linger and those on the crosses. Rain, hail and sleet pelted
the armies and the winds howled. The deafening booming of thunder
drowned out all other sound. It began to snow very heavily, and
within a couple of minutes, several feet of fresh snow covered the
entire area. Linger sighed and opened his eyes, Lilian still in his
arms. His daughter and siblings were standing around them with both
armies behind them. He brushed off the snow and stood up as his
daughter rushed into his arms and his siblings clapped him on the
back. Jerry had pulled Lilian up into his arms and was hugging her,
his wife and their son. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Jerry
whispered.

“
I’m fine, Daddy,” she
whispered back.

“
Now what do we do,
Lilian?” Linger asked. “Can we go home?”

She walked over to Linger, took his
hand and led him away from the crowd. When they were relatively
alone, she said, “I just want you to know that none of this was
your fault.”

“
I don’t understand. I
certainly did everything I did.”

“
It was a mistake. You were
given these incredible abilities as a test about the inherent
nature of spirit and the balance between good and evil. I suppose
the test was a success, but the cost to you, me, and everyone else
was just too high. I also want you to know that Evidence did not
harm your daughter or siblings. That was just a trick I played to
end this charade without a war. I hope you can forgive me for
that.”

“
Can I get my powers
back?”

“
Uh, no.”

“
Well, I suppose I can
forgive you then. But what about you? You are this young girl with
power greater than any in creation. What are you going to
do?”

“
That’s a great question
and I don’t know if I have an answer to that just yet. I suppose
I’ll get all of us back to our reality first. I guess we’ll just
have to see what happens next.”

Linger put his hands on her shoulders
and said, “You know, you could destroy my family with a single
thought and start a utopian future.”

She smiled and replied, “You know, my
poppy told me something like that not long ago. He and I were
watching the universe spin and dance in front of us and told me I
could end all of it and start it over at any time. But you know,
that would be about what I want, and that would be deadly dull.
Imagine the universe full of quadrillions of beings moving about
their daily lives in the forty-five realms, making choices and
fulfilling their dreams. Imagine the excitement; imagine the
confusion; imagine the joy of everyday existence; now just look
around! What could be more ideal than this?”

“
Sis, you know none of this
makes any sense whatsoever, right? I mean after everything we’ve
been through, it all is back the way it was before it started.”
Jeremy Davis Iron-heart III asked as he sat at the breakfast table
in his great grandparents’ home.

Lilian took a bite of her toast and
smiled at her brother, “I’m not sure what you mean. To me, it seems
like everything has changed.”

“
Okay, I’ll grant you that
Linger hasn’t been seen in the two months since the battle almost
happened, and Mr. Lincoln decided to become Bartok again and moved
back home to Bastion to be with his father. But now Karl Galantine
is Emperor of the Universe again. Even though he no longer has his
demon friend to control him, isn’t everything else the
same?”

Jerry walked into the kitchen and went
to the cabinet to get a coffee mug. He smiled at his children,
filled the mug with coffee and then sat with them. “Good morning.
What are you two talking about?”

“
Dad, Jeremy was just
telling me how after everything we all went through, nothing really
seems to have changed,” Lilian replied.