The Changing

by Jeremy Laszlo

  "My power has no effect on it, Borrik!" Seth shouted as the queen hissed and turned to face them directly. "I'll keep the small ones out of the way. You and your men see if you can bring her down," Seth commanded.

  Without so much as an instant of hesitation Borrik and his men sprang into action, sprinting across the distance in hopes of overwhelming the queen. Seth had not expected such quick obedience, and as such barely managed to blaze a trail for his men before focusing his efforts on keeping both the area surrounding the queen and the area surrounding himself and his allies clear. Keeping it as simple as he was able, Seth alternated between blasting those enemies around himself and then those around the queen. Although focused on his task, Seth watched as his men closed the gap between themselves and their target and sprung for the attack.

  With lightning-like reflexes the horrid queen grabbed six of Seth’s wolf men in each of her massive claws, plucking them out of the air and shearing them in half with a snap of her great pincers. Many of the wolf men landed their strikes upon her, but so hard was the shell of chitin that encased her body that neither their claws nor their teeth had any effect. One of the men had even attempted a blow to the beast's eye, but it too was hard as stone. Unfortunately for Seth’s troops, the realization of their inadequacy came only after the queen had discarded what clung to her giant boney claws, and before the men could retreat, she snapped up another half dozen just as quickly as the first. Letting the severed halves of the men fall to the ground, Seth watched as the queen turned and snatched up the torso of one of his men, who though having been cut in two, still clung to life. Raising the dying man to her wicked maw, she reduced him to bite sized chunks with her dozens of mandibles before swallowing those down. Making quick work of the torso, the queen then seized the bottom half of the man off the ground and began feeding anew. The more she fed the faster the eggs spewed from her anus, and within moments the eggs hatched, releasing more of the small hissing and buzzing insects that were her inferiors.

  Seth could do nothing but clear a path for his men back to rejoin him. Having lost a dozen troops in what seemed only an instant, Seth collected himself and his thoughts as the auras of his men came willingly to join him. The thrill that went up his spine made him shudder and stood in stark contrast to what he was actually feeling, but he ignored it, having possibly found a way to distract the queen.

  Turning to Borrik yet again, he passed along his plan and watched as Borrik retrieved Seth’s sword from Sara. Again the wolf men raced off, Seth blazing a trail for them with a blast of magical fire, only this time Seth redirected the blast and incinerated thousands of the queen’s un-hatched eggs, which spewed from her by the hundreds each second. As the queen again hissed and moved to step in the way of his blast, Seth’s men feigned an attack. The queen lashed out thinking to catch them again, but this time she was outsmarted. As the queen struck to snap up those it appeared were lunging at her, Borrik rolled in under her defense and slashed Seth’s blade as hard as his giant muscles were able, severing one of the queen’s legs at the middle joint. The queen hissed in pain and her minions surged in to envelope the wolf men as the queen lashed out again, her focus on Borrik. Borrik had already rolled away however and was just nearly out of reach, but not entirely so. As Borrik rolled he was careful to keep Seth’s blade away from his body as not to incidentally injure himself. The queen turned and lashed out at him, and as she did so, one of her great pincers closed upon the blade of the sword and wrenched it from his grasp. Once again weaponless, Seth cleared a path for his men to again return. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse as Seth watched the queen of the insects snap the blade of his sword in two with her great pincer. For spite Seth again incinerated the queen’s eggs as she struggled to turn on five legs to block his attack.

  "What now, Lord Seth?" Borrik asked, realizing Seth’s plan was ruined.

  Seth shook his head in response not knowing what to do. If they had more weapons they could have brought the queen down, but without some good steel blades all their efforts seemed useless.

  "Master, our armor!" Borrik shouted, having found the answer.

  Seth had used his power to reshape the metal once to create the armor, and as such Borrik was right to assume that Seth could, within minutes, create for them some crude blades with which to attack the queen. Immediately Seth and Borrik began stripping their armor, Seth pausing time and again to incinerate the mass of roiling insects attempting to overwhelm them. But even before Seth could begin transforming the armor he watched as the battle took an unexpected turn. From behind him, where the miniature men were supposed to be protected on all sides by their larger comrades, four of the Zoomba insects came scurrying out past Seth heading towards the queen, which Seth found particularly odd. Thinking to blast them down, Seth hesitated a moment giving himself just enough time to realize what it was that he was seeing. As the Zoomba bugs scurried away, Seth noted the tiny spears being carried in small human hands concealed beneath the bodies. Seth watched as the four brave, tiny little men scurried right up under the nose of the Zoomba queen. Once there, the quartet simply mulled around in circles under the queen’s head, and though it took a minute to realize what they were up to, soon Seth understood their plan, even though it was suicide. Wanting to help the little men at least attempt their ploy, Seth needed to motivate the queen.

  "Kill the babies as fast as you can!" Seth shouted as everyone among his army sprang back into action. Seth himself ended the existence of near a hundred thousand of the beasts in as little as a few seconds, turning half to ash and incinerating the other half. The wolf men took up their macabre game of lunging and rolling while Sara kicked and stomped along with the feline sisters. Seth knew the more the queen ate, the more eggs she produced; he had witnessed it already. In an effort to replace all the troops she was losing she would be forced to eat, and quickly.

  * * * * *

  Just as the little warriors had planned, the queen reached down with her mandibles and plucked one of the Zoombas from below her head up, and being that it was already bite sized, shoved it down her throat and reached again to retrieve the next. Unfortunately for the first to be swallowed however, each of the warriors of the my people tribe were ordered to not strike until all of them had been eaten. The chief being the first one to be picked, had no idea how long he could hold his breath, but freeing himself from the Zoomba shell, watched as the undulating gullet he now inhabited pushed the carcass further and further down the digestive tract of the Zoomba chief. Within seconds he was joined by another of his warriors and together they struggled not to slide further down the gullet. Another was added shortly thereafter and finally when the chief thought surely he could hold his breath no longer, the final member of the assassination team was eaten. The brave chief of the my people tribe gave the order, which just so happened to be "pokey pokey", and again and again the chief and his warriors drove their spears through the various portions of the gullet they inhabited, into the surrounding organs causing the Zoomba chief to scream in agony, which was much to their liking. Their numerous jabs were effective in harming the great insect, but also caused the gullet to begin to fill with thick green blood, slimy mucus and other various ill smelling and tasting fluids.

  * * * * *

  Seth halted his efforts in slaying masses of the inferior insects to observe the outcome of the valiant little warriors’ suicide mission. As the last of the little men was swallowed whole by the enormous queen of the insects, it became almost immediately apparent that the little men were having serious ill effect upon the queen. No sooner had the last little warrior disappeared from sight than the queen began to thrash her head this way and that as if trying to dislodge something, her mandibles reaching as far as was possible into her throat with no effect. Seconds later she began to spasm oddly, snapping her six great pincers in all directions, severing one of her own remaining legs in the process. Reduced to only four usable legs, the behemoth of an insect could not support her own weight.
Twisting as she fell, she hit the ground, sending a plume of dust and ash to obscure her from sight momentarily. As the dust settled the queen continued to thrash about the ground, violently at first, but slowing each additional second. Her pincers gave out first, falling lifelessly to the ground, followed shortly by her massive head. Seth watched with his godlike senses as the queen’s connection to her god broke, and the last traces of the queen's own aura diminished rapidly. Acting out of instinct, in an effort to save those trapped inside the beast, Seth reached out and snatched what little life that remained within the great husk of an insect, careful not to slay his comrades in the process. The queen crumbled into a mound of ash larger than the grass huts the little warrior clan inhabited, but even so, within seconds the tiny men managed to extract themselves from the pile, each of them gasping for air and retching upon the ground, clearing their own gullets of the putrid liquids they had each ingested.

  On the battle front things had taken a drastic change as well. Instead of the multitude of insects single-mindedly attacking Seth and his allies, now they scattered in all directions unsure of what to do without their leader present to guide them. Seth imagined the local population of predatory animals should have them mopped up in the months to come, but for the sake of speeding the process, he unleashed one last wave of fire into the darkness incinerating the few thousand nearest insects.

  Covered in dust that clung to his damp body, the chief, doing his best to brush himself off, approached Seth, a large grin upon his tiny face.

  "You have big power hooman," the chief said. "Where find big power?"

  Seth thought a moment about his response, knowing he had to stick to the bargain he had made with Ishanya. Like the chief had done earlier in the night, Seth lifted his arms to the sky, tilting his head back as if holding the heavens within his arms.

  "Big power from chief up there," Seth answered.

  "What chief name?" the miniature leader asked.

  "Ishanya," Seth answered honestly.

  "Ishhhpanda," the chief mimicked. "You see Ishhhpanda, tell him chief Flapagappa Gudletut want big power."

  "I will tell her," Seth replied with a smile.

  With that the chief stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled five short blasts, to which his men responded by forming up in ranks. Without so much as a goodbye, they marched off back towards their home. Seth, Sara, Borrik, the feline sisters and Seth’s troops watched the slow retreat of the little men for a few moments quietly before Sara, realizing that watching the tiny men with even tinier legs leave could take hours, decided to break the silence.

  "My love?" Sara asked, getting Seth’s attention.

  "Yes?" Seth replied.

  "Can we go home now? Or at least get started? We only have a few hours of darkness left at most," Sara both asked and stated.

  "Yes, I suppose we should." Seth replied, and then turning to Borrik added, "Borrik, please lead us home to Valdadore."

  Borrik did not bother so much as to reply as he turned and began walking at an easy pace for his master and his master's wife to match.

  Chapter 12

  A Wondrous Return and a Wretched Report

  Two weeks had passed since Garret had unwittingly been voted into the role of King of Valdadore. Though he attended council meetings, gave orders, received reports and made the final decision on anything and everything of import regarding the kingdom, realization had still not struck him fully. He leaned upon the wisdom and guidance of his many councilors heavily, though in time he hoped he could grasp the entire scope of what his duties entailed and how his rulings on one front might affect people he would presume completely removed from them. It was often Sulvis whom Garret sought out for advice as the man had served the kingdom loyally for nearly his entire life, and knew much more about running the kingdom than Garret could hope to learn in short order.

  The repairs to the mages’ tower were already nearly completed. The council had brought in all the best carpenters and masons from around the kingdom, though all doubted the lingering stench of smoke would be entirely eradicated for many years, if even then. Garret had visited the tower nearly every day to mark the progress for himself, and found the results of each day's labor much to his liking. Though titled king, Garret knew that those amongst the council worked extra hard to ease his transition, each of them taking a small portion of the burden onto themselves. For that he was grateful and did his best to make sure every decision was as well thought out from every angle that he could imagine. Up to this point Garret felt he was doing a fine job, though his newest friend, and greatest nuisance, assured him daily that he was overlooking something of great import.

  Garret, in a way, had been living a double life over the last few weeks. Not that he was trying to hide anything from anybody, as "rumors abound in the castle", one of Linaya’s favorite sayings, would portend. But by habit, with Linaya’s fear of men's desire and women's cruelty, she was a bit of a nocturnal person, sleeping late into the day and spending most of the evening and night into the early morning hours awake. So in order for Garret to spend any time with the woman he both adored and teased ceaselessly, he too had to rearrange his schedule to an extent to make himself available during the hours she roamed quietly about the castle.

  Linaya’s life for many years had been one primarily of seclusion. Since reaching womanhood, with the maturation of her body Linaya had been constantly plagued by men's lust and women's distrust. She had come to life at court at her father's urging for two reasons. First, her father assured her the longings of common men were often more ravenous, whereas those at court were held to higher standards. Sadly this was a point that had been disproved within Linaya’s first week at court when a visiting man of wealth attempted to accost her in one of the back corridors. Her father's second reason to bring Linaya to court was to spend more time with her, and though at first it had been a good arrangement and she did see her father often, it was usually in passing as he was off to perform some duty or another. As of the last year, with goblin raids and the razing of entire villages, Linaya had barely seen her father at all. Now that he was gone, she had planned to return home to the inn with her mother, but alas Sasha was gone as well. With no place feeling quite like home anymore, Linaya decided to stay on at the castle in an apparent attempt to be sure Garret never got a good night’s sleep, for which he was grateful daily.

  Often in the late evening, when Garret was sure there would be no more calls for his attention he would retire to his royal chambers or to the king's study depending upon his mood. On nights he retired to his personal rooms, Linaya would often tiptoe in unannounced, as Garret generally sent his guards home to their families. They would sit up for hours either upon the bed or one of the large padded benches in front of the fireplace and tell stories of their childhoods, or share hopes and dreams for the future. On the other nights, when Garret retired to his study in an attempt to learn all he could from the previous king’s writings, Linaya would often come up to pester him, asking him silly questions until he gave up his pursuit of knowledge and folded to her will. Those nights they would peer out the great window from his study on the highest floor of the southwest tower, and they would gaze at the stars and make wishes, or look out over the kingdom together wondering what everyone else was doing.

  Garret enjoyed their time together immensely and he knew, though she would not openly admit it, that Linaya looked forward to their every meeting as well. So it was that Garret sat in his personal chambers, waiting patiently for Linaya’s arrival, when she tiptoed barefoot into his room wearing nothing but a simple silken slip of the lightest blue. Though his jaw attempted to fall slack, and his tongue threatened to roll out of his mouth, Garret fought the urge and turned his attention elsewhere in the room with a knowing smile.

  "Yes, yes, I know I am hideous and you can’t bear to look at me," Linaya said, getting the exact reaction she had hoped for.

  Garret, no matter how often they played this game, fell for it each time
. Just as Linaya had expected him to do, Garret turned back to face her, in awe of her exquisite beauty, held enthralled by her perfection. Worse was the fact that this night, unlike any other night they had shared, Linaya was flaunting her perfection, dangling it right before Garret’s face. As she pranced across the room causing undue bouncing in places that always seemed to trigger Garret’s attention, she came to a stop at the corner of his bed. Then resting her back against the tall bedpost that supported the canopy over his bed, Linaya reached up above her head and wrapped her arms around the post behind her. This particular motion achieved two things that set Garret’s blood on fire, though he managed to contain his desires. First the arch in her back pressed her breasts against the silk that cascaded down her body loosely, showing off not only their shape and firmness, but also accentuating her small, perky nipples giving Garret the subconscious need to bite something. Secondly, with the acts of both raising her arms and arching her back, the blue silk of her short gown, which normally hung to her mid-thigh, rose ever higher exposing even more tantalizingly perfect flesh. Garret could actually feel the blood in his face grow hotter and again realized he had fallen into her trap, and as such managed to tear his eyes from the extraordinary woman to look across the room at nothing in particular.

  "How is it that you can do it, yet other men cannot?" Linaya asked teasingly.