Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Rise of the Fallen) Read online

  Chapter Eight

  Lizicks

  The drum roll grew louder and louder. Then all went silent. Without warning, the stool Andrew stood on, was yanked out from underneath his feet.

  He gasped, feeling the weight from his body pull the rope taut, around his throat, strangling him, threatening to break his neck.

  Just as the world around him started to darken, the branch holding the rope cracked and broke, sending him into a crumpled heap on the ground, gulping for air.

  The crowd let out a frightened gasp and jumped back in fear. “He’s still alive,” a woman wailed.

  “Don’t worry,” man cried, holding aloft a pitchfork. “I’ll get him!”

  “Wait!” a hooded man with a hunched back stepped from the crowd, standing between Andrew and the man holding the pitchfork. “I have a better idea.”

  “What could be better than this?” the man held up the pitchfork, and grunted, garnering a loud voice of approval from the crowd.

  “Please just listen to me!” The hooded man, said, casting a subtle knowing glance at the Sontar captain, as if he had made some previous deal with the serpent. “Good people of Nookpot,” the man’s voice was loud, and clear. “If you kill the boy here, it will cause a terrible curse of famine throughout all your lands, such a one that has not been seen in all of history. I know of the boy’s strength and power. His body will pollute your lands, and your village will become a wasteland, for all of eternity. Why not leave him tied to a post in the desert of Drysin, in the Sweat Lands, where the land is already desolate. His death would be long and cruel and his body would not be left in Nookpot to poison its soil. In Drysin there is no vegetation that his body can harm.”

  The cloaked man stood silently, waiting for the crowd's response, his face hidden under a black cloak and his words dripping with a dark hate that made Andrew's heart quicken in fear. A long, slow death did not have much of an appeal to him, especially when a short quick one would be much less painful.

  The mob quieted for a minute. Then agreeing amongst themselves, they all cried, “Yes, yes, take him to Drysin. Let the Lizicks of the desert pick his bones, and let thirst consume his tongue! We do not want his body polluting our soil! Take him away!”

  Before Andrew had a chance to protest, he was taken out of town, into the rainless wasteland of Drysin, by several Sontars, where heat and sand were all that existed, and tied to a thick post, that was anchored deeply into the ground.

  “Let’ssss get out of here,” one of the Sontars hissed, tightening the last knot on Andrew’s wrist. “The Lizicksss will soon be out.” The Sontar licked a dark scar on the left side of his face that was oozing green blood caused from some battle wound he had received not long ago.

  The other Sontar shook his head, glancing around him warily. He drew his sword, standing protectively in front of Andrew. “You know we can’t go. We have our orders. Captain doesn’t want the boy harmed. Not yet. We're to wait, until someone comes to pick him up.”

  The other Sontar flicked his tongue inches from Andrew’s face and laughed. “He doessssn’t want the boy harmed? Well he could have fooled me.”

  The two Sontars stood there, guarding Andrew, watching as the sun disappeared behind a far off mountain, lighting up the sky in orange and red, for one glorious moment, casting long shadows and then fading completely.

  Andrew pulled on his ropes, and yawned, trying to get comfortable. So, this was the plan? He wasn’t going to be killed after all. Fate had been much kinder to him than he first supposed. A gust of wind suddenly came up, sending a spray of sand into his face. He ran his tongue over his cracked lips, feeling the gritty sand on his teeth. It was a very hot, dry place, indeed. His hands hurt terribly, and the diamond marks in them glowed a cool blue in the growing darkness.

  A loud, darararararapppprrrp echoed through the still valley, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up and stared out into the desert. The giant sand dunes loomed above him like giant pyramids casting long shadows that obscured his view. The sound repeated itself, dararararappppprrrrrd. This time it was louder and more drawn out.

  “Lizicks?" The Sontar with a scar asked. Before he could say another word, a long, sticky, blue tongue snapped out of the darkness, dragging the Sontar out of view. A terrified hiss, and a sickly crunch was heard, and then a loud burp.

  The remaining Sontar hissed in dismay and turned to run, but he too, was snapped up in a long rope-like tongue and disposed of in like manner.

  Blurb!

  Andrew gazed around him frantically. All was black, and filled with an eerie silence. The Sontar had called them Lizicks? They sounded like terrible creatures. He was sure he was next on these unseen creature’s menu. He struggled to free his hands from the ropes, but the knots were tied too tightly. He cried out in frustration, and pulled with all his might, trying to yank up the post he was tied to. But the post was embedded securely into the ground, like it had been there for centuries.

  Drarararrarpppprrrrrddddrrr, the sound echoed loudly through the dunes, like an unearthly sound of a savage’s drumbeat. The Lizicks, or whatever they were, were still hungry, even after eating two Sontars.

  The dark night suddenly lit up with glowing eyes of the approaching creatures. The lizard-like monsters glided towards him through the sand, like snakes. Their glowing orange-blue scales became steadily brighter and brighter. They paused, filling their orange throats with air, only to let out deafening clicking purrs.

  They eyed Andrew hungrily. One flicked out its long blue tongue, wrapping it around Andrew’s leg, trying to slurp it into its alligator-like jaws. Andrew felt like his legs were almost jerked out of their sockets as the long lizard long tongue snapped back into its mouth like a whip, unable to consume Andrew because he was still tied to the post. The unexpected surprise made the neighboring Lizicks scatter like ants and the Lizick who had been bereaved of its meal, glared at Andrew with its orange eyes, more hungry than ever.

  It let out a horrible, ddrararararapppppprrrrd, and the other Lizicks answered its call.

  The deafening drumbeat made Andrew’s ears rattle and his head feel numb. As if on cue, the Lizicks unexpectedly stopped purring and darted towards him, pushing forward through the sand on their jagged bird-like feet. Their long tongues slapped out at him, ripping Andrew’s shirt off his body.

  Andrew’s forehead dripped with sweat, his hands steamed with heat. Everything appeared foggy before his eyes. A strange sort of instinct for survival coursed through Andrew, pushing away any reserve or restraint. Without knowing what he was doing, he grasped the edge of his rope. The rope started to smoke and crackle like it was on fire. His hands, ached like never before. They felt so hot he could scramble eggs on them.

  A Lizick's tongue wrapped around Andrew’s waist, like a slimy, blue rubber band, tugging inward. The sudden tug caused the hot rope holding Andrew hostage, to snap in two. Andrew was instantly dragged over the ground, towards the Lizick's mouth.

  “No!” Andrew cried, grabbing the Lizick's blue tongue, tightly. A sizzling, popping sound was heard, and smelly blue steam came up from the Lizick's burnt tongue, causing the Lizick to relax its hold on him, dropping him to the ground.

  The other Lizicks lashed their thick blue tongues out at Andrew, like spiders throwing out their webs, tangling their tongues in each others, covering him in blue slime.

  He ducked, and grasped as many tongues as he could, but there were too many. He felt very faint and tired. He fell on his face as the sticky tongue of a Lizick wrapped around his ankle and dragged him along the ground, over rocks and sticks, towards its gaping mouth.

  A vivid flash of light flashed through dark sky, causing the Lizick holding Andrew to suddenly bolt away. The creature ran like a dog, with its tongue lolling out, with Andrew wrapped up in it. The ground rumbled, and the sky lit up once more in a deafening explosion. The Lizick jumped in fright, dropping Andrew, fleeing in terror, along with the rest of the Lizicks.

&nbs
p; Andrew rolled to his side and groaned. His whole body felt bruised and sticky. He glanced up at the sky and shaded his eyes. A huge meteor shot across the sky like a horse, with a glittery tail of fire. It raced to earth, leaving a river of colorful sparks strewn across the sky.

  The night became as bright as day as the star fell through the earth's atmosphere, faster and faster.

  Andrew slowly stood, and watched with awe as the star hit the earth with a thunderous tremor, lighting up the earth in a blinding flash, sending him flying backwards.