Book 3: Sound And Fury
Ch: 1 Signifying Nothing
In a narrow cleft between two towering, barren granite peaks, a narrow vale with delusions of being a full fledged valley, some life struggled to survive. Low, scrubby manzanita trees and stunted pines dug their roots into the shallow, gritty soil, eking out a marginal existence in the dim and mossy confines.
From a ragged cave mouth near the head of the rift, seven people emerged, armed and armored to face the unexpected.
“Three days on a tropical island… in another world; I can’t believe we didn’t get any sailing done at all!” Amy complained softly through their enchanted comms earrings, despite not wearing one herself. Her own innate gifts carried her voice to her listeners under almost any circumstance. The rare and deeply secret magical jewelry carried their voices to her ears and allowed the others to communicate with each other, so long as they were within a mile or two of one of the sorcerously linked silver ear cuffs.
The team looked all around, suspiciously peering at the highland scrub and the narrow trail leading from the cave mouth and its hidden passage between worlds. “Yes, this is the right exit; we’re in the dungeon mouth above Foresthome. Let’s move, lady Tawny must be halfway out of her mind after the whole family vanished on her, while the count is away.”
“It still feels like we got cheated, somehow.” Amy griped mildly, as she peered out into the misting rain and low drifting clouds.
“Gear up and let’s get moving.” Dannyl, their journeyman supervisor grumbled merrily at the young Adventurers. We have a miserable hike ahead of us, followed by a long ride in the rain.”
With few complaints, the band of kids quickly donned water repellent ponchos of tight woven monster crab wool, coated with their father’s secret alchemical waterproofing substance. They marched out in good order, taking the path down the ‘valley’ headed for a windswept saddle of barren granite.
Just over an hour later, the muddy and tired crew lined up on a pleasant little clearing beside a wide, well paved road of beaten and baked clay. Wilf was over on the road, scuffing his feet on the surface and contemplating the road surface with deep concentration.
“Hmm… We can send this, follow my lines and keep the conditions in mind.” The taciturn young craftsman murmured in a satisfied tone.
“Mount up, team.”
When the five young people looked back, their bikes were standing in Wilf’s shadow. Six odd machines awaited, leaning on kickstands built seamlessly into their frames of laminated and enchanted dryad haunted hardwoods.
Each was painstakingly crafted for the rider’s anatomy, just as the engines of the constructs were tuned for maximum Mana efficiency for their designated rider.
Wheels of spun steel and alchemical rubber tires waited for the gleaming motors of enchanted bronze and brass ring gears to spin up and hurl them down the long, winding Wheatford road.
In silence, six young people in colorful wooden laminate light armor fell in behind the older man, who’s own machine was far from silent.
Small, slim and ginger, journeyman Adventurer Dannyl revved the whirling knot of uncanny magical bronze chain nestled dangerously close to his personal goods inside the frame of his own bike and grinned like a madman. “Are you kids ready to lay down some miles and get back home before we miss anything fun?”
“Oh yeah…” Wilf rumbled eagerly, clearly thinking more about the long, downhill run into town and thirsting for the sensation of speed. “I’m ready!”
“Stay loose and keep alert.” Dannyl cautioned the team before they set out. “Maintain discipline and keep sharp, kids; we aren’t home yet. Rio takes point.”
The big, burly blonde lad deflated a little at that command, letting a soft sigh escape his lips. “Come on…!” He complained weakly at his diminutive uncle. “We’ll be old like you before we get there behind mister Slowpoke!”
“I’m not even thirty yet, you little jerk!” The senior Adventurer grumbled, glowering up at his nephew. “Keep this up and Rio will be on point the whole trip!”
“Hey…!” The tall, lean, athletic lad complained, while buckling his helmet of hunter green laminate plum wood over his tight cap of kinky black curls. He buckled a simple menpo on, hiding his dark, handsome face behind a blank mask of lacquered wood; for safety’s sake, not just to hide his grin at his younger brother’s plight. “I’m your older brother… Show some respect, Wilford Brimley Ward.”
“Sure thing… Elder brother Desiderio.” Wilf shot back with a grin of his own; the blue eyed young craftsman chuckled, his mask still dangling from his helmet.
“Pipe down and follow orders.” Amy barked from behind her leopard faced menpo of cobalt blue, decorated with a scattering of tiny mother of pearl stars.
“Team Ragamuffin, ready for duty, senior Adventurer Dannyl.”
Benny the team’s frontliner, small and quick Maya the ninja and Frankie the alchemist were all geared up and mounted in good order behind Amy, while the two Ward brothers cheerfully bickered with their supervising journeyman.
As was typical, Amy took the lead and rolled onto the downslope without another word; leaving the three clowns to get themselves together without an audience.
Amy set a brisk pace, flying down the mountain road on silent wheels, her team strung out behind her and following in good order.
“Slow up gang… someone’s on the road ahead of us…” She whispered in the ears of her comrades, a few long minutes and three miles later.
#
Soaked to the bone by constant rain and mist, freezing cold and lost on an unknown mountain pass in an unknown world, Ambrose carried Heidi on his back as they, or rather, he stumbled through the foggy morning.
After a long night huddled beneath the flimsy shelter of a manzanita bush, they had to get moving or perish in the wilderness... There was no further sign of the terrifying skeletal, undead dragon or its minions, but that could change at any moment.
Sunrise brought greater risk of discovery by the monster, but also the blessed warmth of the sun and an end to the constant rain, as the clouds broke over the valley.
“I think I see cultivated lands in the distance…” He murmured over his shoulder to the shivering and pale woman. “It’s going to be alright… I’ll find a bed for you and brew you some medicine…” The big man wheezed, nearing the end of his own endurance. In nearly mindless desperation, he kept stumbling toward the distant valley floor and the scattered small holds and crop fields where they would surely find aid.
A few hundred yards downhill, the exhausted necromancer felt Heidi twitch feebly, before her arms went slack, no longer clinging even weakly to his shoulders.
“Stay strong lover, we’ll find someplace warm and dry soon.” He whispered to the unconscious woman on his back.
A moment later, a tiny stinging bite in his left buttcheek made his leg go numb. Within seconds a soft, numb paralysis overtook his entire body, as Ambrose fell forward onto the hard packed and nearly dry road surface, already warmed by the bright summer sun.
“Nice shooting kids.” A man’s voice murmured from the uphill side of the road, as darkness claimed him.
#
“Your friend is still sleeping.” A soft and gentle female voice murmured in his ear as Ambrose stirred. “You’re our prisoner, don’t bother struggling or trying any tricks.”
“Are you… members of the church of the blessed Light?” He asked weakly, his body felt heavy and feeble, in addition to his arms and legs being bound.
“Gods and spirits no! I’m Admiral Amy, Pirate Princess of the Shallow Sea! Yeah.. I’m kinda famous, but don’t be intimidated!”
She stepped from the shadows, dressed in a fanciful naval uniform of glittering cobalt blue. Her bizarre costume was embellished with intricate and elaborate embroidery, piping and too many buttons, ribbons and cords to count. The whole thing was crowned by a matching tricorn hat of ridiculous size and embellishment.
“I put on my pants just like everybody else; but once I'm dressed, I slay monsters and fight injustice.”
He stared in shock as his captivity took a completely farcical turn.
“I know that look in your eye, you’re thinking; ‘She’s sixteen, just a kid’...” She chuckled darkly. “I don’t mind, you shouldn’t believe just any chance met Adventurer on the road… right, Ambrose, necromancer priest of the cult of the false light?”
“Am I supposed to know what you are playing at, girl?” He snapped at the foolish child. “Release me this instant!”
“Yeah, that’s the stuff… once you clowns think you have the advantage, out come the demands and orders.” She snapped right back at him. “No chance, bub, I’m in here, because the rest of my team was in favor of tipping you over a cliff and watching you both splatter on the rocks.”
She leaned closer, looming over the much larger man, since he was bound to a sturdy bed in an empty white walled cell.
“The others didn’t even want to capture you… I was riding point when we caught up to you; otherwise we would have ridden you down and butchered you on the road like the filth you are.” The unseen girl scoffed. “We just kicked your asses yesterday and now you wanna know if we’re members of your cult?”
“You’re… you’re with the heretics on the island?” He gasped, as despair welled up from his guts to devour his Will.
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“Heretics? That’s silly!” She sighed, sounding genuinely amused. “Why don’t you tell me why your friends and three boat loads of zombies tried to storm our beachside getaway? You ruined a Ward family reunion!”
“F… F… Family reunion?” The necromancer asked weakly, as his previous despair became a feeble and pathetic shadow of the burgeoning horror, now consuming him feet first. “Are you… members of the Tarot cult?” He nearly gagged with fear as he posed the question.
“Hmm… I think it’s better to say that they’re members of the Ward clan! They just don’t really know it yet.” She announced cheerfully, doing little to ease his all devouring terror.
“And which card are you?” He demanded with what little courage he had remaining. “What hideous demon hides inside your skin, child?’
“In me? Just Shiro…” She murmured happily, as a tiny, snow leopard kitten struggled to free its head from her bodice, peeking from between her small breasts with a curious mew. “Hop out and say hi!” She whispered to her little friend.
With a silent rush of illusory snow and wind, a gigantic white snow leopard leapt to the floor, its silver markings gleaming under the harshly bright magical lightstone set in the ceiling.
“My friend Shiro says you reek of blood sacrifices, zombies, ghosts and all manner of undead.” She murmured, stroking the giant cat idly. “Why don’t you explain to me why the Tarots are so bad, considering what you and your friends have been up to.”
He stared blankly up at the deranged child. “You saw that skeleton dragon, right?” He demanded archly. “That thing has been terrorizing the Church of the Light for centuries! The Chariot is a scourge on all the realms where the Light touches!”
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to uncle Chariot, but uncle Ace is super sweet, once you get past his bad attitude… I guess you guys call him the ‘Demon Lord of the Turtle islands.’ You’re just a bunch of damn chunnis, too.”
She stood up straight and turned for the door that was the room’s only other feature, beyond the bed and the overhead light. “Someone will be in to talk to you later, when your girlfriend wakes up. I’m done with you.” She murmured as she departed, the door closing with a soft click.
#
The cells beneath the palace of Foresthome were neat, clean and well ventilated, they more closely resembled sickrooms than detention cells; at lady Tawny’s insistence.
“Let him stew for a while.” Amy grumbled to her brothers, waiting outside the door and looking grim. “I get the sense he’s not a true believer; but he’s convinced that we’re demons or monsters in disguise.”
“Us? We’re monsters?!” Wilf grumbled sourly. “I still think we should have ridden them down… Zombies, Amy! All those men and women were murdered and their bodies used that way…”
The big lad ground his teeth and stared daggers at the blank, white door that hid the necromancer from his murderous gaze.
“Chillax, bro… you’ve been boiling mad since the battle. That’s why we drew this duty.” Rio insisted gently, clamping a restraining hand down on his slightly shorter, but much wider brother’s shoulder.
“Mom was afraid you’d do something… regrettable to the prisoners back on the island.” He murmured. “Let’s not make a mess in lady Tawny’s nice clean palace.”
The grizzled old guard stationed near the door coughed subtly, reminding the young Adventurers gently of his presence…. And that these were no longer their prisoners, the two fugitives were now in the care of the countess, who took a dim view of bloody handed murder in her basement.
“Let’s ride for home. These clowns will be here when we get back.”
#
Team Clown-Shoes lounged around the livingroom of Wilf’s house, jamming along with Gandree, Daisybelle and king Ghnash, noodling in themes of dixieland jazz just for fun. The goblin man picked and strummed with ever growing confidence, once he got his long fingered, green hands on papa’s personal instruments.
None of the private collection were enchanted, or anything but simple and well crafted instruments; save that not a speck of iron or steel went into or ever touched them. Every part and piece was wood, bone, stone, brass or bronze, for occult reasons of their father’s own...
Whatever strange effect was at play there, Ghnash seemed similarly troubled by any instrument or tool made of iron or steel. The goblin king swayed and smiled, as his daughter twirled around her macabre ogre skull drum, her eyes always on Gandree as she dominated the floor.
“I’ve never even heard of four of us appearing on one world separately, never mind together…” Ghnash was mumbling to the four Ward boys, using some subtle magic to slip his voice to the top of the mix.
“Uh… Our mom and dad said we should decline to answer any of those kinds of questions.” Harry answered brightly. “Really, uncle… Should you really be testing your boundaries right now?”
“Our mom’s still open to slicing you up.” Barry muttered nervously. “She’s been honing her swords all morning.”
“She does that all the time.” Larry lied unconvincingly. “You’re fine, your majesty.”
“Bah, so I won’t ask about you kids. I’m still allowed to tell you things… Yes? Tell you secrets known to only the wise and mad!” Ghnash sent a run of notes up his fingerboard and sighed happily. “So nice to not have claws anymore!”
“King papa…” Daisybelle growled as she spun by her father. “Be warned… Don’t shame our house again.”
“Fie on you girlie! I’ll twist your ear for that!” He barked and yipped at the spinning goblin lass, he stayed on his stool, strumming and smiling, though. “Is a witch doctor’s duty to open the third eyes of young witches… or those who could become such.”
He began a soft and atmospheric tune in minor chords. When the music was drifting and lingering around the inn, haunting the corners and shadows with soft humming resonance, king Ghnash spoke, in a voice creaky with age and wisdom.
“Stay a while... And listen.”
“Diablo two, good old Deckard Cain for the classic vibe… nice one Ghnash.” Ward said, as he climbed out of a potted ficus in the corner.
“The kids don’t remember much of the old world, so they have no idea what you’re referencing.”
“Ahh, Borrowed Snake…” The king muttered, as uncle Ward fully manifested, draped in his usual batwinged cloak and all black attire. “I did not expect to see you again so soon!”
“Call me Ward, brother… If you must, call me ‘The Moon’. Borrowed Snake makes me feel like an off brand, knockoff of Metal Gear.” He gave the same grin their father always did, just before making a stupid reference that no one else would understand, just to entertain himself.
“I could hide under a box for the shame of it.”
“Sweet kissable spider boobs of my goddess…” Ghnash sputtered at the tall and unnaturally handsome god of death and vengeance. “You really are a huge asshole, Ward.”
“Yeah, well, you buried their dad alive, so who’s the asshole now?” Ward shot back, grinning as if he’d won some great contest.
“I’m a goblin witch doctor!” Ghnash sputtered at the deity. “I don’t go around telling you to stop lurking in shadows and being a big chuuni! I get to do spooky shit too!”
“Stuff it, Captain Caveman. You’re a bone through your nose from being a tired old trope!” Ward jeered at the smaller man, looming over him and generally being a jerk.
“Gods man, how many kinds of perfume do you wear? Ease off on that shit!” Ghnash gasped and coughed.
For some reason, that made Ward blush and fall silent. “I like the way I smell.” He murmured, taking a deep sniff of his own coat collar. “So many lovely trees…”
“Oh, that’s awkward…” Lindsey muttered, as she and her horse slipped outside for some fresh air, joined by Daisybelle. They made good their escape before anyone could start explaining why the weirdo smelled like a whole forest of trees.
“I can’t handle it when so many people are around…” Ace called to them from a bench under an apple tree. “Especially if it’s a room full of us. That shit gets weird fast.” The puppet creature sighed.
“Their weird uncle Ward just showed up… He’s weird even by Ward family standards.” Flash offered, since everyone present could understand his language of chuffs, nickers and body language.
“I mean, I’m a horse, and even I think he’s a strange one.”
“Flash! That’s mean…” Lindsey scolded the equine. “Sure he’s a libertine and a rake, but he’s Barry’s uncle!”
Daisybelle giggled and snorted with laughter, pointing at Lindsey with teary eyed mirth bubbling on her lips. “You talk like an aged human spinster!” She cackled madly and flopped down on her rump on the lawn, losing all grip on her emotions.
Jasmine and Petunia slipped from the garden plantings and curled up beside their sobbing and laughing mistress, as she finally started working through some things. “Lindsey is a prude, doggies… a total prude.” She sobbed, as the others quietly rose and left the goblin to cry into her remaining two familiars’ fur.
#
“So, uncle Ghnash… tell us about this ‘Tarot’ group you’ve formed.” Harry asked sweetly, once the girls were safely out of the house. “And uncle Ward can think about how much he already knew… and didn’t share with the family.” The lad’s eyes became flinty and hard as he switched the focus of his gaze to the wayward deity.
“Mama is going to be pissed; you know how she gets, especially when Papa’s unwell.”
The pale, handsome death god got a little paler and visibly diminished in grandeur at Harry’s dire proclamation. “I- I’m not allowed to tell certain people certain things, even indirectly. Once you find out for yourselves that’s a different matter, but I can’t break the divine strictures, no matter how hard I try…”
All eyes turned on the guitar playing goblin, who was busy switching his instrument to drop D tuning, with a new set of braided silver grass and monster gut strings.
“I hasn’t seen silvergrass strings since… since I was Gary.” The little man almost sobbed, as he strummed a sweetly melancholy G minor chord.
“I has lord Smarty Pants, lady SpiderBoobs and goddess SmileyFace inside me again too…” He burbled to himself, sounding almost giddy. His long green fingers began to flick and leap over the strings, evoking the calls of night birds in his music.
“I sometimes has trouble trouble keeping things straight in my head…” He murmured tranquilly, seeming lost in his musical improvisations.
“Meditation helps… music too, but mostly I need to get home to my Sabrina and little Chelsea…” He sniffed and snuffled at the collar of his simple brown robe. “Mmm, still smells like freshly smashed goblin wives… freshly stuffed babyfull.”
“Uh, yeah, congrats…” Gandree mumbled, blushing bright red and wishing he’d escaped with Daisybell and her impossibly tall girlfriend. “But I’d kinda like to know what the hell is going on as well.”
“Ok kids, sit down and listen to uncle Ghnash tell a story.”
#
“Imagine if you will, a deck of cards… a simple thing, Yes? Now imagine that no matter how many cards are drawn or how the deck is shuffled, you can never draw the same hand twice, nor run out of cards. Now let us suppose that each card itself is unique, appearing once… and never again in that form.” I chuckled darkly at that. “Well, almost never.”
“Such are souls. Each one unique and infinite, changeable and eternal. A mortal lives, dies, is born and lives again, often leaping from one world to another, just as often lingering around a single realm, as the cycle of life and rebirth repeats.” I scanned my audience of youngsters, a dwarf, four humans and an upstart deity.
“Today, perhaps you’re a man… in your next life, a woman, or perhaps some other form of life entirely. Whatever form a sentient life takes, the soul inside is no different than any other, in that they are each entirely unique.”
“So rebirth is completely random?” Harry asked quietly, when I stopped to adjust my tuning… new gut strings were always fiddly.
“Not at all. Souls have tendencies, toward a species, or a particular realm, or even a specific gender; but those are individual traits only. The soul of a sentient astral jellyfish is no different than the soul of a human, at its core. Higher beings like goblins, of course… are made of the superior stuff…”
A tapestry pillow from the sofa flumpfhed into my face like a guided missile, nearly knocking me off my stool. I rearranged myself more comfortably; now seated on the cushion and continued on with my lecture, despite Larry’s upholstered interjection.
“Thus are we, the mortal souls in our numberless legions; constantly being born on every world and in every universe. Mortal life exists across the endless expanse of creation and in infinite variations, but all drawn from the same deep well of mortal souls. Each soul is a glimmering jewel, slowly being polished by the experiences of life in all its infinite splendors, tragedies, sorrows and joys.”
I leaned back, stretching my arms to their limit, trying to manage the human sized acoustic guitar on my lap. It felt good, really good.
“Now, what happens, children, if someone starts stuffing cards up their sleeves at the table? What would result if some being discovered a way to divide the indivisible, to break up an immortal living soul into fragments of itself?” I asked my pupils.
“The crime of even attempting to break the unbreakable, and violate the inviolable is too shocking to contemplate… Worse than simple murder… worse than even a genocide, for all those souls will find new lives and forms.” I ran my gaze and aura over the listeners, using my witch’s eye to enspell them in my tale, just a little.
“Yet, this crime, it was done; again and again to a single mortal soul, captured in the void and broken apart by a cabal of evil gods, fae and demons, for their own wicked ends.” I fixed each set of eyes with mine for just a moment, scouring their auras with the endless winds of magic blowing from my soul, drawing out their own Animus’ and exciting the energies in the room subtly.
“Like you, I lived and died on a world without magic, lived and died as human Gary Ward, born anew…” I smiled, trying to ease the tension I felt growing in the kids and their mostly divine and entirely mad ‘uncle Ward’. “Unlike you, I lived and found a new life on another world, before I became Ghnash… I was human Gary again, reborn before this life, but in a world of magic! There I found love, I even had children… in a way. I dream of them still, though the memories are hazy.” I may have teared up a little, but the room was dim and it was just the family present. “I don’t like talking about that life… and what I had then…”
“You can tell us.” Ward urged gently. “Lady SpiderBoobs always says it’s best to speak of painful things with close friends… who could be closer than us?”
I swallowed my emotions down enough to speak and did my best to explain. “Sweet Shai, Becky, Amy, my little songbird… Wilf and Rio… He had so much to live for, but I had to let them go. He… had to let them go. It was the hardest and easiest thing we ever had to do.” I coughed and cleared my throat, ‘cause big goblins don’t cry.
“We are the result of that poor Fool’s sad end, but don’t be angry… justice was done. His last mad act was to destroy himself and those gods utterly, with a terrible, impossibly destructive device. That detonation scattered us across the endless expanse of the realms. Most of us landed nearby, but so many flew far into the distant universe lost in the ether… We’re freaking everywhere.” I sighed at last. “It feels good to tell you that.”
“You had a family…” Harry whispered in the deathly silence that fell on the room. “Your wife, Shai… A daughter, Amy and two sons, Wilford and Desiderio… right?”
“How did you know my son’s names?” I asked, as a cold chill gripped my spine. “They’d be old men now… Ghnash has been a goblin longer than your grandparents have been alive, kids.”
“Time really is all fucked up… just like our family.” Perry grumbled angrily. “When Dad wakes up, shits gonna get super weird.”
#