Choose Your Own Misadventure - 8 (BONUS!)

BACK

Lorcan cleared his mind entirely and focused solely on the frozen cave deep within himself. He saw the fat little birds sliding around on their stomachs and felt new energy course through every vein. Extending one hand out in front of him, Lorcan shot an icicle directly into Vera’s chest.

Their blonde master thrown from her feet into the dark underbrush, the wolves went insane. Julian and Evie’s throats were ripped out. The beasts surrounding Lorcan and Luciana attacked, but they all threw themselves at Luciana.

The Senator’s daughter became a whirlwind. She slashed this way and that, spinning, diving, stabbing, and kicking. Lorcan had never seen anyone fight like that. He tried to help her with magic, but seeing Evie and Julian die like that – he couldn’t find his focus. He flailed about with his staff, annoying the wolves more than anything else. They ignored him entirely.

Something hard and cold hit the back of Lorcan’s head with a painful thwack! Lorcan had time to spin around as his vision faded to blackness and he began to pass out. Vera was standing over him with the icicle that had been in her chest now in her hand. A bloody hole in her dress where the projectile had pierced her heart revealed a pristine circle of pale skin. Lorcan’s mind was rapidly degenerating into blurry nothingness, but it looked very much like Vera’s fatal wound had miraculously healed.

“Nighty-night, sweetheart.” Vera blew him a kiss and waved as Lorcan lost consciousness.

Lorcan woke up on a bed of moss beside Lake Wanderer. A wolf stood guard over him, watching attentively, but not snarling or being at all aggressive. It was early morning and the sun was out for once rather than being hidden behind rainclouds.

“Oh good, you’re up!” Vera said cheerfully. She handed him a cup of tea.

Lorcan reluctantly accepted the tea. “What the hell is going on?”

Vera smiled as she absently scratched behind the guard wolf’s ears. “I’m here to help you fulfill your destiny.”

“You killed Evie and Julian! And maybe Luciana!” Lorcan shouted angrily.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous! If all it took to kill Anna was a pack of wolves, she’d have been dead ages ago! And technically you were the one who killed those people when you chose not to come with me.” Vera waggled her finger at him admonishingly.

Lorcan stared at her for a moment, speechless.

“This is all very difficult for you, I know. But it won’t matter one bit once you become the man you were born to be. You’ll be able to bring both of them back from the dead, though if I were you I’d leave Julian deceased. He was a bit of an ass,” Vera advised in a kindly, conversational tone.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Lorcan asked her.

“The Last Sorcerer needs you. He’ll teach you everything you need to know. Ask your medallion. He’ll tell you all about it.” She pointed at the talisman on Lorcan’s necklace.

Lorcan gently touched the symbol covered metal. “Is what she’s saying true, Lord Cumberbatch?”

“Ah. Well, you see boy…that is a tricky question to answer. No matter what I say you won’t understand much of it.”

“Ooh, Cumberbatch! Good, I was hoping you would get him instead of Rupertson. How do you do, my lord?” Vera asked politely.

Lorcan ignored her. “Just do your best to explain what is happening to me, will you?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know exactly. I lived a thousand years in the past and have no way of knowing what has transpired since then. I created this talisman at the behest of the Divinatrix that lived during my time. She told me very little about what it would be used for. Since the world is not overrun by the living dead, I am forced to assume that the Golden Empires succeeded in defeating Death. The Divinatrix said this talisman would be used in the distant future to ensure the Sacrifice was not in vain. You have no way of knowing this for yourself, boy, but women who can see the future are insufferably vague.”

“That doesn’t tell me why this girl and her wolves just killed my cousin and my friend,” Lorcan said irritably.

“You killed your friends,” Vera corrected.

“The other side wants you, obviously. Evidently, it’s not as simple as killing you, they need you alive for some part of their plot to return Death to power.”

“And how could they do that?” Lorcan asked.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know what we did in the Sacrifice. I had only just been approached when the Divinatrix had me make this talisman.”

“Can you at least tell me how in the world she survived an icicle through her heart?” Lorcan eyed the bloody hole in Vera’s dress.

“I can answer that one!” Vera chirped happily. “Men always make the same Bargain with the Last Sorcerer, but women are given more latitude because so few of us choose to make the Bargain. I chose wolves.” She scratched behind the guard wolf’s ear again and it licked her cheek.

“Wolves? How does that make you invincible?” Lorcan wanted very badly to run, but his head was still pounding and he knew he couldn’t outrun a wolf.

Vera shrugged. “There were other perks. But mostly I got my wolves.”

“Please, Vera. Let me go home. I don’t want any of this madness with the Last Sorcerer and magic talismans! I want to go back to my family and help buy my cousin.”

Vera laughed lightheartedly. “Well of course you’re going home, silly! That’s all part of the plan. You aren’t ready for the Frozen Citadel yet, that will come later. You have a lot of choices to make before we get to the point where you’re ready to help the Last Sorcerer. Don’t worry though, I’ll be here for you.” She rested her hand tenderly on Lorcan’s arm.

“So you’ll let me leave right now if I want to go back to my family?” Lorcan started standing up hesitantly, but when Vera and her pet wolf made no move to stop him, he stood up fully.

Vera nodded. “There’s just one last thing before you go.”

Lorcan prepared himself for something truly awful. Would he have to choose between two more people he cared about? Was she going to torture him? The horrors seemed endless.

Vera wrapped her arms around Lorcan and gave him a passionate kiss with a surprising amount of tongue.

When she was done kissing him, Vera smacked Lorcan on the ass, said, “Toodles!” and strolled away into the woods with her wolf in tow.

Lorcan stood on the shore of Lake Wanderer, dumbstruck.

“What the hell?” Lorcan asked no one in particular.

Lorcan stumbled up to the top of Weyrd Mountain still reeling from the events of last night. Julian and Evie were dead and it was all his fault. What would Great Uncle Mort say? And Great Grandmother? Luciana was going to kill him for sure. He had ruined everything!

“Oh my God, Lorcan! Son, thank God you’re alive!” Lorcan’s dad sprinted across the yard from the still as soon as he saw his son. He threw his arms around Lorcan for a bone-crunching hug.

“Dad…Julian…it’s all my fault!” Lorcan mumbled.

“There, there son. Don’t say that. Luciana told us what happened. That horrible bitch killed her sister and your cousin. She’s to blame for this.”

“I don’t know why this is happening. I just…” Lorcan trailed off. What else was there to say?

“You just need a drink. Come over to the still and drown your sorrows with the rest of us.” Lorcan’s father put his arm around his son’s shoulders and led him over to the still.

Great Uncle Mort was three sheets to the wind and Uncle Pete did not look to be too far behind him. The other uncles and cousins were drunk as well, but not quite so inebriated as those two. Lorcan’s dad poured him a glass of something strong smelling

Uncle Cal raised his glass. “To Julian! The best damn womanizer the Moon clan ever had!”

“To Julian!” Everyone raised their glasses and drank deep, Lorcan included.

Since this is a BONUS CHAPTER the choice is open ended! What happens next?

Choose Your Own Misadventure - 7

BACK

Lorcan walked side by side with Luciana up the trail to Weyrd Mountain. She had sent one of her servants—who seemed to magically appear any time she needed them—to grab a staff for Lorcan to use for self-defense in the woods.

“You have no idea how to use that as a weapon, do you?” Luciana asked him as she kept a vigilant eye on the trees surrounding them. It was getting dark and each of them carried a torch.

“What gave me away?” Lorcan asked. He could hear wolves howling nearby, but so far he hadn’t seen any of them.

“You’re using it as a walking stick.”

“Oh. What am I supposed to do with it when I’m not using it to fight?” Lorcan looked down at the staff.

Luciana shook her head. “It’s a little late for lessons now. Just try not to injure yourself with it. Why you insisted on leaving Ostfield is beyond me.”

“I’ve walked this trail hundreds of times. Wolves have always left me alone before.” Though Lorcan had to admit, he had never heard quite so many of them howling at one time.

“This is not before,” Luciana told him sternly. “Your life has changed. You have been marked and there are those who will recognize you for what you are and either kill you or tempt you to their cause.”

Lorcan knew she was talking about the pattern burned onto his hand and the twenty-seven scars he’d earned passing through Lord Cumberbatch’s crucible. “What do you mean tempt me to their cause?”

“Your discovery marks a time of change where there has been none for the past thousand years. I know you are not educated, but you are not simple minded. You know that what you are will make you a target.”

“For the Last Sorcerer’s followers.” Lorcan nodded.

“And others,” Luciana warned him.

“Like who?” Lorcan asked.

He did not receive an answer. Luciana turned sharply to her right and drew her sword to slash at a leaping wolf in one fluid motion. Lorcan dropped his torch and gripped the staff with both hands. This did him little good, he was knocked to the ground by a wolf behind him.

Luciana whirled around to swipe at the wolf pinning Lorcan. The beast jumped to the side, leaving Lorcan free to scramble back to his feet.

Wolves surrounded them on all sides in a ring of snarling fangs.

“What do we do?” Lorcan asked, he stood back to back with Luciana.

“And when Death’s shadow once more looms, come the wolves before strife resumes.” A familiar voice rang out from the darkness. Lorcan could not quite place whose voice it was, however.

Lorcan squinted at the figure emerging from the edge of their torchlight. Behind him, Lorcan felt Luciana stiffen at hearing the voice speak to them. “What’s wrong? Who is that?” Lorcan whispered.

“Oh, Anna! You didn’t tell him about me? I’m hurt!” A tall woman stepped forward into the light.

“I swore that I would kill you if I ever saw you again, Vera,” Luciana said through clenched teeth.

Vera laughed lightheartedly. “Is that anyway to thank the woman who told you your fiancé was a warlock?”

“You are evil and insane. It was weakness to allow you to live.” Luciana’s voice had become icy cold and hard. Lorcan expected her to try vaulting over the wolves and attach Vera at any second.

“Could somebody maybe tell me what’s going on?” Lorcan asked nervously.

“Hush, dearie.” Vera waved her hand dismissively at him. “You’ll be important in just a minute, so hang in there. Right now us girls need to catch up. I haven’t see Anna in over a year and I’ve missed her so.”

“This deranged lunatic believes the Last Sorcerer is some kind of savior for humanity. Even though she killed fourteen people, I let her go because she was the one who told me what Mason really was,” Luciana explained.

“Warlocks can be useful tools, but little Mason had delusions of grandeur. That, and his feelings for you compromised his dedication to the cause.” Vera shook her head.

“I don’t want to hear your lies. Mason was going to kill the Emperor and I was just his way to get close enough,” Luciana said.

Vera cocked her head to the side inquisitively. “Is that what you tell yourself? Oh, poor, deluded Anna. Mason loved you. Even after he realized what he truly was, his love remained.”

“Shut up!” Luciana appeared to be at the very edge of her ability to remain calm and collected at all times. “You are lying, just like you lied to me when I let you go free!”

“The Mason-nerve is still as raw as ever, I see. That’s good, Anna. It proves that deep down in that icy heart of yours, there truly is a real person. You can’t lock away all your emotions down deep, you have to make the choice to let them run wild in order to really live! Once you’ve suffered enough, you’ll understand that.” Vera cackled madly. “Here, let me show you.”

Vera snapped her fingers and two enormous wolves came trotting out of the darkness. Each wolf was dragging a squirming body that had been bound and gagged. They deposited their cargo on either side of Vera and bent down with their jaws poised above the captives’ throats. One wolf held Lorcan’s cousin Julian and the other held Luciana’s sister Evie.

“Lorcan, it’s your turn to contribute! At the count of three you will use your magic to save either your relative that you despise, but is your own flesh and blood or this sweet little girl who you hardly know, but have nevertheless healed and bonded with in the short time you have known her. At this stage in your abilities developing you will only be able to kill one wolf before the other rips out its prisoner’s throat. Are you ready?” Vera had a manic gleam in her mismatched eyes.

“Vera, please don’t do this!” Lorcan pleaded, his eyes darting from Evie to Julian.

“Oh, and one more thing. I will let both of them live if you agree to come with me. I’ll even let Anna go free, as much as I’d love to watch my wolves devour her icy self-righteous heart. One…”

“Vera, no!” Lorcan tried to step forward, but the wolves encircling him and Luciana growled menacingly and snapped at him.

“Two…”

“Shit, son, get a move on!” Lord Cumberbatch shouted inside Lorcan’s head.

“Aaaaaand…three!”

What does Lorcan decide to do?

1)      Save Julian and count on Luciana saving Evie.

2)      Save Evie, she’s innocent and deserves to live more than Julian.

3)      Agree to go with Vera.

4)      Attack Vera!

Choose Your Own Misadventure - 6

BACK

Lorcan took a deep breath and gave himself one last mental shake before stepping out of the crowd to smile at Jena.

“Don’t stare at her breasts, no matter how magnificent they are. Women don’t understand you’re giving them a compliment,” Lord Cumberbatch advised.

Jena looked up from her tiny notebook and grinned at him. “Lorcan! You haven’t seen a carved wooden otter, have you? Old Lady Carter’s asked me to find hers after it was stolen from her front porch.”

Lorcan shook his head. “No I have not. Did you check out on the dance floor?”

“That’s how you’re asking her to dance? Good grief.”

“Not yet I haven’t. Do you think that would be a good place to look?” Jena had a knowing look on her heart-shaped face.

Lorcan nodded happily. “I’ll go with you to help.”

Jena slid the diminutive notepad into a pocket and held out her arm for Lorcan to link arms with her and walk out onto the dance floor. Lorcan felt giddy, talking to girls had never worked out this well for him – ever! They had just reached the outside of the designated dancing area when a deep voice shouted at them from behind.

“What the hell are you doing with my girl?”

Lorcan turned around just in time to see a hairy-knuckled fist collide with his nose. He tried valiantly not to let the punch knock him off his feet right in front of Jena, but to no avail. Lorcan went down, sprawled out on the cobblestones where he was immediately kicked in the ear by some enthusiastic and oblivious dancers.

“Percy!” Jena shrieked. “How many times do I have to tell you: we are not courting! I solved a case for your mother last year and we’ve barely spoken since then except for times like this when I’m yelling at you for being a brute!”

The purple spots began to fade from Lorcan’s vision and he was finally able to get a good look at Percy. He was a mammoth of a lad with shoulders twice as broad as Lorcan’s and shaggy dark hair that hung down in front of his eyes. Lorcan did not like his chances for staying upright if he stood, so he remained sitting on the ground.

“But, Jena! I love you! You’re so smart and pretty and…and…um…” Percy scratched his head with one of his massive hands.

“And do you think someone who is smart and pretty would enjoy watching you punch strangers in the face?” Jena had her arms crossed in front of her chest and was tapping her foot vexedly.

“Well, um…but he was gonna dance with you!” Lorcan found it hard to truly feel angry at Percy. After all, he was a giant dimwit who obviously had no idea how to impress a girl like Jena. Not that Lorcan knew how to either, but he was less violent about it.

“Which is well within his rights as a young man my age! Now run along back to your mother so she can scold you for this.” Jena pointed towards the long tables set up with food and alcohol.

Percy hung his shaggy head. “Yes, Jena.”

After the very melancholy Percy had shuffled off, Jena knelt down beside Lorcan. “Oh dear, your nose is bleeding! Here, let me help you up.” She hauled Lorcan to his feet.

“I checked the ground over there and didn’t see any wooden otters,” Lorcan informed her. His head was doing a fair bit of spinning now that he was up and moving.

Jena chuckled. “Good work. I’ll cross that off my list of places to search. Hey, why is your ear all red?”

“Some of the dancers kicked me accidentally. At least, I hope it was accidentally. Otherwise, I think I might have to go home before all this escalates and I get stabbed.”

“How charming. I’m sure the poor girl is only seconds away from swooning,” Lord Cumberbatch’s voice was thick with disdain. He seemed to disapprove of everything Lorcan said to any woman.

“I hope not, because I won’t be able to catch her,” Lorcan muttered before remembering that only he could hear what Cumberbatch said.

“What?” Jena asked worriedly.

“Oh, nothing.”

Jena bit her lower lip anxiously. No doubt, she thought he was experiencing the adverse effects of his recent head trauma. “I think you need to sit down. Here we are.” She got Lorcan seated on a bench outside the tailor’s shop.

“That’s much better.” Lorcan let out a sigh of relief. His head was still pounding, but the world was much less spinny now.

“I’m so sorry about Percy, he’s usually harmless. Something must have gotten him worked up,” Jena explained. Lorcan finally noticed that she was holding onto his arm and sitting with her body pressed up against his. He began to blush.

“I…I, uh…that’s okay, I guess,” was all Lorcan could think to say.

“Let me go get something to clean your face. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Jena gave his arm one last squeeze and then hurried off.

Lorcan leaned back against the tailor’s shop, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. That had not gone at all the way he had hoped. Not that it hadn’t gone the way he had expected, but still.

When Lorcan opened his eyes he was staring up at a mismatched set of eyes peaking down at him from over the edge of the tailor’s roof. “Vera?” Lorcan asked, incredibly perplexed.

Vera leaned down further and grinned at him. “I saw you get punched by that big guy. Want me to set him on fire for you?”

“Huh? Percy? No, that’s fine. Thanks for the offer, though.” Lorcan hoped that Vera was just joking, but she looked pretty serious about her offer.

Vera frowned. “Really? You’re sure?”

Lorcan nodded. “No fires, please.”

“Wolves then? Or bees? I love bees!” Vera nodded encouragingly.

“Um…no. Not a big fan of bees, myself. I got stung too many times as a kid, I think.”

“Oh. Boo! Well, here’s your girlfriend’s stupid otter.” Vera dropped a foot tall wooden otter down for Lorcan to catch.

Lorcan looked at the otter in his hands. “How did you get this?”

“It’s all part of the plan!” Vera slid back up the roof and disappeared.

Lorcan was left staring up at the tailor’s eaves, holding a wooden otter until Jena returned.

“Old Lady Carter’s otter! Where did you find it?” Jena gasped.

“A friend gave it to me,” Lorcan told her, not sure how else to describe what had transpired.

“You, a friend? Who exactly is this friend of yours?” Jena looked at him skeptically. It was rather well known in town that Lorcan didn’t socialize much outside of his family.

“Well, more of an acquaintance, I guess,” Lorcan admitted. He handed Jena the otter.

“And where did this acquaintance of yours get it?” Jena turned the otter over in her hands, making sure it was the same one she was looking for.

“I have no idea,” Lorcan told her. “She dropped it down to me from the roof and then left.”

“Well, that isn’t suspicious at all,” Jena said sarcastically. “Who was she?”

“Her name is Vera and I guess she’s new in town. I only just met her at the festival. Thomas found her while he was tormenting Julian and introduced us.”

“Curious. I’ll have to investigate this Vera character.” Jena began tending to Lorcan’s bloody nose. “This probably isn’t how you imagined spending the badger festival, is it?”

Lorcan shrugged. “This is far from the worst festival I’ve been to.” He smiled at Jena.

 “I do remember when you got thrown into the rose bushes.” Jena snickered. “Sorry! I shouldn’t laugh at that. It must have been really painful.”

“Oh it was, but it’s still a hilarious story. Now.” Lorcan leaned a little closer to Jena as she wiped the blood off his face.

“Well, it’s good that you can laugh about it now.” Jena pressed her chest a bit more against his arm and looked up at Lorcan expectantly.

Lorcan’s heart thumped in his chest and he felt dizzy, but dammit, nothing was going to stop him from kissing Jena! He leaned forward to meet her waiting lips…

…and was hit square in the side of the head with a blackberry pie.

An impressively drunk Uncle Pete hooted with laughter and slapped his thighs. So fierce were his gales of laughter, he fell over and continued laughing on the ground.

“Damn, I really didn’t think he could make that throw, drunk as he was.” Grandpa handed a few copper coins to Great Uncle Mort.

“Never bet against a drunk relative ruining a man’s courting!” Mort cackled as he pocketed the coins. “Good choice, lad!” he bellowed at Lorcan. “Marvelous…assets!” Mort mimed having giant breasts and guffawed some more.

“See, I told you he wasn’t a fairy!” Grandpa shouted at his brother.

“Bah! Seeing that girl’s honka-honkas was well worth two coppers!” Mort reached into his pocket and handed Grandpa two coins.

Jena, her face beet red, handed Lorcan the rest of the napkins she had brought for his nose, mumbled something about having to go, and took off in a hurry with Old Lady Carter’s otter.

Lorcan sat on the bench, covered in pie and still bleeding from his nose. Grandpa and Great Uncle Mort picked Pete up and stumbled on their drunken, merry way.

“Well, I don’t think that could have gone worse,” Cumberbatch said.

“Shut up,” Lorcan grumbled.

“Ready for a drink yet?”

“No! I said shut up!” Lorcan was so annoyed with Lord Cumberbatch choosing right now to pester him, that he failed to notice Luciana walking up to his bench.

“You’re shouting at yourself again,” Luciana reminded him in her usual emotionless tone. She handed him a towel.

“How much of that did you see?” Lorcan asked. He gratefully took the towel and began wiping pie from his face.

“Almost all of it. I missed how you got the otter while I was pawning Thomas off on Albert.”

“Fantastic,” Lorcan groaned. “I’ve had quite enough humiliation for today. I’m heading back to the still. You stay here and spend some time with Evie, I’ll be fine on my own.”

Luciana shook her head. “The villagers are all talking about wolves howling at the base of Weyrd Mountain, dozens of them. I’m not letting someone as accident prone as you walk through a forest full of wolves alone.”

“Wolves? Really? What the hell else is going to go wrong?”

Should Lorcan brave the wolf-infested forest or stay at the festival with his drunken relatives?

1)      Wolves!

2)      Drunken Relatives!