Chapter Thirty Seven: ( Scatter)

Chapter: 37 (Scatter)

 

            The lynches, looked like chihuahua sized beetles covered in black thick hairs. They crawled over each other in erratic waves as they scattered towards us. You could hear their small legs tapping against the hard ground and a shiver ran up my spine. I had never been afraid of bugs but beetle looking creatures the size of my shoe was a different situation entirely.

            “Back up and don’t let them get to close.” Jackson shouted across at Addison and me.

            “If one gets a hold of you they will swarm you in a matter of seconds.” He warned as He bounced lightly backwards.

            I looked to my right and saw Rosamond and the other Guild members abandoning my mother in order to prepare for the onslaught of Lynches. As the men let her loose she quickly jumped up and calmly began to walk back to where my father now stood with his hand on his hips and looking very proud of himself.

            The father I knew was a man of very gentle care. He was the man who kissed scraped knees and gave the best piggy back rides. The man who stood before us now was a man who I had never seen before. He looked like the father I once knew but his eyes said something completely different. They shone bright with amusement as his children stood in front of him staring danger in its insect like eyes.

            The lynches scattered out of her way as she walked through the ocean of their bodies. We heard a few hisses and screeching like sounds come from them as they crawled over and pushed one another out of the way of her footsteps.

            From my side I heard Mordant begin to laugh under his breath and as he backed away from our group he eloquently bowed and held his hand out in front of himself.

            “Let the fun begin.” He giggled as he skipped over the few lynches that had already found their way close to our feet. Addison and Jackson gave each other a leery look before drawing their weapons.

            Jackson abandoned his arrows but wielded his bow like a baseball bat and Addison naturally balanced Nalaheim’s Sword in both of his hands. I opened the flap on the small leather pack on my belt and withdrew on of the small blades from inside and gulped.

            Rosamond appeared at my side holding the candlestick that our mother had tried to kill us with just a few short moments before. The other two guild member took their places beside him and looked ready for the fight. Even with the bruises and cuts that littered their faces and bodies, they were raised for this kind of thing. They had been trained to take a beating and get back up and ask for it again. I felt a little bit better knowing that they were on our side.

            Especially now that I don’t know what side is the right side. The Guild is hiding something that’s obvious. My parents have gone out of their minds. Nicholas wasn’t who I though he was, and for some reason I feel like Zavion holds the key to all of the answers.

            “Madison, watch out.” Rosamond warned as a wave of lynches began to weave its way towards us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jackson shuffle forward and kick the one closest to him.

            “Don’t let them get to close.” He yelled over the noise. The sound of thousands of thick legs clicking against the floor coupled with the sounds of their hissing made enough noise to make it impossible to hear each other without shouting,

            “Their hair,” Rosamond shouted as he swung his weapon down on top of one of them. A loud crunch followed by a spray of thick yellow gunk splattered across the bottom of our pants. I cringed and willed myself to not get sick.

            “It’s as sharp as needles.” He said as he flung one off of the tip of his boot. “If you get cut by one of those you will be in a world of pain.” He explained.

            “It also has a signal that alerts the rest of the nest that there is food around.” I heard Jackson yell over at us.

            “And I am guessing they didn’t order pizza.” I heard Addison reply. I was busy staring down a lynch that had gotten past Rosamond and his crew. I backed away slowly hoping that I wouldn’t catch its attention. As I took a step backwards it scrambled to face me. I guess I wasn’t getting out of it that easy.

            “Rosamond,” I whispered as loudly as I dared. My eyes flicked to his direction real quick. He was busy fighting off a small group of them as the waves began to get thicker and thicker as they made their way across the room.

            Across the sea of black crawling bodies I could see my parents and Mordant watching as if slightly bored with our display. Mordant had tilted down to whisper something in Nicholas’s ear. Nick stood stiff and listened intently before slowly nodding.

            I looked back down as the lynch gave a bug like battle cry and began to charge towards me. I gasped and clutched the small throwing dagger in my hand hard enough to later leave bruises across my palms.

            Jackson’s Boot camp down in a final crunch against the Lynch’s hard body leaving a yellow smear across the floor.

            “Talk about a pest problem.” He laughed as he turned back towards the oncoming torrent. I was glad he could find the time to joke around right now.

            Past him was Addison who was charging into the mass of creatures like bull charging the red flag. The sword sweeping in side arcs on each side of his easily cut through the small beasts like butter. The blade was painted yellow all the way to the hilt and he had splatters across his chest and arms.

            The floor was beginning to get very wet from the battle. Yellow puddles were beginning to form and run together to create a giant wet arena. I was getting increasingly more thankful that I had chosen to wear the boots out of the Guild.

            I heard a human shriek to my right and turned to see one of the men with Rosamond with a lynch strongly attached to his upper thigh and another on his right shoulder. In moments more of them began to converge on him. As they covered his body in a swirling mass, the screams grew louder and more intense.

            Rosamond tried to get to him but he was cut off by another group of lynches and was forced to back away while fighting his own battle. I heard a shuffling behind me and turned in time to Jackson crushing one of them under his boot. I became aware that the screaming had stopped and when I looked over all I was able to see was the lynches scattering from where they had covered his body. Nothing was there anymore. My stomach did a flip as I realized that they had consumed the man in just a few short moments.

            The men were ahead of me now making a quick cut through the mass.  I looked to the left to see Addison and Jackson quickly making headway as well. As I watched the on going around the room, I felt very vulnerable. I had only a four inch knife to protect myself with. In the distance behind Addison I saw something glimmering on the ground. Nearly covered in the yellow smile was Mordant’s curved blade that he had attacked Jackson with. I ran towards it slowly trying to keep my balance on the slick ground. The grip on the bottom of my boots gave me just enough traction to not fall completely.

            “Watch out!” I heard someone shouting behind me as I reached down to retrieve the weapon. Still crouched down I turned my head around to see one of the remaining Guild member fighting his way towards me and at the same time I saw a lynch inches away from my face. From the close up I could see that the hairs running up and down its back indeed looked very much like needles. Its green insect eyes reflected my face in them.

            With a very animal like scream, I saw the creature lunge towards me. Before I had time to react, I felt its weight thud against my chest. In shock, I fell backwards and landed on the seat of my pants. I felt the hot yellow juices begin to soak through the material. Normally I would be revolted but I barely noticed this observation as I frantically tried to wrestle the thing off of my chest. I felt sharp stings in my sides as the sharp talons on the bottom of it’s legs hooked into my shirt  and pinched into my skin as well in order to hold on to me.

            With a gasp of pain I grabbed onto the sides of the lynch and tugged outwards trying to dislodge it from my body. Black misting liquid shot out of the lynch and began to choke me. It smelled like burned sulfur. As it spread in the air, I began to be unable to breath. I coughed trying to clear my lungs in order to get some kind of oxygen. The man who had tried to warn me came to a splashing stop on the now covered floor. Without saying a word to me, he lodged his sword in between the monster and me and yanked toward himself. He managed to successfully cut the creature in half. I immediately yanked on the spikes that were still connected to me and both halves of the lynch splashed to the ground at my feet. My shirt front stuck to my body and had been painted with a thick serving of the bug guts that had now began to cover everyone of us.

            I coughed a few more times before sitting up and looking around. The mass of lynches had began to thin out noticeably. They had stopped moving for a short second and everything was quiet.

            “Careful now, lassie.” The man warned as his thick accent cut through the silence. “You seem to have been marked as tonight’s dessert.” He warned as he put an arm out towards me to help me off of the ground. I gratefully accepted his hand and grabbed the crescent blade as I was hefted upwards and onto my feet.

            The few remaining lynches all turned to face me in unison. With a few hisses and bug like growls, they set out to find me. The sight of seeing them crawling through their own blood and guts while crawling over the remains of their dead in order to get to me was incredible and nauseating at the same time. I probably would have stood there in shock if Addison, Jackson, Rosamond and the rest of the group hadn’t have swarmed me then with their feet braced for the last remaining charge. I gripped my weapon tightly and awaited the impact.

            It didn’t take long for the first few to reach us. With quick calculated flicks of his wrist, Rosamond was able to slice through most of them while Addison and Jackson fought over the others.

            “Is that all you have?” Rosamond shouted as he crushed a stray lynch that skittered across the floor in front of him.

            “Surely,” He drawled boastfully, “Zavion would have armed his servants better then this?” He yelled across the now ruined room. Chunks of lynches lay strewn in puddles of yellow body matter. The stuff was everywhere, splattered across walls and across a few of our faces. We looked like we had had quiet a battle and here Rosamond was, calling them out for a second round?

            “And where is he anyway?” He barked at them with his chest out. He was a man on a rush that you can only get after surviving being rushed by thousand of giant demonistic beetles that can eat you in less then sixty seconds.

            “Zavion has been hiding for centuries behind his stone and even still today he quivers at the sight of the Guild.” He crowed.

            My father’s face turned dark and he stepped forward with clenched fist. His sharp razorblade teeth were clenched in a gruesome displayed. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could a booming voice reverberated throughout the room.

            “Forza!” The voice barked. My father silenced immediately and with his head tucked into his chest he backed back up to stand beside our mother who had now began to wring her hands nervously in front of herself. Both of their eyes were wide and round making them both look like young children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

            “Please,” It said.” Settle down. This is no way to treat our guests.” The voice spoke softly now.

            A brilliant flash lit up the room and I felt the air heat up and surge around us, blowing my hair back. I had to squint and shield my eyes for a moment before the light disappeared just as quickly as it had come. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and as I blinked into the darkness I noticed a new figure standing in front of the group.

             A thin tall man with graying hair stood calmly in front of us. It was Zavion that much I knew. Something was different about him this time. He looked healthier and more powerful. The torn and tattered clothes that had draped his body the first time I had seen him had been replaced with a nice suit and tie making him look like a seasoned but successful business man. The knot that had been in my stomach all night grew even bigger then as I stared up at him. He was looking down on us with a smile playing across his lips.