Lark's End

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  Jerry grabbed her arm. “Not yet she hasn’t.”

  Tahmi knew what he meant. Hundreds of war pigs marched across the golden bridge, some with arrows and axes. They still chanted what she feared most.

  Kill her. Kill her.

  “They want me,” she cried. “You guys get out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving without you!” Andy wiped his face. “Let’s go.”

  She stood, frozen. “I can’t run anymore from what I am.”

  TERI

  More and more war pigs gathered around the crew. Teri could hear the others talk of leaving—abandoning her. It hurt deep inside. A place she’d never experienced pain before except once. The day the old man—Jerry’s uncle—stole her favorite person from her.

  She saved our lives. We can’t leave her.

  So the child was loyal. Maybe not special, but loyalty was an admirable trait. That’s what Teri decided to focus on.

  She met each war pigs’ gaze. She held her head high and did not smile. “I’d run if I were you.” Her fingers began to straighten out. “You’ve upset me.”

  The horned war pig gasped. He knew what would happen to them all in this goo if the princess extended her hands all the way. “Retreat,” he squealed, motioning for his monsters to follow him out of harm’s way.

  “Run!” The war pigs squealed. “Run!” They dropped their spears and tore off across the bridge. “Retreat to the pines!”

  Tahmi looked all around her. The war pigs swarmed like ants from an attack on their nest. She grabbed her stomach. The pains were sharper and penetrating more and more of her. She felt them everywhere now. What was going on inside her body?

  “Sandy, assist please.” Teri motioned for the horse to cover her naked body.

  Andy nudged Tahmi, his eyes glued elsewhere. “Can you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Emit acid.”

  “I don’t think so. Can you?”

  “I’m not like you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re from this freaky place, not me.”

  “It’s hard to fight with you when you’re not looking at me.” Tahmi covered Andy’s eyes with her hand. “Stop staring at the princess.”

  He smiled, prying her hand from his face. “What? Gonna burn me with your acidic fingers?”

  Teri rolled her eyes and opened the little brown satchel hanging over Sandy. Andy was a pest. She pulled out a thin, blue shirt made of silk and a black silk skirt. A smile spread across her face.

  “Tahmi,” she called. Her eyes danced. “See, you were wrong again. I didn’t get my dress dirty.”

  Tahmi dropped her head and took a deep breath. How embarrassing.

  “Enough fooling around; I have more important things to do with my time than babysit.” Teri said. She stepped onto the golden blocks. She turned to the others. “Well?”

  Andy took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

  Trusty and Tahmi waited together while the others crossed the bridge.

  “What are you waiting for?” Jerry questioned. He ran back, grabbing her by the hand. “Don’t you need to find Lark?”

  “It’s too dangerous. Besides, you’ve taken us as far as you promised.”

  “What’d you think it was going to be, a camping trip? And, I’ve changed my mind. There’s no way I’m turning back now.”

  She smiled at him. His green eyes calmed her somehow. Back home, people said they could just tell what she felt. Could he?

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Tahmi and Jerry walked ahead of Trusty. She put her hands on the iron railing. It was slimy. There was some sort of mucus on it. Was it from the war pigs?

  They stood inches from the center. The weeping willow moved gracefully in the breeze almost welcoming them. Too bad she didn’t have these sorts of trees back home.

  Home.

  She’d nearly forgotten. How could she? There was something strange in the air, a beautiful scent that when you inhaled it—you forgot things.

  Jerry and Tahmi looked up into its branches. Leaves rustled above them.

  Something wet hit Jerry in the neck. It burned his flesh. “What’s on me?” He smacked the back of his neck frantically turning in circles. “It burns!”

  Tahmi rubbed away the slime, the same slime that she found on the iron, off him. Immediately, the stuff ate a hole in her blue shirt. An ugly, creepy shadow shifted with the wind. “Go forward.” Trusty nudged her in the back. “This feels wrong.”

  She took a step.

  Jerry placed his arm around her waist. “You’re going to be all right. Look how many people you have here to protect you.”

  “Easy for you to say.” She grinned, “You’re not the one they want to kill.”

  “Hurry up!” Andy shouted from the edge of the bridge. “This place freaks me out.”

  “Yeah, I guess I’m just a little paranoid—”

  Leaves fell around them like rain. It grew dark and the branches above them creaked.

  “What’s up there?”

  “Just go!” Trusty neighed, pushing them forward. Jerry and Tahmi ran, knocking into each other.

  More slime dripped from the tree. Something was up there.

  “Get up, get up!”

  Tahmi and Jerry scrambled to their feet. Their skin had its own heartbeat. Someone or something was watching them. Tahmi could feel it.

  “Move it,” Trusty shoved them. Jerry shook, unable to move. His ears pounded like drums, “Now, son, go!”

  Tahmi looked up into the swaying branches. A dark, creeping shadow inched closer, hoping from branch to branch. “It’s—it’s a war pig!”

  “Fools!”

  The large, fat war pig dropped from the tree. Tahmi cringed as his mutilated feet flew down towards them. His toes curled, dry skin cracked his heels and mucus oozed from the crevices. He opened his stale mouth reeking of odor and squealed.

  Trusty collapsed onto the bridge. The sound was crippling.

  There was nothing he could do as the war pig landed on his back. His infected nails dug deep into him.

  “What’s happening?”

  Tahmi looked up. “No!” She screamed. The war pig had a machete raised above his head. He wouldn’t kill Trusty, would he? “Stop!”

  The monster narrowed its beady red eyes at her and emitted an even higher pitched squeal numbing them.

  Jerry and Tahmi dropped to the ground. The monster grew louder as he and horse thrashed about. Trusty forced himself up. The pig held on dripping the acidic slime from its mouth, burning the horse’s flesh. They inched closer and closer to the iron railing.

  “Don’t fall,” Tahmi tried to say but she couldn’t hear her own voice. It was as if a siren were going off inside her brain.

  Trusty reared up with all his might. The monster lost his grip and flailed through the air. He narrowed his eyes and with all his might, kicked the airborne war pig in the stomach. He smacked against the weeping willow.

  The smelly creature slid down the trunk and groaned.

  “Let’s finish this.” Trusty reared up, ready to beat the monster until all the life in him had vanished.

  “Stop!” Tahmi stood with her hands raised. “Don’t kill him. Then you’ll be no better than them.”

  “Figures,” Trusty said. He looked directly at the ordinary human girl. She was right. “He didn’t burn your skin or scratch your back.”

  “No, you’re right.” She patted him on his side. “Thank you.”

  Trusty’s eyes softened. Now he knew what made her special.

  Jerry stamped ahead of them tight lipped. “You,” he pointed at Teri, “why didn’t you help us? You could’ve easily gotten that war pig before it hurt my friend.”

  Teri rolled her eyes, “I told Trusty he wasn’t qualified to go with us. I’m not going to babysit him. If he can’t save himself—.”

  Andy frowned, “I thought you were special.”

  Teri glanced at the freckled
nuisance. “I am special.”

  “Maybe you got powers or whatever, but it means nothing.”

  “Look, little dot boy,” her chest heaved up and down, “I’m the most powerful in all of Gadaie! What are you?”

  “A friend.” Andy’s eyes watered. “But not yours.”

  Teri watched him run over to his friends. His words stung, hitting a new place in her heart that was once empty; a friend? Sure, she had Sandy but she knew that was only by royal jurisdiction. She’d leave without a second thought, especially if she found out she was Trusty’s wife.

  Trusty limped forward with Tahmi by his side. “I was gonna help,” Jerry mumbled. “But that sound did something strange to me. I never felt that way before. I’m sorry, Trusty.”

  “It’s not your fault. I should’ve paid better attention.” Trusty shook his head and brushed past them. His eyes met Sandy’s. “I’m a stable hand—not a war horse, like Sandy.”

  “Oh, Trusty.” Sandy’s eyes moistened. “You were excellent. I couldn’t have done any better given the circumstances.”

  “Thank you.” His head bowed low. “That means a lot to me. I hold you high above all others of your caliber.”

  The war horse blinked. Highly regarded? But wasn’t she downgraded to being the princess’ pet?

  Her heart fluttered.

  Princess Teri took deep breaths. The stupid boy refused to look at her. Isn’t that what she’d wanted all along? Somehow his lack of gawking disappointed her now. The stable hand had really been torn up. His back bled and she could see where the war pig’s saliva had burned his skin.

  “Jerry.” Teri pointed. “On Sandy’s back satchel, there is a special ointment. It’s in a round ceramic pot with emeralds on the handle.”

  “Okay, what’re you telling me this for?”

  “I want you to apply it to your farm animal. Those burns will get worse and cause his skin to decay and then rot. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

  “What about my neck? Should I apply it there, too?”

  “Yes, Jerry, you should.”

  The princess turned her back to them all. Why had she come? Her life had been so much simpler up in her Silver Castle with her doting mom. Queen Maryanne ordered her to stay. But she wouldn’t listen. That’s my sister. Something strange trickled down her cheek. She took her finger and wiped away an unusual liquid. She’d seen the same liquid seep from the freckled boy’s eyes. Her heart hurt; and why? Because she’d somehow convinced herself that things would just slide right into place when she met her sister. But the time apart from each other, their lives on two different worlds and Tahmi’s lack of royal understanding forced an enormous barrier in between them.

  “Where to next?” Tahmi tapped her sister on the shoulder. The princess did not move. It was as if she were stone—a sculpture standing at the edge of the most beautiful bridge ever created. She was once a little girl with fight in her. Age, reality and loss of hope took that fight straight out of her. Now, she was as hardened as her exterior. “Teri?”

  “We can’t travel at night. It’s not safe. Let’s seek shelter.”

  Tahmi looked up into the sunless sky. Had there been a sun at all? “Okay, where do you think we should go?”

  “Follow me,” Teri said. She stepped off the bridge. Her feet sunk into mud. “Tell the others to stay close. There’re much worse things past the bridge that even I can’t save us from.”

  CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

  Donna and Peg stood at the front door with wide eyes. Their children were missing. Peg shook hysterically. She grabbed onto the ripped door frame, steadying herself. She hadn’t been in this much pain since the day Andy was born.

  “Want to come in?”

  “Yes, I need a drink.”

  “Coffee, water, tea?”

  “Tequila, Donna, hello.”

  “I’ve got some locked up, I’ll be right back. Sit in Tahmi’s chair. As you know, Charles has a thing about people sitting in his.”

  “He’s a weird guy, did I ever tell you that?” Peg sat and covered her face in her arms. “But he’s a loyal one.”

  Donna placed her hand on her friend’s back. Peg sobbed. “Why?” She screamed, “He was always such a good kid.”

  “He wouldn’t run away,” Donna whispered. Peg couldn’t hear her.

  Charles sat next to Peg placing two glasses in front of them. “I know I’m a little different.” He spoke softly, “But, I still love you and your family very much.”

  “I’m sorry, Charles.” Peg cried, “It just hurts to think about what might’ve happened to him.”

  He poured her glass to the top with Tequila, then his. “I know I’m worried about my little girl as well. She was just here. Maybe I should’ve listened to her when she told me about this strange pink cloud. Maybe it was code for something else.”

  “Like what?” Peg looked up, eyes red.

  “Help me?”

  Donna bit her lip. This was the second person she’d lost by not listening to them. This was her fault—as usual.

  THE MUDDY PALACE REALM

  Tahmi and Andy stuck close to Trusty’s side. Their feet sunk into thick, smelly mud. It had a rotten smell to it as if it’d been there on the ground for years.

  Everywhere she looked she saw nothing but mud. The trees no longer possessed leaves or scurrying animals. Instead the rotted, hollowed out carcasses held mud on their branches. The mountain ahead of them must’ve at one time been glorious with a fifty-foot waterfall that fell below into a pool of water with fish and the cave behind that water was certainly a home to some creature—a bear—lion or maybe a tiger. But now there was just a pool of mud and the only thing that slipped down the side of the mountain was mud.

  Teri took a deep breath. “We’ll stay in that cave for the night.”

  “Are you crazy?” Jerry exclaimed. “We should trek a little longer and see if we can find something that’s not so out in the open.”

  “Do you know what else is out there?”

  “No, but there’s bound to be other places we could go.”

  “As we argue, the light dims around us. We’ll sleep here and start early. I don’t know where I’m going, do you?”

  Jerry lowered his head. “No, I guess I don’t.”

  “My mother told me that if I came I may not make it home,” Teri whispered. “So, if I were you I’d take your horse and go while you still have a chance. Take the freckled thing too while you’re at it.”

  Jerry stomped ahead of the princess. His chest caved in and out. Maybe he should go back. What was he doing anyway? What good could he do?

  “Andy.” Tahmi’s eyes watered. “I feel sick.”

  Her best friend looked up. “You need to breathe.” Andy held her by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. “Don’t get upset. You know what happens.”

  Tahmi took deep breaths, emptying her mind. “I need to rest, I think.” She held her stomach. The pains were worse. They came in spurts, climbing up into her throat, stabbing her all over.

  Trusty motioned for her to climb onto his back. She shook her head. “You’re hurt, too. We’ve all got this guck all over us. We need to just rest, that’s all.”

  Teri watched, inches from the cave’s entrance. Sandy stood next to her. “Princess, they may not be special like you and I, but they have something that we don’t.”

  “And what’s that, Sandy?”

  “Family.”

  Teri glanced at the cave’s entrance. There, Jerry stood, alone with his back turned to them. She swallowed. Why hadn’t he run away like she’d told him?

  THE CAVE

  Tahmi and Andy stomped through the mud. Her toes squished in between the thick slush. She cringed. How could Jerry do it? He paced back and forth by the entrance of the cave.

  “I hate your sister,” Andy said. “I thought she was beautiful but now that I’ve gotten to know her, I think she’s a little evil.”

  “No,” Tahmi argued. “She’s not. If Teri
was evil she wouldn’t have saved us back there. We didn’t give her what she wanted and yet still she risked her life for ours.”

  “Nothing can hurt her.”

  “Everyone has something that hurts them. Let’s hope we don’t find hers.”

  “I’d like to find it.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can use it against her.”

  “And you say she’s evil.”

  Trusty nudged the boy in his bottom, “She could’ve let my skin rot off, but she didn’t.”

  Andy stood in the mud alone. He watched the others disappear inside the cave entrance. He’d never felt so empty in all his life.

  “Are you going to stand here all day?”

  He twirled around. “What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me!”

  Teri smiled. “I’m not evil—yet, anyway. I’ve still got a few good years left in me before I become completely selfish.”

  Andy grinned. “You’ve got like sonar ears.”

  “If I knew what that meant, I might respond.”

  “Do you ever just relax?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just, ya know, let your hair down.”

  “My hair is down, thank you.”

  “It’s a figure of speech, geez, what planet—never mind; forget I asked.”

  Teri stepped forward. “I have a kingdom to watch, a mother who won’t leave her throne room or make a single decision, and now a sister who wants to take my subjects into a dangerous area that I may or may not be able to protect them from. How relaxed would you be? I’m responsible for their safety. If they don’t come home in one piece who do you think my subjects will blame? Have you ever stopped to think about that, hmm, freckled one?”

  “I do have a name.”

  “Well, you haven’t earned enough of my respect to be called by a name.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, smacking him in the face.

  He grinned. “Maybe you should try to get to know your subjects a little better—make them your friends so that they won’t resist you so much and look at you as their enemy.”

  “Excuse me?” Her eyes darkened. He froze. Tahmi’s did the same when she was upset. Only his best friend’s eyes turned a little red.