The Final Ruby
By Davin Mack Faris
May 2, 2014
Prologue
1785
The creak of a
door opening broke through the silence in the village. The sound of footsteps
roused a few sleeping sheep. Their bleats drowned out the sound of a cold voice
saying something in a lost language. Then there was a scream, a flash of light,
and everything went black.
A skeletal
figure strolled away from the burning remains of the village; she raised a hand
with a glowing stone clasped in it. “Shiarra,” she spoke, “he is gone. Track
down the sultan; it is our last chance.”
Chapter 1
The sultan
2012
Zack M. Yelnats
woke sweating, vaguely aware of his covers lying at his feet. He relived the
nightmare he had had. He had been running as fast as he could from something he
couldn’t see, yet never moving. The swarm of darkness had nearly reached him
when the floor under him gave way. Then he had fallen through darkness until
landing with a jolt on his bed.
“Zack!” his
mother called “Time for breakfast.”
“Coming!” he replied.
Zack dragged himself out of bed and down the stairs.
“Zack,” his
mother scolded, “change out of your pajamas and eat your food or you’ll be late
for school.”
1786
The carriage
was nearly to the palace when it stopped suddenly. The sultan heard voices
coming from outside the curtains. “Just give us the sultan and we won’t kill
you.”
Suleyman then
heard his driver’s voice saying, “w…what sultan?”
Slowly Suleyman drew his pistol,
loaded it, and hid it behind his back. “He…he’s in the back,” stammered his
driver. It was then that Suleyman
made his decision; next time he was going to hire a better driver. Suleyman climbed
stealthily out of the back, trying not to trip on his long robes.
Suddenly, the
female voice shouted, “he’s out the back!” There was the sound of
footsteps.
Then the male
voice said, “Well, what do we have here?” The sultan reached for his pistol but
before he could grab it a hand closed around his wrist. Then there was a crack
of a gun and it wasn’t his. Blood trickled down Suleyman’s arm, soaking
his robes.
“Shiarra,”
scolded a young man wearing a bandana, “We were only supposed to catch the
fool.”
While the bandits were arguing, Suleyman grabbed his
pistol; aiming carefully he let two bullets fly. When they hit their marks
there were two screams of pain.
Suleyman took his chance
and fled into the woods leaving a trail of blood behind him. The sultan slowed
gradually, looking at his surroundings. Then, something caught his eye. It
appeared to be a snoring pile of leaves; closer inspection revealed that it was
an incredibly dirty man with a long beard full of twigs, a stained and tattered
loin cloth, and half-closed, watery blue eyes. Suleyman cleared his
throat and the man jumped to his feet, wildly waving a gnarled wooden staff.
“Hello, good to
meet you; name’s Roto. Oh what a day, oh what a day,” babbled the little man.
“Well I suppose you’re here for a magical favor, they always are. I see you are
bleeding; follow me.” The sultan felt too woozy to object and so he blindly
stumbled after the little man and farther into the woods.
When they
reached the hermit’s home, Suleyman
nearly missed it. It was almost indistinguishable from the forest surrounding
it. Looking closely he thought he could see a light shining through a gap in
the brush and judging from the flickering quality there was at least one lit
candle inside the shack. At that momentSuleyman felt an
overwhelming surge of weakness, then his knees buckled and Suleyman collapsed in a
motionless heap on the ground.
Chapter 2
The dragoness
1786
“Master,”
Shiarra said, “Master, I failed you.”
“I am aware of
that,” said a high, pitiless voice. The
dim light inside the cave illuminated Circe’s cold face.
Shiarra quailed
under her master’s gaze. “B...but what about the sultan?” she asked.
“Never mind,”
Circe replied, “if all goes as planned the sultan will come to us.”
2012
As Zack rode
the school bus back home he wondered for the umpteenth time whether the large
ruby he always wore around his neck was real or not. His dad swore it was real
and told him it had once belonged to a famous sultan named Suleyman. Zack’s mom
didn’t believe this but his dad teased that it was because she was jealous not
to be related to a sultan. Zack thought it must be a fake because if it was
real it would be worth thousands of dollars, and someone surely would have sold
it over the centuries. The school bus stopping jolted Zack back to reality. He
walked down the steps and opened the door using the key under the welcome mat.
Walking up to his room, he dropped his backpack on his bed and took out his
ruby and looked at it. Then he saw something that he had never noticed before,
a piece of rock halfway embedded in it. Looking closer he saw that it was glimmering
in the sunset; then he realized that it was...gold!
Zack slept
fitfully, giant red rubies darting in and out of his dreams. Suddenly Zack sat
up, a sheen of cold sweat on his brow. Trying and failing to recall his dream,
he decided he would get a drink and try to go back to sleep.
1786
Suleyman’s vision returned
fuzzy. He first noticed that he seemed to be lying on a small and extremely
uncomfortable bed, in what looked like a very large rabbit’s hole. Then,
looking to his right, Suleyman nearly jumped out of his skin! For sitting nose to nose with him was Roto.
“You’re awake,”
he said in a silky voice quite unlike his previous babble. “That’s good. I have
just the thing for you. Come with me.” Suleyman stood up and
immediately began to feel dizzy. He sat back down and only then did he notice
the thick and heavy bandages that covered most of his right shoulder.
“Excuse me
sir,” Suleyman asked
as politely as he could, “I don't know where I am. Could you perhaps shed some
light on the subject?”
“Certainly,” replied Roto and he indeed began to shed clumps of
light until the ground surrounding him glowed so brightly that Suleyman could barely look
at it. “Is that enough?” asked Roto from inside what appeared to be a giant
fire ball.
“Not exactly
what I meant,” replied Suleyman.
“Oh,” said Roto
looking disappointed. Then, brightening up again, “But you’re the sultan aren't you? It was
foretold long ago that you would come to me and now you’re really here!” he
said, skipping around the shack (which incidentally wasn’t very far).
“Wait a second,” Suleyman asked
quizzically, “it was foretold that I would come to you?”
“Yes o'great
one, yes indeed,” Roto replied, bowing so low that his long crooked nose whisked
the earthen floor of the shack. Suddenly Roto gasped. “The amulet of Ahura
Mazdah,” he croaked in awe, pointing at the bracelet on Suleyman’s wrist. It was
large, a golden circle inlaid with six large red rubies, three on each side of
an empty socket, which had once held the crown jewel of the kingdom (and had
belonged to his father). But that had been before it was stolen by a man named
Farshid Yelnats, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great
-great-great-great-grandfather of Zack Marmelade Yelnats.
2012
Zack kept
dozing off. It wasn’t like he wanted to but his brain just couldn’t focus
today. “ZACK!” snapped Ms. Wazowski, Zack’s temperamental (or as he and his
friends liked to say, “just plain old mental,”) teacher. “Would you please come
with me? We have to talk.” All the other students gasped. It was not a good
thing if Ms. Wazowski said, “we need to talk,” to you.
“Ok,” replied
Zack, desperately trying to remember why Ms. Wazowski would be mad at him. As
they marched down a hallway (Zack still mystified about how he had offended his
teacher), Ms. Wazowski asked him whether he knew why he was in trouble.
“Yes ma’am,” he
sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I snoozed in class.” He turned to face his teacher.
She was gone.
Suddenly, a
voice hissed from behind him, “you have it!” Zack spun around. Crouched on the
floor like a wild animal was Ms. Wazowski. “Give it to me,” she rasped.
Zack opened and
shut his eyes several times to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things. He had
not seen her cross his peripheral vision, and the only explanation was that she
had jumped over him. As she was a middle
aged women and he was rather tall, this was almost impossible.
Trying to
comprehend what he was seeing, he spluttered, “but..you...how?”
“You have the ruby. Give it to me!”
she repeated. Then slowly, hideously, she began to transform; large scaly wings
unfolded. Her eyes shrunk to black, beady slits. Her teeth narrowed and elongated
to fangs. Her t-shirt ripped in two, as large spikes protruded from her back. A
tail sprouted from between her clawed legs. Then, in front of Zack stood a
full-fledged dragoness. About five times the size of Zack, her bulk nearly
filled the hallway. Zack dived out of the way just in time to avoid a slashing
claw. He was forced to duck to stop himself from getting fried by a burst of
lightning emanating from the creature’s mouth. He was so busy not getting
killed that he didn’t hear footsteps coming up behind him. A sharp jolt of pain
caused him to look down. Filled with adrenalin it took him a few seconds to
register what he was seeing, a small feather dart protruding from his shoulder.
Chapter 3
The kidnapper
2012
Leah Marmalade
was wondering when Zack would be home. This was the ninth day in a row that he
had been late back from school. Given the many detentions he had had, she
couldn’t remember when he had last been home on time. She felt a sharp stab of
pain and looked down to see that one of the knives she had been washing had cut
her finger. As she went to get a band-aid, she decided to call the school
office and ask whether Zack had gotten another detention. The phone rang three
times, then deteriorated into static.
She was startled. She called
twice more with the same result. She jogged out to her car and started it. She
drove to the school rather fast, perhaps faster than she would have otherwise,
with an ominous feeling in her gut. When she arrived at the school, a scene of
havoc greeted her. The school was in ruins, the fields surrounding it strewn
with rubble. The police were already there and she could see ambulances and
fire engines approaching at full speed. She leapt out of the car and sprinted
towards the police. “Where’s my son? Is he okay? Oh my gosh, what’s going on
here?!”
“I’m so sorry
ma’am,” answered the officer, her friend Mike. “As far as we can tell, only a
few people survived, and none of them was Zack.”
Zack winced as
dragon claws cut into his shoulder. They were flying so high that his eyes were
starting to water and his lungs were starting to burn. He thought the dart must
be drugged because he was starting to feel sleepy. Zack was still trying to
wrap his mind around what had happened at the school. The dragon swerved
sharply to the left and Zack suddenly felt the vivid sensation of having left
his stomach far behind. Suddenly, his former teacher went into a steep dive.
Looking down, he saw that they were heading straight for a swirling hole of
black remarkably like the one from Zack’s dream. Then, Zack blinked and passed
out.
1786
Zack’s first
sign of consciousness was the sound of voices. The voices grew stronger in
clarity until he could almost make out the words. Groggily, Zack sat up. He
realized he was in a large cavern, possibly underground, with manacles hanging
from the walls. Suddenly, a tall, striking lady walked in through a squeaky
iron gate.
“Zack,”
she said in a sing-song voice. “How do you feel?”
“Not
so well,” he replied swaying. “Who are you?” he asked. “I think I was attacked
by a dragon and … Am I dead?”
“Not
yet,” the woman replied. “I hope to keep you alive for some time. You shall
make a lovely addition to my collection.”
“Whoa,
whoa, whoa!” said Zack, his mind clearing suddenly. “Who are you people? Where
a-?”
“I
am Circe,” the woman cut in. “And a better question would be when are you…”
Zack didn’t
bother to struggle against the two armed guards marching him to Circe’s
chamber. He had only been there a few days and he was already starting to think
of it as his new home. The food looked great but Zack felt sure it was drugged;
for one thing, the moment he tried anything he had started to feel sleepy. Zack
had been throwing the food away for three days straight but was sure he would
crack soon. They halted at a locked wooden door and one of the guards knocked
thrice on it. “Enter,” replied Circe. When they walked through the door the
temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. Goose bumps erupted on Zack’s arms, and
he began to shiver violently.
“Perhaps you
are wondering why I don’t just kill you,” Circe wondered allowed, striding
around the room. “The answer is that you intrigue me, Zack. You have much
magical power if only you knew how to use it. I want you as my apprentice.
Zack, together there would be nothing we could not do!” Zack, remembering the
terrors that brought him to this place,
immediately knew what to do. Of course he didn’t want to help Circe, but
the only way to get back to his parents was to get on the inside, though he
would need to be careful. If Circe learned his true agenda, his value would
diminish.
“OK,” replied
Zack. “I’ll be your apprentice.”
“Fabulous,”
Circe replied, her hands beginning to glow. “Let your training begin.”
Chapter 4
The secret
friends
1786
Dear Diary, Circe has been working
me harder than ever. I’m still trying to find a way to get home but she’s
keeping a close eye on me. I’ve got some secret friends here who told me about
a few hidden passages that I’m sure Circe doesn’t know about because she can
never find me when I’m hiding in them. I’m really missing my parents. I wonder
how they’re faring. I finally complained to Circe about the drugged food. She
said she’ll do her best to change it but I don’t entirely believe her because I
think she ordered it in the first place. Gotta go now. I hear her coming.
Zack just
managed to stuff his diary, (a filthy notebook he had fished out of the
garbage) under his pillow before Circe strode in and proclaimed, “Zack, we have
work to do!”
“Yes,
Ma’am,” Zack sighed tiredly. He had been writing about half the night and had
gotten very little sleep. “Look, when am I going to be able to make things move
with my mind like you do?”
“Patience,
Zack,” Circe intoned. “First you must master the art of retrovision.”
“OK,
that would be pretty cool,” Zack amended, “but I’d rather be able to move stuff
with my mind than see behind me.”
“Enough!”
Circe interrupted sharply. “Follow me to the arena. We have work to do.”
Zack snapped
his fingers, conjuring up a wall of blue, semi-transparent light just in time
to deflect a ball of sizzling green energy that Circe had sent hurtling toward
him. They were in the middle of their magical combat practice and Zack was
getting better and better. The balls of light wouldn’t kill if they struck but
merely stung rather badly. Zack sent his own ball of blue energy flying at
Circe, which was blocked in turn. Zack clenched his fists and began to chant,
“body and muscle swell and grow, magical powers you will sow, my servant you
will be, I SUMMON YOU RASHRATEY!” Suddenly the ground in front of Zack began to
glow and then a huge figure sprang from it. Zack’s Rashratey (a type of magical
servant) crouched protectively in front of him and then sprang at Circe who,
with a casual wave of her hand, turned it to ashes.
“Hey,” Zack
protested, “that was my best one yet!”
“Silence!”
Circe cut in, “Again!”
Zack lay in bed
staring up at the ceiling, wishing he could fall asleep. Every time he did, he
had the same dream. Two men, one tall with richly embroidered robes and a
turban, the other short with a long beard and watery blue eyes - telling him
how to escape. It had been they who had told him about the secret passages.
But, to Zack’s increasing annoyance, when you want to fall asleep it tends to
become ever more difficult. When Zack finally drifted off, he found that the
two men were waiting for him.
“Welcome back,”
said the short one in his strange silky voice, “did the passages work?”
“Yeah, they did,”
Zack replied, his voice sounding far away. “Do you have any other advice?”
“Oh yes,”
answered the tall man. “Yes, indeed.”
Suleyman and Roto broke
the empathy link and stood up. They had located the ruby only a few days ago
and had been in contact with Zack ever since. Roto had explained toSuleyman that if the ruby
was ever joined with the bracelet, it would make the possessor ruler of the
gods and provide virtually unlimited power. But, the bracelet would be useless
unless it was reunited with what was known as the activator.
Tom Mott looked over his
shoulder to see if they were still following him. He had left his village one
year ago, and Circe’s minions had been pursuing him ever since. He had the
final piece of the puzzle: the key that would make the artifact active. If the
ruby and the bracelet were joined, it would become an artifact of unimaginable
power but it would be inactive. What he possessed was something of an ON
switch. He ducked behind one of the many pillars in the temple ruins to avoid
getting impaled by one of the minotaur’s javelin-sized arrows. As the brute
lumbered into sight Tom slid out from behind the pillar and jumped on top of
the minotaur. The huge monster let out a bellow of rage, but Tom just hung on
tighter. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the ground out of which slithered a
scarcuss. It was long, scaly, and skeletally thin, its long fangs dripping with
poison. Tom blanched; of all monsters the scarcuss was the most deadly. Plus,
if Circe was able to command them, there was no telling what else she could do.
The scarcuss lunged and Tom quickly used the minotaur’s head as a springboard,
diving behind a pillar. Unfortunately, the scarcuss seemed to anticipate his
move and caught Tom’s ankle in its whip-like tail. Tom struggled to escape the
scarcuss’ constricting coils, but he was being brought ever closer to the mouth
which was stretching wide, to engulf him whole.
2012
As Leah M.
numbly poured herself cereal, her eyes could not help wandering to the chair
were Zack used to sit. Though he had been gone about a month now, no body had
been found, and she could not rid herself of the feeling that he was not dead.
Somebody knocked on the door and she jumped. She walked to the front door and
opened it. Outside was an extremely tall, thin man with long fingernails and
leathery skin. “Good evening,” he said in a
voice that sounded as though it had not been used for years, “I wish to
speak to your son.”
“Um, my son
died a month ago.”
“Ah, I’m so sorry, but what of the ruby?”
“I’m afraid I
don't know what you’re talking about,” she replied coldly, her mind working
quickly. The only thing that came to mind was the large ruby that Zack used to
wear. But how would the stranger know about it?
“Yes, yes, I’ll
leave you now,” he said, but as he walked away Leah got the distinct impression
that he knew she was hiding something.
1786
Circe sat alone
in her study, pondering the variables in her plan. How foolish Zack had been to
think that he, a mere human boy, could trick her, Circe, daughter of the king
of the gods! She had known all along that Zack was in contact with the owner of
the bracelet. She had made sure to listen in on all of their conversations. She
also had pretended to not be able to find him when he was hiding in the
passages that the sultan had told him about so Zack would have no doubt in his
new friends. She was hoping that they would be coming to “rescue” him any day
now and fall right into her trap. Plus, if the wizard and sultan saw through
the trap and didn’t rescue him Zack would suspect them of working with herself
and would be turned against each other.
Zack sat up in
bed, he had just finished having a conversation with Suleyman and Roto and it
turned out that they were planning to rescue Zack in a few days. In a different
room unheard by Zack, Circe let out a cackle of triumph.
2012
A tall, thin
man with leathery skin walked away from a house. Brooding
about the lady who was hiding
the ruby, he had been looking for it for eons only to have it slip through his
fingers once again. He turned down a dark alleyway, making sure nobody was
following him. Then, the dust on the ground swirled around him and he vanished.
The strange man reappeared in his ancient
castle. He walked purposefully towards a tall stone door inlaid with gold. As
he neared it, his jacket and jeans morphed into a black cape, golden greaves
and a golden helmet with a golden model viper coiled on the top, but perhaps
the most unusual feature of the man were the two live vipers growing out of his
shoulders, the door swung open and Zahhak stepped through it, entering the
world of the gods as he did so.
Chapter 5
Suleyman’s big mistake
1786
Tom struggled
against the scarcuss’ coils. He was now so close to the mouth that he could see
the individual droplets of poison glistening on the fangs. Suddenly, there was
an ear-splitting war cry and a figure launched herself from a nearby tree. She
landed in a crouch and, before the
minotaur could register what had happened, its legs were out from under him and
he was sprawled on the ground. In another quick movement, she had grabbed one
one of it’s arrows and had skewered the scarcuss. Tom dropped to the ground and
rolled to a stop. Cautiously he stood up and faced the girl, she was about
twenty and very pretty, with dirty blond hair and startlingly forget-me-not
blue eyes, and her finely etched muscles and long scars showed evidence of a
difficult life. “Hi,” she said “my name’s Delbar what's yours?”
“My name’s
Tom,” he replied suspiciously, “and how do I know Circe didn’t send you?”
“A simple thank
you for saving your life would be nice,” she answered sounding annoyed, “and
anyway how am I supposed to prove that to you? Now unless you want to be here
when he,” she nudged the unconscious minotaur with her foot, “wakes up, I
suggest you come with me.
Tom sat up and
got out of bed. He had been staying with Delbar for a few days, ever since she
had saved him from the scarcuss. He was still getting used too the tree house,
but at least he was convinced that Delbar was not working for Circe. Suddenly,
Delbar ran into the room. “INVADERS!” She yelled. Tom quickly looked out a hole
in the leaves and sure enough, there was an army of monster’s led by Circe
herself.
Suleyman and Roto had been
preparing non-stop for the rescue. Suleyman had spent a small
portion of his treasure on tools such as grappling hooks and crowbars. While
Roto had made strength and size potions. They planned to talk to Zack one more
time to verify the time of the rescue. During their last conversation, Zack had
told them that Circe seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Suleyman and Roto had both
agreed that this didn’t bode well. Roto had suggested that perhaps she was
close to getting the activator. Though Zack thought that they should worry
about that after rescuing him. They both laid down in their bed’s and closed
their eyes, focusing on Zack. Almost immediately they were standing in vast
emptiness with Zack in front of them, he broke into a grin and said gleefully,
“hey guys, I can’t wait to see Circe’s face when you rescue me, it’ll be
awesome.” Little did Zack know how wrong he was.Suleyman
smiled too but Roto stayed looking grim.
“Let’s not get our hopes up,” he muttered to Suleyman. “We both know
this could be a trap.”
“Oh lighten up
Roto,”
Suleyman whispered back.
“Do you really think he’s,” he gestured at Zack who was now doing cartwheels of
joy, “working for Circe?”
“Not knowingly
anyway,” said Roto in a undertone, “but Circe has ways of making people help
her without realizing it, and if Circe doesn’t expect us to come rescue him
then I’m a werecow.” Süleyman
had no idea how sorry he would be that he had not heeded Roto’s warning.
2012
The lone sound
of a bell tower striking midnight echoed throughout the forest. A crow cawed
and then took flight. Deep in the cover of a thorn bush, eyes blinked to life.
Red eyes. Evil eyes. Hungry eyes. Stealthily, a dark shadow slunk from the
cover of the bush and made its way across the grass. The creature climbed over
a tall wooden fence with ease. It would have been invisible except for the
glowing red eyes. Landing silently on the other side, the creature approached a
hooded figure who had not been there a moment before and spoke with a
many-toned voice that could not have come from a human.
“You summoned
me, master?” it rasped.
“Indeed,”
replied a deep voice that seemed to emanate from the depths of the hood. “Once
more, I am in need of your services. Fetch me the ruby.”
Tom and Delbar
raced through the escape tunnel at top speed. Delbar had showed him the secret
network of ancient underground tunnels that she had learned by heart in case
Circe invaded. Which, according to Delbar would remain invisible to anyone she
didn’t choose to share its existence with. Though, she had pointed out it
wouldn’t last long under an onslaught as strong as Circe could provide. As they
ran in a awkward crouch (the tunnels were not very spacious) through the
twisting network, It seemed incredible that Delbar had learned all this by
heart. Tom couldn’t even tell which way they had come from. Suddenly he
stopped. His right leg practically exploded with pain; it had been a little
sore all morning but he hadn’t paid it any attention. Now he realized that
there was a swollen dark red sphere covered in irregular bumps hooked onto his
leg with its mandibles piercing his skin. Instantly he recognized it as a
magical tracking device. Fortunately for him, he knew better than too yank it
off. Slowly, he pried the mandibles open and quickly tossed the horrid device
down a side tunnel.
2012
Leah was
relieved when the strange man left. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but
something about him unnerved her. For one thing he had known about Zack’s ruby
which had been his greatest secret; his friends hadn’t even known about it. For
another, a strange aura seemed to emanate from the man. As she sat down on the
couch she noticed a small note taped to the fridge. You have until morning to
hand over the ruby or else. She quickly read it and slowly set it down. It
wasn’t possible; the man had been by the door the whole time and yet the note
had appeared on the fridge like… “No,” she thought, “magic didn’t exist.”
“Then how did
the note get there?” asked a voice in the back of her mind.
“How should I
know?” she snapped out loud.
As Leah lay
sleeping in bed, happily dreaming that Zack had never left, her window creaked
open. She never heard the sound of paws padding stealthily across her bedroom.
She never saw the glint of red eyes in the darkness.
Chapter 6
Worst
family reunion ever
2012
Far away in a
roughly hewn cave, Ahriman waited impatiently for his servant to return. He had
sent him in search of the ruby in hope that it might yield some information.
Meanwhile, time for him to check on his
opponents. Ahriman slowly approached his seeing orb, willing it to show him his
opponents. The device began to emit a quiet buzzing sound. The noise grew in
volume until a deafening thrum resounded throughout the cavern. Suddenly the
sphere grew clear. It was as if he was looking down through a small round
window into a room. Sitting at a large desk was a woman muttering a complex
spell to herself. Ahriman recognized her instantly as his cousin, Circe.
1786
As Circe sat at
her desk, chanting a projection (a complex bit of magic which enables the user
to create an semi-solid projection of his or herself). She wondered whether her
army had collected the activator yet. Then, suddenly, she sensed someone spying
on her. She waved her hand and, in a different time the seeing orb went dark.
Tom
sat up, looking around. Then he spotted Delbar who was supposed to be on watch
duty dozing on a moldy couch and sighed. All was well. He and Delbar had
entered Süleyman’s
kingdom some time ago (distance was very strange in the passageways) and had
been hiding out in a lady’s cellar ever since.
Suddenly, the
wooden stairs creaked and Tom heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly
Tom threw a blanket over Delbar and dove behind the couch, trying to stifle his
grunt of pain as he hit the hard wooden floor.
He heard some labored breathing and a few curses. Peaking over the top
of the couch, he saw a tiny old lady struggling to get a large sack up the
steps. Tom gasped. That was the sack that contained their stuff: Delbar’s
hunting knife, compass, and medicine, and most importantly, the Activator. They had stuffed their belongings into a sack
labeled, “radishes,” when they came in and had not given them a second thought
until now. “Delbar!” he hissed urgently. He saw her give a silent start and
then remain still.
The old woman
turned around as though she had heard Tom’s utterance, but then seemed to
decide she had imagined it. When the old
lady was gone, Tom and Delbar left their hiding places. Slowly they snuck up
the stairs, trying to make no noise.
When they reached the kitchen of the small house, Tom felt a stab of
horror. The old lady was sharpening a knife next to a stew pot, with the bag of
radishes beside her.
Without
thinking, Tom ran in, grabbed the bag, and made a break for it. Delbar, quick
on the uptake as ever, ran to the front door and opened it just before Tom
reached it. Once outside, they hid in a deserted alleyway. Tom and Delbar
immediately agreed what to do. They had both seen for themselves that Circe was
far away and so if they were to break into her stronghold now, it would be
immensely easier. With that in mind, they set off. Delbar, who had had some
experience with Circe previously, was quite sure where her lair would be.
Suleyman and Roto
approached the hill. Through Suleyman’s
best informants, they had managed to pinpoint the location of Circe’s lair.
Roto had called in some friends to help but they had not arrived yet. The plan
was that in all the commotion caused by Roto’s friends, the pair would sneak
into the fortress undetected. Suleyman
was highly sceptical about Roto’s
contacts because Roto claimed they were manticores and the last known
manticores had died out centuries ago, in ancient times. Suddenly there was an
earsplitting roar and several winged creatures soared into view. They were
truly a terrible sight to behold with giant lion-like bodies, barbed tails,
huge bat wings, and blood red eyes. Suleyman stepped back in
shock as one of the huge beasts landed in front of Roto and growled, “at your
command master.”
Roto caught Süleyman gaping. Smiling
he said, “I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Ahriman
emerged through a swirling hole of black. He had managed to track his cousin to
the area and now it was time to get even!
Zahhak
appeared to be made out of darkness
itself as he strode purposefully toward the hill. This time he would not lose
the ruby.
From up in a
tree Delbar whistled to Tom. He gave her a swift nod and then ran towards the
hill. At the same time Delbar leapt from the tree and landed next to him.
Together they charged.
Ahriman
suddenly spotted a familiar figure illuminated by the moonlight. Slowly he
approached the golden-clad figure and drew a breath, “hello son.” Zahhak spun
around, sending a semi-transparent indigo dagger hurling towards Ahriman's
chest. Ahriman who was expecting this casually crooked his pinky and watched as
his son’s dagger was absorbed by his rusty orange shield of energy. Smiling to
himself, he remembered the precautions he had taken during Zahhak’s training,
such as teaching him no magic he couldn’t overcome himself. Suddenly a deafening
roar shook the clearing and both Ahriman and Zahhak spun towards the hill.
Ahriman gasped in horror as he realized what the sound meant...manticores.
Sitting at her
desk Circe sensed several powerful presences. She got to her feet and quickly
pulled a hidden lever on her desk knowing as she did that her defenses were on
their way.
Roto was just
about to give the signal to charge when a savage moo echoed throughout the
night. Suleyman
and Roto exchanged worried glances, they both knew that meant werecows. Then,
on top of the hill bounded an utterly terrifying creature; it was vaguely
cow-shaped with yellow slits for eyes, it had long white fangs glinting in the
moonlight, and bristling black and white fur. The primal howl rang through the
night again and suddenly the monster was joined by several more werecows. The
lead manticore lunged and with a lightning fast swipe of its paw one of the
werecows fell dead. Two other manticores charged frighteningly fast and
slaughtered two werecows a piece. The remaining werecow looked at the
manticores (neither of which had sustained so much as a scratch) but before he
could flee, one of the manticores opened his maw and let loose a great fiery
inferno. Several charred bones fell to the ground. Then, without hesitating,
the manticores charged.
Ahriman made an outward pushing motion
with his hands and Zahhak flew thirty feet. Knowing that he would have little
time, Ahriman snapped his fingers and the hill cracked open revealing a solid
iron fortress. Suddenly Ahriman began to transform; his black robes burst in an
explosion of muscle, his face elongated into a snout and great claws grew from
his paws. Ahriman lunged and reduced the the inch thick wall to shreds with one
swipe.
Circe heard the
great cracking sound and raced towards the source. She skidded to a halt when
she saw the sight that greeted her; the wall was in ruins, a huge wolf-like
figure filling a majority of the gap.
Meanwhile,
Zahhak rose to his feet and approached his father from behind. stealthily, he
raised a large silver dagger. Suddenly, faster than Zahhak would have believed
possible Ahriman spun around and clenched Zahhak’s throat in his paws, slowly
constricting his own son’s windpipe. Then, with a sound that should never come
from a human body Zahhak flew twenty feet into the air and he too began to
transform. Unlike his father, whose avatar resembled a wolf, Zahhak’s seemed
more reptilian and there was a definite hiss in his voice when he spoke,
“sssurrender now, Father, while you still have the choice.”
“Ha ha h-,”
Ahriman’s laughter was cut short by a glowing green knife blade protruding from
his chest. The colossal god fell and Circe stepped calmly over him, her eyes
daring Zahhak to react. Unexpectedly, Zahhak felt a surge of rage followed by a
savage desire to tear Circe limb from limb, could this foreign feeling be
compassion? Then Zahhak made up his mind. Father or no father it was his
mission to win. He lunged, his scaled tail whipping around towards Circe’s
throat. Circe ducked at the last moment and grabbed Zahhak’s tail using his
velocity to send him sailing over her. As Zahhak struggled to his feet, Circe
felt a surge of pain and realized that one of the poisonous spines on Zahhak’s
tail had created a small wound no larger than a pin prick. Taking advantage of
Circe’s momentary distraction, Zahhak made a rather comical looking windmilling
movement with his arms. Suddenly Circe gasped in horror as both legs sprang
together and her arms jumped to her sides. Normally Circe would have been able
to easily throw off the body bind, but Zahhak’s poison had greatly weakened
her. Zahhak’s scoff changed to a expression of incredulous amazement as a green
mist began to surrounded Circe. Circe smiled at the obvious confusion displayed
on his face; the art of mental magic had been lost several millennia before
Zahhak was born. Circe rose and her eyes glowed green, “beware dear cousin.
Being family will earn you no favors.”
Zack had heard
the sounds of battle and had decided to go the other way; now he found he was
quite lost. Just as he about to relinquish all hope of finding his way out,
there was a mighty crack and the wall burst open. Standing in front of Zack was
the most terrifying creature he had ever seen; it looked like a giant lion with
huge bat wings and blood red eyes. Then Zack spotted Roto and Süleyman and relief
flooded through him. “Guys,” he yelled in delight. Rushing forwards, the
manticore growled but Roto murmured to him, “it’s ok Rawchath, he’s a friend,
and this isn’t over yet.” He added too
Zack, “it...it’s not?”
“I’m afraid not
my boy, I believe your captor is...um...previously engaged,” he smiled as a
scream rang through the night.
three hours
later...
Zack, Roto and Suleyman watched as the
sun carriage disappeared into the sky. They had contacted Circe’s older brother
Apollo and he had been very unimpressed when he heard what she had done. So he
had been happy to deliver both her and Zahhak to Hades with a request to throw them
into tartarus.
Epilogue
1786
Deep in tartarus Kronos sensed two presences join
him. The part of him that had once been a head made a movement that might have
been a smile, he would rise again.
Epilogue 2
2012
Zack sat on the
couch, happily eating popcorn and watching 007 narrowly dodge a bullet. he had
come back too his time about a month ago and Suleyman and Roto still
visited regularly.
THE END
