James Anderson - The Altar

“And if she’s not there? Then what do you do?”

“I’ll…I’ll go find her. I’ll retrace her steps.”

Dovecrest shook his head. “You don’t know which way she went. She could have gotten turned around and gone anywhere. The military might have evacuated her. She might have even gone to a different hospital. You wouldn’t know where to begin and you wouldn’t be doing her or Todd or yourself any good.”

“You just don’t understand,” Erik said. “You don’t have a family….”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I did have a family.” The Indian dropped his head and looked at the ground. “But that was a long time ago.”

“I…I didn’t realize….”

“Well what did you think? Of course I don’t have a family now. I’m over 200 years old, for God sakes.”

“Don’t you have…grandchildren? Some connection to them?”

Dovecrest sat down on the ground and was silent for awhile.

“I had a wife and a daughter,” he said. My wife was beautiful. Running Moon. Long, dark hair. Big eyes. Slender and trim. A wonderful cook. We loved each other like no one else. And my daughter, Little Dove. So small and timid. And very smart.”

Dovecrest was silent again. Erik thought the story was over, and then he spoke again.

“My daughter was just six years old when she and her mother were killed.”

“What happened?” Erik asked, sitting beside him.

“I haven’t told this story in over a hundred years. No one would believe it. Although maybe now they would.

“It happened when the devil worshippers tried to call to the demon the first time, and tried to bring it here. They didn’t really know what they were doing, thank God. But they had learned some rituals that would attract spirits in the underworld.

“It was the beginning of August. My wife and daughter were out gathering blueberries. The blueberries here used to be as big as cherries, and Running Moon would mix them up with white corn flour to make journey cakes. They were out in the forest when they were taken.

“The tribe formed a search party, but we could not find them. There were no traces. That night I went out again-many of the men did. That’s when I first saw the altar. The devil worshippers were around it. They had my wife and my daughter. I tried to save them, but I was caught. They forced me to watch while they were sacrificed. They planned to kill me, too, but I later escaped. That’s when I spoke to the chief and he spoke to Roger Williams and his men. The colonists had lost women and children too.

“So we joined forces and put a stop to it. The colonists had laws that they could use. And we had our own set of laws. We killed them and the colonists burned the leader at the stake. When he cursed the land, my people made me the watcher. It was my job to wait and watch in case the demon should try to reappear.”

“And you’ve been waiting for over 300 years.”

“That’s right. I did not know I would live so long. I thought I would pass the job on to someone else, but it seems I outlived all of my apprentices. And so here I am.”

“So that thing got your family.”

“Yes. That’s why it’s personal. That’s why I have to get rid of it for good. I cannot move on as long as this thing can come back. I’m trapped here in this old body, and I can’t join my family.”

Erik nodded. For the first time, this was beginning to make sense, in a weird sort of way.

“Thanks,” Erik said. “Then I need to wait with you and help you destroy it.”

Todd thought he was going to die. In fact, he wished he would just die. The smell alone was enough to kill him. Let alone the fear. The demon was crushing him under its arm, holding him tightly on one side, and his mother on the other. It seemed to know just how much to squeeze to create unbearable agony without actually cutting off his breath. He couldn’t see his mother’s face, but he could hear her breathing. She was having those labor pains again.

When Pastor Mark had arrived, Todd thought he was out of his mind. He couldn’t believe how the pastor had walked right up to the demon and had driven it away. He didn’t think the pastor expected it to take him and his mother with it, though. Judging from the look on the pastor’s face, Todd didn’t think he’d expected anything to happen, except maybe that the monster would kill him. The pastor had been as surprised as Todd had been. The demon, too, had been surprised.

Todd knew where it was taking them. It was going to the altar where it would sacrifice them and kill them as part of some demonic thing. He knew where they were going even before the monster had taken flight. And, sure enough, the street lights below were gone and they were flying over the woods. He couldn’t actually see anything in the darkness, but he knew. He could sense the altar’s presence, even from here.

Sure enough, the demon turned around and began to circle. Todd could imagine the open field below them, with the altar in the center. He’d been there before and it had tried to get him. Now it looked like it was going to get him-and his mother, too.

For some reason the demon seemed cautious now as it circled lower. The pastor had frightened it, all right, with his cross and his demand in God’s name. Todd wondered if he could banish the demon like the pastor did. Then he decided that even if he could, it would just make the monster drop him and he’d just crash to the earth. He remembered what the soldier had looked like after he had been dropped, and he decided he didn’t want any of that. He’d take his chances right where he was for now.

He tried to call for his mother, but she didn’t seem to hear. He wanted to ask her if she’d seen what the pastor did. Maybe if they both did the same thing after they landed, then the demon would let them go. But his mother didn’t respond. She either couldn’t hear him, or was in too much pain of her own to reply. Besides, he dared not give away his plans until the thing was back on solid ground.

The demon slowed its descent and came down towards the ground. Todd could vaguely see the clearing in the woods by the moonlight. His guess had been right. Once they landed he was determined to begin the fight on his own. His geologist hammer hadn’t worked this time. But he’d seen what the pastor could do and he wasn’t about to give up. He just wished he could get his mother’s attention. Otherwise, he didn’t know how he’d get her out of the thing’s grip.

He felt the demon put on the brakes-they were about to land. Todd prepared himself for the showdown that would follow.

Erik felt it coming before he actually saw it. Dovecrest must have felt it too, because he heard the man stiffen up and get into a position of readiness. Then, after the feeling, he saw it cross in front of the moon.

Silhouetted against the moon, the thing looked like a medieval gargoyle, with thick, leathery wings. It seemed to be carrying something under either arm. It was carrying something-no, someone. Erik suddenly knew who it was. The thing had Todd and Vickie.

He would have leaped out of his hiding place and into the field if Dovecrest hadn’t grabbed his shoulder and held him back. He stopped himself. The Indian was right. Taking off half cocked would only get him and his family killed. At least now there was a chance. The demon was doing him a favor. It was bringing his loved ones to him. Now he was glad he hadn’t gone off looking for them.

Still, he had no idea how to get the demon to drop them. Perhaps it was planning to kill them on the altar, like it had Dovecrest’s family. He couldn’t let that happen. There had to be something he could do.

He knelt down beside Dovecrest as the demon landed, just to the right of the altar. He wasn’t sure if Pastor Mark had driven it off, or if it had come here of its own accord. Either way, they needed to drive the thing through the portal and into the other world. But not until he’d made it set his wife and son free. That would have to come first. Then Dovecrest would go in after it. If his family were free, he’d have to stay behind and be with them. He knew he couldn’t leave his wife behind again