by M H Ryan
“Hey,” she said, holding her hand out.
The thing’s eyes narrowed, staring at her. It had an expressionless face, smoothed out from the Gard but if she had to guess, it at least was curious.
“Listen, we are trying to stop the people that did this to you and your kind.”’
It took a step forward and off the flower patch. It blew out a huff of air, sending a green goo over the grass in front of it.
“That’s right. We aren’t the enemy here.”
“Are you really trying to rationalize with a Volgard,” a muscular Pop whispered, standing next to her holding his pole.
It took a step closer.
“That’s right, put down that hammer and we can help you.”
It looked at its hammer and for a second, she thought it might have actually understood what she was saying. Then it roared and jumped in the air.
“I didn’t know they could jump,” Barkly said.
It’s swung it’s hammer around as it came down, straight at her.
She grabbed Pop Master and jumped to the side, just as the hammer struck the ground they had been standing on. The shock wave from the strike sent dirt and grass flying out from the impact. Bowsette tumbled with Pop over the soft grass as chunks of dirt pelted them. Pop grabbed her and rolled to the side as the hammer came down again, right where they had been.
She jumped to her feet and ran back as the thing swung the hammers sideways, skimming the tops of the grass, missing her and Pop by a few inches. The boys yelled as they pulled the flowers from the nearby patch, chomping the roots with those flat teeth. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen but since they called Thull flowers, Tornado Flowers, she had a good idea.
The Volgard roared again, swinging its hammer at her, but she kept back with Pop, staying out of range. It pissed her off how close the thing had come to killing her and she felt the fire burning inside. She took a deep breath and breathed fire into the air, aiming for the thing’s hideous face. It stumbled back as the rainbow of flames struck its chest. The fire stuck to the fleshy parts, setting the thing partially on fire.
It slapped its chest and the fire spread to its hand. It patted it’s chest more causing the flames to spread up its arm. It grabbed a handful of soil and smeared the dirt over the fire, extinguishing it. Then it did the same for its arm.
That’s when she heard the noise, like a storm of bees and the wind picked up. She spotted a yellow blur with two blades spinning out with it and nearby, a red blur, spinning with a hammer.
“Whoa,” she said.
They spun toward the Volgard, each moving to opposite sides of the thing. It swung its hammer, but Barkly moved out of the way with lightning speed and then went in with an attack. His hammer smashed against the Volgard’s leg, cutting deep chunks from it before spinning out of reach from it.
Soto spun next, attacking the other leg, slicing the thing’s calf hundreds of times in less than a second. The Volgard reached under the dirt and scooped up a massive section of grass, and with it, Soto. It flung the mound and man far and high into the air.
She watched in horror as the mass of soil and Soto flew overhead, but Soto stayed high, floating slowly down as the dirt pile came crashing back to the ground on a far hill.
The Volgard screamed out in pain and anger, falling to one knee. Soto got one attack in but it had been a devastating one. The thing’s leg bled with a mixture of green and black blood. It tried to stand but fell back to one knee. It was long from dead though.
“Hit its armor,” Bowsette yelled to Barkly spinning nearby.
Barkly spun toward the monster.
She sent a few fireballs at its face, striking the thing and keeping it from getting a good eye on Barkly. It swatted at the balls like flies. Barkly neared the Volgard, but it had been waiting for him.
“Hammer!” she yelled but it was too late.
The thing threw its hammer at Barkly. The hammer rolled like a massive tree log over the grass. Barkly moved but not fast enough. The end of the hammer clipped his legs, sending him falling face first on the dirt.
However, his was spinning so fast, his hammer dug into the grass and the motion propelled him like gunfire, spinning toward the Volgard. Barkly spun right up the side of the beast, ripping into the thing’s armor and peeling a section of metal on its chest.
The Gard, the green goo, streamed from the wound. It pushed its hand against the plate, but it bled around the opening.
“Pop, break it open and I’ll fill it with fire,” she said, taking steps toward it.
It growled at them and punched at the ground. She felt the tremor through her feet. It tried to stand but fell back to its knee.
“I’ll make this quick,” she said. “Now, Pop.”
Pop, still under the magic of his vial, ran toward the Volgard, it punched at Pop. He rotated, dodging it and jumping on the same arm that tried to punch him. The thing swung up as Pop jumped again, doing a front flip past the other hand trying to swat him from the sky. He stabbed at the broken patch of metal, sticking one of his forks into a hole at the edge of the stitching and landed on the thing’s shoulder. It swatted at him and tried to bite Pop, but he jumped down in a front flip, pulling the pole down with him and bending the whole metal patch open as he landed on the grass.
He jumped away from another swipe and ran from the spilling green.
Bowsette didn’t hesitate and used her breath. She sent a tight, but powerful stream of flames right into the thing’s exposed chest cavity. The insides of it ignited in a yellow glow, but she kept pushing the fire into the monster. She felt her reserves reaching the bottom and she screamed out her last flames, sending a whole cloud of fire over the creature, igniting much of its body in flames. The thing of nightmares fell forward and hit the ground with a sickening, sloshing, thump. Its hand bounced on the soft grass and then didn’t move again.
The buzzing sound came from a red blur, spinning near her. It started slowing enough that the blur became recognizable shapes and then, the spinning stopped. Barkly fell sideways, landing on his shoulder and proceeded to empty his stomach on the grass.
The same buzzing sound came from Soto as he floated down the sky. He stopped spinning just as he landed. He staggered a few feet before falling straight on his back.
“The world won’t stop spinning,” Barkly said, throwing up again.
She knelt next to Soto. He opened his eyes, but they were moving back and forth, perhaps in an attempt to catch her in his dizzying world.
“Did we win?” he asked.
“Fuck yeah, we did.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.
He stumbled forward and away from Bowsette, and then held up one finger while he turned away from her and threw up.
Barkly laughed. “I told you, you would spew.”
“Shut up,” he said, gagging. “I’m just spitting some stuff from my—” he threw up again.
“Mr. Iron stomach over there,” Barkly said, dry heaved and then punched himself in the chest.
Barkly stood with eyes closed and took a deep breath. “I’m okay,” he said. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, what about you, Pop?” Bowsette asked.
“I’m fine,” Pop growled as his muscles shrunk down.
“Fine,” Soto said, looking at Pop. “What you did was some ninth level ninja shit back there.”
“Yeah, you two didn’t even need us. Holy crap, that was awesome!”
Bowsette laughed.
“We all did our part,” Pop said. “Each of us contributed and you two have earned a smidgeon more respect from me. Well, done.”
“Awe, give me hug, Pop,” Barkly said, wiping his mouth before reaching for Pop.
“Pop Master,” he said, sticking his pole out inches from Barkly’s face.
Then Pop smiled, lowered his weapon and extended his hand.
“A handshake?” Barkly said, shaking Pop’s hand. “I’m wearing you down, aren’t I? Soon, you’re going t
o be asking me for a hug.”
Pop yanked his hand from Barkly. “I take my respect back.”
“Can’t,” Barkly said. “No take backs.”
Pop took a deep breath.
“Hey, guys?” Soto asked. “Wasn’t that Moleman strapped to our backpacks?”
Bowsette turned to see the backpacks, but Moleman was gone.
“Shit,” she said and ran toward them.
She slid to a stop on Trench dirt and stared at the broken bindings. The thing must have had a knife on him.
Pop hobbled up to them and pulled open his backpack.
“It’s gone,” he said.
“What’s gone?” Soto asked.
“The book of Credezza.”
“Moleman ripped us off?” Barkly asked.
“It would appear so,” Soto said.
Bowsette looked across the grassy plains, past the dead Volgard and the craters it left around its body, past the dirt clumps it created from sliding to a stop and over the hill, to the Tower Castle.
Pop stood next to her, looking out at it. “She won’t give it up easily. If she will even admit to having it. This wouldn’t have happened if not for me. I would like to give my resignation as Pop Master and take The Walk.”
Bowsette sighed, in this context, The Walk most likely meant Pop intended to walk off the staircase. “I don’t even know what a Pop Master is.”
“It’s better this way. You may shame my name as you see fit,” he turned and Bowsette grabbed his shoulder.
“No,” she said.
“I—” he opened his mouth to protest when a noise rumbled from below and soon, it seemed to be everywhere as if the whole plain shook. They all stepped back from the edge of the grass.
“If it’s another Volgard, I’m jumping off The Staircase,” Barkly said.
Moleman popped up from the same hole as he had earlier.
Pop moved forward, but she put a hand on him.
The small Moleman climbed from the hole and held out the Book of Credezza. She took it and he nodded.
Another Moleman popped up from a different spot and then more from all over the grassy edge. Soon, there were dozens if not a hundred Molemen popped halfway out of the ground, all staring at her.
“Bowsette,” Moleman said, hissing between his large front teeth as he spoke. “You kill monster. You not monster. You good.”
He slapped his long foot on the ground in a series of thumps and then kneeled before her, with both hands on the dirt. He patted the ground with his hands, making a rhythmic beat and soon, the other Molemen climbed from their holes, kneeled facing her and patted the ground.
It started low and slow and gathered in speed and intensity. Soon, all that could be heard was the pounding of the Molemen’s hands against the ground. She felt the vibrations through her feet and she stood speechless before them.
Then, it stopped at once as if it had been a song and they collectively knew the last note. The sound echoed through the planes and then was gone. A bit of dust swirled in front of her as Moleman stood up.
“We honor you and we take you, safe passage to Princess Rubber.”
“Thank you,” she said, holding the book against her chest and bowing.
All the Molemen stood and walked toward them, forming a circle near the grassy edge.
She turned to her men. “Looks like we got an escort.”
Pop nodded.
“And you never lost this book,” she handed it to him.
He took it and stuffed it in his backpack. Then he took the straps and pulled the massive pack up onto his back.
“You’re still not going to let us help with that pack, are you?” Soto asked.
“No,” Pop said.
“It’s okay,” Bowsette said. “He can handle that pack and much more.”
Pop nodded and she thought he might have even had a hint of a smile. She was glad he had changed his mind about The Walk and tonight, she would have to have a talk with him about his morbid intentions.
“It’s going to take two days to get to the castle,” Pop said and looked to Barkly and Soto. “So even if we have this escort, we can never let our guard down. The second we step onto that grass, we are on foreign soil. With a hundred thousand coins on her head, it’s going to draw out every scoundrel from here to the Water Kingdom.”
“We’ll guard her with our lives,” Soto said.
“What he said,” Barkly added, spinning his new hammer in his hands.
“Good, tonight at camp, we start your first training session.”
“Really, tonight? I just did a spin class from hell, Pop Master, and these bones are probably brittle. I might even need a healing salve rub down or…”
Bowsette took a step forward and onto the grass, trying to ignore the conversation behind her. The Molemen moved with her as she walked through the grass. She wasn’t sure how well of a reception she was going to get from Princess Rubber or if she would try to cut off her head because a hundred thousand coins would be tempting for even a kingdom funded attack against her, and throw in another ten for Barkly and Soto.
As she walked along the grass, the Molemen moved in silence, creating a complete circle around the four of them. She created a path that steered them away from the dead Volgard and to a forest in the distance she spotted. They’d make camp for the night and tomorrow, they’d reach the castle.
Bowsette
And Her Super Harem Bros: Book 2
will be released soon.
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