But man, not like this. Now Todd didn’t even want to open his eyes.
What had hit him? He had taken a swing at that light-thing. But his fist had been sucked right into it. The thing had fucking swallowed him up. God, did it hurt. His fist, his arm, then everything. He never wanted to feel that kind of pain again, like he was burning from the inside out.
Then there was nothing. Todd heard a groan.
He swore, and opened his eyes. It surprised him when he saw sunlight overhead. After that pain, he guessed he was surprised he could do anything.
He turned his head and saw he was lying in a field full of long yellow grass. Bobby was lying beside him, breathing like he was asleep. There was no sign of the light-monster, or of any of the others from the tower room.
Bobby groaned again. He shifted on the ground, but he still didn’t open his eyes.
There were trees in the distance. For some reason, Todd was sure this had to be the same forest they had just come out of— maybe because that forest was all he’d seen since coming to this place.
It was much quieter than any place Todd could remember. Oh, there was some noise: the wind in the trees, the call of birds back and forth, and the odd chirruping sound of some sort of insect. If this place was not the world they’d come from—and one look at the sky was enough to convince Todd that it wasn’t—there were still a lot of things about it that were awfully familiar.
But not familiar enough. This quiet didn’t mean peace any more than one of his father’s smiles meant you were safe from his fists. Todd was waiting for something to jump on him.
Unless he could find a way to jump first.
He tried to remember what had happened after he’d taken a swing at that thing. There was nothing there. He must have passed out. What, then? Why was he here, in some fucking field in the middle of nowhere, with Bobby? And where was that thing that had grabbed him?
Todd sat up, the anger making him move. Who cared what had happened? He just wouldn’t let it happen again! Whatever that creep made of light had wanted, it wouldn’t get it without one hell of a fight.
He looked around, suddenly aware of how exposed they were here, out in the open. He had to wake Bobby up. They had to get out of here. One thing you learned when you had an old man like Todd’s—whenever things got weird, you made yourself scarce.
But how could you make yourself scarce when you didn’t even know where you were in the first place?
Todd stood and flexed his muscles; surprised again that he wasn’t sore from his recent battle. It felt as if, once he had left the light- creature, he had left all the pain as well. If anything, he felt rested, and ready for a fight.
He looked around carefully; ready to throw himself back into the tall grass if he saw anyone else. But they really did seem to be alone.
He stood up in the clearing. There was no way to tell if this was the same place they’d been attacked by the lightning storm, or if they were someplace else, miles away. There were probably a hundred fields like this in the forest, all surrounded by great trees.
Standing made Todd feel even more exposed. He wanted to get into those trees as quickly as he could, so they could hide from whatever was coming next. Maybe they could even climb the trees, get some idea of where they were. Maybe they could even see that big stone house the light-creature had snatched them from.
Or maybe they’d have to admit that they were lost. But Todd didn’t want to just sit here. He had to move.
He knelt down next to the other boy. “Bobby! Wake up!”
“What?” Bobby’s fist came up swinging. “Get away. I saw what—”
Todd blocked his friend’s half-asleep swing with a well-placed arm. “Cool it, Bobby,” he said softly. “It’s me. Todd.”
Bobby finally opened his eyes. “Todd? Oh, wow.” Bobby started to smile but stopped himself. “That thing—what happened to—” He paused again, afraid to describe the creature that had captured them.
“It’s gone. At least I don’t see it anywhere around here. And I think we should get out of here before it has a chance to come back.”
Bobby shook his head, maybe to disagree, maybe to try to clear his own thoughts. “You want to run away? Aw, Todd, c’mon! It couldn’t surprise us this time.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans. “I’ve still got the knife.”
Todd thought about the light, and the pain. “I think your knife would do as much good as my fists did. Better we make ourselves scarce.” Todd didn’t mention that, the way the creature had shown up in the wizard’s room, they might not be safe anywhere.
Bobby started to say something else but ended up grunting instead. Maybe, Todd thought, he remembered that pain, too. Bobby pushed himself to his knees. Todd grabbed one of Bobby’s hands and helped him to his feet.
“This way,” Todd said as he turned to his left for no particular reason and started to march toward the forest. Maybe the trees looked a bit lower to the ground over here, a bit more climbable. More likely, though, it was just a hunch. He had to stop himself from looking around again. In a place like this, a hunch could mean a lot.
“So what do we do, Todd?” Bobby asked. “Go back with that bird and the Obar character?”
Todd didn’t answer, concentrating instead on placing his feet on the uneven ground hidden by the grass. Bobby kept on talking, anyway.
“You don’t think the knife’s enough protection, huh? Maybe we could sharpen some sticks into spears or something.” Bobby whistled softly. “I don’t think spears would have stopped that glowing thing either, though.”
Again Todd didn’t bother replying. The way Bobby was going, he seemed to be able to hold up both sides of the conversation all by himself.
“What about our families?” Bobby asked. “I mean, what if something’s happened to my parents? Maybe we should try to find them or something, too.”
Todd grimaced at the very mention of parents. Now that he was out here, and free, there was no way he was ever going back to his father.
“We have to find out where we are before we can figure out where to go,” he answered Bobby, his voice much more reasonable. “Now, quiet down. The less noise we make, the less likely something bad is going to find us.”
Bobby seemed to consider the wisdom of that for a moment before replying.
“Anything you say, Todd,” he said, his voice quieter already.
Todd frowned at the forest before them. They had almost reached the trees.
“So which one should we climb, huh, Todd?” asked Bobby, still not willing to shut up.
Todd didn’t have an answer. The trunks were so thick and the limbs so high that there would be no way of climbing any of the trees on this edge of the forest. Todd looked speculatively at the great clinging vines that ran down the great boles. Would one of them support his weight?
Todd grabbed onto one of the vines, yanking it from where it hugged the tree.
“Remember those ropes in gym class?” he asked.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Bobby said in a voice that was half astonishment, half misery. “How the hell are we going to get out of here?”
Something hummed close by Todd’s ear as he hoisted himself off the ground. He froze.
An arrow thunked into the tree in front of him.
“Cripes!” Bobby yelled. “We’re not going to get out of here!” He took a couple of running steps.
“Stay there,” a voice called from somewhere farther along the curve of the forest, “or the next arrow won’t be so polite.”
Bobby froze, and looked back at Todd. The arrow had shut Bobby up at last, but his eyes wanted Todd to do something, anything, and do it fast.
Todd lowered himself carefully back to the ground, trying to figure out where that arrow had come from. He stood very still. What sort of a match were his fists, or even Bobby’s knife, against arrows that came out of nowhere?
“Clever fellows,” the voice called again from the wood, the words slow and deliberate,
almost a drawl. “We’re not gonna hurt you. At least, we won’t if you can answer a question or two the way we like.”
Without another word, four people stepped from the darkness beneath the trees, so silently it almost seemed as if they simply appeared. They were all dressed in ragged gear stitched together from dark brown pelts. It looked like they had covered their faces with mud.
“Whose side are you on?” one of the four asked sharply. His was the same voice that had spoken before. He was taller and thinner than the others, with a long, sour face. He looked like he never smiled.
“Side?” Todd asked. “We don’t know anything about sides.”
“They don’t want to answer,” another said. Todd realized from the timbre of the new voice that the speaker was female. With the shapeless clothing that they all wore, it was difficult to tell. She was shorter than the others, her hair cut close to her scalp.
She notched an arrow in her bow. “I think we can hasten their reply.”
“Your side!” Bobby called. He raised his hands over his head. “We’ll be glad to be on your side!”
“Sorry, fellas,” the man answered lightly. “But that answer’s too easy.” He nodded to the woman. “Mary Margaret, you called it, you start it.”
Todd wasn’t about to let this happen. “Wait a moment!” he shouted. “We were dragged out of our home by soldiers, who were taking us to some guy named Nunn. But we got away, and ended up with some crazy old guy named Obar. Except something that looked like it was made of light grabbed us.” Todd realized he was waving his arms. He let them fall to his side as he finished, “We ended up here!”
“Fair enough,” the man replied, as if Todd’s explanation was the sort of thing he heard every day. “But we still haven’t heard your answer. Which do you follow, Nunn or Obar?”
“What?” Todd asked, incredulous. These guys were making him even angrier than he was before. “I don’t want to have anything to do with either one!”
The long-faced man made a sound like a laugh, even though he still didn’t smile. “Put down your bow, Maggie. That’s the best answer of all.”
The woman lowered her bow and sheathed her arrow, then turned back to Todd and Bobby.
“Name’s Thomas,” the first man to speak introduced himself. “You already met Maggie. Next to her are Wilbert and Stanley.” The two other men nodded in turn. Wilbert had a heavy beard, the hair caked underneath the mud. He smiled as his name was mentioned, a flash of white against the mottled muddy brown. Stanley, on the other hand, had hardly any hair anywhere on his head. He squinted at the newcomers without expression.
“Together,” Thomas continued, “we’re all that’s left of the Newton Free Volunteers. And just who are we speakin’ to?” Todd stared at the four for a moment before replying. He supposed he had to trust somebody here. What harm, after all, could come from giving these people their names? Todd introduced both of them.
“You don’t come from here?” Bobby asked.
“Thankfully, no,” Thomas replied. His expression softened a bit with that, as if he really did want to smile but had forgotten how.
“I don’t think any humans do,” Maggie added. “Of course, I could be wrong.”
“You could be wrong about anything going on around this place,” Wilbert said laconically. “We could all be wrong about everything. Probably are, too.”
“We hail from the United States of America,” Thomas said. “Newton, New Jersey; members of the Free State Militia. We were out on maneuvers one weekend—”
“War games,” Wilbert added with a laugh. “Thought Teddy might need us! Never did get a chance to help.”
“Never made it home.” Stanley spat on the ground. “Ended up here, hey? With a bunch of self-styled wizards!”
“They told us the dragon brought us,” Wilbert offered with a wry grin.
“The dragon?” Stanley grunted. “A bunch of mumbo jumbo, if you ask me.”
Thomas opened his arms to take in his surroundings. “Mumbo jumbo or not, we ended up here. You boys don’t look local, either. Where do you hail from?”
Bobby blurted out a short and confusing summation of the arrival of Chestnut Circle in the middle of the woods.
“So we’re countrymen?” Thomas asked. “And you say there’s more of you?”
“Yeah, a lot!” Bobby agreed. “There’s probably still two guys with Obar, and then there’s my parents and Mary Lou and all the other adults stuck with those soldiers.”
“Nunn’s men,” Thomas remarked. The four Volunteers all looked from one to another, as if that meant something none too pleasant. “We know their camp a little too well. It ain’t too healthy for your parents to stay there.”
“Do we get them out?” Stanley barked. He rested his hand on the sword at his belt, as if he already knew the answer.
Wilbert smiled and pulled on the shoulder strap of the quiver on his back. “I haven’t shot anyone in weeks.”
“I think we gotta try,” Thomas agreed. “And then?” Stanley demanded.
“Things have changed,” Thomas said as he nodded toward Todd and Bobby. “There’re new people here. Fresh blood. Maybe we can all get home together.”
“We can do some fighting for Teddy, after all!” Wilbert agreed. “By now, that trouble in China’s gotta be done, hey?” Stanley observed in a much less cheerful tone.
But Wilbert wasn’t going to lose his good mood that easily. “There’s bound to be a fight someplace! Bully and all that!” Todd frowned, not really listening to their talk of battles and some guy named Teddy. The last thing he wanted to do was to go back and get his father.
He tried to calm himself down. Whatever these so-called Volunteers planned, he guessed that they wouldn’t appreciate him wanting to split. Maybe the others deserved to be rescued. He especially wouldn’t mind rescuing Mary Lou. He thought about the way her breasts jutted from her chest, her dark hair fell across her shoulders, the warm, milky smell of her skin. Sometimes she acted like she didn’t like him very much. But he saw the way she looked at him, out at the bus stop in the morning, when she thought he didn’t notice. But not his father. His father was crazy. Maybe there was some way around this.
“So we go back and rescue those guys with Nunn,” he said. “What about Nick and Jason? They’re with the other wizard.”
“Not the same problem at all,” Stanley announced.
“Obar’s a little easier to deal with,” Wilbert explained when Stanley did not. “He tries to keep it under some control.”
“Actually, I’m rather fond of Obar,” Maggie said with a strange little smile. She ran a hand over her short and mud-caked hair.
“That’s our Maggie,” Wilbert said, the smile once again breaking out on his face. “Always the worst judge of character.”
“Hey, it comes with my profession.” She smiled graciously in return, and then glanced at the boys.
“Former profession,” Stanley snapped.
“Hey, now,” Wilbert said more softly. “It’s an ancient and honorable profession. Well, ancient, at least.”
“Former profession,” Maggie agreed. “I’ve retired to become a soldier.”
“Still, you can live with some wizards,” Wilbert said. “As long as you don’t have to trust them.”
Thomas glanced at the sun poised just above the trees. “We’d better get going if we want to raid them after dark. Tell me more about this light-creature that grabbed you.”
Wilbert and Stanley shifted their bows onto their backs. Stanley took a moment to arrange the bow and a bulky pack he carried on the other shoulder. The two started to move without any further orders. Bobby shrugged at Todd and fell in behind the other two. Maggie smiled at Todd and tugged gently at his elbow. He started to walk beside her as Thomas took up the rear.
“Have you eaten lately?” Maggie asked.
Todd realized he hadn’t had any food since the ice cream bar from the night before. “No, ma’am,” he said. Even though Maggie was only
a few years older than he was, “ma’am” seemed the proper way to address her. There was something different about her, about all of them, really, the way they held themselves, and the way they talked. It reminded Todd of his grandfather, the major, when he was still alive.
It made sense; Todd guessed—the military connection, that is. Maggie said she’d retired to become a soldier. Todd wondered what she’d done before that.
“I’ve got some jerky here in my pouch,” she offered as she opened a small bag at her side. “It’s made from sand lizard, I’m afraid.”
“Tastes sort of like dried squirrel,” Wilbert added from up ahead. “Well, I don’t know,” Maggie spoke up. “That might be an insult to the squirrels.”
She passed him a piece of dried greenish-brown meat. As odd as it looked, Todd found his mouth watering. There was no reason they would poison him, was there? If they wanted him dead, it would be much simpler to use one of their arrows, or the knives that hung at their belts.
Bobby had started to tell the four what had happened with the light-creature. It wasn’t quite how Todd remembered it. The way Bobby told it, there was more of a fight.
Todd took a small bite of the jerky, tearing the piece free with his teeth. It was a little salty, but not that bad. He swallowed, and tasted something sour.
“It’s the aftertaste that’ll get you,” Maggie agreed, apparently reading the displeasure in his face. “Wilbert says you have to watch out, or the lizards will sneak up on you from behind.”
“It gets better!” Wilbert called back. “After a while, your taste buds die!”
Well, Todd thought, it really wasn’t all that bad. Sort of like strange Chinese food. He took another bite. He felt like his mouth was drying out.
“I could use a drink of water,” he suggested.
“Ah,” Wilbert called. “The food is free, but water will cost you!”
Everybody seemed to laugh at that but Todd. Todd’s tongue felt like it would stick to the roof of his mouth. This stuff was salty.
He managed a grin when he realized that the pouch Maggie held out to him was a waterskin. The meat might have been sour, but he never tasted better water anywhere.
Dragon Sleeping (The Dragon Circle Trilogy Book 1) Page 10