Chapter Thirty Three
979 Words
Have you ever crawled in bed at night, fluffed your pillow, curled against it and screamed passionately into it? Usually you hold on to the tear and snort drenched pillow as if it is your life guard. You pound it incessantly stopping occasionally to caress it because, well, it is the only companion you have at the time. Eventually your pillow becomes your nightly comforter, a mute friend that your pour your soul to but never responds. As much as its inability to speak aggravates you, you cannot abandon it because it’s the only thing keeping you sane. Or so you tell yourself.
“Are we seriously hiding from dwarves? They are like a foot tall!”
“Quiet human!”
“What are you afraid of? You are a beast! You are literally thrice their size!”
“Nina now is not the time!”
“But they are-“
“Shshshshsh!”
I snapped my mouth shut. I wasn’t exactly making headway in convincing these two that there was no way a dwarf could defeat two mages and a human. If only I could show them how adorable dwarves were in Snow White!
“Rupert, we need a plan. I reckon we only have a short while before they spot us.”
“Spot us? We are behind a mass of bushes, there is no way-“
I was cut off by a large mold draped arrow that almost centered itself on my chest. By the time I was recuperating from my shock, Guzman had placed me once more over his shoulder ready to dash off.
“Rupert launch the spear towards them! That should by us some time!”
“Since when do I take orders from you?”
“Just do it!”
I angled my head to view a frozen Rupert. I watched, my mouth slightly ajar, my brain trying to make sense of what was happening before me.
The mold draped spear was levitating, it then began maneuvering towards where the dwarves were snarling and thumping their hairy, minute chests.
“Did you get them Rupert?”
“No they are still onto us! Take Nina to safety, I will try to keep them occupied! “
Guzman increased his pace. He went on all fours, positioning me well across his shoulder so that I don’t plummet to the ground.
“Are we leaving him? I thought you said the dwarves were dangerous? We have to go back! We have to help him!”
“What we have to do is to fetch a cure for Tamara’s brother. That is the mission. Rupert knows that, I know that…so hold on tight, we need to get away from these vile creatures!”
As we navigated a turn, I heard a distressed moan emanating from the direction which we had just fled. I covered my mouth with my palm, muffling my own moan. Tears freely flowed down my cheeks as morbid images of a dying Rupert bombarded my mind.
I suddenly missed my pillow.
At some point Guzman had slowed down long enough for me to clamber down from his shoulder. He chose not to respond to my question, whirling around in scout for something unknown to me.
“We cannot leave him there! It’s cruel to just to just…”
“Abandon him?”
Guzman suddenly moved to where I was standing and brought his face close to mine. His hot breath fanned my face, I found myself cowing in fear.
“Listen to me. Those dwarves are what we magical creatures call mirrors…The reason we cannot fight back is because there is a high chance we will not win…”
“What do you mean you call them mirrors?”
Guzman let out a frustrated groan followed by a string of cusses. He stood up at full length, I wasn’t even aligned with his waist height wise. I suddenly yearned to see dwarves from his eyes. It was hard imagining him being scared of such tiny creatures.
“They can mimic our abilities upon body contact…”
My eyes widened a fraction. So if they came in contact with Guzman…
“Yes, that is why I couldn’t let any of them catch up to me…imagine a sea of behemoths breathing fire through their nostrils and wielding ignited clubs…”
I couldn’t help but whistle. Guzman was right, dwarves from this time were dangerous. Too dangerous.
“If they caught up to Rupert, that means they have his ability? They can lift objects with their mind?”
“And summon ghouls from beneath the earth…”
I tried swallowing the huge lump at the back of my throat, this was bad.
“Because of their numbers…it is easy for them to overpower a mage. All the vile creatures have to do is touch a mage. A single dwarf can be mimicked by his or her whole clan. I am afraid there is nothing we can do for Rupert…”
“You…there is nothing you can do for Rupert…”
Guzman quirked his large eyebrow and stared at me ludicrously.
“And you suppose you can do something?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I suppose I can very much do something…I am human, they cannot mimic me.”
“What if they have already mirrored Rupert?”
I hadn’t thought that far but I was not willing to give up on Rupert. He had taken interest in me, been kind on me. He wouldn’t have let me die on the hands of tiny creatures.
“I think I have a plan…”
- Writer
