New chapter up, yay, hooray, etc.
Whispering Hope: Yeah, Ender is based off the Ender in Ender's Game. I couldn't find his description though! It only had Peter's in the book. And what's with you and my people? Are you trying to be in love with a made-up character?
John: Um, there were three duels. Which one did you mean?
LunaticChaos: I hate that combo too. It was necessary though. The virtual world is not my idea at all, so I really can't say anything about that. If you watch the Anime, you'll notice even it has a world like it. But the Soul Monsters… I'm kinda touchy on that. It's an idea I haven't seen used before, so I like that specifically. Can you tell me more details? Email me if you wish to discuss.
Chapter 17: Separated!
"There's no point in hanging around here any more," Draken stated. "We should get back to searching."
By this time, Rue had finally grown tired of chasing Will. "Yeah…"
Hope was still worried about how swiftly she had been beaten. But that wasn't the only thing she was concerned with. The aura she had seen unnerved her completely. It had seemed so menacing…
"Something wrong?" Gaston asked.
"No, it's nothing," Hope assured. "I agree, let's get moving."
Liar, Gaston thought, looking at Hope. Something is troubling you… something more than just a simple loss. But I'll respect your wishes.
"I have a request though," Hope announced. "Can we go through the forest to be near the lake? I want to see if my other friends are still there."
"It is possible they might have left," Miles pondered. "Ok, I'll lead the way, going in a route that'll bring us by the lake shore."
"Thanks."
…
Claire pushed her hair away from her eyes wearily.
She was very tired, for she had to stay up most of the day and night to look over Max. He seemed to be recovering, but he was still in the danger zone.
"You're exhausted," Perseus told her as she left the room.
"I know that full-well," she sighed.
"You should rest. I'll wake you up if anything happens with Max."
"Oh all right… thanks. I just need to check on something, and then I'll go to the couch in the family room."
She walked downstairs, and over to Zack's unconscious form. She looked him over, and shook her head.
"Still out of it… it's been a whole day now. How much longer will it take?" She walked back to the family room, her questions still unanswered.
…
They emerged from the trees to the shore of the lake and looked over at where Hope's friends had been.
"Not there anymore…" Brandi frowned.
"They probably had to high-tail it or get caught in the stampede," Draken assumed. "Well, let's get back to the forest. Nothing else to see here."
"Hold it right there!"
"I take that back," Draken muttered as a group of twenty officials leapt out.
"They seem to like coming in tens," Miles joked.
"And that is important… how?" Gen asked.
"Quiet! You are all under arrest!" one of the officials announced.
"Oh please… can't they think of any better opening speeches?" Rue complained. "And maybe quit coming after us? They don't stand a chance when it comes to a fight, especially with our support cards."
One of the other officials stepped forward. Besides the standard official suit, with a badge that said 'Top Employee', he had short black hair, and brown eyes. "Your Duel Disks will be of no help this time. I activate Prohibition Order, banning you from using your Duel Disks in anything except duels!"
"He can do that?" Hope said in disbelief.
"Go ahead; just try to teleport out!"
"If you say so…" She attempted to bring up the menu, only to get a message that said 'ACCESS DENIED'.
"Just great…" she muttered.
"You still think you can defeat all of us?" The official smirked. "And don't think that we have no Soul Monsters on our side!" He held up a Soul Card.
A huge dinosaur emerged with a roar. It looked like a black T-Rex. Its wicked fangs were as sharp as daggers, and its claws were just as painful looking. To make matters worse, the beast was at least nine feet tall.
"This will be fun," Rue said sarcastically.
"It makes no difference… I'll take care of them," Brandi decided.
"Don't even try it!" Hope protested. "We won't be able to heal your torn legs with our support cards banned!"
"What other option do we have?"
Will pointed over at the lake. "There's one place they cannot follow us. We need to flee by water!"
The official overheard him. "Moron! You can't flee without a vessel, and the only one that would fit you all is a Skull Blood Pirate Ship. Even if you could activate one, we can easily follow you with our own!"
Miles grinned. "There's a problem with your plan."
"And what would that be?"
Gen walked back over to Miles, and held up the Skull Blood Pirate Ship, saying to the stunned officials, "You won't be able to follow us without your own ship. Not to mention that this card isn't prohibited, is it?"
"Get them!" the official howled. The dinosaur snarled, teeth gleaming as he came forward, the others following.
Mana looked over at the group. "Ruecian, Neo, help me out here! Let's distract them! Everyone else, get the ship ready to sail!"
Ruecian held out his hand and sent out a wave of black magic. A barrier suddenly surrounded the dinosaur, blocking the attack.
"Attack Nullification…" Mana muttered. She held up her staff and sent a sphere of black magic flying, which was once again blocked.
Neo was tired of waiting around. He charged at his opponent, slicing at the dinosaur's leg. It jumped back nimbly, and swept its powerful tail at him. Neo was sent crashing to the ground. Then the beast lunged, its teeth ready to tear apart the fallen swordsman. In a moment of desperation, Neo's hands began to glow. He clapped them together, vanishing.
The dinosaur stopped, looking around in confusion. Then Neo reappeared-right over the monster. He fell, crashing into the beast's back. Neo saw the opportunity and stabbed his sword into its back.
The tyrannosaurus rex screamed in pain, bucking. Neo barely managed to hold on to his sword, avoiding being thrown off.
By this time, Miles had managed to summon the Skull Blood Pirate Ship, and everyone else was now onboard besides Ruecian, Mana, and Neo.
"Neo! Quit playing with the overgrown lizard and get over here!" Will shouted.
"Sure thing!" Neo extracted his sword from the dinosaur's flesh and leapt off. He managed to jump on the ship, shortly followed by Ruecian and Mana. The dinosaur attempted to pursue them, but was pushed back by another blast of magic that Mana shot, hitting him on the nose.
"Get back here!" the official cried.
"Sorry, no can do!" Miles told him. "Adios guys!"
Then the ship sailed away, followed by a stream of curses from the defeated official.
…
"Forgive me," he whispered as the blade came down. "Although I understand if you do not."
He had not fallen by sheer might; he had fallen from the pain in his heart called sorrow.
Why can I not forget? Is this the price I must pay for my deeds?
…
"We're not home free yet," Draken warned. "Until we destroy that Prohibition Order, we're stuck here. Any bright ideas?"
Will was trying to help Neo relax against the ship's mast; he had been pretty battered up by getting slammed around with the dinosaur's tail. Miles was steering the vessel Gen had stolen. Everyone else was trying to relax, although that did not come easy.
"They might wait on the shore until we come back," Larka suggested. "Maybe we could go back when they least expect it, for a sneak attack?"
"That will probably be the only way to go," Darche agreed. "A direct approach is just not going to work with that dratted dinosaur. Normally he could be hacked apart easily, but that official has support cards while we don't. Surprise is the best idea I've heard."
Miles looked up at the sky. "It's too early to go back to shore now, but we need to find a place to dock quickly."
"Why?" Hope asked.
"Just look at those clouds! A storm is coming. It's way too dangerous to stay at sea with a storm."
"Where's the nearest place that we can stop?" Rue inquired.
"Not too far, luckily. But we won't make it before the storm comes. We're going to have to battle our way to it."
"That isn't reassuring," Gaston told him.
"Unfortunately… oh well. We'll see how things go."
A few minutes later, it began to rain. Hope looked down at the water, which was starting to cause the ship to shudder violently.
"Why did they program storms into Teknisk Wereld?" she asked Will.
"Beats me. Probably to make it as lifelike as possible, which is bad for us."
"Even thunder and lightning?" Hope inquired. A thunderclap answered her.
"Looks like a rough one!" Miles called back. "You guys should get below deck! I'll stay and steer."
"And if you get knocked off by a tidal wave, then what happens?" Draken pointed out. "We need to stay up here!"
"Fine, but I'm not paying the laundry bills!" Miles informed them.
Gaston looked over the side of the ship, and paled. "Grab something solid!"
"What's the matter?" Rue asked.
"Wave coming!" He seized the mast, grabbing Hope with his free hand.
The tidal wave's arrival was a fierce one. It crashed over the main deck, leaving Hope gasping for breath when it was finally over.
"Man overboard!" Brandi shouted. "I mean woman! Larka's gone!"
Daine's endurance was remarkable. He had managed to stay onboard when the wave had come by simply digging his claws into the floor. He had also grabbed Malon with one of his paws, saving the puppy. When Malon heard what Brandi said, he gave a fierce howl. Pulling free of Daine's grasp, he jumped over the side of the ship, to go crashing into the waters below.
Daine snarled, jumping after Malon. Fell was right behind him, fearlessly leaping into the wild waters below.
"Damn it!" Rue growled. "Miles, you have any life boats, or at least a rope? My Lifeline is off limits right now!"
"We can only hope!" Miles called back. "Their Soul Monsters are dogs, after all. Maybe they'll be able to swim to shore!"
"In this weather? Impossible!" Hope protested. "Malon is only a puppy! He'll never make it! And Daine can't carry all three of them!"
"We can discuss this later!" Miles told her. "We have to get on shore, if we don't want to end up like that!"
Everyone knew he was right, although they disliked leaving their companions. The rest of the trip was a time of anxiousness. Luckily, only one more tidal wave came their way. Neo was nearly swept over, but Ruecian managed to pull up a barrier in time.
At long last, Miles yelled, "Land! Get ready to abandon ship!"
The minute the ship reached the island, they leapt off. Miles went last, recalling the Skull Blood Pirate Ship. This island had many trees, and they instantly ducked under cover of the leafy branches.
"What can we do?" Mana asked.
"The best we can do is search," Draken said. "Hopefully, we'll find them alive…"
"But this body of water is so big!" Hope protested. "They could be anywhere!"
Darche had an idea. "After the storm calms, I'll summon some of my friends. The Blue Eyes White Dragons should be able to assist."
"Why didn't we call them against the officials, and avoid this whole mess in the first place?" Neo asked.
"It's wise that he didn't," Gen told him. "When I stole his card, I noticed another; a Dragon-Sealing Jar. These guys are prepared to deal with us in any manner."
"They're certainly smarter than the Generals of Hell, or so it seems…" Will concluded.
Draken stood up. "I'll take first watch with Darche. Hopefully the storm will let up soon."
…
Larka was taken completely by surprise. She had no chance to resist the waves as they slammed into her. She was knocked senseless in a time span of a few seconds.
She was dimly aware of resting on a solid surface. She managed to hear someone say, "Sir! I found one of them!" before darkness closed around her.
…
It was freezing cold.
That was the first thing Fell realized when he made contact with the water. His second thought was to find Larka. He took a deep breath before diving. Ignoring the salt water that pained his eyes, he looked everywhere underneath the water. He found nothing, and was forced to come up for more oxygen.
Daine was there, attempting to hold onto Malon by the scruff of his neck with his jaws. The puppy kept whining fretfully.
"Master! Grab onto me!" Daine managed to get out.
Fell knew that even the strongest person on earth could be easily defeated by the force of nature. He grabbed onto Daine's front left leg, and held on grimly. His iron grip did not relax until he slipped into unconsciousness.
…
Larka opened her eyes slowly, and examined her surroundings.
The first thing she noticed was five officials. Two of them were leaning against some other trees, and two others were talking to the man that seemed to be in charge. She did not recognize any of them, and concluded that they were not from the group with the lead official and his dinosaur. Still, any officials these days were bad news. That probably explained her position right now. Her wrists were bound behind her back, with her ankles in the same condition. It seemed they were being extra careful this time; she was also tied to a tree on the outskirts of the forest. She realized that they were closer to the mountains than the lake, and that they must have taken advantage of her weakened state.
What a perfect scene to wake up to… she thought, shaking her head to try and clear it. Judging by the sun's location in the sky, she judged it was early morning. Now that she had some idea of where she was, she tried to listen to what the officials were saying.
"…as quickly as possible, we'll be moving on in about an hour." The one to the man's left said, "Yes sir!" before running off.
The one to the man's right said, "No, we have not found anything yet. It seems like they got separated."
"To be expected, I suppose. Ok, go tell the others to spend this last hour searching the town. Then come back."
"Yes sir!" he replied, leaving as well.
The lead official turned back and looked over at Larka. His suit too had a 'Top Employee' badge. His light brown hair was done back in a neat ponytail, to accompany a goatee. His light brown eyes held a sly look in them.
He walked over to Larka, smirking slightly. "So, you are one of the criminals we have been after. I'm not very impressed-I expected more resistance."
Larka remained silent.
"It appears you have been separated from your fellow members. I need to know their location. If you tell me where they are, then the penalties that are on you might be lifted, or at least made lighter."
Larka glared at him. "As if I would give you the location of people who didn't even do anything wrong, much less my friends!"
"I expected no less." The official pulled out a cloth and swiftly gagged Larka. "No matter. I assume they are nearby anyway-your lot seems to care about staying together. Wherever you are, they will be close by." Then he left, calling to the other two men, "Make sure nobody approaches! If you see anyone, call for us. We'll come instantly."
"Yes sir!"
In any other case Larka would have felt awful being separated from her companions, but it was better this way. They were far out of the official's reach-her presence had made them confused. Still, she couldn't help but despair. She knew that nobody could save her in just an hour's time.
Minutes dragged by, and she could think of nothing. With no way to keep track of time, she felt very nervous, afraid that at any minute the officials would be back.
Then she heard something. Any normal human would have not been aware of the footsteps, for they were very quiet, but she managed to hear someone approaching.
Nothing happened for a few minutes, until the other two officials began conversing with each other, and their attention to her was distracted. She heard a small noise that sounded like steel, and then the ropes binding her fell away. She would have collapsed, but the person caught her, swiftly pulling her into the woods.
She was glad that she was unable to speak, or else she might have given away the escape right then. As it was, she stared at Zack, completely shocked.
"Stay still," he whispered. She obeyed, and felt the other bonds fall away from her arms and legs.
"What…?"
"I'll explain later." She was still weak from her blood circulation being cut off, so Zack lifted her easily. He managed to walk a few yards before hearing one of the officials yell, "She's escaped!"
"Enough stealth," Zack muttered. He ran towards the mountains, emerging from the forest. Larka managed to glance back, and was relieved to see that there were no officials following.
In a few minutes, they came across a small cave at the base of the mountains. Zack went into it, setting Larka down by the wall. There was about enough room to have three people inside it, although only one at a time could get through the tunnel.
"We'll have to stay here until they give up searching," Zack told her.
"Yeah, it isn't as though they will stop quickly," she said, rubbing her wrists to get her circulation flowing. "Did you just get here?"
"Yes, this morning. I was trying to find all of you, but I happened to see a group of officials with you. So I followed at a distance."
"Thanks a lot for helping."
"It was not a problem," he said. Larka noticed that he seemed to be looking somewhat awkward, but did not think on it long as he asked, "So where are the others?"
Larka quickly outlined what had happened ever since they saved Hope.
"What happened to you though?" she inquired.
"I tried to absorb too much electricity. When I expelled all of it, I also had to release a lot of my own. Normally, if I had stopped to rest then, I would have recovered much more quickly. But I made myself continue on, which resulted in having to shut down for quite some time to recover."
"I see." Larka's circulation felt fine now, so she leaned against the back of the cave to relax. "Well, they were all worried about you."
"…So where do you suggest we begin looking?" Zack said, unsure on how to respond to her comment.
"I'm not sure. Maybe we should go to the lake shore and wait for them to come in?"
"We have no other leads," Zack agreed, walking through the tunnel. Larka followed him outside.
"No signs of the officials… well, that's a good thing," she stated. "Which route should we take is the question… the one opposite of the forest seems best. I overheard the officials saying they were going to search the town, so that's off-limits."
"Then we'll circle around it," Zack decided.
It was not a difficult journey, although they were constantly on the alert. They ran into a conflict when they were almost at the lake shore.
They were silently walking to their destination when the ground suddenly began to shake.
"Whoa! What's going on?" Larka exclaimed, grabbing onto Zack's shoulder for support.
Zack had no chance to answer. A few seconds later, the earth collapsed, and they fell through. Almost instantly, the earth resealed itself, looking completely innocent.
And a few minutes later, a Blue Eyes White Dragon flow over the spot. It gave the area a careless glance, and when it saw that nobody was there, it flew on in search of the two missing group members.
…
Larka came to slowly, feeling someone shaking her shoulder. She carefully opened her eyes, and sat up instantly.
"Where are we?" she gasped.
She and Zack were on a gigantic book. They were barely big enough to be a letter in it. Larka ran her eyes over a lowercase l and came to the conclusion that if she lay down on it, she would barely be its size. If someone was reading the book right side up, she and Zack would have been on the right side. On the left side was a picture of several buildings. They looked like something a kid would enjoy, yet there was a creepy side to them as well.
Even the air wasn't the same. All sorts of colors were floating around. The area itself alternated, showing all the colors of the rainbow and more. One minute a pink strand would float by, and change just as quickly to blue.
"The last thing I can remember is falling… is this some sort of trap?" Zack wondered.
Larka shivered at the thought of the book closing on top of them. "It's such a strange place… it looks cheerful and happy, yet I feel as if something menacing is here."
She suddenly heard someone snickering. On the opposite page, a spot on the ground had begun to glow. A small green alligator, carrying a tiny axe, leapt from the spot, giggling wickedly.
From just beside him another spot began to glow, and a small girl came forth. She looked to be about eight or nine. She wore a delicate pink dress, white tights, and white gloves that came up to her elbows. Her dress had a white lace collar, and she had small, shiny, pretty black shoes. Her long, light-brown hair was done back in two pigtails, which fell to her shoulders. Her mischievous light-green eyes seemed innocent, but had a trickster's look.
"Someone finally came! So, do you like decor?"
"Who are you?" Larka asked.
"I'm called Cally, and he's a Toon Alligator called Ally!" she said with a hint of pride.
"But you're so young! How can you be in Teknisk Wereld?" Larka inquired.
"To be exact, I'm eight!" Cally told her. "Well, it happened a while back. My dad was a violent man who often drank. One night he got too carried away, and slammed my mother against the floor. Her spine was broken, and she died shortly afterwards. I was very frightened, and ran upstairs to my mom's room, where I locked myself in. I noticed an Envoyant Machine, and tried it on. I had heard my mom talk about Teknisk Wereld, how it can be an escape from reality, so I wanted to test it."
"I arrived inside the world with my deck-yeah, I had a deck back then. I wandered around until I ran into another person. He asked if I disliked my life, and I said yes. So he took a card from my deck, and said he could make it better. I was absorbed into the card's power-this area we are in now. And that man was right! I enjoy my life much more like this! Here I actually have a friend!" She indicated to Ally, who was jumping around. "And several others can come when I like. But I've lived alone too long-I need more people to talk to. That's why I took up that woman's offer."
"A woman?" Larka asked.
"Yep! She called herself Malady."
"Just what we need," Larka muttered.
"She knows I just live down here, without any other companions. So she offered to make me a deal. As long as I could defeat certain people in duels, then they would be trapped here forever, and I'd never get bored!"
"I'm not sure I want to know where this is headed," Larka said.
"So here we will duel! If you win, this book is to be sealed forever, and can never be reopened. I will be of no more trouble. Oh, and you will be transported back to the surface. But if I win, you will be transformed into teddy bears, for me to play with! Of course your soul will remain activate, so basically you'll be my stuffed animal for all eternity!" She smiled. "Shall we begin?"
"What. The. HECK!" Larka shouted in disbelief.
Zack looked around the area. "As much as I hate the idea of that happening, I see no other choice but to duel. We cannot leave until we do so, anyway."
"But I don't stand a chance!" Larka protested. "Even with Malon, I'm not a very good duelist yet! And since Malon isn't here…"
"I see. In that case, I'll accept your challenge," Zack told Cally, taking out his Duel Disk.
"Ok! Let's begin!"
Zack: 8000
Cally: 8000
"You can go first!" Cally announced.
"If you insist. I summon Magical Reflector Reflect Bounder, and end my turn."
"Not a bad first monster," Cally said. "I'm well aware that I will take Life Point damage if I try to attack it, so let's get a little more creative! I play Toon World!"
"Toon World?"
"Yep! I have to pay 1000 Life Points when I first play it, so I do so!"
Zack: 8000
Cally: 7000
"Now I summon Toon Gemini Elf! (1900/900)"
"It's similar to the real Gemini Elf, but it looks so… cartoonish!" Larka said.
"That's why they're called Toons, silly! Normally my Toon monsters have to wait a turn to attack, but Ally negates that bad side effect. Also, as long as I have Toon World on my side of the field, my Toons can attack directly! Toon Gemini Elf, direct assault!"
They vanished in a cloud of smoke and reappeared behind Zack. The twins dealt two hard blows to him before reappearing on Cally's field.
Zack: 6100
Cally: 7000
"Also, when they do damage to your Life Points, you lose one random card from your hand!"
"Ok then…" He shuffled his hand around before choosing one. "My Needle Bunker is gone. (1700/1700)"
"To end my turn, I lay one card down!"
"Hm… I sacrifice my Reflect Bounder to summon Machine King! (2200/2000) Machine King's attack rises by 100 for each Machine Sub-Type on my field, including himself! (2300/2000) Machine King attacks your Toon Gemini Elf!"
"I counter with Toon Defense! This is a permanent trap that only affects level four or lower Toons. When your monster tries to attack one, I can choose to take the damage directly!"
Zack: 6100
Cally: 4700
"Hm… I lay one card down, and end."
"My next card is Toon Index! I search my deck for one card with Toon in its name and add it to my hand! Hang on, let me shuffle… there! Now I play Cost Down! By discarding Toon Demon from my hand (2500/1200) all of the monsters in my hand levels' go down by two! So I only need to sacrifice my Toon Gemini Elf to summon Blue Eyes Toon Dragon!"
"Draken would be insulted," Larka muttered as the devilish Blue Eyes Toon Dragon popped out of Toon World.
"I have to pay 500 Life Points to attack with him, but it's worth it! Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, attack directly!"
The Dragon flew up, and blasted Zack with the same lighting regular Blue Eyes used.
Zack: 3100
Cally: 4200
"I can't afford to be attacked by that thing again… I lay another card down."
"Alright! I summon Toon Goblin Strike Team! (2300/0)"
"I can't allow that to happen! I activate Tidal Wave, destroying all of our monsters!"
"No fair!" Cally pouted. "Oh well. I'll just lay one card down and end my turn."
"I summon Bowgunian. (1300/1000) It attacks you!"
"Alright, I'll let you get that hit in."
Zack: 3100
Cally: 2900
"It's my turn again… perfect! I summon Toon Automaton! (900/1400) He attacks directly!"
"This has got to be the most embarrassing way to lose," Zack muttered after the Automaton returned to her side of the field. "Getting beaten by an eight year old with a bunch of cartoons…"
Zack: 2200
Cally: 2900
"I also get to draw a card when he inflicts damage to you! Yay, a good one! I end my turn."
"On my standby phase, Bowgunian's effect activates. You lose 600 Life Points."
Zack: 2200
Cally: 2300
"Now I play Raise Dead on Machine King! (2400/2000) Machine King attacks!"
"I activate Attack Nullification! Now my Life Points and Automaton are saved."
"I switch Bowgunian to defense before ending."
"This is just perfect! I sacrifice my Automaton for Toon Black Magician Girl! (2000/1700)"
"Mana would be freaked out," Larka thought out loud as she saw the cute Magician Girl soar out.
"Go Toon Black Magician Girl! Direct attack!"
The wave of black magic was no less painful than a normal Black Magician Girl's.
Zack: 200
Cally: 2300
"I also lay one card down. Your move!"
Once again, Bowgunian shot her with his arrow.
Zack: 200
Cally: 1700
Zack looked at his next card. "Sacrifices must be made. I play Tempest, destroying my own Time Machine."
"My Toon World! When it's destroyed, so are all of the Toons on my field! But that's ok. I'll just chain Emissary of Harmony to halt all of your attacks."
"At least I can't be attacked directly anymore… I end my turn by laying one monster down."
"I play Jar of Greed. Shoot! This won't help me now. I was hoping for a Toon Cannon Soldier; I would have won. Oh well… I lay one monster in defense mode, a card down, and end my turn."
"Bowgunian will keep inflicting damage upon you."
Zack: 200
Cally: 1100
"I summon Drillago, and then attack with Machine King!"
"I activate another Emissary of Harmony. You attacked Toon Mermaid. (1400/1500)"
"I'm done."
"I lay another card down, and end!"
Zack: 200
Cally: 500
"This is too risky to continue. I summon Cannon Soldier, and sacrifice Bowgunian to use its effect! You lose 500 Life Points."
Zack: 200
Cally: 0
"Aw man!" Cally said. "I wanted some new friends! But you probably would have been pretty boring anyway. Ok, you can go now."
Zack and Larka felt themselves being surrounded by all sorts of colors. Cally waved to them.
"Good bye! Thanks for providing some entertainment! Maybe I'll find some other friends someday, even though this book is to become sealed!"
Then they knew no more.
…
"Are we back?" Larka asked. Zack had been shaking her awake again.
"Yes. She kept to her word."
"Let's put it this way… I'm REALLY glad you won that duel," Larka told him.
"As am I. We don't know how long that detour took us, so we'd best get to the lake shore as soon as possible."
To be continued…