Lair of the Beast

by Adam Jay Epstein

  “But for how long?” a farmer called out. “Throwing fruit at them isn’t an answer.”

  “There’s only so many tomatoes we can grow,” another farmer yelled.

  “We need a permanent solution to this,” another townsperson called out.

  Wily began to sweat as the angry farmers continued to challenge him.

  “What are you going to do about it?” a farmer screamed. “You’re just like your father.”

  “The Infernal King was wretched,” another said, “but at least he kept the monsters away. You can’t even do that.”

  “I’m on a quest to—”

  “Great! A quest!” a farmer called out. “That doesn’t sound very promising. While you’re off adventuring, what happens to us?”

  “We want a real king,” an old man yelled. “Not a boy playing dress up. A real king would be able to protect us.”

  Lumina pulled Wily aside and spoke softly. “We should go. There’s nothing you can say to these people right now.”

  “Your mom’s right,” Pryvyd seconded as he signaled for his horse.

  Odette whistled for the other horses. Wily and his friends quickly got on their mounts.

  “And now he’s leaving,” a farmer shouted.

  “I promise that I will fix this,” Wily called back as his horse began to canter out of the farm town.

  As the group galloped off to the east, Wily could hear the sound of the people booing.

  7

  STRANGE GUSTS

  The farther they traveled along the low path through the Parchlands, the fewer people they saw. By the afternoon, the adventuring party finally came to the end of the dirt road. Wily’s mind kept wandering back to the cruel words the farmer had spat at him. A real king would be able to protect us. It stung all the more because Wily thought it was true.

  “Where’s your smile?” Lumina asked as she rode up alongside Wily.

  “It’s still here,” Wily said. “Just hiding, I guess.” After a pause, he said, “You knew my father way better than I do. Are we alike?”

  “Is that what this is about?” Lumina asked. “Don’t take the farmers’ words to heart. They were upset about their farms. People say mean things when they’re stressed.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Wily replied.

  His mother paused, thinking a beat too long. “You are not a mean person like your father. You would never hurt anyone.”

  “That doesn’t mean I will make a good king, though,” Wily stated.

  More than anything else, he wanted his mother to tell him he would be the best king Panthasos had ever seen, but before she was able to respond, Odette came riding up alongside them. “Where do we go from here?” the elf asked.

  Lumina pointed to an oddly shaped mountain jutting out from the tree line in the distance. Instead of its peaks pointing up toward the sky, the jagged rocks poked out from it in dozens of strange angles, like the spikes of a thorn-shelled turtle.

  “We aim for the mountain known as the Web,” Lumina said. “The Roamabout camp is usually within walking distance of its base, although the precise location changes frequently. Like the beasts they train, the tribe prefers to remain hidden.”

  “But you know how to find them?” Odette said.

  “With Impish and Gremlin’s keen noses,” Lumina said, lowering her hands to the ferrets sticking their heads out of her saddlebags, “we shouldn’t have too tough a time.”

  The two ferrets looked very pleased with themselves, happy to suddenly be important.

  “If we keep up the pace we’ve been making so far,” Lumina said, “we’ll make it to the foot of the mountain before nightfall.”

  Lumina urged her horse forward, leaving Odette and Wily to stare at the strange mountain in the distance.

  “I can’t see why they named the mountain ‘The Web,’” Odette said.

  “It’s not the strange shape that sparked the name,” Pryvyd said as he joined the others. “The reason is below the tree line: a place called Spider Rock. I patrolled the area once with the Knights of the Golden Sun. It’s swarming with beasts of all sorts.”

  Moshul signed to the others.

  “No,” Pryvyd said to Moshul, “I didn’t see anything with tentacles. Relax.”

  Moshul did not seem comforted as Pryvyd departed. The moss golem signed to Odette.

  “I don’t think there is even a species of octopus that lives on the land,” Odette responded. “We’ve got to get you over this fear.”

  Moshul bowed his head timidly, and Roveeka gave him a big hug around his neck.

  “Even big guys are allowed to be afraid of some things,” she said encouragingly.

  * * *

  UNLIKE SOME OF the dense thickets Wily and his companions had chopped their way through in the past, this forest consisted of giant trees whose trunks were spread so far apart that it was dozens of steps between their bases. Above, however, the mighty branches crossed over and through one another, leaving not a sliver of sky exposed. The late afternoon sun cast the forest floor in a soft green glow.

  They had already been traveling through the woods for many hours when Wily felt a gentle breeze run through his tangle of brown hair. He saw that up ahead the woods opened to a glen of high grass. Lumina led them out into the open field.

  “It’s a field of feather grass,” Lumina said, pointing to the wide blades of green, purple, and blue that shot up from the earth.

  As the wind continued to blow, the field undulated like the wings of a bird flapping. Wily watched the field change colors as each blade caught the light from a slightly different angle. It amazed Wily how, even after months of being out of Carrion Tomb, there were still new sights to be seen in the Above.

  Odette leaned down from her horse and grabbed a fistful of grass. She began sliding its blades into her hair as colorful decorations.

  “You should grab some too,” Odette said to Roveeka, who as usual was riding on Moshul’s shoulders. “But probably not to stick in your hair. Because you don’t have any.”

  “Some people weave them into crowns,” Lumina said.

  She was about to say more when her voice trailed off. She was staring at the feather grass on the far side of the field. Each stalk shook like a young hobgoblet about to perform her first ambush.

  “Hold on!” Lumina shouted.

  A gust of wind rushed at Wily with such force that it nearly knocked him off the back of his horse. He looked to the south, the direction from which the wind had come. All the trees beyond the edge of the glen were swaying back and forth as if shaken by the hands of an angry giant. Above the trees was a small pocket of gray, churning clouds.

  “It’s a small wind storm,” Pryvyd said, “and it appears that it’s blowing in our direction.”

  “We need to get out of this field fast,” Lumina said with rising panic. “At least in the forest we can hide.”

  “Hide?” Roveeka asked. “I thought storms don’t follow people. Aren’t they just—what did you call it again?” Roveeka thought for a second. “Weather?”

  “Most storms just blow where the wind takes them,” Lumina said, “but that’s not a normal storm. That’s the trail of a monsoonodon.”

  “Monsoonodon?” Odette asked. “That’s a mouthful. Talk about an animal that needs a nickname.”

  “I’ve never heard of this creature,” Pryvyd said.

  “You wouldn’t have unless you’d lived in these parts,” Lumina said, giving an urgent nudge to her horse. “They are giant furry beasts with long tusks that spark like lightning bolts. Their footsteps churn the wind into a fury. A shake of their fur causes torrential downpours. And judging from the size of that cloud, this is a big one.”

  Lumina took off across the glen. The other horses raced behind her. Moshul hurried to keep up with the others as they galloped for the distant tree line.

  “The beast quellers calmed the monsoonodons a long time ago,” Lumina continued, “and brought them to a safe mountain valle
y where they can live in peace. The storms they cause form the famous Pago-Pago Falls.”

  “If they’re all kept in that valley,” Wily asked, “what’s one doing down here?”

  “I can only guess that something disturbed them,” Lumina said. “We should make sure to keep our distance. They are fierce and nearly unstoppable when they’re storming. Even a whole team of quellers can have difficulty calming them.”

  Wily felt the wind getting stronger as the clouds swept closer. Although he couldn’t see the creature yet, he certainly could hear its booming thunder steps and the crackle of trees being split in half. All the birds and insects hidden in the feather grass took flight, soaring into the sky in a burst of panic.

  Then, out of the corner of his eye, Wily watched as a pair of enormous trees snapped from their stumps and got tossed in the air like brittle twigs. A moment later, a giant hoofed beast three times as tall as a horse and many times wider blasted out of the forest. Its wet gray coat twinkled in the last rays of sunlight that were about to vanish in the dark clouds that followed the creature. Four long tusks extended from either side of its snout, electricity arcing from the tip of one to the next. As the creature exited the forest, it let out a bellowing snort that caused the clouds overhead to spin like a whirlpool in an underground lake.

  The monsoonodon did not take long to spot Wily and his companions speeding across the field. It let out another loud snort and charged after them. Wily gave a sharp nudge to his horse, which really didn’t need much encouragement to flee from the giant beast.

  Righteous, with sword clutched, bravely hovered behind, prepared to take on the monsoonodon single-handedly (which of course was the only way Righteous could fight).

  “Come on, Righteous!” Pryvyd called. “What do you think you’re going to do? That sword would barely scratch its hide.”

  “For something so big and heavy,” Wily asked Lumina, “how is it moving so fast?”

  “It doesn’t really matter how it’s doing it,” Odette said from the neighboring horse. “Just that it is. And that it’s coming after us.”

  A thunderous boom was followed by the fresh scent of electrically charged ions floating through the air. Wily had once made a trap with winged shock eels, and he had loved the fragrant odor they would give off with each electrical zap.

  The gusts caused by the monsoonodon were so strong now that Wily’s horse was beginning to wobble. For a moment, his steed was even lifted off the ground, its hooves scrambling to find the safety of solid earth. A second later, his horse got his wish when he came down with a thud.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Roveeka shouted to Moshul.

  The moss golem was running so fast that his leg funguses were popping with every step, leaving puffs of purple smoke behind. Wily looked back to see if the toxic mushroom smoke would knock out the monsoonodon, but the strong breeze swirling around the beast simply blew the smoke away from its nostrils.

  Lumina turned her horse in a wide semicircle.

  “You go on,” she called to Wily. “Your mission is too important.”

  “Lumina, no!” Pryvyd shouted at her. “What can you do to stop it?”

  “I can distract it,” Lumina said. “Give you just enough time to escape.”

  Lumina clapped her hands over her head. The monsoonodon changed direction, charging for Lumina. The powerful gusts blowing off the beast knocked her off her feet and into a tree. In moments, she would be trampled.

  But before the beast reached her, a shrill chorus of voices arose from the adjacent woods.

  “YOP-YOP-YOP-YOP!”

  Seconds later, dozens of forest animals came stampeding out of the woods with humans and elves riding them like steeds. A tall woman rode on the back of a great green bear, clutching its fur in her fingers. Two elves rode in tandem on the shoulders of a majestic stag, gripping its antlers like handlebars. A trio of younger children sat on the scaly back of a giant rattlesnake. Many of the riders held long rods with hunks of food dangling from them like giant fishing poles. Others swung rope lassos overhead.

  The woman on the bear and a man riding a flightless bird came charging at the monsoonodon from either side. Then, together, they began to sing to it. Wily couldn’t believe his ears, nor could he hear the words of the song. Then again, with the wind blasting in his ears he could barely hear the hoof steps of his own horse.

  Whatever the riders were singing, the monsoonodon didn’t like it. It swung its head wildly, causing a downpour of rain so heavy that it felt as if small rocks were dropping from the sky. Its giant tusks swished toward the head of the bear rider. At the last second, the rider dropped to the side of the beast, gripping its mane in her fingers. Her heels dragged across the earth as the monsoonodon’s tusks went tearing overhead in a shower of sparks.

  “Steer clear of here!” a man riding on the back of a mammoth dog called out to Wily and his companions.

  Another group of animal riders came charging out of the woods in front of the creature. It quickly became clear that the first batch of riders had been corralling the monsoonodon into a trap. The riders who’d just emerged from the woods all began chanting in unison as they waved their arms up and down.

  The monsoonodon slowed as it approached the wall of animals and people, but rather than stopping or barreling through the barricade, the shaggy beast changed direction and started straight for Wily and Moshul.

  It hit the moss golem straight in the back. Moshul was knocked off his feet, and Roveeka went flying off his shoulders. But Moshul caught her in his mud hands before she struck the ground headfirst.

  Wily gave a powerful pat to the side of his horse, encouraging him to run faster. Unfortunately, the pat was not enough. The horse was slammed hard by the monsoonodon. Wily was knocked from his saddle and hit the earth with a painful thump. Despite its name, the feather grass was no softer than any other grass.

  Wily looked up to see the monsoonodon turning back to charge him yet again. He leaped to his feet. Panic flashed through him as his horse fled in fear.

  What can I do? Wily thought. There must be some way to stop that thing. His mind flashed through everything he kept stored in his trapsmith belt. Unfortunately, it didn’t include a giant stone wall—and even that might not have been enough to slow this beast of wind and rain. Wily was running out of ideas fast when, seemingly out of nowhere, a girl who looked about Wily’s age, on top of a black-and-gold mountain lion, came riding up beside the beast. She leaped from her lion onto the back of the monsoonodon and, with one fluid motion, slid down over the forehead of the beast until her belly was pressed up against the beast’s snout. She landed with her feet propped up against the beast’s lightning tusks.

  The monsoonodon was still charging at Wily, looking past the young girl standing on its face. Wily couldn’t hear if she was speaking, but he could see that she had her hands firmly gripped on the beast’s eyelids and was staring directly into its eyes. Despite the wind and rain pummeling her, she didn’t let go.

  Wily watched the beast slow to a stop as the girl petted the top of its head calmly. Only after the monsoonodon was lying on its belly did the rest of the riders encircle the beast. Now, in unison, they all began to chant. After a minute of quiet singing, the beast was smiling happily, the downpour had diminished to a gentle drizzle, and the wind had stilled.

  The girl hopped off the head of the monsoonodon and approached Wily. She was barefoot and wore a skirt that looked as if it had been woven from slices of tree bark and vine string. As she got closer, Wily could see that she had large brown eyes and light olive-colored skin. She carried herself with an unmistakable air of confidence. “It’s not safe for wall-dwellers to be this far out in the wilds,” the girl said.

  “Wall-dwellers?” Wily asked.

  “People who choose to sleep under roofs and between stone walls rather than beneath nature’s canvas.”

  “We owe you great thanks,” Wily said.

  “I’m just glad you didn’t get
yourself trampled,” she said. “Henrietta can brew up quite a storm. Let me introduce myself. I’m Valor Pelage, Quellmaster of the Roamabouts.”

  “That’s amazing,” Wily said, his voice and his heart filled with hope. “We were just coming to you for help.”

  “What is it that you want of…”

  Valor’s words trailed off as she spotted Lumina limping over from where she’d fallen. The girl’s expression suddenly changed, twisting into a storm of emotions. Her eyes cold, she stepped past Wily and toward Lumina.

  “Is he a friend of yours?” Valor asked, pointing to Wily.

  “He’s my son,” Lumina responded with some hesitation.

  “That’s even worse. So much worse.”

  8

  VALOR

  “You abandoned the tribe and the people you cared about,” Valor said, her voice bitter as acid. “And now you have the nerve to return asking for help?”

  Lumina slowly approached Valor as if moving toward a fang orc that could bite at any moment.

  “The wall-dwellers aren’t bad,” Lumina said, the words leaving her lips like cautious cave lemmings. “They’re just different.”

  “You married the Infernal King,” Valor said, her voice rising. “Maybe you’re not such a great judge of character.”

  “He wasn’t the Infernal King when I married him,” Lumina replied. “He was a good man who got lost when he sat on a throne.”

  This last comment only served to make Valor angrier. “He burned down forests without thinking about the innocent animals living inside. How can you even think of defending him?”

  “He did horrible things. Which is why I spent the last decade fighting him.”

  “No one has heard from you in years,” Valor spat back. “Where were you? Hiding in the shadows? Or crawling like a squirrel in a tree?”

  “I was disguised behind many colored scarves.”

  Valor’s eyes went wide. If she was mad before, now she was ready to belch flames. “You were the Scarf? I fought alongside you during the second battle of the Twighast! And you never said a thing! How could you be so callous? I used to call you Auntie.”