Tor nodded, hefting his pack up on his shoulder. “Yep. There’s no chance of us looking fer our family inside?”
Uncle Rick’s answer was firm with no room for confusion. “Not if you want to help us shut Pesta down for good. Their souls were separated from their bodies once they entered Be. Your family isn’t who you remember anymore. Their bodies are merely shells now.” He squinted into the distance. “I can’t imagine a more tragic sight than one of yours existing as a shell. You’re best when you’re robust and full of the life you exude. Pesta did your family a great disservice, taking such hearty souls.”
“Aye.” Tor did not respond other than that, only kept moving forward. Nik clapped him on the shoulder in solidarity as we walked. I hoped that when it was my turn, it would be over quickly so I would not be tempted.
Uncle Rick pulled out a piece of parchment paper and a crude pencil, thrusting them toward me. “Darling, in your clearest handwriting, I need you to write something for me.”
“Okay, sure.” I took the paper and pressed it to my knee so I had some sort of a surface to scribble on. When he told me what to write, I raised an eyebrow at my uncle, but obeyed, signing my name to the bottom as instructed. I handed over the paper. “What’s it for?” I asked. You’ll never find me seemed like something that might stir up trouble.
Uncle Rick gave me an indulgent smile with his signature eye-twinkle. “A little gift for the Mouthpiece,” he answered, putting the paper on the ground and sticking a rock atop it. “By leaving it on this side, but traveling on the rest of our journey in the opposite direction, we’ll lead the Mouthpiece up the wrong mountain. I heard tell at your welcoming party that the Mouthpiece was coming to meet Queen Lucy for himself and offer a treaty of peace. We’ll most likely be long gone before he reaches the Warf.”
“Oh, good,” I stated flatly.
Jamie called to Tor, “You know, Lucy’s never heard of your heroics on the battlefield.”
Tor grumbled. “She doesn’t want ta hear about that.”
I skipped up to his side in my blue Chuck and my black, loving the feel of my regular clothes. I threw my arms around Tor in a hug that was certain to annoy my favorite dwarf. “I heard King Dane call you Torsten the Flighty. How’d you manage that title? Is it because you’re always losing your keys?”
“Little girl, tha things I’ve seen would make yer hair curl.”
“Well, my hair’s already curly, so it can’t be that bad. Did you give the king a nice foot massage? Braid his hair for him? He sure seems taken with you.” Henry Mancini yapped as he scampered along next to me.
Tor glared at me and shook his head. “I slaughtered three trolls single-handedly, I’ll have ya know. I saved tha Daydwarves from an attack in their district years ago, and that united our tribes.” He looked more surly than usual. “Ya do one decent thing, and they build ya a pedestal. King Dane woulda taken care of it ’ventually, but tha queen was aboveground in the fields when tha trolls came out. I stepped up, and that’s how I got on Alrik’s map.”
Uncle Rick was grave, despite the levity I tried to bring. “I chose you all for your bravery, sure. But I also chose you because you lost a great deal of loved ones to Pesta, and yet you resisted her charms. Physical strength is always a necessity, but strength of character is of great import, as well.” He continued walking, setting a brisk pace. “Torsten lost seven family members in one day to Pesta, yet he continues on.”
“A warrior has no place in tha Land of Be. I won’t leave my armor behind.” Tor was extra grouchy to cover over being revered. It made me want to pinch his cheeks just to piss him off. He sniffed the air. “Something’s not right. We should move quicker.”
Foss looked over his shoulder and saw nothing unusual. Still, we quickened our pace. Instead of disappearing at the furthest hut from the main village, we ducked behind the nearest one. Jens pulled the rake out from his pack and handed it to Tor. The usual awe and scrutiny of the ordinary object was to be expected. Tor softening was not.
“Now listen ta me, ya lot. I’ve fought with a great many warriors for many a good cause. I count ya up there with the best of ’em, and this cause the highest importance.” He nodded, facing us with the rake in his hand. “It’s been an honor.”
Tor said his goodbyes briefly to each of them while I hung back with Henry Mancini. Uncle Rick busied himself with what he called “the ultimate diversion” after he hugged the dwarf. Tor bid everyone farewell for their own sake, but deep down, he was like me. We didn’t believe in goodbyes or dwelling on things that didn’t need talking about.
We paired up with the three Tomten, each of them taking two of us, with me holding Henry Mancini. Tor held up his hand. “Wait. It might be my last time out in tha sun fer a while, and I’d like ta walk with Jamie and Lucy, if that’s alright.”
We resituated with Jens walking behind us so he could keep an eye on me for the few steps we remained visible. I wondered if I would ever get used to people putting such a high premium on my life. I felt a tingle go up my arm and knew Jamie had made us disappear from sight as we stepped out from behind the hut.
“Now listen ta me, you two,” Tor began, speaking lowly to Jamie and me in his usual gruff demeanor. “I’ve known two who’ve laplanded with someone they wasn’t married ta, and they didn’t end so well. One drove a spike through her temple, and tha other… Well, none of them ended in a way proper ta talk about in fronta ladies.”
“I’m not getting married, Tor,” I said with absolution. “Not to Jamie or anybody. Now that I know I’m not insane, I won’t give myself a concussion anymore.”
Tor looked past Jamie to me. “Yer still a child. Ya don’t know how yer life’s going ta end up. But one thing’s sure, if ya go off on yer own again, banging your head or trying to end yerself in some foolish way, you’ll end Jamie, too. His death’ll be on yer head. A human killing a Tomten prince? That’s grounds fer war if I ever heard it.”
A lump formed in my throat as the urge to run jumped up and choked me. The desire to wake up from this never-ending bad dream was palpable. Jamie squeezed my hand, but I felt nothing. As it was when confronted with a failed life plan, I was hollow inside. A smile with no substance. A body with no bones.
I hugged Henry Mancini to my chest, hoping he could find me in my black hole. “I’ll be careful.”
“Yer whole life? I’ve known ya for a coupla weeks, and I’ve not known ya ta be a careful one who values yer own neck.”
“Which is it? You want me to be careful, or be like you?”
Tor growled at me. “Yer one insufferable female, Lucy Kincaid. Heaven help tha men stuck with ya.”
I cast around for some end to his lecture. “What do you want from me? We can’t all be Torsten the Mighty. Some of us are just trying to make it through.”
“What’s tha point in that?”
“It’s done. We laplanded. I’m dealing. Jamie’s dealing. You can back off. I’ll make sure Jamie’s safe. He can marry whoever he likes and I’ll hole up in the attic. I can’t imagine how any of this concerns you.”
“You, Lucy. Yer my concern. Ya have ta do better than survive. Ya have to live!” Still holding tight to Jamie’s hand and the rake, Tor kept his eyes on the portal we were approaching. “When all this is done, ya’ll come see me and drive me mad some more, ya hear?”
“Only if I can shave your dreads off.”
Tor squinted at me to make sure I was kidding. I was not.
He stopped and sniffed the air again, his posture stiffening when we were just a few meters from the portal, which was unguarded. With Jamie holding our hands, he turned and faced us. “Something’s off. Keep yer hand tight ta me while I do this, Jamie.”
Jamie nodded, sliding his hand to Tor’s shoulder so the dwarf could have full use of his arms as he aimed the rake at the portal framed in dwarf bones.
The shorter skeletons stared at me with their black eye cavities and torn open jaws. Femurs and forearms were stacked end-to-end severa
l inches wide to give the structure a bit of substance. I blanched at the macabre sight, my skin crawling to run away, lest the bones somehow animate and chase me around while I scream like a crazy person.
Then I heard it. A series of snorts closed in around us while Henry Mancini snarled in my arm.
Eight.
The Price for Jamie’s Valiance
“It’s the gullin and the Mouthpiece,” Jamie breathed. “Try not to make a sound.”
I obeyed, remaining completely motionless while we stared intently at the portal. The open doorway gave off a faint blue glow with an opaque sheen to it, casting rainbows and holograms on the grass. The passageway was framed with bones. Shorter than human bones and fatter. The frame was solid and thick, and I wondered how many dwarves had been sacrificed to construct it. I counted nine femurs.
Tor the Mighty raised the rake like an axe and blasted the left side, dislodging and scattering a whole mess of bones.
Then it happened. The blue light mutated, and red light shot out of the glassy doorway. Tor swung again, toppling the bones on the right side in one fell swoop, ending the portal for the dwarves.
Jamie gripped us both and bolted for the mountain, running just slow enough for Tor and me to barely keep up with our much shorter legs.
From out of nowhere (I mean, I know they came from somewhere, but they were behind me, so I couldn’t see where they burst out from), golden boars the size of a car charged for the broken portal, snorting malevolently. They were the same ones that lit the ballroom, only they hadn’t been statues; they were animated and terrifying.
I bit back a scream and ran my heart out, certain the organ was audible as it banged around in my chest.
Henry Mancini’s bark was to be expected, but I cringed at the location giveaway.
“There!” cried a man who looked like he belonged to Foss’s country. He was dark-skinned, tall and built like a WWE wrestler. His wild eyes and furious scowl aimed themselves in our direction. “Attack for your freedom!” the man yelled to the dwarf soldiers. I guessed correctly that he was the Mouthpiece, a body offered up by its owner for Pesta’s indwelling.
Good choice. I mean, if I could be in anyone’s body, I’d probably choose the biggest and baddest, too.
Several dozen dwarves in armor turned in our direction and let out a series of commands. The boars charged us, and I knew there was no hope. I wanted to tell Jamie to just go on without me, but what little sense I still possessed reminded me that if I was torn to bits, Jamie was a dead man, too.
I knew nothing about boars of this magnitude. Even if we made it to the mountain, which was half a mile away still, could they scale it?
Before I could reason this out, a loud explosion blasted from the direction in which we’d come. Then a second one boomed to our left. Henry Mancini barked and cried in my grip while Jamie charged faster yet. I felt a swoosh of wind tear past us, and then heard one of the boars squeal like a piglet in pain. There was a thud on the grass, and then another. I dared not look back, but I no longer felt them bearing down on us.
We ran until we reached the mountain, but the path was a ways to our right. Instead of running toward it, Jamie hefted me up over his head to a small outpost and did the same to Tor. “Get behind that rock!” he ordered. The second he let go of Tor and me, we were visible to the world. Henry Mancini and I scrambled behind the rock next to Tor, who was piqued with adrenaline. “That was Jens,” Jamie breathed, invisible to my eyes. “He’s out there fighting off the gullin, but he can’t take on that many by himself and still get out of there. I need to help him.”
“Then go!” I urged.
“It’s going to hurt us, but I’ll try to get him out quickly.”
“Go!” I shouted, preparing for the worst. I hugged Henry Mancini, who licked my face over and over as I attempted to clear my mind. I knew that the further away we got from each other, our heads would start aching. Jamie needed to concentrate, so I did my best to meditate and think of nothing, so as not to add my errant thoughts to his workload.
Yeah, like that was possible.
The headache began at the base of my skull and slowly crept around my cranium until the whole thing throbbed like a vice around my temples. “Yer okay, yer okay,” Tor said, patting my shoulder as I tried not to whimper. I lay down and spooned Henry Mancini so neither of us fell off the four-meter-high precipice. Tor muttered over and over in fearful and reverent tones about the bad omen it was that the Mouthpiece was set against us so soon in our quest.
Jens would be fine. He was built for this kind of thing. Jamie would be back in a minute. What was one minute of your head hurting?
Jamie’s thoughts banged around in my brain as if they were my own. Stop being foolish, Jens! Run! Ah!
Pain out of nowhere ripped into my arm. I watched in terror as blood spontaneously began spurting out of my freshly ripped flesh. Tor cried out in surprise, snatching up my arm to examine the gouge. Ribbons of red streaked down my elbow and pooled on the rock.
“Keep calm, Lucy. The more ya panic, the more Jamie can feel that. He needs ta focus on getting Jens outta there.”
I tried to keep my thoughts of alarm muted so as not to distract Jamie, but the combination of fear and pain was impossible to avoid. I cowered with my dog on the rock while Tor watched over me, waiting for other body parts to spontaneously start gushing blood.
Nine.
Through Jamie’s Eyes
It was near impossible to keep my mind blank, but Tor coached me as best he could. My head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, my arm was bleeding, and my opposite hand had a scratch that was burning. It wasn’t so much the injuries, but the threat of whatever might come next that made me jumpy.
“Just breathe, Lucy. Clear out yer mind and see if ya can look through Jamie’s eyes.”
I breathed through the pain and wished for my green bag that was crammed inside of Jens’s red backpack. There was stuff to patch me up in it, but until I had it in my possession, I got to watch myself bleed all over the place. I tried not to look as I turned to my dual-powered brain and listened for signs that they were okay.
Arrows were flying across the battlefield from an invisible source, which I’m guessing was Britta. She sunk one deep into a golden boar that was gunning for Jamie, and I could hear his relief mingled with fear that Britta might be found out.
Jamie was yelling in his mind, which was not a good sign. I could hear him calculating an aim and then lunging. The breath was knocked out of both of us, but luckily he hit his mark with enough force to give us a few seconds to recoup.
“Look through his eyes, female!” Tor commanded.
“I’m doing the best I can!” I shouted, angry at his high expectations when I was clearly in peril. There was no learning curve in Undraland.
As I lay on the rocky platform cuddling Henry Mancini while he licked my wounds, I closed my eyes and tried to find Jamie. I focused all my energy not on hearing Jamie, but on seeing through his eyes. I wished and willed and erased myself until the world as I saw it faded in the center, and was filled by the face of a giant golden boar. Jamie stabbed into its neck, and the vivid imagery was like a kick in the face.
Focus! I told us both. He concentrated on the boar he was currently wrestling while I used my unique psychic viewpoint to look around the field. I counted seven dead sedan-sized animals with matted golden hair that glistened like glittered bronze in the evening sun. There were two dozen or so Nightdwarves in fighting gear, searching for the invisible foes that were tearing apart their defense line.
My eyes were cataloging things through Jamie that he could not, being so focused on the eminent danger as he was. I bit my lip to keep from screaming aloud when I looked to the left and saw the Mouthpiece taking aim at us. As loud as I could, I mentally shouted to Jamie, Get down!
An arrow whizzed overhead, and I was grateful that Jamie obeyed.
Good. We were becoming a team and learning to work together.
I kept sharp while I tried to ignore the pounding in my head and my various other injuries. Jamie fought with valor, and I was impressed with his heroic athleticism the entire time.
Another explosion boomed across the field. I looked through Jamie’s eyes and saw fireworks blasting in the daylight. Not as amazing an effect as it would’ve been at night, but apparently no one here had ever seen fireworks before. The dwarves and Jamie fell back, and I could feel Jamie’s fright. The boars forsook their prey and charged for the source of the blast.
It’s okay, I assured the frightened Jamie. I bet they’re Uncle Rick’s. They’re fireworks. From my world. Totally harmless from this distance. Take your advantage, get Jens and get out of there! When he did not move fast enough for my liking, I shouted, Run!
Jamie located Jens by a patch of blood on the grassy knoll a little ways off. My mind’s eye saw him yank up the invisible man. I gusted out my relief when the two of them ran to the mountains. Toward me.
“They’re okay! They’re coming,” I informed Tor, who was holding me tighter than could be comforting. The tension in my head slowly began to alleviate with every step they took toward us.
“Good girl! Ya did it!”
I collapsed with a gust of tension release on the rock while Henry Mancini whined for my attention. I gave him one pat, and then shut my eyes while I waited for them to find us.
Ten.
Stuck Together
“Lucy!” came the whisper from just below my small hiding space. The sun was dipping below the horizon, and I felt the weight of sleep-deprivation, thanks mostly to Jamie scaring the smack out of me with his Jekyll and Hyde nonsense in the night.
I lifted my head and realized it was no longer pounding. “Jamie?”
“Yeah. Look, I’ve got to get you down so we can catch up with the others. Are you okay?”
Nokken Page 5
