Volume Nine
Chapter
Eighteen
The
Kiss of Fire
In which Dodger helps destroy a monster
Dodger
slipped his guns back into their holsters and took off in a breakneck run for
the stairs.
“Where
are you going?” Al yelled across the yard. “Get back here, you coward!”
Dodger
ignored the Baron’s cries as he scrambled down the flight of stairs. Once he
reached the ground floor, he doubled back into the yard, running past the pen
and the ruined stage and the raging battle. He headed toward Sarah in the far
north eastern corner, where she fired arrow after arrow at the monster.
“Sarah,
stop firing!” Dodger shouted at her.
Sarah
loosened another arrow, which of course did little to affect the beast.
“Save
your ammo,” Dodger said as he approached her. “I have an idea.”
“What
is it?” Sarah asked.
“I
think that thing might be a hydra.”
Sarah
grinned. “Like Hercules?”
Dodger
grinned right back. “Just like Hercules. You know what that means?”
“We
gotta burn the stumps before the heads can grow back?”
“We
sure do.”
“But
how?”
“El beso de fuego.”
Sarah’s
eyes lit up at the words. “The kiss of fire.”
Dodger
handed her a pistol. “You think you can handle one of these?”
“I
know how, but surely you’re a much better shot than I am.”
“Yes,
but this is your dream, Sarah.” He pushed the pistol into her hand. “Bring it
to an end.”
Sarah’s
mouth opened just a bit as the wind snatched her gasp away. She stared at him
for a few heartbeats, then wrapped her hand around the gun. “I will. Thank you,
sir.”
“Get
ready to fire.” Dodger cupped his free hand around his mouth and shouted at the
knight, “Sir Rodger! Keep swinging!”
With
a look of uncertainty, the knight nodded his understanding and returned to his
battle with the hydra. In moments he landed another blow, slicing one of the
heads clean off its neck. Dodger seized the chance, and fired at the bloody
stump just as it began to sprout another set of heads. He heard a second shot,
just after his, as the young girl also fired. Two lines of fire arched across
the yard, striking the beast in the open wound of its neck, sealing the stump
off and stopping the new growth.
“Huzzah!”
Sir Rodger cried. This new development seemed to inspire the knight, for he
began swinging with a renewed vigor.
It
was all Dodger and Sarah could do to keep up with the man and the monster.
Sometimes they missed a shot and two new heads would appear, but for the most
part they managed to hit their targets. After a few minutes of this, a third
gun sounded, and Dodger looked up to find Al firing away at the stumps as well.
With this extra hand in the mix, it was only a matter of moments before Sir
Rodger lopped off the last head. Dodger stayed his hand, allowing Sarah the
final shot. The last cauterized stump failed to produce another pair of heads,
yet the beast continued to rampage. Whether by memory or random direction, it
surged forward, heading right for the prince in the cage. Lelanea held her
ground, growling at the oncoming monstrosity, as if she had a snowball’s chance
in hell to stop it.
“Fire
again, Sarah!” Dodger hollered. “Kill it! Now!”
Sarah
fired her pistol, sending forth an arc of flame that knocked a fist sized hole
in the beast’s breast. Green fluid gushed forth, coating the ground in front of
the hydra. Once the creature met with this slick spot, it lost its footing,
slipping in its own blood. Lelanea leapt to one side as the hydra slid across
the yard and slammed into the cage with a loud crash. The door popped open, and
the wide eyed prince scrambled from the pen. The hydra writhed on its side for
a few seconds, then finally fell still.
With
the beast dead, a vacuum of silence seized the yard. Everyone slowly came
together at the foot of the beast, in a semi circle, staring at it as if
expecting it to rise once more.
“Is
it dead?” Boon asked.
“I
think so,” Al said. “Good shot, girly.”
“Thanks,”
Sarah said.
A
soft, timid voice asked, “Uncle Al?”
“Little
Rodger!” Al yelled. The Baron rushed to the child, lowering himself to one knee
so he could throw his arms around the boy. “I missed you so much.”
Sarah
went to her brother’s side as well, hugging the little boy from behind. Sir
Rodger wrapped his arms around the three in a huge, loving embrace. Lelanea and
Dodger slipped off to the side again, to watch yet another reunion. Boon joined
his crew mates, sniffing back his own ethereal tears.
“It’s
a beautiful sight,” the ghost said. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes,
it is,” Lelanea said softly. “It makes me want to see them reunited for real.”
“They
will be,” Dodger said. He looked to the pair beside of him, and added,
“Everyone will be. Soon enough.”
“I
want to go home,” the little boy said in a muffled voice from inside the group
hug.
“We
all do,” Sir Rodger said as he let go of the others. “I think it’s high time we
did. But first, Mr. Boon and his friends have a favor to ask of you, Princess.”
Sarah
relinquished her hug as well, and turned to stare up at Boon. “What can I do
for a bunch of grownups?”
Boon
shot Dodger a worried glance.
Dodger
looked to Lelanea. “I think it’s time.”
Lelanea
sighed. “Sarah, when the outlaws came for us at the gulch, I told you we would
be all right and I asked you to trust me. Do you remember?”
“Yes,
ma’am,” Sarah said. “I trusted you and we were all right. Just like you said.”
“Good.
And when they told us that Mr. Carpenter had turned on us, I explained that he
wouldn’t do so without a reason, and you said you trusted me. Remember?”
“I
remember. Then he came and rescued us, just like you said he would.”
Dodger
couldn’t help but grin at the wolf’s loyalty.
“Very
good,” Lelanea said. “Now, do you still trust me?”
“I
do,” Sarah said as she stroked the wolf’s head. “I trust you, Miss Lelanea.”
“Then
you need to wake up, honey.”
Sarah
furrowed her brow and took a few steps back from the wolf. “What is that
supposed to mean?”
“This
is a dream, Sarah. None of this is real.”
“A
dream?”
“You’re
asleep,” Boon said. “You’ve been dreaming this whole time.”
“Don’t
be silly,” Sarah said. She tried to laugh, but the sound of it caught in her
little throat.
“Think
real hard, Sarah,” Dodger said. “Think about Rex and your uncle and what
happened at the ranch house. Rex came for you and your brother. He took you
away from Al. Rex did something to your mind and you’ve been locked in this
dream ever since.”
“No,”
Sarah said, her voice hitching with sorrow.
“Sarah,
I didn’t want to say this, but Rex has your brother, and if you don’t come back
with us, Rex will kill him.”
“That’s
not true. My brother is right there.” She pointed beyond Dodger. “Wait, where
did he go?”
Dodger
and the others looked to the empty spot Sarah pointed at.
Little
Rodger had vanished.
“Where
did he go?” Sarah asked again.
“He
was never really there,” Lelanea said. “Because he’s just part of your dream.
Your real brother is with Rex. Only you can help us get him back.”
“No.
This ain’t a dream. This is all real. I’m really a princess and my brother is a
prince and that monster is dead and Sir Rodger is my knight and one day I’m
gonna marry him.”
Dodger
groaned at that little nugget of information.
“Sarah,”
Lelanea said. “Please, believe us. We are telling the truth.”
“No
you’re not!” Sarah shouted. “Get away from me! Liars!” She ran to her knight in
shining armor, hugging his waist as she buried her head into his chest.
Sir
Rodger ran his hands through the young girl’s yellow hair, whispering and cooing
at her to calm down. “Hush, little one. It’s all right. Everything will be all
right.”
The
young girl cried into the knight’s chest for a minute or two before Al kneeled
beside her.
“Sarah?”
Al said. “You know they are right, don’t you girly?”
Sarah
raised her face to look up at her knight. “You’re real, aren’t you?”
“You
know the answer to that,” Sir Rodger said.
She
lowered her face and began crying again.
Al
rubbed circles on her back as Sir Rodger continued to whisper to her.
“I
don’t get it,” Boon said. “They know they are in a dream?”
“They
knew all along,” Dodger said.
“They
did?”
“Sure
we did,” Al said.
“We’ve
always known,” Sir Rodger said.
“But
if you knew,” Boon said, “Then why did you just keep going on like it was
real?”
“Because
our job is to protect Sarah, even if that means keeping her here with us.”
“That
wicked mutt scared her pretty bad,” Al said. “So bad she hid away in her own
dreams.”
“We
knew we couldn’t send her out there again to suffer at his hands.”
“But
if you folks say it’s safe for her to go back now, then she should go back.”
“I
should?” Sarah asked, lifting away from Sir Rodger and wiping at her tear
streaked face.
“You
should,” Sir Rodger said. He nodded to Dodger. “It is safe, isn’t it?”
“I
won’t lie,” Dodger said. “It might not be safe, but we will do our best to
protect her. And she really is the only one who can help us find her brother.”
He
joined with Al, kneeling to the girl’s height. “In that case, you have to go.
But you know you can come back any time.”
“Can
I?” Sarah asked.
“Sure,”
Al said. “All you gotta do is fall asleep, girly.”
“And
we will be waiting right here for you, Princess,” Sir Rodger said.
Sarah
hugged the knight, then her uncle. “I love you both, so much.”
The
men grinned at her, but said nothing more as they both faded away.
With
a sigh, the young girl hung her head as she returned to Lelanea’s side. “I’m
ready now. What do I have to do?”
Before
Lelanea could speak, Dodger said, “Find your center.”
Boon
and Lelanea gave him a curious look.
But
not Sarah. The look on the girl’s face said she knew exactly what Dodger was
talking about.
“Find
your center,” Dodger said again, “just like your Uncle Al taught you.”
“Find
my center,” Sarah echoed.
“Close
your eyes. Find your center. You know where it is. You know what to do.”
Sarah
closed her eyes. “I know what to do.”
The
fort wavered around the four of them, flickering and fading piece by piece. A
brick here. A broken beam there. An entire wall. Then another.
“I
guess I’ll see you folks on the other side,” Boon said. “It was real good to
work with you again, Miss Lelanea. Even if it was just a dream.”
“It
was rather nice,” Lelanea said. “We will have to do it again some time.”
“I’d
like that.”
“So
would I. You pick the date and I’ll make sure my kingdom’s gates are unlocked.”
Boon
grinned, goofy and giddy as he faded into a puff of gray smoke.
“I
know what to do,” Sarah whispered. “Find my center.”
The
fort was just about gone, leaving the exposed mountainside of Poison Peak.
“I
think she’s going to wake on up,” Dodger said. “I guess we should get ready to
follow.”
“Thanks
again, Dodger,” Lelanea said. “Boon and I appreciate everything you’ve done.
For all of us.”
“My
pleasure, ma’am.”
“I’m
sure it was.” The wolf sat back on her haunches, staring wistfully at Dodger as
she flickered out of existence.
“Find
my center,” Sarah said again. With a sudden gasp, she opened her eyes wide and
looked up at Dodger. “Will Miss Lelanea be where we’re going?”
“Yes,”
Dodger said. “Only she won’t be a wolf. At least, not all of the time.”
“And
Mr. Boon?”
“He
will be there, too.” Dodger figured he could explain Boon’s ghostliness when
the time came.
“Good,
I like them a lot.”
“So
do I. Now, get back to it. Find your center, girly.”
“I
like you, too. You sound just like Uncle. Will you be out there?”
Dodger
glanced down at his black gloves and shirt and slacks, before he looked back to
the girl again. “I will. But I won’t look like this.”
“What
will you look like?”
“I’ll
tell you what, you wake up for me and we will talk about it then. Deal?”
Sarah
smiled. “Deal.” She closed her eyes again, and whispered one more time, “Find
my center.”
Dodger
waited with her as her dream world continued to fade away.
Eventually,
Sarah faded too, leaving Dodger alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment