Part 30

We stride forward in silence and soon the flute is replaced by the beggars drum kit, a few paint buckets, a glass bottle, an acquired pot or pan.  Half an hour passes upon that narrow walkway as we cross the underground sea, the Black Bazaar looming ever closer.

A pair of torches burn high on either side of a large, rusted metal framework.  Equally rusty coiled springs hang at odd angles from it on our side, giving the impression that it had once been a mattress.  A broad-shouldered, olive skinned man stands, bare chested, the hilt of a large blade protruding over his left shoulder, on the other side of the portal.

“Um, hello?” Benny braves the man’s stare for a moment before shrinking to the back of our group.  The guard ignores him, instead fixing his green eyes upon the clean garments and up kept appearance of my brother.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise,” The olive skinned man’s stern expression finally breaks, and a smile of crooked whit teeth replaces his scowl.  “Step back,”  He says.  We do so and the gate swings open, the hinges silent despite their decrepit appearance.  

I look at Jason who nods and winks at me before stepping forward and embracing the big man.  “Kareem, I always wondered where you came by such exquisite works.”  And then to us, “Kareem here finds me some of the pieces I sell in my shop.”

“Yes,” Kareem says, “And I have another parcel to bring to you when this mess concerning Cyrus is over.”

“So news of his bid for power has reached even here?”  I ask.

“There is nothing that goes on, even above ground, that does not reach our ears somehow.  Your visit is somewhat surprising though?  What brings you here, Dairy Mary?”  He asks, turning his attention to her.

She blushes at the use of her unfortunate nickname, but recovers quickly.  “Just Mary, thank you.”  

Kareem smirks.  “It is a fitting name.”

Mary’s blush returns and she opens her mouth to say something, but instead scowls.  “Now see here!”  She raises her arm to strike him but I grab it, shake my head.  

“It’s not worth it.  Remember what we came here for.”  I say.

“And what is that?”  Kareem asks, turning his focus upon me.

“We heard that an old friend might be here and came to talk.”  I reply, trying to be vague.

“There are a lot of old friends here, but feel free to come in and look.  And Jason, come see me before you leave, I’ll give you that package.”

I limp past him and he pokes me in the gut.  I wince at the pressure on my wound.  “Third street, second tent on the right.  Have Martha look at you before you bleed everywhere.”

I nod and smile weakly.  “Thanks.”

We walk further beyond the gate and only then do I realize how many eyes had actually been upon our exchange with Kareem.  The first intersection we come to is full of people bustling in both directions, some pushing or pulling carts, others with bags slung over their shoulders. 

“So, what now?”  Benny asks, though I wish he had not. 

“We get you looked at again,”  Jason says, and takes me by the arm.

We shoulder our way through the intersection, ignoring the disapproving looks that seasoned traders are giving us newcomers.  We stop to let a large group of people pass in front of us, the smell of baked bread coming from somewhere within the huddle of people making our stomachs growl.  The third intersection is just like the first two, crowded and noisy, although the din from the drums has finally died down. 

I am looking down the street to my right when Mary steps up beside me.

“They’re gypsies!”  Mary whispers as she watches a woman walk by, decked in silk of every color of the rainbow and her face painted to match.

I pull Mary closer.  “They’re no more gypsies than you are ‘street people,’” I growl and stop her protest before it gets out of her throat.  “They are just like you and me.”

“Sorry,” She says under her breath as I nod to the painted woman, who glares at us as she walks by.

“Come on, this way,”  Jason says, having spotted our destination.

A drab green tent stands before us, both flaps closed, a white cross painted where they join.  “Hello?”  Jason calls out.

“Come in, I’ll be with you in a minute,” a female voice calls back, and is followed by a shout and a curse.

“Be careful woman!”  A gruff male voice says.

I push aside the fabric and wait for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit interior.  

“Over there,” an old woman says, waving me towards a stool against the tents wall opposite her.

“Are you Martha?”  Jason asks, stepping in behind me.

“Yeah, and if you want me to look at the two of ya, you’ll have a seat over there.”

“Do as she says,” says the man who is laying on a table before her.

I watch as she pours a dark liquid over the man’s head, concentrating on the side hidden by his large 

nose.  

“Damn it!”  The man hisses.

“If you hadn’t let it get infected…”  Martha’s voice trails off as she dabs at the man with a stained piece of cloth.  

“Ow!”  He reaches up and brushes her hand aside before sitting up.  He nods toward me, but I can only stare at the hole where his left eye would be, the puckered skin around the wound bright red, despite the amount of the dark liquid that still remains on his face.

I hear a sharp intake of breath and finally I tear my eyes away from the man to see that Mary has come in.  She stands in the entryway, her hand over her mouth, staring at the injured man.

“Take it all in,” the gruff man says, grabbing a dark strip of cloth from a table near the slab he sat upon and wrapping it around his head, covering the wound.  

“Captain Sarin,” The seated man says, putting the final adjustments on the makeshift eyepatch.  “And you are?”

“Subway Charlie,” I tell him, and jerk my head toward my brother, “He’s Jason, and that there’s Mary,” I point.  

“What happened?”  Mary blurts and I shoot her a look.

“It’s ok,” The Captain says, "Let’s just say I had an unfortunate run in with a iron poker.”  

“Yeah, and if he had taken care of it, it would have healed by now,” Martha says, followed by “Stop picking at it.”  She slaps away the man’s hand as he reaches for the wound.

“I was just going to- bah!”  He says and rises.

“Don’t come back until you are ready to care for yourself,” Martha chides as he lifts the tent flap, revealing a black cloaked figure standing outside, a large black bird upon its shoulder.  The raven hops off onto the outstretched arm of the Captain and climbs up to his shoulder.  He looks back into the room and offers a sharp salute before turning on his heels.

“Now what can I do before you?”  Martha asks, and my attention turns back to the room, and the woman, who is standing before me.

I want to ask her how she knew it was me but think better of it and meekly lift my shirt.

“Up,”  she says, indicating the slab the Captain had just vacated.  Obediently I hop up onto the greying surface, finally recognizing it for what it is, an old picnic table.  

“That’s a nice one,” Martha says, reaching for the bottle of dark liquid.  “Mary, Jason, come help me over here.  He looks like a squirmer.”

Part 29

I resist the urge to head in the same direction the ferryman had gone.  “Come on, this way.”  I say, indicating the opposite direction.  

“But don’t you think-“  Mary says but I cut her off.

“Look, if that was Death, the means either Rush is alive and can take care of himself, or he isn’t, and whoever he was fighting with is coming for us now.  If it wasn’t, someone just got reinforcements.”

“They could be here to help us.”  Benny says.

I take a deep breath, steeling myself as I rise, ready to respond, but my brother does it for me.

“Or they could be here to hurt us.  I’m with Charles.  We keep going.”

I nod and check my wound.  There does not appear to be any new blood flow and I count myself lucky.  I set off at the best pace I can make, Jason beside me, steadying my every other step.  I want to shoo 

him away but am grateful he is beside me.

“So,”  He says, the pause tense.

“I’ve said I’m sorry-“

“Enough!  If I’m going to help, and it looks like I have little choice in that matter now, I guess I could lay down and let myself be over run by whoever is after us, I need to know what is going on.”

As we walk, Mary and Benny overtake us, and we walk in silence, alone with our thoughts.  Mine are the Black Bazaar, and what to tell my brother, before finally they move out ahead of us, Benny’s sphere leading the way.

“Okay,”  I finally say, “Let me start from, well, the beginning as I see it.”  I tell him of how I became an Underground Prince and my run in with the Troll King, leaving the fight with Rush out of it.  I fast forward a number of years, where I am established, a known Prince, and tell him of when I had seen Cyrus attack Mary in the subway station.  Hell, that felt like years ago.  I follow with the next encounter between Mary and myself.  I include all of the details, from the tarot card and our visit with the Snake Woman, Catherine to Cyrus’ and my meeting with Old Jenny.

“So, she wants to become one of these Princes?  A princess I guess?  And do you really think this is the best way to go about it.”

“Well,”  I pause as I think.  “Yes, I did”  I respond.

“I hear a ‘but’ that you are not telling me.”

“Yeah, but now I’m not so certain.  With all of the challenges we’ve faced…  You okay Benny?”  I call out and pick up my pace.

Benny is lying on the ground, holding his already damaged arm.  “I just landed on it wrong is all.”

Jason helps him to his feet while I kneel down.  “What did you trip on?”  I ask.

“I don’t know, something sticking out of the glass I guess,”

“Here,”  I say, brushing the pulverized glass off of what appears to be a large slab made from the same material.  “Clever.  Had you not tripped on it, we would have walked right past it.”  I sweep more of the glass from the slab before finding a seem.  “There’s more.”

Jason joins me in digging what soon becomes apparent is a walkway that leads straight into the rolling waves.

“Well, the path across the ocean.”  I say.  

“Hang on.”  Benny says, rushing away from the water, fishing in his pocket for something.

I can barely make him out, so far are we from the wall, but I can tell what he is doing.  It is not long before he is running a little farther away, and holding his sphere aloft, is back at the point next to the wall.

“What the-“  Jason says, his jaw slightly open.

“Remember how we got out of the VA?”  I remind him, and he nods.  I continue, “That’s how we did it.”

His mouth forms an oh, but no sound comes out.  Shortly, Benny rejoins us. “So who goes first?”

“I didn’t bring my swim trunks,”  Mary says, adding “But I’ll go.”

“No, I’ll go first.  You help Charles,”  Jason says, and to prevent any further argument, he leaps upon the uncovered path and walks toward the water.  “How is this supposed to work?”  He asks over his shoulder.  

“I don’t know.  Just keep walking,”  I tell him, and to his credit, he does.

The water slowly begins to swirl about his brown boots, but even as he steps further into the surf, it does not rise above his ankles.  

Mary grabs ahold of me.  “Your next, that way if you fall, I can catch you.”  I oblige and limp slowly out along the path.  The water is cold as it seeps through what little fabric remains on my tennis shoes.  Mary follows me and I can hear Benny’s heavy breathing, even over my own labored breaths, behind her.  

The pathway is no more than two or three feet wide at any point, and continues to be made of the same material, big stone-like slabs of the ground glass.  It is not long before we can no longer see the shore behind us and we count our blessings as the water remains no higher than out feet around us.  

We walk for well over an hour, afraid to rest lest the water, or something else, carry us off.  Shapes pass in the murky water to either side of us, and looking to my left I swear I see the shell of a turtle the size of a small car, but it is gone before I can point it out to anyone.  “Did you see that?”

But no one responds.  They are all looking ahead at the lights that are taking shape out of the darkness before us.  Hundreds of them.  Blinking and winking white lights like Christmas decorations, strung in both directions.  And the sounds.  I hear zydeco and something classical, maybe a flute.  Voices.  Voices too, someone is selling fish.  Someone has fresh mushrooms.

“Lady and gentlemen,”  I say, “It looks like we’ve found the Black Bazaar.”

Part 28

The Russian stands panting before Jason until his eyes finally regain their focus and see the blade in my brother’s hand.  “Jason, it’s me,”  He says and I watch as my brother squints.  “Look past beard, add fifteen, no, twenty pounds.”  Rush says.  

“Viktor?”  My brother asks and a smile eclipses the Russians face.

“You do remember,”  Rush says.

I glance at Jason, who shakes his head.  

“Yeah, I remember you,” My brother says before punching Viktor in the jaw.

Viktor falls to one knee, laughing.  “Yes, yes you do, but do you remember her?”

“Her name was Veronica, and she was wearing a blue strapless dress,”  Jason says.

“Haha, yes!”  Viktor continues to laugh as he rises.

“Ok enough, so what are you doing here?”  Benny asks, and both my brother and Viktor turn toward him.

Viktor wipes a trickle of blood from his mouth before responding, “Cat, the Snake Lady, came looking for you.”

“Yeah, she found us in the hospital.  That you sent us too,”  Benny says, cutting his eyes at the Russian.

“What are you saying?”  Viktor asks, rising to his full height and puffing out his chest.  

Mary steps in between the two men and immediately Benny’s demeanor changes although the Russian refuses to back down.  “Charles, we’ve found the glass shore, what’s next?”  She asks.

Rush glares at me but I ignore his look, “We’re looking for the path into the water,” I say, trying to remember if there were any other details.

Mary brushes past Rush who turns his glare upon her.  Suddenly, Mary turns around and cuts her eyes at him.  “Was there something else you needed?”

“She does have spirit, I see why you like her,” Rush says.

Mary almost hides her blush before she is storming off.

“How do you know it’s that direction?”  Benny calls after her.

“I don’t,” She calls over her shoulder.  

Benny rushes to catch up, and I look at Rush and shrug, “You coming?”  My brother falls into step beside me as I hobble my way behind her, holding my sphere aloft.

“Do you know what we’re looking for?”  Jason asks me quietly.  

I look over my shoulder to where Rush still stands before I answer.  “Not the slightest,” I admit.  “I can send you home if you want you know.”

“Ok, so how will we know when we find it?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

We finally catch up with Mary and Freak Beans, who have paused and are looking out over the gentle waves.  

“Do you trust him?”  Mary asks me as I glance back to where the Russian still stands in the distance, a silhouette outlined by the last rays of red light from the Devil’s Rib Cage.

“Sometimes,” I answer honestly.

”Hey, are you coming?”  She calls to him.

He turns, whether toward us or away from us I can not tell, the distance is too great and the light is behind him, but his reply reaches us.  “Run!”

He moves back toward the opening he came from and draws what appears to be a cane or a slender blade out of nowhere and swings it, meeting the advance of someone coming from the tunnel.  “Go!”  He shouts again, followed by the ringing of steel against steel.

I stand transfixed, watching the two forms dual, the clanging of metal on metal echoing off the stone wall to my right and the rolling tide to my left.

“Who is he fighting?”  Benny asks, stepping up beside me. 

“I don’t know,”  I have lost track of who is who, the bodies dancing, but one of them cries out in pain and staggers backwards, before lunging forward, re-doubling their efforts.

“He said run,”  Jason says, placing a hand upon my shoulder, “I think we should trust him on this one.  Besides, with you hurt, we need to build up as much of a lead as possible,”

“Yeah,”  I agree, turning, and dragging Benny with me, head off, leaving the sound of the battle behind me.

We run, well more like shuffle, for nearly half an hour, all of us looking over our shoulders, but no sign of pursuit comes.  Finally I can move no more and panting , I fall to my knees, clutching at wound, feeling the warm blood that has soaked my shirt.  “I… can’t… go… on.”  My breaths come in short, fiery bursts.

Finally I manage to catch my breath and a motion for my brother to come closer.  I lift my shirt, “How bad is it.”

“Not bad,”  He says, but he is unable to hide look of worry that crosses his face.

I reach down and my hand comes away sticky.  I crawl my way to the water’s edge and rinse my hand before reaching into my pack and pulling out a spare shirt, which I dip into the water and use to wipe the blood from my wound.  One of the stitches is broken, and blood continues to trickle out, but it does not appear to be gushing.  

“What’s that?”  Benny asks pointing out over the water.

I squint, but can’t see what he is pointing at.

“Is it a light?”  Mary asks.

I continue to stare, and sure enough, there does appear to be a light off in the distance on the water and it appears to be coming toward us.

Benny tucks his sphere back in his pack, and I place mine back in my jacket, leaving us in complete darkness.  

“None of you move,”  Jason says, putting his hand on my shoulder again.  Silently, afraid to breath, we watch as the light comes closer to shore before passing by, completely ignoring us, heading in the direction which we came.

“Was that Death?”  Benny asks once the light is finally out of sight, and I restrain myself from calling him an idiot.  I had seen the black-robed figure too, paddling the raft along the underground waterway.

Part 27

I am hunched over a pool of blood.  My blood to be exact.  The walls are red, the wood supports rotting and almost black, and the steam is oppressive.  

“What the?”  Jason asks but I am unable to respond.  I touch my stomach, my hand comes away bloodless, the stitches catching on my dry skin.  Finally I roll over, scoot myself so that my back is against the wall.

“-Able to jump to any of those we have made.”  I hear Benny offering an explanation to my brother, who I can now see is hunched over, leaning against the opposite wall.

“Are you okay?” Mary asks as she kneels down beside me.

I manage a smirk, “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“Didn’t think so.”

“Why’d you take me to the VA?”

“Rush told us you’d been there before.”

“You saw the Russian?”

“He’s watching your things.”

“Shi-,”  A fit of coughing cuts the rest of the word off.

“Is he okay?”  Jason asks, standing over us.

“Yeah,” I say, holding out my hand.  He takes it and I gingerly stand up.  “What happened?”

“Cyrus stabbed you,”  Mary says, “And we ended up back with the Russian near your-“  She pauses, 

“Room?”  She says in a questioning tone.  “He said you had served and the best bet would be to go to the VA.  Luckily, Benny has a sigil near the hospital.”

“Ok, thanks, next time, just let me bleed.”  I say.

“And you’d probably be dead,”  Jason argues.

“And you would not be here in the Devil’s Rib Cage with us.”  I take three steps away from the wall, testing myself. 

“The Devil’s Rib Cage?”  He asks.  “Can any of you tell me what is going on?”  Jason looks to each of us in turn.  

I shake my head.  “What happened back at the hospital?”  I ask, staring at Benny.

“The witch showed up,”  Freak Beans shudders, “That snake was crawling on her shoulders.”  He shudders again.

“What did she want this time?”  Mary asks.

“Um,”  Benny says.

“She didn’t say or you didn’t ask?”  Mary again.

“Uh, both.”

“Can we get my stuff?”  I take a deep breath and walk over to Benny without faltering.  “Now.”  I grab hold of his injured arm stiffly, locking his eyes with mine, and hope that he did not notice my legs begin to buckle when I stopped moving.

“I told you, your stuff is safe with the Russian.”  Mary says in protest.

“I know, that’s why we need to get it.”  I tell her.

“But-“ Jason protests.

“Mary, fill him in if you want.  Benny’s taking me to get my things.  Aren’t you?”  I grip his arm tighter.

He winces and nods.  A few seconds later and we are standing before the Russian, who sits behind a small fire contained within a coffee can.  He reaches a gloved hand into the can and pulls out an open container of beans as we approach.  “Thanks,  I hope you don’t mind,” he says, nodding to the food.  

I glare at Benny, who smiles sheepishly, then turn my attention to the corner where my pack is.  I hobble over to it, the quick shifts having done nothing to help my equilibrium.  I sink to the floor, crossing my legs, indian-style, and dig through the bag.  My Sphere is on top, and I shove it into my coat pocket, my hand brushing the Wheel of Time.  “Change my ass,”  I say under my breath.

“What?”  Rush asks.

“Everything’s here, kind of,”  I say glaring at the can of food Rush is eating.  Using a stack of boxes, I rise to my feet, bend over and grab the pack, slinging it over my shoulder.  “Come on Benny, time to get back to my brother.”

“Jason is involved now?”  Rush asks as he rises.

I nod.  “Yeah, and we’ve left him in the Devil’s Rib Cage.  We need to get back.” 

“Yes, I see.  Luck be with you my friend.”

“Thanks,” I say as I grab ahold of Benny again, “Shall we?”

And Jason is seated against the wall, Mary beside him, and they are laughing about something.

“What’s so funny?”  I manage.

“You don’t look so hot,”  Jason says as he stands and comes over to me.

“I’ll be fine.  Here,”  I reach in to my pocket and pull out the tarot card.  Hand it to him, watch as he inspects it before pulling out the rest of the deck.  He slides the card in, shuffles the deck and cuts it.  Shows me the top card.  “The moon.”

“Really?”  He asks, looking at the card himself.  “Of all the cards…”

“What’s it mean?”  Mary asks.

“Have you ever done drugs?”  Jason replies.

“You mean like pot?  Once.”

“No.  Acid.  We’re in for a bad trip.”  

“Like melt your face bad or the sofa cushions are chasing me through the house bad?”  Benny chimes in, looking a little worried.

“Like there is something coming bad,”  I say as I catch a shape in the distant steam cloud.   Jason and Mary are on either side of me, and I have to push them off.  “Let go of me,”  I snap.

Benny takes the lead, with Mary close behind him and me third.  Jason is close behind me, close enough that I can feel his breath on my neck.  

Deeper into the tunnels we go, the glowing red walls shifting to crimson then to brown and finally to green.  With each shift in color, the wooden beams seem to become even more rotten until finally, with the green lit walls, the buttresses are gone.  At some point the ground has changed as well and with each running step I take, something crunches underfoot, but I am still to busy looking over my shoulder to investigate.

“Uh guys?”  Benny says as I stumble into the back of Mary who has stopped short.  I recover and step to her side.  An expanse of water is before us, small waves lapping at Benny’s feat.  He looks down and steps back, out of the water.

I reach into my coat and pull out my sphere, lighting the room around me with a soft white light.  We are in a large chamber, the only wall I can see being the one behind us, the only opening in it the tunnel Jason is still staring down.

I kneel down, trying to figure out what we have been running over, and it isn’t until I remember the Lampman’s riddle that it occurs to me.  I hold the small pebbles up to my sphere and watch as the light shines through the small glass pebbles.  “We’ve made it to the Shores of Glass.”

“Yeah,”  Jason says, pulling his knife from inside his jacket, “But so has whatever was chasing us.  Be ready,”  He says as a large flailing shape bursts from the opening, foaming at the mouth.

Part 26

In my younger, cleaner, I would have made a move on her.  I was stronger then too.  I try sitting up and grunt at the pain in my side.

“Careful, you’ll bust a stitch.” The doctor says.  She is young, at least ten years my junior, and smiles as she approaches the bed where I lay.

“Simone,”  I manage, giving her the best smile I could manage, which appears as more of a grimace as I lowered myself back onto the cot.

“Charles,” she says with a tone of admonishment, “Your friends would not tell me what happened, but whatever it was, you need to be more careful.”  She picks up the clipboard that is tied to the foot of my bed and makes a note on it.

“How long have I been here?”

“About three hours,” came a voice I recognize as belonging to my brother.

I glare at Simone who shakes her head, “He is listed as your emergency contact, I thought he should know that you had taken a knife that missed your kidney by less than an inch.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t told mom yet.”  Jason says, stepping further into the room.

“I’m fine,” I say, taking a deep breath and let it out slowly through my teeth as I sit up.  I swing my legs over the side of the bed and rest, staring at my brother.  “How many stitches?”  I ask Simone.

“I said take it easy,”  She snaps at me, but her face softens.  “You’ve got twelve.  Do you know what you were stabbed with?”

“No clue.”

“Ok, I’ll leave you for now, but don’t go anywhere.  You were stabbed, the police are going to want to talk to you,”  I roll my eyes at this and she looks at Jason, “I’ll just be down the hall if you need me.”

“Thanks,”  He says and steps aside so she can leave the room.  Once she is gone, he addresses me,

“What are you messed up in, Charlie?”

“I told you the last time that I saw you, the less you-“

“Cut the crap.  I’ve been trying to find you since the other day.  I woke up the next morning and drawn on my window in black ink was the Wheel.”

“Wheel?”  I ask, and then remember.  I reach for the card in my pocket before remembering that my coat is not on.

“They even signed it with my signature!”

Something moves in the doorway over his shoulder, and he catches my glance in that direction.

“Back to finish the job?”  Jason says as he pulls a jewel-handled knife from his pocket and turns to greet our new visitor.

“No,”  I shout as Mary shies away.

Quickly Jason hides the blade under his jacket as Simone joins us.

“Is everything all right in here?” She asks, eyeing my brother and Mary.

“Yeah, everything is fine, thanks.”  I tell her and she raises her eyebrows but I nod.  “It’s okay.”
Her head bobs slightly as she snorts and leaves the room. 

“Jason, this is Mary, I suspect she is one of the reasons why I made it here.  Mary, this is my brother Jason.”

“Brother?”  Mary asks and I nod while Jason mumbles an apology. 

They eye each other suspiciously while I lower myself to the ground, leaning heavily upon the bed for support.  My knees start to buckle and they are both by my sides, Mary on my left, Jason my right, but I manage to stay upright.

“You going to tell me what’s going on now?”  Jason asks as I sit back down on the bed.

I ignore the question for a moment.  “Where’s Benny?”  I ask Mary.

“Having his arm checked out a couple of rooms down.  The doctor’s think it’s broke.”  She responds.

“Ok,”  I inhale deeply, hold the breath and let it out through my nose.  “First, answer me this.  You said the Wheel of Fortune was drawn on your window, is that all you noticed?  Anything else about it?  Or have you noticed anything missing over the last few days?”

“No, quite the opposite,”  Jason says, pulling a cardboard box out of his jacket.  “I found this yesterday morning inside my store, sitting near that skull you almost knocked over.”

I motion for him to hand it to me and he does so before crossing the room and leaning against the far wall.  I open the box, revealing what looks to be the rest of the Tarot deck that the Wheel of Fortune in my possession came from.

“Everything but the Wheel is there,”  He says, answering the question before I can ask it.  I fan through the cards anyway, and then square the deck and replace it in it’s box, making a mental note to add get the Wheel of Fortune the next time I have my coat on.  I toss the box to Jason who catches it and replaces it in his pocket.  “Okay, where to begin?  I guess it started just a few days ago really. I ran into Mary…”  I went through the entire ordeal, leaving out the bits about us moving around via sphere, or glossing over how we got from one place to the next, remembering how disturbed he had been when I conjured the fire.

I sit and rest while Jason mulls the tale over in his head.  Finally, I slide off of the cot, catching myself on it’s edge as my legs begin to wobble.  “Mary, help me get dressed will you?”

She hesitates, but pulls open a cabinet where my jacket is hanging. 

“What about my shirt?”

“Um, It was covered in blood, I think they threw it away.”

“They told me you’d need another shirt,”  Jason says and takes one from inside of his jacket, throws it to me.

“Anything else in there?” I ask, struggling to get the shirt over my head.  Finally, with Mary’s assistance,it slides down over my face and Jason is holding a pack of cigarettes. 

Mary drapes my coat over my shoulders and I am slowly, painstakingly so, making my way across the room when Benny barges into the room and throws the door shut. 

“We’ve got to go!”  He grabs Mary and me, and it is all I can do to grab ahold of Jason before we are gone.

Part 25

The Devil’s Rib Cage.  I could not have named this place better myself.  The walls are buttressed like an old mine shaft, the ancient wood bowing significantly under the weight from above and the walls, pocked with crevices and cracks, emitted steam like a pot of boiling water.  Forming an oppressive cloud that hung about the ceiling , the vapor had the three of us were perspiring within minutes.  I still had not figured out what was causing the red glow, and as I wiped sweat from my forehead for what felt like the thousandth time, I stopped trying.

“I don’t like this place,” Benny said, dabbing at his forehead with a crumpled piece of cloth.

“At least you’re not screaming like a girl again,”  I reply.

“Stop it,”  Mary glares at me.  “You both are welcome to go back, especially if you are going to fight like kids.  I agree with you, Benny.  I don’t like this place either.”  She takes the lead, negotiating a right turn, and then a left, the ever present red glow illuminating the way. 

It was not long after that we reached the first branch.  The tunnel splits off to our right, the light in it fading out to a dull green somewhere off in the distance.  I had to bend over sharply in order to fit in it, although Mary was short enough that had she let her hair down, she would have been able to stand upright, or at least only had to crook her neck slightly.

“No, I can’t think it’s down that way.  The red light continues this way,”  She says, pointing down the tunnel we are already traversing. 

A distant shout from down the red to green tunnel startles us.  A form resolves itself out of the shadows moving toward us at a fast clip.  “Move,”  I say and we break into a run, following the caverns ribs further from the Walking Rocks.

I think I make out the word ‘wait’ echoing down the corridor toward us but I do not hesitate, running just fast enough to avoid stepping on Benny’s heels.  “Come on,”  I say, looking over my shoulder.  I do not see our pursuer yet, but I can still make out the side passage we have left behind.  We take a sharp right, the glowing red rocks still with us.  We continue running, coming to another turn, round it and skid to a stop, almost running Cyrus over.

“I said wait,” he says with a wolfish grin. 

“How-  How did you find us?”  Benny stammers, pulling Mary back behind him.

“Freak Beans, how good to see you again,” Cyrus says, extending his hand to my companion who shrinks before the extended appendage as if it was a red hot poker. 

Mary glances at me and I shrug and shake my head slightly.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you Charlie.”  He says, turning his attention to me. 

Mary uses the distraction stepping around Benny and delivering a kick between Cyrus’ legs, but the man deftly shifts, absorbing the blow with the inside of his thigh.  His face contorts for a brief second before returning to the wolfish grin.

“Is that any way to treat your future husband?”  Cyrus says, stepping toward her, his still extended hand reaching for her collar.

My blade is in my hand and I have it leveled at his chest before he can make contact.  “Close enough,”  I say, ignoring the sweat that has dripped into my eyes.

Cyrus snorts and steps back.  As he does so, he reaches over his right shoulder and grasps what looks like a piece of rebar that is strapped to his back.  As he extends his arm I see that it is indeed a piece of reinforcing steel, the ridges giving it away.  He holds the stick before him and it is then that I realize that its tip has been sharpened to a long point.

Mary and Benny step back, leaving only a few feet of open stone separating Cyrus and me.  I cast a quick glance to my right and my left, trying to gauge how much room I have to move.  I am glad I did, because as I refocus on my opponent, he takes a step forward, his weapon swinging at me in a sidelong arc.  I dance to my right and back a step, the tip narrowly avoiding my coat as it flows with me.  I swing the blade clumsily with all of my weight behind it, throwing myself off balance and stumbling toward Cyrus.  He tries to dodge but we collide and collapse in a tangle of limbs.  We both let go of our weapons and proceed to claw at each other until suddenly Cyrus slacks off.

“Enough,”  Mary says, her booted heel pressed firmly against the side of my foe’s head. 

I get in one last jab as I try to extract myself from the jumble and take one in the ribs myself. 

“I said enough,” Mary grinds her foot against Cyrus’ ear and he stops.  “I will never become your wife,” she spits at him. 

“You are lovely when you are mad,”  Cyrus says, his smile returning. 

Mary spits again, but before the glob has made it to its target, we are all blinded by the flash of a bright light.

“Damn it,” I gasp, rolling off of my stomach and rubbing my eyes.  “He gone?”  I ask as a pair of hands grasps me under the arms.

“Yeah,”  Freak Beans says, lifting me up with his good arm.  I immediately sag against him and he curses as I bump into his injured elbow. 

“Sorry,” I say, trying to straighten myself up and failing, slumping all the way down to the ground.

“You're bleeding!”  Mary exclaims.  The cold stone floor is cold against my cheek.