“Tent? Your guild uses tents?” Chéri shook her head, “What kind of guild…”
“Hey Gnome, Don’t you go casting aspersions upon our guild. I’ll have you know…,” began Semfeld angrily.
Liverioso stepped between the two, “Lithen. Leths just get going to town.”
Semfeld looked from his partner to the Gnomess and back. The Gnomess who was standing really close to him just moments ago. “What?”
“I agree.” Chéri turned and quickly moved to one of the Shamblers and clambered atop it.
Very strange. “What’s going on here?”
“Let’s get going, Semfeld,” called Chéri as she situated herself in the saddle, “let’s get going to your guild.” She offered her hand down to help him up. Keeping the two off balance was the new plan.
Semfeld looked at his partner, who was now dejectedly clambering onto the other Shambler. Semfeld moved to Chéri’s Shambler, “So we’re on our way, eh?” He squinted his eyes, “A friendly trio, we three?”
Chéri continued to reach down with a smile on her face- at one time she was a professional Trufflidge player; one just did not succeed at Trufflidge without being able to bluff at will. “You coming?”
After another round of suspicious glances, Semfeld took Chéri’s hand and swung up into the saddle behind her.
Before he could reach around for the reins, Chéri took them and gave them a vicious snap. The Shambler lurched forward as the stinging along its neck got its undivided attention. With a prod of her heels, they began to lope around the around the dune. Semfeld had to grab onto Chéri’s waist to keep from falling off.
Liverioso looked up from his saddle to see his partner gallop off. With his arms around the Gnomess!
He kicked at his animal’s sides to coax it into action. After a few moments, he began to catch up to the pair. “Wait for me!” He said angrily. He tried to make eye contact with Chéri, but vexingly, she was intent on looking forward. Instead, Semfeld met his eyes. There was anger in them.
Semfeld squinted his eyes to focus the anger better. “The bedroll’s slipping out, Chéri” he said with a mischievous grin, “let me get it tucked back in so it doesn’t fall out. Hate to lose what little supplies we have.”
Liverioso’s eyes got large as his partner twisted in the saddle to reach back behind himself. As he did so, he moved his other hand to Chéri’s side as he leaned back. By the time he was done leaning, he was using her breast as a handhold. And she didn’t seem to complain! Then he noticed that the bedroll was securely in place! “Hey!” He complained.
“Got it?” Chéri asked nonchalantly. She had been planning the deaths of both humans. Only a few of the minor details remained unresolved. Thanks to very current events, the sequence of their deaths had just been worked out.
Semfeld grinned at his flabbergasted partner, “Yeah, I got it.” He leaned forward and returned his hands to her waist.
“Ooohhhh!” Declared Liverioso angrily, insides aglow with fury.
Very nice, thought Chéri. Once they were around the dune and into town, she would see about getting them separated and kill them. With two Shamblers, the trip to Aution would be that much easier. Inside, Chéri was aglow with the satisfaction of having started to work between the two.
Semfeld was aglow for a completely different reason.
They rode in silent, aglow-ness around the dune.
Chéri was NOT pleased when they rounded it
Chapter Thirty-Four
Grimbledung’s Mind: a Terrible Thing; a Waste
Grimbledung’s head felt like it would explode. The cacophony of bells was maddening. “Gaa!” He shouted as he ran into the tempest, oblivious to the rain and wind. “GAAAAA!” Grimbledung seemed to look at himself from his mind’s eye. He had a vague idea that he was on the Great Shambler Plains. What he was doing there, he couldn’t remember. Were there others with him? That was also a mystery. Only the bells - Pixie Bells - in his head seemed to be of importance. Grimbledung hit his head as he ran, trying to silence them.
But it was no use.
“Get out of my head!” He shouted at the squall as he ran. His dress tunic clung to him, slowing his run. As he ran, he tore at it, finally pulling it off a piece at a time. He continued to run from the bells in his head.
Unsuccessfully.
Finally, after what seemed hours (but was only minutes, really) the bells began to chime in a pattern. Words started to form from the tones in his head. Or more precisely, a word.
Kill!
they chimed.
“Kill who?” He shouted at the black skies. Lightning cracked around him, casting long shadows in all directions. Grimbledung spun around. “Kill who?”
Someone
they clanged.
“Who?” He looked through the rain, seeing only red. “WHO?”
Anyone. Find Anyone
rang one deep, angry bell.
“But there’s no one here!” Grimbledung spun around, running one way, then another. “Who?”
You know where there are people. Your town.
said the same bell.
“Aution burned down!”
The new town then
they all chorused.
“Then you’ll stop?” Grimbledung put his hands over his ears as he ran. The bells continued to assault him. “Then you’ll stop?”
The bells did not answer.
“Make the bells stop!” He shouted. He looked around him, through the red filling his eyes, and the heavy raindrops that seemed to fall in sheets. Everything seemed bleak. “It’s too far! Julesville is too far. I can’t get there!”
Get There FAST! Or else.
the bells warned.
Grimbledung was well aware of what the bells could do to him. When he had first woken up from his injury, when he realized there were parts of a Pixie’s brain embedded in his, the bells warned him to do their bidding. Foolishly, he tried to refuse and lost an entire year, living in the wilds, Pixie Madness controlling his very existence. When they finally relented, Grimbledung staggered into one of the Dwarf encampments, hysterical, and barely in control. He tried unsuccessfully to find someone to relate to. Anyone. Not finding anyone to listen, he took it upon himself to make himself a companion. Seeing a haggard looking rat with half a tail, notched ear, and several missing whiskers rummaging in a refuse bin, Grimbledung enchanted the animal, making it his familiar. Tied to him magically, the rat was forced to come when he called, forced to listen to his ranting. After several decades, Rat (as he was called by then) had become the closest thing to a friend Grimbledung had. It was with great pleasure that Grimbledung discovered that after a hundred years (the enchantment caused Rat to become immortal- as least as long as Grimbledung was alive), Rat had developed the ability of speech. Thanks to having to listen to Grimbledung for a century, it was usually snarky speech. Even so, his long-time companion could now converse with him, Grimbledung felt better. Once, while traveling north in fact he...
Quit reminiscing. Find someone to kill
warned the bells.
“Gah!” Grimbledung drew his wand from his wrist sheath- that and his dirk sheath being his last remaining bit of clothing- and aimed it at himself. “I’ll get there fast!”
Gazell-itis!
He intoned.
A golden glow surrounded his legs. He slipped his wand into its sheath and cinched it down tight. Lowering his head against the storm, he ran towards Julesville, his legs a blur.
Maca Karthy stepped out into the porch of her shop. The storm had started abruptly an hour ago, whipping rain up and down the street, pushing the townsfolk indoors. Nice magic, she thought. Nice and dark. Only the occasional pedestrian seemed to brave the downpour- heading either towards the Duck Inn and Dine, or the Mora Tau Bar. One invisible human moved towards the house that another had only moments before left to make his way to the Mora Tau. “While you’re charming the Doxies there, someone’s charming yours here, it seems,” she said with a smirk. �
��Ahh love.” She stepped out into the rain. “Or is it lust?” She looked hard at the house. “Oh dear. That’s lust.” A warm glow formed in her chest as the emotions in the house overtook her. She let out a sigh as the rain continued to fall all around her. But not on her.
Maca stayed dry as the rain parted well above her head, arcing out around her in all directions before splattering a safe distance away. Typical of Elves, her clothes remained dry and clean. Maca Karthy had arrived in town the week before, and had, within the hour established her herb shop- ‘Herbs and More. Lots More’. Maca perked an Elfin ear towards one side of town. Strange. Are those bells? She turned and looked in that direction, her hair, as usual, making the turn just a moment later. Her long black hair seemed to waver and flow as if she were standing in a breeze. Even when she was indoors. Typical of Elves, she was tall- tall as an average human male, however unlike most Elves, she was not slim. Not overly large, just not “Elfin-sized,” as it was called; she was merely not Elfin lithe and athletic. In appearance at least. Maca took several slow, graceful steps into the center of the street, the ground drying under her feet moments before they touched. She smiled. “How are you this fine evening, Constable?” She said without turning. Even the stealthy werewolf was unable to sneak up on her. He had been furiously trying since she showed up in town. It was a matter of pride at this point- pride any maybe something else. “Quiet?”
“This rain’s keeping the rrrrabble indoors.” Akita moved close to Maca, partly because he found her interesting in more ways than one, and partly because standing close to her meant the rain avoided him as well. He glanced toward the house she had been staring at. “I don’t see how the neighbors don’t hear that rrracket.”
“They don’t have Werewolf ears.” She turned to face him, crowding him in her rainless space, hair catching up a moment later. She raised an eyebrow. “Or Elvin ones.” She looked up. “Glorious spell, don’t you think?”
“Ya mean this spell of rain, or the rain’s a spell?”
She shrugged. Even that was graceful and slow. “It’ll stop in half an hour.” She looked up again. “Just under that, actually.”
Akita tore his eyes away from her pale, exposed neck and looked upward as well. “Well, that’s soon enough nothin’ll get washed away at least. I was worrrried it’d go on all night.” He cleared his throat. “Since ya mention it, I was thinkin...”
Maca abruptly turned from the Constable and looked into the darkness. “What is that?”
Akita frowned at the woman’s back. It had -for some reason- taken him most of the day to build up the courage to ask her to join him for a drink. Now that he had actually started to get the words out, she seemed distracted.
“Do you hear that?” She looked over her shoulder at Akita. “What is that?” Her eyes were wide. “Bells?”
“Hear what?” Akita clenched and unclenched his fists. He had not been around when Herbs and More. Lots More had suddenly appeared along the main street, but word had spread quickly of a mysterious and dark, Elf witch having set up shop. Expecting the worst, Akita made his way to the shop right away and met Maca. Elf? Definitely. Witch? Who was he to judge? Not with the smile she gave him when he entered her shop. A warm, welcoming smile, as if the fact that he was a Werewolf had not even registered. What drove it home was that after only a few minutes, he knew that everything registered with Maca. The fact that something unknown was causing her angst raised the hairs on his back.
“Can you hear them?” She didn’t look back, attention focused into the darkness.
“What?” Akita turned his head, straining hard to listen. The couple next door was at it. Still. There was a party several houses down. He could even pick out the footsteps of the Dwarf (or maybe a Gnome) coming up from behind, over the downpour. Music from the Duck in and Dine intermixed with it all. He hazarded a glance over his shoulder. It was a Dwarf. Teapot of Invisibility in his hand, hood pulled down tight. Pozzuoli was going out for a drink. Nothing more. “No. What do you hear?”
A crack of thunder made Akita start. He frowned, hoping Maca hadn’t noticed. If she did, she didn’t let on.[12]
Maca took a step, then another away from Akita. Towards whatever was coming. “Stay here.”
Akita flinched as a torrent of rain dropped on him as she moved away from him. She moved away from me? Akita let a growl start in the back of his throat. He wasn’t, by any means, invulnerable, but he was quite hardy, and quick to heal. And extraordinarily fast in a close-quarters fight. There were not many things that would make him think twice about his own safety. The fact that this female felt he was safer where he was, didn’t sit right.
Akita crouched down, ready for action as he moved beside the Elf. He was unable to stop a smirk. Outta the rain. Nice. “Whatcha hear?” Akita narrowed his glowing eyes into the darkness. Thanks to the potion he took regularly, he was able to see through all manner of invisibility spells. He saw nothing. Then, at the far edge of his vision, he saw a shadow moving towards them in the rain. A blur of a shadow. It was still a ways off with how small it was. “Hey, I see it.” He opened his eyes wide, “That a person? They’re a ways off still.”
Maca turned to Akita, “We need to get indoors. That sound. The bells.” She reached her hand out to the Constable. “Let’s go get that dri...”
She was interrupted as a figure slammed into her. A small figure. A small naked figure. The two tumbled past Akita in a blur of motion.
Not a large person far away; a small person close up, moving real fast. Akita silently cursed. He turned and looked down. Grimbledung was straddling Maca, a long knife in his hands. He raised the blade up high in the air as a crack of lightning lit the streets. “KILL SOMEONE!” He screeched as he brought the blade down.
Akita leapt for the Gnome, mouth opened wide. He connected with Grimbledung just as the knife hit Maca’s chest. He clamped his jaws tight around the Gnome’s neck, letting his momentum carry them both into the mud. Away from Maca. They landed in a heap. In a flash, Akita was on his feet, claws out and ready for combat. “What’s gotten into you, you crazy Gnome? Where’s Nulu and Klank and...” He stopped when he realized the Gnome’s head was twisted at a funny angle.
“You know this Gnome?” In one motion, Maca moved to a standing position- her hands and knees never touched the ground as she did. She moved beside Akita and looked at her attacker. “Oh dear.”
“Yeah, I know him. We’ve been lookin’ for him. The Halflings captured him at the battle at Frank’s Keep. Nulu, Klank, and Rat went looking for him in the Foreboding Forest.” He bent over and peered at the corpse. “Nuts. I’m not going to hear the end of this from him.”
“You want him back?”
“He’s a friend.”
“Something is wrong with your friend.”
Akita let out a genuine laugh. “You don’t know the half of it. This crazy Gnome...”
Maca put her hand on Akita’s shoulder, “No, I mean, there’s something wrong with him. Something seems to be controlling him.” She paused for a moment. “Or was controlling him.”
“Can you fix him?” Akita looked down at the Gnome. “Nuts. Drimblerod’s gonna be upset.”
She moved her hand down his shoulder to his claw. “I can fix him. We just need to get him into my shop.”
“There’s an herb to fix that?” He pointed at the dead Gnome’s obviously broken neck.
Maca looked up at the rain. It parted even wider to create a dry area that encompassed the three of them. “The sign says ‘And More’ you know.” She gave Akita a smile. “It was nice when you stayed beside me.”
“All part of the service, Ma’am,” Akita said as he reached down and picked up Grimbledung by the shoulder. His head flopped to the side. Maca looked at Akita wide-eyed. “He’s dead, he don’t care.”
Maca led the way to her shop, creating a dry path for Akita and the dead Grimbledung as she did.
Akita was too busy watching her hips as she glided across the street to noti
ce not being rained on. Being behind her, he also did not notice the satisfied smile on her face, and that when she reached up and touched the pendant around her neck, her eyes flashed golden and the nicked red scale on her chest faded to pale flesh. Or, that for the briefest of moments, she had horns sticking out of her temples.
The door of her shop opened before she reached it and closed behind Akita. “Let’s get him to the back,” Maca said, “and let’s see what we can do about your friend’s problem.”
Obediently, almost as if under a spell, Akita followed her instructions[13].
Throughout the storm (which ended within thirty minutes) and the rest of the night, Maca worked on Grimbledung with Akita’s help. Thanks to her extensive supply of herbs, spices, and magic, she was able to finally rid the Gnome of the Pixie parts in his head.
As the dawn approached, Klank wiped his tired brow. “Is he cured?”
Maca continued to look at the Gnome.
“Is he cured?”
The Elf looked into the Constable’s eyes. “Of the Pixie influence, yes.”
Akita squirmed under her gaze. It seemed to penetrate straight into his bones. “So that’s it then; he should be completely normal?” He considered that. “For a Gnome, that is?” He considered that as well. “For Grimbledung?”
Maca continued to stare.
“What?” Akita self-consciously took a step backward.
“You don’t know?”
“Know, what?”
“I cured him of his Pixie influence.”
“Yeah. That’s great. And you saved his life” He smiled. “I owe you for that.” He cleared his throat , “Say, how about we...”
Here's Looking For You, Grim (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 3) Page 22