The Brothers Tuerl & The Staffs of Zeus

By Bryson Strupp

Thousands of years ago four brothers were born to the demi-god Perseus. A prophecy recovered from the ruins at Delphi bears the last remaining inscription of their existence: Water-Alecto, Earth-Xenophon, Wind-Idus, and Fire-Irgen. One final word was scratched and worn, almost to the point of oblivion. It answered the question-what happens when Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire rise up against the gods? What happens when demi-gods gain the power of the gods? And what happens now that the fate of the world is to be decided by two young brothers? The answer-Chaos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryson Strupp
• Release date: Aug 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301464715

Bryson Strupp

A young writer from Montana, he wrote his first book in the Brothers Tuerl series when he was 19.

Book preview

Chapter 1-The Crowded Corridor

Irgen Tuerl, a young dark haired boy, strode purposefully up to the large, foreboding doors of Stonebridge High School. His jacket rustled softly in the wind as he reached for the door and wrenched it open. A faint orange glow from the inside lit up his handsome features, accentuating the determined look on his stone cold face. He peered cautiously inside the building, ready to bolt at the first sign of a teacher patrolling the corridors.

Silence awaited him, and he slowly let out a sigh of relief. Warily, he stepped quietly inside, carefully closing the door behind him. His thoughts enveloped him for a moment as he stood on the threshold of the school, then flexing his lean, powerful muscles; he crept stealthily forward into the quiet abyss before him.

After a time he veered his course from the main corridor and stealthily crept down a hallway to the left. As he walked toward the appointed meeting place, his features grew more and more relaxed. His fears of being double crossed dissipated like sand in the wind as the hallways before him yielded only empty space.

His pace quickened as he turned the last corner and found the appointed meeting place in front of him. This hallway was strangely dark. Lights stood as sentinels at either end of the corridor, but the hall itself was an empty chasm of shadows. Through the darkness, Irgen could see the outline of a motionless man standing alone in the middle of the corridor. Irgen marched tenaciously towards the silent figure before him. Even in the dark, Irgen could glimpse the slight shimmer from a bald spot in the man before him. He took a deep breath as his heart and stomach somersaulted with joy at seeing the imperfection in the opponent he was about to face.

He halted twenty feet in front of the motionless figure, and spoke with his assertively calm voice.

Carson, are you sure you want to fight, if we’re caught, we’ll be in enough trouble just by being in the school this late. He paused before softly adding and you know you can’t beat me. Silence met Irgen’s words, as he squinted at the figure before him. Suddenly a loud burst of laughter filled the hallway, but instead of coming from the man in front of him, it seemed to echo all around Irgen. He turned and found to his dismay, a few of Carson’s comrades plodding down the hallway behind him. He turned forward hoping to still have a way to escape, but found people emerging from the shadows in front of him as well.

They formed a circle around him, trapping him. The exuberant joy which had come to Irgen after seeing Carson’s bald spot had long since left. It was replaced now with a fear which threatened to make him hurl. Irgen closed his eyes and spoke, a surprisingly calm voice issued forth, soothing his hopeless senses.

Ten on one?! Irgen knew it wasn’t an accurate number, but he had to vent his irritation somehow. This is a one on one fight. Come on you guys, I knew you were pretty dull and slow, but even I figured that you could still count. Irgen felt slightly better after uttering the insult and looked coolly around the unnaturally (and unfortunately) crowded hallway, hoping to show by his artificial air that he was by no means disconcerted. The faces surrounding him; however, peered resiliently back at his defiant face. Irgen could not make out who they were in the eerie light.

Actually, Irgen, there are eight of us. Came Carson’s silkily, confident reply.

It’s time you got what’s been comin’ for yah. Yelled another voice in the shapeless mass which surrounded Irgen.

Carson you’re a sick, disgusting coward if you need this many friends to give you the courage to fight me. A slight flame flickered in Irgen’s velvet green eyes as he muttered these words in a barely audible whisper, but everyone in the crowd seemed to hear it. A shudder of anger pulsed through the crowd faster than a fire on a windy mountain. He could feel the anger building up around him as though gunpowder was being poured rapidly into a cannon, waiting only for the fuse to set it off.

He was still looking around him coolly but inside he knew that he needed to bide for more time. He knew this was a fight which, however athletic he might be, he could not win. He could only hope that the extraordinary binding link between his brother and himself would bring him on the scene with a few reinforcements.

He frantically searched inside himself for something that would cool the crowd down a little and keep Carson talking, but try as he might, his mind was only full of insults, which would probably have to wait for a separate occasion. Anxiously he emptied his mind and a thought occurred to him, but as so often happens on occasions such as this, just as he was about to speak Carson attacked. He flippantly tossed an enormous southpaw roundhouse at Irgen, which grazed his cheek as he jumped to the side to dodge it. As the hand was pulled back Irgen shot a glance at the crowd to see who else had joined the fray, but to his astonishment he saw many of them haphazardly scampering away down the hall.

Happiness came back into his soul as he caught sight of his brother, Idus, bolting along the corridor with a look of exasperation, defiance, and anger all rolled up into one on his face. It appeared to Irgen that he saw lightning flashing in Idus’ deep sea blue eyes. But that was all Irgen had time to see because just then he was brought back to his senses by Carson reached out with a jab from his right hand. Irgen turned back just in time to catch the punch squarely in the nose. Irgen paused for a quick second, slightly astonished at having actually been hit; suddenly anger erupted from his eyes like a fire spouting from a long dormant volcano. His right arm shot out with enormous force. He felt Carson’s face fold beneath his fist, and he knew he was out cold. He looked up and saw five of Carson’s friends scatter down the hall terrified of what he might do to them.

He turned again and saw Idus on the floor grappling with the last boy to have the courage to fight the two. Irgen watched as Idus’ veins pulsed out of his neck, as the gargantuan fury of a Tuerl was seen pulsating through him. Suddenly Idus picked up the other man and tossed him carelessly down the hallway like a rag doll. The group watched as the boy got up and hobbled away from the group as quickly as he could manage.

Irgen turned back to look at his brother. It was only then that he realized how similar they really were. They were twins, it is true, but they did not look similar. They had the same muscular build, and both were phenomenally handsome with beautiful eyes and a short straight nose, but that is where the similarities seemed to end. Idus was tall and had tan, bronze like skin.

Whereas Irgen stood about three inches shorter with hairier red arms. Their eyes were also different; Idus had deep sea blue eyes which seemed to radiate a sense of understanding and hope. Irgen had velvet green eyes which seemed to pierce you to the very core. Their hair was different as well. Whereas Idus’ was straight, black, and well-kept, Irgen’s was dark brown and curly. Their chins differed as well, for while Idus’ was strong and pronounced; Irgen’s hung back and barely came out as far as his lips. They also had an enormous personality difference, although they were both characteristically charismatic. Idus carried himself with a kind of benevolent silence about him. He thought before he acted. Irgen on the other hand was extremely reckless. He loved boldness and scorned prudence.

Both of the brothers were geniuses, and more than that they were extremely athletic geniuses, a very strange combination. But now as Irgen looked at his brother and the storm that flickered in his eyes, he felt he saw himself. He noticed the furrowed eyebrows, the veins sticking out of his body. He thought of how different they were and yet…He realized that they were the same, once you got down past the outward countenance and got down to the heart you could see. They were one. An interesting feeling began to build in himself as he sat there thinking, and he thought perhaps this was why they had such a strong connection with one another. Perhaps this was why they knew when the other was in danger, or why they knew that the other was hiding something from another. Maybe this was why they felt…

Irgen.

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt at the sound of his brother’s melodious baritone voice (something they shared as well). Although now it was stern and unyielding, and he knew his brother was about to pass judgment on his actions.

Irgen, I don’t understand you. Why did you have to go and run headlong into this fight? Did you really think that when Carson challenged you that he was just going to let you fight him alone, man to man. Let alone the fact you are fighting in the school, at midnight! Do you know how much trouble you would have been in if you had been caught or if Carson had just set you up? You’re a week away from your sixteenth birthday. You ought to know better. I’m afraid I’m not always going to be around to help you out of tight spots.

Irgen felt a pang in the pit of his stomach, and he knew his brother was right. After the thrill and excitement of the fight these words made his revelry in their victory come to an abrupt end. He wanted to somehow express gratitude, but after these last words Idus turned on his heel and walked pointedly away. He left a depressed young man staring dejectedly at his disappointed, disappearing brother.

Idus! He yelled, but the shout landed on deaf ears.

Chapter 2-The Strange Stranger

As Idus emerged into the street adjacent to the school he looked into the depressingly cloudy night sky and took a deep gasp of the refreshingly cold air. He was finally able to calm down and reflect upon the recent events.

He realized he had left quickly because he was frustrated with his brother’s inability to take advice from anyone, including himself. Irgen hadn’t even bothered to let him in on when or where the fight was to take place. It was only by chance, that he had found him.......CHANCE…His thoughts trailed off, wait, Idus thought to himself. It was not by chance he had felt a strong feeling he needed make an unprecedented trip to the school. It was not by chance that he had felt a sudden desire to stride to the front gates of the school, which were always kept locked after school hours, and push them open, only to find that they were not locked. And it was definitely not chance as to why he felt his brother was in danger as he sprinted along the corridors of the school, but…If it wasn’t chance…Then what was it?

He had known for years he and his brother had a strange connection with each other. He had also come to realize that this wasn’t something which normally occurred between brothers, even twins. In fact he had come to realize this connection wasn’t just abnormal it was downright strange.

But as interesting as thinking about this connection was, his thoughts remained aloof and elsewhere. He had thought much on this subject before, and now he remembered something else which he needed to think about. Why had the door been unlocked? And why did everyone scatter when had come down the hall? It was only him and as disconcerting as his surprise appearance might have been, surely it couldn’t have been enough to make twelve of the group scatter at once.

These many thoughts enveloped his mind as he stood there alone or at least… so he thought.

He started walking down his street Bohemian Boulevard to his home when suddenly he heard a rustling of the brush near him. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked in apprehension at the side of the road where the sound had come from, and he saw a shabbily dressed man disentangling his foot from the underbrush; he fell with a thud as the foot came loose, but not seeming at all embarrassed, the man jumped up and briskly strode towards him carrying what looked like a cane of some sort.

Idus took the stranger’s ragged clothes in with one glance. He looked with a somewhat pitiful expression as he saw the pieces of cloth; from what looked like was once a robe, dangle off the stranger like a thin spider. Under the robe he wore what appeared to be a very old and well-worn sweater. His pants too were in a state of disarray. They looked as though he had just had to walk through an acre long field of saw grass. Idus did not know what to do. One side of him said to run but the other side of him was curious to see just who this stranger was. It appeared to Idus as he looked at him that this man was in a hurry, indeed he seemed as though he were frantically searching for something and in this sense of urgency he almost walked right past Idus, but just as he passed him he stopped and turned around quickly, and with relief in his face he asked,

You’re Idus are you not? And then, as though not expecting an answer from Idus, he continued, Where is your brother? It is imperative that I speak to both of you without any delay. It is a matter of life and death for all of us.

Idus was once again taken aback at the bold manner of this man. He was quite uncertain what he should do with himself as he tried to pull the fragments of his thoughts back together to create an intelligible response. He paused for a second and then managed to stammer out W...Why do you need to talk to us?

That is a question, my friend, which will have to go unanswered for the time being. There are too many ears about us. Quickly we need to get to your mother’s house and most importantly we need to find your brother.

b…b…b…but Sir why….

There’s a time for talking and now is not it! Was his rigid response Now let’s-move!

The stranger grabbed Idus by the collar of his shirt and started dragging him towards his mother’s house. Idus felt a strange solace bringing strength in this stranger, and absentmindedly resolved to go with him. So resigning himself to whatever fate lay in store for him with the stranger; Idus began to walk alongside the shabbily dressed man. Curiosity had prevailed.

Chapter 3-The Tuerls’ Abode

As they walked, Idus could not help but receive an entirely different image of the man before him. At the first sight of him Idus had been frightened at the state of the man, but he had noticed something in his bright blue eyes seemed to emit certain warmth. Now as he looked searchingly at the man he got a completely different opinion of him. Idus noticed now that the man was tall, and well-built. He also noticed the stranger had a calming bass voice even when it spoke of urgent matters, and now Idus seemed to notice he looked shabbily dressed not because he didn’t have money to keep his clothes in good condition, for in fact his clothes looked rather well cared for. But it appeared to Idus that he dressed this way on purpose. It looked as though he WANTED to look poor.

This idea blew Idus away. He could not fathom why someone would want to look poor. After all, his whole life he had tried to avoid appearing underprivileged. He had taken great measures as a young man to ensure that only those people who were truly his friends would find out where his house was, or what it looked like. He had fought against his poverty his entire life and yet here, standing before him, was a man who WANTED to look poor...

Suddenly they came to the small drive which led into the Tuerl’s even smaller house. The stranger, not noticing Idus’ embarrassment at the sight of his house, walked undeterred with his long stride up to the front door of the house and knocked, but not only did he knock but he added the words Jennifer. Idus stood bewildered at how this man knew his mother’s name. Open the door. He paused before adding I have news about your husband.

Suddenly Idus’ thoughts were interrupted yet again; this was twice that the stranger had managed to completely shatter his train of thought. But this time it was a feeling of shock which accompanied his new blank mind. His mind was shattered for a moment before the fragments of his thoughts suddenly began to swirl in his mind again, and he began to realize what the stranger had just said. His father had just been spoken of by the stranger, a father-whom he had never met.

His Mother had told the two brothers that he had been killed by an avalanche while skiing one bitterly cold winter’s day. She had shown them articles about the accident, which she kept in a little shoebox under the foot of her bed, and the two brothers had often snuck into the bedroom to look at the pictures she had hidden there. Idus had looked at the articles many times and he knew it was a verifiable fact their father was dead, but why then did this man speak as though news had just come from their father. What news could really be dug up from a man who had died some 15 years ago?

Suddenly the door was opened and a very pretty woman in her late 30’s opened the door. She had an anxious expression on her face and the careworn lines which engulfed her face seemed to show the constant stress she was under. However, all these years of constant stress, from being the only one to look after these two boys, had not completely driven away her former youthful beauty. She still had the same domineering look which made people feel as if she could read their minds. She also had the same flowingly silky black hair, and she also had the velvet green eyes which Irgen had inherited.

May we come in Jennifer?

Of course, Blackington.

Once again Idus’ thoughts enveloped him. How could she know his name? How could she know this man whom, in Idus’ entire life, he could not ever remember seeing? Not only that but why was she giving him such an eager and appraising look as though she was waiting for a scouting report from a long-expected general.

They entered the small entryway and the door closed behind them, although Idus’ could not tell who had closed it. He looked around dolefully at his diminutive house. Right now they were in the small entryway and away to the left a little, was a cramped little kitchen where a minute table appeared to have just squeezed in between the stove and the wall. Directly in front of them there was a skinny hallway hardly wide enough for a broad-shouldered man to walk through.

At the end of this small hallway stood two doors, inside one was a large and spacious room. (At least compared to the rest of the house) This was where the two brothers slept. There were bunk beds pushed up against one of the walls leaving enough space for two drawers pushed up against the other wall and a slight space in the middle of the room which acted as another hallway to the door at the other end of the room which was the bathroom.

The bathroom contained a very small shower with a toilet right next to it, showering the person sitting there with a kind of claustrophobic feeling of being in too tight of a space. The room on the other side of the hallway was another very small room which did not seem to have enough space for the small twin sized bed that filled it completely. This was where Jennifer slept. And this was where the Tuerls lived.

Well Blackington, you said you had news about my husband? Jennifer looked quizzically at him.

Yes, Jennifer I have news about him although I am afraid it is not good news. He paused before continuing. And that is why I am here on such short notice, and that is also why I need to talk to both of your boys as quickly as possible.

But they’re not yet of age, you know that. Jennifer’s sharp reply confused Idus. Not of age what was that supposed to mean.

No not yet, but it’s time that they knew what they are… and once you find out was has happened to your husband you will want them to know as well. Besides they have already shown to have an astonishing aptitude for what is about to be thrust upon them. What they are? Talking about his father as though he were present, what did this all mean? If anyone was to be asked it wouldn’t be Idus, for he could not make heads or tails of the situation. He simply stared with a slight opening in his mouth at the two adults.

But it is not time yet…

You’re husband appointed me to be their protector and I believe it is time, and there will be no further arguments. There was a slight silence during which Idus’ mind continued to blur, although now he was having trouble trying to comprehend what was going on outside of him. But I must find Irgen before I begin. He looked anxiously at Jennifer. Right now we are in a danger such as we have never been in before; I must find Irgen. He repeated himself with more conviction this time. My comrades and I will only then be able to protect you.

Alright… if you’re sure. Jennifer gave a slight sigh and sat down in one of the chairs around the cramped table.

Idus where was the last place you saw your brother? Blackington asked.

Idus stared blankly at Blackington’s question before finally replying with great effort Saw… At… School… He… Blackington’s sharp voice cut in:

Thank you Jennifer. Idus come with me; hopefully… He paused searching for words we’ll be right back.

With these words He opened the door, and he and Idus walked out of the house into the cold blanket of night, leaving just as fast as they had come. At another time Idus might have found something humorous in how often he did this tonight, but now he merely bleakly followed the man out the door into the blanket of darkness.

Chapter 4-Magic

Irgen had been sitting on the sidewalk at the school for the past hour, relentlessly going over the night’s events in his head. True he had been impulsive and had recklessly run into a fight naively, but surely that wasn’t enough to anger his brother, right?

Irgen’s endlessly recurring thoughts were starting to drive him crazy, but the only way to stop them would be to return home, and he was not quite sure of whether or not it was ok to do so yet. He felt it better to be on the safe side and make his mother begin to worry about him a little, so as to receive a kind of sympathy bonus in his almost unavoidable punishment.

Finally he got up and decided his punishment couldn’t be worse than the one which was attacking his mind, so he began to stand up to head home. As he got up he felt the faint cold breeze upon the nape of his neck quit entirely, he unexpectedly felt the hairs on the back of his head and arms stand up. He looked around hastily to reassure himself all was well, and found, to his horror, what looked like a black shadow moving towards him. Terrified, he turned to run, but it was too late. He felt his knees buckle and his calves tighten as though he had just been seized by cords around his legs. He tripped and began to fall, but as soon as his head began to plummet towards the earth, he felt his legs being