Liquid Diamond (28 page)

Smiling with a grimy grin and a mouthful of rotting teeth, the Elf could only hope he was moving in the right direction because the oil from Natalia’s perfumed collar had simply dissipated in the wake of the waggart’s wheels. With the evening now setting in and the glare of the sun fading, the Elf’s eyesight improved ten times making it easy to follow the scattered tracks left from the waggart’s wheels.

Eventually, having gone as far as he could in the evening light, the Elf found dry ground, sat down and drained his boots. By mere chance he stopped grinding what few teeth he had just long enough to hear the crackling of a fire in the distance.

Going back into the water and moving as fast as he could, the Elf slowed his running hobble to a sneaking shuffle as he poked his head through the bushes that hid the hermit’s shack. He could smell Natalia’s perfume again and he moved towards his prey, smelling sweet success.

Catalyst had behaved himself all day since his talk with Natalia and he was now as calm as could be. The old man saw this and walked over to him.

“
You know I think you've acted like an ass all day just to get out of helping to put this shack up,” said the old man as kindly as anyone could, trying to build a bridge while he unlocked the chain that bound Catalyst’s shackles to the waggart.

“
Come on, we may as well get you something to eat,” said the old man, taking Catalyst by the arm and making sure he continued to behave himself.

After dinner, as Natalia helped Petal with the dishes and the old man’s son was off doing something or other, the old man called out to Catalyst.

“
Here you go, boy. You can start chipping in around here. This is a lickspittle. Take it over to the Horrabbull and shove it in the ground in front of him,” said the old man, handing him a spear with what looked like a misdrilled flute on the end of it.

“
What is the thing your father's giving to Catalyst, Petal?” asked Natalia.

“
That's the Horrabbull’s lickspittle. It cleans its tongue as it licks the salted vitamins and minerals off it, replied Petal. She smiled casually and looked away, knowing exactly what was going to happen, leaving Natalia to watch uninterrupted.

Catalyst shoved the lickspittle into the ground and as they watched the Horrabbull licking away at it, Catalyst could see that having him bring it over was more a punishment than a help, for every lick that the Horrabbull took, its thick, sticky, gross slobber slid through the downward drilled holes and oozed out the other side like sap being funnelled from a tree and it hit the ground in one growing mess.

Turning away so she wouldn't puke, Natalia watched the old man laugh at Catalyst. He walked into his shack and opened up his chest to get his pipe. There, sitting on top, was their rope dart and Atropos Styx.

When she brought Catalyst a cup of water, Natalia whispered she had found their stuff.

#

Making his way closer to his prey, peeking out from behind the bushes and trees, slipping from one boulder to the next that helped to hide the hermits as well as him, the Elf’s desire for his prey to suffer his vengeance grew as he waited for the right moment to strike.

The night had set in and the old man and his family were fast asleep. Natalia and Catalyst were chained to separate sides of the waggart and, seeing this, the Elf found it easy to sneak up on them. He headed for Natalia first and in spite of losing yet another nail, the only sound the Elf made was the simple click of opening the lock that kept Natalia bound.

He carried Natalia back the way he had come but stepped too hard. A single drop of the swamp water splashed into Natalia’s eye, waking her. The foulness of his breath so close to her face that she could taste it in the air meant Natalia knew she was in the arms of the Elf.

Full of fear, Natalia decided it was best not to move. After a few minutes of pretending to be asleep the Elf gently set her down, leaving her there as he returned for his main course – Catalyst.

She waited for an extra minute after the footsteps of the Elf had faded and then popped open one eye. She took a quick look around and quietly crept along behind the Elf until she was back near the shack.

Slipping to one side of the path to avoid being seen by the Elf, Natalia made her way into the shack without making a sound and gently opened the old man’s chest. She took back their property and slipped back outside without waking the old man or Petal.

The Elf removed the shackles that kept Catalyst chained to the waggart. He made no more noise than he did when he freed Natalia even though it was the second fingernail he lost that night.

Picking up Catalyst and watching the shack as he backed away, the Elf felt the cold round barrel of a musket being pressed against the back of his head as he heard the hammer being cocked.

“
That'll be far enough,” came a voice from behind the Elf. With a shove of the musket to the back of his head, the Elf dropped Catalyst, who was now wide-awake.

“
Father, Father!” called out the boy.

Hearing a whispered, “Over here” from Natalia, Catalyst moved away from the Elf and the old man’s son, and slipped into the bushes where Natalia was hiding. Slowly and quietly they backed further and further away.

The old man came charging out of the shack, not noticing that Natalia and Catalyst were no longer chained to the waggart. Squinting and rubbing his eyes, the old man took the musket from his son.

“
Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like we got us some slave labour now, son,” said the old man in a sarcastic tone of voice as he shoved the musket into the Elf’s chest.

Without anyone noticing, Natalia and Catalyst were well on their way as they moved as fast as they could through the swamp, leaving the Elf behind with his new family.

“
Which way, Catalyst?” asked Natalia as they ran.

“
I don't know, just keep moving, I don't want that crazy Petal catching up to us, so no stopping,” replied Catalyst now dragging Natalia behind him.

“
Catalyst, I...need...to...stop. I can't...run...any...any more,” gasped Natalia as she fell to her knees, exhausted from running for over an hour.

“
Oh no you don’t! You keep running!” said Catalyst as he took Natalia by the arm, threw her up onto his back and continued trudging through the swamp. The sun was rising. They now had hours between them and their would-be capturers. Natalia kept watch for crazy Petal or the Elf when Catalyst had a rest.

Bound and shackled to Catalyst’s spot on the waggart, the Elf sat muttering to himself.

“
Dirty rotten little prey. I help them escape and they leave me here alone and chained,” laughed the Elf out loud with tears of anger, hatred and humiliation running down his withered face.

Biting and tearing the flesh around his shackles, the Elf soaked the metal with his blood and pulled, turned and twisted his wrists and hands until he slipped free. He waited for one of his capturers to approach and as curious as she was friendless, Petal couldn't help herself any longer and moved in for a closer look at the Elf.

“
Why are you so awful?” asked Petal as she looked into the eye of the Elf.

With a forced tear streaming down his face, the Elf tried to wipe it with his shoulder as he looked at Petal. Seeing the Elf couldn't get the tear himself and feeling sorry for him, Petal reached for his cheek to wipe away the tear. With one swipe of his hand the Elf was now holding Petal in his arms.

“
Help!” screamed Petal as she struggled to free herself.

Hearing her muffled scream, the old man grabbed his musket and ran toward his daughter. His son ran around the corner of their shack.

“
Put her down now!” demanded the old man as he stood pointing his musket right at the Elf’s face.

“
Why should I? Do you know how long it's been since I had a fresh kill?” replied the Elf, hissing and grinning.

“
Put her down now!” demanded the old man.

“
What's in it for me if I do?” laughed the Elf, still holding Petal tightly.

“
A ten-second headstart,” said Petal’s brother as he shoved his musket into the back of the Elf’s head.

Biting his checks in
humiliation and forcing the blood down his chin, the Elf lowered Petal to the ground and reluctantly let go. He immediately hobbled off as fast as he could.

“
You said ten seconds,” yelled the Elf as he headed for the cover of the bushes.

“
I lied!” shouted the boy as he fired straight into the Elf’s back, hitting his legs, butt and back. “See, Father, I told you I needed more than pebbles and rock salt for this thing. Now he's getting away,” laughed the boy as Petal ran and jumped into his arms.

As the Elf hobbled through the swamp away from the old man and his son, following the trail left by Natalia and Catalyst, he could feel the sting of the salt as it was moistened and remoistened by the dirty swamp water and the burning from the salt as it trickled into the wounds made by the pebbles.

“
Where are you, you vile little brats?” screamed the Elf.

The echo of the Elf’s cry faded as it crossed the swamp so that it was barely noticeable when the hermits heard it.

“
We'll never catch him
now. Let's just get this shack packed and be on our way,” said the old man with a glance and shrug at Petal hoping she would now understand the danger.

Still following Natalia and Catalyst, the Elf didn’t realize what he was doing and pulled and ripped the rock salt and pebbles from his body, leaving his wounds open to infection from the gross swamp water.

Having rested long enough and not knowing who would be coming after them – the Elf or the hermits or both – Catalyst felt an overwhelming urge to keep moving even if that meant carrying Natalia. But having rested enough herself, Natalia found it easy to keep up to Catalyst as they hurried further and further away from their would-be capturers.

#

Eventually finding that woods had started to overtake the swamp, Natalia and Catalyst found it hard to move through the massive roots growing out of the ground from trees that grew so huge. They hopped and jumped from one root to the next. Walking when they could, crawling when they had to, their run was slowed to no more than a crawl.

The Elf was catching up to them fast, even with his salt and pebble musket shot wounds now clearly infected and the infection having spread to his empty eye socket, nail-less fingers, punctured palm, the Blemmye bite on his arm and his axe-smacked butt. The Elf could still move through the swamp faster than Catalyst could while travelling with Natalia.

As the day wore on, Catalyst could feel they weren't going to be alone much longer. He was worried and looked around for what to do next. He could see they had few options – they could try and hide but he felt sure they would be found out with the scent of Natalia’s perfume. They could throw away Natalia’s coat but what to do with
her
– after all she was covered in it. They could stand and fight, but exhausted from running most of the night and fighting their way through the dense roots all day, it just wasn't an option.

Then Catalyst heard the patter of little feet and a soft gentle call and there in front of Natalia’s face stood the answer Catalyst had been looking for – a Tree Marm. The Marm crawled into Catalyst’s hand without hesitation, and taking the collar tucked inside his shoe and a lace from Natalia’s, Catalyst tied the collar to the Marm and gently placed it at their feet.

“
I really hate to do this Natalia; these things are so gentle.” Then Catalyst screamed at the Marm, making it run through the roots for its life as Natalia’s collar scraped everything the Tree Marm ran across.

Catalyst looked at Natalia and, holding his finger up to his lips, he moved a little deeper into the roots. Natalia followed as quietly as she could until Catalyst found a hollow to hide in.

“
Sh, I can feel that Elf. I know he's near,” said Catalyst, paying attention to his gut as he pulled Natalia into the shadow.

Standing there in silence it wasn't long before they could hear the Elf as he recklessly approached the spot where they had set loose the Marm. The stench of the swamp water and Catalyst’s foot mixed with Natalia’s perfume wafted into the air. The Elf sniffed and sniffed until he was satisfied which way Natalia and Catalyst had fled and set off after the Marm.

“
That was perfect, Catalyst,” sighed Natalia looking at him in amazement.

“
The best part is, we're behind him now so we don't have to move so fast. We're not even going in the direction I sent the Marm in,” replied Catalyst with a smile as he took Natalia by the hand.

“
Okay, so we're just going to keep walking until we get out of this root forest?” asked Natalia. She waited for Catalyst to agree.

“
Well?” demanded Natalia, playfully hitting Catalyst in the arm.

“
I agree, I agree,” replied Catalyst as they were already walking towards the outer edge of the forest, their exit, anyway.

Time passed as Natalia and Catalyst continued to hop, jump, walk and crawl their way over, through, under and around the roots that surrounded them.

“
I need to eat,” said Catalyst.

“
I want something hot,” insisted Natalia as she reached for firewood that lay all around them.