Excursion

Chapter Twenty-Eight - This Room is Not Where I Want to Be Right Now

  Salandil and I decided that the smartest thing to do would be to back ourselves against the nearest wall as Nova began scolding Esis as both men were rolling up their sleeves.

  "Nova, this is not only about my affection for you!" Esis bellowed, flinging her aside with a sweep of his arm as she tried to restrain him from lunging at Lavern. "This is about basic moral trust!"

  "And it only took a 'simple' failure on your part to make you snap?" Lavern asked coolly. He too was rapidly backing himself against a wall as Esis advanced. "Something tells me that Brilvial wasn't thinking when he decided to make you a head worker of Lazuli."

  The metal contraption that Esis had ripped from his ear was still crackling away on the floor as Esis blocked Lavern's punches and twisted him into a headlock.

  Suddenly, a crash sounded from the other end of the room. Two gun carrying guards burst through the double doors of Nova's chambers. As much as I felt Esis had betrayed Salandil and I, I didn't want him to get killed. One execution was enough for a day.

  Lavern seemed to think the same thing, for even though he was completely pinned against the wall, he shouted, "No! No, don't shoot him! He has no power here."

  The guards reluctantly lowered their weapons. Esis stood over the trapped Lavern. I couldn't see his face as Esis' back was towards us, but I heard him snarl and hiss.

  "Esis, there's no water for you in this chamber," Lavern said. "You wouldn't be able to breathe for long."

  Esis writhed in place for a moment and then adjusted his grip on Lavern.

  "Esis, I did not intend any ill will towards you when I told Nova she couldn't marry a creature. It's simply a fact. She's human and the figurehead of this entire region. Anyone in their right mind would see that such a pairing would be-"

  Esis interrupted, "Did you just call her a figurehead?"

  Lavern laughed, although Salandil and I could tell it was forced.

  "Why did you call her a figurehead?" Esis barked.

  Lavern looked towards the guards at the doors.

  "Who's the real leader in this city?!"

  "Drew, is the Replacement Chamber up and running?" Lavern called.

  "Yes, Sir," one of the guards replied.

  There was a deathly silence.

  "The Replacement Chamber?" Esis whispered, loosening his grip on Lavern.

  The next second, he swung a fist at Lavern's head.

  Nova – who had collected herself by now – shrieked as the fist hit squarely on the side of her fiance's head, sending him staggering to the floor.

  "You want to replace my memories?!" Esis roared, grabbing Lavern by the throat and throwing him back up against the wall. "You bloody fiend!"

  Lavern glanced at the guards and in an instant, they cocked their guns and approached the pair, weapons trained on Esis' back.

  "Release him, Beast," one of them snapped. "Now!"

  Esis froze. Slowly, he turned, and found himself staring down the barrels. Cautiously, he let go of Lavern and began slowly backing up towards us.

  Nova's fiancee crumpled to the ground and began to cough ferociously. "... Kill that vile creature."

  Esis was right beside us now. The guards hesitated, gazes darting back and forth between Esis, Salandil, and myself.

  Esis took a deep, melancholic breath. "I need you guys to do me a favor."

  I looked him in the eyes.

  "Make sure they don't call me a blond at my funeral."

  And with a sudden battle cry that seemed to make every hair on his head stand on end, he clenched his fists, crouched lower to the ground, and propelled himself at the guards.

  I blinked, and he was an eighty-foot-long, blue, purple, and silver sea serpent with a feathery tail fin and the light of a human soul in its eyes. The guards' cries were drowned out by several gunshots ripping through the air. I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, the guards were at the other end of the room, unconscious, wounded, or dead. Esis was laying in human form in the center of the room, motionless in a pool of blood.

  "Is he alive?" Nova breathed, peering from behind the couches at the other end of her chamber where she had ducked for cover.

  Salandil and I ran up to Esis' side. I pressed a hand to his chest.

  "His heart is still beating, but he's barely breathing," I told her, looking up into her tear-filled eyes.

  "Oh dear... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I... This is all my fault..." she whimpered, wringing her hands.

  "No; you are not at fault, my dear."

  I looked up to meet the eyes of Lavern. Although his mouth wasn't smiling, his eyes were.

  Slowly, gently, I stood up and looked him straight in the eye. He wasn't very tall, but his broad shoulders and intent stare made up for it.

  "Why did you decide to kill him?"

  "For the sake of preserving our lives, and the lives of all the Lazullians. If I would have let Esis do his worst, then none of us would be alive here right now. A rogue serpent is a dangerous thing as you just witnessed. That's why many tribes write horror stories about them."

  Something told me that Esis was more rogue when he was working for Lazuli than when he wasn't, but I kept my mouth shut. Luckily, Salandil decided to follow my example for once.

  With a heavy sigh escaping his lips, Lavern turned to a new pair of guards who had just entered the chamber. He waved a hand towards them. "Take them to the Replacement Chamber," he ordered, nodding at myself, Salandil, and even Nova. As for him..." He looked down at Esis, who was beginning to cough and gasp for air. "... Esis? You've made your treason quite clear, and yet I admire your bravery. Not bad for a snake. So, you get a choice: Portal or death?"

  To my utmost surprise, Esis' eyes opened and his mouth formed into an ecstatic smile. "Oh, portal please," he breathed. "Take me anywhere but here. Take me back where you found me."

  "We'll have to see where you end up," Lavern told him before nodding at the guards. "Go on all of you."

  As I watched, more guards came through the doors – also bearing guns. I glanced at Salandil. I could have sworn I saw him shed a defeated tear.

  Hesitantly I began to follow Nova out the doors towards the waiting guards. Passing Esis' fallen body, I felt him grab my ankle. Lavern had his back turned.

  "Valentino," he whispered, voice raspy. "Look for Valentino. Valentino will show you the way."

  Lavern turned his head towards us. Esis pretended to be dead.

  "Goodbye, Esis," I said softly, before following Salandil and Nova out the double doors.

  Before I passed over the threshold, I saw the smashed device that Esis had taken out of his ear. It was still sputtering, and from it I could faintly hear a cacophony of whispers in melodic, pulsing tones.

  "Don't worry," it breathed. "Everything will be all right."