by R A Browell
‘Right,’ said Charlie.
He glanced at James, who glared back and shook his head resentfully.
‘This was your stupid idea,’ James exploded, still sitting astride his bike. ‘We should have taken the epona like Silky said!’
‘That’s not fair, you disliked the epona as much as I did. Don’t start blaming me. We made a joint decision.’
James stared down across the valley. They’d landed on top of a hillock and there was no sign of any village, not even a farm. Nothing.
‘Galdo, I know it’s not your fault,’ sighed James. ‘I’m not mad at you. I guess we’re better here than in the middle of a town, where people might start asking who we are but…’ he bit his lip and stared out over the open grassland. ‘Okay,’ he began again, ‘so we know that Pergamont is five days ride from here, but how far is it direct to Serenisa?’
Galdo looked up quickly.
‘But I can’t go to Serenisa, I’ve got to get back to Pergamont! You promised to take me back to Pergamont and I can’t go by myself!’ he garbled hysterically.
‘Galdo, calm down. How far is it to Serenisa?’ asked Charlie.
‘About a day, to the North, but you can’t go that way,’ sniffled Galdo, blowing his nose again into his damp handkerchief.
‘Listen, Galdo, you don’t need to come with us. You can wait here, at your village until we come and get you and then we’ll take you back to Pergamont or you can make your own way back. We’re happy to make your excuses. You’ll be fine – no trouble!’ promised Charlie.
‘Oh no, Master Charlie, you can’t leave me here, it’s not safe. No one lives here anymore, not since the lindorm came. They have control of the whole of the territory up to the borders of Kelpasia. I can’t stay here by myself, I’ll have to go with you,’ he stammered, ‘and you can’t go to Serenisa from here. It’s not safe,’ he added. ‘You would need to cross the lindorm’s territory. It can’t be done. The lindorm will...’ His voice trailed off.
‘Galdo, what exactly are lindorm?’ asked Charlie, glancing at James as a smile spread across both their faces. Galdo started to shake again.
‘We must go back to Pergamont. It’s not safe to go across the plains towards the mountains!’
‘Galdo, listen to me. We can’t go back to Pergamont,’ said James. ‘We’ll lose too much time. We have no option, so lindorm or no lindorm you can either come with us or you can stay here alone.’
Galdo’s head dropped into his hands as he started to sob again.
‘Galdo, please,’ said Charlie gently. ‘We’ve got to get to Serenisa. We can make it before nightfall if we really try, and meet up with the others before they go to the Magisterie, but only if we hurry...’
‘Galdo, what exactly are the lindorm?’ asked James again. This time his voice was firm.
‘Oh, Master James…. they’re…big…and…cruel…. and terrifying!’ Galdo sniffed, wiping his eyes with his saturated handkerchief.
‘They’re some kind of snake, aren’t they?’ grinned James as Galdo looked up quickly.
‘How did you know?’ he sniffed.
‘An educated guess. Adderswick,’ replied James, ‘Farm of snakes. It doesn’t take too much brain power to work it out. Now Galdo, we need to know as much about them as possible if we’re going to cross their territory.’
‘It’s true, Master James, they are a little like snakes but worse, much worse. They’re huge, perhaps twenty or thirty feet long, maybe nine or ten feet tall with two front legs and they move fast. Faster than you can imagine.’ James glanced at Charlie who was smiling. ‘They live and hunt in pairs,’ continued Galdo, ‘and protect their hunting grounds ferociously.’ The young valetti started to shake again.
‘Galdo, we need to know how they hunt. How they kill their prey?’ pressed James.
‘Oh, Master James, I don’t know. I think maybe they have venom or maybe they squeeze their prey to death. I just know that…’ Galdo’s voice started to quiver as he finally lost coherency and started to sob inconsolably.
‘Galdo, you’ll be fine,’ said Charlie soothingly. ‘Our bikes are fast, probably faster than the epona and we can cover a lot of ground without stopping. Come on mate, think about it, you’re here with two of the world’s best predators, we’re used to hunting. We track and kill big game all the time.’ James raised his eyebrows at Charlie’s exaggerated boast.
‘You’ll be fine,’ continued Charlie, ‘it’s the lindorm I should worry about if I were you!’
‘We need to move,’ said James looking out across the wide river valley ahead. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll get to Serenisa. You said northwards?’ The sobbing valetti nodded his head. ‘This way then,’ said James, looking up at the sun and the shadows it was casting, ‘stick together and Galdo, you need to stay in the middle and remember, full throttle. We’ll take it easy to start with and then we’ll show you just how fast these babies can really move!’ He patted Galdo gently on the back. ‘You’ll be fine!’
Charlie watched as Galdo gathered his frayed nerves, revved the idling engine, engaged the clutch and simultaneously released the brakes. The machine roared and lunged forward leaving Galdo screaming as he’d never screamed before. He flew past them, clinging onto the handlebars for dear life. Charlie and James burst out laughing, then engaged their clutches and followed Galdo down the grassy hillock.
‘Don’t worry, we’re right behind you,’ shouted Charlie, releasing the full power of his machine once they were on the flat. He raced in front of the screaming valetti. ‘I think you should patent your adjustments James, the chemistry in that fuel mix is awesome!’ he shouted back above the rush of the wind in his ears. ‘Do it before anyone else comes up with the same idea.’
James grinned, revved his bike even faster and followed the other two at speed over the fields.
Miles of endless grass plains meant that they were able to cover the ground quickly, which compensated for the shady woodland and waterlogged marshland where they were forced to slow to allow the bikes to negotiate the tricky terrain. They slowed even further as they approached a wide, slow-running river flanked on each side by mature trees in full leaf.
‘We’ve got two choices,’ said Charlie surveying the ground ahead of them, ‘either we get wet or we jump and I think a jump is preferable, don’t you?’ He burst out laughing as he looked at Galdo, who was peering around nervously. ‘Come on Galdo, smile! What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not that bad and you’re a natural biker. You’re handling her really well.’
Galdo smiled; a thin, watery, uneasy smile. ‘I think Master Charlie that we should travel up river to try and find a crossing point, a ford or a bridge…’
‘You know this place. Are there any bridges around here?’ asked James, peering down river as far as he could see.
‘All gone, Master James, destroyed by the lindorm. No one bothered to rebuild them. It wasn’t worth it, not after everyone had left.
‘Frightened off by a couple of snakes!’ sniffed Charlie, ‘Look, we haven’t got time to start looking for a broken bridge or a shallow crossing.’
Galdo stared at the teenager. ‘Master Charlie, I am not jesting, the lindorm are fearsome creatures. No one can defeat them…No one!’ He looked nervously around again, his eyes darting backwards and forwards. ‘We must move on, find a crossing place upstream. Now, before they sense our presence. Please, Master Charlie, Master James,’ he begged.
‘I’m sorry Galdo, Charlie’s right. We haven’t got time,’ said James scouting around. He spied a gap in the trees where the riverbank rose about six feet above the water’s surface. ‘Over here,’ he shouted, ‘it’s as good a place as any. I’ll go first, then Galdo, and Charlie can follow last.’ He turned his bike and drove back into the grassy field to build up his speed for the river jump. He revved the engine to maximum capacity, then released the brakes and raced at full throttle towards the river, pulling back and letting the wheels smoothly leave the grassy riverbank.
The bike lifted up into the air, its wheels turning as though it were still running on open road, soaring, until, without warning, something launched itself from the opposite bank, propelling itself towards James on an accelerated collision-course that meant that they were destined to meet mid-river.
James saw the creature hurtling towards him but even with his super-fast responses, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to do anything to prevent the impact. He braced himself, watching as a tangle of torso and limbs headed towards him and at the last possible moment, he flung himself from the bike. The creature impacted mid-air with the polished metal; the force sending the machine flying backwards towards Charlie and Galdo. It was spinning and somersaulting through the air gathering more speed as it headed directly for the bystanders.
‘Down. Now!’ shouted Charlie, pushing Galdo off his bike, his long nose first, and onto the ground as James’ bike hurtled uncontrollably towards them, its hydrogen tank threatening to explode on impact. Charlie waited like a spider as it drew nearer and nearer and then, when he couldn’t risk waiting any longer, he bent his knees and pounced into the air, catching hold of the machine. ‘Gotcha!’ he shouted triumphantly, followed by a string of swearing as he heard a loud crack from a bone in his arm.
He landed deftly, set the bike down on the grass next to the quaking Galdo and ignoring the pain in his arm, ran across to see what had happened to James.
A second before impact, James had jumped from the bike, launched himself into a somersault and dived through the air, landing feet first as the creature sent the machine flying back towards the bank and then dropped into the slow-flowing river. James was standing waist deep in the dark water, his blond hair dripping as he instinctively positioned himself in fight mode. His eyes were glaring, his senses peaked in acuity as the adrenaline pulsed around his tightened muscles. He was ready to fight, and just in time, for rising up out of the river, directly facing him, was a huge yellow-green lindorm.
*
Her serpentine neck unfolded to reveal a reptilian, horned head, with two glaring nostrils and mouth wider than the smile of a great white shark with teeth as equally sharp. James’s gaze was drawn down the creature’s neck to the large, rotund belly which looked like it was supported on four short, stubby legs, each ending in a foot-full of claw. She was magnificent and James stood facing her, momentarily transfixed. Her scales were smooth and iridescent, shimmering in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the trees. She had been beautifully camouflaged in the undergrowth on the opposite bank but now she was exposed and angry and was hissing furiously at the teenager. She hadn’t expected to find him standing, never mind ready to fight.
The creature threw back her long neck and screamed at him, raising herself up on her two back legs and stepping erratically on the riverbed. She glared at him with her yellow eyes; agitated by his defiance and then threw back her head again, this time using the whip to spray a stream of foul smelling venom towards him. He dodged the main onslaught, watching as the droplets of poison hit the water in myriad tiny gasps of steam and immediately recognised the smell of rotten eggs that choked the back of his throat. Some of the venom managed to spot his face and jacket. He listened to the burning sizzle as the tiny droplets of acid ate into his skin and the shiny wet leather.
‘What’s that?’ Charlie yelled.
‘Sulphuric acid!’ James shouted back without looking at his friend, ‘She’s good, very good!’ he added, all the while keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the agitated lindorm who continued to pummel the riverbed with her clawed feet and dribble deadly venom from her mouth. ‘I think she has to reload her venom sacs to spit again…’
‘Watch the tail… she’s bringing it round behind you!’ Charlie yelled as he noticed movement under the water. ‘Do you need a hand?’
‘No, I’ve got her covered but you might want to sort out her little friend over there. Watch out - the venom’s pretty strong!’ James shouted back as he quickly ran his fingers through his wet hair, pushing back his drenched fringe and ignoring the pain from the acid which was now burning tiny holes in his face.
He waited for her attack, watching her stong, muscular tail as she positioned it like an anaconda, pausing for an opportune moment to coil it around James’s legs and drag him under the water, but he was ready. Just as she was about to wrap it around his legs, and far quicker than the lindorm could ever have imagined, James propelled himself out of the water and somersaulted over the creature, grabbing her scaly, horned head before jerking it expertly to one side.
The only sound was the sweet, clean snap of the lindorm’s vertebrae as they separated and broke and then the heavy splash as James let the creature’s limp body drop into the water. He landed on top of the beast, avoiding its tail, which continued to writhe involuntarily as the final electro-neural impulses were spent. He could hear her massive heart as it slowed in her cavernous chest cavity and as he stood over her and gathered up her beautiful long shimmering neck into his arms he gave himself over to pure instinct. He threw his head back, opened his mouth, and as his jaw lengthened and widened exposing his long needle-sharp fangs, he closed his eyes and sank his teeth deep into the creature. He moaned softly as he started to feed, gulping the thick sweet fluid as it flowed uninterrupted down his throat.
From the river-bank there was an unearthly scream as the lindorm’s mate rose up from where he had been hiding. Charlie was already tracking the creature, and as it launched itself towards James, Charlie was there, in mid-air, like something out of a martial arts film, covering his friend’s back. He smashed into the creature, holding onto its head and wrapping his legs around the lindorm’s long muscular neck, as it thrashed him to and fro. Despite his injured arm, Charlie hung on, tightening his grip around the creature’s head, and as it whipped him around like he were on a fairground ride, he used his strength, the speed of the movement and the weight of the creature’s skull to wrench the lindorm’s vertebrae, snapping them clean through, as though they were little more than a bundle of dried twigs. He threw back his head, extended his jaw and sank his exposed fangs deep into the creature’s jugular vein, draining its blood before dropping the lifeless lindorm next to its partner in the middle of the river.
The two teenagers stood together, hovering over the bodies of their conquests like triumphant anglers, grinning at each other. They were full and satisfied; their hair was dripping and their bike leathers were wet and tight against the outlines of their firm bodies as they each wiped their mouths clean with the backs of their hands. James slapped Charlie on the back and waded past him towards the river bank.
‘Watch it mate,’ yelped Charlie, holding his arm.
‘You alright?’
‘Just a break, nothing serious,’ replied Charlie. ‘I can feel it fixing already. Do me a favour and pull the bones back into place.’ James waded back and tugged at Charlie’s arm, pulling on his friend’s fingers and feeling the bones connect as he realigned the break. ‘How’s your face?’ asked Charlie.
James reached up and felt the tiny holes where the acid had eaten away at his flesh.
‘To tell you the truth, I can’t feel them. Too much of an adrenaline rush. Anyway, they’re only flesh wounds.’ He looked back at the two dead lindorm in the middle of the river. ‘I don’t think we’ve ever tackled anything as big as that before. Shame our phones are soaked, I wouldn’t have minded a picture. Hari’s never going to believe we took on something as big as that.’
Charlie grinned, the carnivorous lindorm’s blood was rich and he felt fuller and stronger than he’d ever felt before. ‘Do you know something,’ he said, turning to his friend as he dragged himself up the muddy riverbank, ‘I know the epona weren’t exactly our cup of tea and the Laudis are a bit of an acquired taste and Ilia was seriously weird, but I think that I’m going like it here in Farisia,’ he grinned. ‘Really I do!’
Galdo watched from the bank as the two boys swaggered out of the river. He’d seen them in action
and was now terrified and speechless in equal measure, but he was also relieved.
‘Thanks for the bike, Charlie. Well caught, by the way,’ said James, still smiling with the smug satisfaction of a job well done. He picked up his bike and started stroking it lovingly and then he noticed…
‘Charlie!’ he growled. ‘What have you done to my bodywork?’ He smoothed his fingers over the dent in the fuel tank.
‘Oops..!’ replied Charlie grinning awkwardly, ‘but it wasn’t all my fault, I did the best I could and you have had a good dinner out of it!’
‘Charlie!’
‘Okay, so maybe I squeezed a bit too hard when I grabbed it! Sorry, what can I say, sometimes I don’t know my own strength! At least you can console yourself that I managed to break my arm in saving your precious bike – I could have just let it fall,’ he reminded his friend. ‘Mind, it’s amazing how quick this is healing,’ he continued as he flexed his broken limb back into full working order. ‘Obviously, it was nothing that a good meal couldn’t help fix!’ he added cheerily.
‘I guess,’ replied James, still looking at the dent in his bike as a cheeky smile crept across his face.
‘What?’ asked Charlie.
‘Well I was just thinking. You’ll have to be a bit more careful with Abbie Parkins if you ever get around to catching her; you don’t want to start putting any dents in that bodywork!’
‘Easy mate!’ warned Charlie, ‘that happens to be my girlfriend you’re talking about and you don’t want to mess with me. Not now. Not after I’ve just feasted on lindorm!’
James shook the last of the water out of his hair, threw his long leather clad leg over his bike and kick-started the engine. ‘Next stop Serenisa!’ he cried over the roar of the bike as Galdo looked on with an uneasy mix of terror and pride at the two satiated sanguins. Then, without saying a word, he picked up his bike and kick started the engine, following the two boys as they prepared once again to jump over the river.