Chapter 19 #2
“You do know my sister!” She looked Aradella in the eyes. Behind them came the sound of an animal in pain. Had they struck the creature?
She didn’t look. “There’s a spell I can do.” She took the bag off. “I’ll mix it.”
“How do you know how to—?”
“I work for Reena. In secret,” Bree snapped. Her mind was on deciding on a spell and remembering it.
Bree’s revelation so stunned Aradella that she said no more.
When Bree opened the bag and removed a bowl, there was a rumble from the crowd.
“What’s the ugly maid doing?” someone shouted.
Bree held the bowl and gave the bag to Aradella. “I need datura, valerian, penup, and aleenic.”
Aradella rummaged through the plants in the bag, took out the ones Bree needed, and threw them into the bowl.
“Karua,” Bree said. “Give me as much as you can find. I have to try to make an oil.”
Aradella pulled out a short branch of a tree.
The audience gasped that something so big could be in the bag, then they grew silent as they watched Bree break the branch
into pieces. She put the pieces between her palms, then used every muscle in her body to squeeze.
Someone in the crowd yelled, “One!” People joined for, “Two! Three!” They got to five before a sunlight-bright drop of oil
dripped from Bree’s hands into the bowl.
The crowd let out a deafening cheer.
“Tam has to ignite this,” Bree yelled to Aradella over the noise.
“What does it do?”
“It will paralyze the monster.”
When another roar came from the crowd, both women looked at the men and the monster, fearful of what they’d see. But the men
and the monster weren’t moving. They were staring at something behind the princess on the board.
“What is it?” Aradella tried to twist about, but the heavy chain around her waist was too tight.
When Bree saw the man entering the arena, her eyes widened in shock. “It’s that man, the actor.”
Entering the arena, dressed in a shiny black outfit, with a flashy red-lined black cape, was Bart Ollen. He waited for the
people to give him their full attention, then he dramatically held up his arm. With a broad gesture, he opened his hand. Dangling
from his fingers was a great big key.
Playing his role of savior, he walked to the back of the steel stand and unlocked the chain around Aradella.
The roar of the crowd was deafening. They were glad that Bart was back to being their hero.
“Thank you!” Bree and Aradella said in unison.
“We need to—” Bree began, but then she saw a most welcome sight. Cappie was standing in the shade against the wall.
“Need some help?” He was so calm he sounded like he was offering her an umbrella.
Bree nearly lost it in her gratitude. “Fire it up!” She thrust the bowl at him. “It’s the 7K18 spell. Paralyze from the neck
down.”
He took the bowl, then began mumbling some words. “Hecubus, momalon—”
Bree looked back at the fighters. Mekos soared behind the creature, sword drawn, but it seemed to anticipate the movement.
Mekos was barely able to dodge the monster’s claws.
“I made it into a ball,” Cappie said. “When it hits him and explodes, it will work. Can you throw it?”
Aradella was beside her. “Let me. I have good aim.”
The two women went to the men. Tam started to block them, but Bree yelled, “No!”
Aradella grabbed the ball from the bowl. “Head? Heart? Where?”
“Heart!” Bree said.
With perfect accuracy, Aradella threw the ball of the plant mixture and hit the creature on the left side of its chest. It
burst with a little plume of dark smoke.
The monster looked down in surprise, then crumpled to the ground.
Mekos and Tam, their swords held out, stepped toward the fallen creature. It was clear that they meant to kill it.
Aradella and Bree looked at each other and they seemed to exchange thoughts. Zeon had said, “The death is wrong. It shouldn’t
happen.” Was this what he was talking about? “No!” the women yelled in unison, then knelt down by the creature.
Aradella nodded to the chain around its neck. Bree broke it, and took the medallion. It wasn’t very big and she put it in
her pocket.
The audience had gone deathly silent as they watched the two women kneeling on each side of the fallen creature. Nearby were the two young warriors, swords ready to strike.
Bree and Aradella looked at each other across the creature. From the neck up, it was awake and alert.
“Keess,” it said.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” Aradella looked at Bree in question. What now? her eyes asked.
Bree’s eyes widened. “I think he’s saying, ‘Kiss.’”
“Kaley’s Earth stories tell of kissing people to save them.”
Bree shrugged as though to say, Why not?
The women bent forward and simultaneously kissed the cheeks of the creature.
The audience didn’t know whether to boo or cheer, so they were silent.
Suddenly, smoke came from the creature’s stomach. Aradella and Bree quickly stood up and stepped away. More smoke came from
the body.
“We’ve killed him,” Aradella said.
The men went to them, their arms engulfing the women.
Every eye in the arena was on the creature on the ground. There were no flames, just smoke that grew in density until no one
could see what was inside it.
When the smoke began to clear, they saw something standing there.
Mekos was holding Aradella, her back to his front. Near them, Tam was holding Bree in the same way.
When the smoke blew away, they saw a different creature. The upper half was a man with little horns striking out of brown
curly hair. The bottom half of him was furry. His feet were cloven.
“Goat,” Tam said. “He’s half goat.”
“He’s a Lely,” Mekos said.
“I owe you,” the goat-man said. His voice was harsh, as though it had been a long time since he spoke.
“Who are you?” Mekos asked.
“Elvin.” He swallowed, then coughed and nodded toward the medallion. “Urah. Enchantment. She will want that.” In the next
second, he ran out of the arena.
The crowd had been stunned into silence but at Elvin’s exit, they exploded into cheers. The excited audience rushed down to
the arena, meaning to grab the players and lift them, but Mekos soared away with Aradella. Tam lifted Bree in an overhead
press and ran with her through the gates.
The only person left for the people to hail was Bart, so they lifted him above their heads and carried him round and round
the arena. He was again the island’s hero. No one on any planet was happier than Bart Ollen was that day.