Gone Too Long

Flames formed towers of spiralling amber. They spilled from windows and doors, swallowing everything in their devastating heat. Jiminy spun on the spot, his legs weak, his mind racing.

What in the name of the old gods had happened?

Every building was in flames or turned to rubble. Thatch's Herbalist store was cut through the middle, the village school was little more than dust. A screech broke through the roar of the inferno and Jiminy fell back into his raft. He had seen the destruction long before he reached shore, but he had not heard the screams. He moved to hide himself beneath the fishing net, but another yell froze him solid.

Father?

Before Jiminy could stop himself, his feet were on the sand and he was moving into the blaze.

'Father!'

There was no reply. He shielded his face, blinking against the sting of smoke and sweat. Another scream pierced the night. This one was not human.

Gods help me.

Blinding heat and smoke enveloped the young man in darkness. Jiminy's breaths became more laboured and the flames that licked his neck had become white hot blades. He collapsed to the side, unable to break his fall before he hit the dirt. Blood pulsed like a battle drum in his head and his tongue felt thick with dust.

'Father,' Jiminy croaked, as all faded to black.

Jiminy woke to the feeling of cool water against his lips. His eyes still stung as they flickered open and his throat felt scorched, but he was alive.

'Klive?'

Kneeling above Jiminy was an elderly man. His eyes gleamed in the dark from above a thick, black moustache.

'Lad, you shouldn't have come back.'

Jiminy sat up, his arms burning in protest.

'What happened Klive? Where is everyone?'

Klive looked down, the creases in his face painting a portrait of despair.

'They're gone, lad.'

'No... no, I heard my father.'

'No, you didn't.'

'Yes, I did, I heard him clear as day,' Jiminy snapped. His face had become hot, and he staggered to his knees, throwing his arms out for the door frame.

'No,' Klive helped Jiminy to his feet but then guided him to a raised dentist's bed in the middle of the room. 'You heard the pixie.'

Jiminy was still staring at the closed door and the glow of flame through the gaps. 'Pixie?'

'Dreadful creature, can mimic voices to draw out its prey. You really shouldn't have come back.'

Jiminy put his head in his palms.

'I remember,' he began. 'In school, they told us of pixies. They would be summoned through dark magic to grant wishes.' He looked up at Klive, his eyes more red and wet than they had already been from the smoke. 'Who would do such a thing, here?'

Klive stepped back and turned, his feet clumsily kicking a wooden tray on the floor. It was dark, but Jiminy could see that the old dentist was struggling to say something.

'You really have been gone a long time, lad.'

'I was always going to come back, once I found the witch doctor.'

'Did you find them?' Klive said without turning.

'No,' Jiminy hung his head. Hot tears burned a track through the soot on his cheeks. 'Not that it matters now. You said everyone's gone... my father?'

Klive turned around again, looking much older than Jiminy remembered him. 'I'm sorry.'

'Damn it,' Jiminy dug his nails into his knees. 'Damn it!'

'My wife passed,' Klive said, shuffling to another side of the small room. 'Before this pixie. I suppose a year or so now.'

Jiminy frowned, there was something in the old man's tone that made the hair on his neck stand erect.

'I had to try something; you surely understand.'

'Someone summoned the pixie,' Jiminy mumbled quietly. His eyes flicked from Klive to the surface where his operating tools lay. Scattered across the bench, visible in the orange glow from the far window was a row of glass jars. Each of them held teeth, some small some large... some too sharp to be human. Jiminy's stare shifted to the wall behind the jars, to a strange symbol painted in red, so dark it was almost black.

'You,' he gasped.

'I had to try something, you'd have done the same.' Klive spun around, his eyes were wide and bulging. Jiminy only now noticed the splashes of blood across his chest. 'How was I to know I needed baby harpy teeth for the ritual? How?'

Jiminy slid from the bed and staggered backwards towards the wall.

'It's your fault,' he groaned, 'Klive, it's your fault they're all gone.'

'No, no.'

'It is, you unleashed this.'

'How could I have known.'

'You never meddle with creatures of the void, everyone knows this!'

'I had to try!'

SMASH

Glass exploded into the room, bringing with it smoke and the roar of flame. Jiminy was thrown forward into the bed and something large hit the floor where he had stood. A ear-splitting scream shook the room and Jiminy rolled to his side, shielding his ears. What he stood standing by the broken window was something beyond his wildest nightmares.

'Old Gods save me,' he wheezed. Towering in front of the light was the shrivelled, frame of what may have once been something human. Monstrous veins bulged against grey skin and the creature's teeth formed multiple rows of red needle. Broken wings sprouted from the pixie's back, ribbons of skin stretched over bone. It looked down at Jiminy with empty black eyes and screamed again.

'Please no!' he yelled in reply. He threw his hands out in front of him as the creature pounced.

'No!' Klive darted in between them and swung his arms, striking the pixie on either side of its head and sending it reeling backwards. Klive looked back at Jiminy and gave him a weak smile.

'Never met a man or beast I couldn't discombobulate.'

As quickly as the pixie had been stunned, it had recovered and was advancing again. It's face was contorted with rage, seemingly furious at having been hurt by the one who called it. Klive blindly grabbed for a blade from the table next to him and yelled over his shoulder.

'Run, lad. Run and don't look back.' Without another word he ran forward and sunk his knife into the creature's chest. It barely flinched. The pixie lashed forward and sunk its teeth into Klive's shoulder. A thick spray of blood hissed against the wooden floor. Jiminy blinked through the shock but finally found himself springing to his feet.

Run you fool, run. And so, he did.

Jiminy ran for the back exit, looking over his shoulder only one more time before reaching the door. The pixie had made a move to give chase, but with the last of his life, Klive had gripped the beast around the waist and fastened one of his thick, Velcro table straps there. The creature thrashed and slashed, tearing the dentist's body as easily as warm bread but struggling with the Velcro.

Jiminy had not wasted a moment more, slamming the door behind him and making for his raft. He thought for a moment that he should feel honoured by the old dentist's sacrifice, a man he had known since he was a child, but then he thought of his sick father. He thought of what that pixie would have done to him. This was what Klive deserved, but as Jiminy sailed away he did hope the man could now be with his wife again. He also hoped the creature's wings were truly shattered.