On Hard Stone (Chapter 3)

Gail blinked.

Zulok stood before him, his pose stiff and anticipating, his breathing steady but tense. “On the count of 3,” he announced gravely.

“No,” Gail said, his voice harsh and dry. “Discard your weapons, I will not fight you.”

Zulok cocked his head sighed. “Imagination can be a curse, Gail. Don’t think, act. I know you played out a possible battle in your mind but its outcome is, to me, unknown. Fight me and complete your destiny.”

Gail dropped his weapons. “No,” he said again. “This request of yours is ludicrous. In fact, you’re just not brave enough to face an impending future that just doesn’t suit you.”

Zulok squinted menacingly. “ ‘Tis not a request, Gail,” he replied angrily, “ ‘tis an order which you are in no position to refuse to obey. Fight me!”

“No.”

And with a furious wave of his arm Zulok called forth invisible chains that mercilessly bound Gail’s limbs suspended in the air, rising him from the ground and forcing him to float helplessly above it.

“You WILL do as I say,” Zulok fumed hoarsely, his eyes glowing dark blue with the touch of magic. “Since the sorcerers’ rise I have been respected and looked up to by all the world!”

Gail kicked and struggled but knew such an effort was foolhardy.

“Yet still you defy me, Gail Aschraft,” Zulok stepped forward, leisurely traversing the wall in his direction. “Why? Tell me, was it me who emerged victorious from your mental squabble? Was it I, the great Zulok Gant, who killed his favorite student?” Zulok stopped inches from Gail’s stoic expression and smiled. “Tell me … what happened?”

“I killed you,” Gail said. “And that’s why I will not fight you.”

“Nonsense,” Zulok scoffed confidently.

“Listen, Zulok. Free me and I will help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yes!” Gail cried shrilly, aware of the steady audience forming around them. “I’ll help you track down Sydney and kill him. Please. Just don’t put me through this.”

Zulok remained motionless several moments before raising a wary eyebrow. “You will help me find Sydney Bergen?”

“Yes.”

“And … kill him?”

“Yes.”

“I see,” Zulok said. “Indeed, you have presented me with a bargain I find hard to resist.”

The invisible chains released their grip and Gail fell untidily to the ground.

“Thank you,” he said, head bowed. Zulok represented, to Gail, a father figure; despite all his mannerisms and arrogance, Zulok had saved him from the orphanage he had been confined to since birth. Recognizing his power, Zulok had simply taken Gail and thus trained him in various arts, the one of most relevance being of course magic. And so Gail matured under his wing.

“Do not attempt to elude me in any way,” Zulok said. “After your promise I will not take kindly to treason.”

“Don’t worry,” Gail replied, shaking his head and drying his face with his sleeve. “You know I trust you, Zulok. Let’s drop the banter and go back to our old friendship.”

“A long time has passed. Nothing will be like it was before, you know that. I have adapted to the new territory that is our world,” Zulok said and Gail noticed in his speech nary a hint of melancholy or remorse. “I suggest you do the same.”

Gail looked around him. The crowd stood blank but expectant; people of the past, maybe people who died in the End of the World. Those who survived had merely been lucky to avoid the wave of fire that drowned the Earth. Gail, for instance, had been in a basement.

“So what now?”

“Now we return home,” Zulok smiled.

In a second Gail found himself in his own apartment, lying on the bed. He carefully dowsed his headache with a cold but still sweaty hand.

“I have matters to attend to,” Zulok’s voice rose from his blind side and Gail turned to meet him. “So I will leave then come back when ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Don’t play dumb, Gail, we made an agreement,” he said, standing at the window. “Prepare yourself to never return to Barasile.”

“Not even for a hard-earned retirement in paradise after saving the world?”

“I hardly think this cesspool worthy of the paradise label, but if that shall be your level of enthusiasm upon our voyage I will be quick to dismiss you.”

“Happy day,” Gail grunted.

“Goodbye.”

And he was gone.

After packing a modest backpack of personal effects and, of course, his digital camera with only 3 minutes battery, Gail decided he had no idea what to do next. Zulok had not specified when or where he’d show up to retrieve him so Gail was free to roam Barasile. Or sit in his apartment.

Outside, dawn approached.

Stepping indolently into the street, he wondered where Billy lived. Since he didn’t know, Gail conjured a tracking cloud that quickly identified Billy’s tracks on the dirt road. Feeling glad and relieved to have used magic in a long time, he followed them across several dark urban corridors and ended up at a small, shabby building not far from his own.

Gail stopped at the entrance. What was he doing?

“Filling time,” he thought. “I just want to see if he’s okay.”

So he entered and followed Billy’s trail to the second floor; it led him to an open apartment. Gail stood uncertainly at the threshold for more than a moment. Had something happened?

A strong and unpleasant smell wafted from inside, possibly vomit or lack of plumbing. “Hello?” he called eventually. “Billy? It’s Gail. Just wondering if you got home safely… are you there?”

“Nobody’s there,” said a voice from behind. Gail spun around to see who had spoken. A plump woman with a curiously cadaverous face leaned against the wall behind him. Her face was pale, rugged and fragile all at once. “They left, couple hours ago.”

“What happened?”

“Billy’s father wasn’t well,” the woman explained. “No, not well at all. I don’t even know where they went.”

“The father… it’s cancer, right?”

“Yes. Poor man, he’s lived in pain all this time. It’s a wonder he survived so long after the End of the World.”

“And you have no idea where Billy took him?”

“Sorry.”

Gail nodded.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” the woman began anew, “who are you?”

“A friend.”

“Billy has no friends in Barasile,” she said. “Have you no name?”

“I am Gail Ashcraft, I came here looking for Billy. Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Juliet. Juliet Thead,” she smiled briefly but her features remained ghastly. On one hand this person seemed kind and caring but looked quite the opposite; Gail felt restless in her company. “My friends call me Julie. I was supposed to care of Billy after his father died but now he’s run off.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll look for him. I have…” Gail frowned. “Ways. I have ways.”

“Well I’d sure appreciate it, I’d hate for something bad to have happened to him,” Julie said. “Are you a recent acquaintance of Billy’s, per chance? I’m truly curious about you.”

“Curious, or suspicious? You’re pretty straightforward,” Gail replied. “But yes, I met him not long ago. You?”

“Oh, we’re old pals. We both moved into the building around the same time, plus Billy and I share a couple interests.”

“Let me guess… movies?”

Julie chuckled in a bittersweet fashion. “Yes, cinema. And if you knew about Billy’s interest in cinema I’m willing to bet you’re trustworthy.”

“Thanks for the vote,” and both shared a moment of silence. The faint light of dawn floated tentatively from Billy’s apartment and illuminated Julie’s hollow visage.

“Anyway, I have to go. Please find Billy, will you?” Julie asked, her plea clearly heartfelt.

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning back into her apartment. Gail sighed, relieved, upon her exit and entered Billy’s flat. A hasty scan revealed nothing of interest. An open notebook lay on a bench, almost begging for attention. Gail was intent on finding Billy but felt suddenly drawn to this notebook. Its pages looked old and dirty and Gail soon understood it was Billy’s diary.

The first entry dated back to 2013. Browsing its pages, Gail noted an account of Billy’s regular day-to-day life before the End of the World. How strange such descriptions seemed now, after all was different. Halfway through, there seemed to be an obvious divide or change. After a certain entry, the 14th of April, 2014, Billy’s handwriting changed style and ink; it became messy and depressed and blotchy. Gail attempted to read these new entries but so disordered was their presentation he soon gave up.

Leaving the apartment, Gail stopped. It struck him, then. The 14th of April, 2014.

The day the world ended.

The day Sydney Bergen killed the world.

When Gail finally left the apartment already the streets were cluttered with lumbering people. Gail greeted no one. Perhaps he had waited too long before coming outside; Billy’s diary proved more interesting than he had first imagined. Now it was almost time for work and if someone spotted him there was sure to be trouble.

Billy’s trail led him to the outskirts of Barasile. Gail was met with a vast stretch of dead, brown earth but no sign of anyone or anything and Billy’s trail, surprisingly, led into it.

“Billy!” he called, not too loud, not too low. Should he be spotted by a former co-worker he would undoubtedly be forced back to work. “Billy, where are you!?”

There was nobody around so Gail sunk to the ground. The desolate field surrounded him and pressed forward like a vicious beast, more threatening because Gail knew it now covered everything between urban areas. “If Zulok hadn’t shown up,” he thought, “I’d have gone mad. Maybe everyone will go mad in this new world. Maybe Billy already has and tried to leave it.”

The wasteland seemed to smolder under its dirty surface. If Billy had made the mistake of delving too far across it he would undoubtedly be dead already. Had he taken provisions? Had he taken his father? Why, in the first place, had he done it?

“Billy, please answer!”

But still he was mocked with silence. A frail tear rolled down his cheek and stained the sand beneath him. “Billy…” he whispered to the wind. “I have your diary.”

Suddenly there was a flash and Zulok stepped toward him from thin air. “Raise yourself, Gail, I have no time for tearful servants.”

Gail was startled to his feet. “Zulok… I…”

“Are you ready to leave?”

“No. Um, yes.”

Zulok squinted into the distance. “What are you doing, anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t be simple, Gail, of course you were doing something,” Zulok replied smartly. “What was it?”

Gail sighed. “Well… a person I know, a kid, he… he’s gone into the wasteland. He may even have taken his dying father with him.”

“Well he’s clearly lost his marbles, hasn’t he? For Merlin’s sake, Gail, pull yourself together and call your stuff, we’re leaving.”

“Shut up, Zulok,” Gail replied sharply. “Is it too hard to see I’m… I…”

“You’re what?”

“I’m upset! Damn you, Zulok, you have no heart.”

“Well you’re lucky I don’t or I would have taken that as an insult,” he scoffed. “So you’re in more distress than a damsel in a tower, so what? People enter our lives and leave when they want, it is not in our power to control others. You are no stranger to loss, Gail.”

Gail pursed his lips. “But it hurts. Every time.”

“I am sure it does, but we have important matters to carry out and I have no intention to lounge. Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes!” Gail repeated, grinding his teeth and holding back his fist with surprising difficulty. “But I made a promise.”

“Oh did you now?”

“Yes. I promised someone I’d take him back. I need to find him.”

“Him?”

“Billy. The kid who ran off.”

“And you’re certain he ran away?”

“Yes.”

Zulok frowned. “Well if he ran away he did so because he wanted to. Leave him be, Gail, is my advice.”

“Your advice sucks, Zulok,” Gail smiled feebly. And then he had an idea, so sudden it seemed as if a light bulb had truly burst into operation above his head. “Look, I promised this woman, Julie… she… it’s strange, actually, she looks like some kind of ghost.”

“A ghost? I’m intrigued,” Zulok said. “Tell me more.”

“Her face, it was… weird,” Gail explained innocently, attempting to lure Zulok into his situation and buy more time, or at least an opportunity to tell Julie what he’d discovered. “I really can’t explain it, her features are surreal.”

“Oh but I must meet this corpselike dame,” Zulok said, fascinated. “Could you place an estimate upon her age, perhaps?”

“She’s probably around your age,” Gail baited him. “I’ll take you there, if you want.”

“Please,” he said, then became serious. “But afterwards, we leave.”

Gail raised his hands defensively. “Like I said, I’ve been ready all along.”

Zulok glared at him for only a moment, then eased his posture. “Lead the way,” he said.

“Ok,” Gail nodded, heading back into the city limits. Activity was usually intense in every street and road, due solely to market and commercial movement. “But you have to act discreet. If someone recognizes me, we’re in trouble.”

“But why do you even accept such danger?” Zulok said. “Have you forgotten you’re a sorcerer? A quick stab of forceful magic will get rid of even the most bothersome fly.”

“No, I have not forgotten I’m a sorcerer,” Gail sighed patronizingly. “But it’s difficult to practice magic when almost everybody would instantly point a finger at you and say you destroyed the world.”

“People still stick to that dim-witted assumption?”

“Oh yes,” he said. “And from the stuff I heard at work, most people are convinced that sorcerers are to blame but don’t really know why.”

Zulok simply snorted contemptuously and followed Gail down a rather narrow alley and into a building via its gloomy back entrance. The air inside smelled like an old woman’s wardrobe, the lights were faded and the walls were cracked and appeared to have been constructed by the most tactless contractor in Barasile.

“We’re here,” Gail said.

“This is where you live?”

“No, this is where the ghost lady lives,” he groaned. “Although all the apartments in Barasile smell and look mostly like this one.”

“I thought they might,” Zulok said, disgustedly. “How alluring.”

Gail ignored him and climbed the staircase to the second floor. “I’ll do the talking,” he said, standing outside Julie’s apartment. “If you can’t hold yourself back, just try not to insult or bother her, ok?”

“I’m here just for the view,” Zulok grinned, positioning himself in the shadows.

Gail knocked and Juliet was quick to answer. “Oh, it’s you. Hello again,” she greeted him, her appearance as haunting as he remembered. “Any news?”

“Well…” Gail hesitated. “He’s left Barasile. I followed his trail into the wasteland but I’m afraid there’s no hope of finding him alive. The stale air is unforgiving and dangerous.”

Julie sighed and slowly cleared her eyes with the back of her hand. “So he’s…”

“Dead,” he said, as gently as possible. “Most probably so, yes. I’m sorry, Julie, there’s nothing I can do.”

“I understand.”

A moment of uncomfortable stillness ensued and, several seconds later, Zulok swooped forward on cue.

“Good morning, fair madam,” he declared captivatingly, almost theatrically. “I have heard of your grief and owe you my sympathy. My name is Zulok Gant.”

Julie shook his hand, tears forgotten. “Oh, hello. I hadn’t noticed you hiding back there. I’m Julie Thead.”

“Indeed you are. I am an acquaintance of Mr. Ashcraft’s, by the way, do not think I am simply intruding on your conversation.”

“Yes, Zulok is a good friend of mine. We were about to leave, in fact…”

“Oh?”

“We must be on our way,” Zulok said. “’Twas a pleasure, Julie Thead. May we meet again.”

Julie swooned.

“Goodbye,” Gail said, but she wasn’t listening anymore. Back outside, Zulok looked suitably content.

“I thank you for introducing me to that fine woman,” he said. “But it is truly odd that her face should resemble a haggard corpse. Could she be strangely allergic to rotten air?”

“I really don’t care.”

“But it’s fascinating… perhaps she has something wrong with her skin, maybe-”

“Look, I’m ready now,” Gail announced flatly. “Can you call my stuff?”

“Have you no mind of your own? Frankly, Gail, you seem loathed to use magic,” Zulok opined straightforwardly. “Come, do not disgrace your master and use the powers I taught you.”

“No. We’ll go to my apartment and get it.”

“But why?”

“Don’t you think people would notice a flying backpack? A mob would quickly follow it and inevitably find us,” Gail explained annoyedly. “It’s not that I am loathed to use magic, in your own words, but only because I think ahead and foresee possible consequences. So please accompany me back to the apartment.”

Zulok grumpily obeyed and both promptly crept across numerous alleys and backstreets into his large apartment in the center of Barasile. Gail was painfully aware of how deep they had traveled inside the city and how high the risk of being spotted now was. The Meat Masher wasn’t far from his apartment and there would certainly be workers running errands and making deliveries in the area. In his current outcast situation, Gail had just entered a danger zone.

“I will wait here,” Zulok said, once inside. “Try to be swift, I’ve had my fun with this repugnant city.”

Gail nodded and climbed the building’s main staircase. It would be the last time he did so and thankfully felt no regret to be leaving Barasile. He knew it would be a relief to discard the foul air from his lungs and breathe freedom. He may be on a mission and have certain goals, but he thought of it all as an escape – an escape from loneliness. Zulok was not the most amiable companion but Gail was nevertheless pleased to be with him.

Upstairs, the corridor was deserted and Gail hastily entered his living quarters. After gathering his black rucksack he carefully retraced his steps back downstairs and returned to Zulok’s side.

“All went well, I presume?” Zulok asked vaguely.

“Of course. Happpy?”

“Fitfully. Let’s go.”

But as soon as Gail stepped outside a shrill “Hey!” rose from the crowd and stopped him dead in his tracks. Zulok paused, also, and both waited for someone to confront them.

A tall and muscular man soon showed up beside them, a powerful frown creasing his forehead. “Yo, Gail,” he said. “So it’s really you. Why aren’t you at work today?”

Gail tensed. “I… I can’t.”

“But you know how Mr. Quimple hates dropouts, he’ll crap all over your CV. You’ll never get work anywhere.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that, but I can’t stay. I’ve spoken with Butch, and… well, there’s not much to it. I don’t care what Cid Quimple does, I won’t need work again, anyway.”

“That’s right,” Zulok interrupted suddenly. “Gail’s leaving, metal head. Just mind your own business.”

“Metal head?” Gail repeated incredulously.

“Did he just call me metal head?” the man growled, curling his dirty, rough hands into fists. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“He’s a friend, just ignore him,” Gail said. “Look, uh…”

“The name’s Motor.”

“Ok, Motor. I’ve seen you around the Meat Masher, you’re a cool guy. Please… don’t tell anyone you saw me. Butch said he’d handle the paperwork and I’d appreciate it if you left our whole situation to those actually involved.”

Motor appeared to think this proposal over. “So… basically, you don’t want me to say anything about our meeting. Right?”

“Right.”

“Oh well, I suppose you’re a cool guy, too,” Motor said. “Sure, I’ll pretend this conversation never happened.”

Gail winked. “Thanks.”

“Yes, for being a moron,” Zulok mumbled.

“Huh?” Motor leaned forward as if to hear better.

Zulok cleared his throat. “Nothing. I thank you as well.”

“No prob, man,” Motor said. “Take care, Gail. I dunno where you’re going, but good luck out there.”

Gail thanked him and Motor briskly fell back into the daily crowd. “See? That’s why I didn’t want to run into anybody.”

“Of course. But you were lucky, this time.”

“We were lucky. Come on, let’s just go.”

“At last,” Zulok sighed. “We need a safe place to teleport. Any suggestions?”

“I don’t even know where we’re going, but yeah, I’ve got a couple suggestions,” Gail replied morosely. “How about the outskirts? Nobody will see us there, and we have to be outside, right?”

“Good thinking. Hurry!”

Zulok skipped onto the road and began heading aimlessly forward. He would, of course, eventually arrive at the outskirts of Barasile so Gail simply followed.

“Ok,” Zulok said, his voice was unsteady. “We now begin a journey to save the world.”

“At the brink of a wasteland,” Gail noted wryly. “Should we consider this a dark omen, mighty Zulok?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zulok scoffed.

“I was being funny,” Gail said. “But are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“No,” Zulok grinned murkily. “Aren’t surprises always much more fun?” And with that he raised his hands and instantly summoned a mantle of light that covered them and took them far away.