(Previous)
I was not the only one who backed away in haste as the ground in front of us began to crumble and then to roil as though it had been boiling. Rocks came to the surface and curled back under. A startled badger made a quick appearance and disappeared again. The area grew wider and wilder --
And then a huge head popped into view.
I was so surprised to see Bog Bob that I was almost too late to stop the others from bringing up their rifles and prepared to shoot --
"No!" I shouted. Maybe I put a touch of magic in the word without meaning to. At any rate, no one fired. "This is Bog Bob! He's a friend."
"Friend," Lt. Marsh repeated as though he didn't understand the word.
I didn't have time to explain. Bog Bob shook some dirt from his head -- splattering all of us -- and smiled brightly. "Good to find you safe, Mark. We have come to help."
"We?" I said, worried for new reasons.
Others appeared, climbing up out of the hole that Bog Bob had created. Lady and some of her people, Ellin -- Beth and some of her followers, including the rabbit thing I'd been calling Harvey. Beth crossed to me and bowed her head.
"I have much to make amends for," she said and turned away again.
"Why --" I started, fear in my voice, though not for me. "Why are you here? It's not safe --"
"It wasn't safe for you to help us," Bog Bob replied. He stayed in his hole, his face peering intently at me. "We came to help you, in turn, Mark."
"Besides, we don't want our enemies to win here," Beth offered. I tried not to remember her betrayal, but I thought she was sincere in her regrets. "If you do not win, we all lose."
Job, the dinosaur, was not with them. I wasn't certain if I was glad or not. I would have liked to see him again, but the battlefield was no place for such a tempting target.
"Where is Edmond!" Bog Bob suddenly shouted. He looked around, his head turning quickly and throwing more dirt. "What has happened --"
"Edmond has gone to find the others. I got separated from Maggie, Davis, and Lord Snow."
"Ah," Bog Bob said and sounded calmer. "Good. He is a brave cat."
"He is brave for any type of creature," I added. I wanted him back. Instead, I turned to the humans who were watching all the strange creatures that had arrived with some bewilderment and a lot of worry. They did not, at least, look like weres. "Lt. Marsh, you and your men should go now. Really you should. This is not the kind of battle that you should try to fight, and since I have allies with magic and we have a chance to win now."
"No," Lt. Marsh said with a shake of his head. "No, I don't think it would be smart for us to go. There are still other troubles here, you know. Not the least of them is that if you ran into other soldiers, they'd shoot without a second thought. You need us to try and keep other people from doing crazy things."
I wasn't sure they would have much luck with that goal, but I had no time to argue the point. I could feel trouble coming our way. So did the others. "Magic coming, and none of it good," I warned. "Keep behind us!"
Lt. Marsh appeared to think that an excellent idea, especially since we could see the magic coming their way -- a dark, ground-hugging cloud that swept over the land and settled before them, the mist disappearing. I was not surprised to see Darman, Portilia, and even Alsia appear.
They, however, were more than a little shocked by my allies. Bog Bob, who had been a rather calm, quiet, happy big thing suddenly gave a shout of anger and launched himself out of the ground fully at them. They scattered, and he tunneled straight back into the ground before they could react. The rest of us took advantage of that moment, though. I'd had no time to organize anything, but as soon as I charged towards the three enemies, my allies did the same. I headed for Darman, and I hoped the others were wise enough to spread out and try to stop Portilia and Alsia.
Darman recovered enough to cast magic at me, but I easily deflected the fire up and away from everyone. Gunfire got my attention for a moment, and I was glad to see the soldiers had joined our side. Dangerous, but I thought they were careful. Darman didn't like the odds. He cast magic again, but this time it formed another cloud, drew his two allies to him, and they rushed back away.
The battle was not over. A wave of weres appeared, rushing out of the trees. I didn't have enough power to hold them back for long. The others pulled back, fighting any of the creatures who came their way, but I soon realized the weres had no real interest in them. They were coming for me, but they knew -- or Darman who directed them did -- knew that as long as they attacked my allies, they would sap my strength. I had to do my best to protect them, no matter what it cost me.
Glad Edmond wasn't with me. That was my last clear thought as I felt my magic falter and in that heartbeat, dozens of weres turned on me. I saw only a rush of long teeth and claws, a wall of them, all coming at me. I used what magic I could to hold them back, and someone shot two of them -- but there were too many. I went down under the press of their bodies as claws dug into my skin....
To be continued....
1000 Words
4 comments:
Hello, Lazette. I don't know if you remember me but my name is Brett Weinrich and I was a customer at Worlds Beyond back in the day. My friend Randy Dillon and I were freshmen at Heelan and we used to run down there all the time after school.
I also don't know if you got my email i sent to longlines. com. If so, it is not my intent to pester you. If not, hello again!
I avidly hope we can re-connect and stay in touch. My email is ravishy99@gmail.com. My twitter handle is @Honoreye69 so you can get a feel for what i'm about. Hope to hear from you soon.
Would U please help a plethora of King Size, wildchild, rawkuss poetry/wordz which are lookin 4 a home in thy novelty?? Thx. Whew. They're pretty insane. They're bereft of reason. Oi! Blimey! They're bloody PINK spiders!!
Gotta lotta gobba shrewd, surreal, supersonic, sardonic satires, sassy N savvy elixers N electronic elegance ( ...and palpable nuance) on our YOUTHwitheTRUTH blogs. Wannum? Have'm. N'joym. Gettm outta my hair!!!
How mucha wanna betcha our sugar-high-mojo, antioxident, hot-shot, full-throttle, pleasure-beyond-measure, fuse-blowin-exploits R a copious madhouse of one lavish bookay D.O.A.? Our proFUSE NRGod who leads U.S. to explosive fairy-tales in the 'one-stop-shop' symphony Upstairs? God's the BigDude, the Owner of ElysianFields, the Grand Prize, the Austere Overdrive, NoPurchaseNecessary: our bombastic tenaCITY on a Hill which'll plant the Seeds 4u2 grow-up to new N greater heights!! Mama mia! Thatsa good pasta!!
CAUTION: our 22ish, avant-guard, accurately-atrocious, offa-the-reservation-like-Jimmy-Hoffa, metal breadcrumms R sooo out-of-order, toots, they're an intimate wealth of bottomless sophistication. And dats da lethal fak, Jak. Go ahead. Sue me. Yawn. But, yet, here's the perennial KOO D'TAH: who else has actually SEEN the Great Beyond in spirit & lived to tella youse bout the bionic, bloated, brevity-like-earth we're living on?? Yes, earthling, I had an NDE, almost salivating4salvation. So gain altitude, never attitude: death has no intrinsick favorites.
If Mr. abSUREditty's an ultra-great-reward, and not everyone enters, Q: why is it an excruciating deluge of epic-.357-caliber where the quality's a limitless bulldozer plowin, pushin-your-power-cord with eternal goodies? A: the Prize-A+-TheEnd just gives U.S. moe-curley-graphix 2 VitSee: an explosion-of-extravagance which few R asking 4 anymore! Grrr. They're too concerned withe grotesque sanity of ambivilant piss-ants which swiftly crawl like lemmings to their scorecard, effusive destruction. C'est la guerre.
THANK GAWWWD!!! the Don has the ebullient BAWLS!!! to do the Manifest Destiny!!! To lead U.S. forward to the White House Upstairs with his SQUARES!!!
So, break-free, earthling; be like a contraversial outgrowth of incredibly-intoxicating-effusiveness in your zeitgeist to give the ultimate stunning, avant-guard, bareknuckle potency: Wiseabove. Wanna join this useFULL idiot Upstairs 4 the most zany, kooky, X-acto-knife antidotes? Extremely exquisite, explicit endorphins in abundance? Puh-lenty of pulverizingly-tantalizing psychopathic psychosomatics with eXtras? i2i-kick-velocity's-ass-ultra-maximum-rocket-fuel-party-hardy at my pad ya ever encountered without d'New Joisey accent 4 an eternal slew of precarious, magnanimous & primeval absurdities indelibly etched in the granite corridors of eternity with a total-barrage-of-melt-in-thy-mouth 'depth-of-undenial'???
Make Your Choice -SAW
...cuzz nobody gitts outta here alive, earthling.
Hello, Brett! Yes, I remember you from the store! Russ and I were just talking about all the people we used to see there.
My email has been wonky lately so I didn't even see a post had gotten here. The best way to keep in touch with me now is on FB -- https://www.facebook.com/lazette.gifford or my author page there -- https://www.facebook.com/Lazette-Gifford-Author-352371884942342/
I miss the store sometimes. But not the work and expenses of it. Still, it was a lot of fun. I haven't collected comics in years now, but I still have most of my collection from the store days. I enjoy reading them still.
Kold -- I am afraid there is nothing I can do to help you with your work. This is far outside anything I work with. Good luck, though.
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