Creeden, Pauline - The Clockwork Dragon Page 4

  “Shut up!” A ghastly creature stepped out of the shadows. Maggots seeped from the pores of his gaunt face. Black macabre skin stretched too tightly across his protruding bones. Like a ragdoll string puppet, his limbs seemed too long for his undersized torso. “You wanted more of the tingly feelings the dragon gave you.” He mocked her deceptive desire.

  “Who are you?” she shrieked. Cowering back from his putrid smell, she struggled to maintain balance.

  “We have been asked this question many times. The answer is the same today as it was millenniums ago. We are Legion.”

  Suzie’s eyebrows drew together. “Legion? You don’t mean the demons that Jesus sent into the herd of pigs?”

  “The same,” the creature hissed. He bobbed and moved around her as if he were dodging something she could not see.

  A soft whimper came from behind Suzie, she glanced over her shoulder. A pile of soft white fabric lay heaped up against a black tree. Her eyes darted back to the creature.

  “Where am I?” she demanded. “How could you do this to me?”

  “We did nothing to you. You did it to yourself. You sought artificial happiness, shallow joy. You touched the dragon and believed what you heard. You were easy to entice.” He smiled wickedly and glanced over his shoulder.

  “Why—why would you do this?”

  The creature stood to its full height. He glared down at Suzie. “We are cursed. We are locked in this stupid object.” He turned to look behind himself, then quickly turned back to her. Inches from her face, his breath burned the inside of her nose.

  Her stomach convulsed from the stench. The whimper caught her attention and she glanced again at the lump of white fabric. Something moved beneath the material. Suzie turned back to the creature, “Answer me! Why would you do this to me?”

  “We cannot escape without replacing with another. But the one who comes must come willingly. You were so easssy,” he hissed.

  Anger boiled in her gut. “Go to hell!” she screamed.

  His hideous mouth split open as stringy saliva clung to his teeth. He roared with laughter. “Now you know where you are.”

  “Mmm,” the sound grew louder under the wispy material. A foot protruded. Suzie turned from the creature and gingerly approached the pile. She bent over the fabric and touched the apex of the pile. She felt a body. The person moved. “I’m scared,” it whispered.

  “It’s okay,” Suzie soothed. “I’m here.” She had no idea why she said that. It just seemed right to say. A cotton blond girl emerged from under the fabric. Suzie helped her stand. What she thought had been a pile of fabric was actually the girl’s dress. Suzie looked down at her own body. She was wearing a dingy muddled grey gown. The girl was beautiful. She had Buddy’s green eyes and Suzie’s full lips. “Who are you?”

  “I—don’t think you’ve given me a name,” the little girl spoke softly.

  “Given you a name?” Suzie looked deeply into her eyes. She touched her abdomen. “Are you the baby I was carrying?”

  “Your voice is soothing to me.” The girl clung to Suzie. “I feel safe in your arms.”

  Tears trickled down Suzie’s face. She hugged the girl close to her chest. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry this happened to you too!” Suzie turned from the girl. “Wait a minute!”

  The creature stood nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

  “You said the demons escape when another comes willingly?” she said.

  “And your point?” The creature rushed to within inches from her face. “You have something to say, you worthless being!”

  “She did not come here freely. She was a fetus, inside my body. She’s here unwillingly. You cannot hold her in here. You have to let her go!”

  “You came willingly! She was—” Legion’s eyes darted from side to side, “She was collateral damage. It’s your fault she’s here!”

  This was wrong. Suzie could feel it in her bones. The injustice gave her strength to stand up to the monster.

  “No! It’s not my fault. You took her illegally.” Suzie reached up and grabbed the creature’s shoulder. He jerked around and glared viciously into her face. Terror shot through Suzie like a lightning bolt, but she stood still and pushed her chin higher. “You cannot keep her here. She’s just a fetus. You have to let us go!”

  The creature rubbed his chin. “No, I do not. She can go. She may not have come willingly, as you say. But you did. You have to stay.”

  Suzie turned toward her daughter. Love filled her heart like a thousand flowers blooming at once. She had to free her, no matter what. Even—even if it meant she stayed in this God-forsaken place without her. “You have to let her go!” Suzie considered what she was saying. “She was a fetus. My fetus. Now she’s what? A spirit? You can release her spirit and allow her to enter another fetus. She will be carried to full term in another woman’s body.”

  Legion jerked around as if he had heard something behind him, then spun back to face Suzie. “You do not want to let her go. You do not want to be alone.”

  “I do not want her in here! I will stay, but you have to let her go!” Suzie’s eyes rolled up in thought. She remembered the biblical story of Legion and steeled herself before she spoke. “In the name of Jesus, I demand you let my daughter go free!”

  Legion cowered down to all fours. He glanced up but lowered his face again to the ground. A pathetic whimper escaped his lips.

  A white glow appeared far off through the black trees. Suzie lifted her eyes from the pitiful creature to the increasing bright light. It drifted toward her.

  “Momma?” The child pulled at her sleeve.

  Suzie wrapped the child in her arms. She turned back to the growing light. She felt no fear from the approaching illumination. She felt—love, unconditional and complete love. She held her daughter tightly, as the man stepped through the trees and stood before her. His pristine white clothes glowed brightly against all the darkness of this vast nothingness.

  He smiled and held out his arms.

  “Jesus,” she whispered.

  She and her daughter stepped into his embrace. He held them closely and whispered in Suzie’s ear. “I have been with you always. I love you dearly. Throughout your life when you thought you were alone, I was there. When your mother abandoned you, I was there. When your father was abusive, I was there. Now that you are a mother, I am with you and you, dear precious Suzie, you are going to be an amazing mother, because I will be with you through it all.”

  “How did you find me?” Suzie asked as she clung to her savior.

  “You called my name. I will always come.” He smiled and pulled away from the loving embrace. “Now it’s time you return and live the life you were meant to live.”

  They turned to see Legion quivering on the ground.

  “Thank you, Lord.” Suzie squeezed Jesus once more, and stepped away. She glanced down. Her gown was white as snow. She smiled and lifted her eyes to His face. “What do we do?”

  “Take a leap of faith,” Jesus said and tilted his head toward the bottomless hole in the center of the trees.

  Suzie’s eyes followed his gaze toward the hole, “But…”

  She turned back to empty space. Jesus was no longer standing before her. She swallowed hard and squeezed her daughter. Then she slowly walked over to the vast opening in the lava-black ground. “I love you!” she whispered in the little girl’s ear.

  “I love you too.” Her daughter smiled at her.

  Suzie looked into the immensity of the hole. “I trust you, Jesus,” she said then turned to her daughter. “We can do this. Chin up! Let’s go.”

  She took a deep breath as if she were about to jump into a swimming pool. She stepped out and fell through the hole.

  *

  “Oh! You wonda off. Hea you eggroe. You eat now.” The elderly oriental lady held out a wax pleated envelope holding the hot eggroll. Suzie looked down at the golden dragon in her hands. She removed the key from the golden dragon’s base and slid it back
between the branches of the bentwood cage. She sat the dragon inside the cage and closed the door.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she turned to the merchant. “Thank you for frying this fresh for me—and my baby.” Tears filled her eyes.

  “I’m having a girl!” she announced and hugged the lady. “And, it’s my birthday!” She wiped her tears with the tips of her fingers.

  “Wonderful!” The old woman smiled and wiped her eyes too. “You be good momma.”

  “Yes, I will. With Jesus all things are possible.” Suzie accepted the eggroll and poured out her change into the woman’s cupped palm.

  Buddy’s money would be returned. Suzie laughed, took a bite of the eggroll, and inhaled air to cool the hot vegetables in her mouth. “Oh, dat’s hot!” Suzie laughed again. “Thank you. Thank you so much!” She parted the beaded curtain and exited through the screen door of the Oriental Market.

  “You welcome.” The woman called to her back, “both of you.”

  The Vow ~ Lynn Donovan

  When Truth betrothed Coleman Walsenburg, she solemnly vowed two things—never would she return to her people, and never would she tell their offspring why. With her enemy attacking the castle, she would do both. And if possible, she’d do it without breaking her greater vow.

  “Tina, darling,” Truth whispered, lifting her daughter into her arms. “Sweetheart, wake up.”

  Justina moaned and blinked sleep laden eyelids. “Mother?”

  “Baby, we must make leave.”

  “Make leave? Make leave to where?” Justina yawned and rubbed balled fists into her eyes.

  “Come. I’ll tell you on the way.” Truth lifted Justina onto her lap and pulled off her bed gown. She replaced it with a simple traveling tunic. Justina swayed while Truth pushed stockings and boots onto her feet. With nimble fingers, she buttoned her daughter’s boots and stood her on her feet. The eight-year-old wobbled before her, eyes still crusty from sleep.

  Justina yawned and stretched one arm over her head. “May I bring baby?” she asked.

  “Of course darling.” Truth reached for the cloth lizard and placed it into her daughter’s arms. Tina snuggled her face into the doll.

  Truth took her daughter’s hand. “We have to be very quiet, you understand?”

  Tina nodded. “Is father coming with us?”

  Truth swallowed the burning grief. “No, sweetheart, your father cannot come with us. It will be just you and me.” Truth forced a calm smile. “Now, we shall play a game. We shall pretend we are sneaky little mice who want to get all the way out of the castle without anyone seeing or hearing us.” She touched her forehead to Tina’s, their eyes aligned. “Yes? If we can get out of the castle without anyone spying us, we get a big surprise outside. Huh? It will be fun!”

  “Sure,” Tina said as another yawn overtook her. “But, why?”

  “A huge surprise awaits you, but only if we can get out of the castle quickly and quietly. No one can know. It is a big secret, darling.”

  “A secret! What is it Mother?” Tina rose on tiptoes.

  “Well.” Truth smiled as a tear moistened her eyes. “Today, you will meet your grandfather—my father, and others too. My uncles and cousins—they are all waiting for us.” She crept toward the servants’ entrance to the bed chamber.

  “Really?” Tina brightened and fell in step with her mother.

  “But we must make haste and we must be quiet. You ready?”

  Tina shrugged.

  Truth glanced around. She touched the ornate bobble that hung from her neck and bit her lip. “Mother just needs to get one thing, then we shall depart.”

  Truth pulled a poker from its stand and gently wedged it between two stones at the front of the fire place. She worked the poker back and forth as mortar fell to the hearth.

  “There,” she said as she returned the iron rod to its stand. Truth pulled the stone with the tips of her fingers. Little by little the stone moved. She gingerly sat the stone on the hearth and reached in to pull out a black leather pouch. She manipulated the pouch to remove it from the hole. For a moment, she held it close to her heart and thanked the heavens it was unharmed.

  She blew years of dust and soot off the pouch and loosened its tie. Tina peeked over her mother’s hands. The opening exposed the head of a golden creature with jade eyes.

  Tina’s pupils dilated as her eyes widened. “What is it, mother?” Tina asked barely above a whisper.

  “It is something I promised never to expose again, but today I must. Come.” She tied the pouch to her waist sash and held her hand out to her daughter.

  Tina placed her hand in her mother’s.

  “Remember—quiet as mice,” Truth said holding her finger to her mouth.

  A loud explosion shook the walls of the castle. Tina jumped. “What was that?” she shrieked, her eyes wide with fear.

  “Perhaps thunder.”

  “Thunder?”

  “Yes darling. Come—quiet as a mouse.” Truth opened the servants’ door and looked up and down the empty corridor. Intermittent torches cast yellow spots of light as the two scurried through the cool, moist stone-walled passageway. Shivers undulated down Truth’s spine as cobwebs clung to her hair and finger tips. She stiffened and closed her eyes to steady her mind and body.

  She glanced at her daughter. Tina held her baby close to her chest and squeezed her mother’s hand. Truth took a deep breath. “It is well, sweetheart. We shall continue.”

  A loud noise rumbled outside of the thick castle walls and shook dirt down over their heads, but they kept creeping farther through the dim-lit hall. Truth stopped abruptly, and Tina slammed into her mother’s backside. A whimper escaped Truth’s mouth as her finger tips quickly passed over the shapes of the stones. “Oh, thank the Alpha-Omega,” she whispered as she pressed her weight against a single stone.

  It sunk into the wall. A series of stones shifted, transforming into an open archway. Tina stared in wonder as the wall became an opening. Truth ducked and pulled her daughter through the little doorway.

  Early rays of dawn and a single morning star lightened the sky. Another enormous explosion reverberated against the outside wall and shook Truth to her core. Tina startled and threw herself against her mother’s side. “That is not thunder, is it?”

  “No, darling, it is not. Make haste, we must get to the borders!”

  “Why, mother? Why to the borders?”

  “My family waits for us there—we will be safe with them.” Glancing along the castle wall, Truth darted across the open lawn into the shadows of the stable.

  “But, why? Why do they not come to us?” Tina asked as Truth pressed her frame against the wooden stable walls.

  “Shhh! I made a solemn vow to your father when we became betrothed.”

  “I do not understand—” Tina said as her mother pulled her along the wall. Musty hay and manure assaulted their noses, and Tina sneezed. Explosions erupted a few yards from the stable. Truth touched the pouch at her side as she sensed the horses’ terror. They whinnied and stamped their hooves. Large brown eyes glared through gapping boards. Truth stilled her own senses and pressed peace toward the horrified beasts.

  Stillness followed until another ear-splitting explosion sent them back into a fearful fury. The horses jerked against their tethered halters. Metal clinked as bridles broke from the animals’ heads.

  The door burst open, and horses darted out of the wooden structure. A dappled grey stallion reared up in front of Truth. She pushed Tina behind her as hooves whished past her protective up-lifted arm. Peace, she pressed her senses to touch the animal’s mind. He landed on his front legs and blew warm air at her skirts. Truth stared at the beast. Her own chest heaved for air. He turned and followed the other horses into the clearing. Truth and Tina ran, hidden among the beasts, toward the outer wall of the castle grounds.

  What once stood as a fortified gate now lay in smoldering rubble. The horses effortlessly leaped over and ran to the woods. Truth lifted Tina ab
ove the red hot embers as they continued to run hidden among the equestrian escape. At the tree line, the horses darted between tree trunks and disappeared across a shallow creek. Truth leaned against a tree and tried to slow her breath.

  Tina collapsed against her feet and sucked in air. “Never before have I run with such haste.” She began to laugh.

  “Nor I.” Truth felt the contagious giggle escape her mouth. “Not in a long, long time.” She bent over and held the stitch in her side.

  Thwrp! An arrow flew over Truth’s back. A gasp squelched her laughter. Fear shot through her like an electrical current during a lightning strike. They found us! Truth’s eyes darted from tree to tree. She pressed her daughter against her. She had to break free of the fear.

  “Run!” she screamed as they leaped into motion and ran between black trunks. Thorn-laden bushes tore at their skirts causing them to hop sideways and jerk their clothes free. Rambling vines caught their boots, causing them to trip, but they continued to run.

  Zing! Arrows arched past them, hitting deep into tree bark or disappearing into underbrush. These were not ordinary arrows. They had come from a greater distance and with much velocity. These arrows reeked of evil magic. It belonged to an evil Truth remembered from her youth but thought had been defeated.

  Sorrow flooded her heart. The man she loved with her entire being lay dead—murdered within his castle. His death was the result of her enemy, not his. She had fooled herself into believing their love and her solemn vow would protect them from the enemy’s determination to destroy her kind. That same enemy pursued her and her daughter, now. She had to make it to the Walsenburg borders. There her people waited. There her vow would not be broken, because she would be released from the sacred oath.

  Searing pain ripped through her arm. “Ugh!” escaped her lips like an exhale. The force pushed her forward and slammed her face into the rotting carpet of leaves and pine needles. Justina screamed and flopped to her mother’s side. Truth rolled over and looked at the source of her anguish. A long arrow protruded from her arm. Blood flowed into her sleeve. Her breath came quickly as the forest swirled above her rolling eyes. A ringing buzz covered over Tina’s hysterical screams.