Ch: 265 Heart Of Glass
Three tiny kids in footie pajamas stood on the landing, looking out over their wrecked and toppled common room. Elli and Kelli were tussling with Jocomo and really trashing the place. When a flying chair crashed into Papa Gary’s display of wooden tablewares, Wilf got really mad.
It was getting pretty bad, as they both ignored the grownups and Kermal yelling at them to stop. Elli snapped Joco’s arm with a brutal chopping blow and flipped him a few times… Then Joco had to go and use the mean words at Kelli and Elli.
“Elli! Stop!” Amy shouted from the top of the stairs. “Don’t hurt him, just cause he used the ‘M’ word!”
At her cry, the swirling tempest swept their way, getting Rio cranky too. As one, instruments appeared in their hands, as strident chords and a furious drumbeat took the room. Wilf’s flute cut the noise like a blade, while Amy’s uke and Rio’s drum hammered his point home.
Amy took a deep breath, settled back on her natural point of balance, with her knees flexed, just a little. With a natural breath on her exhale, just a single word, in a single percussive note, Amy sang.
K-ek!
Shadows enfolded Jocomo, rising up from his own fast moving feet to engulf him entirely. He fell to the floor in a tight bundle of liquid, pulsing darkness, struggling weakly in silence.
Elli slid to a stop at the foot of the stairs, her slippers battered and torn by the short but highly destructive battle. “I’m sorry you had to see that, children… he attacked us the moment we entered…” Elli murmured. “Let’s keep Kelli asleep for a little while. I broke one of her toes kicking him in the balls, I’m afraid.”
Gary and Shai were still exiting the kitchen when everything settled down nicely, Gabbie took longer to get the message. She gasped in horror and tried to hurl herself over the landing to reach Jocomo’s struggling cocoon of shadows.
Becky’s firm, strong hand snatched her back with another surprising display of strength. “Hold on Gabbie… Amy wouldn’t do anything harmful…”
Gary reached the enveloped man, while Shai swept over to Kelli and the kids, who had stashed their instruments in the meantime.
“He’ll be fine… it might do him some good, actually.” Gary swatted the writhing bundle cheerily. “He’s wrestling with his own inner conflicts right now, too bad he’s not tripping on shrooms…”
“Gary!” The high priestess scolded him from the stairs, where she still had a handful of Gabbie to wrestle with… The empress was not a contender. The small girl quickly folded her bigger sister into a seated position on the upper flight of stairs and made her sit still, with a finger sternly waggled under her radiences’ nose.
#
On a desolate and blasted plain of dust and ash, Jocomo stood naked under a bright light that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Suddenly and impossibly transported to an alien realm, he jolted into alertness from a strange mental confusion. He spun in place, finding only that featureless plain of thirsty, unharrowed land.
“Where am I? What is this place?” He demanded.
“Nothing. That’s who we are, what we have in store. Ahead and behind… nothing.” His own voice whispered, from behind him. He spun, finding nothing there.
“I’m always behind you, in this place.” He whispered. “You can chase me, like a dog after its own tail, but you will bever catch me. Because I am you.” He whispered, as the young warrior spun in place searching his foe.
“Listen, we can do this all day… but there’s no point. I’m your shadow, animated by your own inner conflicts… this was supposed to be all deeply evocative and super meaningful… but we’re a wreck.” The thing scolded him in his own internal voice.
During that speech, Jocomo got a glimpse of his shadow, drifting behind him, cast by some source of light… even though the illumination in this place seemed to come from all around. It gestured and moved as it spoke, like a real person…
“I’ve got nothing to work with here, no aspirations or hopes, not even any fears, beyond a general fear of failure” He complained about himself.
“Freakin’ empty vessel…” He grumbled. “Go on… wake up…”
#
Jocomo stirred from his shroud, looking perplexed and a little embarrassed, for some reason. He was, however, no longer attempting to attack Kelli. She was on the sofa by the fire having her broken toe tended by Tawny.
“It hurts pretty bad, Tawny…” She whispered softly, while all three little ones held her close. “Ok, I can be brave…!”
The golden healer woman gave a quick and firm tug to her janky toe, with a softly whispered spell; after which Kelli relaxed back among the kids with a sigh.
Jocomo watched the scene, while the shadow entity possessing the woman lurked nearby, in the darkness that was so prevalent in this house.
He sat up carefully, checking himself for damage… his broken arm had been mended, as had many of the worst of his contusions and cuts. He did continue to feel the effects of that savage blow to his tender, swollen nutsack.
Gary sat beside him on a low stool, watching him as he struggled to a sitting position. The big man’s hand fell on his shoulder, not restraining him, but making that option known. “Uhh uhh… you stay with me. You attacked another person in my home, again; so you and Gabbie owe me a debt. You both pay it tonight.” He shook his head sadly and sighed.
“I’m really done with you two, so this is going to be hard on you both… I just hope I can derive a little pleasure from it…” His smile of mad eagerness was not encouraging.
“Whatever ‘punishments’ you have dreamt up, will be mine alone.” Joco said firmly.
“Nope. She stood for your bond, so she owes; I will take my due.” He snapped coldly. “Now, you follow me and do nothing else until I say.” He got up and walked over to the fireplace, where Elli and Kelli were enjoying a soothing snack and some cocoa.
“Ladies, you have my very sincere apology for the way you were greeted this evening. It will not happen again.” He nodded firmly. “Again, I’m sorry. Now I have to go off to bed and punish these two.” He sighed. “Gabbie, Jocomo… follow me.”
Without another word, he led them back to the baths and to the stone wall the water gushed from. He parted the dangling vines of honeysuckle and morning glory, revealing a cavern entrance. “Inside.”
Hot water gushed in a torrent filling the open grotto with steam, shimmering in the moonlight. A round natural seeming pool, filled with water plants swirled near the falls, with a channel of rushing hot water exciting into the baths outside. The pool bubbled and churned as it moved through the tightly massed plants.
A strange object of metal hoops and beams stood in a dry corner near the falls, its harness and leather straps bearing grim witness to the uses this chamber had seen in the past.
“What an odd whipping rig…” Jocomo murmured abstractedly, as he removed his shirt. “I will accept all the lashes you have in mind. Let’s begin this.”
“Uhh, no. Weirdo.” Gary grumbled. “You’ve met my kids… do you think I have a ‘whipping rig’? Think dude!” He shook his head in disappointment.
“I keep bumping into people’s kinks… What’s up with that?” He smiled a mad, crooked grin and winked at them both.
“Now both of you strip, then into the pool with me.” He said firmly, as his clothes vanished. “Don’t make this weird.”
It took some firm words and a guarantee that Gary had no designs on Gabbie’s virtue, before he got them in the grotto pool and settled down. He eased in and pulled up beside Jocomo with a sigh.
“We’re going to the place where Thirp and Marduk are, but this time you’re going with me. Nobody is waking up, until I’m satisfied that you’ve learned something.” He grumbled, sitting up in his bed of weeds, reeds and vines to address them both.
Gabbie was on the far side of Joco, safe from any potential barbarian wickedness. He sniffed in woeful hurt feelings. “Nobody ever tries to protect my virtue…”
He winked at the warrior bedded down beside him among the watercress lotus and hyacinths. “Joco, no showing me your butthole. Extra nope, on making it wink at me.” He giggled madly and sank back down into the plants, while Joco turned red all over for some reason.
“I can’t believe this is my life now.” Gabbie mumbled happily, as she hugged up to Joco’s arm with a satisfied little smile on her face.
“Buddy…” Gary whispered softly. “I know I’m gonna be asleep right here… but don’t try anything stupid. Please… Gabbie’s growing on me.”
As if by some arcane signal, the golden priestess girl swept in and banished each of them into slumber with her wand.
#
Jocomo, Gabbie and Gary landed among the standing stones, beside a wide, comfy sofa and a strange, white screen of shining fabric. Their host directed them onto the sofa silently and sat down beside Gabbie with a sigh.
“Ok. we are going to sit here and learn some lessons from a friend of mine. If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask. If you have feelings, talk about them please.” He smiled and spoke to them the way he did his children, firmly, gently and with a profound sense of being present in the moment.
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“Now, let’s begin with something familiar.”
The odd cloth screen flickered, as the world seemed to dim to twilight all around them. A strange orange puppet sat in a basin, surrounded by a painted backdrop of a bubbly bath and gently floating bubbles drifting in the air. The thing opened its silly felt mouth and began to speak and sing…
He danced, moved and sang the empress’ familiar ducky song so earnestly, Joco forgot for a moment that he was watching a magical moving image of a puppet on a screen… Only when he felt Gabbie swaying to the song, bumping his shoulder gently in time did he recall himself and the oddly desperate situation he’d landed them in… again.
The puppet finished his song, with a gleeful hissing laugh that should have been unnerving, yet eased the assassin’s mind. Gabbie was all in, bouncing in her seat with joy. “I knew I remembered Ernie… and Bert, Big Bird…”
She smiled at the big, brown haired man, finally beginning to suspect what Shai saw in the dull, spooky fellow. “How?” Gabbie asked. “Do you come from where I did? Do you know how to get home? It feels really far away…”
“I did come from there… and it is really really far… we can’t go back, love. Not as we are now.” He answered gently, putting an arm around the empress and drawing her head to his shoulder… He held her close as they watched the antics of puppets and real people, interacting on the screen. Jocomo did not like this Gary fellow at all.
They sat together in a twilit meadow, watching ‘Sesame Street’ for an unguessable length of time. Eventually he sighed happily and stretched. “Now we get to the tough stuff, this is where things become more… challenging.”
“More charming puppets? Or will we be fingerpainting?” Joco asked, with a tiny smile just struggling to survive in the hardscrabble plains of his face.
“No… well ok, there will be some puppets. Let’s get started, I need you to meet a very special friend of mine.” The strange man leaned over and nudged Jocomo with his shoulder in a friendly way.
“Listen closely, Mister Rogers speaks very softly, but sings for everyone to hear… There’s another lesson in that, I think.”
The screen shifted into shades of black and gray, as the slightly dim and flickering image of a tall, slim, pleasant looking man entered a humble, if oddly designed doorway into a simple home.
He changed his overcoat and jacket for a sweater, then changed his leather shoes for a pair of cloth slippers of odd design. All the while, he sang a gentle, sweet, slightly out of key song… about neighbors, neighborhoods and friends…
#
“What do you think he’s doing to them in there?” Kermal asked quietly, when he and Becky were strolling in the market by moonlight.
“Oh, I imagine he’s hitting them with the big stuff… He can be very frightening at times.” She sighed happily, swinging his hand back and forth in hers. “One thing’s certain, they won’t ever be the same after he’s done with them.” She dropped his hand suddenly and skipped ahead, twirling in the moonlight, as her harp began to sing.
“I should set him loose on you… He already likes you.”
“Hey…!” The young squire shouted in false outrage, chasing the musical, dancing girl through the closed stalls and empty market field.
A few late evening strollers were still out, drawn by the song of her harp. Thom and Marcus’ towering ginger forms loomed near the gate, walking out with Tabby and Gail, a pair of young seamstresses from Jennah’s company. They were dressed for dancing and headed for Gary and Shai’s place… and were sidetracked by her music.
“It’s a quiet night at the inn…” She sang to the foursome. “Let’s see if we can get something started here.”
#
Shai was just finishing with putting the kids to bed solo… that was challenging even on a night when there wasn’t a battle in the common room. She kissed, tucked and hugged her way around her three, all piled in Amy’s bed and Nara, who was once more sacked out in Wilf’s bunk.
In the calm and quiet, she felt something stirring in Gary’s gifts… someone was drawing out his shadow friends.
Faint strains of harp and ukulele music drifted down from the gate market, when she came downstairs. It swayed, sweet and familiar, drawing her attention to the action. Tallum and Ivy were by the fire, snuggled up and reading together when Shai pounced. “Are ye in fer the evening?” She asked very casually.
“Yeah. We’re heading out on a contract in the morning so it’s an early night for us.” She grinned at her big ginger sister, when she caught the faint strains of music from across the river. “Go on, we’ll be up for a while yet. Kids are in bed?”
Shai nodded, kissed them both and scurried out the door in a soft cacophony of tinkling bells.
In a clearing across the river, near the community dock Becky had three shadow musicians playing simple country dance tunes; dark robed figures stood under the shade of an oak tree, playing a uke, a flute and one was on her harp, keeping the music going.
The look of concentration on Becky’s face, as she danced arm in arm with Kermal in the moonlight told Shai that her little sister was running out of… everything.
Shai’s bells and violin hit the mix and perked Becky up nicely. The shadows became a bit more substantial and the music picked up a little, drawing her into a whirling dance as she played. Her chimes drew more dancers, which fed her furious energy… which in turn added more to her violin and got Becky back up to speed.
When Shai climbed into bed among her children… since they and Nara had invaded her chamber while she was busy… She sighed with a bittersweet longing. Her boy was still passed out in the grotto… She resigned herself to whatever oddity was to come and went off to sleep.
The biggest oddity, when she landed in the world of dreams, was how normal everything seemed. She could feel Gary on the other side, among those mysterious standing stones, with Gabbie and a shady, hazy presence that must be Jocomo. He itched at her like a nettle leaf in her skirts, reminding her he was present and rather unwelcome.
Even from so far away, or something… Gary was a soothing, calming warmth, firmly in control of himself and the situation. If anything, he felt more tranquil and at ease than she had ever felt him. She shook off the pleasant feeling and went in search of her kids and deities, out among the flowers and trees.
#
In the deepest hours of darkness, Luxor sat up in her bed… something was terribly wrong. Surges of unfamiliar energies thrummed in the strands of mortal soul and eldritch essence that fed her existence on this plane.
The weak, thin trickle of life force she harvested from each of the empress’ Whispers was barely a single raindrop in that torrent of thundering magic. It rushed through and across those attenuated strands of bondage and control, thrumming with so much vital essence, just out of reach.
Even the rush of energies she received when an empress sat the cubic throne was a thin trickle of lukewarm water in the face of that hurricane of potent, uncontrolled forces. She gasped and clutched at her vessel’s raging heart, shuddering and thumping in odd time. That was going to be a problem!
She cursed herself for letting her tools become so decrepit. The time and expense in magic and her attention required to fully cultivate new vessels had been a constant annoyance, now it was…
Luxor’s corpse eased back into the cushions, as the slender blade slid from her heart with only a terribly soft squeak of polished steel on bone.
Spider slipped back into the shadows just as silently, seeking her final prey… then she could return to her radiances’ side and lay her life at her feet for this disobedience. Once Tully was dead.
Her smile remained hidden behind her black veil, as she sped over the rooftops of the imperial palace, toward War’s quarters.
#
“Becky, I’m a little… uncomfortable is absolutely the wrong word…” Kermal mumbled softly in her bed, curled up close, his chin resting on her shoulder. “But sleeping in your bed…”
“Shush and keep your hands and things to yourself… you know what I mean.” She murmured back, nestling in closer. “I’ve never been able to sleep alone. In the orphanage I was always in charge of the younglings, they’re snugglers, by and large. Now, I just like being close to people I care about.”
Kermal felt her wide, amused grin, without looking up to see her amused expression. She radiated smug, self satisfied, silent laughter into the small room, filled with plush animals and dolls. “Are you concerned for my virtue, Kermie?”
“Becky!” He huffed in slight annoyance. “I’m a knight in training… and your friend… But I don’t want any of your gigantic, muscly friends to pop me like a pimple, over a misunderstanding. Your family is pretty scary!”
“They trust me… and you.” She sighed. “Now go to sleep. I have a journey to begin in the morning.” She yawned. “Not too early, at least.”
Once again Kermal Singh found himself with an armful of very huggable high priestess, in a very comfy bed, after a hotspring bath and an evening’s dance under the moon…
‘Being a spy kicks ass!’ He shouted with joy, inside his own skull.
While that internal celebration was still ongoing, he felt something move, deep inside himself, something unfamiliar and very, very welcome. Warm gentle waves of radiant… Joy prickled from the base of his spine, all the way up to the crown of his head, sending him spiraling into sleep…
Where he woke up, wrapped around Becky, in a completely different place. “I wondered if you’d make it here…” She purred happily in his ear. “Come on, let’s meet the rest of the family.”
She pulled him to his feet, smiling and skipping around the cottage, giving glimpses of those silly, cheeky bottoms with every step. He sighed regretfully, when she spun in place, exchanging her short nightshirt for her usual attire.
“Naughty boy!” She scolded him gently, before dragging him out the door. “It’s a little sexist, but I let it slide…” Becky muttered, as she led a fully dressed Kermal out into the garden. “Boys show up wearing regular clothes… That’s my brother!” She sighed happily.
“I dreamt of this place once… when we all went to that festering bog.” He swiveled his head to and fro, as she pulled him along.
“That was not a dream. Neither is this really, you’re a guest in my house, that comes with certain perks.” She answered smugly. “Now, let’s see who’s around…”
Kermal had been to Gary and Shai’s house a few times, so meeting a dryad was not too startling, realizing that there were several in the forest nearby, just where he could see… that shook him a little. He watched a herd of colorful ponies run across the plains, outside Becky’s garden wall and gasped with delight.
“Yeah, I get it. Joy is hanging around really close tonight too…” She pointed to a bright star, shining through the bubbles and ribbons drifting through the sky. The light of that shining point cut through the softer glow of those nebulous constellations, striking him with a force that made his… everything, ring out like a gently struck bell.
Becky’s smile became one of pure delight. “New Contract, Kermie… Joy is asking for permission.”
“Wait… what?” He stammered
“Joy wants you, she is offering to Contract you, here and now… do you want some privacy?” She whispered, with a kiss on his cheek.
“I’ll be back in a while.” Becky scampered away, leaving the young squire trapped in a pillar of warm, radiant starlight, smiling stupidly at everything around. “You can tell her no, or not right now… but I don’t think you will.” She sang.
#
“I wondered who it could be…” Old general Tully sneered, as Spider slid from the shadows, into the well lit, wide open chamber. “No shadowy corners to hide in here.” He grunted, saluting her with his spear.
“So be it.” She whispered, as two long, curved knives appeared in her hands. In absolute silence, she swept forward, her blades flashing again and again, as the old general’s spear whirled and stabbed.
War’s red tasseled ensign fell to the floor in shreds after their first exchange, leaving only a few threads dangling from his weapon. He bled from a few shallow cuts to his arms, while she nursed a small gash in her left thigh. “That’s why real warriors wear armor.” The salty old shit said with a grin.
She surged at him again, a fast flying blur of dark robes and shining steel. She ran with a deceptively fast scuttling motion, seeming to float above the flagstones, following her blades as if pulled along by the wind of their passage. Old Tully’s spear and fast footwork were legendary in War’s legion and had been for decades upon decades…
Her relentless energy and creative zeal began to wear at him, showing the weight of those years on his shoulders.
He gasped for breath, as his world slowly narrowed to this moment in time, savoring the flow and elegance of her attacks, relentless, fearless…
With a soft clatter and clash, his spear and four fingers from his age spotted right hand fell to the floor, as her other knife sheared into his abdomen, plunging up into his heart. General Tully, head of War’s Legion slumped to the floor of his private training room in a bloody heap of red rags. “I did my duty to the empire, always.” He gasped with his final breath.
“Yes, but not to your empress… pig.” She spat, leaving her knives behind. Spider had plenty more.
#
In the depths, the nameless, manifold entity slapped into its crystalline prison with a jarring, wrenching sensation, before all sensation ceased. “Well… that’s going to be a problem…” It mused to itself. “When did I start talking to myself?” With horrifying slowness, it began to realize what that meant. Silence, a timeless void without sensation or mortal life force, darkness. Its screams went on and on, for decades uncounted… or a few heartbeats. It was hard to tell.
#
“Hello.” Something whispered eventually… How many centuries had it been? Lost in the empty, sensationless void it was impossible to say, beyond that it felt interminable.
“If you are sentient, we can speak for a moment. Otherwise I will leave you here, while I handle the next thing… I have a lot on my plate.” It said softly, in a musical, lyric voice.
“Who are you? Some spirit or deity of this plane?” It demanded harshly, desperate and feral. “Release me!”
“So, you are sentient… and you’ve become trapped… haven’t you… I followed these veins and arteries, pulsing with life stolen… and what did I find… An unbeating heart of stone…” He giggled madly.
“It’s you, the ‘Mad Barbarian Witch’ the taxmen wanted taken or slain so desperately!” It sputtered somehow, despite not having lips.
“Oh… That’s interesting. I’m so glad you aren’t getting away. See you soon.” He sang sweetly. “I taste just a hint of what you’ve been up to… Maybe I’ll take my time coming to collect you.”
“Wait! Don’t leave me here!” It shrieked into eternity.
#