The Curse of Oberon (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 3) (13 page)

With the trap set, Marko pulled the rope like vines he had tied around the treehouse supports, freeing the platform from its bonds.  It was a thing of beauty watching a plan come together so perfectly.  The Orcs below had no idea what was happening and were all but helpless to escape.  Isa was all smiles, clearly enjoying the mayhem a bit too much.  She was one weird, but hot, vampire lady.

I watched in awe as the structure fell from the tress on to the tightly grouped Orcs.  Marko’s role continued as the wood fell all around us, making horrible noises that no critter should ever make.  Any Orcs close by might assume the wyrm was on the rampage and stay away.

Nine of the eleven Orcs were crushed to death.  One was seriously injured and I put him out of his misery.  Another avoided being crushed, but couldn’t avoid Isa.  She chased him down quickly and upon catching him, snapped his neck.  It was quick, brutal, and efficient.

The smells of blood and death filled the air, triggering something wild inside me.  The Warg was hungry for destruction and itching to get out.  The urge to transform actually became painful before it subsided, causing me to lean up against a tree for support.

A cool, soft hand touched my arm.  “Victor, are you okay?”

“Yeah, had a spell where the beast inside nearly got the best of me and forced a transformation.”

She appraised me, looking a tad concerned.  “The Warg is a powerful daemon.  It was only a matter of time before it began trying to impose its will on you.”  She squeezed my arm, showing a little compassion.  “The longer it lives inside you, the more likely it’ll begin to influence you.”

That didn’t sound pleasant.  “Any ideas on how to not let that happen?”

“I can’t say I do, but on a side note, we’ll probably need him soon.  Storming the camp will be no easy task.”  If I didn’t know any better I’d say I saw some bloodlust forming behind her eyes.

Well my inner daemon dog would be useful.  I’d be able to sleep much easier - not.  “I guess I can worry about controlling the Warg later.  We should probably keep moving.  You know, just in case any of those Orcs grows a wild hair and wants to check this out.”

As the afternoon wore on, we kept moving closer to Pan’s camp, careful to avoid the wyrm’s home this second time around.  We had to stop around midafternoon due to an incredibly large group of Orcs moving out, towards the area we came from.  I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but based on the sounds, I reckoned there was at least fifty of ‘em.  Even Marko wouldn’t have been able to help much in a fight like that.  Good news was they were headed away from Pan.

The one thing that did concern me was the lack of any telltale sign of the wolves.  I would’ve figured by now that the Silvers would’ve been very close and we’d have to skirt around the edges to avoid detection ourselves.  Yet their traces were barely pinging on my senses radar.  Were they on the far side of the island looking for us?  I didn’t like it one bit.

As the sun crept down and the night sky began to take over the scenery, “This is going to be our best chance Victor. I’d love to go after Pan, but the Orc Chief is a powerful creature.  When we go in, you go after the boy vampire and leave the Orc Chief to me.”

Sounded good to me.  I’d been chomping at the bit to get my hands on Pan.  “I guess you’re ready to do this thing?”

She gave a short nod and we were off.  The perimeter of the camp came into view and all was quiet.  Talk about eerie, nothing could be heard, not even the bugs on this island.  As we crossed over from dense forest and passed our first building, an explosion happened in my ears, like when you don’t chew gum on the plane ride and the pressure from the descent is fully built up.

Sounds, smells, and even the taste in the air opened up.  Clutching my ears, “It’s a trap!”

Whatever magic they’d used to protect themselves from me, it must’ve surrounded the camp.  The wolves were here front and center, a squad of Orcs jumped down from the tops of the buildings, and laughing high above us was Pan and the Orc Chief.

Pan’s evil boyish face greeted us.  “Welcome to the show!  It seems my Orc friend’s disguising trick worked!”

As my bearings reassembled, “Well you pulled the wool over my eyes.  I guess you deserve a round of applause for that.”

“I do don’t I?”  He reached around and began patting himself on the back.  “It’s good to be as smart as I am.”

The two Silvers, both in their wolf form, began to snarl.  The Orcs surrounding us took to pounding their spears into the ground.  We were in a bad situation.  There was just one wild card yet to be played.

Pan seemed none the wiser to our own ace up the sleeve.  “Before the two of you die, can anyone tell me who the female vampire is?  I was expecting that meddling Sphinx.”

Isa, who I noticed was not nearly as worried as I was, “I believe the term is screw you.”

“Feisty huh?  Well, we’ll see how long that sharp tongue holds up against my friends here.”

The wolves began their approach, slowly.  I looked up to the Orc Chief and saw something glowing on his forehead.  So that’s how he was keeping them in his thrall.

I pulled out Pan’s old knife, ready to defend myself.  The circle of Orcs began to tighten up, their grunts and howls gave me the impression they were ready to feast on our dead bodies.  Unfortunately for them, there was one last problem to that plan.

“RAAAAAWWWW!!!”  The battle cry of Marko erupted all around us as he busted into the opening.  During his initial charge, he scooped up two Orcs and bit them in half.  Pandemonium ensued, scattering the rest of the foul green monsters into different directions to escape the rampaging troll.

From above us, panic flooded from Pan.  He pushed the Orc Chief, signaling below.  “No more games!  Make the wolves attack before the troll finishes off your warriors!”

On his command, the two Silvers came after Isa and me.  The larger male decided Isa was more of a threat, leaving Caroline to begin her assault on yours truly.  Two powerful snaps of her jaw came awfully close to my face and she walked me down.

My first break came when a dead orc slammed into the side of the female wolf.  I wasn’t sure if Marko had intended to help me, but I’d be forever grateful to the big lug.  The green projectile knocked her off her feet, giving me the chance to strike.  I ran up and reared back with all my weight, sending a fist full of knuckles into the lower part of her jaw.  It was like hitting a damn bowling ball.  Her head snapped back and a tooth flew out.  At least it hurt her too or that would’ve been a waste.

A follow up punch caught the wolf in the shoulder as she twisted her way back to her feet.  It was pure muscle and if anything, just annoyed her more than any sort of pain.  One of her back paws hit me in the chest, creating an opening between the two of us.  Quicker than me, she pounced, landing her full weight on me and driving me to the dirt.

Using my forearm to shield the mouth full of teeth away from me, my options were limited.  Closing my eyes, trying to think, a gurgled voice entered my mind.  “Free me!”

The Warg, he wanted out.  Seeing if I could have a conversation with him, “Will you work with me?”

“FREE ME!”  It wasn’t English that was yelled this time, but I understood it.  The voice was loud, primal.

A snap of the jaw was awfully close.  The spit from her exposed mouth fell on my face.  This wasn’t the time to get into an internal argument.  “Just remember, I’m the boss.”

As the fires inside opening up, I heard a laughing sound, one that seemed more amused than actually happy.  “So be it.”

The Silver jumped off me as the painful transformation took shape.  Bones snapped as my human form began to slowly morph away, growing in size to my daemon-dog shape.  My yellowing eyes looked up to Pan, hoping to see his reaction to my new found ability.  The impish boy’s smile faded away and a desire to flee the scene was evident.  In fact, he got up to go when the last of the dead Orcs knocked him back, falling to the ground.  Marko’s battle cry and my howl happened at the same time.

The War for Neverland was in full swing.

**Liz**

Our little group of five was getting closer to the end of the road.  The traces of magic lingered in the air, letting us know the Dullahan and the O’Byrnes were close.  I wondered just how many witches were down here, waiting.  And why would they have stayed after summoning their creature from the Pit?

Connor called a halt for a moment.  “Before we make contact, does anyone have any ideas for attackin’ the Dullahan?”

“What if we kill the witch that summoned it?”  Bernard looked around the group like he proposed the best idea on the night.

Kristie just shook her head.  “Once the contract is in place, the creature will fulfill its obligations before returning.”

These were not the problems a werewolf from Arizona was used to facing.  “Well that just sucks.”

“We have an old sayin’ in the clan that if ye get inta a fight with a bigger bugger than ye, go for the eyes.”

“Fergus,” Kristie was about to light into him.  “That might be the dumbest idea…”

But it was not dumb at all.  “I do believe he is right.”  Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me.  “No I am not insane.  The thing’s face constantly moved, shifting at all times except the eyes.  There has to be a reason for that.”

“Even so, what about the Hellfire and brimstone that was being spewed every two seconds?”

Connor had a reasonable point.  “I do not have all the answers yet, but if there is one thing I learned from someone who was very dear to me, the best plans happen on the fly.”

Bernard lit up when I said that.  “Damnit Liz, did my moron of a brother rub off on you that much?”

“He did.”  Without the memory of him, this mission would have no chance of success.  “In honor of him, we go in guns blazing.”

“We don’t have any guns lass.  That woulda been a good thing ta invest in.”

I let Bernard explain the colloquialism while I took in what I had to work with.  Myself and the two Irish vampires had the speed necessary to possible outrun the creature.  Fergus and Bernard provided the brute strength.  Depending on how many witches were just around the bend, we might have a decent shot at pulling something off.  “Fergus, can you sneak down to the end and get us an exact count?”

With a wink, he transformed into the wolf and left.  Hopefully the Alpha could get in and out quickly with no attention drawn to himself.  If we knew our enemies numbers, maybe some confidence could be injected into the group.

The minutes under the cover of night came to a stand still waiting for Fergus to return.  I was beginning to fear the worst when the large Red wolf appeared and was calmly walking back towards us.  Once back as a man, “There be three witches, a vampire, and of course that foul creature.  Two of the witches be young with the third bein’ Anita.”

A vampire though?  This was rather surprising.  Could Jonathan still be here?  I tried to contain myself but it did not work.  “Can you give me details on the vampire?  Male or female?  Could you estimate an age?”

“Aye, it’d be a male, older lookin’ guy by what I could see.  Grey hair, manicured goatee.”

That certainly did not fit Jonathan’s description.  “Do either of you know who this might be?”

Connor rolled his eyes.  “Was he dressed funny?  Maybe like an ancient Druid?”

“Yeah, he’d be wearin’ some sorta brown cloak and all.”  He stifled a chuckle.  “If he’d be wearin’ a white suit, he’d be lookin’ like the America chicken guy.”

“Connor, do you know who this vampire is?”

“Aye, it seems someone went out of their way ta find old Timmy McDonovan.”  The bitterness at which he said the name was almost to the point of scathing.  “One of our more foolish brothers years ago thought the old hermit was a Druid and turned him inta a vampire.  Turns out he is just a fraud and a whelp.”

This struck me as good news.  “So he is not that dangerous?”

“Oh he is extremely dangerous.  Some of the concoctions he has engineered over the past three decades have done a number to our quaint and quiet countryside.”  His attention went to Fergus.  “Did ye happen ta spy any traps along the way?”

The Red rubbed his facial hair while thinking.  “Nothin’ I’d say outta the ordinary, but I’d been more focused on fittin’ in and stayin’ silent.”

So the path down to the witches could be littered with traps.  Had Fergus had the good fortune to miss them all?  “Knowing what we do now, we can take the fight to them.  Kristie, can you engage the witches?”

She pulled out a sleek silver sword from the scabbard on her back..  “It’d be my pleasure to rid the world of a few more of them.”

“Good.  Bernard, Fergus, the three of us will handle the Dullahan while Connor takes care of his imposter Druid.”  This was just going to be like the standoff in the desert with Warren Tucker.  “Show no mercy to any one foolish enough to align with Jonathan.”

Fergus and Bernard transformed and the rest of us followed the two wolves down.  Fergus took us along the same path he used to get to the bottom and sure enough there were no traps.  At the last little bend, his hairy canine face turned around and showed his teeth.  It was time to fight.

Running in front of the werewolves, we charged into the open space, catching the witches and Timmy McDonovan by surprise.  The Dullahan was our target and it sprang to life the moment we entered the open.  Fergus and Bernard were behind me and we broke off and headed straight for the daemon.

It targeted me with its opening volley of attacks.  The awful mouth in the middle of the chest plate opened and Hellfire raged out.  I had to push the limits of my own speed to avoid the fiery balls of pure evil.

With its attention to me, the two wolves threw themselves on to its back.  The clattering of claws against metal was thunderous, but I do not believe the wolves could break through.  While still shooting fire at me, it reached around and grabbed both Reds, tossing them aside like toddlers.  Whatever the Dullahan’s mission was, it must have involved me because it did not follow up against the wolves.

A scream took my attention away just for a minute.  Looking behind me, Kristie had already killed one of the witches, impaling her through the back and then swiftly beheading her.  The scream came from the other young one, possibly a sister to the slain witch.  The older witch was nowhere to be seen.

I could not continue to watch, I had my own problems.  Rolling out of the way, the large broadsword cleaved the ground, creating a fissure between myself and the daemon.  Steam poured from the wound in the ground, created by the sheer amount of Pit energy this thing held.

Another sound rocked the valley – this was an explosion.  Falling rock knocked me off my feet and a cloud of dust obscured my vision.  Could that have been the working of the Druid?

“Connor ye blight!  I’m gonna kill ye and take me rightful place as King of Ireland!”

I did not recognize that voice, so I assumed it was Timmy McDonovan.  I did recognize the response.  “Ye are a fool McDonovan, one I allowed to live for far too long.  Tonight is the night ye meet the maker!”

I saw two outlines collide in the dust cloud.  Punches and kicks were being thrown liberally, with the thinner vampire getting the better end of the exchange.  The larger shape could not keep up with the speed and was beginning to get a substantial beating.  As the area began to clear up, I saw Connor grab Timmy by the neck and pull with all of his might.  It is never a pleasant sight to see a vampire pull the head off their victim’s body.

The body of the imposter Druid fell to the ground in a clump.  With victory in hand, Conner never had time to move as the Dullahan moved in quickly and scooped him up.  He dropped his entire body into the fiery pit that was his mouth and closed it.  Then, like the primal predator it was, the mouth opened again and spit out the bones of the former Ambassador to Ireland.