Disclaimer: This story is absolutely, positively, NOT FOR CHILDREN. I don’t care how mature you think you are, this has very, very little to do with the real show. More like Millennium than Fox Kids, understand? It features a remembered rape scene (do the math; that means a young child is involved), graphic sexual descriptions of characters who are probably too young for the situations I’m putting them in, but I figure, hey, if you’re old enough to save the world... Oh, and I don’t own most of these characters, let alone the concept of the Rangers. I’m just borrowing them for a little storytelling. They are owned by The Powers That Be at Toei, Fox, Renaissance, and Saban, all of whom have two things in common: they have lots of money and wouldn’t have anything to do with this little series. I have no money, and I happen to really like the idea behind this series. So, while we’re not too far apart, I hope we stay that way. Send comments to the address above.
“why? why must it be this way?”
“The first sin must be paid for.”
“but why must you be the one?”
“I am the only one left. I am the only one with the power.”
“and you have never sinned?”
“My sin left no mark.”
“you mean, no seed. love cannot be held guilty --”
“I am not punishing love.”
“oh no?”
“Do you know me?”
“i knew you once. you are not what you were.”
“No one ever is.”
the image of a battered and bleeding dragon, ripped ripped apart by the thorns of roses
“no! never!”
“Do you know yourself so well? Who else has the power?”
“no! no! no...”
“Sleep now, and remember nothing...”
“remember nothing? how could i forget?”
“You will forget.”
“i will always remember...”
Billy managed not to scream as he woke up, sweaty and tangled in his bedsheets, on an unusually humid night for the bucolic little town of Angel Grove. He grabbed his dream journal from the bedside table, and turned on his lamp and tried to write out the nightmarish tangle of images and words that had been plaguing him. He’d had the same dream, every night for the past week.
Xordon had asked Billy to keep the journal, because he felt that the dreams were a warning of some sort. Billy believed it. He always woke up from the dreams with a sense of urgency, a need to prepare, but he didn’t know what to do, or he was preparing for.
He picked up his colored pencils and made a rough sketch of the image from his dream: a green dragon, bleeding, with a blue-veined red rose in the background. Billy stared at it for a little while, then closed the journal, and went back to sleep. He had to go to school tomorrow.
“What a miserable day,” growled Zach as he entered the doors of Angel Grove High. “Man, I’m so glad our school is air-conditioned.”
Trini smiled. “I don’t know, I kinda like days like this.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine how. Don’t you have cheerleading practice outside? How can you stand it?”
With a wicked smile, Trini said, “My hair doesn’t get all frizzy in the humidity, so I really enjoy watching the others suffer. It’s a weakness, I know, but it’s a harmless one.” She paused, and then added, “I brought my camera with me today. The pictures will be hysterical!”
The other Rangers laughed. “You’re so bad, Trini!” giggled Kim. The first bell rang.
“We better get to homeroom, guys. We’ll meet up again at lunch, if nothing else comes up,” said Jason. The Rangers nodded, and split up to go to their respective homerooms.
Zach walked into his homeroom, surprised that Mrs. Wiener wasn’t there yet. He took his seat, made small talk with some of the other students, and waited. Finally, the teacher walked in, leading a new student. Zach sat up to listen.
“Good morning, students. You may not know this, but St. Adrian’s School was destroyed last week in that terrible earthquake,” Zach snorted quietly. It never failed to amaze him how people rationalized huge rampaging monsters and people in flying power armor. “So, some of the students have been sent here, to Angel Grove, and some of the others have gone to Williamson High. I’d like you all to meet Thomas Kelly. He’ll be finishing the year here at Angel Grove.”
Everyone dutifully said hello, and the new kid just smiled. He had long black hair, down to his shoulders, and was wearing a green bandana to hold it back. He had dark eyes, and looked kind of bored. He was wearing jeans, work boots, and a green flannel shirt.
Zach took a quick look around the room, and confirmed his fear that the only empty desk in the room was the one across from him.
“Thomas, why don’t you take a seat here, next to Zachary.” Mrs. Wiener led the new kid over to the desk, and he sat down. “If you have any questions, I’m sure Zach will be glad to help you.”
Zach smiled at Mrs. Wiener, and the new kid. “Yeah, sure. It’ll be no problem.”
The new kid smiled again, and Zach could tell he had no intention of asking Zach for any help. Zach leaned back in his seat. The new kid smelled like cigarette smoke, and he had what Shakespeare’s Cæsar called ‘a lean and hungry look.’ Zach didn’t think he was going to like the new kid.
“So,” said Zach, determined to at least try to be friendly, “what’s your first class?”
The new kid reached into the breast pocket of his shirt and pulled out the typical pink schedule, folded over. A lighter came out with it, and started to fall to the floor. Without thinking, Zach reached out and caught it so quickly Zach could have just put it back into his pocket. The new kid raised an eyebrow as Zach handed it back to him. “Nice catch.”
“Thanks,” said Zach. He was still having a hard time with his reflexes. Unlike the armor, there was no way to turn them off.
“English, with Reide.”
For a second, Zach forgot what he had asked. “Huh? Oh, hey! You’re in Kimmy’s class. She says Ms. Reide is pretty nice. Hey, I can introduce you to Kim if you like. Since you’re in the same class and all.”
The new kid shrugged, and didn’t seem to care much one way or the other. Mrs. Wiener took attendance, and the vice principal made her public address, and then homeroom was over. The new kid followed Zach into the hallway, as if he had nothing better to do.
Trini pounced on him as soon as he turned the corner. “Hey, honey,” she purred. Then she noticed the other boy standing behind him, smirking, and jumped off.
“Uh, this is Trini, my girlfriend.”
“Hi, I’m Tommy,” grinned the new kid. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” said Trini carefully. She reached out and shook his hand, only to be slammed into him as Kimberly came running down the hall.
Kim grabbed Trini rather unceremoniously. “I need someone to talk to. Come with me.”
“Kim!” Zach looked down the hall to see Jason walking down the hall. He looked annoyed.
Trini peeled herself away from the new boy, who was laughing to himself.
“Who are you?” demanded Kim.
“This is Tommy, he’s new,” Zach introduced the new kid to Kim. “He’s in your English class.”
“Oh,” squealed Kim with mock delight, “you’re an underachiever, too!”
Tommy grinned. “Yep, that’s me all over.”
Jason walked up to the little group, and reached for Kim. “C’mon, can I talk to you for a second? Please, Kim?”
“Nope,” said Kim decisively, and took Tommy’s arm, twisting away from Jason. “Gotta get to class early, so I can show Tommy here all the sights. The little baby books, that really hard thing at the top of the blackboard - what’s it called? The alfybet, or something. See ya!”
Laughing, Tommy let himself be dragged away.
Jason just stared. “I’ve got to get over her.” He watched them walk away. “Either that, or I’ve got to learn to keep my big mouth shut.” He turned to Trini. “Where’s Billy?”
“He was writing something when I left. He should still be in homeroom. What’s up?”
Jason shrugged. “Nothing, really. I just - I feel like something bad is going down, and I wanted to make sure everyone’s okay.” Jason straightened up, refusing to let the fight with his girlfriend set the tone for the rest of the day. “Let’s go check on him.”
The three Rangers walked down to Mr. Alvarez’s room, where they found Billy still at his desk. He was sketching something, concentrating so hard that he didn’t turn when they walked up to him.
“Hey.”
Billy jumped when Jason touched his shoulder, and his colored pencils went flying. “Whoa, you scared me.”
“What’s this?” asked Jason, touching the sketch. It showed three delicate towers, arching into a blue-white sky. It looked somehow familiar.
“I don’t know,” confessed Billy, “I saw it in a dream last night, and I wanted to get it down for Xordon to see before I forgot it all.” He handed over some of the other sketches. “This one really got Kimmy.” It was just a pair of dark eyes, with a few flecks of green in the iris.
Zach grabbed it and stared. “I’ve seen this.”
Billy grinned. “Yeah, that’s what Kim did.”
Jason flipped through the rest of the sketches. He picked up the dragon and rose image that Billy had drawn right after his nightmare. “This looks...familiar. And evil.”
Billy frowned. “It’s not evil!”
Jason looked at him in surprise. Trini took her turn looking at the pictures, and shrugged. “None of these are doing anything for me.”
“Well, we still ought to show all this to Xordon,” said Jason, “but right now, we’ve got to get to class. C’mon, Billy.” They helped Billy collect all his sketches and pencils, and left the room.
Mrs. Belledome was introducing him to the class. Tommy made the generic introductory statements, giving his name (Tommy Kelly), and proved that he spoke fluent French by telling the class about how he had lived in Paris for a few years with his brother, who was in the Army, all in perfect French, switching from colloquialisms to Parisienne Françaises to Institute Françaises with enviable ease.
Jason took his seat, and waited while Mrs. Belledome got Tommy settled in. Suddenly, his communicator beeped. He looked apologetically at Mrs. Belledome, and excused himself. One of the benefits of being an Honor student was being able to walk out of class for any reason, no matter how lame.
Jason ran to the trophies alcove, where he found the other Rangers waiting. “What’s up?”
“Some uglies are attacking downtown Angel Grove. Xordon wants us to get down there.”
“Yeah, before the heavies show up to do the real damage,” nodded Jason. “Let’s go, Rangers.”
They activated their links to Xordon and the Command Center, and were immediately transported to downtown Angel Grove.
“Too late,” snarled Jason. They were in a parking lot, and the area was devastated and empty - except for Rytta’s chief evil minion, Guldar.
“Hah! Dopey Rangers! Prepare to meet your doom!” Guldar howled in challenge.
“From you? Is that a joke, Guldar?” replied Jason.
“Yeah, you couldn’t beat an egg, monkey-breath,” Zach sneered.
“Not from me, Rangers, from us!” Guldar stepped back, and something materialized in front of him. It was human-sized, wearing Green Power Armor, almost exactly like their own. The only difference was the symbol on his chest: instead of the Animal spirits that the Rangers had, this Armor had a coiled Dragon on its chest. “C’mon, let’s get them!”
Billy stared at the Dragon in shock. All it was missing was a rose, and it would be the same symbol he had seen in his dream.
“Rangers! Power up!” cried Jason. All of the Rangers assumed their stances, and called on the power of the fallen Kingdoms. “Zach, let’s see how good this guy is. Everybody else can play footsie with Guldar.”
“Right!” Kim led the other three Rangers away, arranging themselves so that could cover each other’s backs.
The Green Ranger didn’t assume a fighting stance, and just watched casually as Zach and Jason circled around him. Suddenly he moved, faster than even the enhanced reflexes of the Power Armor that the Rangers wore, bringing his arm out, straight and up, slamming it into Zach’s neck. But he didn’t stop there; his hands were still moving, balancing himself so that when Zach was staggered by the first blow, the Green Ranger was in the perfect position to bring his leg up for another attack.
Jason watched in horror as Zach was hurled across the parking lot by the force of the kick. He quickly brought all the defense systems of his armor online. “Power Sword!” he called out, and his weapon materialized in front of him. Jason readied his weapon, and made some space between himself and the other warrior.
The Green Ranger gestured mockingly, inviting Jason to attack.
Trini raced up to Jason’s side. “Power Daggers!” With her weapons in hand, she assumed a defensive stance, covering Jason. “Zach’s down. His armor went offline. Kim’s teleporting him back to Xordon, as soon as Guldar finishes running away from us.”
“Right. Let’s get him!” commanded Jason. “High-low, Trini.”
“I’m up!” she replied, and went aerial, one of the special skills of her armor. She lofted high, and pointed her Power Daggers down, unleashing a bolt of terrible energy that struck the Green Ranger dead on, and made him stagger. Then, Jason attacked, using his Sword to drive the Green Ranger back, scoring a number of vicious strikes that dented his armor and threw sparks across the parking lot.
“Jason! Trini! Stop!” Jason didn’t turn, but did pull back a little. He could hear Billy running up to him. “There’s a human in there, guys, you can’t kill him!” cried Billy frantically.
Distracted for a second, Jason couldn’t stop the Green Ranger from summoning a power bolt, seemingly out of nowhere, and knocking Trini out of the sky. But before he could press the attack further, he flinched and dropped to his knees, holding his head. Billy reached the melee, and looked down at the Green Ranger. He was screaming now, as if in terrible pain, and suddenly dematerialized.
“Oh no!” said Billy. “Rytta’s got him again.”
“So?” demanded Jason. “He’s one of the bad guys, Billy, we’re supposed to defeat them!”
“He’s a Ranger,” Billy insisted, “and a human, just like us. No one else can use the Power Armor.”
Jason shook his head. “Let’s just get back to Xordon. Trini and Zach are going to need major fixing up.”
Everybody teleported back to base, and Alpha, Xordon’s robot companion, immediately put Zach and Trini into regeneration chambers, while the other three Rangers powered down their armor. Luckily, time ran differently in Xordon’s dimension, and it wouldn’t take long for the two wounded Rangers to be ready to go.
“Billy, tell Xordon about your dreams. And explain to me why you didn’t want me to hurt that Green Ranger. In small words,” demanded Jason.
“What? You have seen the Green Ranger?” Xordon looked concerned.
“Yeah, that’s who we were fighting. Weren’t you watching?” Jason looked over to the viewing globe, to find it dark. “What’s wrong with the globe, Xordon?”
“My powers are waning. A Dark Moon is coming over Angel Grove, and all magic will fail. I wanted to warn you all about this earlier, but it seems that Rytta has prepared for this event better than I have.”
“What do you mean?” Kim asked.
“By summoning the Green Ranger, Rytta will still be able to attack Angel Grove without using her own powers during the time of the Dark Moon. But I will be powerless, so while you Rangers will still be able to use your Power Armor, I will be unable to teleport you here.”
“What is the Green Ranger? Why is he so much more powerful than we are?” demanded Jason.
“Rytta used the Green Power Coin to bind and control the Dragon of Larshova, one of the most evil and powerful creatures ever seen in the Alterregnum. The Dragon that is bound there adds its own power to the powers of Life that the combined koldinyi bound there eons ago. You were fighting not merely a human in power armor, but really a human-sized Xord.”
Jason’s jaw dropped. “Whoa. No wonder we got trashed so badly.”
“Indeed. And, while there is a human inside the Green Power Armor, it may be best to kill that unfortunate human that Rytta has trapped there,” said Xordon sadly.
“What?” Billy squeaked. He couldn’t believe Xordon, of all beings, had just suggested killing a human.
“Whatever human Rytta has bound to the Armor is really just acting as a host for the Dragon,” Xordon explained. “There is no way, in this age or any other, to kill the Dragon. All we can hope to do is inconvenience it and Rytta by forcing her to find a new host.”
“Well, how did they pick a host in the first place?” asked Kim.
“Rytta would have to create one, by tainting a human so badly that it’s spirit could no longer survive, and leave the way open for the Dragon to control the body.”
Billy blinked behind his glasses. “So, the Green Ranger is just a host body for a Dragon? Where would you keep someone like that?”
“Probably in her castle,” suggested Jason. “How long will this ‘dark moon’ thing last, Xordon?”
“It will last for one month, and it begins two days from now. Expect a lot of attacks from Rytta. She will most likely try to trap you all inside the Command Center so that Angel Grove will be undefended.”
“We’ll be careful, Xordon,” Jason promised.
“And I’m sure Alpha and I can work out some way to keep enough power in the generators to get us back in an emergency,” added Billy.
As if on cue, Alpha emerged from the back room, leading a groggy Zach and Trini out of regeneration.
“Man, what hit me?” asked Zach.
“I’ll fill you in during physics. For now, we’ve got to get back to school,” said Jason.
Zach nodded, and the Rangers started filtering into the teleporter.
“Billy-” said Xordon. “If you can come back later, I would like to discuss your dreams with you. From what Jason said, it sounds as if there is new information that I should know about.”
“I think you’re right,” Billy answered. “I’ll come back later,” he promised, and went through the teleporter.
“Don’t heal him too much. We need to start working on him before we cast the spell.”
Tommy woke slowly, still in pain. He could hear waves outside, and felt the gentle rocking of a large ship underneath him.
He felt cold hands on his bleeding head, where a strong blow from a metal pipe had knocked him unconscious. An evil, sibilant voice began to chant, and his wound knitted itself closed. Cold spread through his body, leaving him feeling somehow more hurt than when he had still been bleeding.
“That’s good. Now wake him up.”
A heavy hand slapped him in the face, and Tommy pulled away. He was slapped again, and dragged to his feet.
Tommy opened his eyes to see an ape-like creature that he remembered from the circus they had seen at school earlier this afternoon. “Guldar,” he mumbled. His tongue felt thick, and his mind clouded. “What are you doing here?”
Without responding, Guldar picked Tommy up and carried him over to a strange pentagram, unceremoniously dropping him inside it. Only now did Tommy notice that his hands were chained together. A creeping sense of helplessness overtook him. A woman he did not know was standing at the head of the pentagram, and Guldar retreated to a corner of the room. He didn’t notice anyone else.
The woman began to chant, swiftly. As she spoke, the air in front of him coalesced into a lit candle. It started to burn down immediately. Tommy stared at it. For some reason, he knew that he could not let that candle burn all the way down. But how could he stop it? His sense of helplessness and despair deepened, and the candle burned down further.
The woman stopped chanting abruptly. “You can start now.”
Guldar grinned, and strode into the pentagram. Tommy tried to get away, but the ape caught him easily. “So, little human, you wanna know what I’m doing here?” He lifted Tommy by his chains so that they were at eye level with each other, and gave a harsh, barking laugh.
He carried Tommy over to the wall, holding him against it. “My mistress Rytta came to me, sayin’, ‘I need to break a boy.’ I think I know how to do that. And then she says, ‘It’s a human.’” Guldar smiled. “So, now I get to show you a few choice things about how much I hate humans.” Tommy started to shake, and couldn’t stop.
Guldar slapped him yet again. “I thought you liked to fight,” said Guldar mockingly, “you’re always getting in trouble at school.” Guldar slid his hand into Tommy’s pants. “But are you used to this?” One thick finger, then two, found their way into Tommy’s seven-year-old body.
Tommy screamed in protest, arching back, trying to get away from the monster’s raping fingers. Guldar simply used Tommy’s struggles to probe his fingers farther inside the boy. He was smiling even wider than he had been before. Tommy quickly figured out that his struggles were only making it worse, that Guldar was feeding on his pain. He held still, and turned his head away from the thug’s face.
Guldar laughed, and began to work his hand in and out of the boy. Tommy bit his lip to hold back the screams, but that only made Guldar get rougher, until Tommy’s entire body jerked back in pain. He bit back a sob, and continued to stare at the floor, rather than let his tormenter see him cry. Guldar pulled his fingers out all the way, then jammed them into the boy as far as he could.
Tommy screamed in anger and pain, and resorted to fighting again. “Let go of me!” he shrieked. “Stop it! Just stop it...” Guldar yanked his hand away, making Tommy scream again.
Guldar lifted his hand to Tommy’s face, forcing the boy to look at the two blood-covered fingers. “That was it, kid. You couldn’t even take that without squealing like a stuck pig.” Guldar undid the laces on his trousers, allowing his swollen cock to spring up, thick and threatening. Tommy’s breath started coming in short gasps of terror and premonition. “What the hell are you gonna do when this gets in you?”
Tommy tried to break away, to close his legs, but Guldar quickly got his knee between Tommy’s legs. Whimpering, Tommy continued to struggle, even though he knew it was futile. Guldar spread the boy’s legs with his own, then lowered Tommy until the boy’s blood-lubricated asshole was resting on the tip of his cock. Tommy could feel the heat of it, and started to scream. “Leave me alone! Let me go! Get away from me!”
Guldar laughed. “Sure, I’ll let go.” He released his grip on the boy’s chains altogether, and Tommy dropped straight onto the ape’s throbbing cock, ripping a scream from him and a growl of satisfaction from Guldar. He thrust into the boy, trying to bury his entire cock inside Tommy’s virgin hole. He failed, and withdrew just past Tommy’s sphincter to try again, ignoring the boy’s whimpers.
Guldar started thrusting, his prick eliciting a scream from Tommy on every stoke. “You’re gonna get hoarse if you don’t stop that,” he observed mildly. Tommy started trying to get away again, pulling away from Guldar and the rape, but the ape used his body to pin Tommy to the wall, and dug his hands into Tommy’s ass to control the depth of his fucking.
Tommy beat his fists against the creature’s chest, still screaming. It hurt, more than anything had ever hurt him before in his young life. Every movement added to the torture, and Tommy prayed that it would just end. But Guldar wouldn’t stop. He continued to plow away, with heavy, banging strokes, slamming Tommy’s body into the wall as he got deeper and deeper inside the boy.
Guldar was moaning in pleasure, partly from the tightness of Tommy’s ass, but mostly from the screams. His rhythm got faster and faster, perversely making Tommy think of his parents having sex. Guldar withdrew his cock almost completely, then slammed it back into Tommy for the final thrust, holding the boy firmly on his cock while he came.
He pulled out with a gruesome popping noise, and let Tommy fall to the floor. Tommy pulled away, sobbing uncontrollably. “That was really nice, kid,” smiled Guldar. “I’ll have to try that again sometime.”
The woman was still in the room, looking at the candle. “That was very good.” The candle had burned down to half its height.
Hatred burned as bright as a midsummer fire inside Tommy, despite his realization of utter helplessness. He looked up at Guldar through his tears. “If you touch me again, I’ll kill you,” he said hoarsely.
The candle started burning back up. The woman swore vilely. “The little wretch! Do it again.”
Guldar shrugged. He kicked Tommy in the side, then picked him up and roughly threw him down to the floor. Guldar straddled Tommy, and pulled the boy’s arms up, then flipped him onto his stomach and used a pair of knives to secure the chains to the floor.
Tommy tried to throw the beast off, but Guldar simply moved down the boy’s back until he was pinning Tommy’s legs together at the knees between his thighs.
Guldar leaned down, and lavisciously licked the boy’s asscheeks, then his back. Tommy twisted as much as he could, trying to get away. Guldar began finger-fucking him again, while he continued to lick the sweat off the boy, reveling in the sharp taste of Tommy’s terror.
Tommy screamed and struggled, inadvertently helping Guldar work his fingers in and out of the boy’s body. Guldar added a third finger to the two that were already causing Tommy such pain, and was rewarded with a shriek from the boy signifying that he wasn’t ready for such massive penetration.
Guldar leaned down, his body heat terrifying Tommy and reminding him that he was utterly trapped. “It’s too bad you’re too young to really come, kid. Wouldn’t it be nice to do this until we both got some pleasure out of it?” Guldar whispered in his ear.
Tommy broke into tears and gave up struggling at that. Guldar continued to thrust one hand in and out of Tommy’s ass. His other hand was busy working his cock back into stiffness. He pulled his fingers out of Tommy and shoved his hand right under the boy’s nose. He leaned forward, licking Tommy’s ear as he whispered, “This is what you smell like with my come greasing your bloody ass.” As Tommy turned away, Guldar shoved his cock back into the boy. Tommy winced, and gave a little cry.
“Didn’t hurt as much that time, did it?” he whispered into Tommy’s other ear. “Maybe you’re getting used to me.” He pulled Tommy’s ass off the floor, so that he could sink himself deeper into the boy with short, stabbing thrusts.
“Let’s see, now...” Guldar muttered. He grabbed the boy’s penis with one hand, and began using it as a handle to drive Tommy back and forth on his cock. Tommy’s breath came in short gasps, intermingled with tears, only to erupt in a scream when Guldar suddenly slapped him in the balls.
Guldar laughed. “Had you going there for a bit, didn’t I?” He suddenly let go of Tommy’s penis, and switched to long, drawn out strokes that made Tommy feel every painful inch of his prick. He was breathing slowly, trying to prolong the boy’s torment by not coming too soon. He started spanking Tommy’s penis randomly, causing incredible pain to shoot through Tommy’s tender body. Tommy’s cries of pain were again bringing Guldar to the brink. He pulled out of Tommy’s ass quickly and let the boy drop to the floor, still pinned under Guldar’s weight.
His cock was throbbing and swollen. He turned Tommy over, twisting the boy’s arms to do so. He straddled Tommy’s face, forcing the boy to stare up at the underside of his prick while he jacked off. When he was about to come, he forced Tommy’s jaws open. That quick struggle made him come a little earlier than he had planned, spewing white liquid all over the boy’s face and hair, as well as forcing Tommy to swallow some of it.
Predictably, Tommy gagged, and would have vomited if he had had anything in his stomach. Instead, he just succumbed to the dry heaves while Guldar deposited his load all over Tommy’s face.
Guldar stood and looked down at his handiwork. The boy lay crying on the floor, retching uselessly. His face was covered with bruises and sperm. His penis was also bruised, and a small pool of blood and sperm was forming on the floor under his ass, where Guldar’s hand prints were still visible.
Beaten, that was what Rytta had asked for. He looked to his Lady to see if anything more needed to be done.
The candle had burned three-quarters of the way down. She nodded thoughtfully. “That will be all for now. Thank you.”
When Tommy awoke next, it was to the unpleasant sensation of Guldar’s prick entering his body again. Tommy was doubled up on the floor, lying on his back. His ankles were wrapped in the chains around his wrist, and splinters from the rough floor were working their way into his back with every stroke. Guldar was going at it with real passion now, oblivious to Tommy’s consciousness, or indeed, the boy’s very existence. Tommy could smell something like beer on Guldar’s breath, and coming out of his pores.
Tommy tried to free his ankles, despite the pain that came with every movement. His motions worked Guldar deeper inside him, and made the drunken beast groan with vile pleasure. He managed to free his legs, and Guldar drunkenly wrapped Tommy’s legs around his body.
This changed the angle of entry enough to make Tommy whimper in pain, and Guldar started to come at that. He dropped his entire weight onto Tommy’s body, panting as his dick throbbed and spewed inside the boy. He lay there for a moment, too drunk to move.
Tommy flipped the brute to one side, using all his strength. Guldar lost his balance and fell heavily. Suddenly realizing the danger he was in, he tried to stagger to his feet, but Tommy had already moved behind him. Slipping his arms over Guldar’s neck before he could stand, Tommy used the chain to begin strangling him.
Guldar stood, pulling Tommy’s lesser weight along with him and choking because of it.
Hoarsely, Tommy growled, “I told you I’d kill you if you touched me again.” Savagely, Tommy drove a foot into the back of Guldar’s right knee. The drunken ape staggered, and Tommy used his full body weight on the chain to drive Guldar back to his knees.
Guldar tried to scream for help, or to stand, but Tommy’s fury gave him just enough strength to overpower him. A gross crunch signaled the beginning of the end for Guldar. Just in time, Rytta walked in. Pausing barely a second to take in the situation, she flung her fingers in the direction of the two combatants, and they were both frozen still by magic.
The sorceress casually walked over and lifted Tommy from Guldar’s neck, delicately untangling the chain. She laid Tommy’s immobile form face down on the floor.
“Clever boy,” she murmured. “Clever, clever boy.”
Sobbing, Tommy fell to the floor of the prison where Rytta kept him when she needed him in her castle. He was alone.
“No, young warrior. Never alone.” The voice in his head was back, and Tommy realized that it had never left. It had merely remained silent while the wall in his mind broke down, and set the memories free. “Will you let them break you now, young warrior? Or will you fight?”
Tommy forced down his tears. He would fight. He always fought. He was Ceallach, and like his mother, and his brother, and his whole clan, he would fight.
“We missed a fire drill,” whined Trini. “Again.”
Kim hit her friend. “There’s always a fire drill when weird stuff goes down with Rytta and her boys.”
“C’mon, let’s get back to class.” Jason led his little band around the corner, but stopped when he saw the new kid, Tommy, sprawled carelessly on the bench in front of the principal’s office. “Hey, Tommy. What are you doing here?”
Tommy shrugged. “The principal says I wasn’t here during the fire drill, so I’m in trouble.”
The Rangers looked at each other. “We weren’t here during the fire drill,” said Trini. “We’re not in trouble. Are we?”
Zach looked at her. “Girl, we are never in trouble.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” said Trini slowly.
The vice-principal, Ms. Elden, came out of her office. “Why, hello, children. Shouldn’t you all be getting back to your classes?”
“Well,” said Trini, “we were just talking with Tommy. Zachary and I weren’t here during the fire drill either, and we didn’t get in trouble. Did we?”
Jason choked down his shock as Kim piped up, “And Jase and I left campus too. Are we in trouble?”
Tommy sat up in surprise, not really believing what was happening.
Billy coughed once, and then said shyly, “I was absent from the fire drill as well. And I don’t even have a good excuse.”
Ms. Elden’s face twisted in annoyance, but she bowed to the inevitable. “Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, since you all came back to school afterwards. But you do understand that the purpose of a fire drill is to ensure that everyone is safe and has left the building? That’s all I wanted to impart to Mr. Kelly, and I suppose I should extend this warning to all of you as well.” Ms. Elden smoothed down her dress. “Well, you should all get back to class now.”
“Sure, Ms. Elden, we will. And thank you for worrying about us.” Trini’s attempt at sincerity fooled none of her friends, but the vice-principal looked satisfied. “Well, we’ll all be going now.” The bell rang, announcing fourth period. “Hey! It’s lunchtime! Come on, Tommy, we’ll show you around the cafeteria.”
Looking at the vice-principal like a prisoner escaping a death sentence, Tommy jumped off the bench and joined the Rangers as they sauntered down the hall. “Thanks!” he said gratefully. He didn’t smile fully, just a nervous little half-smile. “What was that all about?”
“Oh, Ms. Elden wouldn’t dare give any of us a detention, or call any of our parents. Billy, Jase and Zach are the cream of the Honor Student crop, I’m the Queen of good works and extracurricular activities, and Kimmy’s parents -”
“Oh, let’s just not go there,” laughed Kim. “They don’t believe in discipline, leave it at that.” She pulled Billy forward. “And this is Billy, by the way. You didn’t meet him before.”
Tommy grinned, and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hey, Tommy speaks French almost as well as you do, Billy,” said Jason. Kim sidled up to him, and took his hand, placing it on her shoulder as they entered the cafeteria. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?” he asked her.
“Vraiment?” said Billy.
“Mais oui,” Tommy replied, and then began talking about his life in Paris. The two of them sank deep into conversation, and by the time they sat down at their usual table, Billy and Tommy were totally oblivious of what the others were doing. Which, considering that Kim was showing Jason that he was forgiven, as physically as she could under the public nature of their present circumstances and that Zach and Trini were working off the adrenaline rush of combat by necking madly before eating, was probably a good thing.
Eventually, the two couples shook off their hormone daze, and started eating. Billy and Tommy switched back to English, and the six started getting to know each other a little better.
“Yeah, my parents are dead, so my brother, Ethan, mostly raised me. He’s in the army, so I got to go all over the world with him.”
“That’s really cool,” said Kim. “I’ve been to five countries, but I’ve never seen more of them than the resorts we were staying at. This is great! You can hang with us, and help Billy tutor me in French. And Zach can help us both understand Shakespeare.”
“Yeah, and I’ll be glad to help you out. Jason and Billy are the science geeks; I do history and literature,” explained Zach.
“My job is keep all you bookworms social! I cook,” said Trini, “and I run almost all of the clubs and stuff. Like, for instance, this week is,” Trini checked her planner, “Amnesty International and Animal Rights. Which reminds me, Zach, you’re running a table at both events, and Kim, you’re tabling for Animal Rights.”
Tommy seemed a little overwhelmed. Hanging out with these kids was like finding a new family under your bed. “I’d like to help out with the Amnesty event. I was a member at St. Adrian’s.”
“No problem!” crowed Trini, and marked down his name in her day planner. “You can table with Zach on Thursday during lunch.”
“Free food?” asked Zach.
“Of course,” Trini replied. “Why do you even ask? Pizza and iced tea, the usual.”
“So, study session at Billy’s today?” asked Jason.
“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” said Billy. His parents were at a conference again, so the house would be empty.
“Great, let’s meet at the parking lot as soon as school lets out. I drove today, so I can give somebody a ride.”
“I drove too,” said Billy.
“So car space won’t be a problem. Cool, then. Let’s get out of here.” Jason, in his natural commanding fashion, had waited until everyone was done, and so it flowed naturally that everyone would rise at his suggestion. They cleaned off their tables and made their way out of the cafeteria.
They split up for the next period. Trini headed for woodworking in the same direction as Zach and Jason for history, so they walked together. Billy left alone for physics, and Kim and Tommy had chemistry together in another part of the school.
Kim watched Tommy watch Billy leave, and wondered if there was something there, and how she could find out.
Tune in tomorrow for: Valley of Darkness II: Children's Crusade