Chapter 21: In A Dusty, Old Room
Ragnar slowly opened his eyes, his head spinning uncontrollably. Through a blurred vision, he saw a red, brick-faced ceiling. Where was he? He tried to sit up but his head hurt too much. Instead, he shifted his eyes back and forth, trying to get an idea of his surroundings. He seemed to be in a small room. There were walls only a few feet on either side of him and an old, broken, wooden table crumpled in the corner. Several layers of dust covered the broken table. Wherever he was, it was an ancient place.
He started to turn his eyes back up when he saw a mass of tentacles writhing just above him. Ragnar gasped in shock, which sent a wave of dull pain through his head. Instinctively, he grabbed his head and noticed there was a large bump on the back of his skull.
"You... a-wake!" he heard a watery voice above him.
Ragnar slowly began to sit up, leaning against a dusty wall. "Healie?" he weakly mumbled, rubbing his head. "Is that you?"
"Yes!" the healer said and Ragnar looked up, seeing the healer floating just a few feet in front of him.
"What happened?" Ragnar asked. "Where are we?"
"We... fly," Healie explained. "You... sleep... land... here... li-ly-pas... oz-wargs... try... get... us... I... hide... you..."
"Lilypas? Ozwargs?" Ragnar scratched his temple, not knowing what Healie meant. The soldier had never heard of lilypas or ozwargs. Were they some kind of monster? Or was Healie just rambling. "Where are we?"
"No... know," Healie replied, waving its tentacles side to side.
Ragnar rubbed his mustache. His headache was starting to subside, so it would be a good chance to have a look around. There was a door opposite of Ragnar in the tiny room so he started to head over to it.
Just as he was about to push the door open, Healie cried out, "No! No... go... out! Li-ly-pas! Oz-wargs!"
Ragnar looked at Healie for a moment. The healer had grabbed a hold of Ragnar's arm, trying to stop him from going outside. The soldier glared at his companion for a moment and Healie relaxed its grip, drawing its tentacles back slowly.
"I'm only going to take a peek," Ragnar explained gently. "Understand?"
"Yes," Healie said softly and retreated to a corner. Ragnar looked at the healer for a moment. Healie seemed really worried over something but the soldier couldn't begin to guess what. Shrugging, he turned back to the door and gently pushed it opened.
As he opened the door, a stream of bright light hit his eyes, temporarily blinding him. Ragnar hadn't realized just how dark the tiny room was. His eyesight returned momentarily, however, and he gazed out the tiny crack he made in the door.
Ragnar didn't know if what he saw was really there. A large window stood opposite him. Standing around the window were five, small men. No, they weren't men at all. Their faces were green, almost reptilian but without scales. They were wearing a dark tunic, keeping their heads hooded. Each had a bow in their hands and a quiver of arrows by their feet. Standing just behind the green men was another, small man. However, this one was even stranger looking than the green ones. He was wearing blue robes, a large pointed hat, and had sickly, green skin. It was the face that really shocked Ragnar, however. It had only one eye!
"Which is which?" Ragnar whispered to Healie, curious as to what the healer called lilypas and ozwargs.
"Oz-warg," Healie said, pointing to the one-eyed creature. He then pointed to the other five and said. "Li-ly-pa." Ragnar nodded and slowly began to close the door quietly, already thinking up a battle plan to get out of the room alive.
Just before he finally closed the door, he saw something float by the lilypas. It was a small group of healers!
Ragnar looked at Healie for a moment and saw his companion cowering in the corner. The soldier looked out again. It wasn't a trick in the bright sunlight. There were definitely healers floating among the lilypas and ozwargs.
As Ragnar finally closed the door, he began to think as to why Healie would be so afraid all of a sudden. It didn't take long for Ragnar to realize what was bothering his companion. Healie realized that, if they were going to get out alive, they would more than likely have to kill the healers outside. For Ragnar to kill Healie's kin would be like asking Healie to kill Ragnar's kin. For all he knew, the healers outside were just as kind as Healie, being forced to work for those monsters outside.
"Healie," he finally said, walking over to the healer, "do you think you can join ranks with the healers outside?"
"What... mean?" Healie asked, floating a little higher.
"If you can spy for me," Ragnar explained, "find out what's going on out there, we may stand a better chance of surviving when we escape. Understand?"
"Yes," Healie said.
"Good. Think you can report back to me before the sun goes down?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Ragnar said. He unsheathed his sword and went to the door. "Start tapping on the door as if you got trapped in here. I'll hide just behind the door so don't worry about me."
"Yes," Healie said, waving its tentacles back and forth. The healer floated over to the door and started to tap it repeatedly. Ragnar stood against the wall, just beside the hinges of the door. As Healie was tapping, Ragnar prayed to Master Dragon that whatever opened the door wouldn't slam it open, crushing him between the door and the wall.
He heard footsteps nearing the door and, through the crack between the door and hinges, he saw one of the lilypas approaching. It seemed to be talking in a harsh, clicking noise.
The door began to creak open and Ragnar's grip on the hilt of his sword tensed. He saw Healie look at the lilypa that was just a few inches away from Ragnar, separated only by the wooden door. The soldier didn't even dare to breathe. The slightest sound could very easily give his position away.
Harsher, clicking sounds came, apparently from several of the lilypas by the window. Ragnar saw a tiny hand firmly grasp a cluster of Healie's tentacles and roughly dragged the healer outside, slamming the door behind. Several dust layers moved, even a few splinters shattered off the old door, but Ragnar remained perfectly still.
He heard more clicking sounds, then a somewhat human voice. It wasn't human language, but something remotely similar. Was that the ozwarg, or some other monster he hadn't seen yet?
Well, there was no time for speculation. Gently, Ragnar eased himself from beside the door and retreated to the far side of the room, opposite the door. He sat down, keeping his sword on his lap. There were remarkably few bloodstains on the blade, despite the amount of usage over the last week. Beetle-men, deranged gophers, elves, and only Esturk knew what else next. He had little doubt he would soon be covering the blade with the blood of lilypas and ozwargs as well, if they even had blood.
For perhaps the first time as a royal soldier, Ragnar felt unsure of himself. Here he was, in a tiny, old room, monsters he'd never seen or heard of before just on the other side of the door, somewhere he had no idea was. He could hear the lilypas talking among themselves on the other side of the door, clicking in a manner like the beetle-men.
Ragnar chuckled to himself. Before he left Burland Castle a week ago, beetle-men were pretty much only myths, something that mothers told children that would come out of the dark and eat you alive if you didn't behave. Now, he'd come face to face, and even killed, another creature that was myth. How many more monsters would start to crop up from fairy tales? Dwarves? Dragons? Demons? Esturk and Master Dragon themselves? Would they descend from their constellations and do battle on the earth as legends claimed they did millennia ago?
Ragnar sighed and rubbed his head, feeling the bump on it. His headache had subsided for now but with each graze of his fingers over the bump, a dull pain seeped through his body. He contemplated taking a medical herb to try to speed up the healing process of the bump but decided against it. If it was going to come to blows - and Ragnar had no doubt that it would eventually - he was going to need them, Healie backing him up or not.
Time passed slowly, the light filtering into the tiny room becoming dimmer. The occasional clicking sounds from outside became less and less. Ragnar sometimes peeked outside and saw that the number of lilypas was decreasing, probably for shift changes or meal times. The ozwarg, however, never left, always watching over the lilypas and keeping the healers that would occasionally float by moving.
As twilight began to descend, Ragnar began to worry. What was keeping Healie so long? Could his companion be in trouble? What if someone recognized Healie from the secret playground? Ragnar scratched that possibility. To him, and probably everyone else out of the species, healers almost looked identical to one another. It was possible that the other healers in this place didn't recognize Healie and reported it to an ozwarg or someone or something of higher rank, but Ragnar doubted any other healers bothered to learn any humanoid language, much less the tougher clicking sounds of the lilypas.
Whether Healie was in danger or not, Ragnar was becoming concerned. He decided that he should take a quick look around the area, despite the monsters on the other side of the door. There shouldn't be many and the element of surprise was still his. He could probably take out at least two, maybe three, of the lilypas before they even realized what had hit them. Ragnar grabbed his sword and headed towards the door, adrenaline building up inside of him.
As he neared the door, Ragnar heard a scraping sound. It was coming from the door. The soldier steeled his nerves, expecting a wave of lilypas and ozwargs to come storming through. From the sounds of it, whatever that was trying to get in was having a tough time with the door. A dozen options ran through Ragnar's head. He figured the best course of action would be to suddenly open the door to retain the element of surprise.
Ragnar took a few deep breaths and silently placed his hand on the handle of the door. Quickly, he swung it open and a flurry of thin tentacles fell in. It took Ragnar by surprise and the tentacles grasped onto his armor. Ragnar grabbed a handful of the tentacles and threw the creature off of him. He turned to attack whatever it was that had come into the room. He saw a healer writhing in the corner.
"Healie?" Ragnar whispered as loud as he dared, closing the door. He glanced outside and saw three lilypas sleeping by the window. The ozwarg wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Yes," a muffled sound came from the healer as it started to rise.
"Where were you?" Ragnar asked, securing the door. "You've been gone for too long."
"Waited..." Healie explained. "Li-ly-pa... oz-warg... there..."
"I see," Ragnar said. He walked over to Healie and asked. "So, what's out there?"
"Many... floor..." Healie explained, waving its tentacles frantically. "We... up... e-vil... man... down..."
"Evil man, huh?" Ragnar muttered, rubbing his mustache. So, there were elves here as well, probably controlling the lilypas and ozwargs. "What else?" Ragnar asked, looking up.
"No... see..." Healie said, "but... hear... child-ren... cry..."
"Children?" Ragnar said. He looked at Healie and asked. "The children from Izmit?"
"Yes..." Healie replied. "They... cry... no... see... but... hear."
Excitement ran through Ragnar's body. The children were here! This mad journey was almost at an end! All he had to do was let Healie lead him, grab the children, and get out of here. He would be able to get back to Burland Castle then and start preparing the castle defenses. And, most of all, he'd be back with Mary and his safe, secure, orderly way of life.
"Healie," Ragnar said, turning his attention back to his companion, "do you think there is any chance to get the healers here to join us?"
"I... try..." Healie said, waving its tentacles side to side. "They... too... scared... to... join..." Healie seemed to start to say something but stopped. Ragnar looked at the healer, urging it to continue. A sigh-like sound seemed to come from Healie and said, "They... kill... we... if... we... kill... li-ly-pa... or... oz-warg..."
Ragnar nodded and said, "I understand." He put a hand on Healie's head and added. "I promise not to kill any of your kin if I can help it." The healer's tentacles waved a bit more rapidly, as if Healie was excited.
Ragnar glanced back at the door and asked, "So, how many lilypas and ozwargs are out there?"
"No... know," Healie replied. "Man-y... search... for... hu-mans..."
The soldier glanced back at Healie. "What do you mean, 'for humans'? Are they looking for me?"
"No!" Healie said, waving its tentacles side to side. "Oth-er... hu-mans..."
Other humans? What other humans could be here besides him and the children? Could it be possible that some of the royal soldiers made it here as well? There would only be one way to find out.
"Come on, Healie," he said, grabbing his shield and plumed helmet. "We're going out!"