Might And Magic

By Sammie Spitz

Chapter 4: Down The River...

Juno ran over to Rickeena to try and help her. He tried to find her, but the mist was so thick he could barely see anything. The mist finally started to clear. Suddenly, a large creature suddenly ran at him. Juno turned to face it. It looked like a bull with dog's legs, sharp claws and a pair of long tusks protruding from it's mouth. This monstrosity, he guessed, used to be Alpha.

The creature slowly advance at him. Juno tried to back up, but trying to do this with four legs proved to be a challenge. But, he quickly got the hang of it. He tried to land a kick every now and then to keep the creature at bay. But, it wasn't working. Then, Juno suddenly felt his back touch the bark of a rather large tree. He was trapped.

Alpha glared at him. He jumped up on his hinds and put a massive paw on each side of Juno against the tree. He came nose to nose with him, drool dripping from his saber teeth. Then, with no warning, he suddenly let out a painful roar. He turned around. Vela had crawled up to his tail, with two rocks. She had just smashed his tail between the rocks, obviously breaking it.

Vela did her best to stand taller on her tail fin and challenged, "C'mon, freak! If you really think your so tough, why don't you turn your sorry ass around and face me like a man!"

Alpha looked around and glared at her. Not impressed, Vela continued to mock him. She yelled, "What's this? You're all bark and no bite, eh? Thought so. You don't even have the guts to stand up to a little girl!"

"Vela! Stop it!" Juno shouted. He was aware of the danger she was in, even if she wasn't.

"Don't worry, bro. This coward couldn't stand up to an ant!"

"Sis, don't!"

"I've seen rocks smarter than him!"

"Sis, I'm begging you! Listen to reason, for once in your life!"

"He probably couldn't hit the broad side of a-!" Vela's next insult was cut off very violently. Enraged beyond control, Alpha delivered a powerful back kick. It hit Vela in the chest and stomach and was strong enough to sent to flying into the bushes, beyong Juno's sight.

"VELA!!" He shouted, "Sis! Can you hear me?!" Not hearing an answer filled him with a sudden rage. He foucused all his anger into his front legs. When Alpha lookd back at him, Juno managed to rear up and give him a kick in the chest the made him back away. As Alpha was stunned, something in the bushes caught Juno's eye. Figuring he had time, he dug in the bush and found a rusty, but still strong-looking sword.

He picked the sword up and eyed Alpha, who had just regained his footing. Alph acharged at him. Juno charged as well, with the sword aimed at Alpha. When the two met, there was a bright flash. When the flash cleared, Juno stood in the middle of a circle of black dust, some of it covering him. He shook it off and then looked down at the ground. There was a strange bronze ammulet on the ground with a green ribbon on it. He picked it up and observed it. It had a carving of a tree. He then remembered something.

"Sis!" He cried out and galloped into the bushes Vela landed in. She was laying on the ground, out cold, on her side. Juno was in shock. He quietly went over to her, knelt down and shook her.

"Vela?" He asked, "Sis? You OK?" She didn't respond. He gently turned her over onto her back and cradled her in his arms.

"Please, sis. Don't die on me here. I need you too much." He was on the verge of tears. Lupus walked over to them. He whinned a little and licked Vela's face.

As Babylon and Rainer came to see what was going to, Vela started to wake up. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Juno. Once Juno realized she was awake he hugged her tightly.

"Vela! Thank God you're alive!" He sobbed.

"Juno, I wasn't hit that hard." Vela groaned.

"Don't you ever do anything like that again! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Alright, if I have to." Juno helpped her back onto his back.

"Well, now that this touching sibling moment is over, we should get back to finding the river." Babylon told them. He looked around, "Rickeena?" He looked around some more. Rickeena was nowhere to be found.

"Strange." Rainer muttered. Then, he pricked his ears. He heard something. Like the sound of moving water. He followed the noise to it's source: a steady and very wide river.

"Well, here we are." Babylon said. He then searched around and found a large boat. He put it on the water and tied the raft to a tree.

After standing on it to test it, he told them, "It's steady enough. You guys can come on." Rainer carefully stepped on. Then Lupus, and then Vela slipped on.

"OK, here we go!" Babylon shouted. The burly cat creature exposed his claws and sliced the boat free. It floated down the river.

Rainer took out his communication lens and activated it to talk to King Jeff. Babylon sat down next to Juno and said, "Those were some pretty good fighting tactics, kid. You still have a lot to learn, but your getting there."

Juno pulled out the strange ammulet and looked it over. "What do you think this is, Babylon?"

"I'm not sure, kid. I've been around, and I've never seen anything like that. You may want to hold onto it, though.

Suddenly, Babylon's ears twitched. Rainer had just gotten finished talking, put the lens away and did the same thing. The sound of the river had just changed dramaticly. It sounded faster and more violent in the distance. Babylon suddenly gulped.

"Better hang on!" He shouted.


Jeff disabled the spell and looked to the others.

"What did they say?" Floyd asked.

"There was a small fight, but it was settled." He answered, "But, they seemed to be running into something on the river. Rainer seemed pretty nervous. He just told me he would talk to me later and then left."



The boat suddenly started rocking violently. They had just come across the rapids on the river. Everyone fought to control the boat or just stay on. As Vela clung onto the side of the boat, she suddenly was flung out by a strong jerk. Juno and Lupus both reached out and grabbed her. It was a hard fight, but they eventually pulled her in.

Rainer happened to look over at something on the bank...and the fact that the boat was heading straight for it.

"EVERYONE HOLD ON!!!" He shouted. Suddenly, the boat crashed into the shore.



Vela began to come to and found herself laying in shallow water next to the shore. She slowly brought her head up and looked around, thankful to find that everyone, made it. She looked up and got a sudden shock. She crawled over to her unconssious brother and shook him.

He woke up and groaned, "Vela, what the.....Ho...ly...shit..."

To Be Continued....