by Conny Conway
“Could it be?
May there be truth?
No, surely not!
But it could be, more than a rouse, and honestly why not?”
He kept flitting in and out of sight as he accelerated his flight only to slow down while he repeat the few sentences again.
“What is it now, fleabag?” Willie snorted, the feline threw him one of those you may die anytime now looks, then settled on Derwa’s left knee.
“Tell me, my lady fair,
Was the town repainted?
Dyed like some maiden’s hair,
But no color ever stained
The once white walls of Dragon Ville,
To obtain a nicer color still?”
The druid lifted her brows, nodded.
“We have tried to wash off the blood, we have repainted the houses, the buildings, but the blood re-stains every time our efforts.”
Again the Matagot took to the air, zooming and grumbling incoherent words.
The friends looked at each other in puzzlement.
“Any idea?” Lann asked, but the females just shrugged their shoulders, returning their glances back to the pink and purple lightning bolt, still muttering.
Just like many days before Shiloh lifted her hand in time for the cat to crash, holding on to it, she deepened her gaze into the feline’s.
“What is going on?” She demanded.
“Mistress Mine, I am not sure,
So I must think some more.”
“No, Whiplash, we all should ponder about your musings.” She insisted.” A bunch of brains might solve your ponderings.”
The cat sighed.
“There is a legend of a time,
When one will save us all,
As follow goes the rhyme,
One innocent, strong and tall,
Easy on the eyes and smart as a whip,
Beautiful and free of sin,
Will defeat with just one hit,
Evil tyrant and all his kin,
And with this deed the pain will end,
Blood and pain a recall,
A new dawn or night will depend,
By the underworld and all,
They choose who will descend,
The vacant throne to fill,
Choose wisely God, druid and man,
To your choice and will,
The underworld should pertain.
Remember though,
Not all is good or bad,
It’s a tender bough,
The scale of balance will react.
Without evil will be no innocence,
No light without the dark,
No death without the essence,
No soulless without the very heart.”
Whiplash seemed exhausted after he had repeated the rhyme.
“And what does that have to do with the bloody walls in Dragon Ville?” Lann lifted his brow as he watched the feline exhale.
“Don’t you see? If the walls would be normal color the savor had been there and gone without changing anything.” Shiloh said.
“I do get that.” Lann snorted, “But what does that have to do with us?”
Five sets of eyes turned to the Matagot in questioning.
“I could not help to think,
One of you might be the champion,
Who will step up and bring,
Peace to thousands of million?”
“You believe one of us…..” Shiloh’s eyes opened wide.
“I thought about Derwa’s eyes,
How Balor had them cursed,
I thought you guys,
Will free her, necessarily with force.
Then why stop there, why not liberate
The underworld and all,
Incinerate
The evil king Balor?”
“Yeah right like that what be such an easy task.” Willie grunted.
“Let me tell you, Fur ball, we’re not the heroes you would like us to be.” The winged man shook his head. He continued as the Matagot opened his mouth. “We aren’t going to liberate anything or anybody. Yes, it is a shame Derwa had to suffer under Balor, but, sorry Derwa, we all had to in one way or the other. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, we could do to help her or the underworld. We struggle to keep the five of us alive each day, that is heroism enough for me.” He swallowed. “We have no chance against Balor and his armies of demons, trolls, ghouls and God knows what creatures. You better get your head out of the clouds Matagot or you will surely lose all your nine lives at once very soon.”
He turned and started to head to his make shift bed of grass, then turned and warned, “And you better will not plant any of this nonsense in Shiloh’s, Derwa’s nor Xylophia’s head. I don’t want to bury any of my friends.”
His gaze transferred to the human, holding out his head he inquired, “Are you coming to bed, sweetling.”
Shiloh sighed, got up and took his hand, followed him to the rough pile of hay.
The druid also went to her resting place, thoughtfully she curled up in a ball.
Willie dimmed his light and sat down by the fire, mingled his shine with it.
Whiplash stayed where he was, ashamed but still wondering.
“Any news from the voodoo priest?” The king of the underworld barked, his red eye gleaming in fury.
“No, my liege.” Marcus answered steadfast.
Swords, which had been hanging on the wall for eons, went flying, books, a few seconds earlier neatly on shelves in order, followed the swords. The shelves splintered as they had been tossed also. Anything close to Balor was hurled in a rage so wild.
Curses accompanied the objects.
The gladiator moved swiftly out of danger getting hit by any of the projectiles. He too had wondered why there had been no update from Sebastian, no news what the small troupe of hikers were up to or even where they were at the moment. He assumed they were on Bolcán, which was bordering the ocean of tears. Bolcán was a wasteland, unstable due to earth quakes which were based on the many volcanoes in that region, as its Celtic name suggested.
A smirk formed on the handsome face. If the companions were really there, they were only three realms away from reaching the throne cave, with it their goal. Balor would loose and knowing Lann, he would insist on setting them free, granting the human female immortality. Marcus almost wished them luck.
Chapter16
Shiloh was starting to get sick and tired of the continuous hike. Her feet were hurting, she was and felt dirty and grimy. It had been for ever she had taken a shower it seemed. Her T shirt was ripped, stained and reeking. Her jeans were not in much better condition.
Her teeth felt like they were growing fur and she missed her toothbrush immensely. Cleaning teeth with fingers was not the real deal. When Lann tried to kiss her, she was afraid she stunk out of her mouth like a bear just awaken from hibernation.
She thought her hair oily and not shiny. All together she was miserable.
In the meantime Lann thought he had never seen a woman more beautiful than his Shiloh. He didn’t care how she looked, smelled or if her hair was shiny. In fact he thought the smudge on her cheek was quiet becoming.
But he understood her needs. She had been raised to tidiness, cleanness and sanitary, as it was the custom of humanity.
He too liked to be clean, but if it wasn’t possible, it would not spoil his mood or well-being as it did to her.
Derwa also longed for a hot bath, but more out of comfort, to emerge herself into a tub of hot, steamy, soapy water, to inhale the fragrance; this could be heaven in hell. But as it stood they had to keep on walking.
The terrain was black and charcoaled, no vegetation at all and the druid wondered what she should offer for food.
The land looked hot, out of small cracks in the earth steam swirled in tiny wisps, every so often they passed bigger water clouds. Three suns heated the terrain even more.
Willie floated listless close by, he behaved solemn, even he felt hot and exhausted, his fl
ame was dimmed, small blotches of black dust blocking his little light even more.
Xylophia was in good spirit for the longest time. Her off spring was alive, he was the Guardian of living souls. Pride and love pushed her onward, though her stomach rumbled in agony at times. It had been a while that she had fed, first the swamps of despair hadn’t offered any food and then they had crossed the ocean of tears.
After her baby had aced the test they had realized there was no food for the unicorn on the beach. Now, they were in this black dessert and again the terrain offered no grass or hay for her. She mourned a little that the black stallion had left them to start his duty, but the superiority had been her source of energy, which dwindled now with every growl of her abdomen.
The Matagot sat on Shiloh’s shoulder, cleaning himself, seeming to be too busy to talk, but small sighs escaped his pink muzzle now and then.
The hike went on for hours as the first sun set, shortly the second one followed it over the horizon. The light from the third sun was more bearable then, and not as hot as the other two, its light was also more comfortable.
The environment didn’t change except that now there were wet smudges where the vapor broke away from the dry dirt. The moist spots became more and more, finally they turned into small puddles and then water holes.
At the shore of one of those the friends made camp for the night as the last sun disappeared and twilight engulfed this unfriendly realm.
For a little while they all kept their thoughts to themselves, then to be interrupted by the unicorn’s growling intestines.
“By God, Xylophia, when have you eaten last?” Derwa inquired.
“I truly can’t say. It has been a while.”
“Of cause it had to be. All the adventures and happenings!” Shiloh exclaimed.
Derwa bowed over to remove debris out of the beautiful mane.
“My Lady should go ahead of them, so she may find food.” Willie said.
“No, I would never leave you.” Xylophia countered.
“He is right you should go, Xylophia. It would be logical for you to go ahead. We will meet you if you keep going south.” Lann’s logic was persuasive. “You can’t put yourself in danger of starving. We could never carry you out of here.”
“I’m still comprehensive to leave you all behind. You might need me and my strength or my magic.”
“My Lady, she may not worry. He will watch out for them. And trust him, he would never put them in jeopardy, after all they can grow the yummy. The flea bag might not be so important though.” The wisp said while his light flared up brightly.
The white beauty whinnied, ignored the last part of Willie‘s oath, but then she did get up, took a few unsure steps away from the fire.
“You will meet me? Promise?”
“Promise.” All four of them answered.
One of two moons lid up the way for the unicorn as she separated.
“Do you think it is drinkable?” Shiloh asked no one in specific.
“The water is clear and clean,
Drinking from it is safe,
But no satisfaction will you redeem.
It’s warm, soon to become steam.”
“It’s warm?”
“Yes, sweetling, it’s a hot spring.” Lann explained, dipping his toe into the water. He grunted in contentment then jumped without another word into the water hole, when his head broke the surface he mocked the women.
“Don’t follow me. The water is horrible.” The lie twinkled in his eyes and Derwa heard the big grin in his voice.
As they started to strip to their underwear Lann kept teasing. Shiloh held Derwa’s hand as the two jumped together into the steaming water.
“Oh my God. My muscles are so sore, I bet they will appreciate this.”
Shiloh exclaimed.
Derwa said nothing, she closed her blind eyes and hummed a beautiful melody. If she could have had a bar of her marigold soap she would be ready to die happily. As it was she was still pleased with the situation.
Shiloh walked back to the edge and looked at several stones there, choosing pumice she returned and handed it to the druidess.
“Here, it’s not soap but it will get the dirt and grime of your pores.”
Derwa thanked her. The human went back to the warrior, turned him so his back was to her front and started to massage his shoulders and neck. He actually purred. He felt so much better.
A little later he asked her to dip so her hair would be wet. He held her safely above the water and cleaned her hair, rubbed her scalp. When he was done he pulled her close kissed her gently and kept her encircled in his embrace. Relaxation flooded the three humanoids.
Whiplash stayed clear of the wet stuff, Willy had sat down by the small fire.
Out of nothing a boom echoed through the night, lightning lit up around the mountain close by. The ground shook, liquid fire flew through the air high above the friends. Ashes started to rain down on them, a stench like rotten eggs and fire filled the air.
Shocked the three moved close together, the feline fled to Shiloh’s shoulder, not caring about getting wet he hid in her wet mane. Willie too had searched rescue close to Lann.
The winged man ushered everyone out of the water, urged them to get dressed and get on the road again. He wanted them out of the immediate danger of that Volcano.
Silently and scared the companions hurried away from the mountain, still smoking and puffing lava.
“What are you doing in my realm?” A thundering voice halted the friends.
Shocked the troop stayed silent. Lann tried to discover the source of the words.
“Speak, επίθ. Ανθρώπινος!” The voice demanded.
“Where are you?” Lann yelled into the thickness of ashes and smoke.
Instead of an answer the volcano spew a stream of white, hot lava while the ground shook wildly.
The golden warrior fixated his gaze onto the volcano as he herded the females again.
“Answer now or die, vermin.” The words broke the sonic wall and the report deafened the friends.
The Matagot hissed in pain.
Lann came to a complete stop as lava blocked their way. He caught the women especially the druid, she didn’t had time to orientate herself enough, couldn’t even, the bang was still hammering in her ears and a spell of vertigo held her enthralled.
Desperately Lann looked for a way out. He suspected a god living in the mountain. A vengeful god, Lann had heard of such before but had never encountered one.
Even if he had, a god like this was no danger to him, being made of the fire element also, but the women were not, they were flesh and blood. Whiplash and Willie could get themselves to safety by flying over the fiery mass flowing over the ground.
He told them so, ordered them to fly ahead, out of danger so he could care for the girls.
“I can’t leave my mistress,
I need to stay,
Even if I’m in distress,
This is the Matagot’s way.”
The cat said indignant.
“I give a frigging damned, Flea bag. Get your sorry ass out of here. I need to take care of Shiloh and Derwa. Fly your butt to safety. We will meet up when I got them out of danger.” Lann cursed.
Willie hovered undecidedly next to the feline.
“But he is right for once. He agrees, he can’t leave his friends in danger.”
“Blasted bastards, get out of here.” Lann roared.
“But…” The Matagot was interrupted by a deep growl of the fiery man as the volcano spewed more of its hellish contents.
With just one glance Lann made them leave.
Whiplash muttering and being pulled more or less from Willie, but at least they flew away through the smoke.
“I’m the son of kino kanaka. And I mean no harm to you or your world.” Lann yelled towards the seismic activity above their heads.
Another surge of lava answered his shout.
“My friends and I are trying to
get to the court cave.” The warrior elaborated.
“I give a darn if you are Balor himself, you’re not welcome here.” The voice answered. “You’re trespassing.”
“We had no intention to trespass, just to transit.” Lann watched as the river of molten stone increased.
“Transit!” A mirth followed another quake. “I know all about transit.”
Lann hurried the women to a stone sticking out of the lava, and another and another until they reached an island amidst the flowing fire. Sweat soaked the girl’s clothes and hair.
Derwa tried to orientate herself with poking her staff around. It caught fire as it met the lava. Lann ripped it out of her clutch, tore out the emerald and threw the burning branch away. The magma ignited it and in less than a heartbeat it was gone.
“You do?” Lann inquired. “How do you know about passage?”
He tried to keep the God of the volcano busy talking while he searching for an escape route, goaded the girls further and further.
“I had some seaman asking for transit before.” Was the explosive answer.
“Oh yeah?” Lann turned to Derwa after he had shouted his question and whispered.” Derwa, I will have to fly you to safety. Don’t resist.” He said as he saw her objection in her features.
” Time is of essence. First you and then Shiloh.”
He hated to leave Shiloh stranded, but Shiloh could at least see where she could walk and avoid to go up in flames.
Lann turned to Shiloh.
“I will be right back.” He lifted the small druid up into his arms.
“Don’t touch my wings, Derwa, they will burn you.”
Then he flew away with his friend in his arms. Soon, he vanished, hidden by the smoke.
“Yes, a Greek seaman called Odysseus.” The rumble answered. “He blinded me for my hospitality.”
Lann reached dry stones.
“Stay here, Derwa. Don’t move around too much. I’ll get Shiloh.”
Then he paused. Looking into Derwa’s stony eyes he said. “Did he say Odysseus?”
“I don’t know, I think yes, but, I am not sure.” She stammered.
The druid was seldom scared, but the situation they were in this time, really terrorized her. She hated fire, heat, the unpredictable element.
