BLUE FLAME Chapter One: A Desert Town Pt 4 & 5

 Part IV: Agree to Disagree

“What’s the archaeologist detective work that brings you here?” asked the Sheriff. “Ain’t nothing out here. Didn't you get the memo at the door? The future doesn't work here.”

I’m looking for a things called the Blue Flame.” Alex reaches into his pocket and reveals the copper cylinder containing the piece of tanned cloth. “I was given a map.” He opens up the cloth on the bar top. “It has led me here.”
Wren looks over the counter wide-eyed. Damn that looks like it’s drawn on skin.”

“I believe it is,” said Alex. “Knowing the source.”

“Once I find it Sheriff, I’ll be on my way. You’ll hardly know I was here.”

The Sheriff sets down his empty mug. “Is that so. What kind of artifact is the Blue Flame?” He leans back on the stool. “Like I said, some things aren’t meant to be found. Letting the dust of the Old World rest. Damn right safer.”

“That may be, but some things aren’t meant to sleep forever.” Said Alex. “If what I’ve been told and this map is true, it means the Blue Flame predates human history, before Old World. A time of ethereal imbalance.”

The Sheriff put his large hand on Alex's shoulder while standing up. “Whatever that means.” He said. “You sound very determined. Hope its noble.” He towers over Wren and Alex. “Best of luck stranger.” He says giving Alex a pat on the back. “Do let me know when you’ve found it. I am curious what this blue thingy might be. We could build a monument or museum. Something to really put us on the map. Ha!” He laughs to himself and twiddles his fingers putting his hat on. “As if that's a good idea.” He rubs the bristle beard of his chin. “But for now, these fence posts, they aren’t digging themselves. Time to get back to work. Thanks Wren. I'll catch my tab next visit.”

“Sure thing Bents,” says Wren. “Anytime. I know you're good for it.”

“And uh, Alex.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be watching.” The tall Sheriff puts his hat back on. “Be careful, this town has a way of doing things. It’s a good place.”

 Part IV: New Classified Ads

“Take a close look at this map, Wren. Will ya?” Asks Alex. “I'm real curious where it's been leading me.” He pushes the cloth of skin across the bar still scattered with coins. “You recognize any of this?”

“Why yeah sure. That seems to lead out around the old stone tower. If I have my bearings right. This map sure looks old, but it's hard to miss the landmarks. They used to call it Gabriel's Tower, back in the day. Folks still call it that sometimes, I guess. Nobody likes going out there. Rumors of it being haunted or something. Scares people, the way it sits like that, rising up out of nowhere to touch the sky.” Wren stops wiping the glass in her hand. “Guess I could take ya out there. For the right price of course. Girls going to have to close up shop for at least a day or two.”

Alex puts the rest of the Kron on the table. Wren considers it.

She made sure the 'Closed' sign hung in the front window. It was the first time she used it. The front doors were never locked.

They crossed town together heading to the horse stable. Doc told Alex he’d probably find Dogan his horse there. Sure enough, Dogan walked over to Alex at the sound of his voice.

“Hey old friend. Looks like you’re doing well.” Alex ran his fingers through Dogan’s mane. Something sticky coated his hand. “What the hell is this?” He asked staring at the blood on his hand.

“What’s what?” A female voice said. “I’ve been trying to take care of that one. Since last week. Damn wound won’t heal. Keeps growing. Oozing juices. Had to isolate that horse from the rest of them. Could be a cancer or something.” The lady walked over to Alex. “You must be the rider everyones been talking about.”

Alex wiped Dogan’s blood off on a nearby towel. “I’m here to take Dogan back, and I’ll need another horse or two for Wren and supplies.”

The lady stood eyeing Wren and Alex up deep in thought. “I trust Wren,” she finally said. “but I don’t know you from the shit end of a stick. What reason do I have to lend you one of my horses?”

“You don’t, and I don’t have anything to give or trade to you for a horse.” Said Alex. “We’ll have to use Wren’s reputation and trust as collateral.”

“I don’t know stranger.”

“Think about it? Where are we going to go? We’ll be back.”

“You might be riding to wherever you came from. Figuring your horse won’t make the long trip back. Needing a spare.”

“We’re riding out to Gabriel's Tower, Alison. Care to join us?” Said Wren.

“That’s sacred land out there Wren. And possibly poisoned. You know that. We’re not to be testing the Great Spirit.”

“I’m just giving the new comer a tour. He’s got an old map that says there’s a buried treasure or something old out there.”

“You’re breaking dangerous ground girl.”

“We’ll be back in two nights. Hopefully rich.”

“Wren. I’m holding you accountable for my horses.”

Wren crossed her arms in dissatisfaction. “Fine.”

“And I want 10% the findings,” said Alison.

They rode to the other end of town. Sun beaming their necks. Houses on this side look vacant for decades. Beyond the town stretched an endless flat dried cracked Earth.

“See it out there? Out in the distance. Looks like a nub or a nipple. Only thing sticking out of the ground around there. Nobody goes this way.” Said Wren. “Rumor says the ground is dangerous. Can’t grow anything. Rains come. Nothing grows. Just a bunch of dust.”

“Strange.”

“Very.”

They rode through the barren land as the sun set behind them. Up ahead the massive monolith structure grew and grew. Large stacked stone columns riddled its exterior in thin geometric vertical patterns.

“Unworldly,” whispered Alex.

“I always thought it looked like an altar or something. You know, for the Gods.” Said Wren. “The way it rises out of nowhere and has that huge flat top like that. Not like any mountain I’ve ever heard about. Looks like it got its top chopped right off. Bet it's least five thousand feet tall.”

“Very strange.”

“Some say it’s an old volcano core from way, way, way back.”

“Where's the entrance?”

Wren laughs. “Entrance? You joking. It’s solid. Stone. There isn’t any door in moron. You just go around it. Or up it, if you’re suicidal.”

“There has to be a way in.” Said Alex. “Look here on the map. Inside, that’s where the map is leading.”

“You go searching around yourself. Half day to go all the way around. Maybe there is an opening on the top.”

“I’m not going to the top.”

They set up camp at the foot of the strange geological formation spending the following two days searching the exterior surface.

“We have to go back.” Said Wren.

“It’s in there. It must be!” Shouts Alex. “I haven’t traveled all this way. I haven’t nearly died just to be turned back by a stone wall. There’s a way!”

“We can come back. You can spend all the time out here you’d like. You’ll need more food and water. I told Alison I’d get the horses back.”

“Very well.”

Days pass...

Weeks pass…

And then a month…

And another.

Not a second goes by Alex doesn’t think about the tower. If he isn’t poking at its hard exterior, he’s studding books he’s brought. The people of Kaisa have begun to accepted his new presence and strange obsession. Some worry. Rumors are spreading. The Ghost man is disturbing slumbering devils. Gabriel's Tower is not a playground.

Alex mixes horse droppings with sawdust to make explosives.

Outside Barstrow one busy morning he pulls a create out into the street. Standing on it he shouts. The warm Earth lets out the day's heat. Children walk bare foot. A baby cries in a mother's arms. Dr. K sneaks a sip of whiskey.

“Hello folks!” Alex yells waving his arms for everyone to see. “Good to see you all. Thank you for your kindness in accepting me into Kasia. I'm sure you all are quite curious about where I've come from and what I've been doing. I'm an archaeologist from a city beyond the wasteland, pass the dead zone.” Murmurs pass as an audience grows. “Yes, yes, there are people, cities, and life on the other side the dead zone. Kasia is not the only place left in the world. I come from a place called OnumOnum. A place of wealth and technology.”

Whispers pass through the crowd circling around. “Go back to where you came from creep!” Shouts a man.

“Now, now. I'm here on a very special, specific, and exciting excavation.”

“Excavate your ass out of here!” Someone yells.

“My name is Alex. Alex Shuffle. If any of you didn’t know that already. I am here looking for an artifact referred to as the Blue Flame and it’s inside Gabriel's Tower.”

Boo’s erupt from the crowd.

“Now, now. I’m here to offer job opportunities!” Shouts Alex. “I’ll pays anyone six hundred Zelos a day to mine the walls of the tower with me until I get inside.”

“What the hell is a Zelos?” Someone shouts.

“It's a type of currency, crypto currency used in OnumOnum. Something built on Blockchain technology.”

“Sounds like mumbo jumbo bullshit if ya ask me!” Shouted a man from in back.

“That ain’t real money. How do we know it’s worth anything?”

“Yeah! Screw your technology! And screw you. Go home!”

“Go back to where you came from and leave us alone!”

Alex tries quieting the crowd as objects are thrown at him. “I am offering a once in a lifetime opportunity. A way for anyone to adventure out, to the other side, a way out of Kasia. To a different world.”

“What’s going on here?” The Sheriff steps into the street. “Everyone, back to your business! Quite down!”

Alex shouts as loud as he can. “It might not sound like anything special, not here, but out there, its riches beyond your wildest dreams. And trust me. You’ll want to see it. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Alex, get your ass down from there!” Shouts the Sheriff. “What the hell did I tell you! What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m trying to hire some help.”

“I warned you Alex. Don’t stir up my town.” He pokes a sharp finger in Alex’s chest. “I’d just as well send your ass out the way you came. Sept I’m a man of the Lord, and I believe that’d be sending you to an early grave.”

“Well thank you Sheriff.”

“Just remember, it’s a privilege I’m letting you stay here.”

Alex’s grin turns to a snarl. “A privilege. Right” He grinds his teeth.

Three teenage boys visit Alex over the next week. They get two more friends to join.

Alex hires them all.

All their mothers disapprove.

And a camp is built at the base of the tower….

Thank you for reading. Any critique good or bad is appreciated as I move this story into final editing, production, and printing.