by Hoover, Gary
Jeff was sure he was kidding at that point and began to laugh.
John looked at him with a confused expression. “What are you laughing at?” he asked but continued before Jeff could say anything. “I’m also going to ask Nahima to marry me.”
“Oh come on,” Jeff said.
John looked at him with what seemed to be genuine confusion.
Jeff shook his head. “Never mind.”
“What about you?” John asked. “What are you going to do if you can make it home?”
“Get a pizza.”
“Pizza?”
“It’s a flat dough.” Jeff used his hands to illustrate the general size and shape of a pizza. “With a tomato sauce… uh… you don’t really have tomatoes or tomato sauce here, but trust me, it’s good. Then there’s cheese.” Jeff gestured as if her were sprinkling shredded mozzarella on his imaginary pie. “And then whatever meat or vegetable toppings you want. You can get different variations of toppings, and it’s like a different pizza every time.”
John nodded.
Then Jeff noticed an odd expression cross John’s face as he jumped forward and dropped his pack with one quick movement. “Nahima!” John shouted as he ran toward her.
Nahima looked over her shoulder at John with a bewildered expression.
“Down!” he yelled urgently.
She looked back at him blankly and then started to turn. John leapt toward her then turned, and Jeff saw an arrow sticking out of his back as if it had just suddenly sprouted from him.
It was all happening so fast that Jeff was confused as to what was actually occurring.
John reached for Nahima. His arms brushed against her, but then his arms fell limply. His legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground.
Jeff rushed toward him as pheerions looked around in confusion. Benji let out an eardrum-straining roar and charged toward the trees. Jeff looked in the direction Benji was running and saw a pheerion, dressed in leather similar to Rasp’s, sitting on a tree branch.
Dave was trying to keep up with Benji, but Jeff called to him. “Dave! We’ll need medical help.”
Dave turned toward Jeff in slow motion with a confused expression. Jeff realized his voice probably sounded comically chipmunk-like, but it got Dave’s attention. He turned back as Jeff arrived at John’s side.
John used all the energy he had left to lean up toward Nahima. “Can we call it even?” he asked in a weak voice and then went completely limp. His mouth gaped, and his eyes stared in a ghastly expression that made Jeff look away.
Dave arrived and knelt by John’s side. He fumbled with his bag, and Jeff forced himself to look back with a sick feeling churning in his stomach.
Dave stopped fumbling and looked at Jeff. “There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “Looks like he got it right through the heart.
Chapter 89:
When it was clear they couldn’t do anything to help John, Dave, Nahima and Rasp took off to join the crowd that had followed Benji into the trees.
Jeff stayed and knelt next to John. Maybe they can’t do anything, but can I? He held his hand near John’s heart and tried to focus on energy coming from his hand as he willed John’s heart to repair itself. The expression on John’s face was extremely unsettling, but Jeff tried to put that out of his mind as he focused on his task.
He couldn’t feel any energy, but he continued to focus and try. He focused as hard as he could. He gritted his teeth, and he could feel his arm shaking.
Nothing.
Jeff paused and tried to slow his breath. Maybe I’m trying too hard. He forced himself to relax and tried to let it flow more naturally.
Still nothing.
He tried for a few more minutes and finally gave up as he saw Zzteezazz approaching with Dave, Benji, Rasp and Nahima. Jeff pounded the dirt in frustration and then stood. His legs were shaky from crouching too long. He stretched and nodded at Zzteezazz.
There were three of them, Zzteezazz said. But your friend didn’t leave anything to interrogate.
Benji looked at the ground and resembled an extremely large dog that had just pooped on the carpet.
Jeff stepped toward him and patted him on the back. “That’s okay,” he said soothingly. “But try to hold back a little bit next time. I’m afraid you could get hurt if you’re not more careful,” he added.
Dave stepped over and offered a comforting hand on Benji’s back as well.
Jeff looked at Dave. “What should we do about… ” He nodded toward John. “Should we have a ceremony or something?”
Dave scratched the back of his head and twisted his face in an odd expression. “I don’t know. He wasn’t big on ceremonies, and we’ve got to keep moving,” Dave said.
“Well we can’t just leave him here, can we?” Jeff looked around for some help from someone other than Dave but realized Nahima was the only other human… and he didn’t think she would be the best to ask.
“What’s the problem?” Dave asked. “The animals will eat him soon enough,” he added with a shrug.
“Well that’s… isn’t that disrespectful?” Jeff asked.
“We should bury him,” Nahima said. “Do we have a shovel? Does anybody have a shovel?” Her voice had a frantic, confused tone that disturbed Jeff. He had never seen her like that before.
Jeff asked Zzteezazz for a shovel. The pheerion disappeared for a moment and quickly returned with one. Nahima snatched it from him and began digging in a clear area off the road. She dug silently and hurriedly. Jeff looked at Dave, unsure what to do. He thought he should help her, but she was acting so strangely. He was afraid anything he would do was wrong.
Before he had much time to think about it, several pheerions had emerged from the group with shovels. They joined Nahima and were soon making quick progress.
The pheerions began humming rhythmically. The tune was low-pitched, slow and both haunting and moving.
For the first time since John had died, Jeff found himself choking up.
Chapter 90:
They had turned off the road shortly after the ambush and made their way through thick trees. There was no question Pheerion Rex’s troops knew they were coming, but the off-road route would make them slightly more difficult targets.
“Why do you think they were aiming for you?” Jeff asked.
Nahima looked at him. “I suspect they were trying to get you, but pheerions probably have trouble telling the difference between boys and girls.”
Jeff hadn’t thought of that, but it made sense.
“Besides, they probably had one aimed at you too. They just didn’t have a chance to get that one off.”
Another good point. Jeff scanned the trees ahead of them a little more vigorously.
“Oh, here, why don’t you keep this,” Nahima said.
Jeff looked at the object in her hand. John’s vibro-blade?
“Maybe you should keep it,” he said.
“I don’t want anything to remind me of that… monster.”
Jeff took it from her, but he couldn’t help wonder why she had made a point of retrieving it in the first place.
He turned to Rasp. “Can you tell me about the plan again?”
Rasp had discussed the broad details with him, but he wanted to be as prepared as possible.
“We’ll camp a short distanzzze from the castle. They’ll know we’re there, but they won’t leave the castle wallzz, at least not in large numberzz. At morning, we’ll attack. Zzteezazz will keep a distanzze that will prevent much damage on either side, but it should be enough to keep their attention. You and I will go to a hidden, secret entranzzze. There will be a heavy, metal door.
“You will have to break through. The sound may alert guardz, but we shouldn’t meet much resistanzze once we get in. The passage is secret and hidden within the castle and most soldierzzz will be buzzy with defenzzzezz. I can take you to where I believe your father izzz. Every castle hazz an area where only Pheerion Rex goezzz. Thozzze are his science areazzz and no phe
erionzz are allowed in those areazz. But there were rumorzzz before I left that he had a human traveling with him who stayed in the science areazzz and helped him create weaponzzz.”
He paused and looked at Jeff who was disturbed at the idea that his father might be helping create weapons, but he assumed there was more to it than that.
Jeff nodded. He assumed that was enough to get started. The rest he could figure out as they went.
“I’m a little concerned,” Jeff said. “I can use my bat to defend myself against the human’s energy weapons, but I don’t think I can block bullets and arrows.”
“Oh they will have bullets and arrows,” Rasp replied.
Jeff examined his face, and he was almost sure that if Rasp could have contorted his face in the same way as a human he would have had a Dave-like smirk at that moment.
Chapter 91:
“My father is here,” Jeff said as he watched the sun drop behind the looming castle. “I’m sure of it now.” He turned to look at Rasp and Nahima. He could feel his hand shaking.
Nahima reached out and put a hand on his back. “Let’s get you back together with him.”
Jeff saw a quiver of emotion on her face, and he suspected she was thinking of her own father.
Jeff reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out his viewer. He zoomed in on the top edges of the castle. The sun had disappeared behind it earlier, and there was an orange glow that would soon be replaced by darkness. Jeff could see pheerions walking along the top edge of the wall. He saw two talking and one pointing. Then they both turned, leaned against the wall and clearly seemed to be watching the group of pheerions setting up camp in the open area.
“Will they attack?” Jeff asked Rasp.
“No. We are out of range unless they leave the castle, and they don’t have enough troopzz to leave the castle without great risk.
Jeff heard the sound of a tree creaking then falling. The ground shook when it landed. He looked at the tree surrounded by pheerions with axes and saws then he looked at Rasp.
“They have a large amount of work to do tonight,” Rasp commented without elaborating.
“I have a good feeling about all this,” Nahima said as she looked at the imposing stone walls in the distance. She turned to look at Jeff and addressed him more directly. “And you should know by now my feelings can be uncannily accurate.”
Jeff nodded and looked at the castle. “Yeah, well… my feelings have been pretty good too.” He turned and looked at her. “So why do I have such an uncomfortable feeling about this?”
The two of them looked at one another other for a while without speaking then they both turned back toward the castle.
“But I do feel certain he’s here,” Jeff added then wandered away and walked through the camp. Some pheerions had small tents, but most just stretched out on the ground. Jeff thought about the lack of blankets on his bed and inferred they intended to sleep like that – uncovered. There were scattered fires, and the pheerions gathered in small groups. Some played musical instruments.
In the distance, Jeff could saw the group that was cutting down trees and also one that was working with the felled trees to cut and shape the wood. He saw pheerions carrying and stacking boulders that were larger than a strong man could carry.
Jeff found the tent Dave had set up earlier. He nodded at Dave and Benji as he knelt by his pack, removed his sleeping bag and spread it on the ground.
The air was warm, and Jeff felt safe amidst the small army of pheerions. He thought he would just sleep on the ground outside the tent.
He pulled off his shoes, rested them neatly by his pack and crawled into his sleeping bag. He stared at the stars and listened to the sounds of the cutting and pounding of the wood-workers.
He tried to get some sleep. He was exhausted but also nervous and found himself drifting in and out through the night without ever falling into a deep, satisfying sleep.
Chapter 92:
As soon as the sun was high enough to provide a slight bit of morning light, Jeff climbed out of his sleeping bag, rolled it tightly and tucked it into his pack. If things go right… or wrong, I probably won’t need this again. I’ll have to remember to leave it with Dave.
He stood and looked toward the castle, but he realized a thick fog made it impossible to tell there even was a castle. He walked toward the area where the wood-workers had been pounding through the night. The pounding had stopped, but he heard voices from the area. He walked carefully to avoid stepping on any sleeping pheerions.
When he was within a few hundred feet, he could begin to make out the image of two huge catapults mounted on rolling bases. There were also carts filled with large rocks.
The pheerions in the area had been talking, but they stopped speaking and stared at Jeff as he approached.
“Good morning,” he said nodding with as pleasant a voice as he could manage. The pheerions greeted him with a number of different greetings and then continued to stare. Jeff patted one of the catapults and admired the work. “Wow! You did all this in one night? Amazing,”
The wood was rough and not finished with the exquisite detail he had seen back at the village, but it had still clearly been made by highly skilled craftsmen. Craftspheerions? Jeff mused.
He patted the catapult again and walked away. He felt he was making the pheerions uncomfortable… and he didn’t feel very comfortable himself.
He walked to the edge of the camp and looked toward the castle. The fog had lifted enough that he was able to make out a vague gray shape. He stood and watched for quite a while as the features became clearer and clearer. Eventually, he could see uniformed pheerions with his viewer.
The pheerions on the ground all around him began stirring and going about their morning activities.
He made his way back to his friends, nodding and greeting pheerions as he went. Most greeted him awkwardly and uncomfortably.
When he arrived at the tent, Dave was cooking breakfast over a small fire. They hadn’t had much in the way of fresh food on the trip, and Jeff was a little afraid to ask where the ingredients had come from. He sat next to Nahima as she took a plate from Dave.
“What would you like?” Dave asked Jeff as he pointed to the pans.
Jeff shook his head. “Nothing for me,” he answered. His stomach was churning violently, and he couldn’t even think about eating.
Chapter 93:
The fog had lifted, and the pheerions began to move forward. They didn’t move with precision. They didn’t have the numbers to present an intimidating force against the tall, strong, stone walls, but it was still an impressive sight. Jeff was particularly impressed with the two huge catapults and found it hard to believe the pheerions had been able to assemble them overnight.
Jeff was at the extreme left flank as Rasp had instructed. To his left was a sheer cliff. The secret entrance that Rasp intended to use was between the cliff and the castle. Rasp’s plan was to climb down the cliff to a point out of sight and firing range of the castle. They would make their way along the cliff’s side until they were close enough to the entrance to climb back up and approach unseen. From there, they would break in to the secret exit/entrance. A stand of trees would hide their route to the cliff when they approached it shortly after the battle began.
“This is likely to be, one way or the other, the last time I’ll see you”, Jeff said to his friends.
“Good! I hope so.” Dave said with a smirk, but Jeff could see an emotion in his eyes that he would never voice.
Nahima stepped forward and gave Jeff a hug. “Tell your mother about us,” she said with a slight waver to her voice.
Benji slapped a heavy hand on Jeff’s back and growled a low moaning vocalization. Jeff recognized it as a mixed message of affection and sadness to see him go. Jeff was never sure how completely Benji was able to comprehend things, but it seemed he understood well enough.
Jeff watched as the pheerions moved forward and then stopped at a point that was still a good dis
tance from the castle walls. Zzteezazz stood near the center of the group with a small flag in his raised right hand. He looked to his left and right. All pheerions had their eyes on him. There were several tense moments, and then he dropped the flag. Both catapults launched, there was the sound of gunfire, and Jeff could see arrows and crossbow bolts flying toward the castle.
The boulder from the rightmost catapult impacted harmlessly toward the top of the wall, but the one from the leftmost one hit right at the top of the wall. A large section of the wall crumbled and fell with the boulder.
Jeff was surprised to see at least two pheerions at other sections of the wall fall. They apparently had not taken the threat seriously and didn’t take cover.
As soon as they had launched their initial volley, Zzteezazz and his soldiers scrambled and moved. The catapults pulled back quickly.
Jeff jumped as cannons boomed from the castle along with the sound of muskets. Jeff saw arrows raining down, but the response wasn’t overwhelming – confirming Rasp’s belief that there weren’t large forces defending the castle.
Still, the elevated firing position provided an advantage, and as the pheerions on the ground scrambled, Jeff noticed, with a sick feeling in his stomach, that many weren’t able to move back with the others.
“We shall go now,” Rasp said, and Jeff followed him back into the trees and toward the cliff.
“I guess it was foolish,” Jeff said. “But I had sort of imagined they would be able to do this with few getting seriously injured or killed.”
“Don’t distract yourself with such thoughtzzz,” Rasp said. “You are important, but they don’t do this for you. They do this with you for themselvezzz.”
Chapter 94:
Jeff and Rasp eased themselves over the cliff and carefully climbed to a point ten feet below the edge. The castle was completely out of sight from that spot, so Jeff assumed they were also out of sight from any pheerions at the top of the wall.