"Well, yeah... but," Bimblesnaff attempted to rationalize, "just because it is the land of the dead doesn't mean that it has to be the land of dead bodies, does it?"
".... Yes," furiously stated Gwyn, "yes it does."
"Well, we should be fine," hoped 'Ticu, now huddling behind her brother. "I mean, they will pass right through us -- most of us, anyway -- right?"
"You from the other side, aye," confirmed the hunter, "so long as they do not acquire the magick I had cast." Of course, no sooner than he had finished these words did one of the reanimated grasp ahold of his spear's tip, filling its eyes with the same mysterious glow. Soon, all of the corpses shone the same.
"Meh, all the same to me," Rook said nonchalantly. "No matter, for you see...
"You zombie-folk are really keen
"With your smell that's rank and flesh that's green
"And you only speak with one syllable."
"Grar!"
"But my friends and me gotta flee
"So adieu as we don Kunee
"And we are now quite invisible."
But of course, they were not. In the slightest.
"Congratulations," ap Knudd flatly spoke. "Now, no one from that real world can see you."
"Oh, right," mumbled Rook. "Well, at least I should be able to grab one of these useful artifacts to aid us in this battle." The boy lunged at a nearby heap and phased straight through it. "C'mon!"
Sufficiently frustrated, he then spun up to his feet and drew his trusty blade Balmung. Rook pushed his sister back from the danger. "Don't worry, 'Ticu. We'll keep ya safe." He rushed forward with Koumori, each cleaving several zombies to shreds in a single swipe.
The goblin joined the fray quickly, angered at how bad the zombies were making him look, which was ironically as bad as he actually was. After ripping through one of the fiends, he pivoted enough to see something behind him.
"And where do you think you are going?" toyed the Ghobling.
"Aw, please not again!" whined Flop-Hop.
"Hmm... I'll take that into consideration," lied Bogg as he lifted up the small, yellow rabbit and hurled it, spiraling through a row of zombies.
Balmung sped up from the ground and up through the torso and neck of another corpse, clearing the skull right from the body. He brandished the legendary blade proudly in the air.
"Ha-ha! No one can stop the great sword Balmung!" he bragged. Just then, a certain cycloptic zombie rose up and struck the weapon, shattering the tip off of the blade. Rook stood, maintaining the same stance but nervously shifting his gaze from side to side. "Um, no one can stop the short sword Balmung?"
"Hey, where did the tip of it go?" asked his familiar between crushing the chests of a few living dead. They did not have to search long to find the fragment. And George.
"Ow! The irony!"
"Wait, I kinda like this," informed the log. It spun itself into a frenzy, damaging many zombie shins with the metal bit that now protruded from its bark.
With her brother preoccupied, no attention was paid to the girl or her young familiar. She had been slinking about the hoard, well beneath its height to remain from view. Although she had Gungnir at her side, she was far too small to wield it properly. Diamond was not too much more useful in a fight compared to Koumori and the others. So 'Ticu sat and waited for the clash to end.
While waiting, something from the king's treasure caught the girl's attention. It was a beautifully woven, gilded robe draped over some sort of furniture piece. She became transfixed by the garment, and the more she stared, the more it seemed to change. Slowly, a black, swirling pattern rose from the bottom and glided up the smooth surface. It twirled about, leaving small, golden points shining in the dark.
As the undead war raged on, something rose above the mounds of treasure. Garbed in a billowing robe as starry as the night sky, Articuno levitated, the mighty spear swinging in her grasp at her side. She hastened over to her brother, piercing a poised zombie and flinging it around into another group. Before they fell to the ground, her spear struck again, impaling and crumbling each of their ribs in a single thrust. She landed softly and approached the old chest, never bothering to answer the many questioning gazes.
"We are leaving now," the girl told Gwyn ap Knudd as she retrieved her crystal which still hovered over the open chest.
"Leaving? But what of the zombies?"
"I'm sure you have a can of Zombie Spray lying someplace in this mess."
"Oh, is that what that yummy stuff was?" remembered the goblin, luckily too quietly for the hunter to overhear.
"And the robe? You are simply going to take it from my hoard?" posed Knudd. "The challenge was for the crystal -- nothing else."
"You ripped my old one. I am entitled to it," she responded, uncharacteristically assertive. The king acquiesced. She turned and began to leave with her allies, who were now mostly finished with the zombies in their way.
"Wow, the first crystal," praised Rook. "Do you wanna give that crystal Koumori for safe keeping?"
"I've got it handled," 'Ticu informed. She lifted up her Dew Drop and set the crystal in its head... er, body. The gem slowly sunk down and was soon visible enough from within her pet to give homage to the pet's name.
"So... where to now?" asked Rook, but 'Ticu already had Gungnir divining the direction. It simply pointed to the door. So 'Ticu walked. "Where are we going, sis?"
"Wherever the spear tells us," she simply answered.
|