His Uncle Arnon’s possible death, or torture, if he’d been captured.
The death of Balloch Flummer, Catrina’s grandfather.
Ivan Crane’s father.
And nameless others Colin did not know, whose loved ones deserved vengeance.
A darkness filled him. A need. Something he’d never felt before rising with such extreme intensity. He looked up into the eyes of the Scratcher and stared it down. Rage built up inside him. Every frightening thing he’d gone through in the last year coming out of him in a torrent of venomous hatred aimed at the beast.
“You will never. Take anything. From me. Again.”
Colin’s arm dropped.
His gaze focused and deadly.
A veil-like mass of energy shot out of his body, ensnaring the Scratcher, smothering it. No matter how hard it tried, it could not escape. It choked and squawked, unable to breathe.
Goblins backed away, giving them space. They didn’t want to be next.
The other Scratchers flew upward howling and screeching helplessly at their captured comrade.
Eidolon arrived unceremoniously. His fury turned to curiosity.
Juliska stared, her penetrative gaze impossible to read.
The remaining Svoda gaped with jaws dropped, in awe of the sight.
Colin did not relent his attack. The Scratcher deserved to suffer. And die.
Catrina leaned into his ear. “Kill it,” she encouraged. “It cannot live.”
These words sealed the creature’s fate.
All Colin’s thought focused on the Scratcher’s need to die.
The seething dark veils tightened its grip on the howling beast and with one final, fleeting cry, there was an electrifying charge and the Scratcher evaporated into nothing.
Gone.
Dead.
The veils of darkness dissolved, leaving Colin out of breath and filled with a wild satisfaction he’d never experienced before.
He’d done it. Snuffed out the life that had taken so much from so many.
The remaining Scratchers wailed and flew off in retreat.
Jelen and Jenner, Juliska’s personal Balaton looked to their leader, but she said nothing.
“He killed the unkillable,” Jelen mumbled. It wasn’t possible, and yet it had just happened.
Catrina patted Colin gently on his shoulder.
“You did the right thing. It cannot hurt anyone else now.”
Colin’s high plummeted, reality slicing back in. The pleasure of the moment taken over by shock and guilt.
“You did the right thing,” Catrina repeated.
He nodded, agreeing she was right. The creature needed to die. But doubts cut into him. What if the Scratchers who got away reported what he’d done? What if they did have his Uncle Arnon held prisoner? What if he had just signed his uncle’s death warrant?
His body shook, and he fell to his knees. How had he done it? How had he killed a Scratcher when no one else had ever succeeded in doing so?
He remembered wanting it with every fiber of his being, almost as if he willed it to happen. And he was protecting Catrina. He looked up to see her in front of him. She kneeled down and reached out, laying her hands over his.
“It was the right thing,” she told him a third time.
It may have been the right thing, but in doing it, something changed inside him. Something had been let out he didn’t even know was there. He looked up at the Svoda who stared at him like he was either some kind of God, or had just been named the world’s most dangerous criminal. No one was sure what to make of it.
Juliska’s stare frightened him the most. She was trying to control it, but fury surfaced, dancing wildly in her pupils. Not just fury though, there was something else. Some kind of denial. Some emotion trying to surface that she earnestly tried to bury.
He wondered if her reaction added proof to the growing collection of suspicious memories he’d stored deep in his thoughts. He would add this new one as well, and think about it all later. An icy, emotion riddled, stare didn’t equal proof. And he had to make sure Catrina got through the doorway with him.
Eidolon seized the opportunity of the Svoda’s best fighter out of commission and ordered his minions to stand down. He approached with a rock crushing slither. The Svoda had to remind themselves they were still in the middle of a retreat and battle. With the Scratchers gone, they just had to fend off the goblins long enough for them to get through the doorway.
Juliska motioned for everyone to be ready to fight, or retreat, and faced Eidolon.
“You do put on quite the show,” the goblin reveled.
She ignored the comment.
He didn’t expect anything less.
“As I see it,” he went on, “you have but one option. You give me what I want, and I will allow you to live.”
“Not much of a bargain,” said Juliska tersely. “What exactly is it you want, Goblin King?”
“You know what I want, Gypsy Queen,” he responded caustically. “Don’t play dumb. It’s not your style.”
“If you know me so well, then you know I will never give it to you.”
The Goblin King responded by pounding his fist into the ground. There just so happened to be another of his minions in the way, who was reduced to a pile of pebbles with a single thrust.
The King grumbled. “You leave me no choice. I will kill you all, and claim what is rightfully mine.” He edged closer, raising his great fist into the air, ready to smash anything in his way. “Attack,” he commanded in a roar.
The battle commenced again.
“Retreat and get through the doorway!” ordered Juliska.
Three raced through to safety. Colin jumped up to his feet forcing his fears aside. He shot off a spell making a direct hit into Eidolon’s right eye, temporarily blinding him but not stopping him. His body twisted and turned, his fist smashing angrily.
A spell whizzed by Colin’s head. He turned, stunned to see Jae right behind him. He’d shot off and hit another goblin eye.
“Jae! Where did you come from? Your dad was searching for you,” said Colin, relieved to see him. He had been so preoccupied he hadn’t even noticed both Jae and his father were part of the few Svoda remaining to fight.
“Yeah, we got separated. We’re together now though.”
“Looks like you got injured, too!” noticed Colin.
“Hah! Who didn’t today?”
“Touche!”
Colin and Jae shot off another succession of spells aimed at the eyes of the goblins.
There was now just a group of nine remaining: Juliska and her two personal Balaton, Jae and Irving Mochrie, Colin (with Catrina of course), and Ivan, plus one other Balaton Colin did not know the name of. The Balaton, along with Irving, Jae, and Ivan were all exhausted. They could not last much longer. The small amount of energy they had collected during their short break was not enough.
Juliska scowled (at least that is how Colin saw it) and asked him to assist her so the others could get through. She, Colin, Jelen, and Jenner fought hard to keep the goblin bodies from closing in so the others could escape through the door. They did, which left just the four of them.
Colin hid a relieved grin when he saw Bird flutter through the doorway. Unseen by anyone but him. He’d hoped Bird hadn’t gotten lost, hurt, or killed in all the chaos.
Jelen and Jenner refused to leave their leader’s side and insisted she go through the door, first. Before she could argue or order them through, one of the goblins got too close and crushed Jelen’s foot. He yelled out in agony. The goblin shifted, releasing his foot and Jenner grabbed hold of him, holding him up.
Catrina leaned in, whispering in Colin’s ear. He listened, at the same time never dropping his guard. He shot spell after spell at the goblins with increasing speed. Juliska almost looked as though she wanted to stop and watch.
“Banon Blackwell, if I may speak openly,” he said to her.
She gave him a terse nod.
“I su
ggest that you are not the last one through. The people need you. Not me!”
Her remaining Balaton agreed hastily with Colin and begged her to go through.
She glared at Colin, but conceded. Her Balaton let her go through and followed, with a warning gaze at Colin to hurry behind them. They figured he was small enough he could weave through the heaving goblin bodies and get through the door.
If it remained intact.
The Wandrer brothers stepped through leaving Colin and Catrina alone. The goblin bodies threatened to obliterate the door with all their slamming around. They darted around one bloated body only to find another blocking the path to the doorway.
Eidolon.
“I see you, little witch!” he wailed murderously. “You might be hidden from everyone else, but not me.”
Catrina just smiled at Eidolon, holding the velvet bag he so greatly desired precariously out of his reach. She leaned into Colin’s ear and whispered.
“The Magicante just told me a spell,” she told him, explaining it. Colin readied himself. The book had never steered him wrong before.
Eidolon peeled his way through his minions for one last attempt at claiming his prize, lunging his monstrous body toward Colin and Catrina.
Colin raised his palm, shaking a bit.
What would this spell do?
Perhaps he was strong enough to kill a Scratcher, but an entire goblin army?
His confidence rattled, he lowered his palm, grabbed Catrina and slid underneath the Goblin King’s airborne body. Eidolon had too much speed and flew through the air coming down with a thunderous crash.
Colin got up, dragged Catrina with him and raced for the doorway to Limbo.
He couldn’t fight the goblins and win.
He was Colin Jacoby, little brother and known target for bullies!
Not an overthrower of great armies.
A monstrous fist slammed down in front of them. Colin lost his grip on Catrina and they broke apart. She dropped the velvet bag and scurried across the ground to find it, before Eidolon.
Colin found it first. He shouted for Catrina to head to the doorway, snatched up the velvet bag, and ran to catch up. But the path to the doorway was blocked so they bounded around a goblin and ran in the opposite direction.
The ground shook behind them. An outraged roar rent the air.
They were too slow. They were not going to make it.
Eidolon would catch them and crush them with a single blow.
Colin did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed Catrina, and used his ability to move through space to flit out of the way. He reappeared behind the goblin army about twenty feet in front of the doorway, and freedom. It had worked. However, Eidolon’s response was faster than Colin expected.
The Goblin King spun his body around and slithered at full speed to claim his prize.
At his current speed, he’d destroy the doorway before they could get through.
There was only one choice left.
Colin lifted his palm, his intent firm. His fear of failure gone. His voice calm and sure.
“Trucidebelio.” He used the spell he’d been too afraid to use a few minutes before.
The impact was instant.
A cutting wind swept across the valley descending upon the goblins, ravaging their rock-hard bodies, dissecting them piece by piece. Eidolon lunged his massive frame into the air, his intent, to fly over Colin and Catrina and destroy their only way to freedom. They watched breathlessly as his body took off and the spell caught him.
The Goblin King let out a ghastly wail, watching the lower half of his body disintegrate in mid-air. His wail died in a gurgling choke as the rest of him followed the same fate. All that remained of Eidolon was a swirling mass of sand that blew out across the valley.
Any goblins within a hundred feet fell to the same horrific end.
Colin stood in complete awe. He could never have imagined such a force coming from his own body. Yet, it did not make him feel powerful, or give him a high like it had when he killed the Scratcher. It left him bewildered.
“I did warn him,” stated Catrina flatly. She turned and squeezed Colin’s hand. He gripped hers firmly in reply, a silent message that he’d never be willing to let go.
They’d made it.
He’d saved his silver haired dream girl and kept her alive.
They jumped through the doorway to Limbo as any remaining goblins retreated in awed amazement over their fervid ruler’s demise.
LIMBO. IT WAS A BORING place, with no sense of time or direction. The Svoda huddled together so as not to wander off into the foggy patchwork. It took time to recover from the battle and all those who’d been injured were on the mend, but inevitably, the onslaught of questions began.
What had caused the battle?
Why had Ivan and Colin come running from inside the forbidden valley?
Where were they to go next?
How long would they be stuck in Limbo?
Had Colin actually killed a Scratcher?
Hushed conversations and a lot of gawking followed. For once, no one was staring at Meghan though, just her brother. It was attention he did not want, especially as he was hiding Catrina Flummer and had to pretend he was alone.
In pure Juliska Blackwell style, she hushed her people with one formidable stare. They quieted and waited for her to speak.
“I realize you’re all exhausted, some wounded, many of you confused. Before I explain, let us first take a moment to thank everyone who fought so hard. Everyone made it out alive, there were no casualties during the battle. It just proves how good we are at working together. Now...” she paused, all ears listening intently. “As a personal favor to me, I asked Ivan Crane as part of his Initiation, to enter the valley. I take full responsibility for the events that followed, but you should know the truth. A man from another Svoda caravan wandered into the valley and never returned. It was believed he was alive and the prisoner of the Goblin King.”
There were a few caught breaths and gasps.
“Ivan Crane graciously accepted the task of searching for this man. Unfortunately, he informed just moments ago that the prisoner was murdered at the hands of the Goblin King.”
Caught breaths and gasps turned into understanding sighs and whispers.
Catrina eyed the Banon with distrust and dislike. She eyed the Svoda with a shake of her head. “So easy to sway. So eager to believe without question.” Colin didn’t ask what she meant as Juliska called out to Ivan and brought him in front of everyone, personally thanking him for his valiant efforts.
“Life must go on,” Juliska told her people. She proceeded to Initiate Ivan Crane as a fully-fledged member of the Svoda Gypsies.
“Distractions, she’s very good at that,” muttered Catrina. She said it, but Colin had been thinking it. He looked over at the silver haired girl no one but he could see.
He had so many questions he didn’t know where to start. But Limbo wasn’t the right place. Her warm smile hit him right in the chest, making his heart skip a beat and throb when it did beat.
Colin turned away to see his sister approaching. He sucked in nervously. This was going to be much harder than destroying the goblins or the Scratcher. He had a lot of explaining to do. He was not supposed to have been with Ivan and Meghan in Eidolon’s valley. And Juliska was aware of this. And he’d hidden his quest from Meghan. This was not going to go over well.
At first, Meghan ran up and smothered him in a hug. She hadn’t seen him yet since he’d come through. “You’re okay,” she let out with a sigh.
“I’m fine, at least for now,” he said. “I know I’m probably in a ton of trouble.”
Meghan kept her mind-block firmly in place so her thoughts would not leak into her brother’s mind. Not because of him being in trouble, but because she was concerned. She tried not to let it show, but hid it poorly.
She wanted to ask him all that had happened. And just how he managed to kill a Scratcher when no one else had eve
r done it, but she held her tongue. Her gut was telling her it wasn’t her brother at all, but this girl he’d dragged home. But Limbo was not the place to deal with this situation.
Instead, she smiled and asked, “How did you escape? Juliska told me you were the last one through.”
“We...” he clipped the rest, unsure how to answer. “We were just able to squeeze through,” he lied.
Meghan nodded. “And Catrina? Is she okay, too?” she added in a whisper.
“Fine. Right beside me.”
“Good. That’s good. Oh, um, by the way,” she blurted out. “Don’t get mad or anything, but Juliska asked me why you were there, in the valley. I lied. You know me. I told her you had stupidly tried to follow us because you were too scared to stay home on your own. She seemed to buy it.” Meghan shrugged. “She didn’t question any further, at least.”
Colin did not know what to say. It was the biggest jam he had ever been in, and yet again, his sister had come to his rescue. This time, though, he was thankful. She could sense it and smiled back at him.
But would Juliska really buy Meghan’s story?
At least Catrina was safely by his side. That was all that mattered.
As if knowing he was thinking about her, Juliska Blackwell strode toward Colin, eyeing him suspiciously. She was stopped, however, when the entire caravan of Svoda gasped in unison as an unexpected doorway fell from nowhere. The door flew open and a scrawny looking man in his twenties bounded through. His shirt read B.O.D. Guard.
“Okay, who is in charge here?” he called out.
Juliska huffed and stepped forward to speak with the young man.
“I’m sorry. I’m afraid we ran into a bit of trouble,” she apologized, making light of the day’s previous events.
Colin watched Catrina leave his side and tiptoe closer to overhear the conversation.
“Yes, we tracked that!” the young man replied. “Um, can I speak to you privately, please?”
The man backed away a few feet and Juliska followed.
“I’m just the messenger, I don’t know all the details, but someone at the B.O.D. Guild is not happy with you right now. They told me to warn you, if any other incidents like this occur, they could take away your B.O.D. privileges.”
Fated Fantasy Adventure Page 59