Lifelight: Calypso Returns

3

Hera's leg was numb.The pain had been a hot searing nightmare which had waned then stopped altogether. She could see the green stuff spreading out from the puncture wounds but she could not feel it. Something that disgusting should hurt. Is this what it is like to be a demon? Feeling nothing at all.The thought shook her. Obviously her brain was taking no time catching up with her new reality. Strange men stole her away from her only home after she was attacked by a real-life boogieman.

"Penny for your thoughts." Kairu said.

Hera thought about asking all the questions she needed to ask but did not know where to start. She looked out into the approaching lights of the mainland and tried to find something to say.

"Are you human? As I know." Hera asked.

"No." Kairu replied.

"That thing was a demon, as I know them?" She said.

"Not exactly." He said.

"Was it looking for me?" She said.

"We think so."

"Are you the good guys?"

"Yes."

"Was my aunt one of you?"

"Not exactly but yes."

"Am I one of you?"

"No,not even close."

"Will it attack my uncle?"

"It's dead."

It was on the tip of her tongue to take it further but she felt that going down the rabbit hole needed to come later. As it was, she was in shock or she would be jumping in the water and getting as far away as she could from the nut jobs? Kairu opened his mouth to speak more than once but stopped. Yuli, who was rowing like he did it everyday,started to hum and they went the rest of the way in silence.

At the shore, Hera insisted on limping to the abandoned car half a mile from the shore. It was Kairu who drove and Yuli stared at a map. They seemed like the good guys.

"Do you guys have claws?" Hera asked.

"No." Kairu said..

"Are you soldiers?" Hera asked.

"Of a kind." Kairu said.

"So you have orders to be here?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me from whom?"

"Our king."

"Ok then." Hera said, "Do you think I can sleep? Is this leg thing a concussion type deal?"

"I will track its progress. You can sleep." Kairu said.

Hera did not actually want to sleep. She was exhausted but adrenaline coursed through her. Her thoughts were flying in a million different directions. She would never find sleep but she closed her eyes because she did not want to see just how far away they got from her island.

Sleep did come. It was fitful and full of teeth. She was escaping an army of Mr. Tulkinses when she woke up. Her leg looked awful. They were going past large fields of pineapple. Of the trips she remembered out of Lithia, none of them had involved drives past pineapple farms. She remembered being told that they were going to see a witch to save her leg. Looking at the green throbbing thing it had become, Hera did not think she would mind terribly if it was cut off.

From the back of the rickety sedan, Hera had a good view of Kairu and Yuli. In the library, she had only seen them as a pair of odd men. Of course Yuli was massive but not so huge that he seemed non-human.

She could see the subtle differences now. Their hair was not really black, if the light hit it just right, she could swear it was a very dark blue. Their eyes were a green-hazel that switched too easily to be normal. They did not move like people either, they held the rigid vigilance of soldiers but lacked the ticks and twitches people shared as a whole. For one, neither of them looked tired even though Kairu had fought that thing, and Yuli had rowed more than 10 kilometers to shore. They had been driving for hours but their shoulders did not sag, and there were no wrinkles under their eyes.

Every once in a while Kairu stole a glance at her on the rear view mirror but Hera avoided his gaze. The muggy humidity and pineapple fields soon fell behind and they left the main highway. The drove into hilly countryside and Hera regretted not having paid more attention in geography. There were no signs of habitation; Kairu seemed to be sure of where he was going even though the road had given way to grassy woods. Something occurred to Hera as she was trying so sort through the sea of things going on in her head. She looked to the front of the car and blurted it out before she lost her nerve.

"Am I calm because you are making me calm?" She said.

"No,I mean it was in the back pocket but you seem to be taking all this in stride." Kairu said.

"I don't understand. You've kidnapped me. Saved me. But kidnapped me.And now you are taking me to a witch." Hera said.

"Perhaps,in your heart, you knew this day was coming." Kairu said.

Hera tossed that comment aside after declaring it absurd and chalked her lack of fear up to her body trying to fight off the thing that was crawling up her leg. Kairu stopped the car at the foot of a hill and got out. He whistled a tune and then nodded to Yuli. Hera could not even bother with attempting to walk. Her leg had grown to roughly the size of a dead tree trunk.

Yuli carried her up. She took a second to enjoy the view but felt a twinge of pain at how far they likely were from Lithia. The thought distracted her so she did not see where Kairu who had been running up the hill went. He had been right ahead and then he was gone. He could not possibly have reached the top of the hill that fast.

Hera was just going to ask Yuli when a cave appeared in front of them almost out of nowhere. At the cave opening was a circular wooden door with a bright green handle. A ridiculous hope bloomed inside Hera,she was about to meet a hobbit!

A woman came out. Hera did not know it was a woman at first. Gray white hair was held in a severe ponytail behind her. She was small in that shrunken way really old people got, a few inches taller than the standard hobbit. She wore khaki pants and a cotton shirt. The only witchy thing about her was the sound of her voice. It was a cackle if Hera ever heard one.

"Come in, come in. Oh Yuli, you'll never fit. Kairu take her." She said, "It was his claws not his teeth you say, well aren't we lucky?"

Hera was set on what must have been a cloud it was so comfortable. The lady barked orders to Kairu and things appeared in front of her like magic. When she finally sat down to look at the leg, her tone changed completely.

"Hello Hera, I'm sad about the circumstances of our meeting but I am glad we have met." She said. Her eyes misted up for a minute and then got a faraway look, "I knew Khatya. You can call me Cori."

"Hello Cori.""Drink this, I would wait for that to kick in but this wound has been festering too long. This is going to hurt."Cori said.

Hera drank the sweet and spicy drink then braced for whatever was coming. Cori picked a syringe which looked too commonplace to be there and what looked like suction cups. The suction cups were placed on the claw puncture wounds and each got a syringe screwed in to the end.Hera thought that some medieval blade would have cut her leg open while incantations were said. This looked almost like a trip to the doctor.

Just as she relaxed, the pain came. Stars danced in the back of her eyes.Her leg seized up and shook. She felt the vice grip of the demon again. It bit into her flesh fighting to hold on. Every part of her screamed for it to stop but it did not, it never would.