Chapter 1: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-1/ 

Chapter 2: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-2/

Chapter 3: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-3/

Chapter 4: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-4/

Chapter 5: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-5/

Chapter 6: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-6/

The Algae Voices of Azule

Chapter 7

Charles stepped forward, putting himself between the Inquisitor and his kids.

The Inquisitor cast his gaze across the room, looking at each person carefully then focused on Ali again.

“You…girl…come here!” the Inquisitor commanded, a hint of danger in his voice.

Ali moved close to her father, pressing her little body against his, afraid.

“Come here, NOW!”

Ali could feel the Inquisitor reaching for his Gift, his cold eyes scanning the room for someone to punish if she did not comply. Sighing, she stepped forward, her eyes moving to the ground as she shuffled her feet slowly, fear filling every pore of her body. When she was within reach, the Inquisitor grabbed a fistful of her strawberry blond hair and yanked her head up so that he could peer into her eyes. She tried to muffle a terrified scream but was unsuccessful.

“Hey, you leave her alone!” Charles shouted, reaching out to protect his child.

The Inquisitor extended his black-gloved hand and launched a hardened ball of air into Charles’ chest with his Gift, sending him flying backward and smashing into the hospital bed. He hit with such force that it knocked Francis out of the bed and to the floor.

“No!” Ali shouted.

She started to reach for her Gift, wanting to defend her father in what she knew would be a hopeless battle, but as she reached for her psychic powers a voice suddenly filled her head, a deep rumbling voice that sounded like distant thunder echoing across the Outlands on a windy night. The voice said a single word.

“BLOW!”

Blow? What did that mean? Where was the voice coming from? It sounded familiar, yet totally different at the same time, like something out of a dream. The voice rumbled again, “BLOW!” but not just one voice, it sounded like many voices, millions of voices. It was as if they were coming to her from a million miles away and yet at the same time also from within.

Looking up at the Inquisitor, Ali was shocked to find everyone frozen in place. It seemed that time had somehow slowed, those around her nearly motionless, statues moving a million times slower than her. Turning, she could see her father on the floor. Francis was just starting to fall from his bed to eventually tumble on top of him, his body frozen in midair. Ali looked at her mother and could see a look of terror on her face, her mouth open in mid-scream. Billy stood rigidly behind her. She could tell that he was reaching for his Gift, hoping to defend their father, but with uncertainty and fear painted across his face, hopelessness just simmering beneath the surface. Looking back at the Inquisitor, the voice thundered again, but this time with an image projected in her mind, an image of her outstretched hand. And then the voice within her head vanished, leaving behind a calm silence that seemed to fill her very soul, then time moved at its normal rate again.

“No one move!” croaked the Inquisitor, one hand reaching for the short, blood-red staff about two feet long tucked under his belt, long leather straps hanging from the end; his whipping rod as they were called.

Ali knew she had to do it, now. Slowly raising her arm, she held out her hand, palm up. The Inquisitor saw this and gave her a curious look. And then she blew. The stream of air moved across her palm, then picked up blue algae spores and formed a soft cobalt fuzzy mist that flew straight into the Inquisitor’s face. The Inquisitor’s eyes went wide with shock, then started darting about uncontrolled as the Voices filled his mind. The black clad man fell to the floor in a heap, his arms and legs twitching slightly, his mad eyes out of control.

“What did you do?” the doctor screamed.

Ali ignored the man and rushed to her father and helped him up as Billy helped Francis. Their mother streaked across the room, her long, blond hair streaming behind like a golden flag. She wrapped both arms around her husband and kissed him gently on the cheek.

“Are you OK, Charles?” she asked quickly, choking back tears.

“Yeah, I think so.” He turned to his oldest son. “Are you OK, Frank?”

“Sure, I’m fine,” Francis said. “What just happened? What did you do, Ali?”

“I’m not sure,” Ali explained, looking down at the crumpled Inquisitor on the floor, wanting to spit on him. “I heard a voice in my head, no, not a voice, the Voice, the one from the blue algae. It told me to blow, so I blew.”

“You must have hit the Inquisitor with some of the blue algae,” Billy explained. “Look at him.”

They all looked across the room at the Inquisitor. His eyes were out of control, darting in all directions at once, his arms and legs twitching slightly. The family all walked over to the Inquisitor and looked down at him; no sympathy for the man’s suffering in anyone’s heart. Ali gave him a kick in the leg.

“That’s for Mr. Dirac,” she said, then turned to Billy. “I hope he escaped.”

“I’m sure he did,” Billy replied, putting a reassuring hand on his sister’s shoulder.

“That’s enough,” Charles said, rubbing the back of his head. “Right now, we have to get out of here. Francis, get your clothes on, everyone else, gather anything that shows we were here. We need to disappear.”

“Wait,” the doctor said, panic in his voice. “You can’t just leave me here; they’ll think I was a part of this and arrest me, too. I don’t want to go to jail, or worse. I have a family, kids, and…”

Suddenly Charles punched the man hard across the jaw, propelling him off his feet and to the ground. The physician looked up, rubbing his bruised face.

“What was that for?” he asked Charles.

“Now you’ve been overpowered and knocked unconscious,” Charles said. “You don’t know what happened and didn’t see anything, understand?”

The doctor nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”

“But if I find out that you did tell them anything, we’ll be back,” Charles said, his voice filled with conviction, the threat made clear, “and my little girl here will give you the same thing she gave that animal over there; a little dose of blue algae. You understand me?”

The doctor nodded and then laid his head back on the ground and closed his eyes, trying to look unconscious to whomever finds him.

“Come on, let’s go!” Charles said, as he stepped over the Inquisitor and headed out the room, his family close on his heels.