They were all I had in the end, and what I’d had since the beginning. I just needed to listen to them and hope that they, and my heart, were always based in what was right. As Daniel had told me in the woods the other night—that had to count for something. While my friends’ voices clashed on the killing issue, this piece of wisdom called out to me. Which meant that at the very least, as I built my own perspective on morality, I would start with it as my guiding light.
Eager to change the subject, I showed off my cool new ghost talisman belt before imploring SJ, Jason, and Blue to tell us about their last couple of days.
The summary: after losing sight of Daniel and me, they’d used our original homemade Camelot map to continue on their way to Avalon. Their journey had included run-ins with a few ogres, a small, unfriendly dragon (not like my pet dragon Lucky back home), and some monsters called Samaracks—half scorpion, half meerkats that were eight feet tall on their hind legs and had massive pincers and fangs.
Hm. Not sorry I missed that.
“Word of Rampart’s bounty on all our heads has reached every part of Camelot,” Jason said. “We saw Wanted posters on trees in the Shifting Forest and in the villages we passed. But as we got closer to the Blue Hills of Terrenore, we noticed there were mainly Wanted posters for Blue. The knights who attacked us were fully focused on getting to her.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Blue huffed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean why were they more interested in you than SJ or Jason?”
“You remember the Questor Beast—the monster that poisoned Dorothy and attacked her and Ozma near Avalon?” Blue asked.
Do I ever. I’ll be lucky if I ever get the haunting pictures and passages from that book I read at Gwenivere’s castle out of my head.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Well, like Dorothy said, the creature has all kinds of malicious powers, like producing its own fog to sneak up on victims, spitting acid, and tracking the scent of fear and adrenaline in its prey. What we didn’t know was that it is supposedly nearly impossible to terminate. Unless you destroy the Questor Beast in a really specific way, every time you kill the thing it respawns somewhere else.”
Courtesy of Gwenivere’s book, I actually did know this.
“Blue, what’s all that got to do with you?” Daniel asked.
“Everything,” she responded with a heavy sigh. “It’s my fate. My prophecy says that I am either going to be killed by the Questor Beast or be the one who finally destroys it.”
“What? Since when?” I asked.
“Since forever. Or at least since I got my prologue prophecy last semester. I know I never told any of you exactly what it said,” Blue met Jason’s eyes for an instant, “but there’s a part about the Questor Beast. I knew I would eventually have to face it. However, it wasn’t until recently that I really understood what that meant. I couldn’t find any information about the creature in our regular schoolbooks, but when we started reading Le Morte d’Arthur in Damsels in Distress class, I learned that the Questor Beast was from Camelot. I managed to get a bit more information from the texts in the restricted section of our school library. Unfortunately, even that wasn’t enough to prepare me. After talking to Dorothy and some of the village locals in the last couple of days, I understand the truth now. And it’s an awful lot to swallow.”
“But why would Arian and Rampart care about you destroying the Questor Beast?” I asked.
“And why would anyone want to stop you?” Daniel added. “Wouldn’t it be good for the people who live here if you take down a crazy monster?”
“Because it’s not that simple,” Blue said. She stopped walking and stared at the ground. She’d kept this part of her prophecy private for a long time and I could tell she was uncomfortable revealing the truth.
The hum of the forest whirred around us—finches chirping, breeze rustling the leaves, a lone crow cawing atop a nearby tree. We’d been hiking for about half an hour and I knew we were getting close to Avalon, but Blue’s burden was worth the pause. I knew perfectly well what it was like to be choked by fate and strangled by prophecy. It was humbling, troubling, and infuriating. And sometimes a girl just needed to take a beat before she found the strength to voice her vulnerabilities.
Eventually, Blue sighed again. “Did you guys ever read a version of Snow White where the reason the evil queen wanted the huntsman to cut out Snow’s heart was because the queen needed to consume it in order to remain beautiful forever?”
SJ raised an eyebrow. “Really? That is the example you are going with?”
“SJ, I am trying to make a point here,” Blue said.
“Go on.” SJ shrugged.
“My relationship with the Questor Beast is kind of like that,” Blue explained. “According to my prophecy, if I destroy it, I will absorb its powers. But if it kills me, then it will become completely immortal and nothing and no one will ever be able to strike it down again. That’s why so many people in Camelot—the knights who live nearby, especially—are after me. They want to kill me before the Questor Beast has a chance to. That way, I can’t seal the prophecy and leave them with a horrible monster for eternity. Rampart and Arian, on the other hand, probably just don’t want me to succeed in absorbing the creature’s powers.”
“Your Wanted poster said that you should be killed if you can’t be detained, and that you are a threat to QB mortality,” Daniel thought aloud. “So QB stands for Questor Beast.” He gave Blue a sympathetic look. “Did you know?”
“I suspected.”
“I have a question.” Kai raised her hand. “I’ve caught up on most of the backstory now, but how did this Arian guy and King Rampart even learn about your prophecy, Blue? Aren’t those private?”
“Last semester we discovered that one of the Scribes who guarded protagonist books was working for Arian,” Blue responded. “She told him when protagonists with important prophecies came along so he could eliminate them before they became a threat. I received my prophecy before the Fairy Godmother Supreme caught the Scribe and tossed her into Alderon. I figure that Arian has seen my prophecy just like he’s seen Crisa’s and probably Jason’s and Daniel’s too. He must’ve told Rampart about it when he learned we were on our way to Camelot.”
“I’m sorry, Blue,” Kai replied. “That’s a rough hand to be dealt.”
“I’m sure you’ll overcome it though,” Daniel said.
“Most people don’t think so,” Blue replied. “Hence why tons of them want me dead. Given what the monster is capable of, none of them believe I can actually take the thing down and they feel it’d be safer to bet against me.
“Well, they’re wrong,” Jason said, supportively putting his hand on Blue’s shoulder. “You can beat it. And Rampart and Arian know it too. They wouldn’t have let everybody know about you if they weren’t afraid that you were going to win and absorb all that power.”
“Exactly,” Daniel agreed. “So let’s focus on you winning, not losing. You said the creature has to be destroyed in a specific way right? Do you know how?”
“I do,” Blue responded. “It has to be stabbed through the heart. The books I’ve read disagree on where the creature’s heart is located, but the villagers we talked to about it believe that it is in one of its five heads.”
“It’s the center head. Beneath the chin,” I stated.
They all turned to me.
“I read it in a book.”
“Why didn’t you say anything about it until now?” Blue asked.
“I didn’t know the Questor Beast was so important to you until now; I thought it was just another monster. I was in the library at Gwenivere’s castle when I came across a book with information about it. Merlin left it for me to find; there was an inscription from him to me on the inside.”
“Geez,” Daniel said. “How much of your future has that guy seen?”
“I’ve wondered the same thing myself,�
� I replied. “It’s creepy.”
“How do you think we feel knowing that you can see our futures?” SJ commented.
Huh. I hadn’t thought about it like that.
“So, did the book tell you anything else?” Blue asked, bringing the conversation back to focus.
“Well, there was this thing about death bl—”
I froze.
DING! A light bulb went on in my head.
The book I’d read in Gwenivere’s castle said that the Questor Beast could only be destroyed if it was “stabbed through the heart by someone with the death blood of their one true love on their hands.”
I stared at Blue. After Jason’s ordeal, both she and I had wound up with his blood on our hands. We’d rinsed them in the river afterward, and SJ’s SRBs had taken care of the rest. But despite that, I could still feel the blood on my skin. Psychologically, it was a hard thing to wash away.
My eyes darted to Jason. He had been dead. Not dying. Dead. The blood we’d gotten on our hands was therefore death blood. Which meant if Blue was successful in destroying the Questor Beast, Jason was her one true love!
Snap! I knew that Blue had been crushing on Jason for a while, but I didn’t know her feelings ran so deep. Honestly, based on conversations we’d had, I wasn’t sure she knew either.
“Crisa?” SJ said. “What were you going to say?”
Crud. What should I do here?
Revealing the death blood factor would let everyone know what’d I just realized—that if Blue was successful in the challenge fate had planned, it meant Jason was the one and only for her. I couldn’t go blurting something like that out.
This was very personal, dynamic-changing information. Blue had sworn me to secrecy about her feelings for Jason because she was not ready to make them public. Moreover, Jason had died this morning, Blue had a mutant monster to face, and we all still had a million life-or death objectives to handle before the day’s end. Now was not the time to interject such a revelation. Honesty was not the best policy when it could distract people before they engaged in a bunch of nearly impossible, perilous tasks.
“Uh, just that its death blood would smell a lot,” I responded. “The book didn’t say anything else of importance though. Only that the monster lives somewhere in the Passage Perelous.”
“Actually, it lives near Avalon,” Jason said. “That’s why the colored knights were so intent on killing Blue. We’re super close to Avalon now.” He nodded to the map in Daniel’s hand. “How far do we have left?”
“There’s about another mile to go,” Daniel replied, checking the map. “I guess we should proceed with extra caution if the Questor Beast lives around here. After all, didn’t Dorothy say that when she and Ozma left Avalon it wasn’t long before they were consumed by the fog that the Questor Beast produces?”
“You mean fog like that?” SJ said, pointing.
We turned and followed her finger. A thick cloud of fog was blanketing the trees. We barely had time to process it. The billows came in so fast that within five seconds anything that was more than fifteen feet away turned into a silhouette.
Suddenly, a roar echoed through the forest. Branches shook and pebbles trembled. I would have tipped my hat to the Questor Beast if I wasn’t freaking out. Between the roar, the quake, and the fog, that thing knew how to make an entrance.
eing so close to Avalon and finding Excalibur, it felt like a cruel joke that fate had thrown Camelot’s most notorious monster in our path. Though not as cruel as the monster itself.
Daniel in the lead, we immediately made a break to the left, hoping that if we moved quickly and quietly we could maneuver through the forest without the creature spotting us. That was a naïve hope; the creature could track its prey by smelling fear and adrenaline, and we had plenty of both.
To my right I saw a flash of gold, which disappeared into the fog. The sound of hissing resonated through the forest. The fog grew thicker. A gust of cold wind whipped against me as something else whizzed behind us.
Daniel and SJ were the furthest out, Kai and Jason were in the center of the group, and Blue and I picked up the rear. She had her right hand poised by her throwing knives and her left hand firmly around her hunting knife. Her classic blue cloak blew behind her. I drew my wand ready to fight.
Shield.
I could feel the creature out there stalking us. The direction the hissing came from kept changing. As it grew louder, so did the pounding of my heart.
Blue’s expression was determined, but I saw a hint of doubt. She didn’t know if she could beat the Questor Beast. I didn’t know if she could beat it either. But I had faith in her the same way she and the others always seemed to have faith in me. It was imperative that we clung to that; otherwise, we would have no chance.
SNAP!
A branch broke somewhere nearby. The hissing stopped.
“Look out!” Jason shouted.
A long tail with a spiked mace at the end swung out of the fog. Blue and I dove to the ground to avoid being decapitated. The tail recoiled into the fog.
The six of us formed a circle with our backs to each other, our eyes on the trees. It seemed like every noise in the forest had stopped. In this disorienting fog it felt like time itself had stopped.
CRACK!
A second later, a giant tree trailing dirt and roots came flying in our direction. We all leapt out of the way as it slammed into the middle of our clearing. A bird shot out of its leaves and flew into the sky.
That’s when the Questor Beast appeared. It lunged out of the fog and I had my first clear view of the full creature. Like in the renderings in the book at Gwenivere’s castle, it had five leopard heads with mouths full of fangs, fifteen-foot-long snake-like necks, and a gold-spotted body with legs the size of tree trunks.
Four of the Questor Beast’s heads turned on Daniel and SJ while one aimed at Kai. She bounded out of range but had to roll to the side to evade the poisoned teeth that the beast fired at her. The teeth pierced the ground and caused the grass to wilt instantly. I watched the creature’s fangs regrow with ease.
SJ managed to fire off one of her portable potions, but the lightning bolt barely caused the Questor Beast to flinch. As she reached into her potions sack to reload, the monster slammed one of its feet into the ground and the forest shook. SJ fell to the dirt and the fifth head charged at her. Blue flung four throwing knives at the creature. Two of them pierced the neck of the encroaching head. The monster wailed, which bought Kai enough time to swoop in and help SJ up. However, the Questor Beast abruptly pivoted and swung its mace tail toward us.
“Duck!” I yelled.
Most of us did, but Kai was struck. The side of the Questor Beast’s tail hit her like a battering ram and she disappeared into the fog.
“Kai!” Daniel shouted.
He moved to go after her, but the Questor Beast’s first and second heads swiveled toward him and Jason. My friends dodged and began attacking the creature—Daniel with his sword and Jason with his axe. The two moved with such speed and precision that any other monster would have been dead in seconds. This one, regrettably, was agile, intelligent, and had a lot of attack options.
SJ tried to distract the beast’s fourth and fifth heads with more potions. Unfortunately, the creature was learning. Before her potions could hit their mark, one of the Questor Beast’s heads would spit a blob of crimson acid. The acid would encase the potion midair and cause it to drop to the ground like a dud cannonball.
I stayed with Blue, trying to draw the creature’s center head forward so she might have an opening to take it down. Blue chucked one throwing knife after another, but the creature was too fast. Many of the blades missed their targets.
There was no time to clear my mind and focus on my magic. Not that I could see anything with enough clarity to project my magic into anyway. The only weapon I could actively utilize was my indestructible shield. I held it up as an assault of poisoned teeth rained down.
Blue launched anothe
r pair of throwing knives, but the center head bobbed and weaved. When I saw it draw back, I leapt forward, grabbed Blue’s wrist, and yanked her behind my shield as a blob of acid was ejected in our direction. Glancing over my shield, I saw Jason activate the force field of his axe to protect himself and Daniel from the same kind of onslaught.
We continued to fight, but our efforts were pitiful. It was like the creature was toying with us. No one could get in a good shot. Worse? The teamwork we usually thrived on was foiled by the waves of blinding fog.
Suddenly SJ screamed. When I looked for her, I only saw the follow through of the monster’s tail. She must have been knocked into the forest like Kai had. My heart raced with fear and a desire to go after her, but I couldn’t. None of us could; we had to fend off the monster’s attacks on us.
Now that there were only four of us left, the creature changed tactics and began to charge specifically at Blue. I wondered if it somehow knew that it would live forever if it killed her. The hunger in its bright-green reptilian eyes was enough to convince me it had a clue.
We were chased further into the forest as one head after another lashed furiously in our direction. The boys disappeared somewhere behind us. The dense fog caused us to lose visual on the Questor Beast too, but I could feel the earth shake from its nearby footsteps.
I could barely see three feet in front of me at that point so I had to rely on my sense of hearing. And right then, I heard the very specific sound of spit building up in the creature’s throat. Blue and I skidded behind the nearest tree and not a moment too soon. Out of the haze, a blast of acid sailed right past us. Blue grabbed a low-bearing branch and swung herself into the tree. I transformed my shield back to a wand and followed her up.
The ground stopped shaking. Heartbeats racing, we waited in our perch, wondering where the predator was. Then the Questor Beast’s tail wrapped around our tree trunk like a whip, ripped it from the earth, and hurled it across the forest. Blue and I hung on for dear life as we flew through the air.
Crisanta Knight: To Death & Back Page 38