"C-c-come on, Womy!" she shouted. "Ovew da wawws!"
"Do you have any bananas?" Romy shouted back.
They flew through crowds of monkeys and arrows, over the city walls... and into Burrfield.
* * * * *
The monster licked its lips with three slobbery tongues, each the width of Jamie's arm. It drooled, soaking its fur.
"I like elflings for breakfast," it hissed. "Stand aside, human. Do not come between me and my meal."
Her heart hammered, but Jamie raised her shield and sword, standing between the monster and Ellywyn. The elfling lay behind her, wounded and moaning. The beast towered over Jamie, twice her height.
"You will not touch her," she said. "Not unless you kill me first."
The monster growled and swiped its claws.
Jamie raised her shield, and the claws slammed into it. Chips of wood showered. Pain ran up Jamie's arm, pounding in her bones.
"I will eat you too, human," the beast said. It swung its claws again. "You are small and sweet as an elfling."
She drove her shield forward. The claws slammed against the wood. The shield cracked, and Jamie cried in pain. The blows felt like a blacksmith swinging a hammer. She thrust her blade, but the monster knocked it aside, as if swatting a fly.
"Die now," it growled, spraying drool. It pounced, maw stretching wide enough to fit Jamie's head.
"Jamie!" Ellywyn cried in fright.
Heart pounding, Jamie leaped aside, swinging her sword. Her blade sliced the monster's chest. Its fur was thick and matted; it adsorbed most of the blow. Her blade only scratched its skin.
The monster laughed. It spun toward her and pounced again.
Jamie raised her shield, and the beast's fangs tore into it. The shield shattered. Splinters flew everywhere, and the monster spat out wood.
Be with me, Father, Jamie prayed silently. Be with me, Lenore.
She howled a wordless battle cry. She leaped into the air, raised her blade, and swung it down.
Swing true, Moonclaw.
Her blade dug into the monster's shoulder. Blood soaked its fur, and it howled to the heavens. The alley shook. A window shattered. Jamie thrust her blade, prepared to land the coupe de grace.
But the monster was too quick. It parried the blade with its claws. It swiped its second paw and hit Jamie's breastplate.
White light flooded her. Pain drowned her. She flew and crashed against a wall, cracking it. Before she could even fall to the ground, the monster lashed again, and its claws etched grooves across her breastplate.
"Jamie!" Ellywyn cried, lying wounded below her.
The beast turned toward the elfling, drawn by her voice, and clawed her shoulder. Fresh blood spurted.
Ellywyn screamed and tossed her dagger.
The blade drove into the monster's belly. Blood dripped and the beast roared.
"Be gone!" Jamie cried, swinging her sword. "Away with you!"
The monster howled. It raised its claws to the heavens, and its roar shook the alley. Pushed against the wall, Ellywyn and Jamie swung their blades, holding it back. Fear filled the monster's eyes.
"Away, or we'll cut you again!" Ellywyn cried.
The monster turned its tail, fell to the ground, and began crawling away.
Jamie fell too, panting and shaking. Sweat washed her hair. She wanted to slay the monster, but dared not. She had seen something in its eyes, in the shape of its jaw, the sound of its voice.
It looks too much like Tom the Blacksmith, she realized, and fear pounded through her. These monsters are unlike grunters. She shuddered. They were townfolk once.
"Jamie!"
Ellywyn crawled toward her, tears in her eyes. Blood stained her leg and shoulder. Jamie crawled toward her, and they embraced on the ground, shaking.
"You're hurt," Ellywyn said.
Jamie gave a weak snort. "It's nothing. But you're a mess, Ellywyn. Damn it, elfling, I only have so many bandages I can spare on you."
Ellywyn laughed weakly, and Jamie laughed too.
"So bandage me up," the elfling said. "This war isn't over. Not until we kill the witch."
Jamie looked out the alley's mouth. The battle still raged in the town; blood, fur, arrows, and blades flew everywhere. Jamie nodded.
"The witch waits in the fort." She took a deep breath. "It's time to kill her."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Monkeying Around
Neev ran through the streets, monsters howling around him. Bats and winged monkeys shrieked above, flying against the spiderlings. Monsters swung blades and hellhogs raced around his legs. Grumbledook was blowing fire somewhere to his right. Everywhere he looked, Neev saw blood, smoke, and red eyes.
His knees shook, and he wanted to run back, to flee Burrfield into the forest. Too many memories stirred among the screams and blood and fire. Through the smoke, he saw his mother's face again.
"Neev!" she cried. "Run, Neev! Run!"
Dry Bones's grobblers clawed her. Their fangs bit. Mother fell, and young Neev—only twelve years old—stared in terror.
He ran that day. He fled the burning house, fled his mother's body and dead, staring eyes. He fled Burrfield itself to delve into the Coven.
For so long I ran, he thought. I've been running since that day.
A monster raced toward him, a furry red creature with eight tentacles. Neev shouted a spell, shot a blast of energy, and knocked the monster down.
"Good job, Neev!" Romy shouted beside him. She was busy stabbing her pitchfork at swooping monkeys.
Neev shot lightning, knocking down one of the monkeys. Romy flashed him a grin, and despite himself, Neev smiled back. This is why I keep fighting, he realized. Romy is the fire of my life. I won't run from battle, not when she needs me.
"C-c-come on, Neev!" Cobweb shouted above, diving forward on her dragonfly. "Huwwy up! To da f-f-fowtwess!"
He ran, Romy at his side. He shot spells in every direction, clearing a path. Romy's pitchfork lashed. The hellhogs raced around them, snorting and streaming through the streets in a river of red fur.
Soon Neev saw Fort Rosethorn rising ahead upon a hill. Madrila had burned the roses off the walls. Neev growled; those roses had grown there for centuries. He ran uphill, fists clenched. Ice filled his belly. Arrows whistled above and howls filled the air.
Panting, he reached the hilltop. He stopped outside Fort Rosethorn. Its crumbly walls loomed above him. The fort's doors towered, carved of thick wood banded with iron. Romy ran up beside him, panting. The battle raged below across the town.
Madrila waits behind these doors, he told himself. She is a great magic wielder, greater even than Dry Bones. And I will face her again. He squared his jaw, fear pounding through him.
"Romy, I...." He gulped, not sure how to proceed.
She looked at him eagerly, waiting. Her lips parted and her eyes shone. What did he want to say? I love you, Romy? I might die today, Romy? I'm going to kill a witch for you, Romy? He did not know. Instead he just looked into her eyes and said, "You have monkey fur in your hair."
Disappointment filled her eyes. She looked deflated. As the battle raged below, Romy placed her hands on her hips.
"Is that all, Neev?" she demanded. "We're about to fight the battle of our lives, and that's all you can tell me? 'You have monkey fur in your hair?'" She sniffed and tears filled her eyes.
"Well, I mean...." His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. "I normally like your hair, and... well, I don't want there to be monkey fur in it."
She looked away, sobbing quietly. "Okay, Neev. Okay. I get it." She looked back at him, eyes huge and quivering. "I know how I feel about you, Neev. I tell you all the time. You know how much I love you. How much I worry for you. How much it means to me to fight by your side." She noisily blew her nose into a handkerchief. "We might die today, Neev. We might die defending our home. But I guess all you care about is that I have some fur in my hair."
From the corner of his eye, Neev saw the other Bullies appro
ach. Scruff clubbed three grunters and walked up, hesitant. Cobweb landed her dragonfly and busied herself with her bow and arrows, pretending not to see the argument. Jamie slew a roaming grunter and joined the group, sword bloody.
Neev looked at them, then back at the trembling Romy. She can't do this to me! he thought. I'm a great warlock, or trying to be one. I'm a sorcerer of black magic. I'm powerful, and feared, and strong... always strong. Warlocks don't cry and speak of love and romance.
He sighed. "Romy, I.... Please."
He tried to touch her cheek, but she slapped his hand away. "No, Neev. You're not who I thought you were. When you summoned me from Hell, I knew at once that I loved you. I knew at once that you'd protect me on Earth, be my guide, my defender, my boyfriend. I love you, Neev. Don't you love me too?"
He looked at her mop of flaming hair, her trembling lips, her teary eyes. He did love her, but... how could he say so, like this, in front of everybody? Why did she always put him on the spot? He reached into her hair, plucked out a clump of monkey fur, and showed it to her.
"See?" he said. "Monkey."
She snorted through her tears. "Look who's talking." She pointed at his tail, a byproduct of his last spell. "Baboon."
"Me? You're the one with the big red butt."
She gasped. "You hairy ape!"
"Climb any trees lately?" he asked.
She roared so loudly, the hill shook. "You stinky, poop-slinging, tree-swinging, banana-gorging orangutan!" She hopped with rage. "You hairy, peanut-brained, flea-eating gorilla! Go drag your knuckles toward the nearest tree, find a smelly chimp girl to groom, and she can be your girlfriend. You are living proof man evolved from apes! In a thousand years, I bet they'll send you to space on a rocket. You can't speak, hear, or see evil! Do you understand me, or do I need to say ooh-ooh-ah-ah? You, sir, are a simian, red-butt-scratching, seeing-and-doing, stinkbag monkey boy!"
She panted, chest rising and falling. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open, and her cheeks flushed. Neev looked at her, and his chest ached; she was so beautiful. He remembered those nights when they'd cuddle in his sleeping bag, whispering and laughing and kissing. He remembered how happy he was when they'd built their house, with a room just for them, and how he never wanted anything else.
"Oh yeah?" he said.
"Yeah!"
"Are you finished?"
She panted. "Yeah!"
"Good," he said and grabbed her shoulders. "Because you, Romy... you are the most beautiful, funny, and best monkey in the world. I love you, Romy. Now and always. More than anything. And I don't care if anyone hears it. Because you are my stinky monkey girl."
She gasped and growled. "How dare you, you— I mean...." She blinked. "Oh. Thank you... I think."
She scrunched her lips, considered his words a moment longer, then grinned. She leaped onto him, wrapped him in a bear hug, and knocked him down. She began kissing him all over his face, countless little pecks.
"Mwa mwa! I love you too, Neev. I love you I love you I love you. Mwa mwa mwa, monkey!"
He struggled beneath her. "Okay, Romy. I get it. We'll have time for this later. For now, let's go kill Madrila. Okay?"
She leaped up, beaming, and wagged her tail. "Okay, monkey Neev!"
Scruff, Jamie, and Cobweb approached them, weapons in hand. The rest of their forces still fought across the hill and in the streets below.
"We enter the fort," Neev said to his fellow Bullies. "The five of us. We'll kill the witch like we killed her father."
They all nodded. Neev faced the fort's gates and cast a lightning bolt, snapping their locks. He pushed the doors open... and the Bullies stepped into shadows.
* * * * *
At first Neev saw nothing. Darkness filled Fort Rosethorn's main hall. He heard nothing but Scruff grunting and Romy mumbling something about buying bananas. He took step by careful step and whispered a spell. A fireball crackled to life in his hands, casting flickering light across the hall.
He gasped. Around him, he heard the other Bullies gasp too.
Fort Rosethorn had been transformed into a nightmare. The tapestries, suits of armor, and candlesticks were gone. Instead, cages hung from the ceilings, and strange monsters filled them—some hairy, some slimy, some round like toads, and others gangly like stick insects. The creatures hissed and snorted in the light.
"Do you like my creations?" came a voice from deep in the shadows, where Neev's light did not reach. "I made them myself from my enemies."
Neev growled and lobbed his fireball.
The flames spun and hurled across the hall, casting light upon dozens of more cages. Soon the fireball reached the end of the hall, and its light fell upon Madrila.
The witch caught the fireball and held it. She gazed at it curiously, an amused look in her eyes. She sat upon a throne of bones, clad in black robes.
"Not bad, not bad," she said. "The flames are hot... but not enough to burn me."
Snarling, she tossed the fireball back at the Bullies.
Neev began uttering the words of a force field. Before he could complete the spell, Jamie whipped around him and held up her shield. The fireball crashed into it, breaking into a million sparks.
"That does it!" Jamie shouted and ran across the hall, boots echoing. "You die now, witch."
Madrila cast a lightning bolt. Jamie ducked, slid under it, and kept running. She parried a second lightning bolt, leaped, and swung her sword down toward Madrila.
The witch cast a beam of blue light. The blast tossed Jamie back, caught her, and lifted her. The girl struggled in midair, kicking and screaming. The magic held her like a giant blue fist.
"You little runt," Madrila said, snarling. She gestured at an empty cage of chicken wire. "You will join my creations."
Before the other Bullies could react, Madrila shot a blast of green magic at Jamie.
Jamie screamed. Her back arched. She fell to the floor, squirming and squeaking.
"Jamie!" Neev shouted. He cast lightning at Madrila, but she only laughed and deflected it with a lazy wand swipe. Scruff, Cobweb, and Romy screamed and charged forward, but Madrila lashed her wand again, and blasts of wind blew them back. They slammed into a wall and grunted.
"Neeeev!" Jamie cried from the floor. Smoke rose from her and her hair billowed. "Neev, squeak! Squeak!"
Black fur covered her body. Claws grew from her fingers. She shrank, and her voice rose to a high pitch. Sparks of light showered. Jamie's armor clanked against a pile of empty clothes.
"She's gone!" Scruff said, leaping to his feet.
Neev sighed. "No. She's still here."
A black mouse crawled out of Jamie's breastplate, squeaking. Madrila laughed, picked up the mouse, and tossed it into the chicken wire cage.
"Anyone else want to taste my wand?" the witch asked, smiling crookedly.
"Me, me!" Romy cried. She jumped up and down. "Can you turn me into a fluff ball again?"
The demon girl ran forward, tail wagging.
Madrila shot her wand.
Blue sparks flowed over Romy. The demon squealed in delight. She spun as in a typhoon, showering sparks.
"Romy, you idiot!" Neev shouted. Horror gripped him. What was Madrila doing to her?
A puff of purple smoke rose. A teddy bear fell to the floor. The tiny, stuffed animal rose to its feet and looked around with button eyes.
"Hey, you turned me into a teddy!" the little bear said, speaking with Romy's voice. "Anyone want to play with me?"
Madrila lifted Romy and tossed her into the cage with the mouse. The cage door slammed shut. The teddy Romy stared through the chicken wire with button eyes.
Neev growled and tossed an arrow of green magic. Cobweb shot an arrow of wood and flint. Madrila only laughed, lashed her wand, and both missiles turned to dust.
"Neev!" Romy cried from her cage. "Neev, I'm a teddy bear! Do you want to play with me?"
"Not now, Romy!" Neev shouted.
Scruff shouted too—a hoarse, wordless cry
. He charged down the hall, mace swinging.
"Damn you, witch!" the huge warrior shouted. "Let's see you face a real warrior."
Madrila stared at him, snarling. She raised her wand. Scruff ran toward her. He almost reached her. Neev dared to hope....
But Madrila cast her spell too quickly. Green confetti shot from her wand and covered Scruff.
Scruff howled. His mace hit the floor and clanked. His body bulged, twisted, and spun. Soon he fell to the floor, transformed into a sack of turnips.
"Mmm mmm, turnips," Romy said from her cage. "I know what I'm eating for dinner tonight."
"Nooo!" Cobweb cried, tears in her eyes. "Oh, Scwuff! My Swcuff!"
She shot another arrow at Madrila, but the witch turned it to ash. Neev tossed a fireball, but Madrila knocked it aside with a blast of magic.
Cobweb ran and knelt by the sack of turnips. She hugged it and kissed it.
"Oh, Scwuff," she said. A turnip fell from the sack and rolled. Cobweb stared at it with horror.
Madrila laughed, lifted the turnip, and tossed it into the air. She roasted it with a blast of fire from her wand, caught it, and bit into it.
"Mmm, dee-licious," she said.
Cobweb screamed, drew her dagger, and leaped at Madrila.
Laughing, the witch pointed her wand. Magic flowed over Cobweb, sparkling and humming. With a puff of smoke, Cobweb turned into a small, purple, fuzzy spider. The spider fell to the ground. Madrila lifted it and tossed it into the cage with the mouse and teddy bear.
"Oh hai, Cobweb," the teddy Romy said. "You didn't change too much."
"Squeak!" said Jamie the mouse.
The sack of turnips on the floor said nothing.
Neev stared at Madrila from between strands of sweaty hair. The witch stared back, smiling crookedly. Neev's insides trembled, but he forced himself to stay still, to stare steadily at Madrila.
"Well well, little wizard," she said. "It's just you and me now, isn't it?" She raised her wand slowly and pointed it at him.
"So it'll be a good, old fashioned wizards' duel," he said. He raised his hands. "Just how I like it."
She snarled and cast a blast of lightning.
Wand of the Witch Page 24
