by Logan Knight
Running during the night, fighting all the time, and never having any peace would be exhausting. If it was only me, I might have dealt with it, but I wanted Alena to have peace as well. She’d joined me and my cause. I didn’t want to let her down.
I’d heard it said that the most dangerous man was one who was cornered and had no choice but to fight. I was experiencing it for myself. It was the priest or me; I voted the priest.
I only seemed to work at night, and it also seemed to be the only time the guards could track Alena, so we’d spent the night with the little warriors, hidden in their glen by ancient magic.
My plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but the sprites, it seemed, were too competitive and violent for their own good. They quarreled over every little thing, which meant they took a long time to gather their supplies and organize themselves. If I hadn’t needed them, I would have left them behind.
Alena and I had stayed with them all night. Their grove, full of giant mushrooms they used as homes, was protected by powerful spells. It was the only reason, according to Silverwind, their leader, they had managed to stay hidden for so long.
I couldn’t stay there, though. If I didn’t head out to fight the priest, I knew I’d end up battling the sprites. I’d hardly gotten any sleep due to their constant quarreling. That, and I had to find a way to get back home so I could rejoin the war effort against the Xorians. I had to warn my people about the priest and convince them that magic wasn’t a legend reserved only for stories told by grandmothers. Magic was real.
“Sorry,” Alena whispered.
“For what?” I asked.
“For them,” she said, hooking her thumb over her shoulder. The sprites had started arguing again.
“Any chance this will be it?” I asked. “The big fight that finally ends their bickering?”
“Probably not,” she said. The expression on her face told me the words pained her.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I hope the sprites can turn all that rage into the kind of violence we’ll need from them when we get to the fortress. If they can, the guards won’t know what hit them. What are they fighting over now, anyway?”
“Which one of them picked the sweetest berries in the last twenty minutes,” she said, carefully enunciating each word.
I laughed quietly. It wasn’t surprising. So far, the tiny warriors had fought over who’d found the largest pinecone, who’d found the smelliest bug, and who’d win a fight if all they had was pine needles.
In a way, I wanted them to make good on their words and cross swords long before we got to the fortress. If they settled their differences, even if a few of them died, maybe the rest would be able to work better together. I dreaded to think of what would happen if they fought like that during a real battle. It might be the end of all of us.
“Remember our deal,” Silverwind whispered into my ear. “The priest dies before you put your hands on his pet. That was our deal, ugly human. Do not forget.”
“I haven’t forgotten, tiny person,” I replied. “Your memory must be as short as your stature. And, I appreciate you coming along.”
“We are only here because we have a common goal and purpose, stinky one,” he said. “Our kind have been hunted nearly to extinction by the Xorian soldiers. To kill their priest will be a great blow to their cause. Their prison will be in shambles, and when their captured pet is bled of life, future prisoners will escape as well.
“We sprites are mighty, even if we are few. However, I do not believe we could kill the priest alone, which is why we have never tried. He is too powerful for us. You are a decent enough mage, though, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. Try not to kill him too quickly. I’d like him to suffer for what he has done to his people and what he represents.”
I’d fought and defeated Silverwind to gain his trust and respect. I wasn’t sure how powerful I was, though. I’d only recently gained the ability to use magic.
“How did you sleep?” Alena whispered.
“I slept a bit,” I admitted. “And thanks for the healing potion.” I’d suffered many small injuries from my fight against Silverwind the night before. Unlike sprites, I didn’t heal quickly.
“You’re welcome,” she said beaming. “Told you I was a pretty good cook.” She kissed me on my cheek. It was warm, soft, and fierce.
Though my wounds had healed, the memory of the pain I’d felt was still fresh in my mind. Of the thirty sprites in the glen, I’d only fought against four or five of them. I couldn’t imagine what kind of havoc they could unleash together.
I adjusted the three potions hanging from my belt. Alena had stayed up late to gather the ingredients and combine them according to the recipe in the book she’d taken from the prison. They would completely remove the sickness that afflicted me when I cast too many spells without rest. She called them “mana potions”.
“Can you defeat the priest?” Silverwind hissed into my ear.
“Of course I can,” I said, waving him away.
He flew to my other ear and said, “How many spells do you know, great and powerful mage?”
“Enough,” I told him. “I also know how to use this.” I drew my sword and brought the blade close to the flittering sprite before he buzzed to my other ear and whispered again.
“How many does the priest know?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “Probably more than three, though. Do you have a point, bug?”
“Indeed,” Silverwind whispered. “I think we will be scraping your ashes from the floor, walls… everything. Where would you like me to spread them? Into a dung pile, perhaps? So you can return to your—”
I swatted at him with the flat of my sword but missed. He giggled, dove, and dodged out of the way. You still need him, I reminded myself.
He was partially right, though. I’d only been able to unlock three spells from my memory. I could feel there were more in there. I could even tell what results some of them would produce, but I hadn’t been able to bring them to the surface. With time, I knew I could learn more, but I wasn’t somewhere I could sit quietly and focus.
The woods were thinning a bit, but it was still impossible to see more than a dozen yards in any direction. The trees were close together, and thorny bushes and shrubs filled every available space between.
Alena and I had to keep our eyes open, constantly scanning for guards, Xorian soldiers, and dangerous wildlife.
“How many guards do you think are left?” I whispered to Alena.
“No idea,” she said. “All I know is that they had a lot. We killed a bunch of them, but I don’t know what’s left. I can’t imagine they have too many more. It’s a prison, after all. They have gates, doors, and those tall walls to keep the people in. It probably doesn’t take a lot of guards to run that place. Plus, they didn’t even worry about keeping us alive very long. The guards were only holding us so they could sacrifice us to their god. That took a couple of days.”
“The place is also a fortress, too,” I said. “Its vertical walls and towers would make for a decent defense against any invading army. Once they dropped the portcullis, all they would need to do was survive until reinforcements could arrive. They probably had enough food to last weeks, and since they didn’t bother feeding us, there was little chance of their supply running out.
“My guess is the rest of the guards had to stay behind. They built that place because they get prisoners all the time. That part’s obvious. So, they couldn’t just abandon it to come after us. There will still be some guards left, but how many, I don’t know.”
I spotted something about a dozen yards ahead and brought my small army to a stop with a gesture of my hand. It was a soldier—or the remains of one.
His position resembled that of someone who was sleeping, except for one major difference. His entrails had been partly ripped from his body and were draped over the branches of nearby bushes and small trees. It looked like the webs of a fleshy spider.
I studied
it and its surroundings for several moments before I spoke. “What do you think?” I whispered to Alena. “What does that look like?”
She shrugged. “Looks like something really bad to me—like someone had a really bad day. It also looks like a place I’d rather stay far away from. That’s not something I think the guards would do to anyone, but especially not to one of their own.”
“Know of any creatures who can do that?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said. “Like maybe half the dangerous creatures I know about. But I don’t know which one is responsible for that. I can’t see the wound from here, but I sure can see his guts.”
“I don’t think the body is bait, here to lure us in,” I said. “It looks like he managed to get attacked by something we were able to bypass during the night. I want to get a closer look.”
I drew my sword and signaled for the rest of my small army to do the same and follow. The sprites stayed a dozen feet overhead as they scanned the area while Alena and I approached the mutilated remains.
The sprites had changed from their human-like forms with delicate bug wings to their bat forms, which were intended for fighting. Their skin became darker, and leathery bat-like wings replaced the delicate ones. It gave them a fiercer appearance and made them far more resistant to damage.
I approached the body cautiously, checking the ground for booby-traps as I went. I scanned the nearby trees as well, looking for archers or assassins within them, waiting for me to become distracted before they pounced. Besides the sounds of birds in the distance, the forest was quiet.
The prison guard had been virtually turned inside out. It appeared his liver and heart were missing. Weird parallel gouges marked the edges of the huge wound. It made me wonder what had attacked him.
I pointed to the strange scratches and looked to Alena.
She nodded grimly. “It’s a nadodee. We call them rock-lickers. They’ve got huge rasp-like tongues. They usually eat rocks, but during the mating season, they’re known to eat flesh if they can catch it. They’re sneaky. Nadodee can look like just about anything—like a tree stump or a rock. They can even make themselves look like the ground if they can find a small hole to climb into. When something gets too close, this happens to them.” She gestured toward the remains of the prison guard. “I’ve never been attacked by one personally, but I’ve had a couple of close calls. They’re tough, too. We should keep our eyes open and get out of here.”
I inspected the body a little longer and moved things around with the tip of my sword. The guard could have been carrying a note or other clue that would reveal how many troops were left at the prison, what security measures were in place, or other information. Any news of their recent activities would be valuable.
Instead, I found the man’s weapons. I also found a broken chain draped over his neck.
“I think this used to have an amulet on it,” I whispered to Alena. “The priest has one like this. His has a little amulet hanging from it. It’s gold, shaped like a bat, and has a red gem in its center. It looks like this one was ripped from the chain. I don’t see any of the marks on the chain like I do on the body. It’s broken, but that’s probably where another guard yanked this one’s amulet free. The part that makes me the most curious is why they left the sword.”
“Maybe the amulet is worth more?” Alena offered. “You said it was gold. Maybe that’s why?”
“I think it’s more than that,” I said. “Whatever that amulet is, it’s worth more than the dishonor of leaving a dead man unburied. It’s worth more than taking the man’s sword to make sure it doesn’t fall into their enemy’s hands. It looks like the amulet was worth more than anything to them, and I bet each of the guards is wearing one.”
“What for?” Alena asked.
“I think it has something to do with the creature they captured,” I said. “I think it’s how the guards are tracking us. It’s the only thing all these guards have in common, and it’s the only thing the armies of Dahan don’t have. I need to find one to see if I’m right.”
I moved bits of intestine and skin to try to find the missing amulet in case it had been dropped, and stopped when I noticed a trail of blood leading away from the body. I pointed to it with the tip of my sword and motioned for Alena to follow.
She shook her head hard.
“We need to see if the amulet is at the end of the blood trail,” I said. “It might be the clue that unravels this mystery. It might be our only way. Please follow me.”
The sprites seemed eager to go, but Alena took a bit more convincing. The scene was gory, and it was easy to tell how violent it had been. I didn’t know what a rock-licker looked like, but I had respect for what it could do.
About twenty yards later, I became aware of a sound. It reminded me of someone running a rasp over wet wood. Alena took my arm and pulled me to the ground. She pointed to where the sound was coming from and gestured wildly with her hands. I understood she was worried, but I had to see what the creature looked like with my own eyes.
“We cannot help you here,” Silverwind whispered into my ear. “The nadodee are immune to our magic. They like to eat sprites. We can go no closer. If you choose to fight it, I cannot help.”
I nodded and crept forward through the bushes. When I reached the edge of the clearing, I moved a large, thorny frond out of the way and saw a nadodee for the first time.
It was at least ten feet long, maybe four feet wide, with six legs—three on each side. Its skin looked like it had been made from thousands of bits of broken shale. The creature's body barely cleared the ground, and it stood a foot high.
Two other guards had died in the clearing. The one closest to us looked like its guts had already been consumed, based on the way the skin hung around the abdomen.
Although I couldn’t see the creature’s mouth, I could hear it. The nadodee was crouched over a guard’s body, feeding. Every time the creature flexed, it made the noise, and its victim twitched and shuddered. It almost sounded like someone running a piece of meat against a rough grindstone. I didn’t think my description was far from the truth.
“We need to go,” Alena whispered, tugging gently at my arm.
“Not before I find an amulet,” I said.
The closest body was only a couple yards away, so I crept through the bush toward the remains but kept one eye on the rock-like creature.
Though I was careful not to make any noise, I must not have been quiet enough. The nadodee turned, its muzzle almost entirely covered in blood and gore, and hissed at me. Its face was smooth except for a cluster of black orbs, which I guessed were its eyes, in the center of its head.
I paused, waiting to see if it would do anything else, but the beast returned to its meal, and the horrible rasping sound started again.
I noticed Alena’s shadow on the ground, slightly behind me and to my left. She could watch the beast while I searched for an amulet.
The guard’s body had been almost completely hollowed out. He was skin, bones, and not much else.
The nadodee had eaten his guts, lungs, heart, and liver. After if finished with those parts, it looked like it had worked its way up his body, flaying the skin over his sternum. After that, it consumed the man’s throat and the skin and muscle around the spine. It appeared to have stopped only after it ripped out and ate his eyes.
“Holy shit,” Alena whispered as she gaped at the guard’s remains. Her voice was shaky and weak.
The one thing I’d been looking for, though, was gone.
“I think it ate this guard’s amulet,” I whispered.
“I think it wants to eat us,” Alena replied.
The nadodee had stopped eating and was slowly turning around to face us. Then it charged, lowering its head like a bull.
The sprites screamed and scattered into the trees. Alena stumbled and tripped over something, hitting the ground hard.
For a moment, I wondered if I should be afraid, too. The reaction of my small army was bigger than I thoug
ht the creature warranted. It didn’t look that tough.
My need to recover an amulet prevented me from backing down. I was a stranger in the land and needed to learn everything I could. Our lives depended on it.
I fired a magic arrow at the beast’s eye-cluster, but the nadodee twisted its head and took the impact on its shoulder. The arrow didn’t bounce off its hide. It didn’t ricochet. It vanished in a shower of white, glittery sparks.
I fired another at the beast as I dove out of the way but missed its eyes again. The effect was the same—the arrow was destroyed.
A sprite had been hiding in the bush and came screaming out of it as if its ass were on fire. It spun and corkscrewed into the treetops and away from the battle.
I rolled to my feet, sword at the ready as the beast and I turned to face one another.
The nadodee opened its mouth, but it wasn’t like any maw I’d ever seen before. It unrolled like a giant, pointed ribbon from under its head. The surface of the tentacle-like thing sparkled with sharp-edged crystals, which explained the rasping noise I’d heard while it had been feeding. It looked like the quarter-inch spikes were used to rip portions of meat away from its victim’s body.
The nadodee lashed its tentacle at me, but I rolled out of the way. I brought my sword down in the, and although I’d made a solid hit, I didn’t notice any damage. No cry of pain. No blood.
The creature took a step forward to bring me back within range. It coiled its tentacle as it prepared for another strike. I’d never fought a nadodee before, but my military combat training told me what I needed to do.
Instead of dodging the next attack or hopping further away, which was likely what most creatures did if they didn’t run, I dove forward and shoved my blade into the dark hole above its tongue. The inside of living things was usually a lot more delicate than the outside.
