I walk farther away from the water. I can hear Hellboy following me, but I just ignore him for now. I come to a stop just out of sight of the water. I send out a tendril of energy to my friend. He responds.
"What the…" Hellboy starts as he stops behind me.
"Hold still," I interrupt. "And don't touch the Samaritan."
Before he can start to argue with me, the ground in front of us explodes. I start laughing as twenty-five feet of Earth Wyrm arches over us and re-enters the ground just behind us.
"Aw, crap," Hellboy grumbles. "Not them again. What do they want this time?"
"Actually, it's just the one this time," I tell him as the Wyrm makes another pass. "I think he just wants to say, 'hi.'"
I suddenly feel myself being lifted in air. Giving out a shriek of surprise as I lose my balance, I find myself straddling a coil of Wyrm. The Wyrm is looped in and out of the ground like those old pictures of sea serpents. The Wyrm turns his head toward me and pushes his snout into me, nearly knocking me off of his back. Another coil comes up behind me and steadies me. I recognize him as the first Wyrm that we healed.
You have come, he says.
"I didn't really have much of a choice," I tell him holding onto the warm moist skin below me with my legs. "How are you?"
We are all alive because of you, he replies as he tries to rest his head on my lap.
"How are the parents?" I ask while I stroke his incredibly soft skin.
They grieve, he answers quietly. Time will heal their pain.
Hellboy lets out a snort and turns to leave. He's stopped by the Wyrm grabbing HB's right hand in his mouth.
"Hey," HB yells indignantly.
"He's trying to thank you for your help," I tell HB.
"Fine, you're welcome. Now can I have my hand back?" he says grumpily.
The Wyrm lets go of Hellboy and turns back to me. He breathes on me and it smells like moist, freshly turned earth. Hellboy starts to turn and leave again.
You are going to make him go away, are you not? He asks me.
"Make who go away?" I ask. Hellboy stops and looks back at us over his shoulder.
The one who has brought them here, he says.
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," I tell him.
Several sun rises ago, one of your kind came, he replies. He smells of water. He brought them here, and now they kill those who live by the water. Their refuse is poisoning the ground. Please make him go away.
"What exactly are 'they' that you're talking about?" I ask him in confusion.
He answers so quietly, that if I wasn't hearing him in my mind, I wouldn't have caught it.
Ahuizotl.
"You know who brought the ahuizotl here?" I ask excitedly. "Do you know where he is? Can you take me to him?"
Hellboy turns and faces me as the Wyrm disappears back under the ground. I suddenly find myself sitting in the dirt. HB walks over and helps me to my feet.
"Wormy knows who's responsible for these monsters?" he asks as I brush myself off.
"I think so," I answer.
"So, where'd it go?" he inquires.
"He is right underneath us," I reply. "Something's wrong. Let me see if I can get him to tell me."
I send another tendril of energy down to the Wyrm. He slowly re-emerges from the ground. Only his head is visible this time. I suddenly realize that the Wyrms' head is actually a bit longer than HB is tall.
"What's wrong?" I ask him.
He is poisoning the ground with his work, he answers. I cannot go near him.
"Can you at least take us as far as you can go, and then point us in the right direction?" I inquire.
Yes, he replies hesitantly.
"Will you do this?" I ask.
Yes, he says after a long pause.
"He says he'll do it," I tell Hellboy.
"Good," Hellboy grunts back. "I was getting bored sitting around here anyways."
"Do you think we should tell Manning?" I ask.
"Nah," he answers. "He's busy trying to keep an eye on Abe."
Just mentioning Abe's name is enough to remind me that I want to stop this guy as soon as possible.
Others have tried to stop him, the Wyrm warns me. They have all failed. He commands the water and has drowned all of his adversaries. Where is the fiery one?
"What an idiot I've been," I say as I smack myself in the head with my hand. "A Water Mage is creating these things. You're right my friend, Liz would be a lot better choice for this mission then me, but she's not here."
"So why is a Water Mage doing this?" Hellboy asks.
"Not a clue," I tell him. "Why don't we go ask him?"
Hellboy takes the Samaritan out and checks that it's loaded. He stuffs it back into its holster and looks at me.
"Sounds good to me," he says with a lopsided smile. "Let's go."
We spend the next several hours following the Wyrm through the rain forest. We stay pretty far from the water's edge, though we do catch occasional glimpses of the lake through the trees. Finally, the Wyrm stops.
I can go no farther, he says. You must head toward the water. That is where you will find him.
I understand why he's not willing to go any farther. I can 'feel' it in the ground and smell it on the wind. A sickness is slowly killing the ground and the plants. The leaves of the plants and trees are wilting and yellowing. I can see black spots on leaves and branches. I'm actually getting a bit nauseated from being here.
"Thank you for your help, my friend," I say to him.
You're welcome, he replies and then disappears into the ground.
"I don't dare use my powers for fear of alerting this guy to my presence," I tell Hellboy. "The Wyrm said to head toward the water."
"Are you ok?" Hellboy asks. "You look a little green."
"The Wyrm was right," I answer. "The ground is poisoned. Look at the leaves and branches of the plants."
"Ok, that's bad," he says as he touches one of the branches and the leaves all fall off.
"The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get out of here," I tell him. "Let's go."
Hellboy nods and we start heading toward the water. As we get closer to the lake, the sickness gets worse and my stomach fells like it wants to revolt. By the time we can see the water's edge, most of the undergrowth is dead and the trees look like they're about to fall. There are no animal or insect sounds at all here.
I stop Hellboy and pull him behind a dying tree. I point down to the lake to a woman standing in the water. She's up to her knees and I can see her molding the water like it was clay. It looks like she's making something that looks like a cross between a man and a monkey.
"That's our 'guy'?" he asks quietly.
"It must be," I whisper back. "The Wyrm obviously doesn't know how to tell a male human from a female. He was probably just using the generic 'he'."
"Ok, so now what do we do?" he inquires.
"We need to get her out of the water," I answer. "Do you think you could circle around and grab her? I'll try and keep her distracted."
"Ok, but I think Abe would be better suited for this," he says.
"Actually, Abe would be the last person I'd want here," I tell him. "She's a Water Mage. She can control things that live in the water. She'd be able to make him do whatever she wanted."
"Give me a minute and then start to distract her," he says and he moves away.
I'm impressed how quietly he can move when he puts his mind to it. I slowly count to sixty and then I head toward the waters edge. As soon as I pass the last tree, I stop. She's just finished making the latest ahuizotl.
"So how's the fishing?" I ask a bit more loudly then normal.
She spins around and glares at me with her dark eyes. Her hair falls like a black waterfall down her back. She's wearing just enough clothing to cover herself, but not much else.
"What do you want?" she demands.
"Just what I asked," I reply. "How's the fishing?"
"Liar," she snarls at me.
She's a Mage all right. She knows that I'm lying. I pray that Hellboy hurries it up. I try and stall for more time.
"What makes you say that?" I ask.
"Your blood pressure went up," she says with a sneer.
"How were you able to tell that?" I ask trying to act surprised.
Ok, I'm no Julia Roberts and it's obvious that she knows it.
"Come closer and I'll show you," she answers.
"No thanks," I tell her. "I like it right here."
Suddenly, a column of water comes snaking towards me. I barely manage to dodge behind a tree in time. I hear her laughing a cruel laugh.
"Well, well, well," she snarls. "It seems that you might not be as easy to get rid of as the others. But no matter, I'll kill you in the end. Come out and I'll make it quick."
"Leave her alone," says a voice that makes my heart stop.
"ABE, GET OUT OF HERE!" I scream as I come out from behind the tree.
But it's too late. The water mage has seen him and seized control over him. He's standing rigid with a loaded spear gun in one hand an empty one in the other.
"Oh ho," she purrs. "What have we here?"
She goes over to him and starts circling him. She looks at him like a starving man would look at a steak dinner.
"A fish man," she breathes.
She grabs him in the crotch. What is it with other women grabbing him there?
"And he's definitely a man. I can't wait to claim you," she purrs at him. "But business first. Kill her."
Abe raises the loaded spear gun and aims it straight at me. As his finger moves toward the trigger, I hear his voice in my head.
I love you.