Part 5
By Nesciri
Lou moved closer to the edge when she heard somebody snarl close to her. Turning her head she realized that the sound came from Barak that looked at her, his face twisted in anger. She no longer saw anything of Noah in its feature. All she saw was this creature’s hatred and anger and she felt herself go numb with fear.
Barak held onto her legs, stopping her from throwing herself off the edge. Slowly he dragged her away from it. Lou clawed at the ground, scraping her hands and fingers. The rough ground bruised her body until Barak suddenly let go of her.
"You’re mine," he mumbled and dragged her to her feet by grabbing her arm. "And you will give me your soul voluntarily."
"No!" Lou screamed at him as she tried to get away. But the grip around her arm only tightened and she felt Barak tied up her hands in front of her.
"No," she called out again. "I’ll never give you anything!"
"I’ll kill your friend."
"You can’t kill him." Lou sobbed desperately as a soft red light seemed to emancipate from Barak.
Barak fumed with frustration. This was not going as he had expected. He had never assumed her to offer her own life to save her friends. That had strengthen her soul, which in one way made it more valuable to him, but it would also made it harder to get her to give it up. And he had already used up some of his newly acquired strength. Now he was angry. The girl was gonna be his. He could always get back the strength he lost later. He summoned his forces and slowly he was going to force the girl to submission.
Lou could hear the dreadful voice in her head, urging her to give up. She stubbornly held on to her rejection when images appeared in her head – terrible images. She saw Buck writhing in pain as life slowly was drained from him. Rachel seemed to approach her as she held out her arms, showing her terrible burns on arms. As Lou watched her flesh seemed to disappear from her arms as Rachel looked at her, her face twisted in pain. Teaspoon appeared behind her, two wounds going in his stomach. He was pale and Lou knew that he had bled to death. Cody, Jesse, Jimmy passed before her eyes, all in different stages of dying. Lou tried desperately to ignore the images, trying to tell herself that they were only created by this Barak. But it was hard to ignore them, they seemed so real. She desperately tried to shed them from her mind when a weak voice made her stop. Then the image of Kid appeared and she sighed with relief, as he appeared to look all right. Until he came closer and she could see that the skin and flesh seemed to melt away from him. The sight was so dreading that Lou couldn’t hold back a scream of terror. She didn’t know how long she screamed, but finally the images faded away and she sank down on her knees.
"This will happen to your friends."
Lou suddenly rose to her feet and in her desperation she rushed at Barak. She shouted to scare Barak away, but Barak took no notice. She beat at him with her fists. Barak only laughed at her. She hated him and she put all her strength in her beating, but Barak only laughed louder. Suddenly Barak grabbed her by her shoulders.
"Enough of this", he growled. "Give your soul to me freely and I’ll spare your friends."
"No," Lou answered chokingly, knowing that Barak would probably kill them anyway.
"Then watch the first one die." Barak laughed harshly and Lou seemed to float to another place and she saw the bunkhouse. Suddenly she was inside, watching Rachel tend to Buck as Cody was telling a resting Teaspoon what had happened in town.
*****
Rachel listened with one ear as Cody told Teaspoon of his failure in finding any clues to the murders in town. Jesse was listening disinterested from one of the top bunks. Rachel wiped Buck’s face, searching for anything that would tell them that he’d wake up. But there was nothing. He had been like this for a long time now and she was really worried. They had managed to get him to drink some water, but it wasn’t easy.
"Come on Buck, wake up," she mumbled as she made him drink some water. Then, so subtle as she hardly noticed, his breathing became weaker. Rachel looked over her shoulder at the others, unable to speak and she knew they were loosing him.
******
Lou knew it too and suddenly she found herself floating in darkness. She knew she was where Buck’s soul was as she could feel his presence although it was weak. She knew that Barak slowly was pulling Buck’s soul away from her and she felt utterly helpless, unable to stop it.
"Buck," she whispered without getting an answer when another voice cut in.
"You have to fight, Lou." Lou had never heard the voice before but she knew who it was that seemed to surround her with a gentle tenderness.
"Ike," she gasped.
"Yes. I can protect him and you, but I need you to fight or I will loose."
"How? Why?
"Don’t think, Lou. Fight. For all of us. Barak can be beaten, but it’s up to you. Go back and fight him."
"Ike!" Lou called out into the darkness as something dragged her away. She felt as if she was floating on a dark sea when she suddenly found herself back on Thunder Mesa. With a large effort she pulled herself free from Barak, throwing herself backward onto the ground. The movement was unexpected by Barak, and she could feel him loose his mental grip on her.
"Run, Lou, run!" Ike’s voice begged her and she got to her feet and stumbling she started to move away as Ike, or his soul, managed to hold Barak back. But Lou knew that Ike couldn’t protect her for long and sooner or later he would have to let Barak go. This would be her fight and her fight alone.
As she continued to stumble among the rocks she suddenly realized that it was almost dawn. She had been fighting Barak for most of the night and she could feel the tiredness creep up on her. She desperately wanted to lay down and sleep and when she came upon a small cleft in the mountain, she simply crawled in, hoping to stand her ground against Barak from there.
"I know where you are. You can’t hide in there," Barak sneered as he crouched to see the girl trembling in the hiding place. The unknown force had once again hindered his plan and now it was protecting the girl. Barak’s strength was diminishing and he had to give up killing the Indian. He desperately needed the girl’s soul and he had decided to take it. There would be no more gentleness and hope that she would give it up voluntarily. Now she would die.
Lou stared at Barak. She was shivering from the fear and tiredness but she felt safer in the cleft than she had earlier. Ike was there somehow, helping her as he was helping Buck. Ignoring Barak she tried to collect herself when a call mad e her stiffen and go cold with fear.
"Noah? Where’s Lou?" Kid’s voice seemed unreal to hear, but then she saw him approach on Katy. Lou felt her mouth go dry. She wanted to yell at him to go away, but she could only croak.
Barak turned and watched the newcomer with interest. Maybe it wasn’t over. The girl was in love with this young man, and that could be used, he pondered. Masking himself with Noah’s voice he answered.
"She’s here. But she’s hurt." Barak walked up to meet Kid.
"What do you mean hurt?" Kid dismounted from Katy that suddenly seemed to act nervously.
"She needs you." Barak looked Kid in the eyes. The young man was worried and Barak smiled for himself. This would be easier than he had expected. The amulet started to shine softly around his neck.
"Noah?" Kid asked uncertain as he saw it and then he felt as if he floated away. As in a distance he thought he heard a strange voice.
"Now you’re mine. You’ll do what I tell you to."
Lou glanced at them from the safety of her hiding place. When the soft red light appeared she forgot everything and rushed out the hiding.
"No, Kid – don’t look at him!"
But it was too late. She could see it at the empty stare in Kid’s eyes. Barak turned and caught her in his arms before she could reach Kid. With one arm he held her tight as the other appeared with a knife aimed at her chest.
"The games are over," he growled, holding her tight. "Before I kill you, I’ll let you see your lover walk to his death."
Barak turned to Kid who had watched the events with an empty look.
"Go."
The words seemed to affect Kid as he slowly started to walk towards the edge of the cliff, where the hill dropped down at least 100 yards. With fear Lou realized that Kiid would walk off the edge to a certain death.
"NO!" Her scream sounded eerily in the early morning light. "Kid, don’t do it, please Kid, look at me!" Lou sobbed as Kid continued apparently unaware of her pleading.
"Kid!" Lou tried desperately between sobs, ignoring the knife aimed at her heart. All she cared about was to stop Kid from killing himself. Subconsciously she could here Barak chuckle next to her.
"Ike, please stop him," she mumbled, but she knew that Ike would not have the strength. She had failed and now it would cost Kid his life.
Lou continued to call out to Kid as he slowly approached the edge. He only had a few steps left when a rider appeared as out of nowhere. Lou only saw the horse and not until the rider had flunged himself off the horse and started running towards the solitary person by the edge did she see that it was Jimmy.
"Jimmy," she sobbed. "Please, Jimmy, stop him."
It was not likely that Jimmy heard her, but it wasn’t necessary. Jimmy had seen what was going to happen and not bothering with the why and how, he threw himself at Kid, causing them both to fall to the ground.
Barak hissed. He had no idea of what to make of this new arrival. He had forgotten about the rider they called Jimmy – he had not been at the bunkhouse for very long. He hadn’t much strength left – he needed to take the girl’s life now. He had already felt that Noah was stirring within him, fighting him again. Without hesitation he raised the knife as he send a new order to Kid.
"Kill’im!"
Lou saw how Kid turned to fight Jimmy and she struggled to get free from Barak’s hold when she saw him raise the knife. This made her fight more desperately when suddenly Barak dropped the knife and she was pushed to the ground. When she turned around she saw Barak run away and disappear behind a large rock. She couldn’t understand what had happened, but she didn’t care. She had to stop Kid and Jimmy from fighting.
Jimmy fought with desperation, knowing that he was fighting for his life. Kid seemed stronger and fought with a determination Jimmy never had known before and Jimmy knew that if he weakened, it would be the end to it. So Jimmy fought back. But whatever it was that had possessed Kid, he couldn’t hurt him. They were dangerously close to the edge and Jimmy feared that they might roll over it at any time. Kid didn’t seem to notice it and horrified Jimmy realized that Kid didn’t care if he killed himself as long as he killed Jimmy. Somewhere in the distance Jimmy could here Lou scream and this spurred him to renewed efforts. Desperately he tried to push Kid off him, away from the edge, but all he managed was get Kid to attack him again this time pushing him closer to the edge. They rolled over a few times as Jimmy tried to break Kid’s grip on him. Hesitating for a second he then managed to get one arm free and he hit Kid with his force in the face. Kid’s head was thrown backwards and Jimmy got some breathing space as Kid lost his grip and was forced backwards. For a moment Kid stared at him with hateful eyes as he wiped blood from his nose. Then he lunged himself at Jimmy and this time he manages to push Jimmy over the edge. Jimmy desperately held on to Kid as he cast a glance down on his side only to realize that he was 100 yards above a very rocky ground. He averted his eyes and concentrated on getting to safer ground without pushing Kid over the edge.
Lou sank down to her knees desperately trying to untie her hands with some help of the knife Barak had dropped as she watched in horror Jimmy and Kid fight for their lives before her eyes. She finally managed to get free and as she rose to rush over Jimmy made a fatal mistake that caused him to be thrown away from Kid. He rolled off and ended with his legs hanging out over the edge. She saw how Jimmy clawed at something to stop him from falling down when Kid kicked him in the side from his sitting position. This caused Jimmy to slide further out from the ledge. Lou started running but she already knew that she would be too late. She screamed and tried to get Kid’s attention but he didn’t hear her. She saw the desperation in Jimmy’s eyes as Kid rose and kicked him a second time. This time it was no doubt about the result. Jimmy desperately tried to grab Kid’s leg but failed and with a scream of horror he disappeared over the edge. Lou dropped to her knees, tears falling freely from her eyes. She had never felt this empty, not even when Ike died. She stared up at Kid who watched her with empty, passionless eyes. Lou placed her arms around her and stared empty before her as she in her mind repeated the unthinkable. "Jimmy’s dead - Jimmy’s dead."
Suddenly Kid sank to the ground, pale as death. Lou, unable to stand on her feet, slowly crawled over to him. When she saw his pale face she thought that he was going to die too and she cradled him in her lap, brushing his hair away from his face. She tried to calm down, but it was no use. She was trembling all over and somewhere she wondered what Barak was doing and if the others back home were all right. She hoped that they would come looking for her, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get home alone and she couldn’t leave Kid or Jimmy. She couldn’t.
******
When Barak had stumbled away from the girl it wasn't because he wanted to. It was because his host, Noah forced him to. He had been using too much of his strength to get to the girl and now he was loosing control. Fumed with anger he fought Noah every step on the way, yet the young man had managed to keep him from killing the girl and was now forcing him away. Barak could feel his powers slowly diminishing and with all his remaining power he concentrated on controlling Noah. Barak realized that it had been a huge mistake to block the Indian’s soul. He could not use that strength since it was blocked. He should have killed that Indian the simple way, he pondered as he fought the more and more fighting spirit of Noah.
Noah seemed as he just had woken up from one of his worst nightmares and yet he seemed still to remain in it. He had a strange memory that he had tried to kill Lou and that he had forced Kid to kill Jimmy. And then it was this strange feeling that threatened to overwhelm him, to take over, to make him do even more damage. He felt sick to his stomach and then he felt as if he was separated in two, one who stood watching and one writhing in pain. A strange voice echoed in his mind as images passed through his eyes. He saw himself hurting Buck, he saw Teaspoon sink down before him and he knew he had stabbed him. There was blood on his hands and he screamed out his agony. He saw a red light pulsating under his shirt and he reached for the amulet. Tearing it from his chest he felt a burning feeling and an intense pain but he didn’t care. This was the source of his misery and he tried to throw it away, failing miserably. The pain grew more intense and it was hard to stand on his legs. A few meters ahead of him the ground ended in a cliff edge with a drop of ten yards and he stumbled towards it. He was no more than two steps from it when he heard Lou’s heart-rending scream and a second later he heard Jimmy’s yell. Again he tried to get rid of the amulet, but the biting pain was unbearable and he had to give it up. He could only see one way of getting rid of the pain and saving his friends. This force that threatened his friends and made those terrible deeds was somehow bound to him. If he died, then Lou and the others would be free. As soon as the thought entered his mind, he knew that it was the only way. For a second he hesitated but as he felt the pain and the sickening feeling return he knew. He knew that Jimmy already was dead and that this, Barak, had control over Kid and Buck. He didn’t know how he knew this, he just did. He was responsible for Jimmy’s death, but he could save Kid and Buck. And there was only one way of doing that. Closing his eyes he fought his way to the edge. Barak, who realized what he was about to do, screamed out his anger in his mind and Noah felt as if he was walking through hell. There was darkness around him and it was as if several voices surrounded him with haunted voices, screaming and calling him to stop, even begging him. But he continued determined not to fail. He had taken four steps and as he took the fifth he felt himself fall. Just before he fell he managed to tear the amulet from his neck and holding it in his hand he hit the ground ten yards down. For a second he lie there shivering then all motion stopped. With something that sounded as something between a sigh and a scream a gray fog seemed to surround his body as the amulet rolled out of his hand and down the slope, where it came to rest between two rocks, well hidden. Barak was gone.
To be continued Chapter IX
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Copyright 1999: not be be reproduced
