by E. J. Krause
After about a dozen steps, Ben felt an approaching shark and yelled, "Scatter!" They split apart, and the shark exploded out of the sand between them. Instead of attacking, they moved back into a tightly-packed group and continued on towards the last rocks. This time they made it about a half-dozen steps before one of the vulture-hawks dive-bombed them.
"Keep going," he yelled. "I got this one." As it came closer, he leaped up at it, leading with his shield. He timed it perfectly, and it didn't have time to maneuver out of the way. The impact knocked him back, thumping the breath out of him, but he managed to keep his balance and stay in pace with the group. Though the huge bird had led with its deadly talons, as Cassie predicted, his shield held up fine. The vulture-hawk fell stunned to the sand, but managed to get up and fly before a shark could drag it under.
"You okay?" Andi asked.
"Never better," he answered, glad they were communicating with their minds, as between the impact and the running, he wasn't sure how clearly he'd be able to talk. He'd have to test it sooner rather than later, though, as another shark readied an attack. Luckily, a few feet later, his voice didn't fail him.
"You'd think they'd time their attacks better," Andi said. "I don't know if we could dodge both at once."
"Would you want to be anywhere near one of those sharks' mouths when it blasted out of the sand? I doubt it'd make much of a distinction between prey and friend at the moment of truth."
"Good point."
The next few dive-bombs came at a more controlled pace, as the birds didn't want a piece of his shield, which made for easier dodges. They also continued eluding the sharks with no problem. Though it all seemed too easy, Ben remembered it was only because of his powers. Would Andi, Cassie, and Lee have made it even to the middle rock without him?
Another bird came down with full force. Because he'd been used to the cautious attacks, Ben didn't have a chance to put his shield in the way. As they jumped apart, the vulture-hawk targeted Cassie, and its razor-sharp talons tore down her leg. Lee grabbed her and they kept moving, though at a slower pace. Ben's healing power kicked in, but it would take more than a few seconds to fix. Cassie's injury was deeper, more severe than Lee's earlier cut; she'd be okay soon, but only if she was able to dodge another attack or two. Andi helped by taking her mother by the other side. Ben concentrated again on the sharks, confident the dragons would keep her safe.
He didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Shark!" Ben yelled, and Lee pulled Cassie with him, while Andi jumped in the opposite direction. As they continued, now almost to the last set of rocks, one of the vulture-hawks angled down towards them.
"Let go," Cassie said to Lee and Andi. Grasping her short swords a bit tighter, she hobbled along with them. "Keep moving. This thing's mine." With the steel in her voice, Ben knew there'd be a dead bird on the sand in a few seconds. He hoped it didn't get a good lick in on her in the process.
As the bird dove, Cassie fell out of rank. It either saw or smelled the blood — Ben didn't know how that worked with birds, and doubly with huge demon birds — and rocketed straight for her. She stood her ground, and at the last instant, dove to the side while keeping her blades in place. Just like that, it was over. The bird fell in two large lumps, and Cassie trotted back to the group with no further injury. A couple of sand sharks surfaced and grabbed the bloody bird parts, while leaving their group alone for the time being.
They reached the rocks with no further attacks, and as soon as all four stood on top, the birds flew away. He sensed the sharks swim off to wherever they came from. When he relayed the information, everyone else was stumped.
"Could this be a safe haven?" Cassie asked.
"Or something worse is on its way," Lee said. He and Andi were back in their human forms, so everyone could communicate.
"Check the map, Dad. Maybe it has the answer."
He grunted and pulled it out of his pocket. At first, nothing had changed, but after a few seconds, the starting point looked a bit blurry before disappearing entirely. No one said anything, as they puzzled this out. Was the map running out of batteries or magic or whatever? Seconds later, the same happened to the first group of rocks. Blurry and then gone.
"What does it mean?" Lee asked.
Ben hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he saw it first and pointed back the way they'd come. "Uh, guys, remember why we're in this particular setting?"
They followed his finger and gasped. A huge wall of sand crept towards them, now almost to the second outcropping of rocks. Ben hadn't noticed the air other than it was hot and dry. Now that it had calmed to absolutely nothing, though, he realized it must have been circulating somewhat. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard Cassie trying to calm Lee, just like he felt Andi's heart rate accelerating in her chest. He did his best to stay focused and hope some sort of spell would pop into his mind so he could save them all. As the storm passed the second group of rocks, the dead air jumped to life, and gale-force winds smacked into them, driving them to their knees.
"Duck or run?" Andi asked. Though she screamed it at the top of her lungs, he barely heard her.
"Stay next to the rocks," Cassie yelled. "They should provide cover."
Ben had always seen Lee as the strongest person, or dragon, he'd ever known, so he couldn't believe this was the same man. He stood stock-still as he stared at the oncoming wall of sand. His face was so pale Ben wondered if there was any blood circulating through him at all.
Cassie gripped Lee's arm and shouted over the roar of the wind. "I won't leave you alone. We'll be together."
That got through to him a bit, and though his look didn't change, he at least licked his lips and nodded.
Ben reached for Andi, and she jumped into his arms.
"Duck for a few minutes, and we'll be fine," she said. "Piece of cake." Though she put on a brave face, he, of course, sensed her nervousness underneath. He answered by giving her a quick kiss. This wouldn't be a piece of cake, he knew that, but they would get through it together.
The storm accelerated as it drew closer. They moved to the far side of the rocks. As they did, a strange little creature popped up out of the middle through the cracks. It looked to be a mixture of a small man and a large rodent. It stood about three feet tall, in the body-shape of a man and the face of a rat, and a light coating of fuzzy fur all over. Before anyone could react to the newcomer, it spoke in perfect but squeaky English.
"Come before the storm hits. We'll be safe down below."
The other three looked to Ben, but all he could sense was the impending doom of the storm. He had no clue if that was masking any ill-intentions of the man-rodent, or if it was genuine in its offer, but at this point, he didn't care. Either way, the storm was the main problem.
"Go," he shouted, and followed the man-rodent down its tunnel. The others were close on his heels.
The rocks formed a sliding door that concealed the tunnel, which was why none of them had noticed. Once they were all down, the man-rodent scurried up past them and slid the rocks shut. The violent sandstorm rushed overhead, leaving them unscathed, though still wary, as it ravaged the desert above.
"No need to worry," the man-rodent said. "Our tunnels have withstood countless storms, many more violent than this. Come, follow me. It's almost time for dinner."
"We don't wish to impose," Cassie said. "We can wait here until the storm passes, and then we'll be on our way."
The man-rodent shook its head. "This is the only danger spot, so close to the surface. At least wait it out down below."
They all shared a look and nodded. Ben felt unease, but that was likely still from the storm. The man-rodent scurried down the tunnel, which was wide enough to fit them all comfortably. Gravity didn't work the same down here, seeming to come from every surface area of the tunnel walls. There was no need to use any handholds as they crawled down; no matter which part of the tunnel wall they touched, it felt like the ground. They could move down on different compas
s points and not fall. Andi and Ben tested this with him crawling down directly opposite her with their backs facing each other. That was neat! Cassie and Lee also found the gravity situation interesting, as they climbed down in zig-zag patterns.
Once they reached the bottom, they found it dropped down into a large cavern. Gravity again rearranged itself, and they down to the ground the way they were used to, with only one up and one down. Lee paused and looked back up the tunnel, but the man-rodent hurried him and the rest of them along.
"Come, come. My family is eager to meet you. We rarely get visitors." Though its face was pure rodent, it smiled in a way that put Ben and the rest of them at ease. They couldn't help but follow.
It was a short trek, no more than a hundred feet, to a bend in the cavern. They turned and were met by dozens more of the man-rodents, both males and females, young and old. Unlike the one who had saved them, none of these wore expressions of comfort. In fact, they were salivating. Ben turned back to their savior, and it, too, now wore a troublesome look.
"Dinner," it squeaked, and the entire clan charged.
Chapter 19
Andi took a step back and was in her half-dragon form in the blink of an eye. Five of the little rat-beasts jumped at her, and she smacked them away in one mighty swipe. She figured that would be the end of those, but they bounced off the rock wall, and regained their feet to rejoin the attack. Before she could worry about those coming back, more of the creatures pounced at her.
"There's too many," Ben said. "And they're too quick."
He was right. Though they'd fought masses of zombies, even before Ben had his full complement of Dragon Guard powers, those moved so slow that they were easy enough to kill. These rat-beasts could maneuver out of harm's way and launch a counter-attack in an instant. Sure, she, Ben, and her parents could handle the beasts in the short run, but what about when the battle went longer? She peeked to the other end of the cavern and saw countless more of the vermin spilling in. This wasn't good.
"You two okay?" Mom yelled from the middle of the room. Andi roared an affirmative for Dad to hear, while Ben shouted "Yes!" for Mom's benefit.
Mom and Dad moved in and out of groups of the beasts as one, tearing and slicing them to bits. That drove their earlier point home: She and Ben needed to practice fighting together instead of relying on their individual talents. She moved back towards him, slashing her way through the rat-beasts.
"If you can shield me for a few seconds, we can end this right now," he said, when she made it to his side.
"Yeah," she said. "Let's get you in the corner, and it should be no problem." He nodded, and they walked back-to-back, him forward and her backwards, towards the nearest corner of the cavern. He used his sword and shield to clear a path, while her claws and teeth kept the increasing attacks at bay.
Once at the corner, she made herself as big as possible to keep any from getting through to Ben. She felt like an ice hockey goalie, using the scales on her legs to deflect incoming beasts, while her teeth and claws continued decimating the attackers that came in high. She allowed herself a quick smile when she realized this teamwork had to rival what Mom and Dad were doing, but in a different way.
"When I say so, concentrate on wanting these things to all fall asleep." He pushed against her back.
"Asleep?" she asked, making sure she heard right.
"Yes. I'll say when."
"Okay." She felt the power bubble out of him and not just surround her, but engulf her, saturate her. It warmed her, both physically and emotionally. It proved Ben, her Benjamin, not only had extraordinary powers, but he couldn't wield them without her. Now that she thought about the powers like this, she was happy about them. She swept away another dozen attacks, more determined than ever to not fail him.
"Now, Andi, now! Asleep!"
While she continued battering away rat-beasts, she ran, "Sleep, beasts, sleep," over and over in her mind. The energy that had seeped inside of her blossomed out slowly at first, and then exploded throughout the entire room. The little beasts all fell, but they still breathed.
"What happened?" Mom asked.
"Ben put them to sleep," she said, back in her human form.
"I didn't want to kill all of them," he said. "They aren't evil. They might be intelligent, but in their hearts, they're animals. We were simply unlucky enough to be seen as prey."
Andi gasped and jumped into his arms. When she thought there was no possible way she could love him more, he did something miraculous.
"How can anyone believe you could turn evil?" she whispered in his ear.
He clasped his hands on her cheeks and whispered back to her. "I couldn't do it without you. I love you."
He gave her a hard but too quick kiss. She wanted his lips to linger, but with Mom and Dad ten feet away, his way was better. Stupid, but better.
They turned towards Mom and Dad, and found them examining the sleeping rat-beasts.
"How long do we have until they wake up?" Dad asked, as if the public display of affection hadn't happened.
"At least an hour, and maybe closer to two or three. If it had just been this room, I'd have knocked them out for five or six hours, but I made sure to nab the ones still burrowing up from the deeper tunnels. I got the whole extended family."
Mom and Dad stepped over to them, making sure not to stomp on any of the slumbering beasts. Dad slapped Ben on the back. "You amaze me at times, Benjamin."
Mom leaned over, a huge smile on her face, and whispered to Ben. "That may be the biggest compliment he's ever given you."
Dad shook his head and continued back to the tunnel that would take them to the surface. Andi figured the big sandstorm had to be over by now, right?
Ben answered her as if she'd asked aloud. "Yeah, it's done. It might still be a bit blustery up there, but we can walk through it."
*****
In the mile or so walk from the entrance of the rat-beasts' home to their destination, they didn't have to dodge anything, which made for a pleasant, but warm, walk. She and Ben spent most of it holding hands, which was nice. There was nothing like a life or death situation to show how great the victory could be. She wanted to ask everyone how things would have panned out without Ben's powers, but she was afraid of the answer. She, after all, knew what she thought, and it wasn't a happy ending.
The map led them to a sparkling oasis. Palm trees and lush green grass lined a crystal clear pond. It wasn't much bigger than a swimming pool, but nothing had ever looked so inviting. She hadn't noticed her thirst until this moment, but now the dry desert air reminded her how parched she was.
"Do you suppose we can drink it?"
"I doubt it," Dad said, "but I think I might like to try."
Ben knelt, cupped his hands, and dipped them in. He moved the collected water slowly to his lips, probably scanning for any signs of danger as he came closer to ingesting it. As his cupped hands reached his lips, he shrugged and took a sip.
"It's fine. Good, actually."
That's all the rest of them needed. They each knelt on the shoreline of fine sand and brought handfuls of the cool nectar to their mouths. In her seven and a half centuries of life, Andi had drunk from countless ponds, lakes, and streams, but none matched this oasis for refreshment or taste. She almost dunked her face right in and slurped it up, but she'd been scolded enough by both parents for doing that when she was little. They wouldn't care at this moment, but she still stopped herself. Funny how childhood lessons could stick.
After they'd gorged themselves for a couple of minutes, Mom pointed down to the center of the pond. "See it?"
Andi squinted down through the water, and after a second, she did see something shimmering down there. "What is it?"
Dad pulled out the map. "It's our doorway. Everyone ready?"
They each nodded, and without further ado, jumped in and swam to the door. Unlike the one from the dark forest to the desert, which felt like an ordinary gate, this one blacked everything out for a split
second, and Andi found herself, along with Ben, Mom, and Dad, back in the dark forest where they'd first arrived.
"This must be a central hub, so to speak," Dad said.
"Remember," Ben said, "no matter what pops up, don't leave the path."
They agreed and walked on. Like last time, things appeared, from sparkly treasure, to cute little animals, and even a few medieval peasants begging for them to come help fight off marauders in their village. Once Andi turned away from the shiny, a diamond-encrusted gold broach in this case, ignoring the rest proved easy. As they'd guessed after their last trip through, the path was much shorter if they didn't leave it. Dad even remembered to pull out the map as soon as they caught sight of the colossal wall, meaning the gate stood open in front of them when they reached it.
"What do you think it'll be this time?" Mom asked, but no one responded. Instead, everyone took a deep breath and stepped through.
Andi did a double take once on the other side. They entered another forest, though this one had a much different vibe from the one they just left. Though the whole area was filled with trees, more light shone down, and a much softer feeling encompassed everything. The sweet aroma of flowers and fruit saturated the air, putting a smile on Andi's face. Because of that, Ben also relaxed, though Andi guessed he had no idea why. He gave her a questioning look when she giggled.
"Nothing," she said, knowing he'd see right through her little white lie, but she didn't care. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is," Mom said. "Hear those birds? It's lovely."
She was right. The chirps and whistles, obviously coming from many different types of birds, melded together to form a complex and melodious song.
"Whose nightmare could this possibly be?" she mused aloud. This seemed like a dream, a good one.
"Don't look at me," Dad said. "They already did mine."
A loud roar sounded somewhere out of sight, but close. That shut them all up. Their heads were on a swivel as they tried to find the source.