Rendezvous With Destiny

This is chapter 63 of The Matriarchy, a serial fiction novel on FITK



“Tonight’s the night, isn’t it?” thought Sean, “The start of the new era.”

“Or the end of a dream,” thought Mary, “Somehow, I never thought the outcome would be dependent on a trip to REI.”

The couple had returned to their ‘safe house’ with several bags of clothing and gear. They hadn’t seen anyone tailing them but were still communicating telepathically figuring that the car and the house were probably bugged. The debit cards left by the FBI were generous; Mary bought a backpack, two sets of leggings and a pair of spandex tops, as well as two pairs of waterproof boots. Sean also bought leggings and boots as well as an expedition vest and a variety of tools, including a night vision scope. Everything was colored dark gray or black.

“It will be dark by ten-thirty,” thought Mary, “It should take us about an hour to reach the Chamber House if we walk along the creek. The full moon is at twelve–fifteen. That should give us plenty of time to free Emily.” 

“What if we run into The Brotherhood?” thought Sean, “Flight or fight?”

“I can deal with them, but I will need a lookout. If worst comes to worst, we’ll have reinforcements.”

“Your animal allies?” thought Sean.

“I prefer to call them ‘The children of the night’,” thought Mary.

---

John Regelind III spent the afternoon in final preparations for the convergence of the full moon.

“The Final Meeting,” he thought to himself as he re-locked the outer iron gate of The Chamber House.

---

The FBI called the safe house at four P.M. Sean answered.

“Everything alright?” said the agent.

“Great,” said Sean, “Just great. We went to that coffee house you recommended, did some shopping. Mary’s taking a little nap. I think we’ll stay in and catch a movie tonight. There’s a new Pixar film on Netflix.”

“Good. Enjoy the evening. We’ll be in touch.”

---

In his Reykjavík apartment, Hilmar opened the statistics page for his ‘old religion’ website.  The server seemed to be bogging down when he had tried to access it on his cell phone earlier in the day. He wanted to make sure there wasn’t a hardware problem. He opened the weekly totals and was astounded. In the last four days, since he had installed Mary’s spells, the number of paid downloads had risen by an order of magnitude. Every day.

---

Mary and Sean left the safe house at ten-thirty.  There were flashes of lightning in the distance, but they were too far away to produce any thunder. The creek ran behind the house. It was only a trickle here, with an occasional small pool forming in its bends. As they picked their way along the bank, Sean could hear rustling in the brush. He surmised that they were being followed by Mary’s ‘children.’ Mary said nothing. She had instructed Sean not to wear his ring in order to allow her to to devote her full attention to their mission. When they reached Hangman Tree Road, Mary held up her hand. At one of the bridges that spanned the creek a large tree was blocking its passage.

“I’m scanning the road with the help of my ‘children’, there’s a car approaching now,  wait until it has passed us,” Mary said. When the car was out of sight she hissed at Sean: “Now! Run!”

As he was running, Sean could hear the scrabbling sounds of numerous hooves, paws and claws on the road all around him.  Once they were on the other side of the road, they reentered the creek bed. The woods were much denser here, forcing Sean to turn on his night vision scope. Mary said  that she didn’t need one. When they reached the boundary of the Regelind estate, they were greeted by a heavy steel fence stretched across the stream.

“Turn off your scope and shut your eyes,” Mary whispered. When Sean did, the fence  began to glow brightly until the cross bars arced into incandescence, then separated. “Okay, it’s open now,” she said, “We’re almost there.”

They proceeded up a narrow path which snaked its way through the woods until it reached an open area. The storm to the west was rapidly building and its lightning had become almost continuous, its rumbling thunder could now be heard.  On the hill above them was a round brick structure. They approached it from the rear and quietly walked around to the locked gate on the other side. Mary looked at Sean and whispered:

“Keep a lookout, if you see anyone coming, put the ring on, but only as a last resort. You’ll hear the animals responding to any intruders before you see them. Look inside with your gadget and tell me what you see, my senses are enhanced, but not that enhanced.”

Sean peered into the building with his night vision scope.

“There’s an inner door, with what appears to be seven keyholes. There are barrels and bags and landscaping equipment in the passages on either side of it,” he said, “And a padlock on the gate, of course.”

“I told you I was good with locks didn’t I?" said Mary. She stroked the padlock and it sprang open. Mary put down her backpack and began to take off her clothes. “This is the point where I must go alone,” she said, “I have to perform a specific ritual in order to release Emily from her suspended state. It may take some time.”

Sean, who was by now used to Mary's habit of disrobing at unusual times, began to scan the woods with is IR goggles.

After Mary was completely naked she opened the gate and walked into the Chamber House. She removed the iron bar on the massive door then touched each keyhole, the mechanisms behind each one clicking open. After the seventh lock, the door swung inward, opening of its own volition. A dim orange light spilled out from within.

“As we were born, so shall we be reborn,” Mary said, taking a deep breath as she went in.

Outside, Sean felt a drop of rain.




Fiction