We let go just before the tree hit the dirt and tumbled roughly onto the grass as a loud hiss reverberated through the area. It was like all five Questor Beast heads were in perfect harmony. I jumped to my feet as I made out an inbound shadow.
Shield.
I drew into a fighting stance, but then realized the shadow belonged to Jason. He was surprised when he bumped into me. We were both surprised when Blue tackled us a second later.
A blob of acid hit the tree behind us. The bark instantly smoked, sizzled, and began to disintegrate. Blue threw another series of knives into the fog before angrily turning to us. She grabbed Jason by the collar.
“Get out of here,” she snapped. “I already lost you once today. Isn’t that enough?”
A pair of glowing green eyes emerged from the fog, followed by four more sets. Slowly, the beast came into view as it stalked forward. Blue pushed Jason away before bracing her boots against the dirt.
“Crisa,” she said steadily. “When I give the word, toss me your spear.”
“Blue—”
“I know what I’m doing,” she snapped. “Both of you, stand down. It needs to see me and only me right now, so take cover.”
Her expression was so stern that neither of us questioned her. Jason and I ducked behind the nearest tree as the monster appeared in its full glory. It stretched out its necks and loomed over Blue. All five heads bore their fangs and simultaneously lunged at her. She dove forward and rolled closer to the creature. Several heads plowed into the dirt. Blue came out of the roll and rose to her feet. Darting around the right side of the beast, she speedily fired off eight throwing knives in a row. Her enchanted utility belt could barely replenish them fast enough to keep up with her.
Blue’s aim was astounding. She managed to hit five of the creature’s eyes—completely blinding the fourth head and partially blinding the first, second, and fifth. Lime green blood dripped from the Questor Beast as it wailed.
“Crisa! Now!” Blue yelled.
I hurried out from behind the tree, transformed my wand into a spear, and threw it at her. She caught the staff midair and made her move.
The first head dove at her with its mouth open, raring to take a bite. She raised my spear and thrust it upward, puncturing the creature’s mouth like a skewer through a piece of meat as it bit down. With all her strength, she twisted the staff so fast that she broke the monster’s neck. The snap was cringe-worthy loud and the rest of the Questor Beast reared in agony.
Blue yanked out the spear, spun around, and stuck the blade into the ground. The first head lay limply on the grass. In one fluid motion, Blue removed her cloak and flung it at the second head as it charged. She jumped to the side like a bullfighter, drew her hunting knife, and stabbed the partially blinded creature in the top of the head. It dropped dead as well.
My friend shoved her knife into its sheath then leapt back as the center head fired a glob of acid, just missing her. She ripped my spear from the ground and flung it at the Questor’s Beast’s chest. It was a direct hit and the monster staggered.
The fourth and fifth heads joined the center in defensively spewing acid. Blue backflipped out of the way and evaded their fire. She landed in a crouched position on the grass. The eyes of the center head locked with hers.
“Come on!” she shouted, drawing her hunting knife.
The center head hissed. Blue ran straight at it. At the last second, she slid directly underneath the head with her knife extended, trying to pierce the monster’s heart. Unfortunately, the Questor Beast maneuvered to avoid her strike. The center head withdrew while the other two twisted around.
That was our cue. Despite Blue’s wishes, Jason and I raced forward. He threw his axe at the fourth head, decapitating it swiftly with a forceful chop. I rushed to retrieve my spear, which was still stuck in the creature’s body. Instead of ripping it out, I commanded it to morph into a wand. Once the weapon changed shape, it fell into the palm of my hand. Then I looked up.
Uh-oh.
I flung myself to the side to dodge incoming acid, rolling to a stop in the dirt. As I came to my feet, Blue zagged around the creature’s assaults while Jason darted to retrieve his axe without getting killed. Seeing them dash around, I was reminded of our favorite team sport—Twenty-Three Skidd. It gave me an idea for how I could give Blue a clean shot at the center head’s chin so she could end this. We only needed to take out the other remaining head first.
Blue and Jason were already ahead of me (no pun intended). That head was currently attacking Jason while the center one lashed out at Blue. I knew that despite their erratic movements, my two friends were operating under the same instinct. Somehow, they always seemed to be able to read each other’s minds in battle. This time they were distracting the monster by splitting the focus of its heads.
Slowly but surely, my friends moved closer to one another until they were back-to-back. Then, in one precise moment, the fifth head fired a blob of acid at Jason while the center head lunged for Blue. My friends dove out of the way. The acid of the fifth head hit the center head, burning the creature’s face. It snarled and hissed violently in pain.
That was our opening.
Lacrosse sword.
My weapon morphed into the traditional Twenty-Three Skidd weapon—a long staff with a big blade at one end and a large, netted basket on the other.
I rushed in, extended the basket, and snatched the center head by the lower half of its mouth—chin and teeth caught in the netting. Without breaking stride, I slid to the ground with all my body weight, bringing the Questor Beast’s neck down low and twisting it sideways. Jason sped in to help me. We used all our strength to keep the monster’s head down and expose its chin.
“Blue! Now!” I shouted, struggling to hold the creature in place.
Blue had been courting the attention of the fifth head while this had been going on. When she saw us, she tried to make a beeline for the center head, but the fifth head cut her off with another acid attack.
The center head thrashed harder. Jason and I used every ounce of our combined strength to prevent it from getting loose, but my grip was slipping.
“Blue, c’mon!” he yelled.
She shot me a panicked look. The fifth head charged at her and she flung a single throwing knife. Thank Book her aim was true. She took out the head’s remaining eye, fully blinding it.
As the creature howled in distress, she bolted toward us, drawing her hunting knife. The weapon was silver, sharp, and tinged with green blood. Just as I felt my grip on the lacrosse sword slipping, she raised the blade high over us then plunged it down. I shut my eyes and turned my face away at the last second.
A horrible hissing sound sizzled in my eardrums. The struggling head stilled.
I opened my eyes to see the center head lying lifelessly in the tangle of my lacrosse sword basket. The Questor Beast’s entire body collapsed to the ground with a mighty, final thud.
The monster was dead. More than that … it was destroyed.
Wand.
My weapon morphed back to its familiar form and Jason and I stood up slowly. Blue triumphantly yanked out her hunting knife from the beast’s chin. She’d done it. She’d stabbed it through the heart. I exhaled deeply. It was over. Or was it?
Suddenly, the Questor Beast started to glow lime green. I jumped back.
Every trace of fog in the forest rushed in and was absorbed into the monster’s body. In a matter of moments we could see the sky again. The sun shone and the birds chirped, but the creature still glowed. That entrancing aura slowly rose out of the Questor Beast like steam off a hot bowl of rice, forming a large ball of energy above our heads. It beamed brighter for a second, then zipped around like a comet before going straight into Blue.
Her body convulsed from the rush of power and she glowed momentarily with a green aura of her own. When Blue looked up at us, her eyes had become the same intense lime green shade as the Questor Beast’s. Thankfully, after blinking a few times they retur
ned to their normal blue color. The energy outlining her body disappeared just after.
“What the heck was that?” Blue asked.
“You completed a part of your prophecy,” Jason responded. “You destroyed the Questor Beast, so that was you absorbing its powers like the prophecy said.”
“Well, all right then.” Blue cracked her neck and stored her hunting knife. “Celebratory nachos are on me when we get home. Now, shall we go find the others?”
“Wait, hold on,” I said earnestly. “Blue, you absorbed the Questor Beast’s powers. We don’t know what that’s going to do to you. Don’t you want to take a minute and take stock of yourself?”
“Did I grow four extra heads?” Blue asked.
“No.”
“Then for now, I don’t care. Let’s get out of here. I am so over monsters.”
ow that the fog had lifted it didn’t take long to reconnect with SJ and Kai, who had been thwacked by the beast, but were mostly unharmed.
Daniel was the hardest to find. At some point during the battle he’d been slammed into a tree, which had temporarily knocked him out. He was only starting to regain consciousness when we located him. Thank goodness he wasn’t injured; although he was pretty ticked off about having been taken out of the fight.
“Who’s the Sleeping Beauty now?” I joked. He glared at me. I didn’t blame him. It wasn’t particularly funny. But I had to say something to mask how worried I’d been. When we first spotted him lying on the ground, it felt like I had been shot in the chest all over again.
After regaling the others with the story of Blue’s heroism against the Questor Beast, we consulted Merlin’s map and continued to Avalon. The attack hadn’t taken us far off course and luckily there had been no shifts in the forest during that time. We were closing in on our target, and that was so delicious we couldn’t help but move faster with every minute.
The only thoughts that deterred my focus from our oncoming destination were related to Blue. Since she’d successfully killed the Questor Beast, I knew without a doubt that Jason was her one true love. I itched with desire to tell her, and tell him, however I knew in good conscience that I couldn’t do either. To start with, there was the main reason I’d concluded with earlier about not wanting to distract them. Past that, after letting the revelation sink in, I decided not to tell them for a much more important reason.
Blue and Jason had to figure out who they were to one another for themselves. I’d made the choice a long time ago to never read my full prophecy because I didn’t want that unnatural knowledge of fate influencing my decisions. I’d be a total hypocrite if I took that right away from my friends. So, finitely my mind was made up. I couldn’t and wouldn’t tell them.
Aside from the true love business, as we made our way to Avalon my thoughts also kept coming back to Blue because I was worried about her.
Absorbing the Questor Beast’s powers was clearly having some unsavory side effects. As we journeyed, Blue periodically shivered and perspired. Her hands were pale and shaking. And her eyes kept flashing between that glowing, reptilian green and their normal blue. Although, whenever any of us asked if she was all right or needed help, her glare was so sour it caused us to withdraw and leave her be.
“There it is!” Kai suddenly exclaimed.
My head whipped forward.
Kai was gesturing excitedly through the trees to her right.
I dashed forward, thrust aside a branch, and saw it for myself—a crystal blue lake with ripples of turquoise. In the middle of the lake was an island of thick forests and purple mountains, the whole entity ringed by mist.
Avalon.
My friends and I pushed through the last of the trees and beheld it together. We were standing at the top of a steep, grassy slope that led down to the lake. We marveled at the view of Avalon for a moment before we spotted three knights on the bank below. They wore full armor and manned six horses that were tied to a few gnarled trees growing out of the white sand rimming the water. I instantly recognized the navy cape that one of the knights wore, and the boar-shaped brooch that came with it.
Rampart’s knights from the citadel.
The knights noticed us, but before I could even reach for my wandpin, SJ drew a silver portable potion, sped down the embankment, and fired. Two knights were instantly encased in ice. The third knight ran across the sand but was swiftly taken out with a jade portable potion. It smashed into his helmet and a blob of slimy goo consumed him from head to toe.
Blue, Jason, Kai, Daniel, and I bolted down the hill to join SJ.
A bit of the green goo slid off the knight and trickled over the sand into the lake. The instant it did, the tranquil, crystal waters turned dark and murky. The center of the lake started to bubble and steam and radiate a silvery glow.
Now what?
From within the churning water, a ghostly figure began to rise. It was a woman. A spirit woman. Unlike the ghosts from Bluebeard Tower, her face and flowing robes were an icy, pale blue. Her hair and eyes were such a dark shade of black, ravens would’ve been jealous. I could feel those eyes burning into me.
She had to be the Lady of the Lake, the guardian of Avalon. This specter carried a lot of weight on our fate. We had to show her respect, do what she told us, and hope to the heavens that she and her lake spirits deemed us worthy enough to claim Excalibur.
Without warning she zoomed toward the bank. We took several steps back in awe and fear. I felt the urge to raise my weapon, but I restrained. Pointing a blade at her would not make a good first impression. The Lady of the Lake stopped five feet above the water just off the bank and hovered there. The force she’d churned up crashed against the sand in a rough wave. A silvery glow and a small cloud of mist hung around her. Meanwhile, her hair and robes flowed like a constant wind was blowing. I guess that was a ghost thing.
“No outside enchantments or magic permitted across the waters of Avalon,” she bellowed. Her voice was deep and unsettling. It didn’t sound like only one person talking. It echoed like eight different women speaking at the same time. Each syllable sent a chill up my spine.
The Lady of the Lake shot a piercing gaze at SJ. “That includes potions.”
SJ hurriedly reattached the slingshot to her belt without saying a word. Daniel then stepped before the Lady of the Lake. Her hard gaze and emotionless frown fell upon him but he did not waver.
“We’ve come for Excalibur,” he said. He shot me a glance over his shoulder and waved me over subtly. I approached until I stood beside him.
“This is Crisanta Knight,” Daniel continued. “She’s been blessed by the Boar’s Mouth and has sworn The Pentecostal Oath to the king of Camelot. If you give us passage across the lake, she can claim the sword as the prophecy says.”
The Lady of the Lake turned her eyes onto me. I gulped.
“One has already come forward asserting the same mission,” said the Lady of the Lake. “Your brother, Alexander Knight, is on the Isle of Avalon right now, searching for Excalibur.”
I felt my muscles tense. After seeing Rampart’s knights, I’d kind of assumed that this was the case. There were three of them and six horses, meaning that the rest of the party was elsewhere. Alex had beaten us here. We couldn’t waste any more time on this bank.
“I can find Excalibur first,” I said firmly.
The Lady of the Lake stared at me. After a pause, she nodded. “I will grant you passage. But for every person who crosses the lake, one person must stay behind as collateral. Should members of the search party fall victim to any of the traps on the isle, the souls of those waiting here will be my payment. Decide now who will go and who will stay.”
I turned to my friends.
“Alex, Mauvrey, and Arian,” said Blue.
“What?”
“They brought six horses and three of Rampart’s knights stayed behind,” Blue clarified. “I’d put money on the fact that Alex, Mauvrey, and Arian are the ones on the isle looking for Excalibur.”
She
was probably right, which meant the three of us who went after them would have to be ready for a brutal fight.
“I will stay,” SJ said decidedly. “Should any monsters or magic hunters come out the woods, my potions will hold them back most effectively.”
“I’ll stay too,” Kai said. “Based on what Daniel has told me, this isn’t just business. It’s personal. You guys should face them. I’m only a guest in this storyline.”
Jason turned to Blue. “In that case, I think that Daniel, Crisa, and I should go. Blue, you should stay here with the SJ and Kai.”
“What? No way!” Blue exclaimed, her eyes flashing Questor Beast green. “You died a few hours ago.”
“Yeah, but I’ve fully recovered,” he said. “You haven’t looked right since killing the Questor Beast and absorbing its powers.”
Blue could glower at us all she wanted, but Jason spoke the truth. She was still shivering sporadically, sweat beaded her brow, and her hands, which were normally so steady, were trembling. Blue looked seriously fragile and drained.
“Jason’s right,” I said. “We don’t know how the Questor Beast’s powers have affected you, Blue. Until we do, I think it would be safer if you stayed and Jason came with us.”
Blue shot me a poisonous expression but nodded. “Fine.”
I readdressed the Lady of the Lake. “We have our three,”
“Very well,” she responded, slowly raising her hands. The water near the bank gurgled and a pair of graceful wooden boats rose from its depths and slid toward the sand
“Be warned,” the Lady of the Lake continued, her eyes directly on me. “I am aware of every form of magic that enters the realm of Camelot. I do not care how powerful the approach of the Vicennalia Aurora is making you, child. As I said, any magic that did not originate from Avalon is not allowed beyond this point. You are not even permitted to transform that wand of yours once you step off this bank. Should you use even a spark of power, I will strike you dead. Do you understand?”
Crisanta Knight: To Death & Back Page 39