by K. Dzr
Chapter Eleven
J E V E R R E
Rhykell was utterly silent, save for Tahir’s countdown.
“…98, 99, 100!”
He began by looking under shrubbery and behind large plants and flowers. He checked a few tree houses and hollow logs then went to the lake and searched the shores. He peeked behind rocks and sifted through the tall grass. Not one sprite anywhere.
The game was becoming more annoying than fun. They were probably watching and laughing at him at this very moment. He didn’t want them to notice that he was not enjoying the game, so he went through the motions of pretending to look for them. They were so small and quick; even if he came close to one of their hiding places, they would be able to elude him. By this time he knew he would never be able to catch even one of them. Well, maybe Meelix, he thought. Suddenly a loud shuffling noise spread from the eastern woods. Maybe the sprites were giving him a little clue.
He was walking nonchalantly toward the noise when he heard faint shouts from the woods nearest the lake. He switched directions. Just then there were more shouts. Stronger and closer. When several sprites came running from the woods, he smiled and waved; but they did not respond. A larger group of sprites flooded out of the woods at the upper end of the clearing. He set off running toward their tree houses, glancing over his shoulder to see if they were giving chase.
“Come catch me if you can!” he shouted.
The sprites ran as fast as they could. They were all shouting at once, but Tahir couldn’t understand what they were saying. It didn’t matter; he was just happy to be playing with them instead of being alone. Tahir ran past the tree houses before slowing down to allow the sprites to catch up. He did a little dance, waving his arms and teasing them. Then he tripped over his own feet and stumbled to the ground. He jumped up and took off running again.
Rather than following, the sprites frantically scurried up the trees. Some shouted at him, while others shouted at each other. Tahir could not make out what they were shouting about, but by the looks on their faces, he knew they were not playing a game.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The foliage behind the fleeing sprites shook far too violently to be caused by their petite bodies. In an eruption of fangs and saliva, two hyenas exploded from the brush. The frenzied predators scrambled in pursuit, snapping their frothing jaws around the tiny sprites.
Though small, the sprites were hardly helpless. Their nimble bodies and agile feet kept them far from the hyenas’ fangs. They jumped, flipped, and zigzagged around the hyenas, forcing them to stumble and crash into each other. Tahir marveled at their abilities; even in the face of danger, the sprites made everything look fun and graceful. One by one they disappeared into the trees. Five sprites remained on the ground, working as a perfectly orchestrated unit; they threw sticks, yelled, and leapt dangerously close to the hyenas’ faces.
Suddenly the hyenas’ attention was diverted; they barreled toward one of the trees, all but ignoring the sprites on the ground. Tahir’s eyes darted to see what captured their attention: Meelix. His stocky gnome body wasn’t made for tree climbing. He hugged the truck of an acacia, struggling to scoot up to the safety of its branches. The gnome’s face was red with strain and he was out of breath. His strong hands clawed at the bark, but it crumbled under his weight. He wasn’t going to make it.
“Hurry up!”
“Come on Meelix!”
“You can make it!”
“Climb! Faster, Meelix! Faster!”
Tahir grabbed the biggest stick he saw and ran screaming toward the hyenas. His outburst startled them from their attack, but only for a moment. They stared the boy down, growling and flashing their razor teeth. The sprites threw stones at the stunned hyenas’ faces; although accurate, they lacked the strength to do any damage. They did however, provide enough distraction for Tahir to snatch Meelix up and shove him into his tunic before the hyenas could give chase.
“Hold on tight in there, Meelix.”
Tahir ran for his life with the hyenas snarling at his heels. It would be futile to try to fight them both with a stick, so he darted from tree to tree looking for a branch he could reach. He didn’t have another plan; he knew he couldn’t outrun them, or…
Just then, the sprites threw down a rope.
“Hurry, Tahir, climb up!”
Tahir tossed the stick and jumped onto the tree, kicking off the trunk to grab the rope. The jump gave him a good head start, putting him a few feet above the hyenas by the time they reached the tree. They circled, yelping and rising on their hind legs to nip at him. But Tahir had already climbed halfway up the rope and was out of their reach. Frustrated, the hyenas began their retreat.
Tahir held tightly to the rope and watched them sulk away. He rested his head against his arm and sighed with relief. Just then, the rope creaked; he lifted his eyes and his heart stopped. Slowly, twine by twine, the rope was breaking.
Meelix poked his head up to see what was happening.
“Don’t move, Tahir.”
He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, and he couldn’t take his eyes from the unraveling rope.
The sprites above him rushed to get more rope. They tied lengths together, doubling them up for added strength. A few seconds more and the hyenas would be out of sight. A few seconds more and they would have the new rope secured and lowered. A few seconds more, they would all would be safe. A few seconds more was something they simply did not have.
The rope unwound quickly now; the few remaining strands snapped under Tahir’s weight. Time froze as Tahir plummeted to the ground. Meelix squeezed his eyes shut and clutched Tahir’s tunic, bracing himself for impact. Tahir gathered his wits in time to right himself before tumbling to his knees. The hyenas turned to see the boy sprawled in a cloud of dust.
“Run, Tahir!” Bennie shouted from above.
No sooner than the words left his tiny lips, the hyenas raced toward their fallen prey. Tahir jumped to his feet and bolted toward the lake. He had no plan, but running was a start.
“Are you alright in there?” he yelled to Meelix.
He heard a faint response and kept running without ever looking back. He didn’t know where to go: there was nothing but open grass and the lake. He chanced a glance behind him. What little distance there was between him and the hyenas was quickly diminishing. He’d left the stick behind, and with it any chance whatsoever to stand up to two hyenas. His only choice was the lake. He had no idea how he’d survive the deep water much less the rippling waves of the lake, but there was no doubt that the hyenas would certainly kill him. He just prayed they would not follow him into the water.
Tahir splashed into the water. He struggled against the waves with the hyenas cackling behind him. They charged in after him. He glanced back at their salivating fangs and trudged on as fast as he could, deeper into the water. The water rose to his chest; he suddenly remembered Meelix and pulled the small man sputtering and coughing out of his tunic and held him above the water. Tahir looked back at the hyenas again. They were closing in. He had no choice but to press further into the river, stumbling over rocks on the riverbed. He scrambled up the jagged rocks. Though they didn’t break the surface, they were big enough for him to stand on without fear of drowning. Tahir desperately searched for a means to escape…anything. He fished in the water for a loose rock. Some of the rocks were sharp, maybe he could use one as a weapon if only he could break one free.
“What are you standing on?”
“I dunno, Meelix! What difference does it make?” Tahir was in near panic. He frantically kicked at one of the dagger-like rocks trying to break it loose. The hyenas paddled closer. “What do I do, Meelix? I can’t knock one of these rocks loose!” he screamed over the yodels and snarls of the approaching pack.
“I don’t think those are rocks, Tahir!”
The waves rose and the rocks beneath him lurched, knocking Tahir to his knees. He cried out as he felt one of the sharp rocks slice
into the flesh of his leg. The whole world seemed to shake. Tahir was thrown into the water and was tossed into the waves so that he couldn’t tell which way was up. He struggled to swim, to see through the bubbling water and seaweeds. He crashed to the bottom, his face dragging on the sandy floor. His lungs burned for oxygen. He twisted his body around and pushed his feet off the ground to propel himself toward the surface. Holding Meelix above his head, he flailed his legs in an attempt to keep his head above the water. Each was just able to gasp one life-saving breath of air before another wave knocked them back under. They tumbled beneath the waves, head over heels. Tahir never saw what hit him, but as he felt the blow against his skull, his world went dark.
Tahir’s hand went limp; the waves snatched Meelix away from his friend and the gnome struggled to swim in the troubled waters. He reached out and grabbed hold of a stand of seaweed. Though he was rocked and sloshed about, anchored by the thick plants he was able to occasionally push his head to the surface and keep from being swept into deeper waters.
The waters finally began to calm. Still clinging to the plants, rocking with the settling waves, Meelix coughed and wiped his face. His hazel eyes scanned the water. The hyenas were gone, and so was Tahir.
“Tahir?” he called. “Tahir! Where are you?”
Before they were chased into the water, it had been a gloriously sunny day. But now, he realized, he was cast in shadow. A shadow that moved. A shadow that moved as though it belonged to something. Something big. The sprites on the shore were screaming and yelling, waving their tiny little arms, and shouting at Meelix. He couldn’t hear or understand what they were saying, but by their panicked expressions and the urgency in their voices, he knew he was not yet out of danger. He turned his trembling head in the direction that his shore-bound friends were pointing. Meelix stammered, lost his hold of his life line and scrambled to swim backwards, unable to take his eyes from the shadow’s owner.
His eyes beheld a giant among giants looming above him. Its body was concealed beneath the waves, but its scaled and dagger-encrusted neck stretched far above him. Moving closer, its giant head swooped down to examine and sniff him. Its breath was hot and reeked of fish. Meelix screamed and punched the creature’s nose as hard as he could. The creature startled; Meelix dove under the water and swam as fast as he could toward the shore.
Reeny and Sudlin splashed into the water to help pull the stumbling Meelix onto the riverbank.
“Where’s Tahir?”
“I don’t know!”
“That monster must have eaten him!”
They half dragged Meelix far from the water’s edge then turned their attention to the lumbering giant. “What did you do to Tahir?” Reeny demanded.
“Did you eat our friend?
The creature appeared shocked.
“We may be small but our magic is not!” Lodell yelled at the beast as he and Rassine joined Reeny and Sudlin to face the monster.
“I know all about the magic of the sprites. And I didn’t eat your friend!” the creature replied in a deep, resounding, gurgled voice. The creature paused to think for a moment. “Well, I don’t think so…is your friend a fish?”
The sprites were taken aback by the surprisingly thunderous voice. But they stood firm nonetheless. “No, he is not a fish! Why would we be friends with a fish?” Rassine asked with her fists on her hips. “Tahir is a human boy!”
“Why would I eat a human?” the creature’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Humans are hairy and have clothes and weird things on them. I wouldn’t want…”
“Then he must still be in the water!” Sudlin yelled and dove into the river.
“Help us find him!” Reeny ordered the creature as he and the others plunged into the water in search of their friend. “He can’t swim!”
The creature obediently stuck its head into the river to search for a human boy. It snaked its long neck around searching the river bottom. It nervously looked under its feet, hoping it hadn’t unknowingly crushed the boy. He was no where to be found.
“I’m sorry, guys. I don’t see him,” the creature announced with true sorrow in his voice.
“He must be somewhere, keep looking,” Meelix pleaded.
The sprites desperately continued their search. They plunged into the water over and over, searching the seaweed, digging in the sand, under logs, wherever they could think of. The creature searched just as diligently, but Tahir was gone.
“Good fairies! Where could he be?” Rassine and Triah began to sob.