Tending the Stones for the Lock XXI

By aaforringer on July 2, 2017 • ( 0 )

21st part of the new weekly story. (1st Part) The inspiration for this came from an off hand comment I made on Facebook, and since people seemed interested I decided to follow through. Happy Reading.

(1st Part) (2nd Part) (3rd Part) (4th Part) (5th Part) (6th Part) (7th Part) (8th Part) (9th Part)(Part 10) (Part 11)(Part 12)(Part 13)(Part 14)(Part 15)(Part 16)(Part 17)(Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20) (Part 21) (Part 22)

“Your mother will be coming to Korea very soon, and that is when I have it made known to her that you are with us in Japan.”

“Why is my mother going to Korea?” Meredith asked. She was sitting on a stool where she had just finished a bowl of soup and sandwich.

“She has to go to Soysan Mountain to align some stones there. It is a well known location of great power and it is one of the few places she must go to after leaving Mongolia.”

Meredith had given up trying to understand this madman and his delusions of magic and power that seemed to consume him, so she just let it go. What she was still trying to wrap her mind around was how her mother was tangled up with this man.

“I am confused about something though.”

“Just one thing?” Meredith answered not adding ‘nutter’ at the end of the sentence.

“Why your mother did not visit you while you were stationed at Camp Casey in Korea, she could have very easily made the trip to Mount Soyosan while she saw you and aligned the rocks on a small day trip.”

Meredith sighed. “Like I told you before I don’t know anything about any magic rocks, but my father and mother were due to visit me in Korea, I even did research into going to Soyosan but on the eve of their flight, my brother was in a car accident and my parents never made the trip, I returned back to the states soon afterward and it just was not convenient for them to travel to Korea after that.”

The well dressed man nodded. “Ah thank you for that bit of information, and it confirms that your mother values the health and welfare of her children more so then completing her mission in life, so you will be an excellent bargaining tool in getting her to cease and desist her mission.” He motioned for the servant who brought her the lunch to clean up. “As soon as your mother goes to Mount Soyosan I will let you know.” He then motioned for her guards to take her back to her room.

“You sound like an idiot when you say Mount Soyosan, the prefix san is the Korean word for Mountain.” Meredith shouted over her shoulder at the man. “So basically you are saying Mount Soyo Mountain.”

The convoy had been bouncing along for a half and hour across the dirt road and Brodie looked around at the barren countryside. Although technically it was not all barren with scrub brush and grassy areas in the valleys where he guessed water drained towards. The vehicles pulled over and Brodie looked around not knowing why, there was nothing that stood out, and no distinctive landmarks nearby that marked this area of the high desert as anything special or different.

Brodie gingerly followed his driver out of the vehicle a seemingly broken down Toyota Land Cruiser of unknown original color. The shocks and struts of the vehicle were basically there in name only and every hole and rock was felt up and down Brodie’s spine. The native man sitting in the back seat of the vehicle got out as well and walked to the back of the vehicle. The man had done this at every stop on the trip and Brodie guessed he was acting as a guard but against what was unclear as they had not seen another human being since leaving the town where the airfield was.

Brodie walked up to the middle vehicle which is where Mrs. Emily and the High Pilgrim rode.

“Brodie I am going to need your assistance.”

“Yes ma’am, that is why I am here.” Brodie answered trying to sound cheerful but he was worried he came off as tired.

“Good man.” Mrs. Emily said as she maneuvered herself out of the much newer, and much more comfortably appointed Land Cruiser. Mrs. Emily actually knocked out a pillow she had been leaning on out the door as she got out and Brodie picked it up brushed it off and threw it back inside. Mrs. Emily had made her way to the edge of the road and looked out at the barren landscape. Brodie stood beside her and waited a few minutes while not seeing anything of interest.

“Brodie we have to align the rocks again.” She stated and he could here the word ‘but’ coming.

“Something has changed?” He asked.

“Yes,” She turned towards him. “Remember the last time we did this and towards the end you started to just know what to do?”

Brodie nodded but inside he still felt unsure.

“While you are helping me move the stones I want you to think of,” She paused. “communication. People talking to one another, words and ideas being exchanged, happy greetings, birthday cards, friendships deepened and problems resolved.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t but I need your moving the stones, but occasionally I need you to think about communication between people when you are doing it. But I promise you I will give you a comprehensive explanation tonight when we get back to the plane.”

“We are going back to the plane tonight?”

“Oh yes, with any luck we can fly to our next stop tomorrow morning.” And with that Mrs. Emily started moving across the field. She stopped just as she was about to move the first rock and motioned for Brodie to come close to her, she looked him directly in the eyes. “If something should land in the field with us, whatever you do do not, I repeat do not look it directly in the eyes.”

Brodie looked at the older woman and the immediate response now was fear. A few weeks ago he would have wondered if the woman was having a seizure or something but now he looked around the field fearful of what could possibly ‘land in the field’.

A half an hour passed and Brodie convinced himself Mrs. Emily was worried about the Opposition landing in a helicopter and attacking them, that was the only thing that made sense. Brodie reasoned that if a helicopter did land in the field he would have plenty of time to react to whoever got out of it. Brodie had just moved another rock so that it was oriented instead of east to west it was now going north to south and he felt a sense of accomplishment. The ground shook behind him, it felt like a small scale earthquake something he had a lot of experience with being from Los Angles. He turned around just as he heard Mrs. Emily yell something. He was face to face, meaning he was inches away from the large green eyeballs of a dragon.

(1st Part) (2nd Part) (3rd Part) (4th Part) (5th Part) (6th Part) (7th Part) (8th Part) (9th Part)(Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12)(Part 13)(Part 14)(Part 15)(Part 16)(Part 17)(Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)(Part 21) (Part 22)

Not crazy about the title, any suggestions will be duly considered.

The problem I have discovered with this type of writing is if I commit to something in the story there is no taking it back I just have to go with is and write my way out of it.

If you would like to read my last weekly story, A Disinclined Purveyor of Sequential Art here it is. (Written in 2013, the same year my wife left me, so I was a different person back then, and I hope I have learned a lot about writing since then.)

If you want to see one of my complete books try Disconnect in the Outfitters Universe.

My Response: The prophecy stated that in 60 years if the Stones were not properly aligned then the world would fall under the sway of the demon king for 1000 years. 1956 21 year old Emily the chosen one starts the quest. She arranges half the Stones around the planet, but then falls in love and life happens. Now it is 59 years later, Emily’s husband of 58 years passed away and one of the monks has found Emily and reminds her that she is the chosen one and needs to complete her task. Anyone interested?