So?
So what?
Did I convince you to not make a meal out of me? Nelson made sure not to expose his teeth to the beast. Some animals took that as a sign of aggression.
The predator whacked the tree twice and then slid his front paws underneath its bulk, just inches from Nelson’s trapped belly. Yes, you have avoided meeting my stomach acids. He lifted and flung the tree aside as if it were made of paper mache.
Nelson stood and hugged his waist as he backed away from the beast.
It stared at him. No worries, little human. Our interaction has pleased me so much I will remove your kind from my diet. Not that I’ve partaken of any. You would’ve been my first. Most of you always tote around such pointy weapons.
Nelson bowed because it felt like ‘a bow moment.’
Stay safe. I will spread the word to my fellow strike shadow fiends of our exchange and how we should really hold your people in more regard. The beast turned about and loped into the woods, disappearing in a wall of bright yellow bushes with thorns that didn’t seem to faze it.
Nelson turned to the wizard. “What next?”
The wizard patted him soundly on the back. “Lovely work. Such a nimble mind.”
Nelson smiled as he maintained eye contact with the wizard.
“We need to find your friends.” The wizard marched forward.
“Do you think they’re okay?” Nelson fell in behind him.
“Yes, I can sense their magic. It’s faint, but the good news is that they are close and relatively together.”
What about the baron and his daughter?” Nelson petitioned the scrits following him to stay close, and they eagerly did.
“I fear they were spared as well. My hope is Orb went to lick his wounds and recharge his magic.”
“And you know where that would be?”
“I do.” The wizard said nothing more.
They trekked through the woods, Nelson listening for any hint that a new animal stalked them. He doubted he could talk every carnivore in Perpetua into not gobbling him up. He’d been lucky with the strike shadow fiend. Well, maybe he’d dealt with it through more than just luck. He smiled and kept up with the wizard, who moved fast thanks to his golem body now operating at peak efficiency.
Chapter 22
Lou Parts With Her Magic
Lou kept her mouth closed and eyes squeezed shut as the sand pressed in from all sides. The zombie’s claws tightened around her midsection, and she found she couldn’t kick or move her arms.
She would suffocate, and then it would start taking chunks out of her. If she was lucky . . . if it was super hungry, it might start nibbling any moment now.
But she couldn’t do anything. The sand prevented any movement on her part. Although, the zombie seemed to slide through it with ease. She calmed herself and felt her attacker dragging her deeper. How could it do that? Simple physics would seem to say it shouldn’t be able to burrow so easily.
Because it was magic. Some sort of spell that made the sand like water to it and anything it held. She let her mouth slip open and tasted grit. She spit and closed it up, holding back the urge to sneeze.
How long had it been since her last breath? Her lungs were tight but not painfully so. Maybe thirty seconds. She knew from numerous early-morning trips to the neighborhood pool with her dad to ‘get in their laps for the day’ that she could hold her breath for eighty seconds.
Could Hugo and the dragon dig her out? Could Nelson send his scrits to excavate her?
Not before I run out of air. She fought the rising panic and tried to latch onto a plan.
The zombie was technically dead. Could she do anything with that? Wait, she’d communed with Nelson’s squirrel only after it had died. Could she talk to every dead thing? She’d just assumed that her magic was useful with animals, much like Nelson’s talent for talking with living creatures.
She sent out a mental overture. Hey, buddy. You don’t want to do this.
The zombie ceased moving. Its thoughts, much fainter and draggy, seeped into her head. Quiet, meal.
She sensed its agitation. What drove you to a life of sneaking around in the sand and dragging things under?
It dug its claws into her sides. Quiet.
Not much of a talker. How about you take me above ground and we have a chat?
No. The zombie dragged her deeper.
Her lungs were about to burst. Her mind raced, and she felt the panic winning. She’d eventually gasp and sand would pour down her throat.
You know, if you were smart, you’d use me as bait to lure that big dragon over, and then think of the bonanza you’d have! Meat for days. I bet dragons taste good. Have you had one before?
No. The zombie paused its vigorous strokes and kicks.
Well, think of how jealous the other zombies would be. What’s your name?
Radfung.
They’d go around saying, ‘Did you hear what Radfung bagged? A dragon. It’s true. He’s amazing.’
Lou felt her eyes watering. Her chest hurt so much.
Yes. It took a few timid strokes upward with just its left arm. Fame. It accelerated.
She felt sleepy and amped at the same time. Then get me up there fast and let’s do this. If I’m not able to cry out for help, there’s no way the dragon will fall for it.
This spurred the zombie to cut through the sand with astonishing speed.
Lou opened her mouth, and sand filled it. She coughed as the zombie broke the surface and flung her upper half into the air. It held onto her legs.
Make it come. The zombie’s thoughts were piercing.
Gimme a second. She gasped in a ton of breaths until her heart no longer raced and she didn’t need to gulp in precious lungfuls.
Nelson had relocated over to where Hugo was. Silurf and the wizard conferred, nodding quietly and pointing at the growing army of scrits that was assembling in the dry creek bed. There had to be a thousand.
The zombie shook her. Meat.
Nelson and Hugo pointed her way, and they seemed excited. Nelson turned and faced the hundreds of scrits.
Silurf’s thoughts entered Lou’s head. Nelson has a plan. My part is to snag you and the zombie and pluck you from the desert. And worry not about the fiend overhearing us. It’s an easy task to shield our communication from others.
She smiled. Funny, my plan matches that, only you’re supposed to fly over and let the zombie try to eat you. I didn’t promise him you’d cooperate, though.
The zombie pulled her under a few feet and then back up. Now! Dragon meat now!
Lou didn’t know what they had in store for the zombie. Was the orc in hiding, ready to jump out and spear the zombie once it was out of its sandy element? Doubtful, as there weren’t that many hiding spots nearby capable of offering the big orc cover.
She waved her arms. “Help! Someone get over here and save me!”
Silurf took off and glided quickly across the desert.
The zombie surfaced completely and let go of Lou, its undead eyes on the prize even though its left one looked more askew than straight on.
She unburied her lower legs and took off, racing toward her friends.
The zombie realized its mistake and wailed at her. It gave chase, moving surprisingly fast.
Silurf dropped and snatched up the zombie. It thrashed in its grip and bit at the dragon’s claws. Luckily, the scales proved too hard, and it lost what few teeth it had remaining.
Lou stumbled the last ten feet and stomped across the creek bed, shaking free as much sand as she could.
“You look awful,” Hugo said with a smirk.
Nelson said, “Well, that’s understandable. She was just pulled deep into a dune.”
The wizard approached and nodded at Nelson. “Your friend is devilishly smart. Watch.”
Nelson faced his army of scrits and held up his hands as if he were a conductor. “Operation Undead Smorgasbord is a go! Dig in!”
Hugo rolled his eyes. “You need t
o work on your operation names. That doesn’t roll off the tongue. Who says smorgasbord?”
Silurf flew overhead, the zombie almost having worked itself free of his claws. The dragon only held onto it by one leg, and that flimsy appendage looked ready to break off.
“It was my word in round fourteen of the fifth-grade spelling bee. Mindy Newman got it wrong, and it catapulted me into the final round. So I say it’s a great word.”
Hugo shrugged.
The dragon let go of the zombie.
It fell into the center of the scrits. The lizards rushed it, quickly covering the corpse. The zombie bucked under all the scrits. The lizards tore into it, gobbling up the rancid flesh with glee.
Nelson smiled at his friends. “If you can’t handle watching how scavengers feed, it’s perfectly understandable.”
The zombie managed to work its head free, but two large scrits pounced on it and drove it back under the large yellow throng.
Hugo was the first to look away.
Lou approached the wizard. “Where’s Horvuk?”
“Orcs are quite resilient. He’ll turn up.”
“And the bad guys?” Hugo said, deliberately situating his back to the feeding frenzy.
Silurf landed well clear of the scrits.
Wizard Itzel said, “Back at their stronghold, replenishing the baron’s magic. We need to summon Neruno now and strike while Orb is diminished.”
The scrits settled down and slowly dispersed, leaving behind a skeleton picked clean. It was in a sitting position for a brief second before it tipped backward and hit the ground, dislodging the skull and sending it wobbling down the creek bed.
Hugo stared at the bones.
Lou exhaled dramatically. “Thank you for helping me get free. That was too close.”
The wizard smiled. “Yes, yes, you all managed yourselves well, but I really must insist we draw Neruno out of you now, while I have my wits about me. He can do so much more than mere tricks. Georgie won’t stay quiet long.” He pointed to his golem body.
“What do we need to do?” Lou said.
She felt sad to be saying goodbye to the magic she’d carried with her for the past couple days. Well, not exactly. It had been with her much longer, but she hadn’t used it until recently. She looked at her friends, trying to read if they also felt the same way.
Hugo seemed reluctant, his mouth half-open and his brows lifted together to form a tent. Nelson was harder to read. He’d always maintained a blank expression, something that had led to teasing in school. She thought he looked unsure and a little down. If she had to pick a spelling bee word to describe him, she’d go with stoic. She smiled at her notion, wondering if voicing it would rile Nelson up or earn her points like when Hugo deliberately used big words to earn points with her neighbor.
Nelson bent and pet a scrit, waving the stragglers off. “Nice knowing you guys. Thanks for everything. Happy your bellies are full. It’s the least I could do.”
The scrit let out a tiny belch and then scurried up the creek, stopping at the skeleton to nip one last overlooked morsel of flesh from its ribcage before disappearing into the forest.
“Okay, you must follow what I say perfectly for this to work. Are you ready?” The wizard flexed his fingers.
****
After two full minutes of going over the steps, everyone understood their parts. Nelson and Hugo lay on the ground on either side of Lou.
Hugo said, “I know he didn’t say to, but do you think this is a holding-hands moment?”
“No,” Lou and Nelson said.
The wizard stood by their feet, weaving an ornate spell. “I’m still not back to normal with my own magic, but I don’t need much of mine. Once I coax out each of yours, the spell will be fueled by Neruno’s essence.”
“So I won’t be able to be a ghost anymore?” Nelson said.
“You will lose your magical talents if I can get all of his essence out of you, which I intend to do. You were vessels to keep the warrior hidden.”
Hugo frowned. “Not cool calling us just vessels.”
“What would you want to be called instead? Receptacles? Vaults?” Nelson remarked.
Hugo huffed and crossed his arms.
The wizard paused in his spellcasting, eyeing Hugo’s new pose.
Hugo slowly returned his arms to his sides. He scooched on his back a little, making a show of trying to get comfortable.
His way of further protesting, Lou thought.
“Cease the squirming, please.” The wizard resumed casting.
Lou felt it in her chest first. A tugging, like someone had stitched a thick thread through her torso and was pulling it tight. She fought the urge to clutch her chest. Instead, she worked through it by taking slow breaths like the wizard had suggested.
White and blue energy expanded out from her midsection and all along her body until she was covered in a two-inch-thick layer of magic.
The hairs on her arms raised as her entire body lifted off the ground. She kept herself rigid like she was doing a reverse plank. From out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same happening to her friends.
The wizard gestured even faster as the verses to fuel the spell escaped his mouth with more intensity.
He barked out a final word with far too many syllables, and the magic pervading them shot upward, forming a sphere that grew from a marble to a wrecking ball in seconds.
The magic poured out of all three. It didn’t hurt, but Lou did feel a sense of loss. In the back of her mind she had entertained the unthinkable, of using her magic to talk to the one person she could no longer talk to. Now that opportunity was lost to her. She wallowed in her sadness as the magic suspended before them swelled even more.
So sorry, Dad.
The last of the magic trailed into the sphere, and they dropped gently to the ground.
Hugo said, “My cream filling’s gone.”
She rolled her eyes and risked turning her head to look at him.
He was already staring at her and smiling. He spoke with an exaggerated baritone. “I feel lighter, like a great burden has been lifted from me.”
Lou scowled, not at all amused with his over-the-top remarks. Dramatic much, Hugo?
They sat up relatively at the same time.
The sphere swirled and pulsed. Here and there, plumes and tendrils of magic shot a few inches from the globe’s exterior, only to fall back in meager arcs.
“It’s like the surface of the sun.” Nelson held a hand up to the magic, bringing it to within an arm’s length of the manifestation. “No heat pouring out of it, though.”
“Like solar flares,” Hugo added.
Nelson looked over at him. “Yes.”
Hugo grinned, pleased with impressing his friend. Lou sensed he’d offered the info to connect to Nelson and not to show him up. She thought that was nice.
The wizard dropped to his knees and gaped at the warrior magic. From his wide eyes, Lou could tell the golem had returned. The wizard wouldn’t be fearful or overwhelmed by what he had pulled from them.
Hugo came to the same conclusion. He crawled over and gently grabbed hold of the golem. “It’s okay. That’s Neruno, a noble warrior elf who is going to save Perpetua.”
The golem looked at Hugo and then noticed the boy’s fingers wrapped around his biceps.
Lou liked that Hugo wasn’t being forceful with his words or actions.
“I really hate my blackouts,” Georgie said.“You children are always by my side when I wake up. Are you friend or foe?”
Lou was about to answer when Nelson surprised her with what he said next. “You tell us.”
The golem stared at each of them in turn. “I say friend.” He slipped out of Hugo’s grasp and stood. Georgie puffed out his chest. “I will not run from you.”
Lou joined them, ducking low so she wouldn’t dunk it in the magic overhead.
The sphere now had red and yellow ribbons of magic racing across its pale blue surface.
“
Why does Perpetua need saving?” the golem asked.
Before Lou could answer, the magic again took center stage, shifting and reconfiguring itself into a vague humanoid arrangement. The arms and legs stretched out and filled in. The energy funneled into the figure’s chest and head for the most part.
Neruno’s long elf ears manifested as his face resolved into being. The elf was graced with a long, aquiline nose, high cheekbones, and a square jaw. His brow was deep-set, and his green eyes darted about, taking in the scene before him. His white hair spilled down to his shoulders, just slightly longer than Hugo’s. Parted in the center, it was straight and lifted at the ends as if plagued by static electricity.
Green armor raced across the elf, forming broad shoulder pads and gloves and boots that were a darker shade of green than the rest of the battlegear.
The blue magic sank inside the elf as the red arcs of energy played all over him, refining the details in his appearance.
Several ornate rings popped into existence, as well as small hoop earrings, and a golden radial symbol—looking like a spiral rimmed with sunburst flames—set in the center of his breastplate. Other gold accents rounded out his appearance, minor touches like thin trim along the tops of his boots and gloves, and a fringe under each forearm.
A golden scabbard took its place, strapping itself to his right side, but no magical blade appeared.
The elf’s gaze fell on the golem. “Itzel is not present?”
“The golem’s in charge at the moment,” Hugo said.
Neruno radiated power. It was a little intimidating, but knowing he was a good guy helped Lou relax. A little.
“Yes, he told me that might be a possibility. And you are the Earthers he hid me inside.”
“Earthlings,” Nelson corrected.
“While I was within you three, I communed in some limited fashion with each of you. I did not pry into your memories, but I received the basic imprint of your struggles and victories.”
“Like, you know about all my gaming trophies?” Hugo asked.
“I know not what trophies you speak of, but I do know how hard it is for you to be around others in person. You prefer to interact with your peers through machines.”
Heroes of Perpetua Page 24
