Fear Your Last Breath by Damien Wolff

Author:Damien Wolff [Wolff, Damien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

HORSE AND THE OX

-1-

As Alexander drove, Valentina sat quietly in the back of the partially armor-plated Lincoln Navigator, looking out of the darkly tinted window at the passing world. With Elton John’s soft music playing through the surround sound system, the passengers didn’t talk much.

Bryant appreciated the silence, using the time to reflect on everything that had happened. He wondered if the visions of the Unicorn Man were just the lingering effects of post-stress disorder after being shot, or perhaps his brain misfiring and producing images that were not real. He wanted to believe this. He needed to believe this.

If Mr. Fucking Red Faced Unicorn did not exist, Bryant wondered, then how in the hell was she pushed? There was no one around her that could have done it. Plus, it looked as if she’d been shoved with great strength. Even if from some strange act of tripping herself, she would not have been able to fling herself into the street in the manner she had. Would she? And why would she? Something is going on here. Something I don’t understand. Something beyond …

Bryant glanced out of the rear window but saw no police cars behind them, only naked trees and some displaying beautiful shades of brown. By now, the police should have arrived at the accident scene. From what Alexander had explained, he told the woman who had nearly killed Valentina to keep her mouth shut; there would be no quick filling of her bank account anytime soon. When the woman—who was clearly at fault—started blaming Valentina for the troubles, the large man simply responded with the fable of The Horse and the Ox.

Bryant hadn’t heard the story since his childhood, back when he used to read books under his bed covers with his father’s tiny flashlight. He had a collection of short fables from around the world, including Aesop’s Fables, Greek, Irish and other cultures. As they left the city and approached the edge of town, Bryant remembered the fable.

-2-

Many moons ago when the world was quiet, but before the beasts stopped speaking, there lived a man on a farm. The name of the lands where the man planted his livelihood needed no title; For every nation is nameless when survival depends on plowing soil or prospects to survive. This man led a life that began before the sun ascended, ending long after the night had settled over the lands below.

In his household, there was no wife to warm his bed or cook meals that might have filled his empty stomach. Sadly, she had succumbed to the ravages of time many seasons past. His only family: a son who had reached an age of turning into a man himself. Both would work in the fields with an ox and a trusted steed. Life may not have always been the best, or the easiest, yet it was life.

But the lands they lived on were controlled by powers they only knew of when taxes were demanded or due. Or when men were needed to fight wars.

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