Chapter 2

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Raccoon squeezed between Ghost and Stream Jumper to get a closer look at the fire.  “D’you think he’d actually shoot him?”

“Surely not,” Ghost whispered.

“No!” Diamondback said at the same time.  Then he continued more quietly.  “Unole will be fine.” 

Like the others there, Diamondback referred to David by his Cherokee name.  Ghost and the members of his pack did the same when they were with the others.  Among themselves and within their own minds, though, he was David.  Each of them, like him, had worn both names in life, but David was the one that felt most right.  Even their Cherokee mother, who named them Unole for the storm that raged during their birth, had called them by the white name.

Diamondback continued, “The little brothers, they’ve always had tempers.  But they do not kill Spirit Walkers.”

 

The end was near, Morning Star hoped.  After they got another table, god after god had spoken, each outlining what he and his followers had to offer in the invasion.  Finally the last one had his say.

“Thank you, Oblion,” Logram said.  He turned to Morning Star.  “What do you think?”

Sounds of disgust came from the gathered gods.  They made no secret of their contempt for Morning Star.  Even at the height of his glory, he’d only been an angel.  They were gods.   They all looked down their noses at him, as much physically as metaphorically.  They were all in their world-walking forms.  At six feet, he was half the size of the shortest of them.

“I think, if you proceed with the attack, you’re all going to die.”

He enjoyed the uproar that ensued.  Eventually, Logram got them settled down again, more by threat of violence than anything else.

“Explain, Lucifer.”

Morning Star laughed.  “I would.  But there is so much wrong with those plans, we’d be here all night.”  He fixed Logram with a teasing gaze.  “And I have better things to do this evening.”

Logram laughed.  “That, you do.”  He wrapped Morning Star’s small, white hand in his huge, coal-black one.  “Tell me your major concerns.”

“First, you need to wait at least another century.”

“Too long,” Logram said, shaking his head.

“This is not the kind of invasion you rush into,” Morning Star said.  “Wait.  Otherwise you won’t be able to count on The Spirits Under the Mountain being in a position to join you.”

“Is there nothing you can do to speed their release?” Logram asked.

“I’ve done what I could,” Morning Star said.  “But that mountain was brought down on them by their leader, using spirit magic. I’ve loosened the rock considerably.  But the spell, they must unbind, themselves.”

“We could win without them,” Blatok said.

Morning Star laughed.  

“We could win!” Gall said.

“You do not understand the nature of layered worlds,” Morning Star said.  “You could attack the topmost layer, yes.  But the majority of souls on Earth are not bound to that layer, but to the ones beneath.  While you fought at the top, they would wage war on you from beneath, beyond your grasp.  You need the spirits to open those layers and make the souls vulnerable.  Then you could stomp them like as many ants.”  He ran his eyes over the gathered gods.  “Wait for The Spirits.  Otherwise, the souls will defeat you, just as they did the last time you attacked my father’s realm.  And this time, they might not be in a mood to let you retreat.”

“We did not retreat,” Logram growled.  “We disengaged.”

Actually, as Morning Star remembered it, they’d run away, but they became violent when anyone pointed that out.

“Delaying would give you more time to study the nature of the souls and their powers,” Morning Star said.

“Spirits… souls…” Gall spat.  “They are abominations.  Just like angels.”

A corner of Morning Star’s mouth lifted.  “Perhaps,” he said.  “And perhaps we are Creation’s new models, a correction of the many errors clearly made in the long-ago formation of the gods.”

“Watch yourself, little one,” Logram said.  He leaned closer to Morning Star, looking into his eyes.  “Do you give me your oath that The Spirits Under the Mountain, once free, will join forces with us?”

Morning Star gazed into Logram’s obsidian eyes, supremely conscious of the power there.  “I do, my lord.”

Logram nodded, his eyes still locked with Morning Star’s.  He straightened and ran his eyes over the gods.  “We wait.”

The gods exploded, cursing and yelling.

“That… thing… is not to be trusted!” Voran said, pointing at Morning Star.

“Voran!” Logram roared.  The table, the floor and the palace shook.  The entire planet shook.

The gods fell silent. 

Voran, on the receiving end of Logram’s dark glare, clearly needed a moment to compose himself.  Finally he fixed hateful eyes on Morning Star.  “I am–”

“I am sorry, my lord,” Morning Star said through his prettiest pout, ignoring Voran as he fixed liquid eyes on Logram.  He spoke so quietly that only Logram could hear.  “I do not want an insincere apology.  It would pain me even more greatly than the words that came before.”

Logram looked from Morning Star to Voran, third-in-command of his realm.  “I am sorry, Voran,” he said.  “Lucifer does not accept your apology.”  He raised his hand and sent a blue-black stream of energy into Voran’s breast.  Voran exploded in a brilliant spray of black, reminding Morning Star of how it looked when oil drillers on Earth hit a gusher.  Morning Star delicately brushed a strand of Voran from his white tunic.  “Thank you, my lord,” he said quietly.  “You are too good to me.”

“I know.”

 

Lake Dweller stopped in mid-song, cocking his head to the side.  A slow smile claimed his lips.  He giggled and pointed, and a portal appeared, shimmering red in the night.  It was shaped like a carousel horse.  He leapt from the branch and disappeared into the portal, taking it with him.

The others were accustomed to Lake Dweller’s odd comings and goings.  As the first Spirit-Walker, he clearly had powers the others didn’t—such as the ability to make portals wherever and whenever he chose.  Given the timing, they didn’t think this was a random departure.  More likely The Spirit had summoned him.

For most of them, Ghost included, The Spirit was a far-off presence, along the lines of a never-met living legend.  Evidently he never left his sanctuary on the other side of the Forbidden Forest.  In all the years since Ghost had died on Earth and come to The Place of the Spirit Walkers, the only ones who’d had direct contact with The Spirit were Lake Dweller and Diamondback, and the latter didn’t spend any more time in The Spirit’s Sanctuary than he had to.  They were all sure it was The Presence of The Spirit that made Lake Dweller crazier as the years went by.

 

A twig cracked in the forest behind Mark.  David watched him fight the instinct to turn and investigate.

“Wolves,” David said.  “I think they don’t like the gun bein’ on me like this.”

“Well, that’s their problem,” Mark said, clearly working to make his aspect fit the words.

“I don’t want them to get you, Mark,” David said.  “If you’re hell-bent on shootin’ me, we maybe oughtta do it somewhere else.”

“I’ll shoot you wherever and whenever I want to!”

“I’m just sayin’ here and now wouldn’t be your smartest choice,” David said.  He worked to project a sense of calm.  He was sure the wolves had sensed his turmoil at having Mark level the gun at him.  He hoped if he ignored the gun and acted as if everything were all right, they would go away.

“Anyway, I miss Kitty.   I love her.  I always will.  But I have been a good husband to Robin.  I have tried to love her.  But she’s mean and spiteful, and a loose woman on top of that.”

“Liar!”

“You don’t believe me, ask Leaf.  Ask Silver.  They’ve both had her in the time we been married, and God only knows how many others there’ve been.  And in that same time, I been with nobody else, Mark.  Nobody but Robin.”

“Maybe she wouldn’t have had to be with them if you’d have took better care of her.”

David laughed.  “I don’t think any man could make that woman happy.  But seein’ how it means this much to you, well, you just go ahead and give it a try.”

“I ain’t after her.”

 “You wanted her from the day you first saw her.  I know you been feelin’ guilty for that, but don’t.  You can’t help how you feel.  I don’t blame you for wantin’ her.  She’s a beautiful woman and downright likable, from a distance. ”

“Shut up!”

“God knows, I had no clue what I was gettin’ into, when I married her.  I appreciate that you haven’t acted on your desires.  And it’s prob’ly a good thing for you, ‘cause I’d hate to see her tear you up like she’s done to me.”

“Not another word!”

“But if you think you can do better’n me with her, then by all means, get to it.  ‘Cause at this point, when it comes to makin’ her happy, I have come to realize I need all the help I can get.”

“I know what you’re doing!” Mark said.  “You think if you keep talking long enough, I’ll forget how bad I wanna kill you.”

“Is it workin’?” David asked, his expression one of exaggerated hope.

The hint of a smile played at the corner of Mark’s mouth.  He clamped his teeth on his lips and stopped it.  “No!”  Fresh tears glistened in his eyes.  “I love you, David,” he said.  “Thing is, I don’t care if them wolves do eat me.  I got no life without you, anyway.”