A Piece of the Pie (12-14)

Chapter 12 – A Hole in the Ground

I don't think I'd ever run that fast in my life – and in normal circumstances I can move pretty quick. Our party hustled into a patch of thick trees. Vera pulled the root up from one, lifting the ground with it, motioning us down an incline into a little hollow. Uly dropped the ground back over our heads – apparently they knew this area fairly well.

Slouched against a cold dirt wall I tried to catch my breath. I could hear rustling, then realized it was just Vera pulling a lamp out of her pack and lighting it. I looked around at my friends in the soft glow of the candle. Sam's eyes were wide, and Jake and Mouk exchanged nervous glances.

"This is not good," Vera muttered, "the shapeshifters can move too fast."

"Yeah, sooooooo... what the hell were those things?" I inquired, "because that thing that looked at me sure wasn't human, and I don't remember any stories of Sasquatch wearing a suit of armour and teleporting out of thin air attacking people!"

"We're not really sure what they are," Feo started to explain very calmly despite the circumstances, "they first attacked a couple of weeks ago. We only know them as shapeshifters because they seem to be capable of assuming multiple forms."

"But we've never seen them burst out of empty space like this before," Uly added anxiously. The guys leaned against the damp wall with their heads low, trying to stop their hearts racing.

"How are we going to get to your king?" I asked in a slightly calmer manner, now that I had come to terms with being suddenly assailed by giant metal monstrosities.

"We'll have to leave at nightfall, hope we're not seen," Vera said, "but you can't go out there unarmed."

"Wait, Feo can just do that wind thing she did to the big one, right?" I looked at her, "that was you, right?"

"That only stuns them for a limited time," Feo said, "it's just kind of a shockwave –"

"Wait... you're the one who put the fire out in those trees? You were that rush of wind?" Mouk turned to look at her too.

"Yes."

"Can all of you do that?" Jake asked in awe.

"Just Feo," Vera replied.

"I just started a week ago and I still can't control it well. I don't know why I can do it, let alone why so suddenly. I can't even do it all the time..."

"From what I saw it was awesome," I said. Feo smiled at me then looked away into the candle flame.

"So... do you all have superpowers or something?" Sam asked without even trying to hide his excitement.

"No, we're humans kind of like you. Feo can do that for some reason, we've been looking into it, running lab tests, but we haven't come up with anything yet," Vera answered hesitantly, "let's get you something to defend yourselves with." The three women dug into their packs and came out with an assortment of items, some more dangerous looking than others.

Upon getting organized, I had a short sword slung over my shoulder, as did Mouk. Sam held what looked like the hilt of – OH MY GOD A LIGHTSABER – but Vera explained it launched small balls of energy that could cut through hardened steel and stone. Still pretty cool. Jake was armed with the strangest weapon though – it looked like a short piece of rope. Uly explained this one: by twisting a part of it just above the handle, Jake could either stiffen the rope into a bo and rock it Donatello style, or he could keep it loose and use it as some kind of skipping rope weapon.

"Hey, Doctor Jones, you ready to roll or what?" I smirked at Jake.

"I dunno man, I think I need some training with this thing," Jake looked at his rope, testing out the twisting mechanism and tangling the rope around his ankle. Vera also handed him a little hollow stick and some darts.

"Sorry Jake, we don't have too many of those rope things, and they're not really meant to be much of weapons, more a tool. We have a few extra daggers, but we ran into some trouble before meeting you guys, and we're short on weapons in the city to begin with. But don't worry, if things go smoothly, we won't even have to fight anyone," Vera reassured us, "now we have to get some rest."

That was good to hear at least. I would prefer there to be zero violence if at all possible... I don't know how to use a sword?!?! 

Chapter 13 – Rescue

I would have liked at this point to go on describing some fitful dream I had while I slept, concerning impending danger – a vision of bad things to come. And then an indistinguishable figure came to me and announced in a heavy baritone how now the fate of the universe depended on myself. With my newfound cosmic powers, including flight and superhuman strength, along with a deep sense of purpose, my mighty band of heroes and I are the ones who will vanquish all that is evil.

But alas, I'm an honest guy, I had no such sign come to me. I'm still super hungover and my head is killing me, so I just blanked out from the time I closed my eyes until now, with Feo leaning over me, gently shaking my shoulder and telling me it was time to move. I sat up in the small underground cave and saw the others climbing to their feet and brushing themselves off.

"It's dark enough now that we should be able to get into the shapeshifters' camp undetected. We know where they're hiding the king and his soldiers, it shouldn't be too difficult," Vera said.

The girls passed us some t-shirts and shorts, which were the darkened tan colour of their bodysuits.

Why were they carrying these?

Maybe they were expecting us?

Maybe they had a store of them here in the hollow?

Maybe they went out marauding while we were sleeping? Whatever the reason, we slipped into these gratefully, as our winter clothes were damp with sweat from the heat.

Wait a second... they said they were humans kind of like us. What was that supposed to mean?

Ignoring all the questions in my head for now, I exited the hiding hole, made sure the coast was clear, and proceeded to take a most relieving pee in the nearest bush, at the same time admiring its luminescent orange colour – the colour of the bush, not my pee. That would just be unhealthy. Things here appear relatively similar to Earth, but there are small differences if you take the time to notice the subtlety.

What am I talking about subtlety? That bush is glowing orange! The others started to crawl out of the opening.

"I am ready to roll," I proclaimed in as confident a voice I could as I zipped up.

"Good to hear," Vera nodded at me, and led us off at a brisk jog into the night.

"They're being held right over there, underneath the large dune," Feo pointed and passed me what looked like the most hi-tech pair of binoculars I had ever seen.

"How can you tell?"

"According to this," she explained, indicating a small screen that appeared to have some sort of infrared images on it, "there's a gathering of multiple signatures underground over there."

"So, what now? We rush into the camp and start taking dudes out?" Jake asked nervously.

"No, we have to find a way in to reach them quietly."

"Am I glad to hear that, 'cause I can't say I've ever seriously fought anyone before – if you don't count breaking up fights that Dim starts accidentally, and that usually just involves sidestepping a massive fist, followed by avoiding the very drunk guy falling to the floor. I think taking on eight foot mutant metal things would be a big step up for all of us."

"We'll be fine. C'mon, let's go," Uly said.

We slowly made our way over to the sand dune in question, with no problems as of yet. Having consulted a number of strange looking objects, Uly managed to find a handle buried under the sand. We crept in quietly. Once in the underground cave, I noticed it was very similar to the one we hid in earlier, just a lot bigger, and a sand floor rather than dirt. Inside were gathered thirty or so people, all dressed in torn and ragged clothing and looking fairly gnarly overall. A very tall man, even from his sitting position slouched against the stone wall, looked up at us newcomers first and the rest of the occupants of the hollow did the same.

"Vera..." he muttered weakly, "you shouldn't... you shouldn't be here."

Rescuees always seem to say something like that, don't they? Why can rescuers never get a nice oh great, you made it! Now untie me and let's both get out of here. They always have to do the noble go now, save yourself! routine, don't they?

"Yeah, well we're here, so it's too late for that. Now where is your staff?" Vera replied to the tall man.

"A guard took it. They're probably keeping a constant eye on it after what I did to them in battle."

"Famouk, Sam, you stay here with Uly and untie everyone. Dmitri, Jake, you're coming with Feo and I to find the staff."

"Got it," we answered.

As I exited the trap door, I asked Vera about this staff we were apparently looking for.

"It allows the king to travel great distances in barely more than an instant. In fact, that's probably how the shapeshifters ambushed us – they stole it and used its power."

I nodded in acknowledgement. Sounded pretty typical of a mysterious criminal organization.

"Would this staff happen to be a silvery, glowing doo-dad?" Jake asked hopefully, pointing in the direction where he saw said doo-dad resting against a large boulder.

"That would be it," Vera replied, following the direction Jake was pointing, "only one guard... wait here. I can handle this."

We lay prone in the sand and watched Vera drift into the shadows. A couple moments later, the outline of the guard slipped to the ground without a single sound.

"Come, we must get this to the King," Vera reappeared right next to Jake.

Crawling back into the underground holding area, we encountered the recently untied prisoners rubbing at their chafed wrists.

"That was quick. You found it," the king said happily. In a darker tone he added, "I don't know what these things are – I lost more than two thirds of my group... we had no idea what it was we were fighting... but I'll tell you more later, for now let's get out of here."

Vera handed the glowing staff to the King. The moment it passed into his hands it stopped glowing, and now it looked just like any old gnarled stick. "Gather 'round everyone," the King said in a powerful voice, and we abided, "let's get back to the castle.’

Suddenly, I felt like my whole body was expanding, and then just as suddenly there was a rush of air as I felt myself ripping through space and dropping onto a solid floor. I have no idea exactly what ripping through space feels like, but I am assuming that's what I felt. The dropping onto a solid floor part I will probably feel the effects of for a bit longer yet.

"We're home!" the King exalted.

Now let’s try not to puke, I thought to myself.

Chapter 14 – Don’t be a D-Bag

"As it's the middle of the night, the city is asleep. I'm afraid you will have to wait until tomorrow for a full tour, but James here will show you to your sleeping quarters. I'm sorry to say they are not much, but I hope you understand. Thank you for your help this night."

We started to tell the king it was nothing, we really didn't do all that much anyway.

"Not true my friends, everyone plays an important role and every little thing counts," the king left us with a big grin and walked away up a set of large stone steps. The girls said good night and headed towards a wing on the west side.

The dude named James turned to us and motioned to a doorway. He stood only slightly shorter than the king. He led us to a large hallway, in which there was another door to pass through, and once inside, four more doors each leading into one of four identical rooms.

"Again, I'm sorry about the poor accommodations, but I hope it can do for now," James bowed ever so slightly to us, which I took to be a sign of respect as well as thanks, despite the hint of a grin forming at the corner of his mouth. He obviously knew the formalities were a little lost on us, but wanted to be kind anyway.

"No worries dude," I grinned back at him, and he headed back the way we came in.

"I need to hit the sack, I don't know how they keep this shit up in adventure movies, I’ve still got a headache," Jake said and started toward one of the doors.

"Night boys."

"Night."

"Night."

"Have a good one boys."

We each took a door and settled in for the rest of the night into soft, fluffy, extremely comfy beds.

After I'd been asleep for what felt like a very short while, I woke up to a faint knocking at my door. I probably wouldn't have heard it, if I hadn't felt a soft warm light falling over my face. The door was opened slightly, and in the narrow stream of light from the hallway I could see Feo who slipped into the room.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey, uhh, what's up?" I asked sleepily.

Using a small match she lit a few candles that stood on the desk, and the soft smell of strawberries wafted around the room. In the dim light I could see she was in bare feet, which explained why I could barely hear her.

I suddenly felt all exposed, lying there in my boxers. I pulled my sheet up a bit over myself.

"A little shy are we?" she asked with a smile, moving toward me like a gentle wave coming in off the coast. She pulled my sheet all the way off and sat down nimbly on my legs.

Feo leaned closer to me, intertwining her slender legs within mine, strands of blonde hair falling across my chest. She looked me right in the eyes with her own shining ones, tilting her head to the side slightly and pressing her mouth to mine.

I kissed her back. We rolled to our sides and I pulled her close. She maneuvered back on top, and shook out her golden hair and fell close to me again.

I noticed a small symbol that looked like a peace sign tattooed just above her left hip. I could feel both our heart beats pounding. She ran her hands through my mess of hair.

I came to my senses suddenly.

I gently pulled away, "I'm sorry Feo, I – I just can't do this, that was already way too much," I stammered, "you see, there's this girl back home, who, you know, I think I really like – we're not serious or anything, but... and you are, well... you seem really awesome, but I..."

"Are you serious?" Feo scoffed at me.

"I know... I must be some kind of loser, and –"

"No," she stopped me and sat up, her frown replaced with a wide grin. "It's cute," she smiled and slipped some loose hair back behind her ear, "I was just checking. Your response is what I was hoping for."

"Wwhaaa?" I was very confused.

"I wanted to make sure I could trust you. As you're obviously loyal enough to not completely forget about this girl you called earlier, I figure I can," she smiled a warm smile again. She hopped out of bed and fixed up her dress-cape thing she was wearing. "I'm really glad you guys stayed to help, it means a lot," she leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, yeah. Don't sweat it," I tried to shrug like it was no big deal.

"Have a good sleep Dim."

"Yeah, you too Feo."

She blew out the candles, went to the door, and flashed a smile over her shoulder in the dim glow.

"Just a question," I asked after her.

"What's up?"

"If this was a sorta test, what would you have done if I hadn't stopped you?"

"Oh, you know. You had about fifteen more seconds before I hit you with something heavy for being a douchebag."

"Good to know."

She closed the door behind her and I lay in the dark again. I let my head fall back onto my pillow. Guess I've made a small bit of progress, I'm not a complete garbage human anymore.