The top octave was alive with buzzing noises that prickled
Lucy’s ear hairs. Must have been another lightning spell that King Harrison was
conjuring up. Must have been how this story was going to end: the same way King
Harrison’s life ended before he had stolen Loki as a bodily vessel. This was
Lucy the Hammer’s destiny: a half-wiener dog cooked like the piece of meat she
was named after. She held her friends tightly as if her armor was enough to
shield them from a visit from the Angel of Death. If they were leaving Rainbow
Ranch together, they’d cross the Rainbow Bridge together. The silver lining in
that cloud? They’d never have to see King Harrison again and they’d never have
to fight another pointless war against forces they couldn’t understand.
“Out of my face, you annoying tart!” belted Harrison. The
buzzing continued, but was now accompanied by sounds of heavy swatting. “Go on,
get out of here! Move it!”
Confusion didn’t weigh on Lucy’s heart nearly as heavily as
grief and despair. She welcomed the new emotion as she turned to see what was
up. The buzzing was not from a new lightning spell that would send them into
the nothing. It was but an amethyst-colored fly flapping its little wings
around Harrison’s face, a ghost of sorts. For someone who loved animals, he was
quick to annoy when the lifeforms were slightly uglier than a puppy.
Harrison continued to swat at the ghost fly and the “annoying
tart” dodged and weaved out of the way with minimal effort. His teeth gnashed
together and his fists tightened as this microscopic creature got under…whatever
was left of his skin. Even when the ghost fly tried to swoop out of Ozzie’s
humble abode, Harrison, visibly frustrated, floated after the little dickens
and swatted some more while grumbling and groaning through his slime-covered
teeth.
Lucy, Ozzie, Callie, and Loki looked at each other with their
heads tilted in perplexity. Lucy shrugged her shoulders before the four of them
leapt to their feet and pitter-pattered outside to see what was going on. Lucy’s
eyes widened and her tiny jaw dropped at the sight of their saviors. “Wow…it
can’t be…I don’t believe it…” she whispered.
On one side of the snowy hill floated the ghost of King Harrison,
a disgraced politician and sorcerer who couldn’t let go of his own demons, even
at the expense of those who loved him. On the other side of the hill…King James
stood with folded arms and a death stare scrawled across his bearded face. And
speaking of death stares, nobody did them better than his necromancer confidant
himself, Razor Ripley, whose magic was used to resurrect the fly and cause the
momentary distraction. With a flick of Ripley’s bony finger, the magic left the
fly’s body and drifted into the dark of space.
Both sides of this confrontation stared at each other with
murderous intentions, fists clenched, lungs expanding and contracting with raspy
flows, and deadly eyes that could have been weapons by themselves if not for
the necessity of forged steel. Still in Ozzie’s doorway were the four animals
who were responsible for exorcising Harrison’s ghost from Loki’s body. Razor
Ripley knew they bore the responsibility and gave an ashen-eyed wink at Lucy,
which instead of reassuring her, caused her to gulp and shiver. She could never
get used to how creepy the necromancer looked even during moments of happiness.
King James uncrossed his arms and took a few steps forward,
his steel boots crunching in the thick snow. His eyes never disengaged with
Harrison’s furious gaze. “It’s over, brother,” said James. “Your quest for
revenge was never going anywhere to begin with…and it has nowhere to go now.
This whole conflict was little more than a waste of our time and resources. You
could have ruled Rainbow Ranch with a kind heart and a wise mind. You could
have asked for help if you needed it. And yet…you continued down your
self-destructive path. For what reason, dear brother? Why did this need to
happen?” No answer from Harrison, only fury. “Answer me, damn it!”
“And how exactly did you plan on helping me?” asked Harrison.
“What could you have done to make this pain more bearable? I know! You could
reach inside my head and pull out every demon that has ever spoken to me and
told me this was a good idea! You can still do it now even as my physical form
has turned to rotten waste! What are you waiting for, dear brother?! Do it! It’s
the only way!”
Razor Ripley took a few steps forward until he was side-by-side
with his royal master. “This sarcasm is unbecoming of you, Harrison. You bloody
well knew what you needed to do. Talk through it all. Identify your emotions.
Process the worst parts of your trauma. The healing would have been most
difficult, but not impossible. All that being equal…you couldn’t be bothered to
participate in your own rescue. That’s why you’re a ghost and everyone else is
alive. And I do mean…everyone.”
From the bottom of the mountain, Lucy the Hammer’s old squad
mates marched up the hill with weapons in hand and stoicism plastered on their jowly
visages. Granted, they didn’t quite dry off from being washed down the power
station, they were dogs and hygiene was at least the fourth or fifth item on
their list of priorities. As Lucy’s heart dropped to her guts, she clutched her
chest, smiled weakly, and tried to stifle a flood of tears that would for sure
recreate what happened at the power station. Loki licked her face and got a giggle
out of her. The tears would have to wait.
“As I said before, brother man…it’s over. Your worthless
crusade is over,” said James.
The ghost of King Harrison cupped his hands and gathered an
ample amount of fire energy, which swirled all around him, igniting a furious
passion that was par for the course for a man with his demons. “Nothing is over
until I say it’s over! This war will continue whether you’re too lazy to continue
it or not!”
And just like that, Lucy had enough of this arrogant
posturing. She proved him wrong before and she would do it again. She furrowed
her eyebrows, set her hammer down, and rolled a snowball into her paws before
launching it at the back of Harrison’s head.
“Ouch! You stupid dog!” bellowed Harrison.
“Death Rattle! FIRE!” commanded Razor Ripley. The snowball
strike distracted Harrison long enough that he failed to defend himself from the
one spell that could send a ghost into the endless void forever: the Death
Rattle. That poor fly’s spirit floated away in short order, may his sacrifice
never be forgotten. And after a jagged mini-tornado zipped across the hill, the
Death Rattle spell found its mark.
Harrison’s ghostly essence contorted and twisted into
multiple positions as it struggled to resist its inevitable fate. The morphing
proved to make Lucy’s eyes widen and heart race faster than actual combat with this
foe just moments earlier. Harrison’s head expanded like a balloon. His arms were
growing and shrinking willy-nilly. His legs twisted up in a little knot. His
stomach gurgled and boiled audibly enough to gag the dogs standing behind Ripley
and King James. And then…Harrison’s ghostly body stretched and thinned out as
it expanded to the sky. It stretched…and stretched…and stretched…until it was
too thin to even exist anymore. And then…POOF! The glowing energy snuffed out
and Harrison was but a distant memory. Such a shame he couldn’t get a proper
send-off with his own funeral service, but coming back to life and fighting a
meaningless war was a decision he made by himself…and one he would carry with
him to eternity.
Silence took over the battlefield as everyone involved slowed
down to process everything they just went through and saw for themselves. Lucy’s
heartbeat steadied. Her eyes dried out and returned to normal size. Her heavy
breathing had grown shallow. Everyone stood there and let the moment sink in.
No more pointless revenge quests. No more insanity. No more wasted motion. Just
a land of animals called Rainbow Ranch, where the abandoned and unloved could
finally have a community of their own.
After a while of taking it all in, Lucy’s smile started to
grow and she let out a few giggles. She picked up her oversized hammer and
leapt into the air holding it overhead. “We did it!” The Shut Up Stupid Dogs
squadron cheered, barked, and howled at the realization that this brutal
struggle was over. Ozzie and Callie hugged each other and rekindled the love
that was lost so long ago. Loki rushed over to his true owner and licked his
bony toes while King James patted him on the head. Lucy continued to run, jump,
and play while swinging her hammer in the air. “We did it! We did it, everyone!
We gave that mean old man the old One, Two, Buckle Your Shoe!”
In her overexcitement, Lucy swung her hammer in the same
spinning motion that caused her to belly flop at the power station. But this
time…she landed on her feet. Silence overtook the mountain once again as
everyone stared at Lucy’s celebratory dance. She actually did it. She landed on
her feet. This just made her smile, spin, and dance even more. Wasn’t that what
life in Rainbow Ranch was supposed to be about? Smiling, spinning, and dancing?
Running, jumping, wrestling, and playing?
But now looking at the weapon of war in her hand, Lucy had a
decision to make. She had grown comfortable enough in her role as a soldier
protecting Rainbow Ranch from the worst of the worst. At the same time, she longed
for the feeling of a tennis ball in her mouth, long-nailed hands scratching her
belly, and eating sausages that exploded with juice in every bite. This wouldn’t
be a decision she could make lightly, but it was one worth considering now that
King Harrison was in the rear view.
