Tom Piccirilli - Emerald Hell

The pumpkin-headed kid stood nearby and smiled so widely, with his head tipped to one side, that he nearly fell over. She patted the little tuft of hair at the top of his dome and the kid swooned. Hellboy didn't blame him.

He breathed, "Wow."

She strode up and said, "John Lament, we welcome you to our village once more, and your friend as well. It's been some time since you've visited, and quite a changed sight this must be for you."

With a little nod of deference, Lament said, "Ma'am McCulver, nice to see you again."

Hellboy figured he'd just follow the routine. He nodded too, as in, yep, yep, well all righty then, and said, "Ma'am McCulver, how's it going?"

Lament stood there like he might be poised for anything, the hinges of his jaw tight and pulsing, and she said, "Ease your mind, John, Sarah and her two companions are at my home, resting."

Lament actually slumped and Hellboy had to reach out to keep him from falling. "Thank the Lord."

"They arrived last night, in the dark without hardly any moon. She found her way here because she was meant to. Becky Sue Cabbot was with her, ready to burst, and round about sunup she gave birth to a lovely baby girl. But Sarah and young Hortense-"

Hellboy thought, Hortense, ah jeez…

"-Millford, they're still holding on, though it won't be long now."

But Hellboy realized girls named Hortense, they were made of stern stuff. For her to have come through that slough, all this way, heavy with child, it brought his chin up in respect.

The rain began again, a slight drizzle that no one acknowledged, not even Hellboy who was getting used to it. Ma'am McCulver brushed a hand across her forehead and drew her hair to the side, and her force and beauty radiated even more strongly. He wondered if it was a bewitching, if he was really staring at some century-old hag trying to pull a fast one. He had charms that might break the illusion if there was one, but he decided, Why make life even tougher?

"Tell me what happened out there," she said. "I know the blackwater has been restless and a'grieved, the land agitated lately. I heard screaming and terrible crying at the rim of my ear, and a voice begging to burn away the children. Tell me, which children are in danger?"

Lament related the story of the Mother Tree and Mama's girlies. "It wasn't what I wanted, but we had no choice. There are fields of dead men out there in the wet grasses."

"Lord, if only I'd known about it sooner, but I've been distracted with events here. Since my sister's passing, I've struggled with new responsibilities. The town's growing faster than we can handle. Our numbers have become so inflated, even though so many of our kin have gone missing these last few weeks."

"A good many of them won't be returnin'."

"If only I'd been paying greater attention," she said, her lovely face folding into grimness. "But village concerns draw me from my leanings, the ways of my mothers and sisters. We're having this celebration to remind us of all we have, and to fight our growing despair."

"And to protect yourselves. The music has charms."

"Yes. The walking darkness approaches. I sense it. And times have grown rougher these past few years. The chemical dumping is becoming worse all the time. Too much time is spent in Enigma barring roads and keeping a lookout for the trucks. The soil and river fights us more and more. There's less fish. The gator poachers kill off whole strains."

Hellboy said, "I might be able to help."

"How?"

"I can make a call."

Ma'am McCulver didn't seem to understand. "Call? Call whom?"

"I work for some people who have pull. We'll track it down. I'll do my best make it stop."

"They won't stop, they'll simply go elsewhere. Another corner of a different swamp."

He shrugged. "You're probably right," he admitted, "but we do what we can, right?"

Still, she smiled and said, "I hear the deep truth in your voice. Thank you for your willingness to aid us."

"Sure."

Pushed to his very edge, Lament said, "I need to see Sarah."

"Of course," the gorgeous granny told him, "I'll take you to her."

In the soft rain, they walked the length of the village past cabins, pinewood shacks, and tin-roofed sheds. Several of the children came along, including the pumpkin-headed kid and Fish-boy Lenny, who murmured and muttered together, occasionally laughing.

Led by Ma'am McCulver, the party moved steadily toward a three-story coffee-colored house in the distance. Hellboy heard babies crying again, sometimes in his ears and sometimes, it felt like, at the back of his head. The granny woman glanced his way from time to time, smiling vaguely.

As they approached her home he saw it had a whitewashed wraparound veranda bordered by palm trees and sugarcane. Three teenage girls sat out on porch swing cut from fresh pine. One held a baby in her arms. Lament's step began to speed up until he was almost running. Losing a few pints of blood didn't mean much in the face of love. One of the pregnant girls broke from the others and moved to meet him.

So this was Sarah.

He could see touches of Bliss Nail in her right off. The same steel-gray eyes full of tenacious strength, unyielding and with a hint of defiance in even her most modest gestures. She wasn't exactly what you'd call beautiful, but there was an attractive and compelling earthiness to her that really struck him.

Still not even twenty, her long brown hair was edged with strands of silver. It sort of matched Lament's white streak. These two kids with such youthful vigor and intensity, but somehow brushed by age, tragedy, and worldliness.

She and Lament held each other and moved in close, cheek to cheek, his mouth at her ear whispering, her lips pressing along his jaw line. Lament eased his hand over her bulging belly, and Hellboy knew what would be coming next.

He started to count off… one, two, three, four… and then looked over at Ma'am McCulver and saw that she was doing the same thing. They both let out a sigh just as a growl of thunder grumbled overhead.

"I couldn't wait for you," Sarah said to Lament. "I felt the devil's breath on my neck and knew we had to get on out of Enigma. I knew you must be worryin' somethin' dreadful but I thought it best to move on."

"I know that," he told her. "I'm sorry I was late gettin' to you. We had some trials along the way. I wouldn't have gotten through at all if not for this fella right here though."

Lament put his hand on Hellboy's shoulder and drew him closer. Sarah smiled at him and said, "Thank you for what you did for my John."

It was the kind of thing that made you go, Aw shucks, 'twern't nuthin',but Hellboy resisted. It was harder than he expected. "I was just doing what I had to do. Someone has to."

"Ain't no man's mere service to save another. It's a calling of the courageous."

He didn't know what to say to that so he let it go by. "You and your friends are the brave ones, battling through the swamp in your, ah, condition."

"We had us a time, with Becky Sue all but ready to have her baby girl in the bottom of the skiff, but thank the Lord, she managed to hold off." She turned to Lament. "The dreams, John."

"I know, I've had ray share as well."

"But mine… the baby. I woke two nights ago and found a pair of bullfrogs on my belly croakin' together. I fear. I fear a'mighty."

"Don't… it's gonna be all right. Whatever happens, it's the Lords will and we'll trust in that."

Hellboy wondered if he should talk about his own dream last night, except he couldn't remember what it was about. But it had been there and it had meant something.

The pumpkin-headed kid loped up onto the porch out of the drizzle and the others followed. He bent and made faces at Becky Sue Cabbot's newborn. Hellboy was introduced to her and Hortense Millford, two stern-faced, sunburned, tired-looking young women, one of whom had just delivered a child and the other close to bearing her own.