Chapter 43

Part 1

“At some point this will—ugh!” My shoulder snapped back to its appropriate position! I had felt that exact sensation a few times before, always bringing relief accompanied by discomfort. “At last! Gods, I shall have to pay Caelan back for that twice over!” That dislocated shoulder would not heal quickly; thus, my descent from Whispering Hills’ peak, after an irksome encounter with Caelan’s familiar, looked to be vexatious. (If only my broom had not been shattered. I have not the time to retrieve its pieces either; lo’, I would be able to do nothing with them. Regardless, returning to Fate’s side is vital! Should the other Magekin happen upon him…!) A crash outward in the flow of mana! It was not substantial, lo’, I could sense it was absolutely a spell! (A low grade spell? Yes, most likely!) Tracking the location in which the waves rippled, Gold River appeared the origin! (Fate!) Even faster, I moved! My boots would catch soil, then mud, and rocks! Each step was precarious, even with my familiar aiding me across larger gaps along the mountainous terrain I traversed! (Once I am upon the town below, I shall recall my familiar. Now is not the time to overthink!)

My focus remained on the town opposite me, far across that river. Sliding down hills and rushing through valleys…eyes from within the forest suddenly appearing stole my attention. Moonlight had rolled back a curtain of darkness right up to glowing orbs impeding my path forward, silently watching behind trees and down slopes. Unmoving, those woodland sentinels dutifully watched me. A step toward the flock of beasts elicited no withdrawal. Something was amiss; then the clouds overhead parted, revealing the owners of those eyes…deer!

(Deer? Honestly?!) Within the woods Graewood, I had encountered many deer. They were often skittish, a simple swing of my sword or approach would cause the animals to flee. “Away with you all, shoo!” Waving my saber did nothing; their gazes remained unflinching. “I have not the time to waste on games! Frighten them out of our path!” Having the ruler piece approach should have scared the beasts away, which seemed the best idea, until…

Bloodlust, and the sound of a hoof on stone! There was not even a second to understand what I was suddenly blocking with my saber! The weight threw me off the rock ledge and rolling downhill! I righted myself, lo’, a new shadow was upon me! A deer leapt from atop the ledge aiming to crush me underfoot! Swift arrows from my piece’s crossbow felled the beast, not without leaving the familiar open to another attack! Two deer threw every ounce of their body weight into the ruler piece, slamming it against a tree, fracturing and destroying the oak! Behind, more animals would attack me!

(Why?!) I had never seen such aggressive deer – no, deer were not ever so aggressive or coordinated! (For what reason do these animals have to attack?) Simple brown deer with their short bushy white tails hopped and pranced as per usual, yet a palpable bloodthirsty gleam was in those reddened eyes! I backed away, using my sword to keep them at bay. The pursuit did not stop, nor slow. Deer charged and I dodged, seeing doe slam their heads into trees and uproot them, it was obvious, something magical was afoot! (Animals so strong and coordinated…no. It could not be.) My back tensed with the thought, and my heart skipped a beat when realization sunk in. Azure scales plated the creatures' bodies, outward along their spines and covering the deer backs! (…Bernadine.) A terrible situation, indeed.

Part 2

“…Huh?” What Darcy had just said about that ‘Bernadine’ person made my stomach drop. “C-can you repeat that?”

“Bernadine probably has both of these towns and all of the mountains surrounded by now. I’d suggest giving up peacefully, because I don’t think you can beat her.” The witch’s confidence in her ally freaked me out, badly. “If you had trouble fighting me, you’re doomed if challenge her! Haha!” Darcy laughed… “Oh…right, that’s bad for you. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset! It’s just that Bernadine is strong, she’s not like Killian and Bryn.”

“You’re not helping!” Another threat wasn’t approaching, it had arrived! I looked to Bramble, we both understood what the next move was without needing any verbal communication! The dogman unhinged his jaw and tried to contact Anesha. In the meantime, I spoke to officer Wallace. “Officer, we need to get back to the town. To a crowded area, quick!”

“Why? What’s going on?” Even while asking that, he seemed to pick up on my urgency, walking toward his police car.

“I don’t really have a ton of time to explain, but someone is coming after me. The best place for me to hide is in a crowd!” Bramble shook his head, the connection failed! “This magic keeps failing! I’m buying that witch a fucking cellphone next chance I get!” I grabbed the familiar dogman up in my arms and walked toward officer Threader’s car, only stopping to turn back and speak with Darcy one last time. “Thanks for hearing me out. I know we aren’t exactly on the same team or page here, but I’m happy we could talk this out. Also, sorry, but fuck those aristocrats! They suck!” With a hesitant smile, she waved as I got into the back of Wallace’s car. It took a minute to get it unstuck from the muddy terrain, but he managed and we turned back toward Gold River’s strip mall. “Wallace, you sure are taking all of…this crazy stuff well.”

“Yeah, well…” We drove down the road silently for about a minute. “Why do you think that is?”

“Me?” A bizarre question. “Based on how Arnold answered, I guess you’ve just seen a lot of stuff in your long life?”

“Long life?! I’m not even 20 years older than you!”

“Am I right though?”

“…Sure, let’s go with that then. Oh.” Wallace began to slow down and pull to the road’s side!

“Hey! We can’t waste any time!” Coming opposite us, up the road, was another set of headlights. An almost spotlessly clean, garishly dark-green, truck pulled in beside us. “Dad?” Instantly, before the window even managed to clear my old man’s forehead, I recognized his long gray hair; still way too similar to mine when transformed.

“Wallace, you’re heading the wrong way! What happened to your car?!” Dad put his truck into park off to the side and got out, wearing that stupid jean jacket with its sleeves cut off. Wallace left his side and opened the door for me; to which I scrambled, making Bramble hide his human face!

“What is going on?” Confused, I was beyond unprepared to see dad! I didn’t even want to get out of the car, electing to just swing my feet out. “Seriously.”

“Wallace, here, told me you may be in some trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“He was the one who found your wallet and ID across the river. Looked into you and found out that you’re my son.” Crazy invasion of privacy and unethical police work there. “You’re lucky he took pity on you and called me.”

“Pity?!” Every time with dad! “I don’t need pity, and I don’t need you butting into my life!” Any conversation with him would piss me off, instantly! “I’m busy right now; what are you even doing here?”

“Zahn asked me to bring you to his house.” Wallace said. “Way things looked over at the abandoned schoolhouse in Whispering Hills, the other officers thought a gang war was happening right under our noses!” A mistaken guess that worked to our advantage. “Plus, the air reeked of – uh, nah, I-I mean it stunk. Yeah, stunk!” Again, officer Threader got caught up on an odd detail.

“Fate, tell me what’s going on with you.”

“No. You don’t need to know, and you’re wasting my time. If you won’t drive me, officer Wallace, I’ll walk.” A second more and I feared the seed…

“You keep trying to run away from me whenever we see each other! How about you get what’s on your chest off and stop acting like a child!”

“A child…?” The seed was off. It was too busy healing me to even activate, so it was time to get it off my chest. All of it! “No, I’m not acting like a child. If I was acting like a child, I’d be sitting in my room with my head covered in pillows trying to block out you yelling at mom!”

“So, this is about your mother, then?”

“You…it’s not about Mom! It’s about you! It’s always been about you! You always have to have it your way, and everyone has to listen to you! Well, now I’m going to talk—”

“I thought that you were in some kind of trouble with drugs or a gang or something.” Of course he interrupted, just to belittle me. “If you’re just going to complain about me and June arguing, I’ve heard it all before from your mother. Don’t waste your breath.”

“Asshole!”

“What?! What did you call me?!”

“Asshole! You’re an asshole dad!” Bramble nipped at my pantleg, trying to pull me back, but I had to finish what I was saying! “12 years ago, do you remember?” I couldn’t forget, and I was sure he couldn’t either. “You told me that you and mom just couldn’t work things out! You said, mom wouldn’t listen, she couldn’t change. The problem wasn’t her! It was you! You always—”

Dad was suddenly nose-to-nose with me. “What did you call me?” Even years later, Dad was still taller than me, but…I was bigger, stronger.

“An asshole.” I wasn’t going to back down. “You said you were leaving mom, and not me, then put eight hundred dollars in my hand like you were paying me off!”

“I gave you that money to look after yourself; your mother was childish. She wanted to spend more time chasing her stupid dreams than raising you! You should understand that!”

“I do understand that! I never didn’t understand it! Riding across Greenville on the bus with Mom, sometimes past ten at night, you thought I didn’t realize how bad that was?”

“If you realized it, then let me ask you something. Why is it that I’m the bad guy in your head? You always make it out to seem like June didn’t do anything, like she’s a saint!”

“Because she changed!” Remembering all those nights of her crying, while I tried in vain to shut out the noise; it was me, without anyone else. “Mom messed up a lot! Yeah, way more than you, but she tried to change – she did change! Mom gave up on her dream after you left, then started focusing on doing everything possible to look after me. There wasn’t a minute after all that where she didn’t try; but you, dad, never did.” At some point in that screaming fit, I stopped feeling angry; just sad. “I spent every day for 12 years waiting by the phone for you to call and say something. I didn’t want an apology or money, shit, I don’t even know what I wanted! I just wanted you to call and say something that was – I don’t know, a little different!”

“13 years.” Dad retorted, to my confusion.

“No, 12. I remember.”

“No. 13. You’re 22 years old today.” Oh. “…Happy birthday, Fate.” It was the 4th of July.

(That explains all the notifications; probably a bunch from Mom and the others.) Having my own birthday slip my mind…the fuck. “…”

“Fate…I…” Harsher tugging at my leg came from Bramble. He was seriously urging me to move on, and I couldn’t waste more time.

“I threw that money back in your face for a reason, Dad. I don’t need you to give me anything. I just wanted to see that you’ve changed. It doesn’t look like you have.” I scooped up bramble and started my jog down the road. Neither officer Threader nor Dad gave chase.

Part 3

“Ugh…sorry, Bramble.” I was out of breath and mental fortitude. Sat on the roadside like a bum, checking my phone notifications was the least I could do. “Hear anything from Anesha?”

“Young Fate.” The dog familiar began. “For what it is worth, I understand your grievances.” A bit of reassurance before unhinging his jaws.

Anytime a birthday wish was glimpsed in my notifications bar it was quickly pushed down by police reports or social media posts. One thing they all had in common were warnings about animals. “Fate!” Anesha’s voice shocked me into dropping my phone! “Are you unharmed?!” The witch spoke from that black smog exiting Bramble’s maw.

“Yeah, I’m fine, mostly.” No new injuries, at least. “Oh! We need to get you a phone! This magic sucks!”

“I – you – there is no time! Agh! Dastard!” The witch shrieked as her figure ducked and weaved! “Bernadine Clément is one of the Magekin attacking us! She will likely attack using animals controlled by her familiar!”

“That name is the one Darcy mentioned.”

“Darcy Dukes?! You encountered her?!” The whole time, Anesha’s shape kept swinging something and running!

“Yeah! Heh…” A little full of myself. “I won!”

“Do not get full of yourself!” Confidence quashed. “Bernadine is far more dangerous than someone like Darcy or Bryn.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told.”

Anesha’s continued exasperated grunting was distracting in an increasingly odd…and disturbing way to me. “I shall make for you! Currently, I am descending the mountain range. My broom was destroyed, thus, I am on foot.” Crossing the Gold River-Whispering Hills bridge by foot would take a bit, but she’d still have to make it all the way to us. The Gold River peninsula was surrounded on both sides by large bodies of water, leading down to a pointed tip; where Arnold’s house just so happened to rest upon. Opposite that, was an outwardly expanding landmass which led up to a mountain range running all the way along from Whispering Hills. If Anesha was coming down that, I’d need to go backward. From what I could understand, that was around my dad’s house; on the other hand, there was the Gold River parks, urban residential area, and strip mall.

“Which direction are you heading? South?”

“South? Yes, I suppose it would be south. I shall come across that bridge with which we crossed to enter Gold River.” Being in a crowd would still be better anyway.

“OK. I’m already heading back toward the town anyway; trying to stay incognito around other people, ya' know.”

“Good. Do so, for I shall be there as soon as possible.” Plan set, we got ready to end the call and move. “Fate.” Anesha stopped me. “You did not kill Darcy; am I correct in my assumption?”

“…I…” Couldn’t lie to her, even if I wanted. Bramble was there too, so he knew, and was probably mad at me. “No.”

“…ugh.” The witch groaned. “Your soft spot in your heart for those who wish you harm will be the death of both of us.” For everyone expect Anesha herself, of course. “I shall reprimand you once we are in each other’s company. Do not make any further mistakes, follow my orders. Clear?” I nodded, hoping she caught that while still running about from whatever was chasing her. “For now, make haste!” The smog faded away and Bramble returned his head to normal.

“Let us be off, young Fate.” Bramble strolled along the road, glowing slightly with mana tinging his fur.

“Right.”

“Also, I did not finish what I was saying before.” I assumed the old dogman was speaking of our little conversation prior. “Your grievances are noted and understood; however, if I may speak for myself. In my time existing, life and post-life…” Weird way of putting it. “…I have learned that change is not something which happens instantly, not for us all. Years, decades, centuries, they may go by and some may still fall into the same trappings of hubris, ego, and pride. You and I respect those who can make those changes, yet I deeply respect those who will work at it no matter how many times they fail.”

“How long have you been around, Bramble?”

“What year is it?”

“2016.”

“Far too long, dear boy. Far too long…” Not an answer, but whatever; Gold River was in view and along with it came crowd noises…screaming?!

“What the hell?” I scooped up Bramble and ran toward the source! It came from the park’s direction, but a mob of people running opposite that way crashed into us! “Whoa! Hey! What’s going on?!” Elbows and shoulders rammed into my sides as Gold River citizens flooded the street, running by in fear! “Seriously, what’s happening—” A bushel of feathers suddenly blasted me in the face! “…” Taken aback as I was; pulling what turned out to be a goose off of me, was even more befuddling!

Everyone stopped, looked to see the creature…then screamed in horror! Screamed at a regular old goose! Long black neck, brown feathers, and beak…that bit down on my nose! Serrated little sharp teeth gnawed the bridge of my nose and tore through skin! I swung the waterfowl around until it released its grip, tossing that little bastard! That was when I noticed, it wasn’t alone; far from it, there was an army of geese chasing the crowd! “Run! They’re crazy!” Someone cried on their way by! “They just started attacking out of nowhere!” Another added!

(They’re just geese! They can’t be that dangerous.) Was my thought until I saw a group of the fowls descend upon a fleeing man’s car. Webbed feet cracked glass windows, beaks tore apart metal bumpers and thick rubber tires, their wings flapped with such great force four birds flipped that car onto its side! “…Oh fuck.”

Part 4

“Hm, hm…” She hummed, twirling a wooden scepter with grace in one hand. “Human cities, are opulent beyond belief.” Azure bobble atop her wand, it gleamed with magical luster from within the jaws of a lovingly woodworked reptile’s head; trailed by ethereal energy which dispersed into purple mana. All the while, her other hand was totally, and utterly, preoccupied. “This level of ostentation, only humans could ruin such a gorgeous vista and destroy wildlife for nothing more than a need to assert their own existence.” Not for a second did the woman’s hand stop petting, rubbing, scratching, or lovingly kneading, that unkempt furry beast to her side! In fact, on both sides of that stone which she used as a seat were beasts with dripping fangs; eager to claim their meals. “Dig in!” Rabidly veracious wolves, several of them, swarmed three screaming and injured hunters! “Hm, hm…” There wasn’t an ounce of cheer in the witch’s olive-brown eyes witnessing that mauling, but they brightened up with exuberance when beholding the animals’ joy at the slaughter! “Hunting all of the proper inhabitants, caging them, and chasing them down with their vile weapons…!” Hands from the trees nearby reached down to help her stand; they were from strong, older chimpanzees with grudges and wounds etched into their bodies and souls. Their eyes were focused on the men, trying in vain to push away vicious jaws pulling at entrails and flesh, reveling in the carnage! “No more.” Slithering through the soil with their brown and tan scaly bodies, sharp eyes and hissing tongues came an army of copperhead snakes. “You all hate those pompous and greedy humans, just as I do.” And above her, looking down on the town with envious eyes, a fearsome king of the jungle backed by his lioness army. “It’s time we hunt for a change!” With her wide smile and jagged teeth, Bernadine Clément began her siege of Whispering Hills and Gold River.

End of chapter 43