by Lee Magnus
Trey stepped back as the demon shifted.
“No! He’s waking! Calhoun! He’s waking! Help!”
A bloody lizard slammed against the wall to Trey’s left. Trey saw his friends fully engaged. They were no help.
“Koltek will live and Grandpa will stay in the Etherios forever! No!”
Then something caught his eye. A pair of green eyes emerged from a dark corner. As the tiny imp approached him, it lowered a raised arm releasing the knife from its spell. The knife then fell to the floor with a thud.
Anger overcame Trey. “Why! Why did you stop me!” he screamed. The imp stopped and raised another hand sending a calm over Trey. He relaxed and watched the imp perform a series of movements. It looked as if the tiny creature were playing slow motion basketball without a ball.
Koltek’s eyes opened. Clarity revealed itself – and he was angry. He stood, towering over Trey. He raised an arm as if to swat a fly then he began to scream – not a painful scream but one of terror as he took notice of the green-eyed imp. As the imp continued his magical basketball dance, Koltek began to shrink. The smaller he shrunk the higher pitch was his scream until only a sound like a hovering mosquito came from the miniscule demon. Then a capsule engulfed Koltek and floated effortlessly toward Trey.
Trey plucked the pill shaped capsule from the air and looked curiously at the imp. The imp bowed, rose, showed Trey reverent eyes then disappeared into the darkness.
A roar from Calhoun brought Trey back to the intense battle. Trey watched several lizards slash and bite at Calhoun, but Calhoun drove forward supported by Ant’s lightening quiver. Ant notched and delivered an arrow into the skull of a scurrying lizard. He released another catching one in midair before it sliced Calhoun’s bald head.
Trey dug the magical bag from a zipped pocket, said the word, and placed in it the capsule containing Koltek. He then said the word again placed the bag back in the pocket, grabbed the knife and rushed to help his friends.
Flush with the nerve to save his friends, Trey jumped in with a flying kick to one lizard, then with Karl’s big knife, stabbed another through the top of the head on his way down. He slashed up in a twist, splitting the throat of another. He wished he had the sword that was resting peacefully in his mom’s garden, rather than the knife. A bladed staff fell to his side. He regarded Calhoun who smiled following bashing the weapon’s owner.
A steady stream of lizard’s and frogpigs flowed through the entrance behind.
Trey swung the staff slicing the fat gut of a frogpig – it squealed and scurried out of the room followed by several other cowardly cohorts. Many others backed passively against the walls while others pretended to be effective in the fight. A couple seemed to be arguing about who would strike first.
Ant launched his last arrow just as Calhoun became overrun by a mass of green. Trey was knocked to his back by an attacking thick tail – the staff fell from his hand out of reach. One leaped onto Calhoun’s head while three were scurrying toward Trey.
“Ant!” Trey yelled. “Help me!”
Trey’s eyes were desperate. His hand reached out. Calhoun twisted in a throng of green bodies like he wore a bulgy green hooded overcoat. The lizards abandoned the use of weapons in a primal thirst for blood.
Ant was out of arrows; he couldn’t help his new friends. He fell to the floor in anguish.
“Ant! Help!” Trey screeched as he flailed his legs to ward off the attacking creatures.
Ant closed his frightened eyes. He crouched on the ground.
“AAAAAAAH!” screamed Calhoun falling to the ground. He rolled his massive body trying unsuccessfully to free himself.
Trey kicked one of the lizards while another lept behind him.
Ant watched the failed attempt to recover the cradle which was ending with the lives of the three of them.
“Do it Antonin!” Ant said to himself with his eyes closed and hands over his pointy ears. “You don’t have a choice! But what if…” He waved off the frightful thought.
He bravely stood. His terrified eyes met Trey’s one last time before he raised a waving finger in the air. Ant shivered with fear – of the unknown. Trey though he heard Ant say, “I hope I don’t kill my friends,” just before he watched the fox emerge from a blurred state as a slick reddish-brown wollybraugher.
Ant stood on all fours and growled ferociously drawing the attention of several guards. He leapt onto the lead of the three attacking Trey. He ripped its jaws apart, tossing the lower aside while dropping the remainder of the body as he turned to find his next target. He dug huge jaws into another, then flung it away while slashing the third with a clawed paw. He bounded lightning fast into the group, slashing and chomping Calhoun to freedom. He grasped one by the skull then ripped its spine from its back in a single gruesome motion.
All of the frogpigs scampered away squealing in panic.
Calhoun eyed the vicious beast, “Ant?”
Ant payed no notice as he pounced on an attacking giant lizard. With Ant’s brutal assistance, Calhoun reached the cradle. More lizards poured through the door. Calhoun smashed lizards with the hammer as he removed the radiant diamond from the housing. He secured it in a pocket before clearing a way for their escape. Green bodies flew left and right as Calhoun mowed through with the hammer. Ant continued his personal massacre.
Calhoun threw Trey onto his shoulder, then fought his way through the exit to the corridor. Ant followed after decimating several more leaving the floor painted in fowl greenish grey blood.
“Trey! Your leg!” Calhoun said casually while looking at Trey’s dripping red leg.
“I’ll be ok,” he replied. He could feel the leg healing as they spoke. “Just keep moving.”
They set a brisk pace through the mountain. As a wollybrougher, Ant was substantially faster than the screeching followers and Calhoun’s massive legs had no trouble keeping up.
“You really freaked me out, ole buddy,” Calhoun said as he dashed down a wide corridor. “Don’t you think it would’ve been a good idea to tell someone you might turn into a savage killer?”
Ant growled at Calhoun’s remark.
“Easy now. I’m just kidding,” Calhoun retorted.
Ant slowed and began shaking his head. He turned and lunged at Calhoun tackling him to the ground. Trey fell hard on the mountain floor. Ant stood wildly growling above the massive figure. Calhoun swiftly rolled and tossed Ant against the wall. Ant launched again as Calhoun reflexively stepped back and twisted to avoid the strike.
“Ant! What are you doing?” Trey screamed.
Ant swiftly turned toward Trey and snarled. He then stumbled and shook all over. He drunkenly lunged again at Calhoun who easily avoided sharp teeth. Ant fell backward then rolled on his side releasing a loud bellow. He regained his feet, stared uneasily at Calhoun, then Trey before he fell to the ground unconscious.
Lake Oshugar
“Ant’s awake!” Trey said running from the edge of a swiftly flowing river.
“How are ya, buddy? You really had us worried back there,” Calhoun said.
“Wha….What happened? Where am I?” Ant said as he groggily looked around at a distant mountain across a grassy plain.
“You passed out in the mountain. I thought you died. You were acting all crazy and attacked us. Calhoun carried you here.”
“I attacked you? I’m sorry. I take on the instincts of whatever I change into. Wollybraughers are wild and callous. They’re uncontrollable, even when it’s me. In the room back there, I panicked and couldn’t think of anything else. I put us all in jeopardy. I should have been more careful.”
“No. You were great. Had you not changed, we would surely be gone,” Calhoun reassured.
“As one of them, I could have killed you just as well as any of the others. I couldn’t make the distinction on my own. We were left to the instincts of the animal to make the right decisions.”
“Well, it worked and we’re still alive. Please don’t do it again,” said Trey
with a worrisome smile.
They all shared an uncomfortable laugh.
“Now how do we cross this river?” Trey continued.
Ant wearily walked to the edge of the water. He peered out over the wide swift river. He could barely make out the other bank. He looked left then right and shook his head from side to side as if saying no then hung his head for a moment.
He returned to the others and said, “I have an idea, but it’s nearly as risky as the wollybraugher incident.”
“Let’s hear it,” said Calhoun.
“Trey, remember the felixis?”
“No! That’s a bad idea,” stammered Trey. “That bird was nuts. Plus, you don’t even know how to fly.”
“Maybe I can practice? I just have to get us over the river and lake. It’s not that far.”
“I don’t know. That thing was huge. What if you can’t control it and you eat us both?” Trey replied.
“I don’t know of anything else big enough to get us over, Mate. Do you have a better idea?”
“No. No, I don’t have a better idea.” Trey looked toward the river then back at Ant, “How about you start smaller, maybe a finch?”
“Ok. I’ll try that. But before I transform, do either of you have any food. I’m famished.”
“Take this. It’s the last of the bread muffins Karl left me.” Trey remembered the kindness of the green-eyed imp that brought back the muffins after their attack.
Ant took his time with the muffins, resting between bites. When he was finished, he said, “Ok. Let’s learn how to fly.”
~~
Ant blurred into a tiny bird standing on a patch of grass between Calhoun and Trey. He wobbled a little then began unsteadily walking one foot after the other. He fell over several times.
“He looks awkward. What’s wrong with him? It doesn’t seem natural,” said Calhoun.
Trey replied, “You’re right. What is it that looks so funny? It’s like he doesn’t know how to walk.”
Ant waddled like a duck with stiff legs. His tiny bird tail wagged back and forth as his body tottered left and right.
“Wait! That’s it! Finches don’t walk they sort of hop. Try hopping rather than walking,” Trey said to the tiny bird.
The bird regarded Trey for a moment, took a small hop, then several more.
“That’s better,” Trey encouraged.
The bird hopped, hopped and then hopped some more. Ant stood still and looked up to Trey and Calhoun as if seeking approval.
“You’re doing very good tiny Ant,” Calhoun praised.
Ant opened each wing one at a time, observing them independently as they stretched out. He began to slowly flap but not quite in unison – he tumbled over. He seemed to get it after several more attempts. He flapped harder, then slowly rose off the ground and toppled over backwards. Trey and Calhoun couldn’t help but chuckle. He flapped them again and toppled over to the side. After several unsuccessful attempts, Trey and Calhoun sat as Ant struggled with flight.
“Do you think he’ll ever get it?” asked Calhoun.
Ant stopped and looked up with his little cocked beak pointed at the massive guy.
“You know he can hear you,” Trey responded to Calhoun with a frown.
Calhoun raised his eyebrows as if Trey said something personally offensive to him.
“It’s ok, Ant. I believe you can do it,” he said to the tiny bird.
Ant continued several more unsuccessful tries. He flapped in a frustrated frenzy then rested on the ground after toppling over.
“Just take a break, little buddy,” Calhoun said.
Ant jumped up as if in defiance and once again began flapping. On the fourth attempt he sustained a ten-second-long hover. Trey and Calhoun cheered as if their favorite team just won the championship game.
He hovered a few more times, gliding forward a little further on each descent. Trey reached down, offering his hand to Ant. Ant hesitantly hopped on. When Trey raised his hand chest level, Ant leapt off gliding down to the ground several feet away. He hopped joyously back to Trey flapping his wings making each hop a little longer. Trey lifted the bird above his head. This time when he leapt, he flapped his wings sustaining a slow descent, making a few small turns to land back at Trey’s feet a minute later.
Trey and Calhoun rejoiced.
The tiny bird hopped from the grass, then flew to land uneasily on Trey’s hand. He flew off making several ascents, descents and turns before once again steadily landing on Trey’s palm.
Trey held the little bird at eye level, then asked, “You are ready now?”
Ant launched from Trey’s rising hand. He flew confidently in the air. He circled them before he hovered several yards above his mates. Then he blurred – and grew. When the blur cleared a magnificent falcon with black accenting a mostly white body emerged. Ant released a booming screech which shook fear into Trey. Ant soared high into the sky before landing softly with a powerful WOOSH of immense wings amid ecstatic applause from Trey and Calhoun.
Ant beheld them with penetrating black eyes then lowered his head. Trey hesitantly climbed onto his back. Ant clinched Calhoun with a mighty talon then lept into the air. They rose slowly as he furiously beat the great wings. Trey released a terrifying scream when they quickly lost altitude while Ant attempted to get a feel for the added weight. Regaining momentum, he made a wide circle before soaring over the river.
Calhoun yelled joyously like a small child riding a pony, “Wooooohoooo! This is great! Hehehehe!”
Trey thought while looking upon the rumbling waves of white water below, there’s no way we could have crossed that. It has to be a mile wide.
Clearing the river, the group ascended over a lightly forested area of spruce, fir and aspen. Miles of trees dotted the landscape below. Various herds of prey animals rushed and dashed away from the large form above. The end of the forest gave way to an immense lake. Trey barely made out cliffs accenting the far side. Ant dove lower targeting the shoreline. He pulled up just in time to stall their momentum. He set Calhoun down before resting on the rocky ground. Trey climbed off, slipping a little on loose pebbles.
Ant blurred back into a fox, then said amid heavy breathing, “That’s...harder…than it…looks.” He sat roughly.
“You did great, Ant! That was wonderful flying!” Trey cried extatically.
“Yeah! It was pretty good wasn’t it?” Ant said proudly.
“I was a bit uncomfortable. Maybe you should file your nails before you pick someone else up again,” Calhoun said. Trey and Ant laughed at his stoic delivery of the comment.
“Now you can fly,” Trey said happily. Ant responded with a proud smile.
They turned their attention to the lake.
Soft waves washed ashore as Trey walked to the water’s edge. “Cierden said this lake is dangerous.”
“Dangerous? In what way?” Ant asked.
“He said there was some sort of water beast.”
“These waters are perfectly safe. We’ll have no trouble crossing. Especially in the air,” said Calhoun.
“You may be right. Cierden didn’t say he knew for sure.”
“I don’t think I can do that again for a while. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it over the forest. I looked for several places to land but decided to push it a little farther. I’m beat.” He laid back on the rocky beach and closed his eyes.
“The last place we need to be is in the middle of the lake without a boat,” Trey said looking onto the water.
The water rustled a few meters off the shore.
“Did you see that?” Trey said to the others pointing. “The water over there.”
“Over near those small ripples?” asked Ant looking sideways from a horizontal position.
“They were bigger before.”
“Just fish. It’s getting late in the afternoon. Probably dinner time,” said Ant resting his eyes again.
“It was too big to be fish.” Trey said.
“You guys have nothing
to worry about,” said Calhoun trying to allay their fears.
“There it is again!” Trey said as a large object churned the water.
“That was no fish!” exclaimed Ant briskly sitting up.
“You two are not listening,” Calhoun said as he walked to the water. “There’s nothing here that will harm you.”
The words barely left his lips when a giant cerulean blue creature emerged from the water. It flopped onto shore easily overshadowing the hulking Calhoun. Trey jumped back while Ant scampered away on his backside.
It raised up like a cobra ready to strike, spreading a solid wavy fin that advanced along the entire length of its smooth body. Two thick antennae protruding from its head were tipped with bulbous black ends that reminded Trey of pinecones. It was accented by vertical black stripes that traversed both sides of its back. Long dark eyes seemed to favor Calhoun.
“Guys. Don’t be afraid,” Calhoun said walking toward the beast. “Hello Daisy,” he said in a voice you would use with a small child. The creature lowered its head to meet Calhoun’s. “It’s so good to see you!” he said rubbing her side.
She made a harmonious sound as if a great celloist played a joyful tune. “What are you doing so far from home?”
She made more beautiful sounds.
“Isn’t she lovely?” he said as he turned toward the less frightened onlookers.
Trey edged a little closer becoming trusting of Calhoun’s friend. “Yes. She is very beautiful. How do you know her?” he continued cautiously.
“Her and her family live near my village far down the river,” he said pointing toward the eastern side of the lake.
“I don’t think I understand. I grew up near a large river with lots of things living in it, but I never formed a personal relationship with any of them nor did I meet them on this sort of level,” replied Trey.