The Talisman Read online



  The Talisman

  By Rick Dearman

  Copyright 2011 Rick Dearman

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  "This time she really had gone to far!" Tim muttered to himself as he tapped his cloven hoof impatiently. The planets steel grey sky threatened rain as Tim waited for the taxi driver to pull his backpack from the cab. Around him other passengers walked around on their hooves, rushing in and out of the space-port. Tim grabbed his bag from the cabby’s and threw all the money in his pocket into the cabby’s hands. He dashed through the automatic doors of the space port weaving around the slow passengers. Hurry up and wait! That is all I seem to be doing!

  Tim jerked to a halt at the check-in counter, there was a long queue. He sighed and took a position at the end of the line.

  He looked to his left at a glass container which contained some kind of alien fauna. He didn't bother to examine it, he wouldn't be a member of this species much longer. He took a moment to look at the reflection. His hair was disarrayed from the wind outside and his mouth was bend in thin straight line. His whole demeanour was of a scowling madman, his face was covered with warts and he had flaming red hair. After awhile the alien bodies seemed to merge together in his mind into a continues blur, but he could still see the twinkle in his eye that followed him through all the forms he had taken over the years.

  The people in the line all carried baggage and Tim tapped his hoof on the floor again while he waited for everyone in front of him to be processed. Their bags to disappear down the hole leading to the spaceship, with agonising slowness. You'd have thought he would have learned patience after all this time, but she was getting further away with every second. A woman in front of him kept turning around and giving him dirty looks. Tim tapped his hoof louder. Bitch. He smiled at her annoyed face each time she turned to look at him.

  Normally he wouldn't travel using anything as mundane as a spaceship, but the talisman was drained getting him to this galaxy. It would take time to recharge and meanwhile he needed keep moving. This ship wouldn't get him within 500 light years of where he wanted to be but he couldn't afford to wait a year for the talisman to fully recharge.

  The attendants finally managed to process the passengers in front of Tim. He pulled the talisman from his pocket and rubbed while he wished to get on this spaceship. He could feel his other pocket fill up with something and he put his hand in and pulled out a local credit card and a passport. The talisman gave him whatever was required.

  "Destination sir?" asked the attendant.

  "I need to get to ... ah, I need to get to the other side of this galaxy. Could you tell me which flights I'll need to book to get there?" asked Tim.

  The attendant looked unaffected by what must have seemed a strange request, but Tim supposed she had heard others just as strange. Her thin fingers tapping furiously on the terminal and she looked up.

  "First, second, or portage class?"

  "First class please, oh and quickest routes only." Tim said.

  "There you are sir, the routes and the costs." she said. She reversed the holographic display and Tim could see that she had marked out three routes and each with time and cost. Routes were colour coded.

  "I'll take the red route please." Tim said. He pushed the credit card over the counter and breathed deep trying to hold back his impatience while she processed the ticket.

  He got his ticket and hurried down to the departure lounge. The launch attendants smooth and practised. A woman sat Tim at a table and instructed him to lie down. She clamped a large helmet over his head and turned to the control panel to commence draining Tim's mind.

  Tim's memories flashed before him as the helmet ripped them from his mind. He briefly saw his first meeting with Michelle in Paris, on the planet known as earth all those centuries ago. All planets are called Earth by their natives, the thought popped up again as it had so many times before.

  He saw Michelle and himself walking around Paris and getting close to the newly build Eiffel Tower before the worlds fair. They had even talked to Gustave Eiffel and gotten his autograph. He'd only been nineteen years old in 1889. Tim closed his eyes and watched the rest of his life flashing before him as the helmet extracted all the memories for storage.

  As the procedure continued Tim could see the attendant begin to look worry about the length of time it was taking for the machine to strip his mind of memories.

  I should have warned her. But how could he have explained he was seventy centuries old, to a race that only lived for one? Soon the procedure would complete and he wouldn't have relive the planets and races long dead.

  Just as the attendant began to panic the machine dug the last of Tim's memories out. Tim smiled up at the woman and watched the attendant flip the switch that sent 200,000 volts of electricity into his body and killed him.

  *

  Tim looked up at the new attendant. He'd made the journey successfully.

  "Sorry sir, it took a lot longer than I expected for your memories to be reconstituted.” the attendant looked puzzled. “I hope you are not late for any appointments?"

  "No. I feel fine, excellent service thank you." Tim rose off the table and drank the water provided.

  "Just to brief you sir; we noticed that there was a slight deterioration of the DNA when we reconstituted your body. We corrected this and cleared your complexion. We hope that this meets your approval."

  Tim stood up and without bothering to look into the proffered mirror.

  "That is fine. It is always good to travel first class. I need to be going now. Where can I pick-up my clothes and other articles?"

  "Down the hall. Just follow the signs for arrivals." the attendant said. The man pointed to the left.

  Tim hated being murdered just to travel a few thousand light years. He couldn't tell the difference between this new cloned body and the one that had been murdered back at the space-port. At least he had no memory of his death, that part never got recorded. Travel with the talisman was so much easier.

  He walked through arrivals and got his clothes, most importantly he got the talisman. It was more than half charged. He would be able to get the rest of the journey done quickly. The talisman would pop him across five times the distance the spaceship had.

  Tim sat on a bench outside under the red sun of this new planet. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. The talisman would transport him by pulling his soul from his body and putting it into an appropriate vessel on the other world. The other soul would be put here.

  Tim had used to wonder what it was like for those other beings who had their soul ripped from their bodies and had it deposited light-years away on an alien planet. Perhaps it sent them mad? He wondered for a moment how many thousands of beings he and Michelle may have sent mad chasing each other around the universe.

  The melancholy gripped Tim once again and wouldn't let him go. He'd spent seventy centuries chasing her from one planet to the next. Sometimes they were happy for years living on some alien world in alien bodies, the perfect loving couple. Then Michelle would get her "itchy foot" and off she would go. New body, new world, new galaxy. It would be impossible to track her if not for the talisman's.

  He looked down at the strange wooden stick in his hand, carved with strange designs which seemed to twist and shift when looked at. Michelle had found them in a field. Tim had taken her out into the country for a walk along the Seine. Tim had a ring in his pocket and he was about to ask for her hand in marriage when she had squealed and pointed to a large hole in the field next to them. They had found the talismans and after examining them for a long time Tim had turned to her and asked her to marry him.


  “I cannot marry you yet. I want to travel. I want to experience exotic locations before I settle down. You understand don't you?” she said. She held her talisman in her hand as she spoke.

  “I don't want you to leave me, I'll go with you where ever you want.” Tim said. “I'd follow you anywhere.”

  There had been a hum and a flash, and Michelle had disappeared. Tim stood dumbfounded. He looked down at the talisman in his hand which also hummed. Tim was off on his travels.

  Once he had tried to not follow her, he wanted to hate her and spend the rest of his life on a planet and die a natural death. But the talisman wouldn't allow itself to be apart from it's mirror image. It drove him back to her. It made him love her again. It seemed the things they had said on that fateful day was to be their bond forever. He'd tried suicide but the talisman didn't allow that either.

  Tim pulled the talisman from his pocket and rubbed it wishing to be closer to her, wishing to be with her. Tim heard the humming and felt the usual jerk as his soul was pulled from his body into the talisman.

  *

  Tim sighed. Great a dragon. Tim's new body had scales. He couldn't help thinking of himself as a dragon. But Michelle was on this world. The talisman knew it and lead him down to the southern hemisphere. This was the last time. I'm tired of chasing her, this has gone on for to long. I wonder if the Earth is still there?

  The talisman knew that he was tired, it pulsed sympathetically in his hand. Somehow it knew he really had enough. He knew this time it would let him die on this world. The only problem was if Michelle's talisman had more power to draw upon then Tim would be forced to travel after her by the talisman.

  There was no way to know if he would be successful but the talisman was confident. Tim walked over the swamp land, his webbed feet holding him easily over the watery mud.

  He approached a small village and roared to let them know that he was approaching. This planet didn't have a very high level of technology and the primary means of transportation was the feet. The natives were intelligent and despite their appearance they were friendly.

  He saw her as soon as he entered the village. He knew her regardless of her form. She carried her talisman and walked over to him.

  They kissed in the fashion of this species and Tim touched his talisman to hers. The talismans sparked and melted together then slowly returned to their normal shapes. Without speaking Tim walked back with her toward her hut. They entered together and Tim looked into her shining black eyes.

  "My talisman has agreed to let me die here. I'm not going to chase you any longer." Tim said firmly.

  "Fool!” Michelle said and then laughed happily. “These creatures are immortal. They created the talisman's. They belong here.”

  Tim stood beside her and then awkwardly in his huge hulking dragon body he bent down and held out to hold her hand.

  “Michelle, will you marry me?” he said.

  “Of course my darling. I've seen everything I have ever wished and then some. You have been true to your promise and followed me. We belong here, together forever." she said with a smile.

  Coming in 2011. Two new feature length novels, two incredible new fantasy series.

  A new series: Frontiersman

  The civil war is over and the rebellion lost. Cheveyo the half-breed is travelling to the frontier to make a new life. He has two pure-bred horses and dreams of creating a ranch and a home. But in the borderlands Cheveyo discovers a murdered family and using his skill and training he tracks down the killers to take justice. But these killers are just a few of the gang working for the man they call "Big Red". Cheveyo soon discovers crossing "Big Red" is life threatening, and it will take all of his skills to just remain alive in the hellish frontier.

  A new series: The Librarian

  Book One: Ignition

  The City of Ettengard is under siege. The Library has been given an impossible mission, the Head Librarian and the Chief Mage have been poisoned. Ranperen and Tantia the young students must make their way across a war torn country to find a cure and to save the library from destruction. Inside the city the clashes between the thieves guild and the beggars are becoming bloodier as the war causes unrest and rebellion. And a mysterious group of conspirators are trying to bring back the glory days of the defeated and evil Empire.

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