Whistlestop (18 page)

Jerry woke with a start. He seemed to
be inside a tree, as though a bird had found a hollow in a large
tree and built a nest inside. Hundreds of tiny sleeping creatures
surrounded him. He rolled over and found Isolde lying next to him.
He was comforted by her presence, but somehow felt uneasy with her
body pressed against him. “Don’t worry, Lord Knight,” a voice said
from behind him. He rolled over again and saw a tiny female fairy
standing next to his head. She may have been four inches tall,
assuming he was still his normal height. She was quite pretty with
long platinum hair and blue-green eyes. “We would never injure a
Knight of Winterpast, my lord, and certainly not the Chosen One,”
the fairy said, bowing deeply.

“
Who are you and what is
this place?”

The fairy smiled, curtsied and said,
“I am Constance Bittermore, a humble fairy, and this is our home, a
minor tree on an insignificant planet for one such as you, Lord
Knight.”

“
Constance, please just
call me Jerry. And what do you mean when you say ‘Chosen
One’?”

“
You’re kidding, right?”
the fairy replied. Jerry shook his head. “Oh dear, oh dear, this is
indeed a quandary then. Yet you are a friend of the sprite and the
ogre, correct?”

“
I suppose so.”

“
You are Jeremy Davis
Iron-heart III of Winslow, right?”

“
No, he is my
son.”

“
Oh dear, oh dear,” the
fairy replied. “You are in great danger, Jeremy Davis Iron-heart
II.”

Another fairy interjected, “He may
still be the Chosen One, Connie!”

“
Perhaps Isadora,”
Constance began, “but our legends tell us that the grandchildren of
angels shall lead us to defeat the evil that lives.”

“
My son is just a boy,
Constance. Certainly the future of the universe doesn’t rest in the
hands of an eight year old boy?”

“
That is not up to us to
decide, Lord Knight,” the tiny woman replied.

“
I disagree!” Isolde
interjected. Jerry could feel her pressed against him as she
continued; “Now we have three generations of the Knights of
Winterpast who have escaped the Empty Realm to reclaim their place
in the universe. As surrogates for the angels, it is our duty to
support the father, the son and the grandson. Any one of them could
be our salvation. I know I only speak for myself, but I will
sacrifice myself for any Jeremy Davis Iron-heart!”

“
We too pledge our lives to
the knights, Lady Isolde,” Isadora noted, “however, we are tiny
compared to the Chosen Ones and even to you in your natural state.
We have no weapons and live in peace with all
creatures.”

Isolde hopped over Jerry and
approached the fairy Constance. She was now her normal height, but
still much larger than the fairies. “Who is to say what any of us
can do to help the knights? I believe when the time comes we will
know what to do. We have to have faith that the angels will guide
us.”

“
Pardon me, Lady Isolde,
but the angels will not intercede in this struggle,” Isadora
interjected as she approached the other two. Jerry watched in
amazement as the fairies and sprite argued about his future in this
surreal setting. “It is not their way. They believe the inherent
good in all creatures will ultimately save the
universe.”

“
You mean my mother won’t
even try to save me?” Jerry winced.

The three ladies turned to him,
seemingly unaware that he had been listening. “Please don’t think
badly of her for that, Jerry,” Constance noted. “They simply have a
different view of life and death, which is easy to understand from
immortals. They have nothing to lose.”

“
I can’t believe my ears!”
Isolde shouted, and it instantly became very dark as the fairies
dimmed. “We can’t win without their help. They’re sentencing all of
us to horrible deaths due to their higher morality. That isn’t
fair!”

“
Isolde, you need to calm
down,” Jerry replied. “You’ve frightened the fairies.”

“
I’m sorry,” Isolde moaned.
She began to sing a sprite folk song. Soon the light returned and
hundreds of sprites flew about the chamber. A loud pounding on the
trunk of the tree scattered the fairies who darkened again. Isolde
stumbled as the tree shook and fell on top of Jerry.

“
Jerry, are you in there?”
shouted Montrose’s voice from outside. Jerry hurried over to the
open knothole and looked down. Montrose and Simplot stood on the
ground a hundred or more feet below him. They were smiling up at
him. “Ah, there you are. This is the fifth fairy tree we’ve
checked. It’s time to go.”

Jerry looked around and found this
huge tree was part of a large stand of giant trees. The canopies
were another a hundred feet or more over his head. Clouds of
fairies flew among the branches of the trees, looking almost like
opalescent blooms. Beyond this stand, the normal forest stretched
out to the horizon. “How do I get down?” he called out.

“
Same way you got up there,
Jerry!” boomed the response.

A bright dot appeared, stretched into
a line and then expanded into a two dimensional view of Angelina,
Lilian and Jeremy, standing and holding hands. They expanded into
the third dimension and stood on a quiet street. The light was
intensely bright, giving everything a blurry appearance, as if
looking at the world through frosted glass. “What is this place,
Grandma?” Lilian asked as she covered her eyes. “It’s so
bright.”

Angelina put her hands over the
children’s eyes for a moment and then removed them. The glare was
gone. They were standing on the sidewalk of what appeared to be a
small Midwestern town. The narrow street was lined with tall trees,
whose limbs reached out and met over the middle of the roadway,
allowing only random streaks of sunlight to reach the ground.
Modest homes lined the road, set back by large front lawns of
well-manicured grass. “This is the town where my parents
live.”

“
Why are we here? They
never came to visit us,” Lilian complained.

“
It’s a bit complicated,
honey,” Angelina noted as she began walking down the sidewalk,
pulling the children along with her. “Your great grandfather is a
very busy man, and his job requires him to be here all the
time.”

“
This doesn’t look like a
place where they train knights, Grandma,” Jeremy noted. “It looks
like a regular town. Are we back in San Diego? Can we go home
now?”

“
I’m afraid not, Jeremy,”
Angelina replied. “We need to stay here a while so you can be safe
and go to school and learn.”

“
School!” the two children
moaned in unison.

“
Yes, but not like your old
school. This will be knight school and seer school. You both need
to help your parents, but as children, there isn’t much you can
do.”

Lilian froze in place, almost causing
Angelina to stumble. “How long are we going to be here,
Grandma?”

She knelt next to her granddaughter
and hugged her tightly. “Honey, there’s no choice. You and Jeremy
have to learn and remain safe. My father says this is the way it
has to be. It’s the only way he will help you and your parents.”
She stood and walked over to a small gate in a short picket fence
and pulled it open. A stone walkway led up to a short set of steps
onto a broad porch that wrapped around the entire front of the two
story brick home. A wicker couch and two rocking chairs sat on the
porch. As the group began up the walkway, the front door opened and
an older woman wearing a gingham dress and apron and stepped out. A
small white dog raced out past her and headed toward them, yipping
happily. The woman looked very much like Angelina, except her face
was finely lined and her short hair was silver. She smiled broadly.
“Hi, Mom!” Angelina called out.

“
I’m glad you three made it
here safely,” the woman said. “I just made some coffee, lemonade
and cookies if anyone is hungry.”

The small dog puts its front paws up
on Lilian’s legs and whimpered. “What’s her name, Grandma?” she
asked.

“
That’s Chachis. She’s been
my parents’ dog forever. Pick her up; she won’t bite.” Lilian
picked the dog up and it licked her face. “Let your brother play
with her too, okay?” Angelina led the children onto the porch and
hugged her mother. “Thanks for your help, Mom. This is Jeremy and
Lilian.”

The woman knelt down and hugged each
of the children. “You should just call me Nana. That’s a lot easier
than great grandmother. Besides, that makes me sound old. Do you
want some cookies?” Both children nodded enthusiastically. “Come on
inside. This is going to be your new home for a while.”

After passing through the front
entrance, they stood in a small foyer. A narrow wooden staircase
led upstairs. A pair of pocket doors on the left led into the
living room. The hallway continued straight ahead to the back door,
some twenty feet ahead of them. Several other doors led off the
hall along the way. The walls were covered with bright wallpaper
which was offset by the dark hardwood floors, doorjambs, and corner
molding. A large chandelier provided light, along with the long
glass panels on either side of the double door. “Follow me to the
kitchen.” They walked down the hallway to the last doorway on the
right before the back door. “The last door we passed leads to a
bathroom if anyone needs one.” She opened the kitchen door and they
stepped inside. The kitchen was very open and bright, with large
windows overlooking a lush garden and large backyard. The front
porch wrapped all the way around one side and the back of the
house. The kitchen floor was stone. The cabinets were painted
bright white, and many had glass doors, displaying fine china and
wine bottles. The appliances were stainless steel, and a rack of
pans was suspended from the twelve foot ceiling, which seemed to
glow with light without any fixtures. A large table sat across from
the main cooking area. A pitcher of iced lemonade, along with the
plate of cookies, and several glasses and smaller plates sat there.
“Help yourselves, Jeremy and Lilian. Our home is your
home.”

The children rushed over to the table
and began to grab cookies. Angelina leaned toward her mother and
whispered, “Where’s Dad?”

“
He is out on the back
porch, honey. I’ll take care of the kids now. You should go talk to
him.”

Angelina walked back into the hallway
and then out the back door. The backyard was lined with poplar
trees which swayed gently in the warm breeze. There was something
odd about the back yard. It was difficult to see the end of it. The
more one would focus on the properties next door, the less visible
they became. To her left, Emmanuel Peace sat quietly on a long
wicker sofa with his eyes closed. He was still a handsome man with
a gray beard and mustache. There was a glass of lemonade on the
small side table next to him. She walked softly, trying not to
disturb him, which suddenly struck her as foolhardy. She sat next
to him and looked out into the garden.

After a few moments, the man said,
“Welcome home, Angie.” His eyes remained closed.

“
This house is an
interesting choice, Dad.”

He opened his startlingly blue eyes
and turned his head to see her. “I thought this would seem most
normal. Why, is something wrong?”

“
No, no, it’s fine. And
thanks again for sending Chachis to Earth to help my son with the
cats.”

“
Don’t thank me. That was
her idea.”

“
Do you want to come inside
and meet Jeremy and Lilian?”

“
In a few minutes, right
now I want to spend some time with my little girl,” he replied,
taking her hand in his. “How are you feeling, sweetheart? It must
be difficult knowing that your husband and son are in such mortal
danger?”

“
Yes, but I know your way
is best.”

“
You never were a good
liar, Angie. You must remember that you chose Jeremy Davis
Iron-heart, a mortal human, to be your husband. Pain, heartbreak,
danger and death are the cost of that existence. So it has always
been and will always be,” Emmanuel noted. “Every one of them chose
that plane of existence for their own reasons. Who am I to make
choices for them?”

“
I just don’t understand
why you allow Linger to interfere then. Shouldn’t it cut both
ways?”

“
That boy has made some
seriously bad choices which ultimately will be his downfall. You
can be assured of that! It is even possible that his own
immortality may fade as he interacts directly with mortal
beings.”

“
But that could affect
Sadie and me, then?”

Emmanuel leaned over and kissed her
cheek. “I doubt that, honey. You and your sister have given them
life and love, while my nephew only brings terror and death. I do
not know for certain, but I would have to imagine that every life
he takes will chip away at his immortality.”

“
You really believe
that?”

“
I don’t know. It’s just a
theory your brothers and I have been tossing around. It’s possible
that the sum total of mortal life in the universe is insufficient
to have any effect. But let’s not get involved in too much
speculation. Take me to meet my great grandchildren!”