Last time:
"If Riki ever kisses you, I'll tip you straight into the Bog."
Riki and Enyu encountered creatures determined to take off their heads...
Ch. 7
As Riki and Enyu searched for a way out of the forest, an orange goblin jumped out of no where in front of them. Soon, they found them selves surrounded on all sides by the odd creatures.
Some fat, some thin, all laughing and bouncing around. "Hey!" shouted the first creature "Where you going with a head like that?" it asked in a loud, and highly annoying, voice.
"What are they?" Riki asked in a whisper. Enyu whispered back "Fierys. They pop up when you least expect it. All they do is laugh, sing, dance, and take off their body parts." Riki looked confused. "Their body parts?" he asked. Enyu nodded.
"That not the worst part. They also try to remove the body parts of people who have the misfortune to run into them." he said in a strangley casual manner. Riki gulped. 'I wonder if Katze was that unfortunant?' he wondered to himself thinking about what the stone face in the oubliette had said about him not having a penis.
Meanwhile, Katze was looking for Riki desperately. 'Please don't be dead, or wounded, or...' He paused when he heard laughter nearby.
He peered over the wall he was running along and nearly had a heart attack. He spotted Riki and another boy being attacked by the Fierys. 'Shit! Iason's gonna be pissed as hell if he finds out Riki's head has been removed!' he thought.
He looked around and found a sturdy vine. Katze grabbed it and swung it over the wall. "Riki!" he called. The black-haired boy looked up and saw him and the vine. "Katze! You came back!" he called happily.
"Don't let them go! Let's take off their heads!" one of the Fierys shouted. The other Fierys cheered. "C'mon, Enyu!" Riki grabbed the cat-boy's hand and pulled him to the vine. They quickly climbed.
"Take off your ear then! You don't need two ears!" The Fierys shouted as they took off their heads and tossed them in the air. Their ears flapped like wings as they rose and fell again.
Finally, Riki and Enyu made it to safety. "Katze! You saved us!" Riki beamed and to Katze's horror, moved in to kiss him on the cheek. "Don't kiss me!" Katze shouted.
Just as he said that, the ground under them dropped and they slid down a long tunnle. Riki hoped they wouldn't land in another oubliette. Katze, however, knew it was gonna be worse as he could already smell the stench. Iason either heard what he had said or was watching them.
Finally, the tunnle ended and dropped sharply. They landed on a thin ledge. When they regained their bearings, they pressed against the wall of the ledge. Enyu sniffed and covered his nose quickly, Riki almost threw up, while Katze did all of that.
"Where are we and what's that smell? Did something die here?" Riki asked. "No," Katze replied as he wiped the vomit from his mouth. He pointed down. Riki and Enyu looked and nearly fell of the ledge in surprise and disgust.
Below was a swamp. However, this was the strangest, and most disgusting, swamp ever. Filthy, murky water bubbled beneath them. That wasn't all. In the water, were the things that made the strongest people in the world go weak. Bodily waste, the rot-smelling water, dead and rotting creatures of all shapes and sizes, and more.
Imagine all the things that gross you out more than anything and put them all in this Bog. Now, imagine a smell so bad you just wanna pass out or die after smelling it for too long. This was the Bog of Eternal Stench.
"Oh my God! I've never smelled anything like it! It's like...like..." Riki said. He was at a loss for words to describe it.
Katze groaned. "It doesn't matter what it's like! It's the Bog of Eternal Stench!" he retorted. Just then the ledge crumbled and they tumbled downward. When they landed, they were relieved to find themsleves on a sort of bank or shore and not in the Bog.
"Why did you do that?!" Katze yelled at Riki. Riki stepped back in alarm. "Do what? Be grateful you rescued us?!" he yelled back.
"No!! You kissed me!" Katze retorted. Then, he turned to Enyu. "Who the fuck are you?" he snapped. Enyu whimpered while Riki jumped to his defense.
"His name is Enyu, you bastard! He's my very best pal so treat him with respect!" Enyu glanced at him and smiled almost adoringly. Katze rolled his eyes. Riki looked around and spotted a bridge in the distance.
"C'mon!" he called and they made for the ancient bridge.
(In Iason's castle)
Iaso sighed with relief. It had taken quite a bit of his magic to create that shore for Riki and his friends to land on. Although he knew spells that could wash away the stench, he didn't want his beloved Riki to fall in at all.
It was a shame he had to save Katze as well. "Oh well, his time will come," he said as he gazed into his crystal. He examined the cat-boy. "Hmmm. He's the one who tried to save his sister two-hundred years ago. Sweet boy. How nice of him to keep my precious Riki company." he mused.
He glanced at the clock. Three hours to go. "Just as soon as that wretch gives Riki my gift, it won't matter how much time is left. Riki will be mine." His longing, blue gaze fell back to Riki.
"Soon, love, soon."
(Back with our heroes...and Katze)
Riki and company reached the bridge and were about to cross when muscualr man leapt out. "Who are you?" the man bellowed. Riki tried to reason with him. "Please! I only have a little time left! Please let us cross?" he asked.
"No! I've sworn to let no one pass!" Riki grew angry. "Move!" he tried to push past but was shoved onto his butt. Katze's eyes widened fearfully. "Do you know who this boy is? He's the King's consort!" The man looked at Riki in shock while Riki stared at Katze.
"Consort? What the Hell? I'm not his..." he shut up when Katze gave him a death glare and he realized it was a bluff. The man picked him up and sat him on his feet.
"So sorry, My Prince! Didn't recognize you." He bowed. "Sid's my name, Sire. It's an honor!" Sid bowed again. Riki wanted to ask why he called him 'Prince' but shook it away. "May we please cross?" he asked again. "Oh of course, sire! After you!" Sid replied.
Riki went first and froze when the bridge shook and creaked. "Don't worry! This bridge has lasted one-thousand years! Sid called and kicked the bridge...which caused the bridge to collapse! Riki grabbed onto an over-hanging tree branch for dear life. "Oh God! Help!" Riki called.
Sid looked into the awful swamp where the bridge had plunged in. "It seemed sturdy enough," he said amazed. He barely noticed Riki hanging over the swamp by a branch that could snap any minute. Suddenly, Enyu let out a high-pitched wail.
Sid finally realized what was going on. "Stop that! We shouldn't cry when our fair Prince needs our help!" he snapped. Enyu kept wailing. Then, a miracle happened. Huge boulders tumbled out of nowhere and slid into the bog. They provided a safe and clean way to get across.
Riki looked down, took a deep breath and let go of the branch. He landed safely on the boulders. "That's incredible, Enyu!" he said with a bright smile to the cat-boy.
Enyu smiled back and stepped onto the boulders himslef. "Sure! Rocks are friends!" he and Riki hopped from rock to rock and were soon safely across and out of danger of the Bog. Sid called "My Prince! Wait for your humble servant!" he too hopped across the boulders and joined them on th other side. 'C'mon, Katze! We should be there by nightfall!" Katze followed behind them.
They continued on their merry way. Except Katze.
Katze paused, looked around, and held the peach over the Bog. He was about to drop it in when Iason's voice boomed from out of nowhere. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Katze looked at Riki sadly. "Please. I can't." He placed the peach back in his pocket and followed again.
After a while the party began to get hungry. Beyond the Bog was another forest with the castle looming just in the distance. "Mabey there's some berries around," Riki suggested. Katze walked up to him and handed him the peach.
"Katze, thanks man! Guess I was wrong about you," Riki gave him a grateful smile and bit into the ripe fruit. After a minute, Riki began to get woozy. "Katze, what have you done?" he asked. Katze felt a tear run down his face and ran off.
"Damn you, Iason. Damn me, too!"
The rest of the party didn't realize they were no longer behind them. Riki sat against a tree feeling extremely tired. "What's happening to me? Am I poisoned? Am I...gonna die?" Riki asked no one in particular.
"Aki..." he thought just before he closed his eyes and drifted off. He was unaware he was being watched over. "Sssh. Sleep, love. Everything's alright. I'm here. Just as I have been and always will be." a deep voice said in his head. That voice. It was so familiar. So loving.
So...gentle "Forget them all. Forget your pain and sorrow. Forget your stepmother and father and the boy. I'm all you need." the voice whispered soothingly.
"Who...?" Riki tried to ask but was cut off. "Ssssh. You know me. I'm in your dreams." the voice answered. Riki smiled and felt like getting up and following the voice to...anywhere. Just then, a new, gruff, voice interrupted and the gentle, loving voice disappeared. "Are you alright?" the gruff voiced-person asked. Riki opened his eyes and saw an old woman staring at him.
He also found he was no longer against the tree but in a junk yard. "Where am I?" Riki asked. "Who am I?"
(With the party)
"The castle is right through these trees, My fair Prince!" Sid announced happily. He and Enyu turned and their happy smiles dropped from their faces.
"My Prince?" Sid asked looking around.
Enyu also spun around in circles looking everywhere for his beloved friend. "Riki!" he called. "Katze is gone too," Enyu and Sid were very worried. Sid called to him, "There is a junk yard over yander, lad! Let us try there!" Enyu agreed and they set off for the junk yard just east of the castle gates.
(In Iason's castle)
"Damn it all!" Iason roared. The goblins in the throne room shrank in fear. "I was so close! He was within my reach. Just a little more and he would have been mine! Damn that junk yard woman!" He summoned another crystal and gazed at Riki.
What he saw made his heart hurt terribly. Riki sat on his knees and sobbed. "Where am I? Who am I?" Iason heard him say. He saw the old woman kneel beside him. They were in a junk yard. "I brought you here. I thought you might be dead. You don't know who you are?" she asked kindly.
Riki shook his head. "I--I'm scared." Riki told her. Iason, for the first time, felt a tear run down his cheek. "Riki," he whispered. He stroked Riki's image in the crystal.
"Don't worry. I am here, my love. Don't be scared." Poor Riki kept crying and never heard what he had said.
Ice Demon Allysandra: Oh dear! Whatever will happen to poor Riki? Want to find out? I know you do. You're gonna have to review to get the next chapter. Til then!