Keeper: Chapter 30

30.


Images swirled in Jamie’s head. Fairytale creatures danced in and out of his mind’s eye with Albe’s voice a steady presence, teaching him about the world of the crossroads. Stories of knickknacks would end with Albe introducing the person who had given it to him. Treasured memories of summertime adventures with his great uncle replayed in his head, but this time with slightly different tones. Lizards were replaced with goblins, fireflies with fairies, and the glowing coals of a campfire winked at him with salamander eyes.



“Do you think we gave him too much?” Jamie heard a voice that did not come from inside his head. “He looks like he is having a seizure.” Jamie struggled to place the voice. He came up with the scent of freshly baked bread and hearty stew. Del.



“Del,” he said the name aloud. His voice sounded croaky in his throat, like he hadn’t had water in a week. The voices faded and the kaleidoscope of images and memories slowed. Jamie opened his eyes to find Del leaning over him, a concerned expression creasing his face. He looked past Del and saw the ceiling of the family parlor above him. “What happened?” he asked. Jamie tried to clear his throat and it caught on the dryness.



“Here,” a second voice said. A glass of water was passed to Del. Jamie tried to turn his head to see who it was but ribbons of color danced in his eyes.



“Slowly, Del said. “You had a nasty crack to the head.” Carefully Del helped Jamie to sit up. They moved slowly, stopping every time rainbow bursts of color danced in Jamie’s vision. As he moved Jamie realized he had been laying on the fainting couch, the velvet nap felt soft and almost fur-like beneath his fingers. When he was upright, Del handed him the glass of water and Jamie drank deeply.



“Thanks,” he said, his voice not nearly as harsh. “What happened?” He repeated. Remembering the other person in the room Jamie looked up. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had a minute ago. He blinked and Burr the architect and the High Talbot came into view. Burr was dressed in work clothes and Jamie remembered that he had planned to work on House. He appeared to have been pacing. The High Talbot was seated in one of the room’s reading chairs and seemed perfectly pressed. The slight frown line on his forehead was the only crease Jamie could see. He had the feeling the frown was due to his rumpled state. Jamie’s eyes darted from Del, to Burr to the High Talbot waiting for someone to answer his question.



“What do you remember?” The High Talbot asked. Jamie sighed.



“I remember going out to the Lustan. We followed the map,” Jamie indicated the stack of map squares sitting on the table and the High Talbot nodded. “When we got there we found Albe,” Jamie’s voice tapered off first in sadness. The sadness was pushed away by anger. The anger was white hot and Jamie took a deep breath to try to control it. “Someone killed him.” Jamie’s voice was hard and hot with the tightly controlled rage. “Someone killed Albe,” he repeated. He looked down at his hands and realized Albe’s ring was now on his left ring finger. He looked back up at the High Talbot. “And then someone tried to kill me the same way. The last thing I remember was seeing the rock come at me.”



“That is what we have heard,” the High Talbot said. “We simply needed to hear it from you to confirm.”



“I see,” Jamie said, not really seeing at all. He turned to Del. In doing so he spotted the coin and vial he had packed in his bag before leaving. The vial was empty and the coin had gone from shimmering like a rainbow to a dull matt black. Jamie picked up the coin and looked up at Del.



“Those saved your life,” Del said. “The coin of the Gogran deflected the worst of the blow so you were merely knocked unconscious instead of having your head crushed and the vial contained the elixir of Talgarim. You’ll still be bruised but it helped heal any internal damage.” He paused and Jamie contemplated the empty vial. He knew the elixir of Talgarim was extremely rare. It required more than a year to make and it’s ingredients were kept a family secret by the House of Talgarim. Jamie blinked.



“How did I know that,” he thought. A light bulb went off in his head. The elixir would have healed any damage it found and might have taken the conditioning that was traditional for the training of the Keeper as damage that needed to be repaired. He suddenly realized everyone was still staring at him and no one was speaking.



“Sorry,” Jamie said. “What happened after the big rock?”



“They didn’t realize you weren’t alone and when they came down to make sure you were dead,” Del paused. “Well I sort of picked up my own rock.”



“It is good that you showed more restraint than your aggressors,” the High Talbot said. “Otherwise we would not have anyone to stand trial.”



“Yes we will have a trial. The prisoner is in custody.” Jamie thought of the ins and outs of the last few days.



“Who will be the judge?” he asked realizing that that part of his education had not been filled in.



“Why you will be of course,” the High Talbot told him.



“I see,” Jamie said slowly.



“Do you? Good.” The High Talbot stood. “In that case I will leave you to your rest and I will see you when the trial convenes at sundown tomorrow.”



“Of course,” Jamie said. “Until tomorrow.” He concluded remembering just in time not to add the words Thank you to the statement as they could be miss interpreted as a debt. Propper goodbyes were said and the HighTalbot departed. Burr excused himself to begin work on House. Less than a minute after he left the room Jamie could hear him issuing orders to his crew. Jamie turned to Del, who still wore a worried expression.



“I suppose I had better see if there is anything on court proceedings in the library,” Jamie said.



“Yes,” Del replied. “I have the feeling that will be very handy information to have.”

on the road for work, again

Will post a chapter tomorrow when I return. v

Keeper: Chapter 29

Chapter 29

His mother was dressed in a chic suit of black lined with white piping. Her shoes were black with white polka dots and she struggled to look casual as the heels sunk into the soft earth. Bella was in full charming mode while Michael had the air of a ring master.



“That spells investor,” Jamie thought with a sign. “This is not going to be pleasant.” The stranger noticed him first. Somehow, Jamie was not surprised.



“Hello, I am George Jennings,” The man said, walking over and offering his hand to Jamie. Jamie shook it and smiled at the man, ignoring his family.



“Good morning Mr. Jennings. I am James Fulton. What brings you to my home today?” George quirked up an eyebrow in surprise but quickly suppressed it.



“I represent the Colfax Corporation,” George said pulling out a card and handing it to Jamie. Jamie glanced at the card. It had a shadowy outline of buildings behind the name and the tagline development for the future. The tag line ended in an oversized red exclamation mark.



“I see,” Jamie replied, handing the card back to George. “I think you may be under some sort of misunderstanding. My property is not for sale.” Jamie heard sputtering from his brother and a sort of hissing noise from his mother. He didn’t glance in their direction.



“Oh,” George said slowly, his gaze darting back towards Bella and Michael. “I see.” He held his card back out to Jamie. “If you change your mind…”



“I won’t,” Jamie replied, trying to not make the words sound too harsh. “But thank you. I am sorry you drove out this far for so little reason.”



“It was a lovely drive. You have a great place here,” George said with a faded smile as he tucked his card back in its holder and slipped it into his suit pocket.



“I think so.” Jamie replied. George once again extended his hand and the two men shook. George headed back to the car. Michael left him to Bella’s care and instead joined Jamie on the porch.



“What are you doing?” Michael hissed. “They are willing to pay us a lot of money for this rat hole.”



“It is not yours to sell.” Jamie said calmly, making no attempt to keep his voice from carrying. Michael’s eyes hardened and Jamie nearly ducked back instinctively as that look had always been a precursor to one of Michael’s punches. Instead he held his ground. Michael realized there was an audience and merely clenched his fists by his sides. “How did you get here, by the way?”



“We drove,” Michael said through clenched teeth. “Can’t you see the car?”



“I realize that,” Jamie said. “But I distinctly remember locking the gate.”



“We opened the gate,” Michael said. Jamie could see the muscle in his jaw clench.



“How?” Jamie asked, “I specifically didn’t give you a key.” Michael did not answer. Instead he turned and stalked back to the car.



“Bolt cutters,” George said with a frown.



“And you did not find that suspicious?” Jamie asked him. Bella’s face was a hard mask of marble.



“A little,” George admitted with a shrug. “But they said the lock was rusted shut and the key had been lost.”

“I’ll have to get a new lock then,” Jamie said.



“I am sorry for the inconvenience,” George said. Jamie waved away the apology.



“Not your fault really. Have a nice drive back.” George nodded and got into the car while Jamie re-entered the house. He shut and locked the door behind him.



“I take it that was your family?” Del asked. A deep frown creased his face. As Jamie’s frown was almost a match he didn’t mention it.



“Mother and brother, along with one innocent bystander named George,” Jamie confirmed.



“They really thought they could sell property that didn’t belong to them?”



“They thought I’d cave and sign off on it because it was what they wanted.” Jamie rubbed a hand over his face and through his hair, suddenly feeling tired. Del snorted. “Easy money del, it is all about the easy money with them.” The two of them walked towards the kitchen as they heard the car’s engine start and then fade away as it began the drive back to town.



“How would it be easy if it wasn’t theirs?” Del asked.



“Oh they’d make sure to keep the money,” Jamie responded. He sank into the seat at the table and Del handed him a cup of coffee.



“They would sell your property and then not give you the money from the sale?” Del asked slowly, as though trying to puzzle the logic out.



“Yup,” Jamie said taking a sip of his coffee. Del seemed to have no response to this and instead fixed two plates with biscuits, eggs and bacon. He set one plate in front of Jamie and settled himself behind the second plate.



“They will be back,” Jamie warned Del as they began to eat. A dark look crossed the little man’s face. “I’ll have to see about replacing the lock on the gate before anything else. I think Albe has some spare ones in the storage room off the back porch. I don’t know that any of them will be bolt cutter proof but I can always go back into town to the hardware store to find one.”



“Will that be today’s errand rather than out hike out?”



“No,” Jamie said shaking his head. “I’ll go put the new lock on and then we can head out. I’ll go on the quest for a Michael proof lock later.”



“Will you drive to the gate?”



“Yes,” Jamie said, “That might be easier.”



“Safer too,” Del commented. “Too much Iron. You should be safe enough. I’ll put together our lunch to take with us while you lock up tight.” Jamie didn’t point out that he was pretty sure his car was more plastic and steel than iron.



“After all he reasoned,” If Del didn’t know then most of the other boggles out there might not either.” They finished breakfast and Jamie retrieved a new lock from the box in the storeroom. He had to duck upstairs to grab his keys from his night stand. Next to his keys he saw the shimmering coin and the vial of purple liquid. Figuring they had to be some sort of protection he slipped the coin into his pocket and slid the vial into the front pouch of his satchel. Jamie retraced his steps back out of the front door. He pulled the door shut and got into his car. They old Toyota took a minute for the engine to catch.



“Gonna need a mechanic soon,” Jamie thought as the engine finally caught. His local mechanic Larry and his heavily used Toyota were close friends at this point. Jamie headed towards the gate and stopped before going through the wide open expanse of road. Leaving his car running he closed and relocked the gate using the new lock. He picked up the cut lock, silently grinding his teeth. He tossed it into the passenger’s side of the car and drove back to the house. Del was waiting for him with two wrapped lunches. Jamie tucked his inside the bag swinging from his side and the two took off in the direction of Lustan.



The two walked in relative silence, needing no chitchat to fill the morning quiet. Jamie smiled as he realized he felt comfortable with Del. The woods were alive with birdsong and the general sounds of the wind whispering through leaves. Off to their left Jamie could hear the sounds of water and he remembered the thin blue line Alexander had traced on the map. He couldn’t remember the brook’s name, and had not copied it onto his sketched map. As they moved Jamie say bits of stained glass color darting through the woods and in addition to birdsong her heard snatches of tinkling laughter or barely heard words. He had the feeling fairies were following their progress. He mentally shrugged, figuring that if they wanted to speak with him they would approach. If not they could watch all they wanted. Del set a brisk pace and in a shorter time then Jamie had anticipated they had reached the outskirts of the Lustan. Jamie could only stand and goggle at the sight, his feet frozen to the dirt pathway.



“A bit surprising, I’ll admit,” Del said stopping beside Jamie.



“How do they not see this from the road?” Jamie asked. The megalithic structure easily towered over the surrounding forest by what Jamie assumed had to be a good two stories. The place reminded him of a cross between a Mayan temple and Ankor Wat. The two main entrances seemed to be aligned with the two east/west roads marked on the maps. Unlike the thin dirt trail Jamie and Del had walked through the forest those roads were cobbled and looked well kept. Jamie walked over towards one.



“This looks like someone swept it.”



“Probably did,” Del said bemused. “This wouldn’t be visible on your roads as we went through the cross roads quite some time ago.”



“Really? I didn’t feel anything.”



“Were you expecting to?”



“I don’t know,” Jamie said slowly thinking about all of the sci-fi and fantasy stories he had read over the years. Jamie looked around and at the edge of one of the buildings he saw something white fluttering slightly in a stray breeze. Jamie walked over to have a look. As he got close he again froze in his tracks. The flapping white was the tail of an un-tucked shirt. The body, or what he could see of it, looked as though it had been mummified. The skin was pulled against the bone, causing the clothing to fall in loose folds. The head was buried under a rock that Jamie was not certain he had the strength to lift. Jamie gazed at the body, unsure what to do. Del knelt down and peered closely at the rock. As he moved he accidently bumped the man’s hand. The hand slid from where it had been resting on his chest and fell to the ground. As it moved a ring, too loose for the desiccated hand slid from his finger and rolled away. Jamie bent down and picked it up. He straightened and looked at the ring in his hand. Jamie’s breath caught in his throat as he turned the ring around and saw the design.



“Del,” he said hoarsely. “This is Albe’s ring.” Del glanced at him and then turned back to the body. “He hasn’t been gone long enough for this to be natural decay.” Jamie stared at the body having a hard time reconciling it to the shell that once held his great uncle. “How can that be?” Del tilted the weight of the stone to the side a little.



“Don’t know, but you’d have to be pretty strong to heft this weight.” Jamie heard a slight scuffle from behind and started to turn. He had time to see a stone, smaller in size than the one that had killed Albe but still plenty heavy, come hurtling towards his head. His vision went red as it connected and then black as he slid into unconsciousness.

Keeper: Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The long shadows created by the evening light made the dusty store room seem a little foreboding. Instead of making due with just the over head light he turned on a few of the extra lamps to chase the shadows away. He was a little chagrinned that the extra light made him feel better about the space.



“I’ll need to see the markings on the boxes,” he rationed aloud. Privately he hoped he wasn’t getting to the stage where he wanted a night light. Jamie scanned the inventory in case any of the older journals were mentioned but couldn’t find any. He picked a box at random, checked the numbers against the inventory. He smiled at the words Maps, assorted. Jamie pried the lid off and hoped that the maps would prove to be of some use. Instead of finding the maps rolled as he expected, Jamie found a stack of maps, each with a sheet of archival paper between them. The maps themselves were more artwork than map and each had the name Alexander Fulton scrawled in the now familiar handwriting. In various parts of the maps buildings had been depicted in great detail, nearly popping off the page while the map itself faded to the background.



Many of the places depicted Jamie had never heard of while others were familiar only from Albe’s stories. He was beginning to realize that those stories were a different sort of fairy tale. Some of the names were familiar to him but he couldn’t place why he found them so familiar.



“Perhaps I’ll see them in my dreams,” he muttered, thinking of what he had been told about the training of a new Keeper. Jamie thought of all the new terms and names he had come across in the last few days. The house of the Fiery Lilly, Stedovan, High Talbot Aldrous of the House Duval, the Gederan and the Federan, the Lustan, and Longrin of the Fedalas as well as Queen Genivia. All were things he looked out for as he carefully paged through the maps.



“After all who knows how long the Queen has ruled,” Jamie thought. The Lustan, it turned out had a page all of its own. There were roads leading to and away and they were marked only with arrows and numbers. For a moment Jamie stared at the numbers. 3, 6, 6, 9. They didn’t mean anything to him taken in total.



“Except they are all multiples of three.” Jamie leaned back from the page and took a broader view. Each of the numbers was placed squarely in the center of what looked like roads leading away from Lustan.



“Maybe they are mile markers,” he thought. The two sixes were in opposite directions. According to the corner compass, they were the east and west roads. The two roads ran straight in opposite directions. The other two roads, marked with a three and a nine did not seem to be as carefully placed.



“Almost like they were an afterthought,” Jamie mused. He placed the map to the side for later study. Other maps revealed details of towns and cities he did not know. Three pages later he came across a page with the House of the Fiery Lilly marked on it. It was located near the center of a the territory of the Federan. He pulled the map out of the stack and kept looking. Soon he found a map marked as the territory of the Gederan. There was also a House designation in it’s center.



“House of the Golden Rose,” Jamie read aloud. He did not think any of his visitors had mentioned the house. “But the week is still young.” Jamie stood to stretch and felt his back pop. True night had fallen and Jamie stifled a yawn. He looked down at the maps he had pulled and realized that the territory of the Federan had a road running due east from it’s center and continuing off the page. At the edge of the page a 6 was placed in the center of the page. He shifted his gaze to the one showing the Gederan. It too had a road running straight from the center house. This one ran due west but it had the same six written on it. Jamie place the three maps, with the Lustan in the center. The roads lined up perfectly.



“Maybe it is all one map,” Jamie thought. He looked around. There was not enough room here to lay out all of the maps flat on the floor. “There would be in the family parlor if I moved the furniture towards the walls.” Jamie gathered an arm load of the maps carefully. With the archival paper between them they were slick and inclined to slide. Jamie rethought his plan and decided to take only a couple at a time to minimize damage. It took five trips to bring all of the maps to the family parlor.



The kitchen was dark and Jamie realized that Del had gone to bed. Trying to work quietly so as not to disturb Del, Jamie moved all of the furniture to the walls. He carefully placed the knickknacks out of the way, thankful that he had at least completed the inventory of this room. When the floor was clear, he even rolled the oriental carpet up and leaned it in the corner.



“Nice flat surface to work on,” Jamie said to himself as he rolled up his sleeves and began to lay out the squares on the floor. Some of the squares were easy to place. On those the roads marked typically had whatever town they led to scrawled along its length. Those were relatively easy to match. The trick was in reading the faded handwriting. Jamie turned on all of the room’s lights. His shoes were kicked off and in his socks he padded between the squares, leaving just enough room between so that he could place his weight on the bare boards of the floor rather than on the old paper. He meandered the room, placing squares where he thought they would fit, only to have them moved a little while later. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Finally Jamie was left with one square left to place. It had a three on the road leading north. With a smile he placed it below the Lustan and stepped back. With a start of surprise he realized that the last square he put in place was the one containing the house of the keeper. The garden’s placed around it had kept him from recognizing it immediately. In this map the Keeper’s house the small herb and vegetable garden stretched to the forest’s edge and was much wider.



“A lot more mouths to feed, I suppose,” Jamie said thinking of the many children Alexander and his wife had raised in the house. “Kids eat a lot.”



“Are we getting children?” Del asked. Jamie jumped and turned as Del chuckled from the doorway. Del’s hair was wet and he was dressed for a day of work.



“No,” Jamie said. “Just thinking of Alexander’s kids. Did I wake you?” Del chuckled again.



“I was just getting up to start the morning bread.”



“Oh,” Jamie said, looking out of the front windows with a puzzled frown. Through the windows he could see red gold light lining the edge of the earth and starting to rise into a sky that was beginning to fade from black to gray.



“Stayed up all night did you?” Del asked.



“I kinda got sucked in,” Jamie admitted running his hand through his hair. Del walked over and looked down at Jamie’s project.



“Wow,” Del said after a moment of flabbergasted silence. “I didn’t know such a map existed.”



“It was in storage.” Jamie looked at a few of the questionable placements. “Do you think I got all the pieces right?” Del circled the edges of the map, as careful of his foot placement as Jamie had been.



“Exactly right, as far as I know. Some of these places I’d heard of but never traveled to. But they seem about right.”



“These numbers,” Jamie said pointing to the three that lead from the keeper’s house to the Lustan. “Do you think that is marked in miles or some other measurement?”



“Who drew these?” Del asked.



“One of my ancestors,” Jamie admitted.



“Human then?” Jamie nodded. “Then probably miles would work. It’d be different if it was one of us.”



“So it might be walk-able,” Jamie said. He looked out at the lightening sky. “It is supposed to be a fine day.”

“Would you want to eat breakfast and just pack a lunch for our trip out or do you want to eat breakfast while we walk?” Del asked. Jamie smiled.



“I think we can eat breakfast here,” Jamie said. I still have to sketch out a portable version of the map, just in case we need it. Del nodded.



“I’ll just get started then.” Del returned to the kitchen while Jamie retrieved Albe’s field map and began marking out the various components of Alexander’s map n it.



“Hopefully this will lead to something more concrete about Albe,” Jamie thought. When he was finished, Jamie put the map aside and slowly began to stack the larger map squares up into a pile, careful to replace the archival paper between. Jamie then un rolled the carpet and began to put the furniture back in place. The scent of coffee and biscuits wafted from the kitchen and Jamie took a deep breath and smiled. His smile faded to puzzlement when he heard a car door slam.



“None of my visitors have driven cars.” Jamie walked to the front door and saw his mother, brother and strange man exiting his mother’s car. They hadn’t seen him and his first thought was to duck back inside and pretend he wasn’t home. He had done that before. However he didn’t think they would go home that quickly.



“And I don’t have time for this,” Jamie said. He stepped fully onto the porch, shutting the door behind him and waited for them to notice him.

oy

got called out of town.  There will be two chapters this week once I can reclaim my flash drive or get to my home computer in general.

new post tonight

Hi everyone, got up late this morning and didn't post before work.  also left my flash drive at home so I will post tonight when I get in. v.

delays

Sorry about the delays folks.  And the lack of explanation.  I'm trying to finish a draft of Alliance, the third book in the channel rider series, and I got a little caught up.  I should be back to posting the week of July 12th.  Again sorry about going MIA. v