Adventures of Jacko the Conjurer by Jamie Ott (love books to read txt) 📕

They grabbed fire logs to help light the way. But Jacko was still worried that they could lose each other.

“Here,” said Faunus, pulling out the harness he used to pull Uncle Bally. “Tie this around your waist. This way, we won’t lose each other.”

They did as he said.

As they walked along, Jacko couldn’t help but look over the side, every so often. The magma was quickly spreading, taking out the entire garden. When he thought about all the animals and trees dying, he felt sick.

Suddenly, there was a large rolling earthquake. Part of the mountain base had collapsed. Magma rose up higher and higher. The smell of sulfur made it hard to breath.

Dawn never came, though by the time they decided to rest, it was noon. Temperatures leapt from freezing to nearly 100 degrees. They peeled off their clothes, and sat on the ground, wiping their sweaty faces. With every breath Jacko took, he tasted the sulfur in the air, making it hard not to drink all his water. His skin felt like salami.

Several hours later, they faced a rock incline that disappeared into the clouds. Jacko was grief stricken. He sunk to his knees and was despaired.

“How the hell are we gonna get up there?” asked Julius.

“You’ll hold onto the harness I’ve prepared,” said Faunus.

“It’s not strong enough,” said Uncle Bally, looking at the thin twine Faunus handed him.

“After millenniums of making harnesses, I think I know what I’m doing. I made the harness for this moment, because I knew none of you would ever make it. Now, tie it around your waists.”

The harness was made of a dozen vines double braided. Every few feet, there was a reinforced loop. He selected the loop that would fit him perfectly, and pushed the knot of the harness through, and then tied it as securely as he could.

Faunus put the other ends of the harnesses in his mouth. Then, before Jacko could talk him out of it, he stuck his hands in a little crevice of the incline and pulled himself up.

“You can’t be serious!” shouted Julius. “You can’t carry us up by your teeth!”

But he was wrong. Faunus was strong and fast, as merely a moment later they were swinging from the vines hanging from Faunus’ mouth. Larry and Joe stared down at them from Faunus’ head.

Scared, Jacko closed his eyes and prayed that the climb was almost over. The longer they were suspended the more scared and frustrated he felt. Every so often, though he told himself not to, he opened his eyes and looked down.

An hour passed, and Faunus didn’t slow one bit. Uncle Bally continuously drank whiskey with his eyes closed. Julius prayed under his breath.

“UUUUhhhhh!!!” Faunus’ suddenly groaned.

“Are you okay?” asked Jacko.

“Don’t talk to him!” shouted Julius. “What are you stupid?!”

Suddenly, the temperatures dropped. A dense cool air touched Jacko’s skin. Feeling relieved, he opened his eyes once more and found that ceilinged right above Faunus head was a thick wall of cloud.

Faunus disappeared into the cloud. White enveloped their heads, moistening his skin and mouth as he breathed. In the cloud, it was so dark that he barely saw the others faces. Though the moisture felt good, Jacko’s heart pounded. It was one thing to see the danger, but not to see it was even scarier.

“UUUUUUHHHH!!!”

The density of the wet mass made Jacko feel like he weighed 200 pounds. Faunus must have been affected, too, for he staggered, a bit, as he reached up to grab a bit of rock.

After a while, the shape of the mountain seemed to narrow from a wide cliff to a thin slope, making Jacko wonder if the rock could collapse.

Without warning, they fell several inches: the harness slipped through Faunus’ teeth.

Just as Jacko thought it was over, that they were going to die, Faunus head disappeared, as did his shoulders and the rest of his body. It took a second for him to realize that Faunus was climbing them out of the cloud.

The pressure of gravity lightened, and it got a few degrees warmer. Then Jacko’s head broke the last bit of the cloud layer, only to be blinded by bright yellow sunlight against bright blue sky.

Jacko crushed his eyelids shut. Not seeing blue sky in months had taken a toll on him. He wasn’t used to the brightness.

Faunus groaned once more, but then he leaned forward, and as he did this, Jacko and the others slammed into the cliff. His entire front was dragged along the rock like cheese on a grater. He turned his head to avoid cutting his face.

Uncle Bally yelled, “Don’t push away from the cliff; you’ll only create more pressure on the harness and Faunus.”

Then the intensity of their fronts being graded increased for a moment before they slid onto a smooth grassy plain.

They stopped moving. Jacko felt the cool grass on his skin and knew he lay on ground. He wanted to open his eyes, but the sky was too bright even with them shut.

Finally, after a few minutes, Uncle Bally said, “Okay, come on, let’s open our eyes. We just need to deal with the pain and get moving.”

Jacko groaned as he conceded. Slowly, he cracked his eyelids, but kept his field of vision directed at the green grass.

Peripherally, he saw up ahead, Faunus lying on the grass and breathing hard.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I haven’t worked that hard in centuries,” he said.

After a few more minutes, Jacko’s eyes throbbed less.

“Can you see this?” said Uncle Bally.

Slowly, he looked up. Uncle Bally pointed at the sky which, although blue, was surrounded with tinges of red.

“It’s almost like we’re in a bubble,” said Julius.

“Faunus?” asked Uncle Bally.

“I need a moment.”

Several miles of plush grass stretched before them. To the left, there were more cliffs, and to the right were tall, bushy trees. A bird flew in a circle above their tops, and then dived into their brush.

Larry and Joe floated in the air, looking at the white building snuggled between the cliffs and the woods. It looked similar to the Parthenon; it was rectangular, lined with columns and had a long stretch of stone steps.

“Faunus, do you know them?” asked Uncle Bally.

From the steps, three extremely large persons with long white hair and beards stood, looking right at them.

“What is this place?” asked Julius.

Faunus pushed himself up off the grass.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Summoning of the Gods

Chapter 10

Jacko had met several gods, most of whom were patient, wise and likeable. However, the gods of the summit looked like the sort his mother used to tell him about: mean, nasty, and probably hated half-breeds like Jacko. Even from afar, they seemed to look at him, Uncle Bally, and his imps as if they were a contagious fungus. Julius, they didn’t even acknowledge.

They made their way across the lawn, and climbed the 100 or so steps up to the hall of the Parthenon-like structure that Faunus called the Temple of Jupiter. The three long haired men looked, scathingly, at them, as they walked by.

The steps of the building were made of some kind of mortar, as was the temple. Enormous rays of sunlight beamed down, through the columns, across the plain white floor. The ceilings were several stories high, and before them was a neverending hall of columns.

They continued in for a while until another white haired-long bearded man appeared. Faunus fell to his knees and bowed his head.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he said.

His voice was basso profundo, and exceptionally loud, causing him to wince with each word he spoke.

“Yes, well, things are getting desperate. This is Jacko.”

He stood and pushed him forward.

“You’re small!”

Jacko shot his hands up to his ears. He didn’t respond, for fear the god would talk more and shatter his ear drums.

The man stared a moment, taking him in and then spoke again.

“Welcome home, Faunus. We’ll leave him to you.”

And then he vanished.

“Where did he go? How did he do that?” asked Julius.

They walked back out of the hall. The three men still stared at them from the steps.

“This way,” said Faunus.

He led them down the 100 steps, and right into the woods.

“How big is this summit?”

“The surface is fifty square miles. It’s small but you’ll have everything you need, here. You can hunt and fish, and the water is pure to drink.”

The wooded area was an interesting mix of bushes and trees, evenly spaced out. Lots of light reached down from the sun, warming their skin. And every few feet, their leaves and bushes trembled.

“Are you sure we’d be welcome to hunt here?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t you be?”

“Don’t want some angry gods coming after us. What if we kill a sacred animal?”

“Don’t be silly.”

Faunus led them to a river spot with a dozen trees, from which hung half a dozen white hammocks.

He walked to the edge and looked down. The water ran, slowly, down grade; it was so clear that they could see salmon, on the very bottom, playing in it.

“You may stay here.”

Then he turned to leave.

“That’s it?” asked Julius.

“You have what you need. I must go, now.”

Jacko ran to catch up to his side and shouted, “Faunus, I was told my family is here. How do I find them?”

“That’s not my concern.”

“Take me to someone who can help me, then.”

“I can’t. My part is done.”

He vanished.

Jacko walked back to their spot by the river.

Larry and Joe were splashing in the water.

Julius, who was unpacking his bag, said, “Well, not that I’m ungrateful, but I thought we’d have beds and showers. You promised. Now, we’re in the same situation as down in the garden. What happened to that sanctuary you described? You made it sound like a hotel.”

Not sure of what to say, he turned his attention to Uncle Bally, who baited a line with a bird kidney, and tossed it in the stream.

Jacko got the magnesium block and started shaving it, when a spray of water covered his face and his pile of twigs.

“Look at this!” called Uncle Bally.

He wiped his face in time to see several shiny silver salmon leap out of the water. They landed on the ground with a light thud, and lay motionless.

“Well, I guess we don’t need to worry about fishing.”

He pulled up his line, threw away the kidney and set to fileting.

Jacko still couldn’t use his powers to start fire, but with dry wood, it only took a moment to get blazed.

Dinner was especially enjoyable that evening. The salmon had the taste of the best King variety with the sweetest fatty skin that was too good to throw away.

Every so often the branches wavered, noisily, making them jump.

“What do you suppose that is?” asked Julius, who’d rolled out of his hammock and slammed flat on his face when his tree shivered, and he felt a cold draft pass right through him.

In heaven, it was common that multiple beings shared the same dwelling, though they couldn’t see each other. It was possibly the same situation on the summit.

“No idea,” said Jacko, and rolled over.

Night never came. The sky stayed bright blue over the next eight hours. When they woke, it was to the sound of trembling leaves.

“This is starting to freak me out,” said Uncle Bally.

After breakfast, Jacko told them he was going to the temple.

Uncle Bally looked up from the wood bow he was carving.

“What for? They’re a nasty sort; they don’t like us. You should stay here.”

“I agree with Bally. They’re not gods, they’re occultists. It’s better you stay here. We’re safe; we should stick together.”

“Julius, they’re not occultists. Haven’t you noticed any of the strange things that have happened to you, or to us, in the last few weeks? Think about it. These people are not men, and you and I have things in common with them. That’s why I invited you to come here.”

“You know what?