 
### A Snowball's Chance in Hell

And other stories.

By

Lee W. Lindsay, Jr.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Lee W. Lindsay, Jr.

Smashwords Editions License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it reamins the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Table of Contents

The Spinning Wheel

Will-o'-the-Wisp

Dark Woods, Dark Hearts

The Spiral Gate

A Snowball's Chance in Hell

About the Author

The Spinning Wheel

The early morning shadows faded as the sun drifted above the far eastern mountains. The morning dew became the warm musk of sun-warmed spring leaves and fresh-turned soil from the small plot of land near a diminutive, two-room, sod house. A giant, old oak tree stood near the front of the house. Next to the house a tall stack of wood cured. A lanky, grizzled, brown-haired man sat on an old stump. Smoke from a long-stemmed pipe with a dragon-head bowl drifted out and curled around the old man's head while he carved a six-inch piece of oak. Under his nimble fingers, the wood transformed into a figure of an ugly, squat troll. The old man blew off some wood shavings and grunted.

"Not quite right yet." he muttered in a soft, gravelly voice, "Still need to work the face to make it look like that troll."

"Edmond, come here please." The request drifted from the house.

Edmond calmly stood up and put the carving down. He sheathed his knife as he walked to the house. Stepping to the door, he leaned against the frame. He smiled as he looked at the woman with salt-and-pepper hair framing a face decorated with laugh lines. She wore a plain cotton dress with a clean, well-worn apron. One hand lay on an old, battered spinning wheel while her other hand rested on her ample hips.

"What ya need, Lilly?" asked Edmond.

Lilly turned to her husband with a soft smile.

"This spinning wheel is broken. Can you fix it? I told Dorothy I would have her yarn ready by the next full moon so she'll cast that spell to keep the potato blight away." Lilly gave the wheel a spin with her finger. The wheel wobbled and stopped. "I'll to have to work day and night spinning by hand." She frowned slightly. "I wish we had a new spinning wheel, then I could finish her yarn in a couple of days." She looked up at Edmond. "I don't suppose we could get one from the elves?"

A puff of smoke circled Edmond's head.

"I suppose, but the elves've been doing a lot o' selling to them folks down at Marsh Harbor. They've taken to upping their prices, so I don't see how we could afford to pay what they'd want." he scratched his chin, "I don't know that I approve of elves gett'n into commerce. They're way too sharp for humans to keep up with."

The old man ambled over to the spinning wheel. He poked and prodded at the wheel and uprights. He tweaked the maidens and the flyer and tested the leather driving band. All the time, ribbons of smoke wafted out of his pipe moving in and out of the spinning wheel. Finally, Edmond straightened and gave the wheel a twist.

"Not good." He shaved off a piece of firewood, dabbed it with a bit of grease from a can Lilly kept near the spinning wheel, and tapped the wood into the space between the axle and the wheel. Edmond spun the wheel.

"That'll take care of it for a bit, Princess. We got a couple extra bags o' spuds out in the cellar. That preserving spell is still good. This time o' year good spuds will fetch a price in Askfordton. Maybe enough to get a good, used spinning wheel from old Clancy, him getting Lord Askford's left-overs 'n all. I'll head down there and see what I can get." He took his pipe out and tapped it on the fireplace, knocking out the gray ash. "I could be back by tonight, but Clancy'll want to haggle and gossip and share an ale or two and a story or three. Best figure that I'll be back by tomorrow night."

Edmond gave Lilly a kiss, recharged his pipe with the sweet-smelling dried leaves, put more of the leaves in his pouch, and took his staff from its place above the door.

Edmond soon settled a rope tied to two bags of potatoes over his head so that it hung off his shoulders and around his neck with the bags dangling on either side of his chest. Before entering the wooded area, Edmond turned around to look at his small house in its little clearing. He smiled at his wife standing by the door, waving. He waved then turned and continued down the weed-choked path, puffing wistful curls of smoke from his pipe.

***

Edmond didn't mind the two mile walk down the path to the main road. Nor did he mind the eleven mile trip to the small valley where Askfordton sat. He enjoyed taking the main road, traveled by people on foot, horseback or by the weekly stage from the capitol near the far mountians to Marsh Harbor, fifty miles beyond Askfordton. Edmond moved along, whistling and humming to himself.

Three miles from where he turned onto the main road, Edmond paused. The road made a bend about a hundred yards further on before crossing a small creek. Edmond listened. A loud shout came through the wood, a yell of pain. Steel clanged on steel, then another yell choked off. Edmond moved fast. He turned the bend and crossed the small wooden bridge.

Edmond saw a man with dark graying hair, a golden circlet and a blue tunic defending himself from three scruffy thugs in filthy shirts and kilts. The man backed against a tree and stood with a sword in front of him. He moved carefully, hobbling from a crossbow bolt in his left leg. Edmond's eyes lit up in recognition. He shrugged off his potatoes and loped toward the fight, passing three horses tethered near the creek and the bodies of the King's two guards.

"Hey, you three had best leave off before you get what's a-coming to you!" Edmond yelled.

Two of the thugs turned towards Edmond, the third kept his eye on the king. One of the thugs facing Edmond laughed. He seemed filthier than the others, his shirt a muddy gray with splotches of his latest meal on the front. If his kilt had clan colors they had long since disappeared under the dirt, yet his sword gleamed, well tended and well used. He turned to the second man.

"Here Pete, this old sodman thinks he can scare us with his little stick. You and Mac finish our assignment for the Lord Prince. I'll kill this stupid hero."

The thug raised his sword and walked to meet Edmond. The others turned back to the king.

"Flee, man, save yourself." yelled the King as he blocked a thrust from Mac.

The thug started toward Edmond. Edmond moved toward him. The thug took a short swing, his mouth a sneer and his eyes glimmering. Edmond's staff spun and the thug watched his sword spin off fifteen feet away. Before the pain of his shattered wrist could reach his mind, Edmond's staff spun twice more, the last blow breaking the thug's neck.

The other two thugs saw the King start. They turned and saw Edmond advance over their fellow assassin, a steady stream of smoke coming from his pipe. Pete sheathed his sword and pulled his crossbow from his back, setting a bolt in it, aiming at Edmond. Mac turned back to the King.

"I told that idiot we should have just shot the king." Pete said as he pulled the trigger.

The crossbow bolt jumped forward. Edmond didn't slow as his staff spun, sending the bolt off to bury itself in the dirt. Pete grabbed his sword. He had it halfway out of the sheath when Edmond's staff swung twice more and Pete lay on the ground with his wrist shattered and his eyes wide open, burning with the image of the sad old man with the smoking dragon held by the tail in his teeth.

The two loud reports rang in Mac's ears and he backed up, turning to see the old man standing just off to his side. Edmond made a short bow to the King.

"Now then, your Majesty, do you want this one alive or dead?"

Mac took another step away from both the King and Edmond. The King looked at the old man and smiled.

"Edmond Thunderstaff. It's good to see you, old friend." He looked over at Mac. "If he surrenders and you'll assist me in taking him to Lord Askford's, I'll have him alive as there are questions I would like answers to. If not," The King shrugged his shoulders. "he would be better dead."

Edmond looked to Mac, whose face turned pale. Mac's knees were shaking and his teeth chattering.

"Ed-ed-Edmond Thunderstaff? I thought..., heard..., you..., dead."

"Nope. Now boy, what'll it be?"

Mac dropped his sword, then fell to the ground. Edmond prodded him with his staff.

"Your Majesty, I believe this here could count as a surrender."

"You could be right, old friend." The King gave a sigh and sat down, carefully moving the leg with the crossbow bolt. "Now if you could tie him up then give me a hand with this thing." He pointed to the bolt, "I would be much in your debt."

***

Four hours later, Edmond and the King approached the city gates, two dead guards tied to one horse, two dead thugs to the other and Mac plodding along, tethered to the King's horse and carrying Edmond's potatoes. The walls of the city were ten feet high, made of granite from the nearby mountains. Sunlight sparkled off the mica in the stone, giving the city the appearance of silver walls. The gates were made of ironwood from the desert country of Mishan. Two men in clean blue uniforms armed with tall pikes guarded the open gates. By the time the King and Edmond reached the gate, there were ten guards standing at attention. Five guards took the dead and the prisoner, after Edmond had retrieved his potatoes.

Two guards led the King and Edmond though the clean, zigzagging streets of the town. The castle walls were made of the same granite as the town walls but the castle stood a dull gray, made of sturdy basalt rock quarried from a nearby hill.

They came into the courtyard and were surrounded by a crowd in blue livery. Twenty people stood milling, tossing suggestions like a hot potato bouncing from person to person and occasionally getting back to the person that first suggested it, who now treated it like a new idea. Suggestions of ice baths, herb poultices with herbs that only existed in the imagination, and hot baths had been discarded then re suggested. Then a short, gray-haired and bearded, well-muscled man dressed in blue robes trimmed in yellow lynx fur came out the door and marched up to the crowd and placed his hands on his hips.

"Shut up, the lot of you!" he yelled.

Silence. The crowd separated into two lines. Lord Askford pointed to a plump woman with an apron over her blue dress.

"Marjory, get a room ready for His Majesty." he turned to one of the men. "Calbert get the physician over here, now. Edward, Jeremi, help His Majesty down and get him to his room." Suddenly, everyone became productive and Lord Askford walked over to the King's horse.

Edmond smiled at the short man who came up to his chin.

"Hallo, Lord Askford." Edmond said, "You needn't fret much, it's a small wound. I cleaned it out myself and whipped up a poultice, so there's little danger of fever."

Lord Askford looked at Edmond, a smile brightening his face.

"By all the worthless gods in this blighted world, Edmond Thunderstaff! And is that Lady Skullbreaker in your hands?"

Edmond shook his head as he moved up beside the men helping the King off the horse.

"Nope. Lady Skullbreaker shattered last year when I took out that troll at Hoarfrost Pass. Ended up killing the troll by shoving him off the cliff. This here was carved from the same oak though. I call her Lady Thumper."

"An appropriate name, old friend." Lord Askford shook his head as he placed one hand on Edmond's arm. "So it was you that killed the troll. I should have known." They followed the King into the castle. "Why didn't you come to me for help? That's my job around here, you know, protecting the people. I didn't even find out until a week later. Poor thing on my part, not even knowing there's a troll about."

"Didn't have time to send you word. It was over and done in no time."

The two men caught up with the King. Lord Askford cleared his throat.

"Your Majesty, do you have any idea who is responsible for this attack on your person?"

The King nodded. "One of the men said it was for the 'Lord Prince.' I fear it is Sammul's doing." The King stopped by the door, leaning on a guard. "Have a messenger sent to Sammul and tell him he is needed tomorrow evening. He will suspect the reason, and try to bluff. Send for the council members. They should be on their way for the Thursday meeting. It won't hurt them to arrive a day early." The King turned to Edmond. "Edmond, stay the night. I could use your influence at the meeting." He looked over at Lord Askford. "You can put Edmond up for the night, can't you?"

Lord Askford nodded. "Edmond can stay 'til the balls freeze off the snow god for all I care. If he wants to move in and live in this bloody, cold castle, he's more than welcome." He turned to Edmond. "Of course the price is you have to sit and have some wine and tell me what you've been up to for the last fifteen years. I knew you lived around here, so why the hell haven't you come to visit? Damn rude if you ask me, not that anyone ever does."

"My apologies, Lord Askford. It's just that me and the missus tend to stay home. Don't get out much except to pick up supplies and such." Edmond puffed a little on his pipe as the group moved on. "Never thought I would have to deal with court life again. Don't think I could."

"Hurrumph. I can't stand court life much myself." said Lord Askford, "All that politeness that just covers someone who's sharpening his knife to stab you in the back." He looked over at the King. "Can't even trust your own bloody brother."

Lord Askford turned to Edmond as his men helped the king to his room.

"Well, the physician will be here soon and he'll take care of the King. I have a jug of Penbrook's wine cooling off for my lunch. What say you and I see if it lives up to the proper Penbrook standards." He slapped Edmond on the shoulder. "Those bags are potatoes, aren't they?" Edmond nodded, "Well, give them to Marjory there and I'll give you fair price for them." He looked at Edmond. "If you don't mind my saying so, you don't look any older than you did fifteen years ago. Just how old are you, old friend?"

Edmond rubbed his chin.

"I don't rightly recollect. Must be over five hundred years. I lost count a long time ago."

Lord Askford stared at Edmond for a minute, then he broke out in a hearty laugh. Chuckling, Lord Askford lead Edmond off to lunch. Edmond talked about his retirement, his land he had earned in the King's service, his wife, and their life together. They talked until the sun dropped behind the distant hills.

***

After midnight, Edmond stood on the balcony of the suite Lord Askford had given him. The moon shone over the castle walls and scattered moonbeams through the leaves of the old rowan tree growing just inside the castle walls. Edmond smoked as he thought over the time spent talking to Lord Askford.

"Darned if it wouldn't be nice to spend more time with him."

He looked around the room, larger than his house. He ran his hand over the rough shirt and trousers he wore. He reached up and took his pipe out of his mouth, a long trickle of smoke snaked up into the air curling and looping.

"Still, I don't care for court life. Too much chatter and gossip. Would have stayed on with father if I wanted that kind o' living." He took another drag off his pipe, "I do miss talkin' with Lord Askford and His Majesty, but it was more comfortable when we were in the camps." Edmond leaned on the railing of the balcony, "Can't see livin' nowhere but out in the woods where you don't get the stink o' all these humans around you. Eh, what's that?"

Edmond squinted at the area near the rowan tree. Two furtive shadows flitted to a smaller tree. Edmond turned and entered his room.

***

Twenty minutes later, Edmond stood in the hall leading to the King's quarters. A single torch lit the hallway with a pale, flickering light, shadows scurried back and forth across the walls. Edmond lazed against one wall, cleaning his pipe. He reach for his pouch of leaves then stopped, put the pipe into his mouth and shoved his staff across the hall with a firm thump.

"Now then, you two can hold it right there. You won't be going any further tonight."

Two shadows coalesced and two pale elves pushed the hoods of their cloaks back. The taller of the two looked at Edmond, one hand going for his knife.

"I don't know how you saw us human. It is too bad that you did. I have no desire to kill one not assigned to die."

Edmond's staff flicked like a snake and lightly tapped the elf's hand before he could draw his knife.

"I am _Eldorn Palonti Edmonda Dragunsi Enterati_ ," Smoke curled out of the corners of Edmond's mouth, "and if you are here to harm the King or Lord Askford, I will stop you here and now. _Defntu todalt. Eternus protectort es Kiltorn es oathic_."

The elf pulled his hand away from his knife. The shorter elf looked over at the taller one then at Edmond.

"How is it that he speaks the elder's language?" the smaller elf looked back at the other.

"I am not sure we want to know the answer to that." The taller elf looked steadily at Edmond. "But I feel you are not what you seem, _Eldorn Enterati_." He turned back to the smaller elf. "Meet me at the city gate. If I do not join you in an hour, report to _Eldorn_ _Galmilorn_ and tell him all that has occurred." He turned back to Edmond as the smaller elf glowered and left. "What do you want?"

Edmond looked at the elf for a moment, small trickles of smoke coming out of the corners of his mouth.

"I want you to go back to your contractor and tell him the contract has been voided. Tell him that Edmond Thunderstaff is protecting the King." Edmond scratched his chin as another thoughtful puff of smoke came from his mouth. "Is _Eldorn Tandonom Krin Hantonta_ still in charge of the Guild of Assassins?" The elf nodded. "Then tell her that I send my greetings to Bitesize and that I apologize for spoiling a contract."

The elf frowned, then nodded and drew up his hood. He faded to a flicker of shadow and the flicker went down the hallway. Edmond took his pipe out of his mouth and tamped some fresh leaves into the bowl, took a splinter of wood from his pocket and held it to the torch. Using the burning splinter to light his pipe, he walked back to his room.

***

The next evening five men gathered in an immaculate hall, complete with tapestries on either side of a large fireplace that had several logs burning. An oak table filled most of the room except for four feet on all sides that allowed people to move around. The king sat at the head of the table with Lord Askford standing at the King's right hand and Edmond lounging partway down the right side of the table. Edmond stared at the fire and the tapestries on the other side of the table. Two men sat below the king chattering and casting furtive looks around the hall. Two more men entered the room and turned to walk by the fire toward the others clustered near the head of the table.

When the two men reached the others, they looked over at Edmond in his worn shirt and trousers. One pointed at Edmond and whispered to another. The other man replied.

"No! I thought he was long dead." The first said looking at Edmond.

Edmond nodded to him then, paused as he scratched his chin. He stood straight and strolled over to a page near the foot of the table.

An old man shuffled in, holding onto the arm of a younger man. The old man looked over at Edmond with pale, clear eyes. He raised a hand to Edmond and Edmond smiled.

"Good to see you up and about, Lord Mattacroft." called Edmond.

"And I see you're still alive you old fraud. When are you going to have the decency to get old like the rest of us?"

"I'm a-working on it, but I just don't seem to get the hang of it." Edmond nodded to the young man. "Your son is looking strong, Lord Mattacroft. I wish you both well."

The old man waved again as he and his son moved to the head of the table. Edmond turned back to the page.

"Say, youngster. Could you take a message to Captain Vincent for me?" The page nodded. "Tell him to keep a close eye on the prince's men and a hand on his weapons."

The page nodded and slipped out the back.

Another man entered with two large guards. He had blonde hair and beard, both carefully trimmed, and wore an elegant, red, velvet tunic, white shirt and black hose. He walked with a jaunty gait while his guard scowled at anyone who looked their way. Lord Askford saw the guards and stepped forward as his face reddened. The King touched his arm and Askford stopped. Prince Sammul smiled at Lord Askford and paused a second before bowing to the King.

The King nodded. "Welcome Sammul. I trust it was not inconvenient to attend me."

"It is never inconvenient to attend your needs. How was your trip yesterday?" Prince Sammul smiled.

"Most enlightening. I was attacked by three assassins. They killed my guards and managed to wound me. One of them implicated you before he died."

"A base lie," the prince paused, "a plot to bring strife between us. After all, what is more vulnerable than a kingdom with members of the royal family feuding?" The prince grinned. "I'm sure they have heard we have our little differences and hope to expand those into a fight."

"No doubt. I am hoping the other assassin we captured will be able to tell us more." said the King, "After all we cannot have any doubt about those close to the throne, can we?"

Prince Sammul stared at the king for a few minutes, his face red, then the sunset bell rang. The three long tolls that signaled the sun's last rays brought a smile to the prince's face. The prince stuck out his chin and pulled his sword.

"It will do you no good Altur. My men are taking over the castle, so it is time for you to surrender the throne or die."

Lord Askford snarled and reached for his sword.

"The day I bow to an over-perfumed fool like you is the day my son will gut me as a useless bit of baggage." said Lord Askford.

"Calmly, old friend." The King held up his hand.

Council members murmured and shifted in their seats, glancing at the king and the prince. The young man who helped Lord Mattacroft started to stand but the old man held him back, nodding to the king.

"Well, brother, do you surrender?" said the Prince.

"I don't think so." Edmond's rough voice filled the hall as he stood up to his full height and stepped forward. "Not to a fool such as you." Smoke billowed out of Edmond's pipe as his eyes flicked to the right and left. "Why this attempt to take your brother's throne is pitiful. Nothing like when Prince Howard took the throne from his brother. Now that there was a well-planned..."

"That was seventy years ago, you old fool." snarled the prince as he stroked his beard with his right hand. "Though you look old enough to have been alive then, as a child."

The door crashed open and the young page rushed in.

"Majesty. Prince Sammul's men have attacked the guard. Captain Vincent has them trapped in the main hall and wishes to know if you want them all slain or taken prisoner." The page skidded to a halt ten feet away from the prince.

The man on the prince's left drew his sword and stepped toward the king. Lord Askford's arm was a blur as he stepped forward, drawing his sword and then standing still. The man's head slowly toppled off of his shoulders and fell to the floor, blood spurting out as the body tilted backward. The prince stared at the body for a second then up at Lord Askford's red face. The prince turned and ran for the door, his remaining guard following five steps behind.

Edmond waved Lord Askford back and trotted in pursuit of the prince. Smoke from his pipe wafted behind him as he darted through the door.

Edmond looked to the right then to the left. He sniffed the air and turned to the left then around a corner to see the back of the guard's uniform. He trotted along the hallway and followed the guard around the corner. The guard turned halfway down the hallway and spotted Edmond, just as Edmond saw the tail of the prince's velvet tunic going into a room near the end of the hallway.

Edmond moved up toward the guard as the guard pulled his sword out of his sheath. Edmond stopped and shook his head. He took his pipe out of his mouth and blew a slow trickle of smoke out that seem to weave it's way up to the ceiling, like braids of rope.

"You've got a choice here, boy. You can give yerself up to Lord Askford and live or you can chose to fight me and die."

The guard yelled and charged, raising his sword above his head as he moved forward. Edmond stepped sideways putting his pipe back in his mouth and then forward, his staff swinging out and up. The guard's feet flew into the air as the staff connected with his neck and he landed with a wet thump on the back of his head. Edmond continued on down the hallway, slow wisps of smoke moving along the floor behind him. He move up to the door that the prince went into.

"I wonder if the prince knows 'bout that there little tunnel in the back of Lord Askford's audience chamber." muttered Edmond as he raised the latch. "I don't think he would be waiting for me to come in." He pushed the door open and stepped through, looking around. "Peers as though he does know about it."

Edmond stepped around the desk, noticing that a torch was missing from its holder, and pressed a block in the wall that lay waist high to the tall man. A creak came from the wall as a section of the wall slid back. He shoved the section further back and stepped into the dark shadow on the other side.

Edmond turned and moved down the steps in the darkness. After thirty steps, he turned left and moved along the dark tunnel. A faint bit of light moved ahead of him, then disappeared. Edmond sniffed at the air, noting mold and water and burnt tar. He slowed as the tunnel lightened and carefully turned the corner.

Prince Sammul stood in the light of the torch, tapping his foot. His attention seemed to be on the darkness on the other side, facing away from Edmond. Edmond stopped twelve feet away from the prince.

"Ya might as well give it up, Your Highness." Edmond said, making the prince jump and spin around, his sword whipping out. "Ya can't escape me. Surrender and you will probably be exiled to Blackridge Tower. That would be better than death."

The prince growled. "I'm the best swordsman in this kingdom and the strongest. I will not surrender to some nameless country bumpkin that my fool of a brother has taken a fancy to."

"I don't doubt that you're the best, so was your father. But unless you're significantly better than he was, ya might as well surrender." Edmond's pipe let out a whiff of smoke that seemed to flutter around the prince's head. "I'm Edmond, sometimes called Thunderstaff and while I may choose to live in the woods, I ain't no fool."

"So you're the son of the legendary Edmond Thunderstaff and hope to scare me with your father's reputation?"

"My father is King Breagador and I am the only Edmond Thunderstaff I know of." Edmond shook his head and sighed. "Well, enough of this here foolishness, will you surrender or not?"

The prince stepped forward, raising his torch high and started to swing. He froze, staring over Edmond's shoulder. Edmond flexed his shoulders. The prince backed up.

"Wings? Dragon wings?" he shook his head. "Impossible." he snarled and raised his sword again.

Edmond took his pipe out of his mouth. "Nothing is impossible." He breathed out.

***

"Edmond, what the bloody hell happened?" roared Lord Askford, "You smell like you've been standing next to a funeral pyre. It's worse than the stinky weed you smoke." Lord Askford stomped alongside Edmond as they moved up toward the king. "Did you catch that treacherous son-of-a-goat of a prince?"

"No, he went down that secret bolt-hole that ya keep telling everyone about. I followed him, but he must have dropped the torch into some oil or some such. The tunnel was a-fire and I don't think he will be a problem again." Edmond laid a hand on the lord's shoulder as Lord Askford began to turn back. "The fire is out, but ya will need to clean out the tunnel before it can be used again. Although, considering how many people know about it, you may want to block it off."

The two men bowed to the king as they stepped up to the head of the table. The king looked at Edmond.

"Is my brother dead?"

Edmond nodded.

"Very well, I would rather have been able to exile him, but it is probably better this way." He looked at Edmond. "Name your reward my friend. Gold? Jewels? I would be more than happy to give you a position as my adviser. Come, my friend, what would you have of me?"

***

The next evening a thump in front of the little sod house announced Edmond's arrival, just before he stepped into his house. He smiled and patted the walls as he walked though the door. Lilly looked up at the sound of his footsteps. She jumped up to give him a hug. Then she stepped back and gave him a fierce frown.

"Where the hell have you been, you old fool? You said you would be back yesterday at the most, or have you gotten so old that you can't count beyond one anymore?" She stamped her foot. "How am I to know if you're hurt or just out visiting the maidens?"

Edmond hung his head. "I sure am sorry I worried you, dear. An old friend was in trouble, so I gave him a hand. He was nice enough to give me this here spinning wheel for my help."

Edmond reached around the doorway and brought in a new spinning wheel.

"He wanted to give me all sorts of fancy things. But I told him the only thing I needed to make me happy was a new spinning wheel to make my pretty wife happy." Edmond took out his pipe and frowned. "You are happy, aren't you, Lilly?"

After they broke from the kiss, Lilly stared into his eyes for a minute.

"Well, you old dragon, let's see if you can still light a fire."

Later, a nearly full moon was eclipsed by a large winged shape. On the back of the shape rode a feminine figure, her cloak flapping in the wind. A pipe sat in a dish on the table with short-winged rivulets of smoke jumping and frolicking to the ceiling.

Will-o'-the-Wisp

Edmond entered the town of Askford Keep. The sun stood shy of noon, a time when the markets should be open and the people active. But not today. Dust formed a fog hanging above the ground. No smoke rose from the chimneys. No children played in the street or around the house of the healer, Adaline.

"Unusual." Edmond said moving his dragon-shaped pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other. "Odd."

Edmond stopped in the street, his staff, two inches taller than the lanky, leathery, six-foot man, thumped the ground. His salt and pepper hair ruffled in the breeze that whipped through the barren streets. Edmond's craggy face appeared old, but his movements were steady, and his eyes sparkled.

Smoke from Edmond's pipe curled down the street. He looked to the hill where Lord Askford's castle stood. No flags of mourning hung on the walls. Edmond turned in a circle.

"Something ain't right. It's so quiet you'd think Lord Askford was dead. But last I heard he was visiting the King."

Edmond continued down to a cross street where he turned left. He passed three houses and came to a building with a sign swinging from a pole, painted with a glyph of a fox. Edmond liked Clancy, who often had hand-me-downs from Lord Askford's storerooms.

Edmond smiled as he remembered Lord Askford's full belly laugh when Edmond described Clancy as "A man trying to be greedy, but not very good at it. Though if he ain't careful he could be."

The shop's door stood closed and barred from the inside. Edmond's face changed to a puzzled frown. Clancy never closed his shop, not even when his father died. Edmond's eyes darkened to a dark gray. He tapped on the door.

"Go away, damn it, I'm not open."

Edmond hit the door three more times. "Clancy, it's Edmond. What's going on here?"

"Go the hell away!"

Edmond blinked. He stepped back. Clancy barred his doors with oak. Edmond flexed, his shadow winging wide across the door while his pipe gave off a strong, steady trickle of smoke. His foot lashed out and hit the door halfway up. He walked through the opening, the door halfway across the room.

Clancy huddled in a corner with an jug in his arms. His eyes were red and teary, while his usually immaculate white shirt and silk vest were stained and dirty.

"Clancy what's going on?" said Edmond, "I ain't never seen it so quiet in this here town or you in this kind of condition. Where's Mabel and the kids?"

"Mabel is with the priest." A sob racked the large man, "Denny and Foxglove are gone."

Clancy sobbed, tears coursing down his checks. Edmond crossed the room to kneel down and placed a knurled hand on Clancy's shoulder.

"What happened, old friend?"

"We don't know. Three children disappeared yesterday. Denny and Foxglove disappeared this morning." Clancy's voice rose to a howl.

Edmond sat back, a trickle of smoke coming from his pipe. "I reckon you tried to find the kids?" Clancy nodded. "Well I ain't tried yet. Where did they disappear from?"

***

Edmond and Clancy were looking at the small garden behind the trader's shop. The smell of herbs hung in the air. A wood stood behind the garden, a breeze ruffling the tree tops.

"They were playing here. I had told them to stay close because of the disappearances." Clancy shivered. "When Mabel checked, they were gone. We had everyone looking for them."

Edmond bent in half, looking, smoke scuttled along the ground. He circled the garden. Finally he waved Clancy to join him and dived into the woods.

Puffing, Clancy caught up to Edmond. "What did you find?"

"The kids went to the east. They may have been following something, magic's obscuring the trail. You got Will-o'-the-wisps around 'bout?"

"No one has mentioned any."

Edmond stopped and looked at the trail. He fingered a leaf then a flower petal. He took off again, his staff clearing the way.

"I reckon I'm going to be late getting home." He said. "Lilly ain't going to be happy, 'specially if I don't get the kids home safe. So we better find them."

***

Two hours later Edmond broke into a small clearing. A weed covered path lead up hill to an old castle covered in ivy. Clancy stood panting. Edmond leaned his head against his staff. A sparkle of light caught his eye.

"I thought so. Pesky fairies." Edmond stomped to the edge of the clearing, his pipe billowing. "I sometimes think this here world would be better off if them bugs were all exterminated."

Edmond stopped when he stood in a circle of mushrooms. Clancy huffed to a stop outside the circle. Sparkles of light began to twirl around Edmond as a high pitched giggle came from the air.

"All right you pest, what's going on here?" Edmond waited. "I ain't playing games you. I want to know what happened to the children. Take a good look at me." Edmond breathed a long stream of smoke as a shadow crept over the ring. The giggling stopped.

Edmond cocked his head to listen. "You say the person in the castle told you to lead the children there?" Clancy strained but only heard buzzing as Edmond continued. "He said if you didn't he would destroy your grove." Edmond gripped his pipe with his teeth. "Alright I'll let you off, but don't lead anymore children here or you'll deal with me." The buzzing and the lights swirled up and down.

Edmond turned to Clancy. "The kids are in the castle."

Edmond turned and headed to the castle. The path narrowed and at times the trees were so low enough that five foot three inch Clancy had to duck. Edmond seemed to fold and twist through the brush like a lizard.

***

The sun hung at mid-afternoon when Edmond and Clancy stood in front a large double door. Edmond examined the carved oak doors. The original finish had faded and recently someone carved new symbols into the doors.

Edmond studied the carvings. A surprised puff of smoke escaped his lips. "Mansellen, I didn't think anyone knew that script anymore."

Clancy looked at the old farmer. "How do you know any script?" Clancy blinked at his old friend. "I learned to read just enough so old Elgene couldn't cheat me on my taxes."

Edmond looked back at the worried man. "I was a soldier and a lot of other things, old friend. I picked up some scraps of learning before I retired with Lilly on that little farm of mine." Edmond turned to the doors. "This is only a spell to keep all enemies out." He reached out and the doors swung open as a plume of smoke danced from his pipe. "Of course it would help if whoever carved this spell knew how to spell." He chuckled and turned to Clancy. "Things are apt to get dicey. Might be best if you waited."

Clancy shook his head. "I've always been angry because my father never had time for me. He was a soldier and always trying to make that little bit extra, only he never did. Now I realize I was pretty much the same focusing on money and not on my kids. I'm not going to let anything happen to them if I can help it."

Edmond looked at him and moved his pipe from one side of his mouth to the other. "I wonder if I'm anything like my father? " He shook his head and gave Clancy a pat on the shoulder. "Let's get the kids."

They stepped into the castle where dust covered the stone walls of the hall and a tattered, moth-eaten tapestry hung on the wall ahead of them. The left and right walls each had five doors. Their footsteps echoed as they stepped further into the hall. They both spun around as the doors slammed shut behind them.

"We're trapped!" Clancy began pounding on the doors.

Edmond shook Clancy's shoulder. "Calm down there." A puff of smoke skittered across the hall. "We came into this here castle to rescue the kids and we're not leaving without them. So let's not get panicky."

Clancy took a deep breath and turned back to the hall as Edmond turned and stepped forward.

"Welcome to my castle little ones." A high, sharp voice cut through the hall. "Behind nine of the doors are horrible monsters, behind the tenth door is a hallway which leads to me. Safety is just a hop, skip and bunny jump away."

The echo faded away as Clancy twirled, looking for the voice. Edmond put out his staff and thumped him lightly on the chest.

"Just a spell. The vermin is nowhere near. It don't look as though we will get any clues from the floor." Edmond pointed to the clean floor. "Must have a spell to hide the footprints."

"How do you know so much about magic?" asked Clancy, looking sharply at Edmond. "I'm beginning to think I don't really know you at all."

Edmond smiled and shook his head. "I ain't so sure I know myself as well as I thought I did." He looked back at the door. "I ain't seen my father in a long time, long enough to forget what he taught me and what I thought were things I didn't like about him." Edmond leaned against his staff for a moment. "You just made me realize that maybe I'm more like him than I ever wanted to be. Yet so different." Edmond chuckled. "Stupid to stand here thinking about the past when we need to save the future."

Edmond walked up to the first door on the south wall. The door was plain brown wood, except for a white mark on about belly high to the old man. Clancy glanced at the mark then looked at the other doors.

"They all have the same mark on them. How are we suppose to choose the right door?" Clancy's voice shook.

"They ain't all the same. They have the same pattern of squares, the bottom is a single square, then two squares, a single square, then two, then a single square on top." Edmond blew a smoke-ring. "The voice gave us a clue when he said that safety was a hop, skip and bunny jump away." He pointed to a circle in the second row, right square. "That's the name of a game that involves closing your eyes and tossing a ring into five rows of squares laid out in this pattern. Each square has its own meaning and depending on which square the ring lands, you have to do a pattern of hops, skips and jumps." Edmond turned to Clancy. "The different doors have the little circle in different squares." Edmond tapped the circle. "This here circle will tell us which is the right door."

He turned and walked to the second door. "The first square is called the 'fools' square and involves starting at the end and jumping backwards. The second row are called the 'baby squares'. The third is the 'dancer' square and the fourth row is called the 'bunny' squares. The last is the 'demon' square." The circle on that door was in the fifth row and both Edmond and Clancy smelled a faint trace of sulfur in the air.

Edmond walked on to the fourth door where the circle had been drawn in the fourth row, left-hand square. "When the circle falls into the left-hand 'bunny' square, you are safe and don't have to perform any complicated jumps, just a five easy hops." Edmond reached down and grasped the door handle and stepped into a long hallway.

Clancy stepped through behind Edmond. The door swung shut behind them, the sound echoing. A musty smell hung in the hallway along with cobwebs and dust. A shy breeze slipped through the hall, stirring the dust. Edmond pointed down to the floor.

"There have been kids here. I can see five different footprints."

Clancy shivered. "There are five kids, including mine, missing from our village." They moved along trying doors on either side of the hall. "How did you know that kids game? We used to play something like it when I was a kid, but I don't remember the rules."

Edmond chuckled, a stream of smoke danced up to the ceiling. "Every time I come to town I spend a little time watching the kids play. It helps me know what it's like to be young." Edmond frowned. "I never got to play much as a kid, my father was busy training me to be like him. I guess when you get to be four or five hundred years old you want to be young again."

Clancy gave a forced chuckle. "Maybe I need to try that. Just to help me know my kids better."

"Now little ones comes your next test." Clancy and Edmond stopped as the high pitched voice continued. "In front of you is a riddle, speak it right and I won't feed you to my troll." The voice faded.

Edmond scratched his head looking at the floor ahead. The next section changed from the brown cobble stone to gray stones, two feet by two feet in size with a few red stones of the same size. The whole area lay ten stones wide by ten stones long. The first, fourth, eighth and last row had gray stones. There didn't seem to be a pattern of red stones, they were spaced with at least one gray stone between them and no more than two between them.

Edmond took his pipe out of his mouth and tamped out the spent dragon weed leaves. He tucked the pipe into his belt. Holding his staff, he jumped onto the middle stone of the first set of red blocks.

"Call to hunt, call to hunt.

The Fox runs and the dogs hunt.

Between two bears the Fox runs.

To visit the badger's house at the rising sun.

Jump the lazy old hound.

To visit the owl between two crows and ask what air smells like.

Four ponies stand tall.

The eastern one will let you ride.

Go west to visit the wise hare and ask what water tastes like.

Jump the fence and run straight to the Farmers house.

The dogs are lost while Fox dines on farmer's chickens."

Edmond jumped to the right, then over the gray row to the left, then right, then left and straight over the eighth row, then over the last gray row of stones to land on the brown stones of the hallway.

Edmond took out his pipe and turned back to Clancy on the other side of the test. "Now then Clancy, you remember the rhyme and the jumps?"

Clancy closed his mouth and shook his head. "Ok" said Edmond. "Then, I'll getcha through it. First you want to land in the middle red stone."

Five minutes later, a sweat-drenched Clancy stood on the other side. Edmond slapped him on the back then pushed some fresh leaves into his pipe. "Now that wasn't so bad. Heck, your kids do it all the time."

"My kids don't spend all day counting their profits."

"Ha, you finally admit it." Edmond lit up his pipe with a chuckle, "Still, I've always known there was more to you than greed." He started down the corridor, "We best get a move on."

"That may be," said Clancy as they moved down the hall. "I thought there might be when I married Mable and when the children were born. But nothing changed, I still was obsessed with money. It wasn't until this happened that I felt different, now I feel as though I can change."

They came to where the corridor turned right and Edmond looked back at the small, pudgy man. "Sometimes it takes a real shock, a real change in your life to make you realize you can change." He scratched his chin. "I know it took a real change in me to realize people were more than playthings, but something to be admired and respected." They turned the corner and looked down the hallway to see a giant spider web blocking the corridor.

"Now my brave young ones, your next test." said the high pitched voice, "Dodge the spider and you'll be safe."

Edmond jumped forward and looked up. Clancy followed his gaze and screamed. High above them a young girl, about twelve, kicked at a three foot long, black spider. Next to her a shriveled mummy of a young boy lay tangled in webbing.

Clancy ran forward screaming. "We have to kill it, Edmond! We have to kill it!" as he grabbed the first strand of the web.

His hand stuck to the thick cable and he pulled and screamed. Edmond ran and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Stop it, you idiot. You can't help her if you don't keep your head." Edmond looked up and his eyes widened.

The spider stopped trying for the girl. It stood, its legs spread as though listening. Edmond shook Clancy,

"Keep tugging that web. Let's get that there spider down where we can kill it."

Clancy looked up and gently tugged. The spider turned. Clancy tugged again and Edmond took three steps back, his staff held waist high. The spider darted halfway down the web.

Clancy tugged faster. "Great God Elmran. It's moving so quickly."

"Keep your head. Our brains'll help as much as the god of merchants will. I'll take care that she don't get you."

Clancy tugged again and the spider cut the distance in half, its jaws flexing. Then it sprang and Clancy saw a large cavern between it's jaws. He heard a loud crack and the spider was gone. Edmond stood in front of him, his staff a blur with two cracks of thunder following behind. Edmond backed up and Clancy saw the twitching legs of the spider.

"Papa! Edmond! Get me down!" The wail came from the ceiling.

Edmond looked up. "We'll getcha down in a moment, darling."

He walked over to the wall and took down a cobwebbed torch. Edmond kept his back to Clancy for a moment, then turned with a burning torch . A few minutes later, he melted the web to free Clancy.

"How are we going to free Foxglove?"

"Let me have that vest of yours?"

Clancy tugged off his silk vest, giving it to Edmond and taking Edmond's staff and the torch. Edmond took out his knife and cut the vest into several pieces. He placed a small strip of cloth over the first strand of the web, then reached up and placed a strip of cloth over the second strand. Edmond continued placing strips of cloth and climbing. Within a few minutes he reached Foxglove. He cut the strands around her, took her in one arm.

Edmond reached the floor then removed the webbing from Foxglove. "Now young'un where is your brother?" asked Edmond.

"He messed up at the Fox Hunt and disappeared." Foxglove started to sniffle. Clancy held her close. "I messed up the rhyme for the Spider Web and all of a sudden I was in the web."

Edmond puffed his pipe as he took his staff back from Clancy. "Alright, the answer to all this is further on so lets see if I can remember the rhyme. You two follow right behind me."

Edmond stepped through the first layer of webbing.

"Spider jump left to catch a fly.

Spider jump up to catch a bug.

Spider jump back to dodge the wasp.

Spider jump, jump.

Watch the spider jump forward to catch the slow bug."

Edmond jumped out of the web and looked back to see Foxglove and her father laughing.

"What's so darn funny?" he said.

"You looked silly, reciting that nursery rhyme and jumping like a bug." gasped Clancy while Foxglove giggled.

Edmond shook his head. "Better silly than spider bait." He smiled. "When you two get yourselves under control, you all can follow." He turned and looked on down the hallway.

The hall ended in a door, twenty feet from where Edmond stood. Edmond moved up to the door just as Clancy and Foxglove hopped out of the web. He looked at the white wood where fresh symbols had been carved.

"More misspelled spells." muttered the old man as Clancy and Foxglove joined him.

"Welcome young ones, you have completed the tests. Join me now." The door opened up.

Edmond shoved open the door and stepped into a dark room with a small candle on an oak table near the right-hand wall. Behind the table sat a shadowy form facing a heavily curtained window. The form turned as Edmond entered.

"Welcome." The voice broke, "What? You are not a child." The sharp voice squeaked as the shadowy form slipped down, then sat back up, "What are you doing here?"

Edmond walked up to the table, his pipe pulsing a steady stream of smoke. "I am here to bring back the children you have taken. I want them now." Edmond's eyes flashed as he thumped his staff on the table.

The figure tilted back, then forward, arms pin wheeling. A gasp of air, then a pause as the form shifted his cloak followed by a chuckle.

"That would be rather difficult, as my troll, Dung, has eaten them all except for the ones caught by my spider."

Edmond slammed his staff down on the table cracking it in half. "You better hope that troll ain't eaten the boy that came this morning. Where is he?" Edmond leaned forward, raising his staff. The figure shrank back and pointed to a door off to the left.

Edmond turned to Clancy. "You two watch this piece of garbage. I'll deal with him when I get back." Edmond moved to the door, his foot lashing out and he walk through the scattered splinters.

The door lead to a flight of stairs that dropped into a dark pit. Edmond moved silently down the stairs. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet. The faint light from the room glittered high above him when Edmond reached the bottom. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose.

"You can always tell when a troll's about. Ain't no stink the same."

Edmond reached over and pulled a torch from the wall. He took his pipe out of his mouth and breathed on the torch. It burst into flames. Edmond looked around. The circular room was interrupted in two places, the stairs where Edmond had come down and a single doorway straight across from the stairs. A pair of moldy green eyes looked out from the doorway.

"Glurb." said a deep voice as a large, ugly head moved out of the doorway.

"I'll tell you what, troll." said Edmond as he raised his staff, "You give me the boy, unhurt, and I won't hurt you."

A burbly laugh answered Edmond as the troll stomped out and stood seven feet tall and five feet wide. Dried blood stained the steely fur of its chest. A large wooden club scraped along in its left hand. It paused then screamed and jumped, swinging its club.

Edmond folded, going from six foot to three feet, his staff swung down to his side, then up to catch the troll just below his breastbone. Using the staff as a lever, Edmond catapulted the troll across the room and into the wall. Stone cracked.

The troll sat up and shook his head. It chuckled. It stood up and ran at Edmond, the club a blur above its head. Edmond dropped, then sprang up into the air just as the troll's club crashed into the stone floor. Large cracks spider webbed from the pulverized stone. Edmond landed behind the troll, staff swinging. A loud crack sounded as his staff slammed into the troll's neck.

The troll turned and Edmond rammed the butt of his staff into its ear. The troll's eyes went wide as it screamed. Edmond swung his staff around hitting the troll across the nose. The troll backhanded Edmond.

Edmond found himself up against the stone wall, his pipe gone and the end of his staff a foot shorter, the jagged ends of the cured oak forming a small cluster of needles. The troll rubbed his ear. Edmond spat blood and stood up, but the room kept tilting on him.

The troll screamed and Edmond saw three trolls running toward him. He ducked and swung his staff up as the troll raised its club. Edmond felt the chips of stone pierce his neck as the club slammed into the wall above his head. The troll's scream changed and Edmond's staff jerked out of his hand.

Edmond's vision cleared and he saw the troll backing away, his staff embedded in its belly. The troll dropped its club, screaming as it rushed toward Edmond. Edmond dived to the right as the troll slammed into the wall, driving the staff deeper into its belly.

The troll turned and faced Edmond again. Edmond crouched down. The troll tipped to the left and fell. Edmond waited. Then he backed up to the torch, picked it up and moved toward the troll.

"You trolls ain't smart enough to be tricky. But there's always a chance you are smarter than most." Edmond moved closer. "Nope, you ain't breathing, so I suspect you're dead."

Edmond moved to the doorway and spotted his pipe on his way. He picked it up, started to put it in his mouth, then noticed that there was a dark stain on the stem. Disgusted he tucked it into his belt. At the doorway, Edmond stopped and stuck the torch in.

The doorway led to a small antechamber. Inside were several small pieces of bone and torn, bloody clothing. Tucked in one corner a small bundle of clothing lay on the floor, shaking. Edmond walked in and knelt to touch the bundle. He examined the boy. The boy stirred as Edmond checked his legs.

"Its ok, Denny. It's just old Edmond. I'm here to take you to your Pa."

Edmond frowned as he looked at the boy's left leg, broken with a large bite mark. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of dragon weed. He crushed it into a powder and sprinkled it into the wound. Then he picked up the boy who took hold of the old man's neck. With the torch in his left hand, Edmond retraced his way upstairs.

***

As Edmond came through the doorway at the top of the stairs, he spotted Clancy standing in front of Foxglove holding a chair between himself and the shadowy figure that now stood with a silver globe in one hand and the fingers of his right moving in a rhythmic pattern until a small ball of energy leaped from his fingers and smashed the chair. Edmond swung back his left arm and tossed the torch straight into the shadow's back.

As the shadowy figure danced around, slapping at his cloak and screaming, Edmond put Denny down by the doorway. "Stay put while I help your pa." He said to the boy.

Just then the cloaked figure stopped dancing and said a few words. All the fires died down and went out, plunging the room into darkness. Edmond heard the stumbling footsteps of the villain and the slow breathing of Clancy and quick breaths of Foxglove, just as he heard a muttered word that ignited the torch by the table. He turned to find himself facing a small, pimply young man.

"You will regret interfering with me, old man." The youth paused and looked confused for a second. "How did you get away from Dung?"

"I killed the troll." Edmond pointed to the silver globe. "A life battery. That's why you lured the children here, to suck their life energy as they died. I suppose you'll transfer it to yourself?" Edmond moved forward a step, "Give me that there globe, so I can destroy it, then get out of my way. The boy's hurt bad and I need to get him help and I don't have time to deal with you now, but you can bet I'll deal with you later."

"I'm the sorcerer Drib and you are all my prisoners. You are not my father and you can't order me around. I decide who is to live and die here." Drib puffed out his chest and spread his arms.

"Yeah, right." Edmond laughed. "Don't you mean live or die?"

Drib dropped his arms, his brow scrunched. Edmond took two steps and punched Drib's nose. Sparks flew as Edmond's fist hit an invisible barrier. Drib jumped back, tripping over his robe.

"You know, boy," said Edmond, "you shouldn't depend on magical trinkets and spells you don't understand." Edmond walked forward, grabbed Drib's shirt. "Those toys're useless if your enemy knows how to get around them." Edmond shook Drib back and forth, "Long as I ain't trying to hit you, I can do whatever I want." Edmond raised Drib over his head and tossed him. Sparks flew as Drib struck the wall.

"Another problem is that they only have so much stored energy." Edmond said, "It don't take long to wear them down."

Edmond picked up half of the broken table and swung it. Drib raised his arms as the oak table slammed down. Sparks flew and the table shattered. Edmond picked up a table leg.

"Now, boy, I am going to ask once more. You going to give up that globe and let us go peaceful like?" Edmond raised the table leg.

"No, stop. You can go." Drib covered his head. "Don't hurt me."

Edmond set the table leg down. "Smart move, boy. If you run fast enough you might get a ways away before I start after you." He looked at Clancy with Foxglove on one side, helping him sit up. "I suggest you move fast and get your..."

A lance of red light hit Edmond between the shoulders. The flash sent a large winged shadow across the wall as Edmond slumped to the floor. Edmond groaned as he pushed against the floor.

Drib laughed, the high notes pierced Edmond's aching skull as he stood up. Drib waved his fingers over his head, his hands began to glow. Edmond stood straight and took a deep breath. Drib's hand flashed and a red beam of light cut toward Edmond as Edmond breathed out. The light hit a pillar of flame and exploded.

Drib blinked and sat up. Sulfurous smoke filled the air. Clancy lay unconscious and Foxglove was nowhere to be seen. The lanky old man stood tall, flames trickling from his mouth.

"I was going to give you a chance. Maybe even see if you chose to mend your ways." Edmond said, flame trickling out of his mouth. "A real sorcerer would have seen what I am, but you get to pay the price for your stupidity."

Drib's eyes widened as the old mans face elongated, his skin turning scaly. Edmond's clothes faded into scales as his body lengthened. Then Drib saw an eight foot long dragon, smoke and flame trickling from its mouth. Drib grabbed at the medallions and pendants around his neck as the dragon took a deep breath. A sheet of flame exploded as he tried to activate the shield spell.

***

"Hey Clancy, wake up." Edmond shook the man, Foxglove peeked up from behind her father. "Come on old friend we have to get out of here." Clancy opened his eyes to see Edmond with Denny in his arms and a red, flickering light filling the room. "The room caught on fire. We got to skedaddle, quick."

Edmond helped Clancy to stand. Clancy looked around.

"What happened? Did that bastard's cloak start all this?"

"Hush," said Edmond. "We got to move."

They left the room moved along the hallway. The tests were inactive and in five minutes they were in the main hall. Foxglove ran ahead and pulled the doors open.

***

Half an hour later, Edmond knocked Adaline's door until the young healer peeked through the window. She soon had Denny inside and mixing herbs together. Edmond sat outside by Foxglove as her father ran to get his wife.

"You know something, Edmond?" said Foxglove.

"What's that young'un?" Edmond took out his pipe and scrubbed it clean in hot, herb-filled water.

"Father is sure acting different now. Is he always going to be like that?"

Edmond shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one, youngster. He will probably end up somewhere between what he is now and what he was."

Foxglove smiled. "Good. I wouldn't want him too different, but I like they way he hugs now."

Edmond nodded and Foxglove looked up at him. "You know what else? Drib's cloak was by father, and it wasn't burning any more and the torch had gone out when the fire started." Foxglove smiled. "I always wanted to see a dragon, specially a nice one." She looked down the road, "Of course, no one would believe me if I told them I saw one, would they?"

"Nope, I don't reckon they would." Edmond finished his pipe. He breathed on it and steam rose. "You're a smart girl. Maybe someday an old dragon might give you a ride." Edmond stuffed some dragon weed into his pipe and the fragrant smoke puffed out in amused rings. "But first I need to go visit my father."

Dark Woods, Dark Hearts

The sun dived into the Pacific Ocean, creating ripples of red and gold in the sky. A cool breeze prowled over the ocean and through the town of Newport, Oregon then ten miles up the hills, slinking through the pine trees. The evening light faded, lengthening shadows and allowing them to crawl up the trees. Brush and ferns covered themselves with a dark shroud, hiding from the gasping, running girl. Katie, looking over her shoulder, stumbled through the tangle of fern and salal bushes. Sharp pine needles slapped her, stinging her face, leaving a fragrant scent behind. As she ran down the hill, fern leaves grabbed at her ankles and dead tree limbs and pine cones hidden in the decaying undergrowth wrenched her already sore left ankle and knee. Tears formed a liquid lens to obscure the darkening woods. Mischievous breezes knocked pine cones and dead branches off the trees, sending them thumping and crashing to the ground.

Thump, the pine cones hit the ground sounding like footfalls in the darkness. She looked over her shoulder, eyes wide, then tripped on a dead branch that tangled her feet. She hit the ground and cried out. She gasped for air, clutching at her bruised, aching knee, her twisted ankle throbbing.

"Damn it! Damn him!" Katie slammed a fist into the duff, stabbing a dried, brown pine needle into her hand. "Damn all males."

Katie gasped, looked back up the hill. She listened as she pulled the pine needle out of her hand. Her mind was in a turmoil. How had he done it, she wondered, how had Chuck turned Tony against her? A piece of wood snapped, echoing over the hill.

"Be quiet you fat idiot." Tony's voice came from somewhere up hill.

Katie jumped to her feet, wincing as she put weight on her left leg. Down hill, down hill and sooner or later she would reach Newport and safety. She limped on down the hill. It had been an enjoyable, sunny day on the beach. A lovely day she had spent chatting with her first and best friend, Penny, as they walked on the beach with Katie talking about her upcoming date with Tony. A date that had turned into a run for her life. Katie slowed down, trying to bypass a tangle of vegetation.

She found a clear trail through the vegetation and moved a little quicker. She had to figure out how to get out of this. Chuck, how had he done it? How had he turned Tony into a monster. She could see Chuck's fat face with its perpetual sneer. She heard his squeaky voice as he threatened and whined. How could a scaredy-cat bully like him make a tough guy like Tony do anything? Hell, she had beaten Chuck lots of times, like that first day in pre-school. She walked out on the playground and had seen him pushing Penny then tripping her into the dirt. Katie had soon put Chuck into the dirt and made friends with Penny. From then on it had been a game where Chuck occasionally won a few points but Katie scored more often, even after Chuck had teamed up with mousey Eddie. This time, a winning move by Chuck.

A branch snagged the sleeve of her dress, tearing it and making her twist to free herself. She whimpered as pain shot up her leg and made her muscles spasm. God, she thought, her nice green silk dress had to be in rags now. And her hair. She reached up and pulled loose a twig. She continued to move along as quickly as possible, looking back every few feet. Were they any closer?

Chuck, Eddie and Tony. Chuck had to be the one responsible, didn't he? Tony had been dating her for over a month. She noticed him looking at her on his first day at school in Newport and Katie thought he was handsome in a rough way. Long brown hair flopping over his brown eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and black Levi jeans. Even the tattoo on his shoulder, a warrior with a bloody sword in one hand and a medusa head in the other seemed kind of cool. Katie had been attracted by the heavy metal look she knew her father would not approve of. She had smiled at Tony and he had given her a sneering smile in return.

Katie hadn't let the sneering smile deter her. She knew he wanted her with her long auburn hair, blue-green eyes, slender figure, nice clothes and the fact that her father owned one of the biggest hotels in town. She was popular at school, top cheerleader and smart enough to pass her classes without much effort. All the guys wanted to date her. So why pick Tony? She had liked the touch of danger with him and now she was running away from him.

She stumbled through another tangle of brush and came out on a small, dirt road. Thick brush grew on both sides of the road, but very little grew in the middle. She knew following the road would be easier and quicker than stumbling through the forest, but the road ran perpendicular to the way she had been going. Roads usually meant people and people meant help. She looked to the right then the left, confused. Which way? She fought the fog in her mind. Struggling to remember which way Tony had turned when he left Highway 20. Right or left? He drove fast and she had been busy flirting with him and the road was so winding. No use, she was so tired and confused. How could she decide?

"Where the hell is she?" Chuck's squeaky voice pierced the dark shadows of the forest behind her.

Katie's breath caught. She looked to the left, but it seemed like Chuck's voice had come from that way. She looked to the right. That way. She turned and stumbled on down the road.

The road proved easier but Katie still had to watch for ruts and washes. She hobbled on looking and listening for signs of Highway 20, spurred by the snap of branches behind her. She heard the chirp of a cricket, the whistle of the wind and Chuck's high pitched voice. She couldn't make out the words. That was good wasn't it? That meant she had move farther ahead, right?

A splash of orange color painted the tops of the trees, a splash of color set against the dark blue-black of the sky. Below, the shadows clawed their way upward to cover the glow of light in darkness. Katie came out into a shadowy clearing. A large black shape stood silently in the center of the open area, a silhouette of a two-story house. Her heart leaped. A house. People. She moved faster while listening over the chirp of the crickets and the rustle of the wind for sounds of her pursuers. Someone in the house would help her.

Halfway to the house, she ran into a dark shape blocking her way. The moon peeked above the horizon, giving her some light to examine the plant. She ran her hand over the thin stalks leathery leaves and soft yellow petals. Scotch broom. She spotted some twisted wood, pointed slats that could have been a gate. She knelt down on her aching knees and groped here and there against the brush until she found a small opening through the shrubbery. She pushed her way into the opening, smelling the warm oily scent of the plant, hoping the swish of her passage through the hedge was not too loud.

It took her a minute to get clear of the brush. She stood up in a small narrow path hemmed in by thick blackberry bushes. Katie stumbled down the path between the bushes. Her hope fading as she looked at the mounds of blackberry brambles. No one would let these plants go like this, she thought, but, please, don't let the house be empty. Someone has to help.

She looked up as she neared the house. Oh, God, no. She saw the house covered with blackberry bushes halfway up the sides, obscuring the first floor windows. Moonlight reflected off the jagged glass teeth of the broken upper windows, hungry mouths smiling at their prey. Katie stopped at the steps, looking at the screen door swinging crookedly on a single hinge and wondering if it was worth going on. The creaking of the door reminded her of an old cartoon crone's laughter. She grabbed the crooked handrail and moved up the three steps to the porch, then to the door.

Under the light of the rising moon, the house had a pale, gray color, like that of a dead tree stripped of its bark. She glanced over her shoulder. Was that a shadow moving, a tree in the wind or something worse? She turned back and tapped lightly, flinching at the echoes. The echoes died and only the wind coursing through the treetops answered her. Crickets chirped in reply to the slow rasping questioning of the screen door.

She reached for the door knob, hesitated then wiped her hands on her dress and took hold of the door knob. She turned the knob and pushed on the door. The rusty screech of the hinges ripped along her frayed nerves as the door swung inward. She held her breath, listening. Faintly, in the distance came a sound that could have been voices. She ducked into the house and inched the door shut.

Darkness. Katie closed her eyes and leaned on the door, shifting her weight to her right leg. A weak sob escaped her as she took a deep breath. She leaned over and rubbed her leg as tears began to trickle down her cheeks and fear crept up her back. How much longer could she go on? It would be hard enough getting back to Newport, if she was in good shape, but with a injured leg it was so much harder. Could she do it? Katie feared she couldn't.

"So what are you going to do, girl?" she whispered, "Give up?"

She shook her head and opened her eyes. She blinked and gasped. A faint green aura seeped out of the walls, floors, and furniture of the room.

Katie shook her head. She had never seen a shade of green like this. She wrinkled her nose, sniffing, expecting to smell something putrid. All she smelled was musty air with a trace of decayed plants. Everywhere a green glow, a phosphorescent yellowish green that made her nauseated, but it did give her light to see by.

She looked around the room. A kitchen. She must have come in the back door. A small, wooden table with a dusty, checked tablecloth stood by the window just to the left of the door. To her right was a sink with a hand pump. She could see a door straight across the room from her and a large cabinet-like object with three doors. Squinting, she could just make out the letters on a lower door. They spelled "Frigidaire Icebox." To her left a box of wood sat beside an old wood stove with an overhead oven. Against the far wall stood a small cabinet, an old pantry with one door open. She could see shelves with Mason jars and cans of fruit and condensed milk. It all looked like a typical, small, turn-of-the-century farmhouse kitchen, even down to the dish-towels hanging by the sink, the checked curtains and the ceramic pig salt-and-pepper shakers. All familiar stuff, except for the vile green glow.

Katie shivered as she looked at the glowing cans of food. It's got to be some kind of mold, she thought, it's a good thing I'm not hungry. She looked back at the door. No locks. She turned back to the room and limped to the door across the room, hoping it would lead to a hiding place in case Chuck, Eddie and Tony managed to follow her. She grimaced at the bitter thought of Chuck and Eddie working on Tony, convincing him to turn on her. A sour taste came to her mouth as she thought about what they, even Tony, had planned for her. And she felt the dull pain in her stomach as she thought about Tony's betrayal.

She opened the door and stepped into a narrow hallway. A steep set of stairs on her right rose up to the second floor. She noticed on her left, halfway down the hallway, a doorway opened up into another room. At the very end of the hallway stood another door with an old coat rack glowing like a twisted flagpole. Carefully closing the door behind her, she hobbled down the hallway.

Five feet down the hallway, Katie paused for a moment, her eyes drawn to a picture hanging on the left wall. The picture might have been a nude lady sitting by a pond or lake, staring off into the distance, but with the green aura coming from the picture it looked more like a woman trapped in Hell by a green lake of fire. Katie shivered and moved on.

She stopped at the first doorway and looked into the room. Across the living room stood a large picture window, broken in several places with dark, grasping leaves of blackberries probing their way into the house. Near the door stood a mouldy looking couch. The right wall had a small bookcase with books that seemed to contain something so awful it oozed out of the spines and pages of the books. Along the left wall two chairs sat, turned slightly inward on either side of a small table. A vase rose from the back of the table with something that could have been a flower, but now was a sickly, glowing twig. She sniffed and quickly covered her mouth as her stomach lurched. Sweet and rancid, the smell made her stomach churn. She looked around the room again. A large dog bed sat in the far right-hand corner. She could see a very dog-like shape curled up in the bed. It wasn't moving, not even breathing. She backed out of the room and staggered for the front door.

Her head whirled as she moved down the hallway. This is horrid. What kind of freak show, Twilight Zone episode, had she stumbled into? No people except her, trapped in a crazy place. She had to get out. She had to try the front door, maybe coming out on the opposite side of the house, she could lose Chuck and the others. She most definitely could not stay here with a dead dog. Why hadn't they buried it? As old as this place seemed, why did it still smell? She needed air.

Katie opened the door and groaned. The door opened to a small porch, but the porch had been overtaken with blackberries. Thick clumps of thorny brambles grew up the sides of the porch. Growing and weaving, the two sides converged to form a thick, impassable wall in front of the door. She knew that the thorns would tear her and what was left of her dress to shreds. She leaned against the door sill, hugging herself and wondering what to do.

Katie, closing the door and turning back down the hallway, decided to try going out the way she had come in. Maybe the boys had gone the other way on the path. Yeah. Maybe she would win the lottery without buying a ticket. Katie moved carefully to the other door and opened it. She started through the door, then froze in place as she saw a flicker of white light through the leaves covering the window.

"Do you think she's in there?"

Katie's heart stopped then sped up as she recognized Chuck's squeaky voice. Her body shook and she felt her legs weaken. If she tried to move her legs would collapse under her.

"It doesn't look safe." Chuck whined, his voice went squeakier. "I don't think we should..."

"Shut up, bonehead." Tony's voice came clearly. "Where else do you think she went? We saw her footprints coming down the road and scuff marks by that old gate. Now get your ass through those bushes."

Katie closed her eyes. That sure didn't sound like someone being forced into something. Tony sounded like the leader of the group and apparently he was smart enough to bring a flashlight. She opened her eyes and took a shaky step back into the hallway, slowly closing the door. She turned up the stairs. Each step brought a grimace of pain. She had to pull herself up with the handrail. She just made it to the top of the stairs when she heard the outside door slam against the wall with a sharp tinkle of broken glass.

"Hey, Katie, you in here?" Chuck's voice screeched through the house.

"Moron, do you really think she's going to answer you."

"Come on, Tony," Eddie's oily voice filtered up through the floor, "he was just trying to be funny."

"Well, he didn't succeed."

Katie heard thumps from below as she was looking around. A narrow hallway with a wooden railing ran along the side of the stairwell with two doors, one just by the top of the stairs and the second at the end of the hallway, which would place the room directly above the kitchen. She limped to the door by the head of the stairs.

"Hey, hold up you guys," Chuck's voice grated through the floor, "I gotta take a leak."

"Follow when you're done, dope." Tony sneered, "We sure as hell don't want to watch."

Leave it to Chuck to take a piss in someone's kitchen, Katie thought as she slowly opened the door. She stepped into the room and carefully closed the door. She turned, looking around. A big dresser stood to the left of the door. A window in the right wall showed some moonlight over the blackberries and in the far right corner of the room sat a dressing table, a mirror over the back with a delicate chair in front of the table. On the table lay a elegant brush with small, sparkling, strands of green hair. Next to the brush stood several jars and three old-fashion hair combs. A large curtained bed took up most of the left side of the room.

"Damn!" She whispered, "There isn't anyplace to hide that they wouldn't check when they get up here." She moved toward the window. Maybe she could climb out and up to the roof.

"Troubles, my pet?"

Katie whirled and stifled a scream. A slender woman, glowing green in a long gown stood by the bed. Swinging bed curtains suggested that she had just gotten out of the bed. She had short hair, curly on the sides but straight and close to her head on top. She had a wide, thin smile and glowing green eyes. Katie backed up against the wall by the window.

"Who are you?" Katie whispered.

"Someone who wants to help you, dear." The woman moved closer to Katie and smiled, showing sharp triangular teeth. "Let me help you."

Katie opened her mouth, but her scream caught in her throat. Her mind fled here and there. Who, what is this woman? Will she help me? Will she hurt me?

The woman moved softly toward Katie. She reached out and ran the back of her hand down the side of Katie's face. Her hand was warm, almost hot. She reached behind Katie's head and pulled her forward, bringing Katie's right ear against the woman's chest. A soft, musty, musk rose from the woman's skin. The woman stroked the side of Katie's face.

Katie felt a tingle along her skin. The tingling seemed to trickle down into her. Then she felt it tug deep inside, pulling at memories and feelings. It tugged one set of memories to the surface.

"Tony, what are we doing out here?" Katie looked over at Tony, his long hair down over his eyes. She looked back at the clearing in the forest where they had parked. "I thought we were going to a movie."

Tony turned to her, flipping his hair back, his eyes glistening in the fading sunlight. He reached over and unbuckled her seatbelt. "It's a surprise." He said as he leaned back.

Katie's door suddenly swung open and a large hand grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the pickup. She tried to get her feet under her, but her left foot slipped on a rock, twisting her ankle. She landed hard on her left knee and arm. She looked up and saw Chuck standing over her with Eddie grinning behind him.

"Surprise, Katie-waity." Chuck snorted.

Katie heard Tony's door open and slam shut.

"Tony, help me."

Tony leaned over the hood of his pickup as Chuck grabbed Katie's arm again, dragging her to her feet.

"Tony won't help you," Chuck squealed, "he's helping me."

Katie's heart was racing. Her mind awhirl. How could Chuck make Tony turn against her? Then she saw Eddie pull some rope out of the back of Tony's pickup and she panicked. Twisting on her right leg, she slammed her left knee into Chuck's groin. Chuck doubled over and she shoved him hard into Eddie. Katie turned and ran as fast as she could for the forest.

Katie gasped. She was back in the room, leaning against the strange woman. Tears were running down her face and her leg and ankle ached even more than before. She thought about what she had just remembered, Chuck, Eddie and Tony. Strange, she thought, she didn't feel anything when she thought of it now, just empty.

"My poor pet, those boys were very naughty to you."

Katie looked up to see a soft smile of sympathy. Why had she thought that the woman was ugly because of the green glow around everything? The woman had pretty features, a small, pert nose, nice lips and very shapely eyebrows. Her eyes were a darker green than Katie had thought.

"Who are you?" Katie whispered.

"Amanda Casey. This is my home and you, my dear, are my guest." Amanda gave Katie a gentle hug. "I'm afraid those rude boys are not invited. I think I shall have to discipline them."

Amanda took Katie's hand and led her to the bed. She pulled back the curtain and gently pushed Katie onto the bed.

"Lie down and rest. You'll feel better in a few minutes. I'll take care of those hooligans."

"But they might hurt you." Katie settled onto the bed and lay down. She felt dizzy and weak.

"I don't think so, dear Katie." Amanda let the curtain swing down. "Now, do keep silent."

Katie turned onto her left side so she could face the room. The bedding had the same musty, musk she smelled earlier. She heard a door slam down below. How long had it been, since she first met Amanda? How had Amanda known her name?

"Eddie," Tony's voice came faintly through the floor. "you check down here. See if she snuck out through the other door or is hiding in that room. Chuck come with me. I think I heard something upstairs."

Thumping came through the walls. Katie curled up tightly listening to the noise. They are determined to get her, she thought, they want to hurt her. This is no longer a game. Katie shivered. They won't let me stay alive to tell anyone. And it has to be Tony that came up with this. Chuck's too dull and too much of a chicken to see that he would have to kill me. Katie closed her eyes as the thumping stopped.

"You go check that room. I'll check this one." Tony's voice cut through the wall.

"What if she's in there?" Chuck's sharp voice rasped against Katie's ears.

"What do you think, idiot?" Tony's voice became harder. "You slap the shit out of her and call the rest of us. After all, she's the one who smashed your balls. And don't let her get away. If she gets back to town, she'll have the cops on us and I don't want to end up in jail again and I don't think you would like it either. There's lots of guys who would love to get a hold of a wimp like you."

"Alright, already."

Katie heard Chuck's feet pounding down the hallway. She heard a click of the doorknob turning. Tony at the door. Katie bit back a whimper.

"Hey, Katie, come out and make it easier on everyone. Come out, come out, where ever you are." Tony called.

Tony sounded so reasonable and pleasant, as though she had caused the problems. He didn't sound like someone who had planned her rape and probably her death. How could he be so nice on the two dates they had together and then turn into such a monster? How had he made her trust him so much?

Light flashed, sweeping over the room like a lighthouse beam, raising shadows on the curtains.

"What?" Surprise raised Tony's voice. "Who are you? Where's Katie?"

Katie huddled deeper, closing her eyes and grabbing the covers in her hands, pulling them close.

"I'm someone who hasn't had any company for such a long time. I've been alone here since 1925 with only occasional visitors like you." Amanda's voice was soft and sweet. "I so look forward to company."

Katie opened her eyes and stared at the silhouettes on the curtains. She saw Amanda's shadow move closer to Tony's shadow. A click of the door closing made Katie flinch.

"Come, my dear boy, let's be friends."

Amanda's shadow reached out to touch Tony's. Katie felt a tingle, an electric spark jump out from her. The invisible spark reached out to Amanda then to Tony. She felt it hungrily grab at something and pull.

She looked up at the large woman with the big belly. The woman reached back then swung her hand. Pain lanced through her face as she tumbled to the floor.

"That'll teach you to back talk me, boy."

She felt the woman's fingers in her hair, jerking her to her feet. Pain came in sweet waves.

The woman slapped her again and again. Blood trickled down her face. The woman let go of her and she fell face down on the floor.

"When I talk to you, boy, you listen and do as you're told. No son of mine is going to disobey his mother."

She got to her hands and knees. The woman moved behind her and she felt the woman's foot hit her just below the tailbone and she fell face-down on the floor. Humiliation and pain, food, it has been so long. Such a rich feast.

Katie jerked her eyes open. Those weren't her memories. What was going on? She rubbed her tingling cheek. It felt hot where Amanda had caressed her. Katie heard a deep sob from the other side of the curtain. She reached out to lift the curtain, but stopped. She felt it coming, more pain. Katie shivered in anticipation as the tingle tugged inside of her.

"Come on, Tony-wony." The big kid pushed her back. She stumbled, a shove from behind pushed her forward and she tried windmilling her arms but lost her balance and fell face down into the dirt. "What's the matter, Tony-wony? You fall down, go boom."

"Leave me alone!" She yelled as the other kids laughed and laughed.

A sharp pain in her side made her gasp as another kid kicked her. Frustration, humiliation, pain. Sweet food coming to her through Amanda Casey. Wave after quenching wave as she felt other feet kick her and others laughing again and again.

Katie jerked upright. "Oh, God." She whispered as she opened her eyes. "She's feeding on Tony. Those are his memories."

A strangled cry came from the other side of the curtain. Thumping came from the door.

"Hey, Tony, you find her? You ain't doing her all by yourself are you?" Chuck thumped the door again and rattled the doorknob. "Hey, open up."

Katie heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The tug came again, she could feel it as it pulled. She hated this, she wanted it.

"You have to be kidding, Tony." The blonde girl looked at her with a sneer that twisted her pretty face into a horrid thing. "Me, go out with a loser like you?" Her nasal voice rose to a high pitch in the school lunchroom and all conversations and clatter of dishes stopped as everyone turned to look at the two of them. "I wouldn't go with you if you were the last toad on Earth!"

She heard snickers from the other students as the blonde girl shook her head and left. Humiliation and deep rich hatred came in delicious waves and she pulled and pulled in every drop until there was nothing left to take.

Something heavy hit the floor, startling Katie. She knew what it was, as she felt a tear trickle down her cheek, stinging as it crossed the scratches on her face. Chuck hit the door again.

"Hey, jerk, let us in."

He hit the door once more and Katie heard a second thump as the door swung open to hit the wall.

"Now, what're you doing?" There was a pause, then Chuck continued, "Who the hell are you?" His voice rose in pitch, "Where's Tony?"

"Chuck, you idiot, get out of here." Katie could only whisper as she shivered and drew her legs to her chest. Tears kept trickling down her cheeks. "She'll kill you."

"Of course we will, pet."

Katie heard the soft voice whispering in her head.

"You'll enjoy this one, pet, and we will be together, forever in my lovely home."

"Hey," Chuck's squeaky voice startled Katie, "that's Tony on the floor. What'd you do to him."

"Don't worry about that. Come closer, my dear boy." Amanda's voice seemed clearer, coming from the other side of the curtain and in Katie's mind. "You cannot be afraid of a woman like me, can you?"

"No way, lady." Chuck snorted.

"Oh, Chuck, you egotistical bonehead." Katie whispered as she shifted on the bed and pulled the curtain aside. She shook her head. Why should she care if Amanda killed Chuck? They've been enemies for so long. He was going to rape her. But she couldn't let him die, could she? It's not right, she thought. Besides, what would happen to her if Amanda kept doing this and she let Amanda kill him? She looked up and saw Amanda reach out as Chuck strutted toward her. Amanda's hand brushed against Chuck's face.

Katie felt it again, the tingling, stronger. The pull came quicker, she felt the memories begin hauled out of Chuck.

She looked at the girl, and saw herself at six years of age. Long hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her younger self was standing with her hands on her hips glaring at herself.

"Chuck, you leave Penny alone, you big pig." said her younger self.

Younger Katie stepped forward and shoved her. She lost her balance and fell backward onto her rump. She felt herself turn red as the rest of the class laughed at her. Her humiliation and anger fed her.

Katie blinked and slowly stood up. She let the curtain fall behind her. She looked toward Amanda, standing near the middle of the room. Her gaze dropped to the floor near Amanda. Tony lay in the middle of the room, face down, one arm stretched toward the bed and the other by his side. Katie knew he was dead, something about the stillness of his body in the glow of the room, the lack of chest movement or even small twitching. Katie looked up and saw Chuck on his knees in front of Amanda, tears dripping like liquid emeralds down his cheek. Eddie stood frozen in the doorway. Eddie's face was very pale and his mouth and eyes were wide open.

"Eddie, run!" Katie screamed as she moved forward. Eddie jumped then he turned and sprinted away. Katie heard him stumble down the steps as she looked back at Amanda.

Amanda shifted her head to look at Katie with glowing green eyes that sparkled as though they had lightning in them. Katie stumbled to a halt.

"Now, why did you do that, dear?" Amanda's voice was gentle.

"Because, I, ah..." Katie felt as though her brain had short-circuited and stalled on her as she stared at Amanda's green eyes. The green glow filling her, changing her. She tried to continue. "You know, you shouldn't." Katie stammered as she tried to get her thoughts out. Why should she care what happens to Chuck and Eddie? She pushed against the glow. "Because it's not right." she said softly, she blinked and looked at Amanda again. "It's not right!" She yelled, "It's wrong to kill." Katie's brain began functioning again and she moved quickly over to stand by Chuck.

Amanda looked over at Tony's body, then back at Katie. "Do you mean to say that I should have let them rape you?" She gave Katie a twisted, sharp-toothed smile.

Katie stepped back. "No." Her voice sounded small and weak to her. "But you can't kill them."

"Why ever not?" Amanda looked at Chuck.

Chuck's fat body was shaking and Amanda smiled at him. Katie looked over at him. He seemed about ready to collapse. Amanda turned back to Katie.

"He is just a male. No loss to this world, but food and drink to the two of us."

Katie could feel Amanda reaching toward Chuck's mind.

"No." She ran and hit the older woman with her shoulder. Luminescent green dust flew into the air, making Katie sneeze. She felt the electric tingle throughout her body, the tugging that came from within her.

"Arnold, what are you doing?" She looked over at the man in the dark suit with the starched collar. He stood tall and strong in the doorway of the kitchen downstairs. She by the sink, preparing vegetables for the evening stew. She watched as he strolled into the kitchen to stand beside her. "You're home early, darling. Are you ill?" Then he hit her, knocking her back against the wall. She slid down to sit, stunned, on the floor.

"Yes, I am ill. Sick and tired of you, you old bitch." He reached down and hauled her back on her feet, then hit her hard with his fist. She felt her nose break and blood began to pour down her face. He shook her. "That bastard, Conner, told me about the two of you. How you've been seeing him for nearly a year." His fist slammed into her face again and again. "I won't stand for it. I will not be made a fool of by a low-life peasant like Conner or a slut like you." His voice rose in pitch and his fist kept hitting her. He didn't even listen to her protests of innocence. Then it grew dark.

Katie shook her head. She felt like she had just ran into a wall, but Amanda was lying on the floor. Katie blinked as the older woman struggled to her feet. Katie reached over and grabbed Chuck's shirt.

"Come on, get up and run!" Katie yanked the larger boy to his feet, just as Amanda stood up. Katie looked around and spotted the flashlight Tony must have been carrying. It was only inches from his hand. He must have dropped it when Amanda attacked him, thought Katie. She stooped down and picked it up. She noticed Chuck's flashlight was dangling limply in his hand, pointing to the floor. Amanda stepped forward and Katie stood up, swinging the flashlight as hard as she could. The flashlight shattered and Amanda fell backward, her body crumbling like a dried out sandcastle, leaving a cloud of green dust. Katie turned and grabbed Chuck's flashlight from his hand, then grabbed his arm with her other hand and pulled him to the door.

Chuck jerked as they went through the door, suddenly aware of what was happening. Katie stumbled as he pushed past her and ran down the steps, skipping every other step. Katie hurried to keep up with him. She was amazed that her leg and ankle no longer hurt. Adrenalin, she wondered, or something to do with what Amanda was doing?

Chuck turned at the bottom of the steps, stopped, wide-eyed and let out a high-pitched scream. Katie halted at the bottom step and looked around the corner. Amanda stood in the hallway by the front door.

"You cannot leave me, children. I am this house and it is me. We keep each other eternal and I can be anywhere within its walls." Amanda stepped forward. "Your fat friend will feed us, then my dear Katie, I'm afraid you will have to be punished." She smiled at Katie. "But do not worry, it will pass and we will be the best of friends."

Chuck had backed himself up against the kitchen door. Quickly, he grabbed Katie by the arm and pulled her in front of him. He shoved her in the back as hard as he could. She careened ahead and crashing into Amanda. Dust filled her eyes and her body jerked as an electric shock went though her. She felt the pull again, dizzy as blackness filled her.

She woke, dirt choking her. She struggled and pushed and pushed, trying to get air, panicking, trying to scream. She broke free, forcing her head out of the ground. She sucked air into her lungs as she crawled out of the shallow grave. She looked around. It was the cellar of her home, potatoes in a sandy patch of the farthest corner. Shelves of canned vegetables along the wall. She felt hot, anger. After all she had done for that man, he buried her alive in the cellar. She had married him, kept his house, tried to have his children and all she got was a beating and a shallow grave in her own cellar. And that at the word of a liar like Conner. She could feel her husband, he was in the house. In the house with another woman. Fire seemed to fill her veins. Hatred gave her strength. He would pay and so would that slut. She looked down at her hand, the veins in her hand were glowing green and seemed to get stronger as her anger flared. Hunger, too, that grew and made her strong. He would pay, dearly.

Katie sneezed as the green dust flew. She spun around and looked at Chuck as he pulled the door open and raced into the kitchen. She followed quickly.

Katie slammed through the door and saw Chuck windmill to a stop. Katie guessed by the bright green glow in front of Chuck that Amanda had made another appearance. She ran and hit Chuck's broad back hard.

"This time you get to be the one to hit her, Chuck."

Chuck grunted and screamed as he plowed ahead. Katie kept pushing from behind, channeling all her anger at Chuck, Eddie, Tony and Amanda. She felt a bump and then heard a loud crash as they burst through the door. Green dust flew through the air, catching the breeze and drifting out over the blackberries. Katie kept her hands on Chuck's back, pushing him further down the path.

"Come on, lard butt, keep moving." Katie said.

Chuck yelled as they hit the hedge. Katie stopped and whirled around. A loud screech cut through the air, replaced by wood splintering and glass shattering. Chuck dropped to the ground, whimpering. Katie stood, the breeze ruffling her hair as she watched the top story of the house collapse in on itself. She took a deep breath of the cool air, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. The walls of the house were tilting, then slowly leaning further and further out. Finally, they fell, hitting the ground with a bang that sent vibrations up Katie's legs.

Katie looked over her shoulder at Chuck lying on the ground. She shook her head and turned around. She prodded him with her foot.

"Come on, get up."

Chuck looked up at her, tears streaking the dirt on his face.

"It's safe now, Chuck, she's gone." Katie said, smiling, "She said she and the house were one. We knocked her out of the house, and they both died."

Chuck slowly stood up. Katie looked at him. "Well, I hope Tony had a spare set of keys." Katie said as she ducked through the hedge and started down the road. "I doubt Eddie waited for us."

"What are we going to tell people about Tony?" Chuck asked as he staggered after Katie.

"That he was showing off and went inside the old house. It collapsed and we tried to get him out." Katie looked at him. "Don't worry, I won't tell them what you guys were planning on doing. But don't think that I'll forget, either."

Katie turned around and stopped. Chuck tripped, caught himself and stopped a foot away from her. Katie reached out and brushed her hand along his cheek. She felt the tingle, but held back from doing more than brushing his memories of himself whimpering as he cowered at Amanda's feet. Katie smiled at Chuck as his mouth dropped open.

"And you don't want to make me mad, do you, my dear boy?"

The Spiral Gate

The moon peeked through my window, moving shadows in the darkened kitchen. The bare, desert hills sparkled in the moonlight, contrasting with the deep shadows cast by my orchards below the hills. I sat alone at the old, scarred wooden table. I felt surrounded by the silence, relaxed into a state of no time and no place, just feeling what is. Quiet, peaceful. No stress, no worries. I heard a loud chuff-snort.

I listened and heard it again. A chuff-snort, like when a big dog smells something it doesn't like. I stood up, my skirt rustling around my ankles. The noise seemed to be in the kitchen, but it wasn't. I could see the old table and chairs, the ten-year-old stove with one bad burner and the counter with the stainless steel sinks. I turned to look out the window.

The trees of the orchards created a deep, black background with a few leaves twinkling like stars. The light glimmered off the shed where my father's old restored DeSoto, the accumulated toys and junk of four generations of the Fry clan were stored. The second shed with the tool shop and extraneous parts and bits of the machinery needed for the orchard and the long warehouse for storing crops loomed like gray toads. Scattered around the circular driveway between the house and sheds were tractors, trailers and lifts for picking, hauling and storing the crops. I stepped over to the back door and reached for the light switch while peering out the small panes of glass in the door. My father worked up to twenty hours a day, so he had installed several flood-lights to light up the area between our house and the sheds. I heard the chuff-snort and flipped the light switch.

Bright lights flickered, came on, lighting the ground with sharp, white light. My old Saturn stood out against the John Deer tractor. Shadows ran and so did something else.

I didn't recognize it as anything normally skulking around the orchard. I saw a snarl of big teeth. I saw shaggy fur. Teeth, fur and blur. It speed by the door, shifted across the open space into the orchard before I could gasp.

"Sam?"

I squeaked. I always do when I'm startled. I have ever since I can remember and now at the old age of twenty-four, I really hate it.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Moonlight had trouble talking while she giggled. "I thought I heard something, then all the lights went on outside."

"I heard it, too." I said. "So I turned on the lights." I tried to calm my shaking, no reason to scare the kid. "I think I scared off a coyote or a wild dog."

"Then it's alright." She smiled, "Let's go to bed."

"I'm not really sleepy." I shivered. "I'll stay up a while longer."

"You're tired Sam, and you've had a long day. Her soft voice slid over me. I yawned. "Samatha," she continued softly, "you have to go to sleep. There's lots to do," her voice faded, "tonight."

Moonlight flipped off the lights and took my hand. Strange, the still awake part of my mind said, she's only been here a few hours. I hadn't even gotten around to showing her my office and the outside door there. She led me through this old maze of a house, in the dark, like she had always been here. Who is this girl?

***

Earlier, as the sun dropped behind the hills, I drove U.S. 95. Blythe, California lay behind me and home in front and I seethed with hatred for both. Not even the sight of the setting sun drizzling gold and pink over the landscape could cheer me the way it usually did. My family settled out here in the 1920's when my great-grandfather bought the land, cleared it and began our orchard. He said the Fry clan had a duty to protect the land, but the land wore him out and he died at the age of fifty, his son at the age of forty-eight and my father died at forty-nine. This desert land drained the life out of everything. Now, I had the land and I wanted to get rid of it even if it hurt. Sell it and move to LA or San Francisco. But no one wanted it, or so the real estate agent said, not at the price I asked.

I hit the halfway point, taking the curve fast when she ran out of the old, concrete building, straight toward the road. I jammed the brake pedal down as I slid the car into the gravel turnout. The Saturn swerved and careened, stopping five feet from the building. I climbed out.

"Hello, are you alright?" I called. "Hello?"

Turning, I closed the door and looked toward the road. She stood shivering by the roadside, her arms wrapped around herself. She wore a long-sleeved red and blue flannel and a t-shirt that peeked out from under the flannel, a pair of baggy jeans and old sneakers. Her hair, waist-length, dirty blonde seemed to fit her sharp-chinned, elven face and big blue eyes. I guessed her to be twelve or thirteen.

"Are you alright?" I reached out and she jumped into my arms. "You scared me." I said, feeling her sob. She seemed fragile and I felt protective. "Why are you here?"

"It's all wrong." Her voice broke, "Tony's place should be here. And, and where are my parents?"

I couldn't think of anyone called Tony. I looked back at the old, familiar, concrete building, noticing comments such as Jane sucks Dick; Amanda did the 89 football team and other faded statements. Dad told me it had been a small grocery store, an early 7-11 for people driving from Blythe to Needles, back when people wanted to go to either Blythe or Needles. Don't ask me why.

Concrete floor and walls were all that remained of the building. An empty door and a large hole where a display window once faced the road. During the day you could see the back door opening, a smaller window and accumulated debris inside.

Something flickered in the shadows and I jumped, holding the girl closer. A breeze swirled over me and I smelled a musky, dog-like smell.

"No!" I looked down at the girl, her eyes closed and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Not her."

"What did you say?"

She looked up at me. "I'm scared."

Of course, I just heard it wrong.

"Me, too." I said, "Let's get out of here."

***

Scared then, but not now. Moonlight is with me. I brought her home, intending to call the police, but soon had settled her into bed. Now, soft hands help me undress and together we climb into bed. Hard to think, her soft hands sliding over my stomach, from just below my breasts to just below my belly button. I feel so strange, sleepy, exhilarated.

"Rest, Samantha, my love, join with us. It is time to hunt."

She hadn't spoken very loud, but her mind, closer, joining, I heard it clearly. Her and something else, something that growled with hunger.

***

We open our eyes.

The warm glow of living scampers in and out.

Our body.

Moonlight, myself and another.

All in one.

Strong body with claws.

We feed soon, we know where.

Down the road they lay asleep in their flimsy metal shell.

A home that rides the asphalt roads.

Not wanting to pay to be secure with others.

We smell the scent of food, meat and vegetables.

Food fit for cattle, not hunters like us.

We circle, smelling them.

An open window, strong claws remove the screen.

Inside on the floor, smelling our prey.

First the man, old and weak, but full of blood.

Blood of life, coppery taste.

Then the old woman who gave life to others.

Her screams fill our ears and we laugh in delight.

Slowly we bend our head to her throat and bite.

Her blood is filled with life, makes us strong.

Warm flesh to complete the feast.

We scream in joy and pain.

***

I remember me, who is named Moonlight.

Queen of the damned am I.

My world lies in blessed darkness.

I smile with Dediedes by my side.

My hand on his coarse fur.

My throne is bone and blood

The old man with white hair.

Black when we were young

I am young I said, you are old and weak.

Better you run now I said, for soon we hunt.

Soon you will have no one to hunt, he called.

Then I will find a new world, I yelled,

The old man turned and walked away.

He who once I played with.

Now old and weak he still walks.

I am ever young and strong.

I stroke Dediedes strong sides.

He who kept me young

Now, I said, it is time to hunt.

***

I took a deep breath, awake in my bed. I could feel Moonlight's small body snuggled up against my side. She made a soft sound, her leg jerking slightly. I flipped the covers off and climbed out of bed, grabbing a pair of jeans and an old shirt as I left the room. Down the hall, I slipped into the bathroom, turning on the light and looking in the mirror. Still me, on the outside, not me on the inside. I could feel them inside my mind, softly, far away. I wanted to throw up, but I couldn't, not yet. I took a mouthful of Listerine mouthwash and spit it out. I got dressed and turned off the light.

Sneaking out of the bathroom to the stairs, I wished it had been a dream but I knew it wasn't. A retired couple now had a Darkone feeding on them. Moonlight and Dediedes had ruled elsewhere and they had come to this world to hunt. I licked my lips thinking of the hunt then, realizing what I had done, I nearly threw up. I reached the bottom of the stairs, then grabbed my purse and moved on to my car.

***

Back on U.S. 95, this time heading toward Blythe. I couldn't let her do to my world, my land, what she had done to hers. I never wanted to be a farmer but now I had to protect this land. Protect my home. Then I thought about Dediedes, what of him? How could I stop him? I swung through the next curve and saw the motor home.

Suddenly, a large furry, doglike face with a protruding snout, large doglike fangs, glowing yellow eyes and a red tongue complete with drool, stared at me. Two hairy, hand like paws with large claws scraped down the windshield on both sides of the face, leaving white streaks of powdered glass.

My mouth fell open and for once I was so scared I didn't squeak. I stared, my hands frozen on the steering wheel. The face and paws were gone. I blinked and saw a curve coming up fast.

Now I screamed as I hit the breaks. I felt the backend break loose, but managed to compensate as I fishtailed through the curve and into the next straight section of road. I had it under control. I just needed to get me under control.

I tried to calm down as I pushed the gas pedal lower. I felt Dediedes following me. I pushed the pedal down some more as my car hit seventy. I slowed to take the next curve. Suddenly I realized that Dediedes wasn't following me. I looked to the left and saw that a faint glow brightened the horizon. Dediedes was headed back to the shed with the DeSoto to hide.

***

A few minutes later I parked next to the concrete building where I had found Moonlight. I climbed out of the car. The world turning from grey-black to slightly pink grey as the sun came closer to rising over the hills. I smiled as I looked at the colorful sky. Even though I have hated the life here, there has always been some beauty to it, the beautiful sunrises for one.

The cool air made me shiver. The building looked the same as it had when my friends and I partied here in high school. There was nothing inside except wood pieces, dirt, beer cans and probably some used condoms. I looked over the interior and wondered what I hoped to find. I turned and looked across the road.

Across the road the steep slopes of the rise climbed up to the flat desert top. I ran across the road feeling my answers were somewhere nearby as I stepped into a wash. The wash twisted and turned, becoming narrower as it rose to the flat hilltop. At the top, I looked around.

The hills above the Lower Colorado River floodplain spread out toward the distant mountains. It looked smooth in the distance, but washes and dry streambeds cut the landscape. The ground consisted of dark, sun-varnished rock.

The dark varnish builds up on the rocks over hundreds of years. I heard at school that no one has figured out exactly how long it takes. Long ago the native people made trails and art work in the desert by clearing away the stones leaving a white line in the dark desert. They made the giant Blythe intalligos a few miles away. Right now I looked at the white line of an ancient trail that ran north and south along the ridge. Turning south, I followed the trail as the sun began to peek over the horizon.

The trail moved along for a hundred yards to a place where the ridge split into three fingers. At the center of the split the trail spiraled in on itself. I followed the trail, slowly spiraling inward, wondering why I was doing this. Then something twisted and the world went dark.

***

I stood in the same place on the spiral trail. Looking around, I saw a darker landscape, darker gray sky with a faint gray glow near the eastern horizon. An eclipse, I thought, like in 2001. With it this dark, Dediedes might return. I turned and hurried back along the trail.

I felt stupid for coming out here. Just what did I hope to learn? No magical doorway, no mystical gate in the middle of stonehenge. No magical answer to Dediedes and Moonlight. The whole thing might have been a dream, except... I dropped down into the wash and hurried to the road, and stopped.

The road lay broken with a small, weak-looking salt-ceder struggling in the cracked pavement. I made my way across the cracked asphalt. No sign of my car. The concrete building still stood there, but with a tilted wooden sign over the doorway. I could just make out the lettering. "Tony's Car Stop."

I looked around. A short, weed-covered road lead back to four trailer houses that sat in a row. Two had burned some time back and the other two had broken windows and doors. My mind stuttered, there had never been a trailer park here. Never. I've been by this place since forever.

I walked over and looked into the concrete building. The door leaned back against the interior wall. I stepped inside. The roof seemed to be laying on top of a large wooden shelf that had a couple of bloated cans sitting on the highest shelf.

Carefully stepping further in, I saw broken glass on the floor along with a broken ceramic animal and a empty Pepsi Cola bottle. I looked back by the door and knelt down and brushed off the dirt on top of a orange box. Opening it up, I saw several flares and grabbed two as I stood up.

A noise came from the back. I stiffened and listened. A chuff-snort. Dediedes? I moved toward the door. Something shoved on the back door which creaked and snapped. I backed up through the front door and ducked to the side. Another crash and creak from the door. I looked across the road and ran.

I just made the road when I heard a crash. I reached the wash and ran up the rocky slope, wishing I had kept in better shape.

Puffing and panting, I reached the top of the ridge. I turning I looked back, my legs shaking. A dark shape slipped up the wash behind me, only a hundred yards away. I looked around, then down at my hands. The flares.

I pulled the cap on the first flare and lit the flare. The burst of light made me blink and realize just how dark it was. I heard a howl as the dark shape slunk behind a boulder. I dropped the flare, turned and ran down the path. I reached the beginning of the spiral and stopped. A dark shape lay on the path and I knelt down to pick up a worn book. A howl came up behind me. I ran down the path, following the spiral, feeling the twist inside. The sun, just halfway over the horizon, blinded me, making my eyes water as I stumbled from the path, turning to look behind me. A dark shape materialized and leapt toward me screaming as it burst into flame.

I turned and ran down the path to the wash, scrambled to the road. The road lay unbroken. I heard a faint explosion above and behind me. A motorhome came wallowing around the curve and swept past me. I checked the road, then ran across to my car. Seated safely inside with the door closed, I tossed the last flare into the passenger seat and looked down at the book.

The first page had Moonlight's name in a childishly embellished script decorated with flowers. Moonlight Peterson, her diary. I turned to the next page.

The diary started in July 23, 1963 on Moonlight's twelfth birthday. She had received the diary as a birthday present along with a flute and doll. They were living in a trailerhouse behind the Tony's store. Moonlight enjoyed the life there, helping plant a garden, helping their neighbors with their chores. Life seemed pretty good for the young girl, especially when she met the young Indian boy, Robert Ramirez who, with his family, moved into the trailer next to them. They had fun together and played out near the river.

A year later, August 12, 1964, it began. That night the Darkone came and Moonlight watched Dediedes tear her parents apart, drinking their blood and feeding on them. Then he turned to her and made her an offer, join with him and be his daytime eyes and helper or join her parents in death. Moonlight chose to live.

I couldn't blame her for that. After experiencing what Dediedes could do to a human being, I don't know that I would have made a different choice. I shuddered at the thought of the taste of blood in my mouth.

The next diary entries were of a frightened girl. The night after her parents death, Moonlight went on her first hunt, joined with Dediedes. It scared her. Then she began to accepted what she had become. With no one to protect her or her world, she had to do what was necessary to survive. A week later they had gathered enough power and Dediedes showed her how to block the sun and open the gate for the rest of the Darkones and their companions to enter the world. After that the entries became more and more irregular.

One final entry from three weeks ago when her old friend, Robbie, came to face her. She wrote how she laughed as Dediedes hunted him down. No regrets, just exhilaration of the hunt and the realization that they had nearly emptied the world of people. The Darkones were beginning to go hungry. They chose Dediedes to once again find a new world.

I sat back in my car and closed the book. They were here to open this world to the Darkones and I had the chance to join with them. To live, and be like Moonlight, to have near immortality.

I looked up at the sun shining through my windshield. Would I be willing to give up the sun to live forever in a dark world? To live off of other peoples lives or to fight for my land? I had to choose now. I pulled the keys out of my pocket and started the car. Time to go home.

***

I parked on the edge of the driveway, putting my car under one of my trees. I could feel them both faintly, Dediedes in the shed, Moonlight in the house. Stepping out of the car and tucking the keys into my pocket, I turned to walk through the orchard to the house. I enjoyed the cool morning air as I looked up at the trees. Tall date trees, their green fronds spreading out to filter the sun. The dates were nearly ready to harvest, I thought as I reached the edge of the orchard and paused for a moment while looking toward the house. I couldn't see anyone in the windows.

"Calm down, silly." I whispered. I walked toward the house and stepped up to the side office door. I tugged the door and opened it a few inches and slid through.

I moved to my desk looking up briefly at my father's old shotgun on the wall. Maybe I should? No, better to leave it here. I opened the top right drawer and grabbed the DeSoto keys by the box of shotgun shells, then froze. Something moving in the hallway. I heard a soft scuff along the wooden floor.

Quick, out the door and I ran to the orchard. Two trees in, I turned and ran north. My side ached. I turned again and came out by the shed.

This would have been easier if the large doors could be opened, but I kept those keys in the kitchen and I don't think Moonlight would let me walk out with the keys. I probably got away with this because she didn't know about the office door.

I trotted up to the small side door and stopped. Gulping warm air, I listened. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes. I could feel Dediedes inside, but would he be awake?

My hands shook as I pushed the door open. I took a deep breath and ran to the car. Opening the door, I jumped inside then pulled the door shut. The car smelled musty with age and dust.

I nearly dropped the key trying to get it into the ignition. Clutch, got to push the clutch. I was glad Dad had me drive the tractor and learn to use a clutch. Something smelled like dog. I turned the key.

The engine caught, sputtered, but kept going. The old car had a column shift and I had watched Dad use it a couple of times, but I really had no idea how to work it. I grabbed the shift lever, pulled it back and up. A loud bang came from behind and something hit the back of the seat. I looked around and saw that the back seat had been pushed forward and Dediedes twisting as he came out of the trunk. He moved quickly and I screamed as his clawed hand grabbed the seat. His head rose up and his mouth opened and I saw the red of his palette.

My whole body stiffened as I twisted away, my right foot went down and my left foot slipped off the clutch. I heard the car's tires squeal on the concrete floor as I tried to take in enough air to scream.

DeSotos are made of tough metal, a lot tougher than my Saturn. The old car jumped forward and blew through the sheetmetal doors like they were gauze curtains. I saw the doors fold over the top of car as Dediedes started to climb over the seat. The doors slipped off the car and sunlight burst through the windshield.

Three beings screamed as the Darkone burst into flame. Dediedes scream lasted a second. Mine for three seconds and I don't think Moonlight ever stopped.

I pulled my foot off the gas and pulled at the door handle. I could smell smoke and see flame coming over the seat. The Desoto stalled and jerked as I pushed the door open and scrambled out of the car. I rolled as I hit the ground, my hair flapping around into my face.

I lay in the dirt for a minute or two trying to convince myself I could still breathe, I got to my feet, shoving my hair out of my face. A loud explosion made me flinch as I saw the rear side window of the Desoto shatter. I swallowed and turned.

Moonlight stood a dozen feet away from me with Dad's old shotgun, her face red, saliva running down one side of her mouth. Her mouth contorted into an ugly frown.

"You filthy, dung-eating bitch!" She stomped her feet, dust rising around her legs. "How dare you kill Dediedes."

"You killed those people, so it's only fair."

She dropped the barrel of the shotgun as she flung back one hand and threw something at me. That invisible something smashed me in the face, knocking me to the ground. I rolled over and pushed myself to my knees. When I touched my nose, my hand came away with blood.

"Stay on your knees, cow."

"I thought you loved me, Moonlight."

"Shut up!" Her voice shrill.

I turned to face her, pushing my hair back again. "You said you loved me."

"Be quiet." This time she hit me in the side, I coughed and gasped.

I fought back the pain. "You loved me, you said so. Just like you loved your parents." I turned to look at her. "You loved your family, Moonlight." I got to my knees. "You couldn't stop the Darkones from killing them, but I'm going to stop the Darkones from killing any more people." I started to stand.

"No!" She hit me again and I thought the side of my face would cave in. Again and I felt my arm go numb. "I didn't do it. I didn't..." I heard a sob. "I didn't want to." She screamed and hit me again, knocking me face-down into the dirt. "I'll kill you! You did it. You're responsible for them dying!"

I slowly stood up, staggering. "No, Moonlight, I'm not responsible for their deaths and neither are you. But you are responsible for other deaths, like Robbie's."

She stared at me, her mouth open. "How did you?"

"I found your diary. You were glad to hunt your old friend, just like you would be glad to hunt me." I looked over at her, the shotgun pointed downward and wondered if I could make it to her. "How many people have you helped kill over the last forty years?"

She looked at me and slowly raised the shotgun. "Well, shall we make it one more?" I jumped sideways and heard a loud roar. "I can still open the gate you know. I still know how to raise the power. You could have helped me."

I scrambled around the burning car and ran. Another explosion from the shotgun. I felt several stings on my leg and back as my leg went out from under me. I rolled to the right hoping to keep the car between us. I felt the heat of the fire and heard the crackle of the metal. Smoke blew past me, burning my nose. I twisted around and got to my knees.

Moonlight moved forward and frowned.

"You could have been with me forever. You could have been my friend and lover. But you chose this."

"You don't have to kill me." I said, "Put that gun down and we'll talk."

"No." She yelled, "I'll kill you and then your friends and I'll open the gate so everyone can join us in the hunt."

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. I jerked my head around to look at the car. A black shape erupted out of the open door. Moonlight twisted and screamed.

"No, Dediedes, no."

The flaming figure groped blindly. A wildly swinging hand hit Moonlight's arm and grabbed. She screamed again as the burning figure pulled her close. I tried to stand but my leg gave out and I hit the ground.

A blinding flash and a rush of hot air blew past me, scorching my hair. I struggled to get to my knees and then to my feet. Suddenly I was dizzy and fell, this time into darkness.

A loud bang brought me around. I blinked and slowly climbed to my knees. This time I managed to get to my feet just as a rear tire blew. I must have only been out a minute or two. The car still burned, but only a small crater marked where Moonlight and Dediedes had been. That side of the car seemed to be melting in the heat. I felt the back of my head and hair crackled and came loose in my hands.

I turned and limped away from the burning car, wondering how I could put it out. I had to save my orchard. I had to protect the land and this world. No one would believe me if I told them what happened, so I would have to remain here to guard the gate. I noticed a pickup coming down the lane, dust flying as the red vehicle bumped and dove over the potholes. Good old Jimmy Henderson, my neighbor, coming to help. I sat down to wait for him. He would get the water hose going and my orchard would be safe. I looked over at the trees. Would other Darkones come? I'll have to be ready to stop them, but right now it's time to think about the harvest. After all, no one else could care for this land or protect it like a Fry.

A Snowball's Chance in Hell

"Lucifer, I hate this job." Melvin said as he rinsed off his hip-high rubber-asbestos boots with boiling water, wrinkling his nose at the stench of the muck from the Slough of Despair. "One little lapse. Who would have thought giving one little glass of water to a poor soul would get me busted from 132nd level to 253rd level and he never even got to have a drink." Melvin kicked off his boots. "So what if I'm the only demon to sink so low, that doesn't mean I don't have feelings. It doesn't mean I don't try to do a good job. I'm not even allowed to help dip people in the muck. Not that I want to with all that moaning and groaning, poor souls. All I get to do is make sure the muck is mixed and that there are the requisite number of leeches." Melvin's voice rose three octaves. "Make sure there are six thousand leeches in each section, no more and no less." Melvin kicked his boots into a corner. "It's not fair!"

"Of course it's not fair, you little turd." said a deep voice from behind Melvin. "This is Hell, after all."

Melvin spun around and dropped to the ground to grovel properly to his supervisor. Melvin whimpered at the right pitch and earned a kick to show he did things right.

"You finally got the mix right in section three, but you let the leeches all move to section two. The damned in section one and three didn't have a single leech on them today." Mustoph growled. "You need to get back there and spread those leeches out."

"But it's after hours." whined Melvin.

"Get your ass back to the slough. Now!" Mustoph's voice cracked a stone three feet away.

Melvin grovelled lower and banged his head on the ground. He crawled backward a few feet then looked up to see if Mustoph had left. He stood up and moved over to his boots.

"Sacred jerk-off." muttered Melvin as he pulled on his boots. "I don't see him putting in overtime." Melvin stood up and walked to the edge of the slough. "Why do I have to come back.?"

"Because I said to!" roared Mustoph as Melvin felt himself pushed from behind to land facedown in the slough. "Now quit grousing and take care of those leeches."

***

Melvin scooped up another bucket full of leeches and splashed back to section three. He hated section three. It was the deepest part and Melvin had to avoid the thrashing humans. He dumped the load of leeches, and turned back to section two. He started to pass a Stinkwood tree when something fell out of the sky to land on the tree's roots. Melvin looked at the white, fluffy, round object. He swallowed. He moved closer and looked it over. It radiated coolness. He reached out and touched one of the white hair-like flakes and shivered from the cold as fear made sweat trickle down his back.

It couldn't be, he thought. It's not allowed. Melvin looked at the white, round object, flattened where it landed on the root. It could only be one thing. He swallowed the lump in his throat. A snowball. In Hell. Lucifer condemn us all!

Everyone, but everyone, knew what would happen if a snowball survived in Hell. Probabilities changed. Hell destroyed. The condemned were set free and Melvin understood the need for punishment, he just thought Hell overdid it a bit. Even the Creator feared such an event. What could He possibly do with several million unemployed demons? Melvin moved closer to the object. He had never before seen a snowball, but then he had never left Hell. Melvin reached out and touched it again. Cold, much colder than anything Melvin had ever touched. He stepped back. What in Hell's name should he do?

Melvin dumped his bucket then reached over and scooped the object in. He sloshed his way to the shore. Kicking off his boots, he stumbled and dropped the bucket. The snowball flew out and fell into a mud puddle. Melvin smiled as he watched steam rise from the hot, muddy water. Then he frowned. The snowball sat in the water. He reached over and pulled it out. The flattened side was brown and dripping muddy water.

Melvin walked to a hot spring that supplied water to the slough. He shoved the snowball under the water. He held it under the running water until his skin began to blister. Then the water began to slow and turn to a hard, glassy surface. Melvin pulled his hand out, cracking the ice. The snowball sparkled in the flaming light of Hell. Melvin stared at the white surface of the unaffected snowball, then at the frozen stream. He swallowed and turned to run toward the hills.

***

When Melvin reached an area with boulders, he placed the snowball on top of a large basalt boulder and grabbed a big rock. He slammed the rock down on top of the snowball. He struck again and again until the rock shattered in his hand and the boulder cracked in half. He stood there, hands on his knees, panting. When he opened his eyes and looked down, he saw the snowball, gray with rock dust, still rounded on top, resting on its flat side in the center of the cracked boulder. Melvin stared. How could anything as soft and squishy as that snowball stand up to a smashing by a rock? The boulder certainly couldn't. Melvin reached in and picked up the snowball. He poked its springy top. What should he do now?

"Melvin, you little prick, what are you doing out here instead of getting those leeches spread out?" Mustoph's voice growled behind Melvin. "Are you just stupid or are you trying to get busted to 254th level?"

Melvin spun around, dropping the snowball. He quickly stepped on it and bowed his head.

"But I did mix them up." He raised his head a little to look at the seven foot tall demon. "I was thinking of gathering some salt to put in section two. That would help to drive the leeches to the other sections."

"You moron!" Mustoph started to turn purple, his sharp teeth glimmered in the flaming light. "That would drive all the leeches out of section two. That means there wouldn't be any leeches at all in section two." Mustoph started to sputter. "What kind of idiot are you? Why am I stuck with the stupidest demon in all of Hell?"

"I didn't think of that." said Melvin. "I just hate having to keep moving leeches."

Mustoph stomped his foot, cracking the ground. Melvin gulped as he watched the crack move toward his foot. It crept forward as Mustoph kept stomping the ground.

"An idiot. The stupidest of the stupid in all of Hell." Mustoph stopped and glared at Melvin. "I want you back at the Slough of Despair and I want those leeches shifted to each section of the slough. Then I want you to recheck the mixture of the muck for each section and if it isn't perfect by morning, I'm going to personally dunk you head first into each section. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Melvin slumped with relief as he saw the crack stop at his big toe.

"Good." Mustoph stomped again and the crack split the ground under Melvin's foot and he felt the snowball drop. "Now get back to work." Mustoph stomped away from Melvin, disappearing into the haze that filled Hell.

Melvin moved his foot and looked down. He could see a spot of white inside the crack. He lay down and looked down the split in the earth. The snowball was at least four feet down the narrow fissure. The gap couldn't be more than four inches at the widest and narrowing quickly to three inches. Melvin reached down.. He twisted his arm and bent it in ways that brought tears to his eyes. He could feel the snowball at his fingertips.

Melvin shifted a little and pushed his arm into the crack, scraping skin. His fingers reach the side of the snowball and he scraped a fingernail along the side of the snowball, pulling it up a little. His eyes watered, steam obscuring his vision as he worked for twenty minutes to get the snowball into his hand. He began to pull his arm back when the ground shook and the crack closed a quarter of an inch. Melvin yelped as he felt his arm squish and the bones bend. He tugged and pulled, feeling rocks dig into his skin and blood trickle down his arm.

More blood flowed down his arm, soaking into the dirt and stone. Suddenly, his arm slipped free. Melvin found himself sitting on the ground, arm dripping blue-green blood, the snowball still whole in his hand.

"Why are you still here and why did I get a report that the Slough of Despair has frozen and what in the name of the Unholy do you have in your hand?" Melvin spun around to see Mustoph standing ten feet away, a shower cap on his head and a brush in his left hand with a shocked look on his face. "Is that? How did you get that sacred thing here? What kind of stupid moron are you? You know what that thing will do to Hell."

Melvin waved his arms, shaking his head as he tried to sputter out what happened. Mustoph flinched as the snowball swung back and forth. Melvin stepped forward.

"Eep! Keep that thing away from me, you little turd. You just wait until Krangreen hears about this. Your days are numbered and you'll be spending the last few thousand in real torment." Mustoph vanished in a billow of brimstone.

Melvin looked around. What was he going to do now? He had to destroy the thing or he would really be in trouble. He heard a faint groan and a rumble. His eyes sparkled as he smiled. He danced a small jig and trotted toward a distant mountain. He should be near the top, thought Melvin, and if that boulder isn't big enough to squash this blessed snowball, then nothing would.

***

Melvin watched as Sisyphus pushed the boulder a few more inches to the top. Melvin looked at the carefully placed snowball. He had placed it on the well-worn path of the boulder, a path several inches deeper than the surrounding terrain. It rested in the middle of the path about five feet from the bottom of the mountain that Sisyphus had been pushing the boulder up for over three thousand years. Melvin smiled and stepped back and down toward the bottom of the mountain. Any minute now, he thought.

A groan came from above and a rumble as the boulder started on its journey back down the mountain with Sisyphus running behind. The boulder was smooth and there weren't any bumps in the path after so many years of wear. Melvin grinned as the boulder came closer and closer, then reached the snowball.

The boulder hit the snowball and bounced. High. Right toward Melvin. Melvin screamed and ducked, feeling the boulder brush the top of his head. The boulder crashed off to the side and then banged into another boulder. Both boulders shattered and the fragments scattered across the ground. Melvin turned to look back at the path. The snowball rested where Melvin had placed it. He looked down the path to see Sisyphus hunched with his long beard tucked into his belt, looking around for his boulder. Sisyphus stood up and smiled. He stretched his back and Melvin could hear it pop several times. Sisyphus looked around, his smile getting bigger, then he started to dance. Melvin swallowed hard and ran to the path where he picked up the snowball.

"What, by the Fallen One, is going on here?" Melvin flinched as the sharp voice ripped through the air. "Sisyphus, why aren't you pushing your boulder?" Melvin turned to see a short, crooked, wiry, big-eyed demon looking around. "Well, where is it?"

"It crashed and broke." shouted Sisyphus as he danced around. "No more boulder to push. Just ask that little fellow what happened."

Melvin swallowed as his fellow demon looked up at him. Suddenly there were two billows of yellow smoke and Mustoph stood beside the little demon along with a larger demon that Melvin recognized as Krangreen.

"Melvin, what's going on here? Where is that snowball you smuggled into Hell?"

The little demon flinched and looked around at the two other demons. "Snowball? Is that what he used to destroy my precious boulder? My precious, precious boulder." The little demon wrung his hands together. "Now Sisyphus has nothing to push up the mountain. Oh, what to do, what to do."

Mustoph glared at Melvin. "So you're not content to ruin the Slough of Despair with your incompetence and your snowball? Now you are destroying the rest of Hell as well."

"Melvin, 253rd level demon. You will bring that snowball here and submit to our wrath." Krangreen's loud voice sounded as though it was made by a thousand souls screaming. "But keep that sacred thing to yourself until we can destroy it and you at the same time."

That doesn't sound like a good thing, thought Melvin, but what else could he do? He'd tried hot water. What about hellfire? If he could destroy the thing, maybe they wouldn't destroy him and he would only be tortured for a century or two. And he had to save Hell. Melvin turned and ran as fast as he could for the center of Hell.

***

Melvin stood, panting and sweating as he looked at the flame that powered all of Hell. He looked up to see a small demon watching some dials and gauges as he adjusted a small wheel. Melvin crept closer to the white-hot flame under a large duct. The duct split and separated into thousands of smaller ducts. Melvin knew that each of those ducts lead to different areas, powering the flames of Hell.

Melvin knelt down and crept closer to the flame, feeling his skin dry and blister. He reached out with his left hand, holding the snowball closer and closer to the flame. The snowball started to smoke slightly.

"Hey, what are you doing?" screamed the little demon.

Melvin flinched and pushed the snowball into the flame. The flame sputtered and went out. The absence of the bright light made it seem dark. Melvin pulled his hand back and looked down at the snowball as his eyes adjusted to the weaker light. Except for a brown spot on one of the hairy sides of the snowball, it was undamaged. Melvin looked up to see the little demon dancing up and down.

"How dare you! Do you know how long it takes to relight that stupid pilot light?" The little demon started to hop in circles. "Hours and hours. I'll be here hours getting it relit and then I'll have to listen to another twelve hour lecture on how I should never let the eternal flame go out." The little demon stopped and pointed at Melvin. "And it's all your fault."

Three columns of yellow smoke billowed into the chamber and Mustoph and Krangreen appeared with the little demon who supervised Sisyphus. Mustoph blinked and looked around. He spotted Melvin and pointed him out to Krangreen.

"There you are, you little piece of dung." Mustoph took a step forward. "You won't cause anymore problems..." Mustoph spotted the empty chamber where the eternal flame should have been. "What? You dare put out the eternal flame?" He turned and glared at Melvin. "You are in such trouble that my butt puckers thinking about it." He stepped forward and reached toward Melvin. "You are coming with us to see Beelzebub."

Melvin ducked and ran out of the chamber. What was he going to do now? He still had to destroy this snowball. And he had to stay away from Mustoph or his torture would start early, because it wasn't likely that Mustoph would care to listen to reason now, not that he ever had. Far off in the distance he saw a glimmer of reddish light. The Hills of Knives, he thought, if the heat doesn't melt this thing, the knives would slice it to pieces. He took off at a trot, his short legs pumping.

***

Melvin arrived at the Hills of Knives. Not that anyone but a demon could tell, but Melvin could see that the forges and furnaces of Hell were rapidly fading. Souls were still punished and tortured. Screams rent the air of Hell. Melvin gasped as he reached the first of the glittering, heated knives that demons tossed lost souls onto. Melvin shook his head. The condemned never got used to the pain, their bodies continually healed and each time they were burned, cut or torn apart, it felt as painful as the first time. Melvin felt sorry for the souls, but what could he do? Melvin shuffled up to the first knife.

He put a finger out and touched the blade. His skin blistered from the heat and he was instantly cut to the bone. He smiled as he sucked on his finger. He shoved the snowball down on one of the blades and saw the blade slice up though his hand. Pulling his hand from the blade, he watched the snowball. And watched. A trickle of smoke came from the white surface, but it didn't melt or steam or much of anything. Melvin shook his head. Doom. Hell was doomed. When a snowball could survive, what was left?

Melvin felt a shudder rumble through the ground. The knife the snowball rested on suddenly rusted and crumbled to dust. Melvin looked to the east and saw the flames flicker and die out. He grabbed the snowball in his left hand and looked around. What could he do? Where could he take the blessed thing to destroy it?

"What are you up to, you little twit?" Mustoph's voice grumbled. "You see, my Lord Beelzebub, this little twerp has been disrupting other demons work and, as you can see, he has been vandalizing Hell itself."

"That's quite true, Lord Beelzebub." Melvin twitched as he heard Krangreen's voice. "He destroyed Sisyphus' boulder. Put out the flame at the center of Hell and now he's destroying the Hill of Knives."

My Lord Beelzebub? Melvin slowly turned and looked up, and up. Towering behind Mustoph, the little demon who supervised Sisyphus, Krangreen, and the demon who stoked the flame of Hell was the last person Melvin had ever wanted to see again. He carefully kept his left hand behind him and swallowed.

"Explain yourself." The lord demon's voice rumbled like giant boulders grinding some poor soul to mush. "Why are you here and not at your duty?" Melvin swallowed. "And why have you got an illegal snowball?"

"My Lord, I'm here because, ah, well, you see."

"Where is that snowball?" Melvin's ears rang from the volume of Beelzebub's voice. "Show me now!"

Melvin whimpered and then cried out. "Here, take it. I never wanted it."

Melvin tossed the snowball to Mustoph. Mustoph cried out as he caught the snowball. The two smaller demons ducked behind a boulder, hugging each other as Mustoph tossed the snowball from hand to hand, whimpering and moaning, then he tossed it to Krangreen. Krangreen screeched and danced around in a circle as he tossed the snowball from hand to hand. Krangreen started to hop up and down then tossed the snowball to Beelzebub.

Beelzebub screamed in a small, high pitched voice. He juggled the snowball like a professional as he hopped from foot to foot. Melvin stared, wide-eyed as Beelzebub tossed the snowball up and spun around twice to catch it as it came down, squeaking and yipping the whole time. Then Beelzebub tossed the snowball to Melvin.

Melvin looked at the snowball in his hands, then at the three purple-colored demons. He shivered. He knew how to get rid of the thing. They were going to destroy him anyway, so what did he have to lose? At least he could save Hell; he could finally do his job right. His heart thumped and he smiled. He sucked in the sweet, sulfurous air and ignored the deep rumble from the ground, the hush as the fires of Hell died, and the tinkle of knives turning to dust. He whipped his left hand up and shoved the snowball into his mouth. Melvin chewed and chewed then swallowed.

"What did you just do?" screamed Mustoph. "What was that?"

"Coconut." said Melvin.

"What?" roared Krangreen.

"Chocolate." said Melvin.

"Do you want to spend eternity in the bottom of the Slough of Despair?" screamed Beelzebub.

"Creamy filling." said Melvin as he began to glow. "Very sweet."

Suddenly Melvin spread white wings and began to float. His horns fell off and his skin began to glow a golden color. He heard the roar as the flames of Hell re-ignited.

"Heavenly." he said as he rose higher.

"Get back here and explain yourself!" screamed Beelzebub as he stomped his feet.

"When Hell freezes over." said Melvin.

About the Author

A former archeaologist, Lee Lindsay is a student of Japanese culture and a black belt in Karate. He lives with his wife in a small town in Oregon, where they are staff to three cats.

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to my wife who has provided the editing and production skills needed to bring this book to publication as well as the love and companionship needed to live a full life. Thank you.

Discover other titles by Lee W. Lindsay, Jr. at <https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LeeWLindsayJr>

