Hey friendly readers, you guys were great with the reviews. We're sorry to have held you emotionally hostage, but the fact of the matter was the
chapter wasn't ready to be posted until tonight. I'm sorry for the delay, I hope it was worth it.
Chapter 9: Tutelary
The stairs seemed impossibly high. Gabe remembered playing on them as a child. There were only 24 of them, he was sure.
They had counted. He himself had jumped down eight of them once. Of course he had never quite gained the courage to
jump from the ninth step. Falling head first down all 24 froze his blood.
It didn't help that the floor beneath him seemed to be rolling like a sea in a tempest. He knew that if Nottingham were not
holding him roughly by the arms he would have tumbled forward. And that could be, very possibly, the last thing he would
do for the rest of his life.
"I just don't get it," Gabriel said. His mind was racing to find a way out of this situation and every thought that came into his
mind came out of his mouth. "Who is Sara, I mean, really?"
"She is the one," Ian said, his voice filled with something like awe. "The wielder of a Witchblade."
"Yeah, she has a pretty bracelet. I have bracelets too. No one's ever been killed because their friend's bracelet."
"I'm not going to kill you."
"Yeah, either way I'm removed."
"Accepting the inevitable is the only way to true freedom."
"Freedom," Gabriel laughed. "What do you know about freedom? You don't even have the freedom to do what you want."
"My freedoms are not in question."
"Do you want to kill me?"
"I'm not killing you."
"Remove me then, do you really want to?"
Ian didn't answer, but Gabriel could feel the grip on his arm tighten.
"Can you imagine it?" Gabe pressed. "'Cause I can."
"You won't be dead."
"Yeah, and I won't be there to care about her."
"I care enough for her . . ."
"Yeah, and when was the last time she called you out for pizza?" Gabriel demanded. "I don't know who you are, really, Ian
Nottingham, but I know you're not her friend. 'Cause friends, they don't do this to each other," his voice cracked, the fear
was coming through. "If you really cared about her you'd try to protect her from this kind of pain. She's lost her partner,
her boyfriend, and her father. Why would you remove someone else she cares about?"
There was a heavy silence. Gabe hoped that if Ian was going to throw him down those 24 steps he would go ahead and do
it. A darkness was creeping in on the edges of his vision and the subtle ringing in his ears was turning into a cacophony.
"Don't you think," Gabriel said, desperately trying to keep himself awake as well as keep Ian distracted, even if what he said
didn't really make sense. "If you really do care, don't you think maybe you should start giv'n people back to her instead of
taking them away?"
There was a long pause and then, without warning, the iron grip that had been keeping Gabriel from tumbling forward was
released. He was left on his own to find balance and he could feel himself pitching towards the stairway. Instinctively, he
tried to shift his weight backwards, but without his sense of equilibrium he over compensated and ended up stumbling into
the wall directly behind him with enough force to leave him breathless. His knees collapsed underneath him and he crumpled
onto the ground, gasping for breath. For a while there was enough adrenalin in his blood to keep him conscious. He craned
his neck to try to see what had become of Nottingham, but even slight movements of his head caused an overwhelming
pounding. Slowly, his breathing began to stabilize and his body began to insist to his brain that they needed to rest. Gabriel
wanted to fight the darkness that was creeping over him, but he didn't have the strength, eventually he tumbled into that
black billowing sea.
***
"Sara!" Phillis said, running up to the older woman after church. They both looked like hell, with unwashed hair, the same
blood stained clothes they had had on yesterday, and heavy bags drooping down under their eyes.
"Yeah?" Sara asked, yawning.
"I don't know what to say to you."
Sara blinked, "Excuse me?"
"All through church, when he was talking about saviors I was thinking about you."
Sara didn't know what to say, she certainly hadn't been thinking about herself when the Rev. Dunn was talking about saviors.
She had been thinking about Gabriel. He was the one who had really risked his life, nearly given it, so that his friend could be
free.
Phillis didn't notice Sara's malaise at her confession, she just kept talking. "You saved Gabriel, Jim was . . ." she hesitated,
not quite able to say the words.
"I'm a cop, it's my job," Sara said, showing the young lady some grace.
"And me. Eventually it would have been me too."
"You don't have to thank me."
"But the thing is, I'm still mad at you."
"Mad?"
"You killed Jim," she had cried her self dry a long time ago, but the trembling in her voice communicated quite clearly how
upset she was.
"I did it to save you," Sara said, bewildered by the girls actions. "To save Gabriel."
"I know, I know," Phillis said. "But, I'm just so overwhelmed. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I wanted away from
him, but I never wanted him to die." She took a shaky breath. "I couldn't explain this to my father, he just wouldn't
understand. And I know we just met but I need someone to talk to . . ."
"Go ahead," Sara said softly.
"Can you love someone, and be terrified of them at the same time?"
Sara licked her lips, "Probably."
"He was horrible, so often he was. But, sometimes he wasn't. And I could never really hate him, you know." She started
sniffling, she had found her well of tears again. "I shouldn't have kissed Gabriel. That was the stupidest thing . . . Jim had
every right to wanna kill me."
"No!" Sara said forcefully. "He didn't."
"I betrayed him."
"He betrayed you every time he hit you."
"Gabriel knew it was wrong, I should have too."
"Phil," Sara said, grabbing the girl's chin and forcing her to make eye contact. "You're not listening to me. You didn't do
anything wrong."
"I was living with Jim and I kissed another guy," Phil said. "Of course I did something wrong."
Sara had to admit that, under static rules of morality, Phil had done something wrong. But Sara's morality was not static, and
the young girl had come to her for help. "Phillis, you loved Jim. I get that. I mean, it would be really hard not to. He was
strong and handsome. He said he loved you, he claimed he would protect you. I mean, that is what you want, isn't it Phillis,
to be protected?"
"I don't know," Phil said softly.
"And I think that somewhere, deep down, Jim did love you back. He needed you, or at least he thought he did."
"I betrayed him."
"No, you made him realize that you were your own person. That you could transcend him, and that's why he tried to kill
Gabriel and threatened to kill you. He couldn't stand the thought that you were someone without him."
"It's all my fault."
"It's all his fault, Phillis," Sara said. "You're responsible for what you do, he's responsible for what he did. You kissed
Gabriel, that might not have been right, morally speaking. He attacked you and would have killed Gabriel. That's morally
wrong on any scale."
Phillis closed her eyes and nodded, when she opened them again, they were filled with one question. "But I still love him."
"That's alright," Sara said, smiling sadly. "You remember what the preacher said: Loving someone who hurts you is a true
sign of Godliness."
Phillis closed her eyes again. "I just want it all to stop, you know. All these feelings, I just wish they would stop. I wish I
could chose one, I wish I could either grieve for Jim or be happy with Gabriel or be mad at you."
"Life doesn't work that way."
"Life doesn't work."
"It works, just not the way we want it too."
Phillis nodded and was silent for a moment, before saying: "You know, all that time when I lived with him, when I was really
afraid I wasn't afraid of getting beaten."
"If you were afraid of that you would have left long ago."
Phillis nodded, "I was afraid I'd lose him. And now I have."
"The worst has happened," Sara said. "So now what?"
"Jim was my everything. There was no backup plan."
"What about Gabriel?"
"I don't know."
"He'd love to protect you."
"He almost died trying."
"You gonna give him another shot at it?"
"I don't know."
"Or maybe," Sara said hopefully. "It's time you learned how to protect yourself."
"That's easy to say, hard to do."
"Not so hard."
"I have no place to go."
"You could stay here."
"And apprentice with my father?" Phillis almost laughed,"I don't think so."
"Go back to Poughkeepsie?"
She shuddered, "No, definitely not."
"How about New York?"
"City?"
"Yeah."
"Where would I live, what would I do?"
"I actually have some ideas on that. Do you speak Spanish?"
"Yeah."
"Fluently."
"Of course, that's all my father speaks at home. I mean, when company's not over."
"Than I have a job for you."
"I couldn't be a cop," Phil said quickly.
"But I bet you could be an interpreter."
"Interpreter?"
"During questioning, at trials: without translators the whole system stops for people who don't speak English," Sara
explained.
"And you think I could do that?"
"If you want to."
"I'll think about it," Phillis said softly. From the expression on her face, Sara was sure the girl really would. But making any
decision in the state she was presently in might not be the best idea.
"Let me know."
"There is," the girl said hesitantly. "One more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Last night, what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Sara asked, her voice thin and nervous. She didn't have an explanation for so much, at least not a
good and believable one that protected Ian.
"There was a man, I remember him."
"You lied to the sheriff?" Sara said, her voice hushed. She had lied to the sheriff too, but for some reason, she had expected
more of Phillis.
"No," Phillis said quickly, her voice was also hushed. "I just left some stuff out."
"What did you tell him?"
"I heard a shot and when I looked up Jim was dead. You were taking care of Gabriel, there was your gun. I honestly didn't
see what happened," Phillis looked up. "That's what I told him."
"But you did see the man?"
"Who is he?"
Sara wanted to answer, but she had no idea. "A dragon," she finally answered. "In a world full of people who don't believe
in them."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"I know," Sara said. "But it's the only answer I'm sure of."
***
"Gabriel!" Sara screamed, bounding up the stairs. She was vaguely aware that his entire family was following her, but her
entire focus was on Gabriel. She was up the stairs twice as fast as any of the others, lifting him to a sitting position, petting
his face, and begging him to open his eyes. "Gabriel, Gabriel, Wake up, open your eyes! Please, Gabriel, please . . ."
As if in response to her begging, Gabriel groaned and his eyes fluttered open.
Sara smile was the first thing he saw, and his injured mind suddenly filled with the most amazing thoughts. "I get it," he
whispered.
"What?" Sara asked. She was the only one who could hear him, he was speaking so softly.
"I know you," he said, just as quietly. "Joan, Elizabeth, Kathain, Martha. I know exactly who you are."
"Gabriel," Sara said, not able to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She didn't know what had possessed him to call her
by those names, but it was slightly unnerving. "What did you call me?"
He looked at her with unfocussed eyes, blinked, and then seemed to come to himself. "Sara," he said a little louder. His eyes
broke away from her face and he realized that she was not the only one standing over him, concerned. "Mom, Chase,
Gramps, wha's going on?"
"Gabriel," his mother said, switching places with Sara so that it was mostly her loving face he saw. "How did you get out
here? What happened?"
His foggy brown eyes seemed to grow even more unfocussed as he reached inside himself to remember. The memory was
elusive and the harder he tried to track it down, the more it evaded him, the only thing he could remember was a sickening
sense of terror. "I don't know," he said hoarsely.
"Come on Sweetheart," his mother said, reaching to pull him to his feet. His grandfather quickly moved to help her and
between them they were soon leading him to the bedroom. "You need to rest."
Gabriel didn't fight as he was lead away, he wouldn't have had the strength to even if he wanted. The rest of the family
dissolved, finding something to do. Gabriel's mother stayed sitting with him, Chase and Joy went downstairs where they
started preparing the day's dinner. Mr. Bowman went to pick up Gracie, Ralph, Shauna, and Timmy, who had gone home to
change out of church clothes and The Rev. Dunn had run over to Dr. Sanderson's house to beg for one more house call.
Sara had a mission of her own.
She slipped out of the house and started walking down the small town street, watching the children play in the front yards
under the watchful eyes of caring parents. It reminded her of her childhood, before her mother died, and evoked some of the
happiest memories she had. But she didn't stay and watch the families, she had something she had to do. Once she reached
the abandoned school yard and had found a spot that was well hidden she took a deep breath and braced herself for what she
knew she had to do.
"Nottingham," she called out forcefully. "I know you're here, come out."
"You wish to speak to me, Lady Sara," Ian said from behind her. Sara pivoted, extremely startled by his sudden appearance,
but decided not to yell at him. After all she had called.
"Yeah," she said tersely. "What did you do to Gabriel?"
"He is alive."
"Yeah, I know he's alive."
"I did nothing."
"Really?" Sara snapped. "And why do I find that hard to believe."
"Sara, do you know how easy it would have been for me to kill him as he laid helpless in that bed? He would never have
even noticed."
"I would have noticed."
"And that's why I didn't," Ian said eagerly, as if he were offering her some great gift, like a string of pearls or a diamond
ring. "I didn't want to cause you any more suffering."
"What about Irons?"
Ian seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I will tell him what you told me," he eventually said. "That you swore Gabriel's death
would be immediately followed by my own, and then his."
"So," she said uncertainly, "You won't be coming after him, then?"
"No," he said, after a considered pause. "Your friend is safe from me, although I cannot say he will be safe from others."
"I'm not asking you to," she said harshly, and then, a little kinder, "Thank you."
Ian looked at her for a moment, his large brown eyes dark and deep, and then, with an almost military bow, he turned and
walked briskly away. Sara watched his long dark coat disappear into the forest at the very edge of the school yard and then,
with a deep breath, she turned and walked back to the Dunn house where the Bowman's and all their small town kindness
were waiting for her with open arms.
THE END
(there will be an epilog . . . eventually)