Hunting The Lich
The silence in the room was stifling. Bubblegum watched on as looks of stark abject horror appeared on her erstwhile allies faces one by one. All except for two. The King of Ooo and his dog companion Toronto were looking slightly uneasy, and PB began to wonder.
"Is there something you'd like to tell the rest of the group?" she asked. Her voice echoed loudly in the room after several minutes of quiet.
"Well, we kind of already know where he is," Toronto said, he slid down nervously in his chair as the eyes of the other villains began to fall on him.
Bubblegum leaned forward, placing her chin on her hands.
"Do you now?" she asked. Her face was a calm mask but; the sound of her heart pounding in her ears reminded her of the tank shells falling on the kingdom. "Please, enlighten the rest of us, my friends."
"Well…. Um i-"
Flame King jumped to his feet, slamming his hands on the table hard enough to split it all the way down the middle.
"Answer your princess!" he roared. Despite herself, Bubblegum smiled, at least one of them was for her. "Quit sniveling like a beaten cur and speak!"
"He's in disguise at that apple orchard," King of Ooo said, placing a hand on his shaking dog friend. "When Toronto and I threatened to burn the orchard he transformed and attacked us."
That was interesting. The Lich was hiding in plain sight, why hadn't she thought of that. he'd hidden inside Billy and a snail before.
"Okay, that's good to know," she said. "Here's what I want you to do, King of Ooo I want you and Toronto to go to the orchard and threaten it again. Sir Slicer, you will wait until the Lich reveals himself before attacking from behind and killing it."
Sir Slicer smiled.
"A very ch ch plan, my princess," he said, giving her an okay sign.
She sighed, now came the hard part.
"Flame King, if the first plan fails I want you to burn the orchard," she said. "If the empty threat doesn't draw the Lich out then we should follow through. But; remember, if your caught or someone sees you, then I never saw you or knew about this. Understand?"
When she was finally alone, Bubblegum slumped down into her arms.
The night was still, somewhere in the dark an owl hooted, and a wolf howled at the moon. The three of them slunk through the trees like phantoms, garbed in black with hoods hiding their faces. Flame King remained behind with the horses, awaiting the signal.
"There's the house," Toronto whispered. The tiny cottage was dark, that made it easier to approach without being spotted. The dog began wrapping each of the torches they brought in rags soaked in gas while the King of Ooo quietly slipped up to have a look in the windows.
"Here," he called back. "This window's the one we want."
Sir Slicer slipped away into the night to take up his position. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife as Toronto began lighting the torches as the King of Ooo returned.
"You ready to do this, Toronto?" he asked.
"Honestly? Something about this feels wrong," he said, threatening to burn something was one thing, but actually doing it to someone was another thing all together. "The Princess said just to threaten them, and then burn the orchard if that failed, not this!"
Without another word, the King of Ooo hurled the first torch. It soared through the air and smashed through one of the windows, and immediately the inside of the cottage was illuminated by flames. Seeing no way to go back now, Toronto hurled one of his own torches.
It arched across the summer sky and landed on the roof, he held his breath, hoping it would go out, but; unfortunately, the roof was soon burning away.
"That's the way!" King of Ooo ran up to the house and hurled his last torch through another window. The lights coming on made him quickly rush back to his dog companion. "Throw the torch! Hurry!"
He hesitated when the front door opened and the occupants ran out into the night. Before he could react, Toronto's torch was yanked away and the King of Ooo hurled it at the family.
"No!" Toronto shouted. The torch passed over the pig's head by inches and landed inside the door.
"Our house! Oh my goodness get some water!" they heard the tiny elephant scream. Watching from the trees, the two saw as the pig scrambled around trying to straighten out a garden hose and pull it closer.
"Hurry papa hurry!" the huge kid yelled, on the wind Toronto could smell that the kid had pissed himself.
"He's not transforming!" King of Ooo hissed. Toronto watched as his longtime friend stood up and drew his bow.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
King of Ooo notched an arrow and drew it back to his ear.
"Bringing the Lich out," he replied. Before Toronto could stop him, the arrow was loosed. Unfortunately, the smoke and the flames had blinded the King of Ooo, so instead of hitting the house next to the kid's head, it drove into the little elephant's neck with a wet thunk.
She began to trumpet in pain, a high pitched squealing that made Toronto cover his ears, trying to drown it out. His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked on as the kid was screaming and crying while the pig kept trying to stop the fire from spreading anymore.
Jumping up, Toronto ran across the tiny clearing. Quickly ripping the arrow free, he yanked his cloak off and held it against the neck wound. The sudden pain of the arrows removal and being grabbed made the tiny pachyderm struggle and trumpet harder.
"You! Leave my mama alone!" Toronto was violently shoved away as the kid picked up the shrieking elephant and held her to him. Eventually, the sound began to weaken, then, mercifully, they stopped. "Mama? Mama?"
The pig finally gave up on trying to stop the fire. He looked over to where the kid was hugging the dead elephant and crying his eyes out. Then, he looked at Toronto, a look of murderous and uncontrollable rage crossed his face.
"I'll kill you!" he screamed. In an instant he was on top of the dog and began punching and kicking at him with everything he had. Finally, he wrapped both hands around the dog's throat and began to squeeze. "Die! Die! Die-"
His grip suddenly loosened, allowing Toronto to take a ragged breath. Something warm began to drip onto the dog's face. When his vision cleared he watched as Slicer pulled his sword out from the pig's body.
"Papa! No no no no!" the kid screamed again, tears and snot streaming down his face as he scooped up the dead pig and ran off into the night carry the two tiny bodies as carefully as he could.
"Why didn't he transform?" King of Ooo asked, walking over. In the distance they watched as the sky began to glow red. "Flame King must have gotten bored."
"What do we do now?" Toronto asked, sitting up and rubbing his bruised throat. "Do we go back to the palace?"
"Did he see your face?" Slicer asked, looking down at the dog. He offered him a hand up.
"Yeah but-" he was cut off as Slicer stabbed his sword through Toronto's neck as he pulled him up. King of Ooo watched on as Toronto began to drown in his own blood while Sir Slicer wiped his sword clean. When that was done the two grabbed the dog by his hands and feet and tossed him into the burning house.
"Let's go back," Slicer said. "The princess will want to know about this."
The two slipped away back into the night as the fire raged, eventually it began to spread to the orchard.
Finn was awakened by the glowing. At first he thought it was morning, the red tinged sky in the east was barely coming up over the mountains. But; after a look at his bedside clock he was that it was just after midnight.
"What the heck?" he mumbled sleepily. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Hey Jake, wake up!"
The magic dog rolled over and groaned.
"Jake, come on Jake," Finn said. Grabbing one of his shoes off the floor he tossed it at his brother. The shoe bounced off Jake's nose.
"Ow! What the bleep, Finn?" he asked, rubbing his nose. "What the heck's going on outside?"
Finn hopped out of bed, and made his way over to the window. The red glow had gotten bigger in the minute or so since Finn had first saw it.
"I don't know, probably a rave or something," he said. Down in the yard, movement caught his eye. Finn felt a chill go down his spine at the sight of Sweet Pea, covered in blood and carrying Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig. "Holy Glob! Jake, outside now!"
By the time the two heroes had made it outside, Sweet Pea was sitting on the ground rocking back and forth. He was cradling the two little bodies gently. His face was streaked with tears and dried snot.
"Mama and papa won't wake up," he said, sniffling. Almost reluctantly, he held them out towards Finn and Jake. "Please, make them wake up Finn."
Finn felt his heart break at the sight of one of his oldest friends lying lifeless, covered in dried blood. Gently taking the tiny elephant from the boy, Finn placed her on the ground and slowly unwrapped the cloak around her.
Looking back to see Jake trying to hold Mr. Pig, and struggling to keep his guts from falling out the gash in his stomach, made Finn almost puke.
"Jake, why don't you take Sweet Pea inside and make him some coco," Finn said softly, looking down at Tree Trunks. "I'll take care of them."
Once Jake finally led the large, sobbing child inside, Finn sighed wearily.
He began to dig the graves.
"What do you mean he didn't transform?" Bubblegum asked. she'd been roused from a fitful sleep by Peppermint Butler, informing her that her men had returned. "And where's Toronto?"
Sir Slicer looked up from where he knelt on the floor.
"Dead, your grace," he said, causing a knot to grow in the princess's stomach. "The Lich threw him into the fire."
"Did you threaten to burn the orchard?" she asked.
"We did, it didn't work," the King of Ooo said, he looked very old. Bubblegum realized that the dog's death would have been tough for him. "The boy didn't transform, he just went berserk when the fire spread to the house, and killed the pig and the elephant. Toronto tried to save them, but he was hurled into the blaze."
The princess sighed wearily, this wasn't good. If the Lich didn't transform after killing his adoptive parents then what would make it show itself? She looked at the three, and sighed again.
"He didn't see your faces did he?" she asked.
"Only Toronto's, my princess," Flame King replied. "I was back with the horses waiting for the signal to set the orchard on fire."
"Very well then, if we play this close to our hearts no one will know our involvement," she said, turning away. "King of Ooo, I want your spies coming the entire kingdom for him. Find the Lich before he kills again."
"As you command, Princess Bubblegum," he said.
"Sir Slicer, a moment. The rest of you may leave us," PB said. When they were alone she turned to face the knight. "I fear for my kingdom, the Lich is a danger I cannot allow to run free. Tell me, where did he run to? Which direction?"
Slicer looked down to avoid her gaze.
"West, towards the giants," he replied.
That was a problem, if the Lich took control of the giants then nothing would be able to stop them if they invaded. She weighed her options and frowned.
"In the morning ride for the Marauders," she ordered. "I want every clan here by the end of next week."
Sir Slicer nodded.
"Yes, my princess," he said. "What shall I offer them? The chieftains will want something."
Of course they would.
"Tell them if they come to me they will have all the plunder they can carry," she said. "But; only if they swear to fight for me."
"Yes, my lady," Slicer stood, as he turned to go Bubblegum spoke again.
"Sir Slicer," she said, causing him to turn back to look at her. "Head down to the armory, i've had a custom suit made for you as my envoy. Its ten times harder than steel and as light as a feather. Likewise a sword was forged for you, I made it from the core of a meteor that fell here thousands of years ago."
"You flatter me, princess," he said. She thought he looked to be smiling at a joke only he knew. "I'll put them to good use."
"See that you do, my faithful black knight," she replied.
END CHAPTER 2
