“No one knows what Obus does or why,” the little man squealed. “We have our orders, and those orders tell us to deliver any strangers to Obus, Your Highness. That’s all I know.”
Elle frowned. “So Obus doesn’t know about us specifically? He never told you we were coming or anything?”
“Oh, he knows all about you,” Rufrout replied. “He told us to be on the look-out for you, and we were to deliver you forthwith, Your Highness.”
“You better be telling me the truth,” Elle returned.
“Oh, I am, Your Highness!” he exclaimed. “Oh, please don’t feed me to the monster, Your Highness. That’s all I ask.”
“What monster is you talking about?” she asked. “What monster would I feed you to?”
“That’s Obus’s pet. Anyone who disobeys Obus gets fed to the monster. Everybody knows that, Your Highness.”
“All right. I’m not going to feed you to any monster. Just take your people and get out of here. Don’t bother us again.”
She drop-punted him into the trees again, and he darted away still whimpering. She turned toward Robbie. He propped himself on his elbow and watched her, but he didn’t get up. His hair hung disheveled around his face, and his skin sagged on his bones.
Elle watched Rufrout out of sight before she returned to Robbie and sank down on one knee next to him. “Are you all right?”
He nodded, but he didn’t look all right. “I’m awricht, lass. I’m just…”
He never finished the sentence. A spine-tingling shriek echoed out of the woods, and thousands of the little creatures charged out to pounce on Elle and Robbie. Before she could get to her feet, dozens upon dozens of the things attacked her from all directions. They climbed up her clothes and clawed at her eyes and hair. They weighed her down to the ground and almost subdued her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw them on top of Robbie. They pinned him to the ground and obscured him from view. He tried to fight them off, but in his weakened state, he couldn’t get to his feet.
Elle reared under her tormentors, but she couldn’t see a thing with so many bodies crowded around her head. The imps hung off her arms and clung to her legs so she couldn’t move. They swarmed all over her back and head. They tripped her up so she stumbled and crashed down on one knee.
Desperate fury broke out of her soul. The more they weighed her down and threatened to overcome her, the more enraged she became. She roared out her bottomless anger at these things trying to destroy her. They tried to kidnap Robbie and now they wanted to drag her off somewhere, too.
She shook herself like a wet dog. She flung the things off her in every direction. They hit the trees and the dirt and rocketed back at her for more. She stomped her feet hard against the ground until they fell off her pant legs.
More and more of them came at her every minute. She hated them. She sensed they were evil when she first saw them, and now she knew it for certain. She vented all her spleen against them, and she didn’t feel the least bit bad about it.
She seized an imp from her left shoulder and hurled it with all her might at the nearest tree trunk. She reveled in the satisfying crunch of its bones against the bark. She set to work to do as much damage as she could to these despicable little creatures. They didn’t want her feeding them to the monster—whatever that was—but they turned her into a monster.
She threw them away as fast as she could, but she couldn’t keep up with their sheer numbers. Once they got on top of Robbie, the extra imps came at her twice as hard. She had to get rid of them. She had to teach them a lesson so they never came at her again.
She couldn’t get to Robbie’s sword fast enough. She cast her eye around the forest and saw what she wanted. She scooped up a stout stick and swung it. She clubbed a dozen imps aside in one blow. She cut a vicious swath through their numbers until she cleared a space around her.
The imps retreated into the trees en masse. Elle stormed through the last stragglers and gave them an extra thump for good measure. Some of them hid behind the trees and stole peeks at her, but when she brandished her club at them, they disappeared and didn’t show their faces again.
She stormed through the fallen leaves to Robbie and batted his tormentors away in short order. She caught the last squealing imp in one hand, tossed it into the air, and batted it as hard as she could into next week to teach them all a lesson about messing with her again.
In a few minutes, not one imp remained in sight. Elle hefted her club. A weapon felt good in her hands. She would keep it from now on, just in case anybody else tried to pull a fast one on her.
She returned to Robbie. He lay panting and beaten on the ground. Blood came out of his nose and from a gash near one ear. She knelt down next to him. “Can you stand?”
He gasped for breath. “I cinnae sit up. Whate’er they put in that ale drained me strength. I only hope it’s no permanent, or I’m sunk.”
“Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’m sure it will wear off. We’ll make camp here and see how you feel in the morning.”
She started to stand up, but he caught her hand. “Ye were richt, Elle. I should ha’e listened tae ye.”
She smiled down at him. “Never mind. I was right, but I could have been wrong. Lie quietly now and try to rest. You need all your strength back, so don’t overdo it. I’ll build a fire, and we can spend the night here until you feel better.”
He looked around. “We left all our food supplies back in the village.”
“I’ll go back and get them,” she replied. “Those things won’t bother us again anytime soon.”
Chapter 8
Elle woke in the cold, clear light of another morning, and her hand tightened around her club. The first thing she noticed was Robbie gone. She lay down next to him last night. He fell asleep long before she did, and she built up the fire before she let her eyes close for a few hours of sleep.
She sat up. He was nowhere in sight. She got to her feet and walked around the forest in search of him, but she couldn’t find him. Where did he go? Did he just up and leave her in the middle of the night?
She couldn’t believe that. She searched the whole down before she let herself admit the truth. Something must have happened to him. Maybe those imps came back and carried him off.
She got hold of her club and the last remains of the food supplies. She slung the bundle over her shoulder and set off up the hill the way she came. She would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she did. She would break a thousand heads if that’s what it took.
She stormed into the imps’ village and went straight to the mushroom where she knew Rufrout lived. She planted her feet wide, took aim with her club, and smashed the mushroom aside. The stalk snapped, and the toadstool went flying. It left the innards of the house in place with a tiny woman and even tinier children screaming and crying in the breeze.
The wind caught the flames on the hearth. The steam from the tea kettle blew across the glen. A little girl started up in bed and shrieked when she saw Elle wielding a club over the remains of the house.
Rufrout darted out of another room somewhere. “What are you doing? You ruined my house.”
Elle propped her club on her shoulder and seized the little man. She brought him close to her face. “What have you done with him? Where’s Rob? Did you take him to Obus the way you tried to before?”
“Who? What? What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Elle, snapped. “You kidnapped Rob. You did something to him in the night while I was asleep. Where is he? You must know.”
He struggled in her grasp. “I don’t know anything about anything. Don’t you think I have better things to do in the middle of the night than keep track of your business? Put me down. Do you know how long it’s going to take me to fix that house you just destroyed?”
Elle strode over to the nearest toadstool and hauled back her club. “I’m gonna work my way through this village and smash every mushroom
I see if you don’t start talking.”
“No, no!” Rufrout cried. “Don’t do that! I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just don’t do that. Don’t harm any more of our houses.”
“Tell me, then. Where is Rob? What did you do to him?”
“We didn’t do anything to him,” Rufrout shrieked. “I didn’t know anything happened to him. We never went near your camp after…. after yesterday.”
“If you didn’t do something, you must know what happened to him,” Elle replied. “He was asleep by our fire last night, and now he’s gone.”
“Obus must have taken him,” Rufrout wailed. “That’s the only answer. When we failed to turn you over, he must have taken the man himself. Yeah. That’s what happened.”
“Are you sure?” Elle asked.
“Of course,” Rufrout stammered. “Nothing happens in this forest without Obus knowing about it. He must have been watching and seen us fail to take you in. We tried, but when you wouldn’t drink the ale, we had no choice but to take the man. No one who shows up in this forest resists our ale. That’s why we failed.”
Elle lowered her club. “You’re gonna show me where I can find this Obus character. You’re gonna take me there so I’m certain to find him.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t do that!” Rufrout cried. “No one can go near Obus without his permission. He would feed me to the monster for sure if I did that, and then who would take care of my family? My children would starve. My wife would die of heartbreak. Put me down. I can’t take you to Obus.”
“No?” Elle moved the little man close to her own mouth. She opened her jaws wide and pointed Rufrout’s head into the gaping hole.
“No!” the little man screamed. “Anything but that! All right! All right! I’ll take you there.”
Elle pulled him back and smiled. “That’s better. That’s what I want to hear.”
She popped the little man in her jacket pocket, shouldered her club, and started across the down. Rufrout floundered to stick his head out of her pocket. “Hey! You can’t take me away. What will my family do while I’m away? I have to fix the house. What if a storm kicks up and the children catch a cold? What if the fire goes out? What if a fox comes along and eats them? Oh, dear, what am I gonna do?”
“You’re gonna help me find Obus,” she replied. “The sooner you do that, the sooner you can come back and fix the house, and I’m sure the others will help you. Now come on. Put your head down and keep quiet.”
She headed across the down, and Rufrout cowered in her pocket. She heard him moaning and complaining to himself, but she paid no attention. She wanted to make him suffer for what he’d done, and the more he fretted and worried over his family, the more cooperative he would be.
She walked past her camp, but she refused to look at the cold, dead remains of the fire. She didn’t want to see Robbie not lying there where he should have been. Where was he right now? What if Obus did something to him?
She shook those thoughts out of her head. Wherever Robbie was, he would take care of himself. She had to find Obus. That’s the best thing she could do right now. If Obus couldn’t tell her where Robbie was, at least he could tell her how to find the Phoenix Throne.
She walked across the down and down the hill on the far side, just the way Rufrout told Robbie. The forest closed in with its dark shadows, but her club gave her courage. She would smash any head that needed to be smashed to do what she had to do.
She walked a long way over flat country, all covered in dense forest. She stopped and looked around, and Rufrout poked his head out. “Why are we stopping?”
“Where are we going?” she asked him. “How do we find Obus?”
“Keep going,” he told her. “Just keep going. We’re nowhere near Obus’s house.”
She glared down at the little man. “You better not be trying to trick me. You know what will happen if you do.”
“Oh, I would never try to trick you. I’ll take you to Obus as long as you let me go before you confront him. Vicious, powerful vicious is Obus, Your Highness. You wouldn’t want to go near him.”
“I wouldn’t have to go near him if he hadn’t taken Rob,” she replied. “Now keep your head down. You’re not going home until we get there, and if you steer me wrong, it’ll be the worse for you.”
He muttered down in her pocket, and she hiked onward. She fell into her own thoughts the farther she went. The forest took on its old menacing atmosphere, now that she was alone. She never let herself admit she needed anybody, especially not an overbearing brute like Robbie.
She sure wished she had him with her now, though. It wasn’t just his company she craved. Something about him drew her to him. His very overbearing nature made him irresistible to her. She never let herself feel this way about any man, and she didn’t want to feel it about him.
The fact remained that she did feel that way about him. She wanted him back. She didn’t want to face this journey without him. No one else could fill that place.
She walked a lot farther than she would have if she was with him. She didn’t want to stop. She didn’t want to camp for the night without him across the fire or sitting next to her. She needed him to share her hardships and her thoughts. She needed him to talk to.
She always enjoyed her own company and spending time alone. She never needed anyone to talk to before, and she didn’t want just anybody. She wanted him and him alone.
Why didn’t she kiss him the other night when she had the chance? She might never get another chance to kiss him, and she might never feel this way for any other man as long as she lived.
She couldn’t let that happen. She had to find him and get him back. He couldn’t be dead. She wouldn’t allow it. She would force Obus to give him back to her.
She walked into the dark, insensible to hunger and fatigue, until Rufrout popped out one more time. “Aren’t you going to stop?”
She didn’t answer.
“We have to stop for the night. You can’t just keep walking. You’ll get lost in the woods.”
She threw herself down on a pile of leaves. “Oh, all right. We’ll stop.”
He hopped out of her pocked and looked around. Night closed in all around them so Elle could barely see a few feet into the trees.
“Aren’t you going to build a fire?” Rufrout asked.
“What for?” she asked. “We’re only going to go to sleep and then wake up and start walking again. We don’t need a fire.”
Rufrout’s face fell. He looked back and forth between Elle and the forest. She sensed those malicious forces creeping closer out there. They circled to grab and tear again. Without a circle of firelight, they would lurk until they saw a chance to strike.
Rufrout held himself together for another moment before he collapsed on the ground at Elle’s side. He wrung his hands and tore at his clothes. “Oh, what will become of me? What will become of my poor children, all alone and friendless in the world? They’ll freeze in the night. They’ll starve before I get home. The rain will soak their beds and the wind will blow the food off the tables.”
Elle threw up her hands. “Oh, all right! I’ll build a fire. Just be quiet. You’re grating on my nerves.”
She set to work, and in a minute, a cheerful blaze drove the frightening shades back into the forest.
Chapter 9
Elle lay on her stomach in the rough brush and surveyed the little cottage tucked into the trees. A curl of smoke came out of its stone chimney. Moss grew on the roof thatch, and the sun twinkled on the granite blocks forming its walls.
Elle squinted at the house. Then she peered up at the sky. Was that really the sun? Yes, the sky cleared to a beautiful blue, and the sun sparkled out of it in a warm summer day. That house didn’t look like any wizard’s house. It looked like any quaint little country cottage. It looked the way the imps’ houses would have looked if that heavy foreboding evil didn’t hang over the village.
“Are you sure this is the right place?”
�
��Oh, very sure, Your Highness,” Rufrout replied. “That’s Obus’s house. If he’s not there, he’ll be there soon. I’d wager he is in there, though. See? The fire’s going. Oh, look. You can see him moving behind the windows. He’s there. All you have to do is walk up the path and knock on the door. Can I go now?”
“Are you certain this is the right place?”
“This is the right place. This is the place we bring outsiders when they appear in our village.”
Elle smacked her lips. “I don’t even want to know how many people you’ve done that to. You would have done it to us, too, if I hadn’t stopped you.”
“Can I go home now, Your Highness?” he asked. “You said I could leave as soon as I showed you where to find Obus. I have to get home to my family now. They’ll be ever so worried, and I have to help them rebuild the house and all.”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I have a good mind to keep you here until I see whether Obus really is there. You could be trying to trick me again.”
He fell on his knees next to her. “Oh, please don’t make me go near the cottage! Obus can be powerful vicious when anything doesn’t suit his liking. If he found out I showed you where to find him, he would feed me to the monster for sure. Oh, please let me go, Your Highness! What did I ever do to deserve this?”
“Fine,” she snapped. “You can go. Just remember, though. I know how to find my way back to your village. If anything goes wrong in there, I’m coming back to find you, and I’ll be very, very hungry when I do.”
Rufrout didn’t wait around to reply. He scampered off into the woods as fast as his tiny legs would carry him. In half a second, he vanished like he was never there.
Elle faced the little cottage. Whatever Rufrout said, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that cottage contained any danger for her. How could such a fearsome wizard live in such a nice cottage? How come the sun shone on that cottage and its glistening flowerbeds and not any other part of this weird country?
She wouldn’t find out lying out here in the leaves. She got to her feet, took a firm grip on her club, and strode up the garden path to the door. She raised her hand to knock, but to her surprise, the door opened from inside instead.
Dragon Quest Page 5
