She really thought that she’d escaped when Oscar came back into view. The moose was on his belly. His breathing still sounded labored, but he let out a moan of relief when he saw her. “Oscar,” she said before the male hell-beast stepped out in front of her. Oscar bugled and tried to pull himself up. “Oscar, stop!” Caitlin yelled, holding her right palm out in front of her. She wasn’t sure if she could summon the power she had previously, but she was going to try.
“Where did you get those clothes?” the beast asked in an accusatory tone.
Caitlin was taken off guard by the question. “What?”
“Your clothes,” the beast repeated, “where did you get them?”
“A grumpy old witch gave them to me.” Caitlin lowered her hand, but continued to pull power to her core.
“Esmeralda,” he shook his head. “No matter how much time passes, and distance is accumulated, I cannot seem to escape that woman.”
“You know Esme?” Caitlin was so thrown off by the conversation she inadvertently relaxed the tension in her belly.
“I have known Esmeralda for many years,” said the creature. “I never thought she would let anyone touch Carey’s clothes after he left. His exit from her life nearly destroyed her. How is it a skinny little thing like you is dressed in the clothes of the only human I ever considered a friend?”
“Well, my clothes got soaked, and then Esme threw them into a fire,” said Caitlin. “It was either the tunic or nudity at that point. I find it surprising his clothes fit a skinny little thing like me.” Esme’s shock when she saw Caitlin made more sense now.
The creature let out a deep laugh. “He used to be a skinny little thing too. That changed when he became serious about the sword. He was a sight to see in his glory.”
An irritated grunt pulled Caitlin from the conversation. Oscar had made it to his feet with his ears pinned back. “Peace, Halinafforkinitsu. I mean no harm to your human,” said the creature, turning his head to the moose. Oscar snorted in response.
“What did you call Oscar?” Caitlin asked.
“Aw, yes, Oscar,” he responded. “Whatever happened to the little one who gave you that name? It is much easier to say than Halinafforkinitsu, isn’t it? That is his true name. I was there the day he received it. He recognized me the moment he saw me. He just doesn’t like me much.”
“I think I’ll just stick with Oscar,” Caitlin said, moving to stand with her moose. “I think it suits him better. What can I call you?”
The beast turned his body toward the pair. “You are travelling with Esme’s pet wearing Carey’s clothing, and you haven’t given me much of an explanation as to why. Tell me your tale, and I’ll decide if you’re worthy of my name.”
Drama is strong with this one, Caitlin thought. I guess this makes as much sense as everything else has so far. Caitlin opened her mouth to tell the beast the story she and Esme constructed in town but balked. Instead, she laid out her story for him, starting when she and Elise had been transported. She didn’t go into detail but gave a succinct summary of the events. The beast remained silent until she finished.
“So, your daughter is here alone?” he asked.
“Not entirely. Esme seemed to trust the troggle we saw in the fire. Even so, I have to get to her and take her home. She won’t be safe until then.” So much had happened. Caitlin was falling behind. Every second tore her further from Elise.
“I know the troggles. If Esme vouches for that one then I trust he will protect your child,” said the beast. “I appreciate your honesty. I can imagine it is difficult to confide in one such as myself. I have a greater talent at inspiring fear than confidence.”
“Aw, I don’t believe that,” said Caitlin, unable to stop the sarcasm. “You’re like a giant fuzzy teddy bear. With sharp teeth. Very, very sharp teeth.”
“I am not sure what a teddy bear is, but I recognize your jesting tone,” he said. “You have given me what I asked for, so I will give you a name. I am Lesembo, Guardian of the Mountains.”
Wait a gosh darn minute, Caitlin thought. I know that name. Holy hell, it’s the big-eyed cartoon character on Elise’s bedding. The name Lesembo was uttered in her house several times every day. Elise was enamored by his character. She drew pictures of him and played him in every Monoflufee video game she owned. Caitlin even vaguely remembered him from her own teenage years when the Monoflufee franchise began. She was too interested in chasing booze and boys to take much notice, but it had been a big phenomenon. It was impossible to avoid it entirely.
Caitlin was unable to bring herself to tell the monster in front of her that her child regularly slept on his face. Instead, she just said, “I think I’ve heard that name before.”
“It is quite possible,” said Lesembo. “It is my understanding that I and some of my compatriots are taught about in human schools. Heroes of old and whatnot. It does give me a laugh that humans see me as heroic. I guess vengeance can be viewed as heroism in the right light. Although, I guess you never took those lessons as a child.”
“No, my history lessons basically revolved around US presidents and World War Two,” said Caitlin. She wanted to ask him about the creature that attacked her, but Oscar, who had been on his feet, suddenly fell back to the ground. Caitlin kneeled by his side. “Please help him. Those little light bugs really did a number on him.”
Lesembo crossed to Oscar and looked him over. “I will assist you in this. Esmeralda would skin me alive if she knew I could help her pet and let him die. Come on. I have a safe spot I can take you to tend to your wounds, but you must walk a short way further.”
Lesembo lowered his head and propped it underneath the moose’s belly. Oscar let out a dissatisfied grunt, but he slowly made his way back onto his feet. The two creatures were similar in height though Lesembo was longer and leaner than Oscar. The moose leaned heavily against the other male and stepped forward as Lesembo moved. The weight didn’t seem to bother the hell-beast in the slightest. Caitlin trailed along behind them listening intently for the humming that preceded the stinging balls of light.
After about twenty minutes they came to an expansive cave entrance. The ceiling undulated as they entered. Tiny brown creatures scuttled in all directions. Caitlin used her concern for Oscar to continue forward, trying unsuccessfully not to look up. Lesembo didn’t stop until they reached a natural spring that spouted from the ground. Oscar lay down in front of the spring and drank deeply. Caitlin also took her fill of the room temperature liquid. Water felt amazing on her dry throat.
Finishing his long drink, Oscar curled up and fell fast asleep. He didn’t even flit an ear as Caitlin inspected the damage done to him. “Is there any way to get extra light in here?”
Lesembo crossed to one wall of the cave. An electric light, more focused than the one he had used on the scouts, shot from him and lit a previously prepared bundle of sticks on fire. As the fire spread to the neighboring fuel, it lit their area of the cave enough for Caitlin to see. “That’s a neat trick,” she said. “Maybe you can teach me that one sometime.”
“If I knew how it worked, I would tell you,” he said. “I have always had an affinity for electricity and fire. I cannot remember the first time I became aware of it, but I have been alive long enough to figure out how to shape it for my purposes.”
Caitlin wanted to respond, but her focus became fully engrossed on the moose’s wounds. They looked so much worse than they had when she first left him. Many more welts had burst open with the foul-smelling puss now saturating Oscar’s fur. She looked at her own arm, which had also been stung, and was surprised that the damage was minimal. It barely hurt at all now. “Why would their stings or bites or whatever cause so much more damage to him than to me?”
“You were their intended target,” said Lesembo, bowing his head to take in the damage. “I heard Shuri. Whoever was controlling them wants you alive and relatively undamaged. Oscar, on the other hand, was actively going against those orders. The scouts would have used all of
their magic to stop him from taking you out of their tracking zones. I saw this same behavior many times during the War of Souls. Unfortunately for them, their power and mine are akin and mine is much, much more powerful.”
The rationale sort of made sense to Caitlin. “What’s the best remedy for this type of damage?”
“I have some rags you can clean him with. Then I will take you to the woods to collect items that will draw out the foulness and help speed up his recovery.” Lesembo stepped over the small pool of water and headed into the darkness of the cave. A few moments later he returned with ripped fabrics hanging from his jaw.
Caitlin took them and dipped one into the spring. As she began to clean Oscar’s wounds, she hummed one of her favorite songs. She continued the process until the moose was free of the old, dried pus on the side she had been working on. He slept through the entire process. Unable to flip him over, she decided to let him continue resting until she had her other supplies gathered.
Lesembo came over to inspect her work and his body went rigid. He looked at her and said, “I thought it might be true, but I was not sure until I saw this. Welcome home, Caitlin, daughter of Carey. You and your father have been greatly missed since you last departed.”
Chapter Sixteen
Elise
Elise and her small band had been reunited after the attack. As soon as Chase saw her, he tore away from Aroon’s grasp to cover Elise in doggy kisses. She giggled and held him tight, grateful for her familiar companion in this land of terrors. Aroon also came and hugged her as soon as she had extricated herself from the dog’s loving attention. Aroon crooned at her as he checked for damage. He hooed and hummed at some of her scrapes, but she assured him she was okay.
As soon as they completed her inspection, Jade announced they were no longer safe and needed to go immediately. Since they’d just been attacked by a massive viper, Elise was inclined to agree. They gathered together their supplies and headed out with only the light of the moons to guide their way. Jade pushed them hard and fast through the thick underbrush through the next day. That night Jade and Ashley slept in shifts. Then, bright and early they were at it again.
Finally, Elise could not take another step. Pain danced up from her feet in electrifying pulses. She crumpled to the ground, gasping. “I have to rest. I can’t keep going like this.”
Ashley flopped down next to her, followed closely by Chase and Aroon, and said, “We need a break, Jade. We’re going to die of exhaustion before anything else comes to kill us.”
“It’s imperative we make it to Maken as soon as possible,” Jade insisted. “It’s safe there.”
“We can’t even go into Maken,” said Ashley, the barest hint of a whine tinting her voice. “How exactly is going into a town where we’re wanted criminals any safer than moving through the woods? We killed the beast that was after Ellie. I’m sure we’ll be okay to rest for a while.”
“Didn’t you hear a single thing I said to you about the floreans?” Jade asked, throwing her arms into the air. “Someone wants Elise, whether to kill her or capture her, I don’t know. We have to assume whoever that person is knows the florean’s dead and will be sending out another one. It’s been a long time since my lessons on enemy tactics used in the War of Souls, but from what I remember, the scouts usually have a range in which they can sense their intended target. Their only purpose is to seek out and drive their target to the florean in command. Floreans take their orders directly from their host and either kill or capture as directed.
“Anyone not on their target list will either be driven off or eliminated,” Jade continued. “That’s the reason the scouts lost interest in us as soon as Elise was separated. She’s clearly the target. Now, it was hard to tell what species the viper was in the dark but judging from its size and fang length, I’d bet it was a hiselpha.”
“Hey, I know what those are,” said Elise, laying with her head propped on Chase’s side. “There was one on Monoflufee. His name was Karek. He worked for Helenab capturing the good guys. He wasn’t that big in the show. His bite was supposed to make his victims fall into a gentle sleep while he transported them to the castle. I’m pretty sure the snake we saw would just split us in half if he bit us.”
Jade nodded. “Karek was one of Helenab’s favorite floreans. It was a special toxin he could emit on his breath, and not his bite, that would put his targets to sleep. I saw his statue when I visited the cursed castle she used to reside in.”
“You’ve been to the castle before?” Elise asked. “What’d it look like? Did it feel evil?”
Jade scowled. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. It’s quite possible we’ve moved out of the scouts’ range at the moment. I honestly don’t know enough about them to know what they do when their florean is killed, but the magician who sent them after us in the first place still doesn’t have what he sought. That’s you, Elise. He’ll be sending someone else after us sooner rather than later, and I intend on being safely within the borders of Maken before that happens. There are ancient protections on that city even Helenab was unable to break. That’s why it still stands when so many other villages surrounding the kingdom fell.”
“Just give us a couple hours,” said Ashley, firmly. “These three are not used to travelling at the rate you’ve been pushing us. I understand you want to keep us safe, but they’ll be completely useless without rest. You and I can keep watch while the others sleep. Like you said, the bad guys are going to have to regroup after their loss and then find us again. It’s not like we left an easy path to follow.”
Jade frowned and looked over the bedraggled group that sat on the forest floor. Elise’s body ached in a way she didn’t know was possible.
Aroon said, “Elll---eeee… Arrr---oooonnn.” His ears drooped and his single eye was lost behind a closing lid.
Jade shook her head. “Fine. You’re right. Happy now?”
“Ecstatic.” Ashley hopped back up to her feet.
“Don’t you want some sleep too?” Elise asked, yawning suddenly.
“No worries, kid,” said Ashley, giving Elise a blink-wink. “This isn’t the first trek I’ve made on too little sleep. Heck, we got a few hours last night. That’s more than I got in the wasteland, right Jade?”
Jade smiled, “I recall carrying you the last fifteen miles of that adventure. You’re a lot bigger now. If you go down, you’re on your own.”
Ashley stuck out her tongue. “If I hadn’t sprained my ankle escaping from that wideon, I would have made it the whole way. And I wasn’t the one trying to rob its nest of eggs, was I?”
“I admit it. I can’t resist a hard-boiled wideon egg,” said Jade. “It’s enough food to feed you for a week. All right, enough chatter. Ashley and I will stay on guard. You three sleep. I’ll be generous and give you three hours. After that, we are on the move and we don’t stop unless someone dies. If we keep our pace up, we can make it to Maken before dawn tomorrow.”
“Don’t you like it when she takes my ideas and makes them sound like she thought of them?” asked Ashley. “It sure makes a girl feel special.”
“Oh, shut up.” Jade pulled herself up into a nearby tree. Ashley laughed and headed to another tree opposite the one Jade had scaled.
Elise readjusted herself next to Chase. He took in a deep breath as she wrapped her arms around him and let the air out in an audible flutter of lips. “I love you, Chase,” she whispered to the dog and kissed the top of his head. She heard Aroon bedding down behind her and then quickly slipped into sleep.
What felt like minutes later, Ashley was shaking her shoulder, “Come on, sleepy-head. Time to wake up and face the grueling day.”
Elise groaned. “I don’t wanna,” she murmured, rolling away from the other girl.
“Awww, is the little princess tired?” Ashley teased.
“I’m not a princess. Shut up.” Elise’s whole body was stiff. A life of electronics hadn’t prepared her physically for life in
Clarensdell.
“Come on, kid.” Ashley spoke more gently. “Believe me, you do not want Jade coming over here.”
Elise rolled back toward the other girl with her eyelids feeling heavy. She sighed loudly. “Fine.” She grunted as she made her way to her feet.
“Here, let me show you a few stretches to help your jiggle get some wiggle,” said Ashley, in a serious voice. Elise giggled. The older girl led her through several stretches. Elise saw from the corner of her eye that Aroon had joined them. Jade stood with her arms crossed but didn’t interrupt. When Ashley finally proclaimed the stretching done Elise had to admit she did feel better. She was still stiff, but she thought she could walk.
“All right, ladies and beasts, time to get our butts moving,” said Jade. She turned and started moving without checking to see if the others followed.
Ashley shrugged at Elise, grabbed her staff, and followed the tall woman. Aroon and Chase stood patiently waiting for Elise. “You heard her. Let’s do this thing.” She turned and followed the other girls. The males of her party fell in behind her.
Silence enveloped the group as they travelled forward. No one spoke except to ask for the water skin on occasion. They were steadily making their way toward two enormous mountains. Elise felt the protest in her thighs when they started moving uphill. She kept her eyes focused on the back of Ashley’s shoulders as she tried to control her breathing. A small part of her knew if she had been with her parents, she would have been complaining.
Eventually the ground flattened out and widened. The group stopped to hydrate and pass out dried fruits and jerky. Everyone ate with fervor. As they finished up Jade stood to indicate it was time to go. Elise stood and walked next to her. She said, “You asked me what I thought I knew about the shape changers, but you never really told me about your people. What’s it like to change? Can I see it?”
A World Divided Page 19
