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A New Jeopardy Part Fourteen
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Her voice
trailed off, interrupted by Biebe's amazed cry, "The EAGLES!
The eagles are coming!!" **************** He looked down at her seriously. "I figured they would come...just not this soon." "Who? Who's coming, Bud?" "Them!"
he said ominously, pointing his finger at the massive array of
headlights beaming through the blurry snow. He turned from the
window back to the rest of the cast. "Come!" he called
urgently. "Who? Who's almost here?" Joimus asked, very Bertiesquely. "THEM!"
Bud repeated. Bud just looked at her strangely and grabbed Jack roughly by his epaulets. "Jack!" he pleaded...or possibly pled..., "PLEASE! We have to get out of here!" Jack looked
at Joimus. "He DOES seem very concerned about something, you
know."
"It's probably because the snowflakes are still blurry and the Polar Express is no where in sight," suggested Sid helpfully. Bud paid him no mind, busy as he was checking his supply of ammunition. "Why is he doing that?" asked Wanda. "He does that a lot," replied Lachlan. "Have you never noticed?" Bud looked
around at them, his eyes misted with the tears of frustration. He
pointed his gun at Sid. "I said...come," he repeated, his
voice cracking. Bunny studied Bud's face a brief moment, then tugged on Sid's sleeve. "It's best to stay away from a man when his blood's up," she commented wisely. Sid narrowed his eyes. "His blood's always up." "True,"
Bunny admitted, "but his blood may be up this time because of
all the blood that is down." She indicated the long stripe down
the aisle with the tip of her shoe. She
shrugged. "Don't look at me. I'm just standing here in my
gossamer gown... "Does
he mean that ball team of some sort?" Wanda asked. In the face
of all the recent Ringishness, one doubted, somehow, he spoke of
Philadelphia football . . . especially not with the vital
connectivity of epis to Pittsburgh.
"You mean there is no way out back there?" Zack, of course, asked. "Not
unless you want to climb over the piled corpses," Alex
explained. Zack scowled. He hated it when there was no way back.
Such things often resulted in his having to swim underwater amidst
clouds of his own blood. Jack nodded slightly and went into full command mode. Lachlan, Biebe, Egan, and Corbett carefully lifted Maximus off the counter, muffin crumbs sifting to the floor from his cape as they did so, and carried him out into the street. Joimus picked up the dropped greaves and, with the gladius she'd carried since it had fallen in the snow, followed closely after. Annsmac tried to rouse Terry, but he was too far gone. Alex took him under one arm and Jim under the other and they headed for the door, Terry's combat boots dragging through the blood stripe and muffin crumbs as they went. Franki coaxed Nash out of his booth with an unmarked menu, as Eryn gently steadied the still wobbly post-op Colin, helping him to his feet. Cort was nowhere near having got his vest buttons untangled from Sue's lace, and the two of them made it to the door with the grace of cub scouts in a sack race. Marti
glided along closely beside Jeff, and if one had taken the time to
study the Queen's face, one might have wondered at the satisfied
smile it bore...but there being no such time to spare, only the
Queen herself...and Jeff, of course...were aware of its presence.
Anna would not remove her arms from about her poor broken Andy, so
great was her concern. She did spare a brief glance at Jeffrey,
wondering how he moved so well what with his back broken and all the
blood he had lost. She frowned a little at Ute, who seemed overly
blithe about the terrible state of his health.
"Here now!" the Captain said, reaching down and grabbing them both by the scruffs of their necks. In his right hand dangled an irate Hando whilst in his left hung a large, male orangutan, obviously an escapee from the circus train. Susan's startled eyes widened. She had almost forgotten the promise...er, threat...er, possibility...of Ando's encountering orangutans in the current plotline. Ando had
gotten to her feet, dusted the snow off herself, and walked over to
stand before the Captain, casting a narrowed-eye glare at Joimus for
some totally untoward and unknown reason as she came. Jack looked
from the orangutan to the former Welshwoman. "He...wanted
you?" he asked, trying without success to keep a chuckle out of
his voice. "He did, indeed," Ando scowled, though she directed the look more at the innocent Pittsburgher than at the orange-furred one who dangled there, still completely love-struck by Ando's presence. Hando wriggled in Jack's grip, trying to swat at the orangutan. Were it not for the somehow very, very slowly approaching fleet of mysteriously doomish-looking vehicles, the scenario might have continued for some time. But other matters...matters of survival...needed immediate attention, so Jack set the orangutan down, bellowed at it for its own good, and sent it scurrying back for the circus train where the keepers were busily rounding up all the escaped animals. Then he looked at Hando. "Are
you calm?" he asked. Even Ando laughed at the concept. Hando twisted his head, looking up at the Captain, his eyes glittering with rage, a bit of foam flecking his lower lip, his nostrils in full flare. "Yes," he replied, spitting into the snow. Jack, knowing that this, indeed, was as calm as the Melbourner ever managed, let him go. Instantly, Hando took off after the fleeing orangutan. Jack, having counted on this lapse in decorum, merely extended one booted foot, tripping him. *SPLAT* Ando sighed and reached down to help him to his feet. Roaring,
Hando came up, his face coated in snow. The Captain, never one to
suffer the nettlesome behaviors of younger characters, gripped his
collar, turning him to face the oncoming headlights.
"Behold," he said, "the incentive for our rapid
withdrawal from this location." Indeed, the massed headlights
were now entering the very block in which they stood. "But,"
questioned Pat, "how can we go? We have no transporta....,"
The first of the giant eagles landed near her, his long pinfeathers
nearly knocking her over. She gazed up at the golden eagle in awe,
marveling at his truly elephantine size. Marti's eyes misted with
tears, so reminded was she of her beloved Torontoese robins during
the time when she had been so miniaturized. But these birds were far
grander than even that, bearing in their forms some mysterious
gravitas and suggestion of great intelligence. One after another
they landed, offering themselves as mounts. Four or five cast
members could easily sit the back of a single eagle and soon most of
the more able-bodied amongst them had found places for themselves. An eagle of noble mien approached the men who were carrying Maximus. Spreading its wings, it lifted into the air, grasping the General in its enormous talon. Joimus flung herself after it, managing with a single great leap to grab its leg. She wrapped her own legs about the top of its talon and, holding on with her arms as though around a pole, disappeared with it up into the clouds. No eagle, no matter how noble, was going to fly off with Maximus and leave her to ride another! The talon was so large that it completely encircled the General's entire torso, leaving only his arms and legs dangling as it flew. Joimus sat perched immediately above him, keeping her eyes locked on his pale face. Another eagle took Terry in a similar manner and, inspired by the sight of Joimus, annsmac leapt atop its talon, standing on it, her arms wrapped about its leg. Jack watched her go, smiling fondly. How he missed riding the topmast of the Surprise. Still, his legs partially straddling the shoulders of the eagle he had chosen, as he, too, flew upwards, he reveled in the rush of cool air past his cheeks, the feeling of freedom it brought to his heart.
Terry, come
to himself, used his expertise in negotiating the skids of
helicopters to lift himself up atop the talon of his eagle so that
he stood, holding onto its leg facing annsmac. He still looked very,
very worn and she knew he needed much time to rest and recover from
his ordeal. But when he looked across into her eyes, she saw more
strength in his than since he had had to leap off the top of the
passenger car, and she was encouraged. Her heart leapt when he even
managed a small grin. With her deblunter lost, she would just have
to find some new...and creative...way to tend his equipment. She
knew she would. She was clever that way. Joimus was concerned. Maximus was so still, so pale. As he hung there just beneath her in the talons of the great golden eagle, his head tipped back as far as it could go. He had no little poppy-petal coated pillow of sand to support it. How she wanted to slide her arms below his neck, to lift and support his head, but it was far beyond her reach and so she sat there, the wind whipping her long pale hair, and kept her eyes on his face as though by sheer force of will alone she could come to his aid. His cape hung free from his shoulders, the talons being around the back of his cuirass, and it swirled and curved, an art form unto itself. The movement of his cape had always been one of the delights of her heart, but now she paid it no heed at all so focused was she on his face alone.
Jack's
eagle flew just to the left and slightly below and he called over to
her, "How is he?" The mute shake of her head caused a
sharp catch in his throat. Maximus was his best friend among all the
characters, sharing as they did that command of large numbers of
men. His brow knitted in worry. Where were the eagles taking them?
How long could Maximus hold out dangling there as he was?
Maximus was aware on some level that he was airborne. He was aware of the rapid flow of air past his face, but he felt entirely weightless and in the deep recesses of his mind, he was sure his spirit had been freed from his body. He had expected land, maybe some brief passage over water, but not this sense of flying. He decided to let himself go fully with it, offering no resistance, and the utter release of that brought him peace with such a level of lightness to it that he felt as though velvet bubbles filled his entire form. No one knew the full extent of his injuries. They went far beyond his damaged lower legs and had been the result of his being flung with such force from the crashing passenger car when splintered ribs had pierced several organs. Joimus, watching so carefully, saw by the changes on his face that he was leaving her. She clung to the eagle's leg, helpless to do anything, even to touch him in one last farewell. She remembered how when Emperor Augustus had died in A.D. 14 and his body had been placed atop a towering funeral pyre, as the flames crept upward an eagle had been released from the summit of the burning mound, symbolizing the ascent of his soul to the gods. In spite of the unbearable pain, she gazed down at Maximus and thought how appropriate it was he was being borne by an eagle at this moment of his leaving. Ah, if only she had been as familiar with the 12th century "Book of Beasts" as she was with first century Roman history...much might have been spared her.
Jack saw
Joimus' expression...and knew. He closed his eyes tightly and his
jaw and chin muscles hardened into knots of pain. Opening his lids,
he lifted his right hand in a salute to his friend. Then, in a
moment of pure shock to all the cast, the eagle bearing Maximus and
Joimus broke off from the kettle and soared alone almost straight up
toward the sun. The eagles had been flying for some time now and the
sun was high in the sky, blazing whitish yellow above them. Jack
followed the flight path of the eagle as long as he could, but when
the glare of the sun's rays became too great, he was forced to look
away. On and on flew the great eagle, a look of fierce determination on his face. On...up to the height of heaven, even into the circle of the sun it went, its wings singeing in the heat of it, the glorious myth and legend of eagle lore playing itself out in the reality of epi life. Then, the sheer plummet straight toward earth, its singed wings folded close to its golden body, a great, piercing cry coming from its syrinx. To Jack's amazed eyes, it shot past, looking like some glowing star torn loose from the heavens. Into and through the cloud cover it went, leaving silence in its wake as the kettle flew westward with their passengers exchanging stunned looks.
Next
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