Whistlestop (15 page)

Simplot stopped talking as they
approached the woods. The gravel path became dirt as it curved
around massive trees. Simplot’s head swiveled back and forth as he
searched the area for ogre signs. While the ogres of the plains
were used to more interaction with the sprites, the woodland ogres
resisted all contact. They lived on the wildlife they could capture
and the small vegetable patches they maintained near their huts in
clearings throughout the forest. They typically wore leather armor
and carried a spear and a hunting bow. “We must be as quiet as
possible here,” Simplot whispered.

“
Why did we come this way,
Simplot?” Jerry asked in a hushed voice. “Why didn’t we arrive in
your village?”

The sprite whispered, “Because the elf
named on the blade suggested it.”

“
Jeremiah knows I’m
here?”

A branch cracked somewhere to their
right out in the thick trees. Simplot raised his hand to stop the
others and then pointed in the direction of the sound. They could
see only trees and rotting logs. Heavy moss covered the ground and
the sunlight was dappled as it tried to push its way to the forest
floor. They stood frozen for a minute or two, waiting to see if
anything was moving. Finally, Simplot signaled for them to walk
slowly forward. The group continued into the wood for another mile
when they came upon a small creek flowing across their trail.
Simplot motioned for Jerry and Isolde to wait near the trees while
he walked forward slowly to look for ogres or wild beasts by the
river. He went down to the water’s edge, looking each way for signs
of danger. After a moment, he signaled for the others to join him.
“Thankfully, the river is only an inch or two deep right now, but
that could change at any time. I recommend we cross as quickly as
possible and get back into the woods.” Jerry and Isolde nodded and
then the three began crossing the shallow water. By the time they
reached the center of the stream, the water was a foot deep. Afraid
it might be deepening, they hurried their pace. They reached the
shore and relaxed. Simplot even smiled. Suddenly, water was pouring
over their feet. They looked upstream and could see a three foot
wave headed their way. “Run for your lives!” Simplot shouted and
they took off for the bank which was twenty feet in front of them.
Their pace slowed as the river rose and they finally collapsed on
the bank just as the crest of the wave crossed their path and sped
downstream. “That was close.”

“
What caused that wave?”
Jerry said between gasps for air.

“
Probably an ogre dam
upstream overflowed,” Isolde said. “But that’s the least of our
problems right now.” Simplot and Jerry stared back confusedly. A
low guttural growl filled the air.

Ten yards in front of them where the
road reentered the forest stood a huge wild boar, unlike anything
Jerry had seen or imagined on Earth. It was easily as tall as them
at the withers and its mouth was full of dagger-like fangs. While
he was terrified, Jerry could not help but wonder if the beast was
that huge or if he had been shrunk down. The beast started to move
forward, growling and making biting motions with its mouth. The
three stood in formation so the boar would have to pick one target,
while the others could attack it. Simplot was on Jerry’s left and
Isolde was on his right. They brandished their weapons menacingly.
Jerry looked at his blade and wondered if the boar had noticed its
petite size. Jerry growled and waved his dagger, mimicking the
sprites. The beast charged, headed straight for Jerry. After four
steps, it launched itself into the air, fangs at the ready. Jerry
knew he was watching his own death approach. Next, he heard an odd
whizzing sound and felt something touch his left ear. A large arrow
shot in front of him and pierced the boar’s skull between the eyes,
killing it instantly. Isolde pulled Jerry by the shoulder and the
dead beast landed two feet past where he had been
standing.

Simplot was helping his sister and the
knight to their feet when a huge roar of laughter filled the area.
They looked back across the river and saw a woodland ogre holding
its sides and laughing. It slung its bow over its back and began to
cross the river. It was a giant, at least twice as tall as they. It
looked human, although its forearms were long enough to help it
walk, like a gorilla. It was wearing leather armor and boots. It
had little body hair, except a long beard and waist-length chestnut
hair pulled back into a tangled ponytail. Simplot bowed deeply and
the other two followed suit. “Brave ogre, a blessing on your house
for saving us.”

“
My pig!” the ogre
bellowed.

“
Of course, noble ogre,”
Simplot said, bowing again.

The ogre sat on the gravel next to the
dead boar so he could see the others better. “Bad memory, you
forget.”

“
I’m sorry?” Simplot
asked.

“
We fight Axis. You, me,
Jeremiah. You save Bastion. Me remember, you forget.”

“
Montrose?” Simplot
gasped.

The ogre laughed again and nodded his
head. Simplot dropped his sword and jumped onto the ogre’s lap,
wrapping his arms around the massive neck. “My God, what a
wonderful surprise this is, old friend.” He groaned as the ogre
hugged him back. After the ogre released him, Simplot continued,
“This is my sister, Isolde, and this is a Knight of
Winterpast.”

“
Jeremy Davis Iron-heart,
me know,” Montrose said. “I help you save my son.”

“
Your son?” Jerry
replied.

“
Montrose, you were a
farmer. Why did you move back into the woods?”

“
Montrose lost everything.
Farm burned to ground. Wife and baby killed by emperor. My Bartok
taken away. Montrose had to escape ghosts of past. Forest keeps
mind working. No time for memories. Now God brings Jeremy. We all
go rescue son now.”

“
There is much to be done,
old friend. You know the emperor will come looking for Jeremy, so
we cannot stay very long. We don’t know where your son could be, so
that could take some time.”

“
Jeremy angelseed. He will
know where to find Bartok. I have faith.”

“
Montrose, I don’t know how
to find your son, but I swear I will do my best. Right now, I don’t
even know where my family is,” Jerry noted.

The ogre patted Jerry on the head and
replied, “Try best any of us can do, Jerry.” He turned to Simplot
and asked, “No need leave Bastion now, right?”

“
No, but we have to be gone
before the emperor decides to come looking for us. You know his
advisor likely knows where we are already.”

“
Montrose knows tattooed
demon took son, Simplot.”

Jerry started to speak, but Simplot
motioned for him to be quiet. “Jerry, the name of the demon must
never be spoken. I know you have met him and he has pretended to be
your friend, but believe me, he is the ultimate source of evil in
the universe.”

“
Really?” Jerry
squeaked.

“
Him really bad, Jerry,”
Montrose noted. The ogre stood and flung the boar over his
shoulder. “Come, we all go my house and eat pig, drink whisky,
laugh and sing, then pass out. Like good old days.”

Hours later, Simplot and Montrose had
passed out from the food and drink. Isolde and Jerry moved to the
opposite side of the bonfire to escape the ogre’s loud snoring.
Jerry looked at his new friend and realized that she was quite
pretty. During the day, her skin glowed brightly, making her
features difficult to see clearly, but the glow had dimmed with
nightfall. Her eyes were very light blue and her smile open and
warm. “Tell me about your home on Earth, Lord Knight.”

“
Please just call me Jerry,
Isolde,” he replied. “Until the Emperor of the Universe appeared in
my son’s bedroom, I was just a regular guy working for a nutty
boss.” He sighed heavily. “I loved that life. My wife is wonderful
and my children are a joy. Now, I don’t even know where they are.
It seems so long since I’ve held them in my arms. I just hope
they’re okay.”

“
If they are with the
elves, they will be fine, Jerry. Huh, I really like your name
Jerry. Are you certain I am not offending you with my
familiarity?”

“
No, you are definitely not
offending me.” He looked around at the dark forest surrounding
them. “Do you think we’re safe here? Aren’t there more boars and
ogres out there?”

She touched his shoulder and put her
other hand on the hilt of her sword. “I’ll protect you, Jerry, and
if worse comes to worst, we’ll hide behind Montrose.”

Jerry laughed. “Can I ask you
something that’s been bothering me?” She nodded. “I’ve heard your
brother and others using the words demonseed and angelseed. Simplot
and Montrose even said I was angelseed. What does that
mean?”

“
You honestly don’t know
what those words mean?” she asked. He shook his head slowly. “Wow!
The Empty Realm really is primitive, isn’t it?”

“
Perhaps, but frankly, this
place seems more primitive with swords and axes for weapons and
emperors and the like.”

“
We prefer to think of our
societies as post-modern, if you don’t mind,” she replied. “But
that’s a subject for another discussion. Angelseed and demonseed,
okay, let me try to make this simple. Everything in life is about
choices, Jerry, and the most important choices we make are between
good and evil.”

“
That seems pretty
simplistic,” Jerry interrupted.

“
Well, it may seem simple,
but everything we see and do is set in a complicated realm with
lots of others choosing and events occurring randomly. No one ever
wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Okay, I’m going to be evil from
now on.’ It’s more like we start moving in a good or bad direction
and that movement creates momentum and before we realize, we have
moved quite far from where we thought we were headed. On top of
that, we all are made from the elements of good and evil. In
essence, we are all angelseed and demonseed. Ideally, we are evenly
split between the two, which allows our own free will to lead us
one way or another.”

“
But why am I called
angelseed? No one has called me demonseed.”

“
I was just getting to that
part.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry to
interrupt.”

“
Then stop already,” she
laughed. “I said that ideally we are all split evenly, but that
rarely happens. If the inhabitants of the Upper and Lower Realms
would stay away, perhaps we could all eventually be evenly split,
but they don’t. From time to time, they will come to our worlds and
become lovers and spouses of our people. Their offspring are
heavily weighted toward good or evil. Imagine a bell shaped curve
of all sentient life in the universe, with the left and right tails
being purely good or evil. The vast majority of beings are almost
evenly split and their lives are their own to choose. Those on the
fringes have a close connection to the Upper or Lower Realm, and
their lives almost never stray from their primary
characteristic.”

“
So, someone in my family
was an angel?” Jerry asked with a look of disbelief on his
face.

“
Absolutely!” she exclaimed
and then giggled.

“
You have to be joking,
right?” She frowned at him and stood up. “Who then?”

“
What makes you think I
know or would tell you anyway, Lord Knight!” she shouted and turned
to walk away.

Jerry jumped to his feet and chased
after her, took her hand and spun her around and held her
shoulders. “I’m sorry, Isolde. I did not mean to insult
you.”

She leaned in and kissed his lips very
lightly. “You are forgiven, but I cannot tell you what you wish to
know. When the elf asked us to rescue you, he said you were
angelseed, but we honestly don’t know any more than
that.”

“
I guess we should get some
sleep, Isolde.”

“
Don’t be a stick in the
mud, Jerry. Let’s take a walk in the woods. They are a magical and
mysterious place at night.”

“
What about the
danger?”

She took his hand and pulled him
toward the trees and said, “I’ll protect you, Jerry. Come on, it’ll
be fun.”

After walking for a few minutes, the
glow of the bonfire behind them had faded out of sight. Isolde’s
eyes glowed and helped to illuminate the forest floor. They
continued onward for some time, and passed a few clearings where
rough huts had been built by other woodland ogres. Plumes of smoke
rose from stone chimneys and the unmistakable sound of snoring
issued from each. Just ahead, it seemed like a long glowing pearl
necklace stretched across their path. When they were a few feet
away, Isolde squatted down and pulled Jerry along with her. The
pearls were actually ants, with glowing and swollen abdomens. They
were carrying leaves and other plant material on their backs toward
their nest somewhere in the dense forest. On the outside of the
line, larger all black soldier ants watched for danger. They were
each three inches long and had front claws like a lobster. One of
the guards began to move toward them, snapping its pinchers
noisily.

Isolde stood and pulled Jerry up with
her, and then she curtsied and pulled Jerry into a low bow.
“Soldier ant, a blessing on your home this fine night. We mean no
harm.”