Bladeshire 5

By David C. Daoust

Khadory had overestimated his ability to catch up with Chantilles. The russet haired girl had vanished into the forest before he even managed to make it out of the fields. He summoned a bit more energy than he cared to and, with a bit of a grimace that he had to, ran all the way up to the very path the girl had taken into the Darwood.

Of it all, these kids were wearing him down today. He moved quick and surefooted, though slowed back to a walk once among the trees. There was no way to be sure which direction she had taken.

Khadory considered that maybe he should have disturbed Abe from his latest conquest before chasing after the girl, especially once he heard rustling in the brush. A deer jetted out and dashed away. It moved so quickly he did not really get a look at it until it was clear of him, even then just a fluffy white tail bouncing off.

It flushed out Chantilles however. He spotted her in the distance peering around a tree to witness the animal leaping over foliage. Unfortunately, she did not see his wave, which meant he had to continue forward. He considered just yelling her name. Seemed like it could be the smart thing, yet he could not say what else may be lurking nearby. The surrounding lands could be dangerous, not as dangerous as the Creep maybe, but many a threat lurked throughout Llewelynn. The Darwood did a pretty good job of insulating the village from neighbors, and the highwaymen tended to stick closer to the road, which was on the opposite side of the settlement. And, really, such bandits never operated so near to the Abbey anyway. Boars were a problem in the area, but not the only. There were said to be magical creatures in the Darwood.

His musings were interrupted as he trudged around the tree, found Chantilles just standing there.

“Oh no!” Chantilles said startled by his appearance. “What are you doing here?”

He was startled in turn when he realized she was standing over a giant snail. A meter high shell, with a squirmy slug below… Such creatures were extremely rare, he honestly never thought he would see one.

Khadory immediately tried to find a hefty stick that might act as a club. If you were quick enough, you could stun the creature before it managed to cast… he glanced back at Chantilles, just about to explain– too late.

A flash of yellow created a wide dome that enveloped them all.

The snail’s magic locked around him, and Khadory felt as though his limbs were trapped in molasses. His whole body slowed to the point that he could not react.

The two children were trapped in a temporal bubble.

Giant snails were terrible. Not the worst, but they could really eat up your day.

The snails only defense was their ability to slow down time. It only effected a small perimeter and only lasted long enough for the snail, who was immune to its effect, to escape. But well, snails moved really slow. You pretty much got stuck standing in some weird position for most the day as it squirmed off. Many a knight, throughout history, wound up in unusual positions seeming to fight snails.

Khadory was currently in kind of a slight hunch, hands down, knees slightly bent, body turned towards where he thought he might’ve found that club. His head, however, was turned, eyes cast to a frozen Chantilles who looked a bit miffed that he had interrupted her.

The time bubble could be deadly, but only if you stumble upon a group of snails. If enough snails cast at the same time, the field could last for days, weeks— long enough for you starve to death. Which always seemed odd to Khadory. Because look, if time is slowed down, it should take longer to digest the food as well. Thus, a full belly for longer. Unfortunately, there was no one to direct such arguments to.

Trapped, staring at Chantilles, it occurred to Khadory that at least she was a pleasant sight– right before Chantilles suddenly rolled her eyes, flopped her hands to her thighs, and said, “I really do not have time for this. I am sorry. I was going to play along… but it is way easier just to finish up.”

Clearly free of the spell that currently held Khadory snugly in time, he was forced to watch as the girl moved about freely.

“It took me a really long time to find this guy,” Chantilles explained as she reached down and grabbed the escaping snail by the throat. She chanted a bit under her breath and as her other hand wrapped around the creature, it began to stiffen— harden. She pulled the long slug free of its shell completely, long shaft gripped tightly. She chanted more as the creature was rendered completely defenseless.

Upon completion, it shriveled. The whole thing looked more like a twisted twirling cane. It still had the weird snail head with the twin eyestalks, but otherwise it looked like an old stick.

Chantilles kicked the shell off to the side and turned to him. Snail staff in hand she seemed to be considering what she should do with him.

“I mean, I guess I could just mess with your memory a bit,” she discussed her next action with him. “No point in flat out murdering you. Might bring trouble our girl’s way– I’m not quite done with ‘er yet.”

Khadory was shocked with her attitude, her whole mannerism was different than anything he had ever witnessed from the girl. Surely this was not Chantilles.

“Maybe change it just enough that it was your snail you witnessed being pulled,” she said this with a wicked smile. “Might leave you two with a bit better of a memory than you deserve. It’d surely keep you both silent about it.”

As the unrecognizable girl approached, she reached out with her hand.

A hand that began to glow faintly as it reached for Khadory’s head.