Paraworld Zero (36 page)

    Suddenly, the wall burst open and knocked Simon to the ground. Surprised, he
looked up to see a giant lizard scurrying towards him.

    
CRACK!
Harr smacked the creature so hard with his club that he knocked it into the roaring
fireplace. The flame-covered draguno set fire to the grass hut as it writhed on the ground.

    “Come,” Harr growled, pushing Simon towards the door.

    “Wait! I need my book.”

    “No time!”

    “If I don’t get that book, we’re all dead.”

    Simon ran for the table and dodged the hot embers that fell from the roof.
Right there on the table lay his possessions. He grabbed the little red book and the shard of
metal and stuffed them in his pocket. But as he reached for his glasses, the dying draguno swiped
his legs from underneath him with its strong tail.

    Flat on his back, Simon watched the lizard spring into the air. Jaws open and
clawed fingers extended, the reptile descended upon the boy. Simon raised his hands and yelled, “
FLY!
”

    The draguno glided right over his body and smashed against the wall. Like a
rubber ball, the lizard ricocheted around the room until, finally, it launched itself through the
window. Outside, the flaming draguno left a trail of fire as it bounced off trees and huts.

    Simon snatched his glasses and ran out of the crumbling building. He soon
found, to his horror, that the whole village was on fire. Several big Puds were fighting a
draguno as it rampaged through a flock of woolly animals. Terrifying shrieks could be heard from
somewhere in the distance.

    “Come,” Harr shouted. “We ride!”

    Har and his father climbed onto some hairy beasts that stood lazily nearby.
Simon recognized the stubborn creatures immediately: farbearuses. Reluctantly, he climbed onto
one of the muscular animals.

    “Don’t you have anything faster?” he complained.

    Harr whistled loudly, and the docile creatures sprang into flight. Little Har
inserted his hands into a pair of gauntlets attached to the sides of the hairy beast he rode.
Wondering what the strange gloves were for, Simon followed suit and discovered that inside each
glove was a bar of metal for him to hold. Just then, the farbearuses stood up on their massive
hind legs.

    Simon struggled to keep his feet in the stirrups and his hands in the
gauntlets at the same time, but he was too short, despite his animal being smaller than the
others.

    The group sped on a little ways when, suddenly, an enormous draguno leaped
out of a thicket and rammed into Harr’s farbearus. The hairy mammal tumbled to the ground, taking
its rider with it.

    Harr staggered to his feet just as the lizard pounced on him. The two giants
rolled on the forest floor until Harr finally threw the reptile off. Frantically, he scrambled
for his club, but it was nowhere to be found.

    The reptile lunged for him once more, but Harr quickly picked up a rock and
shattered it against the draguno’s skull. The giant lizard shook its head angrily and reared back
in preparation to jump. Just then, Simon noticed the strange tree right behind Little Har’s
father.

    “Harr,” Simon yelled. “Throw it into those green branches!”

    As the lizard jumped, Harr fell on his back and used his legs to catapult the
reptile into the branches behind him. Like a Venus flytrap, the malevolent tree closed its
fingers around the lizard and pulled it inward. Loud crunching sounds echoed from within the tree
trunk. The lizard’s tail flailed about wildly, until, finally, it dropped to the ground. Simon
recalled the death of the tree sloth a few days earlier; it too had come to a grisly end. He
watched in disgust as the severed tail continued to thrash about. When the crunching sounds
ceased, the five bloodstained fingers slowly emerged from the tree to await its next meal.

    Harr limped over to his ride and clambered onto its back. He pointed away
from the mountain and yelled, “This way.”

    “Wait a second,” Simon said. “I need to get to Highland City.”

    “No,” Harr countered. “Morbras stay… Fight dragunos… Morbras will save
us.”

    “I don’t think so!” Simon shouted. “Listen to me, Harr. Pretty soon now
there’s going to be thousands of dragunos flooding the land, and the only way your people will
have a chance is if you take me to Highland City. You see, there’s a machine—”

    At that moment, a herd of big Puds—each riding upon a hairy farbearus—rushed
past them and quickly disappeared from sight. The forest remained silent for a few seconds, but
then an awful hissing sound found its way to their ears. Simon’s skin began to crawl with
uneasiness. The thick foliage started to rustle, and soon they witnessed the shocking danger that
was upon them. Row after row of hungry dragunos came into view, causing the anxiety level in
Simon to grow exponentially.

    “Trust me, Harr,” Simon yelled. “You
don’t
want to go that way!”

    Without arguing, the giant turned his farbearus around and whistled loudly.
Simon didn’t have to do anything at all; his ride turned automatically and sprinted towards the
mountain at full speed. The dragunos pursued them, but after a while, the cold-blooded reptiles
could no longer keep up with the fast pace. It wasn’t long before Simon and his companions left
the forest and entered a large clearing where the rest of the tribe had gathered. Their steeds
went down on all fours again and munched heartily on the green grass.

    “Harr!” a large man who appeared to be the tribal leader called out. “Will
Morbras save us?”

    “Yes, Grog… Morbras will save us,” Harr reassured him while holding onto the
man’s shoulder.

    “Then we go… to ocean… Ocean safe.”

    “
NO!
” Simon burst out. “No, no, no! Don’t go to the ocean. Whatever you do, don’t go to the
ocean! That’s where all the dragunos are coming from.”

    “Si-moan say,” Little Har informed Grog, “we go to High-land City.”

    “We no go to city!” the tribal leader said, aghast at the very thought of
disobeying the law. “Not allowed.”

    Simon stood up on his farbearus’s wide back so that everyone could see him
clearly.

    “If you truly believe I’m Morbras,” he said, “then that means I’m your king.
And as your king, I
ask
you to go to Highland City. There’s a huge library at the edge of town. You have to
take me there. That’s the only way we can stop the dragunos.”

    Worried looks spread over the faces of the giants. They stroked their
security collars nervously. Simon was asking them to disobey the laws of the land; big Puds were
not allowed in the city until daytime, under penalty of imprisonment in the mines.

    “Listen to me,” Simon said. “Your lives are more important than an immoral
law. You can’t always follow every rule with blind obedience. Laws are made for people, not the
other way around.”

    The tribal leader raised his hand and yelled ecstatically, “Grog follow
Morbras! Morbras will save us!”

    The rest of the crowd cheered in agreement. “Morbras will save us!” they
exclaimed.

    Simon looked at the giants in amazement as they praised and idolized him. For
the first time in his life, he didn’t feel quite so small anymore. The excitement came to a halt,
however, as a pack of deadly dragunos spewed from the forest. Immediately, Grog led his tribe
towards the mountain.

    The reptiles could run very fast for short distances, but when it came to
long sprints, the hairy mammals were far superior runners. The group arrived at the base of the
tall mountain after a short while. Without even resting, they proceeded to climb the windy
pathway that led to the city. The large muscular legs of the farbearuses gave them a particular
advantage over the short legs of the dragunos.

    About halfway up the mountain, Grog stopped for a moment to scan for any
pursuers. “What is…
that?
” he asked with a horrified expression.

    Far out in the distance, a sea of strange darkness spread across the surface
of the ocean. The morning sun was just beginning to uncover the valley, which in turn revealed a
tremendous horde of dragunos racing towards the mountain.

    “Ocean…” Harr said slowly. “Alive!”

    “Oh my gosh.” Simon gasped, seeing the millions of giant lizards swimming
towards the beach. The dragunos infested the entire ocean.

    Harr whistled loudly, and the hairy creatures bounded up the mountain once
more. At times, the narrow pass became so thin that Simon’s body hung over the steep ledge. He
held on tightly to the gauntlets but continued to struggle with the stirrups.

    A few minutes later, they came to the edge of Highland City. Sirens were
blaring and little Puds were running in every direction.

    “What are you doing here?” barked a tiny police officer. Two other officers
stood beside him. “We don’t have time for this,” he spat.

    The officers pointed their weapons, which looked more like TV remote controls
than guns, at the group of big Puds. Suddenly, the large men and women grasped their throats as
electricity surged through their security collars.

    “Stop that!” Simon shouted, jumping down from his farbearus.

    Everyone in the tribe fell to the ground in agony… That is, everyone but
Little Har. The boy remained unaffected by the remote controls because most of the security
features in his collar had been disabled during Dr. Troodle’s car accident.

    Har leapt from his farbearus and rushed towards the three police officers.
With surprisingly quick reflexes, he disarmed each officer and crushed their weapons with his
bare hands. He snarled at the little Puds—as if taunting them—but instead of fighting back, all
three men screamed and ran away.

    Smiling, Little Har turned around just in time to see the hairy beasts
darting off. He then realized why the officers had been so terrified: The first wave of dragunos
had just reached the top of the mountain.

    “Come on!” Simon yelled, helping Har’s father to his feet.

    Still recovering from the jolt they had just received, the big Puds stood up
and brushed themselves off. The library wasn’t too far away, but neither were the dragunos.
Desperately, Simon and Har pushed the weary group in the right direction.

    They were almost there now… Just a little farther. Then Simon saw something
at the edge of the forest that made his heart sink: a swarm of dragunos shredding the home of Dr.
Troodle.

    Tormenting anguish overwhelmed Simon’s entire frame and dropped him to his
knees. “
No
,” he sobbed. “
I’m too late!
”

    The young man had never felt such strong feelings of both anger and sorrow
before. Tonya! Thornapple! Had they escaped, or were the dragunos tearing them to pieces at this
very moment?

    Then, in answer to his fears, Simon heard someone call his name from a
distance. He turned around to see a young woman with long, green-white hair rushing towards him.
It was Tonya. She was alive, and Thornapple was running alongside her.

    “Tonya!” Simon yelled with profound joy.

    He stood up and was about to run to his friends when Har’s father threw him
back to the ground—just as a draguno sprang at him. The giant lizard collided with Harr and
knocked him down. Before Simon could even register what was happening, the reptile raised its
head high into the air and slammed it right onto Harr’s chest.

    Simon watched helplessly as the draguno clenched its jaws around the body of
the poor man—the man who had saved Simon’s life twice… the man who, in their brief time together,
had shown the young wizard that he had a far greater potential than he had ever realized… the man
who was now dying—in essence, sacrificing himself to save Simon’s life a third time.

    In his weakened condition, Harr looked over at Simon and said something that
broke the young wizard’s heart: “Morbras will save us.”

    The ferocious draguno raised its head one last time and was about to finish
the man off when Simon yelled, “
NOOOOOO!
”

    Surprisingly, the heartless creature hesitated. It looked at Simon and turned
its head to the side, scanning him. Then it released its sharp claws from Harr’s broken body and
slowly crawled towards the young man. Simon tried to scurry to safety, but he saw another lizard
in his pathway. And then another. And then another…

    Soon, at least fifty dragunos surrounded him. For some reason, the lizards
seemed to be drawn to his presence. The devilish creatures inched their way closer and closer,
savoring the moment before they attacked. Simon clutched his medallion and closed his eyes just
as the pack of lizards pounced on him.

Chapter 23