Authors: Daniel Arenson
"This is our town!" Jamie shouted and swung her sword, slicing a grunter. Ellywyn shouted at her side, lashing her dagger. Monsters huddled around them, drool dripping, fangs glinting. Their beady red eyes blazed. Two lashed spears at her. Jamie deflected one blow with her shield, and the second slammed into her breastplate. She grunted with pain.
"Jamie!" Ellywyn cried.
Jamie spun toward her and felt the blood leave her face.
"Ellywyn!"
A spear had pierced the elfling's thigh. Blood poured. Ellywyn fell, eyes wide with horror. The light of her goldencharm, a sun with seven rays, dimmed. The grunter above her still clutched the spear, grinning savagely, its teeth like daggers.
Jamie screamed. She leaped, spun, and lashed her blade. Moonclaw sliced the grunter's chest; it howled and dropped its spear. Jamie snarled and thrust her sword, and the creature fell dead.
"Jamie... oh Jamie," Ellywyn whispered. She lay on the ground, dirt in her orange hair. She held the spear in her thigh with white, trembling fingers.
Jamie pulled Ellywyn to her feet. "I'm getting you out of here!"
The elfling shivered and limped. The spear fell from her leg with a spurt of blood. Jamie pulled her away from the battlefield into a shadowy alley. She placed her down on cobblestones. The elfling trembled.
"I can still fight," she said, clutching her silver dagger. "Just give me a moment."
Jamie rummaged through her pack, found a bandage, and pressed it against Ellywyn's thigh.
"Hold this tight!" she said. "Don't let more blood esc—"
A roar sounded behind them. Jamie spun around and cursed.
A monster stood at the opening of the alley.
She had never seen anything like it. It stood twice her height, nearly ten feet tall. Spotted fur covered its body, like the fur of a leopard. It had long, black claws and serrated teeth like bread knives. It roared so loudly, the alley shook.
Jamie raised her sword—Moonclaw, her father's sword.
"Be with me, Father," she whispered.
She ran toward the creature, sword swinging.
* * * * *
"Run, hoggies!" Romy cried, pointing ahead. "Run into the gates!"
The hellhogs raced forward, snorting and wagging their tails. Smoke rose from their nostrils. The walls of Burrfield loomed above them, bristling with monsters. Arrows flew.
"Now for wrath, now for ruin!" Romy shouted. She flew above the hell horde, arrows whistling around her. "Last march of the hellhogs!"
The hogs ran, a river of red fur, white horns, and enraged squeals. They slammed against the city gates, piled up, and began gnawing. Chips of wood flew.
"Good hoggies!" Romy said. "Goo—oh!
An arrow whizzed by so close, it scratched her cheek.
"OUCH!" she said. She stared and saw creatures on the walls. They were shooting arrows at the hellhogs and at the swooping spiderlings. Romy shook her fist at them. "You are very rude!"
She flapped her wings, shot forward, and swooped toward them. An arrow flew, and she ducked. It whistled over her head. She reached the wall and thrust her pitchfork. The prongs drove into the creature who shot her. It screamed and pitched forward, tugging on the pitchfork and nearly pulling it from her grasp.
Romy landed on the parapets, replacing the archer she slew. She looked around. More creatures manned the parapets around her, green and warty beasts who grunted in a chorus.
"Oh hai, wood elves!" she said and wagged her tail. "I didn't expect to see you guys here. I thought monsters would be manning the walls."
Neev's voice rose from clouds of dust and hellhog fur below. "Those aren't wood elves, Romy! They're grunters! For heaven's sake."
She blinked and noticed that the green, grunting creatures were pointing arrows at her. Their eyes were red and mean.
"Eep!" she said, flapped her wings, and flew up. The arrows flew under her feet, and the grunters ended up shooting one another. They grunted, pitched forward, and fell off the wall.
Romy looked below her. The hellhogs had torn a hole through the gates and were climbing in. More grunters were pouring pots of boiling oil onto the invaders. The hellhogs, however, were used to swimming in lava; a little boiling oil only energized them. They wagged their tails and grunted with joy. Annie and Mandy were riding two hellhogs through the broken gates.
Romy was about to fly into Burrfield when shrieks tore the air. She looked up. Flying monkeys were swooping toward her, baring their fangs. Their bat wings flapped.
"Ahh!" she screamed. "Flying monkeys! Who'd have thought a witch would have flying monkeys!"
One monkey reached her and scratched her arm. Pain blazed. Romy squealed and stabbed it with her pitchfork. A second monkey bit her leg. She kicked it off. More came flying toward her, screeching and thumping their chests.
"Neev!" Romy shouted. "Do you have any bananas down there?"
The young wizard was climbing through the hole in the gates. "Romy, come on! Fly over the wall—we go to Fort Rosethorn!"
She nodded. "Right."
Lashing her pitchfork, she drove through the crowd of monkeys. They scratched at her, screeching. The spiderlings flew around her, shouting battle cries and shooting arrows. Everywhere she looked, she saw flying fur, red eyes, white fangs, whistling arrows, and buzzing dragonfly wings.
Cobweb flew by her on a dragonfly, shooting an arrow.
"C-c-come on, Womy!" she shouted. "Ovew da wawws!"
"Do you have any bananas?" Romy shouted back.
They flew through crowds of monkeys and arrows, over the city walls... and into Burrfield.
* * * * *
The monster licked its lips with three slobbery tongues, each the width of Jamie's arm. It drooled, soaking its fur.
"I like elflings for breakfast," it hissed. "Stand aside, human. Do not come between me and my meal."
Her heart hammered, but Jamie raised her shield and sword, standing between the monster and Ellywyn. The elfling lay behind her, wounded and moaning. The beast towered over Jamie, twice her height.
"You will not touch her," she said. "Not unless you kill me first."
The monster growled and swiped its claws.
Jamie raised her shield, and the claws slammed into it. Chips of wood showered. Pain ran up Jamie's arm, pounding in her bones.
"I will eat you too, human," the beast said. It swung its claws again. "You are small and sweet as an elfling."
She drove her shield forward. The claws slammed against the wood. The shield cracked, and Jamie cried in pain. The blows felt like a blacksmith swinging a hammer. She thrust her blade, but the monster knocked it aside, as if swatting a fly.
"Die now," it growled, spraying drool. It pounced, maw stretching wide enough to fit Jamie's head.
"Jamie!" Ellywyn cried in fright.
Heart pounding, Jamie leaped aside, swinging her sword. Her blade sliced the monster's chest. Its fur was thick and matted; it adsorbed most of the blow. Her blade only scratched its skin.
The monster laughed. It spun toward her and pounced again.
Jamie raised her shield, and the beast's fangs tore into it. The shield shattered. Splinters flew everywhere, and the monster spat out wood.
Be with me, Father,
Jamie prayed silently.
Be with me, Lenore.
She howled a wordless battle cry. She leaped into the air, raised her blade, and swung it down.
Swing true, Moonclaw.
Her blade dug into the monster's shoulder. Blood soaked its fur, and it howled to the heavens. The alley shook. A window shattered. Jamie thrust her blade, prepared to land the coupe de grace.
But the monster was too quick. It parried the blade with its claws. It swiped its second paw and hit Jamie's breastplate.
White light flooded her. Pain drowned her. She flew and crashed against a wall, cracking it. Before she could even fall to the ground, the monster lashed again, and its claws etched grooves across her breastplate.
"Jamie!" Ellywyn cried, lying wounded below her.
The beast turned toward the elfling, drawn by her voice, and clawed her shoulder. Fresh blood spurted.
Ellywyn screamed and tossed her dagger.
The blade drove into the monster's belly. Blood dripped and the beast roared.
"Be gone!" Jamie cried, swinging her sword. "Away with you!"
The monster howled. It raised its claws to the heavens, and its roar shook the alley. Pushed against the wall, Ellywyn and Jamie swung their blades, holding it back. Fear filled the monster's eyes.
"Away, or we'll cut you again!" Ellywyn cried.
The monster turned its tail, fell to the ground, and began crawling away.
Jamie fell too, panting and shaking. Sweat washed her hair. She wanted to slay the monster, but dared not. She had seen something in its eyes, in the shape of its jaw, the sound of its voice.
It looks too much like Tom the Blacksmith,
she realized, and fear pounded through her.
These monsters are unlike grunters.
She shuddered.
They were townfolk once.
"Jamie!"
Ellywyn crawled toward her, tears in her eyes. Blood stained her leg and shoulder. Jamie crawled toward her, and they embraced on the ground, shaking.
"You're hurt," Ellywyn said.
Jamie gave a weak snort. "It's nothing. But you're a mess, Ellywyn. Damn it, elfling, I only have so many bandages I can spare on you."
Ellywyn laughed weakly, and Jamie laughed too.
"So bandage me up," the elfling said. "This war isn't over. Not until we kill the witch."
Jamie looked out the alley's mouth. The battle still raged in the town; blood, fur, arrows, and blades flew everywhere. Jamie nodded.
"The witch waits in the fort." She took a deep breath. "It's time to kill her."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Monkeying Around
Neev ran through the streets, monsters howling around him. Bats and winged monkeys shrieked above, flying against the spiderlings. Monsters swung blades and hellhogs raced around his legs. Grumbledook was blowing fire somewhere to his right. Everywhere he looked, Neev saw blood, smoke, and red eyes.
His knees shook, and he wanted to run back, to flee Burrfield into the forest. Too many memories stirred among the screams and blood and fire. Through the smoke, he saw his mother's face again.
"Neev!" she cried. "Run, Neev! Run!"
Dry Bones's grobblers clawed her. Their fangs bit. Mother fell, and young Neev—only twelve years old—stared in terror.
He ran that day. He fled the burning house, fled his mother's body and dead, staring eyes. He fled Burrfield itself to delve into the Coven.
For so long I ran,
he thought.
I've been running since that day.
A monster raced toward him, a furry red creature with eight tentacles. Neev shouted a spell, shot a blast of energy, and knocked the monster down.
"Good job, Neev!" Romy shouted beside him. She was busy stabbing her pitchfork at swooping monkeys.
Neev shot lightning, knocking down one of the monkeys. Romy flashed him a grin, and despite himself, Neev smiled back.
This is why I keep fighting,
he realized.
Romy is the fire of my life. I won't run from battle, not when she needs me.
"C-c-come on, Neev!" Cobweb shouted above, diving forward on her dragonfly. "Huwwy up! To da f-f-fowtwess!"
He ran, Romy at his side. He shot spells in every direction, clearing a path. Romy's pitchfork lashed. The hellhogs raced around them, snorting and streaming through the streets in a river of red fur.
Soon Neev saw Fort Rosethorn rising ahead upon a hill. Madrila had burned the roses off the walls. Neev growled; those roses had grown there for centuries. He ran uphill, fists clenched. Ice filled his belly. Arrows whistled above and howls filled the air.
Panting, he reached the hilltop. He stopped outside Fort Rosethorn. Its crumbly walls loomed above him. The fort's doors towered, carved of thick wood banded with iron. Romy ran up beside him, panting. The battle raged below across the town.
Madrila waits behind these doors,
he told himself.
She is a great magic wielder, greater even than Dry Bones.
And I will face her again.
He squared his jaw, fear pounding through him.
"Romy, I...." He gulped, not sure how to proceed.
She looked at him eagerly, waiting. Her lips parted and her eyes shone. What did he want to say?
I love you, Romy? I might die today, Romy? I'm going to kill a witch for you, Romy?
He did not know. Instead he just looked into her eyes and said, "You have monkey fur in your hair."
Disappointment filled her eyes. She looked deflated. As the battle raged below, Romy placed her hands on her hips.
"Is that all, Neev?" she demanded. "We're about to fight the battle of our lives, and that's all you can tell me? 'You have monkey fur in your hair?'" She sniffed and tears filled her eyes.
"Well, I mean...." His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. "I normally like your hair, and... well, I don't want there to be monkey fur in it."
She looked away, sobbing quietly. "Okay, Neev. Okay. I get it." She looked back at him, eyes huge and quivering. "I know how I feel about you, Neev. I tell you all the time. You know how much I love you. How much I worry for you. How much it means to me to fight by your side." She noisily blew her nose into a handkerchief. "We might die today, Neev. We might die defending our home. But I guess all you care about is that I have some fur in my hair."
From the corner of his eye, Neev saw the other Bullies approach. Scruff clubbed three grunters and walked up, hesitant. Cobweb landed her dragonfly and busied herself with her bow and arrows, pretending not to see the argument. Jamie slew a roaming grunter and joined the group, sword bloody.