Ethira

by J D Evergreen

  Lexa's eyebrows lift in surprise, and she immediately sets about throwing little river rocks into the fire. I don’t know how long it will take to heat these rocks enough, but with the size they are, my gut feeling tells me it won’t be long before they start exploding.

  Nathanial adds dried twigs from the dirt around us to the part of the fire within our bubble.

  The bubble flashes green again, and Lexa cries out as a long green line emerges from her wrist to her elbow. The light that seeps from it is far brighter than any I have seen so far. My own arms have filled with tiny little lines. Honestly, it looks like I have rolled in barbed wire fencing and instead of blood I have oozing blue light.

  Lexa looks at the group. “Everyone get ready to move in three, two, one.”

  I let go of Lexa's hand, and the group moves as one away from the fire. The pink wrinkled dogs start in surprise as we suddenly appear and raise their hackles in alarm. The roaring mushrooms fill my ears once more, and I clamp my hands firmly over my head.

  As soon as the fire is well outside our range, I retake Lexa's hand, and our light bubble re-emerges. My body screams in protest as it once again takes the abuse of the magic from my necklace.

  The rocks we put into the fire begin to pop, and shards of stone fly everywhere creating mayhem amongst the dogs. The largest rock bursts and its shards kill at least four of them—the largest one that crossed the river first and the one with the leather purse among them.

  The other dogs scatter and flee into the cover of the mushrooms. A few other rocks go off in the empty campsite. Hopefully, that will drive the beasts further away.

  I look at Lexa and release her hand. The light drops and the two of us fall to our knees. Mercifully, the roaring of the mushrooms has ceased. Maybe the exploding rocks scared them too?

  Nathanial quickly builds up the fire with all the remaining wood we have and collects a pile of rocks, putting them well within reach in case we need another trick like that again.

  Tash looks at the glowing lines all over our bodies in alarm. “What is happening?”

  She gently takes Lexa's arm, and the way Lexa's face twists in pain makes my heart go out to her.

  Tash looks stricken. “How do I treat this?”

  Melissa looks at us curiosity burning in her eyes. “That was magic. I knew it had consequences but this…”

  I struggle to remove my necklace, and I stuff it into the pocket in my pants, where it won’t be possible for me to touch it and Lexa at the same time. I won’t be using that any time soon. I don’t think I would survive it.

  I pull the healing cream from my pocket and crawl over to Lexa. With shaking hands, I unscrew the lid, take a scoop of the purple paste and apply it to the wounds on her neck. Lexa's sigh of relief is all I need to know, and I set about treating each and every one of her glowing lines.

  Lucas crawls over to the nearest dog and inspects it. “This is the strangest creature I have ever seen.” He pokes at is pink furless folds. “It has no ears.”

  “What?” Melissa grumps as she does her best to collect our meagre belongings from around the camp.

  Lucas turns to face us. “They have no ears, that’s why the sound didn’t affect them.”

  I apply a strip of cream to the extended glowing cut on Lexa's forearm. “Well, that explains one thing.”

  Lucas sits back on his heels. “Yes, but that doesn’t explain why we can hear. We were exposed to that sound for far too long and we should have been deaf for at least a day or two, if we even recovered our hearing at all.”

  Melissa frowns and looks at us. “Maybe it has something to do with what you two did?”

  I shrug. “We don’t really understand what happens when we use the magic.”

  Lexa takes the cream from me. Gently she begins smearing cream across the broken skin on my hands and arms. The relief is immediate. I don’t know what we will do when we run out of cream, but thankfully it spreads easy, so we should get another three or four runs out of it. I would rather not test my estimation though.

  Nathanial glances back at us. “As soon as you two can move, we should go. Those dogs will be back.”

  Lucas pushes his glasses up his nose. “How do you know?”

  Nathanial shrugs. “It’s what I’d do. I can’t see those mutts being defeated by their prey very often.”

  Tash nods and retrieves the swords from where Lexa and I had dropped them, carefully sheathing them for us. “I can’t see you two being able to use them just yet, but sometimes it is a comfort just to have them.”

  I give her a smile. “Thanks, Tash.”

  Melissa moves over to the dog with the leather pouch still firmly lodged in its jaws. With difficulty, she pries the bag loose and brings it over to the group. Carefully, she upends the bag on the dirt between us.

  Out of it rolls coins—ten gold, four silver. Three small white crystals tumble out too and finally a piece of dried and folded hide.

  Carefully, Melissa extracts the hide and unfolds it. Her eyes widen as she reads the words on the page.

  “Well,” says Lucas. “What is it?”

  Melissa clears her throat. “Our informants say Gladiator 1408 is located in the tunnels northeast from here, within the mountains. Take a troop of heavily armed men. Expect to encounter rebels. Return 1408 alive for lineage testing. Capture as many rebels as you can and relocate them to tunnel digging. – The wishes of Lord Darkmor.”

  My heart twists. The scarlet guards destroyed the rebel camp because they were looking for me.

  Nathanial's face twists in rage. “So, we were betrayed! Who is 1408 and why does Darkmor want them so badly?”

  I look at my feet. “I am Gladiator 1408.”

  The silence that greets me is so thick I almost miss the mushrooms.

  “I don’t know why he wants me, but he took my mother the night I left.”

  Lexa places her hand in mine and gives it a gentle squeeze.

  Nathanial gives me an intense look. “You must have something he wants.”

  “And badly,” adds Lucas. “To send a troop of scarlet guards into Ethira… he must have thought you were worth the risk.”

  Silence settles once more and I stare at my hands. An inquiry into your linage, Kathrine told me the night my mother was taken. I swallow and keep it to myself. I don’t know what it even means, but I am sure I cannot be good.

  Melissa returns all the items to the purse and straps it to her belt. “Are you two okay to move? We are too exposed like this, and judging from the state you’re in, I am guessing your magic light trick won’t work again.”

  Lexa nods and climbs to her feet, her hand slipping from mine in the movement. I struggle to my feet beside her, exhaustion screaming at me to rest.

  “Okay,” I sigh. “Let’s find a way out of the land of glowing fungus.”

  Chapter Four

  Jigglers

  We trek through the mushrooms, winding this way and that, ever conscious of the beasts that could be stalking us, lurking just out of sight.

  My sword bumps annoyingly against my thigh with every step I take. Thump, thump, thump. I sigh; my leg is starting to get sore from the constant touching. How long does it take to get used to this?

  I look at Lexa who walks in front with her hand on the hilt of her sword. I mimic the gesture and find instant relief from the tapping on my thigh. I roll my neck, and the muscles twinge, exhausted beyond reason.

  Something flashes past the corner of my eye. I twist to peer into the mushrooms, but the only thing I see is giant glowing fungus and the occasional rock and dried bush.

  “We are being followed,” Lexa murmurs in a low voice.

  Lucas twitches in front of me. “Why couldn’t they just leave us be?”

  “What do we do?” Tash asks, trying to mirror Lexa's calm.

  Lexa grips the hilt of her sword. “Keep walking. What happened at the fire might keep them away, but be prepared.”

  We walk this way for another couple of
yards, but the dogs become bolder. I start seeing them clearly instead of the fleeting glimpses I had earlier. Pink flesh shows vividly between the mushrooms. It isn’t excellent camouflage.

  I clear my throat. “Yeah, I don’t think the mutant dogs are going to let us just walk away.”

  Nathanial grips his giant sword. “I told you so.”

  Melissa spins on the spot and resumes walking. “I count eighteen.”

  “There are six of us.” Lucas chimes in.

  “Two of which barely have the strength to walk,” Nathanial scoffs.

  Tash casts a nervous look. “And those are just the ones we can see.”

  I glance at the rushing water beside us. Tash and I lock eyes at the same moment. “Last resort?” we say in unison.

  Lexa raises her eyebrow and casts us a sceptical look.

  I nod to the water. “We could get in… with the flesh-eating fish. Maybe they’ll eat the blood-covered mutant dogs over us?”

  Lexa eyes the glowing river. “That will only work if the dogs get in the water too. It’s likely they are more aware of its danger than we are.”

  Lucas fidgets with a bag on his belt. “Yeah, the Jigglers live here full time and we are just visiting.”

  “Jigglers?” Melissa enquires.

  Lucas nods. “The mutant dog things, they jiggle as they walk. I thought a funny name would make them less horrifying.”

  I look back at one of the pursuing dogs, and its pink wrinkled skin does indeed juggle with every step the beast takes. My nose crinkles and I look away. Now that I have noticed the jiggling, I will never be able to un-see it.

  I shake my head as if that will somehow dislodge the image making a home in there. A strange yapping fills the air, and suddenly one of the dogs charge at us.

  Nathanial steps forward and efficiently stops the dog in mid-air, his massive sword cutting the beast clean in half. I recoil in horror as the parts land with two distinct thuds, a mess of entrails strung out between them. Blood streams over the bank, creating pink foam when it meets the glowing water.

  My body tenses, waiting for the screaming of the mushrooms to return like it did the last time the dogs made an attack. Did they work together to keep intruders out? But as the moments stretched on, the mushrooms remained calm.

  The same can’t be said for the Jigglers. Hunkering low to the ground, they sweep in around us, realizing the first dog’s mistake. Pink lips curl over yellow fangs as furious snarls fill the air.

  Adrenalin beats in my veins as my body registers the life or death situation, and with energy I could not have found only minutes ago, I pull my sword from its scabbard.

  A large dog rushes forward swinging its clubbed tail at me, but I dodge it just in time. Lexa lunges with her sword high in the air, the green magic wounds framing her well-muscled arms. The dog’s club tail lands on the ground with a wet thump and slowly rolls towards the river.

  Another dog leaps over its shrieking, mangled companion only to have a knife buried deep in its skull. Melissa quickly pulls out another knife and begins searching for her next target.

  A third dog lands right in front of me, its clubbed tail coiled over its back scorpion-style. It strikes out with one razor-clawed paw, but my sword meets it, leaving only a bloody stump. The dog stumbles away on three and a half legs, yelping madly, but Tash leaps on its back and buries her dagger deep between the shoulder blades of the mutant. Better than what its pack mates would have done now that it smelled like blood.

  A small explosion causes my ears to ring, and I turn to find Lucas pulling small grey beads from the pouch on his belt and throwing them at the dogs around him with deadly accuracy. These beads explode on impact, creating a surprising amount of damage. Chunks of unfortunate dogs fly everywhere. I can see why earlier everyone gave the beads space, there is no way something like this could have been used in the rebel compound without bringing the entire place down.

  Lucas grabs another handful of beads and throws them at the dogs around him. “Bad Jigglers! No!

  Fairly certain Lucas has his situation under control, I return my attention to the two dogs advancing on me. I take a deep breath, ignoring the aching in my muscles. The use of magic really takes it out of me, but I have been hurt worse than this in a gladiator fight and still won.

  I step in close to the first dog and slash my blade through its tail as it swings at me, and the weaponized appendage comes off easier than I imagined and sails into the water behind me. The second dog pounces, its longs claws extended towards my face. I crouch and bury my sword in its stomach as it flies above me. Quickly, I pull my sword out of the still airborne dog and listen to the loud splash as it lands.

  Lexa draws her second short sword and takes on three dogs at once, expertly wielding her weapons in a blur of motion. The dogs around her fall but more replace them and I realise with a jolt they are slowly working on separating her from our group. Even now the dogs are managing to sneak around and encircle her.

  Had Lexa not been weakened by the use of magic, I am sure she could have kept the beasts at bay with her dancing swords. But I can see the fatigue setting in. Lexa stumbles on an unseen rock and one of the dogs darts in. She dispatches it quickly, swinging her sword gracefully and removing the beasts head from its body. A single long burst of blood spurts from the neck and it takes a few seconds for the body to crumple.

  The dogs back off a little, but it is obvious to me, and them, that more mistakes will happen and they don’t give her too much space.

  I make my way over to Lexa, hacking through dogs so intent on their prey that they don’t hear my approach.

  “Lexa!” I yell, blowing my cover and bringing the dogs’ attention to me. “They are trying to separate you!”

  Lexa looks up in alarm and takes in the gap the dogs have forced between her and the rest of the group and redoubles her efforts. The others hear my yell, and they too move as a group towards Lexa. I am first to reach her, and we stand back to back, the pile of dead dogs growing at our feet. Melissa may have counted eighteen, but their numbers seem endless. We can’t keep this up.

  Exhaustion makes my limbs heavy, and the magic lines on my body make every movement excruciating. The only thing keeping me going is adrenaline, and I am bound to run out of that eventually.

  A tremendous splashing sound catches my attention, and I spin on my heel, afraid I have left one of the beasts alive and behind me.

  The glowing water of the river bubbles and churns. I reach over and take hold of Lexa's arm before I remember my necklace is in my pocket. We can’t use our magic, but I can’t bring myself to let go of her either.

  A giant blue head rises out of the water, its body spiked and elongated. Massive yellow eyes take in the scene and even the dogs slow their attack in the presence of this creature.

  It is hard to tell where the head ends, and the body begins as the enormous beast brandishes its head back and forth, showering Lexa and myself with speckles of glowing water. Its massive mouth opens, and an ear-splitting bellow erupts from the terrifying creature. I actually step back from it and towards the dogs.

  The monster lunges forward, and Lexa pulls me out of the way, shouting over the deafening thrashing of water, “It’s an eel!”

  The massive head knocks me down and grabs the mutant dog behind me, snatching it by the leg and dragging it into the water. The dog claws desperately at the bank, its claws making a horrendous scrape as it is dragged over stones, but within moments the dog and the eel are gone from sight.

  I crawl to my feet with the help of Lexa as another eel rises from the river and dodges around Nathanial to take one of the dogs he had been fighting. This dog meets the same fate as the first.

  More eels arrive, dragging the dogs into the reddening water behind us. Most of the dogs scatter, but a few are too hyped up on bloodlust to know the fight can’t be won. They practically throw themselves into the eels’ hungry maws. The important thing is that at this moment none of the monsters are paying
any attention to us.

  Turning to the group, I bellow, “Run!”

  I tug hard on Lexa's hand, and we bolt, everyone else following close behind us. The sounds of the horrible creatures’ vicious quarrelling fall far behind us. Bloodied water swirls down the river beside us as our feet pound the dirt above it.

  We come up on rocky rise, covered in moss and smooth rocky outcrops jut out of the landscape. Not even the mushrooms dare to grow on it.

  A small cave peeks out from a section of rock just off the side of the river draws my attention, and I veer towards it. The opening of the cave gapes open and a trickle of shallow river water flows through the opening, like a tongue that lights up the inside of the tunnel until it twists out of sight.

  “Do we go in?” Tash puffs.

  I peer into the cave. It seems empty, but I don’t want to be trapped in there with an angry monster any more than I want to be trapped out here with an angry monster.

  Lexa is pale and swaying beside me. Her arms bare a few nasty scratches from the dogs but they are nothing to the numerous green lines all over her skin.

  “I don’t know, it feels kind of murdery.” Melissa's tired voice comes from behind me.

  I tighten my grip on the sword in my hand. “As opposed to everything else in this place?”

  Heavy breathing announces the arrival of Lucas and Nathanial. The sounds of the raging animals are still too close for comfort.

  “You’re right,” Melissa agrees, “Maybe it is just your everyday run of the mill murdery. It’s not so bad when you compare it to naked mutant dogs, giant flesh-eating eels and fungi that can scream you to death.”

  Lucas marches past us and into the tunnel, calling over his shoulder, “I vote we take the murder tunnel before the surviving Jigglers find us and try to claim further revenge.”

  Melissa shrugs and steps forward. “Walk in the water, it will help to hide our scent.”

  Everyone hastily splashes into the shallow water and hurries down the tunnel, padding silently in the near darkness. I tighten my grip on Lexa's hand as we travel through the small dark cave.