Rise of the Retics (19 page)

“I don’t know the answer to that question.”

SLAP
!

“But, Empress Stella, I didn’t lie. I don’t know how he did it.” The Captain looked sincere, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know something that could be of value to them.

Stella could see she needed to up the ante.

“Cletus, it seems that Captain Claritt is having some trouble with his memory. It is likely because he is a stupid human that still hasn’t learned how to behave in the presence of brownie royalty. Perhaps you might have a remedy for his affliction.”

“Oh, I sure as heck do, sis”

Cletus ran his naked body up Claritt and perched on his left shoulder, about an inch away from his ear. He began to play a lively tune. It sounded like this:

There once was a captain of a real big ship

Who had Empress Stella standing on his lip.

He kept his mouth shut, thought he was sly,

But if he doesn’t get to talking, he’s going to die.

Cletus sang the first and only verse to his little diddy in a strong, loud voice, sending his message straight into Claritt’s ear drum. Then he repeated it. And then again, and again, and again.

After ninety minutes the Captain had begged for it to stop and screamed that he would tell them everything, but Stella had decided that it was her lunch time and that she was not going to be disturbed by some annoying human that couldn’t have the decency to blab on a better schedule. Besides, today was fish nugget day in the galley and nobody missed fish nugget day, not even for an interrogation. Feeling particularly benevolent, she even decided to bring Cletus leftovers.

Finally, after eating almost an entire fish nugget herself, she waddled back into the room to the pained cries of the captain. Cletus inexhaustibly continued to play like he was a musical star putting on a performance for thousands. Stella was particularly impressed by his dancing. He must have been practicing. Perhaps when she took over his half of Moustache, she would let him live on as her jester.

“Please, Empress Stella, please,” the captain begged. “Make the horrible sounds stop. I swear I’ll tell you anything. Anything you want to hear. Just make the banjo stop playing, and for the love of all that is good and holy in the world, make him stop singing and put some clothes on! His little thing is an inch from my ear!” 

“Alright, Cletus. The stupid captain seems to have something to say now. You may stop.

“But Stella, I was just getting to the good part!”

“Maybe I shall allow you more time later, Cletus, but not now.  Tell us, Captain Claritt, how did the bishop know where we were going to be?” Stella returned to her lower lip perch, eager to hear what her broken prisoner had to say.

“I’ve only met the bishop in person a few times. He usually sends an envoy or a bird with his instructions. But the last time we docked at the harbor, a few of my boys were having drinks at the port tavern when an inquisitor came in with his men. My boys, they was wearing their sigils like they were supposed to, identifying them as Coalition men. The inquisitor and his men were doing the same. Out of politeness, they exchanged pleasantries and a few drinks. Well, more than a few drinks actually, if stories are true. Well, either way, my boys said they heard a lot of gossip and more than a few rumors that night.”

“Rumors are not facts, Captain. Why should I listen to the drunken ramblings of your dim-witted crew?” Stella acted like she could care less about his gossip, but in fact she was quite intrigued. She strongly believed that there was a sliver of truth in every rumor, especially if that rumor was coming from an inquisitor. They were very high up in the Coalition ranks.

“I can’t answer that question Empress, but I’ll tell you what I heard and you can decide if it’s worth giving credence to. My boys said that when the inquisitor got himself good and sauced up, he began bragging about this boy Bishop Iwo’s got that knows things. Things a regular boy ain’t supposed to know. He’s been giving the bishop information on monsters…errr…I mean on you people,
all around the area. Where they are, what species, how many of them, that kinda stuff. It’s how they were able to capture the tree-creature so easily a few weeks back.”

“Capture? You mean murder.” Stella began to lose that nice benevolent feeling she had enjoyed just a few minutes before. Branchy had not only been a fellow retic, but a friend, and for one delightful summer back in ‘97 his leaves made a fantastic summer home. His death had upset her greatly.

“Beg your pardon, but don’t think so, Empress. When the runner came to give us our orders, he said they had just brought in the creature. He was burned to a crisp and barely alive, but he was still moving. That was a few weeks ago now, though. Couldn’t tell ya what happened to him after that.”

Stella took a deep breath. Branchy might still be alive and the bishop had a boy that could find retics. This was information Lord Laszlo needed to know immediately. If this boy really could do the things Claritt was claiming, then who knew how long it would be before they had the location of Rosehaven? For all she knew, they might have it already. As happy as she was to have hope about Branchy, this was terrible news overall.

Drawing her well-sharpened sword from its sheath, she plunged it deep into Claritt’s trachea. He gurgled repeatedly, a look of surprise plastered on his face. He had served his purpose, and there was no need for him anymore

chapter
22

Shifting Perspective

Tyranna

Rosehaven: Thales Academy

November
11, 1503

It took her only a few minutes to arrive back at Thales. Rigby’s weight was barely an encumbrance in her new form and her body ran without any fear of her legs tiring. Making her way to the side of the building where her bedroom was, she gently placed the dog next to the bushes. Her breathing was shallow, and she seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Tyranna knew she needed to act fast.

A few seconds later, the large well-muscled ursine had become a tiny feathered ball hurling toward the open bedroom window. She flew in, seeing her two roommates deep asleep in their beds. Changing back into her normal form, she began to shake each of the other girls, whispering, “Wake up!” to accompany the motion. Sam was up, awake, and aware within a second. Gnipper responded with a combination snort/snore that could have woken the dead.

“What’s wrong, Tyranna?” Sam asked her as she continued to shake the tiny gnome, begging for her to wake. “Where have you been? We were worried.”

“Alright already, I’m awake. I’m gonna get shaken gnome syndrome if you don’t stop.” She lifted her small pigtailed head off the pillow. She was groggy but conscious.

“It’s Rigby,” blurted out Tyranna, realizing that between the full on sprint home and the multiple shifting, she was out of breath, “she’s hurt…real bad…they got Jaxon…”

“What are you talking about? What kinda hurt? How bad?” Sam was already out of bed and getting dressed.

“And who took Jaxon?” Gnipper chimed in, asking the one question that her furry friend had decided to leave out.

“She’s real bad. Barely breathing, bleeding everywhere. I think she’s going to die. She’s right outside the window. She needs help now.”

“Calm down, Tyranna,” Sam demanded in a calm, yet stern, voice. “Who did this?”

“I’m not sure who they were. Two muscular bearded guys—I think they were dwarves—and a faerie with orange wings and a bunch of scars on her face.”

“Mirabella!” cried Sam and Gnipper at the same time.

“Who?”

“We’ll explain later,” said Gnipper, finally awake and alert. “If Rigby is as bad as you say then we need to get her to Kelda’s house as soon as possible.”

“Who is going to see a dog in the middle of the night?” asked Tyranna.

“Dr. Kelda will help us. She always helps me, no matter how late it is. Why, there was this one time…”

“Not now, Gnipper, no time!” snapped Sam, cutting off the gnome’s story before it could begin.

“Do you think this doctor can do something for her?” asked Tyranna hopefully.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Gnipper smiled, showing off several gaps where teeth should have been.  Tyranna couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

“You two aren’t going out there alone,” decreed Sam, her voice showing that the decision was not negotiable. “We’ll need to wake the professor and let him know what’s going on.”

“No!” cried Tyranna and Gnipper in unison.

“They’ll kick Jaxon out of school,” Tyranna pleaded.

“Plus,” added Gnipper, “my father has no love at all for four legged creatures. He thinks they are all lab animals and should be treated as such.

“I understand, but this is really serious. If we get caught, we’ll be kicked out. I’d never get to take my rightful place in the Acorn Guard with that distinction on my record.”

“Sam, without help now, she’ll die. Besides, you made a promise to your father that you would protect me, and I’m going whether you come or not.” Tyranna could see the squirrel-kin’s big eyes begin to water. In the month they’d been living at Thales, Rigby had become much more than just Jaxon’s pet. She trained with Sam,
[29]
kept Gnipper company when she was running her experiments, and was the first one to protect any of them who needed it. She even growled at Bubble and her crew whenever they came near.

She wasn’t just a pet. She was their friend.

“Let’s go,” replied Sam as she adjusted her sword belt, which she slept in.

“Good. Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here without anyone seeing us.” Tyranna knew there was no way she could carry them as a bird. They would need another method of escape.

“No time to wait, follow me.” Sam took a quick step toward the window, leapt to the sill, and dove out into the night. Tyranna gasped and ran to see if she was ok.

She was. As always she had landed gracefully upon her feet. Tyranna released a
whoosh
of breath.

“Ok, how are we going to get you out of here then?” Tyranna asked, looking at Gnipper.

“Don’t worry Tyranna. It’s a mere gravitational bump in the road for my beautiful gnomish brain.” As she spoke, Gnipper reached into a large black trunk at the end of her bed. Written all over it in bright red letters were cautionary messages such as “Keep Out”, “Flammable”, and “Inflammable”, in case flammable was not enough to get the point across. Even though she had only been friends with Gnipper for a few weeks, it was plenty of time to understand that any warnings on her belongings were very likely there for a reason.

“Ah, here we are. I’ve been looking for a reason to field test this thing.” She pulled out a leathery black object from the trunk and began unrolling it.

“What’s that?” Tyranna asked.

“My newest invention. I call it W.I.N.G.S. It stands for Wind Induced Navigable Glider Suit. I made it from bat wings and guano. Don’t worry, they were dead first. If it works out like I planned, I should be able to glide right to Dr. Kelda’s from here without ever having to touch the ground and you guys should be able to follow me without a problem.

“What’s guano?”

“Trust me, Tyr, you don’t want to know.”

Tyranna watched with extreme skepticism as Gnipper slipped the contraption over her bright pink hair. She took special care to not disturb the iron skillet that rested on her head. It was just a pan, but Gnipper treated it like it was the lord protector’s crown. Tyranna couldn’t even begin to count the things she didn’t understand about Rosehaven, but if she had to make a list the gnome’s obsession with headgear would definitely be near the top.

“Ok, let’s go!” Gnipper walked uneasily to the window, slightly unbalanced from the device.

“Gnipper, are you sure this is a good idea?” Tyranna asked, just as concerned for what could happen to Gnipper as Rigby.

“Tyranna, a wise gnome once said ‘Behind every good idea, is a hundred bad ones.’ I’ve had one hundred ninety-four bad ideas this year already, so odds are greatly in my favor!”

Tyranna had no idea what that meant, but before she could ask for clarification, Gnipper had leaped out into the night. Tyranna reached out to grab her before she fell out of the window, but missed by an inch. Looking out, she fully expecting to be taking two creatures to Dr. Kelda instead of just one, but much to her surprise Gnipper’s contraption was actually working!

Tyranna watched the little gnome slowly glide through the air, rising and falling slightly each time the wind gusted. She wanted to yell something, a cheer of congratulations perhaps, but before she could, she remembered the reality of their situation. It was well past midnight and they were sneaking out of school. Well, if you can call flying out the window sneaking.

Tyranna quickly shifted and flew back down to Rigby, where Sam was kneeling and stroking the top of her head. Rigby was barely able to acknowledge her presence. The squirrel-kin was whispering encouraging words, but Tyranna could hear the tremble in her voice. She had never seen anything make Sam nervous or scared.

Tyranna shifted back into being a bear, feeling the sense of power rush back into her body. Sam seemed taken aback, but she didn’t move away from Rigby.

Tyranna picked up her body, much colder now than it had been just a few minutes before, and began sprinting after Gnipper, who had glided about a block away in the meantime. Her image was faint, but Tyranna could still make out her outline in the moonlight.

              Next stop, Dr. Kelda.