by N M Thorn
He stood over Yaroslav, biting his lip, as the vampire bowed his head, moving his hair away to expose his neck, again. Gunz raised the katana and gently lowered it to the vampire’s neck, drawing a few drops of blood. Yaroslav didn’t move, remaining still like a statute.
“I would rather die than take the life of my friend,” said Gunz coldly, lowering the sword and extending his hand to Yaroslav. “We’ll figure it out, Slavik. We always do. We’ll get the Apple and we’ll find a way to stop the necromancer before he becomes indestructible. And if Yaginya doesn’t want to help us, we’ll find some other way.”
Yaroslav looked up at Gunz, shaking his head but accepted his hand and got up. He took his sword and sheathed it. “When it comes to your friends, you have a blind spot, Gunz, and one day it will be your undoing,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“I second that.”
Both Gunz and Yaroslav spun around to find Yaginya standing right behind them.
“Yaginya,” said Gunz, raking his fingers through his hair, “how long have you been standing here?”
“Long enough,” she replied frostily. “Long enough to see that a vampire has more common sense than a Fire Salamander. I should have a word with Kalidus first chance I get. Nevertheless, what I witnessed, made me change my mind.”
“You are going to help us?” asked Gunz, a spark of hope warming him from inside.
“I am,” replied Yaginya dryly, raising her hand up to stop him from talking, “and don’t thank me, because by helping you, I am going against everything I believe in. So, both of you – off to your rooms and get at least some sleep. You’re leaving early in the morning and your trip is not going to be easy. And do it without speaking. Don’t give me a reason to change my goddamn mind!”
Silently, Gunz bowed to her and walked back into the house.
Chapter 21
~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~
Early in the morning, Yaginya softly knocked once on his bedroom door, but it was enough to wake Gunz up. He opened his eyes, noticing the yellowish-pink flares of early sunrise on the walls of his room. He got up and stretched, his muscles still sore and aching from two days of riding. Between his restless mind and worn out body, he barely got any sleep. Nevertheless, he felt a little better than last night.
By the time he had cleaned up and made it downstairs, Yaroslav was already waiting for him. The table in the dining room was set up for breakfast but served only for two. Yaginya showed up a moment later sporting a glass filled with blood. She put it in front of Yaroslav, expression of disgust prominent on her face.
“Pig’s blood,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I know that while you can eat regular human food, you neither enjoy it nor does it give you the nourishment you need to sustain your strength. And I don’t want you feeding on the Fire Salamander. At least not in my house.”
Yaroslav accepted the glass, silently inclining his head. Even though he appeared to be as calm as ever, his eyes betrayed the burning shame he felt. While Gunz was eating, Yaginya took the Darling Lily device from Yaroslav and quietly conversed with the guiding spirit.
She gave all the instructions to Darling Lily and explained to them that finding the sacred garden was not going to be easy, because it kept moving within the boundaries of the nexus, vanishing from one place and immediately manifesting in another, every seven days. Their only hope was that the magical horses like Siv and Mariella could take them there before the garden switched its location.
Instructed by Yaginya, Darling Lily searched the Land of Dreams for the current location of the garden and a few seconds later she announced that with Siv’s speed in mind and if they would ride without stops, they could reach the garden in approximately two days. Gunz wasn’t looking forward to two more days in saddle, but it was better than the original ten days that Lily projected in the beginning of their journey.
By the time they walked outside, Siv and Mariella were saddled and ready to ride. A bag with food and water was attached to Siv’s saddle. Yaginya bid her farewell, wishing them good luck with their mission and they took off in a speedy gallop.
All day they rode through the endless forest. The ancient woods, a mix of leafy trees and pine trees, surrounded them in every direction. At first, a hardly visible trail was slithering through the thorny thickets and bushes, but after a few hours it disappeared completely.
Yaroslav kept the Darling Lily device out and she was giving the directions to their horses, commanding them where to go in her usual bossy manner better than any modern GPS. Nevertheless, it slowed them down significantly and Lily kept complaining that even magical horses couldn’t keep up with their schedules and deadlines, comparing them to the construction companies who never delivered anything on time. Siv didn’t bother replying to her. Breathing hard, he focused on the road ahead or rather the absence thereof.
Another hour passed and the sun disappeared completely, leaving them in the eerie darkness of the forest. Darling Lily activated the flashlight on her device, but it wasn’t nearly bright enough to illuminate the path ahead. The horses slowed down to a soft run, carefully choosing their every step. Gunz conjured five light orbs, sending them flying up and ahead of them.
After a while, Yaroslav sped up and came closer to Gunz. Pointing up, he asked, “Did you amplify your light orb spell?”
Gunz glanced up and his mouth fell open. Seemingly, his light spell was magnified significantly without him doing anything and now they were riding surrounded by hundreds of tiny lights. He could still recognize five of his original light orbs as they were shimmering with a brilliant blue glow.
The new orbs gleamed with a soft green light, fading in and out of darkness, flickering brighter before subsiding into a hardly visible green glow. He stared mesmerized at the new lights, his mind enthralled by their nonstop motion and their hypnotic radiance.
A loud buzzing brought him out of his trance, and he looked in the direction of the sound. The Darling Lily device was vibrating, emitting a bright red light and Lily was screaming the same word over and over, at the top of her speakers. “STOP!”
“Siv! Stop!” yelled Gunz, pulling on the reins.
The stallion neighed, shaking his head, and skidded to a screeching halt. Mariella stopped right next to him, neighing softly. Gunz dismounted. As he hit the ground, he realized that the land under his feet wasn’t firm and stable. Carefully he walked around the stallion closer to Yaroslav, who was observing his surroundings with wide-open eyes.
“Do you see anything?” asked Gunz in a soft whisper. But as softly as he spoke, a light night breeze picked up his words, bouncing them from tree to tree in a hollow echo.
Yaroslav shook his head, frowning. Gunz sharpened his eyes but at first couldn’t see anything either. He probed the area with his magical sight and drew in a short breath. They were surrounded by a powerful magical energy. While the energy signature felt familiar, he failed to identify it with any magical creature he knew.
“There is someone here,” he said quietly. “Someone is messing with us…”
As an answer to his words, the forest exploded in a discord of sounds. Somewhere ahead of them, a bubble blew up with a loud pop and a cold wind picked up, playing with the tree branches, their rustling fusing into a continuous background noise. Farther, somewhere in the depth of the woods, an even beat of something sounding like a woodsman’s axe broke through the overall pandemonium.
The green lights shone brighter, their movement becoming faster and more chaotic. Siv neighed nervously, ready to take off, but Gunz grabbed his bridle, stopping him. He petted the stallion’s mane, raking his fingers through it.
“Hush, Siv,” he whispered, looking around. “You and Mariella can’t move. You understand me? Do you feel how soft the ground under us is? We are surrounded by a marshland and I don’t know where the deadly swamp starts. So, stay still and wait until I tell you what to do.”
Gunz found a large branch under his feet and carefully took a couple of steps forward
, probing the ground with the branch. He took another step and stopped. The branch fell through the thin surface covered with grass and foliage, swallowed by the muddy soil. Dropping the branch, he backed away from the swamp and ran into Yaroslav.
“I don’t understand how it happened,” said the vampire, cleaning his muddy hands. “We’re standing on a small isle of a relatively hard land, surrounded by swamp. How the hell did we get here in the first place?”
“Nothing like this ever happened to me,” said Siv, exchanging a bewildered look with his girlfriend. “I’m good with directions. I swear.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with you, Siv. I can feel the presence of some magical energy,” said Gunz. “It’s oddly familiar, but I just can’t remember what it is.”
He stopped talking, staring into the woods. The wind calmed down a little and most of the sounds slowly melted away. Only the even beat of an axe was loud and clear in the midnight forest.
“What if we go in the direction of that sound?” suggested Siv. “Sounds like an axe. Where there is an axe, usually there is a woodsman. Maybe they can help us find our way back to the road.” At his words, the green lights got agitated, zooming in and out of the darkness, like they were inviting them to proceed.
“We are surrounded by a swamp,” said Yaroslav. “Where exactly do you want to go?”
“We could probe the ground—,” started Siv but suddenly fell silent, staring in the direction of the sound.
Gunz turned around and froze. A few yards away from them, he saw a large deer. The animal was standing motionlessly, staring at them with its round dark eyes. Its head was decorated with large antlers that were glowing with a bright golden light, prominent in the dark forest.
“What the hell?” muttered Gunz.
The deer caught his gaze and nodded at him. Then the animal turned around and took a few steps deeper into the woods. Since Gunz didn’t move, the deer stopped and turned his head as if inviting him to follow.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” said Yaroslav. “I don’t think we should…”
“Agreed,” muttered Gunz, demonstratively folding his arms over his chest to show the deer that he wasn’t going to move.
The deer got upset, shaking its massive glowing antlers and digging the ground with its hoof. The green lights started to spin faster, and the wind gained some strength. Gunz narrowed his eyes, noticing something behind the animal. However, no matter how hard he stared, he couldn’t make out what it was.
“Slavik, do you see a shadow lingering behind that deer?” he asked using their psychic connection.
“Yeah… there is something out there, but even though I have twenty-twenty vision in the dark, I can’t see it clearly…” Yaroslav frowned, squinting his eyes at the dark silhouette behind the animal.
Gunz explored the deer and the shape behind it with his magical sight. Both were glowing with the energy of magic so powerful that he held his breath for a moment.
“Fire Almighty,” he whispered Mishka’s favorite expression. “This thing, whatever it is, is exuding magic. Its magical signature is beyond—”
Gunz stopped talking as a wild thought flashed through his mind, but before he could say anything to Yaroslav, all hell broke loose. The wind picked up with renewed ferocity and he had to brace himself to keep on his feet, covering his eyes with his arms, as a cloud of dry leaves, broken branches and debris rose in the air, swirling around them, hitting them with the full might of the wind.
A piece of branch whistled an inch away from him like a spear, almost catching the side of his face. Through the wild howls of the wind, Gunz heard Yaroslav’s cry of pain and a dull thud a moment later. He snapped around and found Yaroslav sprawled on the ground, a piece of wood stuck in his chest. The vampire was clasping the branch with both hands, blood sipping through his fingers.
Fighting the pressure of the wind, Gunz made it to Yaroslav and kneeled next to him, only one terrifying question on his mind.
“It missed my heart…” He heard Yaroslav’s voice in his head and sighed with relief. He seized the branch and pulled it out in one sharp move. The vampire gasped, dark liquid spilling out of the gaping hole in his chest and dripping down the corner of his mouth. Gunz pressed his hands to the wound to stop the bleeding.
“I think I know what we’re dealing with!” he shouted, forgetting for a moment that they could communicate telepathically.
The forest replied to his words with an outburst of wild laughter. Something clapped right next to him and the soft ground wobbled beneath him. Gunz hopped to his feet, channeling the fire. His body got enfolded in bright flames, illuminating the area.
“Turosik!” he yelled, extending his blazing arm toward the deer. “I know what you are, and you can’t scare me, forest deity!”
The laughter got louder, and the deer rose on its hind legs, its golden antlers shining brighter. The dark shape moved forward and now Gunz could see an old man with a long green beard and hair. He was as tall as the tallest tree and his clothes were covered in dark patches of moss.
“How about me? Are you not afraid of me either, little wizard?” boomed the giant. “I do not appreciate the fire in the midst of my forest.”
“Leshy… Oh, shit,” gasped Yaroslav.
“Leshy?” mumbled Gunz and laughed as Mrak Delar’s words surfaced in his memory. It’s like one friend of yours – who you would do well to remember – said, you’re just a little Fire Gecko… “You were right, you evil bastard, I would do well to remember this friend of mine. And thank you, Aidan, for forcing me to memorize all the summoning runes!”
He strained against the wind and got up, turning to face Turosik and Leshy. Using his fire energy, he drew a complex rune in the air and slammed his palm over it. “Sven!” he roared, his voice carrying far through the forest. “Svyatobor! Get your trickster’s ass down here! Now!”
The air shimmered with green sparks and a giant brown bear with an axe materialized in front of him. The bear roared angrily, but as his furious gaze stopped on Gunz, he stopped roaring and morphed into his human form.
“Zane,” said Svyatobor, his eyebrows rising as he took a step closer to Gunz, “what’s going on here? Why are you in the Land of Dreams?” His eyes fell on Yaroslav who managed to get up to his knees, pressing his hand to the bleeding wound. “And you are here with a vampire… who is not healing. What the hell is going on here?”
“Those two idiots – are they friends of yours?” asked Gunz, shouting over the howls of the wind, ignoring Svyatobor’s questions. “Can you do something about all this mayhem?”
Svyatobor turned toward the deer and Leshy and his large eyes lit up with bright phosphoric light. “Leshy, Turosik!” he roared waving his hand. The winds seized and the noise gradually melted into the soft whispering of the night forest. “Stop what you’re doing at once! These men are my friends. Anything happens to them while they are traveling through the Land of Dreams, and I’ll hold you responsible. Do I make myself clear?”
“Apologies, my lord,” mumbled Leshy, reducing himself to normal human size. He put his hand on the deer’s antlers and both vanished, leaving a trail of green sparks behind.
Svyatobor shook his head and turned back to Gunz. “Okay, Fire Gecko, care to explain why you are here when everyone is worried sick about you back home? And why is this old vamp not healing?”
“It’s a long story, Sven,” said Gunz. “And this old vamp is Yaroslav, Akira’s son.”
“I have time.” Svyatobor shrugged, staring at Yaroslav with interest in his phosphoric eyes.
“But we don’t,” objected Gunz. In a few words, he told Svyatobor the gist of his mission and explained why Yaroslav wasn’t healing.
The god of Nature frowned, carefully observing the bracelets on Gunz’s wrists and the collar on his neck.
Then he sighed and shook his head. “I can’t help you, my friend. It’s my duty to protect the sacred garden from outside intruders. Both the Apple
of Youth and the Water of Life should never end up in the hands of evil. Besides, I’m not the only one who protects the garden. I’m sorry, but your mission is doomed.”
“I understand,” said Gunz, bowing his head. “Then Yaroslav will be dead in a few days and Aidan—”
“Aidan? What about him?” asked Svyatobor, narrowing his eyes.
“Novak and Mrak Delar are holding him, Sven. Didn’t you know? They are holding Aidan hostage, imprisoned by the God’s snare until I come back with the Apple of Youth and the Water of Life.”
“Whoa! Hold it right there,” said Svyatobor, raising his both hands. “Novak and Mrak Delar? What does the Ancient Master have to do with the Head of California House? Something doesn’t sound right.”
“Mrak Delar betrayed us,” growled Gunz, everything inside him twisted with pain and anger. “He sided with Novak. He was the one who captured Aidan.”
“It’s impossible. He would never—”
“Sven! Listen to me!” yelled Gunz, anger boiling up in him, raising the furious flames at the bottom of his eyes. “Mrak Delar is back to his old ways! Novak tortured Aidan. He held him locked up within the God’s snare and Mrak let him do it. He was the one who conjured the God’s snare in the first place. I need you to go back to Florida and tell everything I just told you to Angel and Uri. They must find a way to set Aidan free. In the meantime, I have no choice but to break into the sacred garden and steal that goddamn Apple. I can’t let Yaroslav die.”
“Damnit,” muttered Svyatobor, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Sven, I’m not asking you to help me break into the sacred garden. I understand – you’re bound to protect it,” said Gunz, his anger slowly morphing into despair. “But I am asking you to help Aidan. If I know that Aidan is safe, I’ll be free to deal with Novak.” He threw a quick glance at Yaroslav and added, “Well, almost free.”