Whistlestop (33 page)

“
Yes. All of us are
creatures of this universe. None of us should be able to escape
reality and venture into new planes of existence, and yet, Linger
has done that repeatedly from what I now understand. For him, it
would seem the impossible is possible.”

“
But if he is more powerful
than you, he could destroy everything! Are you saying he is
suicidal and willing to take everything and everyone with
him?”

“
His power is great, but he
is a fool,” Emmanuel replied. “He believes he can rule all of
creation and existence will continue.”

“
But Poppy and his brother
will not allow that,” Lilian exclaimed.

“
If he is that deranged and
powerful, who or what can stop him?”

Emmanuel took Lilian’s hands and
smiled, “There is still great risk, but we have a secret weapon,
don’t we, Lilian?” The girl smiled.

Jeremiah sat on a large rock outside
Chase’s cave, wrapped in several blankets. It was the middle of the
night, and the two moons of Paranaxis provided enough light to see
the great glacier at the base of the mountain. He sipped hot coffee
from a troll thimble one of the females had loaned him. He knew
Jerry and his group would be worried about him, but this mission
with Patron Bath was more important. He now had the chance to end
generations of lies put into the trolls’ heads by the Evil One. In
the distance, he could see a single figure moving up the slope
towards him. It was several hundred miles to the area where they
had fought the trolls, so he knew it could not be Jerry. For a
moment, he considered it might be Linger, and so he made certain
his staff was within easy reach. All of his plans would likely fail
if the tattooed demon were to appear here. His mind filled with
images of his army being slaughtered by a mob of monsters right now
and him here unable to fight and die with them. He heard a baby cry
and turned his head toward the cave entrance. He smiled, knowing a
new life had just begun. But what would happen to that baby if
Linger arrived now. He turned back and saw the stranger was only
fifty feet ahead of him. He cast off the blankets and stood on the
rock, holding his staff in position to strike. “Who goes there?” he
screamed.

“
Your favorite brother,
dear Jeremiah,” Jedidiah shouted back.

Jeremiah grabbed the blankets, jumped
from the stone and ran toward the other. They hugged and Jeremiah
wrapped his brother in the warm blankets. “Where is your army,
Brother?”

“
They are back with Jerry
and the rest,” Jedidiah replied. “We arrived a couple of hours ago.
Jerry said you had disappeared and so I came looking for you. Why
are you up here alone on this mountain?”

“
I am not quite alone, Jed.
Tell me about your army.”

“
My dragons and a legion of
seers arrived safely. Also, I have Hans Lumen and the monks from
the Temple of Light and most of the trehbor’s men. You should know
that the trehbor was almost beaten to death by Linger. Jerry’s wife
is trying to heal him as we speak. Who else is here?”

A female voice cried out, “Elf, you
can come in now!” Jeremiah led his brother toward the cave opening,
the warm glow of firelight leading the way. As they entered the
cave, they saw Chase lying in a soft bed with Mira and several
other females talking and laughing with her. Patron Bath was seated
on a large overstuffed chair holding the swaddled baby in his arms.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he smiled at the infant. “I see you
brought a friend, Jeremiah.”

“
More than a friend. .
.”

Jedidiah bowed deeply and said,
“Milady, my name is Jedidiah Beetleweed Mosscatcher, and I am
Jeremiah’s brother. May the Creator bless your home with love and
warmth for the birth of a new child?”

“
You are very gracious,
Jedi . . . What did you say your name was?” Chase
replied.

“
Please call me Jed. Our
elven tradition of using long and complete names is often a burden
for many.”

Jeremiah had walked over to the chair
where Patron Bath sat. He jumped up and landed on the armrest so he
could get a better look at the baby. “Is it a boy or girl,
Bath?”

“
He is a boy, Jeremiah, and
his mother has named him Bali. I can’t imagine any of this being
real. What does all of this mean?” The baby was a big as an adult
ogre, although still quite tiny and fragile compared to the adult
trolls. “How did this happen?” The female trolls began to laugh,
but Bath did not understand their humor. “What did I say?” They
laughed even more.

“
Ladies, please,” Jeremiah
began. “I believe the patron is asking how the schism occurred, and
not the physical process of reproduction.”

“
What’s reproduction?” Bath
asked and the laughter intensified. Both the elves turned red in
the face and almost started to laugh as well.

“
I think I will leave that
subject matter and allow Mira to inform you at another time,”
Jeremiah stuttered as the blush faded from his cheeks.

“
Or perhaps a live
demonstration is in order,” another female said and the laughter
resumed. Mira was blushing now along with the elves.

Jedidiah jumped up on the other arm of
the chair. “Go on, Brother.”

“
Bath, most of the
creatures in the universe have both male and female members. It is
the combination of the two that leads to new life. A male, a female
and their offspring form the basic unit of all sentient life, the
family. That unity makes society strong. Without it, a species will
die out quickly. When the tattooed demon separated male from female
trolls, he knew he needed to find a way to maintain the race,
although in a weakened, lonely and miserable way.”

“
I am certainly not weak,
lonely or miserable, elf,” Bath scoffed.

“
Speak for yourself, Bath,”
Mira interjected as she stroked her daughter’s hair.

“
Once again, I do not
understand, elf,” Bath sighed.

Jedidiah said, “The schism occurred
long ago and many generations of trolls have lived and died under
this new way of life.”

“
In fact,” Jeremiah jumped
in, “most of the adult males at the time of the separation were
slaughtered so they would not be able to teach the children about
the way it had been. Within a generation, all the males had lost
all knowledge of their former lives.”

“
But not us!” Mira
exclaimed with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“
Mira is correct,” Jeremiah
continued. “In order for the trolls to continue, babies had to be
born, which would be impossible without both sexes. As well, the
females would give birth to both male and female children. Once the
male babies were weaned, they would be stolen away and given to the
males in the woods, and soon forget their mothers.”

“
I never forgot my sons!”
Mira shouted, her face now wet with tears.

“
Are you saying that I was
born from one of these females?”

“
Not one of us, anyway,”
Mira interrupted. “Your mother passed away long ago, may she rest
in peace. But she gave birth to you and two others, another boy and
one girl, just as I have given birth to our three children,
Bath.”

“
I have children? That
cannot be true, Mira, for I have lived my life in the Woods of
Elin, while you and the females have been here.”

“
Tell us about the madding
times, Patron Bath,” Jedidiah asked.

He stood, carried the baby over to
Chase and handed him to her. “We do not discuss such things, elf,
and you would be wise not to mention that again.”

“
Please tell them, Bath!”
Mira pleaded. “Our family, your daughter and your grandson deserve
your honesty.”

“
What?”

“
Bath, Chase is your
daughter, and Bali is your grandson.”

“
What does that even mean?
You all speak in code and expect me to understand.”

“
You impregnated me and I
delivered Chase, your daughter. You witnessed her giving birth to
Bali, who is therefore your grandson. Now tell them, Husband!” she
shouted. “If you do not, I will not tell you the names of your
sons.” Bath sat on the cave floor and held his head in his hands,
rocking back and forth and moaning.

“
It is okay, Patron Bath,
we will not judge you. We are here to help you heal the schism!”
Jeremiah exclaimed.

Bath sighed heavily and began, “The
madding times are like dreams. One of us will fall asleep and
awaken in the same place. Soon, his friends tell him he had been
gone and no one could find him. The images from their dreams are
always similar, although like most dreams they fade away quickly
and are forgotten.”

“
What do you remember about
your last madding time?” Jedidiah asked.

The troll chuckled and said, “For me,
it was so long ago. You will think I’m mad to wish for such a
dream, but I often wonder why I do not have them any longer. My
dreams begin with me fighting off terrible demons that are
attacking our clan. While they are smaller than us, they wield
heavy axes and are immensely powerful. They carry me away and soon
I find myself in a cave. . .” He paused and looked around. “Not
unlike these, except the demons surround me and I am strapped down.
A small demon covered in tattoos then forces me to drink an elixir
and I feel my brain spinning. Then a yeti is brought to me, and . .
. I cannot go on. That is all I remember.” He wiped tears from his
eyes and said, “I wake to find myself back in the woods, surrounded
by the others asking me where I have been. Am I to believe I was
here with Mira those times?”

“
Yes, my love,” she
replied.

“
And by being here with
you, we had three babies?”

“
Yes again, dear
Bath.”

“
But why would the tattooed
demon create such a monstrous lie and destroy the lives of every
troll on this planet? I cannot imagine such evil. What is
he?”

“
Now you know why my
brother and I are here with you now, Patron Bath. With your help,
the schism will end, and the trolls of Paranaxis will live normal,
happy lives again,” Jedidiah replied.

Jeremiah frowned and said, “However,
as long as Linger is around, those happy lives will be short-lived.
Once he learns what has happened here, he will hunt down and kill
all of the trolls. You are too much of a danger to him as a unified
species.”

“
What are we to
do?”

“
We fight!”

Merihem, her aunt and ten uncles found
themselves on a grassy plain that stretched to the horizon in all
directions. Far over their heads, a red dwarf star flew in a tight
orbit around a much larger white star. “Where are we?” she asked
them.

“
I cannot sense anything
away from this place,” Asmodeus moaned. “I don’t understand. This
is just impossible!”

“
And what was that foul
creature Linger summoned to consume us?” Baal asked. “Could all of
you feel the misery and hatred in that thing?”

Mithra began walking toward the
horizon, saying, “Well, the good news is this does not seem to be
the stomach of a beast. I am going to try to find something or
someone to help us.”

“
How can you know which
direction, Sister?”

“
There is no way to know,
Brother, but one direction is as good as another in our current
situation. Are you suggesting that we split up?”

Moloch interjected, “First of all,
this must be a dream. I cannot sense our realm or any of the
others. That cannot be! I have not been able to fold, and I have
lost my connection to our father. Clearly this cannot be real. I
must be imagining all of you.”

“
In that case, I am going
to walk right out of your dream, Brother,” Mithra replied as she
continued to walk away from them.

“
I think we should stick
together,” Merihem noted as she hurried to catch up to her aunt.
Reluctantly, the others began to follow.

They walked for hours and the
landscape never changed. The suns had moved low in the sky and soon
night would fall, leaving them alone and without shelter for the
night. The air was already cooling and it promised to be a frigid
night. “Sister, how can we know we are not simply walking in
circles?” one of her brothers asked.

“
We’ve been following the
path of the suns.”

“
What will we do when night
falls and there are no suns to follow?”

“
I suggest we huddle
together for warmth and hope for some sleep.” An hour later, it was
pitch black. “I guess we’ll stop here. There is no way of knowing
where we are going now.”

Moloch laughed and replied, “Darling
Sister, we have had no way of knowing since we arrived.”

“
Wait! What’s that?”
Merihem shouted, pointing toward the horizon where a small light
shone in the darkness.

“
It could be a grass fire,”
Baal surmised.

“
Or perhaps a campfire or
house?” Moloch guessed.

“
It might be
dangerous.”

“
Listen to us whining like
children. We have never been afraid of anything, Pythius. Why
should we be afraid now?”