Rules of Justice (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 8)

by Sarah Noffke

  “Why is it the creek isn’t making any noise, although it’s moving?” she said to Lunis in a whisper over her shoulder, her eyes on the babbling water.

  His eyes were on the leaves of the trees, which should have been whistling with sounds but were quiet. I’m going to go with magic, Bob, for two hundred.

  “This isn’t a game show,” Sophia laughed.

  My entire life is a game show, he reasoned.

  Sherwood Forest was quite possibly one of the most beautiful places Sophia had seen, and that was saying a lot. Maybe it was because she preferred trees and organic mounds of moss-covered earth over architecture and human innovation. For whatever reason, the place was mesmerizing with its many trees growing on top of trees. Wizard beards—that were long strands of green moss—hung from the branches, swaying in the silent wind and dew droplets clung to leaves before sliding down and landing in the blades of grass. On an ordinary day, under ordinary circumstances, this would have been a playland. As it was, a mystery was definitely unfolding. One that Sophia and Lunis would no doubt have to solve before they got the bounty they were seeking.

  Sophia knelt by the creek, straining to listen for the sound of the water gurgling past her. It was absent even when she was close by.

  Do you know what lives under toadstools? Lunis asked, quite randomly.

  Sophia rose, arching an eyebrow at him. “Toads?”

  He shook his head. Don’t be absurd.

  “Indulge me then,” she said, feeling tenser by the moment. The forest was hiding secrets from her.

  If my memory is correct—

  “Meaning the collective consciousness of the dragons,” she interrupted.

  Yeah, whatever, he dismissed her at once. It would be the keepers of the most ancient forests.

  Sophia scrunched up her brow, not following her dragon, although she could often see the collective consciousness of the dragons, thanks to the chi of the dragon. She just wanted to be granted exclusive access like Lunis. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  He snickered. They are sneaky little creatures, which is why most never see them.

  “Are you going to indulge me?” she asked, her irritation about being kept in the dark growing.

  Stop looking with your adult eyes and start looking with your child ones, he insisted.

  Sophia stuck her hands on her armored hips and scowled. “I expect that sort of stuff from Mae Ling and Mama Jamba and Father Time, but not you, Lun!”

  There was a scampering of noise under the leaves on the ground in the distance that caught Sophia’s attention. She jerked around at the same moment it settled, giving her no clue about what caused it.

  Giving the area a tentative glance, she cautiously turned to face Lunis. “What’s going on, and what do you mean?”

  He scampered forward. I get it, he said. I didn’t at first, but once we got here, I did. I understood what Mama Jamba meant and why she gave us such a bold task.

  “Are you going to explain?” Sophia asked, continuing to give him a rude stare.

  If you’ll wipe that expression off your face, maybe, he replied.

  Sophia pretended to plaster a pleasant grin on her face. “Please, School Master. Do educate me.”

  He batted his eyes at her. Remember when you were a child…all those minutes ago.

  Her fake expression evaporated, once more replaced with a scowl like an adult waiting in line for coffee. “It’s not like that.”

  Yes, I know, he said dismissively. It’s important for this exercise. When you’re a child, you see what there can be. You see possibilities. It's why mortal children see fairies when their parents don’t. They see ghosts the adults dismiss. They see a world full of things that exist, but no one believes them. You see, they don’t understand the concept that you have to see to believe, but rather they fall into the mindset that you believe it to see it.

  Sophia gasped, remembering what he was talking about from her own childhood. “Therefore, they only need to see it to believe it.”

  Exactly! Lunis exclaimed.

  Sophia blinked at the brook and forest and the meadow, thinking that magically something would appear. When it didn’t, she frowned at Lunis. “What am I missing?”

  Too much whimsy, he explained. Stop using the logical part of your brain and start just looking at things as they are. It’s not a tree and creek and sky. It’s a wonderland that you construct just by letting it unfold in your imagination.

  Sophia shook her head at him. “You sounded too much like a hippie just now.”

  He nodded. I thought so too, but the reasoning is sound. Just try it. No confounds. No judgments. Just the way you were when you were a kid and waiting for the world to expose itself, instead of using your preset knowledge to define it.

  Sophia nodded, recognizing the genius in this method. “Okay. I’ll try.”

  She stared at the different areas, not trying to focus on them, but rather the opposite. Instead of seeing a brook the way it was, she tried to let it be what it wanted to be. Instead of seeing the meadow and expecting to see stumps and pebbles, she allowed it to surprise her with its arrangement. When Sophia looked into the forest, she didn’t use her past constructs to tell her it would be full of trees with branches and moss-covered ground, but instead just opened her mind to an infinite world of possibilities.

  What she saw when her eyes focused was beyond a child’s dream. It was a pure and absolute fairytale, the things of whimsical dreams.

  Chapter Seven

  Twigs were no longer twigs. Leaves didn’t just lay strewn across the forest ground. The bark of the trees wasn’t just littering the floor. Those things were true, but around all, another story was being told. One Sophia had never seen before, until that moment. She never wanted to see the world any other way as the noise of the forest came alive.

  Scurrying across the forest floor were little one or two-inch beings made of leaves and twigs and other bits of the forest, playing and frolicking. They also seemed to be working, moving things in different directions.

  It reminded Sophia of a scene out of Tinker Bell where the fairies employed flower petals to engineer parts of wagons, and walnuts to be gears in pulley systems. The forest was suddenly awake with productivity while also full of the whimsy of the process. It was alive with fun. It was almost as though the creatures were singing while they were working, but they weren’t. They were quiet, and yet she could finally hear the sounds of the forest.

  It was different than she had expected. It wasn’t the usual swishing of branches overhead or the creek rustling but rather a sound that was almost like music. Sophia instantly liked it and bent her head closer to the earth to listen, wanting to hear it in its most pure form rather than employ her heightened senses.

  “It’s amazing,” she said to Lunis after a moment.

  It’s been there all along, he remarked. Just imagine what else is out there in the world that we don’t see just because we have been conditioned not to?

  She shook her head, not wanting to think of the possibilities. It was sort of discouraging, although it too carried a world of potential—literally.

  “So they can help us,” Sophia said, wondering if she could talk to the tiny creatures who seemed not to even notice her as she lowered down to the forest floor, careful to not step on them. To her amazement, they moved out of her path instinctively, not coming close to her hands and feet as she got onto all fours by the stream.

  I think they have helped us many times, Lunis mused. It makes sense they’ve always been in the background doing something of significance.

  Sophia nodded, feeling a new sense of astonishment, which was rare for a magician raised at the House of Fourteen, which was actually the House of Seven, recruited by the Dragon Elite and the first female dragonrider in history. Even she had things that could surprise her. The world, Mama Jamba’s planet, was full of surprises.

  “So, what do we do?” Sophia asked, feeling strange hunched on the ground with a large d
ragon perched overhead.

  Try the novel idea of asking, he suggested.

  Sophia nodded and cleared her throat. “Yeah. Okay.”

  It didn’t feel like the logical approach, but when she searched her brain, there didn’t appear any other really viable ones. She decided to try the straight forward one.

  “Hey….um…forest creatures…” she began, feeling lame. “I was wondering if you could help me? I’m looking to gather mushrooms.”

  Like they hadn’t heard her, which would have been impossible since she was a giant on broadcast above them, the creatures continued to move about, some of them loading up wagons with tiny twigs and others playing a game that looked like hopscotch.

  Sophia glanced at Lunis with an expression that said, “What the hell, now?”

  He shrugged. Did you bring a donut?

  “Did I bring a donut?” Sophia repeated with irritation. “That’s your response? Like I need to bait the little creatures.”

  He shook his head. Nah. I’m just hungry. Those guys will come around. Just keep talking. So about the donut? My tum-tum is rum-rumbling.

  “You’re ridiculous.” Sophia stood, brushing off her pants. “You think they can help me?”

  They are in charge of the forest, he reasoned. I think that if anyone can, it would be them.

  Sophia nodded, noticing how the forest was a kaleidoscopic array of greens. It was weird. In most forests, there was an abundance of green, but here it was overwhelming. So much so, it took Sophia a moment to realize that it wasn’t right.

  “Why aren’t there any flowers?” Sophia asked, scratching her head.

  Lunis tilted his head to the side. Not the season? he supplied.

  She shook her head. “No, there should be flowers. Or something besides just ferns and leaves. Even the dirt…”

  Sophia trailed away, noticing now how even between seeing the strange forest creatures made of dirt and nuts and leaves and twigs, there were no other colors. It was as if they had all been stolen from the forest. Even the stream was absent of color, not reflecting the blue sky above.

  Before Sophia could ponder a moment longer, a howling that pierced her soul cut through the air.

  “There it is,” she whispered, unknowingly having expected the approaching danger.

  The twig creatures and their friends made of leaves and other bits of the forest scurried away, disappearing at once. Not because she didn’t believe this time. They disappeared out of fear, and Sophia knew that by instinct. She knew something else that was more important than anything else she’d learned that day.

  She had to end whatever was creating the noise—whatever was taking the color from the forest—scaring those who owned it.

  Chapter Eight

  “Does anyone want to take a guess at what that could be?” Sophia asked, finding Lunis and herself suddenly alone in the forest, although moments prior they’d been surrounded by newfound friends.

  Traveling salesmen? he postulated.

  Sophia shook her head. “They are usually annoying. This is downright bone-chilling,” she said after another ear-piercing howl.

  For a moment, she wondered if it was a werewolf but remembered her sister, Liv, had conquered the lore on them, reverting the packs back to their natural order. So that didn’t make sense unless things had gotten out of hand again in Romania.

  She considered other options, but they were too numerous and overwhelming. She turned to Lunis. “What the hell?”

  We fly off now and find a Krispy Kreme and return when conditions are more favorable, he suggested.

  Sophia dismissed him with a shake of her head. “No, whatever is causing that ruckus is what’s causing the absence of color in the forest. We have to help the…whatever they are.”

  Let’s call them twig-people, he suggested.

  Sophia nodded. “Yes, we have to help the twig-people. I still contend there should be flowers and weeds and other things besides trees and ferns. Something is responsible for the reason there’s no flowers or varieties here.”

  Like mushrooms, Lunis offered.

  Sophia threw up a finger. “Exactly. Like mushrooms.”

  Another howl cut across the air, this time closer, bringing with it a certain threat.

  So we kill the mysterious source of the howling, and then what? Lunis asked, sounding casual.

  “Then we see,” Sophia replied. “First, we have to figure out what’s causing it and why it’s so impossible to kill.”

  She pulled her sword from its sheath and turned to face the wall of the forest where the noise was drawing closer.

  Why do you think it’s impossible to kill? Lunis asked tentatively.

  Sophia narrowed her eyes as the branches began to stir. “Because otherwise, the twig-people would have gotten rid of it, rather than let it take control of their domain.”

  Chapter Nine

  Sophia hadn’t expected to see a dog spill through the branches and leaves, and what tore through and halted twenty yards away wasn’t like any canine she’d ever laid eyes on.

  Wow, that mutt is ugly, Lunis remarked under his breath.

  The creature was definitely of the magical variety. Sophia could feel that much about the dog-like animal. She also knew it was dangerous by the way it bared its jagged teeth at them and narrowed its black eyes. Lunis was right. It was one ugly dog with strange spikes running down its spine, mangy short brown hair covering its huge body and oversized claws protruding from its paws. The dog’s face was all wrong with an oversized snout, and tiny ripped up ears. It was about the size of a bear and appeared about as hungry as one at it eyed her and the dragon.

  “I don’t think offending the puppy is a good idea,” Sophia said, her sword already in her hands.

  I don’t think Ugly speaks English, Lunis remarked, taking a protective stance. Even though they obviously had the advantage since the dragon was so large, that didn’t make Sophia extra confident. There was something about this creature she thought shouldn’t be underestimated.

  For some reason, that sparked something in Sophia’s memory from Bermuda Lauren’s book, Magical Creatures. “That’s a Chupacabra.”

  She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but the description fit. If she was correct, then the sword would do them no good. No wonder the twig creatures had not been able to defeat the animal trespassing in their forest. Chupacabras were nearly impossible to kill with magic or weapons.

  Which means we’re screwed, Lunis muttered, watching the animal as it stalked back and forth, growling low in its throat and keeping its soulless eyes on them.

  Lunis wasn’t being pessimistic, Sophia knew from her studies. The monsters, which were known for sucking the blood of goats and other livestock, were nearly impossible to kill. Fire only made them stronger. It was apparently impossible to pierce their skin with a sword. They repelled magical attacks. That left them with no real options as far as Sophia could tell.

  “Well, we can’t run,” Sophia reasoned, her gaze trained on the beast. “It’s taking over the forest and destroying the twig people’s home.”

  How did it get here anyway? Lunis mused.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. They are supposed to be in South America, right?”

  He nodded. He’s definitely a lost dog.

  “As long as he’s here,” Sophia continued, “finding the mushrooms will be impossible. Nothing seems to grow here with him hanging around.”

  Yeah, just the trees remain now, Lunis added.

  Sophia thought hard, trying to remember everything she’d read in Magical Creatures about the Chupacabra. Their lifestyle of drinking animal’s blood made them immortal like vampires, and much like those monsters, they were fast when they wanted to be. Presently, Ugly didn’t appear to want to expend the energy. He was lumbering back and forth, drool seeping from his growling mouth.

  “Light,” Sophia whispered to Lunis. “I remember something about how bright light was the only thing known to weaken a Chupacabra.”<
br />
  He glanced up. Which is why he’s made a home under the dark canopy of Sherwood Forest.

  Sophia nodded, remembering how her eyes had to adjust to the shadowy forest when they first arrived. She remembered now that Bermuda had said the Chupacabra mostly came out at night due to their weakness connected to light. Ranchers that wanted to protect their livestock used floodlights to deter the predators, but they were very crafty and often disabled the lamps.

  When she sheathed her sword, the rabid dog paused, seeming to know she was about to do something. In a flash, he disappeared, moving faster than any creature Sophia had ever witnessed. Sophia spun around, feeling a brush of wind as Ugly darted behind them. Protectively, Lunis turned, his tail curling around Sophia, creating a barrier.

  The trees swayed violently, but there was no sign of the monster.

  “Where did Ugly go?” Sophia asked from the corner of her mouth.

  Lunis’ eyes swept the area rapidly. He’s on the move.

  Sophia knew that was the most accurate thing Lunis could say. The beast was darting around in front of them, weaving in and around the trees, so fast it was impossible to get her sights on him.

  Lunis’ head jerked to the side as Ugly drew in close. He chomped, his teeth making noise.

  The dog had brushed up next to him, nipping at his scales. Although it was unlikely he could penetrate dragon hide, Sophia didn’t want to chance it.

  She held up her hand and from her palm, a beam of bright light radiated out. Waving it in horizontal motions, she heard the animal retreat, but not for long. A second later and she felt something at her back. She spun to see the Chupacabra flee back into the bush.

  “He’s too fast,” she stated, waving her hand of bright light.

  Yeah, and he knows how to avoid the light, Lunis agreed.

  She knew what he meant. Only briefly had she caught sight of Ugly as he ran, his head down and gaze directed away from the beam of light.