Bart

  Keith was dead. There was nothing I could do about it now. The only thing of value he really had on him was the Heartwood Amulet from Dorien's tree corpse. I handed it over to Steve trying to be fair with the spoils of war.

  My dad was unconscious so it was time to loot the body of the dead deerbear. I pulled the antler crest free from the skull of the deerbear with my bare hands. I could easily recover the deer skin and the bear pelt by skinning. In the process, I also recovered the FireHeart necklace and Fire Core.

  Holding the crest, I examined it first.

  I felt strange putting something like this on my head, but gains are gains, and once the ‘crown’ was on, I immediately felt stronger and healthier.

  I wanted the resistance bonus, but I also knew the spoils of war should be evenly distributed.

  “Pow, come get this necklace. I think it will help you the most since you are at a lower level. You two can fight over it later after you’ve caught up with us.”

  “Thanks, Bart,” Pow said. “I owe you one.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, bud. Just use your powers for good and help us control this magic.”

  “I’ll do what I can!”

  “Steve, see if you can use these pelts.”

  Before handing them over, I examined their properties.

  I looked at the deer skin next. Apparently it was also some type of armor.

  “I tink I can find a good use for ‘em, boss,” Steve said. “You go ‘head and keep da core dough. You’ve earned it.”

  “You good with that, Pow?”

  “Yeah, man,” he responded. “You gotta stay out here while we head back. I think you will need it more than us.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’m gonna take it, but I swear one of y’all gets the next core.”

  “Yes,” I acknowledged. Just like the whisper core had done, this one floated and then penetrated my chest. Energy flowed through me as I got that heartburn feeling again, but this time it burned a bit more.

  Just like that, I knew how to project fire from my hands. I would definitely use this power a lot.

  I didn’t want to just sit around while the rest of the men were working, so I got up and lent a hand. We fabricated a gurney to carry Dusty using the deerskin, some vines and a couple of sturdy sticks. It wasn’t the best support for him, but hopefully it would be adequate to get him to the boat.

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  We packed everything up, leaving only a couple of bottles of water for me. They took Keith’s body and said they would pick up Shaun and Joe Fontenot’s bodies on the way out.

  They took all the food. I figured if I wanted something to eat, I would just kill it. Since we had no ammo remaining, they took all the guns except the Glock. I guess I could use it as a hammer if I had to.

  Steve led the way using his bearing indicator. I hoped they could make it back even in the dark thanks to that ability, plus most of the boats had L.E.D. light bars that could rival the brightness of the sun.

  My unconscious dad and I would have to face the next trials alone. He snored softly, and I didn’t want to wake him. I hoped I could get through to him while everyone else was gone. If that didn’t work, I would hold him here, casting confusion on him over and over until I got the notification Steve and Pow had finished the quest.

  As I sat there alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t help but simmer on some of the recent events. Those guys attacked the bear without trying to figure out if it was sentient or not. I realized almost everything out here wanted to kill us, but I didn’t want to just go around killing everything without cause or reason.

  We also could have handled the situation with Dorien differently, and I firmly believe we might have made the deerbear go away if we had tried to shoo it or scare it. I don’t know why, but it didn’t sit right with me. The more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off. We had to do better. From now on, I would ensure a creature was indeed hostile before taking it out.

  I felt my muscles relax and my eyes closed. I shook myself awake and figured I had to secure my father before he woke up. There was no way I could stay awake indefinitely.

  I couldn’t tie him up, because when he turned into the rougaroux, he would just break his binds. Chains would be optimal, but of course, I didn’t have any. Spider-butt twine might’ve actually worked too, but there were no spiders around tonight.

  I lay down beside my dad and wrapped him in an embrace; basically I spooned him. He still stank as if he had rolled in a sewer, but my eyes were growing heavy, and I couldn’t stay awake much longer.

  As far back as I can remember, I slept lightly, waking at the smallest sounds. I had to trust I could wake if he woke up.

  “Get the hell off of me!” Dad said as he struggled to free himself from my massive arms. Thank God he woke me up. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and the moon sat high in the sky.

  “Sorry, Dad.”

  “What’s wrong wit you? You miss your mommy?”

  “I just miss you,” I said. “Have you always been this angry?”

  “What’re you talkin’ about? I’m not angry. Just don’t like snugglin’ that’s all. Gechya a damn teddy bear, you big baby. Shoo.”

  “Alright, tough guy. I’m done with the sappy stuff. You thirsty?”

  “I could use a drink. Where everybody else go off to?”

  I handed him a bottle of water. “They took the injured to a hospital, and then Steve and Pow are going to come back and help us clean this mess up.”

  While I talked to him, I couldn’t help but check my surroundings. I had an eerie feeling that someone or something watched us. Beside the normal rustling of grass, the sound of crickets and toads in the distance, and buzzing mosquitoes. I heard nothing.

  A banner popped into view, followed by another, and another.

  I examined the closest one.

  “Uh, dad? We got company!” I sang.

  I didn’t know how I would fight these creatures without Dad’s help.

  “What in tarnation? Craw-ants? What’ll day tink of next?” Dad just shook his head in disappointment.

  Without a plan, he transformed and leapt into action.

  “Dad! Wait! We don’t know if they’re enemies!” I shouted, but when in rougaroux form, he didn’t listen to anyone. I quickly debated in my head with myself whether to cast my confusion spell on him or follow him into battle.

  As soon as he landed, he roared like the T-rex on Jurassic Park. The fear ability seemed to fail and actually have the opposite effect as all six craw-ants I could see converged on him enraged.

  “Dangit, Dad!” I sighed and searched around for my machete and hatchet. After locating them, I hopped over the tree and headed to battle. I had to be very careful, due to my vulnerability to venom.

  A normal crawfish could fit in the palm of your hand, walk slowly forward, would only pinch you if threatened, and could move very fast backwards in water using their tails to propel them. Fire ants move very quickly, struggle to swim, and bite using strong mandibles while injecting venom with their abdomen stinger.

  This combo creature, roughly the size of a kitchen trash can, skittered swiftly across the muddy terrain. The first one attacked dad with its crawfish claw in a sloppy mis-timed swipe. Dad easily dodged, and kicked the creature in the head sending it flying. Two craw-ants simultaneously attacked him from the left. One managed to get a vice-like grip on his arm, while the other barely missed.

  I hurried to give dad some help as he attempted to pry the claws open with only one arm. I slid under the claw holding my dad like I headed for second base on a steal, popped up, then drove the hatchet deep between the craw-ants beady black eyes.

  Dad snapped at me like a dog guarding its food.

  “Hey! Bad dog! I’m on your side here!” I shouted.

  The second I said this, a craw-ant claw clamped onto my arm. Instinctively, I chopped at it with the machete, creating sparks and a loud clang. The reverb vibration almost caused me to lose my grip, but I maintained, aimed, and brought the machete down hard at the joint of the arm and the claw. The machete went through cleanly, but the claw remained attached to my arm.

  Dad jumped on my attacker thrashing wildly as it curled into a tight ball trying to pinch, bite, and sting him.

  I didn’t have time to get the claw off my right arm, so I just kept fighting with a six inch red claw jutting awkwardly from my bicep. Ignoring the pain, I lunged for craw-ant #3, dodging and parrying the claws, its mandibles clicking in a creepy rhythm.

  Thankfully, these things weren’t clever or instinctive fighters, and they attacked with a clumsy recklessness.

  While I fought one, Dad apparently killed the one he jumped on. He had also recently turned back into human form. I quickly calculated his transition lasted about five minutes.

  “Dad! Take this!” I threw him the hatchet as craw-ant #3 clamped onto my leg and pulled me toward its mouth. The tail end snapped in at lightning speed, and the stinger punched into my right calf.

  I cried out in pain.

  Dad transformed back into the rougaroux and lept in my direction pouncing on craw-ant #3.

  He came to save me! I thought, amazed at the turn of events.

  I forced mana into my hands and thought about flames. Like a propane torch, blue flame erupted from my palms. I aimed straight at the bastard’s face, yelling and screaming bloody murder. My anger channeled through my hands into an intense inferno.

  The other three retreated.

  My health bar ticked slowly toward zero as the poison coursed through my veins. I didn’t have enough magic to heal myself and my stamina was low.

  Dad loomed over me in rougaroux form, bloody viscera dripping from his maw.