by Bxerk
A group of five Neanderthal women came out of the forest and approached next. Their clothing consisted of large flower petals and leaves.
“Are my friends going to try to harm us too?” Leandra had created a fractal fireball and was ready to start throwing.
“Never wanted your head, Leandra,” one of them –clearly the leader—said. “Don’t trust the men though. There is a bounty.” They grinned, approached Leandra and fearlessly hugged her. Leandra quickly extinguished the fireball and hugged back. The women looked behind their friend and noticed Nova and her friends.
“Squatter children need to watch out too. Is this the hybrid vigor?” The leader pointed at Nova.
“Squatter? What’s that?” Benny said.
The women smiled and blushed.
“Slip of the tongue, Benny. I don’t think they meant anything by that. It’s just slang for the Lower Echelon people. And as far as the hybrid vigor is concerned, Nova, here, is the one and only.” Leandra put her hand on Nova’s shoulder as she peeked under Shade, who was breathing hard and sweating. “Do you women have a healing worm?”
A woman with curly bright red hair and freckles came forward with a large gray roundworm she had pulled from a Nike pouch.
Leandra put it to the horse’s ribs, and it disappeared inside the wound. Nova wrinkled her nose. “Will it hurt her, Leandra? What will happen to the arrow?”
“No, it won’t hurt her, and it should push the arrow out. It’ll also stop the bleeding and ease the pain some. We can fly now, and we have to hurry to get to Captain Palherd before the foolish war starts.” Leandra and Takeesha got back in the cart, but something caught Nova and Max Kim’s eye.
Nova noticed plants that were piggybacked on the trees. Hummingbirds flittered from tree to tree drinking nectar from different colorful orchids-each more beautiful than the next. Nova breathed in the wonderful fragrances they produced.
“Don’t those orchids smell fine?” Takeesha said, taking a deep breath through her nose as she sat in the cart. The humid wind ruffled Nova’s clothing. A fast moving river churned in the near distance, sending up a cloud of mist. Max Kim pointed to a large lizard that had been basking but now took a plunge into the water.
This was a beautiful world.
“Keep your eyes on the mist,” Leandra said quietly. As
Nova watched, sunlight hit the mist rising from the
river and created a beautiful rainbow. But it didn’t…
she realized that it was a rainbow portal, like the
one she’d seen on the road so long ago or the one
they came through.
A vampire sauntered out of the violet color in a
purple fog. She showed her fangs, then turned around and disappeared back inside her dimension.
A unicorn galloped out of the green color on a plane of luxurious verdant grass. He reared up, kicked, then he turned back around and trotted back inside. Shade perked up her head, gave a slight neigh, and stamped her foot.
“You see,” Leandra said, Whenever you create a rainbow with enough magic around, it opens portals into other dimensions. Most of the things that come through are shocked enough that they turn around and go back, but occasionally you get a little leakage. Like magic leaking into your dimension. Rainbow portals have various monsters showing themselves because the Idealites use them so much.”
A mermaid swam out of the blue color in some splashing waters then dove into the waves and vanished from sight back into the rainbow.
“Well, rattle your dags, ankle biters.” Leandra waved her arm to the Shade Riders while she sat in the cart, then waved to her Neanderthal friends. “See you mates.”
Nova jumped onto Shade’s back, and Max Kim jumped up behind her. “Are you guys ready?” Nova asked. Everyone said, “Yeah,” though Takeesha’s voice sounded tiny. Nova turned Shade and coaxed her into a run to get lift off, but the clearing was not as big as Nova thought. Shade climbed up the wall of trees. Nova whipped off her belt.
“What are you doing?” Max Kim said.
“Saving us.” Nova threw the belt under Shade’s neck and grabbed both ends. She pulled up and back with everything she had. Shade grunted, flying upwards with all her might.
“Help me, Max Kim,” Nova yelled. Max Kim reached around Nova,
grabbed the two ends and pulled up too.
Shade fought for altitude. Her feet began to rattle the top most branches as she gained height. Then the cart axle hit a branch and hooked on. “I was afraid of that.” Nova kicked Shade hard to keep the momentum going.
“Oh oh,” Benny said.
Nova looked back. Takeesha had turned white as a ghost. She started to waver back and forth toward Benny, and then Leandra. Nova thought she was going to faint. Leandra threw an arm around her and pulled her close. Shade shifted suddenly and broke the branch. Chunks of wood flew everywhere. Nova sighed in relief as she could see over the tree tops. They were on their way again.
Chapter 26 Campaign
Leandra told her to keep going in the original direction to get to Captain Palherd. During the rest of the trip to the army camp, they encountered a few stray arrows that flew skyward but nothing to worry about.
Nova wanted to yell “you missed, idiot!” but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to jinx it.
Leandra spied the army camp and told Nova to land. Nova pressed on Shade’s neck and the flying horse hit the ground with a loud grunt.
“Leandra,” Nova said, “Shade still seems in pain,”
“She’ll get better as the worm does its work. I’m sure your mother has told you animals don’t feel as much pain as people. They have a higher threshold. We need to find the captain, and quick.”
Nova tried to lead Shade, but the horse wanted to nibble the grass next to the path. Shade became stubborn and snorted as she tried to pull the lead rope from Nova and go wherever she wanted to go.
“Hurry Nova. Benny, are you coming? Max Kim why don’t you help Nova,” Leandra started out with Takeesha, who seemed to have her color back now that they were on the ground, striding behind.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” Benny unclamped his chair from the cart and followed behind. Max Kim grabbed Shade so fast her head flew up. She had a big clump of grass that had the dirt and roots attached. She nodded her head up and down trying to get the roots and dirt off her grass. Nova and Max Kim both laughed. The cart, only having one wheel now was going to have to be left behind. They took her harness and cart off and pulled her along with them.
Nova saw many tents that used fat-covered cloth and animal pelts to keep the rain out. Inside, the army slept on a pallet of blankets on the ground. Neanderthal people in what looked like green canvas tunics cooked meat or vegetables over fires, or relaxed and joked around. Some practiced their aim with either freezing or laser spells. Fractals were flying everywhere in the clamor. Nova and Max Kim finally caught up to the rest of the group. They found Leandra talking with a woman with red hair also dressed in green canvas tunic but with a leopard skin that ran the length of her right shoulder down to her left hip.
“I wonder if she is Captain Palherd,” Nova said quietly to
Max Kim. He nodded. The woman looked in Nova’s direction. Nova looked behind herself but saw nothing. The woman told a man to her left something and pointed to Shade. The man came over to Nova and smiled as he took the flying horse from her grasp and jumped on.
“Hey!” Nova yelled. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”
The man kicked Shade, and she took to the air. It happened so fast even Leandra spun around with surprise. Leandra yelled at Captain Palherd, who yelled back, both in a language Nova couldn’t understand. Leandra strode over next to Nova and watched Shade disappearing. “They want to spy on the enemy. Hopefully, Shade will be back soon.”
“Tough, She’s injured. I don’t want her injured again.” Nova let out a huge, long winded whistle. Up above the trees, Shade banked around and headed right back. The man t
ried to get her to turn around, but Shade had the bit and she wanted some carrots. Nova held up the carrots for Shade to see. As Shade came in for a landing, she let out a huge neigh in response. The Neanderthal man continued to struggle, but he could not turn the horse around. Shade landed and grabbed up all the carrots at once into her mouth.
Then the man did something unexpected. He grabbed Nova and threw her over his lap and took off again.
“That will stop the whistling,” he said.
Nova watched as her friends got smaller in the background. They waved and yelled for her to come back. As Nova flew further away, the trees blocked her friends from her sight.
“Look, she’s only got a couple of more hours yet,” Nova said.
“That makes no sense, woman.”
“She’s really just a baby horse made into a mare by magic.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Nova rolled her eyes. What was the use, he wasn’t going to listen to her. She sighed and checked her watch to see how long she had before she plummeted to her death. Leandra’s eye appeared in the watch. “I’ll catch up-- be there soon. Hang tight.” Her eye winked out.
Lying on Shade’s boney shoulder didn’t help either. Her stomach and ribcage complained. A couple times she felt as though she was going to fall off. Nova could hear yelling, screams, and magic going off. They passed over a huge expanse of trees and came finally to a clearing, where a battle was going on. She sure didn’t want to be down there.
Arrows flew up toward them, and Nova felt Shade lurch. The man turned sharp to the left. Nova lost her hold on Shade’s mane and fell forward. The man grabbed her shoe-- which came off and tumbled down with her. She somersaulted and headed for the ground.
Fortunately, Shade was not flying that high. She landed
with an “oof” in a pile of dirty straw. It wasn’t that much
worse than diving down the chute into the hay pile in the barn.
Four hands reached in and pulled her out as she scrabbled to put her shoe back on. It was two Neanderthal men, who dragged her toward a cave and took her inside.
It was dark inside, and it took awhile for Nova’s eyes to adjust. She was shoved into a room, and the doorway was blocked by a guard. He stood facing her, arms folded over his chest and scowled.
Nova scratched her nose, without looking at her watch; Nova said softly, “Leandra, I’m being held inside a cavern. Come get me, please?”
The guard rushed Nova, snatched off her watch, and smashed it into the floor with his bare foot. Then he stood back in the doorway frowning.
Nova picked up the broken watch and shoved it in her pocket. Another Neanderthal man came to the room and told the guard to take her to the Legislative Chamber.
The man squeezed Nova’s arms hard enough to bruise as he dragged her up a steep incline and down a long corridor. They arrived at a place that didn’t look like a political room at all. It was the same room that she saw in the mirror when Max Kim was doing magic in the back pasture, when they had the picnic. The room was in an entirely different angle from what she saw in the mirror, but this was definitely the room. All the walls had eight-inch lights going up vertically. The lights pulsed gently like they were alive. The Chamber had a fireplace and a large basin of water plus a waterfall in a corner across from the hole in the wall.
She could see a dirty man hunched over the basin. He had been fishing and had caught a kind of invisible fish. Two big spotted cats begged for it, licking their lips. The filthy man with spider web clothing and two completely different dirty socks on quickly ripped it apart and gulped it down.
“Hey, those are our socks,” Nova yelled.
The small man approached Nova, looking her over. Nova felt uncomfortable, and she wrinkled her nose. He stank.
“So Nova is here in Ordin. Hmmm- what girl want?”
“Well, I don’t think I want those socks now that you stole them from our dryer.”
Nova was inclined to run for it, but then she saw movement over in the corner and noticed the white-haired man. He had tears running down his cheeks. He was the one she’d seen in the school library reflection and was watching her.
“Answer Ahlon, little girl. Asked a question and want an answer.”
“I don’t tell my own mother everything. You think I would tell you?”
Ahlon pulled the old man forward. “Very well, does Nova see this man here? Ralf is girl’s father. Too bad never got to know at all.” Ahlon laughed evilly.
Nova gasped, and relief flooded her entire body. She finally found her father, alive! Clash, she even looked like him.
“What are you going to do with him?” Nova was afraid to hear the answer.
“Now that have Nova, Ralf no longer needed.”
Holy Chaos! If she didn’t come, Ralf might get to live, and now that she was there, he might be killed. Was that why he was crying?
Suddenly she heard a whack against the side of the chamber, which caught her attention. Shade and Leandra were there at the window. Shade’s wing must have hit the wall. Nova changed her thoughts.
Ralf’s body crumpled to the floor.
“Noooo!” Nova ran to the blob of silk clothing on the floor. A loud “RRRRIIIIPPP” could be heard from the pile. The sound echoed off the walls.
“What happened?” Ahlon yelled franticly.
Ralf’s body sprang up. He immediately moved between Nova and Ahlon, blocking her view of the dirty little man.
“Thanks, Nova,” Ralf said over his shoulder, “for exorcizing the ghost that was inside my body. Made new bones magically in an instant, thanks to the truckload of calcium tablets.”
Ralf had his hands behind his back, and Nova held them tight. Leandra dove through the hole in the wall and into the room.
“I’m here. You two okay?”
Ralf and Nova nodded.
“Take first shot, old man,” Ahlon said. “Blood stealer, Leandra, come for death?”
“I’ve got nothing better to do,” Leandra said.
“Leandra nothing against you,” Nova said, “but I think my dad and I have this under control. Right?” The word ‘dad’ still felt odd to Nova, but in a good way.
“Nova, don’t underestimate Ahlon. Your powers aren’t up to snuff yet,” Leandra said.
“Listen to Leandra, Nova,” Ralf said.
“By the way, Dad. How do we fight infrasound?”
“Use another sound to cancel it out.”
“Ahh…” Both women said.
Ahlon threw a fractal laser spell at them, using the sign of two fingers in his eyes and pointing to the target, Ralf.
He pushed Nova away to safety. Leandra ducked to the side
in time. But her father was hit. He dropped to the ground, bleeding from his stomach. Thinking the worst, Nova ran over to hug her father one last time. But he wasn’t ready to give up. He threw his arm out casting a small asteroid at Ahlon, who hit the wall hard and smacked his head.
Leandra leaped to the hole in the wall and grabbed the worm
that was slowly crawling out of Shade. Nova noticed the arrow was gone, and the wound looked smaller. Leandra ran over to her father.
The room began to get colder.
“Going to freeze…” her father said.
“Give me a minute.” Leandra put the worm to Ralf’s injury. He growled.
Nova looked up. Ahlon was doing the sign of shivering with his arms across his chest; then he threw it at Leandra and Ralf. Nova jumped to the left and under the guard’s legs. Ralf and Leandra were instantly encased in a block of ice.
“Noooo.” Nova hoped the worm got inside. Now Nova was alone with this man. She felt scared and gritted her teeth.
“Looks like just Nova and Ahlon now.” He laughed.
An idea started to form in her mind. Nova ran to the pool, plunged her hand in, and felt around until she caught an invisible fish. The smell was definitely fishy, and it was a triangle shape. She taunted the two big cats then threw it at Ahlo
n. The two cats pounced on the man and knocked him down. He hit his head on the floor with another resounding crack. Was his head made of rock?
While Ahlon growled and wrestled the hungry cats,
Nova caught another fish and grabbed a fishing pole that was leaning up against the pool. She fed the hook through the fish’s mouth; then she hung it up in the hole in the wall on another hook that was used for a potted plant. The sunlight passed through the fish, and it acted like a prism. It created a rainbow portal in the waterfall. Good thing it was moving water, or it might have froze too.
An ugly troll with a big club stalked out of the orange light swung the club down with an enormous slam, then turned and swaggered back in. A ghost dressed in a train conductor’s clothing sauntered out of the ultraviolet color. Nova heard Ahlon and changed her thought toward him. She grunted. She had to hurry.
Suddenly there was a RRRRIIIIPPP sound, and the train ghost disappeared. A frightened woman ghost in a long puffed out dress from the sixteen hundreds immediately took its place and said, “What-so-ever do you want?”
“I want you to take over Ahlon’s body. Now,” Nova said. Ahlon was so busy fighting off the cats he didn’t know what Nova was doing. Ahlon finally ripped the fish in two and threw it into two opposite corners of the room. The cats bounded after them and Ahlon stood up. When he did, his body was instantly invaded by the woman ghost. It pushed his bones out of his hands and feet like a ghost had done to Ralf. Alhon lay on the floor and stared straight ahead, stunned. “Lordy, Do I ever need a bath,” said the woman ghost inside Ahlon.
Nova ran to the window. Shade was still hovering there, but she was getting smaller.
What was more important was that she had to get her father and Leandra out of the ice. She wanted to ask for help from the guard who had been standing in the doorway, but he was already gone. She looked around the room for a sharp chisel or something. Could she drag the block over to the fireplace? Nova started pushing the ice, but it was frozen to the ground.