Everyone agreed, and once they’d eaten, they all settled in and stared at the cave ceiling, trying in vain to sleep.
Sarah woke everyone before sunrise. The rain had stopped, and she wanted to get moving as early as possible. After collecting her makeshift clothesline back into her satchel, she distributed the last of the bird meat, which had tasted decent, all things considering. Far better than ration blocks.
An hour and change after they resumed their trek, the sun came up to a dingy sky still full of clouds. It didn’t look like rain, more like the sky being sore from throwing up so much the previous day. One hour blurred into the next and all the trees in the forest began to look the same. Keith wished travel would work like it did outside the game, when characters could cover hundreds of miles in five minutes. He jumped at a sudden arm motion from Sarah, who signaled a rapid stop then gestured for everyone to get down.
Elliot and Ashur gave her confused looks, but before anyone could ask why, heavy thuds in the ground and cracking branches signaled the approach of something massive. Seconds after the group all scrambled to hide behind trees, a ten-foot-tall humanoid creature with rough dark green skin that resembled moss emerged from the forest frighteningly close in front of them. Its hair looked like broccoli growing from its head, and it had a nose long enough for a family of ravens to roost upon it. Abnormally big arms left its knuckles hanging at knee level, and it walked in a swaying, lopsided gait. Each time its foot came down, Keith’s bones shook.
“Crap,” whispered Tira. “Forest troll. Level eight. Over 200 health points. Regenerates. Fire does double damage and it can’t regenerate that. Don’t even try to poison it.”
The troll stopped, sniffing.
Sarah scowled at the tree she’d hidden behind while Keith fired a ‘shh!’ gesture back at the little one.
Carlos mimed a ‘rolling up my sleeves’ gesture.
Keith shook his head.
The troll sniffed again, turning its massive body to face the group.
Silence.
Distant birds tweeted and a small boar or something off to the left trotted over dead leaves. The deep rumbling of the troll’s breath continued. Sarah pointed at her ears, shook her head no, and made finger walking gestures. Keith nodded, assuming she meant it will eventually walk away if it doesn’t hear anything.
The troll took a half step back, sniffing the other way.
Keith held his breath. Come on. Go away. Go away!
Another half-minute dragged on.
A high-pitched noise, like someone letting air out of a balloon, came from behind him. After a few seconds, the noise rose in volume, warbled, and fluttered out into a full-bodied fart.
Everyone turned to glare at Elliot. His face glowed the color of a strawberry.
Tira, who had been hiding near him and a little back, clutched her throat and crossed her eyes. She looked ready to vomit.
The troll snorted, faced the group, and came stomping in fast.
“El, if we are alive after this, I’m going to beat you.” Carlos leapt to his feet and threw a fire bolt straight up at the troll.
Orange flames sprayed over its face and shoulder, igniting its mossy skin like tissue paper. The great beast grabbed at its head, screaming and wailing.
“Keith, don’t try to block it with your shield. Dodge. Keep running between its legs!” shouted Sarah.
“Got it.” Keith jumped out of his hiding place and rushed into melee range, not thinking anything of charging at a troll more than twice his height until he’d already stabbed it in the knee. Oh, crap!
The poke got the troll’s attention. It raised its fist, but before it could pound him, he dove into a somersault between its legs. Back on his feet, he stabbed it in the butt and twisted the blade.
With a howl of anger, the troll whirled, causing Carlos’ next fire bolt to hit it in the back, igniting that as well. The creature roared in pain, flailing its arm like a giant club.
Keith darted to the side, but the troll’s knuckles grazed his shield, launching him into the air. He landed on his back, bounced up into a headstand, and fell on his chest, still sliding. Spots danced in his eyes when he stopped moving.
“I’m okay!” he shouted. “Didn’t hit me, just launched me.”
A tiny throwing knife flickered in the sun and disappeared somewhere near the troll’s head. The monstrous creature didn’t even react.
“Don’t waste them,” said Ashur. “Let Carlos do this.”
Two white-shafted arrows hit the troll one after the next. The first caught it in the back of the head, the second in the side as the beast turned toward the group. Dense, black smoke peeled from the tops of the billowing flames upon its back, filling the area with a stink like burning car tires. Carlos cast another fire bolt, landing a hit on its chest.
Roaring, the troll ignored Sarah and charged at the mage.
Carlos hurled himself into a diving somersault, avoiding a clenched fist bigger than his whole body. The troll’s punch caught a tree, bashing it in half and sending the upper part toppling to the ground.
“Crap!” Keith sprinted back into the troll’s reach, and did the one thing he thought might make it angrier than fire. He stabbed it in the balls. Or at least where balls ought to be.
The troll howled at the sky.
“Aww, man,” yelled Elliot. “Hundred experience point penalty for cheap shot. That kills to even watch.”
Keith slashed it again, aghast as the wounds he caused started to close fast enough to see.
Infuriated, the troll pounded at him, driving its fist straight down into the earth as Keith hopped back. He misread the creature’s intent and went in for another strike, but the troll came around with a left handed jab.
Keith managed to lift his shield in time, but a fist wider than his chest crashed into him. The shot knocked him flat in a split second and sent him sliding through the mulch. All the wind knocked out of him, he couldn’t move or breathe as the troll stormed over. Helpless, he stared up at an enormous green fist rising into the air.
Another fire bolt flew into the troll’s back, building on the already-burning flames. The creature howled in a great, deep voice unlike anything on Earth. It seemed to blame Keith for that pain, too. Despite expecting to die regardless, he struggled to move his shield in the way, only total blind panic prevented him from screaming.
An explosion of roots and vines erupted around him, hardening into a shell an instant before the massive fist crashed down on them, cracking the barrier. Another roar of fire went off, and the troll wailed in frustrated anguish.
The ability to move returned when he managed to start breathing again. Keith bashed at the roots trapping him. Ashur appeared overhead, and hacked at the encasement enough to pull him free.
Carlos screamed.
Keith scrambled out of the shallow grave he’d been in right as a brilliant flash went by. Carlos, surrounded by the glowing protection of a Mage Armor spell, skipped like a stone off the forest floor. The frictionless contact of the magic barrier threw leaves and dirt with each hit, but didn’t slow him down. He careened at least forty yards off into the trees, a blur of orange and blue.
Sarah ran around the troll on the left, loading and firing another two arrows, which she landed clean in its face. It waved its arms around as if swatting mosquitos. The greasy smoke continued pouring from its enflamed back. Ignoring the rest of the kids, the huge troll stomped off into the forest in the direction Carlos had gone.
One fire bolt came out of the trees and hit it in the chest.
With a great, heaving gurgle, the troll stopped short, a bewildered look in its eyes. It teetered for a few seconds, blinking around at the forest as if it had forgotten entirely what it had been doing.
“These things are so stupid, it doesn’t realize it’s dead,” said Elliot.
Carlos fire-bolted it again. The ten-foot monstrosity ignited in a roaring conflagration. It managed to take two steps before collapsing to the ground and going
still.
In seconds, only bones remained.
“Are you all right?” Sarah ran up to Keith, looking him over.
“I think so.” He stretched his arm, rolling his sore left shoulder. “Nothing really hurts, but I’m a bit stiff.”
Elliot guffawed.
“What?” Keith looked at him. A second later, he blushed. “Oh. Jerk.”
Sarah caught the meaning and couldn’t look at either of them.
“I call upon Hæm’s cleansing light!” said Elliot in an over-dramatic voice. He invoked a healing spell on Keith, which made the soreness go away.
“I feel better. Guess I was down a couple health points.”
“Fat man.” Carlos stormed out of the trees.
“Moi?” asked Elliot with a smile.
Carlos held up a huge pinecone. “I always joked that your butt could kill people, but this is taking it a bit too far. Do we need to plug leaks?”
Elliot’s eyebrows shot up and he grabbed his rear end with both hands.
Unable to keep a serious face any longer, Carlos cracked up laughing and tossed the pinecone over his shoulder.
“Guys, we need to take this seriously,” said Sarah. “We’re not sitting around a table right now.”
“We killed a forest troll.” Tira gawked while sifting among the ashes for her throwing knives. “Maybe we don’t have to be so scared of everything?”
Keith glanced at the long gouge he’d made in the ground. “I think we should still be careful.”
“Come on.” Sarah took his hand.
They walked for several more hours in relative silence.
Tira whispered, “Something’s following us.”
All heads turned.
Keith squinted into the distance. A dark, billowy shadow appeared and vanished between the trees a ways off. It hadn’t gotten close enough to feel yet, but he knew right away what he stared at. “Yzil.”
Sarah said a nasty word. The kind of nasty word that got kids grounded if their parents heard them.
“What she said.” Elliot nodded.
“Run!” Sarah pulled Keith up to a sprint.
Trees blurred into a smear of greens and browns. They leapt a fallen log, stumbled down a hill, jumped a creek, and sprinted over a long enough stretch of flat ground that his lungs protested. He’d always loathed the running drills in Little League. They sucked. Doing sprints in scale armor sucked even more.
Sarah eventually slowed to a stop and leaned against a tree. Keith halted beside her. The others trickled out of the woods, Ashur wearing Tira like a backpack. Elliot would’ve brought up the rear, wheezing and drenched in sweat, but Carlos had hung back with him.
“Just letting everyone regroup. We can’t wait long.” Sarah pointed. “The River Alon is down that way. I know where we are now. If we follow the water, it will lead us to civilization.”
She gave Elliot a chance to go from wheezing to only breathing hard before starting off again, but didn’t run. Moving at a brisk walk, they reached the edge of the forest in about fifteen minutes and gazed over a short span of grass to a river wider than the biggest highway Keith had ever seen. Anyone standing on the opposite bank would be hard to see due to the distance.
“Whoa, that’s huge,” whispered Keith.
“There.” Sarah pointed.
About a quarter mile to the left, a cabin stood at the river’s edge, next to a small dock. A single boat sat on the bank, dragged far enough out of the water not to be swept off by the current.
“You want to steal someone’s boat?” asked Keith.
She headed toward it. “The house is abandoned. People are fleeing the Devouring.”
“I’m scared of boats,” said Tira.
“Have you ever been on one?” asked Ashur.
“No.”
He blinked at her. “Then how do you know you’re scared of them?”
“Okay, fine. I’m scared of drowning,” said Tira. “Is that better?”
Ashur sighed. “But you’re a good swimmer.”
“I don’t have my swimsuit.”
Everyone (except Tira) chuckled.
Sarah marched across the meadow at a pace that made Keith work to keep up. A strong wind whipped at them from the direction of the water, carrying the taste of river, rotting vegetation, and fish. When they reached the cabin, it became clear that it had, in fact, been abandoned.
The group surrounded their soon-to-be ride, a deep-hulled rowboat with three bench seats. Ashur set Tira down on her feet, and they all pushed the craft into the river. Keith held on to the thick rope tied to the bow, pulling to the side so everyone could use the dock to get in without having to wade.
Elliot sat in the middle. Carlos took the rear bench, his hand on the tiller, with Ashur beside him. Sara perched on the front seat. Tira curled up on the floor in front of her brother.
Keith hopped up on the dock last, undid the mooring line, and threw the bundle of rope into the space between the front and middle seats before stepping in and sitting beside Sarah.
With only two paddles, Keith at the front left, and Ashur at the rear right, took them.
The River Alon had an off-putting brown color, like weak coffee with cream. Sarah pointed to the north, and the boys worked the oars, guiding the boat away from the shore.
Keith had never even seen a boat before, much less been in a real one on a river. The closest he’d ever come to water had been a public swimming pool downtown. For a little while, he forgot all about being trapped inside a game manual and found himself in awe of nature.
“What’s that for?” asked Ashur.
“Snakes,” said Tira. “If a snake comes after us, I’m gonna stab it.”
Keith glanced back. Tira had pulled out one of her daggers and clutched it the way a normal nine-year-old might clutch a teddy bear when frightened. He didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for her.
I shouldn’t have asked them all to play. He glanced at Sarah, adoring the warmth from where their hips touched on the bench. She felt the same way. That’s why she distracted Yzil.
“I know why you did it,” whispered Keith.
She looked up.
“You felt the same way I feel now. If I didn’t ask the guys to play, they wouldn’t be in danger.”
Sarah nodded, glum.
“But.” He smiled. “Then you’d still be all alone. Even if I can’t ever go home again, I’d be happy I did it because I got to be with you.”
Her face reddened. She said nothing, but took his hand.
“Aww,” whispered Tira.
Elliot made a soft gagging noise.
When Keith looked toward the back of the boat to fire a glare at Elliot, Carlos gave him a ‘you go, killer’ wink. Keith sighed. “You guys… I’m serious. I’m sorry for putting you all in danger, but, if it was just me, I’d do it again.”
“Better start workin’ on your best man speech.” Carlos nudged Ashur.
The scrawny boy scrunched up his face. “What? We’re kids.”
Carlos laughed. “So were my mom and dad when they met. Look at him. You know, if we actually don’t die in here? I’m pretty sure they’re like soulmates or something.”
“Uhh, wow.” Keith’s face felt as hot as the sun. He’d never been so mortified—or happy. “Yeah. I don’t care if you guys make fun of me. I’m in love with her.”
Tira grinned.
“Dude. No one marries their first girlfriend,” said Ashur.
“Carlos’ parents.” Tira held up a finger. “I wanna be the flower girl.”
“Tir,” said Ashur. “If these two get married, by the time that happens, you are going to be way too old to be a flower girl.”
Sarah laughed. “Guess they’re planning our future for us.”
He resumed paddling the water. “You’re not technically my first girlfriend, but I never kissed her. We just kinda hung out. You’re the first girl I can’t get out of my mind. The first girl who I worried so much about, I couldn’t sl
eep.”
“This would be a lot more romantic without an audience,” said Sarah. “You know, David and Lindsey’s characters did some romantic moments, but they always had a hard time roleplaying it with everyone watching. It was really cute when they blushed.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“Huh?” She looked up.
“Good that you think blushing is cute. I think I’ve been tomato red for the past two days nonstop.”
Sarah laughed.
Soon after the River Alon swept around a rightward curve, a current picked up. In minutes, paddling served more to steer than for propulsion. Perhaps an hour later, two massive statues emerged into view from a great cloud of mist ahead. A pair of elves, likely Veimari, stood five stories tall on either side of the river. Both sculptures held wide, shallow bowls, easily twenty feet across, from which a narrow waterfall fell thirty feet to the river below.
“They’re in the ceremonial garb of Nuami’s priestesses,” said Elliot.
“How’d you know that?” asked Carlos. “And what the heck is a Nuami?”
“I dunno. It just came to me.” Elliot shrugged. “Umm, she’s the Veimari goddess of water.”
“You made your ‘deity lore’ check.” Tira shrugged. “If Carlos can throw fire, you can know stuff.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right.” Elliot grinned. “Oh, hang on. Sorry guys. Something’s angry. Hope I don’t blow a hole in the hull.”
“El, if you fart, I will stab you and throw you overboard,” said Carlos.
“Jet thrust,” said Elliot.
Tira stood and put the tip of her knife to his back. “I’m right behind you.”
“Geez guys, all right.” Elliot raised his hands. “Those rations are tearing me up.”
Multiple stomachs growled, including Keith’s.
He ignored hunger and gazed up in awe at the huge elf statues as they glided by on either side. The boat picked up speed. Up ahead, smears of white capped the surface here and there.
“Uh oh. Are we going to hit rapids?” asked Keith.
“I don’t think so, just a strong current. Watch out for rocks,” said Sarah.
“Ash, on point,” yelled Keith.
He sat up tall, keeping an eye out for dangerous boulders.
The Cursed Codex Page 20
