Horvuk traveled sideways through the hall, his shoulder spikes knocking a lizard from the wall here and there. A gaggle of scrits nipped at his heels, impatient at his slow progress
The door behind them shut. Lou wondered if the lizards had done that or if someone else followed.
“So weird how they cooperate, like a hive or something,” she said.
Nelson started up a run of spiral steps that led to a visible landing. The number of scrits decreased as the lizards scurried into cracks and crevices in the walls. “Because someone else is telling them what to do.”
“Someone else is talking to them?”
“Yes.” He pointed at a crevice where two lizards had fled. They both peered out, flicking their tongues at his finger. “This is their niche.”
As they continued up the winding stairs, their route widened and the number of alcoves in the walls increased. By the time they made it to the third landing, most of the scrits, except for a dozen bringing up the rear, had settled into all the available perches and cracks and were tracking them with their tiny black eyes.
The stairs continued upward, but this landing had an open door, unlike the closed doors they’d passed on the others. Two lizards made a show of going through the door, and Nelson followed.
They walked down a short corridor and into a large circular room. Ghosts sat around a large wooden round table, their eyes on Lou and Nelson as they stepped in. Lou would’ve spent more time marveling at the many different types of ghosts, but her attention was focused on the spirit that hung upside down over the table. Only his face and feet were exposed, with the rest of his body wrapped in chains.
Nelson stared up at the suspended spirit. “Hugo?”
Their friend hung from the ceiling by a huge chain, swaying slightly.
Hugo twisted his head to look at them. “Oh, hey, guys. Long time no see. So, how are things?”
Horvuk entered the room and flexed his arms and unkinked his back. “Finally, a little more space.” The orc took in an expansive breath and did a few stretches.
Hugo gawked at the orc. “What is that?”
Horvuk leered at the upside-down ghost. “Be nice. I’m quite perceptive, and your tone is quite judgy. Perhaps you’d like to get acquainted with my spikes.” He rolled his shoulders, causing the large spikes there to flex and wag.
“Easy, Horuk. He’s a friend.” Lou put her hand on the orc’s fist, just below his pointy knuckles.
The orc smiled. “Of course. This is such a grand opportunity. You are reunited with your long-lost companion. I must put this to paper.” He retrieved his journal and pen from his pack and sidestepped to sit on a small bench pushed up against a wall. He opened the journal and began writing furiously. A few seconds later, he looked up and smiled sheepishly at all the eyes in the room fixed on him. “Continue. Pretend I’m not even here. I’ll make all parties look good.”
Hugo said, “You made friends with an orc that keeps a diary?”
Lou worried the orc would explode at the comment, but Horvuk seemed to have let the jab slide.
“Be nice. He’s a good guy, a little temperamental but he’s cool,” Lou said.
A ghost in a hooded robe, with a big nose and way too many rings, said, “Enough. You will listen.”
“Don’t mind Kilg. He’s just mad that we’ve reached a conversational standstill.” Hugo looked over at Nelson, probably, to see if the boy would acknowledge his word game. Nelson didn’t react, and Hugo continued, “So glad to see you guys. Where’s the wizard? I was hoping he could spill why I have warrior elf magic in me.”
“You know about that?” Lou said.
“Long story, but yes, I do. I’m still not sure I understand it all, but yes.”
The wizard with rings on every finger said, “You shall be quiet and listen.”
A mummy girl walked up and whispered to Kilg.
“Why are you chained up? What did you do?” Nelson asked Hugo.
“They think I stole the magic, and that means I’m in cahoots with Baron Orb.”
Lou was impressed with how much Hugo knew already. Who had filled him in?
Kilg looked annoyed and stepped back to confer with the mummy ghost.
Hugo asked, “Where’s my body?”
“Safe but not nearby.”
“It’s being guarded by dragons,” Nelson added.
“Whoa, cool.” Hugo eyed the table of ghosts nervously. “You guys need to talk them out of whatever they’re thinking of doing to me.”
Kilg returned. “Naom says all three of you harbor the same magic within. Where did you get it?”
Lou took the lead and shared all the details Wizard Itzel had divulged. When she got to how they each had a part of Neruno inside, Hugo seemed particularly interested, almost as if he wanted to add something, but he resisted.
She talked about how they needed to get Hugo back to his proper body and about the wizard tucked away in the golem. The minotaur acted as if he knew Wizard Itzel but not in any bad way.
When she was done, the ghosts didn’t seem as scary. In fact, they radiated a more supportive vibe.
Kilg wove a spell in the air, summoning green magic that leapt onto the chains binding Hugo. They disappeared, and Hugo glided to the ground next to Lou.
The mummy girl motioned for them to approach. The threesome did. Lou waved the orc over.
Horvuk grumbled but joined them, resting his journal on a lifted leg to keep writing.
Naom addressed the room. “We are those who dwell in the Wayward Keep. We are the banished. Powerful wizards and witches who have been locked up longer than Baron Orb has been around. We are not his allies.” She scratched at her right temple, causing a bandage to drop down in front of her ear. “He deals in stolen magic in two ways, taking spirits as fuel directly, and also forcing all of Perpetua to hand over a portion of their magic to him or face his wrath.”
If these guys weren’t bad, why had the wizard uttered the name of this place in such a frightened way? She wanted to ask but held off.
Nelson didn’t hold back, though. “But Itzel didn’t like this tower. And Horvuk didn’t either.”
The orc said, “I only know Wayward Keep is a place to be avoided, nothing more.”
Naom frowned. “We were locked away in here almost two hundred years ago, our bodies destroyed by those who imprisoned us. We cannot leave this tower. After so many years here, this place is the only thing keeping our spirits moored to this realm. If we roamed beyond these walls, we would be whisked away to the afterlife.”
That didn’t sound good. They were bad guys, much older villains.
“We manage to pool our magic to randomly teleport the tower so it doesn’t stay in one place too long. We’ve done that more lately because Baron Orb believes he can drain our magic and use it to give him unstoppable powers.”
“You’re criminals,” Nelson said.
The minotaur cut in. “Not anymore. We have changed. Over the centuries, we have traveled the path of reform. We are not perfect, but we no longer are corrupt.”
Hugo said, “So let me get this straight. The baron burns through spirits to give him power, he also takes a little bit of magic from all the magical creatures who live here, and he also wants to gobble you all up if he can ever track you down?”
Naom nodded. “That is correct. We have had a few close calls lately.”
“If your magic will make him so powerful, why does he want what’s in us?” Lou asked.
“Even hidden away in our tower, we still keep up with what’s happening out in Perpetua. Neruno was powerful. I suspect the baron just wishes to eliminate him as a threat once and for all.”
Hugo looked at Lou. “Mind-blowing stuff, huh?”
Nelson said, “How do we know you’re not lying and it’s you that’s working for the baron?”
Kilg and several of the other ghosts gasped.
Noam held a hand up to settle the room. “You don’t, but we can show you through our deeds. W
e can take you to your friend’s body right now. Is that what you want?”
Hugo nodded feverishly.
Lou thought for a second. “Wait, we need Wizard Itzel and Kanzu with us, too. Can you get them?”
Kilg said, “We would need to use the scrits again, and sending so many out to fetch you taxed us too much. We would require some time to muster up adequate magic to do so.”
Nelson said, “That’s okay. I can do it.”
Hugo looked at him. “Wait, you can’t go out there by yourself. That’s crazy.”
“I’m not. You two are coming with me, and I think I can bring along a whole army of friends.” Nelson grinned and locked eyes with both of them.
“And don’t forget your chronicler of derring-do.” The orc jabbed his pen in the air as if it were a sword. “I’m up to the challenge.”
Chapter 17
Hugo Loses an Ally
Hugo exited the tower first, streaking out into the midday sun. He swooped high and then cut right. Before he could hit the canyon wall, he pulled out of his dive and raced back to his friends.
Lou was well clear of the tower with Nelson and the orc, all three marching down the center of the canyon. Hanging inside the keep’s entrance were Kilg and Naom. They appeared much more translucent than he did in the bright sun.
It was still pretty creepy how the Wayward Keep looked from the outside. A tower walking about on giant legs was just plain weird. It reminded him of the Baba Yaga’s house, the big boss in one of the levels of a really horrible game called Demon Tree. He’d never finished that one because it had been a grind, with too many repetitive side missions involving boring walking and talking.
Hugo landed next to Lou, and well clear of Horvuk. They’d told him about the orc’s mood swings and why he had them, but Hugo still found the orc scary when the brute got agitated. He was surprised how comfortable Nelson was with their massive companion’s unpredictability.
Kilg called out to Nelson, “As we discussed, don’t try to handle too many scrits.”
Nelson nodded and looked at Hugo and Lou. “You’re good with the plan?”
Hugo said, “Yep, pie slices. I’m in charge of the cherry pie.”
Nelson frowned. “No, it’s not a pie. We cut up the area into quadrants, improving our chances of finding the wizard. Don’t you remember the map of the woods Kilg conjured up?”
Hugo liked giving him a hard time. “It’s coming back to me: holographic thingie that you could stick your finger in?” He’d actually poked at a tall tree and swirled his finger around inside it, disturbing not one bit of the magical model.
“Yes, and you were assigned the first quadrant.”
“And I have the second,” Horvuk said. The orc had his journal out and fumbled to jot down a thought as he struggled to also hold his spear.
Hugo said, “Shouldn’t we have weapons? There might be gauntwings out here still hunting for me.” He worried about Vua. Was she okay?
Lou said, “Not sure I’d trust you with anything pointy. Besides, you can ghost your way out of any attack, right?”
He nodded, wanting to reveal he’d briefly wielded a sword. She was right, though. Him carrying a weapon wasn’t practical. Whatever he held didn’t ghost with him. Nelson could call on animals and plants to defend him, but what could Lou do other than talk to dead squirrels? He worried that maybe she needed a weapon more than any of them and was about to say such when Nelson chose that moment to execute his plan.
Nelson stopped and looked back at the tower. He put his hands up to the sides of his head and concentrated.
Seconds later, several dozen scrits poured out of the keep’s open door and raced toward them.
Lou flinched and almost looked like she was about to freak out when the lizards darted by her feet, but she kept her cool.
The scrits formed a circle four deep around Nelson and looked up at him like puppies eager to play fetch.
Lou said, “Much better control than what happened earlier. Good job, Nelson.”
He grinned and then focused.
Hugo knew Nelson’s scrunched-up face meant his friend was giving the scrits their marching orders. He talked to Lou, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t break Nelson’s concentration. “And he did this with an owl back home?”
“Pretty much.”
“So he can make plants and animals do whatever he wants? Like he’s a puppet master?” He danced his hands in the air as if pulling strings and then realized that was more him mimicking a marionette than a hand puppet.
“It’s not like he’s forcing them to. He’s just reaching out and talking, asking for their help.”
Two scrits jumped onto Nelson’s shoulders, while the rest of them got divided into four groups so that each expedition member had a troop of lizards. The scrits arranged themselves in three-row formations consisting of seven or eight individuals per row.
It reminded Hugo how he’d gotten Key to help him. He’d treated the gauntwing nicely, and it had gone along with assisting in his escape. Should he tell Lou about the gauntwing? He wanted to tell his friends about the elf as well, but something held him back. He didn’t know why, but every time he thought to mention his ally, the desire to share quickly dried up.
In general, he felt a little more turned around. He wondered if that was because he’d been away from his body for too long now.
Nelson took the lead, with Horvuk striding along beside him, asking questions of how herding the scrits was going.
“And would you say it’s an adjustment to communicate with such primitive minds?” He pointed to a scrit that seemed to be wandering off. “And do you think you might’ve taken on too many?”
Nelson focused on the stray, and it perked up and rejoined the formation traveling a safe distance away from the orc’s big feet.
Nelson said, “Don’t badmouth them. They’re quite intelligent.”
“How dare you—!” The orc looked ready to bash Nelson in the head, but then his rage disappeared. “My apologies.”
They walked for a few minutes in relative silence. Although, Hugo really wanted to talk about just how incredible everything was.
Nelson stopped when they reached the end of the canyon. He pointed at the dry creek that continued on. “No one goes into the desert.”
Horvuk tapped his pen on Hugo’s shoulder. “Sand zombies.”
Hugo said, “And the golem wouldn’t run into there? I mean, he knows the threat?”
Lou shrugged. “Maybe, but the wizard sure knew.”
“Okay, let’s divide and conquer.” Hugo clapped his hands together and then rubbed them as if trying to demonstrate friction. He cut left, heading toward the edge of the woods.
The others continued down the creek bed. He watched them disappear around a bend before he entered the trees. His squad of scrits fanned out and disappeared into the undergrowth. He called to them. “Was it something I said?” Realizing no one was around to hear his lame joke, he added, “Okay, well, be sure to do your weird croaking if you find anything.”
Nelson had had the scrits share their loudest possible outcry, which sounded like a crooning whale with a sore throat, surprisingly loud for such little critters.
Hugo moved at a faster pace with no one else around. He took to the air and made himself immaterial so he could plunge straight ahead and not worry about dodging any obstacles.
He passed through a thick trunk of a tree with bright orange bark and felt a gentle tickle in his gut. That was new! He passed through several more trees, all different, but the tickle didn’t return.
“Georgie!” he called out. “I’m here to help. You there?”
He worked himself downhill then back up when he heard the orc calling out nearby. No sense in covering the same ground.
As he glided up a steep, rocky slope that would’ve been impossible to scale on foot, something rustled the leaves of a bush off to the right. He traveled over, making sure he was thoroughly immaterial.
“G
eorgie?” He peered into the bush and saw a pale arm.
A faint moan issued from the plant, and the arm twitched and rolled.
He dropped to the ground and made himself as solid as he could. He pulled aside several branches and spied Vua lying on her back and attempting to sit up.
Weighing her down was a new type of gauntwing. It looked like a black balloon with a shell covering its upper half and a blunt head that snapped at the elf every time she shifted. Instead of stubby legs, it had five tentacles wrapped around her waist and pinning her right arm to her side as it groped with another tentacle, attempting to trap her free hand. It flapped its large wings jutting from the top of its shell.
“Vua!”
She rolled her head to look his way. “Knew you’d show up.” The elf grinned.
The gauntwing hissed at Hugo but didn’t let go of the elf to attack him.
He looked around for a weapon, a rock, or thick branch. He spied the golem lying face down behind Vua. He was out cold. Two halves of what looked like a strange purple coconut sat in a puddle next to the golem. Had he been poisoned?
The elf said, “Your wizard tried to help, but it knocked him out before he could get out a spell. That is your wizard?”
“Yes.” Well, at least that meant the wizard was back in charge.
A black shape flew at Hugo from above. He ducked but then smiled, knowing it was not an enemy.
“Key!” he said.
The gauntwing landed on his right shoulder and transformed from its snake body to its namesake.
Hugo scratched at the space between its wings.
“Get me free. This one surely sent out a call for others.” She nodded at her captor.
Hugo steered clear of the snapping gauntwing and located a thick branch. He returned and swatted at the creature from the side. On the third blow, it let go of Vua and flew at him.
On instinct, he ghosted, dropping his only defense.
Vua pounced on the gauntwing and drove her knife deep into its soft underbelly. Its guts dropped out and through Hugo, splattering on the ground above which he hovered.
The gauntwing hit the forest floor and rolled on its back, its tentacles squirming about. It emitted a wet scream and then went still.
Heroes of Perpetua Page 19
