Authors: Daniel Arenson
"The poor thing," she said. "He's so tired."
"He is
not
tired," Jamie said. She marched up to the sleeping dragon and glared down at him. "He is lazy, and cranky, and couldn't care less if Madrila is attacking our lands."
The little old dragon grumbled in his sleep. "Damn elf kids with their swords and walking and stinky forests...." His voice faded into a snore like a saw.
Jamie shook him, but he would not wake. She sighed.
"Might as well have some lunch," she said.
She walked to a fallen log on the roadside, sat down, and rummaged through her pack. She pulled out apples, cheese, bread, a skin of ale, and dry fish wrapped in leather. The elflings carried berries, mushrooms, roots, and nuts in their packs. They arranged the food on a flat boulder and shared a lunch.
As she ate, Jamie thought about her fellow Bullies. Did they enjoy the luxury of a good lunch too? Or were they being attacked, imprisoned... or killed? Worry gnawed on her, and the food seemed tasteless. And what of Burrfield? Much of the town hated her now, but she still had friends there: Chloe, serving girl at the Porcupine's Quills; the two Davids, cranky old men who'd play backgammon with her in the park; little stable boy Mike, who'd always had a crush on her. They had not joined the angry mobs. They were still her friends.
And I still have to save them.
She was chewing bread crust when she heard voices from around the bend.
"Hey Gus,
grunt grunt
, you think we'll find them Bullies here
grunt snort
?"
"
Grunt!
They'd have to be the dumbest heroes in the world to travel on the road
snort snort
. Me, I'd hide in the forest."
"You hide in the forest whenever Madrila scolds you, Gus."
"
Grunt grunt.
I do not, I just go to...."
The voice died as ten grunters walked around the bend. They wore patches of armor over their warty flesh, and they carried swords.
Armor and weapons from Fort Rosethorn,
Jamie saw; she recognized the thorny roses engraved upon them. The grunters froze on the road, snorted, and gaped at Jamie, the elflings, and the sleeping Grumbledook.
"It's the Bullies!" one grunter said. "And one of them's turned into a
dragon
!"
The grunters all raised their swords, bared their fangs, and roared.
"Attack!" they cried and ran forward, kicking up dry leaves.
Jamie snarled, drew her sword, and ran to meet them.
Two grunters swung blades at her. Jamie raised her shield, blocking one blade; the blow chipped her shield and sent pain up her arm. She swung Moonclaw, parrying the second sword. Sparks flew.
A third grunter raised his sword above Jamie. It snarled and drool dripped down its fangs. Noelyn's bowstring thrummed. Her arrow whistled and slammed into the grunter, who pitched forward. Jamie leaped back, spinning her shield and sword. She parried two more grunter attacks, thrust her blade, and stabbed one in the stomach.
"What the—" Grumbledook said and raised his head. "I'm trying to take a nap here! Damn kids." He pulled his wings over his head and resumed snoring.
"Grumbledook, you useless old plonker!" Jamie shouted. "Wake up and fight!"
Three grunters attacked her. She parried one blade, blocked one with her shield, and the third hit her breastplate. Pain thudded through her chest. She swung her sword and cut a grunter's leg. Black blood spurted. Three more grunters approached her, snarling.
Silver flashed beside her. Ellywyn leaped, landed by Jamie, and swung her dagger. She cut one grunter's arm, then stabbed another's chest. The elfling's red ponytail swung madly, her green eyes flashed, and her freckled face blazed with fury. Her sun-shaped goldencharm burned like a real sun.
"I fight with you, Jamie!" she cried. A grunter slashed her hip, tearing her tunic and shedding blood. She screamed but kept fighting.
"Ellywyn!" Jamie said. "You're hurt."
The sight of Ellywyn's blood distracted her for only an instant, but it was long enough. A grunter slashed his sword. Jamie parried, diverting the bulk of the attack, but the blade still sliced her arm. Blood dripped. Jamie snarled and swung her blade, cutting the grunter down. Her arm blazed.
She looked around the battle. Noelyn was still firing arrows, her eyes narrowed and her hair billowing. Rowyn was shooting lightning from his wand, knocking down grunters. He too suffered a wound; the side of his tunic was torn and stained with blood. Grumbledook kept snoring.
"Grumbledook, wake up, you pillock!" Jamie shouted.
Rowyn's lightning knocked down another grunter. Only one remained alive. He snarled and brandished his sword. Jamie ran toward him, knocked his sword aside with her shield, and stabbed his neck. The grunter fell, and his blood spilled around Jamie's boots.
She stood over the body, panting and bloody, and looked around her. The grunters lay dead on the road. Both Rowyn and Ellywyn bled, but still stood, eyes flashing.
"That showed em," Ellywyn said.
Jamie approached her and examined her wound. It was a deep cut.
"This will need stitches," she said.
She turned to Rowyn next. Grunter claws had slashed his side along the ribs, but bandages and spirits would do the trick here. Neev was usually the healer among the Bullies, but Jamie had learned some things from him, and carried the right supplies in her pack. But before she would tend to the elflings....
She stomped up to Grumbledook and kicked him.
"Wake up," she said in disgust.
He opened an eye and glared at her. "Go away, elf. I'm napping."
"I'm not an elf, and you're not a dragon, based on what I've seen." She kicked him again. "What kind of dragon sleeps during a fight? You said you'd help us!"
Grumbledook spat, coughed, and struggled to his feet. Dry leaves filled his white beard. "I said that if you gave me a growth potion, I'd help you. No growth potion yet? No help yet."
Jamie gave him her best glower, a glower that she thought could wilt flowers and kill butterflies. Grumbledook only glared back, chin thrust out, teeth thrusting up from his underbite. Finally Jamie groaned and turned away.
"Rowyn, Ellywyn, come here," she said. "I've got bandages and healing herbs in my pack. Let me take care of those wounds. Noelyn, keep an arrow nocked. You watch the road in case more grunters approach."
Soon they continued walking down the road—Ellywyn limping, Rowyn wincing, and Grumbledook coughing. Jamie and Noelyn walked ahead, weapons held before them.
Jamie turned toward the elfling archer. "You fought well today," she said. "One of your arrows saved my life. You are a great warrior." She turned to look at Ellywyn and Rowyn. "You two fought just as bravely. I'm honored to fight at your side, my friends."
Grumbledook bowed his head. "Thank you, Jamie."
She glared at him. "Not you."
They walked for several moments in silence. A cloud of sparrows flew overhead, chirping, and the trees rustled. Fall leaves glided. Grasshoppers and caterpillars covered the dirt road and filled the bushes alongside it. Jamie spotted an apple tree and they filled their packs with the fruit. She knew this place; she remembered walking here with the Bullies last year.
Dry Bones's tower is near.
Soon, around a curve in the road, she saw the tower. She gulped.
"Evil still clings to this place," she whispered.
It was a crumbling stone tower, round and mossy, rising from burnt earth. In this place, Dry Bones had imprisoned Scruff and Cobweb. In this place, Jamie had fought and killed grobblers. And in this place, Romy had once drunk a growth potion... a potion which, if more existed, could save Burrfield. She stood and stared, not daring to step any closer. Wind whispered and rustled dry leaves around her boots. The trees swayed, the clouds moved, and the tower seemed to tilt.
The elflings came to stand beside her.
"Does anyone live here?" Noelyn asked. She aimed an arrow at the tower, as if waiting for enemies to appear.
Jamie narrowed her eyes and stared. A raven landed on the tower and cawed. A stray cat wandered around its doorway. Dry leaves covered the ground, undisturbed, and cobwebs covered the door.
"This tower is abandoned," she said. "I bet nobody's lived here since we killed Dry Bones. Come on, let's go."
She walked toward the tower, boots crunching leaves and twigs. The elflings walked beside her, silent, while Grumbledook hobbled with mutters and coughs. When she reached the tower, she found the door still splintered, and the ash of old fire still stained the bricks.
"The potions were on the ground floor," she said. "Hundreds of them covered the shelves. Follow me."
She stepped into the shadowy tower.
Sniffs rose ahead in the darkness.
Jamie gasped, cursed, and drew her sword.
"Dear God," she said and felt the blood drain from her face. Behind her, the elflings screamed.
* * * * *
"Ouch! Stop that!"
Scruff turned his head and glared. The spiderlings behind him glared back. Beautiful young women with purple skin, silver hair, and mocking smiles, they poked him again with spears.
"Move!" one said.
"Keep climbing the Stairway to Heaven," said another, "or we'll poke you full of holes." She jabbed him with her spear.
Scruff moaned. "Why can't we just ride the dragonflies instead?"
The spiderlings jabbed him again. "You walk! Walk up the stairs, human!"
Scruff tried to growl, but sneezed instead; the spiderlings wore silkflowers petals in their hair. He took some satisfaction seeing his sneeze cover them. He wanted to attack them too, to beat those pretty, purple faces. But ropes bound his wrists behind his back and hobbled his legs.
"No sneezing!" one said. She stabbed him with her spear, nicking his skin. "Keep walking!"
Grumbling through his sneezes, Scruff kept hobbling up the craggy staircase. Cobweb, Gossamer, and Webdew hobbled at his sides, also bound in ropes. More spiderlings were poking them with spears too, goading them up the stairs.
"Darn it!" Scruff shouted when a spear stabbed him so hard, it must have drawn blood. He strained at his ropes, but couldn't free his arms. The spiderlings laughed behind him.
Dejected, Scruff looked around him. He had already climbed hundreds of steps. The forest spread below, growing more distant with every step. The great, stone staircase rose into sky, taller even than the tree stump he'd been imprisoned on. When Scruff looked up, he saw the staircase end in clouds. Through the clouds, he glimpsed the boulders crowning the staircase. He gulped.
Those boulders were prisoners once too,
he thought.
And soon we'll join them.
He climbed for hours, it seemed. The spears kept goading him, tearing holes into his cloak. He wanted to hold Cobweb, to kiss her, to protect her, but couldn't. The spiderlings surrounded them.
"Stay strong, Cobweb," he said to her. "I'm here with you."
She looked at him, so beautiful and sad. "I wove you, Scwuff."
The spiderlings behind them laughed.
"We wove you, Scwuff!" they all said, imitating Cobweb and tittering. They jabbed her with their spears, drawing beads of blood. Rage filled Scruff. He howled and tried to leap onto the spiderlings, but wobbled. The ropes tugged his legs, keeping them only a foot apart. He nearly fell off the staircase, but the spiderlings grabbed him. Their spears poked him, and one spear lashed his cheek. He tasted blood.
"Walk!" the spiderlings demanded. "Walk or you die now."
Finally, after two thousands steps, they crested the Stairway to Heaven. Wind blew and Scruff shuddered. The forest seemed to spin below him.
The staircase ended at a platform. Dozens of boulders rose here, tall and thin. Golden runes glowed upon them. Scruff realized that the boulders had the vague shapes of women, as if sculptors had begun carving statues, then abandoned their work after only brief chiselling.
Were these boulders once spiderlings, or were they humans like me?
Scruff wondered.
Do they still remember walking and breathing? Can they see and hear us now?
A tall spiderling stood between the boulders, clad in white robes. A halo of fireflies encircled her head. Her skin was indigo, darker and bluer than the skin of young spiderlings. Her eyes were azure and too large, her face ageless.
An elder,
Scruff knew.
A leader of the clan.
The elder raised her hands above her head. Her bracelets of white stones chinked. She raised her deep, sonorous voice; it seemed to shake the clouds.
"Today we gather atop the Stairway to Heaven to put the
traitors
on trial!"
The spiderling guards cheered.
"That's not fair!" Scruff said. "How do you know we're traitors if the trial hasn't begun yet?"
The spiderling elder stared at him, and Scruff gulped. Her eyes were twice the usual size and deep as night. Stars swirled inside them. Scruff could not speak or breathe. This was an ancient creature of great power, he realized.
"The trial begins," she said.
The spiderling guards goaded the prisoners close together. Cobweb pressed against Scruff's right arm. Gossamer and Webdew huddled to his left. The guards surrounded them, smirking and leaning on their spears. All around, the boulders rose, runes glowing upon them.
The elder stood before them, glowing and stern. She stared at Scruff. Her eyes bore into him. Scruff wanted to turn away, to look at anything else, but could not. Those eyes held him; it seemed ages before they left him. He trembled and breathed in deep, shaky breaths.
The elder stared at Cobweb next, a stare that lasted an eternity. She trembled under that gaze; Scruff ached to see it. And yet his wife stared back, chin raised, trembling but defiant.
I'm proud of you, Cobweb,
Scruff thought.
Finally the eyes stared at Gossamer and Webdew. Both trembled and whimpered, and Webdew's eyes filled with tears. After ages of staring, the turns of seasons and the passing of histories, the elder stared ahead into the horizon.