The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 22

Waverly pulled Regent with her as she ran back toward the river. The sound of clashing swords and booming cannons served as a backdrop and would sometimes shake them to a halt. Once in a while they had to fend off an enemy or two as they moved.

At last, they arrived at a familiar spot. The river before them shimmered in the evening sky and fireflies dotted the trees bringing to the atmosphere a beautiful sort of serenity. It was near impossible to think that a war went on in such an environment.

Waverly had briefed Regent about her gruesome fight with the two-headed Ettin and simultaneously got an idea that she believed was too good to pass albeit sorely angered that she had only thought of it much too late.

A few leagues from the river the largest wreck covered the ground in bits of wood, stone, trees, more wood and more stone. Remains of the shattered gate were strewn across the forest floor and in the midst of all that - a half broken, upturned vessel.

"Wow!" Regent gasped, staring at the upturned ship. "The Ettin threw this at you?"

"Yes but i was too occupied to play catch." Waverly replied. She pulled out her short sword and handed it to Regent.

"What do i do with this?" He asked, his face contorting with confusion.

Waverly pulled him further to stand near the elevated hull of the ship which was now dented and broken in many places. "To take out those silver plates."

Regent looked with pity at the vessel and Waverly could already see the gears turning inside his head as he stared on. He probably thought of a hundred things he could build with the ship's parts.

"Why? What do i do with those?" He asked nonetheless, a little doubtful.

Wave inhaled fully aware that her next sentence would be shocking. "Those are Heaven's Medal."

Regent staggered back. He looked like he had just been inflated with too much air and heat at once. "What?"

Waverly steadied him by grabbing hold of his shoulders. "Hey, look at me. Listen. If you can merge this with our weapons, trust me, we have a better chance at putting down our enemies. We cannot let them get their hands on this first."

Regent swallowed, his voice came out a pitch too high. "How are you sure it's Heaven's Medal?"

"Because it's the same one i used to kill that Ettin. It burned him up to absolute nothing."

Her sentence steadied Regent and finally cleared off the fearful shock on his face. He nodded and rushed to the hull.

"I'm going to need something to carry all of it with." He said as he began to work.

"Careful!" Waverly warned. "It cuts really bad."

Regent nodded. Waverly searched around for anything he could make use of and soon found a very wide round shield. It had obviously belonged to an ogre and was deep in the middle. Regent peeled off every single one of the plates until what was left of the ship dark wood. Even without her silver shell, Estoso still looked magnificent.

"Okay. Now we have to find a place to hide this so no one can find it." Regent said handing Waverly her weapon.

"No, someone will find it somehow." Waverly replied. "We have to take it back to camp."

"But how do we do that? All the horses are too far away and it would be impossible luggging this all the way to. . ."

"You did not let me finish." Waverly said coolly. She gave a sharp clear whistle and glanced skyward.

"Um, what--." Regent began, glancing up as well.

Just then a heavy wind whooshed in their direction, blowing their hairs back and bending trees that still stood. The furry silverlined underbelly of a large wolf came into view. He gently landed a good distance away and bounded toward Waverly.