Chapter 7 – The Staff
Hazel gazed into the darkness that enveloped the other side of the large door, fear and excitement fighting within her for dominance. Wolf and Mike stopped themselves at her sides, both staring into the darkness, Wolf with the excitement of adventure surging through him, and Mike with the curiosity of ages circling his mind. "I suggest we go in." Mike said as he steeled his nerves. "Let's all take the first step together." Hazel offered. "I like it." Mike said, and the tree of them stood at the same line, "Ready?" Hazel asked as she turned to her brothers. They simply nodded, "Ok." she sighed, "One." "Two." Mike counted. "Three." Wolf said, and the three of them lifted their best paw, and stepped in beyond the threshold. The three of them continued to move in sync for a few steps, disappearing into the darkness. They traveled a short while before whispering could be heard, one that eventually seemed familiar to them, especially Mike, "I thought this staff was supposed to grant wishes." the angry voice said, "I wanted a way to destroy that blasted castle, but instead they found someone that could help speed it up." "I think it's that guy from before, Benyard." Mike whispered. "You sure that was his name?" Wolf asked quietly. Mike glared at his brother, and nodded. The three of them crept up to an opening in the wall where a soft blue light poured out onto the floor in front of them. "That old tablet those simple villagers found in my mine said that this staff was supposed to grant wishes." Benyard said just as they peeked around the wall. The room he was in was carved out of one solid piece of stone, and probably as big as their house back on Earth. There were no shelves in the room and the glow seemed to be coming from a short staff in his right hand. The platform in the middle of the room had two support posts on the ends, most likely for the staff to rest on. Benyard sat in the middle of them, without any real care for his surroundings, just the object in his hands.
The staff itself looked to be made from a sort of blue coral, or crystal, with a single strand of marble wrapping itself around the handle until it reached the head and extended out, wrapping around a large sapphire embedded into the very top. The jewel was shaped into what looked like a tear drop, with the point of it buried in the top of the staff. Along the handle, the marble ribbon pulled away from the staff, just enough so that a hand could fit comfortably underneath at a spot about half way down the handle. "That's the Wizard's Staff." Mike whispered to his siblings as he brought his head back to hide completely behind the wall. Wolf and Hazel followed his lead, and hid themselves as well, "How do we get it?" Hazel asked. "Who's there?" they heard Benyard ask. The three of them placed their paws to their mouths, almost daring not to breathe as the Neutrosian looked to their direction. After a moment of silence, he stood up, and began to make his way towards the door, using the staff as a light source, he turned the corner with his hand out in a claw-like formation, "HAH!" he shouted, and found nothing. "Huh," he said and dropped his hand, "Must have imagined it." He didn't see however, the three kits floating above him, Mike concentrating really hard as he lifted himself and his two siblings only centimeters from the ceiling. The chipmunk stripped Kit pinched his eyes closed as hard as he could, trying desperately to hold the three of them in the air, but ultimately he lost focus, opened his eyes and the three of them fell on top of the Neutrosian. Wolf landed on top of the man's left shoulder while Mike landed on his head and Hazel was forced to grab hold of the staff as she passed by. Again her eyes faded to white, and the staff exploded with power at the top, the sapphire spreading light to every corner of the room and hall. The light then flashed, and seemed to flow upward from the floor in a kind of wave-like reflection, almost as if it were passing through water. Benyard reached up and grabbed Mike from his head, tossing him to the wall of the halls. The Kit disappeared instantly and reappeared on the floor as he shook off his shock. The Neutrosian then grabbed Wolf by the scruff, and reeled back to throw the Kit into the alter room, his invulnerability triggering quickly as he slammed into the wall. Just as quickly, he stood back up and shook off the dirt. Benyard then tried to wrench Hazel off of the staff, however she held fast, digging her claws into the coral handle as she held on subconsciously.
"Remove yourself from my property!" Benyard growled at her, and released her to begin violently swinging the staff in random directions, hoping to throw her off of it. She held fast, her tiny claws digging into the coral of the handle as he then tried to slam her against one of the walls. In a flash, Wolf placed himself between her and the hard stone, taking the hit for her, "That's my sister you're throwing around!" he growled, and zipped down the staff to slam his head into Benyard's shoulder causing the Neutrosian to release his grip on the staff and clench the offending bruise in pain. Mike then levitated her and the staff before taking off down the hall, "I got them, let's go!" he called back to his brother. Wolf turned to his brother's voice, turned his head slowly back to the pained Benyard growling, "COME ON!" he heard his brother shout, and Wolf turned on his paws, taking off down the hall to meet up with them. Benyarde growled himself as he slowly lifted his head towards the fleeing kits.
"Is she going to be alright?" Wolf asked as the two of them ran down the hall. He looked up to the floating staff with his sister still attached. Mike kept his eyes in front of him, focused on the road shadowed by darkness, "I hope so, cause if we can't snap her out of that trance Mommy and Daddy will have a hernia!" he responded. "What's a hernia?" Wolf asked just as quickly. "I don't know I read it in a book." Mike responded as the two of them ran. Suddenly a familiar face appeared, the snake like look of the Menuemorae slid in front of them, its eyes filled with anger and its poisonous claws lifted up and poised to strike. "Ho, Puppy Fluff!" Mike shouted, and again closed his eyes, causing him and his siblings to vanish just as the sharp nail and splatter of poison hit the ground. The then reappeared behind the snake like creature and kept on moving. "Puppy Fluff...Realy?" Wolf asked as they kept on running, the tone in his voice told his brother that he was just a tiny bit embarrassed by the Kit's outburst. "Hey, it's hard thinking up sayings like that." Mike responded and ducked into a nearby room, using his powers to slam the door shut just as Wolf ducked into the same room. Hazel was set gently on the ground, and everything in the room was lifted up and piled in front of the door. "We need to pry her off of that staff." he told his brother and tried to use his powers to separate them. The two of them turned back to the door in surprise as they heard a distinct hissing noise, almost as if something was boiling. Mike glanced at the top of the door in horror as it turned green and literally melted slowly as the poison ate away at the old wood. The kit then turned back to his sister, and tried forcefully to pry her off of the coral staff. "Gerrr." he growled, "Come on!" Wolof turned to the door just in time to see the Menumorae's clawed fingers grab the frame of the door. Without another thought, he grabbed the closest part of the staff to him, the jeweled top, "Would you just…" he said in a panic, and was surprised when the tear drop shaped sapphire slid right out of the staff. He slid across the floor, stopping only at the wall. Hazel instantly let go of the staff handle, her eyes going from blank and lifeless back to the shining eyes she used to have, full of both worry and care. "Uh…what happened?" she asked in fear and curiosity at the same time. She quickly retracted her claws and looked to her brother Mike, "Last thing I remember is falling onto that bad guy and grabbing the staff so I didn't get hurt." she said. She turned her head to the door of the room when she heard a loud hiss and a crack. She saw all of the furniture pushed up against the door and the first few inches of it being eaten away by the thick black poison of the Menumorae. She instantly curled into as small of a ball as she could, "What's going on?" she asked. "WOLF, come here!" Mike called out to his brother. Wolf then placed the sapphire into his mouth, and ran up to his siblings, just in time for the three of them to vanish.