To Return Home

Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

3.4

We worked. That is, Rachel and I worked our butts off, and slowly, we started to make headway. The men were probably the easiest. Over time, we were able to bring most of them back to themselves. There were a few who didn’t want to change from their new selves, but even the ones who wanted to return to their old appearance wanted to hold off until the women had been returned.

We discovered that the men who had been the biggest and most masculine appearing before, had been made into the… Well, the feminine men. The she-males. Those who had been more like Ralph had been changed into palace guards, or other things.

We found that we had to work much harder than expected, because when Carla tried to free the women who were objects or animals, she hit a roadblock. It wasn’t possible. She tried everything she possibly could, but releasing their minds wasn’t in her power.

We worked and worked with the women, but nothing really seemed to accomplish anything. Finally, Ralph, told Rachel and me to talk to the dragon.

“Dragon?” Rachel asked, confused.

“Yes,” Ralph replied. “She is a woman who was changed into a dragon at the beginning of our hell. I was sent to fight her once, and I remember her arguing with me. She insisted that she was a woman who had been changed into a dragon by the emperor. She even gave us her name.”

“What was it?” I asked.

“Kari.”

“Kari?” I only knew one Kari, but she was dead. We had found her head in the command center along with Fred’s. How could she be alive? “Are you sure she said Kari?”

“Yes. I believe she was Kari, the head of security. I think Amos found it amusing to put her at war with everyone she was supposed to be protecting.”

“Ralph, we found Kari’s head. She’s dead.”

“No, Rose. I don’t think she is.”

“Do you think he kept her alive but made a duplicate head?” asked Rachel.

“What about the bond with Marc?”

“I’m sure he could sever that easily as well.”

“There’s another possibility, I suppose. If she actually died, as Carla did, he could have remade her mind. Her soul would still be in the crystals.” Strangely, it was easier to think of the link being severed that way rather than ‘artificially’ by Amos. Otherwise, Marc was cheating on a living spouse.

Suddenly, another thought came to mind. “Do you think Fred’s alive down there? And Belinda?”

“But Belinda was definitely killed,” Rachel argued. “Amy told us that.”

“Yes, but Amos could have easily had her bots remake her body.”

“Or,” Rachel said, speaking what I was too afraid to even think, “Amy is lying to us.” Suddenly, however, she turned to Ralph and asked, “What happened in your fights with Kari?”

Ralph didn’t seem to want to answer, but finally said, “Anyone who was sent out to fight the dragon wasn’t allowed to return unless he won.”

“You killed her?” I asked.

“Twice.”

“How?” I asked in a very weak voice.

“I wore her down until I could chop off her head. That’s the way we had to do it. Amos told us it was the only way a dragon could be killed.”

-=#=-

I was seated that evening with John and my parents in my house. We had been talking about what Rachel told us when Paula and Marc rang the doorbell. John stood and answered the door, letting them in. The conversation came to an abrupt halt.

Paula looked around at us all, then asked. “Okay? What’s going on?”

“Sit down, Paula… Marc,” Daddy told them.

Once they sat down, Mamma started to explain. “Rachel and your sister have discovered something both disturbing and useful at the same time.”

“Okay,” Paula said, cautiously. “What’s that?”

I was determined that this information should come from me, so I took a deep breath and said, "We've discovered there's a very good chance that Kari is alive."

Marc went white, and seemed to sink deeper into the chair beside his wife.

-=#=-

It was a curious group that moved through the bays downstairs. Mamma and Daddy had joined with Paula, Marc, John and me. Rachel had insisted that if Ralph accompanied us, she was going to as well. Ralph had donned civilian clothing suitable for one his size rather than his centurion uniform, and it was very apparent that Rachel was very enamored with his new appearance.

We were travelling 'west' of the palace, crossing through two adjacent bays, then, as we were ready to enter the tube to the next bay, we came to a bridge. A very dank, foul smelling stream sat underneath it.

The smell of rotting meat came from the water, and I hated to think what might be in it. Ralph was leading our band, and he held up a hand to stop us. On a wooden sign above the bridge was written the familiar saying, Abandon hope, all ye who enter.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” John said as he stared up at it.

“Unfortunately, John,” Ralph said as he was surveying the other side of the bridge carefully, “It’s very dangerous from here on out.”

“More dangerous than this side of the bridge?” Paula asked. I knew what she meant. We both remembered how dangerous it was for women in the city.

“Much,” Ralph said grimly. He turned toward Rachel and repeated. “Much more.”

After surveying the land, he glanced at the water under the bridge, then looked under the bridge at its supports. Deeming it safe, he told us, “Follow me very carefully. Watch where you’re stepping. If anything moves, get out of its way as quickly as you can.”

Ralph stepped onto the bridge, and moved carefully across. Daddy and John followed, then Marc motioned for Mamma, Rachel, Paula and me to cross.

We made it safely across, and Ralph warned us some more, don’t step on a rock or a root. Even grass and moss can be dangerous.

“Why?” Daddy asked.

“Some of the rocks are people turned into land crabs. They hide their legs and pincers under their bodies. Trees can be dryads and they hate being stepped on.” He paused as he carefully set off down a dirt path. There were several rocks and roots in the path, and he studiously stepped around them, or over them if he had to. He didn’t seem to want to do that, though. “Some of the moss and grass seems to be a type of bot that Amos designed. It will tear into you, ripping your body to pieces.”

“Oh, shit!” Marc exclaimed. “What’s to keep these things from attacking even if we don’t step on them?”

“Well,” Ralph explained, “The grass and moss only attack if they’re stepped on. But they breed like wildfire. You step on a blade, and if it’s the bot type, you may as well say goodbye.”

He stepped around a rock that scurried out of his way. I gasped!

“Crab rocks don’t like being stepped on.”

“And dryads?” John asked.

“Nothing.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing to stop them. They’re rare, though. I’ve only seen one before. Took a page when I wasn’t looking. I wanted to chop off its roots, but I didn’t dare get close enough.”

“Can’t they reach from the side of the path? Pick one of us up?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah. They’re quite strong. They crush a person like a python or anaconda would. I watched my page be crushed. When the dryad ate him, it was clear every bone in his body was broken.”

“Should I ask why you inspected the bridge before we crossed?” Daddy asked as he carefully stepped over a root.

“There are piranha in the water.”

“So if the bridge were to collapse…” Daddy stopped.

“Well, yeah. That’s a thing to be cautious about, but awhile back, a tree wrapped its roots around the foundations of the bridge. When the dragon slayer -- me -- stepped on the bridge, it was pulled off its foundations, and we were all dumped into the creek.”

“You weren’t killed,” Marc observed.

“What makes you think I wasn’t?”

“Oh, wonderful!” I said as I kept an eye on a root while I stepped over it.

We slowly made our way about two miles into the woods. It was disorienting going through the forest because the trees covered much of the path with a canopy. There was some light that got between them, but not much. It was like they were malevolent, standing there watching us carefully make our way.

We could see the path snaking through the forest as it wound around ahead of us several times, taunting us with a way to quicken our pace. We didn’t dare step across the on the grass to take a shortcut, though. In the past, people had been revived if they were killed, like they were on a forced reincarnation cycle, but would we be? There was no way to know.

Finally, we came to a clearing made entirely of sand, and Ralph said it was safe to stop for a break. Gratefully I sat down. It was tempting to sit on one of the many rocks, or a conspicuous fallen tree that was intruding into the circle, but that seemed foolhardy. It appeared dead, but I didn’t want to test that.

We rested for a bit, then Ralph told us we needed to get moving. There would be another resting spot in the next bay.

We started walking again, and made it about a hundred meters into canopy of trees, when something that looked like a firefly came out from between the trees. “Go back!” it yelled at us.

It yelled at us? I squinted at the thing and realized it must be a pixie. It was flying on tiny wings, and it looked remarkably like Tinkerbell from the ancient Disney cartoon, Peter Pan.

Was this a person? She flew in between Marc and Paula. “Turn around!” she yelled again. Then, she used names! “Paula, Marc! Go back!” Something caught my eye ahead of us, and I screamed! A tree was moving!

Ralph was right underneath the thing, and some branches snaked down and around him. It appeared as though it was part willow, and the shoots were agile. John and Daddy grabbed their knives and rushed toward it, but several of the leaf shoots were used like whips! I even heard several pops as they cracked like a bullwhip would!

I ran forward as well, and ‘Tinkerbell’ grabbed my arm. She was surprisingly strong, and threw me off balance. I started to fall, directly toward a rock, which tried to skitter away, but the tiny pixie gave a monumental pull and changed the direction of my fall.

I landed on my stomach, my face still aiming toward the scene playing out in front of me. Ralph’s face was bright red, and his mouth was opening and closing as he tried to take in air, but it was obvious he couldn’t. I heard a crack that didn’t come from a willow whip. Instead, the upper part of Ralph’s body seemed to dislocate from his hips and legs. It was clear that his back had been broken.

As the centurion was pulled toward the tree, a gash formed on its trunk. There was no way Ralph’s body could fit into the gash, but the tree pushed. There were more cracking sounds from his bones as it forced the remains inside.

Then, it was over.