Julius Rosenthal will make candy no more and other short stories by Nicholas Russell (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

his touch easing her pain. Now she realized the truth of it all, now she could see with eyes no longer blinded by his lies. Now she could see his touch in her pain and his pleasure in her agony. She saw his words to be untrue. “I’m so sorry, can you…” Her voice trailed off as she turned and stumbled aimlessly moving away. “His voice is so kind, it held a tenderness I had not heard since we parted.” She pulled her hands together again and absentmindedly she fingered the singed sleeve, as tears welled in her eyes. “He told me the pain would be gone, I don’t know what part of me believed that.”

She slammed her eyes shut flushing the tears away. “I thought long ago that he had taken everything from me that there was nothing more he could take but I see now that there is always something more he can take.”

Liandra lowered herself to her knees and reached out around her running her hands through the wheat. “Do you remember this place?” She turned her gaze back to him.

He looked about, and was reminded of his failing memories. He could see clearly all that had come after his crossing but not much from before. Most remembered only the pain of the crossing and the sorrows from their previous life. He remembered more than most but still only a few glimpses. While all were of his beloved Liandra, none were in this place.

“Of course you don’t. These fields of my youth were burned long before your family came to my rescue. The last I saw of them they were a sea of flames.” She turned back to the gatekeeper, but now her youth and beauty had slipped away. Replaced with the haggard face of a woman, drown in her own pity and remorse. Her eyes, while not unchanged, bore only the sadness of sudden loss, “He can always find something to rip from your grasp.”

She rose to stand before him, weaker than she had been just minutes before. “I brought him with me. I told him that I would get you to give him the girl.” She stepped closer now, her hair swaying gently in the breeze. She stopped and then took another half step bringing herself within inches of the gatekeeper. A few stray hairs brushed against his chest. They darkened and crumbled to ash, “Who is she?”

She looks up, her eyes meeting his, once again they are filled with tears. She slips her arms around him and pulls herself close. Every part of her from fingertip to cheek begins to burn, a slow cold burn. As Liandra crumbles away, the fields around them lose their color and the stalks began to wilt.

“Don’t let him take me from you, please, not again.” Her voice was fragile and cracked., With her last breath the decay that had over taken this place spread to the sky. The vibrant honey colored sun dimmed to a frigid dark amber and then ever so quickly to black. As the sky began to crack and its pieces fall, the fields wilted and crumbled to nothing, leaving him back in the small shack. His Liandra lay clutched in his arms. He knew she was gone but still could not bring himself to release her. He slowly lowered her to the ground looking one last time into her eyes, hoping for some glimmer of life only to find lifeless globes staring back at him. He closed his eyes and with all anguished effort pulled away. He wants to hold her longer, but he knows the truth. These desires are what trap most souls where they are.

A tiny giggle brought him to his senses. He turned to see the girl, her young face staring at him with wonder. He looked about the room and found he was not where he believed himself to be. One would be pressed to describe the room as bright, but the colors were less faded than they had been when he first stepped foot in this place.

Returning his gaze to the girl, he found her eyes unmoved. Clutched in her tiny hands was a pale porcelain doll, clothed in a miniature but ornate silk dress. “There were some men outside.”

Her voice was soft and delicate and it floated through the air just as the breeze he had enjoyed just moments before. But her words, her words hit him like a brick. Liandra had distracted him from his charge. He had forgotten that the enemies had gotten so close. His hands curled to fists and began to glow a bright white. He turned from her and allowed his rage for Liandra to over take him as he began to move toward the door. The gatekeeper was half way to the door when she spoke for the second time “They’re not there anymore.”

“Where did they go?” His voice seemed heavier now, anchored by the darkness his life as the gatekeeper had fused into him. It was a subtle difference, one most would not notice, even he had not noticed it before now.

“I told them to leave” Her eyes had cleared since he last gazed upon them. The haze and gloom were gone and had been replaced by what he could only describe as a twinkle, “They were not very nice people.”

“No, they aren’t very nice people.” An unsettling sense of calm washed over him, as he looked upon her face. He took two steps toward her and knelt down to see her at eye level, “Who are you?”

A tiny smile crossed her face and when her lips parted he saw the crooked and gapped teeth of an active child. She scrunched her face up, pursed her lips and closed her eyes. Her lips twitched and quivered and a gentle wave of energy flowed from her. The wave swept through the gatekeeper and crossed the room. When she opened her mouth again it was filled with perfectly straight gleaming white teeth. He