Preta faces the voice. “I thought we were supposed to stick together.” She huffs in frustration and hikes up a hill toward Agna for a minute and then stops. “Umm—Agna? Where are you?”
“I’m over here,” Agna says.
Preta shifts her body toward her voice and continues hiking forward through the vines and rocky ground. “Agna?”
“Here, Preta, up here, hurry up.”
“I’m coming. Geez, when did you get so darn fast?”
“Here, over this way, hurry, run.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Preta runs for a minute then stops. “Hey, you told me not to run.” Her eyes widen. Leshy.
“Preta, Preta, come on, hurry up.”
She contemplates what to do next. Where did Agna go? She can’t be far. Preta scoffs and nods as it hits her. Agna knows, and I—I’m the bait.
“Come to me, over here,” Agna says.
Preta follows Agna’s voice and slows her pace to a crawl. The terrain’s elevation climbs and transitions to more rock with fewer vines and trees. “I’m coming as fast as I can. I sprained my ankle.”
“Almost to me, keep coming, almost—”
Preta sighs. “I’m coming, I’m coming. Hey, where the heck are you?”
“Behind you!”
“Huh?” Preta spins around into the hairy chest of an eight-foot-tall beast. Two glowing lime-green eyes glare back at her. The leshy’s tattered wool overalls stick out in stark contrast to his gigantic body. His big hairy toes wiggle and stick out the ends of his scruffy, shredded canvas shoes.
Preta scans the leshy, not believing her eyes.
The leshy grabs Preta by her arm, and she screams.
He picks her up and tosses her over his shoulder. “A pleasure to meet you, Preta Penter. Lyle have fun, fun, fun tonight.”
“No!” Preta says. “Put me down.” She kicks in a flurry as she pounds the leshy’s back with her fists.
“Now, now, Preta Penter, that’s not very nice,” Lyle says in a deep, raspy voice that shakes Preta’s spine.
“Nice? You took my brothers, and you have me on your shoulder. Let me go, you beast.”
“Hmm—beast, is it? Your brothers will be tasty for dinner tonight. I know a great recipe, you’re gonna absolutely love it.”
“What?” Preta kicks and screams harder.
The leshy carries her inside a dark, damp cave, and she stops screaming. She assesses the situation. Bone piles line the entrance. Ahead, the cave opens up into a lit room. The deeper they go, the warmer and brighter it gets. With grey gags in their mouths, against the far wall, Deet and Yaz sit back to back wrists and ankles bound. Around the cave, random torches stick out of notches in the rock. She gazes up at the large cavern ceiling. The occasional stalactite droops; and in the dark, with only a glimmer of light, bats chirp and fly above, making it appear as if the ceiling is moving and alive.
Preta scowls. “You’ll be in big trouble, leshy, I’m a powerful wizard—I’m warning you.”
“Funny girl, you’re no wizard, you’re just a little girl, and please, my name is Lyle. Leshy is so—so crude.”
Angry, spittle flies out of Preta’s mouth as she speaks. “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t release me and my brothers, leshy, you hairy beast.”
Lyle places Preta on the ground in the opposite corner away from her brothers.
Helpless, Deet and Yaz peek at Preta from the other side of the cave.
Next to her brothers, an unevenly balanced moldy wooden table with broken plates stacked on top of it. In the other corner, a huge red-checkered bed mat. Near the room’s center, a giant dug out fire pit with a large black cast iron pot sits over glowing embers. A faint stream of black smoke rises straight up toward the cavern ceiling.
Lyle moves to the pot and sticks his nose inside. “Preta Penter, what if I address you as smelly, ugly girl? How would you like that?”
“What? How about you shut up, you crazy hairy, hairy thing,”
Lyle smirks. “Now you’re just being nasty, smelly, ugly girl.”
“Let my brothers go!”
“If I let them go, then what can I cook you for dinner?”
“You expect me to eat my brothers? What’s wrong with you?”
Lyle’s head flinches in surprise. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Like I said, you have to taste this recipe I do before you judge—it’s to die for, and I know you’ll love it.” He slides a lid off a metal bucket and sticks his hand inside. He swirls and swishes his hand around the rusty metal as if searching for something.
“I’m not eating my brothers, leshy,” Preta says, sternly pointing her finger at him.
“Well then, I guess I can always eat you.” Lyle fishes out a yellow-and-black speckled toad from the bucket; he tilts his head back and drops it into his mouth. Lyle gulps, burps, and licks his lips with his bright-yellow tongue. “Mmm—nostril.”
An awkward silence befalls them as Preta is unsure what to do or say next. A pain in her stomach, she scowls and stutters, “M-my friend, she’s on the way, and she’s powerful.”
“The old woman?” Lyle chuckles. “Is she powerful like you, smelly ugly girl? Ha ha ha ha ha—”
Preta, threatening, continues pointing her shaky finger at Lyle’s chest. “She is more powerful than me, and you’ll be sorry.”
“Yes, I’m sure I will, now let’s see here.” Lyle hovers over Deet and Yaz. “Which one do you think? This one seems particularly tasty,” and Lyle pokes Yaz’s cheek.
Preta springs off the floor and runs toward Lyle. She kicks him in the leg and punches him in the back.
Lyle let’s Preta kick and hit him over and over. “Ha ha ha. Smelly, ugly girl, you funny, now sit in the corner, and be quiet. It’s time I prepare dinner.”
Preta punches him in the back. “No!”
Lyle’s brow furrows. “Don’t annoy me, now sit.”
Preta snorts in spurts. “Annoy you? Annoy you? You get away from my brothers, you hairy big-toed monster.” Preta aims her heel, jumps in the air, and stomps on Lyle’s big toe.
“Aww-raa-you—” In a fury, Lyle spins around and crouches square to Preta. At eye level, Lyle roars. The vibration shakes the ground and loose rock dislodges from the cave wall. Thick mustard-yellow wind bursts out of his mouth, blowing Preta’s hair and the skin on her face straight back.
The putrid gas intoxicates Preta. Dizzy, she collapses back onto her butt, drunk.
Lyle lifts his foot and kisses it. “You’ll survive, ouchy big toe. That mean smelly, ugly girl.” He stands up. “Ouch! That wasn’t very nice. You do that again, and I’ll be cooking my whole-family recipe for one tonight.”
“Leshy, enough!” Agna says from the cavern’s entrance.
“My name’s Lyle, not leshy. And I’ve got a great recipe for old ladies who don’t mind their own business.”
Preta’s head wobbles. “Now you in twouble, leshy heshy wheshy.”
Lyle crouches down and roars again at Preta.
The ferocious force of his second yellow wind blows Preta back onto her back. Lyle’s extra dose of stench breath makes Preta even drunker and more dazed. Her eyes roll back into her skull, and drool drips from the corners of her mouth.
“Smelly, ugly girl, my name is Lyle!”
Agna steps into the light. “Lyle, what do you require to let my friends go free?”
“I want fun. Then a delicious, fresh, tasty man dinner would be nice.” Lyle dips his hairy finger into the cast iron pot and stirs the green liquid. He snickers and removes the wet, steaming finger. Lyle’s bulging green eyes widen farther as he licks each finger, even the mud-caked dry ones.
“Is there something else you would take instead?” Agna says.
“Come now, old woman, how about you join us for the festivities? There’ll be plenty of man for everyone.” Lyle points at an oversized wooden chair. “Come and sit next to the smelly, ugly girl.”
Preta props herself up and blinks her eyes.
With double vision and in a stench-breath drunken stupor, she grins watching two blurry Agnas move toward her. With wandering gaze, Preta’s head bobs and circles.
Agna sits and wraps her arm around Preta’s shoulder to comfort her.
Preta gives Agna a goofy grin, leans over, and kisses Agna on the cheek. “Agna, I love you. Look at the big hairy thing. Isn’t it funny? You know what? We should have us some hairy leshy wheshy for dinner. I have a great recipe.” Preta snorts like a pig then hiccups.
Lyle chuckles while poking the coals in the fire. “Smelly, ugly girl, it’s a well known fact that no recipe makes Lyle taste good, you would be sorely disappointed.”
Preta slurps her drool and lets out a loud burp. “Agna, how about we boil heshy leshy for fun? That would be fun, right? Agna, I love you.”
“That wasn’t the fun I was referring to,” Lyle says.
Agna rubs Preta’s back. “We don’t want to hurt you, Lyle, we just want to be on our way.”
“So soon? The fun, fun, fun hasn’t even begun yet.”
Agna points her shaky finger at Lyle. “Let us go, and no harm will come to you.”
Lyle raises the fire poker, aiming it toward Agna. “You don’t order me. I’m a forest guardian, a leshy of the sixth order. I’m the one who orders, not you.” He rubs his hands together in anticipation. “Now that that’s cleared up, time for fun.” Lyle licks his fingers and moves to Yaz. He removes Yaz’s gag and tosses it into the simmering pot.
Yaz violently shakes his head back and forth. “I’m gonna mount your hairy, green-glowing eyeballed head on a wall, you monster.”
“What’s with the obscenities with you people?” Lyle says, flapping his arms up and down like a bird with wide wings.
A green mist puffs out of Lyle’s hairy armpits, and it floats like smoke into Yaz’s nose.
Yaz’s head circles, and his eyes dance.
Preta stands, her eyes widen. “Yaz?”
With his stupid grin reminiscent of his drunken foray at Deet’s bachelor party, Yaz ogles Preta. He giggles once, hiccups, then giggles again. With every passing second the intensity builds. His body twitches, and he laughs hysterically. Wrinkles on Yaz’s face accentuate, and tears flow from his eyes and stream down his cheeks. The intensity of Yaz’s laughter grows, and he rolls on the ground, kicking his bound feet in the air like a dog on his back dreaming he’s chasing a squirrel.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Lyle says, quickly clapping his hands together. “Watch, Agna. Watch, smelly, ugly girl. This is the best part. Watch, watch, watch, watch; fun, fun, fun, fun.”
Preta squirms as Yaz rolls on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. Each passing second, his laughter grows more intense. He gasps for air and coughs.
Yaz’s bulging eyes swell with water, and his mouth contorts into an unnatural, stiff grin.
Preta reaches out her hand. “He can’t breathe, stop it, Lyle, you’re killing him!”
Lyle hops up and down, clapping. “Fun, fun, fun, fun; laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh; fun, fun, fun; laugh, laugh; die!”
Preta feels a jerk on her shoulders, pulling her straight up. An aqua-blue glow emanates off the cave walls, forming a shadow of Preta connected to Agna.
Deet’s head twitches, and his eyes widen in surprise.
Lyle stops laughing. His grin shifts into a scowl. Lyle crouches down with arms raised.
“Rumble-Elbmur,” Agna’s calm voice says inside of Preta’s head.
With palms inward and eyes shut, Preta’s arms rise to her chest. She’s a spectator of her own body. Her feet planted on the ground, she feels yet can’t control. Energy courses through her body, building in her chest.
Preta’s arms shoot toward the ceiling above Lyle. “Rumble-Elbmur!”
A faint brownish-grey light strobe bursts out of Preta’s hands, hovers for a second, then disappears. The connection with Agna breaks, and Preta falls to her knees. She gazes up at Lyle.
Lyle roars, blasting Preta with another dose of stench wind.
Above Lyle, small pieces of rock crack and rain down.
Agna lifts Preta to her feet and out of the way from the crumbling rock. “Let’s go.”
Dazed from the connection and Lyle's third dose of stench breath, Preta stutters and sways, her eyes rolling. “Are we gonna eat the hairy smell lesh-whesh?” Preta giggles and her legs gyrate like wet noodles.
Agna tugs Preta. “Come on, snap out of it, help me, girl.”
A larger piece of ceiling breaks off, falling onto Lyle’s head. The leshy tumbles to the floor with a thud.
Preta giggles hysterically while pointing at Lyle. “Oh, fun, fun, fun, fun!”
“Snap out of it!” Agna says, dragging Preta to her brothers. She releases Preta and unties Deet. “We need to go, now.”
Deet slings his gear and helps Yaz get to his feet.
Yaz, still in shock from his near-death laughing hysterics, is mumbling and unable to stand without help.
Lyle is passed out on the ground and snoring.
Agna drags Preta past the leshy.
Preta jerks loose from Agna’s grip and stares at Lyle lying on the floor. She jumps up and down, clapping and snorting like a pig. “Fun, fun, fun; hairy, smelly leshy wheshy heshy; ha, ha, ha-ha, ha—”
Agna yanks Preta’s arm. “Stop it, let’s go.”
Preta stumbles forward. “That was fun, Agna. Can we do it again?”
Agna peeks back at Deet struggling with Yaz. “Move faster.”
Preta exits the cave, and her head sways in circles as she gazes at the sun.
Deet emerges with Yaz, and they bump into Preta and Agna.
“Fun, fun, fun, Dee,” Preta says. “You want to do it again?”
Deet ignores her. His eyes meet Agna’s. “Where to now?”
Agna flicks her head away from the cave. “Down the hill and far away from here. Stick together and don’t trust what you can’t see.”
Deet scowls, glaring at Agna. “I’m learning that fact over and over ever since I met you.”
ONE IN THE SAME
With Preta in tow, Agna weaves her way deeper into the Yelton.
Yaz limps with an arm hooked around Deet’s neck.
Preta regains her senses as the pine branches strike her body and face. She wiggles herself out of Agna’s grasp.
Agna reaches back in a panic, and Preta waves her off. “I’m good, I’m right behind you.”
For an hour, they travel downhill and penetrate deeper into the forest. No one says a word.
They emerge into a clearing with a small creek weaving through tall limp grass.
“I think we’ll be all right here for a while,” Agna says, “let’s stop and rest.”
Deet surveys the area to make sure it’s safe. He lowers Yaz to the ground and follows him, plopping onto his butt. They both lean back and lie flat on the ground as they breathe heavy.
Agna extends a water pouch toward Deet.
Deet sits up and takes the water. He throws his head back and drinks. After a few sips, he thrusts the container into Yaz’s chest.
Yaz doesn’t move. He just clutches the water bag close to his belly and breathes. “So where the hell are we now?”
Deet unfolds the map and points to it. “We were in this grey section before the thing got us, but now I have no idea, I lost my compass on our little adventure with stinky breath.”
Preta sits down next to them. “So we’re lost. Agna, do you know where we are?”
“Sorry, Preta, I don’t. All I know is we are deep in the Yelton.”
“This is turning into a real right shit plan,” Yaz says.
Deet sighs. “If you didn’t chase ghosts, we wouldn’t be lost right now.”
“Hey, somehow you managed to end up right next to me, Brother. So what ghost did you chase?”
“It’s only because I was looking for you that I ended up next to you.”
In frustration, Agna flaps her arm in front of them. “Boys, enough! Arguing won’t ge
t us anywhere.”
Deet glares at Agna. “Then what’s your suggestion, witch?”
“I don’t know yet, and I’m not a witch.”
Deet sits up and gazes up to the sky. “It should work,” he says to himself, and he stands up and scans the ground. He snatches up a long stick tangled in the grass and sharpens it to a point. Deet moves to the center of the clearing and thrusts the stick into the ground. He pulls out his sword, marking the dirt at the tip of the stick’s shadow.
“What are you doing?” Preta says.
“He’s making a compass,” Yaz says.
Deet sits back down. “We wait and let the shadow tell us our next move. The shadow generally moves in a west to east direction. Let’s eat and rest and let the stick and sun show us which direction we need to go.”
Preta stares at the stick for a half hour, waiting for the shadow to move. She points with a shaky finger. “There, it moved.”
“We’ll wait longer to make sure,” Deet says. “Relax, rest, and save your energy.”
Deet’s words go in one ear and out the other as she continues staring, trying to grab the shadow with her mind and pull it to make it move faster.
Yaz falls asleep, and Agna is gazing off into the trees, lost in thought.
“You going to just sit there and not explain yourself?” Deet says to Agna.
Agna, taken aback by the affront, her eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play coy, I saw what you did with the light. You can do what Preta can do.”
“Oh, well, the time wasn’t right to tell you before,” and Agna glances away from Deet’s eyes, trying to defuse the situation.
“Not right? You’ve got to be kidding me. You knew Preta was in danger all along, and you still didn’t explain yourself thoroughly.”
“But I warned you, and you chose not to heed those warnings.”
“Warnings, yes, maybe, in a cryptic way you did. Though you could’ve explained more to make it clear to us.”
Agna talks with her hands. “I’m sorry, I find it best the less people know, the better, especially when it comes to what Preta and I can do with the light. There’s much you don’t understand, Deet Penter. I would’ve explained more to you and Preta when the time was right, though last week the time wasn’t right.”
Wintermore (Aeon of Light Book 1) Page 18
