ch 7, Scary people

Rebecca had found a vine to climb down after she had made her resolve. Really she thought amused could they put an escape rout in a more convenient place? When she got to the ground she stretched and took a deep breath of air. It felt good to be out of that dank cell.

She looked around and saw a tree by the side of the road. She ran and ducked under it for cover. She frowned. She thought she had heard someone coming but it sounded more like… music? Yes it was undeniably music that was getting louder and the sound of wings…

"It looks like you need some good advice, my friend!" called a voice above her accompanied with a thud. The music was loud and rather grating she was surprise she wasn't caught already. She looked up to see an owl gazing at her solemnly.

"I could definitely use help" she whispered trying not to be too uncomfortable around a talking owl "But do you mind being a little quieter? Maybe turn off the sound track?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." it said huffily and the music grew in volume.

"Alright! It's fine as long as it doesn't bring guards." she said hastily. "Now, you were going to help me?"

"Yes, but first I must say my speech to you." he ignored the stunned look on her face and pulled out a piece of parchment that unraveled all the way down to the dusty path. Then he unfolded it. "I am Kabora Gabora, the wise sage who had so many honors piled upon him for writing 'how to' books and flower arrangements that- hey, where are you going?" Rebecca cursed and stopped trying to sneak away.

"Umm, well your honorable sage" she said with a low bow. "I… Have no presents to give to such an illustrious one as yourself. I must go to town and buy a gift fit for a king."

"Ah, well! That is a completely different matter. I thought you were just trying to skip out on this very interesting and detailed speech I had prepared. I have no idea why so many people do that. Go on." He sat and twiddled his… wingtips while Rebecca made a mad dash for the town.

But while in town there was another problem. A pack of dogs were running loose in the street. Every time they laid eyes on her they all yapped and howled like no tomorrow and one especially annoying dog kept following her. She tried to duck into what looked like an abandoned house to lose it but it just kept coming. "Damn it, shoo!" she whispered furiously.

"Who's there?" said a sleepy voice. A candle was lit and an extremely fat woman came waddling up to her. "Excuse me dear but this is a private residence- Oh it's Richard!" she swooped down and grabbed the dog from off the floor. The scene of a reunion was to sickeningly stupid to tell anyone. Then the woman turned on Rebecca "Oh I can't thank you enough for saving my little poopy-pie from those wild dogs!" she opened her arms wide to hug her.

"No problem, honestly!" she said and swiftly side stepped.

"But I must repay you somehow! Hmmm where did I put that heart piece…?"

What ever Rebecca wanted it was not a piece of an organ "Umm, you can tell me where to find a weapon ma'am? Preferably magical."

The woman looked at her in distaste "Oh, dear me! Why would you want to mess around with magic? Leave all that stuff to your brothers why don't you? I bet you've never even touched a sword in your life! I could arrange a nice marriage for you instead."

Oh great, anti-woman rights. But she wasn't going to let the lady know that she really had never had touched a sword in her life. "Do you mean to say there is a magical sword around here?" she said as politely as she could.

"Well, if you have your heart set on it then go to the temple of time, right around the corner. But do take heed of what I say! You'll not be a spring chicken forever."

She left the house with great relief. She couldn't believe the nerve of some women! Pre-arranging a marriage… she had absolutely no time for romances at the moment. She quickly squashed the image of Zedar that leapt to mind. Him and me? Yeah freakin' right. Stuff like that only happens in bad fan fics.

Rebecca set off for the temple and found it quickly. She walked past several stones and did a double take. She was sure that the eyes on the stones were following her. She shivered and continued into the stone building.

The place was silent as a tomb. O.K. maybe that was a bad analogy for right now. She was seriously getting the creeps from this place. All there was in it was a pedestal with three cups and had the strange block writing on the front. For a lack of a better thing to do she searched it for switches.

"…You have courage"

Rebecca whipped around and came face to face with someone. She couldn't tell who because their face was covered with bandages but its voice sounded feminine. She had a full length body suit on with an eye crying a red tear on her chest. The hair that was sticking out was blond but it was her eyes that made her recoil… or the apparent lack of them.

"My body is gone… so my spirit must guide you…"she bowed "I am Sheik"

"I-I'm Rebecca." She shuddered "So you're a ghost?"

"In a sense." She said in a monotone. "I must give you the key… and warn you."

"I don't understand-" Rebecca started then gasped. The ghost or whatever it was pulled out three shimmering stones.

"Put them on… the stone" she whispered. Her voice was getting fainter. Rebecca reached out and grabbed them, careful not to touch her hand. She placed them, a ruby, emerald, and sapphire, in the niches on the pedestal "Now… Play…" the ghost pulled out a blue thing and it fell through her hand. "The spell… it's fading…"

She quickly grabbed it from the floor. It looked like some sort of recorder, if recorders were round. She hesitated then put it to her lips. Very far away she could hear three notes. She repeated them twice and nothing happened. She was about to play a third time when she felt something icy cold on her shoulder. Rebecca screamed as the ghost sagged on her for support.

"Please… I'm… weak…" it talked so low she could barely hear it. There was a slow rumbling noise and the wall in front of her parted. She stood in awe as it opened up to reveal a sword pinning a large pool of shadow to the ground.

The ghost sighed "Gannon will not awaken… his soul is in another… but you must fight his body… to claim the sword… of…time…" the icy feeling slowly faded as the ghost disappeared into the air "strike down evil…" was the last she ever heard of it.

Rebecca did a quick inventory. She was left holding a magic instrument with a king's ransom of jewels before her next to a demon that she had to kill with a magic sword. She wondered if she could put quarters into that ghost spell to keep it working for a while longer but she didn't think so. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

There was no use to put it off. Well actually she wanted to put it off until she had a year's worth of fencing classes but she couldn't do that either. They would start looking for her tonight. She wiped her sweaty hands on her tunic and walked up to the sleeping shadow.

Without walking on the shadow she reached over and gave the sword a tentative tug. It felt like the sword was pushed out of the floor and it sprang into her hand glowing. It's the sword the old man had! She thought thunder struck. Yup it was the same blue and oddly glowing sword that she had seen on the night this whole fiasco started. She felt a strong urge to throw it into a river.

But the shadow that was pinned began to stir. It grew a pair of eyes, the same ones that were on the pedestal that transported her here. What's with all the creepy eyes in this place! She thought franticly as the shadow took form. It was gigantic; A huge lumbering beast with glowing eyes and a scorpion tail! It reared up on its hind legs and bellowed.

She felt very foolish next to this monster, even holding a magic sword. It was like trying to cut down the tallest tree in the forest with a herring. Gah, not a time for jokes! She ran and the huge thing stomped after her.

She rushed outside the temple. This was a lucky break! She could fit through the door but, the monster couldn't. She was about to breath a sigh of relief when a man walked out of the door. He seemed in a Christmas-y mood with green skin and red hair, but the black armor and the glowing ball of energy in his hand made him look a little more dangerous.

The man rose up into the air and laughed horribly. He chucked the ball of energy at her and Rebecca felt the familiar impulse. She flailed the sword at it and the ball bounced back at the man. He scowled and hit it back towards her. So I don't have time for jokes, but I do have time for ping pong! She hit it back again; then the man missed his timing and he screamed as the energy engulfed him. He sunk to the ground limp and Rebecca ran up and slashed at him.

The man roared and changed back into the gigantic monster. She swung at his legs but with its thick skin it didn't leave a scratch. She kept hacking in the vain hope that it would break through, but then the thing stooped and it swung at her with its fist the size of a washing machine. Rebecca barely had time to see it and lunge out of the way, but she got clipped on the shoulder and sent flying. Landing a few feet away she lay dazed as the monster raised its foot, laughing. Well, my drug induced stupor ends here… wake up she waited for the dream to end or for the monster to crush her, but she didn't expect to hear "What in the name of Din is going on!"

She looked up and saw a short, old, and fat man in a brown robe with a tiny bow in his hand. He was aiming the comically small thing at the monster and shouted "N-now, you just stay back, evil minion!"

Rebecca wanted to scream for him to get away, but all she managed was a faint cough. The man let loose and the arrow hit it in the face. It simply laughed again but abruptly stopped. Then it gave a feral yell and pawed franticly at its face. The arrow had turned golden and was planted firmly in its skull.

The man rushed over to her and pulled her up into a sitting position. "You pulled the sword out." He stated and she nodded slightly. Any kind of movement hurt right now but the man said "Well, get on with it! Slash at his tail!"

He dragged her to her feet and nudged her in the right direction. The monster was still screaming, but now it focused its red eyes on Rebecca. She choked back a scream as her eyes met his. She felt like she was about to die under its horrible gaze! Then the man shot another gold arrow at it and it fell to its knees. She stumbled around it till she saw the writhing scorpion tail and hacked at it like the man told her to. It severed cleanly and the monster howled and it slowly fell with a crash to the ground.

It dissolved into darkness and the shadows then melted into the night, leaving nothing. "So now I can make jokes?" Rebecca mumbled groggily and she fell as well.