Courage (9 page)

“Shh. Yes you can. You need to relax first. Roxie is your world. You can help her.”

Eve caught a breath between heavy sobs. “I’ve been understanding and accepting all these years up to the day Aerigo took her away.” More sobs wracked her elderly body. “There was nothing I could do to change what lay in store for her, no way to protect her myself.” She cried some more.

Baku gently rocked Eve in his arms. “You nurtured Roxie into a strong, courageous, and good person. You have given her essential tools for her survival and success. You share her strength and courage. Eve, you can find the bond again. Please try.”

“I’m afraid to. I don’t want to fail again.”

“You can’t have courage without fear. You can’t have success without failure. Roxie wouldn’t want you to give up so fast.”

Eve struggled with her tears before she managed to whisper, “You’re right.” She took a deep breath, then let go of Baku’s arms. “Let me go compose myself.”

Baku let go. She got up, still crying, and headed into the hallway bathroom and closed the door behind her. Baku took his seat at the table and waited patiently. Mortal minutes didn’t matter right now.

Ten minutes later, Eve returned to the table, eyes red, but otherwise calm. Her body was stiff with tension, but she didn’t let it hinder her. She took her seat and held her hands out across the table. Baku took them and once more guided her mind towards the bond to her granddaughter. “Just fair warning: when you feel the weakness of Roxie’s life force, it might make you lose concentration again. I’ll guide you through the steps until you’re able to bypass the reaction. You will succeed at this.”

Eyes closed, Eve said nothing. She radiated fear and determination, and an underlying desperation to help the only family she had. Baku slipped back inside her awareness and took in what she saw. Eve let out a startled gasp when they felt Roxie’s weak life force. Tears squeezed out from between her eyelids and she gritted her teeth, but she held her concentration.

“What do you see?” Baku asked.

“A hospital. White walls, white floors, technology I’ve never seen. Doctors. She’s scared. Aerigo’s scared. Neither of them know what’s going to happen to them. That’s all I can gather.” She stopped concentrating and looked at him with watery eyes. “Can’t you do anything to save them?”

Baku squeezed her hands gently and shook his head. “Even if I did know which world they are on, it doesn’t matter. I can command them, but can’t remove their illness or injuries for them. I could hide them and nothing more.”

“Why can’t you do more?” Her voice was a mixture of disbelief and anger.

“Now you begin to understand why the gods warred so long ago. The laws of design have a balance that doesn’t always seem fair. It’s so complicated to explain, Eve. I’m sorry.”

“But she’s dying! Please do something to save them!”

“Hope for them. They’re in a hospital and in the hands of those who heal. That’s the best possible scenario for this circumstance. You can feel the way along that bond anytime you wish, without my help, and let your granddaughter know you’re there for her and love her.”

Eve pulled away her hands and hugged herself. “And what good will that do?” she said bitterly.

Baku withdrew his own hands and took hold of his plate. “To feel unloved and alone is probably one of the worst feelings in the universe. Roxie went with Aerigo because she loves you and cares about you, and wants to keep you safe from forces she doesn’t know or understand, but knows they exist. To let her know you still support her would give her great strength. Do you understand?”

Eve nodded. “Yes. I will, if I can figure out how to do that bond thing again.”

Baku gave her a warm smile. “I have faith you will. Now eat up. You need all the strength it will give you.”

Chapter 7

Roger waited off to the side of the bathroom door, moving away when he heard the paper towel dispenser getting pumped. After spilling everything to him, he and his uncle had debated endlessly over what to say, if anything, to his advisors. They weighed the pros and cons of telling the truth or saying nothing, in case enough soldiers were being taken to raise questions inside the military. Such conversation was delicate. They were walking a fine line between being honest and being thrown in the loony bin.

President Alcadere popped out of the bathroom and started walking down the hall. He looked down and licked his lips and frowned. “I’ve gotten a few messages that other soldiers are being deployed for vague reasons. One of them is Admiral Reginald Whitman, who wants to be promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral, a rank you don’t retire from until you die. Since all of you have given me the impression that death is almost certain, I’ve said yes. He’ll get pinned in a private ceremony.”

Roger couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. Baku’s description of what was to come didn’t leave any room for delusions of grandeur, no place for war heroes, nothing but a need to defend America and the rest of the world.

“Whitman also wants charge of however many of you there are, no matter the branch. I said just do it. This is all so bizarre and disorganized.” His uncle had to paused, frowning. “I’ll be praying for a safe return for all of you.”

“I was wondering, have you seen the clips of that man who lifted a bus onto his shoulders?”

“I have.” Of course he’d seen it. It was the first YouTube clip to surpass one billion hits. People were still talking about it, and now sightings of him were popping up like those of Sasquatch. How had he forgotten about all that so fast? Ah, yes, he’d met God--Baku--whatever, was summoned to fight in some unreal war, and then got magically transported from his bed in Europe, to the White House. Roger’s eyes widened. “Do you think there’s a connection to this call to arms and the appearance of that Superman?”

“I think so. However, I don’t know what exactly the connection is.” He thought a moment. Roger could see the wheels turning in his uncle’s head as he stared off across the room. “A news station in New York got a call from the Herschel Cruise Line, saying that some man saved one of their cruise ships from sinking. They have a few pictures of the man, which match the Superman on YouTube. We also have many testimonies from the crew members who say they saw him.”

“Well that makes things more interesting. I’d like to see those later.”

His uncle nodded. “Here’s what I think: the showing up of that man out of nowhere, and so close to your bizarre deployment... something’s going on out in the universe, and we’re getting dragged into it. I think us Earthlings are going to have to start wholly embracing the existence of other life out there.”

* * *

Dishes done, Baku dried off his hands with a towel and sat so he leaned against the wall and draped an arm over the back of the wooden chair.

Eve said, “Why aren’t you making a big show of taking a thousand soldiers from Earth? Once again, you’re taking great pains to hide yourself.”

“I’ve shown myself to you and the soldiers. Do you want me to show myself to the whole world just to make their lives easier? Suddenly have all the answers right in front of the cameras? And then what would happen?” Eve looked at him, speechless. “Things are best left to unfold the way they are. Besides, I talked with the ones who needed some things ironed out before embracing their role in this war. I helped strengthen their courage and resolve, and they took care of the rest. That’s what I do, Eve. It’s subtle, yes, but if I’d chosen the path of universally making my existence no secret, then my creations would want me to pull more and more of their weight for them.”

Baku stood and crossed to the back of the couch, where the orange tabby cat, Tucker, was curled up, napping. He petted the cat and he woke with a startled mew, then lay still and enjoyed the attention, staring at him with slitted eyes that were the same blue as his.

“It’s natural for mortals to crave an easy life, but there’s something about hard work that makes rewards all the more enjoyable. Now, this could turn into yet another lengthy conversation, so let me just say this: I’m always watching over each and every one of you, and I help you as much as I can. Even you.” He picked up Tucker and held him so both he and the cat were looking at Eve. The old woman put her lemonade down and walked around the table to him. Tucker purred away, content.

Eve stared curiously at her cat. “Why do I get the feeling that you and my cat are the same... person? Isn’t Tucker just an ordinary Tabby?”

Baku smiled and handed the purring feline to her. “I had to keep an extra close eye on Roxie, seeing how she’s an Aigis with a very specific task to complete. Other than that, he is an ordinary Tabby that loves you very much.” He took a step back.

Eve petted Tucker. “Will you hear me if I pray to you?”

“Of course.” He kissed the old woman on the forehead. “It’s time for me to go. And remember: you are always being taken care of, Eve. Have faith.”

Chapter 8

Roxie lay pinned on her back, unable to move, unless she wanted to let go of the jaws of the black dragon bearing down on her. Its jaws were open to their full extent, almost wide enough to swallow her standing. She braced against the scaly snout with just her left hand, and the lip and teeth of the lower jaw with both booted feet, and pushed against the monster’s massive bulk with all of her Aigis strength. For some reason she couldn’t use or move her right arm. It lay spread eagle on the pale ground.

She was pinned against a solid ground a shade of off white, and everything around her and the dragon was a grey fog that darkened in the distance. She could barely make out its forelegs. The rest of the body, which had to be there, was lost in the gloom. No matter how hard Roxie pushed, the dragon’s head never budged. She was slowly tiring while her foe seemed to be doing no more than bearing it’s massive weight down on her. She stared helplessly at the foot-long fangs just beyond her wrist.

How do I get out of this?
How? She knew this was a dream, or rather a nightmare, but quite the vivid one. She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d die for real if she died in this dream. Yes, dreams weren’t supposed to be taken literally, but this one felt so real. The dragon doused her with foul, sulfuric breath as hot as a sauna every time it exhaled. Its scales felt solid and hard in her grip, and its fangs looked quite capable of biting her in half.

Think... think! Why am I having this dream?
There had been two dragons, black ones, yesterday. They’d attacked Phailon and Aerigo more or less took care of them by himself. Not too long ago, she’d gotten hit by two poison darts, and her memory went fuzzy until she woke up to vomit. Aerigo was there. He was alive. His eyes were glowing yellow. He was... scared. He really was scared. “Aah!” Roxie snapped her concentration back on the dragon and pushed against it with a fresh burst of adrenaline. The beast growled--or was it a laugh? Whatever it was, the dragon doused her with more of its foul, sweltering breath. She wanted to cover her stinging nose so bad, but all she could do was hold on as tears slid down the sides of her face. “Aerigo!”

His name escaped her before she even realized she’d said it. It was such a stupid thing to say in the middle of a nightmare. Of course he couldn’t come to the rescue here. She was on her own in this test. At least he’d given her the strength and endurance to survive this far. But still, she couldn’t help but wish he was there.

Desperate, she searched the gloom and found him lying maybe five feet from her. He was here! But how? She called his name again and, to her surprise, he sat up in alarm. “Aerigo, help me!” Aerigo turned, then gasped. He reached into the pale ground and lifted his dagger, surged to his feet, and took two steps and jumped for the dragon’s neck. With one swift motion, he sliced the neck right behind the head, and landed in a crouch a few feet to Roxie’s side.

The dragon hadn’t so much as flinched. Roxie had almost relaxed and let go, but there was no blood. The body didn’t topple over, the head didn’t fall off, and the dragon didn’t stop breathing or bearing down on her. She snuck a glance at Aerigo, who no longer held his dagger. He lunged at the dragon’s head. “Get away from her!” He swung with both fists and passed right through, his body disappearing like a ghost walking through a wall. Rox stole a glance past her thighs when she heard stumbling footfalls by the dragon’s forelegs. Aerigo caught his balance and launched a series of fierce kicks and punches at the dragon’s nearest leg, but every blow passed through as if the beast were made of air. He held out a hand with his palm facing the dragon’s neck. “
Leave her alone!”
A red glow formed in front of his hand and a fireball erupted, flying towards the dragon’s neck. The fireball sailed unimpeded up and into the darkness. Aerigo cast a series of elemental spells, each one aimed at the dragon’s neck, and each one yielding no results. Panting, Aerigo let his arms fall to his sides. He backed away from the dragon and towards Roxie, his eyes never leaving the beast.

“Aerigo?”

“I’m here, Rox,” he said, dropping to his knees beside her, “but... I can’t help you.” Aerigo’s eyes were glowing yellow and he wore a look of hopeless despair. “I can’t help you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not giving up.” She didn’t know what else to say. If she’d dreamed up Aerigo, this wasn’t how she’d have expected him to behave.

“There has to be something I can do.”

“Well, this is my nightmare, not yours. Maybe that’s why you can’t. How did you get here anyway?”

Aerigo tore his gaze from the dragon’s maw and looked at her. He looked upside-down from her vantage point, but oh well. “I don’t know. I’m asleep right near you. I heard you call my name. I had to go wherever you are.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. It’s better than being alone with the dragon.”

“Do you remember getting poisoned?”

“Yeah.” Her voice came out all shaky, like when trying to talk while doing a plank exercise. Aerigo hadn’t sounded much steadier. “Dragon venom?”

Aerigo nodded. “It attacks the body and the mind. You have almost a dozen doses of antivenin in you, now. We’re in a hospital. You
have
to fight the venom until the antivenin takes over.”

Why is he so scared?
He was supposed to help her not feel scared. “How long will that take?” The dragon growled.

Aerigo looked at the dragon, then back at her. There was desperation in his yellow-glowing eyes. “I don’t know. To be honest, I’m amazed you’re still alive. I didn’t think I’d gotten you here in time. I wish I could help you more.” He gazed at Roxie with worry lines along his forehead. “You’re strong, Rox. Stronger than I’d hoped for. Please pull through for me.”

“Thanks.” Roxie sucked in a breath. She hadn’t started feeling winded until she’d started talking with Aerigo. “I’m still scared, though.”

“I am, too.”

Roxie looked at the dragon, trying to discern whether it understood what they were saying. That was about as helpful as asking a tree the time of day. The dragon’s red eyes were fixed on her, mouth still wide open and bearing down on her. Too bad she couldn’t ask if its mouth was drying up from being open so long. The beast was all armored scales, sharp teeth and bad breath. She looked to Aerigo for comfort, who was kneeling beside her, staring at the dragon like it was going to devour him instead. He’d been paralyzed with fear, instead of reacting with his usual stoic determination. “Aerigo, this isn’t like you.”

“I’m sorry, Rox. I just can’t help but wonder if I should have never looked for you. This is the fourth time since you’ve met me. I’m supposed to keep you safe, not bring danger to you.”

God, it hurt to hear Aerigo say that. She wanted to cry for him. Daio had almost killed her on two separate occasions. The attack on Phailon had been one close shave after another. And now, while trying to keep Aerigo alive, she’d been attacked by something neither of them could fight with all the power they had. But... “Aerigo, I don’t regret meeting you,” she said breathily. If the dragon’s breath weren’t so hot and sulfuric, the position she was in wouldn’t have been as bad. Aerigo had trained her well and boosted her strength and endurance immensely. But the dragon’s breath was making it harder and harder to catch her own. “I don’t regret protecting you. And--” she swallowed. “I don’t regret taking the poison darts for you.”
There. I said it. Now it’s his move.

Aerigo didn’t look at her. That annoyed Roxie as she gasped for a breath of cooler air that was nowhere to be found. After the talk between him and Maharaja, and all she and Aerigo had been through,
why
was he still so guarded? “Aerigo, I mean it.” She paused again, hoping for a response. She got nothing. “Look at me,” she said sternly. He did, puzzled, and eyes aglow. “Would you be alive right now if I hadn’t taken the poison darts instead?”

He slowly shook his head. “Our healing powers have limits. A large enough dose of dragon venom will destroy us from the inside out. But Rox, I’ve been around--”

“No buts!” She meant to say more but she had to stop to catch what breath she could. “Aerigo, what happened? Your behavior changed ever since Drio. I don’t get it.” She already knew a bit about the Sandra woman and that Aerigo killed thousands of people in one night, but it was impossible for her to see him as some evil murderer. He’d never bragged or relished in what he’d done.

Aerigo looked at her, brows furrowed, mouth ajar and broad chest heaving deep and slow. He looked torn between sadness, fear, and anger, all of which he was trying to repress. The glow in his eyes kept changing colors.

His thoughts must be racing
. “Well?”

He shook his head as his eyes settled on a blue glow. “You’ll never look at me the same.”

She had half a mind to confess that she’d overheard some of what he’d said to Maharaja, but her gut told her he had to make this decision on his own. She gave him a penetrating stare as she sucked in air. “I don’t care whatever it is you did... that makes you think you’re such a horrible person. Just... tell me.”

Aerigo pivoted so he wasn’t facing her, but didn’t quite have his back to her. She could see the curves of the side of his face, but not his eyes. He let out a resigned sigh. “Back on Druconica, do you remember when Antares mistook you for someone named Sandra?”

“Yes.”

“That was his older sister. And... my wife. From over six hundred years ago. We were married for thirty years.”

Oh my god, he was
married! That detail hadn’t made it into the conversation by the bonfire. She didn’t look just like someone he’d loved, but someone he’d loved and married. Roxie almost lost her grip on the top half of the dragon’s snout, but recovered before the beast could gain so much as an inch.

“You look and act so much like her,” he said softly. “Which makes this scenario all the more difficult to bear.”

Roxie wanted to say something that would help balm his emotional pain, but everything she thought of sounded so typical and cheesy. She even wanted to confess her love for him, but the timing was all wrong. That, and if she died, it would be all the more cruel to Aerigo, having been loved by two dead women.

“When we first met, I thought I was looking at my wife again, for the first time in hundreds of years. I almost took you in my arms to... to hug and kiss you.”

“I think that woulda freaked me out more than that stuff you gave me to drink.”

Aerigo laughed halfheartedly, then sobered. “And the next day, when you asked me what happened to my family, I wanted to tell you right then who you looked like, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. You’re your own person, but you’re still so much like her. It was choking me up, even though it’s been over six hundred years, according to Druconica’s reckoning.

“And then on Sconda, I lost my restraint almost entirely in the river. But your reaction to my behavior brought me back to reality, until Yayu encouraged me to stop trying to keep that part of me shut down. It was at that point I decided it was time to return to Druconica for some closure on that chapter of my life.”

“Did you find any?”

Aerigo shook his head. “No. Sandra’s no longer here to tell me what I hope she’d say.”

“And what would that be?” If she was so alike to his long gone wife, then maybe she’d have the same reaction. It was worth a shot. Heck, she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous that someone had married him before she did.
Oh, great! Now I’m feeling jealous of a dead person, and at such a horrible time. I’m hopeless!

“It needs to not matter anymore, Rox. I’m wishing for the impossible.”

“Okay,” she said. “Would you mind at least telling me how she died?”

Aerigo was silent a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight and distant. “Over six hundred years ago my wife was murdered in her sleep. I bear some of the blame. And after she died, and I found out who it was that killed her, I lost my temper. And self control. And with the same power you saw me use in Phailon, I used that night in Drio. I killed thousands of Balvadier soldiers, and at least dozens of innocent Durians, and I razed the north end of Drio to the ground. All in one night.”

Aerigo turned and almost looked at her, but settled his glowing-eyed gaze on the dragon. “If you die too, I will go into another blind rage. In the end I will kill Nexus, but with all that power I don’t want to think of how many innocent people I’d take down before I reach him, including all the people in this hospital. I should have never dragged you into all this.”

That was quite the confession. However, her brain couldn’t quite wrap around Aerigo killing thousands of people in one night all by himself, much less a bunch of patients and doctors. Of course it sounded horrible. It was horrible. But it lacked the punch of having witnessed it. It was like watching a clip of the aftermath of a hurricane on the news. She could go about her day after the clip was over, but the people who’d survived the hurricane sure couldn’t. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. I... don’t know how to convince you that I really am.” Now if only she could just breathe and speak full sentences in one breath. She was sweating in her nightmare now, and her hair was starting to stick to her forehead and the back of her neck. “And despite what you did, I still care... about you, and I’m still... glad I stopped those darts from reaching... you.”