The Lost Witch (20 page)

Runt started off, walking slowly and stopping every few feet to sniff the air. Carole,
followed the sound, and Lilly, holding tightly to Carole's pack, brought up the rear.

Since she couldn't see anything anyway, Carole decided to focus on Martin and Zack. If
they really were in this realm, perhaps she could connect with them through a linking. She took a
deep breath, reached out with her mind and immediately sensed fear--

"Rit!" Runt yelped.

She flinched, immediately losing her connection. "What?"

"Reet, ret."

"Just be careful. The last thing we need is for you to trip and break a leg or
something."

Carole was almost certain she'd linked to the boys. She tried again, sensing,
reaching--

"Ow!" Lilly yanked on her pack, jerking her backwards. "Sorry. Stubbed my toe on
something."

"Rit!"

"Yikes!" Lilly stumbled into Carole.

"Hold up a second." Carole ran her hands over the ground. It was littered with sharp,
stony rubble. "Oh boy. This isn't going to be easy."

Eventually they made it to softer ground. After a while Carole noticed a pleasant
fragrance. "Is that what you're following, Runt? That flowery smell?"

"Rit," he agreed.

A little later, she saw a purplish glow ahead.

Five minutes after that they were standing in a tiny hollow amidst a carpet of lavender
hued flowers.

"Bioluminescence," Lilly said. "I read about it. Plants and animals creating their own
light. Like fireflies. Such a wonderful smell."

Runt thrust his snout amongst the pulsing petals and inhaled deeply. "Ret rit reet!"

"I agree." Carole ran her fingers over the blooms. "Good job, Runt. At least now we'll be
able to see anything trying to sneak up on us." She sat at the edge of the patch. "I don't know
about you two, but I'm hungry. Want some oat cakes?"

A little later Lilly was massaging her toes, Runt was relaxing and she was staring out at
the dark. "I think I owe you guys an apology."

Lilly looked up. "What for?"

"For the way I acted in that dragon realm. I was... Well, pretty beastly to you guys,
especially to Martin."

"Oh. That's okay, we were all kind of grumpy."

"No, it was more than that. The place really got to me, right from the moment we
landed. And at the end there, I
wanted
to battle that dragon. I know it sounds crazy, but I
was just so angry..."

"You saved us, Carole. I still can't believe it. You took on that dragon so we could get
away. I've never seen anything so brave."

"Stupid, more like. I took a lot of stupid risks."

"That worked."

"This time."

"The thing is, now you know what these places can do, so you're better prepared."

"Maybe. Anyway, I just wanted you to know, in case I don't get a chance to tell you
later."

Lilly gave her a hard stare.

"You two get some rest," Carole said. "I'll take first watch."

Lilly lay down and instantly fell asleep. Runt also stretched out amongst the flowers, but
didn't close his eyes.

"What's up?"

"Rit ret."

"Yeah, this place creeps me out too, though I'm not exactly sure why. I mean besides the
fact that it's dark and full of howling things. Still, you'd better get some shuteye, too Runt,
because you've got next watch."

Runt flopped onto his side and soon his breathing was as relaxed and rhythmic as
Lilly's.

To stave off her own fatigue, Carole decided to try to locate the boys again, through
another linking. She centered herself, and reached out with her mind, this time allowing it to
connect with anything and everything.

Her first impression was that their flowery glen was actually an oasis of peace in a
desert of fear. There were other havens like this one, but all were insignificant when compared to
the vastness of their surroundings, a landscape full of dreadful things.

A landscape upon which Martin and Zack were now wandering.

Carole could sense tiny dangers circling the boys, and something else, something larger
and infinitely more wicked.

She called out with her mind, trying to warn the boys; to direct them her way. Instead of
Martin and Zack, the wickedness became aware of her presence.

Her eyes snapped open. Had she been dreaming? No, she was certain. Despite her
fatigue, she believed what her mind had seen. And she now understood how deadly this
dimension was, to all of them.

But even here where sunlight probably never touches the ground, beauty and light
have managed to push the darkness back a little.
She ran her fingers through the flowers,
breathing in their calming fragrance.

She had to try again to locate the boys and any vortex she could find, no matter where it
went. They had to escape before it was too late. Any place, any other dimension was better than
this one.

She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. From far off, that eerie cry again reached
her ears, only this time she understood its meaning.

The hunt was on.

* * * *

"Get down!" Zack grabbed Martin's arm and pulled. "Behind this prickly thing."

Martin collapsed to the ground and felt his way through the foul smelling thicket. Both
he and Zack were panting, breathing into their shirts to muffle the sound, and both were straining
their ears for the slightest sound of pursuit.

Then he heard it. Faint at first, but becoming louder and more distinct. It was an odd
shuffling, slapping noise, moving first this way and then that. Always getting closer.

A loud wailing cry startled him. Whatever was doing the shuffling, burst into hideous
cackling and headed off in the direction the cry had come from.

"Whew!" he said. "They're getting closer all the time. I thought we were goners for
sure."

"Don't I know it. Our only hope is to find another patch of those flowers."

"Come on, let's get going."

They wormed out from under the bush. After listening intently, they moved silently
off.

* * * *

"Go!" Martin and Zack sprang from the shallow depression and tried to walk quickly but
stealthily away. The unearthly snuffling grew insistent, almost frantic. Something suddenly
broke into a loud, wailing howl.

"Run for it!"

They blindly sprinted away at full speed as the darkness exploded into a hideous racket
behind them.

"There!" Martin stumbled over a rock. He pulled heavily on Zack's arm to keep from
falling. "Light! Must be flowers."

They altered course, but the hunters were closing.

* * * *

"What should we do?" Carole asked herself as she looked around the glen. "Wait here,
where we can see? Make a run for it?" She crouched beside Runt and listened to the growing din.
Whatever was making those sounds was definitely excited and definitely moving closer.

"Time to wake up Lil."

"Do you think they know we're here?" Lilly said, when Carole had told her the
situation.

"Hard to say, but something's got them real excited."

They were standing at the edge of the glen peering into the dark, eyes shielded from the
flower light.

"Reeet!"

"Where? Oh, I see them. Two in the lead and lots more following."

"Those aren't creatures," Lilly said. "It's Martin and Zack. But look what's chasing
them!"

"Come on Runt, we've got to help!" Raising her staff like a lance, Carole screamed a
challenge and glided towards the boys.

As she closed in on Zack, she heard him cry, "No! We're surrounded."

"Martin, Zack, this way!"

"Carole, It's you!" Zack yelled.

"The flowers!" Martin screamed. "They can't stand the flowers!"

"Keep going. We'll hold them off!" Carole flashed past.

Something separated from the dark and barreled towards Martin. She angled over,
swinging her staff with all her might. The creature stumbled backwards, letting out a ghastly
screech. A second and much larger form closed in from the other side. Runt barked a warning
and she darted over in time to give it a solid whack, between the horns. This creature crumpled
without a sound. Runt foiled a third attempt on the boys by tripping up a scrawny beast and
sending it sprawling.

A ball of violet light came bobbing through the dark. With a wail of agony, the shadowy
pack of hunters broke off their attack.

"Here," Lilly called, "everybody take some." She passed around the flowers she held. "I
heard what Martin said," she said by way of explanation. "You too, Runt. Take a bunch in your
mouth."

Runt swung around to receive his flowers. Before he could, something huge and black
and scary swooped past. He let out a terrified squeal and vanished into the dark.

"Runt!" Lilly screamed.

Carole raced after him. She returned a few moments later, empty-handed. "I couldn't
find him. And those
things
are gone, all of 'em. Just melted away as if they were never
even here."

"We can't abandon Runt."

"I'm not about to," Carole said with determination, "but we can't run blindly after him.
They're probably hoping that's what we'll do. First, we need to know more about what we're up
against."

"You saw them," Martin said. "That was a pack of demons; horns, tails and all."

As all four of them entered the luminescent hollow the boys collapsed to the ground and
readily accepted Lilly's offer of food and water.

"So what happened?" Carole demanded, barely giving them time to swallow their first
mouthful. "There's no time to waste."

"Not much to tell," Zack choked out. "Woke up and discovered we were alone.
Stumbled around in the dark awhile before figuring out we'd fallen into another dimension, and
then crashed the demons' party."

"Party?" Lilly said.

"We heard sounds," Martin said, "and thought it might be you, so we checked it
out."

"Cautiously," Zack added.

"Very cautiously," Martin agreed. "When we got close enough we saw it wasn't you
guys at all but those demons jumping around a weird bonfire. Strangest fire I've ever seen. The
flames were blood red. Anyhow, we were lying on the top of this hill watching them, but
somehow they got wind of us and the next thing we're running for our lives."

"How'd you know about the flowers?"

"Stumbled through a bunch," Zack said, "and instead of following us, the demons held
back and began wailing and screaming as if the light actually hurt. We went out the other side,
and after a while they came after us again. But the flower patch gave us enough of a head-start to
make it here."

"Could you guys find your way back to that bonfire?"

"Not a chance," Martin said.

Zack gaped. "You can't be serious?"

"I'm totally serious. Gather up more flowers, as many as you can carry."

"Carole, there's no way we'll be able to find our way back. We were running blind and
lost the whole time."

Carole looked at the three strained faces. The time for secrets was over. "I can. I
have...certain abilities."

"I knew it!" Zack declared. "That's how you got away from the dragon, isn't it?"

"We'll talk about it later. Right now we've got to rescue Runt." She stepped to the edge
of the hollow to prepare herself.

It took a great deal of effort this time, partly because of her worries about Runt and
partly because the others were watching, but eventually she was able calm herself enough to
make a connection. Almost as soon as she did, that sinister presence swept towards her. Carole
jerked away in fear. It had been waiting for her to do that. Now what?

If she made a link, that thing would almost certainly find her; if she didn't, Runt was as
good as dead. The more Carole thought about it and what Runt must have been going through,
the angrier she got, until practically boiling with rage, she refocused and sent her mind's eye
ripping through the dark like a flaming arrow. She made the link.

"Ohh!" she gasped, as she sensed what was really happening to Runt. "We have to
hurry. There's not much time."

"What are they doing to Runt?" Lil said.

"Nothing pleasant. Let's go!"

Once out of the patch of flowers, they marched shoulder-to-shoulder. Each held aloft a
bundle of blooms, the light from which shone like lanterns, not only enabling them to see where
they were going, but also giving a fragile sense of protection. Carole because she was
concentrating on Runt, the others because they were listening for sounds of danger.

Carole found she could maintain her link to Runt with relative ease. She walked forward
without the slightest hesitation. At one point she felt herself being drawn in two different
directions, and quickly realized why. "There's a vortex nearby. After we rescue Runt, we'll
double back and get out of this horrid place." She kept her fear in check by focusing on the task
at hand.

After what seemed like hours of walking, she heard the distant rumble of thunder. "Rain.
Just what we don't need."

She watched for flashes of lightning, heralding the onset of a storm, but the sky
remained jet black and the air bone dry.

"That's not thunder," Zack said after a while. "Those are drums."

Soon they could pick out individual beats, though there didn't appear to be any overall
pattern to the sounds.

"At least we don't have to worry about them hearing us coming," Martin said.

"They'll still be able to see our lights," Lilly said.

"Not at first," Zack said. "The party's in a crater. We'll be out of sight."

Carole stopped chewing on her lower lip and said, "I think I've got a plan, but I'd better
scout out the area first. Here take my flowers."

She worked her way up a slight rise until she could see into a crater-like depression.
Dozens of sickly-looking demons were drumming and dancing around a ghastly blood-red
bonfire in the center of the crater. The fire gave off little light. Its thick smoke spiraled up like
black ink. She had no way of knowing exactly how many demons were down there, but one
thing was certain: Runt was part of the ceremony. He was trussed up and lying on a large slab of
rock, right beside the flames.