Guardian of the Moon Pendant (26 page)

Two Màrmann approached me, one with a lazy eye and the other with a mop of gray hair on his head, both staggering forward, trying to size me up before they attacked. I thrust my knife forward three times in succession, trying to ward them off. It didn’t work. Lazy eye inched forward, cocking his head side to side, trying to get a better view of what I was doing with my stolen knife. I kicked my right boot up, doing a high-kick Radio City Rockette’s style, cracking Lazy eye’s jaw open, catapulting him high into the air until he slammed down on his back.

“If you were the Guardian,” purred Lainahwyn engagingly, as I flung my knife out, cutting Mop Head’s right ear off, just a spritz of blood squirted out as it flopped down to the floor, “you would use your powers.”

I spun around, tucking the bone knife into my belt, and then clamping my hands onto the Mop Head’s temples. “Don’t you know?” I remarked, bashing my forehead into his skull, head butting him hard, his body plummeting to the ground. “If I used my powers, it would weaken me!”

I skirted my eyes around the cave. Two more Màrmann limped forward, identical twins, both spitting images of Blane. Man, what a waste of eye candy. But, a girl has to do what a girl has to do, I told myself, and that is to kick some Màrmann butt.

“Yes,” Lainahwyn answered in
a
lightly mocking voice, “it is a win-win situation for me. Would you not agree?”

I quickly crouched onto the icy floor. The two Blane lookalikes advanced, muddling their caked boots straight toward me. My teeth fiddled with a piece of dead skin on my lower lip, and then just at the right time, my right foot swung out in a half circle, sweeping under the two Màrmann’s Frankenstein like feet, cutting them across their knees, knocking them down like bowling pins, falling flat on their butts.

Out of breath, I rose to my feet, taking in a deep sharp breath. Four down, about fifty more to go, I said to myself surveying the throne room, blowing away a few wisps of hair hanging on my sweaty face.

I guess Lainahwyn seemed to have enough of me kicking arse and nodded to, Vyx, still hiding on the sidelines.

Vyx barreled across the room, clamping onto my neck firmly, popping off a button from my sleek shirt, revealing the Moon Pendant underneath. His beady black eyes narrowed in on the dull Moon Pendant, not even a twinkle shimmered in its stones.

So, I lied. It wasn’t the real Moon Pendant.

Sue me!

“It’s a fake!” he hollered over his shoulder to Lainahwyn.

“The child has fooled us!” Lainahwyn erupted, standing on her cloven feet, her eyes ablaze in anger. “No time for the Dragon Scroll. We must stop the Guardian before she finishes her charge.” Her boiling eyes flashed at Vyx. “Take care of her.”

A satisfied grin inched across Vyx’s blotchy red face, my feet still flapping in the air as his fat fingers applied more pressure onto my delicate neck. “My pleasure,” he purred, “My Love.”

Lainahwyn and her army of Màrmann scampered out of her cold lair, off to destroy Anabel and Blane. Inside, I was secretly hoping that I had given them enough time to get passed the Nuckelavee. See, I’m not such a
meany
after all.

Vyx hoisted me above his head. I could see the veins bulging out of his thick neck as he grinned cheekily. He didn’t waste much time in finishing me off for good and bashed my spine against the clammy stone wall. I let out a light squeal, having the wind knocked out of my lungs. Vyx held me there for a moment and then released me, letting my limp body slide down damp wall as he strutted away.

I let out a weak breath, lying on the floor, wishing I hadn’t smoked as many cigarettes in the past. Maybe I’d have a better lung capacity? I lay there wheezing, straining, and gasping for a mouthful of oxygen.

My eyes skidded along the dingy floor, spotting Vyx’s Timberland boots walking toward me. I waited and waited, taking in a labored breath, listening to the
rubber
soles of his boots stomping toward me. I bided my time, and just when he was close enough I swung my leg out, clipping him in the back of his heels, his body cart wheeling through the air like an acrobat, crashing down onto his shoulder.

I let out a soft chuckle. You definitely don’t see that every day.

Vyx scurried to his feet, clenching my shirt, hoisting me up from my collar, his right hand locked around my bruised neck, his fingers crushing against my wind pipe. I gasped for air, flailing my fingers at Vyx’s face, trying to stop him from cutting off my air supply.

“I have,” I let out a faint raspy voice, gulping for air, “what you need.”

“It’s a little too late for bargaining,” he sneered, pinching harder into my neck.

My eyes grew heavy. A cloudy mist of darkness surrounded me as I choked.

Then, it all went black.

Vyx hurled my body across the room, thrashing me down to the ground, his Timberland boots planted firmly on my skull as he crushed the weight of his body into my head.

“This is mine,” Vyx grumbled, snatching out the bone blade from my belt and sliding it back into his boot. He leaned into me, whispering into my ear, “I should’ve delayed my little shove, wench. Then, you wouldn’t ‘
ev
had any time to react and you’d be already dead.”

I could feel Vyx staring down at me, a mischievous smile plastered on his repulsive face.

“This is for kicking me in the balls, wench,” scoffed Vyx, walloping me in gut with the tip of his boot.

I cringed inside, moaning, unable to fight back, just like Fergus taught me.

My blouse billowed up from the kick, exposing my latest tattoo, the markings of the Dragon Scroll, etched into my skin just before I had
hopped
the plane to Scotland.

“So that’s where you hid it,” grunted Vyx, yanking my shirt up, revealing the full picture, his calloused fingers stroking across my left torso, gliding over the strange symbol swirling around a double-winged dragon.

“My Love will be elated,” he said pleased, writing down the spell that would bypass the Moon Pendant’s power and open the MääGord standing stone’s Portal.

Vyx stepped on my head, squishing my cheekbone into the cold stone floor, and gave his last orders before he left.

“Time for dinner boys,” he chortled to the three Màrmann left behind as he stepped off my face and left the cavern.

♦♦♦

Anabel

I cautiously walked down the stony path, curving toward a white sandy beach, spotted with jagged boulders jutting out from the shoreline, bearing toward the Nuckelavee, and heading toward my death.

My head swirled, my whole world had become a big mess. I didn’t have Blane to protect me or to love me anymore, no Edgar, no Izzy, no Granny, not even my mad mother. I had no one to rely on anymore, only myself.

Stay in control, Anabel, I whispered as I wandered into the belly of the beast. The moon laid low along the horizon, it even seemed to skip along the sea, streaking across the orange and pink speckled sky.

My brain ached, wondering why my world was empty, why all the people I thought I loved were estranged to me. The palm of my hands pushed away some prickly bramble as I continued my descent onto the beach.

Maybe Izzy was right? Maybe I do just want to control the Moon Pendant for my own selfish reasons. But, something inside of me stirred, guiding me. I could sense the swirling energy of the Moon Pendant, leading me, driving me to do its will.

My ears perked up, hearing the wind rustling through the coarse beach grass. My heart raced faster. I knew the Nuckelavee was watching me, but from where I did not know.

I remembered when Blane said the Nuckelavee could not cross moving water. My eyes s
kimm
ed the area in the fading sunlight. There was no running water to be found, just the great expanse of the open sea, its rippling waves cresting on the sandy beach.

My heart shuddered inside thinking of Blane. He was so kind and sweet, always by my side. I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. I wondered. When I did have Blane’s love, why did I choose the Moon Pendant’s power over spending the rest of my life with him? My heart sank into my gut, leaving me hollow inside. I shook my head. I guess that wasn’t important anymore either. Blane fell in love with me because I looked like, Rose.

The back of my neck prickled, sending a flood of goose bumps all over my skin. My head shot to the right, knowing the Nuckelavee was stirring nearby in the shadows.

Stay in control, Anabel.

Remember not to use your powers unless you absolutely have to. The Nuckelavee cannot cross running water, I told myself over and over again.

My eyes squinted hard, surveying the steely-gray horizon. In the distance, I could see a white pulsing light underneath the salty water, it lay about fifty feet off the shoreline. I felt
the
Moon Pendant tug against my chest toward the illuminating light. That had to be where I needed to charge it. It was the only thing that made sense to me. I had to make it to the luminous light, which lay submerged underneath the briny deep sea. 

My head spun around, instinctively, hearing the thundering sound
of
a massive creature galloping toward me.

It was the Nuckelavee.

All I could see was a skinless horse with one eye, on top a thin rider with his upper torso centered on its back, the rider had no legs, but its long ape-like arms seemed to scrap the ground with its sharp claws as it charged toward me.

I whirled around, darting up the sand dunes, doing exactly what Blane had told me to do when I saw the Nuckelavee, and that was to,
run!

My feet sprinted through the shifting sand, running frantically inland, hoping to find some sort of running water to cross over. I could hear the clip-clopping of webbed hooves behind me.

Then, thick fleshy fingers clasped onto my ponytail, snapping my head back. I jolted backwards, landing on the edge of the gritty sand dune. Peering up, I could see the fearsome snout of the Nuckelavee breathing heavily down at me, its fiery hot breath
blasting into my face. I quickly rolled to my side avoiding the flames, its heat singeing the tapered end of my ponytail.

The Nuckelavee curled his sharp fingers into a fist, slamming it down at my face. I pivoted from side to side, wobbling back and forth, avoiding each repetitive strike as he hammered his powerful clenched fist into the powdery earth, spraying tiny bits of sand into my face, and temporarily blinding me.

He stopped for a brief moment, its muscular hind legs rearing back. I scrambled backwards on my hands and feet, crab-like, trying to escape its pounding webbed hooves. My hand scooped up a fistful of fine sand, flinging it into the horse’s burning eye blinding it. It let out an un
earthly wail, causing its horse
’
s
torso to stagger backwards. 

I sprung to my feet, bolting out of there as fast as I could, racing inland toward a large outcropping of stones, leaping over the tall beach grass, and then spotting a small stream in the distance. The Nuckelavee was in hot pursuit, galloping after me, trotting at a quickened pace.

My heart
raced beneath my breast
. I could see the rippling water within the stream. It was my only hope, just another five feet away.

The Nuckelavee’s hand walloped the crown of my head, knocking me back down to the ground, my head barely missing a cold slab of rock.  I lay there silent, spread-eagle, face-down with blood trickling from my mouth. He wasn’t going to give up until I was dead just like, Rose. So, that’s what I did. I played dead.

Be still, Anabel.

I could smell the foul stench of the Nuckelavee’s brutish breath as he towered above me, waiting for me to move. He hovered above me like a vulture, swooping in, poking me with his sharp claws, testing to see if I was dead or alive. His hot breath tickled the back of my neck, and in a quick motion, his raw leathery hand flipped me over onto my back.

I just needed a teeny-tiny second to make it over the stream, a mere five feet away. I needed a divergent, a decoy. If I could just use a small amount of the Moon Pendant’s power so I could get away from this devil of the sea.

The Nuckelavee’s snout inched closer to my face, growling, flapping its fleshy lips over my head, saliva dripping from its incisor teeth. 

I centered myself, eyes shut tightly, remembering the outcropping of stones I saw while I was racing toward the stream. And with that thought, an avalanche of stones crashed down, startling the Nuckelavee. My eyes popped open, noticing the Nuckelavee’s head cocked toward the sound of rumbling stones. I leapt to my feet, dashing through the beach grass on the balls of my feet, and then in one long stride, hurdling over the trickling stream to safety.

I stopped abruptly, landing on my bony knees on the other side of the stream, knowing the Nuckelavee couldn’t cross it. I could hear its heavy breath panting behind me.

I needed to see the face of the thing that was chasing me. I needed to finally confront the demon. Slowly, I twisted my head around, watching its webbed feet, sidestepping along the stream. 

There it was before me, its stature ten times larger than any mortal, a vile hybrid of half-man and half-horse, a hideous skinless creature, its body covered in raw living flesh, just muscles tethered together with great white sinews, its blood black as tar pulsing through its yellow veins, a single fiery eye centered above its horse’s head, while two eyes blazed on its monstrous human head, it lolled down to its shoulders, too heavy for its frail neck, rolling side to side, its elongated arms hung low, scrapping its knuckles along the ground, its sharp claws curling inward.