The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four) (23 page)

Andrew stifled a cough, breathing in a whiff
of smoke that had seeped in from the outside. “What do you mean?
Before it’s too late?”

The man loomed over Andrew, now fully
unafraid, and menacing. “Isn’t it enough that I said to go? Ah, no.
I can see that you won’t go unless I tell you all why. You see,
many years ago, when The Fallen first fell to earth, he sent his
men here, demanding our city’s allegiance, and half of our increase
of everything we had, of both man, woman, children, farms, lands,
food, everything. If we complied, our lives would be spared. Those
were the conditions for our freedom. A grand council was called. We
debated for many hours. For many days, and nights, until one
evening, The Fallen himself came for our answer. But we could not
give it. We could not come to a decision; there were too many
things to consider. Our council went on for many months, but we
still could not decide.

The Fallen grew angry with waiting, and
commanded his men to set fire to our village and then cursed our
lands to burn forever, and the smoke would feed his shadows. He not
only cursed our lands, but cursed all within the city. Because we
could not decide which side we were on, all would be doomed to stay
forever as we were, betwixed and between. The curse was a strong
one. If any of us had the gumption to make a decision, or if we
tried to leave the village and head towards The Fallen’s lands, to
make war on him, the curse was that we would grow old and turn into
dust and ash. Or if we were to try to escape our village from the
south, we would grow young, so young with each step, we would
become young as babes, and then cease to be. That is our curse. To
be in-between, forever and always. To be stagnant as a pool of
filthy water. Or choose, and die as babes or die as aged dust.”

Andrew looked at the man in pity. “Surely,
you can leave. The curse cannot work forever, once you make up your
mind. Has no one tried to leave?”

The man raised his hands and sighed. “I’m
sure of it. Then again, I’m not quite sure. I don’t think anyone in
this city, including myself has ever decided to try. It’s too
risky. Ah, but to make up one’s mind after being betwixt and
between for so long, is not something many of us can do.”

“Then perhaps today is the day to make up
your mind.”

The man sighed, and shook his head. “No. I
cannot. It’s too hard. When one sits in the same place too long he
becomes rusty, and stuck. I can never make up my mind, just as the
fire in our city can never stop burning. All I am is smoke. Smoke
that drifts and has no purpose but to create pollution. I am
stuck---forever in a state of standing between two roads, looking
both ways, unsure, unreliable, and unsteady.”

“But, to make up your mind would be better
than lingering here forever, would it not?”

“I believe so. But then again, I’m not
sure.”

Andrew held out his hand for the man to take.
“You must decide. You and your people. Today. Decide today. Try to
leave this place, and see if the curse is real. Perhaps it is only
something meant to keep you where you are. Come with me. The day of
decision is at hand. You can’t linger here in the smoke and shadows
any longer. Come with us and we will destroy this Fallen being
together.”

The man shook his head. “Oh no. No. I could
never do that. But then… maybe…oh I don’t know. What if…”

“Yes,” Andrew said, turning away from the
man, and marching outside. “What if…”

“Wait!” the man cried, following after
Andrew. “You must understand…” his voice trailed off as he spied
Andrew’s friends and the wagon with the chest of unsaid words. The
chest thumped and creaked and groaned when Andrew and the man
neared it.

“Oh, what is that?” the man asked staring at
the chest, with fearful eyes.

“A chest of unsaid words,” Andrew replied.
“I’m sure many of your words are locked in there.”

The man’s face drained of color. “Oh dear. I
hope you’re not planning on releasing them here. Cities like mine
have filled such chests to bursting with unsaid, undone things. But
it won’t do any good, you know, to release them here. The curse is
far too strong. Those words will only torment us more---drive us
mad. Yes, those words must be released somewhere else.”

“Yes,” Andrew said. “I know.”

“Andrew, who’s that?” Ivory whispered,
bravely stepping close to Andrew. Her eyes were filled with
concern, and curiously. Flicker, and the others just stood a ways
off, watching.

“I’m not sure,” Andrew murmured casting the
man a sad glance.

“Tavron,” the man said. “Yes, that’s my
name.”

“Where are the others in your village?”
Andrew asked.

“Somewhere, probably in-between whatever it
is they are doing. Probably between sleep, and waking, between work
and play. Wherever they are, I’m sure they are between something.
Probably trying to decide to come out, or to stay indoors and watch
you safely from within their houses.”

Flicker suddenly swooped down in front of
Tavron, cooing loudly. “Didn’t I say, Andrew, didn’t I tell you
this city was of no use. Let us leave!”

“Yes,” Tavron murmured. “It is forever cursed
to be the way it is. We are forever the Inbetweeners. Forced to
stay for fear that if we go we will turn to dust, or grow backwards
in age, then vanish.”

“Has no one tried to leave?” Freddie asked,
nearing Tavron.

Tavron shook his head. “As I told Andrew. No.
We have remained as we are for so long, we don’t dare change
now.”

“Why not try, today?” Andrew said, his voice
loud. “What have you got to lose?”

“Our lives,” Tavron murmured.

“But what kind of lives?” Andrew motioned to
the dismal city.

Tavron looked around him as if seeing the
place in which he lived, for the first time in his life. The
half-burnt buildings, the layers of ash and soot covering the
ground, the smoke-filled sky, his dirty clothes, his filthy, black
skin, the charcoal-stained roads and streets---all the ugliness,
all the misery of living in such an unlivable place. Everything was
covered with smoke and ash.

“Yes…” Tavron murmured, his face gleaming as
if a beam of light had suddenly struck him. “Why not leave this
place? Why not try?” His dirty face lit up with a big grin. The
smile came on gradually, but when it reached its peak, his smile
seemed like it would break his face because he hadn’t smiled in so
long. “Yes, YES, YES! I will come with you!”

“Good!” Andrew cried, waving his hands in
excitement. “Come, come with us then!”

Tavron’s bright eyes filled with wonder as he
spied the strange silver marking in Andrew’s hand. “Open your palms
boy,” he said, growing every minute more excited. “Quickly, open
them!”

Andrew slowly opened his palms. Tavron’s eyes
grew wider. A single tear cut a clear path through his soot-covered
face. “Yes, yes,” he murmured, his voice rising. “You are the one.
The one that will set us free.”

Tavron turned around and faced the crowd of
curious villagers who had silently emerged through the smoke, and
were now watching in utter silence. “Look! Look my people. This boy
is the one sent to destroy The Fallen. Hold out your hands, boy.
Let them see the marks! Maybe that will help them to decide. My
people, yes, I have decided, Now you must decide as well!”

Those words rippled through the village as if
hit by a wind. The words stirred through the houses, causing the
flames consuming the wood to flicker and spurt sparks. Open doors
slammed shut, windows that had opened, were instantly closed. A
swirling silence slipped through the smoke-filled streets, hinting
of a choice that might be made that day. A deciding that hadn’t
been made since the day The Fallen had cursed the city.

Stirred by Tavron’s revolutionary words, more
people crept from their houses, peering at the strangers through
the smoke. Their eyes looked wild and frightened. They stood a safe
distance away, looking neither angry, or happy, but dull, lifeless,
like they were stuck in a never-ending blah state.

Andrew couldn’t help but contrast their look
to the look on Tavron’s happy face. Once he grinned it almost took
up his entire face.

Tavron jumped and skipped, running to his
friends and shaking their emotionless faces. “Come with me, my
friends. I have finally decided to try to leave this place. I have
decided to go with these people. I have decided to go with them. To
fight The Fallen! I have finally made a decision. And it feels so
good! WONDERFUL! I don’t know why I didn’t choose before. It is
such a relief.”

The people’s faces filled with fear at
Tavron’s words. They shrunk away from him. “No,” they cried. “You
must stay!”

“Yes, stay with us, Tavron,” a woman cried
out. “You don’t know what will happen if you go with them.”

“Yes,” Tavron breathed. “And that’s the
beauty of it. I don’t know. Isn’t that exciting? Here everything
stays as it is. I go to a better life. Come with me, please.”

“Yes,” Andrew cried out with Tavron. “Come
with us. Here you are doomed anyway. Why not come with us?”

The people cowered further into the shadows,
slinking slowly back into their houses as if they dared not hear
Andrew’s words. “Please,” Andrew shouted as they fled. “Come with
us.”

“It is no good,” Tavron said. “They will not
listen.”

“But you did,” Andrew said.”

“Yes,” Tavron murmured. “I did, didn’t
I?”

“Please,” Andrew tried, holding his sword
aloft to get the attention of departing villagers. “Come with us.
Here, you are prisoners. Come with us and you will be free! Please
listen…”

His voice trailed off as the last villager
slipped from view and slammed his door.

“You tried,” Tavron murmured. “It cannot be
helped.”

Andrew stared at deserted street, wondering
how the people could live in such smoke and torment. Why wouldn’t
they listen? His heart filled with heaviness. The throbbing from
the chest of unsaid words had gently calmed to a hushed sob, as if
the words had also given up---lost in despair.

“Do not look so downcast,” Tavron consoled.
“You have woken me. And is that not something worth rejoicing over?
No one in this village has ever decided upon anything in over a
hundred years. And now, today, that has all changed. Today,
I
have decided. And if you are willing, my village has
stores of weapons that we have never used, lying idle. Perhaps, if
it is your desire, we may put them to better use than they have
been here.”

Andrew’s eyes grew wide. “You have
weapons?”

Tavron nodded. “Yes, we have kept them inside
a shed, unused, new as they day they were made. Come, I will show
you.”

Soon they found themselves inside a large
smoke-filled cave near the edge of town. It was a gaping cave,
filled with weapons of all kinds, unused and new, just as Tavron
had said. They filled a spare wagon that Tavron had provided, to
overflowing, with the weapons, until it could hold no more. Then,
hitching the wagon to Freddie’s horse, they slowly exited the
cave.

“Okay,” Andrew called, “Flicker, everyone,
let’s be going. I don’t want the smoke of indecision to cloud your
head, as it did mine.” He peered around the cave seeing everyone
except Talic. “Wait. Where’s Talic…?” He turned, and smiled,
spotting Talic. The boy was hunched over a large rock he had
propped up. He was rummaging underneath it, until he came up
looking very pleased with himself. He opened his hand and stuffed
what looked like a large, gooey slug into his mouth.

“Let’s go Talic,” Andrew called.

Talic grinned and nodded, revealing several
white wormy-looking things lodged between this teeth.

“Ugh,” Ivory squealed. “Make him stop,
Andrew.”

Andrew gently grabbed Talic by the arm, and
moved him away from his spot of grubs. “Let’s go. We’ll have time
to eat later.”

“What will we eat later?” Talic asked,
pulling his arm away from Andrew, and glaring at him through gloomy
brows.

“I don’t know, maybe some dried meat.”

“Who wants dried up hard stuff when you can
have soft gooshy, good stuff.” He opened his palm, revealing a
large white maggot. “I’ve been saving this one for you,
Andrew.”

“Yug,” Andrew stepped away from Talic,
repulsed. “No thank you.”

“Oh, well. If you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. I’ll eat it then.” He laughed and
plopped the big goober into his mouth. A disgusting, gushing pop
was heard as he slobbered and chewed.

Andrew shivered when he heard the sound. He
walked away from Talic, feeling very disturbed.

“Your friend…” Tavron mused, pointing to
Talic as they walked away from the city, “he seems rather odd.”

“Yeah,” Andrew said, casting Talic a sideways
glance. “That’s Talic. He’s a bit disturbed right now. Don’t mind
him. He comes in handy if a spider lands in your hair. Likes to eat
bugs…among other things.”

“Ah,” Tavron nodded. “I see. That is why I
found him on my table.”

“Yes,” Andrew said. “That is why.”

The nearer they grew to the outskirts of the
city, the more anxious Tavron became. He walked beside Andrew,
clenching and unclenching his hands nervously. They walked through
the murky streets and into a forest full of flaming trees that were
continually consumed by flames. “Come, boy, this is the way out,”
Tavron said, pointing through a small opening through two walls of
flaming trees where the path was brightest. Andrew stopped, and
stared at a dark shadow that lingered near one of the flaming
trees.

“Stay away from the shadows,” Tavron cried,
pulling him away from it. “You must only walk on the path that is
brightest. Many dark shadows linger in these woods. If one happens
to grab you, it will pull you in into the fire, and torture
you.”

After that, Andrew and the others were
careful to stay away from the flaming trees and the dark shadows
that were created from the ever-burning flames.