Chapter 21

I hit the ground hard and promptly ate a mouthful of orange sand. Judging by the sound of Katie spitting up right next to me, she had done the same thing. Of course, my mind was on other things.

“Rhys…” I whispered.

“I’m… I’m sure she’s fine.” said Katie, “Rhys is a tough cookie, she’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.”

“Okay.” I said. I think Katie could tell the hesitation in my voice, but all she did was pull the map out of her bag.

“We’re in Othoe’s Desert,” said Katie, “So the temple should be…”

“Have you tried looking over there?”

The sound of a familiar man’s voice brought a chill to my spine as Katie and I scrambled away from Killian, who had somehow appeared looking over our shoulders. Killian’s rage-inducing smile cracked open on his lips, and he laughed as Katie fell over, while I went to help her up.

“Well, isn’t this just a delicious reunion?” Killian said as I scrambled to get my sword out as Felice took over my body. Katie had her dagger out as well, but Killian was just looking at us with that scummy amused face I just wanted to cut off of him.

“Oh, there’s no need for that girls,” said Killian, “I have a proposition for you.”

“Not interested.” said Katie.

“Just hear me out!” said Killian, “We both know that I have one of those gems on my chest, and you want to remove it for some reason. So why don’t we make a game out of it?”

“A game?” I echoed.

“A game.” said Killian, “We’ll have ourselves a little race to the temple. If you two make it first, I’ll allow you to remove my gem, no strings attached. If I make it first, you two have to surrender to me and allow me to kill you.”

“And why would we agree to that?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t you like the chance for an easy challenge?” Killian asked, “In and out of the temple? Doesn’t that just sound like paradise?”

“Cut the crap,” said Katie, “We all know you’d beat us there within ten seconds, so you’re just trying to give us some false hope.”

“You never know!” said Killian, “You might just have a chance…”

The ever-widening grin on Killian’s face was all I needed. There was no doubt in my mind that he had no intention of letting us win this little race of his. However, and idea started forming in the back of my mind.

“Alright,” I said, “You have a deal. May the best girl win.”

“Good luck.” said Killian. His eyes had widened a little, as though he hadn’t expected me to respond in that manner. Even Katie seemed a little shocked that I actually accepted his offer.

“Of course, it’s not just me that you’ll have to worry about in this region,” said Killian, “The emperor’s soliders have always had difficulties keeping this place in check. Who knows, maybe you won’t even make it that far.”

With one last irritating wink, Killian disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Katie and I alone in the desert.

“Why’d you accept that deal?” Katie asked, “You know there’s no way we’ll actually beat him, right?”

“That’s not the point,” I said, “The point is that he’ll meet us at the temple, so we don’t have to lure him there like we did with Xelsa. It’ll make things so much easier.”

“Ooh, good point.” said Katie, “Good thinking. But what about those other creatures Killian was talking about? You think they might be a problem?”

“I doubt it,” I said, “But we should stay alert anyway, just in case.”

My hand was already on my sword as Katie pulled the map from her bag and flapped to unfold it.

“Looks like the temple is… about a million miles in that direction,” said Katie as she motioned to the left, “We’re gonna be doing a lot of walking.”

“At least we’re getting our exercise in.” I said.

Katie just groaned.

Katie’s interpretation of the walk was not an exaggeration. At least, it didn’t feel like one. I could feel the sun burning down on me within a couple of minutes of starting our walk, and I regretted not bringing water with us.

“Do you have any spells that’ll substitute for sunblock?” I asked.

“Uh, I never checked for something like that,” said Katie, “It’s amazing how many things this places uses magic for. Every small thing, even things like haircuts and making clothing, all done with magic.”

“So basic lotion isn’t a thing?” I asked, “That’s stupid.”

“It probably is,” said Katie, “Just made with magic instead of chemicals and science. Spells are a thing, but magic isn’t just a thing anyone can use with no training at all.”

“You seem to be doing a good job so far.” I said, “You did knock Xelsa down with your magic before.”

“That was in the… heat of the moment.” Katie said, groaning when she realized what she had done. I stifled a laugh, Katie pinched the bridge of her nose and grumbled under her breath.

“Point is, I don’t have a spell, we don’t have sunscreen, and we’re probably going to be super sunburned before we get back to the camp,” said Katie, “So that’s gonna be fun. In the meantime, do you have any -“

Katie stopped dead in her tracks when a loud clicking sound filled the air. My hand immediately went to my sword. Katie held her hand out and started mumbling, most likely trying to get another fireball going.

The sound came from one of the sand dunes to our left. Neither of us had seen what was coming due to the shadows of the sun over the hills, but two giant, scorpion-like creatures were approaching us, making those clicking sounds.

“Oh, that’s not good.” I said as Felice’s energy poured through me.

“It gets worse,” said Felice, “Those things are extremely poisonous. It’d be wise to avoid getting stung by them.”

“How poisonous are we talking?” Katie asked.

“Paralysis poisonous.” said Felice, “Then eating you while you’re still alive.”

“Oh.” said Katie, “Good to know.”

The scorpions were getting closer.

“Katie, throw a fireball at them!” Felice said.

Katie did so immediately, causing the scorpions to hesitate when the fire landed in front of them, then disappeared from hitting the sand, apparently thrown off by the light of the fire. Felice took control and we sliced forward, chopping both scorpions with a single slash and killing them instantly.

“Double kill, let’s go!” Katie yelled as Felice released her control and I sheathed my sword.

“Where those two came from, more are probably on the way,” said Felice, “You two should make some distance as soon as possible.”

“Righto.” I said, “Let’s get moving.”

Katie and I hurried along the sand. I kept my hand on my sword, just in case any more creatures decided to pop up. Fortunately, we made it to a big tree without any more incidents.

“We should stop here for a bit,” I said, “To catch our breath, and drink some water.”

“Righto,” said Katie. We did just that, sitting down under the shade of the tree, and Katie pulled a canteen of water out of her bag faster than I thought she would with her one arm.

“I think I’m getting use to using one arm,” said Katie, as if she had read my mind, “Never thought I’d say that in my life.”

“I don’t think either of us ever thought anything like this would ever happen to us,” I said, “I know I didn’t.”

“Same.” said Katie.

We were silent for several minutes as we passed the canteen back and forth taking sips.

“I hope Rhys is okay,” I said, “And Daniel too.”

“You really care about her, don’t you?” Katie asked.

“I mean… yeah,” I said, “She’s so cool, she’s even risked her life for us, not to mention she entrusted us with her secrets. I wouldn’t be able to take it if something bad happened to her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” said Katie, “Like I said, Rhys is a tough girl, she and Daniel will take them all out and she’ll be here soon.”

“I hope you’re right.” I said.

The conversation trailed off from there again until we had our strength back and started moving again, until Katie suddenly stopped.

“Do you… hear that?” she asked.

I froze alongside her and listened closely. Something underneath our feet was rumbling. Before I could respond, Felice took over my body.

“Run!” Felice yelled, forcing me to do just that, breaking off into a sprint with Katie coming up behind me.

“What’s going on?!” I asked, just in time for the sand beneath us to split open, revealing a giant worm-like monster with thousands of sharp-looking teeth that roared at us, as if we weren’t already terrified to begin with. I screamed, Katie screamed, and Felice completely took over my body in order to sweep Katie off her feet, causing me to carry her bridal style.

“AGH! What the hell are you doing?!” Katie yelled.

“We can’t stop, that thing will catch us!” Felice said, “I’m not going to risk you tripping and getting yourself killed!”

Felice pushed me forward towards a big rock in the distance, tossed Katie on, then jumped me on as well. The worm burrowed back under the ground, circled the rock for a couple of seconds, then burrowed away.

“That was horrifying!” Katie said, “What the hell are we gonna do about that thing?!”

“What can we do?” I asked, “We won’t know where it attacks from until it’s right on top of us, judging by Felice’s freak-out when she realized what was coming.”

“It’s pretty much invincible when it’s underground,” said Felice, “I don’t know how you’re going to beat that thing as long as it is.”

“Hold on… I have an idea!” said Katie as she looked down at the rock we were sitting on, then started flipping through the pages of the spell book she had pulled out of her bag, “Riley, Felice, can you lure that thing back to us? Just trust me!”

“Uh, okay?” said Felice, “Moor-acu, I’ll control you so you can jump back faster, while you keep an eye out for that thing coming. The dirt should rumble where it is.”

“Okay.” I said. Katie’s plan wasn’t giving me any confidence, but Felice took over and did as she was told, jumping off the rock and wandering in one place, making a lot of foot stomps, while I kept an eye out. For several minutes, nothing happened.

Just as I was thinking nothing was going to happen, I saw the rumbling ground coming right towards us.

“Worm inbound!” I said, “Get ready for whatever you’re doing!”

“Already on it…” Katie mumbled in response, concentrating on her hand and whispering something I couldn’t hear. As the worm got closer, and I could feel both myself and Felice getting antsy, Katie yelled, “JUMP!”

Felice did just that, jumping back onto the rock while Katie fired a white light from her fingers at the worm.

For a brief second, the worm rocketed triple fast to the rock, then crashed right into it, hitting the rock headfirst so hard that the rock lifted up and toppled over. Felice made us land on our feet, and Katie rolled into some soft sand, completely ungracefully.

Felice and I kept our eye on the worm, which was now slightly visible above the sand, but it didn’t move at all.

“Goddamn, Katie…” I said as I rushed to help her up, “You killed it!”

“Damn right!” said Katie, “Torpedoed it into something hard, so it’s not gonna survive the impact.”

“An excellent use of momentum Katie!” said Felice, “I never would’ve thought of that!”

“Neither would I if I hadn’t seen it in a movie once,” said Katie, “Thank you, Kevin Bacon!”

Felice nodded, but I could sense that Katie’s words meant nothing to her at all.

“Well, we better keep moving before more of those things show up,” I said, “The last thing we need is to have to do that again.

“Agreed.” said Felice, and with that, we started walking towards the temple, which looked all the more closer.