The truck sat idling on the old back road, the sound of its engine echoing lightly in the wooded distance, the full moon casting long shadows across the silvered landscape. Richard Agee sat in the passenger seat, half drunk and looking at the driver, Tommy Madison.
"What're we waitin' for, bro?" Richard asked.
Tommy remained silent, staring at the fork in the road. Despite the fact that he'd been drinking since he left work, he wasn't drunk. Not even close. This was due to the fact that, over the course of his 55 years on Earth, Tommy had spent the majority of his weekends either drunk or trying to get drunk. His tolerance to alcohol was close to superhuman. No, Richard would have been astounded to see what it actually took to get Tommy drunk.
What Tommy felt at that moment was, in fact, a guarded sense of elation, his nerves wound tight with excitement. He struggled to keep his breathing regular and was trying desperately to keep his emotions under control, lest Richard, drunk as he was, notice.
It was there. After all these years, it was there.
In the yellowish glow of the headlights was an unassuming fork in the road. To the left, the road continued winding across the high mountain plateau. Twisted junipers flanked the path. It was as familiar to Tommy as the picture of him and Frank Wolkenfeld that hung just above the fireplace at his home. It ought to be, considering he could still see the tracks his truck had left on the wet dirt road a few hours earlier. They'd driven past this spot several times that night.
The right fork was, however, a different story.
It looked no different than the left, save that it took a more or less straight path to the edge of the mesa before dropping toward a darkened line of forest that the moonlight gave an ominous cast. The problem was that, earlier, it hadn't been there. Tommy had driven this road nearly every Friday and Saturday night since he was 18, and it hadn't been there. Only once before had he seen this road. The summer of his 18th year, in fact.
"Hey man, you ok?" Richard asked with a slight slur.
"I'm fine," Tommy replied. "Just thinking." He sighed and looked over at Richard. "We're gonna take this road here this time", he said, pointing at the right fork.
"Ok bro. You're the captain on this voyage." He grinned and opened another beer. "Thanks for bringing me along." Richard took a long drink and said nervously, "I'm sorry about Frank, man. I know you and him were good friends."
"Me and Frank weren't friends," Tommy said in a low voice. "Not for years." He sighed again and finished his own beer. He slid open the back window and tossed the can into a truck bed that was littered with them.
"You and him were always riding to work together and stuff", Richard said, confused. "If you guys weren't friends, why'd you guys hang out so much?"
Grabbing another beer, Tommy looked Richard in the eye and said with a grave voice, "Me and Frank had a history. It wasn't good, but it bonded us. But that bond wasn't friendship." He took a long drink and then said, "Look that's ancient history and I don't wanna talk about it. What's important is that I haven't been down this road for years. A lot could've changed. Just stay calm and if you see anything funny..." he paused. "Just stay calm and stay in the truck."
Richard looked puzzled as the truck began to move, turning onto the right fork and heading at a brisk pace towards the dark tree line.
"Stay calm? What do you mean stay calm?” Richard was trying to think through the haze of the alcohol, but it was hard.
"Just don't worry about it, ok?" Tommy said, turning his attention to the road ahead.
Richard took another drink and turned to look out at the dark landscape. The moonlight seemed brighter and cast a silvery glow, turning the short, twisted juniper trees into shadowy figures, like darkened monstrosities waiting for unsuspecting prey. He’d just taken another drink when he saw two pinpoints of light, like the eyes of an animal reflecting the moonlight; only these were on one of the trees. He blinked and they were gone. Shaking his head, he smiled and chuckled slightly. The old man had got him going with the whole "stay calm" routine and his mind had played a trick on him.
They were passing into the thick trees now, large pines and cedars that towered over them like sentinels guarding the gates of some fabulous kingdom.
Tommy stopped the truck abruptly and put it in park. Ahead of them the road stopped at a blank wall of trees. He stared ahead and then, his face a mask of conviction, he said to Richard, "Stay here."
He opened the door and stepped into the cool night air. He quickly stepped to the front of the truck, casting a long shadow ahead of him in the headlights. He bowed his head slightly and stretched his arms out in from of him in a pose of supplication. Taking a deep breath he spoke loudly, "Oh Fir-Na-Grimm, remember me. Hear me and know me once again for I have returned and seek passage to Altremar."
"What the fuck…?" Richard said in a whisper. He opened his door and started to step out of the truck.
"If you value your life, STAY IN THE FUCKING TRUCK!" Tommy shouted.
Startled, Richard jerked back inside the truck and slammed the door shut, his buzz draining as he stared at Tommy. Ok, this is going a little too far… he thought. He was just about to say something when the trees in front of the truck began to move.
It was like watching a scene from one of the Lord of the Rings movies, the one with the Ents. A great creaking sound came, like shotgun blasts. The trunks of the trees turned, twisting and popping as they did so. Richard watched as the trees parted, moving aside and revealing that the road led deeper into their midst. A moaning sound suddenly filled the night, loud and deep enough that Richard felt it vibrating the truck slightly. Fully sober now, he watched as Tommy bowed low and then returned to the truck.
"Dude. What the fuck was that?" Richard said shakily as they began to move down the road once more. Richard took a glance out the passenger window just in time to see a gnarled "tree" whip a branch out and snatch some kind of lumbering creature in its ropy grip. Horrified, Richard watched as the wailing, screeching thingwas quickly fed to the gaping maw that suddenly opened in the tree. It was lined with teeth and snapped shut, cutting off the screams of the doomed animal with a meaty crunch.
"I told you, stay in the truck and try to stay calm," Tommy said. He glanced at Richard and handed him another beer. "It's gonna get crazy, ok? We're gonna be alright, though. I've been here before," he sighed and continued driving.
The road began to curve and head downhill. They were passing out of the trees and the moonlight gave them an impressive view. Before them lay a wide valley, a gentle downslope leading to a flat plain that was ended by the sharp knife of a wide river, far wider than anything Richard had ever seen before. On the far side of the river, wooded hills stretched for as far as he could see, dark mounds that hid God only knew what. The road led down to some sort of river ferry station. On the other side, it continued, disappearing into the wooded hills.
"Where. The. Fuck. Are. We.?" Richard gasped, as his mind tried to absorb the fact that the reason the moonlight seemed so bright was that there were TWO moons in the night sky. One looked like the moon Richard had seen every night since his birth. The other was bright silver and swirled with patterns, like pictures of Jupiter Richard had once seen. He could feel the walls of his mind creaking under the pressure of dealing with the scene before him.
"This is Altremar," Tommy said as he stopped the truck again. "Ok. Long story short is that, when me and Frank were 18, we found this place. We spent the summer here. Met some good people. Had some amazing times. We were gonna stay forever." He sighed and trembled. He'd never told this story to anyone. "But the last night the door was open, we had to come back. FRANK had to come back." The bitterness in his voice was palpable. "We were too late. The door had closed. We spent the next 37 years looking for it together and each of us blaming the other for missing out the first time." He finished another beer and continued. "Then Frank went and got himself killed out here alone. Likely figuring, after all these years, he would go looking on his own. Fucking idiot."
"So, you thought you could find it by bringing me to replace Frank?" Richard asked, trying to not think about what was outside the truck.
"Yeah. That's about it" Tommy said.
"Tom, I got a wife and a baby on the way here. I ain't abandoning them," Richard said flatly. “So, you can take me back home and come back. I ain't going no further."
"Can't go back." Tommy said. "This road’s one way, always has been. I take you to the exit, you leave me here."
"You gonna go walking around out there?" Richard exclaimed. "At night?"
"I know my way around here and the Guardians have given us safe passage." He stared at Richard’s uncomprehending look for a moment, and then added, "The trees back there. They guard the entrance to Altremar. You won't have to do anything but follow the road till you hit blacktop."
"Why you want to stay here so bad?" Richard asked. "I'm failing to see the appeal of trees with teeth."
"I met someone here, when Frank and I were young. We fell in love." Tommy closed his eyes for a moment before throwing the truck in gear and driving forward. “I’ve spent my entire life looking for a way back to her. This is the closest I’ve ever been and I’m not gonna stop now.” The look in his eyes was almost manic, the look of a man who has stared into madness for too long and become accustomed to what he sees there. “Look kid, you got two choices. One, you stick with me and, no matter how hairy or unbelievable it looks or gets, you get home safe and sound. Guaranteed. Two, you get out now and take your chances with them.”
Tommy pointed across the moonlit plain and Richard saw the hulking, vaguely humanoid forms that had begun to shamble towards the river. Long arms drug the ground and elongated heads with rows of razor sharp teeth snapped at one another when they got too close. A pair some distance off began snarling at each other like rabid dogs and, in moments, the initial aggressor was down, buried beneath a pile of slavering monsters. The sound of bones breaking and flesh being ripped apart carried through the still night air.
Richard swallowed and said, “OK, man. I’m with you. Just promise we’re gonna be ok.”
Tommy grinned and said, “My man!”
The grin was replaced with a serious look that Richard found unsettling. The idea that he might have gone mad or had his beer spiked with something was compelling, but the absolute feel of reality was crushing him. No hallucination, no matter how powerful, could ever be this real.
"The ferryman here is a little... odd." Tommy said.
"Oh, really?" Richard said sarcastically. "And here I was, thinking it might be Elvis. Or maybe Jimmy Hoffa."
"Wise-ass," Tommy muttered.
Soon, they were waiting at the boarding ramp. The ferry sat there in the black river water, its semi-modern appearance out of place in the otherworldly setting. A figure emerged from the steering cabin, a small booth-like structure that was the only protrusion from the otherwise flat deck. The figure was draped in a dark cloak, reminding Richard of images of the grim reaper. All he needs is the scythe, Richard thought.
The figure approached the truck. Tommy rolled down his window and said, "Passage across, oh Great One." His voice had a tone of reverence, like a worshipper in a church.
"Mr. Madison," the figure rasped. "It has been a long time." Richard still couldn't see the guy’s face but his voice sounded like a 90 year old man’s who'd smoked for 80 of them.
"You know the price of passage, Mr. Madison", the figure said. "Will you be sending with us this time, or is this another visit?"
"I will be staying Great One." Tommy nodded his head at Richard. "He will be going on. He has no need of Altremar and it's.... peculiarities."
"Very well, Mr. Madison. My payment, if you please." The figure stretched out a long, robed arm and a hand became visible. It was skeletal, no flesh, just white bone that gleamed in the silver light. Richard bit back a scream. Tommy dug through his pocket, producing a shining copper coin, larger than any penny Richard had ever seen. He dropped the coin into the thing’s hand and both coin and hand disappeared into the robes it wore.
"Oh my God…" Richard said. "Was that...?" He trailed off as he watched the figure re-enter the steering cabin. They drove up the ramp and into the deck.
"Charon, the Ferryman," Tommy said. “This is the river Lethe, the water that washes away all memory."
Richard looked out over the black expanse of water. The other bank looked so far away it seemed as though the ferry would take forever to reach it. As he watched, he saw a figure break the water’s surface. I looked like a woman, naked and struggling. Richard grabbed the door handle instinctively and had almost opened it when Tommy grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.
"You can't help her and trying to do so would only mean your death… or worse,” Tommy spat. "She's a lost soul." Tommy's tone became almost plaintive as he explained, "She tried to cross the river without paying the Ferryman. Now she's trapped, unable to remember who she even is, and tormented by the creatures of the river." He nodded and Richard saw the woman being drug under by tentacles that seemed to burst from the water all around her.
Richard closed his eyes, sickened by not only the sight, but by the callousness with which Tommy spoke, like the woman was nothing but scenery to him.
Tommy saw this and was saddened. He liked the kid, he really did, but what chance did he have? This was the river of death and those were the rules. To flout them in the presence of an elder of the universe was madness.
"Look kid, the guy who makes the rules is right over there. If you think you can change his mind, go right ahead and be my guest," Tommy said sarcastically.
Richard gave a sneer and popped open the door. He stepped outside and for the first time realized that the cool autumn air had been replaced by a hot summer night, humid and muggy, like after a rain on a hot day when all you want is a breath of cool air.
Tommy watched as Richard made his way to the steering cabin and knocked on the door. Gotta give it to him, Tommy thought, the kids' got balls.
Richard, on the other hand felt as if they had suddenly decided to crawl back up inside him. The feeling of righteous certainty he’d had when he stepped out of the truck had been replaced by cold fear. If Tommy was to be believed, he was about to question the ferryman of death, one of the primordial forces. He waited, half hoping that the Ferryman wouldn't deign to answer the door. He was disappointed a few seconds later when the door opened and he stood face to face with him.
Richard saw that, this close, he could make out the pinpoints of light that served as the Ferryman's eyes. As warm as he felt just a few seconds ago, he was cold now, shivering in what seemed to be an arctic blast coming from either the cabin or the Ferryman himself.
"Yes?" came the gravelly voice.
"Sir..." Richard began, uncertain how to proceed.
"Ask your question, Mr. Agee. Navigating these waters is a task that requires great attention to detail. Attention that I am currently giving you. Ask your question." The impatience in the voice was tempered by a note of sadness. The warning was also quite clear: Don't waste my time.
Richard cleared his voice and said, "The woman in the water. She only tried to cross without paying? And she's now damned for all eternity?" Richard tried to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice. He wasn't too successful.
"Human, long ago you would have been dammed for even asking such a question. As it is, I suppose I've mellowed in the last few millennia." The Ferryman paused and pulled back his hood. Richard was surprised. Instead of the skeletal visage he expected, he found the tanned face of a middle aged man, crow’s feet already beginning to show around his eyes. He looked like any other guy you'd see on the street. Brown, mousey, nondescript hair. The only thing that set him apart was his eyes. They were a deep shining blue, like pools of crystal clear water. "Let us see what we are dealing with here." Charon waved his hand and the woman emerged from the depths, suspended naked in mid-air.
"Hmm....." He muttered as he studied the woman intently. After a moment he turned to Richard and spoke. “Katrina Vias, 34 years old. Not claimed by any major or minor deity." He cocked his head and went on. “Drug addict, thief and mother of 4 children... My goodness, she killed them all." The Ferryman gave him a questioning look and said, "Still think she doesn't deserve her fate?"
Richard swallowed hard and said, "I didn't know.... She killed them all?"
"Yes. Drowned them in the tub like unwanted puppies. Claimed that voices made her do it. The reality is that she couldn't stand her children or being a mother and thought that she could get away with it by pleading insanity. She was executed May 14th, 1985." The Ferryman waved his hand again and she sank once more beneath the waves, screaming obscenities at them until the waters closed over her head. Charon turned to Richard once more and said, "I am not cruel. A soul who comes to me with no payment but is deserving of the chance to move on is a soul to whom I give free passage. I do not keep souls who do not deserve this fate. If they are in my river, then that is where they belong." With that, Charon turned and reentered the steering cabin, closing the door softly behind him.Richard returned to the truck, shaking with relief.
"Kid... You got a mile of guts, you know that?" Tommy said with an admiring look.
"Holy hell... Did that really just happen?" Richard asked, a slight edge of wonder in his voice.
The ferry docked on the far side of the river and they drove on, the flat riverbanks quickly overtaken by the forest. The road wound through the dense growth like a snake, twisting back and forth through the trees. Over and around hills they went, Tommy occasionally sipping on his beer. Richard was hurriedly pounding another, trying to slip back into the floating happiness he'd felt before they driven into this nightmare.
As they passed the trip in silence, Richard found himself unable to pull his eyes away from the forest around them. The trees hid much from his view but what he did see consisted of:
A creature that appeared to have a roman candle for a head.
A group of people in a small clearing, robed in Black and kneeling around a stone altar. In his brief look, Richard saw that one of the figures stood and drew a knife across his throat.
An area that appeared to be filled with large rocks, until one of them opened an eye.
Trees that had faces in the trunks, drawn in agony, emerging for a moment before disappearing back into the bark.
After what seemed to be hours, with no change in either of the "moons" positions, the road began to climb once more. As they climbed up the unknown mountain, Richard could begin to see vistas, vast, open views of a valley that seemed to go on forever. To the south, a reddish glow backlit a jagged range of mountains, taller than anything Richard had ever seen. Far in the distance, a dark, winged shape took flight.
Tommy stopped the truck. Smiling, he turned to Richard and said, "Ok. This is where I get off." Reaching behind the seat, he pulled out an old, ratty backpack.
"But... How am I supposed to get home?" Richard asked.
"You follow this road. There will be other turnoffs, but you keep to this road. Don't stop for anyone or anything. You're safe as long as you stay in the truck."
“That won’t be necessary,” a musical voice said.
Richard and Tommy looked and saw, standing in the headlights, three human-like figures, winged and glowing. They reminded Richard of nothing so much as fairies, grown large and beautiful. Two were men and dressed in some sort of armor, the shining swords in their hands matched by the unearthly beauty of their faces. The other was a woman, with flowing silver hair and eyes of a pale lavender. She was beautiful in a way that breaks your heart, knowing that you are too soiled and flawed a being to ever warrant the touch or regard of such. Richard would spend the rest of his life happily married and yet wake from fitful dreams of a beauty he would never see again.
Tommy rushed from the truck and stood before them, looking old and weather-beaten beside the radiant beauty and youth of these people. He hung his head and Richard could see tears leaking from his eyes as he said," I'm sorry, Elthria, I'm so sorry. Frank, he... I..." Tommy choked up and could go no further.
Elthria smiled and placed her hand on Tommy's cheek. When she spoke, her voice was like a musical note, one so haunting he would hear it in his dreams for the rest of his life. "Fear not my love, for I know all. I could watch you, though I could not speak or give you comfort. My heart broke to see the dissolution of the bond between you and Frank. You are home, my beloved, and now we shall never be parted."
She leaned in and kissed Tommy and he became enveloped in her glow, the two of them so bright that it hurt Richards eyes. When he could see again, Tommy was gone, replaced by another of the fairy-like creatures who wore a younger Tommy's face. The two of them held each other for a brief moment before she approached the truck and Richard.
"Fear not, friend of Troth-aran, my beloved, once called Tommy. I will send you back to your world, and spare you anymore of mine. It isn't for everyone."
Richard was speechless and could do little, but looked puzzled at Tommy’s transformation. He didn’t even look human anymore. He finally managed to stammer out, “What do I tell the boss? What do I tell the people we work with?”
“Tell them I’ve gone home,” the creature that had once been Tommy said, and pointed.
Richard looked and saw a series of low domes set in a small valley to the west. They gave off a blue glow, similar to a string of LED Christmas lights. Two great towers rose in the center of the dome cluster, glowing blue with multi colored lights dancing around them like fireflies on a warm summer night. He realized that the lights were more of these fairy-like people and was struck by the thought that, come what may, he would likely never see anything more breathtaking than the scene before him. He began to cry a little and the creatures moved toward him, concern on their faces. Elthria held up a hand to stop them and smiled.
“Be well, Richard Agee. You are welcomed here in our place, should you ever find your way back to us.” With that she waved her hand and Richard was blinded by a white light.
He woke in his driveway, the morning sun just barely breaking through the trees. He was still in Tommy's truck. As he tried to make sense of where he was and how he got there, he saw the title to the truck lying in the passenger seat. It had been signed and notarized and named him as the new owner. Pinned to the back of it was a note that said:
Thank you, Richard, for helping me find my way home. The truck’s yours. Don't try to find me or come looking for the door again.
Tommy
Richard stepped out of the truck and looked at his front door. Inside, there would be a wife who was worried and breakfast to be eaten, jobs to go to and paychecks to cash. Soon, there would be diapers to change, baby clothes to buy, school and oh, the list goes on. A whole world of good and bad times, ups and downs, laughter and tears, waiting behind that front door. Normal times.
Reaching back into the truck, he grabbed the rest of the case of beer, now with only a few cans left in it, and walked to the trash bin. Tossing the beer in it, he turned to the house. He may one day forget what he saw last night. He may even one day tell his wife about it. But what he was never going to do again was go riding around on a back road, drinking.
You just never knew where you were going to end up.