As they walked over a grassy hill, Scruff cleared his throat. "Look, guys, I know it looks bad. But hey... these peasants were unarmed. That's why they suffered from Vanderbeak. But we have armor, weapons, spells. We're the Bullies, after all. I bet this Vanderbeak creature will crumble when faced with a group of armed warriors."
The other Bullies looked at him and nodded slightly. Cobweb even smiled shakily.
"I suppose you'we wight," the spiderling began to say. "We have w-weapons, and—"
Just then, a group of knights came fleeing up the hill, faces pale, eyes wide. They wore steel armor and carried axes, but ran as if all the demons of Hell chased them. Their hair and eyebrows were singed, their wounds bandaged.
"Run away! Run away!" said their leader, a burly knight with a bruised face and bashed arm. "That roc is a beast. No weapons can harm him. For God's sake, run!"
With that, the knights fled by them, clutching their wounds, until they disappeared down the hill.
Neev raised an eyebrow and looked at Scruff. "You were saying, brother?"
Scruff sighed. "Never mind. Let's keep going."
He started walking, but the others stood still, arms hanging limp at their sides. Scruff turned around to face them, and signaled them to keep moving, but they stayed still.
"Scwuff, awe you s-s-suwe dis is a g-good idea?" Cobweb asked. "If t-twenty knights c-c-couwdn't beat Vandewbeak, wit aww der weapons and awmow, what chance d-do we have?"
The others nodded their agreements, muttering amongst themselves.
Scruff pulled out his pockets, and a couple moths flew out. "It's not what we've got," he said. "It's what we don't got. Money. We're going to beat Vanderbeak because if we don't, we'll starve."
The others sighed, shrugged, and finally kept walking.
The landscapes became more burned and ruined, talon marks in the barns and fields, and once they passed by a feather that was as long as Scruff was tall. The silence seemed to crawl across Scruff like bugs.
"Where do rocs come from anyway?" he asked, unable to stand the silence much longer.
"They were originally underground creatures," Neev said, the breeze rustling his cloak. "They were bred in the great caverns of Hell, caverns as tall as the sky. On Earth, they're mostly found in caves, which remind them of their underground homes. The first couple of rocs were summoned by a warlock two thousand years ago, and they bred, but I thought they were extinct by now. Armies have been hunting them for centuries."
"Well, they didn't kill this one," Scruff said, the wind in his hair. "We will."
"Still, I wonder if Dry Bones is behind this," Neev said. "Is he luring us toward a trap?"
"What kind of trap?" Scruff said, clutching his mace, thankful for the familiar weight in his hand. "You mean he'll tempt us to come see a roc, and then unleash a vicious killer bunny our way? We're going to fight a roc already. We know what we're getting into. There's no trap, Neev."
Neev tightened his cloak around him. "You might be right, but let's be careful. Dry Bones is still alive, and he might jump out at any moment, and I have a feeling that moment might be when we're all distracted fighting a huge, fire-breathing vulture."
Scruff opened his mouth, but closed it again, and for a moment they all walked in silence. As he walked, Scruff muttered under his breath. Damn it. Neev might be right. Dry Bones might be up to this. Scruff's knuckles whitened around his mace.
Finally, as they walked over a hill of scorched grass, Scruff spoke again. "When we reach the roc, you stay behind, Neev, and watch our backs. You'll have to face Dry Bones if he pops out."
Neev shook his head. "You'll need my spells to defeat the roc."
"And my sword," Jamie said.
"And my mace," Scruff said.
"And my awwows," Cobweb said.
They all turned to look at Romy. The she-devil wasn't even listening, humming a tune to herself, looking in wonder at some ants that raced along the ground. She seemed to notice everyone was staring at her, and looked back with a smile. "What's up, guys?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why are you all looking at me?"
A moment later, Romy whined. "But I want to fight the roc too."
"No deal," Neev said. "You'll have to wait outside the roc cave, covering us in case of Dry Bones."
She pouted. "I'm a good roc slayer. I killed them for fun when I lived underground. Please let me fight the roc, Mommy! If you do, I'll give you a million kisses."
Jamie groaned. "I thought you were scared of birds, Romy."
Romy shrugged. "I'm scared of little cute birds, goslings and ducklings and chicks. Vanderbeak is a monstrous vulture. That's different."
Neev took Romy's hand and looked into her eyes. "Romy, a roc is nothing compared to Dry Bones. The roc works for Dry Bones; the warlock is much more powerful. I'm asking you to defend us, all by yourself, against our greatest enemy. That's a bigger honor than facing some puny bird. I know only you are strong and brave enough for this task."
Romy bit her lip. "I know what you're doing, Neev. I'm not stupid. But fine." She turned her nose up at him. "I shall abstain from fighting the roc, and watch your butt in case Dry Bones singes it with a fireball."
* * * * *
The sun began to set, and still they had not reached Greenford. Romy suspected that Scruff got them lost again. She looked at a sharp boulder, shaped like a dragon, that rose to her left. I've seen this boulder before, she thought. Scruff is leading us in circles again. It was an impressive feat to get lost here, considering they just had to follow a dirt road, but somehow Scruff had managed to do it. We really ought to stop letting him walk first, Romy thought.
She opened her mouth to scold him, then closed it. Scruff looked so worried, she didn't want to burden him any further. And besides, the longer they walked around the countryside, the longer they lived. Once they reached Vanderbeak, they'd likely die. Romy had seen a roc only once, over a century ago; it had flown through a great cavern in the Ninth Circle of Hell, flapping its wings over a sea of lava. It killed a hundred demons before they shot it down. Romy shuddered at the memory. The other Bullies had never seen a roc, but Romy knew there was little hope of winning this battle.
So why do I go with them? she wondered, walking hand-in-hand with Neev, her feet weary. Why don't I just run away, go live in a cave, maybe even find a warlock who can return me to Hell? She looked at Neev and marveled at the way the wind played with his hair. That's why, she knew. For Neev. She would never leave him.
They were walking down a narrow path overgrown with weeds, the sunset orange around them, when Romy noticed a poster on an oak tree. At first she thought it another poster advertising Vanderbeak's reward—they had passed several in the past few hours—but then Romy noticed it bore a different picture. Releasing Neev's hand, she stepped toward the parchment and gasped.
"Ooh, look, it's a picture of us!" she said.
The others gathered around her, frowning. The parchment showed the five Bullies with mean eyes, their weapons raised. "Dangerous thugs at large!" was written below the portrait. "Bring the Bullies, dead or alive, to Warlock Coven beneath Batwog Mountain. One hundred golden coins reward."
The Bullies stared in silence, breathless.
Romy tapped her cheek, examining her image drawn onto the parchment. "You know, I don't think they really captured my eyes properly. I have way longer lashes than that."
Scruff tore up the parchment and sighed. "I guess this means we stay off the road," he said.
Jamie rolled her eyes and muttered, "Not that it'll slow us down much, what with you getting us lost even on the main path."
Scruff glared at her, and Jamie glared back, and Romy wondered if they'd start fighting again. But the siblings just sighed and Scruff yawned. They were all too tired. Romy yawned too, and then Cobweb yawned, and Jamie yawned too.
"Well, I'm ready for bedtime," Romy said. "Let's go find an inn."
Neev shook his head. His cloak was dusty and his eyes weary. "No inns, Romy.
Not when we're wanted for a hundred gold coins. And besides, we're broke. We'll find a clearing between the trees and make camp."
Romy moaned. "But I hate sleeping on the ground. I want to sleep in a big fluffy bed." She pouted.
The other Bullies ignored her and walked off the road, heading into a copse of birches and oaks. Romy sighed and followed, muttering about the hard ground. They found a clearing between the trees, the ground covered with fallen leaves and acorns, and made camp. They boiled some oats they'd collected on the way, but it was a tasteless meal, and Romy only ate a few bites. I wish I had some bacon, beer, and great big honey cakes.
The sun soon disappeared, and Romy curled up on the ground and pulled her cloak over her. The other Bullies were soon sleeping around her, but Romy couldn't fall asleep. She missed sleeping in a bed. Sometimes she thought that she even missed the underground, especially when nights were chilly and the ground was lumpy with rocks and roots. Yet she did not mean that, not really. She had been lonely underground, not knowing truly what loneliness was. True, in Hell she had her teddy bear Floofie. But, bless his heart, he was a poor conversationalist. Hell meant pain and fire to humans; to Romy it meant eternal loneliness.
Here on Earth she had discovered a new emotion: love. She loved her new friends: Scruff with his warm heart, Cobweb with her kindness, even Jamie who hid softness beneath her angry exterior. And especially, she loved Neev—because he summoned her here, because he was so wise, because for nobody else would she sleep here on rocks and roots. She saw him lying beside her, wriggled toward him, and cuddled against him. The ground suddenly did not feel so cold.
* * * * *
Neev was woken by Romy cuddling against him. Her hair of flames crackled softly against his neck and cheek, not burning like earthly flames but warm and soft. He looked at her face, lying against his chest, her eyes shut. She was beautiful, he thought—her skin deep red and smooth, her lips the fullest he'd seen, her eyelashes long and black.
He realized that despite all the times she annoyed him, when she slept like this, cuddled against him, he liked her. Indeed, he realized that he loved her—his little devil that he had summoned into this world. It was his duty to protect her, he thought, caressing her hair of fire. Despite being a demon centuries old, she was kindhearted and innocent, and she was special to him. He kissed her lips as she slept, and he felt her hand in his hair as she kissed him back.
She opened her eyes, and he saw tears in them. "I'm scared of the roc hurting you," she said. "I'm scared of Dry Bones. I love you, Neev, and I don't want anything to happen to you."
He wished he could promise her that everything would be all right, but could make no such guarantee. "I love you too, Romy," was all he could whisper. "And maybe that is stronger than Dry Bones' magic." It was not his most eloquent moment, and he could imagine Jamie punching him for saying something so lame, but it seemed to soothe Romy, and soon they both slept, cuddled together.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Elephants
At dawn, a shriek woke Romy.
She opened her eyes, still lying between the birches, her cloak tossed over her and Neev. She saw a great creature flying overhead, shrieking. A roc! Vanderbeak!
She lay frozen, not daring to move. The roc did not notice the Bullies, for they lay hidden between the trees, and Romy watched him flap by. Even down here, his stench of rot hit Romy's nostrils. He looked like a giant vulture, black and wreathed in flame, shooting fire from his beak. He held an elephant in his talons.
The shrieks had woken the other Bullies, who also stared from their beds, eyes wide.
Vanderbeak disappeared into the distance, his shrieks fading, and for a moment, the Bullies lay in silence.
"Uhh... yeah," Romy finally said. "Nice knowing you guys."
She stood up and started to walk away.
Neev leaped to his feet and grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"Uhm... I just remembered," Romy said, heart hammering. "I forgot something in Queenpool. I'm going to go back and get it."
The Bullies all frowned at her, and Neev would not release her. "What did you forget, Romy?" he said, eyes narrowed.
Romy twiddled her thumbs. "My, uhm... my lucky seashell. Yeah, that's the ticket. I can't go anywhere without me lucky seashell."
Neev raised an eyebrow. "Romy, you spent two hundred years in Hell, and then a couple months on earth far from any sea. You don't have a lucky seashell." He patted her hand. "Come on, Romy. Let's keep going. We'll be all right."
Romy covered her eyes, her knees knocking. "You saw that thing. We can't kill a beast that big and deadly."
Cobweb approached them, bottom lip trembling. "Womy might be wight," she said meekly. "Dis cweatuwe m-might be beyond our p-p-powew. We saw aww dose hewoes fweeing fwom it. I d-d-don't want us to d-die."
Romy nodded vehemently. That bird is death! Cobweb's words seemed to have more affect than her own, Romy noticed. Neev and Scruff were both scrunching their lips, scanning the sky for Vanderbeak's return. They know I'm right, Romy thought. Vanderbeak's wake of smoke and fire still flowed across the sky, and Romy began to suck her thumb, trembling.
"Maybe you girls are right," Scruff said, looking pale, and even Neev tapped his cheek as if reconsidering.
Then Jamie stomped up.
The slight girl drew her sword with a hiss, thrust out her chest, and raised her chin. "Come on, guys!" she said, cheeks flushing. "I can't believe this. We can take him!" She swiped her sword; the steel whistled and gleamed. "Now I know why I spent years training with this blade. It was for this day. To kill this roc and earn a wheelbarrow-full of money!"
Romy tapped her foot and sucked her thumb. The others seemed just as unconvinced, chewing their lips.
"But J-Jamie," Cobweb said, twisting her fingers, "did you see how b-b-big dat woc is?"
Jamie raised her blade, and it glinted in the sunlight. "I saw the roc, but I also saw your arrows fly in battle, Cobweb." Jamie's eyes were moist. "And I saw your mace, Scruff, and your spells, Neev, and your pitchfork, Romy." A tear flowed down her cheek. "But most of all, I saw your hearts, I saw your courage. You are my family, you are my friends. I love all of you. I know that together we can do anything, we can defeat any enemy together." Her tears streamed down her cheeks and her voice trembled. "We can do this. We will do it together."
Romy was crying, lip trembling, tears in her eyes. Cobweb sobbed, and Scruff blew his nose into a handkerchief. Even Neev's eyes were moist.
"We're going to do it," Romy said, sniffing and inspired. "And I don't care if that roc was big enough to carry an elephant."
Jamie dropped her sword, eyes widening. She gaped at Romy. "That was an elephant?" Jamie grabbed her head. "Oh crap. I thought that was a rabbit or something."
For a moment the Bullies just stared in silence, and Romy wasn't sure if Jamie was joking. But Jamie stared back, bewildered. God, she's serious.
Neev grabbed his sister's shoulders and shook her, shouting. "How the hell do you confuse an elephant with a rabbit!"
Jamie shook herself free, face red. "I don't know, I just did! I'd never seen an elephant before! To hell with this, I'm not fighting that roc now."
Everybody groaned.
Romy took a deep breath. She put her hand on Jamie's shoulder and gazed into the shorter girl's eyes. "No, Jamie, you were right. We can do this together. Pick up your sword." She pursed her lips and nodded. "We have a roc to kill."
* * * * *
Vanderbeak's wake of fire still hung in the sky, a smoking serpent. Scruff gazed at it, palm shielding his eyes, and shivered. The creature that left that wake had destroyed miles of farmland, terrorized peasants, even battered a group of armored knights. Did the Bullies really stand a chance?
Scruff looked at Cobweb. She walked beside him, an arrow nocked in her bow, her eyes clouded with worry. Scruff remembered how Dry Bones had hurt her, how her elders had banished her. He tightened his lips. She deserved better. I'm going to
kill Vanderbeak so that I can buy her a house, a better life. He remembered kissing her, the best moment in his life, and wished he could kiss her again, a million times, wished he could sleep every night with her in his arms.
They walked through the countryside, staying off the main roads, following Vanderbeak's smoking wake. At noon, they saw a burned town ahead.
Greenford.
From a distance, Greenford looked more black than green, its buildings burned and smoking. When the Bullies entered the town, they saw the extent of Vanderbeak's destruction. The cottages' thatch roofs were burned. Sheep bones lay strewn about, and the silos were smashed. Great marks of talons covered the ground and several buildings. The church's stone tower lay toppled, and giant feathers covered the village square. Atop a grassy hill rose a manor, one of its towers toppled, its gardens torn up.
As the Bullies entered the town square, they saw a group of townsfolk crowded together, muttering. Scruff heard snippets of the conversation: "...the roc will be back..." and "...must flee town..." and "...all the heroes let us down."
It's even worse than I imagined, Scruff thought. Vanderbeak destroyed an entire town. How will we kill him? He sighed. They had to try. If not for the money, then to save these people.
Scruff led the Bullies toward the townsfolk. One girl, a short youth with blond hair, noticed them and pointed. The other townsfolk turned their heads, raised their eyebrows, and soon they were all were walking toward the Bullies. A few had arms in slings. Most had singed clothes, eyebrows, and hair. A dog walked among them, a cone around his neck.
"Hi there," Scruff said and waved.
The townsfolk stared back, silent. In their eyes, even the eyes of the dog, despair covered faint hope, like a slab of ham covering a hint of butter on bread. These people had seen other heroes try to kill Vanderbeak, Scruff guessed, and they doubted anyone could hurt the beast; yet still they dared to hope. They probably had nothing left but hope.
The wounded dog limped up to them, and as Cobweb patted him, Scruff addressed the townsfolk. "We've come to kill the roc. We don't know if we can... but we're going to try."
Eye of the Wizard: A Fantasy Adventure Page 23