by Adrian Juhl
Chapter Six
Lugah leant against the tree and stared into the desert. The moon in front of them illuminated the sand.
“I can smell them from here,” Olim said, sniffing the air.
“That’s good,” said Lugah, standing straight, “because I am dog tired.”
“You should be. You’ve been awake for two days now,” Olim replied.
Honey looked at Lugah and pressed her sharp nails into his stomach. “I told you not to go traipsing after those Druids, and now we’ve missed raiding three planets. Not one. Three.”
“They needed my help, Honey. We are trying to build a better tomorrow.”
“I don’t care about tomorrow.”
“Sometimes we have to resist the fever of the hunt and focus on what’s best for this world.”
“So what did you achieve over there—” Olim picked up Sito and hugged him close. Sito struggled to free himself as he continued, “—that will bring us so close together?” Olim made kissing sounds as he pecked Sito on the cheeks.
“Put me down, rat!” Sito protested.
Lugah ignored Olim. “Look, Honey, it was a risk. But it paid off.”
“Mmhm,” she replied, stepping down the bank onto the sand.
Lugah followed with outstretched arms, pleading. “Remember those little things that Sito made? What did he call them?”
“Hey, I’m right here!” he called out, still struggling to get away from Olim’s awkward affections.
“Oh yes, sorry, Sito. I thought you were busy.”
Honey looked into Lugah’s piercing eyes, attempting to hide her smile. “Bugs. He called them bugs.”
Lugah thought for a moment. “Bugs. Ah, yes. That’s right. Not a very good name if you ask me.”
“Hey, hey! That’s my work you’re mocking!”
Olim laughed as Sito resumed his struggle to break free. “Tell us the meaning again, Scales.”
“It’s a bug because it records events around it. That way we get the big picture. Like what the ant queen does. When the Great Portal activates, it sends the information home in a stream of simple instructions which we decode.”
“Great!” Lugah exclaimed. “Because I gave one to the Prince.”
Shocked, Olim dropped Sito, who cried out in pain as he landed on his side. Honey slapped her hand over her eyes and muttered.
“And…I may have slipped the other one in the Magistrate’s pocket.”
Olim growled, “And?”
“And maybe, just maybe, one into that Apothecary’s pouch.”
Sito snapped and ran around the group in a panic. “Apothecary! We’re dead. They’re going to know it belonged to me! They’re going to kill me. Oh dear! Oh dear!”
“No they’re not. Settle down.”
“Settle down? Settle down? Oh dear, oh my. You’ve united the worlds by spying on their leaders and an Apothecary. An Apothecary! Lugah, how could you? They will surely come for me.”
A branch snapped behind them. Sito screamed, leapt into Olim’s arms, and faded.
“Good one, kitty. Now I’m stuck holding the baby.”
Honey and Lugah stared at Olim, who appeared to be holding an invisible doll.
Honey punched Lugah in the arm. “You should have talked to us first. Do you have any idea what will happen if Prince Kayne discovers you’re spying on him, or the Magistrate for that matter?”
“I’m not spying. I’m learning. What was it Dalynia’s mate used to say?”
“You could be anything,” Olim mumbled as he followed Lugah, stepping in his footprints.
“I think he was right. I think we can harness magic as well. We just have to learn how.”
“The man is dead. Doesn’t that tell you something?” Olim muttered.
“That doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” Lugah argued.
Honey stopped and turned. “Come on, Lugah, he died fixing some other world’s problem. Sound familiar?” She fixed Lugah with a fierce glare until he looked away.
“I’m not saying it was honest, but it was the right thing to do. We have a right to self-determination, and to our own resources. Aazronia has no right to be here stealing our ore.”
“It’s not like they are here by choice,” Olim argued.
“Exactly! With those bug things, I will be able to see the whole picture. We can find the weak links and use that information to unite. We’re not harming anyone. What can go wrong?”
Sito reappeared in Olim’s arms and jumped onto Lugah’s back. “Wrong? Wrong? Oh dear. What happens if they’re discovered? What if they blow up? I’ll be blamed. Me! Not you. Bishops! The Bishops will come for me.” Sito’s eyes were wide with fear.
“You said you tested them. You said they were your greatest work. Did you test them?”
“Yes, yes. Many times, but it never went to the committee. The committee. They didn’t approve.”
“The committee? You mean the self-elected group full of their own self-importance, with no qualifications or knowledge. That committee?”
Sito nodded.
“The committee that elected themselves after you repaired the village defenses? They were full of something more than self-importance,” chimed in Olim. “You’d already told the Chieftain not to use the Aazronian Elementals.”
“How long did that debacle last?” Honey added.
Sito scurried beside Honey, looking into the distance for signs of the workers.
Lugah laughed. “Two and a half years, wasn’t it? All because of a tree that fell on the wooden fence and broke it.”
“That’s right,” Olim chuckled. “They formed a second committee that brought in a defense auditor from Aazronia.”
“That’s a contradiction. The Aazronians themselves are in need of Sito’s assistance. They are pinned in their own floating towers, under constant siege from Abominations. If only they would listen to someone who actually has experience on the subject of defenses.”
“Enough, enough. Did you forget the werewolves?” Sito fretted.
“What happened next, Lugah? Oh, that’s right. The Aazronian’s advised using one of their summoned dirt walls to replace the fence.”
Lugah rolled his eyes. “I remember that. A great scientific advancement. Far greater than the spiked fence. From the way they congratulated themselves, you’d have thought they invented the dirt wall.”
Honey interjected, “Don’t forget the five year guarantee of safety from outside attacks.”
Olim laughed so hard he held his stomach. He composed himself and continued. “I can still see the look on the Chieftain’s face as the werewolves dug through the wall and snuck into the nursery quarter.”
Lugah patted Sito on the back and smiled at him. “Yes. It was a good thing you had that sonic thing or we would have lost a bit more than face that day.”
Sito calmed and smiled. “It wasn’t easy. I had to find the right frequency and deci—”
“Just say thank you,” Honey whispered.
“Thank you,” said Sito.
The small group continued their walk uninterrupted as they tracked the missing workers. Sito ran ahead, searching for danger as Olim kept watch for the werewolf pack hunting them.
“They’re pretty keen—to follow us into Scales’ homeland,” Olim said.
Sito looked at Olim, shaking his head. “Not my home. Sito not welcome here.”
“That’s right. Lizards don’t like chameleons.”
“Not my home!”
Olim stopped and sniffed at the air, which carried the stench of the werewolves. “Lugah! They should have stopped by now. Do we make a stand?”
Lugah thought for a moment. “No. This isn’t a natural pack.”
Alarmed, Honey looked at Lugah. “Rabids. Here?”
“I don’t know. Rabids always mix their pack with other species. I don’t see any Werebears, or any Rabid masters for that matter. These wolves are alone.”
“Good. Then we should make our stand!” said Olim, swishing
his tail about. “Before their Rabid masters do arrive. Perhaps they sent the pack ahead to track us.”
“No,” said Lugah. “The Rabids wouldn’t risk that on foreign soil. It would leave them vulnerable. The Rabids may look like us, but they are nothing more than insane mutants born in the wilderness of Whetu.”
Olim flicked his tail against the sand in frustration. “If that’s the case, then how did they get here? Rabids don’t have the intelligence to work the Great Portal.”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. We need to catch up to those workers, otherwise we will have much bigger problems to worry about than Rabids,” said Lugah.
“The drones?” asked Honey.
Lugah nodded. “The one that brought me to you is up there.” He pointed at a small black dot in the sky only he could see.
“Drones? You’re just trying to sc-sc-scare me,” stuttered Sito.
“Looks to me like you’re just the queen’s pawn. She doesn’t care about her lost workers. We’re just bait for those wolves,” Honey continued.
“We can’t prove that, and they are catching up.” Lugah drew his weapons and continued forward into the great expanse.
“Moon is setting! Morning comes! Not good. Not good!”
“You’re not making any sense Sito,” said Honey.
“He’s just fretting because the lizards will be waking up soon.” Olim laughed. “They will probably crawl up onto those tall rocks on the horizon and sleep all day in the sun.”
Lugah scanned the distance with his cat sight as the pre-dawn light peaked over the horizon. He frowned. “This isn’t the lizard land. The workers were chased here deliberately.”
“Not my home!”
Honey turned. “Here they come!” she shouted. The werewolves bore down on them at full charge. A plume of sand followed.
Lugah’s hackles rose. “If they’re here for us, then why do they keep looking behind them?”
Sito shouted, “Forget them! Look ahead! Look ahead!”
Olim froze as a large wall of water appeared on the horizon. “Where did you say we were again, Scales?”
“Not my home!” He burst into a sprint towards a peninsula of tall, limestone cliffs.
“Run!” Lugah commanded. He picked up Honey and sprinted after Sito.
Olim took two large jumps and landed behind Sito. He grabbed the chameleon, hefted him onto his shoulders, and ran towards the cliffs. Sito’s head jiggled about with each step. He gripped the hair on Olim’s neck.
“Oh dear, oh dear, watch your tail. Please don’t stab me with it.”
A tidal wave rushed toward them. Honey clung to Lugah’s back as the feline overtook Olim.
“Behind us. The wolves!” Honey called out.
Lugah turned his head to see a giant worm, with the wings and tail of a stingray, explode out of the sand and snatch two of the wolves in its maw. The pack turned and attacked the worm as it swallowed the two wolves whole.
Lugah stopped in his tracks. Five hundred yards away, the remaining wolves fought for their lives against the raging monster. The worm dove into the sand again, disappearing beneath them.
“Lugah,” shouted Olim. “Hurry up! This is no desert. It’s a bay!”
Honey looked up at Lugah. “I already know,” she whispered.
Olim gasped as Lugah charged towards the wolves, his sword and round shield drawn, and Honey on his back.
He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted in anger. “Let the worm finish them!”
Sito groaned. “He’s not after the wolves. Oh dear, oh dear. We have to go.”
“We have to help,” said Olim.
“This is bad. Very bad. I can’t swim! We’ve gone south into the Aquatic’s land. This is Striptide Bay! Can’t you see? Oh dear!”
Then that is only a twelve-meter high tide, fed by the Deephope trench. Nothing to worry about,” said Olim.
“Nothing to worry about? When that water arrives, we won’t even be able to swim against it. We need to make it to the cliffs. Oh dear, I can’t swim!”
Beside himself, Sito ran in circles around Olim, fading in and out of sight.
Lugah looked behind him and saw Olim staring back. “You know he can’t swim. Get Sito to safety!” Lugah shouted as he neared the wolves.
Olim shook his head. “A lizard that can’t swim! If we survive this, you’re getting lessons.”
The sand kicked up behind him as he resumed his run to the limestone cliffs. Olim’s ears pricked up. Waves crashed against the sides of the cliff. The sound was like nothing he’d heard before. Fear spurred him faster.
The giant worm burst from the sand again, snatching another werewolf in its maw. The werewolf howled in agony as three rows of serrated teeth severed it in two. The torso fell to the sand, morphing into the remains of a human male.
Enraged with fury, Lugah jumped high into the air above the werewolves. Honey launched herself off his back and twisted in the air to land atop the worm. Her claws dug deep into its thick hide. She drew her whips and attacked. The worm flapped its leathery wings and knocked the wolves to the ground. They scrambled to their feet as the beast crashed to the sand, crushing another werewolf beneath it. Lugah brought his sword down on the worm’s neck. It raised its tail and stabbed at Lugah with its barbed stinger.
“Duck!” shouted Honey as the stinger swung past her.
A werewolf leapt onto the worm’s wing and tore large chunks of flesh with its claws. It squirmed in pain and swung its tail at the werewolf. Lugah tackled the werewolf, knocking it into the sand. The barbed stinger missed its quarry and rushed past harmlessly, landing in the ground beside them. The werewolf stared at Lugah and scrambled to its feet. Its nostrils flared as it bared its sharp, venom-filled canines and growled. In an instant, the worm dived back into the sand, distracting the werewolf. Honey leapt off the worm’s back. She stared in horror as its tail thrashed in wide arcs, and its wings propelled it under the sand.
“Nice puppy,” Honey called out, as the werewolves encircled her. She flicked her wrists, cracking her whips in the air.
The werewolves hunched low in preparation to strike. Lugah locked eyes with the werewolf, looming over him as he stood. It shook its head franticly, as it tried to break his gaze. It inhaled Lugah’s scent, struggling to comprehend a tinge of something familiar. The sand beneath them surged as the worm swam under them.
Honey cracked the air above the remaining werewolves with her whips. Lugah lowered his sword and bared his sharp teeth. Suddenly, the wolf in front of him dropped to its knees and exposed its neck in submission. The rest of the pack ignored Honey and turned their attention to Lugah. They paced around their pack leader, inhaling Lugah’s scent. Lugah lifted his sword. A deep growl rumbled behind him. He looked at the image’s reflection in the sword.
The growl repeated as the werewolf attacked. Lugah spun his sword hilt, impaling the werewolf on its blade. In one swift dance, he pulled the sword from its chest, spun on his heels, and cut off its head. Honey readied her whip, to strike down the remaining wolf pack.
“Stop!” Lugah commanded.
Honey froze at his instruction. Lugah reached out and grabbed one of the werewolves by the throat, lifting it into the air. Its strong hands grasped Lugah’s in an effort to free itself. Growling filled the air as the werewolf tried to kick free. The rage in its eyes dimmed. Lugah released his grip and raised his sword, ready to strike the final blow. The pack dropped to their knees in submission, just as the sands exploded around them.
Werewolves flew through the air as the giant worm emerged from the sand. Lugah grabbed at Honey as they landed behind the worm’s head.
“Chain it down!” he shouted.
Honey held onto Lugah’s arm and dug the claws of her feet into the beast. The silver chains of her whip cut deep into the worm’s mouth. She tugged hard on the chain, checking it was secure. Lugah pulled her against him and took the whip from her. Honey leant out again, this time to her left and cracked
her other whip. It missed. The giant worm writhed in pain as Lugah fought to control it. Honey cracked her whip again. This time, its tip found purchase between the creature’s teeth. It raised its stinger and prepared to strike. The werewolves leapt onto its back, tearing and biting at the worm’s tail. It swung wildly, knocking one to the ground and impaling it. The stinger struck again, impaling another through the head. With a mighty bite, the pack leader severed the tail. A howl of victory filled the air as the stinger fell to the ground.
“I think you made some friends!” Honey shouted.
“I prefer my new mount,” Lugah replied.
“Mount?”
“Better hang on tight, Honey.”
Honey had just enough time to look up as the twelve-meter tidal wave slammed into them. Lugah held onto the whips with all his strength, fighting against the beasts attempt to submerge itself in the sand. The wall of water flung the remaining werewolves off the worm’s back. They fought to survive as it surged over them, tossing them head over heel, like a Feral child’s play toy, into the depths. Honey strained to pull herself under Lugah. Her claws drew more blood as they dug deeper into the worm’s skin.
Instead of being overwhelmed by the water, the worm tried to move with the flow. Its extensive injuries, and the loss of its tail, hampered its efforts in what would otherwise have been a smooth transition from sand to water. It floundered, borne down by the current. The strong undercurrent battered the two Ferals. Lugah fought to stay atop the raging beast.
Amidst the fury of the water, dark shapes caught Honey’s attention. Lugah blinked his eyes, lowering his inner eyelid. Unlike his feline cousins, it was transparent instead of milky-white. Creating a seal around his eye, the seawater drained away through his human tear ducts.
Lugah wrapped the links of the whips around his wrist, pulling him closer to the worm’s back. He trapped Honey under his chest as the attacking shark swam overhead. Pulling hard on the whips, he forced the worm to turn. Honey’s lungs burned as she ran out of breath. She tugged hard on Lugah’s chest fur, signaling her peril.
Lugah scanned the water. The sharks closed in on the panicked, bleeding worm. He jerked on the whips. The chains yanked free, wrenching Lugah and Honey from their mount. Lugah stared back in dismay as the giant worm fell to the hungry sharks.
Still clinging to his chest, Honey looked up at Lugah. He pointed up and kicked hard for the surface, but the current forced them back down to the sandy floor. Lugah reached into Honey’s pocket. She stared back at him, her eyes wide with fear. A large bubble carried Honey’s last breath to the surface.
Lugah held a small, glowing object. He twisted in the water and let the current carry the object ahead of them. A myriad of colors exploded before them, fading to reveal a magical, wooden door. Clutching Honey to his chest, he lifted his legs in front of him. The magical door tumbled end over end, swept away by the undertow. Small bubbles of frustration rose from Lugah’s snarling lips. In desperation, he kicked hard against the sand. He tucked his head down as they tumbled forward. Time seemed to slow as Lugah’s breath faded and he succumbed to the darkness. Lugah’s neck shuddered under the impact of the solid wooden door. It splintered into pieces, and they disappeared in a flash of light.
