As Peppy tried to push the huge creature off him, Patch ran around it, trying to distract it off. The creature, an unintelligent, huge, bull-type creature with three horns, merely glared at her. The creature-a Cabbot-was doing it's own way of marking territory-crushing an animal into pieces as it's territory. A harsh way to die. They had learned about this creature at school, back in Rapids.
Patch got an idea.
"Hoh may kach uuh.." she muttered. Peppy was confused-words weren't needed to cast spells, were they?"
A huge thunderous boom shattered for miles, as a huge clasp of light appeared around Patch. The monster, frightened by the sudden movement, jumped back, lifting it's large weight off of his chest, allowing Peppy to hop up.
The light was a Lightning spell, though it was also usable by those with Light powers. The beast caught on quickly, however, and realizing it was a harmless spell, charges forward, this time charging forward to spear both of the duo with two of the three horns.
Peppy rolled out of the way to trip the Cabbot as Patch also dodged, but it worked very poorly. Peppy's ankle was smashed to the ground by the force of the charge, as he howled in pain. The Cabbot was barely affected.
Quickly standing up, Peppy was incredibly relieved and miraculously lucky to find that his ankle wasn't broken or even sprained.
A creature so large would be impossible to kill, Peppy thought. If they were to tie it to something so large it would hold the powerful beast, it would still take a good day of non-stop spell casting to kill it, and weapons seemed to bounce off it's hide. They needed to distract it-if they could get something else for the Cabbot to mark it's territory on, it would leave them alone.
"Patch!" Peppy called out, and quickly sprawled over to her as she was getting up. "We need another animal."
"W-why?" she shuttered.
"He only wants to kill us to mark his territory, right?"
Patch, keeping an eye on the Cabbot, nodded quickly.
"If he kepts something else to mark it, like, a doll or rabbit, he should simply walk away."
Peppy and Patch broke up the conversation for a second to jump back from the bull's slow second charge, and they moved forward surprisingly casually.
"That's right, Peppy!" she said, "But what else can we use?"
Peppy sighed. "That's the hard part. We have to keep this Cabbot at bay until a rabbit or squirrel hops by."
For the next 3 hours, Patch and Peppy were running around like scared chipmunks, quickly avoiding the bull, waiting. No luck. Patch once suggested they climb a tree, but it would be too slow-the Cabbot would chop them through as they climbed, and even if they did make it, it would bash the tree down.
They also considered running, but where to? A Cabbot could run for days and not get tired, and it had an amazing scent of smell. It was so stupid, it would run for miles and kill the animal, thinking it was still on the same territory as before.
After they were near exausted, Patch got an idea.
"Peppy!!"
Peppy panted for breath, and yelled back, "What?"
Patch parried to the right of the charge-she was getting used to it. "You have Psychic powers, right? Use 'em! Make this Cabbot think we're fellow Cabbots, so it won't harm us, while making that bush appear like a, say, fox."
Patch's idea seemed like a good one. Psycality was of the mind-Peppy could make himself seem like a poor hermit to one person and a wealthy guy to another. But he needed concentration.
"Patch! I need you to distract him!"
Patch nodded. "All right."
"I'm not going to see him coming, so if he runs towards me, warn me."
"Gotcha."
Peppy leaned against a tree, deep in concentration. Patch was a mad scramble, dangerously and suicidally close to the cabbot.
The Cabbot's view changed suddenly. It suddenly stopped, confused, and stared at Patch. Turning it's head, it stared at a thorny rose, and, thinking it was a rabbit, like Peppy planned, bit down on it. It didn't even seem to notice the thorns, and he tore it apart. As the water from the rain of the past few days dripped out, Peppy made it seem like blood.
Patch ran over to Peppy. "It worked!!"
Peppy smiled. "Great, huh?"
The Cabbot glared at Peppy and Patch, and without hesitated, charged.
"What the-" Patch and Peppy dodged, just on time.
"What's wrong??" Patch shouted. The Cabbot ignored her, and aimed on Peppy.
Peppy's mouth dropped. "Oh, Gods.."
"What?"
"We're on it's Territory. It wants us off..."
"Okay... back off slowly." Patch slowly ran to Peppy's side, as they slowly backed off. After 10 minutes of walking backwards, the Cabbot still followed.
Patch bit her lip, and whispered, "Why is it still following us?? We're off it's Territory."
Peppy sighed. "Just as I thought."
"What?"
"He's in love with you, and he wants me to fight over you."
Patch would have giggled if she didn't know Peppy was in serious trouble. "Then reverse the spell. Make us seem like humans."
Peppy shook his head. "I can't stop to do that, or he'll spear me."
"I see... what if I pretend to like you, so he knows he can't win me over you?"
"Then he'll kill us both."
Patch bit her lip. "Man.."
"I have a plan." Peppy grinned. "Trust me."
Peppy's face turned serious, and he glared at the Cabbot. Backing up to near a tree, Peppy took one step to the right, turned right so his left side faced the Cabbot, and did his best growling impression. Instantly raged, the Cabbot charged in his direction-and smashed into the tree, getting its horns caught.
Patch blinked. "What happened?"
"He thought he would spear right into my side. Since he thinks I'm on all fours, he saw my side right next to the tree, and tried to bash into it, not knowing that he was going to hit air."
Patch laughed. "Great, Peppy! Nice idea!"
Peppy closed his eyes, and within 5 seconds, they appeared back to humans in the Cabbot's eyes.
After a minute of tension, the Cabbot withdrew its head, and, staring at Peppy and Patch, growled and walked away.
Patch jumped into Peppy's arms, and they hugged in relief. Even a kiss or two was thrown.
"I was so sure we'd die!!!" Patch shrieked into Peppy's chest.
Peppy chuckled. "Easy now, Patch, Moses can't see this."
"I see. Wait'll everyone hears about this!!"
Patch ran full speed, ignoring the firewood they dropped near the Cabbot's territory, towards the tent. Peppy was surprised at how much energy she still had. Sighing, he grabbed a handful of wood off the ground that the Cabbot's bash knocked loose, just barely enough for dinner, and walked towards the tent.
For the first time in months, Rapids had a chance. After a week of the villagers crashing through the army, the Californians were finally forced to retreat 50 yards from the village to avoid the objects hurled at them from the rooftops. Although many of the villagers had died, the army was down to half of what it was.
Davias was sitting in his tent at night, when the battle of the day was over, head in his hands, pondering an idea. He could not use much magic, as the lives of his soldiers was at risk. Also, no one magic could kill in one hit, not even the magic fire spell of Volcano. Defense to magic was much different in Alaska-if a real volcano where to flood a village with lava, everyone would die. But if a volcano of magic were to sprout up, houses would be burned, and people would be injured, but death would not be common.
A rustle at the tent's flap snapped Davias up.
"Yes, Ragnor, what is it?" He grunted, annoyed.
"S-sir.." Ragnor peeped a head into the tent. "Reinforcements have come."
Davias lept up with a huge bound.
"What is this..?"
Ragnor nodded. "300 soldiers have come to our aid. The master told them by telling the general there-you know Dixon-that we needed them. They have just arrived, and the master dropped the shield long enough for them to come."
Davias's eyes sparkled. "Wonderful." He gasped, smiling. "Wonderful."
The sun was shining in the beautiful blue sky, and for the first time since they had left Rapids, the adventurers felt truly alive. The trees where parted enough so that it was a delicious warmth of light, and the party went at about double their usual speed.
Q has decided to assist the crew to the cross, since his intelligence was uncanny, and the more, the merrier. He brought his own food-something Peppy thought suspicious-and was welcomed, for he was a great storyteller.
Q was the caboose of the pack. Soon, he thought, and subconsciously grinned. Soon, we'll be there. But how long will it be..?
"Hey, Peppy..?"
Peppy was second to last, along with Moses, and he slowed down a notch so Q could be even in speed with him.
"Yup? What do you need, Q?"
Q cleared his throat. "How long do you expect it will be before we arrive at the cross?"
Peppy scratched his chin. "Half a month, maybe? We're very close."
"Great," Q said, grinning. Peppy stared at him for a moment, and caught up to Moses.
BM sat in the white bed, clutching the bandage on the left side of his neck. AnJa, village nurse, stepped into the room, and when she saw BM, said, "No! Don't touch the bandage. Your neck is way too messed up to even move."
BM grumbled. "My friends are out there dying by the handful, and I can only sit here, waiting."
AnJa sat down on the foot of the bed. "You've killed over a hundred soldiers on your own! One out of every ten soldiers has been killed by you!"
BM had to think about that. One out of every ten..
"Not anymore."
AnJa and BM cranked their next to the adjacent bed. Korts, injured in a battle, lay facing the wall. "They've called for reinforcements. Half of the village is devastated, and a lot of people have died all because of the extra 300 soldiers."
BM fell back into the bed.
"Reinforcements?!" AnJa gasped. "If they keep this up, I'm going to have to go out there and fight!"
Everyone was too worried to laugh.
AnJa sighed. "Don't worry. If what Korts tells us is true, we will be saved by-"
Her sentence was never finished. A figure dived into the room, but made no movements. Instead, he just said, "This is great!" he laughed, glaring around. "An entire building filled with helpless villagers. I'm gonna get a promotion for this!"
BM recognized his face, for he had heard Davias call to the man many times.
"Ragnor…"
Ragnor became solemn. "BM. You, my enemy, are a good soldier. I can't see what would put you in a hospital, but now that you're here, I should make the most of what I can. I'd like to avenge all those I know whom you've killed."
BM lept out of bed, too outraged to notice the pain the sword-mark on his neck made. Grabbing the sword-he had never let it leave his side, even when he came cluttering into the hospital, bleeding freely-he had used since the soldiers attacked, he held it up.
"You've killed a great amount of my friends, too. They'd not rest well until they new your rotted corpse was dried up of every bit of blood your body ever possessed." It was not the best insult, but it seemed to have an affect on Ragnor. Saying nothing, Ragnor just raised his sword, and charged at BM.
Ragnor arrived at his destination in less than 2 seconds, for the room was small, but the sword sliced air. AnJa had the sense to roll to the other side of the bed, to hide in the corner. As BM and Ragnor sliced at each other, blocking, dodging, and attacking, she could do nothing. Minutes passed slowly.
BM ducked a blow, and realized that the wounded were in trouble in the room. He had only one choice-to get Ragnor out. Backing up, he swept out of the room, and outside.
AnJa's mouth dropped. "What the-BM! You coward!!" She ran out of the room, straight after BM, Ragnor panting for breath, and ran outside the room to the outside.
BM knew that Ragnor had too much pride to stop the battle for even a second. He knew that Ragnor would not attack the wounded, also in the fact that BM could sneak up behind Ragnor while he was attacking an injured soldier. All it would take is one unsuspected hurl of the sword.
The fight resumed outside, and AnJa was barely able to roll out of the way before sword met sword.
BM dodged to the right, the left, and then rolled right under Ragnor, sending him tripping to the floor. He was the first to hop up.
BM knew the battle was unmatched. Ragnor had armor, and BM did not, as they had to take it off. One blow would mean death for BM, while only a well aimed slice to the head could defeat Ragnor quickest.
AnJa knew to stay out of it. Had she crept behind Ragnor, there was a chance the soldier would leap out of the way right in time for BM himself to stab her, followed closely by Ragnor's slice to finish BM off. Also, her magic would affect BM too, because Ragnor and BM were so close. Her Refresh magic could only affect somebody not moving, so it was useless to try to recover BM.
BM got a stab, but it bounced right off of Ragnor's armor. Barely dodging to the right, BM swung around, grabbed Ragnor's legs, and the two toppled over.
Ragnor tried to land on top of BM but ended up crushing himself against the ground. BM had him pinned down, and Ragnor was helpless to spear BM. BM knew he could not do anything to Ragnor from this position, but his plan was to at least keep Ragnor in a position that he'd lose a lot of energy to struggle out of.
Ragnor put up a fight, and got an idea. Ragnor turned to the right as much as he could, which knocked BM off balance. Ragnor got one hand free, and punched barely squarely in the neck.
BM's vision flashed, as he yelped in pain. Stumbling back, he was having difficulties breathing and finally collapsed on the floor. AnJa was too shocked to get up, and by the time she realized what happened, it was too late. Ragnor stood over BM, grinning.
"This is it." Was all he uttered.
"RAGNOR!"
Ragnor lowered his sword. "Sophia?"
Sophia ran up to Ragnor, as if not noticing AnJa and BM. AnJa lept over to BM's side, and began to heal him.
Ragnor looked into his love's eyes. "Sophia.. I…"
AnJa looked around. Ragnor was not talking to anyone.
Sophia said, "Ragnor, you look tired. Are you okay?"
Korts stood standing, leaning against the building, grinning.
AnJa mouthed the words, What are you doing?
Korts spoke loudly, "It's a Psychic spell."
AnJa mouthed, But you don't know Psychic spells.
Korts smiled. "You can talk, AnJa. He's forgotten us. I've used a Nature spell to stimulate his love for her, and a Psychic spell to create a hallucination of her. He's in a new world now."
"I don't understand."
Korts sighed, and smiled. "I've had the same abilities as my wife all along. I possess all 13 magics, but I never knew I did until now."
"Korts.."
Korts grinned. "It's kind of hard to explain… my family tree."
"I think," AnJa said. "Weird. So you and Peppy are, like, distant relatives?"
"Correct."
"How do you know?"
Korts grinned. "I possess these powers. I just.. know."
"Why don't you kill Ragnor now?"
Korts shrugged. "As soon as the victim is even touched, the spell breaks loose."
Sophia and Ragnor were whispering sweet nothings to each other, engulfed in the other's eyes. AnJa was confused and even a little amused to see Ragnor hugged nothing.
Korts grunted all of a sudden. "Can't.. concentrate.. you have to hurry up."
AnJa said, "BM? Can you fight?"
BM struggled up. "Yes.. I can."
AnJa backed up. BM kicked his legs up, tripping Ragnor to the ground. Instantly, Ragnor's hallucination was gone, and he realized where he was.
"What the-" he barked, grabbing his sword. BM was already up, but his blow to Ragnor's leg was dodged, as Ragnor hopped up. BM jumped back, twirled forward, tackling Ragnor to the ground, and quickly rolled up. This time, Ragnor didn't have enough time to get up. He was dead before he even tried.
BM grinned, and sheathed his sword. "Too easy. He was too prepared to fight with swords, so my trips and rolls were completely unexpected.
Korts smiled. "Good battle, BM. Good battle."
BM grinned, and suddenly became aware of the state he was in, and dropped unconscious to the floor.
"Two more days.. two more days.."
Cinder was mumbling to himself the countdown. Finally, after months of traveling, they were only about 30 miles from their destination. This greatly improved the morale of the travelers, especially Peppy, who tended to have a less hectic job than the others. Moses's writing career tended to involve long walks through the forest for inspiration, and strangely enough, they improved her to peak physical condition. Q was still traveling, and Peppy was becoming less suspicious of him every day. Q and Peppy actually had a surprisingly amount in common. Both enjoyed the art of literature, the simple state of being in a beautiful forest, animals, and simply the taste of life. In fact, Peppy had almost made a friend out of Q. Still, Peppy couldn't help but wonder what Q was even doing here.
"Peppy?"
Patch's tiny voice was a little bit of a stir from the near-silence of only the soft squishing of mud on their shoes and the breathing emerging from their throats.
"Yes, Patch?"
"What do you think everyone back home is doing? Do you think they're alright?"
Peppy paused for a moment. "Yes, they have to be alright. It wouldn't be fair to drag us all this way just for us to come back to see a village in pieces."
"I guess… but I'm scared. What about Korts? He's so old.. he'd be an easy target."
"Patch.. don't think things like that. Try to stay positive."
"But… we'll have to travel all the way back home.."
"I've got a plan. Don't worry."
Patch was about to say more, but a quick wink by Peppy made her decide that perhaps silence was most golden at this point.
A thunderous boom rumbled the ground, making most of the more shaky of the party jump.
Lightning!
Black clouds seemed to appear from nowhere. Rain poured instantly, and not a light rain. Patch gasped as her head was sploshed down messily from the weight of the rain.
"Ugh!!!" Moses groaned. "I thought we were done with rain for at least until we got the cross."
V bowed her head slowly. "I sense magic."
One of the first things V had said since Q came.
"I think she's right," Peppy backed up. "Do you see? Over, across the horizon?"
Moses shook her head. "Too many trees."
V and Peppy were the tallest of the band, so V said, "Well, it's barely visible over that tree over there." She pointed at a tree a few yards away. "The sun is shining bright and clear in that area."
"Whatever." Cinder interrupted. "We need to set up camp. It's getting so cold.."
"He's right, guys." said a drenched Patch. Let's get up the tent and retire for the night. It was getting dark anyway."
Peppy frowned, but reluctantly agreed.
2 hours later, everyone in the large tent was fast asleep. Peppy and V slept upright in chairs, while the others had sleeping bags or merely blankets. The rain continued, but the tent stayed upright.
Peppy's thoughts were mixed. He had a strange dream. In the dream, he was traveling in the sky upon a light beam of virtue. Upon arriving at a large t-shaped structure, the beam disintegrated, dropping Peppy into the forest 400 feet below. As he fell, he saw no longer a ray of light, but rather, the sky, 10 seconds before clear and bright, dark and dreary.
He woke up in a sweat and a gasp.
Cinder stirred slightly, but other than that, his sudden awakening seemed to not affect anyone. Wiping his brow clear from sweat, he put his head back, taking controlled breaths. What did the dream mean?
He had no time to even put any thought into it before a spear came flying through the side of the tent with a loud fwoosh sound, and landed not 2 inches away from a quickly awakening Patch.
"What the-" Moses jumped up in a hurry. Only Peppy was awake at the point.
In a loud voice, Moses said, "What happened? Who's out there?"
Peppy got up from the chair, and swept down, grabbing his sword. He kicked Cinder gently in the side, hoping to wake him up, but Cinder remained asleep. He wondered why no more weapons came through. Peppy was too scared to peek out the tent.
"Peppy.." Moses whispered. "No one's waking up."
"Magic.." Peppy muttered. "I should've known this storm was all a thing of magic."
Peppy took a breath, and cut a small hole into the side of the tent. He peeked out into the rain. Three figures stood in the shadows, arguing something. Two of the figures were brawny, muscular, and huge. The other seemed small, very unfit for fighting, but wise. One of the muscular things held an axe in his hand, and the other was unarmed.
"You fool!" the small one said. "Why did you throw your spear through the tent? You need that spear to fight!! Idiot.."
"Sorry." The unarmed large giant said, quite unintelligently, and Peppy recognized the voice most likely only for an ogre. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Peppy realized the other was an elf-a mythical creature only in fairy tales back in Rapids. They exist!
"Now, stay quiet, you oaf. We're going to sneak into the tent. I've casted a spell-they should stay asleep for the next 30 minutes."
Peppy wondered why neither he nor Moses was affected.
"Why should I stay quiet if they can't hear us?" The armed one said.
The elf looked very angered. "Because not all spells work on all organisms, fool! One may be awake. Let's do this as quickly as possible. And remember, do not kill the professor named Quantum! Let him live! If you kill him, so help me, I will.."
Peppy clutched his sword. Moses whispered, "What's wrong?"
Peppy replied, "Grab your dagger, Moses. They're blood-thirsty."
Moses made a small peep of fear, and grabbed her dagger.
"The others will stay asleep. It's a spell. Hide here."
Peppy motioned quickly to the flap of the tent. He hid on the right side of the tent, Moses on the left. Peppy knew that ogres were incredibly stupid-they would lack the intelligence necessary to realize that a hole cut in the side of the tent would be more of a surprise to any who resisted the magic than simply entering through the entrance. Sure enough, the unarmed ogre came barging through the tent, hunched over to even stand up, and he was slew before he even realized they were awake. He tumbled down to the ground, causing a rumble. A curse came from the outside, and Peppy jumped up as his back got burned, realizing the magician was burning the tent. The other ogre didn't wait for Moses and Peppy to tumble out from the smoke. Instead he ran sweeping his axe at the tent. Moses made a quick duck and step back from the entrance, and Peppy made a roll (which ended up in his crashing straight into V. Still, she did not awaken). Moses recovered first, and with a clean movement, made a swift dive for the ogre's leg and stabbed. Blood poured onto her face, and this mixed with dirt when the ogre was tackled to the ground. Moses herself was strong, but it was mostly the shock that sent the ogre to the ground-he was used to his victims being too scared to move. The magician began mumbling a spell, but Peppy was quicker. Muttering a quick sentence, the tree directly behind the elf directed it's branch to hit the elf in the head, sending him down to the ground. Peppy smiled at the common nature spell. He proceeded to do a quick body slam onto the ogre, knocking the wind out of both Peppy and the ogre, as Moses backed off. The ogre was strong, but he was slow, and Peppy, clutching his stomach from the force of his own body slam, cut the ogre clear through his lung. The elf got up, growled, and, immersed in rage, charged at Peppy, wielding a simple staff as a weapon. Moses was ready for his. She dived into his way, tripping him, and stabbed him in the back. Instead of leaving a corpse like the ogres did, the elf simply faded away. Instantly, the rain stopped, and Q, Patch, V, and Cinder woke up. Patch screamed as her eyes opened to see the face of a dead ogre.
Peppy picked Moses off the ground. "Are you all right, love?"
She smiled. "All right? Heck, that was easy!" she chuckled. "But thanks. I couldn't have done it along."
"Don't mention it." And the two stepped over the carcass of the ogre to explain to the rest of the band what had happened. As he did, Q seemed to get very disturbed, as if he had known the elf and the band. But nobody seemed to notice.
"I see it!!!!"
V's voice shrieked over a mile long radius.
"Shh! Someone might hear you!" Cinder scolded.
V was in the tallest tree in the area so as to see over all the other trees in the forest. "I see the mountain Peppy described! He said it should be right in front of it?"
Moses nodded. "Actually, there's a little section cut off, and that's the cave, but yes, about. How far is it?"
V smiled. "A day's walk, no more."
"Great! Peppy'll be glad when he gets back."
Peppy was about a mile away, collecting firewood. He despised it, and hoped another cabbot wouldn't show up. The wood near the trail tended to be soggy and not very good, but off the trail where no human had been before was nice and fresh wood.
It had gotten colder, and venus was almost upon them. Peppy had a plan for getting back, and he kept it a secret from the rest until the Cross of Alida was obtained. Smiling to himself, he bent down to pick up a piece of wood.
And look up into the face of a valkyrie pointing a crossbow at him.
"Don't move!" she commanded. Peppy dropped the wood and held his hands up.
"Are you Peppy?" she demanded.
Peppy was left with a choice. Supposing she was hired by the enemy, and she was out to find Peppy, would his telling her preceed his death? But, then again, who would be stupid enough to walk up to the enemy and ask his name? Perhaps Korts's wife, Apache, had something to do with this. Peppy felt the valkyrie not a threat, and nodded his head. "Yes, I am Peppy."
The valkyrie blinked. "Didn't even have to use a spell of truth!" she was about to say more, but stopped. A gleam in her eye, and she, with lightning quick speed, aimed her crossbow at Peppy's heart. Peppy dodged quickly, barely quick enough to avoid getting a shoulder plowed through. She agilily spun another bolt into her crossbow and took aim again. Peppy lept out of his stance and tackled her to the ground. The crossbolt hit a tree.
He smacked her in the face a few times. Though Peppy was not overly strong, he overpowered this valkyrie. He knew that, like elves, valkyries tended to be wise and swift, but not strong. Quickly pulling out a dagger, he stabbed her in the side and lept up before she perhaps casted a self-sacrificing spell before she died. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and the eyelids closed.
Peppy grinned. That was perhaps the easiest battle he would ever have to face. He pulled his dagger out of her side, and started picking up the firewood she made him drop. He stopped when he heard quiet chanting behind him. He spun around to see the valkyrie up, the wound completely disappeared, arms waved around in a spell. Before he could react, he was off the ground, floating, and unable to move.
He grimaced. A nature spell. He was not floating, but rather, the air was carrying him. She tried to pull out a bolt for her crossbow, but realized the crossbow was broken when she dropped it when Peppy tackled her. She shrugged, and said, "Well, I suppose a long, painful death is more suitable." She waved her arms, and Peppy began to follow her, struggling to make the air let go. After an hour's walk, she came to the end of a cliff.
She laughed. "Hopefully the drop won't be too painful. I wouldn't want you to die before you starve to death." She motioned her arms off the cliff, and Peppy was hurled off.
Smacking against the side, he yelped with pain each time a loose rock or branch. He grabbed desperately to grab onto one of these branches, but she was spinning around too fast.
Then he stopped.
He opened an eye. That death didn't seem to be that painful..
Then he realized he was breathing.
And facing the sky and the top of a large cliff.
Did he just survive a 700 foot long drop?
He was floating down gently.
He then hit the ground, but very lightly. He lept up, and looked around.
An old man was looking at him. "How do you do?"
Peppy hurridly said, "Are you the one who saved me?"
He nodded. "Yes, I suppose."
"T-thank you!"
"Come, it is much too cold outside to stand out here talking. Follow me to my house."
10 minutes later, they were at a house. It could probably be better described as an advanced hut, for it had a straw roof and bricks making the size of about one room. It looked cozy. The man took a step inside, and Peppy slowly followed.
"Have a seat." The man went to a small rocking chair near the fire, which somehow was lit. Peppy looked down at a table to his right, made of well-crafted wood, and took a chair. He sat across from the man.
"So, tell me, friend, what's your name?"
The old man scratched his chin. "Well, my real name is Vance.. but people call me Van."
"Okay, so, Van… my name is-"
"I know your name, Peppy."
Peppy blinked. "How did you-"
"What, did you think it a coincidence that I was there at that exact time to save you?"
"Well, I.. umm.."
"No, I hail from California. I'm Apache's brother."
Peppy nodded, not noticing that this man somehow knew that Peppy knew Apache. "I see." That's when it sunk in. "You're the master's brother, too!"
Van nodded, smiling. "You've got it. I've got even better magic than my brother. Apache and I always kept in touch by telepathy. When she told of you, I knew you were the one chosen to stop my brother."
"I see. Well, I do have one question. How is Apache young enough to marry Korts, and I'm assuming she's told you of him, and yet, you seem old enough to be her grandfather?" Peppy instantly regretted it, for he did not want to seem insulted. Vance took no note.
"Ah. It's a gender thing, really. Females of the family line die looking about 35. The men grow up just like people not of the bloodline for reasons I don't know why."
Peppy put this into consideration. "Do you have any other siblings?"
Vance grinned. "Yes, one more. I believe you know him."
Peppy waited for a few seconds, waiting for Vance to tell him who. When Vance remained silent, Peppy hesitated, and cautiously said, "Who?"
Vance grinned. "Korts."
Peppy blinked. "That's a surprise."
Vance laughed, a deep-throated loud laugh, not full of humor but partially. "Yes, yes.."
"So.. does.. Korts have these.. powers?"
Vance nodded enthusiastically. "My father… the master-"
"Who? Master?"
Vance said, "Patience, you'll know who he is soon enough. Anyway, my father brought Korts here many years ago."
"Why?"
Vance grinned. "Very, very tricky. First of all, the master is the person leading the entire rebellion on your town. He traveled all through the world looking for the book.."
"The…"
Vance nodded. "Yes. The Book of Legends."
Peppy rubbed his forehead. This was getting to be a bit much. "W-why?"
"Don't you know of it's power?"
Peppy shrugged nonchalantly. "Apache mentioned it in her letter. Something about zombies. I can't really remember."
Vance frowned. "Exactly. If he puts his hands upon the Book of Toria… everything living.. his. The trees, humans, animals…"
Peppy jumped up. "What am I standing around here for, then?? I've got to get the Cross of Alida and go back to save my town!!"
Vance slowly got up, too. "This will not be easy, Peppy. You believe the Cross unguarded?"
Peppy blinked. "Well, I.. umm.."
Vance shook his head. "I believe you-and only you-will be the one to save the village. But don't underestimate your friends, Peppy. Without your friends, I will be the only one who does believe in you."
Peppy nodded. "How do we get back to my camp?"
Vance grinned. "Simple."
A dark aura surrounded Peppy, who could not see a thing. Two seconds later, it was gone, and Peppy could see his friends in the distance.
"What the-"
Vance laughed. "You think an old man living in a shack does nothing but read and make food with magic? I practice it."
"W…what type is that?"
Vance shrugged. "It's Dark. We went to a place between time and place, and since that is considered an evil place.."
Peppy scratched his head. "These arts are lost on me."
Vance put his hand on Peppy's shoulder. "You'll understand sooner or later."
Peppy tried to say goodbye, but already, Vance was covered in darkness and gone.
Weird, Peppy thought. Simply weird. How could Vance ha-
"Peppy!!"
Cinder's voice broke Peppy's concentration. "Did you bring back the lumber?"
Peppy blinked, and cursed mildly. He knew he forgot something.
Cinder shrugged. "'sallright. We got good news!"
Cinder half dragged Peppy back to the camping site. Nobody seemed to notice that Peppy was empty handed."
"Pep!" Patch said, smiling. "We're only a days walk away from the cave!"
Peppy grinned. "Wow, I had no clue we were so close… but let's camp here for the night."
V blinked. "No! We're too close!"
Moses said, "And it's not even the afternoon yet."
Peppy grinned. "I've got quite a story to tell."
(
geocities.com/timessquare/arena) (
geocities.com/timessquare)