Turning Point
#29 of Robbin Red
The next few hours passed too quickly to suit her. After
all of the time she had spent building up her anger, this release of it was
therapeutic ways no one could understand. His method was straight forward; he
overwhelmed her feelings and emotions, not her body. His tenderness and caring
were much more erotic to her than any antics he could have performed in the
bed. He must have known precisely what she needed.
However, the more she let go of her emotions, the more she
realized how she had wronged an entire town. It wasn't something she was proud
of. Worse yet, the men she had put into place were still there. Again, she
pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Punishment would come soon enough.
Only now, that idea didn't bring the muted joy it once did. She was finding a
new lease on life just when it was about to end.
He was pushing in his power now, tipping the sensuality
factor over the edge. With a burst of pent up pressure, she shuddered with both
ecstasy and the thought of the impending doom he would wreck upon her. She clung
to him like that poor soul she had set adrift had clung to the false hope she
had given him. The only difference was that he had found an answer to his
prayers. So had she, but it was an answer she no longer wanted. With a final
wash of heat, she lost her grip around his body and fell back to the bed,
exhausted.
She lay there, eyes open, staring up at the ceiling. She
closed them again, not wishing to see the final blow coming. She had no idea
how it would come and had no desire to know. It was then that she felt a pluck
at that invisible string that connected them. It vibrated with a whole new
life. Before, it was like the thinnest wire on a violin, now it rumbled like
the thickest one on a bass. She could feel him grip it tightly and she winced.
Once it was broken, she would forever be free of this body. She could feel him
toying with her, setting it to vibrating. It was like a musician playing any
instrument; one beat, another beat, with a smaller back beat. He was playing
some kind of song. Try as she might, she couldn't place the tune.
She sighed. He was toying with her before she died. It was
only fair after the cruel things she had done. Whatever the song was supposed
to be, she considered it her dirge. It was really too lively for a dirge, or
perhaps her present mood wouldn't accept it. But she was hardly in a position
to grouse about her swan song. She opened her eyes to see him smiling down at
her. Either he was being exceptionally cruel or something was going on that she
didn't understand.
"What's up Jon-Tom? It's not like you to be indecisive.
Please kill me and get it over with."
He got a quirky grin. "Hell no! Like you said, you've done
some bad things. Many of us do. What we don't get is a chance to make up for
them. I'm not going to kill you, as much as you might think you deserve it.
Many die who deserve to live. I don't lightly make than decision. Your men have
earned my wrath, as have you. But as far as I see it, you haven't personally
done anything to these people. That doesn't make you innocent; it simply means
that your punishment will be different."
"Punishment? I think I'd rather die. Any punishment fit
for me would be too unbearable to withstand."
He had the nerve to laugh. "Yes it is. It will try your
patience like nothing else, it will keep you sleepless at night, and it will
occupy your days with endless, nerve wracking discomfort. And I guarantee you
it will be the best time of your life"
She growled. "What the hell does that mean?"
"A child you idiot.
I have given you a child. Our child. I didn't do his lightly. There are several
catches. One of them I will not tell you, for it is no sure thing. But know
this; this child will require constant attention. It will come in nine months
since you are human now. What it grows up to be is up to you. There is no
leeway in this. Therefore, I would suggest that you have that precise amount of
time to correct the damage you have done here. As it is, it's already
underway."
She was too stunned to speak. A child? She had been barren
for centuries. Why now? It was indeed a form of punishment. Yet, somehow she
was on cloud nine. A child? Even Pike and Arthur had been unable to do that. Her
heart began to race in time to that beat. Then it struck her; the back beat
belonged to her child! The second beat was his! They had become one!
But just as quickly, she remembered that he was already
spoken for. She would be doing this alone. Still, it was better than nothing.
"I will never be able to thank you for this, you wonderful man. After all I
did, I deserve..."
"A second chance. You've done a lot of good in addition to
the evil you've done. I'm giving you one last chance at happiness. I may or may
not be around. Therefore, this is up to you. Your life from now is what you
make of it."
She broke down in tears. "I don't deserve this!"
"Maybe not. Now go fix what you've broken."
"Yes, I will!"
They went out into the town. A few of the brigands could be
seen on the wall. Alma guided them to the jail. Once inside, she was startled
to find the fossa not in his place. The door to the cells was closed, but
unlocked. She looked at Jon-Tom. "My heart sinks at the thought of what he
could be doing." She gave the door a mighty heave. Light spilled down the
stairs. Within this illumination a scraggly group of children came running up
the stair. The girl in the lead was brandishing a wicked blade tipped with
blood.
She saw the tall human and dropped it. She ran and threw
her arms around his waist. "I did it! When he came to get me from the cell, I
used the knife just like you said to!"
Alma looked horrified. "You had a child commit murder?
That's so unlike you Jon-tom!"
The
girl stuck out her tongue. "I didn't kill him. I just got even for what he did
to me, to us. I removed his will to live."
Jon-Tom
patted her on the head "Good girl! Now, with the help of this nice lady, we're
going to get the rest."
Alma
leaned in to her lover. "What does she mean she took his will to live?"
He
tilted his head to indicate the cells behind them. "I told her that if she had
a chance, she should cut off his balls and make him eat them. I don't like
being dark and disturbing, but sometimes I'm not left with much choice. Just
like with you. Death would be too easy. You'll find out what suffering is all
about. You see, I'm condemning you to spend your days here in this city. You
will work to wipe out every bad thing that you have caused. Trust me, it won't
be easy. As for the girl, sometimes
revenge is best served hot. The entire town will rally behind us in an attempt
to remove these thugs from the town. Knowing that one little girl could take
down one of the intruders will give them the will to fight."
Alma
was still appalled. But she kept her mouth shut. This was all her fault after
all. If it weren't for her, none of this would have happened. She could hardly
raise a voice in complaint over anything that happened now.
"Pick
your knife back up, Lashana. And we'll grab something nice and sharp from the
weapons room for everyone else, even you Malco. If you want your town back,
you're going to have to fight for it. Then he turned back to Alma. "Slash said
something about having a weapon that could destroy the entire town. What is
it?"
She
blanched. "A folly. Something I dragged back from your world. Something dangerous
and deadly that I didn't care if I unleashed it or not. Now I feel sick just thinking
about it. It once decimated a portion of your world."
For
some reason, all he could think of was an atomic bomb. He had dealt with that
once, here, on this world. That was when he had fought the Plated Folk. Their
chief wizard had managed to conjure up a military computer from his world. He
had somehow managed to break into its files and tried all kinds of things
before stumbling upon the requirement for making an atomic bomb. If that's what
she had, it would be enough to eradicate everything for several miles in all
directions. There was no way he could evacuate everyone in time
"What
is it?"
"I
believe you will know it best as the Black Plague."
He
sighed a breath of relief for only a second before he tensed up again. The bomb
would have killed only those here; the disease she brought back could decimate
the entire planet! However, he remembered that it was spread by fleas. It might
not be a problem after all.
"Alma,
that was reckless and stupid. No one here has any immunity to that disease. It
killed a large population of Europe before it subsided!"
She
nodded. "I know. I was still there when it hit. I managed to procure some of
the contagion and it was with me when I was thrown back here. When my magic
returned to me, I used it to make a flask of the stuff that bypassed the need
of such things as bugs to transmit it. All anyone needs to do is to break it
open, and it will creep out across the land and consume everything in its path."
Jon-Tom
was reconsidering his choice in letting her live. His anger was getting out of control.
"You're a stupid, selfish person Alma. I feel bad for you on so many levels
right now. However, that hardly matters right now. We need to get this stuff
secured and safely hidden away before Slash or anyone else sets it loose. An
epidemic now would likely alter the time line irreparably, not to mention kill
off nearly everyone alive." He suddenly went quiet.
She
broke down in tears again. "I know I am. I just couldn't see it before. But
you're right. If we don't stop him, I know he'll do it. He had little live for
before I found him and now he'll have nothing. He'd rather kill the world than
part with his slice of it. I know, because he was just like me."
Magic.
It just dawned on him that the only time she had shown her abilities was back
in jolly old England. "Alma, what are your abilities?"
She was
stumped for a moment. "What kind of question is that? You know what I like in
bed."
"No
dammit! What are your magical abilities?"
"Oh.
Sorry! My specialty, outside of my normal unicorn power, was to transform one
thing to another. That's why we were able to create that sword. How else could
we have put so much metal into one object?"
Transformation.
That sounded a lot like a certain female orangutan from the future. She could
create things of exquisite beauty out of stone and wood. She had also turned
his one cock into two, and then three smaller ones. That had been quite the
experience. But neither his memories nor her magic were going to help them
right now. Neither was Alma's. The mad often created havoc without planning
ahead for some way of disarming it.
Lashana
pulled on his cloak. "Sir, what are you talking about?"
He was
tempted to skirt the issue, what with her recent trauma and new-found freedom.
But he wasn't in the coddling mood. "My dear, this lady did a bad thing. Now
she's trying to fix it. She has a flask that has in it some very bad stuff. If
we don't find it and Slash breaks it open, it will mean the end of most of us
on the planet."
Her
eyes went wide, then narrowed. "A wine flask?
Alma nodded. "Yes child, an
ordinary wine flask. I didn't want to draw attention to it. I gave it to Slash
for safe keeping."
The girl nodded. "Yes, I believe I
know the one. I have been forced to spend many nights in his room. I wondered
why he had an unopened bottle of wine. Now it makes sense."
Jon-Tom
stepped into the conversation. "In his room? Can you show us where it's at?"
Alma put up a halting hand. "That
child should look for cover. I know where his room is!"
Lashana
pulled out her knife. "Fine, you stop Slash while I go around and rid us of a
few more assho...errr...thugs." She turned and skipped off towards the wall.
Jon-Tom sighed.
"They
grow up so fast when they're forced to." His irony wasn't lost on his
companion. She wisely bit her tongue.
Slash's room was in the old mayor's
quarters. The door to it was locked, and it wasn't until Jo-Tom thought to
convert to unicorn form were they able to get it open. A swift kick from his
hind legs turned it to so many splinters. Slash heard the commotion and stood
at the ready, a sword in one hand and a flask in the other. He was neither
scared nor cowed.
"So mistress of the white cloak, I
see you've had a change of heart. No matter to me, of course. But you promised
me this town and I claim it as mine. If I cannot have it, no one shall. Is this
what you want? I can shatter this without another thought." He made as if to
drop it.
Jon-Tom was thinking furiously.
Alma was originally a unicorn, and he could become one. Could their healing
power combined stop this insidious disease before it could claim any victims?
It would be a bad thing if they
couldn't. They could become patients zero and never die from the contagion.
Neither of them was likely fast enough to catch the flask before it hit the
floor. He had no magic that could help, and neither did she. His only hope was to
talk the mongoose down. That seemed unlikely.
"Look Slash, we don't want any
trouble. I can, if you like, heal your old wound and set you to rights again.
It would give you a chance to live out a normal life."
His laughter was horrible to listen
to. "Normal? I'm living an extraordinary life right now. Why would I want to
live a normal one? Either you're a fool or you think I am. Either way I don't
intend..."
He never finished his speech. He
coughed up a spittle of blood. His hands opened, dropping both the sword and
the flask to the floor. It broke open, spilling out its dark contents onto the
floor. Alma screamed. Slash fell to his knees in slow motion. As he did, a face
appeared behind him. It was Lashana. Her knife had entered his back without an
ounce of warning. It had been a brave thing to do, but her bravery had just
doomed them all!
Jon-Tom ran forward to the puddle
on the floor. He stuck his hand in it and willed it to be harmless. Nothing
happened, leastwise anything he could tell with his eyes. Lashana stepped over
the corpse of her oppressor and stooped down with the tall human."
"Watcha doing sir? Wine is hardly
worth drinking once it's hit the floor!"
He choked. "Wine?" He stuck his
finger in his mouth. It was wine!" Then he caught on. "Dammit little one, you
nearly gave me a heart attack!"
Alma wasn't quite as quick to catch
on. "Wine? But that flask had the plague in it!"
The girl held up a different one.
"This one has the plague in it. They all look alike, you know. I didn't bother going
to the wall. I figured you might need some help, so I snuck up the back stairs
ahead of you and switched them out. I owed that pervert more than what he got,
but I assume that a knife in the back was sufficient." She handed the flask to
Jon-Tom, who carefully handed it to Alma.
She grasped it and concentrated.
After what seemed like an hour, during which time no one spoke, she held it up
in the air. Without warning she dropped it. It hit the floor with a thud. It
remained intact. "I didn't think opening it to destroy the contents a wise
idea, so I've turned the container impervious to destruction. I hope that will
do."
Jon-Tom picked it up. "Maybe, but
that won't stop people from trying." He took off his cloak and opened the top,
dropping it inside." "This way, I'll always know where it's at." He turned to
go back outside, clicking the hidden blade inside his staff. "I think we have
more work to do."