Ch: 272 Do It Again

At breakfast, Gary was moody and a little glum, so Shai took charge. Forestalling his nonsense early was critical; that required her most potent tools. “Gary, thee, me, Becky an Ivy will hae the kenning of this mystery, whilst the others watch over our snoopings frae the boat.” She explained carefully. “Dannyl an Tallum will guard us as we work.”

“Uh, huh…?” The old, familiar smile slowly spread over his face, as Shai eased into her next phase.

“We snoop around, then summon the house, nearby whatever it be… then we hae insights an some control over the area.” She grinned fiercely. “Ye will contest wi it an we will aid thee.”

“Wait…” He mumbled, happy, but a little confused. “Usually you are super leery of my… stuff. What’s up babe?”

“Thirp an Ducky had conference wi many deities over the last days an nights, whilst ye hae been absent frae yer dreams. Some new things have been learnt, they would hae thee test summat, unknowing what they hae seen through your senses.” She answered smugly. “Ye are nae the only one whae kin see what is unseen.”

“Oh… Shai the sexy lady of wisdom and deep secrets is a turn on…” He purred happily, while her fingers entwined in his unruly hair. “So the deities think they have a clue… and they want me to just jump up and down on this thing to see what will happen?”

“Yup, But all of us are going in blind… They were really tight lipped about whatever they saw.” Becky added with a grin of her own. “If they’re right, things will make more sense. If they’re wrong…” She shrugged.

“Morrigan was sniffing around yesterday, so something’s up. She seemed really interested in something here.” With a shrug he grinned at his team. “Gary the lab rat is ready for duty… Whatever that is, it doesn’t feel hostile or scary, just…” He trailed off, at a loss for words.

“Yeah, we get it.” Dannyl said with a grin, while settling his armored hat on his head. “Daylight’s burning and we have lots to do. Get moving.”

Apparently, he was the last to learn the day’s plan, since everyone broke off to their assigned positions right away. Even the little ones knew the score, they trooped aboard Moonrise to set sail with Liam and Tawny. They anchored in the wide tributary channel, where they could watch from a good distance away. Sheila the assassin bug slipped from the foliage silently as they walked to the site, through game trails and thickets cleared with Shai’s murdershovel and Tallum’s billhook.

Marching and trailblazing a mile and a half through overgrown orchards and the ruins of a long forgotten town took a good chunk of the morning. Finally, they hacked through a spreading cluster of wild crabapples, into a wide, soggy meadow.

A stream rushed down from the hillside above, before fracturing into a profusion of tiny creeks. Those all vanished into the boggy soil in the former millpond.

Beyond that marsh, up the hills a little, they found what they were looking for.

In a fissure among the rocks, a cave led back a few dozen yards. It was more of a narrow fracture in the bedrock, open to the sky for most of its length. It continued until a stone shelf created a small space behind a screen of scattered boulders and rubble.

In that natural cave, the floor had been smoothed with packed gravel and rough flagstones at some point in the distant past, with a low altar hidden in the far corner. Piles of rust indicated where metal objects once stood, braziers or candle holders most likely.

Similar rust clots clung to the walls, below age faded soot stains, where torches or rushlights once burned. Small heaps of moldy soil and a few remaining scattered bones lay in piles here and there, with most of the pitiful heaps near the shadowed altar stone in the back.

“Dark and dank, filled with ancient garbage and…” Becky poked a pile with the point of her rapier, stirring a human skull to the top. “...human remains. This is the place all right.” She announced with disapproval.

“Sacrificial knife here, made of obsidian… You take your ladies to the nicest places Gary.” Ivy snarked from over by the north wall. Where more decayed piles lay.

“Yeah, That’s me all over…” He said with a grin. “There’s around a dozen weak shades trapped here, lingering around the periphery. They’re no threat, just a miasma of angry unlife, the remnants of these cultists, unless I miss my guess. I’ma check that altar… this looks like a failed summoning to me.” He mumbled, as a number of obsidian knives turned up in the girl’s searches.

“I still can’t sense anything uncanny… How about you guys?”

“Nae, it feels cold an clammy, like any dank cave.” Shai answered.

“I kinda feel… nope, that’s you.” Becky mumbled. “It felt like double vision for a second, like there were two of you.”

“Yeah… I get that… it feels like I’m looking at a… ummm… an… umm, shiny thing?” He started mumbling and sighed happily. “I like this place… ‘S quiet.”

“Ok, Gary back in the sunshine. Shai, stay with him. Dannyl, Tallum; we search this place without disturbing anything.” Becky gave crisp orders to her team, then turned to the insect priestess. “Please refrain from speaking to Gary, he’s having an episode.”

The terrifying insect nodded and followed, as Shai collected her rapidly sinking mate and trundled him out into the bright morning sun. She laid him out on a patch of mossy creekside and sat down on a boulder to wait.

“There is a fresh wound in his soul… Shai.” Sheila muttered softly, clinging to the boll of a large pine tree nearby. “And so many more that have been partially closed. I noticed as I passed through him… That was an experience all its own!” She chortled. “He is gushing his essence out with every breath, and renewing himself from within. How deliciously impossible, especially in this realm.”

She shook her head in wonder, waving her long, coiled mouthparts side to side. “It’s like he was torn to pieces and then reassembled.”

“He dinnae let a thing being impossible stop him… tis one off his finer points tae my mind.” She murmured while watching the cavern entrance.

The others appeared after a short time, marching out in single file, with Gary at the rear. She waved and called them over, before realizing that… There was no one behind Tallum at the rear. No smiling, waving Gary, shimmering as though seen through heat haze followed them out…

“Fie… That be uncanny!” She murmured crossly, while her mate began to stir and mumble in his sleep.

“That was super creepy!” Becky gasped, once out of the narrow chasm leading to the cavern. “I kept turning around and seeing Gary there, smiling and waving at me!”

“We all did.” Tallum grumbled. “It was really off putting.”

“I couldn’t get a look at the altar, I kept getting distracted away by lights and shadows.” Tallum muttered quietly. “But the urge to just go over there and collect something wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Creepy.” Gary croaked hoarsely. “All right, let’s do what Ducky and Thirp said. We put up the house here, encompassing whatever this is and we try to figure it out from the inside.” He stumbled to his feet and cracked his neck loudly twice. “Ugh… Let’s see if I can out haunt our new neighbor.” He paused for a moment to consider, tapping his index finger to his chin in a steady rhythm. “What to do though… can’t be just anything. Not for a dark upwelling of magical force, deep in the hills…”

He grinned, snapped his fingers and brought his new enchanted banjo out of his bottom with a flourish. He began scattering bluegrass riffs against the cliffside, ringing his notes against the stones in challenge. “Follow the bouncing ball… We’re going to have fun with this one!” The fool smiled wide, opened his mouth and started singing the strangest thing.

We-ell…. Come listen to a story ‘bout a man named Jed,

A poor mountaineer, barely kept his fambly fed…

Then one day he was a-shootin’ at some foo-ood…

When up from the ground, come a-bubblin’ cru-ude!

Black Gold! Texas Tea!

When the strange and oddly specific song ended, a ramshackle cabin stood on the upland meadow, with a rocking chair on the porch. There was some strange, rusty steel conveyance up on blocks out front, where the herb garden and patio usually stood.

“Huh? Yeah? Ya like it? Ya love it, I can tell!” Gary chirped, inordinately pleased with himself.

“Whatever… weirdo.” Becky complained mildly while fingering her silver earcuff and collar button. “I contacted Liam and Tawny while you were… busy. They’re still anchored in the back water. Let’s go figure this thing out.”

#

“Gary got his brain scrambled for a few minutes… He’s back now… You guys good?” Becky asked over her communication earring.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“All good here. We’re anchored in the… estuary? Side channel? Liam, it’s boat stuff…” Tawny’s voice became distant as she shouted a muffled question.

“Liam says it doesn’t matter.” She came back a moment later.

“Ask Amy about boat stuff… She’s been studying for her ‘Pirate Licence’…” Becky giggled. “We’re setting up now… this song is weird…”

Becky signed off and Tawny went back to drawing with the kids. “Pirate’s Licence?” She asked Amy, with a smile that made her dimples appear in full force. “Is that a Gary innovation?”

“He says I can’t drive a boat, till I pass the tests an get my license…” She mumbled.

“Ohh, yes, I’ve heard that’s a thing that totally exists… somewhere.” She mealymouthed around her smile.

“I’m not a baby… I know he’s being dumb an he wants us to be safe…” She sulked, before going back to her drawing of a pirate ship… now featuring a golden girl walking the plank.

“You’re very wise, Amy… please stop drawing sharks under my feet.” The golden healer murmured fondly.

Her little tormentor giggled and went back to drawing colorful corals and sea creatures with a sweet smile on her vicious, pirate face.

Liam sat in the aft deck hammock, keeping a lazy watch, while she colored and drew with the little ones for an hour, before anything happened…

Until a soft, silent, unmistakable shuddering tremor ran through all of them. Nothing troubled the calm waters, but the whole crew felt as though they were vibrating.

“Becky, what was that?” Tawny demanded sharply into her collar button. For a terribly long time there was no reply, just the faint chime of a device out of range.

#

Down in the cave, with conjured paper lanterns lighting the place, the hidden shades were slowly pulled out of the corners and shoved into Gary’s shadow.

“Creepy fucks… Outsider cultists, they sever themselves from the usual death and rebirth process for a while; that’s why they tend to form these kinds of icky, lingering shades.” He grumbled, once the last gloomy clot of darkness was plunged into the deeper abyss of his shadow.

“Now that the noisy campers are gone, let’s really see what’s on the altar…”

The radius of emptiness and impenetrable dark had shrunk under his influence, retreating as his house and home began dominating the local magical scene. As a potent extension of Gary’s unnatural aura and overdeveloped Animus, the house cast an outsized shadow over the region.

The empty place now encompassed around a one foot radius from a point atop the altar, feeling almost like a person was standing there. It felt the same as if a living man stood there, surrounded by their own Animus… exactly like that.

“Weird… I’d swear there was a…” He clambered over a few fallen stones and a bit of rubble to get onto the low platform of stone the altar stood on. The rough cut stone block was ‘adorned’ with all the usual carvings, crudely chipped into the monolith.

Rough and porous, few traces remained on the altar top,, just an unremarkable, ovoid stain around two feet long and a foot across, where something had soaked into the stone, leaving it faintly… nasty.

A few pebbles and small rocks were scattered on the stone table, nothing really jumped out at him.

Hands without craft or skill had inscribed in wax, blood, chalk and other less identifiable substances, any number of blasphemous and unclean things. Most was nonsense, gibberish or simple and ordinary obscenities, but hidden here and there were traces of the spell workings.

A glyph here, drawing the attention of an outsider, without revealing its nature; a rune there, directing the magic of this world into unnatural configurations and unclean directions. He traced the lines of power and hideous scrawled drawings all around the the block, chasing the actual work in progress.

“Yeah, a summoning that went really wrong, whatever they were doing blew up in their faces and then popped back outside.” He called to the others as they joined him around the altar.

“Something is lingering, some trace of what they were doing still remains… A magical hotspot, pushing etheric and spiritual magic into the world…” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Kinda like I do, like we all do now…”

“So it’s an untethered void in the etheric veil?” Becky asked quietly, staring at the unpleasant, but otherwise unremarkable altar stone. “How is that possible?”

“It isn’t. An etheric void that isn’t attached to a living soul should drift off and stick to one within seconds.” He grumbled. “It really feels like a strange otherling is standing there, some person like us.”

“Nae, Gary.” Shai whispered softly. “Tis nae a stranger. Tis thee.”

“Yup.” Becky agreed immediately. “That’s you standing there. I feel both of you, breathing in sync. Super weird!”

“What?” He demanded very carefully.

“They’re right, I smell you right there.” Ivy whispered.

Carefully he reached out a hand and passed it through the blank, empty spot in his senses. Nothing was there; nothing at all met his touch. “I’m gonna take a little time here and kinda let my whole aura percolate…” He muttered, as he laid out a cushion and sat down on it to meditate in the dismal little cave.

Shai produced some camp chairs and they all sat down to watch what happened… mostly. Gary slipped into a calm and peaceful state with relative ease, after a year of constant training and practice of the art. Unfettered, his aura did its thing… roaming around and tasting every living and unliving thing around. The truly inanimate held no interest for his creepy, hungry shadow, only animals and shades of animals held his interest in this state, whether sentient or not.

Those slippery threads of aura, Will and shadow stubbornly refused to enter the spot around the altar, turned back as though a magical circle still functioned there… Or a living person, with a sentient and alert Animus with the needed training and gifts was standing there, rejecting his advances.

While Gary contemplated his navel, Ivy made tea. Tallum and Shai watched over his quiescent form as he sat there, unmoving, concentrating on some internal investigation.

Dannyl ignited the glowstones Gary had enchanted into his hatband and had himself a better look at the still shadowed altar.

The greasy looking stain on the table top was uncomfortably infant shaped… like a wax doll of a human child had melted into the stone somehow. That thought slithered through his mind as he looked over the thing, making him shudder. He got closer down on the altar for a better look and started shifting some of the loose detritus and small stones off the surface.

Dust, grit, small pebbles and chips from the ceiling of the cave he brushed away with care, searching for a clue or remnant of whatever had gone on. In the center of the stain one small rock stood out just a little. It was rounded and oddly shaped, like a river stone. It was a darker color than the local gray and black speckled granite, more like a clot of rusty steel… maybe some small treasure from the distant past?

‘I could just pocket it and ask about it later.. He mused, while reaching for the tiny, wet looking pebble. “There’s a weird little rock over here on the tabletop…” He called out, while definitely not touching the strangely compelling little thing. “It really wants me to pick it up, guys.”

“Don’t touch it!” Gary roused himself and came over at his brother’s call. “Of course, don’t touch it, whatever you do!” The musician yelled as he clambered up. “Where is it?”

“Right there, in the middle of that stain.” Dannyl replied as he backed away, while keeping his light steady on the object.

“Where? I don’t see…” Gary reached down, brushing his hands over the stain, until his fingers touched the little stone. With a high pitched metallic tinkle, it rolled off the altar and onto the rocky floor while Gary stood there, still as a statue…

“Gary?” Dannyl asked quietly, as the others closed in. “You ok, bro?”

Slowly, he toppled over, rigid and unconscious. His body landed on the altar, still bent over and reaching out as though he had been frozen solid in an instant. The smaller man dashed over and felt for a pulse and signs of life, groping at his fallen friend’s throat in desperation.

“He’s still breathing, Shai…” He whispered, as she swept in like a storm cloud.

#

“Gnnhnn!” Gary said confidently, when he appeared in the blasted ruins of Morrigan’s cathedral. Being forcibly and unwillingly dragged into your own metaphysical, allegorical dreamworld was a feeling best left unexplored. Itchy, was the best description.

“Who are you?” Someone familiar asked behind him, someone super familiar.

“I’m you.” He answered tiredly as he turned to face whatever he’d become now. “Or more like, we’re each other. It’s really complicated and nobody understands what’s happening, bro.”

He was a near perfect doppelganger, maybe a smidge younger, a fair bit squishier. It was kinda jarring, seeing himself from a year ago, wearing old, worn out jeans and a thrift store shirt, cast off merch from some boner pill company, entreating their clients to: ‘Take Back Your Power’.

“How much do you know about what’s going on?” He asked the confused looking Gary in the erectile dysfunction shirt.

“I was riding home after work and I smelled strawberries and toast…” He muttered sourly. “...then there was a cave, I think… Hey! Somebody stabbed me!” He snarled at his sudden recollection, as he pawed at his front looking for a wound over his sternum.

“Yes… someone did.” Ducky answered sadly, from the edge of Morrigan’s rubble strewn crater. “And they did it again and again. I’m sorry so, Gary.” The tiny golden deity whispered to the two young men standing in the crater. “We thought this was just another symptom of your scattered and damaged state, we planned to have a chuckle at your silly antics... The reality is much darker. Come with me please… we need to talk, this is going to be difficult for everyone.”

“Who’s this kid?” He asked himself crossly.

“He’s a close friend… you can trust him.” He told himself quietly. “You’re gonna need to buckle up and hold on, this is gonna be a ride.”

#

Distraught, confused and barely holding herself together, Shai supervised Tallum and Dannyl as they carried her boy out into the sunshine, again. The house was gone, vanished from where it had been, janky, rusty ’truck’ and all. Only a familiar patch of fresh turned soil showed where it had been so briefly.

Shai’s frantic attempts to wake him became a bit too much, requiring Tallum to step in with his low rumbling voice and calming touch. “Stop, Shai… He’s still in there… He has friends with him.”

Becky was in charge of locating and not touching whatever it was he’d contacted, lost among the stones and loose scree on the cave floor, while Ivy supervised from a safe distance, wand at the ready.

She finally located it among the trash and rubble, a tiny reddish black object with streaks and… veins of bright red. The arteries and stuff, where the tiny human heart had been crudely hacked free were still clearly visible, pointed out by a single drop of very red, wet looking blood gleaming on one of the jagged, arterial pointy bits.

Using a small flat stone chip, she swept the awful little thing into a handkerchief, suppressing her shudder of revulsion at the abominable scrap of petrified flesh.

She scurried out into the sun with her prize, joining her sisters and brothers around their stricken friend, still petrified in his oddly stooped, reaching pose.

“Guys… it’s a heart… but tiny, it’s human, I think.” She carefully unfolded her hankie, displaying the loathsome artifact.

There was an audible creaking and cracking sound, as Gary’s head slowly turned to face the group. His mouth opened under blank, unseeing eyes and spoke in Thirp’s calm measured voice.

“This has taken a decidedly unpleasant turn, my friends. Gary is in no physical danger. Please pack him up and leave this place with that nasty little morsel. He will recover soon.” Before any questions could be asked, he was once more a vacant statue. One that was gradually relaxing into a more natural position, as his unnatural rigidity slowly fled.

“Well, at least the trail back is already cut…” Tallum grumbled, with Gary hoisted onto his shoulders. “Gross, he’s drooling.”

Shai stepped closer and peered into his slack, vacant face with concern on her own features. “Tis nae simple drool, brother. Tis that same silvery slime whae outsiders discharge…” She mumbled nervously. “See, tis coming frae his mouth, nose, eyes, ears…”

“Other places too.” The big man sighed. “Let’s get back to the others, I’m getting soaked.”

“Hold still!” Ivy swarmed up her beleaguered man and started collecting samples in small jars she pulled from her storage ring. “We’re gonna figure this shit out, Tallums! You just carry him back to the boat... Shai, we can handle this. You know how he is… like literally, remember?”

With a start, she nodded and a look of concentration replaced worry on her face, as she started rifling through his details. “Aye, he be alive, just in ‘Etheric Stasis’ or sumatt… It do say, ‘soul fragments in transit’.”

Together they hurried back to the waterside, while Becky tried in vain to raise Moonrise on her earring. “No response gang… I think we’re gonna have to signal the old fashioned way.”

By the time they reached the shore, the comms flickered back to life. “Come get us, Gary’s out again…” Becky sighed, when Tawny’s voice cut in on her at a half mile from the boat. “Yeah, he’s stable… witchcraft I think.”

“Aye, tis witchcraft, sure enough. None of his doing though.” Shai grumbled angrily.

They stowed him in bed, tucked in securely, with the kids sprawled over him, as the little family set sail for home with heavy hearts. They were an hour upriver when Otho came padding on deck, huffing in agitation.

“Gary’s awake… or something.” Ivy announced calmly. “Go check on him please, we have the helm.” Her words were unnecessary, since Shai and Becky had already vanished below.

He was still in bed, still with eyes closed and unconscious, but his lips moved, accompanied by soft music and barely audible lyrics.

…they catch you at the border…

And the mourners are all singin' as they drag you by your feet.

But the hangman isn't hangin' and they put you on the street.

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin' 'round and 'round.

You go back, Jack, do it again!

“Oh crap, more ‘Steely Dan’.” Becky mumbled unhappily.

#