by B. J. Smash
Back kicks, side swipe kicks, flips. I was an enemy to be reckoned with. My core strength didn’t falter, and my legs were just an extension from this power source. At one point, I was pummeled into a tree by two giant werewolves with incredible strength. They stood on their hind legs, and looked more human than they had before. I was able to push one away with a swift kick to the chest, but the other held me up by the neck, and was about to swipe my face with his black claws.
Out of nowhere a gun fired. The bullet went right into the werewolf’s skull, and exited through the other side. His brain splattered on the tree beside us. He crumpled to the ground and I slid down the rough tree and landed on my butt. Tom stepped forward and knelt before me.
“I got ‘em. The rest have fled,” he said. His faced was caked in blood, and his white t-shirt stained dark red. “You alright?” He tapped my face with his dirty fingers. “William. Get some water. Ivy here, is in shock.”
Chapter Fifteen
I don’t remember much of what happened between the time Tom found me at the tree and now. I sat by the morning campfire with Lucian’s thin blanket draped over my shoulders. The earth beneath me was damp and the sky, cloudy. It was drizzling. I shivered, but it wasn’t from the chill in the air. The incidents from the last night played a big part.
They were talking, and I looked down to find a paper plate in my hands with two pieces of beef jerky on it. My stomach churned and I set it aside.
“She might be snapping out of it,” Tom said.
“Ivy, are you ok?” Lucian said as he chewed a big piece of jerky.
“She ain’t lookin’ so good,” William said.
I watched their lips move as they talked. I felt feverish, and I noticed my chest felt like it was on fire. I looked down to see three long scratches. Someone had put a thick gooey salve over them.
“My chest. It burns,” I mumbled. I tossed the blanket from my shoulders and crawled over to an oak tree. There I sat for the next thirty minutes, and concentrated on healing. The tree was full of white healing energy and I soon felt better.
Tom and William watched me the entire time, and when I finished, Tom said, “That’s amazing. I’ll never get over how a tree can help heal.”
I still didn’t feel up to par, but I didn’t have time to waste sitting at the tree. Drumm would have scolded me if he were here. “Healing always takes precedence over everything. You can’t function properly without good health.” I ignored his voice in my head, and stood. It was then that it dawned on me that someone was missing. And where was Solstice?
I sat by the fire and asked, “Where is Solstice? And what happened to Ella?”
Lucian spoke up, “Solstice is running in the field, and Ella…well…”
“She took off last night,” Tom said, taking a sip of coffee.
William’s shoulders sagged at the mention of her name. He poked the fire with a stick, and I could have sworn he had a tear at the edge of his eye. “I hope she’s alright.”
“She took my hand gun and half the ammo!” Tom’s voice went up to high notes, “She’ll be fine.”
“You’re the one who let her go,” William said.
“She said she was going to use the latrine, William. It was the middle of the night. Was I supposed to follow her? She even left her horse behind. Besides, you drank chamomile tea after I told you not to,” Tom said.
So, she’d given him chamomile tea after all. The fact of the matter is, it probably didn’t matter what kind of tea she’d given him. It wasn’t the chamomile that caused him to sleep. I have no doubt she’d sucked the energy from him, but I refrained from saying so.
“She left without her horse?” I asked.
“She did. He was looking kind of spindly anyway. Malnourished or something,” Tom said.
I swallowed hard. Ella was even stealing the horse’s energy. She was clearly crazy, and didn’t deserve a horse. I was just thankful she hadn’t killed him.
“And Solstice…did he have any wounds?” I asked.
“When we arrived, that horse was standing over your man here. He was guarding him,” Tom said.
My cheeks heated up when Tom called Lucian my man, but I pretended that I hadn’t noticed. I sniffed and wiped my nose on the back of my hand. “Solstice was guarding him, eh?”
“Yeah, that’s quite a horse you got there. Not a scratch on him. He trampled several of those damn creatures to the ground.” Tom’s eyebrows lifted.
“I love that horse. Wish I had me an elven horse.” William’s mood seemed to lift as he spoke about Solstice. He observed my plate and asked, “You gonna eat that jerky?”
“No. You can have it,” I said. He grabbed it before Tom could slap his hand.
“Manners. Yer mam wouldn’t like you stealing a young ladies breakfast!” Tom chastised him.
“She said I could have it!” William argued.
As they bickered, I told Lucian that we better get back in the race. I had a feeling we were falling behind. If Ella had left last night, she must have had a plan. She could be far ahead of us, even if she traveled by foot. I just hoped we wouldn’t find her dead somewhere; eaten by werewolves. Even if she was an enemy in this race, I’d hate to see her life end in such a way.
Lucian stifled the fire, and we prepared to leave. I whistled for Solstice and seconds later I could see him trotting down a hill toward me. In the soft touch of the mist, his big white and black body appeared enchanted.
We decided to leave. William and Tom decided to let Ella’s horse run free in the wild. It was probably the best thing for him. I spent a few minutes trying to heal him, and it seemed to help.
Tom and William walked their horses, and Lucian and I followed their lead. With the news of Ella’s departure, I had forgotten to ask if they knew who had been the cause of the terrifying screams last night. The screams had ended abruptly, and surely the person hadn’t survived. As the group of us walked along in the forest, we came across an area that had been trampled down. Tree limbs had been broken and bushes were crumpled. Clearly there had been a fight.
A big part of me knew that it couldn’t be the Dark Elf. He was too fast to catch, and I don’t know what had happened to his horse. The last time I saw the Dark Elf in the river, he had been alone.
As I walked next to Solstice, I noticed a big, dark lump next to a birch tree. Approaching this lump, I noticed it was a body and a bald head lay four or five feet in front of it. My hand flew to my mouth as I held back puke.
The other’s heard me gagging and quickly joined me. Lucian put his hand on my shoulder, and Tom walked over to the head picking it up with both hands. Blood dripped down his arm. He stared at the face with curiosity.
“A clean cut! It’s the man that had the snake on his shoulders.” Tom paused and said, “By the looks of it—he was surprised when he croaked.”
Leaning on the tree, I bent over and emptied my already almost empty stomach. To add to the grossness of the situation, something writhed beneath the puke. Bending closer, I saw the Snake Man’s black and gold snake. He slithered to the tree and began to climb up the rough bark.
“Put the head down, Tom. It’s a bit disturbing,” Lucian said.
William crept closer to me, and clutched the snake behind the back of the head. Stepping back, he examined the four foot long ball python. If there was one thing about these two men, it was this: They were not afraid to get their hands dirty.
Tom was about to lay the head down on the ground, but William said, “Heyyy! What if we’re right Tom? What if we put the head back on the body, and put the snake on his shoulders? I bet he comes back to life!”
I recalled what they had said about the Snake Man the night before. It was their theory that the snake kept the head on the Snake Man’s shoulders.
“That is preposterous. And downright disgusting. I’m outta here.” I walked off before I was tempted to barf again.
Lucian followed me. His face was ashen white, and I knew that he thought they were of
f their rockers, too. He shook his head and said, “Those two are quite strange, aren’t they? I don’t …”
But before he could finish his sentence, we heard a rough coughing. We exchanged looks of shock and horror, and Lucian slowly turned to watch the scene behind us. “What the…”
I leaned my head into Solstice’s neck and took a few deep breaths. He smelled like hay. Gaining my bearings, I slowly turned to see Snake Man with his head back on his shoulders, sitting up against the birch tree. His face was purple, but after a few deep long breaths his face paled.
The forest seemed to spin, and I staggered on my feet. Grabbing a handful of Solstice’s main, I forced myself to stand upright. I wasn’t about to wimp out and faint. Not in front of all these men. Being the apprentice of a powerful witch—I had to get used to these types of things happening in my world. My sister was far better at handling this sort of thing. She’d probably be laughing right now. I could almost hear her now, “Oh Ivy…isn’t that cool?”
No. I had to adapt to these crazy experiences. I walked closer, and put my arm through Lucian’s. I looked up at him to find him slacked jawed and scratching his chin. I turned back to the Snake Man. The snake had just fully coiled itself around his neck, and the man reached up with both hands, and gave one final adjustment to his neck. The neck popped into place.
I fainted.
***
I awoke to Lucian leaning over me and patting my face.
“Ivy!” he said.
I pushed him aside and sat up. I thought I’d imagined it, but there he was. The Snake Man smiled at me as he raked his fingers through his goatee. I couldn’t believe it! His bald head was back on his shoulders.
“Thank you again, friends,” he said with a British accent. He nodded at Tom and William. “I better get on with it then. I haven’t a horse any longer, and I must go by foot. Take care.” He set his eyes on me again, and winked.
“So long fella. Glad we could help,” Tom said.
The Snake Man picked up a staff from the bushes and walked away. He had a hop to his step, and I’m sure he was glad to see another day. After he’d gone, I asked what had happened.
Tom filled me in.
“Last night, he was sitting in his tree smoking a pipe. He was just about to summon up something to fight off the werewolves—some kind of hero spirit or something—when a certain red-haired girl approached him. He claims she was encased in blue smoke, and he could see her clearly in the fog. She had a long dress on and it was flowing out to the sides. He tried to fight her with magic, and that’s why all the bushes are crumpled, and tree limbs are broken. In the end, she hypnotized his snake before the snake could hypnotize her. Her face took on a menacing appearance, and he was so taken back by her scariness that he screamed bloody murder. She grabbed the snake and ripped it from his neck.” Tom stopped to scratch his head, “His head fell off. End of story.”
“That would explain why his scream had ended abruptly,” I realized. This was still too much to take in, and if I hadn’t seen Snake Man’s recovery, I wouldn’t believe any of this ever happened.
“Oh! And she took his horse!” William added.
Ah-ha. That’s how she planned to travel. Not on her own sickly horse that she’d sucked the life from, but on a stolen horse.
I had to wonder how Ella even knew about Snake Man’s predicament. How did she know his head would topple off?
“Oh well. Another day, another dollar. Let’s get a move on William.” Tom climbed up and into the horse’s saddle.
“That sayin’ don’t make sense, Tom. We ain’t makin’ no dollars today.”
“We will if we find that dang genie bottle. Now get up on that horse of yours and let’s GO!”
“Fine, Tom.” After three tries, William mounted himself into the saddle. He didn’t look that comfortable, and he kept shifting his big behind around in the seat.
“We’ll see you folks around.” And with a wave, Tom and William were off.
Lucian and I traveled for nearly six miles when we came across a ravine with thick, lush plants on either side. Several plants had tall rubbery leaves that glistened in the sporadic light that peeked through the overlapping trees above us. A narrow brook babbled down the center, flowing past the occasional moss covered boulder. Scattered here and there were bright red flowers that looked like they belonged in the Amazon. I knew exactly what type of place this was.
“We’re in pixie territory,” I said matter-of-factly.
Lucian had been in pixie territory before, and he nodded his head in agreement. “I guess we better tread carefully. How do we get out of here?” He walked behind Solstice and I.
I shrugged my shoulders and dismounted the horse. I would have to walk him carefully through this mysterious land.
We followed the brook farther down and reached an impasse. The calm flowing brook now sounded as though it were rushing over a rock wall. I told my companions to wait as I made my way through the greenery. Pushing aside huge green leaves, I gasped. I’d almost slipped on a moss covered rock to my death. I had expected to see a small rocky decline with a pool at the bottom. Nope.
There was a pond below but it was way, way down in another ravine. About ten stories down. Foamy white water trickled over shiny rocks and cascaded into the pond like a rain shower. There were lime green lily pads on the outer edges of the pool. Long, thick vines grew up several feet from the water, and at the end of the vines grew huge white flowers with yellow centers. Some pixies were sunbathing in the center of these monster flowers, while others splashed around in the water. A few of the white flowers were turned over and served as giant umbrellas. Sparkly pollen showered down and drifted around them and sprinkled into the waters. Puffy tufts of blue clouds floated above the pond, and a few brilliant blue fairy birds flew from tree to tree.
“Ah, the life of a pixie,” Lucian whispered. I hadn’t heard him approach.
“Hey! Don’t let Solstice come up this far. It’s unstable, he might fall,” I whispered harshly.
“He’s back there. He hasn’t moved.”
Farther out beyond the pond were trees that I’d never seen before. The trunks were thick tan vines growing up together in clusters. At the top were vibrant green leaves which reminded me of hammocks. Bright green wood sorrel, and ferns covered the forest floor. Tiny tiki-looking houses hung from thin vines.
I resorted to my eleven vision and squinted to get a better look at the little houses. The roofs were made out of some type of straw, and the body was built from mud and other materials from the earth. They reminded me of bird houses but were much more detailed. A pixie slid open a blue glass stained door and flew toward the pond. Her house had miniature planters on the little deck, with strange, colorful plants. It was a paradise.
“Wow. Don’t you wish you could vacation down there? In miniature version of course,” Lucian said.
“Yup,” I answered with a sigh, longing to join them in their simple lives.
We watched for several minutes and finally I forced myself to back away. Pulling on Lucian’s arm, we left. We had to backtrack until we found a place that wasn’t so steep for Solstice to climb. If I were alone, I think this journey would have taken less time. I felt a bit burdened down with Lucian and Solstice. I was getting antsy, and I wished that I could just run the rest of the race without stopping.
But like Izadora always said, “You should always be careful for what you wish for. Even your silent thoughts get put out to the Universe.”
I brushed that thought aside and we carried on. It wasn’t until a few miles later that we stopped. We each ate a jackfruit chip and sipped water. Solstice chewed on some grass, and drank from a babbling brook with frothy white bubbles.
I had been sensing someone around us for quite some time now, and I thought it might have been the Dark Elf. But when I saw a whip hanging in the tree, I knew who it had to be. They were downstream and the Whip Man was actually letting his horse rest. He sat on an elongated boulder and at
e a tuna fish sandwich. I could smell it from here. He hadn’t seen us and he probably thought he had the place to himself.
I told Lucian to get ready to leave and tip-toed to the tree that held the whip. Carefully, I slyly slid the long black leather whip from the limb and coiled it up to make it more manageable to carry. I crept stealthily back toward Lucian.
He was shaking his head while we walked away. “He’s going to know it was you.”
“No he won’t. I couldn’t help myself. If I saw him whip that horse one more time, I would punch him in the nose.”
“Ah yeah – I think he already knows. He’s walking fast this way.”
I turned to look. Sure enough, the whip man had begun to trample over anything that was in his way…even a thorn bush. He evidently got pricked a few times and this just added fuel to the fire. “Get back here you little wench!” He shook his fist at me.
“Ohhhh boy,” Lucian’s hand curled into a fist.
He wasn’t about to let him call me names but I yanked on his arm. I jumped up on Solstice’s back, like I had springs in my feet. Lucian stood on a stump, and put his leg over the horses back and we were on our way.
But it was bound to be one of those days. Whip Man pursued us, and the unfortunate part about it all was that he had another whip. I don’t know if he conjured them up or carried extras. This was probably not one of the first instances of having one of his whips stolen from him. If you asked me; he was soulless. The horse couldn’t go any faster—so what was the point in whacking its behind?
I grit my teeth and scowled. I don’t care if he followed us all day, I still would have taken his whip from the tree. But it came to a point where we could either have Solstice pick up speed and lose this loser; or we could turn and face him. Regardless, he would still be whipping his horse. So, I made the decision to stop and try to talk to this cruel man.
I told Lucian as much and he agreed. The thing is…Whip Man was not a rational man. He wasn’t about to discuss his sins with us. We had just entered a wide open field with many hills, and I slowed the horse to a trot. Whip Man did not slow down. Instead he whipped the horse a good one and kicked his flanks in an attempt to make him run faster.