by GARY DARBY
In moments, we’re encircled by scorpios, their clacking growing louder as even more creatures join their lethal ranks.
Moreover, without dragon fire, there is no way that we are going to break through the scuttling mass of death-dealing Emperor Scorpios and reach Perseon’s Way.
“What are we going to do?” Cara shouts. “We haven’t any fire!”
No one has an answer as we swivel in our dragon saddles, eyeing the ravenous beasts. I swivel in my seat, looking in every direction, looking for a way out of this death trap while rattling off, “No fire, no fire, no—”
A sudden thought stops me in mid-sentence as I stare at a nearby grove of trees, their limbs thick and heavy with gray moss. “Golden Wind, get me next to a tree.”
She backs up just a bit so that we’re next to one of the moss-draped trees. “Hooper!” Phigby calls out. “What are you doing?”
In answer, I shout, “Listen, everyone, get ready to make a dash for the arch. I’m going to get us some fire.”
I reach into my tunic and pull out the emerald gemstone. The tiny leaf is smaller than before, signaling that its power lessens, but it can’t be helped, we need to get through the arch before those fiends shower us with a cascade of barbs.
Grabbing, a handful of moss, I utter, Vald Hitta Sasi Ein! Power to this One!
In moments, all the moss begins to rise, sweeping up and off the trees. It thickens and grows like thunderstorm clouds that boil up on a hot, muggy day.
I hold the jewel higher as the moss swirls and curls in on itself before it bursts outward to form a thick, swirling blanket that hovers in the air just above the scorpios.
Lifting the gemstone up, I begin to twirl it about my head causing the stringy curtain to spread further and further until it covers the whole scorpio swarm.
However, right over us is a dead calm center without any blanketing.
Whirling to the sprites that hover nearby, I point upward, “I need some fire, now!”
The little dragons burst into flames and speed away in four different directions. Zipping just above the scorpios, they flash upward, punching through the overhanging moss.
As a torch bursts into flames when first lit, the cloud erupts into a roaring blaze.
Holding the gemstone aloft for just an instant more, I thrust the gemstone downward and the blazing moss drops as if it were a huge, blazing curtain onto the scorpios.
Screeches fill the air as the inferno engulfs the creatures. The things scurry about in a mad frenzy, trying to escape the firestorm.
Few do.
As the fire begins to die, Phigby bellows, “Now! Make for the way out!”
We dash across the blackened ground; the dragons crunching the scorpios' charred remains underfoot. Wind Song and Wind Glory rush through the arch, with Alonya between the two of them. Bold Wind thunders close behind.
I smile in relief as I see all four sprites flit through the gate. Golden Wind lumbers toward the rainbow arch.
The golden’s head is just passing under the arch of Perseon’s Way when I feel a sudden stabbing pain in my back. I look over my shoulder only to see two scorpio barbs embedded deep in my ribs.
I try to pull them out, but I can’t reach them. Then, we’re through Perseon’s Way and out of the swamp. I feel myself start to go numb. I slump over in the saddle, fighting the paralyzing feeling but I’m slipping off, unable to hang onto Golden Wind.
We may be back in the world of sunshine and crystal clear skies, but it appears that I’ve brought part of the dark swamp with me, the part that kills.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Hooper!” Phigby is kneeling next to me, his face close to mine, his voice a roar in my ears. “Pull those vile things out,” he orders to someone off to one side.
I feel a yank, a tug at my back but no pain though for some reason, my mind tells me there should be pain.
“Cara!” Phigby shouts, “Get my bag! He’s received a full dose of the poison.”
I’m on the muddy ground, but I don’t remember how I got there. Falling off Golden Wind, no doubt. I’m just glad it was after we passed through Perseon’s Way and not before.
If I had fallen while still inside the swamp and those Scorpios had gotten to me . . .
I stop thinking at that point and push away the gruesome image that comes to mind.
I’m totally numb, unable to feel or move any part of my body, for that matter. My eyesight begins to dim and I’m having trouble hearing as well.
Phigby’s face seems to come and go and though his lips are moving, I can’t understand any of his words. Through a haze that dims my eyes, I’m able to make out that he has a cup to my lips and is pouring liquid into my mouth.
I can’t swallow, I can hardly breathe, but Phigby pushes on my jaw, my mouth, pinching my nose, forcing some of the liquid down my throat. He keeps pouring whatever his potion is into my mouth, again and again. It has no taste, which when it comes to one of Phigby’s concoctions, is a blessing.
Finally, I’m able to swallow a bit on my own and he has me drink, slowly, a whole cup of the mixture. My eyesight begins to return and I’m able to make out a circle of concerned faces peering down at me. A furry head butts the side of my head before Cara reaches down and picks up Scamper.
“Hold on, Scamp,” she mutters. “He’s not quite with us, yet.” To my ears, she sounds like she’s talking with her mouth full of cotton.
I try to speak but my tongue feels like it’s the size of a mush melon inside my mouth. Swallowing, I try to move my tongue but it feels as if someone is pinching it between two fingers and holding on tight.
“Easy, lad,” Phigby pats me on the shoulder. “Don’t try to speak just yet, give the potion a bit more time to work.”
It takes a while before I’m able to talk and even then, my voice sounds as if I’m gurgling. “Ev . . . ry . . . one . . . out? Sa . . . fe?”
Phigby smiles and leans closer. “Aye, lad, thanks to you, we all made it through Perseon’s Way.”
Managing a crooked smile, I stammer, “Go . . . od.”
Phigby holds up one of my hands. “Can you wiggle your fingers, son?”
I move my hand as if I were waving a limp goodbye but it’s the best I can do. My arms feel as if someone replaced my bones with mushmeal.
“Coming along,” Phigby grunts, “better than before, anyway. What about your feet, your toes?”
I manage to move my boots a little back and forth. Phigby lets out a long sigh. “I think you’re going to be all right, Hooper. Just rest easy, for now.”
Cara kneels next to me, holding back an anxious Scamper, who no doubt wants to jump on my chest and stick his nose in my face.
It’s slow but after a while, I’m breathing normally and I smile up at Cara. “What happened, Hooper?” she asks.
“Almost out,” I swallow, my voice still sounding muffled in my ears as if I were trying to talk underwater, “when two barbs hit me, but I couldn’t reach them. Just hung on hoping to make the gate.”
Glancing up at the blue sky and sun, I smile wider. “Looks like I did.”
“Aye,” Amil replies, “and not only that but you can thank Golden Wind that you didn’t break your neck when you went flying off her back. As soon as you passed the gate, she sort of flattened herself out and skidded in the mud a ways so that you fell only a short way to the ground.”
“If you say so,” I reply. “I don’t remember falling at all.”
“Well,” Amil laughs, “I’ve seen straw dolls do a better job of flopping to the ground. ‘Course the dirt’s pretty soft so when you hit you sort of splattered out a bit and didn’t bounce too much.”
Raising a limp hand, I motion toward the cup Phigby’s holding and wrinkle my nose. “My sense of smell is definitely coming back. Just what did you give me? Whatever it is, I think I’m very glad I couldn’t taste it from the way it smells.”
“Hooper,” Phigby grins in answer, “it appears that the antidote for the car
rion ghoul’s baneberry poison is a cure-all for scorpio poison, too.”
Cara pats me on the shoulder. “Looks like you did both of us a favor when you took on those ghouls.”
She turns to Phigby and asks, “How did you know to use it on Hooper?”
Phigby’s eyes narrow as if in thought. “Just a feeling, call it a hunch. There’s nothing in any book that speaks to a cure for scorpio poison so I took a wild chance.”
“Thank you, Phigby,” I reply, “for your hunches.”
It doesn’t take too long after that before I’m able to sit up. When I do, my eyes are a little crossed and everyone is still a bit blurry but I can see that we’re missing Alonya. “Alonya?” I ask.
Amil jerks his head to one side. “She’s on rat patrol.”
“Whaaa . . .” I begin before Phigby motions with his head. “Over there.”
Peering in that direction, my eyes widen and I stammer again, “Whaaa . . .”
“Aye, Hooper,” Amil affirms, “your eyes are not deceiving you. It’s none other than Rollo, the Master Rat himself, though he appears to be missing his rat pack.”
With the help of Amil and Helmar, I stagger over to where the others have set up camp in a grove of short, spindly, and thoroughly unfamiliar-looking bog trees.
Alonya smiles as I stumble over to sit on a fallen log. “Hooper,” she grins wider, “doing better?”
“Much, thank you,” I reply and swing my eyes to focus on Rollo.
I point at the Uhlan leader. “Where—”
“Found him skulking nearby,” Alonya answers.
“I told you,” Rollo snaps, “I wasn’t skulking, I was looking for you, or rather, for all of you. It’s important that I speak to your company, and soon.”
Everyone gathers round, hard eyes turned on Rollo while Scamper climbs into my lap and butts his head into my chest. Rrriitte? he asks.
Knuckling his head, I reply, “I’m fine, Scamp, honest. Just a little weak and woozy, that’s all.”
He stares at me a bit longer, his little eyes searching my face, making sure I’m telling the truth before he jumps down and is off exploring with the sprogs in tow.
“Looking for us?” Helmar asks in a hard tone. “No doubt to report our whereabouts to Aster.”
“No,” Rollo states. “If I was doing that, do you think I would have allowed myself to be seen? Show myself in the open and be caught?”
“Then,” Amil points a finger in accusation, “you’re trying to trick us.”
“Please, no,” Rollo rejoins, “I’m not trying to fool you, nor anything of the sort. I know that this is going to sound crazy, after what we—I did, but I’m desperate. I need your help.”
“Help!?” Alonya snorts, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword. “After what you tried to do, the only help I’d like to give you is at the end of my sword point.”
“Hold on, Alonya,” I’m quick to say. There’s something in Rollo’s face that tells me that the Uhlan isn’t lying, for once. “Go on, we’re listening.”
Rollo licks dry lips and it’s then that I notice the man bears wounds on face and hands. There’s dried blood on his tunic and his eyes speak of someone who’s lost something precious and doesn’t know how to reclaim the valuable.
“I’ll understand,” he begins, “if you say no, I only ask that you hear me out, first.”
Drawing in a breath, he admits, “Yes, I lied to you but I had to, I had no choice.”
“No choice!?” Amil grunts. “You always have a choice, Rollo.”
“Is that so, Traveler?” Rollo returns. “Wouldn’t you lie, cheat, steal, do whatever it took to prevent untold horror and death from engulfing your friends, your realm . . . your family? That’s the choice I faced and I did what I thought was necessary to stop her from destroying all that I hold dear.”
“Vay,” I state.
“Yes,” Rollo nods.
Letting out a breath, he goes on, “It’s true that she lured us here with the idea of obtaining dragons, but once we met Prince Aster, it all changed. Vay commanded us to bring you to the river at a certain point where Aster would set a trap. She said that if we failed, she would let the world know where Nervan lay.”
His eyes take on a glazed stare as if he’s looking at a horrible scene. His voice is a raspy whisper. “And she promised that she would bring the impending war to Nervan and lay waste to our homeland and destroy everything.”
He raises his head, cups his face with hands, his eyes still haunted by some memory. “To prove her point, she had Aster bring out some wretched captives and place them against a cliff face. I didn’t know what she was going to do, I swear.
“She snapped her hand up and this bloody red orb appeared. She threw it against the cliff’s topmost part. The rocks, the stones, they just shattered and started raining down on those poor people.”
Hanging his head down, his voice is a bare whisper. “There were children, women. I can still hear their screams, their shrieks of terror. . .” his voice trails off and he sits staring at the ground.
After several moments, raising his face to us, his voice dull, empty of emotion. “After the dust cleared, it was evident that she had brought down the whole cliff side on those poor people.
“Vay turned to my company and her voice was like the hiss of a snake. She said that if we didn’t do as she commanded that what we had witnessed here would be but a small demonstration of what she would do to Nervan.”
He drops his face again and runs his hands through his hair several times. Raising his eyes, he holds out his hands and pleads, “So you see, I had no choice. We either did as she commanded or we would be responsible for the destruction of Nervan.”
Turning to Amil, he growls, “So Traveler, tell me, what choice would you have made?”
He then gestures toward Golden Wind. “You travel with a golden dragon who supposedly is able to wield magical powers. Perhaps she could fight against such a demon sorceress as Vay but we Uhlan? We carry bows and swords and they are not magical to withstand her powers.”
Casting quick glances at each other, we’re silent for a moment before Phigby acknowledges, “All right, Rollo, we hear what you’re saying, now, just why are you searching for us, other than to fulfill your contract with Vay?”
“I’m not!” he barks before taking in a deep breath. He goes on in a calmer voice. “After you escaped, we tried to right our ship but the damage was too great. We drifted farther downstream until several Sung Dar ships managed to push us ashore.
“Once they found out that you had escaped, a fight broke out. We were outnumbered. We fought back as best . . .” he draws in a shuddering breath before saying, “they killed several of my company and most, like myself, took wounds.
“When it was over, the Sung Dar took us prisoner and marched us along the road that led to the fortress at Hanfeld.”
His voice turns bitter. “It was obvious what was going to happen. Once Aster found out that we had failed, he would execute us all. I managed to escape—”
“How?” Helmar’s question is sharp, demanding.
“A fair question,” Rollo returns. “It was night on the road. We came around a short bend where some bushes grew next to the way. For an instant, I was out of the guard’s view and dove under the bushes.”
His voice catching, he says, “I tried to pull Marce with me, but she broke free of my grasp and started running in the opposite direction, away from the bushes, leading the guards from where I hid.”
“Marce?” Cara asks. “The girl who helped us?”
“Yes,” Rollo lets out in a long breath before hanging his head. “And . . . my sister.”
“So, you got away, but she didn’t?” Alonya questions.
“I’m not sure what happened to her . . .” Rollo mumbles before saying, “I waited in the dark until everyone passed by and then I—”
“Slunk away?” Cara scoffs in a biting tone. “Leaving your sister in the clutches of the Sung Dar and Aste
r.”
“No,” Rollo replies. “I followed them all the way to the fortress, looking for her in the company but I didn’t see her. She might have gotten away or—”
“Or,” Cara declares, her tone hard, “those Sung Dar scum murdered her.”
Rollo stares at his hands for a long time, his eyes vacant. “Then what happened?” Phigby prompts.
Slowly, Rollo raises his head and returns our gaze. “I looked for a way to free my comrades but they were too well-guarded.
“I stayed hidden, watching as they were led into the courtyard and then the gates closed behind and I lost sight of them.”
Shaking his head, he whispers, “And then they were gone. That’s the last I saw of them.”
“So,” Amil points out, “you don’t know if they’re still alive or not.”
Rollo’s face hardens, his eyes ablaze as he declares, “They had best be alive, or I’ll—”
“Do what?” Alonya questions. “You’re hundreds of leagues from your homeland and your people, you have no weapons. You said yourself that you don’t know how to fight against someone like Vay.”
Rollo’s shoulders slump. “You’re right, but I didn’t know what to do, I thought about trying to sneak into the castle but it was too heavily fortified, too many soldiers and archers.”
Wringing his hands, he brings his head up to stare at the golden. “Then I thought of you and her. I thought if anyone could help, could get my people out of that prison, it was this company.”
“What?!” Alonya sputters and laughs in disbelief. “You came looking for us to ask if we’d risk our necks to save your people after what you did? Unbelievable.”
“I had to do something!” Rollo barks. “You’re right, I’m too far away from Nervan for my people to help but I couldn’t just leave my comrades in Aster’s hands.”
“No,” Helmar snarls, “but you were certainly willing to put us in Aster’s hands.”
“Aye,” Amil rumbles, “and you weren’t worried one whit about what Aster was going to do to us. Oh, no. But now that the tables are turned you can’t bear the thought of what’s going to happen to your companions. You not only are a liar, Rollo, but you’re a dishonest liar, too.”