Chapter 12
A/N: hey guys, back for the next chapter. Good to see y'all again, remember, I'm just the writer Gabeherdon98 owns the OCs.
"Well it's dark," Callum remarked, "but I think the scariest thing I've seen so far is an angry cricket. And he's more like, mildly annoyed."
"Are you sure this is the Cursed Caldera?" Ezran asked. "Or did we accidently wander up Humdrum Hill?"
"Maybe we took a wrong turn and wound up Sleepy Slope," Rayla added with a chuckle.
"I bet we made that turn at the Boring Boulders," Trezac shrugged as the others chuckled.
"I'll have to check my map but I'm fairly certain I recognize the unmistakable topography of Mt. Monotonous!" Callum chimed in, receiving nothing in reply save for the annoyed cricket.
"Anyways," Ellis began, "it is a little odd that nothing bad has happened yet. I SEE A HUGE SCARY MONSTER!" They all jumped turning to face is as Ellis laughed, "But don't worry, it's dead."
"Then why did you say it like that?!" Callum grumbled.
"SAY IT LIKE WHAT?!"
"Ellis," Trezac spoke up, "just because we haven't run into anything yet, doesn't mean we won't if you keep yelling."
"Whoa, I've never seen anything like this," Ezran said looking over the dead beast. It kinda reminded the boy of a badger, but with the horns and hooves of a goat, the face of a crocodile, and the teeth of well…they were really big teeth.
"Reminds me of the beasts on Orto Plutonia," Trezac muttered approaching it running his fingers over the strange bite mark.
"Don't touch it!" Callum exclaimed as Trezac continued to ignore him.
The body felt warm, and it looked fresh. This thing couldn't have been killed that long ago. Pulling his hand back, the jedi frowned as he noticed the distinct lack of blood on his fingers. His fingers should've been coated, not barely holding and drops. "Something's drained all the blood." Looking at the bite again, Trezac couldn't help but slowly go pale as he took in its shape. "Uh…your planet wouldn't happen to have Rathars, would it?" he chuckled nervously.
"What's a Rathtar?"
A low growl came from behind the dead beast, and they all slowly looked up as a worm-like creature with four eyes loomed over them. "Thank the Force it's not a Rathtar!"
"But it is a huge scary monster!" Ellis reminded.
"Oh, right," Trezac said. As the beast began to slither towards them, the others fell back as Trezac used a Force throw to put more distance between them and it.
"The plan!" Callum called as he raced to join them. "Remember the plan!"
"Ok! Where's Bait?" the boy called turning to his pet. "BAIT! You're supposed to—AH!"
"Too soon!" Callum called as they all covered their eyes, partially blinded by the blinding light from the glow-toad.
"I can't see!"
"None of us can!"
Sensing something moving towards them Trezac threw out a force blast, wincing as he heard Rayla give a startled yelp as she and the monster were blasted back. "TREZAC! YOU JERK!"
"Ok! I shouldn't do the lightning if I can't see!"
"No lightning!"
"Ok! New plan: SCATTER!" Callum screamed.
"To distract the monster?!"
"NO JUST TO GET AWAY AND LIVE!" Callum answered sprinting pass with the creature on his heels. Ellis rode over on Ava, Agir running right beside them as Callum hopped on the wolf and they scrambled up the cliffside.
Running with Rayla and Ezran, they stopped at the base of a tree. "You can climb right?" Trezac asked.
Ezran nodded and Rayla quickly helped hoist the boy up before she pulled out her sword as the monster came slithering towards them. Pulling out his own blade, Trezac lunged forwards swiping the saber across the monster's snout.
It gave a shrill shriek, spinning away and slamming Trezac with its tail, knocking the padawan back into a tree. "TREZAC!"
The air was knocked out of his lungs as he slammed to the ground, and in an attempt to take a breath in response he ended up getting a lungful of dirt. Coughing, Trezac stumbled to his feet, his vision swimming as several images of the monsters slithered towards him, slowly morphing back into one. It gave a shrill cry as the three flaps forming the slug-creature's mouth opened up to reveal the mess of circular teeth inside, as it lunged at him Trezac rolled under it. Using another force push, the padawan panted as it once again slid back, giving him time to leap up into the nearest tree, high above its reach.
"TREZAC? ARE YOU OK?"
"Fine," he called back. Another set of coughs made him hunch over as his airways made an attempt to get whatever dirt got in out. Pulling back, the young jedi couldn't help but frown at the red spittle now on his hand.
"SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? I THINK THAT THING'S DOWN THERE WAITING FOR US!" Rayla's voice echoed over the grove.
"WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT MUCH BLOOD!"
"I KNOW! WE'D BE A VERY UNSATISFYING SNACK!"
As if in reply, the monster gave a hiss in return and Trezac leaned against the tree trunk with a sigh, closing his eyes as his head began throbbing. Seems like they were going to be there for a little while.
"I'M SORRY MY PLAN WAS A MESS," Callum apologized.
"NAH! YOUR PLAN WAS FINE! OUR EXECUTION WAS A BIT OFF. IT CAME OUT MORE AS: ARGH! OOPS! HELP! RUN!" Rayla replied.
Callum sighed in defeat.
-.-
"Come on," Eleven teased as she crouched in front of the prisoner, "you've gotta tell me something eventually. It's getting boring, and I don't do boring."
"I am already dead," Runaan ground out again, his throat feeling raw from the hours he'd spent under the subjugation of this insane mage.
"Here we go again," she drawled sounding annoyed. Standing up, she walked over to his bad arm, taking a finger in hand. He grimaced as pain from his slowly dying nerve receptors shot through him, but he couldn't break, not now. What he hadn't expected was the absolute agony when she yanked his finger back with a sharp snap. A scream ripped its way out of the elf's throat, meanwhile Eleven could only stand there looking quite pleased with herself. "Oh! It's even more sensitive than earlier! This is gonna be so fun! So come on, scream for me." This time, she turned and roundhouse kicked his bound arm in a downward sweep and a sadistic smile. "Cause no one's coming to save you."
-.-
"Oh Viren, you're here," Eleven greeted with a wide smile as the High Mage of Katolis shoved the heavy mirror into the prisoner's cell.
"Yes…what are you doing down here Eleven?"
The inquisitor gave a giggle bouncing in place. "Just having fun with the prisoner," she replied hopping to the side to give Viren a full view of her handiwork, "no big deal. It's not I intend to break my new toy yet. There's so much I want to do to him!"
Viren swallowed as he took in the damage. How…how was the elf still alive? He didn't look alive, but the loud wheezes he gave said otherwise. Each of the prisoner's fingers on his bad hand had been twisted to impossible angles and he could see a clear break in the same arm. And that wasn't even the worst of it.
Licking his suddenly dry lips, he took a breath and stepped forwards, "In a moment, I will remove this cover and you will tell me what you know. Understood?" Viren didn't get a response but in the prisoner's state he wasn't exactly expecting one. Sighing, he knelt down in front of the elf. "I've brought something I hope you'll find motivating." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a pouch letting the jingling of the metal inside draw the elf's attention.
"You're more foolish than I thought," Runaan ground out. "Don't you know only humans can be bribed?"
"Well, I have seen many other races get bribed, not just humans," Eleven spoke coyly twirling a lock of her hair. "Don't think too highly of yourself. I'd hate to have to teach you another lesson."
"Oh, this isn't a bribe," Viren said dumping the contents to the floor. "It's a threat. Go on take a closer look."
Runaan went pale when he saw what they actually were. "You're a monster!"
"Let me see!" Eleven squeaked sitting down and picking up the objects with barely contained glee. "Ooooh! Viren you have to teach me how to do this!"
-.-
"It seems to be hanging in there," Rayla said kneeling beside Ezran as he cradled the egg, trying to keep it warm, "barely."
"I'm so sorry I messed up the plan," Ezran apologized hugging the egg a little tighter.
"You should cut yourself a break, everyone messes up sometimes," she reassured. "Or in my case, all the time."
"What're you talking about?"
"Trust me, if the plan hadn't gotten messed up when Bait flashed, I'm sure it would've flopped when it was my turn," she grumbled, "then Trezac would've had to 'save the day', again."
"Are you kidding? From what I can tell you're awesome at everything."
"Well it's true I am pretty awesome at everything," she smiled before glaring at the ground, "right up until the moment it really matters. That's when I just, poof—screw things up."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I hesitate, think too much and get confused about the right thing to do. and the next thing I know, I failed. Like when Trezac and I were getting the knife. We were doing so well till I messed up and revealed myself. If Trezac didn't step in with his weird magic trick we probably would've been chased down by an angry mob."
"Wait…are you jealous?" Erzan probed.
"Of Trezac?" she scoffed lying down, "no. It's not like he always saves the freakin' day."
"You save the day too."
"Yeah right," she grumbled. "He doesn't mess up. He wouldn't have hesitated where I did. You see, on the morning I came to your castle, my team and I were discovered by a human guard. It was my job to chase him down and stop him…But when I caught him…he looked up at me and was so afraid. And the I just…let him go."
"You felt for him," Ezran stated.
"He was a human! My enemy!"
"Yeah," Ezran said rolling onto his stomach much to Bait's chagrin, " but then you saw he was scared. And you knew he was a person, just like you."
"That shouldn't have mattered! I had a job to do!" she growled sitting up. "Do you realize that I'm an assassin who hasn't killed anyone?!"
"Uh, I think that's a good thing," Erzan replied, "and besides in your position, I bet Trezac would've done what you had too. You don't need to compare yourself to him." He sat up with a smile, "And thanks for failing you mission by the way, I like being alive."
"I'm glad your alive Ezran, knowing you is definitely worth losing a hand for."
"That's the weirdest, nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
"Eh who knows, maybe this is my unlucky hand and when it falls off, my luck will change," she tried optimistically.
"That's horrible."
"Funny though."
"Funny and horrible," Ezran agreed.
Across the valley on the ledge, Callum sat with Ellis petting Agir and Ava as they tried to come up with a plan to get out of there. Peering over the edge, he sighed as he saw a dark shadow slither by. "Nope, still there."
"I can't believe you're a mage," Ellis rambled. "I've never met an actual mage before. You're not at all like I expected."
"What were you expecting?"
"You know, taller, long robes, wrinklier, super smart," she answered eliciting a chuckled. "And maybe like a weird amulet or something?"
"Well I am in the market for a weird amulet if you know anybody."
"And you're so confident!"
"It's funny to hear someone say that," Callum sighed. "I don't think of myself as confident."
"Really, you should be, having all that incredible power."
Callum chuckled half-heartedly, "You see, when I think confident I think of people like Rayla, or Trezac, or…or my dad. And the truth is, I don't have that power," he pulled out the Primal Stone, "this does. All the magic, all the power, all the confidence…it's just because of this thing: a Primal Stone."
"That Primal Stone needs you to do all that amazing stuff. Without you it's just a neat, glowy ball."
"I guess so," Callum shrugged looking over the stone watching the storm rage inside it. "But without this, I'm nothing. Just a guy who can draw and make wry comments from time to time—and they're not even that wry."
"I'm not convinced," Ellis argued. "I have a feeling you'd be pretty amazing, even without your magic ball."
"Well you seem pretty great too," Callum returned earning a bark from Ava. "And Ava's also great!" From his right, Agir gave a yip and he sighed, ruffling the fire-fox's fur, "Yes, so are you Agir, you're just a fuzzy wuv-munkin!"
"HEY GUYS! I THINK THAT THING'S GONE!" Rayla shouted.
In his tree, Trezac fumbled into a sitting position, looking down at the foggy ground below. He didn't hear anything; nor did he sense it lurking either. Jumping down from the tree, he used the force to soften his landing, grunting as he stumbled slightly.
"Haven't seen it or heard it for a while," Rayla said as the Jedi walked over to join the rest of them, "Seems like it moved on."
"See ya sucker!" Ezran smirked. "Get it? Cause it's a giant leech?"
"So more've a description than an insult?" Callum asked.
"A little of both."
"It's probably gone, but let's not taunt it," Rayla reminded.
Trezac found himself nodding in agreement. "We should get moving. It could decide to come back."
"Exactly," Rayla said. "There's this little thing called irony: just as you say one thing, like you're really sure about it, the opposite happens."
As she was explaining it, Trezac's eyes widened as he saw the leech slowly rising to its full height behind the others. "You mean like that?"
