Chapter 14: I Knew Him!

"God's curse on you England, you cruel-hearted monster
Your deeds they would shame all the devils in hell.
There are no flowers blooming but the shamrock is growing
On the grave of James Connolly, the Irish Rebel."

Lyrics to James Connell by the Wolfe Tones

Coast of the Aegean Sea - 1916

Death followed in his footsteps as he sought out the source of the whispered call. Pestilence and disease he left behind to the wailing cries of those pitiful survivors. Without a pause, Nergil continued his trek across the land, drawn towards some far distant islands.

Dublin 1916

There was the distinct thumping of cannon fire amongst the rattling sounds of the machine guns and the sharp cracks of rifle fire being heard that morning, causing the English officer to peek at the rebel positions within the Royal College of Surgeons beyond the other end of Stephens Green. A scared whimper came from a nearby soldier who he did not know, it was during the chaos of the night when the lost private had been separated from his unit and had ended up here. "Steady lad, those are our guns. It seems that the Royal Navy has arrived and that is the cannon of the good ship Helga shelling the traitors," the officer said with a thin smile. "We will soon make quick work of this rebellion and show those Irish traitors that this is the king's land…aye?"

The soldier nodded and lifted his head slightly above the stone wall to peek at what was going on. There was the zing of a bullet and a thud, the officer watched in horrified surprise when the soldier crumpled dead onto the ground next to him, his head was a gory mess for it had been torn open by the round that had found its mark. It seemed that one of those who he had deemed a traitor was a crack shot.

On his other side, the Sergeant raised his rifle and fired back at the rebels. "They should damned well know that they can't win!" he cursed.

"Yet still they fight," the officer replied.

"In the end, they will lose!" A bullet whizzed overhead. "Damn that was a close one!"

"They might lose this battle, but I wonder if they will finally win the war?"

"That is traitor's talk!" This is the King's land and will still be so long after they are dead and buried," the Sargent snapped.

"Still, I wonder?" the officer sighed even while he reached into his haversack and touched the odd page. it was almost as if he was reassuring himself this wasn't a nightmare. Talking foxes and now a gun battle, for him the world was now surely upside down.

"Wonder? What has gotten into you? We will bring this to an end soon and things will get back to normal."

"Talking foxes are not exactly normal." Another bullet zinged overhead.

"Aye, but that is a matter to ponder on later when there isn't someone shooting at us," the sergeant snapped.

"What I wouldn't give for a pint!"

"It is just past eight in the morning."

"Trying to stay alive is thirsty work," the officer chuckled.

"Aye, that it is!" the sergeant agreed before he fired another round towards the enemy's fortified building across the park.

Across the war-torn park, the sniper leaned back against the building's wall and stared down at his rifle, it was a veteran of the Boer war, an earlier version of the Lee Enfield rifle that the British were using, and although it was officially an 1896 Mk1 MLE, it was more commonly called a "Long Lee" because of the length of its barrel. He pulled back the bolt to chamber another round. "That was a fine shot, Mickie!" his companion excitedly proclaimed. "Now there is one less English bastard in the world."

The gunman named Michael sighed as he held the gun in his lap, rounds zinged over their heads as the soldiers across the park returned fire. "Sean, I saw his face," he softly said in reply.

"So what?"

"He was no Englishman, but a Dublin lad. His family lives just two streets over from my home and I remember how proud his mum was when he joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was going to fight the Germans, but instead…"

"Then he was a damned traitor, taking the king's shilling and turning upon the land of his birth!" Sean interrupted with a curse before he spat in disgust onto the ground beside him. "We are well done of his kind!"

"Tell that to his mum when she is keening her son's death," Michael softly said.

There was the steady thumping of bullets striking the wall in front of them. It seemed that the British had turned a machine gun toward their position.

"They are getting the range, so it looks like it is time to leave!" Sean called out with a wild look in his eyes before he grabbed up his rifle and got to his knees before he began to run for the room's doorway. The Irishman didn't get far before he gave a grunt and rolled over onto his back. "They got me Mickie!" he groaned.

Michael set his rifle down and reached over to grab his friend's legs, pulling him back toward the wall. He saw the next round hit Sean in the neck before he heard the rifle's retort. There was a gurgling wheezing sound while the Irishman gasped for air, but by the time he had pulled him to safety, Sean was dead. Gripping his rifle again, the sniper leaned back against the wall with tears in his eyes.

The back and forth shooting continued throughout the morning, neither side seemingly gaining the advantage over the other, and then there were puzzled shouts of dismay. Peeking over the top of the trench, Michael was shocked to see that the caretaker of Stephen's Green had risked his life by walking calmly into the middle of the gun battle, in order to feed the park's huge duck population just like he did every day. He was lucky that both sides had stopped shooting when they saw what was happening and were transfixed by his actions.

Japan 2018

The vixen had slipped behind a screen and within a few moments, she reemerged looking like the other furless beasts standing around the small rabbit. The only fur she had was a reddish-orange mane upon her head and her muzzle was gone. Kitsune had changed from her traditional kimono to a modern pair of denim blue jeans and a white tee shirt upon which was written something that Judy could not read and the cartoonish image of a strange-looking cat. "Much better," the goddess muttered even as she leaned over and picked up one of her children and nuzzled her.

Someone spoke in a language that Judy did not understand and she turned to see a tall bespectacled and apparently a male version of the creatures standing in the doorway. He was dressed like any businessmammal in Zootopia with a black suit, white dress shirt, and a black checkered tie. While he looked down at Judy, he spoke again, this time she could understand his words, although they were somewhat broken as if he was just learning her language, the accent seemed very familiar and she realized that it was similar to those who lived on Outback Island. "Welcome to my home, Judy Hopps," was what he said even as he gave her a slight bow.

"Ah, my husband is home!" Kitsune exclaimed while she sat her daughter down and moved toward the dark maned male. "Perhaps you have news?"

"Wife, we have a guest in our home, have you offered her any refreshments?" the male replied.

"I could make tea?" Kitsune teased. "A nice pot of green tea."

"I'm bloody well talking to a walking talking rabbit after spending several days interviewing a fox, so I think something stronger might be in order."

"He's an Aussie and they have no manners!" the fox goddess giggled. "Judy Hopps this is my husband Shane, he is the field director for Northwestern University's Carl Kolchak School of Parapsychology and the Paranormal in Chicago. That is how he found me several years ago, but instead of turning me into the department, we fell in love."

"You were talking to a fox…did you find Nick?" Judy cried out in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah, about that…" Shane replied while he took a seat and rubbed the back of his neck while he grimaced at her. "He is a talking fox, but I don't think he…well, he didn't know anyone named Judy Hopps."

"What?" both Kitsune and Judy cried out in surprise.

"It seems that he is from a place where the predators had to wear special taming collars, he had one around his neck and it was a pain to remove. The place he described didn't sound very nice…"

"That isn't my Nick!" Judy sighed in disappointment. Kitsune knelt next to her.

"So anyway, I had some research run on talking rabbits," Shane continued. "We got the usual weird paranormal stuff and silly legends, but then we hit on an old story going back to Ireland in 1916, it seems that some of the villagers near Dublin caught a talking rabbit in clothing that walked upright on her back paws. They thought she was some kind of leprechaun and they caged her up so they could get the local priest. But they didn't realize that she could lift the latch and get free and by the time they got back she was gone."

"Wait, a talking rabbit?" Kitsune interrupted. "What happened to her?"

"She escaped in the local woods and they couldn't catch her again."

"And?"

"The story goes that they did find what remained of her carcass in the nearby woods."

Judy's ears drooped and her nose twitched, "What happened to her?"

The human looked up at her and then his wife before answering, "It turned out that she was eaten by a fox."

"A fox?" the rabbit replied with a shudder.

"I'm sorry, but the foxes around here are still primitive and savage," Kitsune added.

"I did find photos of what looks like a police badge which the locals have kept in the village church, of course with the 1916 Uprising, World War I, and then the Irish Civil War, the story was written off by the authorities as a hoax. We wouldn't have picked up on the tale if it hadn't been for one of those US television shows on strange creatures," Shane continued.

"I'm sorry Judy, I thought we had found Nick," the goddess said.

"So is he lost?" the rabbit asked, there were tears in her eyes.

"Maybe…there might be someone…"Kitsune slowly answered, her eyes looking up at her husband.

"A hospital?" Shane said with a shrug.

"A hospice center."

"Will she talk to you?"

"I'm pretty sure…she might?"

"What are you two talking about?" Judy interrupted.

"I think I need to talk to Death," Kitsune replied.

"Death?" the rabbit was confused.

"She can tell me where your granddaughter Aion is at and maybe she will know where her grandfather is now located?" the goddess answered. "Death was kind of put in charge of training Aion on her time powers, she may be our only chance."

"Oh and I got some other bad news," Shane said.

"Great, now what?" his wife asked.

"Someone broke into the university's vault and stole the Sanderson Sister's Book of Spells."

"It must have been a very powerful witch or wizard to do that, the place is surrounded by wards and charms"

"As far as we can tell, they used a regular human thief to do the job for them," Shane replied.

"This day is only getting better!" Kitsune sighed.

The Royal Navy Armed Auxiliary Patrol Yacht HMY Helga bombarded the Irish rebels from the Liffey River with a 12-pounder naval gun. In 1923 she was purchased by the Irish Free State and renamed the Muirchú. One of the oddest stories of the Uprising was when the ship got into a brief artillery duel with her own dismounted 1 pounder light gun.

The caretaker of Stephen's Green actually did go feed the ducks, causing an unplanned ceasefire while both the British troops and Irish rebels stopped shooting at each other to watch.

Carl Kolchak is the protagonist of the two telefilms and the TV seriesNight Stalker. He was a Chicago news reporter who specialized in the supernatural. He ends up investigating unusual homicides, which often involve supernatural forces. He is the creation of Jeffery Grant Rice.