"Whoever you think you're looking for, Temnota probably got to them already."
"He would have kept this one alive."
"Why would you know that?"
"Because bullies and cowards are vain."
"I mean, that's hard to argue, but it's pretty general. Every coward isn't exactly the same, and Temnota doesn't have much to fear. Maybe I see your point, but what does vanity have to do with it anyway?"
"How do you know Temnota so well? And how've you avoided him?"
"It's complicated, and I hid myself with... magic. You didn't answer my question."
"And you didn't answer mine. I just know they're alive. It's complicated... and magic," Jasper said that last part while wiggling his fingers and making a face. Even though magic was clearly real and they both knew it.
They stepped through the threshold of the rustic shack that Harriet had helped the miracle of life merely a battle prior. The family lay in their bed blissfully unaware that they had been murdered. The grandma was knitting in a rocking chair. Needles moved in a blank cadence even though the old lady had gone cold long ago.
A heartbreaking cry rang out over the silence. The gun Crow had trained on the old woman faltered as Jasper moved to look over the edge of the cradle. There was a little baby girl without a scratch, unless you considered the mutant smirk and the one large pupil. Jasper picked up the small person and cradled her gently in one arm.
A gust of cold air came through the door. Grandma suddenly stopped knitting and nearly fell over the arm of her chair, "if grandma stands up, it wouldn't be the strangest thing this week."
"Come on, Joy, let's get you somewhere safe."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crow hands Joy, wrapped up tight in a blanket like a little burrito, over to a very nervous Smiley standing in the light of the library window, "you said Harriet gave the birth?"
"Yes, it's what Jasper saw in the fire. You're the only one that we trust to take care of her."
Smiley let out a soft chuckle, "you sure it's got nothing to do with looks?"
"It really might. He said something about medicine before leaving."
"There is no more medicine. And even if there is, no one knows how to make it, so it won't last. This condition should have killed me in my teens."
Just then, Harriet's cart lit by two flame-fly jars dangling off of the front came through the library door, followed by Jasper and a middle-aged hog named Chex. The animal bolted straight to Smiley and snuggled up to his leg like a cat.
"Well, medicine cart is here. I couldn't find Harriet. I'm sorry, Smiley."
"Yeah... you made her memory proud."
After a moment of silence and giving the baby back to Crow, Smiley began frantically pulling drawers on the cart and closing them when he found nothing. It wasn't until the last drawer that he lifted out a stack of papers. An expression of awe turned to a giddy smile, "it's her mixtures. Her mixtures! All of the medicines and how to make them!" Smiley gave them both an unexpected hug, "you won't regret this! I'll have this doubled in no time!"
YOU ARE READING
Shadows of Elysium: The Laughing King
HorrorOnce upon a time there was a world, much like our own. This world is gone. The machinations and wars of man saw to every manner of apocalypse. What was left is a world as nightmarish as it is fantastical. Gunslingers and swordsmen ply the same trade...
