Liquid Diamond (15 page)

“
Something you’re going to be very sorry for, boy,” said the Elf calmly.

“
But one thing’s for certain...a bit of torture always works up an appetite,” continued the Elf, rubbing his stomach as the drool ran down his chin.

“
Quick, Catalyst, your fitsall,” said Natalia, grabbing it off Catalyst’s shoulder.

Taking Natalia with the fitsall in hand, the Elf threw her into the mud hut, while Catalyst found himself on the receiving end of a back-handed slap from the Elf that knocked him to the ground.

Diving for the bag, Natalia started to dig for the Atropos Styx, pulling it from the fitsall and giving it a good shake to anger the moth. With a look at the Elf, Natalia could see there was no clear shot at him, not without hitting Catalyst.

She then thought to look for the stone axe the old woman had given them and threw it to Catalyst. Catching it dextrously, Catalyst swung the axe again and again as he choked on the stench of the Elf, but he landed no hits at all.

“
Catalyst, you have to get out of the way!” yelled Natalia, waving the jar at him.

“
Natalia just open the jar and fire!” screamed Catalyst.

With no choice, Natalia did just that, hitting both the Elf and Catalyst, sending them thudding to the ground, dazed.

Taking Catalyst by the shoulders and dragging him away, Natalia turned and went back for the fitsall and Atropos Styx with the axe in hand.

She took the bag but turning as fast as she could, Natalia stood face to face with the Elf. Knowing she was not going to be able to fight the Elf, Natalia thought fast.

Peering over his shoulder, Natalia covered her face in fear of something coming from behind the Elf.

Seeing the look of terror on Natalia’s face, the Elf turned to see what could frighten her more than he could. With his back to her, Natalia swung the axe as hard as she could, trying to hit the back of his leg. She missed only to hit him right in the left bum cheek dropping him to his knees. Natalia ran outside the mud hut with the fitsall in hand and threw the axe at the ceiling bringing down the roof upon the Elf, losing the axe to the cave-in.

Catalyst was dazed so Natalia dragged him for a change, trying to put as much distance between them and the Elf as she could.

“
Ah, Catalyst, we need to stop. I’m exhausted,” said Natalia.

“
Then stop and rest,” replied Catalyst, hanging off Natalia’s back.

“
Here I am, trying to save you, and you've been okay all this time? Do you know how much trouble you caused?” demanded Natalia.

“
First of all you saved me a long time ago; secondly, you've just been carrying me all this time; thirdly, trouble, what trouble?” laughed Catalyst, getting Natalia back for that Horrabbull thing.

“
Oh, you'll see, trust me you'll see,” replied Natalia.

“
See? The only thing I see is the spirit was right, we did need that axe after all and that must have been the reason she handed it to you and not me,” replied Catalyst beaming at Natalia’s bravery.

“
Well let's hope we only needed it the one time, because now it's buried with the Elf,” said Natalia.

“
Another five minutes, Natalia, and you would have dragged me all the way back to where we were to begin with. Come on, I don't want to sit here. It's too dangerous and the next house isn't that far,” said Catalyst.

“
Can't we just rest here for the night? I'm so tired and that Elf is buried,” said Natalia.

“
I’m tired as well and no we can't. Climb on and I'll carry you from here. It's not that far,” replied Catalyst.

Walking with Natalia on his back as fast and as quietly as he could, Catalyst just had to ask.

“
How did you get away from that Elf?”

“
I smacked him in the bum with the axe. He dropped to his knees and I ran, that's how,” replied Natalia.

Catalyst laughed so loudly that Natalia had to put her hand over his mouth to quiet the noise, but it was too late. Hearing the sound of trotting hooves in the distance, Catalyst started moving as fast as he could and making all kinds of noise doing so.

“
Oh no, Catalyst! Wings! Listen, here comes the Cockatrice as well,” said Natalia.

Catching his foot on a root as he ran, Catalyst landed in the water face first with Natalia right on top of him. Before she could get up, Catalyst held her down.

“
Sh, wait. Don't move,” whispered Catalyst.

Lying there, Natalia and Catalyst watched as the Horrabbull passed them by without noticing them. The Cockatrice followed it, hoping for an easy meal.

“
Get up nice and slowly. Don't make a sound. Now
we
can follow
them
,” said Catalyst.

“
Are you crazy?” whispered Natalia.

“
If we're following them and not them us, it'll make it easier to hide if we have to. We won't be caught and we'll get to where were going a lot faster,” whispered Catalyst.

“
I guess I have to agree with that, but I don't like it any more than when they were following us,” whispered Natalia, crunching up her face.

“
Good. I'm glad you agree. Now sh,” whispered Catalyst.

Ducking and dodging behind every tree and bush they could, turning the thirty-minute walk into one that felt like hours, Natalia and Catalyst finally arrived unharmed at the house. They sneaked up the stairs, which creaked so loud that the Horrabbull immediately turned, saw them and started towards the house.

“
Great, Catalyst! Look what you've done now,” said Natalia clearly annoyed.

“
Look what I've done? I got us here, that's what I've done,” replied Catalyst proudly.

“
Yes you did, thirty seconds behind this thing all the way, and now look
–
here it comes. You couldn't just go another fifteen feet without making a sound?” growled Natalia.

“
Let's just get inside. Perhaps it'll just wander off during the night,” replied Catalyst calmly. He realized the anger in her voice was simply exhaustion.

Natalia walked inside expecting the worst.

“
Well?” asked Natalia.

“
Well what?” replied Catalyst.

“
Where's the spirit for this place?” demanded Natalia.

“
How should I know? I don't even know if there is one,” replied Catalyst in a less friendly tone.

Pulling the fitsall from Catalyst’s hand, Natalia sat down, grabbed some jerky and started chewing without caring whether Catalyst got any or not.

Catalyst took the bag back from Natalia and reached in to find that the only things left to eat were the twigs. Too tired to fight with Natalia, especially with the mood she was in Catalyst just tossed over her blanket, wrapped himself in his and went to sleep, exhausted from the day.

Without saying a word, Natalia did the same. After all, she was full!

Lying there Natalia couldn't help but think of her home and her Mom and Dad. She hoped they were well. Natalia missed all her friends but she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face hoping she would have good dreams.

#

Resting comfortably in her bed with the morning sun still a few hours away, Anastasia started to toss and turn as her stomach cramped with anxiety, waking her from her sleep. With her eyes wide open and filled with fear for Catalyst’s safety she could feel his pending doom as his mind screamed out to her.

Through her open window, Anastasia raced into the night sky high enough to see out over all the land of Kyopelivuori. She slowly turned in all directions, waiting for her mother’s instinct to tell her which direction to fly in. Catalyst’s thoughts were too panicked for Anastasia to make sense of the feelings she was getting from him.

Leaving a faint red trail behind her as her gown dragged through the air, Anastasia headed for her son and Natalia, hoping she was going the right way.

Waking to a poke, poke, poke on the forehead and expecting it to be Catalyst getting her back for the night before, Natalia opened her eyes with a look of anger that quickly turned to fear. There, standing over her was the guard of the house, an enormous spirit that stood more than six and a half feet tall. He was a void from head to toe filled with nothing but the feeling of pure evil, a darkness so thick in intensity it was almost enough to stop someone from breathing.

Natalia looked over to Catalyst for help and saw he was tied up and sitting in the corner, petrified.

“
What are you doing in this house?” howled the spirit as it slammed it foot down beside Natalia’s head. Natalia faded into unconsciousness, leaving Catalyst to deal with the spirit alone.

Turning its attention to him, the spirit demanded the same of him. Knowing he couldn't fight and win or even escape, Catalyst did his best to explain everything, and from the look in its eyes, Catalyst felt his explanation was a waste of breath. As he looked at the creature he could see so clearly but not completely, Catalyst’s mind screamed for Anastasia.

#

Anastasia’s heart was pounding and her intuition was out of control so she could only hope she was feeling exactly where Catalyst was as she burst through the door of the house, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

The spirit had returned to its normal form as a beautiful young woman with long black hair and pure white eyes. She took one look at Anastasia and returned to her monstrous state, looked as though she could easily rip Anastasia in two.

Anastasia smiled with satisfaction, knowing she would not have to hold back in punishing this evil creature for hurting her son and Natalia. She let loose the Dark Angel inside her.

With her skin now as black as the blackest night and her eyes blood red, her fingernails at their fullest length and her teeth long and vicious, Anastasia felt her power surging.

Cocking her head to one side the spirit just looked at the Dark Angel completely unimpressed by what she had just seen. She moved towards Anastasia. With a slash of her nails, Anastasia ripped into her chest.

“
You grabbed the wrong woman’s children today,” said Anastasia as she circled the spirit ready to strike again.

Drawing on all her power, the spirit threw her hands out in front of her, pointing them at the Dark Angel as energy shot from them and into the Dark Angel’s chest, sending her crashing through the wall and into a tree.

Returning as fast as she had left, Anastasia delivered a punch to the spirit’s chest and then an upper cut to her chin, knocking her flat on her back.

Surprised that the Dark Angel could actually touch her since she was a spirit in this form, she just lay there on her back, shocked.

“
You’re not fighting fair,” said the Dark Angel as she stood over the spirit.

Not wanting to lose her foe, the spirit was back on her feet in a blink.

Exchanging one punch for another, one kick for another, one slam against the wall for another, and full of the Dark Angel’s slashes, the spirit could see that the Dark Angel was not going to be beaten by a few simple punches. Slashes to the Dark Angel’s face healed within seconds and the spirit could see nothing she did had any real effect.

Grabbing the Dark Angel and heading to the sky, flying up as high as she could, the spirit started spinning as fast as she could and threw the Dark Angel to the ground. Flying past the Dark Angel, the spirit raced to the ground to see the look on the Dark Angel’s face as she hit.

Landing and looking up, the spirit could see she was only a few seconds ahead of the Dark Angel. Zeroing in on Anastasia’s face to see the look of pain on impact, the spirit was completely blown away when the Dark Angel stopped just an inch from the ground, sending out a wave of air filled with the energy that she carried with her in the fall.

Going through the house, narrowly missing Catalyst and the sleeping Natalia, hitting a tree and bouncing into another, the spirit didn't have time to take a breath before she felt the slash of the Dark Angel’s nails across her face once again.

“
Your turn,” said the Dark Angel, grabbing the spirit and returning to the sky.

Winding up, the Dark Angel threw the spirit to the swamp water below. She zipped past the spirit and beat her back to the ground. She watched as the spirit hit the stinking swamp water.

“
Is that what you were trying to do? Because if it was, that's how you get it done,” said the Dark Angel, grabbing the spirit by the throat.

The spirit knew she was beaten. She begged for mercy from the Dark Angel, promising to leave her children alone.

Cutting loose the rope that kept Catalyst bound and picking up Natalia, Anastasia returned to her usual Mom self. She drifted out of the swamp, leaving the spirit’s house in ruins.

Well away from the swamp, Anastasia lay them down under a tree as she watched over them until the sun rose.

When Catalyst woke, he could see his Mother brushing the hair out of Natalia’s eyes as she gently woke her, only to have Natalia jump back in fear thinking it was the spirit again.

Seeing it was Anastasia, Natalia took a quick look around.

“
What happened?” asked Natalia fearfully.

“
It would seem that you and my son chose to sleep in the wrong place, but don't worry it's okay now,” replied Anastasia.