Chapter 3
“Yes sirs, let me put you on hold while I see if she wants to talk to you,” Hans said to the wall screen.
“Oh please don’t put us on hold again, We’re getting awfully sick of that music,” moaned a council member in the background. Just then, an earsplitting roar could be heard from the queen’s bedroom.
“Tell them to go away! I’m in a foul mood,” and in a more quiet voice, “Tell them I said thank you for the ferrets.”
The screen blinked out.
***
“Acacia, why do we have to stay here?” Doran was complaining while he crawled into his sleeping bag. “Why can’t we just stay in town?”
“Because, Brigg is a Naudlig town. They’ll surely capture us and take us to Lucia. Would you rather spend the night in a dungeon?”
“No, this cold, hard, desert floor will do just nicely,” Doran replied with a false smile, adding emphasis to cold and hard.
“Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight Acacia.”
Zeke blipped goodnight from under Acacia’s pillow.
***
Acacia woke up to struggling sounds coming from Doran’s sleeping bag. She shined her flashlight on him. The sleeping bag was jumping up and down as if there were ten wolverines inside, fighting for a scrap of food.
“Oh no, Doran!” Acacia screamed as she grabbed her knife and got out of her own sleeping bag. She rushed over to Doran and tore through the fabric with her knife. Inside, some huge bugs were skittering all over Doran’s body. His skin was growing an unnatural shade of pink. She couldn’t tell what the bugs were because they never stood still long enough for her to see them. This required an emergency call to Alva.
“Alva! Are you there? Alva!” Acacia yelled into her wrist communicator. In a few seconds, she could see Alva’s face on the tiny screen.
“What is it child? It’s 200 hours!” Alva yawned.
“Some strange bugs are crawling all over Doran! They seem to be stripping him of his skin! He’s in terrible pain.”
“Those sound like mitrobitters. They’re large bugs that live off of human skin. It sounds to me as if they’ve only gotten a few layers. It usually takes hours for them to consume an entire skin. You’ll have to zap them with your gun.”
“But how? They’re moving too fast to even see!”
“Set the gun on search. Then turn the dial until it says ‘mitrobitters’ on the screen. Then point it at your friend.”
Acacia did what Alva said, and in seconds the laser beam was zapping the bugs. It took only a minute or two to get them all, and afterward the gun turned itself off.
“Thanks Alva,” Acacia said, relieved.
“You’re not done yet, child. You must move to a new area, or the rest of the mitrobitters will be after you. Find a clearing and build a ring of twigs around you. Set it on fire, and let it burn out. That ought to keep any other animals away from you for the rest of the night. Keep in touch.”
Acacia let out a whoosh of air. She took out her first aid kit and put some cream on Doran’s skin.
“Thanks for saving me. I felt sure those things were going to eat me alive!” Doran said as he helped Acacia apply the cream.
“Well, it was nothing. I still need that sword of yours. Besides, I’ve grown accustomed to you,” she answered, a blush showing on her cheeks. “We have to get out of here. Alva said there’d be more coming if we don’t move.”
“Oh great. So, where are we going now, the Sahara desert?”
***
“Those mitrobitters didn’t get rid of them!” Lucia screamed, then, realizing she had scared her ferrets, she said, “Oh my babies, did Mommy scare you? Let’s go get you some yummy treatsies!”
Lucia walked to her palace kitchen and opened up the giant food cupboard. She took out some meat snacks and fed them to the ferrets while they sat comfortably on her shoulders. She turned to the hallway and shouted, “Hans!”
“Yes your majesty?” he rushed in the room.
“I need you to send Jules and Thea to guard the palace gate. I don’t want those two children getting in the mansion .”
“Didn’t the mitrobitters work, madam?”
“Of course they didn’t, you imbecile! Those two are on their way up here right now. They’ll arrive soon. Now move!”
Hans walked out of the room and mumbled under his breath, “God, I hate that woman.”
***
“Come on Doran, we’re almost there,” Acacia yelled.
“You said that..... five minutes ago....... and we’re still pretty........ far from the top,” Doran said, between deep breaths of air. They had been climbing the mountain upon which stood the majestic, yet evil Carlonian Alcazar. This was the palace where Lucia lived.
Acacia pulled Zeke from her belt while holding on to her support rope. “Zeke, how much further?”
“ONLY 200 FEET. WE SHOULD REACH THE TOP SHORTLY. DO YOU NEED TO REST, FRIEND?”
“Yes. Even Doran can’t handle this much work.”
“THERE IS A LEDGE 8 FEET TO YOUR RIGHT. IT IS LARGE ENOUGH TO FIT YOU AND THE BOY.”
“Thanks Zeke, and stop calling him ‘the boy’. His name is Doran,” Acacia tucked Zeke back into her belt and moved to the right. She reached the ledge and sat down. She waited for Doran to join her. He struggled on to the ledge and sat down.
“Hey Acacia, instead of just climbing to the top, why don’t we take that tunnel behind us?”
“What do you mean, tunnel?” Acacia looked behind her and saw a massive dark entrance that seemed to never stop. She took Zeke out of her belt. “Hey bolt head, wake up.”
“THERE IS NO NEED TO CALL NAMES, FRIEND.”
“Sorry Zeke, I didn’t mean it. I’m just tired. Now tell us about this tunnel. How come you didn’t mention it before?”
“IT ISN’T MANMADE, OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT IT. IT’S FASHIONED IN A FORM I’VE ONLY SEEN ONCE BEFORE.”
“Do you know what caused it?”
“PARIMOLES.”
“Oh shit!” Acacia swore right out loud, something she rarely did.
“Why, is that bad?” Doran asked.
“Parimoles are harmless to us, unless they have young, which is often. They’re protective, and they’re year-round breeders so they are always reproducing.”
“How protective?” Doran’s face was ashen.
“Very. They rip off your head.” Doran fainted, and Acacia had to grab him quick before he tumbled over the edge. After she got him revived again, Zeke blipped for her attention.
“I HAVE SCANNED THE AREA. THE ADULT PARIMOLES HAVE LEFT THE AREA, AND THEIR YOUNG, FOR GOOD.”
“Shit. This day just gets better and better,” Acacia said sarcastically.
“Well, isn’t it a good thing that the parents are gone?” Doran asked.
“No. Only one thing can scare a parimole from it’s nest, and that’s a reuman.”
“And what do they do?” Doran’s face grew pallid again, and his voice was cracking.
“They eat your guts while you’re still alive. Then they keep you breathing until later, when they can finish you off,” Acacia was holding on to Doran and fanning his face with her shirt. He seemed to be getting some color back in his face. She gave him some water and stood up.
“Well, I suppose we can turn back now, huh,” Doran stood up too.
“Of course not! I’m almost there. I only have,” she looked at her wrist communicator, “Holy smokes! We have 3 hours until the electrosphere is shut off. We have to high-tail it to the top, and fast! We have no other choice but to crawl through the parimole cave.”
Doran groaned and checked to see his gear was fastened to his back. Then he followed Acacia into the cave.“We wish to speak with Her Majesty, the Queen of the Naudligs,” the council of Aldrich had been waiting on hold for an hour.