Chapter Thirty-Eight

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Everyone lapsed into silence again as the surrounding scenery grew blurry. The vaadin galloped faster and faster. Within minutes, we were traveling through a snowy field towards a tall, glimmering castle that seemed to be made completely out of crystal... or maybe it was ice. Panic filled me as the beast sped up. Without thinking about the bag of acorns I had clutched in my fist, I went to grab onto the bark of the animal's back desperately. The movement caused the bag to fly.

"Crap!" I yelled as I tried to grab for it before it fell, but I was too slow.

It crashed to the ground and spilled out the acorns, all twenty of them. The vaadin stopped abruptly. And if it weren't for Ciaran's firm grip on me, I probably would have gone flying over the stupid thing's head, just like Mike did.

"Oof!" he complained as he landed in a snowdrift.

The bag disappeared along with the acorns as the vaadin scooped it up and downed the whole thing. No amount of coaxing or pleading would get the animal to move forward again. Finally, we realized we had no choice but to dismount.

"Stupid!" I wailed as I waved my hands around. I was yelling both at myself and the vaadin.

Luke sighed and shouldered his pack more securely. "It is fine. As we are only a few miles away, and fortunately, Mike has extra acorns for the trip back. We shall keep moving. We do not want to be too long out in the wide-open like this."

Erick looked up at the sky and laughed as he shook his head, "Matty...you're always so predictable. Ever since you were little, you've been clumsy."

"Shut up," I grumbled. "I don't want to hear that from you."

I confronted the vaadin and tried to make a deal, "Hey, if you take us the rest of the way, I promise to give you more acorns on the way back."

"Hey! Don't be bargaining with my acorns, kid! I'll give you the eleven we need to get back, but we gotta hoof it for now. These vaadins won't go again once they stopped. You give it acorns now, and it won't take us to the castle; it'll take us to the flipping portal. It'll stay here for now until we come back. "

The vaadin just stared at me with those flower eyes it had and blew out short bursts of air that sounded pretty similar to a snicker. I glared at it and stalked away. "Okay, let's get moving."

Mike shook out the snow from his clothes while grumbling about hating the cold. Luke and Erick followed behind Mike, Ciaran, Dominic, and Adrian, and the rest took up the rear behind me.

After a few yards of walking, I put on the hood of the warm cape I was wearing over my tunic. Even with the hood tightly covering my head, it didn't keep out the bitter cold of this place. It was even colder here than it was at the Mansion. All around the snowy field were blackthorn bushes with no leaves. Their tangle of spiky branches cut a stark profile against the pristine white background. The sky was a gunmetal gray with only the barest hint of two puny white suns. The castle seemed not to be getting any closer either, as we had to stomp in deep snow that was freezing both of my feet into icicles. If we didn't get out of it soon, I figured I'd probably have frostbite. In the distance, badger-sized, furry animals were burrowing in and out of the snow. Their antics were the only thing that somewhat kept my mind off my stupidity and how close I was to becoming a Mattycicle. Some of the animals seemed to get closer, which delighted me, as I hoped to better look at them.

"Move faster," Mike ground out between gritted teeth.

I pulled my attention away from the animals and to the back of Mike's worried head. "W-what for? Th-tho-those li-little guys don't seem to be t-t-too dangerous." God, it was so cold I couldn't even speak.

"They're hiisi. Very mean and very dangerous," he growled, "Try to run."

We all hopped and struggled in the deep snow to move forward, but it was nigh impossible for me to do it. My feet were frozen.

"Hop on my back," Luke said.

"What? Y-you're just as c-cold as me - I'll make you sink deeper in the s-snow."

"You know that I'm not," Luke said.

The argument didn't finish because six furry creatures came burrowing out of the snow in front of us. I felt really sorry about wanting to see them up close, as the little dudes were ugly.

They had long noses and wide, rubbery lips that hid wide-spaced, squared-off teeth that were covered in dirt. I don't think they liked my look of disgust as I studied them because they squealed with rage as they waved tiny daggers in their oversized hands. The hands themselves sported long, dirt-and-ice-caked claws on each finger. The largest of the group stepped forward and began yammering in a language that sounded like a bunch of chirps and guttural snarls.

"They want us to throw down our packs, or they'll kill us all. Everyone, throw them down slowly. Nothing's worth our life," Mike explained.

They didn't look like much of a threat to me, even with the knives, but Luke seemed pretty worried about them since he immediately stepped in front of me to protect me. With a growl of defeat, I leaned over and tossed my pack onto the snow. The movement of my body caused my necklace to swing forward, exposing my mother's earrings to their greedy little eyes.

The boss creature pointed at my necklace with his dirty finger and chittered again. Mike looked over his shoulder at me sorrowfully. "The necklace too, Matt."

"No way," I said while shaking my head emphatically. With everything that Mike had done to me, I worried once more that he was setting me up.

He turned his body carefully to the side, keeping one eye on the hiisi and one on me. "Come on, Matty."

I shook my head again as I clutched my necklace. I'd have to be crazy to give it up without a fight. Erick sidled up near me and whispered in my ear, "Have Luke take off Beth's bracelet. You'll need us both for this."

"What? No... I don't trust her."

"You're down three of your court. You will need all the help you can get with these creatures," Erick retorted.

Luke pulled me away from Erick while glaring at him. He hissed at Ciaran, "Can you not just teleport us?"

"Hmm, sorry, friend. That would be cheating, I'm afraid. We'd lose the trial if I teleported."

Mike was shuffling back towards me. One of the little hairy guys swiped at him, but my former friend jumped back before it cut him. "Come on, Matty, just give them the earring - these guys put poison on their evil little stabbers."

My eyes narrowed at Mike. Now I was sure he was being sneaky with me, and I regretted trusting him once again. Mother had said I needed to keep this earring close to me, and I'd done that so far.

"Luke, set Beth free, so we have more people."

He muttered but set her free.

The minute bracelet was off, Beth and Erick blurred in front of my eyes. I groaned, so sure they'd tried to teleport away to ditch us. However, to my relief, they reappeared in another blur next to the hiisi. Erick thrust out his hands, and as he did, a circle of blue flame surrounded the little furry psychos. The leader and two others dove before it hit them, sending plumes of snow after them as they burrowed. But three others, fortunately, weren't so lucky. It burned them to a crisp, leaving nothing but mole-shaped piles of ash on the ground that drifted in the frosty breeze.

Ten against three - I liked our odds. Luke was concentrating intently on the ground below him as he circled with his feet. He made a quick click with his tongue and leaped higher than I'd ever seen anyone do. It looked like he'd jumped up 20 feet into the air. As he landed, he smashed his feet into the ground, which buried him into the snow to his knees. I heard a crack and a squeal beneath him, and the snow turned red under his feet.

Mike was teleporting all over the place, keeping just out of reach of the little critter who was furiously pursuing him. Each time the hiisi emerged with a slash of its dagger, Mike had already moved out of the way. He'd then smash at the creature with a flashlight he'd hurriedly retrieved from his pack.

More of the hiisi emerged in the snow, chittering like angry squirrels at us. Our odds were not as good any longer.

I didn't have any weapons because I was a doofus and forgot to pack a dagger, although I'd brought the backpack that Mike had given me. I had a few plastic cockroaches, loaded dice, trick soap, and a few cans of cherry coke in my pack, but no weapons. Grabbing one can, I tried to bean one of the little devils with it — hey, it had worked before! The tiny menace was too quick. With nothing at my disposal other than my fists or the wicked-looking trees lining our path, I opted to break off a branch of the tree.

Thinking my foot with a shoe on it might offer more protection than just my bare hand, I kicked at a branch and snapped it down. While twisting it off its broken joint, I still sliced my hand. I stifled my cry of pain when I heard a ragged giggle below me.

Wouldn't you know it, my dance partner was the boss-man himself? He had emerged just in front of me and nearly caught my shin, but I'd swung my branch a little faster. Still, he managed to knick my jeans with his blade. I felt the point go through my right pants leg and sucked in my breath. Luckily, it didn't hit the skin because I backed up just in time.

I swung my branch as accurately as I could in deep snow with numb legs. But he'd burrowed already. Luke saw my distress and ran over while Beth helped Mike make quick work of his foe.

Brin had turned to his horse form and was slicing at creatures both with his hooves and with a wicked-looking spear. The animals were doing their best to harm him, but he was nimble for such a large centaur.

The little creature emerged from my left side and thrust his sword deep into my thigh. I swung down with my branch as I stumbled out of the way but missed it again.

Dominic had my back, though. He punted the creature with a roar, sending it soaring. Erick blurred to the spot where it landed and fried it up.

I dropped the bloodied branch and clutched at my thigh. While I'd lucked out the first time, I wasn't so lucky the second time. I locked eyes with Luke in terror. The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile as he hoisted me up on his back. "It'll be okay..." he soothed. He picked up both of our packs while Mike collected his own.

Ciaran approached me and put his hand on my thigh, eliciting a growl of protest from Luke. "I can heal her," he pointed out.

Luke glared at him but let him try. I felt the wounds on my hands, and my leg closed, but I was still feeling a horrible, deep ache in my thigh. "I don't think it worked all the way," I gasped. My large breakfast was threatening to empty all over Luke's back. "You better put me down, Luke. I'm gonna vomit."

He just held my legs tighter. Unwilling to argue, I hung myself limply over his shoulder. Since I wasn't dead yet, this must have been one of those lovely slow-moving poisons meant to make you suffer for hours or days before you died. Lucky for me, right?

Mike muttered, "Of course, the healing wouldn't work. Hiisii make the poison out of their blood. You need to make the anti-venom out of the blood too. The poison's immune to the effects of healing magic. He was bending down and collecting blood from the lone body that Erick or Beth hadn't deep-fried into a little jar that was in his pack. After he'd done so, he stood up straight. "We're going to need to get her to the castle faster. Let's get moving."

Dominic and Adrian kicked at the dead carcasses on the ground. Dominic was screaming profanities at them. I'd never seen him so angry. He'd done such a fine job with his sword and shield, but he couldn't be everywhere. I hoped he wasn't misplacing blame upon himself.

"Careful with those," Luke warned. "They are dangerous even dead if the blood gets into a cut."

"If she rides on my back, I can take her to the castle faster," Erick offered.

I snickered, "What are you, Superman? Can you fly us?"

"Yes," Erick answered.

Luke was shaking his head. But Ciaran seemed to consider it. "Fine. We have no choice. If we don't get to a place where we can create the anti-venom, then she'll die in about a half-hour. I don't heal poison well."

Not as slow-acting of a poison as I thought, great.

I was feeling pretty poorly. I could say that much. The dull ache in my leg felt like someone had set it on fire. I was feeling hot all over, enough that I wasn't chattering anymore, and my stomach was about to give out. "Luke, lemme down... hurry..." I moaned.

He didn't let me down, but he leaned me over so I could unload my breakfast onto the snow. I grimaced at the mess I made and laid my head against his shoulder again. Through my blurring vision, I saw Erick bend his body forward. As he did, pale white fur sprouted all over him as his bones made this wet cracking sound. The sound was so gross that it was making me queasy again. His face elongated and became feline. I turned my head until all the popping stopped. When I peeked again, I saw where Erick once stood was a tiger-sized white cat with Hawaii-blue eyes. He had black ears, and the tip of his tail and his feet were black. Beth had also changed into a cat, but she was black with white feet and tail-tip. "Put Madeline on me, and Ciaran can ride on Beth," Erick said.

By this time, I couldn't think anymore. All that was coming out of my mouth were mewling sounds. I was having trouble seeing. The pain ratcheted upward past ten.

Luke sat with me on Erick's back. "She will not be able to hold on. Can you hold us both?"

"Of course, Master," Erick said.

"Good, get going then."

Erick did a running leap, and we were airborne. The rush of wind around and beneath us took my breath away and unleashed the wail of pain within me.


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