Halflight

A Killing From Mushrooms

Adrianna Doran was a girl who had led her whole life herself. From the age of six, she could cook, and pretty much could take care of herself by ten. She despised help, because usually, those trying to help would only slow her down. That's why when she became the Halflight of her kingdom, she was thrilled. She finally could do everything herself, and she could go anywhere she wished. It was like a dream come true.

That particular morning, she had been walking, well, riding her stag, Bertholdt. She came back to her room to find her idiot brother... and some random guy. Then she saw her ripped carpet, and a giant leopard lying on it. Then Fitz called him the Halflight...

She was pissed.

"Who are you?" She asked, her hold on the leash loosening. If she let go, Bert would run him through, and she could call a Cleric to clean it up. That sounded tempting.

"Tony Luz." replied Tony, unsure how to deal with the girl. He was in her room, after all. He thought quickly. "I didn't touch anything, honestly."

"Really, then how do you explain the carpet?" asked Adrianna challengingly.

Tony slumped forward. "I guess I can't..."

He looked at the girl with the orange-brown hair and sparkling green eyes, and his eyes began to wander.

"HEY!" she screamed. "Up here."

She was furious, clutching her chest, glaring at the strange boy.

She accidentally let go of the leash.

Bertholdt charged straight at Tony, who only managed to dodge narrowly to the side before the silver beast roared past. It turned around for another assault.

Leo leapt up, and pounced swift onto the stag. The room exploded with silver and gold energy, and there was the scraping of claws, the biting of teeth, and horn stabbing. Both ended up exhausted, and badly wounded.

"Oh see, now look what you did. Rest, Bert." she said, and the stag evaporated into a diamond necklace, which placed itself around her neck.

"Ummm....Rest?" said Tony, and the leopard condensed into an armband, which wrapped itself around his upper arm.

"Fitz, out." said Adrianna. Fitzgerald leapt to his feet, and darted out of the room. "Good luck man!" he yelled from down he hall.

Adrianna lied on her bed, kicking off the silver slippers she had on.

"He's finally gone." she said with a sigh. She turned quickly to Tony, who stood in place, unsure where to go.

"Hey, come here, I have a few questions." She said.

He sat on the bed.

"How did you get here? Lying won't work." she said.

Believing her, he told her everything, starting with the appearance of the masked man. She listened closely. He finished with her appearance in the doorway, and she laid back again, and yawned.

"So the Europeans are at it again..." she said to herself.

"Europeans?" asked Tony.

"Oh, nothing." she said with a smile. He could tell she was lying, but decided to let it go. "Sounds like you met Archie. I'll take you to him later." She yawned again. "Eleven o'clock and I'm already tired..."

Fitz burst through the door, panting and out of breath.

"You f.....forgot t-the much-rooms..." he said between gasps.

"Much rooms?" she asked.

"Mushrooms!!!" he screamed.

"Shit! Tony, come with me somewhere okay? I'm going to need some help with this." she said, jumping up from the bed, and waving her hand. in seconds, a pair of boots sprung from the closet. she grabbed them, and walked into the bathroom. She came out wearing a tracksuit like Tony's.

"Time to go." she said, sprinting down the hallway towards the castle gates. Tony got up, and ran after her.

Reaching the gates, she said,"Come Bert." and the stag erupted from her necklace, gracefully kneeling down. She hopped in to it, and sped off into the forest.

"Leo?"said Tony. The leopard exploded from the wristband in a storm of fire. He leapt onto it, and quickly caught up to the others.

"The spores are poisonous, but the cores are perfect healers." she said as they ran into the forest. "Don't take deep breaths."

They came to a clearing, and she decided to stop. She decided this would take too long without other people. She raised her hand to her head, and let out a piercing whistle that radiated throughout the forest. It was so loud Tony had to recall Leo. She moved her fingers a little, and the whistle could no longer be heard, just felt.

'A dog whistle?' Thought Tony. About a minute later, he heard the bushes rustle nearby, and a huge black wolf walked out of the bushes. It glared at Tony, then looked away. In a swirl of black energy, the wolf transformed into a boy.

He had a tan, and his curly black hair fitted him like a crown. He was muscular, and he stood half a head above Tony. He was wearing a black jacket, jeans and black converse. His chocolate-brown eyes glared at Tony, then softened into circles as he turned to Adrianna.

"Hey baby." he said, pulling her into a long kiss. It lasted about fifteen seconds before they were interrupted by heavy wingbeats from above the forest.

A creature flew down, and touched down softly on the grass. It had two huge, leathery wings, and two legs, with claws at the ends. It had giant ears which pushed back from its head like horns, and a giant pointed nose sat in the middle of its head.

'A bat dragon?' Thought Tony.

It shrunk into a cute girl, about Adrianna's height. She had long, shiny black hair that hung to her hips, and red eyes that looked at Tony warily. Her pale skin shone in the sunlight that filtered through the trees. Her chest pushed out in front of her.

"Adrianna, who's the boy?" she said, licking her lips.

"A friend." she said. Turning to Tony, she said," Tony, this is my friend Clara and my...boyfriend Blake. This is Tony, another Halflight, like us."

'So this is what Fitz meant by bats and wolves...' Thought Tony.

"Nice to meet you." said Blake, out stretching his hand. Tony shook it firmly.

Clara walked over to him, and whispered in his ear. "I'm always happy for some...company. Everyone has needs right? Maybe I could...satisfy yours." She shook his hand, and stepped back. His cheeks flushed red.

"Clara, what did you say?" asked Adrianna.

"Nothing, didn't we come here for mushrooms?" asked Clara.

"Oh, that's right." said Adrianna, walking deeper into the forest. They all followed.

They came to a clearing, full of mushrooms. They held their breaths, except Clara, who didn't need to breathe. They picked the area clean.

"Just a few more." said Blake, putting the last one into a sack he had brought.

They walked further into the forest, into an area which was dark and still. It was full of mushrooms, but in the center was a body, impaled on a stick. It was a boy, with blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyelids lay half open, and his eyes were glassy and blank.

"JOEY!" cried Blake who rushed over to the body. "No, Joey no." Clara came over and touched his chest.

"He's dead." she said matter-of-factly.

Blake slapped away her hand. "Bitch, what's wrong with you? Joey's dead, and it doesn't bother you at ALL?" he screamed.

"Don't worry, we'll find who did this." said Adrianna, lightly touching his shoulder. "You don't have to snap at Clara, she's a vampire, that's just how she reacts to death."

A card stuck out from his chest. Tony picked it up, reading it.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We'll be dropping by soon, so expect us. It was signed by...Aingard?" he said.

"Damn those Europeans. It was them." Tony, come, time to go back to the castle. Clara, Blake, alert the kingdoms. We have a problem."