Whistlestop (16 page)

The ant stood upright on its hind legs
and made a rough bow of its own. “Isolde, I did not recognize you
at first. A blessing on your home as well, and to you, Knight of
Winterpast.”

“
Is that ant talking to
us?” Jerry gasped.

“
Does my voice displease
you, Lord Knight?” the ant replied.

“
Darling Icarus, the knight
is unaware of his past. We have just rescued him from the Emperor
of the Universe. He is a resident of the Empty Realm,” Isolde
explained.

“
Oh my dear,” the ant
replied. “I have heard that ants are treated poorly there, as are
all creatures. I am happy you have been saved, Lord
Knight.”

“
Please just call me
Jerry,” he said, and then tensed when he realized he was speaking
with an insect.

“
Thank you, Jerry. Isolde,
it is always a pleasure, but I must get back to the nest. Be well.”
Icarus hurried forward to catch up to the other ants.

“
That was just amazing!”
Jerry exclaimed. “Talking ants, I can’t even imagine
that.”

She smiled and said, “You haven’t seen
anything yet, Jerry.” She took his hand and pulled him along. They
climbed up a small hill and stood at the top where there were no
trees. He could see the seemingly endless forest all around them.
Four moons sat high up in the sky, illuminating the surroundings.
Far in the distance was the light of a city. Just ahead, perhaps
another half-mile into the forest, a small clearing glowed
brightly. “The town you see in the distance is our home. We will
arrive there tomorrow afternoon.”

“
Is that a fire down there
in the clearing? The glow is very unusual.”

She laughed. “That’s the surprise I
was saving for you.” She took his hand again and pulled him
along.

“
Can I ask another question
while we’re walking?” he asked.

“
I will answer if I can,
Jerry, but let’s keep moving.”

“
Back in my cell, you and
your brother were tiny, and now we’re all the same size. What
happened?”

She stopped suddenly and turned. Jerry
ran straight into her arms and she held him tightly against her.
She nestled her face against his neck. “If I was tiny, I couldn’t
do this.”

“
Isolde, I’m
married.”

She stepped back, took his hand and
pulled him along again. “I was just playing, Jerry. The
relationship between our true sizes is as it was in your cell. You
must remember that I am not a human like you. For us, we can choose
our size to fit our needs. With Simplot and me as tiny creatures,
we would not have been able to be here together and you would not
have seen what you must see.”

“
I’m so
confused.”

“
Just wait!”

As they continued along, they began to
hear strange music. There was a deep bass voice that seemed to be
chanting, and a chorus of soprano voices behind it. It became
louder as they began to see the glow from the clearing ahead. They
were barely twenty feet away when the singing suddenly stopped. As
Jerry reached the edge of the clearing, he gasped and sat heavily
on the ground.

Sitting in the center of the clearing
was a woodland ogre. It held a sheaf of paper and a quill pen, and
an inkwell sat by its side. The sky above the ogre was filled with
hundreds of tiny glowing creatures flittering about on gossamer
wings, circling around the ogre and providing light for it to
write. After a moment, the ogre sniffed the air and shouted, “Who’s
out there?”

Isolde walked into the clearing and
curtsied. “Antoine, a blessing on your home.”

The ogre bowed his head and replied,
“And a blessing on your village, Isolde, but it was not you I
smelled.”

Isolde hurried over to Jerry, pulled
him to his feet and led him toward the ogre, who did not move.
“This is my friend.”

The ogre climbed to his feet and
approached rapidly, saying, “Jeremy Davis Iron-heart, my God, it is
good to see you again!” He grabbed him and held him tight to his
chest. “How long has it been?”

“
Antoine, I’m afraid you
are mistaken,” Isolde noted. “This is not the man you remember at
all. He is his son.”

“
That isn’t possible,
Isolde,” Antoine scoffed as he released Jerry from the bear hug.
“My friend would not be nearly old enough to father a man of this
age.”

“
Antoine, they were exiled
to the Empty Realm, don’t your remember?”

“
I don’t think I ever knew
that,” the ogre replied. “It must indeed be a dark and foreboding
realm to do such things to men.”

“
I actually enjoyed it
there,” Jerry said, but the others ignored him.

“
The facts become more
curious by the moment,” Isolde continued. “We were led to believe
that Moab Iron-heart sent his brother and nephew there, but I no
longer believe that. Why would he send them to such a despicable
place?”

“
It wasn’t that bad,” Jerry
noted, but was ignored again.

“
Do you think the tattooed
demon interceded?” Antoine asked.

“
What do you think?” she
replied.

“
Wait just a minute!” Jerry
shouted. “I’m here too! What are you two talking about?” The flying
creatures were instantly dark, as though frightened by the tone of
Jerry’s voice.

“
Now look what you’ve
done!” Isolde complained.

“
What did I say?” Jerry
asked.

“
Let us all be calm,
friends,” the ogre noted. “What is your given name, Lord
Knight?”

“
Jeremy, like my father,
but most people call me Jerry.”

“
Jerry, please sing,”
Antoine said.

“
Sing?”

“
Like a song, Jerry,”
Isolde interjected.

“
I’m not really much of a
singer,” Jerry mumbled.

“
Then hum a tune. The
fairies love music. I chant my poetry to them and they sing backup
and provide light for my writing,” Antoine replied.

Jerry sang nervously, “Twinkle,
twinkle little star. . .” The fairies lit up and began to circle
his head. “How I wonder what you are.” The fairies began to land on
his clothes until he was completely covered. Suddenly, the tiny
creatures grabbed his clothing and flew up, lifting him from the
ground. “Hey, what’s this?”

Antoine laughed, “They have forgiven
you for frightening them, Jerry. I think they like you.”

“
What happens if they drop
me?” Jerry cried as the creatures lifted him above the tree
tops.

“
Then you’ll fall to the
ground, silly,” Isolde laughed.

“
That doesn’t sound like a
good thing. Can’t either of you help me?” Jerry begged as the
fairies carried him over the treetops and out of sight.

“
Perhaps you should follow
him, Isolde,” Antoine suggested.

She frowned and said, “I was hoping to
hear your poetry.”

“
First of all, the fairies
provided the light. Second, Jerry is your guest, Isolde, and you
have a duty to make certain he is safe.”

“
Do you really think the
fairies will drop him?”

“
Of course not, but he
could have a heart attack from sheer terror. Please follow
him.”

“
You are correct as always,
Antoine.” She kissed him on the cheek and began to flap her wings.
Soon she too had disappeared over the trees, headed for the glowing
ball of fairies.

“
Well, I suppose it is my
bedtime now,” the ogre sighed. “No more light to write
tonight.”

Jerry calmed down when he saw Isolde
flying alongside the group of fairies. He was beginning to enjoy
their company. They began singing to him shortly after they took
off, and their sweet lullaby was making him very drowsy. The
freshness of the night air and the warmth of the fairy embrace were
too much and he fell asleep. In the distance, several massive trees
glowed in the darkness of night.

A small creek tumbled over the rocky
soil, splitting the dense forest. A rough path was worn through the
undergrowth on both sides of the water, disappearing quickly into
the blackness of the trees. Lydia Amaranths Iron-heart emerged from
the trees and ran toward the creek, and then jumped across it from
bank to bank. She stopped for a second to catch her breath and
shouted, “Pick up the pace boys!” She was wearing her battle armor
and helmet, with a sword and dagger suspended from her belt and a
long bow slung over her shoulder. She turned and rushed back into
the forest.

Little Jeremy Winslow emerged next,
wearing a smaller version of Lydia’s outfit. He was breathing hard
but seemed to be having a wonderful time. He splashed through the
water, and went back and forth another time to see how big a splash
he could make. “Come on, Grandpa, you’re going to lose the race!”
He ran back into the forest.

Twenty seconds later, Jeremy jogged
out of the forest and stopped by the water’s edge. He knelt down
and splashed water on his face and gasped for air. “I’m too old for
this,” he moaned. He sat down and watched the water slipping
by.

Minutes later, Lydia and Jeremy
reemerged from the woods and sat with the elder Jeremy. “Cousin, we
need to train if we are to face the emperor.”

“
Well, it’s going to take
time with me, Lydia,” he puffed. “I haven’t done any training since
Jeremiah brought the ogre to help me.”

“
An ogre trained you to
fight?” she gasped. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“
I want to be trained by an
ogre too!” little Jeremy shouted.

“
Aren’t you feeling younger
since you’ve been here?”

“
Yeah, maybe,” Jeremy
replied. “I don’t know. Back on Earth, people my age are retiring
and moving to warm places to enjoy their last few
years.”

“
Are you dying, Grandpa?”
the boy asked.

“
No! It’s just that I’m not
a young man anymore, Jeremy.”

“
Tell us about the ogre,
Cousin.”

“
Montrose was his name. He
fought alongside Jeremiah and the sprites when the empire invaded
their planet. Jeremiah said no being in the universe can fight hand
to hand better than an ogre.”

Lydia put her hand on the elder
Jeremy’s shoulder and said, “When we get back to Marblehead, I’ll
ask Jeremiah if we can get him here to help you again.”

“
Me too! I want to be
strong like an ogre too.”

“
Okay, you too,” Lydia
laughed.

“
Montrose and I became good
friends. We swore a pact of mutual protection. But I was just a boy
back then. I doubt he remembers me at all.”

“
Ogres never forget,
Cousin,” Lydia replied. “Everybody knows that!”

The elder Jeremy sighed heavily and
said, “It seems I’ve forgotten everything. My memories of Winslow
and Winterpast seem like the shadow of a dream now. How did this
happen to me?”

“
Grandpa, the Evil One took
your memories from you,” his grandson offered.

“
What?”

“
Of course, that makes
perfect sense,” Lydia laughed. “Cousin, it never made sense to me
that my grandfather would send you and your father to a terrible
place like the Empty Realm. That was a death sentence.”

“
What are you two talking
about?” the elder Jeremy asked. “And how do you know anything about
it, Jeremy?”

“
Lilian told me,” the
little boy replied.

“
But she’s not even here,”
he replied.

“
Sometimes I can hear her
talking in my head,” the little boy noted.

“
Ah, she’s a seer then,”
Lydia said. “I guess that stands to reason.”

“
I’m so confused,” the
elder Jeremy sighed.

“
I know you’ve been lost in
the Empty Realm for a long time, Cousin, so let me explain,” Lydia
began. “The Seers of Asterpast are the strength of the knights.
They see the past and future with amazing clarity, while our
weapons and strength protect them and fight for good. It’s an ideal
partnership. When the angels cemented the relationship by marrying
into both, it became a permanent bond. Your offspring and those of
Arthur Simple Truth are the key to everything the emperor
fears.”

“
Grandma’s an angel?”
Jeremy gasped.

“
Shush, that’s just between
us, okay?” his grandfather replied.

“
Don’t you see, Cousin? My
grandfather would have never sent you to the Empty Realm. More
likely, he would have sent you to the elves or even the ogres.
Either of them would have fought to the death to protect you. I
have never believed he would have sent you there, and now I am
certain of it. He whose name must not be spoken did this! It all
makes sense now.”

“
Honestly Cousin, I don’t
know what to believe anymore. All of this seems too bizarre. I
think I’ll just sit here a bit and let my mind clear,” Jeremy
sighed. The boy and woman sat next to him and watched the water
tumbling over stones in the river.

As they sat near the gurgling stream,
something odd began to occur. The wind changed direction and became
quite cool and the river water began to swirl into an eddy in the
center of the flow. Lydia spotted the movement first, jumped to her
feet and drew both of her blades. Little Jeremy was helping his
grandfather to his feet as the swirl began to rise like a funnel
above the surface. “Get back into the woods!” Lydia
shouted.