by Nick McNeil
Bertly could no longer hear the sounds of fighting; the swords had come to rest and the voices in the background were gone. He could still hear the bandit leader talking, along with Bear’s growls. The little girl released Bertly. As he gasped for air, the wizard heard a crackle followed by an intensifying pressure in his right cheek. A henchman pushed Bertly to the ground and snatched his warblade. The blade retracted. For a man of his size, Bertly thought he would have hit much harder.
The henchman handed the warblade to the white-haired man. “It doesn’t seem to work.”
“Th-th-this blade only c-calls to C-C-Cordelia.” The man waved the sword handle in front of his face. “Wh-why does it a-answer to y-you?” The man’s eyes targeted back onto Bertly. “Sh-show me his ears,” he yelled.
A man and a woman grabbed Bertly by the arms and pulled his hair back. “He’s human,” the woman shouted.
“A r-r-red-eyed h-h-human.” The white-eyed bandit laughed.
“Zoo!” the henchman screamed.
The barbarians smashed their shields. “Zoo.” One after another, they started blaring, “Zoo!” The yells erupted into chants: “Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!”
The leader subtly gestured and the crowd froze over, deathly silent. The man stepped toward Bertly. “M-M-Mother will be m-m-most pleased with her n-n-new p-pet.” The group of bandits erupted into chants and cheers.
The Zoo. Bertly remembered where he had heard that word before, from his old master. Alestar’s voice rang through his head: “They will track you down and slaughter you for sport…or worse, they’ll sell you to the Zoo…It’s a massive colosseum where they force rare species to fight to the death.”
The white-eyed leader waved his hand. A couple of dozen bandits lugged Orin, Orîn, Devdan, and the triplets along the black ground. They pulled them up by their necks and forced them onto their knees and tied their hands behind their backs. A man with fur boots and a shiny chest plate walked next to the bandit forerunner. “The others seem to be locked away inside a rock. It’s starting to crack. We will have them out in just a moment.”
The man gestured again and the chatter stopped. “L-l-let’s t-t-try this again.” The bandit placed his hands onto his head. “M-m-my name is F-F-F-F-Felix. B-b-but only with th-three F’s.”
Bertly thought hard, FFFelix. He had never heard this name before. He couldn’t help but wonder if the F’s stood for something.
“I-i-it’s a joke,” the man with scars cracked. He looked to his crew. “The P-P-Panheads must n-n-not like jokes.” His followers snorted like pigs.
A loud explosion shook the ground behind Bertly. He jerked his head back—rocks and flames filled his vision. Shooting out from the top of the flames was Dreki. The small red dragon shot through the smoke and darted straight toward the Academy. The thieves seized Polly and Roderick.
“Th-there we are. A-a-and l-look. A-a-another elf.” Felix gestured for them to come forward. He mentioned nothing of Polly’s dragon. They must not have seen Dreki due to the smoke from the explosion or the distraction of it all. The followers hauled Polly and Roderick over and lined them up with the rest of the students. In front of Bertly, every wizard and witch hung their head to the ground, all with fear easily readable on their faces.
“Should we get the fire started?” the henchman asked.
Their leader nodded. “You k-killed half of m-m-my c-crew.” The man licked his lips. “S-so now, we are g-g-going to k-kill half of y-yours.”
XXI
“I-i-including the c-c-carpet, I-I-I see ten of y-you. So f-f-five h-h-heads is only fair.” Felix chuckled.
Bertly knelt on the ground, with his knees digging into the sharp broken bones that covered the forest floor. He listened to the group of bandits argue and debate—they fought over which of his friends to kill first. The fog remained so thick Bertly could’ve thrown a heavy stone and been unable to see where it landed. The warm mist caused his skin to sweat. Even so, the Winter Wizard couldn’t help but shiver.
The stuttering bandit walked behind Faythe. “Wh-why don’t y-you choose who d-d-dies first?”
Faythe’s breathing grew louder than her speech, and even if she wanted to, Bertly didn’t think she could squeeze a word out.
“No-no-no-no answer?” The man shrugged. “Okay.” The X-eyed thief pulled a dagger and placed it against her neck. “Are-are-are ya sure y-you d-d-don’t have a p-p-preference?”
On each side of Faythe stood one of her brothers, each with their chin against their chest. The boys reached out and both placed a hand on their sister’s shoulder.
The scrawny bandit laughed uncontrollably. “Yes-yes-yes.” Felix clutched his dagger loosely; his grip didn’t seem strong enough to hold it much longer. “Th-this j-just became a-a-a lot more fun.” The bandit pointed his blade at each of the male triplets. Two soldiers with black hoods marched forward simultaneously. Latched onto their backs were enormous axes, each with a head larger than the average man’s torso. They rested their blades on Alwin’s and Sunrel’s shoulders, the metal touching their necks just enough to indent the skin.
“Wa-wa-one.” The leader waved his dagger and the men pulled their axes back.
The hooded executioners placed their weapons back against the elves’ necks. “T-t-t-two,” the man shouted. His henchmen again pulled their axes back as though to strike, but placed them right back on the twin’s shoulders.
“A-a-and.” As the white-eyed man pulled his dagger through the air, at the same time the slayers drew their axes behind their heads. “W-w-wait.” The executioners dropped their blades. “I-I-I almost forgot.” The man licked his lips. “My-my-my excitement got the b-b-better of m-me.” The wretched man made a scissor-cutting gesture.
Squeezing through the crowd was a bumbling and hairy dwarf. Bertly could tell she was talking to herself, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. “I almost thought you forgot about me, my lord,” the dwarf projected. “These will fetch us a nice price.” The female dwarf went back to talking under her breath. Once she got closer to the kneeling students, she pulled out a contraption. It looked like a helmet, but it had scissors attached to each end. The dwarf approached Alwin. “Now don’t move or you’ll only make it worse.” She placed the helmet onto Alwin, and along with her gesture, a loud clank! erupted. The elf started flailing. This was the first reaction of any sort Bertly had seen from the emotionless elf.
The bandit leader giggled. “S-s-s-splendid. A-another, another.”
The dwarf removed the helmet from Alwin, and he dropped to the floor as blood gushed from each side of his head, and it was only when he turned his head all the way over that Bertly could see that the elf’s ears had been removed.
“It seems I was a little sloppy with this one.”
Alwin stopped moving and his body lay motionless.
“You won’t get away with this!” Faythe screamed. Tears poured out of her reddened face.
Bertly glanced toward Roderick; he was passed out face-first on the ground. Roderick had elf ears, and he certainly knew the bandits would target him soon. The Winter Wizard would need to find some way to salvage his apprentice.
SHINK. Bertly heard another slice from the helmet—this time it was Sunrel who was the victim. The elf twisted on the ground like a worm dangling from a fishing hook, waiting to be eaten. Blood ran from his head like rainwater down a rooftop. Without a moment of reluctance, an executioner stood over the elf’s body and swung down his blade. The elf’s head plopped onto the ground and rolled in front of his sister. Faythe leaped to her feet, screaming belligerently. She pulled a blade from her sleeve and cocked her arm back. As she swung forward, the other executioner grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed. With a scream of impotent rage and grief, Faythe’s fingers slowly uncurled from the hilt of her blade, and it dropped to the ground amongst the bones of those who were long dead, and the still-warm flesh of the recently deceased.
“A-a-another one with a-a lot of-of s-s-
spunk. I l-love it.” Felix licked his lips. “Th-th-this one d-deserves something s-special.”
“Rotters!” a voice from the crowd yelled.
In a matter of seconds the whole tribe was chanting, “Rotters. Rotters. Rotters.”
“B-b-bring out the R-R-Rotters,” the frail man shrieked.
Bertly’s heart trembled and he could tell his motor skills were turning clumsy. He constantly rationalized with himself that the Rotters were nothing he couldn’t handle, but now that he was coming face-to-face once again, the old anxiety he had once felt when he lost his master resurfaced. Bertly was terrified.
The young girl with black hair placed her finger onto Faythe’s hip, and the elf stiffened. Faythe’s knees buckled and she dropped to the ground—the young girl had paralyzed her. Bertly knew this feeling, as he had endured it moments ago. Until the black-haired girl stopped touching the young elf, she would be rendered motionless.
The two executioners placed their axes onto their backs and walked back into the crowd. Meanwhile, the chants continued. The black-hooded men soon returned with thick metal rods in their hands, and at the ends of those rods were Rotters. The undead elves lashed out in all directions in attempts to maul and attack the nearby bandits.
The dwarf twins fell back and looked at each other as though they had just seen ghosts. They tried to shuffle away, but bandits were right behind them. Polly’s coordination was jittery as she scooted closer to Roderick, who remained unconscious. With her hands tied, she nudged him with her hip, attempting to wake him. When Bertly glanced toward Devdan, the blond elf was already staring at him. He appeared more confused than frightened, and it didn’t take much thought for Bertly to realize why. The Winter Wizard did his best to appear calm and confident—he couldn’t let them know he was afraid.
“Wow-wow-wow. Ya-ya-ya don’t know?” Felix walked closer to the lineup of students. “R-Rotters are the n-n-newest residents of the De-De-Decomposite. There m-may be-be-be more of them than us-us.”
Faythe’s body remained motionless as several executioners loomed around her. The young girl released Faythe and walked back behind her master. The bandit leader pointed down, and in obedience, the executioners pushed the Rotters into a tight circle around the elf’s body. She screamed relentlessly as their necrotic flesh closed in on her.
“L-l-lucky for us, R-R-Rotters d-d-don’t like elf ears. Th-they’ll be-be-be left fully intact.” The leader screamingly laughed. The executioners pushed the Rotters down, and the creatures reached out and tore into Faythe’s helpless body. Their sharp nails dug through her skin like it was nothing more than sand. Bertly felt sickened by the fact that he only thought about his friends being killed and not the life being taken. He had to come up with a plan, but what could he do that wouldn’t simply stall? He tried to connect with Bear, but their bond was too new, he couldn’t control her yet. The Winter Wizard contemplated what he cared most about and peered over at Polly; her eyes were shut.
Faythe’s screams stopped.
The main henchman leaned toward Felix. “Should we…clean up? The fire is ready.”
“Yes-yes-yes. C-c-clean it up.” The white-eyed man waved his arm around. The executioners pried the unsatisfied Rotters from the remains of Faythe’s body and vanished into the mist. The female dwarf, brandishing a sharpened knife, approached Faythe’s nearly untouched head and severed her ears. The black-hooded men quickly returned with shovels. Two of the slayers grabbed Alwin and Sunrel and tossed their bodies into the fire. The others shoveled Faythe’s remains and then tossed her innards and head in with her brothers’ corpses.
“You promised us two more.” The henchmen giggled. “There are three more elves, two dwarves, and the human boy.”
“The-the-the h-h-human is for Mother,” Felix snarled. “H-how about a-another f-f-female elf?”
“A wonderful choice, sir,” the henchman replied.
The executioners drew their axes and slumped in Polly’s direction. Their feet dragged on the ground, leaving behind a black trail from where the bones had been pushed away. Polly tried to get up, but bandits pushed down on her shoulders, pinching her knees into the dirt. The smoke from the burning bodies filled the air, making it heavy and smoke-laden. The smell reminded Bertly of the last time he was in the Decomposite. When he and Alestar had to put out a bonfire fueled by the bodies of an entire town.
The executioners lined up before Polly, and one of them stepped forward and placed his axe on the top of her head. The blade extended to her nose, directly between her eyes. Felix snapped; the executioner pulled his arms back.
“Wait!” Bertly yelled. “She’s a human.”
“S-s-stop,” Felix hollered.
“I think Mother would love another human, wouldn’t she?” Bertly’s voice shook. “She would be most pleased with not one…but two…red-eyed humans?” The wizard gulped.
“H-h-her ears,” the scar-eyed man demanded.
The slayer placed down his weapon and pulled back Polly’s blond hair. “She’s human.” The executioner dropped to the ground, a knife sticking out the side of his neck. Devdan charged over and grabbed the axe.
The burning corpses. Bertly had almost forgotten how he’d extinguished the fire with Alestar, but imminent doom seemed to spur his memory—they’d pulled the oxygen from the air. Everyone was distracted, so the Winter Wizard closed his eyes and placed his fingertips on the ground. He had one chance, so he harnessed his energy for one full-scale blow. He felt it conjuring inside him, like a solid mass that could be seen and touched. He pulled his arm back and punched the ground. The bandit army collapsed upon the impact.
Bertly sprang to his feet and charged over to Polly. He grabbed her by the arm and threw Roderick over his shoulder. “Take Roderick and leave. Tell the Academy what has happened here. Tell them Rotters are at the border.”
“Bertly, I can’t leave you all.” Polly’s voice trembled so that Bertly could hear a crack in every word.
Bear ran up and growled.
“Polly, we can’t talk about this. Roderick will never survive this.” Bertly took off his whistle and handed it to Polly. “Blow this from the Academy and Clia will be able to hear you. Tell her I’ll be at the Zoo—she’ll know where to find me.”
Bear grabbed Polly by the straps and threw her onto her back.
Bertly flung his apprentice over his furry friend’s shoulder and kissed her on the nose. “Keep them safe.”
Bear turned and bolted for the Academy.
As his companions’ bodies faded into the mist, Bertly screamed, “Tell them the second Blight is here!”
Devdan, Bertly, and the twins stood in a circle back-to-back as the bandits found their feet. Before the twins could be untied, the boys were already surrounded by bandits. The barbarians drew their weapons and surrounded the young wizards.
Felix pointed toward Northern Pangea. “After them.” A group of thieves took off in the same direction as Polly, Bear, and Roderick. “Who d-d-did th-that?” The white-eyed man ground his teeth and flared his nose.
“I did it.” Devdan pounded his chest and spit on the ground. “I made all of you weaklings collapse to the ground.” The blond elf clinked the executioner’s axe against the armor of a dead bandit. “If you were a man, you’d come down here and fight me yourself.”
“I-i-it’s a-a-a good thing I am-am-am no man.” Felix snapped his fingers, a gesture that caused an arrow to shoot into Devdan’s arm. “Th-that is f-f-for the elf.” He snapped again, and another arrow flew into the elf’s leg.
Dev bit down and his face shook. Bertly couldn’t imagine the pain he was holding in.
“Th-that is for the c-c-carpet you-you owe me.” The white-eyed man snapped, and yet another arrow was launched into Dev’s other leg and he slumped to the ground. Felix snapped once more, and another arrow found its home in the elf’s other arm. “Th-that is for the h-h-human!” Felix screamed. “H-human!”
Blood pou
red down each of Dev’s limbs. His body seemed like a rag doll, and Bertly couldn’t believe he was still upright.
Felix snapped three times. “That’s for my th-th-three men.” Three arrows plunged into Dev’s abdomen, and the blond elf flopped over onto his side. His face dug into the dirt. An executioner placed his foot onto Dev’s back; he lunged back, sticking his chin in the air, and then flew forward. Bertly heard the axe sticking into the ground—Devdan’s body went limp. “A-a-and that’s f-f-for one o-of the h-h-heads you owe me.”
Rage was burning within Bertly on Devdan’s behalf. He’d always stood so tall, so straight and proud, and this image of his death was in direct opposition to the dignified man—the selfless man he had been.
“They still owe us one more, Master,” Felix’s henchman shrieked. Bertly’s hands started to sweat, and he caught himself biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. Bertly knew he was being saved for the Zoo.
A woman in long robes approached, appearing nothing like the other bandits. She stood properly and kept her hands folded and shoulders pinned back. “Felix, I think it is best to head back now. The sun is setting, we have lost half of our men, and dealing with the Rotters at night isn’t wise.”
Felix glared at Bertly and the twins.
“Mother can decide their fate. They still owe us a head.”
“Felix!” a bandit hollered. “We have captured one of them.” The man with pale skin and dark hair held Roderick up by the back of his collar. His body was lifted off the ground, allowing him to barely touch his toes to the ground.
Oh no, thought Bertly, grinding his teeth together. Why, Roderick, why?
“Wh-wh-where is my h-h-human?” The white-eyed bandit fell into the throes of a coughing fit.
“She got away.” The pale bandit stepped over and threw Roderick onto the bone-covered soil. “We were on their tails until this one decided to bring down half a dozen trees on us. He fell off the back of their bear as he was attacking us.”
