by Jason Beil
To her it seemed only a few days ago. A large dog had come running up to her, and she’d let out a startled shriek. Next a woman came running up, assuring her that the dog would not harm her. They had gotten into conversation, the dog sitting listening with his head cocked to one side as if he understood every word. The woman introduced herself as Jane, and her dog as Westie. Amy felt a strange bond with the woman, and confided in her about how meaningless, how trivial, her life seemed. How she wished she could do something important, just once.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jane said with a smile.
“No, I really mean it,” Amy insisted.
“In that case,” Jane said, “maybe we can help each other out. I need someone to judge a competition, someone impartial and ignorant of all the circumstances.”
“I’m your girl then!”
Amy had laughed, and then promptly forgot the conversation.
Now, as she gazed into Bob’s eyes, she wondered, had she seen that dog again before she had fallen into the hole?
“Back home,” she said, “they think I’m dead? Oh, God!”
“But you aren’t dead, Amy,” said Bob. “You’re here. Very much alive.”
“But not…” Amy’s arms rose of their own volition, carving arcs in the air. “Not back there! My parents think I’m dead! Six months! Six months? I have no job. No car. No bank account. No credit cards. Nothing!” Tears burned her cheeks. She couldn’t stop them. “It’s all gone. Everything… gone! Nothing left! Even my memories are fading. What do my parents look like? I can’t… I can’t remember!”
Bob blinked at her. “I… I don’t know. I’ve never met them.”
Even with tears streaming down her face she looked beautiful. Something stirred within him. “You haven’t lost everything.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “You still have me.”
Amy froze, mouth partway open. “Wh… what?”
Bob shrugged. “You still have me,” he repeated, and the words suddenly sounded very right. And very good. “I love you.”
“What?”
“I lost you once, and I’m not going to lose you again. Marry me.”
But before she could answer, there appeared a thick cloud of magical smoke, from which emerged the mighty Yagar.
Yagar. A name spoken to frighten children into obeying their parents. Yagar, once the apprentice and accomplice of Hugo, Shapeshifting Sorcerer of the West. Yagar, who had hidden away in the deep dungeons for the years on end, growing his knowledge and his power.
Laughing maniacally, he pointed a bony finger at Amy, who screamed in horror. She took a tentative step backward, but stumbled. A white tendril of light arched out from Yagar’s fingers, rocketing towards Amy.
The turtle, seeing the attack, launched from the water and landed between Amy and the sorcerer. He ducked quickly into his shell and pulled out a tiny blue umbrella. He flicked it open and deflected the lights in all directions. Bob grabbed Amy’s arm, and they turned back towards Deidre’s castle and ran.
“No!” cried Yagar. “You don’t understand! The daughter of the Queen must die!”
He chased Bob and Amy, throwing out spells and electrical currents at them. Bob just kept holding on to Amy’s arm pulling her along, looking for a way to get out of the line of fire.
Oh where oh where can we go to be safe? Bob thought. There’s got to be someplace we can hide from this maniac!
Wilberforce heaved his bulk into the road, straight into Yagar’s path. A bolt struck him, searing the edge of his shell.
Damn! he thought. When will I learn to quit messing in the affairs of humans and magic-wielding idiots?
He swung his massive head around, and though Yagar tried to evade him, his powerful reptilian jaws clamped on the sorcerer’s trailing cloak.
“Let go of me, you fool!” Yagar spat, though the cloak tightening around his throat changed his voice into a girlish screech.
The turtle yanked Yagar onto his scrawny butt. One huge turtle eye fastened on the gasping accomplice, while the other watched Bob and Amy as they continued their scrambling, stumbling flight. Assured that the two were out of Yagar’s spell range, the turtle devoted all its attention to the creature sniveling at its feet.
“Why?”
