Retribution (8) (The Underground Kingdom) Read online

  Retribution (8)

  Steve Elliott

  Copyright Steve Elliott 2013.

  All rights reserved

  This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Quina, the ex-doctor psychic healer, settled into our disparate household and added yet another exotic flavor to the already colorful mix of our diverse group. At first she seemed shy around us, which was quite understandable after her multiple years of solitude. She also grieved for the ‘second’ death of her sister and we’d occasionally find her sitting by herself, teary-eyed. In those times, one of us would sit by her side and hug her sympathetically. Although initially wary of those embraces, she soon came to revel in them because they provided her with the physical closeness she’d shunned for the majority of her life. Zen, Trix’s pet wolf, seemed intrigued by her, and would often come over and put his head in her lap and look up at her with beseeching eyes. Quina would then succumb to his pleading and scratch his ears and he’d go away satisfied. Until the next time, that is.

  As part of her rehabilitation into society, we encouraged her to go shopping with us. At first she refused, saying that crowds made her panicky, but gradually that feeling disappeared and she ventured out of the house more and more. However, the one external activity she delighted in comprised of listening to the local choir. She loved music and would sit entranced for hours while the singers practised. What made it even more alluring, for all of us really, was that our very own Trix would often join the choir. Because of her extraordinary voice, Trix had a standing invitation to participate in the singing at any time she felt so inclined. You could always tell when she sang because her sweet, beguiling soprano would float above all the other voices, embellishing the harmonies and adding a crystal-clear sparkle to the notes. Her singing was truly remarkable and I believe it to be the one major event that finally persuaded Quina to blend in with our local society because, to listen to Trix, she had to leave the house and mingle with other listeners.

  And so, gradually, Quina became a participant in her surroundings. She began to talk about opening a practice where she could employ her healing skills. We encouraged her in this, especially Thorn, who still harbored an abiding suspicion that Quina happened to be more than a little interested in my welfare – and by ‘me’, I mean Thorn's version of me. By scientific jiggery-pokery, I’d been downloaded into two fairy clones, which, by the way, I still hadn't fully adjusted to as yet. Hey, do you blame me? It was a bizarre and unnatural arrangement, but one that seemed to be the only solution to my dilemma of loving both Thorn and Tracey equally. I know what you're thinking here. ‘How greedy can you get? Two women? Most people get only one!’ I agree with that, and I also agree that I'd been unbelievably fortunate and mind-bogglingly lucky to have the reciprocal love of these two gorgeous females. But I certainly wasn't going to complain about my good fortune. I didn't want to jinx it because I felt supremely happy with the arrangement and, as far as I can tell, so were Thorn and Tracey. But it remained a peculiar feeling to be in two bodies instead of the usual single unit. Nonetheless, I found that to be a minor inconvenience compared to the overwhelming benefits it provided.

  Our domestic harmony was shattered one night however, when we were woken in the early hours by Quina’s scream. I was jolted out of my sleep, still not comprehending what was going on.

  "Are the Martians invading?" I croaked to both Tracey and Thorn, slipping into a single mindset due to my confusion.

  "Martians?" Thorn questioned. I began to explain when a second scream brought me fully back to this reality.

  "That's Quina!" I exclaimed, leaping out of bed and heading for the door. I was met in the corridor by my other self and a dishevelled Tracey. We were joined seconds later by Trix and Zen.

  "What's going on?" Trix demanded, rubbing her eyes.

  "Something’s wrong with Quina," I explained, striding towards her room.

  "What?" she asked.

  "We'll find out has soon as we get there," I told her, increasing my pace. "Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good."

  Chapter 2

  We reached Quina’s room in a rush and found her sitting bolt upright on her bed, arms wrapped protectively around herself and eyes wide with fear. She stared at us uncomprehendingly. I wasn't sure if she was even awake, so the both of me carefully sidled up to the bed, sat on either side of her and put arms around her trembling body.

  "What's going on, sweetie?" I softly asked. "You're safe now. We have you." She blinked and I could almost see the consciousness reappearing in her eyes.

  "It's horrible!" she whispered in a broken voice. "It's horrible!" she repeated, shuddering in every muscle.

  "Take it easy, honey," I soothed, caressing the back of her head. "You're back home with us. Nothing can hurt you." I gave her a squeeze. "See, we're here for you. You're safe. You really are. It was a dream. Just a dream."

  Quina shook her head in negation. "No," she maintained. "It was more than that. Much more!"

  "It doesn't matter," I reassured her. "You're here with us now, safe and sound. Take some deep breaths and we'll sort it all out when you're ready. Take it easy. There's plenty of time." Quina accepted my suggestion and stopped panting. She inhaled forcefully a few times and her trembling stopped.

  "Good girl," I praised, feeling her cramping muscles relax. "You're doing fine. Keep it up."

  A few minutes later, as she calmed down, I felt that I could safely release her. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and murmured, "I'm sorry to wake you all like that," she apologised. "I didn't mean to."

  "That's all right, sweetie," I reassured her. "Everyone has bad dreams, although yours seems to have been worse than most. Can you tell us about it? It usually helps."

  Quina took a ragged breath. "It was ghastly," she began, "although it doesn't seem so bad now that I'm awake, but at the time I felt totally petrified!" She paused, her face taut with memories.

  "Keep going," I encouraged.

  "I was in a strange place," she continued. "I don't know where, but it wasn't anywhere here, I'm sure of it. And I'm also positive the spiritual realms were somehow involved. I was simply floating, not doing anything when this …….. this horrible thing appeared!" Her voice broke at that stage and her body started shaking, so I hastily hugged her again.

  "Easy, sweetheart," I said, consolingly. "Take your time. There's no rush. Take some more deep breaths." She did so and calmed herself once again.

  "Sorry about that," she told us all. "It's just that going back to it ………. I've never been so terrified in my entire life. I don't know why. I'm not usually the type to panic."

  "No, you're not," I agreed. "In normal circumstances, you're so cool we could use you as a refrigerator." My comment conjured a slight smile on her face.

  "You're such a flatterer," she said. "And, as usual, your comment has hidden meanings. Are you implying that I'm frigid, full of food and my figure doesn't have any curves?"

  "Heavens above, no," I joked, pleased to see that her sense of humor had still been retained, despite her being traumatised. "Your hotness cuts down on our heating bills," I complemented, grinning. "You eat less than a sparrow and your curves are a danger to any vehicle." She gently pushed me away and looked up at Thorn and Tracey.

  "He's so outrageous," she declared. "How do you put up with him? Them, I mean."

  "It isn't easy," Tracey commented, smiling. "Everything Stephen says is suspect. You can never take anything for granted with him." She reached out a hand and pulled me off the bed. Thorn did likewise and they both slipped arms around my waists. "But
, despite all that," Tracey continued, "we keep him around because someone has to dispose of the spiders." She turned to Thorn. "Can you think of any other reason, Arugohumna?"

  Thorn screwed up her face in thought. "Not really," she replied, dimples flashing. "I mean, it certainly can't be for his looks, that’s for sure, so I guess it has to be for some reason! Let me get back to you on that one."

  "Very funny, ratbags," I said. "Now, since you're so good at this, can you think of any reason at all why I’d want to stay here with you two?"

  "That's easy," Thorn pronounced. "Traculimna is gorgeous and dead sexy."

  "And Arugohumna is great in bed!" Tracey announced, with a flourish.

  "Traculimna!" Thorn exclaimed, turning a bright red. "You can't say things like that!"

  "And why not?" Tracey asked, enquiringly. "It's true, isn't it? Hey, my room is just down the hall from yours, you know. And sometimes you become a little …….um, loud."

  "I can vouch for what’s being said," I smirked, delighted to have the tables turned on one of my tormentors. "Why, there's many a time when I didn't think I was going to survive her predations. Let me tell you," I began, "of the time when she – and you're not going to believe this – she started to ……"

  "Stephen!" Thorn interrupted, forcefully slapping my arm. "Don't you dare say another thing otherwise I'll never speak to you again!"

  "Chance would be a fine thing," I muttered, rubbing my arm.

  Chapter 3

  All of our tomfoolery had achieved its desired effect, because Quina began giggling helplessly.

  "Congratulations everyone. That's a wrap," I announced. Then I turned to Quina. "Are you feeling better, sweetie?"

  "Much," Quina admitted. "Thank you all for the floor show. And once again, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

  "Are you able to talk about it now?" I asked.

  "I think so," she said in a calm voice. "It doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as it did. I don't know why it terrified me so much at the time."

  "Things always look better in the light of day for some reason," I told her. "The darkness appeals to our primitive side, I think. Anyway, honey, talk us through it."

  "I was looking for my sister," Quina began slowly. "I wanted to see how she was doing in the spiritual realms."

  "And did you find her?" Thorn asked, softly.

  "Yes, I did," Quina replied, "but I couldn’t get through to her. She was surrounded by imps and devils."

  "What!" Tracey interjected. "Why?"

  "Your thoughts materialise themselves in the spiritual arena," Quina solemnly explained, "and Mirrella is still plagued by her inner demons. Your beliefs form your environment, you see, and my sister still has a whole host of mistaken beliefs to work through. We did manage to communicate to some extent, and she now understands that I love her, so that's a good start. Hopefully, over time, she'll be able to free herself from her emotional baggage." She fell silent, brooding.

  "That sounds hopeful," I ventured. "Your sister appears to be accepting her situation and what led up to it."

  "I suppose so," Quina replied. "She did warn me though, and that's what caused me to go all weird."

  "She warned you?" I questioned. "About what?"

  "That's the problem. She wasn't sure. She had a vague feeling that something bad might be happening soon." Quina smiled ruefully. "You can discern things in the spiritual realm that you can't see here, but unfortunately, Mirrella couldn't pin it down to anything specific. She passed her premonition on to me and I can tell you that it terrified the both of us." Quina shivered with the remembrance. "Whatever it is, it felt absolutely horrible – a generalised, overwhelming evil. As soon as I felt it, I was shocked back into my body, and I guess you know the rest." We all fell silent under the impact of Quina’s words.

  "What does it mean?" Trix questioned in frustration. "What’s coming? And if something is, what do we do about it? Do we inform the Elders?"

  "And tell them what?" Quina remarked. "That a loony outsider had a bad dream? They'd throw us out of the building."

  "But it's not a dream, is it?" Tracey observed. "It's a warning from your sister. It shouldn't be dismissed as a mere dream."

  "We understand that," Quina announced, "but will they? Besides, I honestly have no idea what the warning is about. We need something a little more concrete than my word. We can't defend against something so vague." Quina pushed aside her blankets, hopped out of bed and began striding backwards and forwards as she talked. I noticed in passing that her bed attire left very little to the imagination. There wasn’t much of it, for starters. Okay, I resolved to quickly stop that line of thought because I caught Thorn's eye on me, and I knew she already had reservations about Quina and her attractiveness.

  "So, where exactly does that leave us?" Tracey wanted to know.

  "I'm not sure," Quina replied, shrugging her shoulders, causing all sorts of interesting ripples in her anatomy. "When I feel a little bit better, I'll try to see if Mirrella knows anything more, although I don't think she does. It was simply a generalised warning. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what turns up. But at least we’ll be on our guard. To some extent, anyway."

  "It's nearly morning," Thorn announced. "Let's have an early breakfast. I can't see any of us going back to sleep."

  "Good idea," Tracy agreed. "Besides, we can't do anything about it at this stage, so we might as well have something to eat." Zen barked agreement, making us all smile.

  "That wolf of yours is always hungry," Thorn observed.

  "He's a growing boy," Trix defended. "He needs his nourishment. Surely you wouldn't want a hungry wolf prowling around the house, looking for things to eat? It might not be a good idea."

  "You're right there," Tracey acquiesced. "A starving wolf would be the last thing we need. He might get all sorts of funny ideas."

  Chapter 4

  We sat down to breakfast, and supplemented it with desultory talk. Nobody mentioned Quina’s little drama, simply because there wasn’t anything we could do about it at that moment. After breakfast we all went for a stroll around the settlement. I walked hand in hands with Thorn and Tracey, Quina stayed in the middle and the Trix-Zen combination roamed wherever the fancy took them. It ended up as a nice bit of exercise and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After completing our perambulations, we arrived back home to utter chaos. The place was awash with rats – big, hairy beasts with long whiskers and even longer tails.

  "What the hell!" I exclaimed, stunned at the sight. "Where the blazes did all these things come from?"

  "Rats!" Tracey squealed in fright, dodging behind me. "Don't let them near me!"

  Zen went berserk. He tore into the scurrying mass, flinging bodies left and right with enthusiastic abandon. The shrieking of the rats was horrendous as they fought each other to escape our four-legged Death Machine. It became a minor massacre. Inside five minutes, the room had been cleansed of rodents– from live rodents at any rate – and we were left wondering what the devil had happened. Screams from up and down the street soon made it clear that we weren't the only house infected with unwanted inhabitants.

  "It's an army of rats!" Trix announced in wonder. "Where did they all come from?"

  "I haven't the faintest idea," Thorn announced with a frown. "This is the first time it's ever happened. I don't understand it."

  "Lucky Zen was with us," Trix said, patting him fondly on the head. "He really showed them who's the boss."

  "He surely did," Quina agreed. "I never imagined he'd be so quick on his feet. I’ve never seen anything so fast."

  "Never underestimate our Zen," I told Quina. "He's full of surprises."

  "These rats are the surprise," Thorn said thoughtfully. "We've never had a rat plague before. I wonder what caused it?"

  "Overpopulation and food scarcity, perhaps," I shrugged. "That's the usual cause."

  "I don't know," Thorn pondered. "Why now, of all times? Environmental conditions haven't changed much recently."

&nb
sp; "It's a mystery, all right," Quina mused. "Perhaps it had something to do with Mirrella’s warning?"

  "She wanted to warn you against a plague of rats?" I asked, incredulously.

  "Well, no, I suppose not," Quina remarked. "It sounds a bit silly when you put it like that, doesn't it? There must be more to it than that. Maybe this is a forerunner of something a lot more serious."

  "We'll just have to wait and see," I grunted. "In the meantime, we have to de-rat the house. Any volunteers?"

  "Not me!" Tracey affirmed. "I don’t want to go around handling rats, thank you very much."

  "You're such a wimp!" Thorn snorted. "They're dead, thanks to Zen. They can't harm you."

  "They’re still rats, dead or otherwise," Tracey announced. "If you want to go ahead and play with rodents, Arugohumna, be my guest. Besides, they might be faking. Suppose one jumped up and bit me!"

  "You're a true girly girl, through and through," Thorn observed. "Sometimes it's hard to believe we had the same parents. Are you sure you weren't adopted?"

  "If anybody’s adopted around here," Tracey retaliated, "it'd be you!"

  "And just why would you say that?" Thorn demanded, hands on hip, facing up to Tracey.

  "Well, just look at the two of us," Tracey replied gaily. "They probably felt sorry for you because no one else would take you."

  "I see," Thorn said in a dangerous voice. "Playing the pretty card again, are you, Traculimna? You know, I'm getting awfully sick of you doing that. Being beautiful is simply an accident of birth and nothing more, you know. It's not an achievement to be proud of. You didn't do anything to deserve it."

  "Are you telling me that I'm an accident of birth?" Tracey demanded, fists clenched.

  "You said it; I didn't," Thorn calmly replied.

  "No, you said it first," Tracey told her, face flushed and taking a step forward. "I can't believe you're being so horrible."