Part 19 (1/2)
”That is not a nahtly in these parts,” Mika said sharply
”Well, I'm pleased to hear that,” said the oldthe weather Then, still san to fumble with the bonds that held the princess
”Death! Destruction! Pestilence!” thundered Hornsbuck as he turned round and round, holding up his ar up at the broken do his sword once more ”Take your hands off her and stand back I will listen to no ain I will slice you through with my blade before you can say the words”
”You do not believe azed at Mika His expression was h Mika were a prize pupil who had suddenly fallen stupid
”Perhaps you would recognize me if I looked different Like this, perhaps” And the old e His back huing strangely in odd places
Then the cape fell away froan to twist andshaped by an unseen hand
The skull lost what few threads of hair it possessed and swelled to three tirotesquely and eyebrows, great bushy red eyebrows, pushed through the skin and grew before Mika's startled eyes
Red eyes Red, the color of warlearew fat, the deep wrinkles sh they had never been The nose becaold stud was fixed in each nostril The mouth formed wide and cruel and the lips fleshy and somehow obscene The ears were mere slits in the sides of the skull
The cape fell to the ground as thean immense broad-chested, round-bellied body, thick with layer upon layer of fat
Its ars were massive, smooth of skin and hairless and red The entire monstrous manifestation was red The red of a lobster boiled in seawater
Thetaller and taller and wider and wider till it towered over Mika, ht And it wore nothing but an evil s the princess against its ugly body like soe just watching the foul thing touch her
The dome of the temple seemed to whirl around Mika's head and he closed his eyes to stop the giddy sensation His heart haainst his ribs, and his fear was like the taste of cold iron in his rip the handle of his sword The roan screahtful apparition Mika heard Tam and RedTail whine and slink away and wished that he could do the same
”Do you believe me now?” thundered the awful red demon
”I believe,” whispered Mika with his head bowed, daring to wonder if there was any hope of escape Opening his eyes, he saw the de as though they already held hi back out of reach, totally terrified He knew that he would not survive if ever the creature touched hih his fear-clenched throat ”Don't kill me! You can't kill someone who's done you a favor Can you?”
”Of course I can,” chuckled the des ”I've done soif we permitted the princess to reward you herself Yes, I think I would enjoy thatthee arcane moves, the monster muttered soft words beneath his breath and Mika saw the princess stir A lump filled his throat He had envisioned thislike this
One grubby slender hand treainst the tattered silk-clad breast The ulps of air, and her eyelids fluttered and then opened
Mika recoiled in shock! Peering at hile of thick black curls was one brilliant blue eye and one as green as the grass of spring!
”I shall allow the princess herself to bestow your reward,” said the dean to shrink and whither, until it was once ly ainst hily too weak to stand alone and, as yet, totally uncoestured with his frail, thickly veined hand, and the princess's hand rose and pointed at Mika
Mike kneithout a doubt that so terrible was about to happen
”Wait! Wait! Stop!” he yelled ”I don't understand What's happening? Who are you? All right, I saw so and red, but maybe it was all illusion, it doesn't prove that you're Iuz
”Why would Iuz need to kidnap a princess? None of this makes sense I don't believe you're Iuz at all I think you're just soic-user You can do some illusion and some spells and you can kill me, but you're not Iuz”
Mike held his breath as he waited for the old man to respond In his heart he was not at all certain that the old et the old ht be able to think of a way to escape what now seemed to be certain death
”You have touched on hed the old er off balance for a minute as the princess leaned on him more heavily
The old man fixed Mika with a baleful eye and his voice rose in cold fury ”I am Iuz! This, this old tired body is that which I have inhabited on this plane of existence for er strengthened by the blood and spirits of sacrifice Soon, unless I take steps to prevent it, this body will die, and I will have no access to this material plane for more than a century
”I have bided my ti, one of which you have just witnessed, searching for that which could return th and power And at last I found it
”The answer is twofold First there is the gee but seldoe As you have heard, it heightens one's powers to the greatest potential Such a gethen em alone I desire, for the princess herself is a conduit of power; her eyes, as you have no doubt noticed, give evidence of the strength hidden within”
”But how can you use her power?” asked Mika, noticing with a quickening of pulse and a thread of hope that the princess was standing on her own feet, no longer leaning against the olduntil she regained her senses! If she heard what he was saying, she could not fail to recognize their danger Maybe she would help Mika in some way, or at the very least, allow him the opportunity to escape
”I will encapsulate her power,” the oldto notice that the princess was now erect and was staring down at her hands and arh she had never seen the,” said the oldand strong enough to bring this world underher to ht never have reached me”
”How do you encapsulate a princess, and wouldn't just any old girl do? Does it have to be a princess?” Mika asked hurriedly, hoping to keep the ht look of fury that Mika detected in the princess's eyes as she picked up the shredded reers and stared at it in angry silence
”It's really a si to the explanation ”I need only distill the essence of the virgin and place it in a crystal, or in this case, the gein will do This princess, despite her plain exterior, is the end result of several hundreds of years of breeding that have produced kings, queens, h her potential is as yet unrealized, I shall bring it to greater heights than she would ever have realized as a , let esture, he caused the princess's arers pointed directly at Mika's chest
Mika opened his mouth to yell and tensed his body to drop and roll, but before he could even ht shot froernail and struck hiht, and waited to die But nothing happened He looked at his fingers and wiggled theh he had sed a bitter potion Thrusting the princess's hand out again, he seized her finger and pointed it at Mika a second time He screamed out words that Mika could not understand, and a faint pink light wobbled froer and then faded in hed out loud
Iuz turned the princess around violently and shook her hard, staring into her eyes She struggled in his tight grip and tried to break away Iuz pulled her closer and scrutinized her intently as though reading a faed itself into strange and peculiar words
A blank look caers loosened their hold He looked old and lost for a aze on him, lifted his eyes Hatred leaped froh he had been physically struck
Iuz flung the girl away froered for several feet before she gained her balance
”She is no longer a virgin!” shrieked Iuz ”Not a virgin! And it is your fault! You've ruined everything! Now I shall be forced to depend on the gean to shi+row taller, and his skin took on a rosy hue Mika knew that he had waited too long It was time to leave
But the princess had other ideas
She too seeer asleep, and she et it, oldhiht ar hiot a feords ofin her multi-colored eyes
”You! You're to blame for thisthis mess!” she screamed at Mika as Iuz wrapped his skinny hand around Hornsbuck's leg and began struggling to his feet