The Orphan Wars (Book One) (19 page)

"Listen up and listen very closely," demanded Nemeth.  "Let's quiet our voices
down and talk rationally."

"Whatever you say," replied the Troll Warlord quietly.  "Just don't kill me."

"Sidle along the hedge maze until you reach the corner," said Nemeth quietly.  "I'm going to sidle along with you.  If I sense even for a second that you are going to attack me, I promise you that I will kill you.  Now start sidling."

Nemeth ti
lted his head towards the right to indicate the direction that he wanted The Troll Warlord to move towards.  The Troll Warlord started to sidle along the hedge maze.  Nemeth locked eye contact with the Troll Warlord and sidled along with him.  Nemeth kept his sword pointed directly at the Troll Warlord's throat with every sidestep they took.  After about 45 seconds, they reached a corner of the hedge maze.

"Tell me what Terazhul knows about what is going on in here," said Nemeth quietly.  "Can Terazhul see us or hear us now?  Be honest or you'll suffer consequences far worse than your underlings did."

"Terazhul cannot see or hear us," replied the Troll Warlord quietly.  "Terazhul is very busy.  I can communicate with Terazhul if I need to.  I don't always get an instant reply from him since he is so busy."

Nemeth reached into his backpack
with his right hand and retrieved two Transmutation Potions while still pointing his sword at the Troll Warlord's throat with his left hand.

"Tell Terazhul that you've captured an intruder," said Nemeth quietly.  "Tell
Terazhul that you need to bring the intruder to him immediately.  Do it now."

"
Master Terazhul!" shouted the Troll Warlord.  "I have captured an intruder lurking in the temple.  I need to bring the intruder to you immediately."

Nemeth smashed one of the Transmutation Potions in the face of the Troll Warlord while looking at his own body and thinking of images of himself.  Nemeth chugged down the remaining Transmutation Potion while looking directly at and thinking
of the Troll Warlord.  In less than 15 seconds, Nemeth had transformed into the Troll Warlord and the Troll Warlord had transformed into Nemeth.  The real Nemeth who now looked like the Troll Warlord grabbed hold of the fake Nemeth.

"Bring the intruder to me immediately!"
echoed the voice of Terazhul.  "Step into the portal and enter my chamber."

A portal that was brown and green in color opened up near the treasure chest.  They both walked into the portal and
were teleported what appeared to be the topmost level of the Great Temple of the Forest.  The portal then sealed up.

Looking around the room, it
appeared that they were inside of a giant redwood tree with the top portion hollowed out.  In the center of the room was another large redwood tree that extended for hundreds of feet into the sky.  One look and Nemeth could see that it dwarfed any of the buildings at Lord Dragomir's Academy.  Around the room were large puddles that contained a variety of different colored liquids.  Large plumes of black smoke began to appear just left of the tall redwood tree in the center of the room.  Approximately 20 seconds later, Terazhul and Vulpes emerged from the plumes of smoke.  Terazhul was overjoyed at the sight of one of his Troll Warlords tightly gripping Nemeth.  However, he didn't realize that the two Transmutation Potions were used and were still in effect.

"You've done a magnificent job capturing that intruder," said Terazhul.  "You will be we
ll rewarded for your good deeds my troll brother.  Wait, something isn't quite right.  What is going on here?"

The effects of the Transmutation
Potions began to fade.  The fake Nemeth transformed into the real Troll Warlord.  Soon after, the fake Troll Warlord transformed into the real Nemeth.

"Surprise!" exclaimed Nemeth.  "Remember me?"

Nemeth held the Troll Warlord tightly around the waist with his right arm.  Nemeth drew his sword from its sheath with his left hand.  He reached over the Troll Warlord's left shoulder with his sword.  He placed the blade of the sword under the chin of the Troll Warlord and slowly slit the creature's throat.  Blood gushed out of the open wound onto the sword, all over the Troll Warlord and onto the grass below.  Nemeth removed his right hand from the waist of the Troll Warlord and placed it upon the creature's throat.  Nemeth pushed the Troll Warlord's lifeless body off to his left side and watched as it collapsed to the ground.  Nemeth gazed at his right hand which was covered in the Troll Warlord's blood.  He stuck out his tongue and licked some of the blood off his hands and then smeared the rest on his armor.

"That tasted a lot better than I expected it to," said Nemeth.  "Jaida,
you can come out now."

Jaida magically reappeared out of Nemeth's body and began to float above him and move from side to side.

"What are your thoughts about your troll brother now?" asked Nemeth.  "He failed to guard the treasure chest containing this sword, which by the way works just perfect as you just witnessed.  He also allowed me to skip countless levels of this temple and come straight to you."

"I remember you little boy,
" said Terazhul.  "You're one of those little brats from Lord Dragomir's Academy.  You were the one who made that sad attempt at attacking me.  When you realized that you stood no chance against me, you ran away from me like a pathetic coward.  But something's changed about you.  You've obviously become insane.  You've foolishly broke into my temple, killed many of my guards and now you dare to step foot in the same room as me?  You should have tried harder to kill me back at the academy when you first saw me.  The Forestial Corruption spell that I casted continues to plague the land and has made me an unstoppable force.  I only have one final decision to make.  Should I drain your energy and give it to myself or just send you into oblivion?  I won't let you know my decision this instant, but you'll know soon enough!"

"Jaida, how am I supposed to k
ill Terazhul and Vulpes?" whispered Nemeth nervously.

"You need to get your confidence back up," replied Jaida
quietly.  "When you were fighting your previous battles, I could feel the confidence radiate from you.  This battle shouldn't be any different."

"But I'm just a kid!" whined Nemeth.
  "Terazhul and Vulpes are too powerful for someone like me!"

"Use everything you have in your arsenal," continued Jaida.  "
Aren't you forgetting something?  Tienna gave you an amulet to wear for good luck.  You never put it on.  Now would be a good time to start."

Nemeth reached into his backpack, retrieved Tienna's Amulet and placed it around his neck.

"I'm going to need to get an overall threat score and overall threat level from both Terazhul and Vulpes," said Nemeth.  "Can you please do that?"

"Here is what I know about Terazhul and Vulpes," replied Jaida.  "Terazhul has an
overall threat score of 175,000 out of a possible 1,000,000 points.  The overall threat level to you from Terazhul is high.  Vulpes has an overall threat score of 122,500 out of a possible 1,000,000 points.  The overall threat level to you from Vulpes is moderate.  The good news is that enough time has passed that I can cast the Sunburst Lullaby spell again.  You just need to tell me when you want me to cast it.  Also, I'm going to give you a little advantage.  I'm going to cast my Crescent Shield spell on you.  It will reduce any damage that you receive by one quarter."

Jaida cast the Crescent Shield spell
on Nemeth.  The spell caused several rings of purple light to envelope his body and then vanished.  Nemeth pulled out his bow and quiver of arrows.  He readied an arrow on his bow and fired at the head of Vulpes.  The arrow soared through the air spanning the 45 foot distance between them.  The arrow narrowly missed Vulpes' head, instead piercing the right side of its body.  19 arrows were left in his quiver.  Terazhul's hands started to glow green. The arrow that had pierced the body of Vulpes was magically removed and soared back toward Nemeth's head who narrowly avoided it by flopping onto his back.  Nemeth got on his knees and put his bow and arrows away.  He performed a headspring to get to his feet and wielded his sword and shield. Terazhul began to charge after Nemeth.  Nemeth showed no fear and stood his ground.  He held his head high and focused directly into the malevolent eyes of Terazhul.  About 15 feet away from Nemeth, Terazhul pulled back on the reigns attached to Vulpes causing them to come to a halt.

"Terazhul, listen up!" shouted Nemeth.  "You know that any type of combat
between us is going to end up as a stalemate at best.  I have something important to tell you.  I'm sorry about what I've done.  I shouldn't be fighting you.  Instead, I should be praising you for the destruction you caused back at Lord Dragomir's Academy.  Stealing the Ambrule and poisoning everyone at the graduation party was brilliant.  Then you cast the Forestial Corruption spell in the perfect location.  That was even more brilliant.  Nobody knew what was going to hit them. I thought you were doing wrongful things at first but the truth is you did all the right things.  I was nothing more than a slave when I was at that corrupt academy.  Every single person there hated me and lied to me about my family and my past.  They were all jealous of my talents and I now know they are all beneath me.  I propose a truce between us.  Think about what we can accomplish if we work together!"

"I don't trust a single word out of your mouth boy!" shouted Terazhul.  "
I wasn't the one responsible for stealing the Ambrule that caused those stupid kids to become so intoxicated.  In fact, I'll never tell you who did that.  I'm merely responsible for casting the Forestial Corruption spell.  I wanted to be more than just a guardian of this temple for the rest of my life.  I wanted to be an unstoppable force and that is what I've become.  Besides, a truce would never work.  You should know very well that trolls and humans do not co-exist well in this world.  In fact, they can NEVER co-exist.  I am deeply insulted by your ruse.  Now shut up and face the consequences for your actions!"

Terazhul
turned around and began to move at a moderate pace in a counter clockwise circle around the tall redwood tree in the center of the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Jaida with great concern.  "I thought you were really going to side with Terazhul!"

"I'm just trying to play some mind games with Terazhul," said Nemeth.  "I thought trolls were supposed to be much dumber.  If I had gotten him to agree to an alliance, I can only imagine how easy it would have been to kill him.  Alright, it's time for a big battle here.  Let's go Jaida!"

Nemeth dashed clockwise around the tall re
dwood in the center of the room until he came within a safe striking distance to Terazhul and Vulpes.  He jumped into the air and attempted a diagonal slice with his sword at the head of Vulpes.  Terazhul blocked this attempt by throwing a spear at Nemeth.  The spear deflected off of Nemeth's shield and the tip broke off.  Nemeth missed his own sword attack and landed on his feet but only a few feet away from the mouth of Vulpes.  Vulpes' had horrendous breath that smelled like rotting carcasses.  Nemeth performed a series of backflips and then pressed his back up against the giant redwood.  Terazhul made a second movement counter clockwise around the tall redwood in the center.  Nemeth stayed close to the tall redwood and began to move counter clockwise around it as well.  What Nemeth saw next was a huge surprise to him.  There was a hole carved out in the base of the tree large enough for Nemeth to easily walk in and out of.

"I hope this is a complete tunnel from one side of the tree to the other," said Nemeth
.  "Come on, please be a tunnel!  Please be a tunnel!"

He jogged through the carved out pathway in the tree and made it out to the other side.
  Terazhul had just made it around tall redwood tree for the second time.

"Where are you boy!!!???" shouted Terazhul.  "You cannot delay the fate I
have chosen for you, so surrender to me now!"

Nemeth heard Terazhul travel around the tall redwood for a third time in a counter clockwise direction.  Nemeth gripped the handle of his
sword tightly and waited for Terazhul to come around.  When Nemeth heard Terazhul approaching, he emerged from the hole and sliced at the rear left leg of Vulpes.  The sword produced a deep cut about half-way through Vulpes' leg causing blood to pour out and some bone and muscle to be exposed.  Vulpes howled in pain.  Nemeth made his way back into the hole in the tree.  Terazhul's pace slowed down a bit due to the damage inflicted on Vulpes' left leg.  However, Terazhul continued to circle around the tree.

"What have you done to
my precious Vulpes?" screamed Terazhul.  "I'll give you 30 seconds to come out of hiding to face me or I'll obliterate that tree!"

Nemeth knew that Terazhul would not destroy
any part of his temple and remained in hiding.  When he heard Terazhul circle around near his hiding spot again, he rolled out and delivered a slicing blow with his sword to the rear right leg of Vulpes.  The sword produced a similar cut to the one on Vulpes' rear left leg, one that caused blood to pour out and bone and muscle to be exposed.  Terazhul's pace slowed down even more, but continued to circle around the tree.  Nemeth began to run after Terazhul.

"Jaida, can you take a closer look at the puddles
of liquid around here?" asked Nemeth.  "I need to know what these puddles contain."

Jaida began to float around examining the puddles around the room. 
Nemeth continued to run after Terazhul, but still could not match the pace that his wolf Vulpes was producing.

"Terazhul!" shouted Nemeth.  "
Your wolf is becoming more and more of a cripple as time goes on.  I'll give you a chance to surrender now or I'm going to sever all four of his legs off!"

Terazhul pulled
back on Vulpes' reigns making him come to a halt.

"You grow more and more bothersome by the second," replied Terazhul.
  "You think you are a warrior but you can only prance around like a little girl in gymnastics class."

Terazhul
and Vulpes turned around to face Nemeth.  Terazhul prepared to cast a spell on Nemeth.

"Imano Madera!" shouted Terazhul.

A wide ranged brown beam fired from Terazhul's hands and connected with his Infinite Backpack.  Nemeth's wooden sword, wooden shield, bows and arrows were removed from his backpack and began to fly through the air towards Terazhul.  They stopped a few feet away from Terazhul and began to float in front of him.

"Those are my things!" screamed Nemeth.  "You have no right to steal them from me!  Give them back to me NOW!"

"Perhaps I've gone too far," replied Terazhul.  "Stealing from a child was wrong of me.  Here, you can have everything back."

"Drop my things NOW!" screamed Nemeth.

"That would be very rude of me to drop them," replied Terazhul.  "Allow me to personally deliver them to you."

"That's better!" exclaimed Nemeth. 
"I want this to be a fair fight!"

The woo
den sword rotated in mid-air several times and then finally pointed at Nemeth.  The sword went soaring through the air toward Nemeth.  Nemeth blocked the wooden sword with his shield.  The wooden sword broke into five different pieces and Nemeth was knocked back several paces.  Next, the wooden shield went flying at Nemeth.  Nemeth blocked the wooden shield with his copper shield causing the wooden shield to break into three different sized pieces.  Nemeth was knocked back several more paces.  Terazhul magically raised the bow and arrows in the air.  When Nemeth saw this, his heart began to beat rapidly and he started to run toward the hole in the large redwood tree.  Terazhul began to fire arrows in rapid succession at Nemeth.  Nemeth saw a shower of arrows fly alongside him and over his head.  Nemeth had fortunately not been hit by any of the arrows, so he decided to turn around and charge back at him.  Terazhul launched the wooden bow at Nemeth, but he sliced it in half with his sword just before impact.