"Violation"
Shimmer’s eyes
widened in alarm. "Yeepo!" She turned to Delia, with whom she had been sharing
a lazy afternoon tea on a sunny terrace. "Something has happened! She’s
panicked!"
"Now, now, dear.
Calm down. Jaela dispatched another four of the Guard to trail the Invader. I’m
sure they can handle anything that may come up."
Shimmer
swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, a bit embarrassed at her own outburst.
Logically, she knew she had little to worry about. The worst that could happen
to Yeepo was that her energy would be drained and she would return to the Dream
Plane, from which Shimmer could always summon her back. So why was she so
concerned?
She glanced over
at Delia. The elderly magi was watching her through narrowed eyes, her wrinkled
lower lip was down-turned in a slight frown.
"You? began
Delia, pausing to search for words. "You seem to be awfully concerned about the
well-being of the Invader." Shimmer began to protest, but Delia held up a
silencing hand. "May I remind you, young adept, that we know next to nothing
about these beings, except that they murdered many of our ancestors and drove
us from the world of our birth. We have no idea what they may be capable of. It
is even possible that? The older woman hesitated once more and looked away
from Shimmer, out and down to where the warm waters of Orothe could be seen
moving lazily by far below.
"Well, some of
us have considered the possibility that they could even affect our minds—if not
our thoughts then at least our feelings."
Shimmer’s mouth
fell open in surprise. "Are you suggesting that my feelings are not my own?"
Her voice had grown angry.
Delia shrugged,
and her frown deepened. "All I am saying is that you should take careful stock
of your feelings. This is a very delicate matter and it is of the utmost
importance that we all approach this situation with unclouded minds."
Shimmer began an
angry protest, but then her faced drained of all color. Yeepo’s distress came
through to her like a trumpet blown on a still and windless night. A battle was
occurring and Yeepo was being hurt! Suddenly, Yeepo’s energy link disappeared.
Her little friend had been sent back to the Dream Plane, leaving the Invader
all alone!
v
Zeel writhed in the grasp of the horrid purple
beasts that had suddenly erupted from the ground. The little flyer had been
caught too, but its frail form had been quick work for the strong tentacles and
they had crushed it swiftly and surely until its energy left it in a burst of
tiny white sparks and it was gone. He felt a sudden surge of outrage and he
renewed his struggles within the grasp of the creatures?tentacles.
An Eliwan, or something that looked sort of like an
Eliwan, was approaching him. It appeared to be controlling the monsters that
held him captive. The Eliwan wore a hooded cloak pulled over its head, but its
eyes glowed menacingly from within the darkness of the hood in a manner he had
not noticed in the other Eliwan he had met. Too, it seemed to float over the
ground, like one of the people and not at all like an Eliwan lurching about on
their horrid bony legs.
The strange Eliwan reached into the folds of its
tattered cloak and pulled forth a very large and very sharp-looking knife.
Reaching out, it grabbed one of his second prime tentacles and began to pull.
Zeel squirmed and screeched in horror as the monster lifted the shining blade
to his tentacle and placed the tip directly upon one of the animite stones
embedded in the flesh there. It wants my stones! The horror of what was
happening was overwhelming. The tip of the knife dug into his soft flesh and
ripped its way under the stone. Zeel screamed louder than he had thought
possible.
Suddenly the air was full of feathers and the
Eliwan before him gave out a cry of surprise and anguish. Strange creatures
filled the air and began pummeling the tentacles which held him tight. The
tentacles loosened and he fell, stopping himself only inches from the unclean
ground.?He righted himself and whirled
to see what was happening.
From out of nowhere, five of the winged Eliwan had
appeared, along with a wide variety of dream creatures. There were all manner
of roars and explosions as the new dream creatures tore into those that had
held him captive, while the winged ones called down sonic blasts of thunder and
hurled mighty blasts of wind at the hooded Eliwan. What’s going on? Zeel
was panicked. What he was seeing went far beyond his limited experience. They’re
fighting each other! But why?
One of the winged Eliwan ran to Zeel’s side and
pushed him out of the way. It motioned for him to retreat into the trees and it
kept telling him to "Flee! Flee!"
He retreated into the trees a bit, but then he
turned to watch some more. They’re saving me? This was a new thought.
The Eliwan monsters had saved him for the second time. Confusion began to creep
past the horror of moments before. He badly needed to understand what was
happening and he suspected that running away again was not going to answer any
of his questions.
The hooded Eliwan had unleashed yet more of its own
dream creatures, tall gangly monsters that seemed to be made of ropy sinew and
shiny crystalline plates. These new monsters were putting up a serious fight
with the winged Eliwan. Then, while the winged newcomers were busy fighting the
sinewy-crystal beasts, the hooded one raised its arms and called down a
terrible spell upon the whole assembly. The sky ripped open and down came a
deluge of horrid black goo, covering all except the hooded one. Suddenly the
fighting came to a halt as the winged Eliwan struggled in the sticky black
slime that entangled them. The slime crackled with energy and those trapped
beneath it seemed to be weakening. The winged ones?dream creatures faded away
and the battle appeared to be over.
Zeel watched as the hooded Eliwan approached the
others, now struggling limply on the ground before him, held down in the sticky
bonds of the black goo. The hooded one raised its arms once more. This time,
the bony white hands crackled with flames. A ball of fiery energy began to form
over the hooded one’s head. Zeel could feel the terrible heat even from the
distance of his hiding place. It’s going to finish them off! He found
himself filled with a terrible anxiety that he couldn’t take the time to
analyze just now.
One of the winged Eliwan had partially freed itself
from the black morass and was struggling to summon up a spell of its own, but
Zeel could see that it would be too late. The hooded one’s ball of flame was
ready to descend upon them all and incinerate them. With a sudden burst of grim
determination, Zeel allowed his warrior training to take over. With a mighty
roar, he turned his axis parallel with the ground and shot forward. He crashed
into the hooded Eliwan, smashing into its side and barreling it forward into
the nearest massive tree trunk. The ball of flame vanished with a loud pop, and
the remaining dream creatures slowly faded away. Zeel rebounded and pulled
himself back from the attack, preparing for another charge should it prove
necessary. But then the winged ones were on their feet, the black goo having
disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. The foremost winged Eliwan
completed its spell and a brilliant spear of white lightning lanced down from
the sky to stab at the hooded one. The bolt missed, however, as the hooded
Eliwan had recovered quickly and dashed out of the way just in time.
With shocking speed, the monster shot to Zeel’s
side, and grabbed one of his second prime tentacles. Its knife was suddenly in
its other hand, flashing up into the air. Zeel’s terror returned in an instant
and he wailed piteously. The winged ones shouted and ran toward Zeel and his
captor. Then the knife slashed down and a searing pain shot through Zeel’s
lower extremities. The hooded one issued an insane howl, and raised aloft a
grisly trophy. The severed tip of Zeel’s tentacle writhed in its bony hand, the
animite stone glittering darkly. And then, with the same shocking speed with
which it had reached Zeel’s side, the hooded monster shot off into the woods.
Zeel scarcely noticed, as the full horror of the
violation sank in. He began to lose consciousness, only vaguely aware that the
Eliwan were surrounding him and putting their horrible bony hands all over him.
v
Shimmer dove through the air on Yarek’s back,
streaking through the skies above the ocean so swiftly that she left a trail of
stream behind. She knew that to fly so fast was reckless, but she was filled
with such a sense of urgency that speed was all she could think of. The water
shot by below in a hazy grayish-blue blur, and still the coast of Naroom was
not in sight.
They sped onward. Shimmer could feel her forehead and
shoulders beginning to burn from the friction of the air, and she knew that she
was burning up her Alaban’s energy at an appalling rate. Gritting her teeth,
she bore the pain and maintained her speed. She only hoped that she would not
be too late.
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