The Calling of Time

Ancient Rules

My wave of triumph faded away when Jai said, “Okay, great. So on to the plan. How do we disguise the girls?”

“There’s only one way that women come into that place,” Manda said grimly, “and you know very well how it is.”

Jai fidgeted in his chair and Horace stared at his feet, neither one of them looked like they were ready to say it. Manda tilted back her chair and smacked one booted foot onto the table top. To me it seemed like she was trying to look casual, unconcerned. She folded her arms over her chest and shrugged. “You’ll have to bring us in. Pretend you caught us.”

I chewed on my lower lip, fingers still clenched tightly around the handle of the scythe.  That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean? Like, how will we be disguised?”

“Ropes,” Manda said shortly. “That’s our disguise.”

“Not sure if I like that,” Jai muttered, and I noticed he glanced over at me quickly when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“We have to,” Horace said slowly. “She’s right, it’s the only way we’ll seem believable. If we bring the girls in any other way, someone will know something is up. We have to pretend their prisoners.”

“So, you have to tie us up?” I hated that my voice squeaked at the end of the sentence. My hands were starting to feel clammy.  It was bad enough walking into some kind of fortress, but doing it tied up and vulnerable? Pretending to be prisoners?

“We won’t actually tie the ropes tight,” Horace explained. His rough voice was unusually soothing. Maybe he knew how freaked out I was. “I can tie knots that you’ll be able to slip out of. It won’t be a problem.”

All three of the guardians were looking at me now. They were waiting for me to say yes to the plan. It was sort of a relief. It seemed like they’d go along with me if I refused. But I wasn’t going to be a sissy about this. Manda was obviously willing to do it, so I would too. I took a breath and straightened my shoulders. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Manda sat up straight, the heels of her boots hitting the floor with a loud clunk. “Right, I better get a message to Joe, give him the heads up…”

Horace raised his brows, expression disgusted. “Joe? You soldier is Joe? Like GI…”

“It’s not a real name, idiot.” Manda growled. There was less venom in her voice now though, and a minute later she stared at Horace’s broad back as he turned and began dumping the beer out in the sink, the amber liquid making sloppy “glug, glug” noises into the sink.

Jai was staring into space, and he interrupted the uneasy silence. “Okay, so Manda gets a message out tonight. How do we get army fatigues?”

“I’m on it,” Horace grunted. “Won’t be too hard to find. The army was stationed here not long ago. Should be able to find something, though the uniforms might be a little worse for wear.”

“The army is gone?” I remembered the tank I’d seen as we were driving by, abandoned on the side street. “I mean, the real army? They moved on?”

“You might say that.” Horace’s voice was hard. He didn’t turn around, still staring down at the drain. I wondered if he was wishing he could bring the beer back up. “Most of them are dead. Or they joined Thanatos.”

“The army joined Thanatos?” My eyes went wide, and Manda snorted at my expression. “Why wouldn’t they? It guarantees them safety from the suckers. They get booze, money, women. What more can a guy want?”

Jai glared at her. “How about a sense of honour?”

“Obviously it wasn’t something they could buy at Wal-Mart, so they weren’t interested.”