The Egg Quest

by Jo Fontana

  Yoshi reached behind him, grabbed a long dagger, and pointed it at Rafe. "Not too distracted to be bested by one such as you."

  "Now that's better," Rafe grinned sickly. "It’d be unfortunate if I was able to just slit your throat while you were unarmed. Oh, and you can tell your priest friend that the medicine lady of the plains was a fighter. She almost got the best of me, silly woman."

  Yoshi jumped and somersaulted above Rafe avoiding the blades as Rafe rushed passed him.

  "Kill him already!" Reyden ordered Yoshi impatiently.

  Yoshi threw the dagger, which barely missed Rafe. He picked up his swords and began to attack Rafe again.

  "As much as I would love to fight with you all day, I have things to do,” Rafe announced as he lunged once again at Yoshi.

  Reyden stood still when he saw that Glynn had crept up directly behind Rafe. Glynn quickly lifted a pouch off Rafe’s belt, then melted back into the shadows. The rest of Rafe’s companions had been defeated and they began closing in on Rafe as well. A short time later, Glynn reappeared and motioned to Reyden. Reyden easily maneuvered around the fallen to reach Glynn. Glynn tossed the egg to Reyden who was now directly behind Rafe. He made eye contact with Yoshi, who started to increase the distance between himself and Rafe. Reyden held on tightly to the egg and whacked Rafe right in the back of the head with it.

  “Now you’re going to be an egg.”

  Rafe began thrashing around. "What have you done to me?"

  Reyden stood watching Rafe's transformation into an egg with fascination. He noted with amazement the fact that the egg was not small; it had morphed into a grayish-green leathery man-sized oval.

  "I hope he’s changed into something he deserves," Reyden snarled.

  No sooner than he uttered those words, the egg in his hand began to shiver. It seemed as if it was melting; it felt like it was a liquid, but instead of dripping through his fingers, it began to seep into the palm of his hand. Reyden watched with awe as the egg sank completely into the skin of his palm. His hand began to tingle once the egg was out of sight and a black oval shape appeared on his palm. He stared at awe at the mark on his left hand before he raised it to show his companions who now stood still, looking stunned.

  “I won’t lose my focus again.”

  Omaric broke the silence. "I think we need to break the egg and kill him before he hatches."

  Reyden pointed to Emory. “You do it.”

  Emory nodded grimly and picked up the heaviest thing that was nearby. An old anchor happened to be lying on the deck. Emory raised it over his head, and brought it down hard on the egg. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then a loud cracking sound pierced the air.

  "Uh oh," Omaric muttered.

  Illithor winced. "Why do I have the feeling that things just got worse?"

  They watched with revulsion as the egg began to split down the middle. Emory edged back from the egg with a look of horror on his face. Instead of gushing out its contents, the egg continued to crack. Reyden got the glimpse of a grayish green-material inside the egg and ordered everyone off the ship.

  As they jumped onto the dock, the egg shattered. Where the egg had been, a grotesque mockery of a human being stood. It had scaled wings, a distorted human face, horns on its head, with talons on its feet, heels, and hands. The thing's sickly yellow eyes gazed fiercely at the group. Emory swore colorfully under his breath. Reyden would have been amused if he wasn’t so in awe of the thing that Rafe had become. It flapped its wings and began to hover over the deck of the ship. The stench of rotting meat filled the air.

  "Maramus was right!" the thing rasped, its voice sharp as nails. "He knew it would serve us better to let you all live. Look at the great service you’ve just done for me!"

  Reyden swore at the thing. Yoshi threw a dagger that just bounced off its hide. Kerric and Deverick attempted to shoot it down, but the arrows glanced off just like the dagger.

  “I can’t set it on fire,” Illithor said as he aimed his crystal at it.

  "I'd love to stay and play with you all, but I’ve other pressing things to attend to," the Rafe-thing crowed as he soared into the sky and flew towards the grove.

  "It looks like you won't be running the inn for a while, kid," Reyden muttered gloomily as he watched the Rafe-thing fly away.

  "No kidding. What was that?" Omaric asked.

  “Something we’ve never seen before,” Illithor stated in disbelief.

  "Are we going after it or what?" asked Deverick.

  “Of course, we’re going after it,” Reyden snarled.

  "But we don't even know what it is," Glynn interjected. "How do we fight it?"

  “I don’t know,” Reyden replied. “And who is Maramus?”

  The others answered with shrugs and blank looks.

  “We’re going to have to visit Herb Gatherer again,” Morgan sighed. “She may know.”

  Reyden was annoyed at the mention of Herb Gatherer and swore under his breath again. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but she was useful. Maybe she could tell them who this Maramus was as well.

  "The meddling one again?"

  "Yes," Morgan answered with finality.

  “Let's rest for the night and gather supplies for the ride out in the morning," Yoshi suggested.

  “Then on we go again. Why do I have a feeling this is going to become a habit?" Illithor asked no one in particular.

  “Suits me fine,” Deverick told him.

  "Me too," agreed Yoshi and Glynn at the same time.

  Illithor just sighed. Reyden walked up next to Illithor and punched him on the shoulder.

  "You can enjoy the luxuries when you're old, elfling," he teased.

  "But no beds! Egghead—you do realize this means you're going to be stuck with everyone again at least for the duration of this hunt?"

  "It’s just as well since I have a feeling that I’ll never rid myself of any of you annoyances," Reyden replied sarcastically.

  "Nope!" exclaimed Omaric gleefully.

  Reyden made a show of sighing, but secretly he was pleased. Reyden’s friends laughed as he led them back to the Warty Frog.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORs

  Jo Fontana resides in Denver, Colorado. She is a member of the Colorado Authors’ League and is the author of the Turtle Monkey series. She has also written an anthology, Approaching Darkness, under the pen name A.J. Hallows. The Egg Quest is her first novel.

  Teresa Horton lives on Long Island, New York and when she isn’t working, she is writing or spending time with family or friends. During her downtime, she is doing something crafty, making jewelry, watching a movie, or trying to escape all the turtle paraphernalia she has accumulated over the years from her friends.