Slapping at a sudden pain on my face, I examined my hand to discover it was covered in blood and mosquito guts. Big mosquito guts. This sucker must have had a wingspan four inches across. I spotted several more with my auric vision, moving over the creek and homing in on me. I played Donkey Punch with them and discovered they were supernaturally adept at avoiding my tentacular thrusts. Scowling, I formed a thin net with one of my auric arms and scooped them up, then smashed them into fish food.

Aggravation from the horses carried along our bond, and I summoned them over. A veritable cloud of the blood suckers followed them so I scooped them up and fed their remains to the fishes too.

Groaning, I rolled out of my cowboy camp. Sleeping on the ground isn’t fun at the best of times, but I’m an old fart used to a comfortable bed. I hurt all over, every single joint ached and my skin itched like mad, peeling away in sheets like a bad sunburn.

It was easy enough to push out a small ‘comfort field’ with my aura, keeping bugs away and even producing a light breeze to keep me cool. I had even set it to filter UV light, I think. At least, I told my subconscious that I needed a UV filter and I assume it remembered enough from my drunken days at university to comply. We’d find out soon enough, because the thing that kept plaguing my mind when I left home was sunscreen. I had totally forgotten to pack some.

The horses sent emotions of relief and gratitude along our link while I headed to the creek and washed up.

A rabbit cautiously emerged from the brush on the other side of the creek and made its way to the bank for a drink. I lashed a tentacle at the easy meal and snatched it up, hauling it back towards me. The rabbit squealed in terror and then burst into a gazillion candle watt flashbulb. I dropped the damn thing in the creek and rubbed at my watering eyes, listening to it thrash around then bound off into the woods.

As I sat cursing and waiting for my sight to return, I noticed that the flash had left a strange pattern floating in my vision. A pattern similar to the one I had seen last night! With my eyes still watering, I found a stick and traced the pattern in the sand.

Once my vision had cleared enough that I was certain I wasn’t permanently blind, I fetched a small notebook from the saddlebags and copied it down.

Breakfast might have been another lukewarm MRE, but I ate it happily believing I had stumbled upon some powerful and mysterious key to the events happening around me.

An hour after dawn I had everything packed away, including the useless guns, and returned to the main road, this time riding Miguel and letting Sparky rest. Miguel was much more gentle than Sparky, who still had his balls and was still interested in using them. The four remaining spikes hung over the pommel, clanking in time with our fast pace.

Even though yesterday was full of delays, we had made pretty decent time. If everything went well… I cut that thought off before I raised a flag. I would be on the other side of Covington today, and in Hammond on Sunday.

I paused at the spot where Zeus Himself had tried to strike me down last night and copied the sigil burned in the ground into my notebook, then turned the horses towards the nearby town of Brush three miles away.

A long concrete bridge crossed the flood area of the Chitto river and I could smell barbecue before I reached the end of the bridge. Unsure if I should stop or not, the decision was made for me when I spotted a dark orange aura hidden behind the rail guard of the bridge about two hundred feet in front of me.

“I can see you!” I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth. “No trouble here, just passing through.” I paused then added, “Wouldn’t mind sharing information if you’re willing.” My voice carried, echoing off the concrete railings and spilling over the edges.

I stopped the horses about a hundred feet from the hidden individual, refusing to advance any further into an unknown situation, watching their aura. There was a flurry of activity under the bridge. I could see the blobs of life shifting and scattering about before splitting up and climbing the embankment on each side of the bridge. A quick count told me there was over thirty people below. One had moved behind me and I cast a glance back, spying a rope tied to the bridge a dozen yards behind me that I hadn’t noticed before.

I backed the horses up until the rope was in range of my tentacles and then turned my back to it, presenting a perfect target for an attacker. I told Sparky to stay put unless I called him, and to run back the other way if things went to shit. I got a mental snort in response. I suppose that’s good enough.

About a dozen auras had remained under the bridge, huddled together. Women and children perhaps?

Four men appeared, one standing up from where he was hidden by the guardrail. Each of them carried a bow, and Mr. Hidey himself was armed with a genuine crossbow. That could have gone really nasty for me. I’m pretty sure I can knock arrows outta the air if I have enough preparation, but a crossbow is sorta like a gun isn’t it? I have no idea what the effective range is, but Thom was pretty accurate at 100 yards with his bow. Astrid wasn’t bad herself, but didn’t have the muscle for a heavy draw.

Even though I could sense the presence of other life up to two hundred yards away now, my tentacles only have an effective range of maybe fifty feet, maybe a hundred if I just wanted to tickle something. He could have nailed me or the horses at any time. Hell, if these rednecks are avid bow hunters, I’m going to have a really, really bad day.

Another half-dozen were still hidden on each side of the bridge, waiting for the situation to develop.

The four men advanced down the middle of the two lane bridge. I held my hands up to show I wasn’t armed.

Behind me, a human-sized spider climbed to the top of the bridge and paused.

Without moving my hands, I snuck out two tentacles and latched onto Mr. Spider, then lifted him yelling and thrashing into the air before floating him in front of me as a human shield. I stripped him of his machete and dropped it on the bridge with a clatter. Using the bond, I guided the horses and had them approach the now agitated men gathered at the end of the bridge.

As we walked towards his friends I spoke to Mr. Spider. “I’m not looking for trouble, I just want to pass through. Maybe share a bit of information and peaceably be on my way.”

“Jenny! Jenny, help me!” He screamed, thrashing around like a broken puppet.

I floated him a bit closer to me, keeping a third eye on the activity of the auras around me. “Jesus! Dude, calm down!” I barked at him. “I’m not gonna hurt you!”

“Jennnnny!”

“God damn it Forrest, shut the fuck up!” I yelled, giving him a little shake with my tentacles.

Two of the guys advancing towards me busted out laughing.

I took advantage of the situation and looked at them, asking “Doesn’t he sound just like Forrest Gump?”

“Shut up! Jenny!”

A skinny redhead with a ruby spark in her forehead burst onto the bridge with a terrifying array of machetes, knives, and makeshift spears floating around her. “You leave Brett alone!” she yelled, running towards me. I stared at the dozen glowing tentacles waving around her and sucked air through my teeth. It was breathtaking. Her tentacles glittered in the aether like a scarlet spiderweb, sparkling with power and murderous intent.

Floating Mr. Spider AKA “Brett” as high and far over the side of the bridge as I could, I yelled, “Woah up Jenny! You don’t want to make me nervous and drop him!”

“JeeeNnnnY!”

I pushed out my left tentacle, stretching it forty feet in front of me, wriggling it like a snake. Jenny slowed and stopped, eyeballing the glowing appendage only she and I could see and gauging the distance between me, her and Brett. I shifted Brett behind me and levered him up in the air. It was a thirty foot drop from the bridge and I had Brett dangling ten feet behind me and twenty feet over the edge of the bridge. His chances of surviving a fall from fifty foot in the air were slim, even with sand to cushion him.

“I want to pass peaceably,” I reiterated, still keeping my hands visible. “Information would be nice, but no matter what, I’m crossing this bridge.”

Jenny looked back at the men behind her. A dozen other men had climbed onto the bridge and advanced as an impassable wall of machetes and bows. She looked back at me and crossed her arms, the floating weapons beside her jiggling in the air.

“Look at my spark,” I said, pointing at my forehead. “Yours looks like a birthday candle.”

I focused on pushing power into my spark, making it glow with the power of a thousand suns. She winced, then tried to shield her eyes with a hand.

You can’t block the spark, baby. It burns straight into your brain.

I was hoping I could increase and decrease the brightness of the blasted thing but never had a chance to test it. Her reaction was the proof that I needed. It was also something to keep in mind in case someone is in stealth mode. [1]

Or maybe I could use it for morse code to message people. dahditdit dittdittdah dahdah dahditditdit ditdah ditditdit ditditdit

I cut my focus and settled into working my way through the situation. So how do I handle this, carrot or stick? There’s thirteen little auras below me. I can threaten and use them as a bargaining tool, or I can work my way out of this with diplomacy.

Have you ever played Diplomacy? It’s an awesome board game. Great way to lose friends and piss your kids off.

“My name is Emmett Carter,” I said, hauling Brett back from the abyss and setting him down next to her. “I was attacked in del Sol yesterday and nearly lost my life. You’ll have to understand that I’m very suspicious of people hiding behind bushes and I really don’t appreciate people sneaking up behind me.”

Brett started barking like a chihuahua once he was back on the ground. “What are you waiting for?” He yelled, shaking Jenny’s shoulder. “He hung me over the bridge!”

Jenny shook Brett’s hand off her and pushed him back with one of her scarlet tentacles. “He’s outta of my range, but I ain’t outta his,” she whispered loudly. “You wanna get chucked over the bridge?”

Brett glared at me, then wrestled one of Jenny’s machetes from the air and struck a threatening pose.

“What do ya’ll want?” she asked, her accent thick with southern honey.

“I’m collecting information for the National Guard in Plainview,” I half-lied. It was true enough, if you looked at it a certain way. “I’m heading towards Hammond, maybe Baton Rouge, checking out the situation and bringing back help if I can find it.”

“You ain’t dressed like no National Guard,” she remarked. “And you look sunburned as all get out.”

Quick on the uptake. I like her.

“If the Guard had anyone that could do what we do, they’d be passing through here instead of me.” I replied. “Plainview is burnt out. The Village is burnt out. There’s lots of people hurt and in need of supples.”

“Everyone here’s been burnt too,” she said. “Forest fire started the night everything went to hell. Burnt up most everything from here to Covington.”

There was a lot of wooded area in this parish. A freak lightning storm, house fires, and a dry summer was a recipe for disaster.

“So you’re living under the bridge?”

“Ain’t gonna live in ashes,” she spat.

“So… May I please pass and be on my way?” I asked, taking the polite route.

“That’s up to Roger,” she said, then yelled at the men gathered at her back. “He says he’s with the National Guard! C’mere Roger!”

A lanky man with thinning hair approached, along with eight machete wielding guards. The bowmen stayed back, arrows at the ready.

“You don’t look like you’re with the Guard,” Roger said as he stood next to Jenny.

“I’m not,” I smiled, then repeated the half lie I told Jenny.

“It’s bad in Brush,” Roger said. “Half the parish burned before the rains came and flooded everything that was left. I sent folk to Covington but they haven’t returned yet.”

I chewed on that bit of news and shared everything I had about Plainview and the Village, including the strange creatures I encountered. I didn’t mention my murder spree or the girl I left behind.

Tensions eased as we talked, even with Brett barking like a chihuahua in the background. I’d had enough human interaction after about fifteen minutes and hinted that I should be moving along while there was still daylight.

“Take care,” Roger said, smiling as he stepped up and offering his hand.

I reached down from the saddle and gripped his rough palm in mine. “I will. I should be back in a few days,” I said. Looking at Jenny surrounded by her dazzling array of tentacles, I gave her a smile and pointed at the faded Spider-Man tee shirt she was wearing. “Take care of your people, Jenny. With great power, and all that stuff.”

She grinned, waggling her floating armament.

“I shouldn’t have to say this, but it’s been raining a lot. You should be prepared for when the river rises in a few days.”

Her brows furrowed, and she looked at Roger in askance.

Roger nodded at me. “I hadn’t thought about it, but we’ll be prepared.”

Footnotes

1. One can temporarily increase the brightness of their spark by burning the mana accumulated around it, like flexing a muscle. One can also dim their spark by shrouding it with their aura. The first process results in a loss of mana, the second leaves one vulernable.

Copyright © 2021, Conteur. All Rights Reserved.

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